FicWad

With the Grangers

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A/N: Beta reader for this story is Jezz Jamer

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Minerva McGonagall entered the office of the headmaster of Hogwarts. "Is there anything new, Albus?"

Albus Dumbledore looked to his Deputy Headmistress with a pained expression on his face. "It has begun ... "

"Bloody hell, what is that!" Harry heard his uncle scream downstairs. It was five minutes before nine in the morning and Harry was waiting for the Grangers to appear. He looked out of the window and he saw the Land Rover of the Grangers in front of the house. Harry took his trunk and went downstairs. He couldn't seem to move fast enough as he hurried into the kitchen. He dropped the trunk and went to the hall to open the front door. And yes, there he saw Mr. Granger and Hermione already approaching the door. Before they could ring the bell, he had already opened the door and saw something extraordinary.

Hermione's hair was smoothed and curled; she was wearing make-up and a pretty summer dress. Her sandals had heels. Harry was staring at her. "You look ... ah ... yes ... uh ... very nice ... Her ... Hermione." Harry said.

"Well thank you Harry" she smiled with delight, "Should we be off, then?" Harry suddenly forgot everything he wanted to say and do. His eyes became as big as saucers and his mouth opened and closed soundlessly. Smiling, Hermione nudged Harry back inside the house. "Thank you very much for everything and we'll see you summer next year", she said to the Dursley's.

The Dursley's did not say anything, so Harry took his trunk and left the house, taking Hermione by her elbow. "Thank you, Mr. Granger", Harry said politely.

"You're very welcome Harry," Mr. Granger said. "Let's go before your uncle changes his mind." They walked up to the Land Rover, placed Harry's trunk in the back and they drove off, away from the house of hell. The best of all, Harry had a very good time during the drive to the Granger's house.

"Did you hear anything from Ron, Hermione", Harry asked her while they were driving towards the Grangers' home.

"Yes, Harry, I did. Ron is working with the twins in their joke-shop. He is making all kind of prank-items for their owl-delivery-service and Ron is very happy. He is especially happy because he earns one Galleon a day and wants to save his money for something. I don't know for what, because he does not want to talk about it. I think it is for Parvati and a ring or bracelet ..."

This got Harry thinking. "Hermione, when we go to the ball at Halloween, is the boy not supposed to buy a gift for his date?"

"Yes Harry, but you don't need to buy a gift for me, because we will be going as friends".

"But Hermione, that is not true. The rule is not about friends or a real date, but about two partners, where the male partner buys a nice gift for the female partner to wear. I think I like this rule", Harry replied. He heard Mrs. Granger snorting.

"Harry is such a gentleman, Hermione. Your father did the same. We went for a date, and your father was insisting that we went as friends and not a date."

"I knew better, of course and we ended up to be married with a lovely daughter and her friend in a car driving to our house." Hermione's cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red, but she said nothing. She turned her face to her left to look through the window and studied the passing fields. Harry grabbed her hand and pinched slightly.

"It's okay, we can handle a little teasing, especially if it is about the two of us, right?"

Hermione turned to him with an unreadable expression on her face. Harry's oh-so-green eyes were looking at her with determination and great intensity. She could not find any traces of the nervous tension of last year. She saw indeed a young man sitting next to her with a straight back and a confident expression in his eyes. She liked what she saw and said "Harry, you are somehow changed. What happened?"

Harry did not reply immediately, but gazed into her eyes. "I not really sure what's changed, but ever since I got back from school, I've feel much calmer than ever before. Also, I've realized that I need to spend much more time on homework and assignments, because I feel that I want to make a difference in my life. But the problem is that I don't have an idea what kind of impact I want to make in life. I definitely don't want to be a celebrity, I hate that. I do want to find a job that is well paying and enjoyable but doesn't involve dealing much with the press, which gives me few choices. And maybe I can find more than that, who knows. But for this all to happen, I need to take my school work more seriously and get some outstanding results."

Hermione was astonished at what she heard; this was absolutely the last thing she expected to hear from Harry. "Harry, Ron will have a heart attack when he hears this from you. He does not want to put any effort into his work other then the bare minimum required for his Auror training and that is it. He never wants to study again after the doors of the Auror Academy close behind him". Mr. Granger looked into the mirror at Harry, but said nothing. He was smiling.

Mrs. Granger however was very pleased. "What do you mean with outstanding results, Harry?"

Harry was quiet for a moment collecting his thoughts. "I want to have only top-grades in all my subjects at school. That means a lot of work. I want to keep a decent attitude and to make an effort at improving my behavior. I also want to try to improve the attitude of people who don't like me, like Professor Snape. He has something against me, and it has to do with my parents. I think that it is very important for him and me to resolve those issues."

"You must realize that you can not have it all, Harry", Mr. Granger said.

"But I can try, Mr. Granger," Harry said.

After three hours of driving and chatting, they arrived at the home of the Grangers. The home was a very nice house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living room and an American-style kitchen on the first floor. Hermione's parents were both dentists and seemed to make a nice living. Both parents retired into the living room. "Let me show you your room, Harry," Hermione said. The two of them walked through a dark corridor with doors on the left and right.

At the end of the corridor, Hermione opened the left most door. "This is my room. Do you like it?" Harry gazed inside and saw a spacious room with a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room, a writing desk against a wall; and books everywhere: on the two large bookshelves on either side of the bed, on chairs, on the floor and even on bed.

"Hermione, this is a library!" exclaimed Harry.

"Yes, I like it this way. I love books and I cannot get enough of them. When I read a book, I am in that world and I can not wait to get to the end."

"But Hermione, what happens when the book is a dictionary, do you read those types of books front to cover as well?"

"No Harry, as you will see, I do not have reference works here. Most of the books are fiction, and many study books on all kinds of subjects. I'll show you your room now." Harry and Hermione went to the room opposite Hermione's room and Harry opened the door.

"Wow, this room is perfect", exclaimed Harry. Hermione had an amused smile on her face. "Yes, the room is nice, isn't it? And it's warm and cozy. You know how the central heating works, Harry?" Harry did not know, but he knew that his aunt and uncle had central heating everywhere except in Harry's room. He said nothing but looked into his new room. This room also had a queen-sized bed, a writing desk and a bookshelf. "I think I'll go get my trunk and bring it up here. Do you know where my trunk is?"

"Yes, your trunk is in the hallway," Hermione said. "I'll help you bring it up and then we can go have dinner. I am so hungry."

The next day Harry woke up to the sunshine filling his room. He had no idea where he was, and wondered if he was still dreaming about ... whatever it was. He felt relaxed and rested thanks to his self-hypnosis the previous evening before he slept, but still he could sense that he had a dreadful dream during the night. What was he doing in this strange room? Slowly he realized where he was.

He looked at his watch and saw it was 6:14 in the morning; he happily jumped out of his bed and ran through his door to the room opposite his. He opened Hermione's door and burst into the room. "Hermione!" he called in a singsong voice. "Wake up, because this is a beautiful day!" He saw Hermione lying on her bed, and notice that she was only wearing a thin nightshirt.

Suddenly he was aware of a pair very long, very nice; creamy-white legs sticking out from under that shirt and saw Hermione stirring from her sleep. "Oops," Harry said and quietly tried to leave the room. "Harry, what are you doing up so early, it must be around five o'clock in the morning." Hermione mumbled. "Did you have a nightmare?" she gasped, suddenly awake.

"No, no dream and its quarter after six. I completely forgot where I was and before I could think, I was already in your room. I am sorry", Harry stammered.

Harry was almost out her room, and suddenly Hermione was aware that she was only wearing a t-shirt, while Harry was trying to escape with a red face. "Harry," Hermione called after him. "Come back here, please."

Harry turned with his eyes gazing to the floor. "Yes Hermione?"

"Harry, I'll put a nightgown on, and let's talk about what we are going to do today."

"Okay," Harry said and came into the room. Hermione took the nightgown from the chair next to her and put it on. Harry caught a glimpse of her breasts through her t-shirt, which was almost transparent. "Oh my, Hermione is looking really nice in only that thin t-shirt," Harry thought. Hermione looked at him in surprise and curiosity.

Did she hear what I thought? Or did I think out loud? Harry wondered urgently.

"Um ... yeah ... well ... Hermione, is it okay if I go get a book from my trunk? I think I forgot something ..." Harry stuttered.

"Harry, I heard that and please sit down. We need to talk about something else right now." Hermione frowned slightly.

Harry took the chair opposite Hermione and sat down. "Harry, do you fancy me?"

Harry did not know what to say. He looked at her for a moment and his face became even redder then it already was. "Hermione, I don't know. I did not expect you to have changed so much, or to be so nice, or look so damn good. You've become more attractive to me than I ever remember you being. I guess that I never thought about you in this way. And you look really good to me right now, and I was never conscious of it before.

"Do I fancy you? I don't know. I think that you are an amazing friend and person. Someone who always stands by me and someone I like to have by my side, whenever I need you fore whatever reason. Before this year, I thought about you as a friend, even as a real sister. Now, seeing you this way has changed how I think about you. This is a surprise." Hermione was looking at Harry and did not know what to say.

"I don't know what I feel, but what ever it is; you are my best friend and always will be. Hermione, you need to be aware that you are indeed very beautiful, but I never thought about you like this. I did not expect this."

Hermione could not help but to feel flattered and started to blush as well. Meanwhile, Harry looked at her with a red face, and started to shift his weight form side to side in his nervousness. His arms were on his lap and he was looking at the ground. Hermione started to laugh, she could not help it, and Harry joined her after looking to her face. "Harry, you look cute in this way. Don't change that."

Harry did not know what to think anymore and stood up bumping his chair into the writing desk. "Hermione, this is not funny."

Hermione was laughing harder now and replied, "Harry, I am sorry, and I appreciate your honesty. I love you as a friend, but to tell you the truth, you have also changed in more than one way. You are more attractive and you radiate an aurora that I admire and love. You've always had it, but it is now much more pronounced then it ever was. You also act much more mature then you were last year. But let's go to the kitchen and see if we can come up with something for breakfast. What ever we feel for each other is only positive, I think. Besides, we're not going to be able figure anything out on an empty stomach, right?"

Harry relaxed somewhat and sat easier on the chair. "Harry, don't forget to put on a t-shirt or something. Did you realize you where in a girl's bedroom with only your boxer on?" Harry suddenly stiffened and looked to his body. "Oh Merlin, I totally forgot. Now his head looked as if it might explode, totally red and he ran back to his room like the devil was nipping at his heels. He put his jeans and a t-shirt on and went back to Hermione's room. Together they went to the kitchen for breakfast. Harry's face was still beet red and radiating waves of heat.

"Hermione, do you want to go with me to Gringotts Bank on my birthday? According Professor Dumbledore I need to visit the bank on my birthday."

"Sure, Harry, I'd love to. Then we can do our shopping for school as well. I'd like to visit the bookstores and see what is new," Hermione replied.

"By the way, speaking of shopping, Harry; do you mind if we can go do some shopping after breakfast this morning? You and I need some clothes for the ball and for dinners in restaurants with my parents. I know you don't have any formal clothing and I think it is about time you have some."

"Sounds great Hermione; it will be my pleasure to accompany you," Harry replied happily.

"I could not have heard that correctly," Mr. Granger exclaimed. "Well Harry, after today, I'm positive you will never say that again." Mr. Granger laughs at the surprised expression on Harry's face.