His father's cloak just provided a bonus they certainly weren't expecting. Hearing hissing coming from nowhere, and the sinks starting to open, Myrtle shot straight into her favourite u-bend and swore to herself she was not leaving it until all the students were gone for the summer.
Closing the sink again, Harry was now offering Hermione encouragement to try speaking in parseltongue. After an hour, Hermione was ready to give up.
'This is bloody hopeless. Neither of us know whether I'm hissing or talking. Thanks to our rings, it sounds the same to both of us now.'
It was a lovely sunny day outside, and the desire to sit out by the lake cuddling with Hermione was a strong one. Harry though was determined to give her every chance at being able to cast a shield that would protect her from Death Eater spells.
'We're being stupid here. We can't tell the difference between parseltongue and English but that doesn't mean we can't get someone in here who could.'
Hermione was about to counter that they didn't want to give this secret to their friends when Harry conjured a Garter Snake, and had it curl around the water tap.
~Friend, when you understand what me or my mate say, please tell us so~
As the snake nodded, Harry was still coaching Hermione. 'I always find it easier to talk to an actual snake, rather than a symbol of one. Try it again.'
As Hermione gave it another try, the little snake looked at her strangely.
~You are clearly not a speaker, like your mate, but I almost understood what you were saying.~
Hermione spun around and kissed Harry. 'Thank's for believing in me. I think what we have here is a problem with pronunciation, one of the hardest things to get right when learning another language.'
This had Harry smiling. 'It's Wing-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa all over again, only this time let's leave out the part where we meet the troll'
With renewed vigour, Hermione was once more back on task. Ten minutes later, she had the sinks open. It took another fifteen to get them closed again but, after that, she soon had it down pat. Hermione was now bouncing with excitement, and wanted to know when they could work on the shield.
Taking a minute to think, Harry erected the invisible shield and asked Hermione to fire a stinging hex at him. She duly obliged, and had to move quickly when that hex was reflected back at her.
'We know what this shield was specifically designed to do, but it's still a shield. It should be able to reflect minor curses from non Death Eaters too. When practicing, I'll aim to just miss you. If you manage the shield, my spell will bounce right back at me.'
It was a different Hermione who now kissed him, her kisses were different too. 'When you let your intelligence out to play, it does funny things to my insides.'
'When you kiss me like that, it lets me know how lucky I am. Let's get out of this toilet and enjoy what's left of the day. Dobby has a picnic lunch all prepared, just waiting on us calling him. Knowing Dobby, I hope you're hungry.'
Harry understood there would be some shield practice too. There's no way Hermione wouldn't want to explore learning another new thing, and he wanted her to have that protection in her arsenal as quickly as possible.
...
The couple sneaked into the leaving feast at the last possible moment, and left the instant it was over. Their friends all knew why they were behaving like this, and couldn't fault their reasoning. Snape had just set the record for most points removed from students in a single day. That it was the last day of term just showed what an absurd arsehole he really was. With Gryffindor being presented with both the Quidditch and House Cups at the feast, that certainly wouldn't have improved his mood any either.
It was in his dorm however that Harry was faced with a confrontation he knew was inevitable. He was approached by a clearly uncomfortable Ron.
"Mate, about this holiday. I don't know how to say this..."
"Ron, I'll save you the trouble. For this holiday, everyone is my guest. I learned all about hospitality when I stayed at the Burrow, after you and the twins broke me out of the prison I was locked in. That was my best holiday ever, so I have a lot to live up to this summer. Thankfully I've got Hermione to keep me right."
"I think I can tell you now that we'll be holidaying somewhere in Italy. I don't even know what currency they use there, the magicals or the muggles. Hermione and I are heading straight to Gringotts tomorrow to get everything sorted out, so we won't be on the train. We'll meet you on the platform then take a portkey straight from there. When we go shopping, Ron, everything's on me. There will also be spending money for everyone, and it will be the same for everyone. Okay, Hermione will probably have a bit more but you know what I mean. You okay with this?"
Thinking about it for a moment, Ron nodded in agreement. Harry knew him so well, Ron didn't want to be seen as some charity case. He could see it wasn't charity however if everyone was being treated the same. The idea of spending the start of their holidays with Millie was bloody brilliant, and having some cash to spend on her too was an unbelievable bonus.
"Just relax and have a good time. If you could keep Ginny out of my hair, that would be really appreciated."
That had Ron blushing. "She hasn't left her dorm all day. Percy got one of the female prefects to check on her. Word is she's been crying her eyes out since hearing you and Hermione are betrothed."
"I never meant to hurt her, and certainly never led her on. Merlin, we've barely said two words to one another all year. It was your mother's idea that Ginny go on this holiday. You know I don't mind Ginny, but I just see her as your little sister. If this is too awkward for her, perhaps your mum will change her mind on the platform?"
Shaking his head, Ron shot that idea down in flames. "Ginny is nothing if not persistent. Hermione will be walking down the aisle to you and my sister will still be hoping you'll say no, I want to marry Ginny. We've all tried to talk to her about it but it's bloody scary how obsessed Ginny is with you."
"You should try it from this side, mate..." it was only after he'd said the words, Harry realised how gross that sounded. A rather green looking Ron certainly got Harry's point though.\
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