The Little Lion: Vol 2 "Order of the Pheonix"

Red Telephone Box

Chapter Four: Red Telephone Box - 1995

I turn the hot water off and step out of the shower. I grab a towel and wrap it around my head and another wraps around my chest. I feel much better after cleaning all those rooms.

I walk down the hall, along the creaky floorboards and open the shared bedroom I'm staying in.

Hermione looks over at me before getting up and leaving to take her own shower. I get dressed in grey joggers and a Gryffindor jumper. I go over to my bag and get tea tree oil, warm it up in my hands and scrunch it in my hair to make my curls more uniformed as my hair dries.

I sit on my bed and take out of blue leather journal with gold engravings of the sun and stars on the cover. I open to the next empty page and start conjuring up the next dish I want to cook. I sit and think before smiling, thinking of red Thai curry.

During most of my free time, I'm always thinking of foods to create and cook and make my own. It must be why one of my strongest classes is potions. I can only imagine how much I could enjoy potions class without Snape teaching it.

I get lost in the spices I'm adding and erasing into my notes, that I hardly notice Hermione come back from her shower.

"Hey." She says in a small voice, approaching the bed. "What are you working on?" She slowly sits so she's in front of me, and she tucks her legs under herself.

I look up and give her a shy look. "Uhh just working on a recipe."

Hermione's face brightens. "You still need to cook for me!" I chuckle a little. "But ummm... I wanted to talk to you now."

"Oh okay..." I slowly shut the journal. "Umm you're making me a little nervous." I give her a weak smile.

Hermione shakes her head. "No no, you're not the one who needs to be nervous." She says. "It's umm... well you trusted me enough to open up to me so I wanted to do the same thing... Umm.. recently I've figured out I don't just like boys."

I look at her a little surprised and do my best to mask my excitement. "Oh! As in like like girls?"

Hermione shakes her head. "Yeah, there was actually a girl who helped me realize..."

I grow nervous again and look at her. "Oh, who?"

She looks down at her hands for a few seconds before looking back up, not quite meeting my gaze. "You."

"Me?" I say rather loudly. She just nods her head and looks away. I slowly smile which she doesn't catch. "So you're saying my crush likes me back?"

Hermione's head snaps back at me. "What? You have a crush on me?"

"Yeah, pretty big one for the last year or so."

"Year?"

"Well... I was trying to deny my feelings for most of the year but yeah..."

We both look at each other, not really knowing what to do now. "Sooo... now what?" She asks.

I shrug. "Uh..."

"Hey, you two, come to Fred and George's room." Ginny bursts in before leaving quickly.

Hermione raises her eyebrows at me before slowly getting up. She reaches her hand out and smirks a little. I take her hand in mine and get up as well. We adjust our hold a little so our fingered intertwine. We stand and look at each other more. We slowly walk out of the room once Hermione gently tugs me along with her.

When we enter the twins room, we pull our hands apart, but stand shoulder to shoulder. "What's up?" I ask. I see Harry and Ron here as well.

"We want to play hide and seek!" George says excitedly.