Fulfilling Obligations (Harmione)

Chapter 13: Off to the Outback!

"Do you think you could go with me to get my parents?"

Only a few seconds lapsed between her request and Harry's reply.

"Sure," he said, opening the door a little wider to permit her entrance. "But I suggest you step out of the rain first."

Hermione quickly entered Grimmauld Place and placed her trunk by the staircase as Harry closed the door behind her. Without further comment, he turned and led Hermione to the kitchen, taking bites of his toast as he went.

"Take whatever you want," Harry said as he plopped down before a rather heavily laden table. "There's plenty to go around, as you can see."

"I've already eaten breakfast," Hermione said, but nevertheless chose a delicious looking scone from a pile of various pastries as she sat down across from Harry.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Harry spoke.

"So I take it you and Ron got into a bit of a row," he stated.

Hermione tore off the corner of her scone, biting her lip and avoiding his gaze. Finally she looked up, her brow furrowed. "Is it that obvious?"

Harry raised his eyebrow. "No, not at all. I would never have guessed it from your pissed-off expression, appearance in the pouring rain-by yourself, mind you-and the way you've been ripping and stabbing at your defenseless blueberry pastry."

"Okay, so maybe it was obvious," Hermione said, acknowledging the carnage of her scone.

Harry rolled his eyes. "So what'd you do this time?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed to slits. "You've got ten seconds to rephrase that before I weaponize a scone."

Harry looked at her quizzically. "What could you possibly do with a scone?"

"I fancy smart enough to figure that out," Hermione said.

"I don't doubt that. I suppose that's what they taught you in all those advanced classes at school."

"I can't say," Hermione said. "Maybe if you'd been in some of those classes with me-"

"I think I'm content not knowing," Harry said. "But what did happen?"

Hermione responded by launching into a long-winded rant, detailing exactly what had happened to her over the last few days.

"... and that damned girlfriend of yours embarrassed the bloody hell out of me every few minutes! And I'm not exaggerating-every few minutes! Harry, for Merlin's sake, you've stayed with the Weasleys alone for long periods of time, you've tolerated-dated-Ginny...You could have warned me!"

"That's not how experience works," Harry said, and a scone flew across the table and hit him squarely in the face.

Harry brushed at his face, shaking his head seemingly in disappointment.

"I thought you were a proponent for house-elves, Hermione, and yet you keep ruining all the scones that Kreacher slaved over all morning!"

Hermione opened her mouth to retort when a loud CRACK resounded through the kitchen.

"Did someone call Kreacher's name, Master Harry?"
Harry grinned at Hermione's befuddled expression before turning to the elf. "Yes, Kreacher, I did. I was just telling our houseguest here about all the hard work you put into this wonderful breakfast when one of said breakfast items-namely, a blueberry scone-came out of nowhere and smacked me in the face. And as Hermione was the only person present in the room, I assumed said scone came flying from none other than Miss Granger's hand."