Continental Holiday

CHAPTER-11

A/N: Posted this one tonight. Second of two updates I posted tonight and third today. I'm really spoiling you guys. This was so much fun to write. Cheers!

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Hermione felt better than she had in days.

She had gone to Harry last night just to talk about Ron. It had been her way to test the waters on Harry's new commitment to being there and had been pleasantly surprised at how in tune they could be.

Hermione knocked purposefully on the door adjoining their two rooms. After about a minute she heard his footsteps before a very groggy looking Harry appeared in the doorway.

"Hermione? Is everything okay?" Even as groggy as he was, his concern shone through.

"Yeah, it's just..."

"Sinking in that it's over?"

Hermione could feel her eyes begin to water and simply nodded. Harry pulled her in and hugged her as she fought a losing battle against her sobs. It struck her that this was twice that she found herself crying into his shoulder in a matter of weeks. Not only that, but tonight he had initiated it. This was something different in their relationship: it was usually Hermione that initiated any physical contact.

"Thanks Harry." She managed to hiccup. She broke off their embrace and wiped her eyes. Harry ran his hand through his hair and Hermione could see the wheels turning.

"Er...sorry that I'm not sure what to say. Never been any bloody good with this stuff." His honesty had a way of making his cluelessness endearing.

"I'll give you a hint Harry: Ice cream."

Harry chuckled. "Alright then, go settle on the couch and I'll see what I can do."

He went into his bedroom and Hermione only heard footsteps before the hall door seemingly opened and closed of its own volition. She chuckled to herself, he had donned the invisibility cloak. It would have been easy enough to simply disapparate to an all-night supermarket and buy the ice cream, but Harry still had his taste for adventure, even if he kept it to simple endeavors like nicking ice cream from a hotel café' nowadays.

They had spent the next hour or so on the couch watching the lame re-runs that television stations play at four am and eating ice cream. Hermione didn't remember falling asleep, but the next thing she knew she was waking up in her own bed and the sun was out.

After a shower and some breakfast with Harry, he had taken her on a grand tour of the city. They toured the Acropolis as well as many temples and other ancient structures. He also took her to a magical museum that chronicled how witches and wizards had influenced Greek culture.

She of course, had the time of her life examining the many exhibits and pointing out to Harry the names she had run across in her many readings. Harry, for his part, had seemed genuinely interested in many of the sights (or at least had been polite enough to feign it).

They finished off the day by finding a cozy spot for an evening picnic to watch the sun set over the Aegean. They long sat in silence sipping on some local wine selections before a thought came to her mind.

"Harry? When did I fall asleep last night?" Of course she wasn't really interested in what time it had been, she wanted to hear from him how he got her to her own bed.

"Right about five in the morning. You fell sleep with your mouth open and your hand still going for the ice cream, it was actually quite funny. Oi!"

Hermione had smacked him on the arm. "What was that for?" He faked being indignant, but was doing terrible. He still had his lopsided grin and couldn't stop laughing.