Sitting at the small cafe in Hogsmeade with Cho made Harry question why people always went on dates to get coffee; it was rather boring in his opinion.
"Harry?" Cho said waving a hand in front of his face "Are you still with me?"
Harry shook his head free of all of his thoughts. "Yeah, no I'm here." he said
"Well, did you hear what I said?"
"About?" he asked and went to check his watch while Cho was trying to catch him up to speed on everything he missed.
"Blimey, it's noon already?" he said, with more emotion in his voice than anything he said to Cho since the start of their date.
"Huh?" she asked
"I promised Hermione I would meet her after our date, and I would hate to keep her waiting--"
"You're thinking about Hermione Granger while you're on a date with me?!" Cho yelled at him, her face turning red with anger.
"Yeah...but it's not like that--" Harry tried to explain, but he was once again cut off.
"It's exactly like that!" she snapped "And I'll prove it. What's my favorite animal?"
"A raven?"
"No, and that's not my house animal if that's what you were going for." she said "What's Hermione's favorite animal?"
"A cat. She says that she loves to sit with Crookshanks on her lap while she reads--"
Cho rolled her eyes. "Listen to yourself, Harry." she said "You're obviously in love with Hermione even if you can't find you Gryffindor courage to admit it to yourself."
"Hermione's my best friend." he said, trying yet failing to sound certain.
"Whatever." Cho said grabbing her jacket "But I'm not gonna sit here and play the part of your girlfriend only for you to realize that you're better off with Hermione, then wait until you break up with me, breaking me heart. Not if I saw it from the start."
"Cho, wait--"
"Goodbye, Harry."
* * *
Harry found Hermione in the three broomsticks sitting besides Luna, and across from Skeeter. Cautiously, as if he were about to enter a war zone, Harry made his way over to the small table in the back.
Luna was the only one who seemed to notice him, as Hermione and Rita were too busy arguing.
"Hello Harry, nice day out today isn't it." Luna's sing-song voice clashed with Hermione's screaming.
"Er...yeah, I guess." he said, and started to pay closer attention to what exactly Rita and Hermione had been arguing about.
"I swear on merlin's grave, if you know what's good for you, you'll publish an honest article about Harry for the prophet! I don't give a damn about your brainwashed readers who will find it boring!" Hermione yelled at the journalist.
"Well, well, well. I suppose I could. But why would I?" Skeeter responded so smugly even Luna had the sudden urge to hex her (though decided not to since the nargles told her it'd be a bad idea).
"Because there's a cell in Azkaban with your name on it!" Hermione said in a harsh whisper "I do believe it is illegal to be an unregistered animagus, is it not? I wonder what the ministry would have to say."
Everything went extremely silent at the table.
"I don't think the ministry would be that happy." Luna said, breaking the silence. Harry did his best to stifle a laugh.
"Fine." Rita said sharply, reminding Harry of Aunt Petunia "I'll write an honest story if that's what you want so badly."
Harry looked over to Hermione, and was suddenly hit with a foreign feeling in his chest that he could only describe as 'warm'. Like he was engulfed in one of her breath-taking hugs without her even physically touching him. As if just her presence alone was enough to make him feel this way.
Although Harry was clueless as to what this meant, Luna, who was particularly keen to her friends feelings, had realized that Harry was slowly, yet steadily falling in love with Hermione.
