"Hogsmeade, of course. It's Valentine's weekend." Harry turned his head to see Ginny at the opposite end of the couch. "You were really amazing yesterday," she complimented him.
Harry completely missed her last line. Valentines? It's Valentine's? How could I forget? I've picked the worst time to get into a spat with Hermione, he realized.
"So why aren't you with Hermione?" Ginny asked, sounding a little too hopeful. "You two didn't... um..."
"We're just having a little disagreement right now. Nothing to worry about," Harry said absently. His mind was racing. Even if he somehow managed to make up with her right this very moment, they wouldn't have enough time to go to Hogsmeade and back. No romantic lunch date... like everyone else was doing.
"Do you need someone to talk to ?" Ginny asked shyly, putting on her cutest expression she could muster. Harry, unfortunately, wasn't really paying attention.
Talk? She's right. I should talk. I need relationship advice. Now who could I talk to about that? Cedric? He's probably out with Fleur right now. And that would be weird, Harry figured. None of the professors. Are any of them even married? he wondered. Anyone who's in a good relationship right now is probably in Hogsmeade anyways. He then remembered one person on the outskirts of Hogsmeade who he could be frank with. "Thanks, Ginny. I do need to talk to someone!"
"I meant me!" she squeaked out as Harry fled to his room.
Harry carried a basket of soup and salad from the kitchens for Sirius and sandwiches for himself. He wanted to thank his godfather for his help just before the duels and tell him about the results. Most of all, he wanted to talk to him about Hermione. He wasn't really sure why, but Sirius seemed to be the best person he knew to talk to about relationship advice, despite the man not having much human contact for the past thirteen years. He did act like he wanted to relive his Hogwarts years again, and talking about school life always seemed to cheer him up the best. It was late afternoon by the time he arrived at the shack. Upon hearing the trap door, Sirius was bounding down the stairs before Harry was all the way inside.
"Harry! I was wondering if you'd show up today. Where's your girl? I thought you'd be spending the day with her!" Sirius was obviously bored to death with nobody to talk to, but at least he was more energetic than ever, since he was able to roam the Forbidden Forest at nights in his dog form.
Harry set the basket down between them and looked down glumly. "Hermione and I had a little argument," he began. "I was wondering if you had any advice for me."
"Had, or are you still having it?"
"It's still going," Harry admitted reluctantly.
"So what happened? Did you put the moves on her a bit too early? I did that myself a few times, I have to admit. Can't count how many times I've been slapped," he said, going into his reminiscing mode.
"No, it's nothing like that!" Harry stopped his imagination from going any further. He tried to think of an analogy that he could use to explain the situation, but was having a hard time figuring it out. "Well... ummm... so Hermione and I have this special meeting spot... and we've sort made sure that if the two of us got separated... we'd be able to meet up again there..."
"So this was on a date? Was it today?"
Harry didn't want to give too much away, but the analogy was already failing. "I'm not going to say. But the thing is, she kind of got mad at me for... going off and doing my own thing... and then she got really angry when I said that we could have just met up at our meeting spot again..."
"Hold up, Harry. You were going out with her, and then you got distracted by something and got separated, and when you two met up again you thought everything was fine and dandy?"
"Uh, no, we didn't actually get separated, but... um... she was worried that she might have lost me at some point. I just suggested that it wouldn't have been a big deal."
Sirius shrugged. "Well, normally it wouldn't be such a big deal, but today's special, isn't it? Look, girls her age are pretty emotional. Sometimes they just need reassurance, a few constant reminders of how much you care about them. Today should have been all about Hermione. Hold the door open, pull out the chair for her, compliment her on her hair or her perfume every few minutes... it's the little things that add up to really make her day. It's not that wasting a few minutes would really kill the date, but the fact that you'll be making her work to go looking for you, right?"
Harry sighed. He probably should have stopped earlier, but now Sirius had fully assumed Harry just wrecked a Valentine's date at Hogsmeade. He may as well run with it. "I guess I can see what you mean. But then she said something that confused me... I think she was implying I wasn't really interested in her, or our relationship, at all. Then she stormed off before I could say anything."
"Really? Hermione? She never seemed to be so... flighty before. Then again, I can't say I'm the best judge of character..."
Harry knew he was referring to Pettigrew, but he wasn't going to let Sirius go into another slump. "Sirius, focus. She's the most committed and loyal friend I could ask for, and just as wonderful a girlfriend. I just don't know what made her think that I'd give that all up."
Sirius scratched his chin. "Can't see why it's bothering her so much then. It's not like you were planning on just ending the date then and there and meeting back at Hogwarts, were you?"
Harry was amazed by Sirius' insightful accuracy. "Uh... well, I guess meeting up again would mean that the day was over..."
Sirius's eyes boggled out. "You really agreed to meet back at Hogwarts if you got separated in Hogsmeade? I expect my godson to treat his dates better than that! Oh, Harry, Harry, Harry... you said it would mean nothing if you just up and left her in Hogsmeade so she could walk back to the castle alone? You just ruined her day completely, Harry."
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