"Unless you got really comfortable with Hermione here and she was nice enough to you to make you faint." The twins looked at each other, then back to Harry and Hermione, wiggling their eyebrows. "Anything you'd care to share,
"Huh?" Harry didn't quite catch that last one. People were staring at him with a keen interest. Oh nuts, thought Harry. This is even worse than the whole Heir of Slytherin thing last year. I've got to get out of here. Harry got up quickly, pulling Hermione up with him. "Let's go, Hermione. We should get away from everyone... let's go to Hogsmeade, alright?"
Hermione didn't have time to protest as Harry pulled her through the passageway out of Gryffindor Tower.
"Well, I think that settles it."
"It certainly does, my dear brother."
"Two dates in as many days."
"Not to mention a night on the couch, too. I didn't even think that would happen until the third date, at least."
"Well, you know Harry. He's a man of action, isn't he?"
"Certainly is. Never a dull year with Harry around."
"Let's go down to the Great Hall and make our announcement. Most of the school should be at breakfast by now."
The Gryffindor common room quickly emptied, save for Ron, who was still slumped on a couch, looking completely shocked. He had completely forgotten about the last chocolate waffles of the year.
"Hear ye, Hear ye!" Fred and George stood at the front of the Great hall. One of them was ringing a bell, while the other was holding a large piece of parchment, much like a scroll. "The results of the Harry Potter's Precious Person Pool have been compiled. Drumroll, please."
The bell was quickly transfigured into a drum set, and George (or was it Fred?) began drumming.
"For bets on 'June of Third Year', which pays out at four to one odds- congratulations to Susan Bones, Penelope Clearwater, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Alex Stebbings. Next, for bets on 'June of Third Year with Hermione Granger', which pays out at ten to one odds- congratulations to Madam Pomfrey and Luna Lovegood! Winners, please contact us this evening to collect your winnings."
Rolling up the scroll of parchment and putting away the drum set, the twins marched out of the Great Hall. As soon as they were out the doors, pandemonium ensued at three of the four tables.
Harry and Hermione used the secret passage into Honeydukes, since he still didn't have a permission slip to enter Hogsmeade. Most of the students didn't remember that small detail, however, so they only had to be careful not to be spotted by staff members. Having missed breakfast, the two of them quickly made their way to Three Broomsticks, where Harry ordered a full English breakfast, while Hermione had two eggies in the basket.
"You know, everyone thinks we're a couple, now." Hermione was glancing back and forth between her breakfast and Harry.
"Yeah, that much is obvious," said Harry, stirring his hash browns with his fork. "We can't let that rumour spread, right?"
"No, we can't. Can you imagine? You're the Boy-Who-Lived! Going out with a plain muggleborn girl... the press would have a field day with you..." Hermione seemed to have lost her appetite, and wasn't touching the remaining pieces of toast on her plate.
"What? You're thinking that's the problem? Hermione, we have to stop them just because it's not the truth! I wouldn't mind if you were my girlfriend, but you aren't, right? You're just my best friend." Harry replied. He thought he saw Hermione's expression brighten for a split second, but she was quickly looking down at her plate again.
"...Right. Of course. We're just friends. This whole situation is one big misunderstanding." Hermione straightened up and looked at Harry. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, calming her nerves, she seemed to want to say something else, but held off. They finished their breakfast in silence, after which Harry paid and they left the inn to walk around town.
They spent the rest of the day discussing what they could remember of the future. It was difficult, but the most poignant memories were also the most emotionally intense ones. They both concluded that the first time they went back, Voldemort had returned at the end of Harry's fourth year, at the end of the tournament. At the end of fifth year, Hermione decided to test out her beacon once and for all and go back in time. That started the next two trips, but they were unsure of which one was which. In one, Professor Snape suddenly dropped dead at the staff table at the end of sixth year, and Dumbledore died just before the train ride home. In another, Professor Dumbledore died earlier, killed by Professor Snape. All three, however, featured Voldemort returning in fourth year. He couldn't quite remember how it happened each time, but it did have something to do with a trophy cup.
As Hermione helped Harry piece together the answers, she seemed to grow more and more distracted by her thoughts. Harry tried to cheer her up by buying her some sweets at Honeydukes, but quickly remembered that she was raised by dentists, and didn't have much of a sweet tooth. Zonko's was definitely not her thing, but they finally settled on browsing the bookstore for a few hours. Not wanting to dine at the same restaurant twice in one day, they inadvertently wandered into Madam Puddifoot's tea shop, but left as quickly as they could. Eventually, they managed to find Cleavican's Fine Meats, the local butcher who also sold sandwiches, and bought some simple smoked meat sandwiches for lunch.
Throughout the day, they had to avoid as many familiar faces as possible, since Harry forgot to bring his invisibility cloak with him in his haste to get out of Gryffindor Tower. Every time Hermione saw a staff member, she and Harry had to quickly duck into an alleyway to hide. When it was nearing dinnertime, they felt they had avoided their classmates long enough that, at the very least, they wouldn't fuel any more rumours. They made their way back to Honeydukes, and took the secret passage back to the castle.
As they sat down for dinner, the twins flanked them on either side. "Well, Harry, Hermione. The two of you have made us a lot of money today. We'd like to thank you."
Harry was completely flummoxed. "What are you talking about? What did we do?"
"Well, you see, many people were unsatisfied with your performance on the couch this morning," said George, sitting to Harry's left.
"Then again, we can't speak for Hermione, and she's really the only one that counts, eh, Harry?"
Fred, on Hermione's right, winked at him. Hermione scowled at him.
"Even photographic evidence wasn't enough for a few of them." At this, both Harry and Hermione glared down the table at Colin Creevy, who spilled his pumpkin juice.
"But nobody could deny your second date with Hermione."
Both of them looked at each other, and then at the twins sitting beside them, speechless. Hermione recovered first. "...Date? What date? Wait, what do you mean by second date?"