And yet, she couldn't help but find it a little cozy. As Harry prattled on, happy to show them around the dreary place, she noticed a well-worn couch piled high with colorful blankets. The kitchen, although made of more dark wood tones and not enough lights, had a charming collection of mismatched chairs around the table adorned with a bright red checkered tablecloth and a little vase of flowers.
Even the study, with walls filled to the brim with bottles of potions ingredients and books and anatomical diagrams, lacked the uncomfortable atmosphere Professor Snape's classroom held. Everything was clean but charmingly cluttered making it look well lived in and the little potted plants covering every available surface brightened up and endeared her to the space.
Best of all, was Harry's room. He led them up the tight staircase with a note of nervousness to him and opened the door at the top, stepping aside so Ron and Hermione could inspect. His walls were a deep blue, hidden behind posters and drawings and photos covering almost every inch. Hermione hid a pleased smile and a wave of fondness at the enlarged photo of the three of them taken by Hagrid's hut at the end of the school year. There was also one of him at a Little League football game, grinning as he held up a trophy in his ugly lime uniform and knee-high socks. His blankets were bold Gryffindor colors, his sheets covered in dragons. There were jeans and shoes littering the floor and he had all sorts of trinkets and things on top of his dresser. His trunk was shoved in the corner, clearly not unpacked, and a plush loveseat, a shocking and ugly mustard yellow sat underneath the window, which was adorned in owl-patterned curtains.
"Do you like it?" Harry asked shyly.
"It suits you perfectly," she assured him, while Ron launched into a light-hearted argument about the Quidditch posters covering his walls.
Over time, the hint of dread slowly fell from her mind, though it never left completely. Hermione was able to focus on less disturbing things. Like how pleased Harry seemed to be about having guests over, making sure to offer them pop (which Ron instantly loved) and crisps and all sorts of sugary snacks looking out of place in the austere kitchen pantry. His frantic, bubbling energy was hard to escape and it pulled them in as the boys shouted about brooms.
Harry's mum made a brief appearance, announcing that she would be ordering pizza for dinner and that Harry's other friend Luna was coming by later in the afternoon. She said in a deadpan tone to not drown in the swimming pool and to not disturb her unless it was an emergency and then left them alone without a single introduction or anything, vanishing the second Hermione had turned away for just a moment. Harry's mum was admittedly very weird and a bit creepy and while she would never say that to Harry (it was so clear he adored his mama with all his heart) the dark shadows and frosty air seemed to dissipate once the strange woman had left and Hermione was able to breathe a bit easier and ignore the instinctual warning bells going off in the back of her mind.
Luna was also a bit odd, only a bit less than Harry could be, so Hermione was quite used to it at this point. She fit into their group without much fuss, able to talk books with Hermione, obscure magic with Harry, and was able to win over Ron with a discussion about dragons and other magical creatures. They spent the day swimming and playing under the hot sun.
It was as carefree and delightful as possible, the most fun any of them had ever had in their lives. Hermione had been unwilling to get her hair wet, and quickly she'd had both boys trying their damndest to pick her up and throw her into the pool. The lot of them were shrieking with laughter until Luna had snuck up from under the water and grabbed her by the ankles, tripping all three of them face-first into the water.
Harry had also shown them a precarious treehouse he and Luna had set up years ago in a willow tree. It had remained mostly intact despite being abandoned for a year, the structure being held together by ratty blankets, logs and weak sticking charms. One of his mama's only rules was that they were not allowed to bring food into the woods (Harry described an exciting encounter with a bear) but there were a bunch of board games and toys to play with.
Finally, it had gotten dark and the children were exhausted and hungry, so they stumbled back inside and ate the shit out of several pizzas.
Harry's nervousness was explained when he quietly admitted he'd never had a sleepover before. It had just been him and Luna before Hogwarts, and his mama had been strict about having guests over. Curled in blankets they'd arranged in a fort in the living room, grease dripping off their fingers from the pizza, Ron said with a stain of embarrassed red on his face that he'd only had his brothers before - all of them quickly growing too old to want to play with their little brother. Hermione offered him some muggle sour candy and told the story of how her parents had thrown her a huge party for her tenth birthday, and they'd invited her whole class and not a single kid had shown up.
Suddenly it was like a floodgate had opened, and all of them had things gripping deep in their chests they whispered in the safety of their blanket fort. Harry told them in quiet tones about the Dursleys, Luna about her mother passing and father's subsequent distance, Ron about his insecurities about being the sixth Weasley son with big shoes to fill, Hermione about her parents' clear disappointment in her being a witch - their dreams of her being a doctor or a lawyer vanished as she abandoned it all for the wizarding world.
...
The four children gripped each other's hands under the blankets and fell asleep tangled in a pile of limbs.
....
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