Hermione Granger’s long brown hair was whipping in the wind behind her as she sat in the drivers seat of the brand new BMW convertible. This was her present from her parents when she got home from King’s Cross at the end of her 6^th year at Hogwarts. They had told her it was a late/early birthday present. Who cared what it was! This was great!

She stepped on the gas after a brief stop at a traffic light and headed on towards Surrey. It was mid afternoon on July 31st and she was almost to Harry’s house. The temperature was perfect, there were no clouds in the sky, and she was going to pick up Harry from his horrible Aunt and Uncle’s house. Today Harry turned 17, and he was now an adult in the wizarding world and able to do magic. However, right now she had to worry about getting him for his surprise birthday party later on at Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

As she drove on, she started thinking about Harry. She had called him twice over the summer so far, and he had said he was doing fine. Ron’s family had picked him up on the 15th and had him stay at their house for two weeks. Mr. Weasley had brought him back to Privet Drive two days ago in their “new” car. It was another old Ford Anglia Fred and George had found somewhere and brought it back home for their father to tinker with. Harry had understood that he needed to come back to pick up his last things and after today, would be gone forever.

She turned onto Privet Drive and parked the car in front of Number 4. The Dursley’s car wasn’t there, or was in the garage. She got out, and walked to the front door and rang the bell.

The Dursley’s were home, as she found out when Vernon Dursley opened the door and stared at her as if he couldn’t believe his eyes, speechless. Hermione knew that he recognized her from Platform 9 3/4.

Regaining his voice, he spat out “You! What are you doing here?”

Trying to be as polite as she could, she replied, “Hello Mr. Dursley. I’m Hermione Granger. You obviously remember me from King’s Cross. I’m just here to pick up Harry and we’ll be gone.” As she said this, she slipped inside the house before he could say anything and headed up the stairs.

Even if she didn’t know which room was Harry’s, she could have easily figured it out. It was the one with the nine locks running from top to bottom along with several chains and a cat flap. She saw the door next to Harry’s open slightly and an eye staring at her before slamming shut. Shrugging, she walked up to Harry’s door and knocked.

“Harry! Are you in there? It’s me, Hermione!” she called.

The door burst open before she had finished and Harry stood there looking at her.

“Hermione? What are you doing here?” he asked.

“What do you think I’m here for, silly? I am taking you back to Grimmauld Place now that you’re of age. Come on! Get your stuff together!” she said as she followed him into his bedroom.

It was a small room, barely big enough for the bed, desk, and wardrobe that were in there. Harry’s trunk was open on the end of the bed and she could see his stuff jumbled up inside of it. His Firebolt was leaning against the desk that had Hedwig’s empty cage was on top. Harry threw the last of his things into the trunk and slammed it shut. He took out his wand and shrunk everything to be able to fit inside his pocket. Hermione smiled at him, impressed.

“Okay, I’m ready now. I guess you’ll have to side-along me because I don’t have a license yet,” he said.

“Nope! I drove here!” she replied.

“Drove? You don’t have a car,” he said confused.

“I do now! My parents bought me one for my birthday! They felt it was one normal thing they could get me that they understood. They gave it to me yesterday since I am going to be staying with you at Grimmauld Place for the rest of the summer,” she said happily.

“That’s great, Hermione! Come on then!” he said and hurried out of the room.

She followed him, and was just in time to see him collide with his uncle coming out of the kitchen. “Watch where you’re going, boy!” he yelled at him. Harry, however, didn’t apologize to him. Instead, he walked into the kitchen and she followed him in, right behind Vernon.

Petunia was standing at the sink with a shocked expression on her face. Harry was nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other, obviously waiting for an answer of some kind.

Petunia finally found her voice, said, “You’re welcome”, and quickly ran out of the room.

Harry turned to her, took her by the hand and led her out of the house. He shut the door behind them and started walking down the drive. He stopped when he saw her midnight blue car.

“Wow! This is so cool, Hermione!” he said, and then asked, “How fast does it go?”

‘Boys’ she thought with a laugh before saying to him with a mock expression of sternness “No faster than the speed limit. And don’t even think about asking to drive it!”

“Aw, come on Herms!” he replied teasingly.

“Shut up and get in Harry,” she said, opening the door and getting into the drivers seat. “I might let you drive tomorrow if you're a good boy.”

Harry jumped in and she started the car and drove off down Privet Drive. She hoped that this would be the last time he say this place and his relatives that had treated him so badly.

He fiddled with the radio for a while before finding something he liked. As they rode along, they talked about their summers so far and the upcoming school year. At other times they just sat in comfortable silence and listened to the radio. After and hour they were in the middle of London and almost to Grimmauld Place.

As they drove through the city the traffic got heavier. They stopped at a red light only a few blocks from Grimmauld Place and waited for it to turn green. After a minute it did and Hermione stepped on the gas. At the last second she saw the red car that wasn’t stopping for the red light and slammed on the brakes, but it was no use.

The red car rammed into the passenger side of the car, spinning it around. Harry had not been wearing a seat belt, and ended up in her lap. Their faces were almost touching and he looked slightly dazed. She wondered it he had hit his head.

When he opened his eyes he seemed surprised at how close they were to each other. That is, until he kissed her, and it was her turn to be surprised. Shocked, more like.

‘Harry is kissing me! Oh, please let him like me!’ she thought even as she returned his kiss.

Their moment was ruined when a bystander approached the car and asked if they were alright. They quickly broke apart and Harry jumped off her lap, blushing.

She assured the man that they were fine and they got out of the car. The woman driving the other car appeared to be unhurt as well. She came over, apologizing profusely. The front of the woman’s car was only slightly crushed, and could be easily fixed.

Hermione’s car, on the other hand, was messed up pretty bad. The entire passenger side door was caved in, and there were large dents on either side of it too. Muggles might say this was totaled, but that was without the use of magic.

She had already gotten out her wand and placed some wards that confused anyone who was paying attention to them. She fixed the bumper of the woman’s car when she wasn’t looking and cast a memory charm on her to forget about the entire thing. She then repaired the damage to her car. The dents disappeared and the door straightened itself until you couldn’t even tell she had been in a wreck. Harry got back in after she finished and they drove the last few blocks to Grimmauld Place in silence. Neither one of them looked at each other the entire way there.

She parked in front of the newly materialized Number 12 and got out after Harry. He walked quickly up to the front of the house and opened the door. Everything was pitch dark inside and there was no sound. She slipped in behind him and shut the door softly so he wouldn’t notice.

Suddenly, all the lights came on, revealing the fifty or so people packed into the room, who all yelled out “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY!!!”

Harry was surprised to say the least, judging from the way his wand was in his hand and pointing at the nearest person, which happened to be Ron.

“Easy there, mate! No need for that. Happy Birthday!” Ron said, as everyone started to crowd around him, wishing him happy birthday.

---

Several hours later, the party was winding down and almost everyone had already left, excluding the Weasleys, Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, and Hermione. Professor Dumbledore had never showed, which made Hermione slightly mad, as she had asked him personally to attend.

Harry was sitting on the couch in the drawing room surrounded by a pile of presents that had been given to him. He was talking with Ron, Fred, and George, probably about their joke shop or some prank they had pulled on a customer.

Ginny was sitting in a chair in the corner quietly discussing something with Tonks, and Mad-Eye, Remus, and Arthur were working on Order business. Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen cleaning up, and had refused all offers of help from her and Harry.

Harry broke away from Ron and the twins and made his way towards her where she was standing in the doorway watching everyone.

“You aren’t mad at me, are you?” he whispered in her ear.

“No, Harry, of course not! Why would I be mad at you?” she replied.

“What happened in the car?”

She thought about it for a moment and decided to test the waters.

“I actually liked it.” she said with a grin.

The look on his face was priceless when she said that, and she wished she had a camera. He opened and closed his mouth a few times and finally said “You did?”

“Of course I did. Otherwise I wouldn’t have kissed you back.” she replied, “And I would like it very much if you did it again.”

She walked off towards the stairs, looking back over her shoulder at him, who was staring at her with a shocked expression on his face.

She walked up the stairs into her bedroom and had no sooner shut the door when Harry knocked.

“Hermione, can I come in?” he asked.

She opened the door and let him in. He shifted nervously in front of her and finally spoke up.

“Did you...Did you really mean that you liked me kissing you?” he asked timidly.

As an answer, she walked up to him and whispered in his ear “Yes, I did.” before kissing him. He immediately responded and deepened the kiss.

When they broke apart she found herself up against the wall with Harry’s hands up under her shirt and her bra had been pushed off. They were both breathing heavily and Harry appeared horrified when he noticed where his hands were and quickly removed them.

“Hermione! I’m, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean too. I mean, I didn’t want to push you and make you uncomfortable like that or an–“

He was suddenly stopped when she kissed him again and pulled his hands back up and placed them on her waist.

“Harry, its okay! I’m not mad at all. I just don’t think I am ready for that yet.” she whispered.

He seemed to relax and she kissed him softly again.

The door suddenly banged open and Ron came into the room and stopped short when he saw the two of them. They jumped apart for the second time that day and both blushed heavily. They watched as Ron’s face changed from embarrassment, to something they couldn’t recognize, and finally to anger. He turned and practically ran out of the room.

Harry and Hermione share a look and quickly followed him. They heard him heading down the stairs and when they turned the corner saw him at the bottom with his back to them leaning against the wall. His body was shacking slightly, and she assumed it was from anger. She had heard rumors at Hogwarts that he liked her, but she had always fancied Harry.

“Ron?” she asked tentatively when she reached him and touched his shoulder.

He turned around and both were amazed to see him laughing so hard he could hardly breathe. After he calmed down he said to them “You should have seen your faces! It was hilarious! You two thought I was angry about you being together?”

“Well Ron, we kind of just found out and hadn’t had a chance to tell you yet. Does that mean you’re okay with that?” she asked.

“The entire bloody school has been waiting for the two of you to get together for about three years now. I’ve kinda grow used to the idea. I did like you at one point, Hermione, but I guess I can tell you that I’m going out with Luna now.” he replied.

They fell silent for a while until she Hermione spoke up again.

“Well, Harry and I have some unfinished business to attend to upstairs, so well see you later.” With that she took Harry by the hand and dragged him up the stairs, although he was all to willing to go with her.

Ron just laughed and headed back into the drawing room.

No, I haven’t forgotten about Silent Surprises. This is just something I had been working on and finally finished it. I will try to get another chapter up for SS in the next few weeks, but I am going to be very busy over the summer.