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Nine year old Harry Potter was discovering a lot of things about his new best friend. Hermione Granger, who would sooner die than oppose any sort of rules or regulations and was a timid person in general, seemed to have an exception when it came to him. There was nothing that he could suggest that she would not do with him. All he had to do was float the idea and give her one of his smiles and, bam, she would do whatever he wanted.
That was pretty cool.
The key, however, was not to overuse or abuse it. She was his best friend after all and he considered himself smart enough to know what trust was. Hermione, his best friend, trusted him. She believed he would never do anything to knowingly put them in danger. Harry wanted to reward that trust as much as he could by showing her how to have fun. Marauder style fun.
Currently, he was idling about and waiting for the bell to ring for lunchtime. He had a plan. Today, he was going to take Hermione to the rooftops. Harry didn’t have too many friends in his classes but he did have a few children he was pleasant with. She would be the first he would take to his secret spot, that hadn’t seen much use since he met her, during the lunchtime recess. It was the spot he went to avoid being in that ridiculously large crowd of students which he was not at all comfortable with.
When the bell rang, Harry hurriedly stowed his book and pencil in his book bag and raced over to Hermione. He caught sight of one of the bigger boys staring evilly at her items and shot him a deadly glare, green eyes flashing darkly. The arsehole of a child stumbled away and knew not to mess with his best friend.
“Honestly, Harry, I could have handled Ethan alone,” said Hermione once she caught wind of the exchange.
Why was she calling the troll by his first name? His last name was ‘Smith’ or something like that. He was a bully and definitely not worthy of being addressed by his first name by Harry’s best friend. “Why are you calling him that? He’s such an arse…”
“…Harry, watch your language,” she admonished.
“Whatever, I don’t like him. He was trying to knock over your stuff again.” The boy huffed before helping her pack and sling her book bag onto her shoulders.
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t owed respect as a person, Harry. If I show him no respect, I’m no better than him. We have to be better than those who cause us pain,” remarked Hermione.
That sounded like a load of shite. Sirius would tell him the exact opposite, he was sure of it. But Hermione clearly believed what she was saying and he knew it would be hard to convince her otherwise. There was no point in explaining his beliefs to her and trying to convert her. He had to respect her beliefs the way she did his. It was something she had taught to him early on in their friendship.
Deciding to change the topic, Harry asked, “Wanna eat lunch with me somewhere else?” They had usually found a secluded spot under the large willow tree in the school’s backyard to share lunches but today he had bigger and grander plans. “I wanna show you my secret place.”
“You have a secret place?” Hermione gasped, suddenly interested.
“Yeah, I haven’t been able to use it much since I met you but now I want to show you.” He grinned wickedly at her and took her hand to drag her out of the classroom. And no, he didn’t care if the other boys and girls mocked him for holding hands with Hermione.
Together, they sped off to the fifth floor hallway and Harry found the door to the maintenance room. He heard his best friend pull in a sharp breath behind him and turned around to reassure her. “I know it says forbidden to all students but it wouldn’t be forbidden unless there was something absolutely worth it inside.”
“Yes, but…” Hermione nibbled on her bottom lip and looked around squeamishly for any teacher or worker, “you’re breaking the rules. They’ll surely punish us if we get caught.”
“Which is why we won’t get caught, I promise,” Harry surprised himself when he slid two hands onto her waist and forced her to hold his gaze, “I won’t let us get caught. Do you trust me?”
Her nod was vehement and forceful, as if to say he was stupid for even asking that question. The boy wizard only gave her another lopsided turn of his lips before he turned back to the door to find it, as he expected it to be, locked. Good thing he was a wizard, though Hermione didn’t and couldn’t know that.
“Is it locked?” She asked from behind him as he hid the doorknob and his hand in front of his body out of her view.
“Nah, it’s just jammed.” Remus and Sirius would kill him if they ever knew what he had done but they weren’t in the school and no one was any the wiser. Harry slipped the key to the door, which he always stored in the inside pocket of his jumper, into his hand and easily unlocked the door. No one needed to know he nicked it from one of the cleaners. “Brilliant.”
Hermione commented on how she was surprised a door such as that was not locked and Harry could only sheepishly agree with her. It was a ‘gross negligence of safety’ according to her, whatever the heck that meant. Better she criticize the school for their lack of safety than him for being a thief.
“Okay, Hermione, from this moment on we have to be silent,” whispered Harry, taking her hand behind him and leading her into the maintenance room. It was more like a whole section of the school, if he was being honest.
After shutting the door as gently as he could, he led her through the room towards his next stop. The stairs and entrance to the rooftops. His best friend had no clue where he was going which made it all the more fun for him.
When she did realize they were heading to the roof, however, as they ascended the stairs, her panic grew to a fever pitch. “Harry, what are you doing? We can’t go there?”
She was going to need some convincing. “Don’t worry, Hermione, it’s my secret spot. No one ever comes up onto it unless repairs are being done.”
“B—but, I’m afraid of heights.” Shite. Well, it was time for her to conquer that fear.
Again forcing her to hold his piercing gaze, Harry assured her, “I won’t let anything happen to you. It’s perfectly safe. I promise.” There it was. She nodded shakily and was the one to take his hand this time.
And just like that, he led her onto the rooftops and found his favourite spot. Hermione was still shaky the entire way through but his presence had calmed her down somewhat. She followed his lead, hand in hand with him, and hesitantly took a seat with him on a more even surface of the roof, away from anyone who could see them from below.
Still, she was a bit scared. Harry had a little voice telling him that he was pushing her too far but he batted it away. He wanted to share this special place with his best friend. So, he inched closer and made sure their bodies and legs were touching as they sat next to each other.
“Just breathe, Hermione. We can’t fall and no one can see us. The door is only a few metres away too. Breathe.” It was something uncle Moony taught him to do when he was afraid. If he could manage his breathing and concentrate on getting it down to a simple pattern, all would be well.
Some time later as he coaxed Hermione through her breathing, she finally settled in. Then, she started to admire the view. Her eyes widened and a low breath escaped her once she saw the wonderful landscape they were overlooking.
“Cool, right?” Harry tried to see if she was at all impressed, which she looked like she was. It would sting him a lot if she didn’t think he was cool. Though, he didn’t know why.
Before she could answer, his stomach started to complain about the lack of lunch. He blushed scarlet as his best friend giggled and they quickly tucked into their lunch. Hermione gave him half her sandwich and he gave her half of his candy and half of Sirius’ ‘world famous’ chicken wrap. They split her fruit bowl afterward and then eased into relaxation atop the roof.
“I can see why you like it here, Harry. It’s so peaceful,” a near quiet Hermione commented.
That made the boy so damn happy. She liked his place, or at least, she could see why he liked it. Heck yeah. “It’s even better now, by the way.” And it was. It sure was.
“Why?” The girl returned.
“Because you’re here,” Harry responded flatly. Being on the rooftops was one thing, being with his best friend was a whole nother thing. Absolutely brilliant, it was.
His best friend’s cheeks went from pink to a burgundy colour and she avoided his eyes. He could see her smiling to herself, though, and that was enough for him. Everything today had been enough for him. She had conquered her fear and came with him to the roof, breaking a myriad of rules along the way, all because he asked her to.
He knew that, had he been anyone else, the results from today would not be the same. Hermione had a ‘Harry Exception’. Pretty cool.
———
In his second year, during the time when his best friend was petrified and quidditch ended up being canceled as Hogwarts came under attack from the basilisk, Harry had spent much of his time flying around on his Nimbus 2000 by himself. Ron and the boys were decent company but they weren’t Hermione. He had missed her everyday when she was petrified and flying was the only way to cope with that.
Thank goodness, though, that he had managed to defeat the basilisk and end the threat to make sure the school was safe for when Hermione woke up. And thankfully, she did wake up. It was now a week after it and two weeks before the year would end. Harry had a plan to put her ‘Harry Exception’ to use.
They were inseparable now, even more so than before, after the petrification and were lounging in the common room in what the others dubbed their ‘signature position’. Hermione was reading some book while Harry had his head placed on her lap as he laid on the sofa. It was nice and peaceful but he wanted more now.
“Come flying with me?” He pleaded, looking up at her.
“What?” Her ministrations of stroking his hair had paused and made him chuff at her. She resumed them again, noticing his displeasure, but kept her inquisitive look.
“Come flying with me. I wanna show you something,” repeated Harry.
Like always when trying something new and potentially fear-inducing for her, Hermione needed convincing. “I don’t know, Harry. I’ve never been flying before and I’m not sure I want to.”
“You’ll be flying with me and you know I won’t let anything happen to you.” He gave her that stare again. The one that let her know that not a single lie would be told by him.
“But it’s not that safe, not like that time when we went on the roof,” she continued to argue with him.
Harry sat up and took both of her hands in his. No way was he not going to share this with her. He wanted to exchange a part of himself with her. Flying was his peace and it was his thing but he wanted it to be their thing. Just like her fixing his glasses, he wanted something unique to them. Screw it, Harry wanted Hermione to be a part of him. So he could take her wherever he went when she wasn’t with him.
“It’s perfectly safe. Maybe not safer than the rooftops but I know how to fly and I’ll keep you safe. I promise. Just trust me,” he begged, sounding like a child asking his parents for something valuable.
“You know I trust you, Harry.” She seemed almost offended that she had to reassure him of that. His lips curled up before he stood to his feet and pulled her to stand in front of him.
“You’re going to enjoy it. I want to share this with you, I already told you I flew all day long when you were…gone,” he winced at the recollection of her petrification and the months without her, “and it was because it kept me sane. I want to show you why.”
“Okay. Show me.” He nearly leapt into the air with elation.
Twenty minutes later, they were out in the warm spring air of the Hogwarts grounds with his broomstick in tow. Harry decided to show off just a little by letting the broom hover over the ground by itself as he turned towards Hermione. His cocky grin just barely made its way off his face.
“Alright, hop on.” The boy gestured to his Nimbus.
“You want me to go on first?” His best friend hesitantly questioned.
Nodding, Harry beckoned her over and placed a hand on her shoulder to assuage her fears. “The broom won’t take off until I command it to. All you have to do is mount it and I’ll be right behind you.”
Unlike their ride on his minibike three years earlier, he had decided to situate himself behind her just to hold her steady and have her in his arms in case something happened. Nothing was going to happen, though, he was going to make sure of that. Even so, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared, as Hermione always said.
They were both then seated on the broom after much deliberation on her part and he scooted himself up behind her. Uncle Remus had always told him to ask for permission on certain things even if they seemed to be expected of him or his companion was okay with it. “I’m going to put my arms around you now, is that okay?”
“What? Of course it is.” She again sounded offended that he even had to ask, earning a dry chuckle from him. His arms wound themselves around her, bracketing her sides, and reached out to hold the broomstick steady.
The girl was still tensed up and her knuckles were turning white from the ironclad grip she had on the Nimbus. “You can relax, Hermione. I’ve got you, I won’t let you fall.” His words had their intended effect and her body loosened up to let her lean back against his body.
Resting his chin on her shoulder and observing the area in front of them, Harry began to kick off. “I’m going to take us into the air now, alright? I’m going to go slow, promise.” His voice was low and breathy because of how close he was to her ear and the wind was starting to pick up. She trembled as he spoke to her and he reflexively tightened his arms around and pressed more of his body against her to give her some warmth. “Let me know if it gets to be too much, okay.” Again, she trembled as he spoke and he wrapped her up even more tightly.
At her responding shake of her head, he took them into the sky at a gentle and slow pace. Over the wind, he could hear her gasping and breathing unevenly as they gained more height by the second. “Just breathe, Hermione. Breathe. It’s not so bad.”
Normally, he would have gone higher but she was with him this time around. Harry decided to go just past the height of the Gryffindor tower and had them staring west towards the sun beginning to take its rest for the night. A smattering of auburn, ginger, and purple painted across the sky, making it look like an abstract painting. Simply gorgeous.
“You can open your eyes now, Hermione. I’m not going any higher,” Harry teased her.
The sight was too beautiful for her not to see it. It was the main event of the evening. Over the weeks she had been petrified, he had found peace in watching the sun set because it meant that a new day was coming soon and he would be one day closer to having his best friend with him. All of them were beautiful but this one, this one, was way more so. Because she was with him watching it.
“Oh my God.” Had it not been for his chin resting on her shoulder and their closeness, he wouldn’t have heard her awestruck words.
“It’s stunning, isn’t it?” Odd, Hermione still shivered in his arms. She must have been feeling real chilly.
“It is…it’s…I don’t know how to describe it.” Score one for Harry Potter. He had rendered the brightest witch of her age speechless. There was a first for everything after all. Cool. “You came up here everyday when I was petrified?”
“Everyday, Hermione. I wouldn’t lie to you. I came up here because I just needed to know another day had ended and I was one day closer to seeing you wake up,” he said honestly from his heart.
Shite. She was sniffling. Did he do something wrong? Bollock. “Oh, Harry.” Her tiny hand reached up behind her to cup his cheek before moving up to his hair as her arm bent to let his head rest on it. “I didn’t know you missed me that much.”
“You’re my best friend, Hermione. I couldn’t imagine spending so long without you,” their eyes met as her face turned to meet his, “and I needed someone to fix my glasses.” His lopsided grin was on his features again while she giggled and played with his hair.
“I’m surprised they didn’t get broken in the months I was petrified,” she bantered.
“I was too busy worrying over you to do anything stupid,” he shot back easily.
Warm chocolate and chestnut eyes softened at his words. The boy quickly found himself lost in them as the world drowned out and she became everything and everywhere for him. “I’m so sorry I made you worry, Harry. If I could…”
“…it’s alright, Hermione. That’s what best friends do right? They worry. You’re important to me and I can’t lose you.” Harry was in a state of mechanical workings as he spoke. He had no thought nor control over his words. It felt like he was merely a passenger as his heart spoke what it wanted to speak.
“You’re important to me too, Harry,” said Hermione and then did something she had never done before when she kissed him on the cheek. Her lips were so bloody soft and marshmallowy and pillowy and… he couldn’t find anything else to compare it to. “And I can’t lose you either.”
———
By now, nearly six years after they met, Hermione was certain she had a ‘Harry Exception’. They were together now since their third year during their first visit to Hogsmeade but the last year had not been kind on Harry. Voldemort had returned and, despite support from his two fathers, her boyfriend was more tired and haggard than she had ever seen him.
Now too, he had not owled her nor accepted her invitation to visit her and her parents before they left for a holiday to France. She had wanted to bring him along, as did her parents, but Dumbledore had warned them that it was not safe. Thus, Hermione reluctantly agreed to go with her mum and dad regardless but promised to keep in contact with Harry.
Apparently, though, he didn’t care. He had been avoiding her since the end of last year and it hadn’t changed over the summer. Hermione knew Harry like the back of her hand. He wasn’t avoiding her for no reason. He probably convinced himself that it would be better for her to not be associated with him given his longstanding rivalry with the Dark Lord. It was utterly stupid.
And that was why Hermione chose to use her Harry Exception to refuse going on holiday with her parents. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to be by his side and refusing the family holiday was one of them.
“Something’s bothering Harry, mummy. I know him, this isn’t like him,” the witch reasoned to her mother.
“I agree, this isn’t like him. He’s usually so loving and attentive to you,” the woman remarked knowingly.
“Or maybe he’s starting to do what all teenage boys do when the first signs of commitment come,” her father added to the conversation.
Both of the women glared at him and he sheepishly raised his arms in surrender. Hermione knew her boyfriend better than that. She just did. “Harry is not like that. Something has been bothering him and I intend to get to the bottom of it. I won’t be going on holiday with you two.”
“Are you sure about this, Poppet? I don’t want you to miss out on France just to be heartbroken if what your father said is true.”
“I’m sure, what daddy said isn’t true. I know Harry and I’m going to find him and have a reasonable discussion.”
Oh, but it was going to be anything but reasonable. She was going to tear him apart. After all these damn years, he still didn’t believe they were stronger together. She was going to give him a thumping reminder. A THUMPING reminder. Who did he think he was? It was always them. Never him and her. Never just Harry and just Hermione. It was them.
With that thought in mind, Hermione had found herself on the Knight Bus not too long after and then in front of Grimmauld Place all in the span of ten minutes. She didn’t even knock on the door and barged in once the wards recognized her.
The witch set a brisk pace through the hallway and then threw open another door to find four surprised eyes belonging to Remus and Sirius staring at her. What they said next managed to lighten up her mood. “Told you she wasn’t going to go on holiday.”
“I’m assuming you’re here to talk some sense into our son?” Remus warmly said, beckoning her in and giving her a fatherly hug along with his husband.
“So you two knew he was being an idiot?” Hermione said to both men accusingly.
They laughed in response and shook their heads. “We did and we kept trying to tell him he was being stupid but only one person can get through to him these days.” Both of the men’s gazes were leveled at her in a suggestive look. The witch’s cheeks darkened almost painfully while she fought the urge to blush.
“Go talk to our son. Tell him what he needs to hear. And rip him a new one.” The older men tapped her on the shoulder and egged her on.
Filled with new fire, Hermione marched to Harry’s room with intent to well and truly rip him a new one. Her idiot boyfriend was not going to know what hit him. The gall of him, the audacity, the stupidity to think that he would go all of this alone. That he needed to protect her by isolating himself from her.
“Oh and I guess Harry was right,” she turned back to Sirius who had his usual charming grin, “you really do have an exception for him. Missing your family holiday and all that just to talk sense into him.”
———
“So mum really canceled her family holiday just to be with you?” Adam asked his father with barely hidden awe.
Smiling at his son, Harry nodded yes. “Yup, your mum is the most fiercest witch I know but she has one glaring weakness.”
“You,” Adam answered knowingly.
“Exactly, she has what I like to call ‘The Potter Exception’, the same one Celeste has for you,” Harry informed his son.
Adam knew that to be true since the minibike ride nearly six years back when they were both nine. There was nothing Celeste wouldn’t do for him and vice versa. He liked to think they had exceptions for each other. The trick was to not use it too much. He had come to his father for advice and wound up learning about the man’s own experiences with that exception. Now it was time to get back to the real reason for his visit.
“What do you think Celeste would like on a first date?” The boy inquired curiously, already preparing a mental notepad.
His father threw his head back and laughed resoundingly as he shook his head. “She’s going to like it if the date involves you, that’s for one.”
“Daaaadddd.” Now was not the time for jokes. This was a Sirius matter. It could make or break everything in his relationship with Celeste. He had no time for jokes.
“Think about it, son. Remember, you have the Potter Exception on your side. Use it,” suggested his father.
He had already been using that, though. What more could he get her to do with him? They had already been on his minibike, snuck out past curfew to the kitchen and then went stargazing in the astronomy tower, and he had even convinced her to go to the Shrieking Shack with him.
His dad must have sensed his confusion because he began speaking. “Alright, I’ll use one of my own experiences. Take her flying. You love flying, right?” Adam nodded his head vigorously as the idea of going on a date with Celeste in the air started to reverberate in his head. “Then give her that part of yourself. It’s something I did with your mum in second year and it sort of became our thing like her fixing my glasses was.”
“Celeste hates flying…” oh, that was where the Potter Exception came in. Adam grinned at his dad and fist bumped him. What was mum on about when she said her husband was an idiot? Then again, this was also the same man who charged to fight a basilisk and jumped onto a troll’s back for her.
“Alright, now your detention is served. Don’t let me hear about you punching Scorpius Malfoy again.” Dad was back in Professor Potter mode now. Sheepishly, Adam agreed silently but couldn’t help and defend his actions.
“He called Celeste that word. I had to punch him,” the boy protested weakly.
“You didn’t have to punch him, Adam. You could have brought him to me and I would have dealt with it. Remember that next time because I’m sure Celeste is utterly miffed at you right now.” Taking that as his cue to leave, the eldest Potter child scurried out of his father’s office and raced back to the Gryffindor common room.
His father wasn’t lying about that last part, however. Adam’s best friend was royally furious with him. She had thick skin and could endure name calling and mockery but the one thing that was disrespectful to her was to assume she couldn’t defend herself. And he had done just that by punching Malfoy.
As predicted, as soon as he arrived back into the room, everyone scurried out as Mount Celeste got ready to erupt at him. Shite. Just then, Adam felt true fear for the first time as his best friend and crush turned to him, fuming so hard that steam was coming out of her ears.
“GO ON A DATE WITH ME?” Well, he had to try something. If he could distract her from him being an idiot, maybe she would forget all about it. Never let it be said that Adam Potter wasn’t a man with a plan. Though, his plans usually didn’t go according to, well, plan. Either way, he always had a plan.
“What?” Bingo. She had calmed down immensely, her rage forgotten, and began blushing cutely. Heck yeah.
He realized that he needed to speak instead of admiring the resplendent, she taught him that word, face of his crush. Suddenly more shy, Adam asked, “Will y—you go on a…maybe…kind of date with me?”
“A ‘maybe kind of date’?” confirmed Celeste.
The boy’s head felt devoid of blood at his furious nod in the negative. “No, no. I…want you to go on an actual date with me.”
“Really?” What kind of question was that? Of course he did. There was no one else he wanted to date, he was sure of it.
Screw it, Adam shot at himself. It was time to showcase that Gryffindor courage. His feet knocked against the floor with purposeful marches, bringing him to stand directly in front of Celeste who had ducked her head shyly. His fingers felt the supple softness of her skin as he tilted her head to look at him.
“I have a crush on you, Celeste Watson,” his hands enveloped her cheeks and bracketed her face, “and I would really like to take you on a date.”
Bloody hell, where was he finding this courage from? Grandpas Moony and Padfoot would be beaming with pride. Maybe he got it from them. Merlin only knew he didn’t get it from his pops.
“Okay,” his crush’s breathless voice played to him like music. Just like good music often did, it made him joyously grin as his arms slipped around her waist. Her skinny but still very strong arms twined around his neck as they smiled at each other. “I’ll go on a date with you, Adam Potter.”
“Have I ever told you that you’re brilliant?” He whispered, unconsciously leaning ever so closer to her soft plump lips.
“A couple of times.” It felt like their lips were on a collision course with each other.
“Have I told you that I really want to kiss you?” asked Adam when his boldness reached new highs.
“What’s stopping you?” Celeste responded playfully, leaning up so their noses touched and their breaths coalesced.
Nothing, Adam decided. The boy didn’t hesitate to meet his best friend’s lips with his own after that. He relaxed into it almost immediately and stopped pressing. All he wanted to do was relax and let the drug of his crush and hopefully new girlfriend send him careening to pleasurable highs.
Their lips melded against the other and they sank into their first kiss together. How had they spent six years not doing this?! This was like heaven. It was pure bliss. Way better than flying. Actually, way, way, way, better than flying.
They had to break apart too soon for his liking but that didn’t stop him from smiling like a damned fool. Even better, she had the same look on her face. They must have looked like they were drunk to the others. Heck, they actually were drunk. Drunk on each other.
“I’m still mad at you for hitting Malfoy by the way,” Celeste reminded.
Intoxicated as he was, Adam didn’t care a single bit about that. He wasn’t going to start thinking about Scorpius Bloody Malfoy when he had his crush in his arms and had just finished kissing her. Heck no. He did need to apologize, though.
“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. I promise,” he apologized before letting their foreheads rest against each other.
“So what kind of date are you taking me on?”
Adam wore his father’s lopsided smirk. This was where the Potter Exception came in.