The origins of the agreement.

August 1994

Hermione found herself skipping down the pavement towards 4 Privet Drive. It had been three whole days without seeing Harry and she was fighting every impulse not to break out in a run. Walking was not an option as it was simply not fast enough.

Her parents had taken Hermione and Harry to a beach in Kent for his fourteenth birthday. They spent the entire day playing in the sand, the surf, window shopping and generally enjoying each other's company. She had spent hours planning out the perfect day for him only for Harry to decide to enjoy whatever caught his fancy. It had been better than she had hoped.

As she approached the house where Harry was staying – she refused to call it his home – Hermione noticed a dejected Harry weeding the front flower beds. Ignoring any pretense, Hermione ran as fast as her legs would carry her.

"Harry!"

Her Harry looked up at her. He gave her a smile that spoke of exhaustion mixed with relief and complete contentment. Before he had a chance to stand and greet her, Hermione leapt at him. She wrapped her arms around him, held him tight and let her momentum carry them both to the ground. When they were done tumbling in the topsoil and crushing several of Petunia Dursley's prized flowers, Hermione relaxed her hug just enough to pull back and look at Harry in his gorgeous green eyes.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "I haven't seen you work in the gardens since summer after first year. I thought I had corrected the Dursleys' thinking about making you do all the chores."

Harry just shook his head at her. His hair flopped about funnily given that he was lying on his back. "They're just being their usual nasty selves. Uncle Vernon is grumbling about the news. That's nothing new. Aunt Petunia is apparently getting laughed at by the other housewives because she didn't win best lawn this summer for the first time in five years. She isn't taking it too well and is blaming me. Dudley's school is forcing him on a diet because they don't make uniforms in his size. He's being the worst of the bunch."

Hermione sat back on her heels, still straddling Harry. "Your aunt is blaming you? Why?"

"Like I said, I used to take care of the lawn and flower beds when I was younger and I haven't had to since you talked to them after first year." Harry raised up, propping himself up on his elbows. "Last year, she still won 'Best Lawn' but it was a lot closer since she doesn't take care of things the way she used to insist I do. Apparently, this year she didn't even finish in the top three."

Growling erupted from Hermione's throat. She could not believe that the Dursleys had forgotten her lecture from two years before. Admittedly, it was not her best bit of lecturing but, considering she had had no time to properly prepare, it was rather impressive.

"I'll be right back." Standing, Hermione quickly brushed off the bits of soil and grass that had stuck to her sundress. Taking a brief moment to collect her thoughts, Hermione took a steadying breath and marched to the front door.

The eruption of vitriol echoed throughout the neighbourhood. No one could exactly understand what was being said, or even where it was coming from, but, for a half hour, there was not a soul on Privet Drive or any of the neighbouring streets that moved. Even several cars came to full stops and idled for the duration of the chastising lecture.

Before she departed to go spend time with her Harry again, Hermione checked herself over in the mirror by the front door. Several hairs were out of place. At that, Hermione realized she had let loose a bit more than intended. Normally she was much more controlled. Straightening the loose strands, Hermione made her way outside to where her Harry was waiting for her.

He had a rather unhappy look on his face.

"Let's go," Harry declared. Hermione silently followed his lead, firmly latched onto his arm. As they were walking towards the local park, Harry spoke. "We have got to do something about this. Yes, my relatives have been rather nasty to be around lately but I'm pretty sure half the county heard you yelling at them."

"But they were being mean to you," Hermione tried to explain.

"Nope. That isn't going to work this time, Hermione. And stop trying the pouty look." Hermione's pout disappeared. "For your information, before you went charging in there, I was going to tell you that I was working with the flowers of my own volition to get out of the house for a bit."

Hermione let her head drop, hoping to hide her embarrassed blush.

"Now, we're going to sit down, and write out a list of what you can and can't do to people that are mean or try to hurt me." Hermione looked up at Harry, appalled that he would suggest she needed limits on such things.

Huffing, Hermione interjected. "Fine, but we're also going to include things I expect you to do as my boyfriend like standing up for yourself."

Harry just nodded. "I suppose things like that are fine. Now, as I was say-"

"Oh! And we can put in things like biweekly dates and cuddle time and . . ."

Hermione wasn't sure when they arrived at the park. She wasn't sure when the sun had dipped below the horizon. What she did know was she had somehow acquired 30 pages of notes for elements to include in their agreement. She suspected it would take them the rest of the break to finalize it.

Thankfully, Harry had caved on her insistence that there must be special provisions for her handling of those skanky bitches that kept trying to steal her Harry. If only he hadn't put in a stipulation of his own that she couldn't just hide the bodies after she was done teaching them their lessons. How could she properly convey her opinions on their actions with such stifling limitations?

Thirty-one consecutive days of connected stories. Personal challenge met. The actual agreement will be posted in a future chapter. I need a break.