And So it Goes

Summary: Did Hermione just get caught up in the moment of taking care of Harry, or is there more there? I think all true Harmonians know the answer to that question. Excerpt - They made eye contact only for a few seconds and then, rather quickly, went back to their food. Hermione's eyes, now focused back on her plate, missed that Harry had immediately glanced back up at her again, a small smile crossing his face, before truly looking back down.

A/N - You might think this is silly, but I play the songs that inspire my chapters in the background while I write. If you have Lifehouse's “You and Me,” play it while you read - think of it as a movie soundtrack. I just think it adds one more layer of emotion. Lastly, I want to send a huge thanks out to my beta, K.W., for making all of this possible!

You and Me - Lifehouse

What day is it? And in what month?

This clock never seemed so alive

I can't keep up and I can't back down

I've been losing so much time

Cause it's you and me and all of the people with

Nothing to do . nothing to lose

And it's you and me and all of the people

And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you

All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right

I'm tripping on words, you've got my head spinning

I don't know where to go from here.

Harry walked into the common room as calmly as he could and headed for the couch. He sat down an started to open the paper.

“Are you serious?” asked Ron. “You are really going back to reading that? You've turned as mental as her,” Ron said jokingly, as Harry just tried to laugh if off. “Well, if you are going to read, do you mind if I borrow your kit - ya know, clean up my broom a bit?”

'Perfect timing,' Harry thought. “Sure Ron, any time!”

“Thanks.” And with that, Ron sprinted upstairs.

Harry watched him leave and then practically ripped the paper trying to get to the third page. Hermione's writing was all around the outside margin of the text. It overflowed down the side and to the bottom so that Harry had to turn the page over as he read.

(Harry, I was hoping we could get a chance to talk about you and me. I know you are busy with Ron today, so, I was thinking after the DA meeting tomorrow. I will come up with an excuse to stay in the room and you can come back a half hour later, that is, if you want to talk about last night. If you don't want to, that's alright, too, nothing will change between us. - Hermione

P.S. I couldn't sleep either)

Suddenly a voice came from behind him and pulled the paper out of his hands.

“Why are you reading this upside down?” asked Ron.

Trying to stay as relaxed as possible, Harry interrupted him, “Err, Ron, could I have that back please?”

Ron just continued to look inquisitively at the page. “I mean, I don't see any thing written upside down, and the pictures aren't changing when it's flipped, but you looked so...intent on what you were reading...”

'He couldn't see the ink!' Harry thought, 'Merlin's Beard, she's clever!”

“Yeah, that's it, I was looking to see if the over head shot of the Cannon's match looked better...upside down,” Harry said, even though he knew he did sound very convincing.

“Ah Shiste, speaking of Quiddich, we better be off,” said Ron, pushing the paper back to Harry.

“Erm, yeah,” was all Harry fumbled out, shocked that Ron believed his really bad lie. He folded up the paper and headed to the boys dorms, “Give me a sec, Ron, and I'll be right back down.” As he ran up the stairs, he had this sinking feeling of guilt for lying to Ron, 'Should I just tell him?' he thought. But then he thought better of it, he would talk to Hermione about it first, she was involved in this after all.

****************************

Following the Quiddich scrimmage, the boys headed back to the commonroom with Ginny, she was a keeper this year. Hermione was at the scrimmage, Harry had made sure to look for her, but they couldn't find her after the game. They assumed she had headed back on her own, but once they arrived, she was no where to be found. Harry headed to his room, pulled out the Marauder's Map and searched for her - McGonagall's Office. He went back to the commonroom and told Ron & Ginny that he had found her.

“That's odd,” said Ginny, “she never made mention of having to meet with McGonagall.”

“Well, let's head to the Great Hall, it's almost supper, I'm sure she would head there next,” said Harry.

As they were walking out Ron added, jokingly, “It's probably just school stuff. Maybe she wants Hermione to teach a class for her or something, like Hogwarts: A History 101.”

*****************************

When they made it to the Great Hall, Hermione was already there, reading. As they sat down and exchanged their greetings, Ginny chimed in immediately, “So what did you need to do in McGonagall's office?”

Hermione's eyes widened in shock, “How did you - ,” but then she paused, suddenly realizing how. “Oh, erm, she wanted to talk to me about being her assistant for a class of her first years.”

“Let me guess,” interrupted Ron, “Hogwarts: A History, 101.”

At this they all laughed, and moved to sit with Hermione to eat. Harry sat across from Hermione this time. Once they had all filled their plates and had begun to eat and make conversation, Harry said to Hermione, “Oh, thanks by the way, for finding that article for me. I did find it to be of...um, much interest.” They made eye contact only for a few seconds and then, rather quickly, went back to their food. Hermione's eyes, now focused back on her plate, missed that Harry had immediately glanced back up at her again, a small smile crossing his face, before truly looking back down.

Ginny was sitting next to Neville, who asked her to pass her the salt - salt that was on the table near Harry and Hermione, salt that she moved to grab just at the right time to catch the exchange of glances that her two friends just shared.

“Uh, Hermione,” Ginny asked, “I have to go to the loo, come with me, alright?”

Hermione looked questioningly at her friend. “Can you wait, I'm almost do....”

“No, now.” Ginny stood up and waited for Hermione to head out with her.

“Fine, Fine.” Hermione stood up and headed out of the Great Hall with Ginny. As they were walking out, Hermione asked, “what is this all about?”

They stopped just outside of the doors. Ginny turned to face Hermione squarely, “You tell me.”

“I don't know what you are talkin....”

Ginny interrupted her defense, “First you borrow my mini-quill, pass off the paper to Harry - and don't think I didn't notice how you lingered with him and didn't let go right away - and then just now.”

“Just now what?” Hermione asked, now rather flustered from the conversation.

“You to made eyes at each other. I have done that same exchange with Dean before, and the look Harry gave you, well, I would kill to have Dean look at me like that.”

Just as Hermione was about to argue her way out of it, she stopped and smiled, “How did he look at me?”

“Oh, good grief, you're falling for him, aren't you?”

Hermione didn't say anything and with that, Ginny did.

“I have one really important word for you Hermione - RON - don't hide this too long, my brother may be thick, too thick to pick up on this right away, but he is my brother, and I don't want him hurt. You need to tell him soon or I will.” Ginny then turned on her heels and headed back to the Great Hall.

************

The DA meeting came and went. Hermione had made up an excuse that she wanted to stay and study in the Room of Requirement since the commonroom was simply to noisy for her. Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor DA members, on the other hand, headed back to the commonroom.

By the time he stepped through the portrait his heart was starting to pulse a little faster. 'What do I do for a half hour?' he thought, as he headed up to the dorms. 'Maybe she just wants to be friends.....friends that kiss when the other one needs a right bit of cheering up,' he laughed to himself. 'She did make all the first moves after all, she has to want to be more than just friends...she just has to...' Harry kept mulling over the situation as he flipped through the book she had gotten him. He waited until 20 minutes had gone by and then decided to head out.

He spotted Ron in the commonroom as he was about to cut through.

“Hey, I'm going to get Hermione, don't want her to lose track of time, ya know how she gets.”

“Alright then,” Ron said, in a very dismissive fashion. He didn't even look up since he was loosing a game of wizards chess, to of all people, Colin Creevy, who appeared to be gloating over this fact.

Ginny, however, had be sitting in one of the large arm chairs, reading. She had glanced up long enough to watch Harry leave the room, with his invisibility cloak in hand, and look back at her inattentive brother. She simply shook her head and resumed reading.

**********************

Harry had made it to the room five minutes early. 'She won't mind,' he thought, not that he would be able to wait a minute longer anyway.

As he walked in, a startled Hermione got up from the cushion she had been sitting on, “Harry!..You're early...I'm impressed,” she said with a smile, while he slightly blushed.

“Oh, I, err, hadn't even noticed,” he tried to say coolly as he set the cloak down.

An uncomfortable silence suddenly took over the room. They were about 10 feet away from each other, neither one moving from their spot. Finally, Harry, thinking about how this was all he could think about all day long, decided he had to say something.

“So, that was a pretty brilliant trick with the paper today, the ink, how did you manage it?

“Oh, Ginny's miniquill is from Zonko's. It's charmed so that the ink is only visible by the intended reader. Most girls have them so that they can write notes in class to each other. But it is not foolproof by any means, teachers can make the text appear immediately. I have seen them cast the charms on intercepted notes. Plus, the writing does eventually become visible,” Hermione explained.

“Hang on,” said Harry anxiously, suddenly realizing the implications of what she had just said. He had taken the Daily Prophet out of his pocket and put it on his night stand in his room, “How long until it appears for everyone to see?”

She took a few steps toward him in reaction to his concern, and reassuringly said, “ usually about 24 hours.”

He gave a slight sigh of relief and then said, “Ron saw me reading it....upside down,” to this they both laughed a bit, “and he took it from me. I was able to get it back by making up some bad excuse, which he amazingly believed, but I don't know if he would try and read it again. It was about the Cannons after all.”

There was another pause between them.

After about a minute Hermione spoke up, “Ginny thinks that there is something going on between us, that's why she stormed out of the Great Hall with me earlier.”

“I don't think that Ron thinks anything, but that's why I'm not sure I want him finding the paper before I can talk to him,” said Harry.

She took another step toward him, “So what would you tell him, Harry?” Hermione asked, never breaking her eye contact with him.

Harry just stared at her, his heart racing so fast he could swear he could hear it in his ears. “I would, err, tell him that.....that..,” Harry fumbled out, running his hand through his already messy hair, looking at her looking so sweet, looking for him to say the right words....,”I had realized that I was falling for our best friend this summer.”

Hermione's face lit up and she bit her bottom lip as if to keep her smile from getting too big. She started to take a few steps toward him, “Harry, I was so worried that I had done the wrong thing last night, It just....”

Harry interrupted her, as all of his bottled up emotions about her went washing away from him, “Can I tell you, Hermione, your letters over the summer, by the end they were so hard to read. I never want to hear about you dating another bloke again, muggle or wizard.” And with that last statement, he closed the distance between them a little bit more.

“Is that so, Mr. Potter?” she said, with both a hint of sweetness mixed with mischief.

Harry walked over to her, and brushed a stray strand of curl away from her face, as his hand gently moved down the side of her face. “My turn to make the first move, Mione,” speaking in almost whisper. He could see a momentary smile cross her lips before she closed her eyes in anticipation. With that, he tilted her chin up and claimed her lips with his. Now that there was no longer a question of what they felt for each other, he started to put his arms around her waist and pull her to him. As he did this, she slid her hands up his arms to softly run her fingers through his unruly hair. Harry let out a soft sigh through the kiss as she played with his hair, pulling her tighter to him, while at the same time relaxing into her arms. After a few moments of very sweet and innocent kisses, pecks even, Harry grazed her bottom lip with tongue. Shocked at what he just did, unsure of her reactions, he waited, frozen in a closed kiss.

Hermione pulled away from him, “what's wrong?”

“Well, I didn't know if just then, if I'm taking this too fast.”

“Oh, Harry.” She smiled at him briefly, before launching herself back at him, leading him into a fifteen minute snogging session, intermixed with sweet to sensual kisses.

Harry froze their kissing again and pulled back, still with his arms around her, “We should be getting back.”

Hermione gave him another small peck on the lips, “Look who is being the responsible one for a change. You're right, let me grab my books.”

As she was walking over to the cushions, Harry said, “Hey, actually before we leave, we need to figure out what we are going to tell everyone.”

Hermione froze, turned around, and then took a seat on a cushion.

“Once again, you're right, and we have a bigger problem than Ron.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry said, as he walked over and took a seat next to her.

“McGonagall actually called me into her office today to talk to me about you. You see, Trawlaney came to her prior to the start of term and told her she had envisioned the two of us becoming a couple this year. McGonagall said that Trawlaney told her as if it was a right bit of gossip, or a silly dream, but McGonagall took it more serious than that. She told me that if you and I were to become an item, that you might have difficulty controlling yourself, your power.”

'DRACO,' Harry thought. 'Well, that partially explains what happened. I can't control myself, but I can figure....'

Hermione interrupted his thoughts.

“Harry...what are you thinking?” She was now staring him intently, searching his eyes, his expression, for an answer.

“I was thinking that I have difficulty controlling myself around you already, Hermione,” Harry said through a flirtatious smile, trying to be cheeky as he scooted closer to her, instead of being honest and telling her that he was having control issues, and they were because of her. In an effort to distract her, he leaned in, ready to kiss her all over again when he realized her eyes were swelling with tears. Hermione averted his kiss and moved her gaze again to the floor.

“She asked me to not become involved with you like this, at least not until we are in our 7th year,” the tears now spilling down her cheeks.

Harry knew that Hermione deeply respected McGonagall and that disregarding McGonogall's request must be difficult for her, but this was too much.

“She has a lot of nerve making that request, Hermione. Her, Dumbledore, Snape, all of them, they have been playing with my life since I was born. Forget it, they don't get a say in who I choose to love.”

Hermione, had been looking at the floor during Harry's outburst, but at that last part, her head snapped up, and she quickly wiped her eyes. Then for the second time, she threw her arms around Harry, knocking him backwards on to the cushions so that she was partially pinning him down. She then began a torrent of soft kisses - on his neck, his jaw, his lips, and then paused to look into his eyes, “I love you, too, Harry.”

Harry suddenly put two and two together, he hadn't even realized what he had said, but he didn't regret it at all, the feeling overtaking him was incredible. “Say it again, Hermione,” he whispered.

She smiled that same smile as she did earlier, bitting her bottom lip, trying to contain her happiness, “I love you Harry James Potter.”

After another fifteen minute snog session, this time Hermione sat up and said that they had to go. Before heading out they decided that they would tell Ron tomorrow. With that taken care of, they quietly walked back to the commonroom under the invisibility cloak.

********

“I don't want to go to bed,” Harry said, wrapping his arms around her.

“As is I'm going to have a hard time going to bed. We have class tomorrow and I need some sleep,”

“Alright, alright, but before we go, just one... more... kiss.” With each word he had inched his way closer and closer to her lips until he was almost there. Suddenly, they both heard something and looked towards the staircase.

Ron was now on the second step from the floor. Harry, remembering the proximity of where he was to Hermione, let go of her and took a step back. Ron swapped glances with both of them, held out his left hand, and Harry new what he was holding - the Daily Prophet article that Hermione had written on, it was now dangling from his hand. Hermione immediately shifted her glance to the fireplace, headed to the couch, and put her head in her hands. Harry, however, started to move toward Ron.

“Ron, let me explain.”

Ron, however, proceeded to drop the paper and walk back up the steps, Harry stood frozen in his spot, watching it fall, and flip open to Hermione's note when it hit the floor.