Halloween at Hogwarts.
It was very hard for Harry to see her walking down the stairs in that outfit, simply because it really showed how very lady like she had become in the last 2 months, but still he had to hide his feelings about her and not let her get any suspicions about what is really going on in his head. She would have been very keen to know if something was wrong and he for sure was not going to tell her about how she made him loose his sense of control whenever she looked at him with her hazel brown eyes and pretty face.
It was their sixth year at Hogwarts and they were just getting ready for the Halloween ball. Last week Ron had asked Hermione if she wanted to be his date for the evening, Harry was very angry with himself because he did not have the nerve to ask her, so Ron had done it, she had said yes but what stroke Harry as a little weird was that when she said yes she was actually looking at him instead of Ron, who was so nervous that he just looked down at the floor not noticing the look she gave Harry.
"Yes Ron I will go with you", she said
"Great!!" Ron said, and his face lit up.
"There is just one little rule, Ron", Hermione had a stern voice and a hard look in her eyes, "we go as friends, this is not a date".
Harry had to hide his face from them, the look on Ron's face when she said that really was amazing, it was like all his face muscles just gave up and it went slack, Harry was grinning, and having a hard time removing it of his face, he finally turned around too look at them again and found them both staring at him.
"What? What did I do?" he asked. "Why were you smiling there Harry?" Hermione asked with a curious look on her face.
"Erhm well I was just some joke I remembered, sorry", Harry was fidgeting with his robes and was looking very nervous, damn why did I go and say that stupid thing?, typical me, always have a big mouth and no place to park it…Harry sighed and stood up "Sorry Ron and Mione, I did not mean to make you uncomfortable about anything".
Hermione had a very weird expression on her face, Harry thought, "what is it Mione?" he asked.
"How long have you called me by that nickname, Harry?" She asked, "Errh, I don't know, I think I just started it, why? Don't you like it?" he asked with a small frown on his face.
Hermione gave Harry a very special smile "no…I love it" she said and looked down with pink cheeks.
Now one week later, Harry and Ron stood and just looked at the sight coming down from the girl dorms, Ron went bright red and looked down to his feet, but Harry remained cool enough to comment her on her appearances "you look absolutely stunning Mione" She blushed, "thank you Harry nice of you to notice me" she gave Ron a scolding look.
The Great hall was elaborately decorated, everywhere there was pumpkins floating around with different faces cut out in them, and several of the students had chosen to come dressed up as ghosts and muggle movie characters, someone even had an Elvis costume on and was getting much attention, it was up to everyone if they wanted to dress in costumes or ball dresses, the three of them walked into the hall together, Hermione in the middle with her arms in both Ron and Harry.
Harry had deliberately not taken a date to the ball because his heart belonged to Hermione, but it was not for the lack of girls wanting to escort him, he was cornered almost every time between classes by them, he was even asked by Pansy Parkinson, but turned her down politely before she could say to much to him and stormed away, leaving Ron to roll on the floor laughing. The only good thing about all the girls asking him was that he noticed Hermione give them some very evil looks and she would not tell him what was wrong when he asked her about it, he suspected something but dared not to hope.
They all went up to the refreshments and took some butterbeer, sitting down at a table near the dance floor.
Harry noticed that Ginny was making her way over to them and he made room for her beside himself "Hi Harry, do you want to dance?", "erh…sure I can try..." He was not very pleased because he was a terrible dancer, but this was Ginny.
As soon as they were out on the floor a slow song started to play and she leaned into him, snuggling her head into his neck and took hold of him with her arms, he took her by her waist and they slowly danced around in circles, Harry looked over to were Ron and Hermione was sitting but could not find them, then he noticed that they were dancing just beside him, Ron looking very happy for the slow song and Hermione staring at him "what?, she is staring at me? Why?" he thought, "what is that look on her face? Is she mad or something?" Harry frowned and looked down before looking up again but now she wasn't looking at him but Ginny instead, still with the angry look on her face.
Harry felt Ginny stiffened when she noticed Hermione staring at her "what is it Hermione?" she asked, but Hermione just said "nothing" and stopped dancing with Ron, she looked one more time at Harry and then she just ran out, leaving all three of them confused.
"I'm going to go and figure out what's wrong with her" Harry said and ran after her.
He stormed up to the Gryffindor common room, but she was not there, he then got an idea and went up to his trunk and pulled out the Marauders Map, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good", he said and lines began to form the Hogwarts castle, he looked for Hermione and found her in the Charms classroom, but she was not alone.
Harry's insides froze as he saw who the other dot was "Malfoy!" Harry growled and ran at full speed over to the charms classroom, he passed Peeves but the poltergeist never managed to make a comment on him or try something, Harry was simply flying over the floor with a very angry look on his face. He managed to get to the classroom in just one minute and smashed open the door to find Draco Malfoy standing very close to Hermione with his hands on her wrists, she was trying to free herself from him.
"Let her go, Malfoy" Harry said in a very low and even voice, only the look on his face betrayed his true feelings. Harry slowly walked towards Malfoy, who looked a bit taken back from the way Harry was acting. "Why should I, Potter? She is only a slave, all mudbloods are beneath purebloods like me", Malfoy said with loathing in his voice.
"What do you think you are doing, Malfoy?" Harry said and still walking very slow towards him, Harry looked at Hermione and he could see the relief because he was there to help her.
"What does it look like, Potter, I was going to kiss her, like I said, she is only a slave" Draco said and took hold of Hermione head while he himself bent over and touched her lips with his.
Suddenly a bright green light surrounded Draco and Hermione and they both looked at Harry.
Down in the Great Hall, Ron was standing and talking to Lavender when suddenly a rumble could be felt in the ground, it started to get very hard to stand still and it kept getting stronger and stronger, when a very loud bang could be heard and all torches went out leaving all students in pitch darkness, some of them started to scream in panic and everywhere in the hall could be heard several lumos spells being casted "SILENCE!, students stay here and prefects take care of them, teachers follow me" Dumbledore shouted as he ran towards the doors leaving up to the classrooms.
Hermione woke up and looked around her, she was laying on the floor in the distant corner, just below the window, and all around her tables and chairs that normally was positioned all around, was now pressed up against the four walls as if a tornado had just visited Hogwarts charms classroom as a personal favour, all around the room the dust was slowly settling down to the floor.
"What happened?" she asked herself, and then she remembered, remembered Harry with a very bright green light shining from his eyes and his hand pointed out towards Draco…
"Oh my god! HARRY!?!?" Hermione stood up slowly and searched the entire room, but Harry was nowhere to be found, neither was Draco. "Harry?" she said with a very low voice, but no one answered, then suddenly the door burst open and Dumbledore came running in with Snape and McGonagall right behind wands in hand.
"Oh my!" McGonagall said when she saw the destruction wrecked on the classroom, "what happened here Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked with a stern face, Hermione told them that she had walked into the room to be alone and that Draco Malfoy had been following her, they wrestled and she explained what he had tried to do to her, Snape at that point became very white in his face, even more so than normal, then she told them that Harry had come in and told Malfoy to release her and that Draco kissed her, and everything went bright around her and she woke up in the corner of the room.
"But where is Mr.Potter and Mr.Malfoy?" Snape asked, looking at Hermione with a slight frown.
"I don't know professor, they were there just before the light and when I woke up they were gone" Tears were flowing down Hermione's cheeks now and she became quite dizzy, suddenly her legs would not carry her anymore and she fainted on the floor before any of the teachers had time to react and catch her.
Hermione woke up later in a bed and realized she was in the nursery ward, she looked to her side and found Ron sitting there with a worried expression on his face.
"What's wrong Ron?" she asked, and then it all came back to her "Where is Harry??". Ron looked at her with a sad face "They don't know Hermione, they have looked almost everywhere but they have not found anything". Hermione started crying and held her hands up to her head.
"You love him don't you?" Hermione's head came up very fast and looked at Ron with a shocked expression. "What do you mean I love him?, of course I love him, he is my friend Ron!, like you are" she said.
Ron snorted "Yeah right….I don't mean that kind of love, you are in love with him", he looked down to his feet and stayed silent.
Hermione was totally taken back by that statement and she just sat there not knowing what to do with herself, her mind started to race very fast, trying to make sense of what Ron had said to her and she realized that he was right, my god, I love Harry, the thought sent shockwaves of feelings trough her entire body and she smiled, she could not help it, the smile just grew and grew.
"What?" Ron said, "What's so funny?".
"You know what, Ron?" she said with the smile growing larger "You are right, I DO love Harry, I am in love with him", she looked at him and her smile faltered a little at the face he had on, "What is it Ron?" Ron was looking sad and downtrodden "I don't know Hermione, I just… I just hoped that all the signs were wrong", "Why?" she asked, sitting up.
"Because I, I…. I think I like you" Ron was now as red as his hair and he was looking everywhere but Hermione. "Oh, oh… I'm sorry Ron but I don't have those feelings for you, I'm in love with Harry, you know" she said with a comforting smile to him.
"Yeah, lucky him I guess" Ron said with a little smile of his own. "Are you okay with it Ron?, you do know that us three will never be apart, we are still friends you know?" Hermione reached out to Ron's hand and squeezed it. "Yeah I am ok about it, as long as we are still the best of friends, I have no problem with it, besides I think Lavender may be a little interested in me" Ron said with a smirk on his face. Hermione sniggered and thought of Harry, and her feelings for him, they had actually always been there, lately she had just shut them out because it hurt to have them and be so close to him, not knowing if he felt the same….
Hermione suddenly had a terrible thought, what if Harry did not have these feelings?, sure he had been acting weird around her since the summer before their sixth year, but does he really feel like her?. "Ron?" she shook his hand "Mmm?", "Do you think Harry feels the same as I do?" she asked him with a fearful look on her face. "I don't know Hermione, sorry, but I really don't know".
The doors opened and Dumbledore stepped in, looking very smug and happy, happy? Hermione thought, why was he happy about Harry disappearing?
"Excuse me Mr. Ron, could I speak to Miss. Granger alone for awhile?" he said to Ron, "Sure, I will come by later or tomorrow if you need anything Hermione" Ron said as he stood up, "Thanks for helping me out Ron" she said and winked to him, he smiled and walked out.
"So Miss. Granger, how are we feeling now?", "you had us pretty scared when you fainted in the charms room, don't think I have ever seen Professor McGonagall so flustered about it, it's not everyday that her favourite student faints you know?" he smiled at her and winked, Hermione was shocked again, her favourite student?? Wouv!, she smiled at Dumbledore. "I'm fine Professor, but what about Harry?"
"Ah, yes, well I have checked some of my sources and we have come to a conclusion" he explained,
"And?" Hermione was getting a little impatient with Dumbledore.
"It appears that he vanished because he is in love with you Miss. Granger".
Hermione was silent, she had just heard Dumbledore say to her that Harry was in love with her, she screamed in joy in her mind and the goofy smile crept back on her face, slowly.
"He loves me?" she whispered and looked at Dumbledore. "Apparently yes, you see, there is an old form of magic called Amorare, if a wizard who loves a woman sees her in fear and distress, that wizard can channel his love for her and thus remove the object of fear and distress, the unfortunate part of it is that if his love is stronger than normal he himself can become engulfed in the magic and vanish too, and that appears to be the case here Miss. Granger" Dumbledore sat back in the chair and smiled at Hermione with the twinkle in his eyes.
"Wauv, this is really, I mean, I…. this is.." Hermione was speechless, not a normal thing for her, and that said something about the whole situation.
"Yes I can imagine this is a big thing for someone as young as you two, to find true love is very hard at your age, you know" He leaned forward and took Hermione's hand in his "Always trust your feelings Miss. Granger, they will save you two many times I think I can safely say" He smiled and stood up.
"Now to bring him back you have to do this.." He explained how to get Harry back, and walked out of the infirmary. Hermione had a very hard time explaining to Madame Pomfrey that she absolutely had to go out to fix something, and in the end she relented and let her go.
Hermione stormed up several flight of stairs and dodged some water thrown at her from Peeves before she finally stood before the charms classroom, she opened the door and went in, the room had not been cleaned and all of the furniture was still pushed up against the walls, and a lonely torch was burning on the wall leaving strange lights flickering all over the floor, it was very quiet, she did not know but all the students had gone to bed, she had been out for several hours.
Hermione walked slowly into the middle of the room, to where she stood before she fainted, she stood up straight and took a deep breath and then.
"I LOVE YOU HARRY POTTER!!" Hermione shouted with all her strength and then all hell broke loose.
This time the tremors were much stronger than before, and all the students all around Hogwarts jumped out of their beds and those who had been snogging in the astronomy tower or other places parted lips and stared at each other thinking that they made the tremors. The students had been told that some weird things might be happening in the night but that they should not pay attention to it.
Hermione was almost blinded from the light, and she put up a hand to cover her eyes from it, suddenly she felt someone take her hand away and she was staring right into Harry Potter's emerald green eyes.
"Hello again Mione" Harry said, still looking very intently in her eyes, Hermione was speechless, she had never really looked into his eyes from this short distance, but now she was and it just swept her feet away from her and she fell into them completely.
"H…hi….hi Harry" She stumbled over the words, she scolded herself for stuttering, and took a deep breath, "Where have you been?, I was really worried", She looked him over and noticed that his robes was torn several places, "What happened?" she took hold of his hand with both her hands and pleaded him to tell him, Harry sighed.
"When I saw Malfoy kissing you I just went berserk, and I could feel this strong magic flow thru me, and then I pointed my hand at him and everything around me went black", He had a sad expression, and looked down to his feet. "When the light came back I was in a weird place, I could see and hear you but I was not there really, it was like a television" Harry looked back up into Hermione's eyes, damn! Those eyes really do it for me, he was completely lost in them, he looked at her face, and her lips and he wanted to bad to kiss her.
"Harry?, did that mean you were with me all the time?" She asked him with a low voice, she looked down and started to fidget with her robes, Harry saw that and wondered until he realized what she was getting at, "yeah Mione, I was, all the time" He smiled at her and took her hands in his again. "And I love you too" he said and kissed her before she could say anything.
Hermione was floored, she could not feel anything besides her lips, it was pure electricity, her body became light as a feather and she closed her eyes, flew away, and returned the kiss, completely lost in his touch.
Harry had not dared to hope that he would have the courage to kiss her, but something inside him told him to do it, to just let go and enjoy the moment, and that he did, she tasted like strawberries and mint, her lips were excruciatingly soft and he was in heaven, he decided then and there that he would do anything to stay together with her for the rest of his life, this was too good to be real, he moved his tongue over her lips, he could hear her gasp and then she opened her mouth to him and their tongues met and nothing mattered anymore, neither time nor people, there was nothing more than Harry and Hermione, standing there and kissing very deeply and passionately in the charms classroom.
A minute later they parted, both gasping for air and blushing furiously, Hermione looked down and Harry lifted her face with his hand and stroked her chin "I truly madly deeply love you Mione, I have been for some time now, but I hid it because I was afraid of how you felt"
He looked a little sad, and she kissed his hand, "I feel the same about you Harry, always have I think" she looked thoughtful and said "In our first year I had a small crush on you, and then when we became best of friends us three I began to really fall in love with you, but I hid them for the same reason as you", she looked at him, he had a worried expression on his face "What is wrong Harry?" she asked
"What about Ron, Mione?" he said "What will happen?, I saw you talking with him about it, but still…"
Hermione sniggered "its okay Harry, like I said to him we will never remain parted, we are still best of friends you know"
"Yes we are!" Ron said as he walked into the room, both Harry and Hermione jumped at the sound and looked at him with a slightly angry face "oh sorry folks, did not mean to scare you like that" he said with a face that surely meant otherwise. Harry stepped over to him and gave him a small hug "thanks Ron" he said, "for what?" Ron asked, "For being our best friend and understanding" Harry said.
"Yes Ron, thanks for that" Hermione said as she too came over and hugged him tightly. "Don't mention it" Ron sniggered but looked pleased none the less.
"Soooo…..you two?, you have told each other?" Ron asked as he looked to them both, he got his answer when they held hands and blushed very badly, Ron laughed at it and gave them a pat on their shoulders "now now, you two, I will not have any shagging while I am around, it could be very weird don't you think?" Ron sniggered when both Harry and Hermione yelled at him "RON!!! You bastard! You really are a prat you know that don't you?" Hermione said as she pulled a punch on his arm, while Harry was smiling but still blushing furiously.
"Let's get to bed shall we?" Harry asked them, and got another laugh from Ron for that sentence, Harry sighed and thought that the next many month would be very painful with Ron teasing him and he was actually a little afraid as to how much he would get from the twins also, and his dorm mates, then he felt a small kiss on his cheek and he looked into Hermione's eyes, they were twinkling with love and passion and his worries about the teasing just faded away slowly, he kissed her and they walked out of the charms classroom.
When Harry had said the password to the Pink Lady, and they walked inside, Hermione just remembered something "Harry?, what happened to Malfoy?", she asked him, "I really don't know Mione, as I said it was just me, truth be told, I never even thought of him while I was trapped, I only had my eyes on you" he said. Ron rolled his eyes "look Harry and Hermione, do we really care about that bastard?, as far as I am concerned he could be in the middle of the Mediterranean SEA!" Ron shouted the last bit as if he was offended about something…
"Ok, I will talk to professor Dumbledore in the morning, right now I am really tired and just want to sleep for a long time, preferably with you by my side" Harry said as he winked at Hermione, who blushed a nice shade of pink but still smiled at him. He leaned down and kissed her passionately as Ron ran up the stairs making throw up sounds.
"I love you Hermione, you are my soul mate, my heartbeat, my second breath and my first thought when I wake up and the last when I go to sleep, and even there I dream of you" He said while looking very intently into her eyes without blinking, he could see a single tear rolling down her cheek and he wiped it away with a gentle thumb.
"I love you Harry, with all of my heart, with every feeling I have, with all of my thoughts and with every first breath" She said as she kissed him this time.
Outside a bewitched pumpkin was floating in midair, the morning sky slowly beginning to light up, bringing to end another Halloween at Hogwarts.