Camp Muggle

AideeEight

Rating: PG13
Genres: Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 4
Published: 14/01/2003
Last Updated: 10/07/2004
Status: completed

Hermione is a counselor at a Muggle summer camp and invites her best friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley to be counselors as well. This takes place after their 6th year at Hogwarts. H/Hr..R/Other. This is my first fic so please R/R! ^.^

Chapters

1. Hermione

2. Reunited

3. Camp Secrets

4. No More About Hogwarts

5. Harry to the Rescue

6. Gotcha!

7. Phase One

8. The New Couple

9. The Man With the Plan

10. Late Night Endeavors

11. Hide and Seek

12. Compromising Positions

13. At Last

14. The Center of Attention

15. A Little Magic

16. The Dance

17. Resolution?

18. Sequel

1. Hermione

Disclaimer: I don't own H/H. JKR does. She's a goddess! I'm just borrowing them for your entertainment. =)

~*~

Camp Muggle 1/17

~*~

Chapter One:

Hermione Granger sat in the living room of her parent's home. She had just gotten home from her 6th year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It appeared as if she wouldn't be staying long though. As soon as she'd returned from another school year, her father propositioned her with a summer job opportunity. The dental office he co-owned was a sponsor for a children's summer camp who were in desperate need of counselors. Naturally, Hermione had immediately agreed as it was in her nature to always help those in need. Having a summer job, she rationalized, would also give her some extra spending money for the usual trip she made at the end of summer break to Diagon Alley with her two best friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

Currently, Hermione was waiting for return owls from Harry and Ron. When her father asked her to be a counselor, he also asked if Hermione had any friends who were interested. Her immediate thoughts had gone to Harry and Ron. Especially being gone all summer, the thought of not spending any time with them until the following school year was almost unbearable. The three grew closer every year they attended Hogwarts.

"Hermione dear," her mother walked into the room. It was immaculately clean and nicely decorated. Hermione's parents made quite a bit of money and had a beautiful home.

"Yes Mum?" she smiled from her spot on the couch.

"You know it won't make the owl's come any faster to sit her and wait, doing nothing," she smiled wiping her hands on a dish towel she'd brought out with her from the adjoining kitchen.

"I know Mum," she smiled. "I'm just excited to receive their responses."

"Well dear, how about we make a deal. You run along and pack the rest of your bags up. By the time you're done, supper will be ready. If at any time an owl shows up, I'll be sure to inform you immediately," she smiled at her daughter.

"All right," Hermione obliged, heading up to her room. She had been home for five days now. In another two, she will be heading off to Camp Silver Lake. Hermione was absolutely thrilled for the experience. Not only would she be having a fun summer and making some extra money, but she'd be able to be surrounded by Muggle children. She felt now that she'd been studying so intensely on her studies at Hogwarts, it would be good for her to connect with her Muggle roots. She'd also be able to make some interesting comparisons now that she had a more thorough understanding of the wizarding world. Leave it to Hermione to turn everything into a learning experience.

As Hermione zipped up her last suitcase (she'd packed three), her mother called. "Hermione, there are two owls here for you!"

"I'm coming!" She called back, hurrying excitedly down stairs.

As she reentered the living room, she saw Hedwig and Pig. Hedwig, Harry owl, was sitting patiently atop an armchair. Her leg was already extended toward Hermione showing she had a roll of parchment attached to it. Pig, Ron's overexcited pygmy owl, however was banging off the walls in all directions. Hedwig turned her head in what looked like embarrassment at the sight of Pig and instead focused on Hermione as she approached.

"Hello Hedwig," Hermione smiled, giving her a friendly rub on the head before undoing the letter attached to her leg. She nipped friendly at Hermione's fingers before flying over to Hermione's mother who set out a water dish for her. Hermione proceeded to unravel the parchment.

Dear Hermione,

I would love to be a counselor. Please tell your father I kindly accept his offer. You know I'd jump at any chance to escape the Dursley's for the summer. Ron called me on the telephone to say he was owling you with his reply too. I'll let you read it for yourself. Uncle Vernon was not so pleased that Ron had used the telephone. You think the git would realize not to yell after five years of practice. Needless to say, Uncle Vernon is still upset so I am grateful to you for this invitation. I arrive by floo powder tomorrow at 5pm in time for supper (if that's alright). Maybe sooner if Uncle Vernon is still upset. See you soon.

-Harry

Hermione smiled. She definitely hoped it would be sooner for his arrival. It had only been five days, but she missed Harry like it had been five years. She'd never mentioned it to anyone, but Hermione had developed quite a crush on Harry. It began at the end of her fourth year at Hogwarts. Harry was so brave and kind and such a wonderful friend. She'd watched him grow more every year, each time becoming more and more wonderful in her eyes. She'd also noticed him growing more and more attractive every year. The end of fourth year was when she'd first kissed his cheek goodbye. At first it had been a friendly peck, but all summer long, she recalled the way his skin felt under her lips. Her fifth year had been a difficult challenge to hide her feelings for him. She was certain he'd never felt the same way. He'd begun dating their fifth year. Spent the year dating a Ravenclaw girl named Rebecca Malloy. She was beautiful and smart and kind. She was a year younger, but as Hermione had noticed, top in her class in all subjects. She had curly brown hair and was often in the library at the same time as Hermione. In fact, if Hermione had paid more attention, she would have noticed the similarities between Rebecca and herself. Much to Hermione's happiness, however, Harry ended his relationship with Rebecca at the start of their sixth year and has not dated anyone since.

Turning to Pig who was flying with one wing against the wall toward her, she caught him by the middle. Quickly she untied the piece of parchment that was wading him down. Pig immediately buzzed over to Hedwig and the water dish. Hedwig turned away from the annoyance and instead decided to fly over to Hermione's shoulder and nip friendly at her hair.

Dear Mione,

Did Harry call me a git again? Honestly he can be such a prat sometimes! All I did was use the tele. Besides, his Uncle yelled back. Anyway, yes I can be a counselor also. I will be arriving with my Mum tomorrow at 1pm. She would like to visit with your mother if that's all right. If you don't mind her coming, could you send a note back with Pig? We'll be using the new company car my dad got when he replaced Fudge as the Minister of Magic. Mum likes driving the Muggle contraption. See you then.

-Ron

Hermione gently brushed Hedwig off and went to search for a quill. She ended up grabbing two pieces of parchment. "Mother," she called into the kitchen.

"Yes Mione-dear?" she smiled. "Dinner's almost ready, about five more minutes." She said entering the living room.

"All right, I'll be ready. Ron's mother was wondering if it would be all right if she could visit with you tomorrow afternoon while she drops Ron off. He and Harry both accepted my invitations by the way and will both be arriving tomorrow afternoon," she informed her mother.

"Of course dear. Please invited Molly to stay for supper also," she smiled. "Now wash up and come eat."

"Alright, just let me send off these owls," she turned back to her parchments.

Dear Ron,

My mother would like to invite your Mum to supper tomorrow. I'm looking forward to your arrival.

Yours,

Hermione Granger

She grabbed Pig by the tail feathers, whom was trying desperately to fly into the kitchen, enticed by the supper smells. She attached the parchment and sent Pig off through the window.

Dear Harry,

I am very happy you will be able to come. I am looking forward to seeing you and Ron tomorrow. He is arriving with his Mum tomorrow afternoon. She is staying for supper also. Of course you are invited also. I'd suggest you bringing all of your school supplies here. You can store them at my house along with Hedwig if you'd like. I do hope it's sooner that I see you.

Yours,

Hermione Granger

She'd debated on whether or not to write 'Love, Hermione' but chose to address it similarly to Ron's letter incase boys were as big of gossips as girls and Harry became suspicious. She had no intention of ever revealing her feelings to him. She valued his friendship too much to risk it on some stupid heart's desire.

Calling Hedwig over, Hermione attached the letter to her leg and gave her a friendly pat on the head before sending her off.

"I'm washing up Mum and I'll be at the supper table in a minute," she called heading off to the washroom.

"Alright dear, I'll go get your father for dinner."

Hermione was very anxious for her friends to arrive tomorrow. She missed them both so much. It was indeed going to be a very interesting summer.

2. Reunited

Chapter Two

Hermione awoke the next morning early. She was too excited to sleep. Today Harry and Ron were to arrive. After she took a shower, Hermione spent an unusual hour fixing her hair up. This was very unlike her, but she was so excited, especially to see Harry, she wanted to look perfect. Normally, if Hermione ever saw Harry or Ron during the summer, it was near the tail end and only at the Burrow, Ron's home, or Diagon Alley for school supply shopping.

She knew Harry wouldn't notice the time she'd taken to straighten it, but she still wanted to look good. 'Best be looking sharp. It's always good to make an impression in the beginning,' Hermione thought to herself. It was going to be a long and wonderful summer with Harry and Ron by her side. She especially wanted Harry to remember how nice she could look since they were going to be at camp where not looking one's best is common.

After fixing herself up, and applying make-up, which she'd begun to wear during her fifth year, Hermione decided to read 'Hogwarts: A History' her favorite book until lunch.

~*~

At the same time, Harry Potter sat in his upstairs bedroom of his Aunt and Uncle's house packing his school supplies meticulously into his trunk. Next to it laid two pre-packed suitcases he had prepared the night before for camp. As soon as he'd received Hermione's owl, he began to pack. That is, until his other best friend Ron Weasley called. After that, he had to take a break to wash dishes as his Uncle had become very angry over the phone call.

It was about 11am and he could hear his Aunt Petunia preparing lunch downstairs. His Uncle had been grumbling since they day before so Harry and been making himself scarce. Every few minutes, he would glance at the clock and debate if it was too early or not to go to Hermione's. He wanted to see her very badly. Since the middle of his fifth year, unbeknownst to anyone, even Ron, Harry had developed quite a crush on Hermione. The summer after fifth year had been horrible. He hadn't been able to see her much at all. She'd been vacationing with her family in Australia. Any time away from her became harder and harder every time. He refused to admit it to anyone. He'd contemplated on telling Ron, but Harry just couldn't bring himself to expose his true feelings.

During his fifth year, he'd attempted a relationship. It was going great until one day, during Christmas break, Hermione walked into the Gryffindor common room wearing a simple black skirt and a lavender turtleneck sweater. It just hit him. It came up, out of now where, and smacked him right in the face. He loved her. He sat there and gaped for a minute until she noticed. He immediately blushed and ran up to his room. Hermione had obviously just thought he was being strange. When he got to his room, all he could do was pace around his room trying to make sense of it. He'd had no idea he'd grown to love her so much. True, he'd always thought she was beautiful, but she was always his friend, his best friend. Then out of nowhere, he was just admiring her simple beauty one day and he just realized it. Every day since, he tried to tell himself why it couldn't be. He even tried to continue his relationship, but it wasn't fair to Rebecca. He hadn't attempted to date anyone else after he ended the relationship, but instead spent his time miserably pining away for his best friend, Hermione.

Harry finished packing the rest of his school trunk that he was taking with him to Hermione's. He glanced at the clock again and it read 11:24am. He wanted to get over to Hermione's as quickly as possible. He knew he'd said he'd be there later, but he had hinted he wanted to arriver earlier. Hermione had replied very positively about wanting to see him early.

Debating again, he decided he'd better go now before he chickened out on arriving early. Stacking his bad atop his trunk, he dragged it all downstairs. He hoped by arriving early, he'd beat Ron and earn himself a bit of alone time with Hermione. Wishful thinking he knew, but it was still his wish nonetheless.

"Uncle Vernon, I'm leaving now, see you next year," he announced, dragging his bags to the fireplace. It was still transfixed by Mr. Weasley so Harry could fit in and out. Uncle Vernon insisted it be left that was when he left for fifth year due to the large inconvenience of all the Weasley's continually trying to arrive via floo powder with it boarded up. Rather that see the use magic more than once, he simply yelled to leave it be that time.

"Boy, what's the meaning of this?" Uncle Vernon said in a gruff voice coming in from the dining room with a large white napkin tucked into his shirt. He'd been enjoying a nice pre-lunch with his well-overdone son Dudley. Naturally they needed a snack sine Aunt Petunia wouldn't be finished with lunch for another thirty minutes at least.

"I told you yesterday, I'm going to visit my friend Hermione. I won't be back all summer," Harry drug in trunk squarely in front of the fireplace.

"I forbid it," he barked, food flying out of his mouth.

"And you'd rather put up with me all summer long then," he inquired, pulling a small bag of floo powder out of his bag.

"Well, no," he mumbled under his moustache.

"Right then. See you," he took a pinch a floo powder and threw it into the fire announcing, "Granger Residence". He thought her heard Uncle Vernon mumbled a goodbye, but he shrugged it off assuming it couldn't be true. Instead, he felt a smile growing on his face at the thought of momentarily being at Hermione's home.

~*~

Hermione yawned and looked at at the clock. It was 11:45am. She closed 'Hogwart's: A History' and decided to venture downstairs for some lunch. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed a trunk and a couple bags stacked there. She immediately recognized them and a giant smile grew across her face.

"Harry!?! HARRY!" she called, excitedly running down the stairs.

"'Mione?!" She heard in call back, she could hear the enthusiasm in his voice and her smiled widened. He suddenly popped out of the dining room, followed by Hermione's mother.

"Oh Harry, you came early!" she squealed, launching into a hug. He reciprocated fiercely, spinning her a partial turn. She felt her heart skip a beat as he feet left the ground momentarily. As he put her down and they pulled away, she noticed him smiling back at her, his eyes dancing with something she hadn't noticed before, but she didn't have time to analyze it as her mother interjected.

"Harry and I were just enjoying lunch. Why don't you come eat something, dear?"

"How long have you been here?" she inquired to Harry, his hands still resting on her hips. Neither of them seemed to notice they were still there.

"About fifteen minutes," he smiled sheepishly.

"And you didn't inform me," she frowned moving to cross her arms, but running into his. Both blushed and pulled back. "Never mind it, let's eat." She turned quickly so he could not gauge her reaction.

After lunch, Hermione helped Harry move his school trunk into storage and found a room for Hedwig's cage where she would be comfortable when she returned. She was off delivering a letter to Sirius so he wouldn't wonder why Harry wasn't replying to any owls and he'd know where Harry was. They then went to sit in the living room and wait thirty more minutes for what they expected to by Molly and Ron Weasley's prompt arrival.

"So," Harry began as they sat down. They were alone. Hermione's father was still at work and her mother was beginning to prepare a roast for dinner. She's taken the week off from work to spend some extra time with her daughter before she left for the summer and near following school year. Neither of them spoke, they just kind of smiled at each other looking into one another's eyes.

'She is unbelievably beautiful,' Harry thought, 'I wonder if she did her hair just for me? Right, like that would happen.'

'Is it possible he grew more handsome in the six days I haven't seen him? I wonder if he noticed my hair! No, of course not..' she was still smiling like an idiot.

"So..." Harry started again, which seemed to break the spell that held them their gaze on each other. They both laughed.

"Are you a bit nervous?" Hermione inquired.

"Pardon?" Harry was a bit flustered. 'Did she notice my staring?' he wondered.

"About camp I mean," she blushed a bit. She hadn't expected him to look so alarmed at her inquiry.

"Oh, no, not really, you?"

"No," she smiled. He smiled back much to her appeasement.

"Right then," Harry said. "Perhaps Ron is?"

"Oh, Ron, yes," she snapped back to reality at the mention of his name, "I mean to say, no. I mean, I don't know. Maybe we should ask him when he gets here?"

Sensing her being uncomfortable due to her flustered response, Harry decided to change the subject. 'Think Potter, what to say, what to say.' "Um, Hermione?"

"Ya, Harry?"

"Today your hair i....t, it looked," he noticed to wait edgily for him to finish, "it looked good. I mean nice. I mean, well, you know what I mean," he blushed.

"Thanks for noticing," she beamed back. 'Oh, he noticed! He actually noticed! Maybe...' "Harry," she ventured. She was contemplating on whether or not to try and test the waters and see if he responded.

"Ya 'Mione?" he smiled, leaning closer.

"I..."

As if by cue, a horn sounded outside.

"That must be..." Hermione started.

"Ron," Harry finished a little bleakly. He covered though not wanting Hermione to notice. "Let's go then. That bloke'll disturb the neighbor hood with that horn." (It was still sounding.)

"Right then," Hermione laughed as they got up and went outside to greet Ron.

~*~

"I mean, it was amazing! And the Wronski Feint, WOW! He was better than Krum!" Ron said between bites of food.

"How close to the ground did he get before pulling up?" Harry was at the edge of his seat listening to Ron recount the Chudley Cannons game his father had taken him to. As the new Minister of Magic, he had access to season tickets. Ron had been telling Harry, and whoever else was listening, about his new favorite play, Michael Park, an American who had come over to play. Molly Weasley and Mrs. Granger were having their own conversation at the other end of the supper table. Hermione was also listening to Ron's story, but gave a disapproving look at the mention of Krum's name.

"About an inch I reckon!" Ron said excitedly.

"Wow!" Harry's eyes grew.

Ron continued to recount his story for the rest of dinner until it was over.

"Well," Molly said from the doorway. "Thank you for dinner. Ron, behave. I'll see you at Diagon Alley," she pulled Ron over and kissed his forehead. "You too Harry," she pulled him into a hug. "And you Hermione dear." As she pulled her close, she whispered into her ear, "Don't let those two cause any trouble now. You have the best head on your shoulder's, we're all certain of that. I trust you'll look after them," she gave Hermione and extra squeeze and smile at her. After thanking Mrs. Granger for dinner, she left.

"Now all of you off to bed," she instructed the three, "We have to leave bright and early tomorrow.

The bid their goodnights and went off to bed, eager to begin their first day at Camp Silver Lake.

3. Camp Secrets

Disclaimer in Chapter One

~*~

Camp Muggle

~*~

Chapter Three:

The next morning came quickly. Soon, Hermione's mother was driving everyone to camp. The counselors had been asked to come one day early for training and camp set-up. Naturally, they were using Muggle transportation. It had been a fight between Hermione and the boys, but eventually she'd gotten them to agree to put up with the three-hour car ride. Ron tried to insist on using floo powder to the house of an old witch who'd worked at the ministry. Her home was only a few mintues from the camp, but Hermione insisted they arrive normally.

Giving up everything magical wasn't easy for any of them. Hermione had a favorite diary she gotten during her fifth year while on a school trip to Hogsmead that would talk to you about any worry you wrote in it. She debated on taking it since she never missed a day of writing, but decided it would be safer left at home, especially since most of what she wrote pertained to Harry and she didn't want that getting into the wrong hands.

The boy's had their own transfixed items as well, but Hermione had made sure to search their bags and force them to empty their pockets before getting into the car. She'd found a few ton-tongue toffees and canary creams in their pockets, but they'd been smart enough to leave most everything else behind instead of facing her wrath.

"Hermione, are we there yet?" Ron asked for the hundredth time. He made a habit of nagging her every five minutes to prove the point that he was still angry they had to use Muggle transportation.

"Ron, if you ask again I'll...I'll...I'll tell your campers you wet the bed!" she fumed from her seat in front, turning and addressing him properly. "Now for the last time, we'll be there in about ten minutes. The ride's nearly through."

Ron just gave her a nasty look and turned away from her, folding his arms and looking out the window. She glared and spun back around in her seat in retaliation.

"Don't mind him," Harry leaned forward from the back seat and whispered into her ear. He reached up and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "He's just being a git. Besides, he's still used to his mother's driving since they just recently got an automobile. Can you blame him for being so antsy about riding in them?" He felt her tightened shoulders relax under his touch and heard her release a sigh. Satisfied, he returned to his seat.

'That boy!' thought Hermione as she tried not to smile. She had to remind herself that she should be exasperated with Harry for having such an effect on her. All he had to do was touch her and she'd relaxed. His voice alone was soothing.

Hermione rolled her eyes at herself and looked out the window at the passing trees. It had gotten progressively more wooded as they got closer and closer to the camp location. It was a very secluded spot. Not to mention safe. Hermione had naturally owled Professor Dumbledore and told him about their situation. They knew Voldemort was still on the prowl and everyone, especially Harry, needed protection. He'd placed a few charms around the camp, unbeknownst to anyone else but Hermione and the rest of the Hogwart's faculty. He'd even gone as far to make sure there was someone there who could help incase of an incident. He'd enlisted Madame Pomfrey to be the camp nurse. Hermione knew Ron and Harry were in for a nasty shock when they saw her, but the plan was for her to make in seem like a coincidence that she was the nurse at the same camp they were working at.

"Are we there?!" she heard Ron ask faintly in the background of her reverie.

"Ron!" she closed her eyes in exasperation, "for the LAST TIME..." She opened her eyes and noticed that they actually were there, "we're here."

"Excellent," he smiled, "'Bout time then."

~*~

Hermione's mother had left and all of the counselors who’d arrived were gathered in the lodge waiting for the last few to show up. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were among the last to get there, so they hadn't been made to wait very long. They'd found a table off to the corner to themselves. They hadn't really bothered to look around to see who they'd be working with for the rest of the summer.

"Okay everyone, quite down!" A voice rose over the crowd. Hermione looked up and noticed a young man standing atop a table in the front of the room. He looked young for an adult, probably about 22 or 23. He was a little over six foot tall, about the same height as Harry. Ron easily towered them at 6'3". He was tan and had short brown hair. If Hermione wasn't so smitten with Harry, she might have fancied him.

"For those of you who are new, or many not have met me yet, my name is Greg Waters. I've been Camp Director here at Camp Silver Lake for the past two years now. Before that, I was a counselor. I've had a lot of great times out here so I hope the same for all of you. Today we're going to do some introductions and get to know one another. Then we'll split into cabin assignments. After that, we're going to work in groups based upon cabin assignments. We'll be going over some basic first aid, some situational information, and the basic camp rules. After training, we'll have dinner, and then you're free to move into your cabins. I expect lights out at 10:00 sharp. Your campers arrive between 7:00 and 8:00 tomorrow morning. I'd recommend waking up around 6:00am so everyone can get showers in if they wish and be dressed, in camp shirt don't forget. If you want time for breakfast, I highly suggest getting an early shower. Everyone needs to be up at the recreation field by 7:00 sharp."

~*~

"'Mione!" Hermione turned around to what she instantly recognized as Harry's voice. It was about 8:30pm. She was thoroughly exhausted from the day of training. It had taken all the way up to 8:00 to finish. After they broke into cabin assignments, she's rarely had a chance to see Harry and Ron. At the moment, she was walking to her cabin with her bags and blankets stacked above her head. It had already taken her ten minutes just to get halfway down the path without spilling any of them.

"Harry?" she called over the pile. She couldn't see him.

"Right here," she heard his voice on the other side of the pile. "Let me help." He came into view as a large portion of the stack of bedding and blankets disappeared.

"Thanks," she blushed and he walked up to her side and they continued down the path toward her cabin.

"How are your cabin mates?" he inquired.

"Very nice. There are two senior girl counselors in each of the four girl cabins, and one junior girl counselor. Are the boy's cabins similar?" she kept her head forward as to not trip on the path, but stole furtive glances at Harry next to her. He looked great. She could see his muscles flexing as he carried the larger portion of her baggage.

"Same. Ron and I were very fortunate. We're both senior boy counselors together. A 15 year old Muggle boy named Patrick Johnson is our junior boy counselor."

"Well naturally he's a Muggle, Harry," Hermione laughed a bit. "And best to not being using that word. We need to act like Mug...I mean to say, we must act normal." She blushed correcting herself.

"Right," he agreed opening the door to her cabin for her. His eyes followed her. They were twinkling like the stars that had just risen outside.

"First bunk on the left," she directed him where to put the bags. He set them down and continued to gaze at her, not noticing the two other girls in the cabin until one sprung at him.

"Why hello there!" A pretty brunette stood instantly and nearly flew over to Harry. "I'm Allison White." She extended her hand as Harry shook it, a bit startled at her forwardness.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Harry," he smiled meekly, glancing worriedly at Hermione, hoping she wouldn't take this the wrong way. She smiled back supportively. Obviously she'd known Allison would react to meeting him this way.

"I'm fifteen. I'm the junior counselor here. This is my cousin Meegan White. She's sixteen. She lives in London. I'm from America. I came to visit for the summer. My parents thought it would be a good learning experience. Have you ever been to America, Harry? Where are you from Harry?..."

Harry turned to Hermione looking a bit afraid. Luckily for him, Meegan cut off her cousin.

"Allison, leave Harry alone," she said to Allison who instantly quieted and sat down. Meegan rose and walked over to Harry, politely extending her hand. "Meegan White," she smiled. She also had brown hair, but unlike Allison's curled style, hers was plain and simple, falling down her back. She was very beautiful and seemed to carry a sophisticated air around her.

"Nice to meet you," Harry smiled. He liked her. Not like he liked Hermione, mind you, but he found her to be very kind.

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "Now run away while I distract Allison."

"Nice to meet you both," he repeated again and turned to Hermione. She immediately got the hint.

"I'll be right back," she smiled, taking Harry by the arm and swiftly leading him out the door. "Right, sorry 'bout Allison." She smiled, still holding onto his arm gently.

"Is she always like that?" Harry asked with a bemused expression.

"Afraid so. Meegan's quite nice though."

"Yes, I thought so too."

Hermione frowned a bit at this. She didn't like the sound of that. Harry must have noticed because he changed the subject immediately.

"I'm going to go find Ron but, well," he hesitated for a moment, looking as if he were scheming something in his head, "Right, anyway, 'Night 'Mione." He suddenly finished, quickly leaning over and hugging her tight before releasing her and hustling off.

Hermione was quite shocked. 'Where did that come from?' She wondered as she walked back into the cabin with a silly grin on her face. She didn’t get to think for long however as she was immediately bombarded by Allison.

"Hermione, he is fabulous! So handsome!!" Allison beamed. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Um…well..." She desperately didn't want to say 'No', afraid Allison would take too much of a liking to him, but there was no other answer. "Um..."

"Hermione?" Meegan looked at her inquisitively, "is he? He looked at you as if he might fancy you?"

"Did he now?" Hermione brightened up and took a seat on Meegan's bed, next to her and Allison.

"I thought he did. Allison?"

"I did ask if he was her boyfriend." she rolled her eyes at her older cousin.

"Well, he's not...but..." she hesitated.

"Hermione, really now, this IS camp," Allison giggled. "Haven't you ever been? Girl's cabins are notorious for gossip amongst themselves. It's not camp unless you spill your secrets among the girls who will become your closest companions for the rest of the summer. Don't worry, it's like totally illegal to spill any of the secrets told within a cabin's walls."

"Well, the thing is," she looked up, "Harry's my best friend."

"Is that all?" Meegan asked. She had a feeling it wasn't.

"Well," Hermione was afraid. If she told them, they'd be the first people she ever told unless one counted her bewitched diary. "I...I might fancy him a bit." She blushed a wicked shade of crimson.

"A bit?" Meegan laughed at her obvious embarrassment.

"Fine then. You might go as far to say he's been the sole object of my affection for the past two years," Hermione looked as if she might cry at the revelation.

"That's marvelous!" Meegan smiled.

"Of course it is! They'd be too cute together!" Allison added.

"Really?" Hermione asked.

"I think so. I also think Harry might fancy you too," Meegan looked at her quite certainly.

"Harry? Like me? That's...well, that's preposterous!" Hermione shunned the idea. "We've been best friends for the past well..." she'd become flustered, "the past...oh forever!"

"He looked at you as if he liked you. Didn't you notice?" Allison said.

"He looked at me like he always looks at me," Hermione tried to reason.

"So he always looks like a boy in love then?" Meegan finished.

"Did he now?" Hermione seemed very interested.

The girls talked until lights out at ten and then continued to talk in the dark until they'd drifted off to sleep. They'd become instant friends bonded by the secrets they'd shared all night. Including the fact that Meegan had noticed 'an adorable redhead' at dinner who Hermione had been able to identify as Ron. They would have talked longer, but they knew they needed their rest for the long day to come.

~*~

"Ron, I've been a terrible git!" Harry exclaimed, storming into the cabin they shared with Patrick Johnson who was in the bathroom at the moment. He'd just run, literally from Hermione. He was too embarrassed to turn around to see if she'd gone back into her cabin or not. He'd hugged her trying to think of something to do to ease her thoughts that he might be interested in Allison. He'd panicked and it was the only thing that could come to mind. She'd felt so good in his arms.

"What's your blubbering about now?" Ron looked up from his top bunk above Harry's. He sat the magazine down he was reading and leaned upside down over the edge to look at Harry below him. He'd flopped onto his bed, shoes and all, in frustration after storming into the cabin.

"I…" 'Oh no!' Harry stopped and realized, he'd never told anyone he liked her. Ron wouldn't understand. "It was nothing." He simply cut off.

"Right then," Ron looked as if he was going to go back to his magazine as his head disappeared, but the next thing Harry knew, he'd hopped off the top bunk and was towering over Harry's bed, blocking his only escape route. "As I said, right then, let's hear it."

"It's nothing," Harry sat up, but easily realized Ron was not going to let him pass by and was not going to let it slide this time. Many a time had he stormed up to their dormitory after embarrassing himself in front Hermione, but he'd always made up an excuse.

"Harry!" he bellowed. "I demand, as your best friend, to know why you always storm into the room in such a tizzy, then refuse to speak about it."

"She DID NOT make me act in a tizzy Ron!" Harry stood up yelling at Ron, but quickly fell back to a seated position as he realized what he'd said. His eyes grew large.

"AH HA!" Ron exclaimed. "I knew it! It's Hermione isn't it! I've heard you mumble her name in your sleep. Admit it, YOU LIKE HER! You do don't you? I'm right aren't I? Tell me I'm right?"

"Ron shut up! The entire camp'll here you! If you shut up then yes I do. Are you happy with yourself?" Harry frowned, folding his arms.

"You like Hermione!!?" he nearly yelled louder than before, if it was at all possible.

"Ron! Quit yelling you prat! You said it yourself that you'd figured it out!" Harry frowned.

Ron sat down on Harry's bed next to him, lowering his voice as he spoke, "I was just blubbering. I never thought you'd say you actually liked her! I just figured you'd gone off to do some masterful prank on Hermione and I just wanted to get in on it. Really that's all." He smiled.

Harry looked up and smiled back, noticing Ron wasn't saying anything cruel about his admittance to his feelings for Hermione.

"So you really do like her. 'Right. Have you told her?"

"Of course not!" Harry looked astonished. "Why would I do such a thing?! You know 'Mione! She'd probably never speak to me again!"

"Or she'd say she liked you back," Ron countered.

"How silly of me Ron. Naturally she'd tell me that!" Harry rolled his eyes.

"She might. You don't know until you try."

"You don't think it's strange. I mean, she is both our best friend. That's all we've all ever been to each other, best friends." Harry wagered.

"Why would I you git?! This is fantastic! I always wagered out of all of Gryffindor, you two would be the most likely to get together!" he smiled. "In fact, Dean, Seamus and I have a gamble on it. Hurry up and ask her out. I said you two would be a couple before seventh year! I've had 20 galleons riding on that bet for two years now!"

"Really?" Harry laughed a bit.

"Really. Now what've you done to put yourself in such a tizzy?"

~*~

Replies to chapter three get chapter four posted sooner! =)

4. No More About Hogwarts

Chapter Four

Hermione awoke the next morning to the incessant buzzing of her alarm clock. It was ringing in her ears, but she was too groggy to open her eyes. She reached for her wand, which she usually slept next to, to blast it off. When she was too sleepy, she never wanted to actually get up and walk to her nightstand to turn it off manually.

"My WAND!" she suddenly shot up in bed wide-awake, realizing it wasn't in its usual spot by her side. She blinked a couple times as her surroundings came into view.

"What was that Hermione?" Meegan came into view as Hermione realized she was at camp and not at school.

"Oh nothing. I must have been dreaming and it woke me up. I cannot even remember what about now," she faked, "I think I'll go shower."

"You should. Hurry up then. Allison is there now. I already took mine. We got up half and hour before you. There could be quite a line forming," Meegan began to towel her hair.

Hermione glanced at her clock. It only read 6:03am. "You mean to say, you go up at 5:30!"

"Hermione, this is camp! She who gets up earliest gets to look her best that day. And might I add with *certain* boys around, looking one's best is always a plus."

"I should hurry then!" Hermione smiled, catching on. She certainly did not want to run out of time and end up waiting for campers at 7:00 with still damp hair. She grabbed her things, slipped on some thong sandals, and began back up the path toward the bathrooms. Right as she got towards the door, she heard a voice behind her.

"HERMIONNEE!" He had to be only twenty feet behind her or so.

"Dear me," she whispered, stopping for a moment. She knew it was Harry. She debated on whether or not to turn, but then realized she looked simply dreadful. Instead, she bolted into the bathroom, pretending she didn't hear him.

~*~

"Ron, she hates me," Harry frowned sitting down next to Ron at breakfast.

"Wha'?" he asked through mouthfuls of food.

"Herm..." he started before looking around and lowering his voice to a whisper, "Hermione."

"Did you let her know you fancied her?" Ron asked.

"Quiet down, you git," he nearly went ballistic.

"Did you?" he lowered his voice a bit to appease Harry.

"No, all I did was call her name this morning."

"And?"

"That's it. She stopped walking for a moment, then just kept going."

"And you're in a tizzy again because?"

"Bloody hell Ron, I do not get into tizzies! The point was, I think she heard me. I mean, why did she stop then? And if she heard me, then ignored me, maybe she's upset that I hugged her last night."

"You're being a git. She most likely didn't hear you. This is 'Mione. If she were upset for you hugging her, she'd let you know about it in a most unfriendly way."

"True. Remember the way she slugged Dean last year for touching her behind on a dare from Seamus?" Harry laughed.

"Do I ever! I talked Seamus into starting that dare! It was bloody brilliant!"

"Dean had a black eye for a week!" Harry recalled doubling over.

"Ya…" Ron laughed wiping a tear from his eye. "She didn't beat you, you know. It'll be all right."

"Lucky for me," Harry laughing subsided as her noticed Hermione walking over with her breakfast in hand.

"Good morning Harry, Ron. I trust you both slept well," she took a seat across from Harry next to Ron. Inside, he sighed a bit, wishing she were next to him. Even if it was just to feel her body head radiating against him.

"Fine, thanks," Ron noticed he had food again and became thoroughly interested in it now that's Harry's non-dilemma had been fixed.

"Harry," she hesitated, looking across the table. "I…I didn't mean to not speak to you this morning. Its just that..."

"It's all right. No need to explain," Harry eyes averted to his feet.

"No, I meant to say, I looked bloody dreadful. I just didn't want you to laugh. Not that you would but well you know girls. And neither of you have ever seen me right as I wake up. It's really a terrible sight," she smiled brightly as he looked up at her.

"Oh, don't worry about it then. I just assumed you didn't hear me," he lied.

"Oh. Well, I just wanted to clear that up incase...Oh, anyway. Let's eat shall we? We are expected up at the recreation field in only ten minutes," she averted her eyes from his again. They were too tempting to get lost in, and instead turned to her cold cereal before her.

'They are incorrigible!' Ron sighed looking to and fro between in friends. 'I need to do something to get those two...' He dropping his spoon into his cereal bowl and splashing milk on Hermione interrupted his thoughts.

"Ron, you git!" she glared, grabbing her napkin to clean up.

"Sorry..." he mumbled but his sights were set on the most beautiful Muggle he's ever laid eyes on who was approaching their table.

"Hermione!" she called, snapping Ron from her gaze and to Hermione next to him.

"Hello Meegan! Come, sit with us," she smiled as the girl walked over.

"You met Harry last night," Hermione pointed at Harry whom Meegan had just taken a seat next to.

"Right, good morning Harry," she smiled politely, holding back a giggle as she remembered her, Hermione's and Allison's discussion about Harry they'd had after he left last night.

"'Morning," he smiled politely back, turning to his cereal.

"This," Hermione rose her voice to a bit of an accented note, herself remembering their latter of the conversation where Meegan noted her interest in Ron, "is my other best friend Ron."

"Ron Weasley," he smiled, immediately sticking his hand out across the table. He nearly jumped out of his skin as she took it.

"Meegan White," she smiled, nervously trying to focus on his eyes.

"Very nice to meet you Meegan," he smiled goofily, sitting back down.

"Same to you," she smiled as Allison walked up and introductions were made for her.

~*~

All the counselors had assembled on the upper recreation field. "Greg" as the camper director insisted on simply being called, had handed out cabin lists and directed the counselors on where to wait while their campers were arriving. Hermione had bid farewell to Ron and Harry who, with their junior counselor Patrick Johnson, had gone off to meet their campers.

Currently, Hermione, Meegan, and Allison were sitting together in the grass looking at their cabin list. They had 12 ten year old girls: Abigail Sedgwick, Kyra Brooks, Allana Petersen, Annika Holmes, Ginger Marks, Emma Long, Rose Maguire, Hannah O'Meara, Sarah Wilson, and Juliet Brown.

The three girls had already become very comfortable with each other and were quite happy to be working together all summer.

Slowly as they waited, their campers began to arrive one by one. By 7:30, Abigail, or Abby as she preferred, Kyra, Allana, Sarah, Hannah, Ginger, and Rose were all already there. All of the girls except for Sarah had been to Camp Silver Lake before and were already good friends. They included Sarah without any qualms. The girls sat gabbling with Allison while Meegan and Hermione waited for the rest. Next to arrive were Emma and Annika together. They were apparently best friends who had also both been to camp before. They quickly joined the other girls and joined in the catching up that was going on.

"Just Juliet then," Hermione read off their list to Meegan. As if she spoke too soon, a girl approached them. She was carrying her bags and waving over her shoulder to her parents who were speaking to Greg. She had shoulder length brown hair and bright blue eyes. As she looked at Hermione and Meegan, the counselors Greg had directed her to, she smiled like the other girls had but her eyes widened unnaturally large at the sight of Hermione and she let out a small gasp. She covered it up though and introduced herself, "I'm Juliet Brown. You must be Meegan and H...Hermione," she smiled.

"Yes, nice to meet you Juliet," Meegan smiled. Hermione was still quiet wondering why Juliet had looked at her so strangely. "Have you been to camp before?

"Yes," she smiled, "this is my 4th year. My older sister came here before me also," she noted eyeing Hermione again. "Well then, I think we should all go to our cabin since I'm last to arrive, right?" She smiled friendly at the girls.

"Right," Hermione mumbled, still puzzling over Juliet. Meegan went to gather the girls as Hermione and Juliet started off since Juliet still had her bags in hand.

"Hermione Granger, is it not?" Juliet smiled, finally speaking, as they were halfway there.

"Yes, how did you..."

"It's Brown, Juliet BROWN," she rolled her eyes giggling, "I mentioned my older sister went here. I do believe you two are friends at Hogwarts."

Hermione nearly choked stopping for a moment, 'How did Juliet know I went to Hogwarts!?!' She nearly panicked. This was not good. She raked her brain and suddenly shouted, "Lavender! Oh Lavender Brown, she's your older sister isn't she?" Hermione smiled as she made the connection.

"Took you a bit did it," Juliet joked. "I heard you're top of your class, a Prefect in fact."

"Sorry," she laughed back, "I just didn't expect to see anyone else here from Hogwarts."

"Oh, I don't go yet, but I do start this September. I already got my letter. I hope I'm in Gryffindor too!"

"It's the best," she smiled but turned around noticing the other girls approaching, "Best to not mention..."

"School? Right, of course," Juliet smiled.

~*~

"Harry, why are we back at our cabin?" Ron was complaining to Harry as their campers unpacked.

"What are you talking about?" Harry looked up from the magazine he'd taken from Ron.

"We're only got eleven of our campers! Shouldn't we be waiting still," Ron said with exasperation. He was frantic. Harry nearly laughed. Obviously even though he'd grown up in a large family, Ron wasn't good with kids. True, he was younger, so he was used to being the one getting cared for. Or maybe it was just the overload of Muggles that was making him nervous.

"Ron, breathe and think. Do you remember what Greg told us?" Harry went back to reading his magazine.

"That William Creevey would be arriving late and to go wait in the cabin with the other boys," Ron took a breath after finishing the sentence entirely with his last one.

"Right Ron. Why don't you sit for a while? You look like you could use a rest," Harry chuckled a bit.

At about 9:00, all the boys had unpacked and were playing cards with the counselors when a small boy, much smaller than the other eleven-year- old boys, opened the door. All the boys on the floor stopped and looked up at him. He had a backpack on and another bag in his hands. His sleeping back was in his other had and a large camera was slung around his next. He had brown, unruly hair, much like Harry's. Strangely, Harry thought he looked very familiar.

As the boy looked at Harry, his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he dropped all of his bags on site. He fumbled to grab his camera in his hands rambling excitedly, "You're Harry Potter!! You're Harry Potter!! I know you! It's Harry Potter!! HARRY POTTER!"

Ron began to laugh having figured it out, then it hit Harry and it was turn for his eyes to grown. CREEVEY. In a flash, he stood up and flew to the door slipping a hand over William's mouth to stop his yelling. "We'll be right back," he quickly announced pulling William outside and shutting the door.

"HARRY! HARRY POTTER!" he yelled as soon as Harry took his hand off the boy's mouth.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh!" Harry said sternly looking around to see if anyone else was outside. "William, WILLIAM!" He tried to make the boy stop. "Calm down, do you want to get us both in trouble."

The boy stopped and stared at Harry in awe, "He knows my name..." He said in a whisper.

"Of course I do, I'm your counselor."

"Hhh..H-Harry P-p-Potter's mm-my c-counselor?" He looked as if he were about to faint.

'And I thought Colin and Dennis were annoying,' Harry rolled his eyes. "William, if anyone finds...finds out that I'm well, you know.." he lowered in voice to a near inaudible level, "a wizard." He looked around again quickly, "Well, let's just say we'll both get ourselves in big trouble. William looked at him with big eyes and nodded. "All right then, no talk about Hogwarts or magic, or such things?" The boy nodded again, still staring at Harry in awe. "So you'll be at school then next year?" The boy nodded again. "Right then, if you don't say anything here. I'll let you take my picture all you want. You can have my autograph, whatever, alright?" The boy nodded again looking very excited. "Okay, we're going to go back inside now, but you must promise no mention of anything." The boy nodded again. Harry and William went back inside. William quietly picked up his bags and joined the other boys playing cards, still glancing at Harry ever once in awhile. Ron got up and went over to talk to Harry once William was settled.

"And you thought Colin was bad when you met him," Ron laughed.

"Shut up," Harry frowned. He did not need a smaller, more annoying version of Colin Creevey following him around all summer.

~*~

"Okay, okay, everyone quiet down!" Greg yelled as the entire camp had gathered in the lodge and were now seated at their own designated tables. "First off, I'd like to welcome each and everyone of you to Camp Silver Lake!" He took a pause as everyone cheered. "Now, I trust your counselors have all gone over the rules with you. Just as a reminder. No one, and I mean NO ONE, is allowed in or near to the lake without our lifeguard, Patty Bryant on duty." He motioned to a girl next to him who looked to be about their age. She smiled and waved at the kids. "Now then, I'd like to introduce the rest of the staff to you. This is my brother Peter Walters. He's the Recreation Director." A couple of older girls, as well as girl counselors, giggled as a muscular, tan man stood up and waved.

He looked like he was about a year or so younger than Greg. "This is his first year as Recreation Director. Last year he was a counselor so I'm sure many of you remember him." He turned to a blond thirty-something woman, "This is Wendy. She's our Arts and Crafts Director and has been with the camp since I was a camper. We are all very lucky to have her." Wendy smiled and waved. "This," he had a man, about his same age, stand up next to him, "is my Assistant Director Joe Alexander. This is his first year. Joe is a friend of mine from Oxford so I think you'll find him highly qualified." Joe, like Greg, was tall and strong with brown hair, except his hair ended in small curls. A few more girls sighed at his introduction. "Finally, I'd like to introduce you to our camp nurse, Madame Pomfrey."

"Blimey Harry, do you think," Ron started paling as he talked to Harry sitting next to him.

"I don't think, I know," Harry choked out staring in disbelief as none other that Madame Pomfrey stood and waved, smiling. Harry quickly glanced at Hermione a few tables away. She looked unphased. Harry frowned a bit and made a mental note to ask her later. Next to Harry, he felt a small tug come from his shirt. He looked over to see William Creevey looking up at him. He motioned for Harry to lean over and as he did so, William whispered into his ear.

"Isn't that the school nurse?"

"Yes," he hissed back, "Now no more talk of Hog-school alright?"

"All right," William whispered as they turned their attention back to Greg.

"So, that's all I needed to tell you all. You're all free to take a tour of the grounds or join a game of kick ball I'll have Peter start. You have about an hour and a half until lunch at noon. I expect everyone back up here promptly. Anyone late eats last! Now everyone go have some fun!"

5. Harry to the Rescue

~*~

Chapter 5

~*~

Ron and Harry had decided to take their group over to the recreation field to join in the game of kickball that Peter was starting. The tour seemed rather pointless considering all of their campers had gone to Camp Silver Lake before and therefore should still remember their way around.

As they arrived, Peter was dividing the campers into two teams, boys against girls, due to popular demand. Harry looked around and noticed nearly the entire camp was playing rather than taking tours to pass the time until lunch. He smiled as his eyes came across Hermione. He'd have expected her to promptly take her group on a tour, but she'd surprised him by being there. Maybe she'd done it earlier to make their day more efficient, he laughed to himself.

“Harry, pay attention. We're starting now and if you keep staring at her like that, you'll get yourself pelted in the head with the ball,” Ron laughed noticing his best friend entranced by subsequently their other best friend.

"Oh right. What side are we on?" Harry smiled at Ron, prying is attention from Hermione. He blushed a bit, which he tried to hide, at the fact he'd be gawking.

"We're up you git, now come on. We need to get off the field and over to the rest of the team!" Ron nearly drug Harry, who was still a bit dazed, off the field. Lucky for him, no one but Ron had noticed.

The boys, all of the boys, were lined up on the sidelines while the field was full of girls. There were about thirty for each side, which meant about four groups were still out doing tours. Harry and Ron were near the front on the line. Since it was a game, they didn't really need to be doing much work but playing. Naturally, their competitive sides, fueled by Quidditch, kept them always at an edge. They were probably more into the game that most of the campers.

By the time Harry got up to the plate, it was already 5-0 in favor of the boys, who were still at bat in the first inning. He scanned the field looking for an opening, completely oblivious to the fact the William was sneaking pictures of him from his spot in line or that Hermione was intently watching him from her fielding position.

~*~

"Blimey Hermione, that's him isn't it!" Juliet screamed next to Hermione, breaking her intently satisfying gaze at Harry.

"Ah…what was that Juliet?" The words were drowned out from everyone else around them due to the loud cheers from both sides and the excitement from the game.

"You never told me he was here! Oh my!" Juliet was jumping up and down screaming.

"Who's here?" Hermione was still trying to focus. She must have been lost on Harry for at least the past five minutes. She placed herself far enough to the side that she wouldn't really have to play, but could watch Harry instead.

Just then the boys started yelling at Harry kicked the ball. Hermione turned forward just in time for the high speeding ball to peg her dead square in the stomach. She fell to the ground with a thump. No words could be managed as he'd completely knocked the wind out of her.

~*~

Harry was waiting at the plate for the perfect pitch, well, roll, to him and since a ten year old girl was pitching, he took the first slow roller he got and kicked it with all his might. He knew he'd contacted well when a cheer erupted behind him from the other boys. He loved nothing like the yells of a crowd. Something he'd always fueled off since he started playing Quidditch. He took of toward first base, taking a glance to see where is ball was going. He saw is soaring down the third base line. Being that he was the first counselor to go, his kick was much harder and faster than all those before him. As it sailed down the line, something happened, it stopped dead stride coming into contact with a girl in the field. The world around Harry began to slow and he stopped running and froze as the girl crumpled to the ground. The boys behind him yelled, coaxing him to stop staring and keeping running. The only thing that stopped however was his heart as he realized that the girl was Hermione and that she wasn't getting up.

Before another thought could hit him, he was sprinting to her and reached her in seconds.

"Hermione! Hermione!" he called as he ran. Everyone else had finally realized what had happened and were gathering around her. Some of the boys, including Ron, came running over behind Harry.

He quickly knelt beside her, sliding a hand under the base of her head. The other, he brought up to her cheek and brushed in gently as he spoke, "'Mione, it's me. I'm sorry, wake up. Wake up 'Mione, I didn't mean to get you." He spoke very quietly trying not to cry in front of everyone. Of all people to hit! His heart was thudding against his chest. He'd seen the way it had knocked her down. The wind had left her so quickly, she fell backward as if she were put into a full body bind.

"That's enough! That's enough! Everyone move on back!" he heard a voice yelling, making its way through the crowd.

"'Mione…" he whispered to her again.

"Mister Potter!" the voice boomed as Harry looked up to see Madame Pomfrey hovering over them. "Care to tell me why Miss Granger is unconscious?" She eyed him suspiciously. Harry knew she must have been calling them troublemakers in her head. Complaining that even here at camp they were still the ones doing foolish things to get hurt.

"Hermione got hit in the stomach with the ball. It knocked the wind out of her. I think she may have hit her head when she fell." Harry ran another finger over her cheek subconsciously as he spoke to her.

"Very well them," she knelt down and gave a quick examination of Hermione who was still knocked out. Harry moved back a bit, but still remained close enough so get could grab a hold of Hermione's hand when no one was looking. He wanted her to know someone was still there for her.

"Yes, she does seem to be all right. Just got the wind knocked out of her, poor dear. She'll be all right, no concussion. Mister Potter, why don't you pick up Miss Granger and follow me so she can lay down for a bit?" With that she stood and continued shooing campers away to make a path for Harry.

"Come on 'Mione," he bent down and gently scooped her small frame into his arms. Carefully, he titled her so that her head tipped in a comfortable position against his shoulder. His could feel her heart beating against him as he smiled down at her in his arms. He'd always dreamed of holding her like this. Her soft, summery smell floated around her. Harry would have continued to stay in the moment, but Madame Pomfrey called again snapping Harry back into reality. He quickly realized he wasn't holding a sleeping Hermione, but rather an unconscious one that needed to get out of the sun and into the nurses office. He gently carried her following Madame Pomfrey. Not unexpectedly, the game restarted as soon as they'd left and the campers lost interest in the situation.

"Set her there on the bed Mister Potter," she directed, shutting, and locking the main door before pulling a bag, hidden in the back of a drawer, out from it's hiding spot. "Can't let anyone see me giving this to her," she gave Harry a knowing smile as she proceeded to close the curtains before going back to the bag and pulling out a vial of green liquid. She poured it into a spoon and went over to where Hermione lied with Harry sitting at her side, holding her hand again. "Open up Miss Granger," she spoke, opening Hermione's mouth for her and pouring the foul smelling liquid down. Harry frowned in disgust. Fortunately though, so did Hermione as her head shot up, coughing and spitting.

"That was absolutely repulsive!" she yelled before coughing a bit and looking around. She noticed Harry first. He was intently looking at her with a smile of relief playing in his eyes. She was about to say something when she felt a small squeeze and her fingertips and glanced down to notice Harry had just released her hand. She wondered how long he'd been holding it with a hidden smile before looking up to Madame Pomfrey for directions.

"A simple Up and Atom potion Miss Granger. I had Professor Snape mix me up a batch before I came. Good for children who refuse to get out of bed, curing the Sleeping Beauty curse, and reviving those who seemed to get knocked out such as yourself."

"Knocked out?" she sat up further, but slowed as she felt a rush of dizziness hit her. She put a hand up to the back of her head and felt a small bump forming. Harry quickly placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her. Hermione instantly felt the rush of dizziness returns, however this time brought on by Harry's touch.

"I'm afraid I got you pretty good in the stomach with a kickball," Harry eyes pleaded for forgiveness as she looked at him. The word stomach brought her attention to her abdomen. She took a small breath in a winced, noticing, in fact, that it was a bit sore.

"How'd I get here?" she asked matter-of-factly, sliding out of the bed and sitting at the side. "Where are my campers? Are they all right?"

"They're fine dear. Still playing kickball with the other counselors I'd assume. Why don't you lie down another minute before you go back out? You took a nasty hit. Mister Potter here sure nailed that one." She smiled at the pair.

"But.." Hermione protested, thinking of her responsibility to her campers.

”If it would ease you a bit, I'll go take a peak at them. I don't suppose you'd mind watching her at all, would you Mister Potter," she smiled at the boy.

"Not at all," he still had a hand on her shoulder for support. Once Madame Pomfrey left, he turned his attention back to Hermione.

"What do you suppose she's here for?" Harry tried to lighten the mood by changing to topic of conversation.

Hermione blushed at looked down at her hands. She knew he'd ask her as soon as he found out Madame Pomfrey was there. "I'd imagine Dumbledore got wind and sent her to keep a eye on me." He tested the waters and watched as Hermione flinched a bit.

"Hermione..." he began with an exasperated tone, knowing she'd told him.

"Well I did it for you own good. You can't go running around all summer with out some sort of protection! Of course I told Dumbledore! I knew he'd want to put charms on the camp to keep you safe. That's all I wanted to do, to keep you safe," she kept her eyes down.

"It's okay 'Mione," he took his arm off her shoulder. She immediately missed its warmth but it was quickly replaced by his arms wrapping around her shoulders and pulling her into his side.

"Now I didn't hurt you too badly now did I," he joked.

She laughed a bit, "Not so bad as I can't whop you one for it." She finally looked up into his eyes which were smiling back at her.

"Thank you by the way," she said.

"For what?" he was still smiling at her like an idiot, completely entranced by her beauty and her proximity.

"For sitting here with me," she smiled, "Even if it was your fault!" She added wickedly at the end after a minute pause.

"Hey!" Harry retaliated by sliding his arm from her shoulders, down to her waist holding her tight as his other hand snaked out and began tickling her mercilessly.

"Oh Harry! Don't! Please!" she begged through fits of laughter. Just then, Madame Pomfrey burst through the door. She gave the two an odd look. They'd frozen in air. Hermione was leaning into Harry to try and avoid the tickling, rather than pull away, which had momentarily been effective considering his arms had both tightened around her on impulse. She'd been too close for him to avoid holding her.

"Feeling better are we? Well run along now. The game is ending and everyone is filing into the lodge for lunch," she shooed them out with a smile as they scrambled to compose themselves.

"Um...Hermione," Harry started. He couldn't keep ignoring the fluttering in his stomach. He had to say something. They neared the entrance and could see everyone already inside.

"Thanks for carrying me," she smiled with a wink, cutting him off with a kiss on the cheek as she darted off inside to find her girls. Harry stood there dazed. A lazy hand rose to rest on the place where she'd kissed him. 'How'd she know I'd carried her?' he puzzled as he aimlessly made his way to the table designated for his cabin with his hand still on the spot where she kissed him.

"Harry! HARRY!" Ron yelled finally standing and taking hold of Harry and yanking him to a seat. "Harry are you in one of your tizzies again?"

That snapped Harry out of it, "Ron, I told you that I don’t get into..." he stated before realizing the entire table was staring at him. He shook his head a bit and focused. "What?" he simply stated to clear the air.

"Do you reckon the whole camp saw then?" Ron laughed at his clueless friend.

"Saw what?!"

"Hermione kissing your cheek in the doorway. Bloody hell Harry, are you two a couple and you haven't told me yet?" Ron was already near half done eating and still shoveling food in.

"We are not a couple Ron," he stated defensively.

"Why not?"

"Well, I don't know. I was thinking of telling her, but then she kissed me," Harry poked around at his food a bit.

"So she didn't deck you for pegging her stomach? She'd have had it been any other boy, including me!" Ron smirked.

"No, I suppose she didn't," Harry sighed.

"So was it a friendly kiss, or an I Love You Too You Crazy Git kiss?" Ron laughed having allowed Harry to think he'd let the subject go.

"I don't know! She was thanking me for helping her. I don't know Ron!" he threw his hands down in exasperation. More frequently now he'd been having moments with Hermione; a little more touching there, a hug, a kiss on the cheek. It was all so much more than he'd been used to. Normally, he'd get a hug or a kiss on the cheek up arriving and departing school, and the occasional for the relief that he'd survived mortal danger yet again, but really it was usually limited to that. It was now beginning to become a daily occurrence. It left Harry to wonder, could Hermione maybe feel the same way?

~*~

Hermione was still blushing as she reached her table without looking back. If she still had her ability to turn back time, she'd have gone up and slapped some sense into herself. She couldn't fathom why she was being so blatantly stupid around Harry. Her impulsive behavior had to stop. She was hugging and kissing him daily now. He was going to start noticing!

"Hermione! Are you ok?!" Allison began her rambling the second she saw Hermione nearing the table. "We saw you get hit! Did it hurt? Did you talk to Harry? We saw him carry you away," she winked.

"I'm fine," she offered a smile, sitting down to eat.

"All right then?" Meegan, who was next to her, leaned over to whisper. Hermione nodded. "Are you sure? You still look flushed." She too winked, leaning away.

Hermione knew exactly what she was implying. Why'd she have to let Harry get to her so much! He was just looking after her because it had been his fault. Besides, he's her best friend, of course he'd take care of her if she'd gotten hurt, he always has. Hermione scowled at herself and started eating. She didn't need to keeping the inner battle of her feeling toward Harry going any longer of she'd go absolutely insane.

6. Gotcha!

~*~

Chapter Six

~*~

"Harry Potter saved you!" Juliet squealed dreamily as Hermione and her cabin walked to the lake for an afternoon swim. She'd finally gotten far enough away from the rest of the girls so that she could discuss Harry with Hermione.

"He seems to do that a lot," she smiled. Shaking her head. She did not need to be his damsel. She tried to counter herself with all the times her brains had saved him, but Juliet began talking again.

"You didn't tell me he was here! He's the most famous wizard of our generation! It's like having Britney Spears here to all these Muggles!" she went of excitedly.

"Juliet, please don't mention anything here at camp," she started, but Juliet kept going.

"Don't worry they can't here me. And Ron is here too?" she smiled.

"How do you know Ron?" Hermione was very interested.

"Lavender has pictures. I think she fancies him!" she giggled devilishly.

"Really now?" Hermione smiled, she couldn't wait to get back to Gryffindor and use this to her advantage, or at least, her amusement.

"Oh yes! That's another reason I knew you! Lav is very jealous you spend so much time with 'Ronnie'," she winked with a giggle as they neared the water.

Hermione gave her a perplexed smile as she stopped at the water's edge. Dropping her towel, she revealed a cute dark blue and white polka dotted bikini. After carefully spreading her towel along the dock, she gingerly laid down in hopes to get somewhat of a tan.

~*~

"Harry, you know I'm a rotten bad swimmer," Ron sulked, kicking at the dirt on the path down to the lake. He and Ron we clad in swimming trunks leading with Patrick and their boys behind them. Patrick had been a camper before he was a counselor, so he naturally hung out with the campers more.

"There are lifeguards Ron," Harry stated plainly.

"What if they don't see me go down?" he continued.

"I'll save you," Harry rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Thanks Harry, you're a pal," he patted his shoulder then walked off to dive in.

"Lucky me." Harry mumbled. He began walking toward the dock and his campers flew past him, cannonballing off the dock in record time, until he stopped dead in his tracks. Before him stood Hermione in the tiniest thing he'd ever seen her wear. She looked absolutely gorgeous. She seemed even more beautiful at that moment, standing in the sun, with the water sparkling beyond her.

He had no idea how long he'd been gaping until a bright flash went off, startling him.

"William!" Harry yelled, turning to the shore beside the dock.

"Sorry..." he mumbled, lowering the camera.

When he turned back to Hermione, she was looking right at him. Harry froze, swallowing a large gulp of air. He was frozen in her gaze.

"Harry?" she giggled breaking the spell. "Come on you git! Get over here!" She motioned for him to come over.

He was nervous and he had no idea why. This was his best friend! Well, he had some idea why, but it wasn't supposed to be like this! He was never nervous around her.

'Get a grip. Potter,' he chastised himself as he put on a smile and walked over to her.

~*~

'Wow, he looks amazing!' Hermione smiled as Harry made his way to her. Suddenly she was very self-conscious of what she was wearing. She didn't need Harry laughing at her non-existent figure.

"Hey Hermione," he smiled as he stopped in front of her.

She smiled goofily. 'Okay, now would be the time to talk!' her brain directed her. "Hey Harry."

"So did you want something?" he rose an eyebrow.

"Uh, what?" she stuttered.

"You just called me over," he smiled.

"Oh, right," she blushed.

"You are such a girl," he laughed reaching out and giving her a playful poke to the stomach as he passed her walking to the edge of the dock to give a quick glance to see if Ron had drown yet.

Hermione gave him a smirk from behind, "What's that supposed to mean?" She closed in on him.

"What?" he turned around coming face to face with her.

"How's this for a girl?" she rose an evil eyebrow, giving him a shove to the chest. Harry wobbled a bit then fell straight backwards into the lake.

"Nice one Hermione," Meegan laughed coming onto the dock behind her.

Hermione looked over to say something to Megan but a sputtering sound coming from the water drew her attention back to Harry who had just surfaced.

"HERMIONE GRANGER! YOU ARE SO GOING TO PAY!" he smiled, quickly swimming to the ladder, straight toward her.

"Damn." she muttered. She hadn't expected him to retaliate. Turning, she took of padding in her bare feet down and back off the dock.

"See you," Meegan laughed at Hermione as she turned back to watch a dripping Harry climb out of the water and begin chasing after her.

Hermione took a quick glance over her shoulder as her feet left the dock. Harry was already out of the water and gaining on her. She turned away and picked up her pace along the lake. She could here the boy campers yelling, "Get her Harry!" and laughing. The girl were equally yelling, "Run Hermione, Run!" None of them had any idea why both were running, they just saw the chase and naturally wanted to get into the action.

Hermione took another look over her shoulder; Harry was gaining. Luckily for her, he didn't have shoes on either so it made it difficult for both of them. She looked forward again to see that they were getting far enough around the corner that she couldn't see the people swimming any longer.

Ahead of her she saw the beginnings of the currently deserted lower playfield. Deciding that grass would feel much better under her feet, she decided to turn and start running across the playfield instead. Sure she could stop, but she was halfway to the safety of her cabin by now, and she knew what Harry was capable of which is why she was running.

She'd almost made it all the way across the playfield when she felt a strong pair of arms encircle her waist. Next thing she knew she was falling, or more so, being tackled and brought down to the ground. "Gotcha," she heard a husky and out of breath whisper reach her ear.

~*~

He had no idea why he'd insisted in following her for so long, his feet hurt immensely and she was going to royally kick his butt later for retaliating, but it was what they always did. Her, Ron, and himself were notorious for starting wars and not backing down.

Finally, he reached her in the middle of the grassy lower playfield. Stretching out, he managed to get his hands around her waist. They slid easily around the bare skin of her middle. Quickly he pulled her tight against him, fully, before tipping over sideways and taking her to the ground with him.

Purposefully, Harry took most of the brunt of the fall, pulling Hermione partially on top of him. As they settled, he whispered into her ear, "Gotcha."

~*~

Hermione felt a chill tingle up and down her spine, from the tips of her toes to the top of her head at the sound of his voice. She almost melted right there and then but the she remembered he'd been chasing her. Quickly she made a move to escape, but was halted as his arms tightened even more around her. She felt herself turning until her back was on the ground and Harry was on top of her, merely inches from her face.

She couldn't do anything but stare up into his eyes. Her pulse rapidly began to accelerate and her breath became thready. She was completely mesmerized by his scent, the feel of his breath reaching her lips, the fact that he was slowly getting closer to her.

Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat. He was so close now; his nose was nearly touching hers. Her eyes threatened her to close and pray he didn't disappear when she did so.

"Hey Hermione..." he drawled leaning in so closely she thought she might faint.

"Ye…yes, Harry?" she managed in a voice barely meriting being called a whisper.

"I just wanted to tell you." he leaned in and she could have sworn she felt his nose brush hers, "GOTCHA!!" He grinned, leaning back as his hands flew back to her sides and began mercilessly tickling her.

She wanted to sigh in exasperation but she didn't have time as giggles overtook her body. All she could do was try her might to squirm out of his grasp. "Harry, Harry please!" She begged through tears of laughter.

"What was that you said? Was it 'I'm sorry for pushing you in the water, Harry?'" he teased while continuing his assault on her waist.

"I…" she gasped for more air, "I'm soo…soor..." she could speak she was laughing to much.

"What was that?" he smiled as he leaned in close again and held his fingers at bay against her soft flesh.

"I'm…sorry," she managed as her laughter quickly subsided and her desire for him returned.

"That's better," he smiled broadly, his husky voice returning as he began leaning closer again.

'This is it!' Hermione mind screamed as she let her eyelids flutter shut. Time and space seemed to slow as he neared her. It was the perfect moment.

7. Phase One

recap of the end of chapter six..

~*~

"What was that you said? Was it 'I'm sorry for pushing you in the water, Harry?'" he teased while continuing his assault on her waist.

"I…" she gasped for more air, "I'm soo…soor..." she could speak she was laughing to much.

"What was that?" he smiled as he leaned in close again and held his fingers at bay against her soft flesh.

"I'm…sorry," she managed as her laughter quickly subsided and her desire for him returned.

"That's better," he smiled broadly, his husky voice returning as he began leaning closer again.

'This is it!' Hermione mind screamed as she let her eyelids flutter shut. Time and space seemed to slow as he neared her. It was the perfect moment.

~*~

Chapter Seven

~*~

Loud, high-pitched screams suddenly filled the air, followed by the sound of stampeding feet.

Harry jerked his head back and both their eyes flew wide open, growing immensely in size. Harry glanced at Hermione below and surveyed their current position. They were both scantily clad. Especially with him fully on top of her, it didn't look good for the both of them.

The yells were getting louder; it was coming from the trail to the lake. Quickly, Harry rolled off Hermione and they both scrambled to their feet, brushing the grass off of themselves. Hermione glanced at her arm and quickly pulled the strap of her bikini top, which had fallen haphazardly, back up on her shoulder. Just as they did, a stampede of kids and counselors came up from the lake and continued up toward the cabins.

Hermione looked at Harry for a brief moment. He was staring at her breathlessly, wondering himself what had just almost happened. Before she could say anything, Meegan ran up to her.

"Hermione, I brought your towel," she handed it to her. She glanced at Hermione and then at Harry, noticing they were both breathing quite heavily. "Have a good run?" she giggled before grabbing Hermione's wrist. "Sorry to rescue you from Harry's torture," she gave them an evil smile, "but we need to get back to the cabin. I don't want to leave Allison alone with all the girls. Bye Harry!" she called as she drug Hermione away.

"Bye Harry." Hermione said quickly, looking over her shoulder as she was pulled away from him. She kept her head focused on him until she was lost in the crowd.

Harry stood there and sighed, 'Potter, you imbecile! What were you thinking! She's going to figure out you like her if you keep carrying on like this. Who knows what she'll do if she finds out! She could stop talking to you, you git! Or worse, beat you to a pulp for considering such an absurd thing!'

Ron stopped in the crowd, noticing Harry pacing back and forth alone in the field. He was waving his hands around and muttering to himself. Ron gave him a funny look as he approached.

"Oy, Harry. What's it this time?" he handed Harry his towel as he stopped pacing and gave Ron an embarrassed smile.

"I was chasing Hermione," he said quietly as he accepted the towel from Ron.

"And...?" Ron asked as the two slowly began walking toward the tail end of the campers leaving the trail.

"I think I almost kissed her," he looked at Ron for an answer. The last few campers had gone up the trail and it was just Harry and Ron walking up it now.

"You think?" Ron said as he gave a grimacing face and tried to wave some dust out of his face that had risen off the trail due to the running campers who'd just gone through.

"I was chasing her and then I caught her over there in the field," he stopped to coughed a bit as Ron waved dust into his face. He gave him a nasty look.

"Sorry, go on then," Ron shrugged with a small smile of apology.

"Like I was saying, I tackled her and began tickling her. Nothing we wouldn't have normally done. But then I noticed how close I was to her. Did you see what she was wearing?! And there I was, lying on top of her. I just started leaning toward her. It was like I didn't have a choice. As if there were magnets inside each of our heads and the pull was too strong for me to avoid it," Harry was looking at his feet, kicking dirt as they stopped outside their cabin.

"And?!!?!?!" Ron was on edge. He needed to know the end of the story.

"And then the campers came up from the lake and we got up. Meegan came over and fetched Hermione, and then you came," he shrugged. A disappointed look crossed his face again.

"Did Meegan look alright?" Ron grinned suddenly.

"Shut up!" Harry laughed, punching him in the arm as he passed by him and entered the cabin. Ron smiled with a dreamy smile as he pictured Meegan in the skimpiest bikini he could cook up in his mind. Which actually covered a lot since Ron was too embarrassed at the thought to conjure up anything better.

~*~

"Hermione!!!!!!!" Meegan squealed, tugging on her wrist and pulling her away from their cabin and around back behind it. "Well?"

"Well what?" she blushed, looking at her feet.

"Didn't I tell you he fancied you!" she smiled, releasing Hermione's wrist and clasping her hands together excitedly.

"He does not. Really Meegan. All he did was chase me. I started it. It's always been like this. Harry, Ron, and I constantly play nasty tricks on one another and someone always retaliates. Harry just happened to catch me this time and subject me to some tickling. Like I told you, nothing we don't do all the time," she turned away. A slight look of hurt filled her eyes as she realized she was right. Harry wasn't going to kiss her; he was simply teasing her as always. 'You're going insane, Granger! Making yourself think Harry Potter would fancy the likes of you! You're mad with infatuation!'

"Hermione, are you alright?" Meegan gave her a curious look as a strange scowl crossed Hermione's face while she internally chastised herself.

"Oh, of course," she smiled, "Come on then. You said it yourself. We shouldn't be leaving Allison alone." With that, Hermione turned on her heel and headed off promptly into their cabin.

~*~

The loud echoes of children's laughter bounced off the walls of the lodge. Any meal there was usually very loud since it took a lot to get so many children to gather in one place and not cause a ruckus.

Hermione looked down at her plate of potato salad and poked it with her fork. It barely looked edible and she didn't want to test out her theory that it wasn't. She'd been in a rather downtrodden mood since they'd gone to the lake that afternoon. Glancing up from her uneaten plate of food, she looked across the room to Harry's table. He was standing on the bench with straws poking out of his nose. The boys around him were applauding loudly with hollers of encouragement.

"Ugh," Hermione scowled, turning away from him and rolling her eyes. 'He's so immature. Obviously he's not thinking about earlier because there is nothing to think about! Point proven why you need to get over this stupid infatuation!'

"What's with Hermione?" Allison leaned in next to Meegan and whispered into her ear. They were seated on the adjacent corner to Hermione and had been watching her poke at her food the entire meal.

"She's in a bit of a state over Harry again," Meegan explained as they watched her look over toward Harry, then turn away in disgust.

"She's got it bad," Allison noted.

"I think we need to intervene a bit," Meegan turned to face Allison while she talked to her. A wicked smile was crossing her face.

"What do you have in mind?" Allison grinned as Meegan leaned in, cupped her hand around her cousin's ear and began whispering her plan.

"You think it'll work," Allison smiled excitedly.

"Of course, I am near positive her sentiments are fully reciprocated," Meegan smiled turning back to her dinner. Throughout the rest of the meal, she noticed Hermione stealing glances at Harry more frequently. Though she denied it, Meegan knew Hermione was head over heels for Harry. They were going to get together, even if it took her all summer long.

~*~

After dinner and some cabin time waiting for it to get dark, the entire camp had gathered on the wooden benches surrounding the campfire pit. Meegan and Allison were seated on one side of their campers, and Hermione was seated on the other side. In front of them the camp staff tended to the roaring fire.

Some of the cabins had yet to arrive. While they were all waiting for them, they sang camp song led by Wendy, the Arts and Crafts Director. Currently, they were doing a round robin medley of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".

Meegan noticed Ron and Harry leading their group up to the fire as she sang. She smiled to herself, then leaned to Allison next to her and whispered, "Time to start phase one of our plan."

"Ron! Oh, Ron! Come sit over here by me!" she called over the voices as he and Harry neared with their group.

Ron froze. His eyes widened as Harry turned to judge his reaction. Harry knew how much Ron fancied Meegan. When he wasn't bugging Harry about Hermione, it was his other topic of choice.

"Harry, am I imagining things or did Meegan just talk to me?" he was still frozen looking at her.

"She just talked to you," Harry smiled walking his group over to the empty benches next to Meegan and Hermione's group. Ron stood there dumbstruck for another moment before snapping to his senses and walking over to take the seat next to Meegan that Harry had made sure remained open. Harry, himself, had taken a seat on the other side of the group, out of earshot of Meegan and Ron.

"Hi," she smiled cheerily as he sat down. He looked at her and blushed as his arm brushed hers as he sat.

"Hello," he fumbled out.

Meegan smiled. This was her favorite phase of her and Allison's plan to get Harry and Hermione together. Phase One, as they had dubbed it, solely entailed of Meegan making friends with Ron and gaining his trust so they could use him later in Phase Two. She hadn't complained at all when Allison suggested using Ron. In truth, due to the fact she liked him, she was very happy to accept the assignment.

"So are you having a good time at camp so far?" she offered a bit of conversation. Everyone around them was still singing so she had to lean in a bit closer for Ron to be able to here her. This caused her to blush a bit along with Ron's already pink cheeks.

"Oh, I like it a lot. How many years have you been a counselor here for?" he inquired.

"This is my third year. I was a camper here for two years before that."

"You must like it here a lot then," he smiled, gazing at her goofily, having also leaned a bit closer to hear well.

"Oh, I do very much so. This summer looks very promising to be the best yet," she smiled with a wink before turning away from Ron as the singing died down and Greg began talking to start campfire.

Both Harry and Hermione had been watching their exchange from a distance. Harry figured it was right time Ron did something about his crush of Meegan. Hermione just smiled and thought it was cute that two of her friends liked each other so much.

8. The New Couple

~*~

PART EIGHT

~*~

"So are you going to tell me what you've been doing with Ron the past week?" Hermione walked over to Meegan's bed and looked at her friend. She was still in her pajamas under the covers. It was seven in the morning and Hermione had just returned from a shower. Allison was still there with the other campers.

Since campfire on the first night of camp, Meegan and Ron had spent the utmost possible time together. When they needed someone to wash dishes, both volunteered. When they needed assistants to help with Arts and Crafts, they volunteered. Basically, they took advantage of anytime they possibly could to spend time together.

Over the past week, Hermione had tried her best to get it out of Meegan, but she wouldn't tell Hermione what she'd been doing spending so much time with Ron. Naturally, Hermione wanted her to admit that she and Ron were a couple. She knew Ron liked Meegan. And Meegan had already admitted to her she liked Ron as well.

"I'm still asleep, go away," she mumbled as she pulled the comforter up higher over her head. She'd been avoiding Hermione's questioning purposefully. She'd yet to do anything with Ron but spend time with him. Not that things weren't going well. She and Ron had grown very close. In fact, if something did develop, Hermione would be the first she would tell.

Unfortunately for the time being, Hermione couldn't know any details. Until her and Ron became a couple or Phase One was completed, Hermione had to be left out for the sake of the plan. Meegan was certain though that Ron would ask her out any day now. And not only would this highly benefit her, since she fancied Ron quite a bit, but they she could move onto Phase Two of her and Allison's plan.

"Meeeeeeeeegan," Hermione sighed, flopping directly on top of her friend.

"UGH!" she flipped the blanket down and stared at Hermione who was still on top of her. "I’m still not going to tell you."

"Please?" Hermione smiled as she fakely batted her eyelashes.

"I've been hanging out with Ron, that's it," she tried to roll Hermione off of her but she wouldn't budge.

"Is that all?" Hermione eyed her suspiciously.

"YES!" Meegan attempted to roll her off again, "I promise you...AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Both Meegan and Hermione screamed as she was finally successful on rolling Hermione off. Unfortunately, she became tangled in the blankets and took Meegan with her as they fell, landing in a tangled mob of blankets on the hard wood floor. They were still laughing when Allison and the girls returned from the showers and found them.

"I don't want to know," Allison gave them a weird look as the girls laughed and went to put their shower totes away.

"Fine, don't tell me," Hermione got up and went to fix her hair. Meegan sighed and threw the covers down. After rifling through her bag and throwing on some clothes (she'd showered the night before instead), she went over and sat down on Allison's bed.

"Any closer?" Allison asked casually as her cousin sat down.

"A bit. Hermione's getting nosy again though. Keep her occupied. And possibly get her to hang around Harry. Those two have been acting a bit goofy around each other lately," Meegan said as she watched Hermione across the room.

~*~

It was after lunch and Harry and Hermione's groups were both in the Arts and Crafts room. They were all seated around the long tables with a few other cabins. Wendy was currently explaining how to make tissue paper butterflies.

Ron and Meegan were sitting together as per usual at one end of a long table. At the other end, Harry and Hermione sat across from each other with Patrick and Allison next to them accordingly. Naturally, they were talking to their junior counselors and still trying to avoid each other as much as possible.

"Those two are gits," Ron mumbled as he scrunched some tissue paper next to Meegan. He was eyeing Harry and Hermione stealing glances at each other but refusing to speak to one another.

"What?" Meegan smiled. She was hoping this would be the perfect moment to skip to the end of Phase One and bring Ron into the plan. Even if they didn't get together right away, she'd still have him onboard to start Phase Two.

"Oh, nothing," he blushed a bit as he became immersed in his art project.

"Are you talking about Harry and Hermione?" she smiled, lowering her voice to a whisper and leaning closer so only Ron could hear her.

"Um...yes, but it didn't mean anything," he mumbled.

"Don't you think they'd be a cute couple?" she ventured further. She was determined to pull it out of him.

"YES!" he blurted out followed by a look of shock at his outburst. Lowering his voice to a near whisper he said again, "Yes! Those two are infuriating!" He looked relieved to finally vent.

"Tell me about it. All I hear from Hermione now is her trying to deny she ever told me she liked that boy," Meegan continued in a whisper as a smile came across her face.

"She said that?" Ron smiled becoming excited.

"Oh yes," Meegan took the bait, "that girl talked about it nonstop. That was until..."

"Until what?!" Ron demanded more. He’d stopped working on his art project and was now intently looking at Meegan.

"Well, I'm not sure I'm supposed to tell you more..."

"Oh please!" Ron desperately asked.

Meegan smiled, it was just what she wanted to hear. That Ron was as intrigued as she was. "Well something happened between those two, I don't really know what....Anyway, she's denied any feelings for him since and tried to avoid him."

"Harry's been the same way! For the past week he hasn't mentioned her at all," Ron looked excited but was omitting the fact that he knew what had happened between Harry and Hermione; that they'd nearly kissed.

"What do you mean?" Meegan's eyes grew in excitement too. 'This is it!' she was hoping Ron would admit Harry's feelings too.

"Well," Ron looked around to make sure no one way paying attention to what they were saying, "Harry told me he like 'Mione, but for the past week, he's been acting like she doesn't exist. I think he's just being a bloody idiot! Those two!" Ron huffed.

"Ron, you and I have a lot in common," Meegan smiled evilly. "See, I know Hermione likes Harry, even if she denies it now. And you just told me Harry likes Hermione, but he's been acting weird also. Do you see where I'm going here?"

"They like each other?" Ron offered.

"Precisely. And I believe as their very good friends, it’s our duty to push them together," she giggled.

"You mean you want us to help them become a couple?" he smiled finally catching on to what she meant.

"You're a smart boy Ron," she smiled back at him.

~*~

"Talk to him!" Allison leaned over and harshly whispered in Hermione's ear. She'd been holding her tissue butterfly in her hands for the past five minutes and simply gazing at Harry instead.

"What?!" Hermione quickly averted her gaze after Allison made her realize she'd been staring.

"Just do it, you know you want to!" she smiled as talked a bit too loudly.

"Allison hush. He's busy talking to Patrick besides," she turned back to crimping the wings of her butterfly.

"You're being ridiculous!" Allison scoffed and turned back to her art project.

Hermione sighed and looked up at Harry. She hadn't meant to ignore him this week. It was hard enough to convince herself she didn't like Harry but to accept the fact that he only thought of her as a friend had taken its toll. Really she wanted nothing more for it to be like it was. Obviously he was ignoring her though. He must have noticed she liked him and was now avoiding her for fear of hurting her feelings or something. Hermione sighed in frustration and turned back to her art project as well.

~*~

"Uh huh, right Patrick," he replied. He'd had no idea what he was being told. He was only pretending to really listen to Patrick. He was actually watching Hermione carefully folding the wings of her butterfly. He felt a pang in his heart as he watched her. He missed hearing her voice, the way she smiled, how she laughed. It had been a week and he was still avoiding her. He was so embarrassed from nearly kissing her, he was sure she didn't want anything to do with him. He was afraid if he talked to her, she'd be mad at him for it.

As he watched, Hermione glanced up at him. Their eyes locked for a moment before a flash of hurt went through them and she averted her gaze again. Harry's heart panged again. She was upset with him. He'd never meant to hurt her. Now she was uncomfortable around him; upset with him for trying to make something more of their friendship when she obviously didn't want anything more.

Sighing, Harry also turned back to his butterfly, defeated.

~*~

Hermione, Allison, Meegan and their girls were playing cards on the floor of their cabin after Arts and Crafts (all cabins had mandatory cabin time until dinner) until a knock at their cabin door interrupted their game.

Allison gave a sigh and hoisted herself up off the floor, "I got it." She went over and answered the door, after a moment, she called for Meegan.

Meegan went over to the door, and found Ron standing outside of it. "Do you have a minute?" he blushed, smiling at her.

"Sure," she turned to address her cabin, "I'll be right back." She called before leaving with Ron. They walked about twenty feet away to a wooden bench and sat down next to each other.

"So you wanted to talk to me?" Meegan smiled as she scooted a bit closer so her arm rested up against Ron's.

"Um, ya…" he blushed uncomfortably.

"Is it about Harry and Hermione?" she asked, wondering why else he'd have asked to see her away from them.

"Not exactly. I was wondering....willyougooutwithmesometime?" he rambled, looking down at his hands he was ringing nervously.

"What?!" she giggled with a smile turning to him.

"Well..." he said with a fluster and he fumbled around and reached for her fingertips. Gently, he held them with his. "You see, I sort of fancy you..." He blushed again but you couldn't tell as his cheeks nearly matched his hair.

"Sort of?" she giggled, giving him a strange look.

"Not sort of, I do," he turned he gaze to their hands.

"I like you too," she smiled, "I'd love to go out with you." She giggled as Ron's head shot up in amazement.

"Really?!" he looked bewildered.

"Yes you git!" she laughed. "Is it that hard to believe?"

"I've never been good with girls..." he admitted quietly. "I've never..." he coughed a bit, "had a date before."

"I don't see why. You're quite cute," she giggled.

"You too," he laughed as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. When he pulled back, he looked more embarrassed than ever.

"I um, should go back to my girls. Do you want to sit by me at campfire," Meegan blushed.

"I'd love to," he smiled standing up with her. Their fingers were now interlaced.

"Okay, well, bye then," she smiled, walking back toward her cabin. Her eyes will still trained on his.

"Bye," he watched her walk away too until their hands were forced to slip from each other's grasps. They walked apart watching each other until Meegan reached her cabin door and was forced to break her gaze to enter.

Meegan entered with a dreamy look on her face. Both Hermione and Allison gave her a look of interest. Quickly glancing back at one another, they got up and immediately made their way over to Meegan. Their campers took no interest and continued to play cards.

"What just happened out there?!" Hermione looked at her beaming friend.

"I think Ron and I just became a couple!" she squealed.

"NO!!" both girls screamed in excited disbelief.

"I know!" Meegan squealed again followed by an excited giggle.

"What did he say?" Hermione smiled.

"Did he kiss you?!" Allison was also very excited for her cousin.

"He said he liked me and asked if we could go out sometime. And yes he did," she managed to answer their questions.

"He kissed you!?" Allison said a bit too loudly. A few of their campers looked up in interest.

"No..." the campers turned away, becoming disinterested again, "well, not exactly. My cheek. He kissed my cheek, but that was all," she blushed.

"I am so excited for both of you! Ron's liked you since he got here," Hermione beamed.

"You knew! He liked me this whole time and you knew and didn't say anything!" Meegan frowned.

"Sorry?" Hermione shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"It's alright, it doesn't matter anyway," she smiled, "I'm just happy, that's all."

"Good, well I happy for you, both of you," Hermione smiled then went back to the girls.

"Now that's she's gone," Allison whispered, "Does this mean we're on to Phase Two?" An evil grin crossed her face.

"Of course! I already talked to Ron about it a bit earlier today. He said Harry likes her too!" she whispered excitedly into her cousin's ear.

"No way! That's awesome!" Allison beamed. "This is going to be so perfect!"

"I know I can't wait to get started on Phase Two!" Meegan said as her and Allison went over to join Hermione and their campers playing cards.

~*~

"I did it!" Ron whispered excitedly to Harry as he sat down next to his friend. The boys in his cabin were all on their own beds flipping through books and comics. Harry himself was masking a Quidditch book under the sheets. He'd taken the cover off, but Ron recognized the embossed snitch left on the hard cover. "I...Harry, put that away," Ron sighed. "I thought we agreed..."

"I'll let you borrow it later," Harry said, not looking up from his book.

"Okay!" Ron succumbed to desire.

"So what was this task you accomplished?" he still read.

"I asked Meegan out," he said with breathless excitement. He was so proud of himself, he could hardly contain it.

"Nooooo," Harry said in amazed shock. "You mean to tell me our little Ronnie's finally grown up and got some balls?" Harry burst out laughing at himself and at Ron's expense.

"Oh shut up, Harry," he grabbed a pillow next to him and thumped Harry in the head with it.

"So what made you do it?" Harry finally put his book away, hiding it under the covers.

"I don't know. I liked her, she seemed to like me, so I asked her out," he looked a Harry for a moment and then continued, "Which is more than I can say for you."

"What's that mean?" Harry became defensive.

"That you like a certain best friend of ours and I bet she likes you back, but instead of following my lead, you've been hiding like the dickens. That will get you very far, let me tell you," It was now Ron's turn to throw the verbal punches. He smiled. He was quite satisfied to have been able to fish up the wit to beat Harry on that one.

"I don't like her anymore," he countered, feeling around under the covers for his book so he could end the conversation.

"You said you nearly kissed her so you can't tell me you don't like her," Ron asked earnestly.

"You're not supposed to remember that," Harry mumbled flatly.

"Why are you avoiding her then?" Ron asked.

"I don't think she likes me. She must think I'm a terrible git to have tried doing that to her," he sighed, leaving the book still under the covers.

"Ok then, I have a question for you. Is all this avoiding worth losing her as a best friend over?" Ron caught Harry's interest with this one as he looked up at him, "That's what will happen. If you keep avoiding her like this, you might end up losing her for good."

"Ron that's not going to happen," Harry sat up from his reclined position against the wall.

"Good, then go do something about it!" Ron commanded.

"Fine, I will!" Harry stood up and stormed out of their cabin.

"Finally!" Ron exclaimed as the door slammed behind Harry. "He better be going to see her, or I'm going to personally kick his ass when he gets back."

~*~

Author’s note:

I know this is mainly Ron and Meegan.. but it’s all in the setup. I PROMISE it’s T-2 episodes until what you’ve been waiting for, Chapter 10! Guaranteed what you want! ;)

Also, if this is ‘moving slowly’ for some of you, I like to do things realistically. Not all fic does, they just rush into the relationship. I don’t think that’s a really story. I like to develop characters, setting, and moods before jumping off stuff. If you don’t like that don’t read. Besides that, LUV YA REVIEWERS!

9. The Man With the Plan

~*~

Part Nine

~*~

Harry stormed down the path toward Hermione’s cabin. He'd gotten just over halfway there when he stopped.

"This is stupid! Why am I doing this?" he turned on his heels and began tearing his way back to his cabin.

"Ugh! This is ridiculous!" he yelled at himself again turning back and hauling toward Hermione's cabin again.

"Wait," he stopped when he was three-quarters of the way there. "Ugh, Potter you are an idiot!" He was standing twenty feet from Hermione's cabin door talking to himself. "Do it, just got talk to her. You're only going to talk to her!"

He sighed in frustration and shook his head. Looking up toward the cabin, he continued forward until he was within arms-length on the doorknob. He stared at it for a moment before making a move to turn and run back to his own cabin. "Potter, quit this and knock." He stopped himself in mid turn and solemnly faced the door.

"This is not a difficult decision, so why are you so afraid you git?!" he'd yet to realize he was still talking out loud to himself. "Hermione is your best friend. You have NO problem talking to her."

He reached for the door knob when it flew open.

"Hermione!" he gasped in shock. She was standing in front of him giving him a strange look.

"I thought I'd heard someone out here," she said. Her voice had slowly tapered so by the end of her sentence until she was nearly whispering. Her expression had also changed. Harry couldn't quite place it, but for some reason, she looked nervous.

"Just me..." he said in the same soft tone as Hermione. He was frozen in front of her like a deer in headlights. It was too late now to turn and run back to his cabin. And if he did, she'd just think he was crazier than ever and it'd put their friendship even worse off. After all, who runs away from their best friend? Harry gulped and kept staring at her instead.

"What?" she finally managed to find her voice, "You're...you're staring." She swallowed a bit too. Harry's direct gaze was making her a bit weak in the knees. "Do I have a bug in my hair?" She giggled as she broke his concentration.

"Oh, no," Harry laughed too. "I just came by to say," he cleared his throat for a moment, "to say that...well, I'm sorry for ignoring you. Not that I was ignoring you!" He covered quickly. 'Idiot! Watch what you say!' "I meant I haven't been ignoring you, I just, I've been...busy...and if it's seemed like that, well, I apologize. You must know what I mean. It's hard watching all these kids," he smiled. He hoped she couldn't see the beads of sweat he was certain adorned his forehead. He was still extremely nervous as he awaited her reaction.

She looked up at him. When he noted her face, something surprised him about it. Her eyes were all misty like they were tearing up. He'd upset her; that was the only thing he could come up with. "Oh, Harry!" She suddenly threw her arms around his neck.

Harry was surprised at first, but the feeling of her in his arms brought him back to his senses. Quickly, he let his arms slide around her. He held her firmly pressed up against him, enough so that he could feel they'd instantly begun to breathe in simpatico. It felt so good. He'd missed everything about her. Her voice, her scent, and especially right now, the way she felt in his arms.

It felt like it had been forever before they finally pulled apart from one another.

~*~

Hermione felt a bit embarrassed as she pulled away from Harry, but being so close to him again, her feelings for him washed away her anxiety. She'd ever forgiven herself for impulsively hugging him. All she could do now, however, was take in the sight of his beautiful face. She'd been so stupid. This was her best friend. And here she'd been, ignoring him and all, and the poor boy had come over and taken the full blame for it.

"Harry, don't be sorry. I've been avo..." she stopped; she didn't want to admit she'd been avoiding him. "It's my fault. I haven't been around for you. You're right, it's been...overwhelming." She didn't mean her campers however; she was speaking about her feelings for him. He just didn't need to know what had been so overwhelming for her.

"'Mione, it's not your fault. If anyone is at fault, just let it be me. I don't want you to feel badly about anything," his eyes pleaded her. She couldn't quite gauge the emotion that she read in them.

"But Harry," she began.

~*~

"Hermione, no. Just leave it alright? We needn't worry about it anymore okay?" he smiled at her. "Why don't we just agree we lo..."

'Oh SHIT!' Harry thought to himself. He'd nearly told her he loved her. 'Don't panic, Potter...cover your ass!'

"Agree that we LOST sight of what was important, and that's our friendship," he breathed a great sigh of relief as he choked out that last part. 'Please don't let her have notice,' he winced inwardly for a moment as he waited to hear how she would respond.

She gave him a puzzled look for a split-second but then responded, "You're right. Friends?" She gave him her trademark winning smile as she extended her hand with a giggle.

"Friends," he laughed too as he took her hand and shook it. He smiled as he tried to ignore the strong tingly feeling he was getting from holding her hand. He wondered if she felt it too as he saw her jump a small bit as their hands connected. He shook it off. 'Just be yourself, Potter. Now what would you do if you were at Hogwarts in the same situation and it was just you and 'Mione, best friends.'

"Hey," he smiled, taking a tighter hold on her wrist and quickly tugged her into another hug. "We're best friends, and we will be forever," he spoke into her hair. It smelled like strawberries. Harry inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet scent, hoping Hermione wouldn't notice. Sure he was being greedy, but he just needed to be close to her. It had been much too long. He was used to spending everyday with her. Even in the past few summers, they'd owled each other as quickly as Hedwig could get back and forth between them.

~*~

'That's right,' thought Hermione. 'This is your *best friend* Harry. Just because he's gorgeous and kind and his deodorant or cologne or whatever he's wearing smells so good doesn't mean you can't just be friends. I hope some of his smell rubs off on my shirt,' Hermione smiled to herself. She didn't want to be anywhere else but in his arms at that moment. She knew she was hopeless; she'd just have to hide her feelings if it meant always being able to see Harry. If they couldn't be together, at least they'd always be friends. And never losing that was worth never having Harry as anything more.

"Hermione??" Meegan's voice cut through the silence as she creaked open the door and accidentally interrupted Harry and Hermione. They pulled away quickly, both blushing furiously. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she covered quickly, taking a step back into the cabin. 'Damnit Meeg,' she chastised herself, 'who knows what you just interrupted!' She sighed to herself. "I just wanted to let you know we were heading to supper in a minute. You might want to come in and get ready," she frowned at what she was saying. She didn't want to stop anything that could have been happening. "See you in a bit," she added as she snuck back into the cabin and softly clicked the door behind her.

Hermione looked up at Harry. She was still blushing a bit. "Thanks for coming over. I'm really glad we got the chance to talk. I don't want it to be another week before we do again."

"I promise. There's nothing more important than spending time with you," he smiled turning to walk away, before he did, he turned back and added, "See you then."

"Bye Harry," she smiled as he walked off toward his cabin with his hands in his pockets.

Hermione watched him for a moment before going back into her cabin. As soon as she did, Meegan charged her and frantically began prodding her for answers.

"I didn't...interrupt anything, did I?" she seemed very excited, "I mean, you two weren't...doing anything, were you?" Meegan blushed a bit.

"Nothing was happening besides Harry coming over to apologize for being distant this past week," Hermione blushed. 'As per usual, I let myself get too swept up in his presence. That was all it was, both of us not wanting to lose a friendship. Not that anything was getting lost,' she began mentally analyzing her and Harry's conversation, 'That's how strong our friendship is. Always keeping close is the most important to both of us,' she smiled, satisfied with her analysis.

"Oh? Why was he being distant?" she seemed interested.

"It wasn't his fault, I took blame as well. We were both just too busy this week, that's it," she blatantly lied about why she was acting the way she had.

"Oh," Meegan seemed upset. "Anyway, shall we head up for supper?" She quickly changed the subject. Hermione agreed and they gathered up their campers and left.

~*~

"I said it before, a lot, and I'll say it again, you're an idiot!" Ron chastised Harry as he finished telling him what had gone on between him and Hermione. "Really now, what's the worst that could happen if you admitted your feeling to her?"

"I don't want to get into this again, Ron," he stuck in head under his bed and began digging around in his bags for a sweatshirt.

"She'll be mad; is that what you're worried about? Even if she was, you know it would be only for a week or so. That girl is too smart to ruin your friendship. She'd let it go. Isn't that what you two just discussed? Being friends no matter what?" Ron said pointedly. He was determined to win, eventually.

"Which is why we should remain just that; friends and only friends. I can't lose her," he stated simply.

"But you're not going to!" Ron sighed in exasperation.

"Isn't it time to eat?" Harry emerged from under his bed holding a blue hooded sweatshirt. Ron sighed as Harry called for their campers. Once everyone was assembled, they left for the lodge to eat supper.

~*~

"Hey," Ron smiled taking a seat next to Meegan at campfire. He and Patrick had led their campers to the wooden benches encircling the fire pit earlier than usual, giving Ron some time to visit with Meegan. Harry was late. He'd lagged behind with a camper who couldn't find his shoe.

"Hey yourself," she smiled as he sat down. He didn't want to draw too much attention from any of the camp directors, so he'd sat as close as possible to Meegan; their hands resting partially on top of each others, rather that hold it outright or put and arm around her. "Any breakthroughs?" She asked suggestively about Harry and Hermione.

"Maybe a regression," he sighed, running his pinky up and down her's calmingly. "I don't know about those two. Harry said he spoke with her, made amends for being an ass the past week, but he refuses to own up to his feelings still. His new excuse isn't to deny them, but rather to say he'll 'ruin their friendship'. I swear that git is all excuses." Ron looked rather perturbed at his friends’ mutual idiocy.

"Hermione's not much better. She said the same thing Harry told you. I just wish those two would say something. As soon as one of them does, the other will blurt it out too and they'll be snogging faster than you can say 'couple'," she sighed as well.

"No kidding," he rolled his eyes. "And it's not as if we can just tell one of them the other likes them. First off neither would believe us; the way they're carrying on. Secondly, they'd probably think we were playing a mean trick on them and stop talking to us. Bloody good that would do."

"I do see your point," Meegan sighed. They'd have to come up with a way to get those two to admit their feelings, on their own.

~*~

Harry led Joshua, one of his campers, down the darkened path to campfire. Glancing at his watch, he saw they weren't yet late. Still they hustled though, just to be sure. As they spotted their group, Harry noticed Ron had naturally led them next to Hermione and Meegan's group and that he was currently deep in conversation with Meegan. Joshua ran off to sit next to his friends leaving Harry to spot a seat.

Glancing at the full benches he noticed there was one seat left open, next to Hermione. He smiled as he walked over. "Is this seat taken?" he joked as he sat down.

Hermione, who'd been sitting with her hands on her chin and staring into the flames, shot her head up startled by Harry's sudden appearance, "Oh, hello Harry. No of course not," she looked as if she blushed, but Harry waved it off, assuming it was the glow of the fire dancing off her skin.

Harry watched her for a moment and then looked up at the sky. The stars above were twinkling brightly. He looked back over at Hermione; she'd too tipped her head heavenward. Harry assumed she must have wanted to see whatever it was he was looking at. "They're beautiful tonight, aren't they?" He looked back up.

"They are," she said softly.

Harry, still looking up, shifted his weight to ease the crane on his neck. He'd began to slide his hand toward Hermione, to adjust his seating position, when it came into contact with something soft and smooth. It took him a second to realize it was Hermione's hand. At the contact, they both snapped their hands back; and their heads back, looking directly at each other. For a moment, Harry didn't know what to do. Should he apologize? Hermione's reaction wasn't helping much either. She was giving him a rather curious look. Almost as if to ask why he'd been so embarrassed; like she was that undesirable. Before he could open his mouth, however, the slight sad tinge in her eyes disappeared and was filled with her own embarrassment.

"Okay, campfire time!!!!!!!!!!!!" Greg bellowed over everyone. He was standing at the helm by the fire, ready to start some singing. Harry and Hermione's trance was once again broken as they turned their attention toward Greg.

'What was that?' Harry wondered as Greg began to ask the campers for recommendations as to what to sing first. 'Hermione didn't just...no, she couldn't have felt something too, could she have?' Harry droned Greg out and became lost in his own thought. He was so confused. He'd never acted like this around a girl he liked before. When he'd asked Rebecca out, it had been easy. But then again, he'd had nothing to lose. Hermione however, well she meant everything to him. And it's not like this was a new development. He knew he'd liked her for quite some time now. Maybe that's why it had been so easy for him to ask out other girls. He knew that his heart wasn't really it in so there was no way he could get truly hurt. Hermione, however, was dangerous. If she knew the power she held over him, he'd be in a world of danger. He was utterly, hopelessly, in love with her. 'Why is this so difficult?!' Harry sighed out loud to accompany his thoughts. What frustrated him most is he knew what he had to do. If he didn't at least attempt something with Hermione, he'd drive himself insane for the rest of his life. 'Okay, we'll make a deal,' Harry spoke to himself. He wasn't going to go insane over this. 'Tomorrow...this week, I can't do this...FINE! Before we leave camp, I will tell Hermione how I feel.' At his own admission, Harry felt a wave of relief wash over him. Now all that was left to do, was work up the nerve to actually say something to Hermione.

"Like that'll ever happen," Harry scoffed at himself.

"What was that?" Hermione broke from her song, uponing Harry speak next to her after being silent for a few minutes.

Harry froze. He wondered how much he'd said out loud. "Did I say something?" His eyes were still big. 'Please don't let her have heard me,' he silently begged whoever was listening.

"You said, 'like that'll ever happen'....Like what?" she inquired. Her voice was soft, but he knew it so well, he could easily pick it out from the overbearing singing voices around them.

"Oh, nothing," he offered a small smile as another wave of relief washed over him. This time, it was in relief of Hermione not having realized he'd been debating his feelings for her the past few minutes. She smiled and turned back to singing again. It wasn't going to be easy for him, but Harry was finding new determination in himself. She inspired him, just by being in his presence. 'Eventually...' he smiled as he watched her sing.

~*~

end of chapter nine

So as per usual, your reviews are not mandatory, but as any author can tell you, they mean soooo much to a writer! Sooo, if you feel inclined, please take just a minute to review! Whether you sign in or not, I still love ya!

As promised, next chapter has what you’ve been waiting for a lots of fun to ensue!

10. Late Night Endeavors

As promised, here comes the turn in the story!

~*~

Chapter 10: Late Night Endeavors

~*~

"Ron!" hissed Harry. He was standing atop his bed so he could see up to where Ron lay on the bunk above him.

Ron rolled in his sleep a bit and made a sort of snorting noise.

"Ron, wake up," Harry whispered again.

Tomorrow would be the first day of July. It had been two weeks since Harry had nearly kissed Hermione. Since then, he'd still yet to act on his resolution. Not that they didn't spend time together, though. Since Ron and Meegan had become fairly inclusive in their new relationship, Harry and Hermione were left to spend a lot of time together. Easily, they had shifted back into their pattern of being best friends; both still trying their best to deny what they felt for each other.

"Get up you git!" hissed Harry again, this time poking Ron while trying not to fall on his perch on the bed.

"It's summer, I don't like french toast in the evening, Mum," Ron mumbled in his sleep.

Harry stifled a laugh, then jabbed his friend again, "Get up!"

"Wha...what?" Ron sat up startled.

"Finally," sighed Harry, taking a step down off his bed to the floor.

"Harry? What time is it?" asked Ron in a sleepy tone. He stretched and rubs his eyes a bit.

"Two o'clock in the morning," said Harry, getting down on his knees and pulling out his luggage bag from under his bed.

"Well why in bloody hell did you wake me then?" hissed Ron, starting to become a bit more coherent.

"Shhhh...Lower your voice and get down here," said Harry, fishing around in his bag.

"What for?" Ron climbed out of the covers and lazily slid over the edge, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

"We're going out," grinned Harry wickedly.

"To do what?" Ron gave him an interested look.

"We're going to pull pranks!" said Harry excitedly.

"Brilliant!" smiled Ron. His smile slowly faded a bit as Harry still dug in his bag. "How are we going to do this, and not be seen?"

"We're going to use this!" Harry whipped something silky and shiny out from between folded sweaters in his bag.

"But that's your invisibility cloak!" Ron whispered excitedly. "How'd you manage to sneak it in here?!"

"I tucked it between some clothes and hoped Hermione wouldn't catch sight of it while she searched our things for enchanted items," he looked rather pleased with himself for sneaking the cloak in successfully.

"I have loads of great pranks I learned from Fred and George!" said Ron and he slid on a pair of shoes and a sweater.

"Excellent," smiled Harry, sliding on his shoes as well.

When they were both ready, they nodded and left the cabin, creaking the door closed as silently as they could as not to wake anyone else in the cabin.

They exited and snuck around the corner all while looking to make sure no one was around. As soon as they were certain they wouldn't be seen, Harry threw the invisibility cloak over them and they vanished into the night.

"So what's the plan?" whispered Ron at a nearly inaudible level as they snuck toward the girls' side of camp.

"I have a few things in my pockets," whispered Harry back. "I think we should maybe borrow some toilet paper from bathrooms too."

"Definitely!"

After sneaking into the bathroom and stealing a few rolls of toilet paper, the pair made their way over to Hermione and Meegan's cabin.

"Here," Harry handed Ron a roll of toilet paper. They both grinned evilly and then began throwing the rolls back and forth over the roof of the cabin until they ran out of paper. When they were done, the roof was a fluttering white mass.

"What's next?" asked Ron while Harry dug around in his pockets.

Harry produced a roll of duct tape, "We're taping them in!"

Ron grinned as they crept over to the door and began taping it shut. Next, they moved on to all of the windows. Eventually, every possible exit was taped up tight.

"Here," Harry handed Ron a tube of shaving cream.

"What shall we write?" smirked Ron. He loved being the one actually pulling pranks rather than getting them pulled on him, as it was usually the case.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead," blushed Harry into the night.

"What?" said Ron; his hand perched in midair on the trigger, waiting to spray the thick, foamy substance all over the outside of the cabin.

"I..."

Harry was interrupted by a loud rattling at the door. Harry and Ron froze; they were three feet on the other side of it.

"HEY!" they heard a yell emerge from inside.

"Shit," mumbled Ron. He fumbled around in his pocket to find the cap to the shaving cream to cap it before they ran off. However in doing so, he dropped the shaving cream. It rolled until it hit the door.

Two female voice came from inside as the pounding on the door continued. They were now presumably ramming their shoulders into the door to un-jar it as the sounds from inside indicated.

"Grab it!" Harry's eyes widened as he watched the can roll away from Ron's grasp.

"I didn't mean to drop...” Ron's words were cut off as the door burst open with a bang. It hit Ron and Harry and knocked them flat on their backs.

Suddenly two screams echoed as the girls in the doorway saw two pairs of feet emerge out of thin air and appear in the darkness.

Ron and Harry both yelled in shock back at the girls. They flew to their feet and scrambled to get the cloak back over themselves. In doing so, Ron stepped on the corner of the cloak; his foot becoming tangled in it. With another yell, he fell over sideways into Harry. The pair landed in a mass, the cloak only covering their middles.

The yells from the girls subsided and instead, the extremely angry voice of Hermione filled the air.

"HARRY! RON!" she growled, pulling the younger girl out of the cabin with her and shutting the door behind her, hoping no one else had woken up.

They looked up at her. While falling, Harry had accidentally pushed the trigger on the can of shaving cream he'd been holding. The cans contents were now splayed all over Harry and Ron. Besides the shaving cream, there was dirt and pine needles sticking everywhere. To make matters worse, Hermione was giving them one of the nastiest death glares they'd ever received from her before.

"I cannot believe you two," hissed Hermione as she hovered over them. "You promised you wouldn't sneak anything magical into camp! And here you are with you invisibility cloak! UGH!" She threw her hands up in aggravation, stomping around them.

Ron and Harry took the opportunity to stand up and attempt to brush some of the junk off of them.

"I just can't believe you two! And look at our cabin!" she fumed. Behind Hermione, a young brunette followed her every move while gazing at Harry with interest. "First I catch you in...in that cloak!! And to top it off you're pulling pranks!!"

"Um…Hermione," said Harry, watching the young girl.

"WHAT?!" she snapped. She was still thinking of some way to punish the two of them.

"Maybe you should mention you-know-what with a camper around," Harry's eyes were widened in fear.

Ron too had caught on and watched the girl with apprehension.

"Oh, that's just Juliet," said Hermione, waving it off, "Now as for you two!" She glared at them.

"Juliet?" interrupted Ron. Neither he nor Harry still understood why Hermione didn't care.

"Didn't I ever tell you two? This is Juliet Brown. She's Lavender's younger sister. She'll be going to school with us next year," said Hermione casually before letting her cross look come back. They knew she was planning something dreadful to do to them.

"Hi," Juliet mumbled shyly.

Ron and Harry just stared at her, trying to comprehend all that Hermione had told them. They were still watching her out of the corner of their eyes as well. She looked terribly upset and they wanted to escape her wrath as soon as they possibly could.

"You're Harry Potter," Juliet grinned.

"Yes."

"Wow..." she mumbled, gazing at him, still in awe.

"Another member of you fan club," Ron whispered into Harry's ear. Harry threw an elbow into Ron's gut and he replied with an 'Umph!' while grabbing his stomach.

"We need to...leave...now," said Harry as he and Ron began taking sideways steps toward their cabin.

"Oh no you don't! Not until I'm through with you Harry Potter!" steamed Hermione. With a frown, she stomped over to him. "You're coming with me!" She grabbed him by the shirt sleeve and began dragging him away.

Ron and Juliet watched as they disappeared down the trail toward the Recreation & Sports shed down the path.

Ron looked at Juliet uncomfortably as Harry and Hermione vanished behind the side of the shed; leaving him and Juliet alone in the night.

"So, Ronniekins," she began with a sly look.

Ron's eyes widened in fright as his fingers tightened on the invisibility cloak in his fingers that Harry'd left with him.

~*~

"You promised me!" she glared at him as she pushed his shoulder while releasing her grasp on him. She'd led them safely behind the storage shed and out of view from the rest of the camp.

Harry watched her with fear. His heart was pounding. He could feel the blood thumping in his ears as it did so. He took in a deep breath as he watched the moonlight reflect off her livid eyes. She began berating him, but he wasn't listening; the pounding in his ears was all he could hear.

"Of all the stupid things to do; risking magic in a place like this?! And using your cloak outside of school!"

He didn't realize it, but as she went on, he'd begun to stare at her. He could see her lips moving as she spoke. They were so beautiful. He noticed the moonlight reflecting off her hair and in her eyes, giving her a soft, angelic glow. As she chastised him, his eyes moved down her body and noted she was donning blue flannel pajama bottoms and a lavender v-neck tank top. Even in her simple sleepwear she looked beautiful.

Suddenly her lips stopped moving and Harry shook his head a bit. He let the sounds of the night fill his ears as he realized she was now staring back at him.

"Harry," she pouted out her bottom lip a bit in frustration, "are you listening to a word I'm saying!?!"

He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. A fuzzy feeling was starting at his feet, and was now traveling up his body.

"Harry?" she took a step closer, softening her tone.

His mind was racing. He wanted to tell her everything he was thinking about her at that very moment, but the words just wouldn't come out of his mouth, no matter how hard he tried.

"Are you all right?" she closed the gap between them, reaching up and putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

~*~

"So that's an invisibility cloak?" Juliet took a step closer, fingering the fine material with interest.

"Um, yes," Ron mumbled. He was a bit uncomfortable being out in the dark, and still feeling nervous about what Hermione would do to him when she was through with Harry.

"Magnificent," she mumbled.

"So, I've heard a lot about you," she continued after releasing the silky fabric of the cloak.

"From Hermione?" he raised an eyebrow of interest.

"No from my sister. She fancies you," said Juliet blatantly. Ron could almost see her smirking in the dull moonlight. He was a younger sibling himself; he understood the satisfaction she got from ratting out her older sister.

"R..really now?" Ron muttered uncomfortably. "That's nice," he didn't want to say anything more as thoughts of Meegan and their budding relationship suddenly filled his head. "I better be heading back to my cabin," he took a step away from her.

"Wait..."

Suddenly the door of Juliet's cabin opened, producing a perturbed looking Meegan. "Juliet you get back in this cabin," She stepped outside wearing a long white bathrobe over her boy's boxers and ribbed scoop-neck tank top, her hair piled up in a high, messy bun.

Ron's eyes filled with shock as he dropped the invisibility cloak to the ground and kicked some leaves over it.

Meegan heard the rustling and looked over at him. "Ron? What are you doing here?"

"I was with..."

"And where did Hermione go?" interrupted Meegan and she moved aside to let Juliet back into the cabin.

"Good night, Ron," she called as she went inside.

"She's with Harry," managed Ron, quickly walking away from the invisibility and toward Meegan to draw her attention away from where it lay.

"That's wonderful!" smiled Meegan, "What are they up to?"

"Hermione's angry for what we did to your cabin," muttered Ron, looking out the ground, "Sorry 'bout that," he added.

Meegan turned around and looked at her cabin with shocked eyes. The toilet paper was fluttering in the wind. The tape on the door had peeled off from when Hermione and Juliet had barged open the door. Their cabin was a mess.

"Ronald Weasley!" she stomped toward him, "You are in such deep trouble!"

"I...I'm sorry," muttered Ron, taking a nervous step back. He really didn't want to face the wrath of two girls that night. One was too many for him.

"I can't believe you'd...AHHHHHH!" she took a step forward and tripped on a root, flying into Ron. She hit in with an 'Umph' and they both went falling to the ground.

Ron let out a grunt and she landed square atop him with a thud.

"Owwww," said Ron, rubbing a sore elbow that had nailed the ground rather harshly.

Meegan began laughing.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

"I don't know," laughed Meegan. "I'm sorry for getting upset. It really was a good prank. Bad luck you got caught," her eyes were gleaming in the moonlight. Her laughter was gone, replaced with a glowing smile.

Ron gave her a dorky smile, a blush creeping up his face, making his ears hot as she leaned closer, still on top of him.

"Do you think Harry and Hermione will be returning soon?" a wicked look crossed her face as she leaned closer.

"I don't think so," said Ron, closing his eyes and leaning in. Their lips connected. Ron let a gentle hand slide up her side, drawing small circles on her back with his fingertips.

He quickly became lost in the moment, forgetting about the lecture he assumed Harry was receiving.

~*~

Hermione took a step closer, putting her hand softly on Harry's shoulder in a tentative matter.

"Are you all right?" she asked. He hadn't responded to her since she'd brought him down behind the shed. She didn't know if she'd frightened him into silence, or if it was something different. She had yelled at him quite harshly.

He cocked his head slightly to the side. His eyes were looking directly into hers. Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat. She'd been so angry at the moment, she'd forgotten how much he effected her while she was in his presence.

Suddenly, she realized how close she was to him. Even in the cool, crisp night, she could feel his body heat radiating against the exposed flesh of her sleeveless arm.

"Harry?" she gulped. Her stomach was beginning to flutter. It had been three weeks since she'd been this close to him. She'd forgotten how captivating he could be.

"Harry?!" she asked again, a bit more timidly, yet with an urgency for him to respond. She was studying his eyes. The way he was looking at her, it was like he was contemplating something.

Suddenly, without warning, his hands slid up her sides, up her back, and settled on her shoulders. With a swift pull, he crushed her body into his.

Hermione's breath caught in her throat again. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, her lips quivered soundlessly instead. Her mind began racing wildly, wondering what he could be thinking.

Her eyes were still locked with his, but he was giving her a look she'd never seen before. She didn't know if it was because she was so tired (it was nearly three o'clock in the morning after all) or if it was something else, but she still couldn't pull her eyes from his gaze.

Though it seemed longer, she'd only been in his arms for a few mere seconds. Finding her voice, Hermione began to inquiry him, "Har..."

She didn't get any further than that as his head suddenly bent down and his lips melded onto hers.

~*~

11. Hide and Seek

AN: The last chapter ended in Hermione’s Point of View. This chapter backtracks on the same scene but in Harry’s point of view instead.

~*~

Chapter Eleven

~*~

After nearly ten minutes of snogging, Ron and Meegan broke apart. They each took a few heavy breaths.

The night air hung still and silent around them.

"Wow..." Ron said breathlessly after a moment.

"Wow yourself," Meegan giggled. She was still lying atop Ron, looking down at him as she brushed a few strands of loose hair behind her ear and off his face.

"Did you like your punishment for pranking us?" she grinned, still hovering over Ron.

"Absolutely. However, I don't feel I learned my lesson," he grinned wickedly. "Can I have some more?"

"Maybe tomorrow," Meegan sighed, rolling off of Ron and standing up. "It's late, very late, and we need some sleep." She offered Ron a hand up off the ground.

"I hope Hermione isn't still letting Harry have it," Ron said as he accepted her hand. "She can be downright vicious at times."

"Well you BOTH deserve it," she frowned, looking at her cabin again, "You got off easy."

Looking back to Ron, she walked over to him with a small smile on her face, stopping just in front of him. Slowly, she reached up and rested her hands on his chest. Closing her eyes, she leaned in and gave Ron a nice, slow kiss. Pulling away she added, "Goodnight then,” and turned, walking back into her cabin.

"'Night," Ron said faintly, watching her go.

'I wonder what Harry and Hermione are up to,' Ron thought, turning his gaze toward the storage shed fifty feet down the path.

~*~

Harry looked at Hermione as he pulled her close.

He'd just wanted to be near her when he put his arms around her back. He hadn't meant to pull her to him; he'd just been unable to resist.

She was too close, he couldn't stop himself. He began to search her eyes for any look of resistance. Her eyes met his with a gaze of wonderment.

The tingling sensation in his toes suddenly skyrocketed throughout his entire body. He knew if he didn't kiss her, he'd burst. Swiftly, before his common sense could step in and stop him, Harry lowered his head until his lips met Hermione's.

As they touched, his entire body exploded with feelings Harry never even knew existed. Their kiss felt inexplicably right, like this was what he was meant to be doing for the rest of his lift. Never before had a single kiss felt so powerful.

His heart took a leap as he felt Hermione relax in his arms. Taking his chances, he let one of his hands slide down to her lower back. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her body in as close to his as he could without crushing her. In response, Hermione's hands slid up his back and tangled in his hair.

The cool night air swirled around them. Feeling Hermione shiver, Harry let his other arm wrap around the top of her shoulders; doing his best to shield her revealed skin from the cold of the night.

Their lips broke apart leaving both of them gasping for air.

For Harry, the first kiss wasn't enough. He wasn't ready for it to end. Hungrily, he dove back for more. She didn't pull away and readily accepted his kiss.

Harry's mind was racing. It felt as if his entire head was on fire. He couldn't think straight. The only discernable thought he could muster was how incredible he felt at that very moment.

He couldn't let go of her, and he didn't want to if he could. He'd waited so long, too long to be near her like this. And now that he had her, the reality of it surpassed even his wildest dreams.

'I cannot believe I'm actually kissing Hermione!' his brain began to function again as his body became accustomed to the new feeling coursing through it.

'It's Hermione! My Hermione!'

Suddenly, a sinking feeling formed it the pit of his stomach.

'My best friend Hermione...'

As the reality of the situation began to set in, Harry felt the tingling fade, becoming replaced with pangs of anxiety. His mind was muddled in confusion. Part of him wanted to run and hide in hopes Hermione may not have noticed they'd kissed. The other half of him wagered he could stay exactly like this for the rest of his life, forgetting all responsibility, and remain perfectly content.

Harry squeezed his eyes tighter together in agony. With a heavy bitterness toward himself, he suddenly snapped back, leaving Hermione hanging in mid-air.

He looked deep in her eyes; eyes which had just filled with a look of utmost fear and concern.

"I'm sorry," said Harry blankly as he released her and made a mad dash back up the path.

~*~

Hermione watched in shock as Harry tore away from her. Slowly, she let a hand glide up. Leaving it hovering near her face, she rested her fingertips softly on her still swollen lips. She swore she was shaking at that moment. She didn't know what do think, to say, to feel.

Harry Potter, her best friend in the entire world, had just momentarily given her everything she'd ever wanted. For a brief moment, she'd felt whole. It was an indescribable, irreplaceable feeling, and now it was gone. He'd given her the world, then as quickly as it came, taken it away and left her cold and alone.

A silent tear trickled down Hermione's cheek. She felt so lost and confused. She didn't understand what had just happened. He'd kissed her completely out of the blue. It had been such an initial surprise. Nothing however like the surprise of how she felt during the moment.

Never in her wildest dreams had Hermione ever fancied it to be like this. She felt like her heart had exploded, sending feelings she'd never experienced coursing throughout her entire body. She'd felt alive. More alive than she'd ever felt.

Standing alone in the darkness, the cold of the night finally got to Hermione. Still shaking, her hand remaining on her lips, she slowly made her way back to her cabin. If she had experienced it before and known what it felt like, she'd have sworn she was in shock.

As she entered the cabin, she started to shake uncontrollably. Thankfully, the rest of the cabin was soundly sleeping. With hot tears now pouring down her cheeks, she slid off her shoes and crawled straight back into bed, curling herself into a ball. Eventually she cried herself to sleep.

~*~

As Harry got past Hermione's cabin on the way back up the trail, he spotted his invisibility cloak by chance, laying in the leaves and pine needles on the ground. Ron was nowhere to be seen. With a heavy sigh, he picked it up and shook the debris off of it.

He stopped and looked at it. Really he was just staring at it blankly. He hated himself. He was horrid and he knew it. He'd had no right to treat his best friend like that, especially not to leave her. The truth was, he was scared. He was so frightened; he didn't know what to do. He'd just done something that would most likely change his relationship with Hermione for the rest of their lives.

Sighing, he slipped his cloak on and began to make his way back to his cabin. He hadn't taken two steps yet when he heard a soft whimpering coming from behind him.

Turning, Harry watched Hermione walking back to her cabin. She looked shaken and distraught. The light of the moon reflecting against her cheeks revealed to Harry she'd begun to cry.

At the sight of her, he felt the breath being pulled from his lungs. His heart ached for her. Seeing her so upset, he wanted nothing more than to take her softly in his arms and whisper into her ear that everything would be all right.

He knew he couldn't though. He had no right. The only reason she could be crying would be because of him, of what he'd done to her.

Studying her, he felt dirty. He knew he shouldn't be watching her. He wanted to turn away, but he couldn't pull his eyes from her. His heart cried to take her pain from her and double up his own instead. He heard her crying escalate as the cabin door shut behind her.

Before Harry knew it, he felt a hot tear falling down his own cheek. Downtrodden, he made the sorrow march back to his cabin. Prior to reaching the door, he slid off his cloak and folded it up. Tucking it under his shirt for protection, he slipped into the cabin.

After hiding the cloak safely away in his bag where it came from, he slipped off his shoes and crawled back into bed. He still felt crushed. Nothing he could do would stop the burning tears that were falling silently down his cheeks.

~*~

It had been three days; three days in which Harry and Hermione had avoided each other like the plague. Neither had dared breathe a word of what had happened between them.

Unfortunately, neither Ron nor Meegan had noticed their repulsive behavior toward each other. They were still very much wrapped up in their own relationship.

It was a bright and early Saturday morning. A slight morning chill still hung in the air, deceiving the blaring sun. Everyone had gathered in the lodge to eat breakfast before the day’s activities.

Hermione took a spoonful of her cold cereal and stuck in into her mouth with dissatisfaction. As she chewed her bite, she looked across the room at Harry's table. She wondered what he must be thinking about everything. She'd made up a dozen explanations inside her head of why he'd run from her. The problem was, she didn't know if the real reason was a favorable one, or not.

She sighed and continued to watch him poke around his bowl of cereal. She wanted so badly to talk to him, to tell him she wasn't sorry they'd kissed.

"Do you fancy him?" a hushed voice leaned in next to Hermione.

"Wha?!" Hermione spit her cereal back into the bowl in shock and turned to see Juliet leaning in next to her.

"Harry. Do you fan-"

"Yes I got that part, now shush," Hermione didn't want anyone to hear what she was saying. A giant blush had unfortunately for Hermione, already crept up deep into her cheeks.

"So yes you do?" she smiled devilishly.

"No. I mean yes. I, what was the question again?" Hermione's head was fluttery with embarrassment.

"I said, 'DO YOU FANCY-'"

"Right, right," she cut her off immediately, regaining her senses. "No more talk, okay."

"Ahh! You do!" Her smile widened in self satisfaction at her discovery.

"Juliet!" Hermione's voice came in a curt whisper.

"Really now, who wouldn't! He 'is' the famous Harry Potter after all," she winked, turning back to her food.

"But that's not the point. I don't like him," said Hermione in a very insistent tone.

"Right, mmmhmmm," Juliet nodded, still focusing on her meal.

"I don't!"

"Uh huh."

"Ugh!" Hermione sighed in frustration as she too turned back to her breakfast.

"See, told you."

Hermione scowled and shoved another bite of cold, mushy cereal into her mouth. She chewed it harshly. She hated it when others got the best of her.

~*~

"Okay everyone! We have some fun in store for us today!" Greg hopped up onto the staff table after breakfast was over.

The attention of the lodge turned to him.

"Now, I know some of you look forward to this every year. I know I do! Others, mainly you counselors, don't look as forward to it," a few groans from counselors who'd caught on to what he was leading up to emanated throughout the room. "I'm sure most of you will join me in excitement since the campers love this so much," he eyes of few of the counselors. "Today is the Annual Counselor Hunt!"

A loud cheer rang out from the campers.

"Counselor hunt?" Allison frowned.

"It's awesome!" Sarah, one of her campers beamed.

"Rules people! It's all about the rules!" Greg broke up their cheers. "For those of you who are new, here they are. Number one, all senior counselors MUST participate! Number two, all junior counselor must stay in their stationed locations unless they are a roamer to monitor campers. Number three, if a junior counselor rats out a senior counselor, they can consider themselves good as caught! Number four, anyone who is caught, gets throw in the lake!!"

The campers cheered wildly again, drowning out some of the groans from discontent counselors.

"Counselors! Counselors, please!" he calmed the cheers again, "You will have fifteen minutes to find a hiding spot. With as many campers as we have given free range of the camp to search for you, I suggest you stay put wherever you chose to hide. If you are found within the three hour time designated, you will be pushed in the lake by whomever found you."

More cheers.

"Junior counselors, I have a station map up here. You are to STAY IN THAT SPOT! This is for camper safety. I know it may seem boring, but most everyone has had their turn at it."

"Campers!! You must stay with at least one buddy. If a junior counselor or another staff member catches you alone, you will be sent up to the lodge to receive further punishment! This is only for your safety. So just stay with a friend and you'll be okay."

"Now, the boundaries, no one is to go past the Lady of the Lake statue on the west side of camp. The service road behind the cabins on the east side is the boundary. The main road up by the lodge is the north boundary, and the lake is the south boundary. I will begin and end with this air horn." He had a staff member next to him hold it up in the air. "The game will begin at 10:00am. Its nine now. You can all go get yourselves ready and then be back up here no later than 9:35. Counselors, I suggest you go put some dark clothes on. Anything is fair, as long as you stay in bounds. You will automatically be thrown in the lake if you are caught out of bounds. And yes, some on the staff will be constantly patrolling the borders. So, go!!!!!"

The crowd dispersed in a messy scramble to the cabins. The campers cheering in excitement as they went

~*~

"Do you know where you're going to hide?" Ron asked Harry as they made their way back up to the lodge. They both had long dark pants on and dark long sleeved shirts. Ron even donned a black wool hat.

"No, but I'm too hot," Harry pulled at the front of his shirt to let some air in. He was also carrying a rather bulgy dark hooded sweatshirt.

"Me too," Ron itched his wool hat. They were ahead of their campers walking up to the lodge.

"I'd tell you where I'm going to hide, but they might hear," Ron nodded back behind them where their campers were.

Harry nodded as they sweated the rest of the way to the lodge.

Inside, none of the other counselors looked terribly comfortable. All of them had dressed in dark, full coverage clothing, and the heat was definitely not helping.

"Okay, counselors, since you're all here, in five minutes you will be released out to find hiding spots. At that time, all campers are to move to the north side of the lodge, and sit down on the floor so that their view is away from the bay windows facing the lake and below the other windows surrounding the lodge. This will give you some protection while you hide. You have fifteen minutes. When I blow the air horn, be prepared because the campers will be released upon the camp!"

Five minutes later, the counselors were released to find their hiding spots. Harry and Ron nodded to each other and then took off in separate directions. All around, counselors were scrambling to find places to hide.

Harry looked around to make sure no one was near him and then began running off toward the north border, the main road.

He'd been thinking of where to hide for a while, then it hit him. There is a ranger station that borders the main road, the station itself it off limits to any camper or staff member. The ranger who lives there is on permanent duty to oversee the campgrounds for every group that comes through to use the facilities. However, the ranger has a deck overlooking the camp. The deck itself does hang over into the camp so technically, the ground below the deck was within camp boundaries.

Harry quickly made his way to the ranger's cabin. There was a short incline up to the deck; the station itself was on a hill. Completely surrounding the bottom of the deck were three-foot tall shrubs. They were dry and brittle, rather unpleasant all together.

After looking around again to make sure no one could see his secret location, Harry began foraging through the bushes and up the hill. The shrubs were dry and brittle, scratching him as he walked. He hoped they would deter anyone else from trying to climb the hill.

The entrance to crawl under the deck was only a foot high. The area under the deck itself was about three feet in height. To get under, he'd have to lie down and shimmy under the small gap. He could see the ground as he neared it. It was just dirt with a few round stones.

Begrudgingly, he lay down in the bushes and managed to squeeze under the deck. After brushing on the pieces of shrub that had broken off on his clothing, they scootched against the wall and lay as flat as he could. The bushes rose just high enough that he couldn't see the path below and anyone looking up couldn't see him.

Sticking his sweatshirt behind his head, he tried to make himself as comfortable as possible. Now he just had to sit and wait three hours until the game ended.

~*~

Hermione panicked. She had no idea where to hide and her wristwatch told her she only had three more minutes. She couldn't see anyone else running around.

"They must all be hidden already," she breathed to herself. She could feel the sweat brimming on her forehead. She didn't want to lose.

Turning around, she noticed the ranger station in front of her. The deck. It was the perfect place to hide. Hermione took off charging up the hill. If she hurried, she just might get herself hidden in time.

* * END Chapter Eleven * *

12. Compromising Positions

~*~

Chapter 12

~*~

She could hear the footsteps behind her as the students poured out of the lodge. Without another thought, she began flying up the hill, ignoring the sticker bushes clinging to her clothes as she went. Seeing the entrance nearing, Hermione lied down and rolled under as fast she could.

Sliding under the narrow opening, she came to a stop against something large, soft, and moving. "Harry!" she said in a loud whisper of shock.

His eyes widened at the sight of her, they were inches apart, face-to- face. He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.

"I'm sorry," she averted her eyes, "I'll leave," she motioned toward the opening.

As she did, the sound of nearby voices floated up to them. Harry reached out and stopped her with a hand to her forearm. She glanced back at him with soulful eyes. His in return begged her to stay, knowing she was as good as caught if she left. Silently, she settled back down. Uncomfortably, Harry slowly pulled his hand back as he released her shoulder.

"Do you see that deck?" The voice of a young girl from below rose up to them.

Hermione turned her head to face Harry; the look of fright in her eyes mirrored his.

"I see it, but I'm not going to look," another voice answered. "Do you seem those bushes?"

"Oh, don't be wimps," a third voice cut in, "I'm going up to take a look." The voice died out, but was replaced by the noise of rustling bushes.

Hermione felt Harry move next to her. She watched as he pulled the waded up sweatshirt from behind his head and yanked a silvery mass from it that was carefully wrapped in order to remain concealed. With a quick glance at her, he flipped his invisibility cloak over himself and disappeared from sight.

Panic rose within her, she was going to be caught. The rustling noises were growing closer, her head turned to the opening. A moment later she glanced back to the spot where Harry lay. To her surprise, the edge of his cloak suddenly lifted up. She eyed him suspiciously.

His eyes widened in surprise, he'd assumed she'd have taken his offer and immediately climbed under. "Come on," he hissed. The noises outside were upon them. Without another glance, she slipped under the cloak and settled atop Harry. He tucked the cloak securely around them just as a flashlight shined under the edge.

Hermione held her breath and tried to remain calm as the light scanned up and down in the space below the deck. As the seconds ticked by, she grew more and more uncomfortable. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to control her breathing. Not in fear, but in for the fact she lay fully atop Harry. Every inch of her was matched by part of him. She silently thanked the fact that she was shorter than he was, or their faces would be to close for comfort. Instead, she had hers lying sideways across his chest.

"No one here," the girl holding the light called back to her friends. As she left, they listened to her footsteps until their sound died out and they were left alone again.

~*~

Harry was suddenly very aware that Hermione was completely lying on him. Every possible inch of her front was touching him. His breathing suddenly became a bit quickened as his throat constricted uncomfortably.

"Well," her voiced squeaked in an attempt at whispering, "that was certainly a close one." She shifted a bit uncomfortably, but stopped moving as soon as she remembered her current state.

"Yes, it was," said Harry. His voice was low and seemed pained. He swallowed harshly. Of all situations he'd imagined, this was the last one that would have ever entered his mind. The pair hadn't spoken to one another since their impromptu kiss, and now here they were in a very compromising position.

"Do you…do you want me to leave now?" said Hermione spoke softly to him, her face was turned toward the opening out from the deck. Her ear was positioned directly over his heart, and she spoke, she listened to its rhythmic beating.

"No," he said it so softly, he wasn't sure if he'd actually said it at all. Not only did he not want to be the reason she got caught, but maybe if they were alone, he'd have a chance to talk to her.

"Okay," said Hermione, still in a soft, unsure tone.

Harry took in a heavy breath. He could feel his chest labor to rise under the weight of Hermione. Closing his eyes, he willed his body to relax.

"We should stay here," said Harry, "under the cloak I mean."

He could feel her nod in assent against his chest.

"They could come back at anytime," he reasoned still, even though she'd already agreed.

"Right."

"And, maybe we should quiet down," he swallowed uncomfortably again.

"Okay."

Harry took in another deep breath and looked up at the dirt encrusted ceiling above him. His mind was racing and his stomach was a flutter. He hated how much she affected him. All she had to do was be in the room and his heart leapt. He closed his eyes again and willed his stomach to settle down. Instead, she shifted again and it started fluttering faster.

"Hermione?"

"I thought we were being quiet," she mumbled into his chest. He could feel her lips moving across the cloth of his shirt.

"We don't have to be silent, we just need to lower our voices," he reasoned.

She didn't say anything is response and his pulse began to quicken in anticipation. He hoped she couldn't hear the increase in the speed of his heart, considering her current position.

"Can we talk?" he meshed his face in anxiety after he spoke.

"We are talking," said Hermione, her voice softer than before.

"I mean really talk," his heart was thumping against his chest so fiercely, he'd assume her a fool not to have noticed already.

"Oh…all right," her voice picked up a bit with a hint of trepidation in it.

"Okay." he began.

~*~

Ron had heard the whistle signaling the start of the game nearly ten minutes ago, and he'd yet to find a suitable hiding spot.

Looking around, he realized he'd ended up near the lake. Further down the way, he spotted the arts and crafts building. The back of it bordered the boundary. Taking a chance, he ran to it, hoping the campers would deem it too close to the out of bounds mark to look.

Rounding the corner, to his surprise, he found Meegan crouched behind back.

"What are you doing here?!" he blurted out, coming to a surprised halt.

"I'm hiding, what are you doing here?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"Hiding," he smiled taking a seat next to her.

She smiled back.

"So, since we're hiding...together.." he grinned leaning in.

~*~

"Harry," Hermione sighed. She was still lying atop him, anticipating his speech. "All you've said was 'Okay' and that was five minutes ago. Quit stalling and get to the point." She didn't mean to find herself irritated, but she was growing increasingly edgy due to their compromising position.

"Right...the thing is…I mean, I didn't mean for this...Hermione," he rambled.

Hermione sighed; she knew he'd never spill it out. And knowing Harry, she was expecting him to let her down in the most idiotic way he could possibly muster.

"You and I...I mean…we're friends and all.." He continued to blabber incoherently.

"Harry, get to the point," she frowned in a deadpan voice. She was not looking forward to the two and a half hours they had left his this was all she was going to get out of him.

"The point? Oh, right, my point. Well, my point is… It's just that… Well things change and…" He still danced from topic to topic.

She could hear his heart’s speed growing exceedingly faster as he spoke. She knew he was flustered. Obviously, it was harder for him than she'd expected to let her down.

"You want to know something, Harry?" said Hermione in an agitated voice, propping herself up and scooting a bit so she hovered directly over his face. She didn't care what it looked like; she was getting fed up.

"Wh…what?" he swallowed uncomfortably, leaning his head back, as far away from her as he could.

"You are a spineless git!" spat Hermione. She raised her eyebrow at him in a look of self-victory after she finished.

He seemed a bit shocked at her sudden outburst. Unfortunately for Hermione though, Harry let his competitive side get the better of him. He'd yet to back down on any challenge she'd ever thrown in his face, and this time, he wasn't going to either.

"Oh, I am, am I?" his voice suddenly rose to defense. He began to lean back closer to her in defiance.

"Ya." She gave him a smug, matter of fact look back. Hermione, in return, never quit what she started with Harry.

"You're a know-it-all," he mocked her with the one insult he knew she'd gasp in shock to every time he said it.

"Ah!" she didn't disappoint him as she let out a small gasp. However, she quickly subsided it, as her eyes grew fiery and narrowed. With a quick tongue, she retaliated, "At least I'm not afraid of what I feel!"

"I'm not afraid?? I'm not the one who hides behind books and tests to avoid any real emotions!" He countered as quickly as she had. He was ever so slowly getting closer, still glaring as he inched in.

"At least I don't run away from mine…unlike SOME people I know!" she leaned closer as well, refusing to back down. She didn't seem to have control over what she was saying, but she knew he was miffed which was what she'd been aiming for and also what was fueling her to continue.

"At least I know what I want!" he was so close, she could feel his breath against her lips, but she ignored it, still determined to win.

"Oh, do you now?"

"Ya, I do," he said flatly.

"Well, what's that then?" she tossed him a smirking smile. She hoped this would throw him for a loop and hand her the victory.

He looked at her for the smallest spilt second before leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers.

~*~

"Ron!!" Meegan giggled through kisses and he swirled his hands across the small of her back.

He smiled against her lips as he continued.

The pair was blissfully kissing behind the building, completely ignorant to their surroundings.

A small moan escaped Meegan's lips as Ron's hand slid up to cup the back of her head.

"GOTCHA!!!!!!!" A bright beam of light suddenly shone directly on both the faces.

They broke instantly.

"Oh My GOD! My counselor is kissing a boy!!!!!" A high-pitched girl's voice screamed.

"Oh my god," Meegan murmured in shock, hiding her face in Ron's shoulder.

"Sarah!! Meegan's kissing that boy she likes!" another girl yelled around the corner.

"What boy?" a guy's voice from a distance replied.

"Damn..." Ron muttered near inaudibly.

"Your counselor!" the girl yelled back, almost gleefully. She turned back to Ron and Meegan who were still sitting there blushing. "Don't worry, only the entire camp will know. If you want, when we throw you in the lake, you can go in together," she winked maliciously.

13. At Last

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Here is chapter 13! Time to get things rollin'!!!

~*~

Chapter 13: At Last

~*~

Hermione's eyes flew open for the briefest second as Harry's lips cut her off mid-argument. Rather than protest, she let them flutter closed. Her mind went blank and dewy as a familiar tingling shot throughout her body. She'd tried to keep the same feeling alive in her mind since the last time he'd kissed her. It was exactly as she'd remembered it. Just as scary, and just as exciting.

She suppressed a gasp as she felt Harry tongue line the outside of her lips. Unsure of herself, and what she was doing, she slowly parted her lips and allowed him entrance. The feeling was so new and welcomed, Hermione nearly melted away right there and then on top of him.

As he continued to kiss her, his hands slid up and mixed within her hair. Hermione couldn't hold it in any longer, letting out a small groan of approval as he continued.

~*~

Harry didn't know why he'd done it again, he knew the problems it had caused the first time, but she'd been so close to him, he couldn't stop himself from wanting her as badly as he did.

She wasn't pulling away. The more she accepted, the more he gave. After their last encounter, Harry was sure his behavior had ruined things between him and Hermione, but now, all he wanted to do was become lost in the sensations she was bestowing upon him.

Holding her tight, he let his lips slide away from her mouth and begin to trail down her jaw line, neck, and finally, ending at her collarbone. He smiled against her skin as she let out another soft moan.

Tracing her collarbone with soft kisses for a moment, he continued by making his way back up to her mouth. Hermione eagerly accepted his kiss as his lips came to rest on hers.

Reality instantly drowned out around the pair. All either knew was they didn't want to stop, ever.

~*~

Ron and Meegan sulked as they were led, by all too gleeful campers, to the docks where they were to wait until the end of the game. Both were still blushingly furiously at the fact they were caught snogging by their campers.

"Wait here," a girl announced smugly, leaving the pair with a few other counselors who'd be sought out.

Ron and Meegan remained silent, refusing to divulge any details to the counselors around them who had heard some of what the students had been saying, and were now smirking also

"I'm sorry," Ron finally whispered into Meegan's ear. Cautiously, he took her hand in his and looked into her eyes.

"Ron," smiled Meegan, her voice was also hushed, "This isn't your fault so don't you dare go taking blame. What's done is done. Camp won't last much longer, we'll never have to see the majority of these people again."

"You're right," said Ron, his voice suddenly changed to a rather devastated tone.

"It's not that bad you git. I'm sure if you really want to, you can visit them all. I didn't mean you'd never see anyone again," she laughed at his long face.

"Not that," he sighed, playing with their entwined hands, "It's just that, you reminded me soon we won't be together."

"Oh..." Meegan didn't know what to say. She hadn't really let the thought come to surface in her mind yet.

"I..." Ron hesitated, "I don't want this." he pulled their hands in his lap, "I don't want to lose this." He finished with a gulp.

"I don't either," said Meegan, her voice sounding like that of a scared child. She really hadn't wanted to discuss the inevitable.

"Whew… that's a relief," he laughed.

"You're such a git," she giggled, slapping him in the arm.

"Ya, but I'm your git," he winked at her.

"Unfortunately for me, yes," Meegan laughed again.

"Hey!" Both laughed. Once their laugher subsided, Ron coughed awkwardly.

"About not ending things…how do you think we should...continue them?"

"Well, I go to boarding school in Scotland."

"Oh, me too!" Ron interjected.

"Really? Where?" said Meegan with interest.

"Oh, you wouldn't recognize the name." Ron drawled off. "Anyway, we have Christmas and summer vacations, right? And we can owl.. I mean, mail each other. A lot," he winked.

"Of course," she smiled.

"Good, that wasn't too bad now, was it?" Ron smiled on the outside, but on the inside, all he could think was how in the hell would he tell her he was a wizard.

~*~

Neither Harry nor Hermione had any recollection of what time it was. They'd been entangled with each other for what seemed like hours, and most likely, was. No talking had come, simply kissing.

Without warning, a loud air horn blast rang out throughout camp. Both Harry and Hermione broke apart from each other, taking deep breaths each as they quickly glanced around, attempting to orientate themselves.

"Is that.." Harry stopped to inhale again, complete exhausted.

"The end of the game," Hermione exhaled.

He looked up at her beautiful face. Her lips were swollen red and her hair was tousled in a way that resembled its appearance in her first few years at Hogwarts.

"We should go before they come to look for us," said Hermione between still labored breaths.

"Right," Harry turned his head as Hermione rolled off and slipped through the entrance.

He remained lying on the ground for a moment, taking the chance to attempt regaining his breath. With a silent curse to himself for losing the opportunity again to talk with her, Harry grabbed his cloak jammed it back into his sweatshirt. Following Hermione, Harry slid out from under the deck.

Hermione was waiting at the path, having already tamed the bushes down the hill, and was now waiting for him. Harry cursed again as the prickly leaves clung to his pants. Giving up, he ran the rest of the way down the hill to join her, ignoring the stickers as they scratched him.

"Ready?" she questioned, straightening her clothes and brushing a few stray leaves out of her hair.

"Ya..." he sighed, following a step behind her as they made their way to the lake to see who'd been caught, and who'd eluded capture.

The pair walked in silence, both seemingly staring at the ground. When they were about halfway to the lake, Harry finally spoke again.

"Hermione," he hesitated. She looked up at him, awaiting him to continue. "I…I want to talk about what's been going on." He took in a deep breath, attempting to calm himself.

"Oh, all right then," said Hermione in a small voice.

"I just want you to know that," Harry looked away from her, focusing on a point somewhere off in the trees, "I...like...you."

"Oh." said Hermione, almost sadly as she watched her feet.

"No!" Harry flipped his gaze back to her upon hearing the tone in her voice, "I mean I REALLY like you."

Hermione stopped walking and gaped at him. She had no clue how to respond. She was simply, shocked.

He took a hesitant step toward her, closing the gap between them to a mere few feet.

"I'll understand if you don't.."

"Harry, stop," Hermione interrupted him.

"I.." Harry's voice wavered.

"No, let me talk," she took a step closer.

"But Hermione!" Harry threw his hands up in frustration.

"Shut up you git! I like you too!" Hermione yelled, becoming angry that he wouldn't let her speak. After she finished, she gasped and took a step back, shocked by her own outburst.

"You do?" A strange expression of shock and delight crossed Harry face.

"Yes, I do," said Hermione in a very soft, confirming tone. Her head, however, could barely meet his gaze. She was still embarrassed for yelling.

Harry took one look at her, and then stepped forward; wrapping his arms around her, he drew her in for a kiss.

Hermione let out a small 'mmm' as their lips connected. She let her eyes melt shut as she eagerly accepted the kiss, letting her own arms wrap tightly around his shoulders.

Harry's hands tangled, one around her waist, one in her hair, as they pulled her close. After a heated kiss, he leaned back just enough to look into her eyes.

"Hermione Granger, will you be my girlfriend?" said Harry. A blush rose up into his cheeks as he spoke, softly, while looking into her eyes. A small, timid, smile played on his lips that had just left hers.

"Yes," she grinned, this time, taking the initiative herself and leaning in for a kiss to seal the deal.

Harry reluctantly pulled away a moment later, still keeping her in his arms.

"We need to head down before they come searching for us." A silly grin had formed on his face and his cheeks were still blushing a rosy shade. His hand that had been tangled in her hair slid out to cup her face.

"Right," she said a bit reluctantly, slowly sliding away, letting her hands trail gently down his arms as she did so.

"Can we talk more later?" said Harry, turning toward the lake. As he moved, he removed his hand from her cheek and let it find its place in her hand instead.

"After campfire?" she suggested as he gave her hand a gentle tug in his direction and they began heading again toward the lake.

"That sounds perfect," said Harry, still speaking with a dazed voice of contentment. Absentmindedly as they walked, he playfully swung their hands.

Hermione noticed the lake nearing. "Until then," she said, tugging him to a halt and pulling him toward her with their entwined hands. Quickly, she kissed him, then released his hands and walked off. She turned after about ten feet and gave him a wink, before turning back and continuing to the lake.

Harry grinned and began a slow jog to catch up and follow her. Together, they walked to the lake, both still smiling with happiness.

End Chapter 13

A/N Time!! ::: Okay, more to come soon! PUHlease review cause I love it sooooooo much when you do and it makes me want to write a ton more!

14. The Center of Attention

(((Author’s Note: Sorry the last part was SO short! This part is about twice as long. I think you all deserve maximum H and Hr, so the more the merrier!!)))

~*~

Camp Muggle Part Fourteen!

~*~

"Ron!" Harry called, as he and Hermione ended their walk to the lake. Ron was sitting next to Meegan on the dock, both had horrible expressions of dread on their faces.

"Harry, Hermione!" said Ron; standing to greet them with the offer of the meekest smile he could manage.

"Got caught, did you?" Hermione smirked a tad.

"That's not the worst of it," Ron grumbled.

Meegan had still yet to say a word next to them.

"Well, tell us then," Harry urged, standing close enough to Hermione that their fingers gave a quick brush with one another. Harry felt his cheeks get hot at the brief contact, which brought back memories of the hours past.

"We got caught," Ron said flatly.

"Yes, we know that already!" said Hermione with exasperation.

"No, we got caught kissing!" Meegan finally spoke. Her voice held a dismal tremble to it. "By our campers!" She wailed, turning and burying her face in Ron's shoulder. She was too embarrassed to look at Harry and Hermione's reactions.

Harry began to laugh, "Bloody bad luck... Oomph!"

Hermione had slapped him across the stomach with her forearm, trying to make him quit laughing. She too, however, was suppressing a giggle herself.

"There are only two more weeks of camp left. You'll survive," said Hermione, trying to offer an encouraging note.

"As if getting caught wasn't bad enough in the first place,” grumbled Ron, reaching up and putting an arm around Meegan.

"Harry, why don't we go stand with the other counselors who didn't get caught? I don't want them making a mistake resulting in us getting tossed in that frigid water as well," said Hermione, eyeing to dark water surrounding the dock.

"All right," they began to walk. "Enjoy your swim!" He called over his shoulder, resulting in other whack to the stomach from Hermione as they continued away.

"We're going to be the laughing stock of camp, Ron," Meegan grumbled, sliding from his grasp as to not draw further attention to them.

"They're kids. Something else will come along and they'll shift their attention to the new point of gossip," he assured her with a smile.

~*~

"Harry, we can't tell anyone!" said Hermione is a curt whisper as soon as they'd gotten far enough away from Ron and Meegan so as they were out of earshot.

"About what?" he teased, bumping into her playfully as they walked.

"Stop being a prat," she sighed, albeit being unable to resist a smile due to his antics. "You know what I mean. If everyone finds out we're…dating," she looked up at him a smiled as she said it, "we'll take Ron and Meegan's place as the laughing stock of camp."

"It'll be okay, 'Mione. We won't say anything until we get back to school, if that's what you'd like," said Harry with a soft smile.

"Thank you, you're amazingly wonderful," she grinned as he put a friendly arm around her shoulders.

"I know," he grinned. Hermione just rolled her eyes and smiled as they made their way to where the rest of camp was congregating.

"And where were you hiding, missy?" The loud voice of Juliet Brown pulled Hermione's gaze from Harry as the short brunette made her way over.

Harry let his arm slip off Hermione's shoulders.

"Hi, Harry!" Juliet grinned upon seeing him.

"Hello," he smiled politely.

"Now where were you?!" she flipped her attention back to Hermione.

"I cannot tell you. If I do, it'll ruin my location for next year," said Hermione.

"You two were off snogging weren't you?!" Juliet looked at them accusingly.

"What?!" Both Harry and Hermione yelled in shock.

"Relax, I'm only joking. You know that's how Meegan and Ron got caught," said Juliet with an evil grin to her face.

"Oh, yes," Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, "We were just over speaking to them. Neither seems too thrilled to be pushed into the lake."

"I'm taking some Muggle pictures of Ron getting pushed in to bring back to school!" She looked rather pleased with the idea.

"Juliet!" Hermione lectured, "What did I say about using that word!"

"Relax, no one is listening," she motioned around them. Hermione looked and in fact, no one was particularly close to them, nor did anyone seem remotely interested in what they were talking about.

"Still, be careful." Hermione rubbed her shoulders as a gentle wind picked up.

"Ron and Meegan will be extra cold if this keeps up," Harry commented, stepping closer and putting an arm around Hermione to warm her up.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"OKAY! ALL THOSE WHO CAPTURED A COUNSELOR! COME OVER TO THE DOCKS!" Greg's voice suddenly boomed out, causing a rush of excitement throughout those waiting on the shore. Some very happy looking campers ran over to the docks.

Hermione and Harry watched together as one by one, their fellow counselors were shoved into the icy water. All came out sputtering from the cold and scrambling to climb out.

The both winced as they watched Ron and Meegan being led together to the end of the dock. From what they could see, it looked as if the pair had begun arguing. Maybe trying to decide whose fault it was that they were getting tossed in. Then, without warning, both went flying into the water. They surfaced, each scrambling to get to the ladder first. Meegan beat Ron, and he was forced to wait in the water while she made her way out.

Dripping wet and shaking, the two quickly made their way over to Harry and Hermione to wait while the last few counselors were tossed in.

Harry and Hermione began to giggle as their soaking friends sopped their way over. They each left a long trail of water drops behind as they came. Apparently, they were still arguing as well.

As they neared, a bright flash went off, causing both to quit snapping at each other and look up.

"What a pretty picture," Juliet grinned, holding a Muggle camera in her hands.

Ron scowled and stepped over next to Harry. "I am so bloody cold!"

"Sorry, about that," Harry smiled hard, trying not to laugh again. Ron didn't look like he was in the mood.

"Bad day then?" Hermione smiled at her friend Meegan who looked rather glum next to her.

"Like you wouldn't believe," she said sarcastically.

~*~

"Okay, before I let you all head off to go to bed," Greg addressed his camp. It was the end of campfire, his favorite time to make announcements, "I want to remind you that in two weeks, we'll be having the end of camp dance!"

A few mumbles of excitement and intrigue roamed the group.

"The dance is held the last night that you are here. It will run from 7pm until midnight. So, you all will get special extended bed times," he continued.

This merited a few cheers. Many of the campers did not appreciate the imposed 10pm bedtime.

"That's just to get you thinking about it. Tomorrow, remember we are going on a daylong hike to Peteyorn Falls. We'll be leaving at 10am after breakfast, and returning at about five for dinner. Sack lunches will be provided, but you need to pick yours up after breakfast, BEFORE we leave. Remember your backpack, water bottle, and swimming gear if you want to swim while we are there. The hike is about two hours each way so wear some sturdy shoes! That's all!" He finished with the wave of a hand, dismissing the camp to head to bed.

The campers grumbled as their counselors began to herd them back up the hill toward their cabins. Harry and Hermione's group walked close together, with the two counselors in mention lingering behind.

"So, do you want me to come find you, or shall we meet somewhere?" Harry mentioned of their scheduled talk.

"You can come get me," she smiled at the idea as if her were coming to court her. "I can ask Meegan to watch the group. Can you be ready in twenty minutes?" She asked eagerly.

"For you, anything," he smiled, as they separated at a fork in the trail, Harry heading off with his cabin and Hermione leaving with hers. They watched each other leave wordlessly.

~*~

"Are you sure you're okay with this? I won't be long, we just need to talk about…something," said Hermione while she pulled a sweater over her head.

"Not a problem, I shouldn't be going out anymore anyway. Might get caught," scowled Meegan. She was under her covers, sitting up and reading a magazine.

A soft knock suddenly came from their door.

"Thanks," said Hermione, giving Meegan a smile before making her way to the door. She opened it just wide enough so she could slip out, yet none of the campers inside could seem whom she was with.

"Hi," she breathed a soft hello as the door clicked behind her.

"You look beautiful," Harry beamed, finally getting the chance to tell her what he'd had on his mind since dinner.

"Thank you," she blushed. He could see the rose tone her cheeks picked up within the moonlight. He smiled and offered her his hand.

She took it, and the pair quietly made their way down the path toward the lake.

As they walked, Harry rubbed it with his thumb.

"Here," said Harry suddenly, pulling Hermione onto the grassy lower playfield.

"Where are we going?" she smiled. Following him across the field.

"No where," he grinned, leading her away from the path. They walked silently for another minute until the reached the middle of the field. Harry suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.

"What?" Hermione looked up too.

"This will do," he smiled, shifting his gaze to her. He quickly sat down and pulled her along. She giggled as she landed in his lap. He gave her a wry smile before kissing her softly. As he pulled away, he wrapped his arms around her and lay back, taking her with him. Soon, they were nestled on the ground together, staring up at the sky.

"I thought it might be nice to watch the stars together while we talked," said Harry, rubbing a hand slowly along her arms.

"I never took you for such a romantic, Harry Potter," said Hermione, looking up at the stars with a large smile across her face.

"There's more to me than being the dashing star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team you know," he waggled his eyebrows into the night.

"Right," she giggled, snuggling her head against his chest.

"So, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but I'd really like to ask," he began suddenly. She could feel him tense a bit with nervousness.

"Go on then," she said gently with encouragement.

"How long has it been? Since you liked me too, I mean," he blushed, hoping she wouldn't turn her head to look at him.

Hermione kept looking at the twinkling stars. "Since the end of fourth year," she replied.

"Really?!" His voice couldn't hold his surprise.

"Yes," said Hermione. She blushed a bit herself, hoping he didn't find her pathetic for pining way for all these years.

"I've liked you since fifth year," he admitted.

"You have?!" she rolled over a bit on her side with a giggle. He too tipped his head, so as they were now nose to nose.

"Yes," he answered in the same manor she had earlier.

"You should have told me!" Hermione's bossy tone, which Harry knew all too well, escaped.

"You could have told me too you know," he smiled at her, leaning in so that the tips of their noses barely touched.

"Right, sorry 'bout that," she blushed.

"Me too," he leaned in and softly kissed her. As he pulled away he said, "We could have been doing a lot more of that."

Hermione giggled and leaned in, giving him a quick kiss. As she pulled away, she gave the expression that she was contemplating something. "Hmmm...Yes, I suppose doing more that would have been good."

"It took you this long to decide whether I'm a good kisser or not?" Harry mocked insult.

"Well, I have had better," she teased.

"Liar," he leaned in and captured her lips again.

Hermione kissed him back full force. He was more amazing that any of her other kisses combined.

"Am I still second-rate?" Harry grinned as their lips separated.

"I'm still not sure, let's try that again," she smiled as he leaned forward to kiss her more.

~*~

"Does everyone have everything ready for the hike!?" Allison called out, standing by the doorway waiting for their campers to follow suit. Slowly but surely, they straggled to the door, all wearing lopsided backpacked stuffed with their essentials.

"Meegan, Hermione, hurry it up!" said Allison impatiently.

"Hold on!" Meegan called, she and Hermione were still tying their shoes. They'd both been late returning for breakfast. No one knew, but both had snuck of with their significant others for a brief snog session. Hermione and Meegan didn't even know about each other, neither choosing to ask why the other was also late returning for fear they'd be questioned themselves.

"Okay," Hermione called as she and Meegan finished and stood. They quickly grabbed their backpacks and made their way to the front to head out with Allison.

"Everyone's ready?" Meegan asked her cousin.

"Yes, I can handle things on the occasion," Allison rolled her eyes.

"Great, let's head out!" Hermione announced, ushering everyone outside.

It was a lovely, warm day for hiking. Hermione, Meegan, and Allison lead their girls to the upper play field where everyone was to gather. As soon as everyone was there, they began the long hike to Peteyorn falls.

~*~

"Hermione, it's dreadful hot, aren't we close to getting there yet?" complained Stephanie, one of Hermione's campers.

"It should be close," she breathed. They'd been hiking for quite some time, and everyone was rather tired. Hermione raised a hand to her forehead to wipe a bit of perspiration off. Looking up, she smiled at the sight of Harry and his group ahead of her's. All of the cabins had spread in a long trail along the path to the waterfall. Ron and Harry's group boldly followed Greg in the lead, with Hermione's girls scrambling to keep up; all eager to get the their destination.

Hermione began to chew of her bottom lip, a faint smile crossing her lips as she watched Harry move from behind. A small blush rose up her cheeks and she turned her head as she realized she was gawking. After a moment, she let her gaze rise up again to Harry's backside. As she'd just reasoned in her head, they were dating now so it was perfectly acceptable for her to stare. She let out a small giggle to herself as she continued to watch Harry climb the path in front of her.

"Like the view?" Meegan voice suddenly came in a short whisper next to her.

Hermione jumped. Once she had regained her composure, she slapped Meegan in the arm. "You scared me to death," she chastised.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," Meegan giggled, rolling her eyes at her blushing friend.

"Why whatever are you talking about?" Hermione raised her eyebrows defiantly, trying her best to hide her embarrassment.

"Please Hermione. You two are so obvious! Would you please just spare us all and get together already?" Meegan smiled.

"We already." Hermione suddenly choked a bit, "Sorry." she mumbled, "As I was saying," she shook her head a bit and continued, "We already…told you, it's not like that with Harry and I," she lied through her teeth. If it wasn't for the strenuous hiking, she was certain Meegan would have seen her sweating bullets over her near omission.

"Right, and Ron and I never snog," she rolled her eyes at her friend with a smile before lagging back to speak to her cousin, Allison.

Hermione sighed and averted her gaze to her feet. It was a struggle, but she managed not to blatantly gawk at Harry again until they reached the falls.

~*~

As they arrived, every group found a location to collectively drop their bags, and then began peeling off layers of clothes in a race to be the first in the water.

Hermione took longer taking off her outer layer of clothes, watching her girls run and scream as they entered the chilly water. The water looked rather inviting, especially with the hot sun beating down on her now bare shoulders.

Glancing behind her, she noticed Harry taking longer than expected as well; especially considering his entire group was the first to enter the pool at the base of the falls.

As he slipped on his last sandal, he looked up and caught her gaze. Hermione smiled and Harry smiled back and began walking over to her. Hermione scrambled to grab a towel at her feet and wrap it hastily around her waist before Harry reached her.

"Like I haven't seen you in that two piece before," said Harry in a husky voice near her ear. He'd snuck up on her.

"I…oh." she turned flustered to face him, but found she couldn't verbalize her thoughts with his face inches away from hers. Instead, she simply smiled and attempted not to blush, even though she knew she was.

"Would you like to do a little exploring?" He winked with a cheeky grin on his face.

"What about watching our campers?" said Hermione as she fumbled to the towel at her waist; eventually she realized it wouldn't secure properly and she let it fall to her feet in vain.

"Ron and Meegan can handle them. Besides, those two can't risk sneaking off," Harry chuckled, looking over his shoulder for a brief moment at their friends in the water.

"All right then," Hermione smiled. She made a move to take his hand in hers, then realized what she was doing in plain view of everyone and awkwardly stopped herself. "Let's go before anyone notices that we're still over here," she quickly headed off to a parting in the trees.

"Yes ma'am," Harry followed quickly. Giving one quick glance to make sure they weren't being watched, the pair slipped into the trees.

Hermione was ahead leading the way. After they were far enough in that she couldn't hear the children's voices, she turned. "Harry." She began, but was cut off by Harry wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a kiss.

~*~

Harry had been patiently following behind Hermione, attempting to keep his eyes trained on her hair instead of the parts that her bathing suit was capably accentuating in front of him. On their long hike to the falls, the idea to sneak off with her had struck him. After that, it had been difficult for him to think of much anything else.

Once they'd reached the falls, all he'd wanted was to get her alone. Now that he finally had that, he was itching for her to stop so he could simply kiss her senseless.

As patiently as he could, he let her lead the way. Suddenly, she stopped in front of him and began to turn. "Harry.." she started, but he had other plans. Harry took the opportunity and swept her into his arms. Before she could say another word, his lips descended upon hers. For the next few minutes, the only sounds he'd let her get out were a few soft moans in pleasure.

Finally he released her mouth so that they could both take in a few much needed breaths of air. Harry looked down at her beautiful face and let his hand raise to her cheek, gently letting the back of it caress its way down until he slipped it under her hair to cradle the base of her head.

"I'm still getting used to that," she smiled up at him, her eyes twinkling with euphoria.

"To what?" he mused, twirling his fingers through her hair from his hand's current position.

"Kissing you," she beamed. "It's not everyday I sneak of to make out with my best friend now is it?" She furrowed her brow suddenly, "Well, I take that back. Maybe 'now' it's everyday," she giggled, "but this didn't used to be a regular occurrence."

"A regular occurrence? I'd shoot more for frequent," said Harry with a short smile as he bent down he kiss her again. It was a soft, lasting kiss this time. He let his lips linger before pulling away to look at her again.

"Did I mention how beautiful you look?" He smiled.

"I didn't do anything special today," she reached up to fuss with her hair.

"Not today," he stopped her by taking her hand in his and bringing them down to their sides, "everyday." He couldn't help the large smile his face held, she just had this effect on him he'd never felt with anyone else before.

"Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" she smiled, tugging on his hand and turning to walk further in the wood together.

"Why whatever do you mean, Hermione dear?" said Harry, laying it on extra sappily for her benefit.

"You prat," she giggled, reaching across herself to playfully slap him with her free hand. "Thank you, by the way," she blushed, turning her gaze to her feet. "It's not usual that I get called beautiful so much."

"You should get used to it," he smiled, squeezing her hand. She looked up as he did and smiled, giving him a little squeeze back as they continued to walk together.

~*~

OKAY, my fingers are tired of typing so I'm going to cut this off. Next to come -> the rest of the trip to the waterfall, the end of camp dance!, and the end of camp!! Just a few more chapter folks!

Maybe if I get stunning reviews (which I always do, thanks!!), I'll be enticed to write a sequel about them returning to Hogwarts!

Love you all! And if you read, please review, even if it's just to say you like it (or don't =( .)

15. A Little Magic

~*~ CAMP MUGGLE ch. 15/17 ~*~

"It's just a bit further up the hill," Harry brushed a wayward tree branch out of the way as he and Hermione climbed up the hill. He held it at bay so Hermione could pass safely under it. Harry led Hermione hand in hand to up through wood, and away from the campers below.

"Thank you," said Hermione softly as she ducked under the branch. They'd been hiking for about fifteen minutes. The voices below had long been drowned out by the plummeting waterfall somewhere off to their left.

"Do you think they've noticed we're gone?" mused Harry and they scrambled up the rest of the hillside. He glanced up to notice the sun finally beginning to poke through the trees in front of them.

"Hopefully not," she smiled as the neared the exit of the wood. "Now just where is it that we're going?" A smile played at her lips as the pair stepped into the sunlight.

"Actually, I haven’t got a clue," he too smiled as his eyes went into a squint now that they’d been exposed to the bright glare of the sun as compared to the murky wood.

"Harry!" said Hermione with a bit of laughter to her voice. "This better not have gotten us lost!"

"We're not lost...we're," he looked around and noticed the small river plummeting over the edge into a cascade of furry. "We're at the top of the waterfall."

Hermione gasp as she turned and finally took in the sights around her. They had, in fact, hiked quite a fair elevation up and were standing near the end of the line. Hermione meandered over to the edge and peaked down toward the large billows of mists and splashing campers below.

Suddenly, a strong pair of arms encircled her waist causing her to gasp. "Careful, don't fall," Harry smiled into her hair.

"You'd never dream of letting me," she smiled turning square to face him, his arms still around her.

"Never," he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. As they broke apart, a funny smile played upon Hermione's lips.

"Do you think they can see us down there?" She smiled at their current predicament, looking over her shoulder at the seemingly oblivious crowd below. Harry too glanced at the people below.

"If we can see them," he smiled, sliding his arms out from around her and taking her hand, "we might want to move."

"I second that idea," she let him lead her away from the cliff's edge and over to a small grassy patch near the stream. Very ungracefully, Harry flopped down and yanked Hermione with him. She landed in a thud on his chest causing her to brake into a fit of giggles. Harry smiled at her, rather amused with himself.

"Would you be mad at me if I told you a secret?" he beamed, looking fondly at her glowing face.

"What sort of a secret?" said Hermione suspiciously as her laughter began to subside. She was making an attempt to put on one of her stern faces.

"I seemed to have accidentally smuggled something with me that you'd be rather displeased about.." said Harry averted his gaze, daring to look at her through one squinted eye.

"Harry!" she landed a flat palm against his chest, "this better not be what I think you're talking about!" Her voice had risen to a semi-threatening level. Not enough to be furious, but indeed angry with him.

"Ya, that would be it," he grimaced. He knew he was in for it now. He could feel as she tensed on top of him, preparing to chastise him.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!!! How could you be so reckless! I cannot believe you! What is some innocent Muggle child had found it! Or worse someone too young to know what to do with it like Colin or Juliet! You never think do you! AHHHHH!" She finally stopped. He could feel her breathing quite heavily as the yelling subsided.

"Are you finished?" he ventured, turning his head back toward her with hesitancy. He was sure the entire camp would have heard her if it hadn't been for the loud noises of the waterfall. She nodded, still to angry to speak. "Good, you're worse than a Howler!" Her eyes grew large at his comment and she gave him a few slaps to the chest. "Okay, I'm sorry, maybe I deserved that." She glared at him still. "All right, I did deserve it. But since you got your yell in, can I at least show it to you?" He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively until she finally broke a small smile.

"I suppose.." She sighed sliding off his chest and settling into the grass next to him.

"Good cause it's been rather annoying scratching across my ankle this whole time!" Harry beamed and he rolled up his pant leg and produced his wand from its nestled spot inside his sock.

"Ugh," Hermione sighed loudly turning her head in disgust that he'd ignored the multiple warnings she's given him.

"Why are you so upset? No one's discovered it yet!" said Harry and he swished it around it the air, obviously having missed the feel of his wand in his hand.

"At thank goodness for that, but it doesn't mean someone still won't find it out!" said Hermione, still quite cross, with her arms folded at her chest.

"But it might come into handy," he smiled, leaning close so that she'd been compelled to look up at him. She caved and did so, trying to restrain herself from the smile playing at her lips. He was just too irresistible.

"Like how," she ventured, trying to see where he was going with this one. He'd obviously brought his wand along their little hike for a reason.

"Well," he picked up a leaf that had floated over to them in the breeze and held it in his hand. He muttered a few words, pointed his wand at it, swished and flicked, and after a few bursts of sparks, he handed her a bouquet of fresh flowers.

She tried her hardest, but she couldn't stop from letting a large smile float across her face as he handed her the bouquet. "How’d you know that you wouldn’t get in trouble for using it?" said Hermione as she took them from him.

“Ron overhead his mother speaking with Professor Dumbledore about precautions after you invited us to go. You aren’t still mad, are you?" said Harry, leaning in and cupping her chin with his non-wand toting hand, gently rubbing his thumb up and down her jaw line.

"No," she turned her face in his hand in annoyance. "I can't seem to stay mad at someone so wonderful," she admitted.

"Good," he used his hand still holding her face to turn her gaze back to his so that he could bestow a small kiss upon her lips. "Now how about some fun!?" He smiled devilishly brandishing his wand.

~*~

"This sucks! This is stupid!" Ron angrily hit the water around him. He was away from the main group taking out his frustrations on the cool water's surface. A ways away, Meegan happily splashed around with her campers, seemingly ignoring his existence. "Why does stuff like this always happen to me," he sighed, punching the water again.

Ron had been berating himself for the past half hour. No one seemed to notice he'd drifted away from the group, so he'd taken the opportunity to loudly express his dissatisfaction over the Meegan situation.

Especially now that the pair was the center of attention at camp, he couldn't get a moment alone with her to talk about the upcoming end of camp and what it meant for the two of them. 'I really like her, but it's too soon to let her know I'm a wizard,' thought Ron as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through the water's surface. 'I've heard too many horror stories of witches and wizards scaring off lovers by telling them the truth. But Meegan, there's something about her, something that make me think she'd understand. It's way too soon though. I mean, we've been dating for not even two months yet. That's definitely way too soon. I like her so much though! She's kind, and smart, and just...amazing! I am so lucky to have met someone like her! But why now...?' Ron scoffed and slapped the water around some more. He did truly care for Meegan, he just didn't know how to deal with it.

Suddenly, he felt rather cold standing in the water. A perplexed look crossed his face as he shivered and broke from his deep thoughts. As if on cue, a large piece of cloth suddenly bubbled up from beneath the water in front on him. Curiously, he grabbed the fabric, and then it hit him. The piece of cloth was his swim trunks and that cold feeling he'd experienced was him stark naked under the water!

~*~

Harry and Hermione fell back laughing as they saw their best friend panicking, trying to slide his shorts back on while frantically looking around to see if anyone else had seen. The pair took a few steps back from the cliff's edge before collapsing into a fit of laughter. Harry let his wand fall to his side as he buried his head into Hermione's shoulder, tears streaming down both of their faces from laughing so hard.

"Harry," said Hermione through tears, choking down her laughter, "that was positively evil! He's our.." she stopped to laugh more, "best friend!" She couldn't contain it more as she burst out in another fit of uncontrollable giggles.

"No one saw him..." Harry took a few breaths propping himself up, "but us!" He too burst out laughing again, collapsing back against her.

They stayed laughing for a few more minutes before finally composing themselves.

"Would you like to cause some more havoc?" Harry grinned maliciously, fingering his wand beside him. He'd finally slid off her and was now beside Hermione in the grass.

"Why don't we leave Ron alone for a moment," Hermione propped herself up on her elbow and leaned over Harry. They'd been both lying on their backs in the grass. "There are other things I could think of doing at the moment," she drawled, drawing a hand back and forth across his chest.

"Such as?" Harry released the wand between his fingers and brought his fingers up to her cheek.

"Well, maybe..." She leaned in close, drawing his mouth magnetically toward hers, "enacting my long awaited revenge!!" Suddenly, her fingers attacked his stomach, sending Harry into howls of laughter.

"Hermione!" he gasped. "This is so unfair!" He writhed on the ground as she continued her pursuit of his waist.

"What? What was that? I can't hear what you're trying to say through all this laughing!" She continued, purposefully tickling him harder.

"P...pl..please, I'm sorry I tickled you so much before!" She didn't let up. "Okay, I'll never tickle you again," he breathed a few sighs of relief as she finally eased up.

"Do you swear?" She asked eagerly, her fingers still against his sides.

"You know I can't promise that!" He gave her a dashing smile. She leaned to tickle again, but then gave up, instead turning and flopping down against his chest. His arms immediately came up the circle around her waist.

"What am I ever going to do with you?" said Hermione, wiggling around until she was comfortable in his arms.

"Kiss me?" said Harry, speaking into her hair.

"That's the easy part," she turned, resting the side of her head against his chest. She inhaled deeply, taking in his musky scent. It seemed to relax her, breathing him in like that. "What are we going to do when we go back to Hogwarts?" Both tensed at the mention of the topic.

"I've been thinking about that lately too," said Harry, rubbing her arm in a comforting manor. He kissed the crown of her head, then looked up toward the sky.

"And?"

"The way I see it, we have to choices. One, we can keep it a secret, or, we can tell our friends. And, in my opinion, its seems most our friends have been rooting for us to get together anyway," said Harry.

"That's what I was thinking. But, we might want to at least keep it quiet until we’ve return to school," said Hermione.

"To avoid Ron and Meegan's plight?" Harry tipped his head back to hers and nuzzled up against her.

"Exactly," she affirmed, closing her eyes and relaxing against his chest.

"Excellent," Harry too closed his eyes, relaxing in the sunlight. "It's smooth sailing until we get back to school. Then we'll see what everyone has to say."

~*~

End of Camp Muggle 15/17

***** Next Chapter....the END OF CAMP DANCE.

16. The Dance

<A/N: PLEASE just tell me anything about it if you read it. It only takes a few seconds for you to put a smile on my face!>

~*~

Camp Muggle Part 16

~*~

"Hermione!" the shrill, whining tone of Meegan's voice pierced through the crisp morning air. It was seven o'clock in the morning and Camp Silver Lake was just waking up.

"Yes, Meegan?" Said Hermione in a rather groggy voice as she slid out of her nice warm bed and onto the icy cold wooden floor with a shiver. Suddenly, Meegan, dripping wet from just having taken a shower, appeared in front of Hermione. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel and she wore a white, terrycloth bathrobe.

"Do you realize this is our last full day at camp?" Said Meegan with a quaver in her voice.

"Yes," Hermione sighed as she bent down and began digging under her bed for her shower tote.

"Aren't you the least bit sad?" inquired Meegan as Hermione popped back up with her supplies in hand. Meegan had remained in place, giving Hermione an awful depressing look.

"I assure you that once I've gotten my shower and had the proper time to wake-up, I'll show an adequate amount of remorse to appease you," said Hermione as she grabbed her towel and bathrobe off the clothesline, hung them over her shoulder, stuck her feet in some unlaced tennis shoes, and fumbled out the door.

Meegan harrumphed and left to braid her wet hair (her style of choice for the last month) before it had the chance to dry in a tangled mop.

~*~

At breakfast that morning, the tables were quieter than usual. A sort of somber mood had fallen over the entire camp that day.

As Hermione entered, her girls tailing like ducks behind her, she immediately made her way to the food line. Her girls followed suit, all eager to eat quickly, then go out to enjoy the day. With a bowl of cheerios in hand, and a small carton of milk, Hermione was the first of her group to sit down at the table. With droopy eyes, she popped open her milk and dumped it over her cold cereal. Grabbing a spoon from the container of them left on their table, she began to lazily stir her cereal.

After yawning, Hermione raised the spoon to her mouth and took a bite, deciding not to wait for her group to return before beginning to eat. As she set the spoon down, a small spark suddenly shot from her bowl. Her eyes widening, Hermione glanced around quickly to see if anyone else had noticed. Her girls were still in the food line. Everyone else around her had their heads drooping down, focusing on their meals.

With a note of curiosity, Hermione's gaze flipped back to her cereal as she eyed it with suspicion. Slowly, the individual cheerios in her bowl began to move. Hermione blinked her eyes to see if it was her imagination. Slowly, the small O's arranged themselves in her bowl into three words.

DANCE WITH ME?

Hermione looked across the room at Harry. He was smiling devilishly back at her. Her immediate thought was to become angry with him, but since no one else had seen, and he was being so adorable at the moment, she mouthed the word 'yes' to him. He responded with one of his large grins. She smiled back, but was disrupted as Meegan and Allison went to sit down, talking together rather loudly as they joined the table.

Hermione quickly glanced down at her cereal. With a small burst of sparks, the words unscrambled, splaying milk across the table. Meegan and Allison stopped talking and looked at her suspiciously. Hermione prayed that they hadn't seen the sparks.

"Geez, Hermione," Allison suddenly laughed. "Are you having so much trouble eating that you have to spill it all over the table?"

"No kidding," laughed Meegan as she reached across the table and grabbed some napkins to hand to Hermione.

"Thank you," said Hermione as she accepted the napkins from Meegan. "Maybe I fell asleep in the bowl," she smiled as all three girls laughed. As Hermione mopped up the mess, she glanced up at Harry and scowled. He shot her a sheepish smile back and mouthed 'I'm sorry'. Hermione shook her head and went back to her breakfast as the rest of her campers filled up the table.

Hermione began to fret to herself about Harry using magic out of school again, but then she recalled they'd done so together on Ron just the other day. They'd gotten away with it then because; among with all the charms Dumbledore had placed on the camp for Harry's protection, he'd lifted the ban on Underage Wizardry initially unbeknownst to all save Hermione and Madam Pomfrey. This was incase magic was needed in order to protect Harry.

~*~

After breakfast, everyone had three options to chose from: swimming, a game of dodge ball, or arts and crafts. The counselors had the options of going anywhere, since the campers were randomly splitting up, so Meegan and Hermione decided to go to Arts and Crafts together.

Hermione had a table already picked out when Meegan walked in a sat down in the chair next to her. Wendy, the Arts and Crafts director was setting out random supplies and small projects across the table. It was a basic free-for-all for what anyone wanted to make. Hermione had some shiny red foil and multiple pieces of red and pink construction paper next to her. When Meegan looked over, Hermione had already cut out a perfect heart, and was decorating it with the foil and small bit of construction paper.

"Who's that for, Harry?" said Meegan in a teasing voice as she rifled through some of the supplies in front of her, selecting some for herself.

"No," Hermione blushed, lying through her teeth, "actually, it's for my mother."

"Oh, that's sweet," Meegan grabbed a piece of construction paper and folded it in half; "I think I'll make a goodbye card for Ron."

"How are you two doing?" asked Hermione as she grabbed some lace and began delicately cutting it to line her heart with.

"Good," said Meegan as she traced the letters to Ron's name on the front of the card. "We haven't had as much time together recently as we'd like, but we've decided to continue seeing each other during break and what not after we leave. And we can always write each other." She grabbed a marker and began outlining the letters she'd just drawn.

"That's good," said Hermione, focused on precisely cutting the lace.

"What about you and Harry?" said Meegan as she began coloring in the letters.

"What?!" said Hermione, her head shooting up from her job in shock.

"Haven't you told him you liked him yet?!" said Meegan with exasperation.

"Oh, no, not really," Hermione blushed, hoping Meegan wouldn't ask any more questions. She and Harry had both agreed not to go public until after camp, if they even did. She buried her face in her work again, hoping Meegan wouldn't pry anymore.

"You should. I really think he fancies you!" said Meegan cheerfully and she grabbed some more markers and began doodling a border around Ron's card.

"You think so?" Hermione smiled, relaxing a bit seeing as Meegan had no idea they really were a couple. She'd begun carefully gluing the lace around the outside edges of the heart.

"Have you seen the way that boy looks at you?" beamed Meegan, "It's like you're the only one he sees. I'm telling you, he's probably just too shy to say anything." Meegan was busy drawing small hearts around the card to frame it.

"I'll think about it; maybe at the dance," said Hermione with a large smile on her face thinking of Harry asking her to dance with him earlier. Of course she'd planned on spending the majority of the evening with him, but it was so cute of him to ask her.

"About time," Meegan smiled as she flipped open the card she'd been working on for Ron and began writing inside with a sparkly silver marker.

Hermione remained silent. She'd just finished gluing on the lace and was now tracing small lines of glue around the card with precision. Once she'd finished with that, she carefully sprinkled silver glitter over the glue, then pushed it aside to let it dry.

Meegan and Hermione worked hard in silence for the next thirty minutes, each concocting a gift for their boyfriends. Hermione had left the writing of hers, choosing to do it later in privacy where no one would see she'd address it to Harry.

~*~

"Does my hair look alright?" said Annika, one of Hermione's campers suddenly popping up beside her. She'd wound her long brown locks up into a French twist.

"It looks fine," Hermione didn't glance up, she was too busy staring in the mirror Meegan had propped up for her fussing over her own hair. Usually, she didn't do so, but she really wanted to look good for Harry for just one night, at least. She missed that she wasn’t at Hogwarts where she could cast a spell over her hair, but her muggle background would have to do for this one. Hermione finished clipping up a few curly tendrils and stared satisfyingly at herself. Her hair was partially down, with parts pulled off her face and twisted back. She'd even put on a tad bit more makeup than she was used to.

Everyone else in the cabin had their hair, makeup, or parts of both done. No one was dressed yet though, and they had only twenty minutes to get to the lodge for the dance. They were all running around in pajamas or sweats. Overall, Hermione's cabin of pre-adolescent girls were in a furry as they roamed around sorting out their outfits.

Hermione was trying not to pay too much attention to the chaos around her. Instead, she was focusing on what she'd wear. She hadn't really brought much for the occasion. After searching her wardrobe time and time again, she decided on a lofty knee-length skirt with a pale floral print, and a matching pale blue sleeveless shirt with a generous 'v-cut' down the middle. It was rather hot out still, being the end of summer, so she didn't want to be too dressy and end up uncomfortable.

"Hermione?" Said Meegan from somewhere behind her. She sounded fairly distressed. Hermione turned to see a half-dressed Meegan holding three different shoes in her hand. Her hair was spiked out to the side in a sloppy ponytail. She wore an overly large t-shirt and no pants.

"Meegan, are you all right?" said Hermione, standing up to help her friend.

"Can you please help me," said Meegan rather flustered. Holding out her pile of shoes.

"Of course, I'm done," said Hermione smiling putting a hand on the pile of shoes and gently lowering Meegan's hand. She put a comforting arm around her shoulder and led her off to clean herself up.

~*~

"Thanks again for you help Hermione," said Meegan, leaning in close to whisper to her friend as they, along with their cabin, walked up the steps to enter the lodge. Most of the groups had already entered judged by the noise inside. Meegan was now wearing a mid-thigh pale yellow sundress with thin straps and a square-top front. It synched at the middle with a thin, yellow ribbon. Her long brown hair was let to fall gently down her back.

"No problem, Meegan," said Hermione smiling as they entered the lodge. As they stepped inside, they had to give themselves a minute to let their eyes adjust. All of the indoor lights had been shut off and small, spinning overhead lights had been set-up sporadically around the room. The long tables, which usually filled the room during mealtime, had been swept to the sidewalls and out of the way. A few tables had been set-up for refreshments.

Hermione and Meegan's girls instantly split off giggling and searching for boys to lure to the dance floor. Meegan gave Hermione's arm a small squeeze and went off in search of Ron. Hermione stood alone glancing at the small amount of people on the dance floor, a few couples and a few groups of solely girls or boys. The dance was just beginning.

Hermione noticed one of Harry's boys dancing with Annika, her camper. Immediately, Hermione began scanning the crowd for Harry when a voice behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin.

"Hello," said Harry, softly into Hermione's ear. She could feel his breath tickling the bare skin of her neck. She dared not to turn around yet for fear of melting right there and then. "Are you going to properly welcome me?" She could hear the teasing note in his voice.

"I'm sorry, but could you please leave me? I'm trying to find my devilishly handsome boyfriend," said Hermione, biting her lip in mid-smile after her voice softly replied so as no one else in their vicinity could hear her.

"My mistake," said Harry, still talking softly against her skin. She could feel goose bumps rising on the exposed flesh. "I thought were her."

"Are you looking for someone also?" said Hermione, resisting her urge to turn around and look him in the eyes.

"My girlfriend, actually, completely gorgeous, kind, smart beyond all means. But you couldn't be her . . ." said Harry, trailing off as he let a hand slowly roam up to her shoulders, drawing his cool index finger along her warm flesh.

"Why is that?" said Hermione, biting her lip even harder to pull her thoughts from succumbing to temptation. She was trying to focus her sight on something out in the crowd, anything, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult as time passed.

"Because . . ."

"There you are Harry! Hermione!" Said Ron suddenly coming up beside them with Meegan. Harry's hand pulled away from Hermione like he'd just touched a hot burner. Hermione's face turned a nasty shade of crimson as the glaze over her eyes lifted and she focused in on her approaching friends.

"Hi Ron, Meegan," said Harry, taking over and stepping out from behind Hermione to smooth over the situation incase they'd seen anything. Hermione finally got her first look at him. He was wearing khakis, even though it was well too hot for them, and a button up dark blue shirt that had the top two buttons undone. It was especially his messy, still damp hair that did it for her. All in all, he looked amazingly good.

"Come dance! You two can't stand on the sidelines all night," said Meegan jovially. She was happily clasped onto Ron's hand. Since it was the last night of camp, neither one of them cared any more.

"Ya, we came to make your two socialize rather than act like wallflowers," said Ron, smiling at his two friends and he let go of Meegan's hand. He grabbed Harry by the shoulders and yanked him toward the center of the room. Meegan did the same thing to Hermione. Before they knew what had happened, Ron and Meegan had shoved them into each other's arms and left.

So there they were, slow dancing together in the center of the room. Now that more people had arrived and began to dance, they weren't so alone of the dance floor. Hermione glanced over Harry's shoulder and saw the Ron and Meegan had begun to dance again as well.

"Do you think we've been setup?" said Harry with a teasing tone in his voice, leaning in and wrapping his arms more firmly around her shoulders.

"That just may be the case," Hermione smiled, leaning her head against his shoulder. He smelt so good and she felt so safe and cared for, she would have been content just staying there in his arms forever.

They stayed like that through the next two slow songs. After that, a faster song came on and the dance floor became flooded by nearly the entire camp, but they didn't notice, they continued to dance. Most of the campers chose to ignore them, but more and more people had stopped dancing to wonder why they hadn't ended their slow dance yet.

By the end of the next song, at least twenty people or so had circled around them, yet Harry and Hermione remained oblivious to the crowd.

"Ron?!" said Meegan, suddenly pulling away from him. They'd been happily dancing together for quite some time.

"What?" said Ron, a bit flustered by her suddenly pulling back from him.

"Look over there," said Meegan, taking Ron by the hand and pulling him to that he faced Harry and Hermione.

"What do those two think they're doing?!" said Ron, highly surprised at their very apparent public affection which seemed very out of character to him for his two best friends to be doing.

"They're dancing Ron!" said Meegan with a large smile.

"But…OH MY GOD!" said Ron in shock.

"OH MY GOD!" countered Meegan.

A gasp from the parting crowd revealed to the rest of the crowd Harry and Hermione, who'd just begun to kiss in front of the entire camp.

~*~

SORRY<!> One chapter left. Good reviews (or any for that matter!) Will get the next chapter two you ASAP. That review box is SO easy! And it’s right at the end of the chapter. You don’t have to put your name or anything. Just leaving it as anonymous and saying something mundane like “liked it” then hitting review is good enough for me!

17. Resolution?

Hermione sighed and sank her body against Harry's as his warm mouth explored hers. His hands were strongly resting atop her hips, having slid back from around her waist as their kiss deepened. He'd become too wrapped up in the moment to do anything else with them. Wither her eyes shut, Hermione felt securely enough to let her mouth roam freely around Harry's. She made a move to lean in further when without warning; he broke off their kiss.

Hermione let her eyes flutter open as she regarded him with a look of bewilderment. Harry was staring not at Hermione, but over her shoulder with wide eyes and an open mouth. It could only be described as a look of pure shock. Hermione slowly began to notice a loud noise infiltrating her ears. Her euphoric smile began to fade as she realized the loud noise was coming from nearly the entire camp encircling them, clapping and cheering loudly.

Hermione was stricken with a sudden panic. The large crowd was making her feel increasingly more and more claustrophobic with their watchful eyes. Her pulse began to quicken as her eyes flicked around, looking for the nearest escape route. Fleetingly, the darted back to Harry. He remained frozen in front of her.

With a small gasp, Hermione turned and began pushing her way through the crowd. She let the noise of those around her drown out as she ran for the door. All she wanted was to get outside. She needed air. As she went, she failed to hear Meegan calling after her. Initially, all she'd planned on was walking out the door, but once she'd gotten there, her legs kept her moving. A few small tears began to trickle down her cheeks. Mainly, she was ashamed and embarrassed. It was her, QUIET Hermione Granger. She was the last person anyone would expect to make a spectacle of herself by making out with her best friend in front of a crowd.

Before she knew it, Hermione was alone in the moonlight standing at the edge of the lake. She sighed and walked over to the dock. With a soft sniffle, she sat down in a heap at its end. Pulling off her shoes, she scooted herself close enough to the edge so as to let her toes dangle in the water.

She never heard him come up behind her. He just stood there with a heavy heart watching her stare off across the lake. No one was supposed to know they had a relationship. He'd gotten too into the moment and caused the person he cared about most undeserving heartache. Quietly, he walked over to her a put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Hermione's body jumped a bit at the unexpected contact, but quickly relaxed as she realized who had followed her. Still not turning around, she slid a hand up to rest over his on her shoulder. With a sigh, he sat down behind her and tightly wrapped both his arms around her waist.

Hermione leaned back and brought her arms up to rest over his. She started to breath easier just feeling him next to her. He had a calming effect over her entire body.

"I'm sorry," said Harry is a whisper, mumbling it into her hair, his cheek resting against the side of her head.

"It's not your fault," said Hermione quietly.

"It's not your either," countered Harry, not wanting Hermione to carry any of the blame herself that he'd gladly take on all on his own to spare her any pain.

"I know," said Hermione, sniffling away the last bit of her tears as she relaxed in his arms. "I don't blame either one of us. We just got caught up, it happens. It just happened to be a very unfortunate moment."

"Really? Because that was the way I'd always envisioned us announcing our relationship," said Harry with a chuckle trying to lighten the mood.

"Git," said Hermione laughing as she flipped an arm behind her and whapped him in the shoulder. She swiveled around so that she was still in his arms, but now facing him. "I'm alright with it," she smiled. "It wasn't the way I'd imagined it, unlike you," she giggled, "but it happened. And besides the initial embarrassment, it does save us finding a way to tell Ron and Meegan."

"You're too optimistic for you own good sometimes," said Harry leaning down and giving her a soft kiss. "Do you want to go back up now?"

"No, I don't. Not yet at least," said Hermione turning back around and snuggling down into his arms again.

"Whenever you're ready then," said Harry, kissing the crown of her head.

"Thank you, you're amazing."

"Do you think I should go after her," said Meegan as she watched Hermione run out of the lodge. She was still in Ron's arms, having just stopped dancing to watch the scene.

"I think it's covered," noted Ron as Harry began making his way toward the door as well.

"Do you think she's going to be all right? Personally, I'd be mortified. Oh wait, that already happened to me and I was!" said Meegan with a smirk recalling her own public make out session.

"Meegan, you're not still thinking about that are you?" said Ron, titling his head to the side and giving her a frustrated look that she hadn't been able to let it go yet.

"No, no, I'm ok. I just know she must be rather embarrassed right now. But can I just say again, OH MY GOD!" Meegan had now slid out of Ron's arms.

"No kidding! I knew those two have both been into each other for quite some time, but to see them finally admit it to each other; WOW!" said Ron smiling from ear to ear, completely happy that his best friends had finally admitted their feelings to each other.

"At least it's the last day of camp. They can go to bed, suffer a few hours of snickering tomorrow, then escape, UNLIKE me," said Meegan with a smirk.

"What was that? I thought you said you were over it?" said Ron, slowly raising his arms and stepping toward her with a wicked look in his eyes.

"Ron, what are you doing?" said Meegan, smiling and taking a step back.

"Just," he stepped closer, "going to," he stepped closer again, "tickle you!" He lunged and attacked her waist. She squealed and writhed around in his arms. After a minute, he stopped by wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her tightly. "Do you know how much I'm going to miss you when you leave tomorrow?" He spoke into her hair as he held her.

"Half as much as I'm going to miss you," she said, titling her head up and kissing him. She didn't care who was watching anymore, she just wanted to be happy, and Ron made her happy.

When Hermione and Harry finally walked back, the dance was long over. They'd rested together silently for quiet sometime, breathing in simpatico and simply enjoying being near each other. They were hand in hand as they made their way up the dark hill from the lake toward the camp. Normally, Hermione would be nervous in the dark, but with Harry by her side, she never felt a drop of fear.

"Thank you for coming after me," said Hermione as they stopped in front of her cabin, which was before Harry's. She was still holding his hand and she smiled at his moonlight face.

"I'll always come after you," said Harry, leaning down and giving her a sweet kiss. She remained holding his hand as their mouths gracefully danced with each other.

"I know," said Hermione, beaming, as they broke apart. "I should get to bed. I'll see you tomorrow." She gave his hand a soft squeeze and she turned and slipped into her cabin. He watched her for a moment before heading off toward his own cabin.

Reaching his door, Harry tiptoed in and gently shut it behind him. Slipping off his shoes, he decided to just creep over to his bed. It had been too long of a night; he'd deal with everything in the morning. He lifted up the side of his bed and began to slide in, when he hit something, someone, sleeping in his bed. Harry let out a brief swear in shock, letting his arm flail and whack whomever was sleeping in his bed in the stomach as she sprung out of it. A loud choking noise next to him let him know he'd woken up him up.

A disorientated Ron sat up at blinked his eyes a couple time until he focused on Harry. "Bloody time," said Ron, mumbling and still squinting. "I tried to wait up for you."

"Why were you in my bed?" asked Harry, still quite shocked to have found Ron there.

"To make sure I'd get the chance to talk to you tonight," said Ron as he finally managed to get his eyes to stay open.

"About what?" said Harry, scratching his head, still thinking about how odd it was for him to find Ron asleep.

"Well for starters, that small, minute, really insignificant little scene that you and Hermione caused during the dance," said Ron as he moved to sit on the side of the bed.

"Ohhh," said Harry, sitting down next to Ron.

When were you going to tell me? I'd always assumed, being the best friend and all, to BOTH of you, that'd I'd be privy to such information before it was released to the general public," said Ron scoffing a bit.

"Ron, we didn't mean for that to happen in the least. And you were the first person we were going to tell. It's just that over the past few weeks, we hadn't wanted to tell anyone. Especially after what had happened with you and Meegan, we just wanted to avoid the situation until we'd left camp. But I swear, you were going to be the first one we told," said Harry looking down at his hands.

"I believe you. But bloody hell Harry, don't you have any self restrain! You said it yourself just now that you didn't want to cause a scene at camp. Let's just say you beat Meegan and me with that little show you two put on… times ten!" said Ron cracking his lips into a small smile. He tried, but he couldn't hold in the small chuckle he let out.

"It's not funny, Ron," said Harry attempting to look serious. Unfortunately, Ron's goofy smile just got Harry to crack and laugh too. "Oh shut up!" He said, shoving Ron of the bed and laughing as he landed in a lump on the floor.

"I'll take that as goodnight," said Ron, laughing and rubbing his sore side as he stood and climbed up to his bunk. "Right, goodnight then."

"Good night, Ron."

Hermione quietly shut the door behind her as she entered her cabin and prepared to tiptoe over to her bottom bunk that was paralleling in front of the door. She'd barely turned when she let out a small squeak and jumped. Sitting there at the edge of her bed was a very put off looking Meegan.

Hermione contorted her face into an apprehensive look at she hesitantly walked over, he head lowered a bit toward the ground in shame, and sat down next to her downright frightening looking friend.

"Explain now," said Meegan simply, adjusting her sitting position so that she was turned toward Hermione.

"We didn't mean for that to happen. You know I'm not one for a public display, hence why I left. Honestly though, we were going to tell you. Tomorrow in fact," said Hermione, rambling out everything she had to say, the wincing a bit as she waiting for Meegan's rebuttal.

"I can't believe you never told me! I told you everything about Ron and me! And you know that I would have supported you! I've only told you since day one that you and Mr. Potter would make a fabulous couple," said Meegan indignantly. She was a little hurt since she'd thought Hermione would know her well enough now to trust her with such information.

"I was going to, but then after you and Ron got caught, Harry and I decided to wait until the end of camp to let anyone know at all. I can only imagine what Ron put Harry through, he being our best friend and all, and not knowing," said Hermione, offering Meegan a small smile.

Meegan began to giggle too. She knew how Ron could get. "You're right, I'm sorry Hermione. I just wish you had told me!! Then we could have been giggling about our boyfriends for the past month!"

"I can't guarantee that I'd have been much of a giggler," Hermione smiled as Meegan got of the bed and moved in preparation to climb up to her bunk.

"We can try it writing to each other after camp," smiled Meegan. "Besides, I'll need someone to keep my up to date on Ron's hijinks!" Both girls laughed as Meegan climbed up into her bed.

"That's promise. Goodnight, Meegan," said Hermione, climbing into her own bed.

"Good night."

~*~

"It's over. " Said Hermione in a sullen voice as she watched the last van of campers drive away. Harry stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist. Around them, some of the camp stand wandered around cleaning up the tables et al that had been set-up for camper checkout. A few cleaners they'd hired were wandering around the grounds, preparing it for the next group who'd be using the facilities.

"Come on, your mother will be here in thirty minutes to get us. We should get our bags and bring them up," said Harry, releasing her waist and taking her hand as he led her away. A few groups of counselors stood around them, watching them speculatively, but neither cared as they walked down the familiar path toward the lake.

"See you in a bit," said Harry, leaning over and kissing Hermione as they stopped at the point where the path split leading to the girls and boys sides of the camp.

"Ok," said Hermione with a large smile, as they broke apart, letting her hand slide from his with a look of longing as they went their separate ways.

Hermione found Meegan and Allison already inside packing up the rest of their bags. They looked up at her, a bit teary-eyed themselves, as she entered the cabin.

"Hey," said Hermione with a wavering smile. It only took her a minute before she flew across the cabin and joined Meegan and Allison in a group hug. "Oh, I'm really going to miss those girls!" Hermione wiped a tear from her cheek as they leaned apart.

"Me too. It's always so hard letting them go," said Meegan, dabbing her eyes with the sleeves of the oversized wool sweater with a large 'R' sewn in the middle she'd borrowed from Ron.

"I can't wait to do this again next year," smiled Allison through a few tears. "It's hard seeing everyone leave, but I had so much fun!"

"I'm really glad you could come over for the summer," said Meegan, wrapping her arm around her cousin's shoulders.

"Me too," she sniffled in reply.

"Let's promise we'll keep writing each other during the school year until we can come back next summer," said Hermione as she began stuffing her remaining items into her duffle bag.

"There's no question about that," smiled Meegan. "We can visit on holidays and what not. Besides, I'll be needing to visit my boyfriend," she winked.

"And you'll tell us all about Harry, right?!" asked Allison excitedly to Hermione.

"It'll take some getting used to, but I think I can learn this 'girl- talk' thing," said Hermione grinning. "Now how about we haul these bags up and get out of here? I don't know about you two, but it's going to be very nice to be in my own bed for a change!"

"No kidding," laughed Allison, tossing her bags over her shoulder and following Hermione out the door. Meegan followed behind and closed the door after herself. All three turned for a moment and looked at their cabin before trekking up the hill.

"Are you going to tell them about us?" said Harry, leaning in next to Hermione and whispering into her ear. Both of Hermione's parents had picked up her, Harry, and Ron, so the three of them had squeezed in the back seat. Hermione, being the smallest, had taken the middle.

"Not in a confined space," she giggled as he leaned back away from her and gave her hand a little squeeze, hoping it was out of view from her parents.

"All right Ron?" said Harry, looking over at his friend who had his forehead pressed against the glass window, staring out as trees flew by.

"I suppose," said Ron, leaning back into his seat and offering Harry and Hermione a lop-sided smile.

"You're going to write her as soon as we get back, aren't you?" said Hermione with a teasing grin.

"Of course!" Ron beamed.

"Are you going to tell her that you're… "

"Not a Muggle?" Ron cut off Harry. "Definitely, just… not yet."

"She'll understand when the time comes," Hermione put a supportive hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Thanks 'Mione. And when you two tell everyone at school that you're dating, they'll understand as well."

"WHAT?!" Came the yells from Hermione's parents in the front seat.

THE END

sequel in consideration =) please review.

18. Sequel

Want to read the sequel? It’s up and being added to!

I can’t get the html to work, so take -> http://fanfiction.portkey.org/story/2305 and paste it into your browser OR go to my profile and click on the story, ‘Falling Forward’