(A/n: Am sorry if it offends you, but there is a Bible verse in here.)
Hold me now,
I'm six feet
From the edge
And I'm thinking
Maybe six feet
Ain't so far down
Creed, 'One Last Breath'
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She closed her eyes and raised her arms, preparing to jump. And then....
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And then she was seized from behind and pulled away from the cliff's edge. Her captor held her by the waist, and he had a hand clamped tightly over her mouth. She began to struggle. He chuckled.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Bit stupid, really." Hermione recognized that voice.
"Harry?" she asked, though the question was muffled.
"Yep. How'd you know?"
"Pull your hand off my face and I'll tell you," she replied. He did so, moving it to pin her arms to her side. She smiled, though he couldn't see her. "I know because I know your voice. Honestly, don't you notice?"
"Notice what?"
"How I've listened to you so much. So much, that, after a while, I know your voice from just one word."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Now, if you'd let me go, I'd like to die now." She began wiggling.
Harry snorted. "As if. I know you like life too much. Besides, you don't even love me. That letter and this fake attempt at suicide were just a desperate attempt for attention." Hermione tried to stifle a small sob, but couldn't.
She turned and looked up at him, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Who says I don't love you?" she asked softly. She scowled up at him, saying, "You don't know me, Harry Potter. You don't know me at all. I don't know what happened to you, but over the past week, you've been acting like an ass!"
He glared down at her, a frown on his face. "You've acted like an ass this week, too, Granger, if you don't remember. You snapped at nearly all the students who talked to you, you've talked back to the teachers, and you cussed at Draco Malfoy. So don't go putting all the blame on me."
Hermione was taken aback. Harry rarely ever called her Granger. Oh, he was pissed off now.... She sniffled.
"And don't start crying on me, either. That little excuse won't work. Nor will 'it's that time of the month.' You'd better straighten up your act right now."
"Just let me go, Harry. He is calling me. He wants me to leave this flock and join his."
Harry rolled his eyes. "And just who might this 'he' be?"
Hermione looked up at the sky. "Him." She began to recite from the Holy Book.
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5,6. You see, Harry, the Lord is directing my path. He is directing it toward Heaven."
"God can shove that idea up his ass for all I care," Harry said fiercely.
(A/n: Please note that I am a God-fearing person. Harry, however, is not religious. I only made him say that because it seemed typical of him in this situation. So that's why I made him say it. I sincerely hope y'all don't take this as an insult. Thank you!)
Hermione gasped. "Harry!"
"Well, he can. You're coming back with me. Whether you like it or not."
"Well, I don't, and I'm not coming with you. I'm telling you, he wants me. He is calling. I have to go."
"Well if that's the way you put it," Harry said, putting an arm around her waist. "Then all I have to say is this: Desperate times call for desperate measures." He gestured to his shoulder. "Up you go!"
She glared. "You wouldn't."
"I would, and I am." And he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
"Put me down! This is undignified!"
"Well, jumping off a cliff isn't very dignified either, is it?"
She sighed. "No, it isn't. Now, put me down before I hurt you."
He began to chortle. "You? Hurt me? The mere idea is laughable."
She kicked him. "Ow."
"I told you I could hurt you. Put me down."
"Nope."
She sighed. "Fine, take me. But you must take me as I am."
And so, he took her. They walked for a while, Hermione thinking about what she'd done, and why she'd done it. Then all of the sudden, she spoke.
"Harry?"
"What?"
"I'm sorry."
He stopped dead. "What?"
"I'm sorry."
He put her down, holding her at arm's length by the shoulders. "Sorry for what?"
She sighed and looked down at the ground. "Everything. I'm sorry for trying to kill myself; sorry for writing that horribly long letter; sorry for making you go to the library whenever there was trouble; and most of all, sorry for-mmph!"
No one found out what she was sorry for most of all, for Harry had just kissed her.
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Whoo! Cliffie! It sounds a lot like part of a chapter of Lily Vance's 'A Game of Chance', but I like it anyway. Nancey (my friend) likes it, too. Sorry for re-naming this chapter (and making it so short), but I really wanted a cliffie, so I ended it with Harry kissing our dear heroine. So the next chapter will be called 'The Kiss.'
Have a great time!
~Katz
P.S. There's a hidden CD title in this chapter. Can you find it? Thousand points to whoever can find it. But, the points don't matter. :p