Love, Lust, & Trust

DVSEzekiel316

Rating: R
Genres: Drama, Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 4
Published: 03/02/2003
Last Updated: 20/03/2003
Status: paused

The Trio's 7th Year. Harry & Hermione are a well known couple at Hogwarts, & love, lust, & trust, can & will, change them forever.

Chapters

1. Prologue

2. The Meeting

3. Immaturity

4. Head Boy and Head Girl Dormitories

5. The Unexpected Thing

6. The Other Unexpected Thing

7. Feelings Change

8. Grieving

9. The Discussion

10. The Unexpected Rendezvous

11. Hermione's Birthday

12. After Christmas Aftermath

13. Forever Friendship

14. The Journal

15. Harry's Gift

16. The Truth

17. Hermione's Gift

1. Prologue

Author notes: Please R/R. I really have a thing for a real Harry/Hermione SHIP to happen in the real books. My biggest feeling is that Harry will fall in love with her, but keep his feelings to himself because of obvious reasons. This fic is dedicated to that thought. (Come on Harry! I know you love Hermione somewhere in that heart of yours!!!) I would like to hear all of your opinions!!!

I would like to thank Elia Sheldon (the BEST Harry Potter Fanon writer that I have ever seen) for writing her stories. Without her skill, dedication, and Harry and Hermione shipness, I wouldn’t be writing because she was a great motivation for me. I hope she doesn’t mind that I took some ideas off her fantastic stories. *Full credit goes to her*

Another thing … think about this…

"Hermione" was a character in Greek mythology who was loved by two men. She was the daughter of Helen of Troy and Menelaus. These men (Orestes 2 and Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles) fought terribly for the love of the beautiful Hermione (Harry and Ron?). Orestes 2 was killed by a snake. Could this mean that either Ron or Harry will die at the hands of Lord Voldemort (whose symbol is a snake?). Hmmm…

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Harry Potter sat across his best friend, Hermione Granger in the Gryffindor common room alone reading Quidditch Through The Ages. He couldn’t help but glance at Hermione.

“How can she keep reading that book?” Harry asked himself as he watched Hermione read Hogwarts: A History. He shook his head and thought that it would be worthless to even ask.

It was his and his friends’ 7th and final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and so much had already happened to them. Harry had grown into a fine young man by adding some inches in his height. He was no longer that skinny and scrawny, but he developed average muscles. The things that never changed were his jet-black hair that always looked untidy that he inherited from his father, his bright green eyes that he inherited from his mother, and a small scar in the shape of a thunderbolt on his forehead.

Ron added a very significant amount of inches in his height. He was the tallest student at Hogwarts. With his height, he grew a sense of wit and charm. This helped him get accustomed with a girl from Ravenclaw House named, Adelle Lorry. Just last year, Ron decided to ask her to go steady and she happily obliged to go out with the “best looking redhead”.

Hermione had developed and matured into a fine and shapely young woman and easily became one of the best-looking girls in Hogwarts. She noticed that a lot more heads would turn when she walked halls. Out of the three of them, she had made the least change in appearance. Her bushy brown hair looked just as bushy as before and her academic skills were superior, just as before. Her charm, wisdom, knowledge, and beauty caught the eye of Harry Potter. This made him confess his growing love for her in the middle of 5th year, and what a remembering event that was for the both of them.

After mustering up enough courage, Harry came up to Hermione out of nowhere, rose in hand, and asked her nervously on a date to Hogsmead. She accepted his offer with a smile on her face. After a very romantic dinner, Harry poured his heart and soul out to her, explaining that after she had given him the kiss on the cheek after their 4th year, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. At the start of term, he realized that he was in love with her and he waited until he had the fortitude to ask her out. To his surprise, Hermione told him that she also felt a feeling of more than friendship toward Harry. After their first and sensual kiss that they shared, they decided to go steady, feeling slightly afraid of what Ron would think, now that he was going to be the odd ball out.

When they had told him the news, Ron didn’t at all feel angry or upset. In fact, he already thought that the two were a couple. He was, at the time, getting acquainted with Adelle, so it didn’t really bother him. He simply wished them good luck and hope that they would have a long and happy relationship together. The newly found couple smiled at Ron.

Through the 2 years that they had been going out, Harry and Hermione had become the most popular and most well known couple in Hogwarts. It was to no ones surprise that they were together and all the students simply stated, “It was bound to happen”.

As Harry watched Hermione read her book over the top of his, he jumped when Hermione spoke.

“What are you looking at Harry?” said Hermione, not looking up from her book. “I hope you’re not trying to look down my blouse.”

“Nothing Hermione,” responded Harry. “Besides, you know that I can look down that blouse anytime. So why would I try to sneak a look?”

“Well,” said Hermione, closing her book and standing up to walk toward Harry.

“What?” asked Harry, standing up and holding his arms out in a challenging way.

“I just think that it’s really cute that you keep looking at me Harry,” said Hermione with a flirtatious smile, getting very close to him and putting her arms around his neck.

“Glad you like it Granger,” grinned Harry in a low voice, closing his arms around her.

Hermione raised her head up and put her lips dangerously close to Harry’s. “Shut up and kiss me Potter.”

And he did. Harry leaned in a little more and pressed his lips on Hermione. He did what they both had now come to know as their signature kiss. Of course, they never planned or said whenever they were going to do it or know when it was going to happen. They just…knew. It consisted of 5 open mouth kisses and ends with Harry taking both hands, putting them behind Hermione’s head (if they‘re not already there), and kissing her softly on the forehead before resting his forehead on hers. They would stay like that for a few seconds and then release and go about their business.

Harry and Hermione’s relationship blossomed like a rose throughout the 2 years. At first it was small, closed, and sensual. Now, although still being sensual at times, it was big and ready for anything. They had become wild, love thirsty animals when they were alone. However, they mutually agreed that they wouldn’t have sex yet. It wasn’t because that they didn’t want to and not because anything was stopping them, but because it was a decision that Hermione made. During the summer before their 5th year, Hermione cast a Chastity Spell on herself.

She had made this important decision with both of her parents, and all three of them agreed that Hermione would be chaste till at least her 17th birthday and to not have sex until she was ready and felt that it was right. If she failed, however, she would fall into a dreamless sleep and have a fifty-fifty chance that she‘ll wake up on her 21st birthday. It that wasn’t bad enough, if she were to awaken, she will not be able to bear children.

It was lucky that both of them had the sense and courage to stop when they knew it was getting to far. They had a really close call one time in 6th year when they were kissing passionately in the Astronomy Tower. Nonetheless, the furthest they had gotten was Harry with his shirt off and his glasses dangling crookedly on his face, and Hermione’s blouse unbuttoned all the way with her skirt looking absolutely mangled.

They had also developed very unique ways of connecting to one another, as though they…magically had it. Hermione could read the eyes of Harry without flaw. It was this that she used to tell what Harry was really feeling at the moment, no matter how he my look physically.

Harry, on the other hand, could somehow sense or feel when Hermione needed him for whatever the reason would be. There was one time when an older transfer student was persuading Hermione in their late 5th year. Harry was in the middle of Quidditch practice when he felt that Hermione was in trouble and he immediately zoomed out of the field and to the front of the castle where he found the student advancing on her. Harry bravely defended her honor, but got some minor cuts and bruises in return. Hermione gave all her admiration to him that day and loved him even more. It was the talk of the school for months. That student was transferred back soon after.

Right after they had finished their signature kiss, Harry looked down at his girlfriend. Since he had remembered her in first year, he thought she hadn’t changed one bit. Her brown eyes studied his green ones as his body tingled all over. This made him put a small grin on his face.

“What Harry?” said Hermione, noticing his smile.

“Nothing,” replied Harry, “I was just thinking about something.”

“What?” she asked, in a way like she didn’t want to know.

“About us,” said Harry.

His answer was not of what Hermione expected. Since Harry had grown up and gone out with her, his mind seemed to wonder to the “dirty” side a bit. Anytime there was a slight hint in sexual independence, Harry and Ron would look at each other as if to understand.

***

There was a time where Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Adelle sat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall when Parvati Patil came over to talk to them. Soon after, Lavender Brown came over and hugged her from behind saying, “I’ve been looking all over for you.” It was like they were looking in a mirror when Harry and Ron immediately turned toward each other, jaws dropping, and slowly turning back to Lavender and Parvati. The two girls giggled playfully as Lavender continued to hold Parvati. Hermione and Adelle stared at Harry and Ron and tutted as they saw looks of excitement and bewilderment and could literally see the drool come down their mouths. When Parvati said that she had to leave, she left with Lavender, walking away a bit close to each other than two friends would. When they were out of sight, Ron spoke first.

“Harry…did you just see that?” he said, with his eyes wide open.

“Uh huh,” was all that Harry could mange to say. Even thought Lavender and Parvati where long gone, they continued to stare at the doors of the Great Hall were they exited.

“Harry, do you think that they’re…um…you know?”

“No we don’t know Ron,” interrupted Adelle from the side.

“Yes Ron, please do tell,” added Hermione. Ron ignored them and continued.

“Well I’m going to look and see what they’re up to.”

“You’re going to spy on them!?” said Hermione in her you’re-going-to-get-in-trouble tone.

“It’s not spying if you happen to run into them,” added Ron smiling. “You coming Harry?”

Harry looked like he was about to get up when he looked over at Hermione. The look on her face told him otherwise.

“No Ron, maybe next time. Be sure to tell me about it though.” Ron nodded and quickly got up and ran out of the Hall. Adelle scoffed and ran after Ron impatiently.

“Harry?” said Hermione. He didn’t answer. There was a starry look in his eye.

“Harry!?” she said louder, shaking him. This woke him up.

“What?” he asked.

“I hope that what after you just saw, you’re not coming to any conclusions about Lavender and Parvati. They were just saying ‘hello’.”

“Some way to say ‘hello’,” said Harry with a smirk. “I’m not surprised if they are like that, I mean, they’re always together.”

“What about you and Ron?” said Hermione in a defensive tone. “You two are always together!”

“But that’s different.” defended Harry, though feeling a little gross-out from the accusation Hermione was making. “We’re guys! Besides, we don’t hug each other, and giggle senseless and walk really close to each other like that. But, Lavender and Parvati are welcomed to fool around with each other anytime.” Hermione scoffed. There was no use to continue the conversation even further.

“I have one thing to say about Lavender and Parvati though,” said Harry, breaking their silence.

“What’s that” said Hermione, thinking that maybe he would have something serious to say to make up for his behavior.

“I‘d pay to see that…”

“Harry!”

“Ok, ok,” he said, holding up his hands to his face. “But don’t worry Hermione. Two girls will never be better than my one Hermione.” This put a really big grin on Hermione’s face. Harry leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, smiling back right after.

***

Hermione smiled at the last image in her head, but realized that she was returning from her daydreaming.

“What about us?” asked Hermione again to make Harry further deepen his statement.

“I mean, I think back in first year when I first saw you and how you became my best friend after Ron and I saved you from that troll,” said Harry. Hermione nodded.

“And now here I am. I’m your boyfriend; dating and going out with you now, kissing and doing things to you that I only did in my dreams.”

“I have the same feeling too Harry,” smiled Hermione, comfortably putting her hands on both his shoulders.

“It’s just so unreal for me,” he said.

“Harry…you’d be surprised about the thoughts that cross my innocent mind,” said Hermione in a sexy tone, giving him a very dirty look.

“Don’t look at me like that Hermione,” said Harry, his eyes widening slightly and slowly shaking is head.

“Why?” she said in a flirtatious voice. She put her right hand right on his pelvis and began to massage it gently. “Does it hurt?”

“No, it doesn’t…hurt,” gulped Harry, looking down at where she was rubbing.

“I didn’t think so,” said Hermione, taking her left hand from his shoulder and putting it under his chin to make him look at her before leaning in and passionately kissing him.

Harry put his hands on her waist as the kissing intensified, each of them getting hotter by the minute. Hermione’s hand drifted lower to a spot that made Harry gasp away from the kiss. The moment was brief because Hermione leaned in toward Harry quickly, capturing his lips again and settling the kiss. Harry, feeling very grateful for Hermione’s motives slid one hand seductively up and down Hermione’s back and the other hand her thigh. Hermione moaned against the kiss a couple of times and her hand rubbed harder and harder through Harry’s pants and Harry’s hands slid more and more seductively as the kissing intensified even more. Each of them pleasuring and loving and getting what they wanted. Harry took the initiative to stop first.

“As much as I want to continue that,” gasped Harry between breaths, “I think that it was right to stop.”

“Right Harry,” said Hermione, catching her breath as well. “I guess I got carried away.”

“That’s ok,” Harry smiled. “But it was well worth it.”

“Yeah it was wasn’t it? But now I left you with…that,” she said, looking down below Harry’s waist. He noticed what she was referring to and blushed.

“It’s ok Hermione,” he said, trying not to sound too disappointed. “You’ve done it to me before and I managed. I don’t think it’s going to be any different now.”

Hermione cocked her head to the side a bit while studying Harry’s eyes. Harry said he was ok with it, but his eyes were saying otherwise. She knew how much he hated it when she turned him on like that with nothing to really use it on. But nonetheless, just accepted his answer.

“Right,” she said. “Well I need to go to a meeting with Dumbledore. Head Girl duties.” Harry looked slightly upset.

“Can’t I come?” he asked moving in toward her. “No pun intended?”

“Harry!”

“I’m just kidding sweetie,” Harry said, getting rid of the dirty look in his eye.

“Bye,” he said gently, leaning his head in toward her.

“Bye Harry,” Hermione managed to say in a whisper before Harry leaned in and gave her the signature kiss. Before parting, Harry gave her an extra kiss on the cheek. She smiled at him as she backed away and was gone through the portrait hole.

2. The Meeting

Chapter 2 - The Meeting

Harry woke the next Saturday morning feeling very refreshed and rested. He wasn’t surprised that Ron wasn’t in bed; he was probably out with Adelle somewhere, snogging. He got dressed and headed down to the Gryffindor common room. Sure enough, he found Ron there along with Adelle, kissing. Harry shook his head and chuckled softly when he saw them and walked right behind the couch they were sitting on. He made a long and exaggerated clearing of his throat that made Ron immediately jump off of Adelle.

“Well, well, well,” said Harry teasingly, “look at what we have here.”

“Harry, don’t ever do that again!” cried Ron, as he and Adelle managed to straighten out their clothes.

“Yes Harry,” added Adelle. “You gave us such a fright!”

“Sorry,” apologized Harry, “but I couldn’t resist the moment.” Ron playfully smacked Harry in the arm as Hermione came down from the girls’ dormitories.

“What’s going on here?” she asked in a Professor McGonagall sort of voice.

“Ron and Adelle were just -”

“Talking,” Ron interjected. Harry quickly looked at him and gave him a puzzling look, but realized what was happening.

“Right,” said Harry slowly. “They were talking… if that’s what you call talking…” Harry mumbled the last part under his breath and got smacked in the arm by Ron again.

“What was that Harry?” asked Hermione.

“Nothing,” said Harry as he rubbed his arm. Adelle spoke for the first time.

“Well I need to be going Ron,” she said, looking slightly embarrassed. “I’ll see you later?”

“Of course you will Dell,” he answered, giving her a nod.

“Ok,” she replied giving him a small kiss. Soon after, she was gone. Ron turned back to Harry and Hermione who were staring at him with astonished looks on their faces. They were however, slightly amused.

“What!?” he told them, holding his hands out to the side. Harry and Hermione turned toward each other at the same time and turned back to Ron at the same time.

“Nothing,” they both replied in unison. Ron glared at the both of them for a moment, then dismissed the whole situation.

“Anyway, what’s up?” Ron asked them.

“Well,” started Hermione; she looked towards Harry for a bit, then back at Ron. “I need to say good morning to Harry.”

“Ohhh,” said Ron smiling. “I see. Well, I’ll leave you two alone for now. There’s something I need to do anyway. Bye!” He turned on his heel and walked out of the common room. They could hear his chuckling and mutter “Oh those two,” as he walked out. Harry turned to speak to Hermione

“So what’s up Her -” but he was cut off because she immediately embraced Harry and attacked him with a kiss. Harry was surprised by this, but immediately gave into Hermione’s kiss. It didn’t even start off passionately like it always did. It went straight into the aggression stage, as if they hadn’t kissed in a century.

“Morning…Harry,” Hermione moaned in between two kisses before going back full on into it. About a second later, they stopped kissing, with their foreheads touching, to catch their breath.

“Morning Hermione,” Harry managed to say. He was gasping for air just like Hermione was then they immediately went back to kissing after Harry’s statement. After awhile of smashing faces together, they stopped.

“Some way to say good morning,” said Harry, still gasping for air.

“Yeah,” replied Hermione, breathing at the same tempo as Harry was. “You’d be surprised at the dream that I had last night. When I woke up, I had to kiss you.”

“Please Hermione, don’t tell me the dream. Or I may be forced to do something that I may regret.”

“Ok, I won’t. But I will say that I’ve never been so hot in the morning in my entire life,” said Hermione seductively. Harry gulped.

“Hermione please. Not now,” he said, breaking out into a sweat.

“Ok fine,” said Hermione, knowing that it would be best. “Besides, we have some sort of meeting with Professor Dumbledore.”

“Both of us?” asked Harry, raising his eyebrows. “Why?”

“I have no idea,” said Hermione. “I’m hoping that it has something to do with Head Boy and Head Girl duties.”

“I hope you’re right.”

***

After passing by the gargoyle after saying the password (doughnut holes), the two of them walked up the moving spiral staircase that lead them to Dumbledore’s office. Harry knocked twice and there was an immediate answer.

“Come in you two,” said a voice behind the door. Before walking in, Harry and Hermione looked at each other, wondering what Dumbledore could possibly want with them. They nervously walked into the office.

“Ah, Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger,” said Professor Dumbledore, making movements with his hands to tell them to sit down. When they were seated, Dumbledore continued.

“I have been watching the both of you recently,” he said. His sounded serious, like they had done something morally wrong. Harry felt the color drop from his face. His mind raced through thoughts about what he had done. Then he felt it, like being hit in the face with a brick. Professor Dumbledore probably saw the two of them showing excess public display of affection. They were both Head Boy and Head Girl and they were supposed to be setting an example for everyone, not showing what a love scene in a movie would look like. With any luck, Dumbledore was probably ready to strip them of Head privileges. He looked over at Hermione and the look on her face showed that she was feeling the exact same thing. She looked like she was ready to cry.

“Are the both of you quite all right?” asked Dumbledore, looking back and forth between the two over his half moon spectacles. “Are the both of you ill?”

“No,” said Harry in a sick voice, “but I think that I’m going to be… fairly soon.”

“Sorry Professor,” added Hermione in a same sick tone as Harry, “Please…continue.”

“Very well,” he said. He had a gleam in his eye. “I have called the both of you here to tell you that your private dormitories have just about finished.”

“Oh!” the both of them replied, feeling the color rise back into their faces.

“Yes,” said Dumbledore, his eyes still gleaming. “The entrance to it is immediately too the left after entering the Gryffindor common room.”

“But Professor,” said Harry with a bit of a stutter. “I know the common room very well. And to the immediate left of the portrait is a brick wall.”

“I am aware of that Mr. Potter.”

“That can’t be a room can it?”

Dumbledore smiled at him. “I will say, Mr. Potter, that I am impressed with how your mind works and your excellence in short term memory. Just remember Mr. Potter, that this is a magical school. The password is ‘prime example’.”

Hermione slapped Harry in the arm as if to say, ‘how can you be so stupid!”

“You may both go and see it now, if you wish.”

“Yes Professor,” said Harry, rubbing his arm the Hermione had hit. Before the two of them had reached the door, Dumbledore called them again.

“Just a minute you two. I almost forgot,” he said. The both of them turned around.

“There a few rules that I forgot to mention.” The seriousness came back and was shown on his face. This got both of their attention once again.

“First, no one, by any means, is to go into that room other than you two. Second, everyone knows that there is a room for Head Boy and Head Girl, it’s just that everyone doesn’t know where it is. I trust that you two will keep that secret?”

They both nodded.

“Good,” continued Dumbledore smiling, again with a gleam in his eye. “I knew I could trust the both of you. And third, due to certain circumstances, and the fortunate title you two have, I want you two to treat that room with respect.”

“I don’t understand Professor,” said Harry, noticing a small smile in Dumbledore’s face that soon faded. He stood up before speaking again.

“All I’m saying Mr. Potter, is now that you and Ms. Granger have become quite the couple here at Hogwarts and coincidently becoming Head Boy and Head Girl and obtaining its private room, I want you two to act mature and responsible in it and I don’t want any…unnecessary activity…going on in there that will make me regret giving the room to you two.”

Harry and Hermione both bushed scarlet at the same time knowing what Dumbledore was talking about, and giving him a look of understanding.

“I will, however, not tell you what you can and cannot do in that room as it now rightfully belongs to the both of you. I also know that since you two are in a very serious relationship, it will be hard to follow that last rule and I will let it slide slightly. I just want control. Do I make myself clear?” Professor Dumbledore said in a final way.

“Yes Professor,” said Harry, still slightly red.

“There was a problem here years ago, Mr. Potter,” added Dumbledore, “that involved your parents in a similar situation and almost getting them expelled. I do not want that happening again.”

“Yes Professor,” Harry said again.

“We understand,” added Hermione.

“Very well,” said Dumbledore. “You may now leave…and have fun you two,”

“Thanks Professor,” answered Harry.

3. Immaturity

Chapter 3 - Immaturity

Harry and Hermione entered Gryffindor common room to find Ron and Adelle once again going at it. Harry stopped and paused for a moment to watch.

“Tell me something Hermione,” Harry whispered to her casually while rubbing his chin. “Do we look like that when we kiss?”

“Of course not Harry,” she whispered back, grabbing hold of his arm and snuggling up next to him. “When we kiss, we at least show class.”

“That’s what I thought,” whispered Harry smiling. He turned to his right to meet Hermione’s eyes. It looked even more beautiful when he saw them while she smiled at him. That smile of hers was a killer too. It made Harry tingle all over every time he saw it. Even from 1st year, Hermione’s best attribute, besides her brain, was her smile. And he knew for a fact, that he wasn’t the only one to think that.

“Then why don’t we show them what a real kiss is supposed to look like?” said Harry, he eyes getting a very hopeful look. Hermione laughed through her nose and leaned up to him giving him the signature kiss. After Harry had held Hermione on the back of the head and rested his forehead on hers, Hermione immediately whispered, “One more time Harry.”

After taking a couple of breaths, he leaned in again and gave her what she wanted. If there was one thing that he enjoyed, it was being with Hermione and kissing her passionately. Their signature kiss was the most passionate way they kissed. It wasn’t that Harry didn’t like the aggressive kisses, he loved them as much as the passionate ones; he just preferred the passionate ones. That was another thing that was great about their relationship: they had variety. As they stood in their finished position (Harry holding Hermione behind the head with both hands, after kissing her on the forehead and resting his on hers with both their eyes closed), they heard a familiar voice.

“Well, well, well,” said Ron in a well-look-at-what-we-have-here tone. Harry and Hermione didn’t really seem to care; they stayed in their finished position.

“Leave them alone Ron,” said Adelle, wrapping both arms around him. “They didn’t bother us when we were kissing.”

“I guess you’re right Adelle,” he said. “Where would I be without you?”

“Probably in the bathroom all by yourself masturb-”

“Shut up Adelle!” cried Ron, playfully pushing her away from him. She giggled back and held on to him again as the both of them brought they’re attention back to Harry and Hermione. Surprisingly, the both of them hadn’t moved. They stood really close to each other in the finished position and the both of them were breathing heavily. They didn’t seem to care that they were being watched. It was as if they were in their own world. Finally, Harry released his hold on Hermione, but still had their eyes closed and foreheads touching. Harry moved his head to one of Hermione’s ears and whispered something to her. It must’ve been something because she gulped after she had heard him. Then at last, Harry turned to Ron and Adelle.

“Sorry about that you guys,” he said, blushing a little. “I was sort of preoccupied.”

“It’s ok Harry,” replied Ron, “I know what it feels like to like someone so much to a point that you don’t care about anything else.” Hermione smiled at him.

“Thanks Ron, I’m glad you understand.”

“Anytime mate!” he said, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder.

“So what are you two up to?” asked Adelle.

“Well,” said Hermione, “we just met with Professor.”

“About?” asked Adelle looking anxious.

“At first we thought we were in trouble for going way over the line of public display of affection.” said Hermione as-a-matter-of-factly.

“It wasn’t?” said Ron.

“Nope,” answered Harry.

“Well I wouldn’t be surprised if it was,” said Ron, raising his eyebrows. “I mean, every time I see you two together, you two kiss at least twice!”

“Wait!” yelled Adelle, her eyes lighting up. “I know what it is! It’s about the Head Boy and Head Girl private dormitory isn’t it!?”

“That’s right Adelle,” answered Hermione. Ron burst out laughing. “What?”

“You two… with a room all to yourselves… alone? That’s something! Now we’ll get to see why they call it the Head Boy and Head Girl Dormitories!” exclaimed Ron in almost a laugh.

“Ron!” yelled Adelle and Hermione at the same time. Hermione looked to toward Harry to see if maybe he would talk some sense into him, only to find that he was laughing as well.

“Harry!” exclaimed Hermione, crossing her arms. “That is not funny!”

“It most certainly isn’t!” added Adelle, putting her hands on her hips. But Harry and Ron weren’t listening. They were busy laughing and pushing the subject.

“So that’s why they call the position Head Girl!” laughed Harry.

“Yeah!” said Ron, laughing along with him. “Kind of has a new meaning to Head Girl doesn’t it? I bet the Head Girl must really be something to be called that!” With that, the two boys’ burst with laughter, holding their gut.

“Honestly!” exclaimed Hermione impatiently, turning her head away from them.

“They are so immature!” said Adelle.

“I’m sorry love,” said Ron, recovering from laughing and rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too,” said Harry, looking over at Hermione

“How dare you call me that after what you just said!” shouted Adelle toward Ron. She looked livid. And she stormed out of the common room with another word.

“Adelle! Wait!” shouted Ron, running after her, closing the Fat Lady portrait behind him.

Hermione beamed at Harry, who was still chuckling from the situation.

“I’m ashamed of you Harry!” she said with a hint of rage in her voice, eyeing him angrily.

“Really Hermione, I’m sorry,” he said looking into her eyes, and he meant it. Hermione read his eyes like a book, searching for at hint that maybe he was just saying that and not meaning it. She was surprised not to find anything, but the look of truth. She however, wasn’t going to let him win that easily.

“Whatever Harry,” snapped Hermione, desperately trying to show that she had not forgiven him even though she really had.

“Do you forgive me?” asked Harry, putting on a will-you-forgive-me face.

“No Harry I don’t,” said Hermione. “I’ll never forgive you for that.” She turned away from him, showing him her back. Harry sighed in failure. He maybe had one last chance.

He walked around Hermione so that he could see her front. She didn’t look up at him, but continued to stare at the ground, still with the unmistakably angry look on her face. He took his hand and gently put it under her chin, making her look up at him. Surprisingly, she didn’t resist, still having the upset look.

“There’s nothing you can do to change my mind Harry,” she stated. Harry sighed, hoping that maybe she was wrong. He leaned in to her and kissed her softly on her temple, then slowly, kiss after kiss, made his way down to her cheek.

“Forgive me?” he said in a begging way. Hermione stood with an expressionless face. He kissed her softly on the cheek again.

“Forgive me?” he repeated in the same begging tone, kissing her softly on the nose. Hermione refused to give in so Harry continued little by little until he came right before her lips.

“Forgive me?” he said again softly before brushing his lips against hers. He pulled away slowly but Hermione pushed her face back into him kissing him again. Harry looked at her when she pulled away. She wasn’t smiling, but she did look happy.

“Except that!” Hermione exclaimed. And finally it came; her wonderful smile. And he hugged him, as if to seal the forgiveness.

“We should check out our new dormitories Harry,” she said, still embracing him. “Aren’t you excited!?”

“Ecstatic,” replied Harry in a half ecstatic, half not caring way. He was just happy about Hermione forgiving him.

4. Head Boy and Head Girl Dormitories

Chapter 4 - Head Boy and Head Girl Dormitories

Harry and Hermione went to the brick wall to their left and stared at each other in confusion. This was a room? Probably not a very good looking one by any chance. They looked around the common room to see if anyone was there. When he and Hermione confirmed that the coast was clear, Harry whispered the password, just in case if anyone was around.

“Prime example,” whispered Harry. The wall made a sudden movement and three holes appeared on wall, two medium oval ones on the top, and a crescent moon shaped one on the bottom.

“Well,” yawned the wall. “I see that you two finally came. Professor Dumbledore has told me all about you. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger is it?”

They both nodded slowly. It was weird having a wall talk to them.

“I’m Wally by the way,” he said, his two oval holes for eyes to seemingly move back and forth from Harry to Hermione.

“H-hello Wally,” squeaked Hermione, waving her hand subconsciously at a wall.

“I’m sorry, but my ears aren’t what they used to be one thousand years ago. Could you please repeat the password for me?” asked Wally.

“S-sure,” said Harry, thinking how a wall could possibly have ears. “P-prime example.”

After Harry had said these words, the three holes that made up Wally’s face disappeared and the brick wall glowed a brighter red than it originally was. Then with a blink of an eye, the brick wall had vanished, leaving an opening about the size of the doorway so that they could pass. With a breath of courage, Harry grabbed Hermione’s and stepped cautiously into the doorway. To no surprise, nothing had happened, but neither of them cared when they gazed their eyes on the Head Boy and Head Girl room.

They were looking at the Head’s common room. It wasn’t as big as the Gryffindor common room but it was a lot bigger than expected. The room was a gold and red color, probably because it was matching the Gryffindor colors. Directly in front of them was a love seat with a single-person sofa on its left. The chairs glowed a reddish color because they were facing the fireplace that was lighting them dimly. To their left were two small empty bookshelves for storing (you guessed it) books. To their right were three more doors. The one on the left had “Harry Potter” written in calligraphy and the one on the right said “Hermione Granger” also written in calligraphy. The door in the middle had the words “bathroom” written on it.

Harry looked at Hermione. She seemed very pleased with their new quarters.

“Come on,” said Harry, grabbing her behind the elbow and dragging her to the sofas in front of them. The fireplace seemed a lot bigger than it really was from where they were originally looking at it. In front of the sofas, there was a small coffee table on top of a rug that said “Gryffindor” on it. Harry sat Hermione on the love seat while he sat himself on the one-person sofa. Hermione looked almost upset.

“Aren’t you going to sit by me Harry?” she asked. Harry sighed and sat himself next to Hermione. She immediately snuggled up against him.

“Isn’t this great Hermione?” said Harry, staring into the fire.

“It sure is,” replied Hermione. “I can’t believe it. It’s like a dream come true.” Harry jerked his head toward her.

“Dream come true?” said Harry, raising his eyebrows. “You dreamed of something like this?”

“Maybe,” said Hermione, slightly blushing. Harry chuckled.

“Well I have to admit, it’s going to be really hard to follow the rules. Even for you.”

“I know,” said Hermione. “But didn’t Dumbledore say that he would let it slide a little?”

“He did. But don’t let it get carried away,” said Harry, beginning to sound like Hermione and turning his head back to the fire. “You heard what Dumbledore said. My parents almost got expelled for doing something.”

“I wonder what it could possibly be?” asked Hermione in a mysterious tone.

“To tell you the truth, I really don’t want to know.”

“Must’ve been something really kinky to have to be expelled.”

Harry looked at Hermione again. She no longer looked serious and stern, but she had a really dirty look in her eye and she licked her lips at him. Harry gulped, feeling a stirring in his pants and shifting uncomfortably to a new position. Hermione giggled, her dirty look fading away.

“I’m sorry Harry,” she said.

“Don’t do that!?” Harry exclaimed. “I hate it when you tease me like that!”

“I’m sorry Harry!” she exclaimed in sort of a laugh. “I think it’s fun!”

“It’s not fun when you’re all hot inside and can’t do anything about it!”

“Harry,” said Hermione in a serious voice. All trace of laughter and playfulness was gone. “I’m sorry.” She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. Harry couldn’t resist the kiss.

“I forgive you,” he said closing his eyes and giving a small smile.

***

Harry and Hermione spent the entire weekend inside the privacy of there own dormitories. Surprisingly, there wasn’t one moment of passion in the room. Harry noticed this and started to feel rejected by Hermione, yet he felt turned on whenever he looked at her. She made small things like reading a book look sexy and he took an excessive amount of effort to stop himself from jumping on Hermione.

Soon after they had gotten settled into their rooms, Harry got out of his room to use the bathroom when he froze and caught Hermione in a very arousing position. He couldn’t help but stare. She was lying on her stomach near the fire for warmth and she was propped up on her elbows as her eyes moved back and forth across a book that Harry didn’t care about at the moment. Her legs were bent at the knees and crossed at the ankles and she subconsciously bent and straightened her legs as she read. The thing that made it hotter for him was that she was wearing her Hogwarts uniform without her robes, complete with her skirt. He was surprised that her skirt remained in the same position considering the way she was moving her legs. There was something about Hermione in uniform that drove him crazy. Harry had to breath slowly to control himself. Then, he almost died when Hermione noticed him.

“What are you staring at now Harry?” she asked as she turned her head around to him.

“N-nothing,” Harry lied.

“You’re lying,” she said, shaking her head.

“Well I’m sorry if you keep doing that!” exclaimed Harry. He was beginning to get upset with her.

“Come here Harry,” she said, crooking a finger at him. Harry sighed exasperatedly as he walked up to her and stood by her side looking down at her impatiently.

“Stand over there,” she said pointing to her finger in the 10 o’clock position as she continued to lie on the ground. Harry grunted and did what he was told, thinking where the heck this was going. He stood where she had said and crossed his arms and stared blankly to his left.

“Look at me Harry,” Hermione said softly. He did and immediately all the anger fell from his body and he felt turned on again. From where he was standing, he could examine every curve of Hermione’s body. He knew that she had the intention to make him stand where he was for a reason. Harry had to again control himself as he saw Hermione give him her dirty look.

“Do you like what you see?” she said in a flirtatious tone, continuing to bend and straighten her legs slowly in a sexier way than before, still with the dirty look in her eyes. She licked her lips at him, waiting for a response.

Harry didn’t respond. He couldn’t. He seemed to have lost his voice somewhere when she had eyed him naughtily, talked in a sexy voice, or moved her legs swiftly through the air.

“Is not talking a way of you saying ‘yes’?” asked Hermione in the same teasing voice. Harry could only nod. “Do to me as you please Harry.”

Harry’s eyes widened at the way she had said her last statement. Obviously, he couldn’t do it with her because he would trigger a curse to Hermione. And Dumbledore told them himself, not to do any “unnecessary activities”. Still, something about being told not to fool around in a room, made him want to fool around in it even more. And there was something very sexy about breaking that rule.

Harry ignored his conscience and walked toward Hermione. He looked down at her and wet his lips before straddling one leg over her, lay his body on top of her, and leaned his body against hers. He scooted his body forward a bit till he knew he was close enough. He nibbled on Hermione’s ear in a teasing way to let her know to look in that direction for him. Hermione moaned with pleasure as Harry played with her ear, feeling his tongue run over it.

Harry went from ear nibbling to a full-blown kiss as he made contact with Hermione’s lips, kissing her over her shoulder. One hand was on her other shoulder while his other was caressing her thigh. As they kissed arousingly, Harry couldn’t help but rub into Hermione, through the front of his pants and through the back of her skirt. Hermione moaned against Harry’s kiss as she felt him rub slower, but harder and harder into her.

Filled with sexual adrenaline and a cloudy mind, Harry put both arms around Hermione’s waist and heaved her up, not breaking the kiss. He pushed her gently to the couch and before he reached it, Harry went from Hermione’s back, to her front, still not breaking the kiss. He grabbed the collar of her blouse and sat on the couch, slowly pulling her down with him. Hermione helped and lowered herself onto Harry’s lap, bending her knees and putting them on either side of his thighs, straddling him.

“Mmmm…oh Harry,” she moaned between kisses, again rubbing against him through her skirt.

“Hermione…” he managed to say, still kissing her passionately with a bit of force, pressing so hard into her face that he felt like his lips would bruise. He stopped kissing her lips to move to her supple neck, at first kissing it softly, then using his tongue to pleasure it. Hermione gasped with pleasure and put an arm around him and a hand on the back of his head as if to lock him in place. She squirmed and sighed as Harry continued. He heard sounds from her he had never heard before and it was turning him on more and more.

Still, in the heat of it all, it was as if something had slapped him hard in the face. This feeling made him stop and pull away from Hermione instantly.

“Why’d you stop Harry?” begged Hermione, still breathing hard. Her face was filled with methodical lust. That look made Harry want to attack her again, but that feeling quickly passed.

“Hermione…we can’t,” said Harry softly. “We could end up doing something that we my regret later.”

The look on Hermione’s face looked like she didn‘t care if the worst thing would happen to them if they did it. But being the person she was, she thought otherwise.

“I know Harry,” replied Hermione. “But I want it so bad.”

“Not as bad as I do,” he said, raising his eyebrows, and eyeing himself to look below his waist. Hermione giggled slightly when she noticed where Harry was looking. “But we’re just going to have to wait till your birthday. I mean…if you’re ready.”

“Of course I’m ready!” exclaimed Hermione. “I love you Harry.”

“I love you too Hermione,” said Harry. “But we are going to have to wait. I don’t want to trigger that chastity curse.”

Hermione nodded, her eyes becoming glossy.

“Besides Harry,” she said with a smile, “it’s only our first week of school. My birthday is… just around the corner.”

“I know. The closer it comes, the harder it is to control myself!”

“Trust me Harry. It’ll be worth the wait.”

Harry confirmed with a nod.

***

That night, after kissing Hermione good night and seeing her off to bed, the urge to join her was immense. The look in his eye gave it away. Hermione saw it quickly as she lay in her bed and stared at Harry.

“No Harry,” she simply put.

“What?” said Harry, pretending that he didn’t have any intentions on his mind.

“I’m not stupid Harry,” she said in a stiff tone. “I know what you’re thinking and the

answer is ‘no’.”

“What was I thinking then?” he asked, giving her a playful no teethed grin.

“Well by what your eyes tell me,” she said, as if remembering information from a book, “you want to join me in this beddon’t you Harry?” She have him another dirty look that made his insides twist up.

“How do you do it Hermione?” he said, trying as hard as he could to get the look of Hermione’s face out of her mind. If he didn’t, he might as well raped her right there. Hermione would have probably liked it too.

“I’m your girlfriend Harry,” she said smiling. “I know more about you than you think.”

“Sure you do,” he said, leaning in and kissing her on the forehead. When he pulled back, he gazed into her eyes and his heart yet again skipped a beat. He blinked twice before leaning in and giving her the signature kiss, fearing that Hermione would pull away. To his delight, she didn’t.

“Night Harry,” she said, smiling after they had finished.

“Night Mione,” Harry said, feeling another urge to lean in and kiss her again. There was something really sexy about kissing her in her room, but figured that he would never leave if he did. He turned around and gave Hermione another look before closing her door.

5. The Unexpected Thing

Chapter 5 - The Unexpected Thing

Harry walked nonchalantly to classes with Ron on the Monday morning. It felt like it went rather quickly as he was really eager to be with Hermione again. He did see her in corridors a few times in passing and gave her quick kisses before moving along again.

Ron seemed to like the idea himself and gave Adelle a kiss when he saw her. She was surprised with it, but nonetheless enjoyed it. After Harry’s and Ron’s last class of the day, (Divination) a pretty 7th year Ravenclaw girl that Harry had in some classes and seen walking around school, but never had the pleasure of meeting, stopped him and Ron.

“Hello,” said the girl. “Can I please talk to you Harry?”

“Sure,” he said awkwardly, raising an eyebrow at Ron, who shrugged.

“Alone,” she said at the last minute, looking over at Ron.

“But -” started Harry, feeling suddenly afraid to be alone with her.

“That’s ok Harry,” interrupted Ron, not noticing that Harry didn’t want to be left alone.

“I need to meet Adelle right now anyway. She told me something about… coming to terms. Whatever that means.”

Harry snorted a laugh when he heard that, but nodded to Ron, who had left the two of them alone.

“Hi,” said the girl again, holding out her hand. “My name’s Serine Marshal.”

“Nice to meet you Serine,” replied Harry shaking her hand.

“Look Harry,” she said in a serious tone. “I just want to be straight forward with you.”

“O-okay,” replied Harry, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

“I just want to say that I’ve had this really big crush on you since like forever.”

She said this really fast.

“Really?” said Harry, feeling a bit flattered and putting on a smile.

“Yeah,” she said, blushing a bit. “And I was wondering… um… will you come out on a date with me?”

“Oh!” exclaimed Harry, he himself blushing a bit. He was surprised completely by her offer, but he knew deep down that he couldn’t, not because that he didn’t like her, but because he was with Hermione. He was wondering if she knew or not.

“Oh, I’m sorry Serine,” said Harry, trying not to sound mean.

“Why?” she asked, looking extremely hurt. “Don’t you think I’m pretty?”

Harry shook his head. He, on one hand, didn’t even know the girl. And here she was, already asking him out on a date. It wasn’t that she wasn’t a bad looking girl. She was very good looking. Her hair was dark brown with blond streaks, which came about to her shoulders, and she had light blue eyes. The one thing that caught Harry’s eye mostly was her chest, which seemed to swell out of her blouse. Her blouse looked little to small for her as it was stretched taught over her bosom. Harry had to slap himself mentally in the head every time his eyes dropped down. She was pretty, but Hermione was beautiful.

“Sure I do,” he responded, half looking at her face and half looking at he chest. “I would… really. But, as you know, I’m with Hermione.”

“I know,” she simply put.

“Then why -?”

“Well,” she said, giving him a flirtatious smile while twirling a strand of hair on her finger. She dropped the small bag she was carrying to her side. The sweet and innocent look that was on her face that Harry had come to know her for, completely vanished. Harry suddenly felt very uncomfortable. “I think that it’ll be more fun that way. Don’t you think?”

“Ummm,” Harry gulped, wondering where this was going. “I can’t.”

“Don’t you think it’s kinky, going out with someone while secretly going out with someone else?” Serine asked, wetting her lips and pushing her body closer to him.

Harry gulped again, his forehead breaking into a sweat. He didn’t know if he felt turned on, or really scared.

“Don’t you want to see where this could go or what we could become?” she asked, caressing the side of his arms, feeling into his muscles.

“Actually,” said Harry felling flustered, pulling away from her hand. “No, I don’t want to see where this would go. Hermione‘s my girlfriend and I refuse to do anything to hurt her!” Harry had just had about enough of her and he was starting to hate her because of what she was attempting and the way she was acting. His love and loyalty for Hermione was so strong, he didn’t want to do anything with her, let alone cheat on Hermione.

“Come on Harry,” Serine persuaded again, pushing her chest up against him. This made Harry forget he was upset at all and felt a surge of pleasure run through his body. Even though this turned him on, his love for Hermione took over and he tried immensely to pull away, but suddenly, found that he couldn’t. He tried again, attempting to take a step back but his feet remained planted in the floor. He tried moving his arms away, still to no luck. He did find however that he could move freely and toward Serine. He wasn’t bind to anything and his muscles started to ache very much. Harry felt very afraid and very vulnerable. He was alone in an empty corridor with a very voluptuous girl, that had the power to basically do anything to him, in front of him and he couldn’t retreat. What would happen if someone saw them like this? What would happen if Hermione saw them like this? What could she possibly think?

“I’ll be fun,” Serine said, bringing her lips dangerously close to Harry’s. He pursed his lips and clamped his eyes shut in frustration.

“No,” he whispered, waiting detestably for her lips to touch his, about to have a kiss that he really didn’t want. To his surprise, it didn’t come. He opened one eye to see her head back further than it was when he had last had his eyes open. She had a small smirk on her face. Then, to his horror, he heard a voice he prayed not to hear at that moment.

“Harry!” shouted Hermione, walking with authority toward them.

“Oh no,” thought Harry, expecting the worst. “Look at the predicament that I’m in. I’m

alone in a corridor with a girl that’s not Hermione, and she had to catch me like this. What is she going to think!?”

“Suit yourself,” said Serine with a smile, backing away from Harry and picking up her bag she had dropped. “It’s your lost. Bye Harry!” She waved innocently at him and trotted off, not even looking at Hermione. After she had turned the corner, Harry turned to face Hermione, waiting for her to explode at him.

“What the heck was that!?” she shouted angrily and him, putting her hands on her hips and frowning at him. Harry tried his best to explain, but ended up mumbling the words.

“Wait Hermione. It…it’s not what you think. I…I was… Let me explain.”

“You had better explain! And you better make it good,” she said, crossing her arms.

Harry had explained the best he could. About how she had stopped him and Ron and told him that she wanted to speak alone with him. How she had asked him out on a date and he refused because he was already going out with Hermione (this made Hermione smile, but she tried to hide it from Harry). About how even though he said no, she kept pushing it, flirtatiously begging him to say yes.

“And did you say ‘yes’ Harry?” she asked dangerously, still slightly mad at him, her arms still crossed.

“Of course not!” he exclaimed. “I would never do something like that. Ever.” He took a step closer to Hermione. She looked ready to back away, but she didn’t. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. Hermione hesitated and again looked ready to pull away, but she received the kiss form him. The look on her face still wasn’t to Harry’s liking and he was content that she was still upset with him. After all, he didn’t blame her for being upset; he would feel the same way if he saw her alone with another wizard in a dark, empty corridor. He was surprised that she didn’t ask why he hadn’t pulled away from her or simply walked away, but figured that he didn’t want to explain that he couldn’t. He didn’t want to bring it up again and persuade it and found that he would look and sound stupid if he did try to explain that somehow he didn‘t pull away. He did have one more thing he wanted to do to redeem himself.

“Hermione,” he said, uncrossing her arms, taking her left hand, and holding it firmly against his chest with both hands, right where his heart was. “Do you feel that?”

She nodded. Harry took a deep breath before continuing.

“That’s beating for a reason, and one important reason only. It’s what keeps me alive everyday and I sleep happily every night hoping to see another. It’s beating because of you Hermione. I love you. And only you.”

Hermione stared at Harry, her angry face gone and replaced with a look of sorrow and understanding.

“You have every right to be upset with me,” continued Harry, “and I don’t expect you to forgive me straightaway. But believe me, I didn’t mean anything like that to happen. And I would never do anything intention to hurt you like that.” Harry took another deep breath again, not believing it himself at where he had come up with that speech.

“If my words don‘t make you believe me,“ said Harry, looking very sorry, “then maybe the look in my eyes and the beating of my heart will. Hopefully, you’ll find the truth there.”

Hermione continued to stare at Harry, taking in Harry’s entire apology. She was still skeptical about Harry’s actions, yet, his apology sounded so sweet and so perfect. She studied his eyes the whole time, even before he had said to look in them, searching for a lie anywhere. To no surprise, she didn’t find it anywhere.

“How does he do it?” she asked herself. “When he tells the truth, he tells the truth!”

She felt her hand against his heart, which Harry still held firmly against, and felt its beats. It was beating a bit quicker than usual, probably because of shock and fear. She continued to feel it, listening to it, looking for a lie anywhere.

“He’s not lying Hermione,” she heard his heart tell her. “He’s 110% truthful and 210% faithful to you. You should be proud. Not many boyfriends are as truthful and faithful as he is. You’re very lucky to have a boyfriend like him.” That was it. That’s all she needed to hear.

“Do you forgive me Hermione?” Harry asked apologetically.

“Yes Harry,” she said, blinking slowly at him, her eyes sparkling at him. “I forgive you.”

Harry gave a no teethed smile that looked like he was ready to cry. He did what his instincts told him and leaned in and gave her their signature kiss. The open mouthed kisses that were usually five, ended up being about 15. Harry made special effort to make them special and sweeter than before and for some reason, even after the 5th opened mouth kiss, Hermione seemed to know that it wasn’t over and continued. That’s what made their signature kiss so special. They never talked about it, or when they were going to do it, or if it was going to be modified this one time. They just …know about it. After the final kiss on Hermione’s forehead, resting his on hers with a pause, he released her, put him hand around her and walked her back to their private rooms.

6. The Other Unexpected Thing

Chapter 6 - The Other Unexpected Thing

Ron eagerly pushed and persuaded Harry into telling him what happened in the corridor with Serine the next day.

“What happened Harry?” he asked, looking bewildered for answer.

“I’m not going to say anything,” said Harry frowning. “I know you’re going to make a big deal out of it.”

“I won’t!”

“Nope.”

Ron continued to beg and beg Harry everywhere; when they walked to classes, in class, at lunch, it was the same thing.

“Aren’t you going to tell me Harry?”

“Nope.”

***

“What about now?”

“Nope.”

***

“Harry you still didn’t tell me what happened between you and Serine.”

“And I‘m not going to.”

***

“Harry about -”

“No!”

They were sitting alone in the Gryffindor common room. Ron looked offended by his response, but nonetheless continued what he was going to say.

“I said, about that project that Professor McGonagall assigned, do you think you could help me with it?” asked Ron, a bit more scornful than he meant it to sound.

“Oh,” said Harry, feeling very embarrassed. “Sure.”

As he helped out with Ron, Harry somehow decided to tell Ron everything.

“Are you serious Harry?” said Ron, astonished. “You couldn’t move at all?”

“No I couldn’t,” he said, scratching his head. “I wonder why?”

“Sure you couldn’t,” Ron said coolly.

“What d’you mean, ‘sure I couldn’t’?” Harry asked skeptically.

“Look Harry, Hermione is good and all, but I wouldn’t want to move either if Serine was all up against me. Especially with those huge…”

Ron tingled with pleasure. Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I don’t believe you Ron. You don’t believe don’t you?” he asked angrily.

“Of course I believe you mate,” he answered. “But it does seem a little odd.”

“What does!?”

“That you didn’t want to move or couldn’t move as soon as she started rubbing up against you,” said Ron coolly again. Then suddenly, a dark look flashed on his face. “Tell me Harry, did you like it? Bet it felt good didn‘t it? Cheating on Hermione?”

“Shut up Ron! That’s not funny!” shouted Harry, looking ready to fly fists at Ron’s face. But it didn’t stop Ron from laughing.

“I’m kidding!” he exclaimed as Harry swung a punch and missed Ron by a hair. He gave up and grumpily sat down on the couch.

“I’m in love with Hermione, Ron,” Harry said. “Get it straight! There is no other girl even half as great as Hermione.”

“I know Harry, I know,” said Ron, nodding. “But there’s something you have to know about cheating, Harry.”

“I’m not cheating!” he shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

“I know,” said Ron, “but still. You have to listen to this.”

“What?”

“Well,” said Ron, starting to sound a bit like Hermione. “Cheating is what she perceives as cheating.”

“What’d you mean?” asked Harry.

“Well, if you think that guiltless hand-holding or a innocent kiss on the cheek to a fellow witch is harmless, and Hermione sees it as cheating, then that’s cheating.”

Harry looked dumbfounded, wondering where on Earth he had picked that up; either from his older brothers or from experience.

“Right Ron,” confirmed Harry. “I got it.”

“Good. Because that information alone may save your ass one day.”

***

After another hard school day, Harry walked casually down the halls with Ron. He felt very happy this type of day. It was soon going to be Hermione’s birthday and Harry had every reason to be excited. He saw a face he wanted to see as he turned a corner.

“Hi Harry,“ Hermione said when she saw him, hugging a stack of books to her chest.

“Hi Hermione,” he said with a smile and he approached her, not even doing anything, except automatically leaning in and kissing her. Ron rolled his eyes as he turned away, tuning out of Harry and Hermione because when they were together, the rest of the world didn’t matter.

“How was your day?“ she asked him with a smile.

“Well it was really dull… until I saw you,“ said Harry sweetly.

Hermione responded with another smile. She took another step closer to him moving her face close to his.

“Hermione,” Harry whispered slowly, “do you mind… if I…kiss… you… aga -?”

He didn’t finish because Hermione had already captured her lips with his, initiating the signature kiss, not caring if anyone was watching them in the crowding hall. After the final movement (Harry kissing her on the forehead, and holding her), he looked deeply into her eyes.

“I don’t know what it is Hermione,” he whispered softly to her, still with foreheads touching, catching his breath from the mind-blowing kiss, “but there… there…”

“Is something really sexy about kissing me in the hall in front of everyone?” Hermione finished for him. Harry smiled.

“You really do know me better than I think don’t you?”

Hermione didn’t answer, he just gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

“Well I need to be going to the library to look something up.”

“Of course,” said Harry. “Where else would you be?”

“Harry!” she exclaimed, suddenly feeling upset with him. “Honestly! Just because I’m your girlfriend, it doesn’t give you the right to tease me!”

“Sure it does,” said Harry, shrugging.

Hermione scoffed before turning on her heel and taking a few paces. He felt a hand on her shoulders and knew immediately that it was Harry’s. He turned her around with a pirouette and before she could yell at him. He quickly leaned in and kissed her, once again starting the signature kiss. At first, Hermione wanted to pull away, but when she felt the tenderness of his lips, she just received the kiss, still feeling upset with Harry and she was determined not to let him win that easily. This was a signature kiss that lasted a bit longer than usual and at about the 7th open-mouthed kiss, Hermione’s feeling of anger was replaced with feeling of passion as she gave in into Harry’s kiss, kissing him back passionately. When they had finished, Harry spoke.

“Bye Hermione,” he said, as though he had not upset her. “I’ll see you later?”

“Sure Harry,” she responded with a sigh.

“You better go,” said Harry, raising an eyebrow, “before I kiss you again. Otherwise you may never get to the library.” She nodded and quickly made her way, giving him one last smile. Harry turned to find Ron waiting impatiently for him.

“It’s about bloody time!“ he exclaimed. “I thought that would never end. But anyway,” he continued, “I saw what was happening. Hermione was totally upset with you and the next minute, she totally forgave you! How do you do it!?”

“Well I -” started Harry, but he didn’t finish because he saw a face he didn’t want to see approaching him. Serine Marshal. Harry reacted quickly.

“Sorry Ron,” said Harry, looking very determined. “I need to get the hell out of here.”

“What?” asked Ron dumfounded. Harry pointed in the direction of Serine. “Oh right! But where you going Harry?”

“Anywhere!” he exclaimed. “As long as I don’t need to talk to her!” He ran away in another direction before Ron could respond, leaving him behind. Harry ran and ducked through corners, not having any idea where he was going; just as far away from Serine as possible. After about 5 minutes of running, Harry’s running workout through the corridors of Hogwarts became a total waste. Just as he ran to turn a corner in an empty corridor, Serine appeared (somehow magically) on the other side.

“Hi Harry,” she said, waving at him.

“Oh hi Serine,” he responded in a dead tone, catching his breath.

“Why were you running?” she asked, noticing his quick intake of air.

“I was… nothing really,” Harry lied. Serine looked down one corridor and another to see if anyone was there. It was empty.

“Well, do you have any energy left for me?” she asked flirtatiously taking steps toward him. Harry backed away from her until he hit a wall behind him. The wall stopped him, but that didn’t stop Serine from approaching him. She again pressed her body against his, making sure that her chest was smashed against his.

“Oh Harry!” she moaned so loudly that Harry was afraid someone would hear.

“Shhh” said Harry.

“Oh, the quiet type. How kinky!”

“No, no,” said Harry. He wanted to run away but once again, found that he couldn’t move a muscle away from her. He tried again, putting as much effort as he could to run, but the harder he tried, the more difficult it was for him to break free. He experimented and moved his hand around her back; he could move closer to her.

“Oh yeah, Harry,” she moaned again. “I knew you would give in.”

“I’m not giving in!” shouted Harry, feeling very vulnerable. Serine ignored him. She turned around and slammed her back against him. She gasped with a moan and leaned her head back, resting it on Harry’s shoulder. She bit her lip with pleasure and shut her eyes in concentration as she rubbed her bottom in Harry’s pelvic region.

“Oh yes Harry,” she said, rubbing into him even harder. “That feels so good.”

“Oh no,” thought Harry, noticing that he was starting to get turned on by her. It wasn’t really his fault. He was a guy. Any guy, single or not, would have got an erection if a girl rubbed her voluptuous body on him.

“No, no!” thought Harry. “please don’t do this Harry! Clean thought’s Harry, clean thoughts!” That wasn’t helping. He found that thinking to think of clean thoughts, made it even harder to think of clean thoughts and more and more dirtier thoughts raced through his head.

“I can’t,” said Harry, his voice trailing. Then, the inevitable happened. His breathing quickened and he closed his eyes, accepting the fact that a girl, which wasn’t Hermione, was filling him up. His mind became cloudy as it was filled with uncontrollable thoughts. It came to a point to where it didn’t matter who it was that was pleasuring him. So what if anyone saw him? So what if Hermione saw him? It was really her fault that he was like this. Because of her charm on her, he couldn’t touch her and he couldn’t have intercourse with her. She had not given him any since they had gone out and he could have it right now with Serine if he wanted to. The wait for it was unbearable and he just had to have it already.

“Ugh…” Serine moaned, as she felt Harry rub back into her. “Thank you Harry. That feels good.”

Harry had totally lost his mind. He put his hands on her shoulders, still rubbing into her as she rubbed into him. His hands snaked from her shoulders, down the sides of her arms and on her belly, right below her protruding chest. Serine moaned like she never had before as Harry rubbed and caressed her stomach.

“You can touch them Harry,” she said between gasps and moans, referring to her breasts. “I’m letting you.”

Harry was ready. Slowly, he moved his hands up to her chest licking his lips and his hands were a bout to be filled, then, he felt it. A really deep feeling, like someone smashed his face with a boulder, like a sudden revelation. He couldn’t believe what he was doing! He was actually cheating on Hermione, something that he planned never to do. He gained his senses quickly, taking his hands off her and stopped rubbing into her. He tried once again to pull away, only to find that for some odd reason, he couldn’t. Even though he had given up, Serine hadn’t.

“Don’t stop now Harry,” she said. “Quit playing hard to get and just fill me up.”

“No!” he demanded. “I’m with Hermione!”

“So?” she said. “Hermione doesn’t have to know.”

“What!?” Harry exclaimed, still trying hard to get away from her to no luck. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing and Serine just wouldn’t quit. He struggled as hard as he could to break free. Then, as if anything couldn’t get any worse, it did.

“Harry!”

“Oh no!” thought Harry, praying that it wasn’t the voice he thought he heard. It was -

“Hermione!” he shouted, seeing her on the end of the corridor. He saw the look of disbelief and the look of being hurt and betrayed on her face, seeing the awkward position he and Serine was in. There was no way in hell he was going to explain himself out of this.

“Wait! It’s not what it looks like I can explain…” But it was to late. Hermione’s lip was already trembling and tears ran down her face. She buried her head in her hands, turned on her heel and ran in the opposite direction, sobbing loudly.

“Hermione wait!” he shouted after her, but Hermione didn’t wait. She seemed to run even faster.

“Leave her Harry,” said Serine blandly, still trying to rub into him. “You’re with me now.”

“NOOO!!!” shouted Harry, fighting once again to break away from her. He tried with all his might, doing all he could, using every bit of energy he had in his body. The need to get to Hermione was fueling him with energy, endorphins pulsing through his blood; it was this that gave him the strength he needed. Strangely, it felt like breaking free of a curse and his efforts seemed to be working. It felt a lot like breaking out of a binding rope, slowly loosening until (what seemed to him like) he broke free. Harry had to take a quick breath for lost of energy before he charged in the direction that Hermione had run, not even looking back to see the shocked and astonished look on Serine’s face.

7. Feelings Change

Chapter 7 - Feelings Change

Harry kept running, being fueled by his love for Hermione, his desperate need to find her. He could hear running footsteps in one direction and he knew immediately it was Hermione. He ran after them, following the sounds. After turning the corner, he saw the silhouette of Hermione closing the door behind her, heading outside. He ran as fast as he could down the long corridor to get to her, passing by the entrance to the Great Hall and almost running through Nearly-Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, (“Sorry Sir Nicholas! I’m in a hurry!”). He burst through the main castle doors and he searched for Hermione. He saw her, curled up into a ball, sitting on the edge of the lake, sobbing loudly.

“Hermione!” he yelled. He didn’t know if he was heard or if she ignored him. He walked over to her, thinking about what he was going to say this time.

“Hermione,” he said again in a coaxing voice as he reached her, standing right at her side. She didn’t answer. She was still crying and sobbing loudly, a lot more than he had ever seen her cry. Harry bent down next to her and put and tried to put an arm around her.

“Don’t touch me Harry!” she yelled, yanking his arm off of her. She went back to crying. This was not a good sign for Harry.

“I’m sorry Hermione,” he said, not knowing what else to say.

“Sorry for what!?” she exclaimed with tears running down her face, suddenly standing up. “Sorry for feeling up some other witch!? Sorry for wanting to cheat on me!? You didn’t look so sorry when she was all over you!”

“Hermione let me explain, I -” said Harry, slowly standing up, but Hermione interrupted him.

“I don’t want to hear it Harry!” she said, going back to crying a little. “There is nothing that you can explain that’ll get you out of this one. I caught you red-handed! As if the first time wasn’t enough, I catch you going at it again a second time!”

“I wasn’t my fault!” yelled Harry. It was one of the first times that Harry had raised his voice to her. He didn’t like it, but felt that that was the only way she was going to listen to him. “She approached me!”

“It wasn’t your fault!?” she yelled back between sobs. “Then why didn’t you run when she approached you? You didn’t seem to give much effort to get away! It was like you didn’t want to get away!”

Harry looked down and shook his head angrily. He figured that telling her that for some reason he couldn’t get away would make him look stupid in front of her and that she might think that he was making it all up. He decided that he best keep it to himself for now.

“What Harry?” said Hermione, seeing him shake his head. “You accidentally let her smash you against a wall and you accidentally let her rub on you!?”

“Don’t be stupid Hermione!” Harry snapped back defensively, so loudly that a few birds that were in the tree that was shading them flew away. “You know that I would never cheat on you!”

“You have a very unique way of showing it!”

“Shut up Hermione! You’re really starting to piss me off!”

That was it. After he had said that last sentence, Hermione immediately went back to her sobbing again, throwing her face in her hands. At first, Harry didn’t care, but as he continued to watch her, he started to feel sorry for yelling at her. Another thing that Harry had not planned to do: She was crying because of him.

“Hermione I… I‘m sorry,” he said, starting to feel tears build up in his eyes. He put his hands on her shoulders, thinking that she was going to pull away. She didn’t. He took one hand and put it under her chin to make her look at him. There was only one thing he felt like doing, hoping that right after it, everything will be back to normal. He leaned in, ready to kiss her. Hermione stopped him by putting both of her hands on his chest.

“No Harry,” she said sniffling, shaking her head. “That’s not going to work this time.”

“Look at my eyes Hermione!” he said in a last minute way. “I’m sorry!”

She studied his eyes carefully like she had done in the past. Since he had tears in his eyes, it was really hard to read them this time. She searched and searched desperately and hoping that she was going to see what she wanted, like she had seen it before. After studying Harry’s eyes like a detective, to her surprise, she didn’t find an ounce of truth in there. Her lip trembled and she started to sob again, very saddened that she didn’t find what he was looking for. Her head dropped down as she spoke.

“I don’t see it Harry…”

Harry felt a shiver run through his body. What was going on? He couldn’t have been more truthful about how sorry he was, and at this one damned time, Hermione didn’t find the truth in his eyes.

“What!?” he exclaimed in retaliation, gently shaking her. “Look again Hermione!”

She looked up at him again, thinking that maybe she looked to fast and missed it somewhere, only to find the same look in his eyes she had seen before. She shook her head.

“No Hermione! You have to believe me this time!”

“I want to Harry,” she sniffled. “But I can’t. The bond that we had for trust has been completely broken.”

“No Hermione,” said Harry, he himself starting to cry. “You have to believe me!” Hermione shook her head again.

“Harry I can’t take any more of this. I need to… take a break.”

“What are you saying?” he gulped with his eyes widening, taking a step back from her.

“I need to take a break from all this and I need time to think about -”

“What… are you saying… Hermione?” Harry interrupted, a tear running down his face.

“I… I don’t think we should… go out anymore,” she sobbed. It was a lot harder for her to say than she thought.

“No…” Harry said shaking his head slowly. “No…”

“Think about it Harry. It’ll be for the best.”

“No it won’t! I will never be the same without you!”

“No Harry, I think it’ll be the best for the both of us. I mean look at us. Look at what we’ve become. We were normal teenagers going to school and as soon as we started to go out, we became love-thirsty monsters.”

“I like how we were!” Harry retaliated.

“No Harry,” she said, her face wet from all her tears. “It’s…it’s over between us.”

That was all that it took for Harry. Tears ran down his face as his worst nightmare had come true: he and Hermione we no longer a couple. He took a moment to examine his surroundings: the lake, the tree shading them, the green patch of grass below their feet. Strangely enough, this was the exact spot that Harry has confessed his love for her exactly two years ago. Ironically, it had ended where it had all began.

“Leave me in peace Harry,” she said turning around and putting her back to him.

“Hermione -”

“Just… just go Harry.”

There was really nothing he could do to persuade her. No more kisses to give and no more kisses to receive. He turned around slowly and walked back to the front doors, his back hunched over and tears flowing freely down his face.

8. Grieving

Chapter 8 - Grieving

Harry walked to his original boys’ dormitories instead of his private one he shared with Hermione. He figured that maybe she would return there and he didn’t want her to have to face him. He sat on the edge of his old bed and put his head in his hands, breaking down immediately. His heart had never felt anymore broken. If there was anything more painful than his burning scar or falling 50 feet off a broomstick while playing Quidditch, this was it.

His mind raced as he sobbed, so loudly he was surprised that no one had come up to see what was going on. This wasn’t it! This couldn’t be happening to him! When he told Hermione that he was sorry, he couldn’t have been more truthful about it to her. Why didn’t she see the truth in his eyes that time? What was so different about that time? Then it suddenly hit him: maybe his eyes were telling her the truth. Serine had aroused him so much that he did kind of give in to her at one point. But was it intentional? Did he really want that? Or was it because was about to get what he didn’t get it from Hermione? Or was he imagining it was Hermione he was with? He felt so guilty, so sad, and so sick ever having even the slightest attraction to Serine. The sight of him and her in the empty corridor fooling around kept popping in his head and it made him sick to his stomach. Another thing that really bothered him: why wasn’t he able to get away? To run when she had backed him into that wall? It didn’t make any sense to him. To make matters worst, he was so close. So close to Hermione’s birthday. He glanced quickly over to Ron’s Quidditch calendar to check the date: September 17th. Two days before Hermione’s birthday. He cried even more when this information sank into his brain. At that point, Ron came in, probably hearing his loud sobs.

“Harry!” he exclaimed, seeing him crying his eyes out on his bed. “What the bloody hell is going on!?”

“It’s…it’s over Ron,” Harry squeaked through his crying.

“What’s over Harry?”

“Herm… Hermione and me.”

Ron felt a shiver go down his spine. For some reason, he felt really sick. “Are you serious Harry?”

That did not make Harry feel any better. It made him more livid than he already was. For a minute, all sadness went away and replaced with so much anger, Harry felt like killing something. He got up and darted toward Ron, putting his face so close to his that their noses almost touched.

“Look at me Ron!” Harry shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing to his warped face. “Look at the damn tears that run like a faucet from the blood shot eyes! Or maybe you don‘t see it clearly enough” he added, forcefully taking off his glasses. “Look at the cheeks that are soaked in it! Does it look like I’m fucking joking Ron!?”

Ron stared at Harry, his eyes were wide with fear and his was pale from hearing Harry’s speech. He had never seen Harry so sad, yet so upset at the same time. Ron, being the notorious person he was for not making things any better, muttered, “And to think, just two days before her birthday…”

“I know Ron!” Harry, obviously hearing him and shouting again at the top of his lungs. He was so mad, and Ron’s stupid remark made him even more livid than he already was. Harry, filled with rage, took his glasses he had in his hand, and threw it toward a wall as hard as he could. The force was so strong, it completely shattered the lenses and bending the frame. Not looking like he cared, Harry walked back and sat on his bed, breaking down once again. At that moment, Adelle made her way up the stairs.

“I thought I heard yelling. What is going -?” But she paused when she saw Harry crying on the bed.

“What’s the matter with Harry, Ron?” she asked, a look of concern on her face. She noticed Harry’s broken glasses on the floor. “You didn’t hit him did you!?” she exclaimed, giving Ron a disgusted look.

“Of course not,” he replied softly, still shocked from all that had happened. He told Adelle about what Harry had told him. He and Hermione breaking up, yelling at Ron for asking him if he was serious, and Harry throwing his glasses out of rage. They both watched sadly as Harry (who didn’t even notice Adelle had entered the room. Or if he cared at all) continued to cry, feeling very sorry for him. Adelle got enough courage to sit down next to him, putting a comforting arm around him. Ron stood at the foot of the bed, slightly to Harry’s side.

“Come on Harry,” Adelle said, comfortably. “Get a hold of yourself. It’ll be ok.”

“I… don’t think… it’ll ever… be ok,” Harry sniffled. He had cried so much, he had lost a lot of energy, taking quick intakes of air for breaths.

“Yeah Harry come on. Why don’t you tell up what happened?” Ron asked, also trying to make Harry feel better. So Harry told them. All about Serine, how she was trying to seduce him. About how Hermione had caught him the first time, and forgave him. About Serine trying to seduce him a second time, Hermione catching him again. About how he couldn’t seem to run, like he under some sort of spell. About how sorry he was to Hermione, and about how she couldn’t find the truth in his eyes this time, probably because he had given in to Serine at one point. And the sickening feeling Harry got when Hermione told him it was over between them. Harry felt a little better from telling them what had happened, but it still didn’t cure him completely. Adelle accepted his story without question. Ron on the other hand, was still a little skeptical.

“I don’t know Harry,” he said, looking skeptical. “I still don’t know why you didn’t run from her in the first place.”

“Because I couldn’t run Ron!” exclaimed Harry, feeling frustrated.

“Yeah Ron,” butted Adelle. “Give Harry a break here. If he said he couldn’t get away, then he couldn’t get away. Period.”

“I don’t know,” Ron replied, rubbing his chin. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to get away either.” he said that last part under his breath, Harry and Adelle barely hearing him.

“What was that Ron?” said Adelle, her eyes narrowing, starting to also feel frustrated with Ron.

“No Adelle, wait,” said Harry, putting an arm in front of her to stop her from advancing on Ron. “Ron doesn’t seem to understand this. And maybe, I can clear this up for him; put it in a way he can understand.” He noticed that he was starting to sound a lot like Hermione, which hurt a little bit at the remembrance of her.

“I just don’t believe that you don’t believe be Ron,” he added, shaking his head. “I also am going to hate myself for doing this, but if it’s the only way I can prove myself, so be it.”

“Do what?” asked Ron, looking irritated.

“Petrificus Totalus!” shouted Harry, after quickly grabbing his wand out of his robes pocket and pointing it at Ron. Ron’s back went straight and his arms to his side like a soldier. He was standing, as stiff as a rock. Harry had an evil grin on his face as he tucked his wand away safely. He turned to Adelle and said nonchalantly, as though he had done nothing wrong. “Adelle, will you please get my glasses?”

Adelle looked shocked at what Harry had done to her boyfriend. She was also impressed at how he had handled himself now that he and Hermione were no longer a couple. Nonetheless, she got his glasses and mended them with a “Reparo” spell.

“Thanks Adelle,” Harry said as she handed him his glasses and put them back on. “Can you please sit down while I handle this?” She did was she was told. Harry turned back to Ron with authority in his eyes.

“She’s a good girl,” snaked Harry quietly to Ron, referring to Adelle. There was a look of evil in his eyes now. “She does as she’s told. I like that in a woman. There’s also something else I‘d like to put in her.”

Harry gave Ron a very evil sneer with a look of cruel intentions in his eyes. He couldn’t tell from Ron’s look because he was petrified, but he must have been getting really mad by now, all according to his plan. He leaned in closer to Ron.

“I’ve been eyeing Adelle for some time now Ron, and she looks so, sexy,” he whispered, loud enough for Ron to hear, but soft enough that Adelle didn’t. He turned around to look at her, then back at Ron. “She looks so lonely over there Ron. Maybe I can go and, comfort her over there on the bed. It’ll be fun, watching your girlfriend have sex with another guy. I’m sure you don’t mind, do you Ron?”

He tried to make that sound as convincing as possible. He knew he did his job because he could kind of feel the heat go into Ron’s face and his attempt to try and punch him in the face. Harry smiled, knowing that it was working.

“What was that Ron?” he shouted in a sarcastic way so that Adelle could now hear what he was saying. “Looks like your getting a bit upset standing over there.”

“Harry what are you doing?” asked Adelle, looking sideways at him.

“Trying to prove a point,” Harry said, not taking his eyes off Ron.

“What’s the point?” she asked, looking confused. Harry ignored her.

“You must be really pissed at me aren’t you Ron?” Harry said, trying to anger him some more. “Why don’t you go ahead and punch me in the face then Ron? Come on! I know you want to!”

Ron only remained in his frozen form. Still, Harry could tell that Ron was getting livid, the more he persuaded him (Ron could make growling noises). Adelle seemed to be getting the picture too.

“Go ahead Ron!” Harry taunted, sticking his cheek in Ron’s face and pointing to it.

“Right there! Hit me right there! Go on, I‘m letting you!”

Ron did nothing.

“Come on Ron!” shouted Harry with all his might. “Go and give me your best shot! Come on you wimp! Punch me dammit!”

Ron still did nothing. But he did make an audible growl, like he was trying to sock Harry in the face.

“Come on!”

Harry dropped his pointed finger from his cheek, and looked back at Ron. He was no longer taunting him, but he had a see-what-I-mean look on his face.

“Can’t do it, can you Ron?” he asked, looking sideways at him. He glanced over at Adelle. “See?”

She nodded in confirmation and Harry turned back to Ron.

“See what I mean Ron?” said Harry, obviously not going receive an answer. “Clear your throat if you understand.”

He could hear a sound coming from Ron that sounded like he was clearing his throat, but nonetheless, reversed the spell. After Ron was freed, he put his hands on his knees and he was breathing deeply, like he was catching his breath. He raised his head and shot a look of scorn at Harry, and walked toward him in a commanding way. Harry backed away slowly, thinking that Ron wasn’t going to do anything that he was going to regret.

“Sorry about that, Ron. I had to sound as convincing as possible to make you mad at me. I had to prove a point!” Harry added apologetically, as Ron raised a hand, looking like he was ready to kill him. Ron stopped suddenly, dropped his hand, and nodded his head in understanding.

“Couldn’t move could you?” Harry asked again, breathing with relief.

“No I couldn’t,” Ron said, shaking his head. “Is that what it felt like?”

“Finally, I get you to understand!” Harry said appraisingly, throwing his hands in the air

as if he had just won a war. “Yes Ron! That’s what it exactly felt like!”

“Then why didn’t you just tell Hermione that she put a curse on you Harry?” Adelle asked on the side.

“Because I didn’t know what she had on me,” he answered, turning in her direction. “She had something done on me and I don’t think it was a curse, because she didn’t use a wand or say any incantations.”

“That’s weird,” said Ron, scratching his head. “Sounds like some kind of thing related to the Dark Arts.”

“I know,” said Harry. “But I’m not worrying about that right now. Right now all that matters to me is Hermione and her well-being.” Ron and Adelle shot Harry a look.

“I may have lost her as a girlfriend,” he added, “but she still is a friend to me.”

“Are you going to be ok Harry?” asked Adelle.

“I hope so,” Harry sighed, fighting back tears that were starting to form in his eyes. “I just need to talk to her. To discuss where things are going to go from here. Things will never be the same since we have decided to be more than friends.” Harry dropped his head and massaged his temple with one hand.

“It’ll be ok Harry,” Ron said soothingly. “I’m sure it’ll be ok.”

“Thanks Ron,” he replied, raising his head, and forcing a smile. Ron and Adelle noticed that his face left a trail of a tear that ran down his face. “Hopefully we’ll talk. Whenever she’s ready… if that day ever comes.”

“Harry, is there anything that we can -”

“There’s nothing that you can do,” Harry said in a final sort of way. “I need to handle this myself. Now please you two, I really appreciate the company and support, but I really want to be left alone right now.” He turned around and walked up to a door-sized window and put his hands behind his back, not saying another word. Ron and Adelle, as quietly as they could, walked together and tried to get out of the room before Harry called them again.

“And tell no one to bother me,” he said, not turning around.

“Right Harry,” confirmed Ron as he closed the door behind him and left with Adelle to leave Harry in peace.

9. The Discussion

Chapter 9 - The Discussion

Harry didn’t stand looking out of the window for to long; his legs were weak and his breathing was still fast. He sat on the edge of his bed and thought about what to do. He had so many things on his mind and after his talk with Ron and Adelle, he did feel a little better; however, he still felt… incomplete, like he wasn’t done just yet.

He walked downstairs slowly and quietly, checking if the coast was clear. He walked over the wall to the direct left after you entered to Fat Lady portrait.

“Prime example,” he said. Just then, the wall gave a yawn and the three holes appeared, making Wally’s face.

“Hello my boy,” he had lazily. “Sorry Harry, but I was asleep so I didn’t really hear you. You mind saying it again?” Harry laughed under his breath. It was normal for him to repeat the password at times because Wally had said that his hearing wasn’t as good as it used to be. If there’re was such a thing for a wall to have ears.

“Is Hermione in there, Wally?” asked Harry first, just to make sure. He didn’t want to face her just yet.

“No, no my boy,” he said. “But she did come by just a little while ago. She asked if you were in here too, just like you have asked if she was in here. She was in tears that poor girl. Is everything all right between you two?”

“It’s fine,” Harry lied. He didn’t feel like talking about relationship problems with a wall.

“Prime example.”

The three holes disappeared first and in the blink of an eye the wall had vanished. Harry quickly made his way in, making up for lost time. He scurried to his room and searched his trunk at the foot of the bed. After searching and searching, he found what he was looking for. He gave it one hard blow, scattering the dust that was on it. It was a red and gold leather bound book with a two-inch spine. On the cover, written in a small, but very nice cursive, was his name: Harry Potter.

“Never thought I’d actually be using this,” he stated as he grabbed a quill and a bottle of ink. He sat on his bed and began to write. Hermione had given him this book along with some Quidditch supplies two years ago, before they were going out. It was a blank book and was meant to be a diary or a journal of some sort for Harry. It had a two line of defenses, a locking charm and an ink disappearing charm. It reminded Harry of a diary he found in his 2nd year. Harry didn’t like the idea of having this sort of thing (diary’s were for girls) and he knew that he wasn’t going to rush to write in it either. But he appreciated it all the same because any gift from Hermione was worth it.

He wrote and wrote, writing all of the events for the past couple of days all leading to the dilemma he was in now. The writing seemed to flow consistently and never seemed to stop. It was amazing when you had so much to write. To Harry’s delight, the more he wrote, the better he seemed to feel. When he had finished he set the first line of defense up.

“Dismarkinus!” he said, making the ink vanish. He closed the book and set up the second line of defense. “Lockinus!” he said, locking the book. Just to have a little comic relief, he tested it. He tried to open the book, but the cover didn’t open. It seemed to be glued shut. He tried harder, still to no avail. He tried to bend the book, but it was as hard as a rock. He abused the book, slamming it on the ground, stepping on it, and hitting things with it. After he figured the book had taken enough abuse, he examined it. The book remained good as new, as if nothing was done to it.

“Cool book,” Harry said out loud. He placed it back in his trunk, thinking that maybe he’ll definitely use it again. Just then, someone knocked on his door.

“Oh no,” Harry whispered to himself, betting his bottom gold galleon who it was. “Come in.”

The door opened, revealing to Harry that he was correct and it was -

“Hermione!” said Harry, strangely surprised to see her. “Out of all people, I didn’t expect it to be you.”

“We need to talk Harry,” she sniffled. She had obviously still been crying. Her eyes were red and there were heavy bags under them; her cheeks wet from tears she had shed.

“You sure you’re ready for that now Hermione?” asked Harry in his total friend form that he was to her. “I mean wouldn’t you want to wait until you’re ready?”

“I am ready Harry,” she insisted, a tear running down her face. “This’ll have happened sooner or later so we might as well do it now, when our feelings are still fresh.”

“Ok Herm,” he said subconsciously. He had shortened her name and called her, ‘Herm’ for the first time. It wasn’t a shortened name for someone that you loved, it was a shortened name for her that made her a friend. He didn’t like the idea of talking so early, but what else could he have done? It was her call after all; she had broken up with him.

***

They had exited their private dorms and headed outside, Harry following Hermione. The urge to hold her was high, but he couldn’t do it anymore. That was going to take some time getting used to. No more kisses, no more hugs, no more hand holding, no more fooling around. Harry wiped his watering eyes before stopping her in front of the Great Hall.

“Wait here,” he said, running into the Great Hall for a moment and coming out of it with a Cauldron Cake and a bar of chocolate. He handed the chocolate to Hermione.

“Eat this,” he said. Hermione looked hesitant to accept it, thinking where this was going. Harry’s only intention was Hermione as his friend, which was now his number 1 priority.

“Eat it Hermione, it’ll help. Your body’s going to give after all that lost in energy. Feels like a dementor had been in your presence, doesn’t it?”

She nodded, finally accepting the chocolate and eating it, amazingly, her body felt a little recharged. Harry saw the look on her face. He gave a no teethed smile and nodded subtly as he munched away on his Cauldron Cake.

Harry followed her outside, to the same place where she had called it off. Harry winced at where he was taken; he felt like avoiding that place as much as possible because feeling of sadness made its way back.

“Hermione,” started Harry holding his unfinished Cauldron Cake in his hand, “I want to be the first to apologize.”

He took a deep breath as though thinking about what to see.

“First, I want to apologize again for my actions. Not just today, but for the previous days too. I -”

“No Harry,” interrupted Hermione, holding up a hand to stop him. “We’re not here to talk about the past. What has happened, has happened and there’s nothing we can do about it. We need to talk about the future and what’s going to happen to us.”

Harry nodded, seeing her point.

“Things are going to be different now between us since we decided that our feelings were more than just friends,” Hermione said.

“I know,” Harry replied. “So where do we go from here Hermione?”

“I don’t know Harry,” she stated. “I really don’t know.”

“How about we go back to how we were. Before we were going out,” he added, seeing her look that showed him that she thought he was talking about getting back together.

“Let’s just be friends again and forget about us as a couple.”

“That’s just it Harry!” she exclaimed, her eyes watering up. “We can’t just… forget.”

Tears began to roll down her face. Harry couldn’t take it anymore. Without thinking, he came forward and embraced Hermione in a tight and comforting hug. For a moment, Hermione paused, shocked that he had just hugged her, but she went back to crying, burying her face in his chest.

“I know Hermione,” he said. “I know that we can’t just forget. But we’re just going to have to go on with our lives… as the friends that we once were. Don’t you think it was more fun before we went out?” Harry couldn‘t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. He was lying his ass off in front of Hermione. Of course he didn’t really think it was fun before they went out , but he had to make Hermione see her senses. She looked up at him. “Please Hermione, I lost you as a girlfriend, but please, don’t make me lose you as a friend too.”

Hermione sniffled a few tears into Harry’s chest before answering. She didn‘t even have to think.

“So it’s settled then?” she sobbed, looking up at him and confirming her answer. “We’re going to be back to just friends?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way Hermione,” he confirmed back. Hermione noticed the way she and Harry were in and pulled out of his hug.

“There are some other things too Harry,” she said, wiping her eyes. “We can’t do anything that we’re used to doing anymore -”

Harry held up a hand to stop her.

“Don’t… remind me… Hermione.”

“Right,” she sniffled. “We better get going. I have things to do and you… have… someone waiting for you?” She said the last part in a questioning way.

Harry shot her a look that said, what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about?

“Serine, Harry?” she said, tears building again.

“Oh no Hermione!” he exclaimed. “She means nothing to me. She may like me, but I have no interest in her!”

“You don’t like her?” she asked raising her eyebrows, looking skeptical behind her tears.

“No Hermione, I don’t like her.”

“Just like how you thought you didn’t like me way back in 5th year?” she asked in a way of suspecting that he was lying.

“I know I don’t like her!” he said, feeling angry with her. “I like her about as much as Ron loves spiders!”

Hermione didn’t say anything. She just stood there still with tears slowing running down her cheeks.

“I’ll see you around Hermione,” Harry said in a final sort of way, turning her back on her in a rude manner.

“How dare she accuse me of ever liking… that!? I wouldn‘t be caught dead with Serine! After what she had done to me and Hermione, and making me feel like crap, she is no friend of mine,” he thought. He had mixed feelings of sadness and anger in his heart; it didn’t feel good feeling both of them at the same time; they didn’t mix well. He looked at the unfinished Cauldron Cake in his hand sadly and chucked it into the river. Starting to be just friends with Hermione had been a few seconds ago, and he knew it was going to be a lot harder than it seemed.

10. The Unexpected Rendezvous

Chapter 10 - The Unexpected Rendezvous

Harry stormed into the front doors of the castle infuriated. He paced for a few feet before slowing down and throwing his head in one of his hands and started crying. Recent events were very overwhelming for him to handle. To think, everything that he had with Hermione, everything they shared; it was suddenly gone and no more. To make things worse, the special night that he had been waiting for with her, was now a total lost. All that time, two years of waiting, wasted and all for nothing.

He stopped in the middle of a corridor placed his forehead on the nearby wall and banged his fist on it, immediately crying some more.

“This! Really! SUCKS!” shouted Harry, his voice echoing the hall. He again broke in tears, not seeming to care about anything at all. So what if someone saw him? So what if they saw him crying like a baby? He cried and cried for what seemed like forever, until a voice called to him from the end of the corridor.

“Harry!”

At first, he didn’t care who it was. He just told himself mentally for that person to go away and to leave him alone. That moment passed when he saw that it was Adelle.

“Are you ok Harry?” she asked, full of concern as she approached him. Harry turned around and leaned against the wall, resting the back of his head on it and closing his eyes.

“I’m not ok Adelle,” he said sadly, tears still coming down his face.

“Oh Harry,” she groaned, feeling really sorry for him. “Come here.”

She approached him and gave him a comforting hug. Harry had no choice but to accept it. For a split second, his sadness died down a bit. He felt warm and cozy in her arms, feeling things he had never felt for her before. When they released, Harry took a good look at her. Ron was always correct when he judged girls and Adelle was a very pretty Ravenclaw girl. She was no match to Hermione of course, but she came very close.

“Ron is very lucky,” Harry thought.

“What happened Harry?” she asked.

“Everything that I didn’t want to happen,” he said sadly. “Everything that I had with Hermione is gone; a thing of the past.”

“You’re upset aren’t you?” she said. “That you were so close right?”

Harry’s eyebrows came down in an asserting way.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I know why you’re so upset Harry,” she confirmed. “Your dream was about to come true with your special rendezvous with Hermione in two days right?” Harry blushed a deep red, now that he knew that Adelle knew that he was waiting to have sex with Hermione on her birthday, just two days away.

“How do you -?”

“I’ll give you one guess,” she said in a sarcastic tone. Harry rolled his eyes.

“Ron?”

“Bingo!” she said, pointing a finger at him in a you-got-it-correct manner. “I know all about it Harry. The Chastity Spell she cast on herself, about how she must be chaste until her seventeenth birthday. And how you mutually agreed you two would share that special moment together.”

“Gees,” said Harry looking a bit disgusted. “What else did Ron tell you?”

“That’s all basically,” she said as-a-matter-of-factly. Then she became very serious with him. “There’s one thing that I want to know though Harry.”

“What’s that?” he asked, looking a bit fearful.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” she said in her matter-of-factly voice. “But I need to know. Were… you waiting for the day because you wanted to see what she was like in bed? Judge her by that and if you weren’t satisfied, you would leave her? Or did you wait because you really are in love with her and want to share something special like that with her?”

Harry’s mouth dropped opened. He couldn’t have felt more insulted in his entire life! But, seeing where Adelle was coming from, he agreed why she was asking him that. He told her as truthfully as he felt.

“Of course I waited because I loved her Adelle!” retorted Harry. “I. Love. Her. I love her more than anything in the world. When I first attended Hogwarts, I thought that Quidditch was going to be the love of my life. But it turns out, after being with Hermione, Quidditch meant nothing more to him than a hobby. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t see myself losing my virginity to anyone except her. A little while after going out, I realized that she was the one, the one I wanted to lose my virginity to.” Harry blushed a little. Talking about something like this with Adelle made him feel uncomfortable.

“Of course Harry,” she said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I knew you weren’t a fool like some other boys I know who use their charm just to get a girl in bed then break their hearts afterward. I… just wanted to make sure. That’s all. I hope you’re not upset with me for asking you that?”

“No no,” said Harry shaking his head. “I understand.”

“So did you talk to Hermione?”

“Yeah…”

“What’d she say?”

“That we’re just going to be friends. Go back to the way things were before we went out. I know it’s not going to be exactly the same but, I’m just happy that she still wants to talk to me and not ignore me completely.”

Harry’s eyes became watery again.

“It’ll be ok Harry. I’m sure of it.”

“I hope your right Adelle.”

Adelle gave him a hopeful smile, as if to hope for the best. Harry returned a smile back to her, but this one took some effort to do.

“Want another hug Harry?” she asked in a friendly manner.

“Sure, why not?”

Adelle again embraced him and again Harry felt the warmth of her hug.

“You better go,” he said after they released. “Or people might think that you’re cheating on Ron!” he said playfully.

“That’s not funny Harry!” she said, hitting him playfully on the arm. Harry smiled.

“Go. Now,” Harry said, his voice sounding mysterious. “Or I’m going to start hitting on you.”

“Oooo, that’ll be fun,” Adelle said flirtatiously, taking a step and getting closer to him.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” Harry said in his own flirtatious tone, giving her a dirty look. He put both hands around her waist and pulled her dangerously close to him, far closer they had ever been to each other than before. “You do realize that you‘re my best friend‘s girlfriend?”

“Oh yes Harry,” she moaned softly. “I bet the sex will feel so much better.”

“The sex is best when you have it with your boyfriend’s best friend,” Harry confirmed as he wet his lips.

“It’s so sad,” Adelle replied as she ran a finger down Harry’s cheek slowly, looking sorry for him but still teasing him, “that Hermione broke up with you. You need to forget all about her as your girlfriend and move on Harry”

“And what, date you?”

“We’d make a good team,” Adelle replied with a sense of sexual gleam in her eye. “In fact…” she said, seductively, holding out her tongue and licking the air before his cheek, pretending to lick it, “…I can already feel you… thrusting yourself inside me Harry,” Adelle finished in the dirtiest tone Harry had ever heard her say. She moved her head closer to his, still with her dirty look. Harry returned it with a dirty smile of his own.

“Ron’s such an idiot for not satisfying you, Adelle. Maybe we can see what… we can do together?”

Adelle narrowed her eyes and gave him the most seductive and dirtiest look she ever gave.

“Shut up and fuck me Harry…”

Harry did shut up. Her lips got closer and closer to his and just when they were about to touch…

“Harry?” Adelle whispered.

“What?” he replied, whispering flirtatiously but also with a bit of impatience.

“Don‘t even think about it,” she said, sounding a lot like it would if a teacher were to say it. Harry released her and took a few steps back giving them decent amount of space. Then at the same time, both of them broke out laughing. They were laughing so hysterically that they had to use the wall to hold themselves up.

“You better go,” Harry managed to say between laughs.

“Right Harry,” Adelle choked from her laughs as well. “Bye!”

“Bye!” he said, waving at her as she ran off to find Ron.

Harry laughed out the last bit he had left, thinking about what just happened. Harry was merely joking around with Adelle, and she played along, to add to some comic relief, hoping that it might make Harry feel better. She did her job because Harry did feel a little better than before. His attraction to Adelle was about as much as Ron being a sister to Ginny; Harry wasn’t turned on at all from the incident with Adelle, proving to himself that all his love was still with Hermione.

11. Hermione's Birthday

Chapter 11 - Hermione’s Birthday

The day that Harry had been truly waiting for became the day he dreaded: Hermione’s birthday.

Since the break-up, Harry and Hermione’s “supposed” now platonic relationship, started out awful, then grew to be quite well. At first, it was peculiar. Even thought they hung around together with Ron, (can’t break the tremendous trio right?) They ignored each other for most of the time, tuning out each other. Then as time went on, it got inevitable to ignore each other any further and they both (as if somehow reading each others minds) knew it was childish and foolish to continue this behavior. They got used to each others company and they went back to being the best friends they always were.

It was hard to see Hermione everyday without getting the urge to sweep her off her feet and to kiss her senseless. He dreamed of it countless times before: Even though Hermione said that she just wanted to be friends, Harry would find a perfect time to lean in and kiss her; and she would kiss him back, becoming once again the couple that they were.

By now, the news had spread across Hogwarts and beyond that Harry had Hermione had broken up. Most people took it as a joke and didn’t think anybody was serious. They took it as just that: a rumor. However, one day in the Great Hall at breakfast, a 6th year Hufflepuff girl came up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the Gryffindor table while they were reviewing for a Charms quiz.

***

“Um… I’m sorry to interrupt you Harry and Hermione. Hi Ron,” she added shyly, as she looked back and forth from the couple of the past and Ron, “but I am just curious about something. Can I ask you a personal question, Hermione?”

Hermione’s eyes widened and she blinked once, giving a confused look toward Harry and Ron. They both shrugged.

“Um… sure…” Hermione replied uneasily, wondering what the question was.

“Well, um… are you and Harry… still dating?”

The Hall fell unusually silent. Harry anxiously looked at her, wondering immensely what she would say too.

“Uh… well… um… Harry and I…” she sputtered as she felt dozens and dozens of eyes on her. It seemed that this Hufflepuff girl was sent over to ask and find out what the truth really was between Harry and Hermione.

Harry stared at Hermione. To him, she seemed to have a hard time at answering the question. Harry didn’t blame her; he actually felt sorry for her.

“Yes?” said the Hufflepuff girl. “You and Harry are…”

“No,” Hermione said in sort of a dead tone, and dropping her head a little and shaking it subtly. “We aren’t a couple anymore…”

“Oh!” said the Hufflepuff girl in surprise. “I apologize for the awkwardness of the question. I’m really sorry.” And she really looked it. The Hall had obviously heard Hermione’s answer too and they started to murmur toward each other.

“How are you two?” she asked with a motherly concern.

“I’m fine, really. But I still feel the pain sometimes.” replied Hermione. “And Harry is -” she continued, looking at him.

“…A little sore in the heart, but… I’ll manage,” he finished with a weak grin. Hermione nodded at him and turned back to the Hufflepuff girl. She returned the forced smiles she gave her.

“How do you two manage?” she asked, “I mean, if it was me, I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near my ex-boyfriend, and yet, here you two are, still sticking with each other like true friends.”

Harry and Hermione both glanced looks at each other, feeling very flustered.

“I think it’s cool though,” she continued, “that you guys are still great friends. Good luck you two.”

She waved as she left the table. There were murmurs throughout the Hall after hearing what they had just heard.

Meanwhile, after a comforting hug from Harry, she and Ron went back to reviewing.

***

That was another thing. Even though they had broken up, she still let him comfort her like they did when they went out. At first she felt and looked awkward when Harry approached her with it, but she gave in. Nothing too passionate; she just let him hold her in ways that made people think they were still going out. Harry felt like he was being teased by her, but he wasn’t complaining.

It wasn’t bad that it was Hermione’s birthday, it was just the thought that this was supposed to be the day where Harry and Hermione were supposed to bond in a special way.

Harry woke up early and rubbed his eyes lazily.

“Great,” Harry yawned in a very unecstatic way, realizing what the day was. He went over to the foot of his bed, opened his trunk, and searched frantically for something.

“Here it is,” he said holding it up to look at it. It was a basic box of chocolates with a rose on it. The special thing about it was that the chocolates were charmed (specially by Harry) so that it wouldn’t melt until it was eaten and the rose could not wilt.

“Not the thing that I was originally going to give her,” Harry sad with a sigh, “but I hope she’ll like this.”

He also went ahead and grabbed his journal and immediately began to write in it, talking about the past few days and how things were going and how he hoped things were going to go in the future. After he had finished and put the two defensive spells on them, he placed it back into his trunk.

He got dressed and walked out of his door closing it behind him with the gift for Hermione under his arm. He turned and stopped abruptly as he saw Hermione already sitting on the couch.

“Oh hi Hermione,” said Harry, slightly surprised. “You’re up early.”

“I should say the same thing about you,” she answered smiling. Harry returned her smile.

“This… is for you,” Harry said nervously, handing her the special box of chocolates and the rose. “It’s not much, but I hope you like it. Happy Birthday Hermione.”

“Harry, you shouldn’t have,” she replied, taking the gift from him. Her reaction wasn’t quite excited because she was a lot more surprised than to be excited. Harry failed to notice this and snatched it from her.

“You hate it! It‘s lame…” he said swiftly.

“No!” exclaimed Hermione, taking it back from him. “I want it.”

She eyed the box and rose for a minute (now with a noticeable smile) for a minute before getting up and standing on her tiptoes to kiss Harry on the cheek.

“Thank you Harry! I love it.”

Harry’s heart melted when her lips touched his cheek. It had been a very long time since the last time Hermione had ever kissed him, and it felt so good to receive it. Harry knew however, that that was the closest he would ever get from Hermione kissing him.

“Non-melting chocolates,” confirmed Hermione as she eyed the dozens of different chocolates with anxiety. “Did you charm then yourself Harry?”

He nodded.

“And this rose! You know how I love roses!”

Harry nodded again.

“Thanks again Harry!” she exclaimed with excitement as she hugged him tightly.

“You’re welcome Hermione,” he answered, hugging her back just as tightly. After a very difficult time of releasing, Harry watched as Hermione praised the gift she had gotten. Soon after, he and Hermione when into one of their long and very “not-talking-about-anything-in-particular” conversation. At one point, Hermione said something that made his heart ache.

“I think someone’s hitting on me Harry,” she said in half serious, half matter-of-factly tone.

“Really?” said Harry, acting not to sound too disappointed.

“It was in Arithmancy class,” she explained. “I think he kept looking at me because he either wanted to say something to me, or, he was just plain staring at me.”

“Do you think he’s cute?” asked Harry nervously and anxiously.

“He’s okay,” she replied. “Not the best looking wizard I’ve seen, but he’s… decent.”

“Why don’t you go talk to him if you know he likes you?” said Harry, his feelings of love for her suddenly replaced with feelings of friendship.

“I won’t Harry!” she explained. “If he likes me, then he’ll prove it by making the first move. That’s really the guys job you know.”

“Really?” asked Harry with a “whatever” look on his face.

“Yep,” she replied with a tone of a, “that’s-right-Harry”. “Take us for example. Remember when you told me you liked me and that I liked you too?”

Harry nodded, thinking why she was bringing “us” into this conversation.

“Well, even though I liked you too, and probably even more than you liked me, I wouldn’t have said anything to you. It’s just the guy’s job. Plain and simple.”

Harry nodded again, not wanting to continue that subject any further.

“What’s his name?” asked Harry curiously.

“Who?”

“The guy that likes you. Or the guy that you think likes you.”

“Well you don’t know him, I think. But his name’s Xavier Blake.”

“Oh,” responded Harry. He thought if Hermione was doing this specifically to hurt him. If she was, she was doing a really good job.

“Well if you feel right about it, I hope it turns into something good,” he said, trying so hard not to let his eyes water.

***

At lunch, Harry sat alone at the Gryffindor table before Ron came over to join him.

“Hey Harry,” said Ron, slapping him on the back and sitting next to him.

“Hi Ron,” answered Harry. Ron noticed that it wasn’t his usual “hi”. It sounded a bit gloomy.

“What’s the matter Harry?” asked Ron.

“Hermione…” was all he could make out.

“Figures,” said Ron, rolling his eyes. “What about her?”

“I think she may have a crush on someone. This guy in her Arithmancy class, Xavier Blake.”

“Are you serious!?” exclaimed Ron, so loudly that other people heard and turned in their direction. “Sorry. But… already?”

“Seems like it,” groaned Harry.

“Wow, she really got over you fast,” said Ron, making Harry sigh in depression. Ron murmured a “sorry” to him, knowing that he wasn’t making him feel any better. “How do you know?”

“She told me about him this morning,” Harry explained. “How he was hitting on her and stuff.”

“Did she like it?”

“She didn’t say,” Harry answered. “But I bet she did.”

“Harry,” stated Ron in a serious voice, turning his head to look at him, “did she say it herself. Did you hear it with your own ears that she likes him?”

“No.”

“Then she doesn’t Harry.”

“Did she tell you that she liked me when she did?”

Ron was about to answer, but he didn’t. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly.

“Exactly,” said Harry, proving a point. “But never mind that already. I’m trying not to think about it.”

“Well,” Ron said awkwardly, trying to change the subject, “what’d you get Hermione for her birthday Harry?”

“Un-melting chocolates and a rose,” he answered blandly.

“What!?” exclaimed Ron, raising hi eyebrows. “I thought you were going to give her the-”

“I thought otherwise,” interrupted Harry. “I was supposed to give it to her on this day, when we were going out!”

“So?” retorted Ron. “Who cares if you two aren’t going out anymore? Just give it to her Harry. Your plan was to give it to her, regardless if you two were together or not.” Harry shook his head.

“I’m not going to give it to her Ron,” he said in a final way.

“What are you going to do with it then?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“I think I’ll jus keep it,” Harry answered. “For now. Maybe someone will come up worthy enough for it. But I doubt that…”

“Whatever Harry,” answered Ron. “I don’t like your motives, but there’s nothing that I can do.”

“What you get her Ron?” asked Harry curiously.

“A book,” he answered in the same bland tone Harry had when he told him what he had gotten Hermione.

“Figures,” said Harry, in the same tone that Ron had said when he heard him tell him what was bothering him earlier. They both looked at each other and laughed, going ahead and eating their lunch.

***

Later that night after everyone was asleep, Harry sneaked out from his private dorm he shared with Hermione. After checking and making sure she was asleep still, he walked up to the magical wall. In the blink of an eye, it vanished. When he stepped through the doorway, he heard a voice behind him.

“Where are you going Harry?” asked Wally as he yawned.

“Wishing someone a Happy Birthday,” whispered Harry. “Could you do me a favor and hold open for me for a while?”

“Sure thing my boy,” Wally yawned.

Harry ran as quickly and quietly as he could up the stairs to find Ron already ready. He was holding a standard size cake with 17 unlit candles on it. On top of it, it read, “Happy 17th Birthday Hermione”.

“This is a another good idea of yours Harry,” Ron whispered.

“Thanks Ron,” admired Harry. “But we have to get moving.”

“Right.”

They tiptoed halfway down the stairs before Harry stopped Ron.

“Wait here.”

“Why?” asked Ron.

“Because, you aren’t supposed to see the secret dorm that Hermione and I share. It’s a rule that we agreed with Dumbledore.”

Ron sighed exasperatedly. “Hurry up then.”

Harry quickly walked through the open door way Wally left for him. He turned around to check to see if the wall had appeared again. It did. He crept to Hermione’s door and turned the knob, opening the door slowly. He tiptoed to Hermione’s bed, ready to wake her, when he became distracted.

The sight of Hermione sleeping peacefully in her own bed was a breathtaking one. She lay on her left side, with her left arm hidden and her right arm out of the covers and bent at the elbow in front of her. Her hair, usually wild and bushy, seem even wilder than ever as it cascaded all over her pillow. She had her mouth slightly ajar and her eyes still sparkled, even when they were closed. And from the way the blanket was shaped, it looked like she had a pillow between her legs. He watched her a few moments before waking her; her chest moving up and down with each breath and how her profile showed greatly from the moon peaking through her window.

Harry felt a shiver of anxiety run through his body as he thought about the position he was in. Hermione was asleep peacefully in her bed and he could… possibly… steal a quick kiss from her; something he wanted even more from her when she called it off between them. He could do it. He could lean down, give her a kiss and say it never happened afterward. If Hermione questioned it, he could use the excuse that she was asleep and only dreaming. His plan was perfect!

He mentally slapped himself in the face as he came back to reality and shook off the pain in his head. He couldn’t do it. As much as he wanted to, as much as he wanted that kiss, he could never take advantage of Hermione. Plus, that would violate his trust with her even more. Even though she would probably never know, Harry knew it would give him a guilty conscience and haunt him in his dreams. His trust was already damaged and he didn’t want to make it worse than it already was. Instead, he bent over and shook her gently, trying to wake her up.

“Hermione?” he whispered, shaking her gently. “Hermione?”

She adjusted herself in the bed, apparently not hearing him.

“Mione?” he said, still shaking her gently but with a little more force. “Mione, wake up.” He stroked her cheek a little with his other hand.

“Mmm,” she moaned with a smile, as she playfully moved her face against his warm hand. She still being asleep, had no idea what was really happening. Harry love seeing her enjoy herself like this. He stopped stroking her and shook her a little harder.

“Mione, wake up,” he repeated in a whisper. This finally got her attention.

“Harry?” she answered lazily, opening her eyes slowly. “What’s going on?”

He sat down next to her.

“Ron wants to show you something important,” he said in a serious voice.

“What?” asked Hermione, suddenly fully awake.

“I don’t know,” Harry shrugged. “He just told me to get you.”

“Well let’s hurry then,” she exclaimed.

Harry walked out the door and through the doorway that was Wally first as Hermione followed him. As they stepped out of the doorway, Ron called.

“Surprise!” Ron said loudly to Hermione, but kept his voice low enough so that no one could hear. He stood in the middle of the common room holding the cake in front of him

in his hands with 17 candles lit on it.

Hermione was surprised all right. She walked slowly pass Harry a few paces forward and stared at the cake noticing the “Happy 17th Birthday Hermione” written on it. She turned confusingly around to Harry to find that he had a wide grin on his face. She turned back to Ron and the cake.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she asked, puzzled.

“Ever hear of celebrating your birth?” said Ron teasingly.

“Yeah, it’s this event that happens once a year. It’s when all these people come to you with a cake and expect you to blow out the candles on it,” Harry added, sounding just like Ron.

“Shut up you two,” Hermione said, hitting them playfully in the arms. “I… I don’t know what to say…”

“You don’t have to say anything Hermione,” said Harry from behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders. “Just make a wish and blow out your candles when we’re done.”

She eyed the cake happily as Ron placed it on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Hermione kneeled down in front of it and Harry and Ron stood side by side behind her.

“I’m flattered guys,“ she said as Harry and Ron sang the happy birthday song and when Hermione made her wish and blew out her candles, she stood up and hugged Ron tightly and much longer than a usual hug.

“Thanks Ron,” she said as she released him. She turned to Harry. “And you. You were in on this too huh?”

“You bet,” said Harry.

“Well that deserves a special thank you, too then. Don’t you think?”

“You don’t have to,” said Harry blushing.

“Of course I have too!” answered Hermione. “Plus I know that you want it.”

She came in toward Harry and hugged him just as tightly and long as she did with Ron, probably even tighter and longer. The only difference was that after the hug, she had given him another kiss on the cheek. She turned around and bend down as she cut her cake, apparently eager to eat it; her mouth salivated from wanting to taste it.

Meanwhile, Ron whispered out of earshot of Hermione.

“Wow,” he said. “that was some thank you from her Harry. It was a hug and a kiss.”

“It’s strange Ron,” he said. “She kissed me today too when I gave her, her gift.”

“Oh,” exclaimed Ron. “two kisses in one day and you two aren’t going out? That’s got to mean something.”

“Don’t get ideas in my head Ron. That was just out of friendship.”

“She didn’t kiss me!” added Ron. “And it’s not a jealous thing Harry. I just want to know why she kissed just you and not both of us? And what’s that supposed to mean anyway when she said, ‘I’m supposed to thank you. I know you want it’?”

Harry ignored him just as Hermione turned around with two small plates in each of her hands with a slice of cake in it, holding it out for Harry and Ron.

“Thanks again you guys,” Hermione said as Harry and Ron took the cake from her. “I really appreciate this.”

They squished themselves onto a couch that was only meant for three people. Harry at one end, Hermione in the middle, and Ron on the other end as they laughed and ate their cake. When the three of them had their fill of Hermione’s cake, Ron volunteered to go to sleep first.

“Well, I’m going back to bed,” he yawned. “That cake made me sleepy.”

“You always get sleepy when you eat!” retorted Hermione. Harry laughed.

“Sorry Hermione, but I’m way too tired to throw an insult back at you. Looks like I’m going to have to take a rain check on that one.”

With saying that, Ron walked lazily up the stairs to the boys’ dormitories and out of sight.

“Harry we need to talk,” Hermione said seriously when she knew that Ron was completely gone.

“About what?” he answered, turning his head toward her. Funny, even though Ron had left, they didn’t make themselves room on the couch.

“Us,” Hermione said. Harry looked away from her and dropped his head.

“What d’you mean?” he asked puzzled. “I don’t think that there is an ‘us’ anymore.”

“I didn’t mean it like that Harry,” she said. “I mean about where we are going as friends.”

“I think it’s going rather well, don’t you think?”

“I know I am Harry,” she said in a concerned way. “I just want to know how you’re really feeling.”

“Like I said to that Hufflepuff girl Hermione, I’m a little sore in the heart, but I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” she asked, moving closer to him warmly.

“Well, I still feel the pain. And I cry myself to sleep sometimes. Go ahead, make fun of me if you want.”

“Why would I?” asked Hermione. “I think that’s really sweet when guys show emotion my crying. It shows sensitivity and compassion.”

“Thanks Hermione.”

There was a long silence before she spoke to him.

“So have you been seeing anybody Harry?” she asked curiously.

“No. And I don’t plan to anytime soon,” he answered.

“Why not?”

“Because I haven’t clicked with anyone else. I mean, it’s not like my life depends on it though. What about you? That Xavier character?”

“No, he’s just another friend of mine. Nothing more.”

“Are you sure about that?” asked Harry, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sure.”

“Well if you’re sure, I need to be getting to bed. It’s late. You should get to bed too,” Harry said.

“I will,” she answered. “I just want to hang around for a while.”

“Well bye then,” waved Harry. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He stood up and walked behind the couch toward the magical wall to their private dormitories when Hermione called to him again.

“Aren’t you going to kiss me goodnight Harry?” she asked looking over the couch at him. Harry looked like he was thinking for a minute before coming back toward Hermione. He stood in front of her, held out his hand, which she took, and pulled her onto her feet. They now were standing very close to each other, their eyes locked.

Harry could only stare at the beauty that was Hermione in front of him. She seemed to be in a daze as Harry put his right hand on her cheek, rubbing it gently. She closed her eyes and sighed softly as she moved her face against his hand. Harry bend his head down toward her, ready to give her, her goodnight kiss. He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling very nervous and very excited at the same time. Hermione must’ve known what he was trying to do, but the funny thing was that she didn’t stop him. Was she going to let him kiss her? What did this all mean? Did maybe she know what was supposed to happen today and go through with it? Harry told himself to find the answers to those later as his lips got closer and closer to Hermione’s. Right when he was about to touch his lips with hers, Harry’s dream was shattered.

“No Harry,” she whispered, subtly shaking her head. Harry eyes popped open. She still had her eyes closed, but she knew what was about to happen. It didn’t look like she was mad either. “Not a kiss like that.”

“Right,” Harry said, “of course not.”

Instead, he moved to the right of her face and kissed her right on the cheek.

“Goodnight Hermione. And Happy 17th Birthday.”

“Night Harry,” she said smiling at him and then sitting back down on the couch and crossing her legs.

What was that supposed to mean? asked Harry to himself as he walked to the magical wall. Why was she teasing me like that? He felt very sleepy afterward and plopped right into his bed, thinking about nothing except about how he was so close to giving her a real kiss once again.

12. After Christmas Aftermath

Chapter 12 - After Christmas Aftermath

Time had certainly flown for Harry. He could remember first telling his love to Hermione about two years ago and now, here he was in the present, struggling to be her best friend.

Christmas time had come really fast and even though the mood was supposed to be cheerful, gloomy spirits followed Harry everywhere. Even though he and Hermione were broken up for about 3 months now, he still felt as bad as he did when Hermione broke up with him 4 months ago.

Ron would be spending his Christmas holidays with his family at the burrow, leaving Harry and Hermione alone, which was not a really good idea to Harry. Leaving two people alone together with a past of going out may have severe consequences. Harry didn’t want to find out what they were though. He cursed Ron for leaving him hanging like that. Hermione on the other hand, didn’t seem to care much.

Harry was planning on giving Hermione the original thing he was supposed to give her on her birthday. But when Christmas did come up, he couldn’t find himself to do it. Something in the pit of his stomach told him not to. When he told about it to Ron through Owl Post, he ranted and raved about why Harry didn’t give it to her. The pressure that Ron was giving him was convincing him ever so slightly to make him want to give it to her. Still, he refused.

***

A few days later, Harry woke up late one snowy Saturday morning. The reason was a dream that was bothering him. Someone or something kept telling to just give the gift up to Hermione. This wasn’t the first time he had been having these dreams either. He was having them for the past few days now and the more he had them, the stronger the urge to just give it up. As he popped out of bed, he decided that this was it; he was going to give it to her. Ron still hadn’t returned from Christmas holidays and what a surprise it would be to him when he finds out that Harry actually gave it to her. That kind of fueled him as well.

He got dressed rather quickly and fumbled in his trunk, frantically searching for it. Finally, he pulled out a black velvet box about the size to hold a small wand. He stared at it appraisingly, nodded his head and headed toward Hermione’s room.

Hermione didn’t answer when he knocked so, just in case if she was in trouble, opened her door and looked inside. To no avail, Hermione was not there. Her bed was made perfectly (a thing Hermione always did) and the pole that she hung her cloak on was gone.

She probably woke up hours ago, thought Harry.

He paced through the magical wall and through the Fat Lady portrait, almost walking through Nearly Headless Nick.

“Hello Sir Nicholas,” Harry waved.

“Morning Harry,” he smiled. He looked a bit surprised as well. “You’re up a bit late to today.”

“I know Nick,” yawned Harry. “Have you seen Hermione?”

“I have actually,” answered Nick. “She was with someone.”

“Who?” beamed Harry.

“I didn’t look,” said Nick. “I assumed that it was you. But if you’re standing here, then I guess she couldn’t have been with you could she?” He chuckled a bit. Harry forced some laughter. It wasn’t very funny to him.

“Sorry Harry,” apologized Nick. “I honestly thought it was you. I mean, even though you two aren’t a couple anymore, you still hang around with each other like you are. Broken up, but sticking together as the best friends you are. That deserves my full honor and praise.”

“Thanks Nick,” Harry blushed. Wow, even the ghosts knew about the relationships that went around here.

“Well anyway, I saw the two of them head outside. I’m sure that you’ll find her there,” Nick said. “What’s that you got there?”

“This?” said Harry, referring to the block box he was holding. “I’m supposed to give this to Hermione. Well, not supposed to… I can… but I’m having second thoughts about it.”

“Just give it to her Harry,” Nick said, sounding a lot like Ron now, “I’m sure she’ll love it, whatever it may be, regardless of your relationship status with her.”

Harry nodded.

“Be off my boy, she is waiting.”

After a last goodbye, Nick was gone, and Harry paced to the Front Doors. He burst through the doors and looked searchingly for Hermione, walking down the 4 front steps one by one. The day was a very beautiful one. It was snowing very softly and the entire outside was completely covered in white. Everything that was supposed to be green, was white because of the winter season; the ground was covered in snow and so were a couple of bushes. The lake was frozen solid and a few birds fluttered by every now and then. That’s were he saw them, by the lake, the exact spot where he and Hermione hung out in their time of love.

The guy was leaning against the tree and Hermione was throwing snowballs at him, giggling like a little kid. He tossed one back at her. She turned to the side and it hit her dead on the shoulder, splattering everywhere. He flashed him a look and the both of them laughed it off. She then stood dangerously close next to him. During their snowball fight, Harry caught a glimpse of the guy. He assumed that this was Xavier Blake. He was handsome and about two inches taller than Hermione, where as Harry was about a head taller than Hermione. His brown hair was combed back and his build was about a bit like Harry’s, maybe a little less.

He watched them sadly for a bit and looked at the box he had and twiddled it in his hands. His eyes were watering a bit as he thought whether now was not a good time to give it to her, or whether not to give it to her at all. He wiped his eyes before turning around slowly and tiptoeing up the steps. When he reached the top, Hermione must have saw him because he heard her call him.

“Harry!”

He turned around to see Hermione at the bottom of the steps with the boy she was with closely behind her.

“Hi Harry,” Hermione said.

“Hey Hermione,” he answered, trying really hard to smile. “What’s up?” he added to the guy that was behind her.

“Hey,” he waved. All in all, he seemed like a nice guy.

“Harry this is Xavier. Xavier, Harry,” Hermione said, introducing each other.

Harry walked back down the 4 steps and politely shook Xavier’s hand. Even though Harry felt a bit of scorn to him, he had to respect him. If Hermione saw something in him, it must’ve been a good soul.

“What’s that you got there Harry?” Hermione asked, seeing the box he was carrying.

“Nothing,” Harry lied, quickly stuffing it into his robes pocket. Hermione looked at him puzzlingly, but decided not to push it any further.

“Xavier, could you leave us for a bit. I need to talk to Harry alone,” she said.

Xavier nodded. “Sure. I’ll be somewhere out here. Maybe I’ll build a snowman or something.”

“You go do that,” laughed Hermione.

When Xavier was gone and way out of earshot, Harry spoke.

“So what do you need to talk to me about?” asked Harry, making himself comfortable by leaning against the railing. Hermione joined him.

“Something important Harry,” she answered.

“It must be,” added Harry jokingly, “if you have to send your boyfriend away.”

“He’s not my boyfriend Harry,” Hermione cleared up. “He just asked me if I wanted to hang out with him outside.”

“If you say so,” Harry grinned skeptically, looking slightly away from her. Since the break up, Harry’s acting skills had greatly improved. On the outside, he may look like he was joking around and having a good time, but on the inside, he was slowing dying and fading away. He must’ve died already when he saw Hermione and Xavier together. Even though Hermione had said that nothing was between them, he thought so otherwise. The only source of truth was his eyes. Luckily, Hermione no longer read them.

“Well?” said Harry impatiently.

“Oh!” exclaimed Hermione, slightly dazed, “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Go on.”

“Have you been dating Serine?” she asked with a scared look.

“No,” said Harry coolly. “I haven’t seen her in forever and a day. And thank God. If I see her I’m probably going to be thrown in Azkaban with no remorse!”

“That’s not funny Harry,” Hermione said.

“I know it’s not,” said Harry. “But why so interested in Serine all of a sudden

Hermione?”

“Well Harry, I think that enough time has passed and I think that maybe we should come clean with each other,” she said matter-of-factly.

“I don’t understand.”

“Well honestly Harry, I’m not dating anybody. But I will be honest about this: there may be something with Xavier that I haven’t felt yet,” admitted Hermione.

“Oh,” said Harry, feeling his heart shatter, as if it didn’t about a million times before.

“But I’m still curious about something Harry,” she added. “If you don’t want to answer then I understand.”

“What?”

“Did you cheat on me at all?”

Harry felt almost as insulted as when Adelle asked him if he really loved Hermione and not only to get her into bed.

“Of course not!” Harry retorted.

“Then why didn’t you get away from her?” she retorted back, crossing her arms. “When she was all against you like that?”

“I -”, started Harry, thinking about what to say next. He thought that maybe he would look more stupid than clever. “I couldn’t…”

“You expect me to believe that!?” she exclaimed. “I find you two in an empty corridor, you back slammed against a wall and Serine rubbing against you. And you think that I wouldn’t mind and the only thing you could tell me was that you couldn’t get away? Or is it more like, you wouldn‘t get away?”

“Why don’t you believe me?” shouted Harry. He was about to tell her about how it was hard, like he was bound up in rope and feeling helpless. He didn’t get the chance.

“Because it’s hard to believe Harry! Plus, it defies logic Harry! I even read your eyes and there was no sense of truth there! You didn’t even look like you were tempting to get away from her -!”

“Don’t bring your brainy bull-crap into this Hermione!” Harry screamed, pointing a finger at her. “We were supposed to talk, not yell at each other!”

“Well one thing lend to another didn’t it Harry?” retorted Hermione. “Or did your brain unsuccessfully manage that?”

“I may have an unmanageable brain, but at least I use it correctly at the right time!” insulted Harry.

Hermione stood with her mouth open, apparently insulted. “This conversation has ended Harry!”

“Good! It was pointless anyway!”

“Harry I -”

“No Hermione! I’m sick of this crap! If you don’t want to believe me, then you don’t have to! All I know is that I told the truth and I know I‘m right! I did my part, sorry you failed to do yours.”

It was Hermione’s turn to look insulted. “I just don’t believe you Harry…”

“I already said it! You don’t have to!” shouted Harry at the top of his lungs. He was red in the face and breathing very hard. He never felt so angry in his entire life. “Good luck with Xavier, Hermione. Hope you two have a long and happy relationship together.”

He turned his back rudely to her and stormed away opening the front door.

“Whatever Harry!” retorted Hermione as he walked through the door and slammed it behind him. “Some friend you are!”

***

Inside the castle, Harry didn’t know whether he was furious of sad. He tried not to think about it as he raced through corridors. Then, once again, he saw a face that he didn’t want to see.

“Hi Harry!” Serine waved, almost bumping into him.

“Get away from me Serine,” he said. “I’m already pissed this morning and I don’t need you to aggravate it any further.”

“Oh!” said Serine. There wasn’t a look of disguise or sexual gleam. There was, however, a look of concern. “Hermione, I’m guessing Harry?”

Harry eyed her suspiciously, if she was up to something this time, he’d be ready.

“Yeah, it’s Hermione,” stated Harry. “We were fighting because of you actually.”

“Me?”

“Yep,” said Harry, still a bit full of scorn. “What happened that day anyway? Or are you not going to tell me?”

“First Harry,” she started, “I want to apologize for the way that I’ve been with you in the past. What motivated me to flirt with you, I wish to keep to myself, but I have learned this about you: you have the most loyalty to a girl than any other man that I’ve seen. And I give you my highest regards. Most taken men, when I approached them, would have suddenly become single and have sex with me without even thinking of consequences.”

Harry stared at her. This wasn’t the Serine he once knew. She had suddenly become… compassionate or almost… human.

“I cast a unresisting spell on you Harry,” she added.

“A what?”

“An unresisting spell,” confirmed Serine. “At the time, I had to have you. So, I put the spell on you so you couldn’t resist. There was one thing that I overlooked: You were so in love with Hermione. Much more than I thought you did. Far more love than anyone I’ve encountered.”

“What’s the big deal in that?” asked Harry sarcastically.

“It means Harry,” she continued, “that your love for her was so strong, you were able to break the spell. If there’s one thing that can counter any spell successfully Harry, it’s love.”

Harry still eyed her suspiciously.

“The thing about this spell is that it requires no wand,” Serine added. “You cast it on your hands and the minute you touch the person, it takes into effect.”

“Whatever Serine.”

“Don’t believe me huh? Well the spell is ‘Irrisistol’,” pointed Serine. “Try it for yourself.”

Harry eyed her continuously, looking for a hint in lying in her voice and her facial expressions. To his surprise, he didn’t find it. He was starting to feel happy for once, happy that all because of his actions in the past with Serine wasn’t his fault. He could tell Hermione everything! Still…

“Ok I believe you Serine,” said Harry, still a bit upset with her actions in the past. “I still haven’t quite forgiven you about that… but I don’t want it happening again.

Understand?”

“Crystal clear!” she exclaimed. “I just hope you forgive me one day…”

“We’ll see…”

“Can I have a hug Harry?”

Harry started to approach her, but suddenly felt like it was a bad idea. The thought that she could’ve been lying her ass off the whole time still bothered him. He did, however, embrace her, ready for anything. To his surprise again, nothing happened; just a regular, simple, honest hug. He figured that this was Serine’s way confirming that she was telling the truth.

“Thanks a lot Serine,” said Harry, accepting her apology. “You’ve… actually made my day.”

“Your welcome Harry,” she answered. “Hope you and Hermione get along well in the future.” Harry fluttered his eyebrows.

“I sure hope so,” he said, thinking back terribly at the argument he just had with her. “Some Christmas week this is…”

13. Forever Friendship

Chapter 13 - Forever Friendship

Harry woke up very early the next morning. He didn’t know if it was because he was well rested or because he couldn’t sleep. He lazily got out of his bed and looked out the window; it was still dark outside and it was snowing very gently. As he rubbed his eyes awake, he thought about yesterday: deciding to give Hermione the gift he was supposed to give her on her birthday, seeing her outside alone with Xavier, getting into an argument with her, and having Serine reveal the truth to him. As happy as he was with Serine’s revelation, he made an extra attempt to avoid Hermione. After his little dilemma with her, he didn’t see her since. And to make sure he didn’t make contact with her, he decided to sleep in his old bed in the boys’ dormitories.

He walked lazily down the steps and in to the Gryffindor common room and froze halfway down when he saw a figure. It was Hermione. He was sitting to one side of the sofa, fast asleep with her head on the headrest. There was a book in her lap which told Harry that she had fallen asleep reading (not to his surprise). Harry scoffed when he saw her, shook his head in disgust and marched on, passing her on the couch and making his way to the magical wall. After saying the password to Wally (“Prime Example”) he made his way in and went straight for his room.

“Some friend I am huh?” gritted Harry through his teeth. “We’ll see about that!”

He frantically searched through his trunk at the foot of his bed and pulled out a wad of pictures. He took a moment to run through them to make sure he had the absolute best ones. Most of them were of Hermione in various poses and places. Some were formal while others looked like she was playing around and having a good time. All of them a reminder of his and her once beautiful relationship.

“Some beautiful relationship… But this should be fun,” said Harry, lining up the pictures once again an walking up to a lit candle on his desk. “Bet Hermione’s burn all my stuff. Only fair I do the same.” He tried to pry it from the holder to no avail. He put a little more force into it and finally the candle popped right out of its holder. During the struggle, two pictures fell from the stack he was holding. Harry grunted, not bothering to even look at the pictures before placing them on top of the stack.

He held the pictures in his left hand and the candle in his right. He took a deep breath before bringing the two together slowly. He held the tip of the flame right under the pictures and suddenly, he saw it; he had noticed the pictures he had dropped and was staring at one of them as though it hypnotized him. He placed the candle on the side and examined the picture.

It was obviously one of those “mistake” pictures. It was of Harry and Hermione standing by the lake and Hermione was leaning forcefully into Harry with a playful yet mischievous look on her face. Harry, looking slightly impatient yet playful himself, was gently trying to push her off and shot her a “what-are-you-thinking?” look. The real Harry couldn’t help but laugh through his nose as he remembered that day clearly; it was taken before they had become a couple.

He removed the picture and looked at the second one he had dropped. It was the exact same picture as before: same setting, same time, same people, but this was what the picture was supposed to look like. Harry had his arm around Hermione and the both of them were smiling and holding themselves formally. Although neither of them were giving a “teeth-showing” smile, they looked rather cute and you could notice the picture of them were slightly blushing as Harry brought Hermione closer to him. He went back and forth from the pictures for a while until his heart and soul jumped and turned, as though for a stunning revelation.

This is what he and Hermione were like, before the two of them went out. They were fun loving people, not love sick ones. Harry nodded, confirming that having Hermione for one his best friends, was well worth the pain and suffering he went through when they had broken up and a great gift from above. He wouldn’t give up Hermione’s friendship for anything! He sighed and walked back through the magical wall.

“Stay open for a while Wally.”

He walked and stood right in front of Hermione (she was still sleeping). He looked down at her and sighed again.

“How could I ever be mad at her?” he said, as if he was talking to someone in the room. He leaned down and put a bit of hair that was in her face behind her ear.

“You know that sitting position is a very uncomfortable looking one to sleep in,” Harry said out-loud to himself. “What to do?”

He stood and thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head.

“Oh I can’t do that!” Harry answered himself. “I can’t carry her to her room. She might wake up while I’m carrying her and take it the wrong way and probably become even more mad at me than she already is.”

He thought about another idea.

“Well it’s worth a shot,” Harry shrugged. “It’s better than my last idea.” He slowly approached Hermione and snaked his right hand through her hair and on the side of her neck, supporting it. With the other hand, he gently pushed Hermione down onto the couch so that she could lie down.

“Don’t get up, don’t get up…” Harry whispered as he lowered her down. He also put her legs up on the couch and adjusted her skirt as well, to make it cover her decently. And with luck, Hermione didn’t get up. She did, however, curl herself up in her sleep to the new comfortable position Harry had put her. She lay on her side and her hands were under her head in a prayer position, using it like a pillow.

“There, that’s better,” Harry said, as though he has just won a war. “But your hands aren’t going to cut it for a pillow.” He ran upstairs to the boys’ dormitories and came down with an extra blanket and a pillow. He gently raised Hermione’s head and placed the pillow under her before gently placing her head back down. He unfolded and spread the blanket on Hermione, covering her from the neck down and tucking her in nicely.

“There!” said Harry with a smile. “That’s much better. Sleep well Hermione.” He left her and made his way back into the private dorms. He reached into his trunk at the foot of his bed and took out his journal. He walked back into the small common room and he wrote in it furiously, telling about what he had just learned and did, also putting in his feelings here and there. He wrote for what seemed like forever. It was surprising his hand didn’t fall off from writing so much but it just kept going, as though it had a mind of its own and didn’t want to stop writing. After securely locking the book and placing it on the small coffee table in front of him, he stretched and yawned and suddenly wanted to check on Hermione.

He walked through the magical wall and saw her, still fast asleep on the couch.

“Well it’s still early,” Harry said. “Maybe I’ll go and hang around outside for awhile.”

14. The Journal

Chapter 14 - The Journal

Harry nonchalantly walked through the Fat Lady portrait and made his way to the Great Hall. It was still early, so one was in there; just a few ghosts and elves here and there. Harry went to a table on one side that had morning snacks on it. It had doughnuts, breakfast burritos, caldron cakes, granola bars, orange juice, milk, coffee, cocoa, and many other goodies. He picked up a special goblet with a coffee handle and made himself some cocoa.

He walked out of the hall, turned a corner, and almost ran through Nearly Headless Nick again.

“Oh sorry again Nick,” Harry apologized. “I should be more careful.”

“That’s quite all right,” Nick answered. “What are you doing up so early Harry?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he explained.

“Why not?”

“I… just couldn’t.”

“Hermione?” he asked. Harry chuckled slightly.

“I knew I couldn’t hide that from you,” he smiled. “But it’s ok really.”

“Are you sure?” asked Nick, his eyes full of concern.

“Well, maybe not really sure. But I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t know Harry,” Nick added. “It’s been what? About 3 months? I’ve been watching you and you don’t seem to get any better.”

“It’ll take time Nick,” explained Harry. He refused to let Nick feel sorry for him. “I’ll be fine.”

“Well, I can’t judge you otherwise Harry. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I do Nick,” Harry assured. “And I’ll be fine.”

Nick nodded. He didn’t want to argue with him because he knew he would lose.

“Where you headed now Harry?”

“Outside. I need the fresh air.”

“Right Harry,” Nick nodded. “I’ll see you around.”

***

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione slowly opened her eyes. She sat up and looked surprisingly at the blanket and pillows she was lying with.

“I don’t remember falling asleep with these,” she said, puzzled. She shrugged it off and stood up and stretched, taking out all the morning kinks. She walked to the magical wall, said the password, and walked into the private dormitories. She got dressed and noticed that Harry’s door room was open and he wasn’t in it.

“Oh,” she said sarcastically, “he’s not here. But I wonder where he could be? NO! No Hermione! You’re supposed to be mad at him, not worrying about where he could be! Ugh… He’s being such a jerk!” She scoffed, not really caring anymore.

***

As Harry stood by the lake outside sipping on his goblet of cocoa, he reflected on the past few months. He examined his surroundings: the tree he was standing under, the view of the lake, and how the scenery was covered in white patches of snow; this was the exact place where he had confessed his love to Hermione. He sighed as he sipped on his cocoa again, thinking about absolutely nothing but the scenery and how he was enjoying the fresh air.

“This is going to be one heck of a last year,” Harry said to himself. “I mean, Hermione and I were going out for about 2 years but, it seemed so much shorter than that! We’ve been broken up for about 3 months and it feels like forever! Oh well, I’m just going to have to cope with it.” The snow began to fall gently again.

“Gosh I’m so bored,” replied Harry, as though he answered someone’s question. “Maybe I’ll build a snowman or something to keep myself occupied.”

***

Hermione sat in the small private common room with her arms and legs crossed. She was thinking about Harry’s actions the day before.

“How dare he say that!” she exclaimed, “I’m only using logic here! I see him with another girl and he comes up with an excuse that he can’t get away!? Not any human being in their right mind would believe that! Then he said not to bring my brainy bull into this!? How dare him!”

Through her enragement, her eyes did manage to catch something on the coffee table in front of her. It was a familiar looking red and gold leather bound book with a two inch spine. When she had read the small cursive writing on the cover that said “Harry Potter”, she realized why it looked so familiar to her. This was the book she had given him long before they had gone out. Her intention was to let him write in it, but she never thought he’d actually use it.

Hermione picked it up and examined it with wide eyes. She remembered the security of the book and had fun trying to mess the life out of it. She laughed as she looked at the book again after torturing it for a bit; it remained good as new. An evil grin flashed her face. In her hands were probably Harry’s heart’s most desires and his deepest darkest secrets.

“Oh no I can’t do that,” she reasoned. “That’ll definitely invade his total privacy. Besides, Harry wouldn’t do the same if it were me right?” She eyed the book hungrily again. As clever and good-hearted as Hermione was, her anxiety was way too high to pass on an opportunity like this. “Well, maybe just a peek. Just one page and that’s it.” She took the wand out of her pocket and pointed it at the book.

“Unlockinus!” she said, unlocking the book. She heard and felt the familiar click of the book. This was probably the best think about buying this thing for Harry: she knew about all the secrets to it. Of course, she never told Harry this. She was beginning to wonder if her original intention was not to tell him or if she had forgotten completely. Making herself comfortable on the couch, she opened the book and ran through the pages, noticing that they were all blank.

“Oh, almost forgot,” she said, as she turned to the first page “Markinus!” Slowly at first and gradually getting faster, the words appeared one by one, revealing the familiar writing that was Harry’s. When she was certain that all the words had appeared, she fanned through the book again. She was, however, surprised that only the first chunk of pages were filled, which told her that Harry had only used the book recently.

“Wonder what persuaded him to only start now?” she asked herself. After checking the magical wall and scanning the room, just to make sure Harry or anyone else for that matter, was no where in sight, she took a deep breath, and started to read Harry‘s journal nervously with excitement:

Dear Journal,

There are things that happen in our lives that affect us so greatly, that it replays over and over in our heads. I especially remember how and when I admitted my true feeling to one on my best friends, Hermione Granger. I would love to write about how we came to be, but I have other issues on my mind right now.

I guess I should start with this year. It starts off with the same and normal year as before, with me, Ron, and Hermione sticking together, but like our 5th and 6th year, this one is a little different. Hermione and I have been a happy couple of about 2 years. I can’t think of another time where I’ve ever felt that happy before. I guess going out with Hermione has been quite an experience for me; we share this one special kiss that I am very fond of (about 5 open-mouth kisses followed by me kissing her softly on the forehead and then resting mine on hers with both our eyes closed for a moment. There‘s something very special about that that I can’t explain…) AND she’s not the sweet little innocent girl that I thought she would be. You’d be surprised at the vivid things she brings on to me. A simple thing like a stare from her could drive me wild up to a point to where, I swear I’d come in my pants. We fooled around in various places in Hogwarts: in the kitchens late night, in the common room, on the steps leading to the dormitories, just beyond the doors of the Great Hall, outside by the lake, and just about every other place you could think of besides the trash bins! Sadly, we aren’t allowed to have intercourse because of a curse that Hermione has cast on herself. I don’t know if she really wants it, or if she’s just teasing me sometimes.

We’ve fought a few times, like I’m sure all couples do, and we kiss and make up. Just before a meeting with Professor Dumbledore that she and I had to attend, we had a small and childish fight about immaturity. And speaking about that meeting, it was so that she and I were introduced to our own private and secret dormitories specially for Head Boy and Head Girl in the Gryffindor common room. What a nice place it is too! It was private, spacious, and well out of reach of anyone else, meaning that we had extra time to be alone It did, however, challenge me in a way; I caught myself several times almost pouncing on Hermione and taking her right then and there. It really wasn’t my fault! She purposefully kept giving me glances that said, “Come here and fuck me Harry”. Our lives went on completely normal, until disaster struck.

A Ravenclaw girl by the name of Serine Marshal that I knew by name, but not really by face, came up to Ron and I and wanted to talk alone. JUST TALK? That’s what I thought. She was quite pretty (NO! I assure you NOT as pretty as Hermione) and seemed like a nice person. Boy was I dead wrong! When Ron left the both of us alone, she told me that she had a crush on me for like forever and asked me out on a date. I had to turn her down because I knew that Hermione would probably not like the sound of that. But Serine kept pushing it, asking me if I thought she was pretty and why I said no. She even hinted to cheat on Hermione! As if I would ever do that! Then suddenly, she backs me into a wall and I can’t run. Honestly! I cannot move a muscle! As stupid and as dumb and as hard it is to believe that, it’s true! I really can’t explain it. It felt like I was bound in something, like I was tied up with rope. I tried and tried and resisted Serine as she was so close to forcing a kiss on me. Then, the last person I want to see at the moment, shows up.

I was basically caught in the act, even if I wasn’t doing anything. Of course, anyone in Hermione’s position would suspect that I was going to cheat. Serine played it off quite nicely. I wanted to smack that innocent look off her face! Serine left me just about as fast as Hermione had shown up, her eyes filled with rage and shock. We started fighting again. I did everything I could to tell Hermione that I wasn’t cheating on her. Telling her that Serine asked me out and that I said no and I would never to anything like that. I’m surprised that she didn’t ask how come that I wasn’t trying to pull away and I’m glad that she didn’t. How do you explain to your girlfriend that you can’t pull away? Then I did the one thing that I knew would redeem myself: I made her look into my eyes. Over the past 2 years, Hermione had gotten the skill of reading them expertly. I don’t know how she does it, but…she just can. I could be the best actor in the word and she would stare into my eyes and know immediately if I was lying or not. After reading my eyes, she knew that I was telling the truth and I didn’t have any intention on cheating with Serine. She forgave me, we kissed and made up yet again. I couldn’t have been any happier for that.

The next day, Ron couldn’t get off my back about what happened between me and Serine. He asked continuously what happened up to a point to were I told him, just to shut him up. I told him everything up to where that she was feeling up on me and that I couldn’t move. Of course, he made a great deal of fun to me about it, saying that why would I possibly want to move if a good looking girl was rubbing up on me. As soon as Ron had a good laugh about it, he agreed that Serine was just being a bitch. Then he told me something that I would’ve never expected he would say to me. He gave me this one piece of knowledge: “Cheating is whatever your boyfriend/girlfriend sees as cheating. If you think that guiltless hand-holding or a innocent kiss on the cheek to a fellow witch/wizard is harmless, and your boyfriend/girlfriend sees it as cheating, then that’s cheating.”

Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, it does. If one time wasn’t bad enough, Serine had to go ahead and do hit on me again. She did just that: backing me into a wall and rubbing herself mercilessly into me. Once again, I tried to escape, to run away, but I had the same results: I couldn’t move a muscle. She moaned and screamed my name in the hall, apparently not caring if anyone would hear. Its like she wanted someone to hear her. Then, the unthinkable happened. I regret every moment of it and I feel sick to my stomach when I am reminded of it. Serine had seduced me. I was breathing hard and meeting her rubs. I really don’t know what came over me. I truly think that my body gave in before my mind could and my body told me that it was Hermione pleasuring me, when in actuality, it was Serine. I guess you could say that we were fooling around at most. I got a hard hit mentally in the head. That wasn’t Hermione I was with! I was close to cheating on her! I didn’t give in to Serine and I tried to pull away again. Still, Serine wouldn’t give it up. Then, once again the person that spotted us, was the one person I didn’t want to see: Hermione.

I don’t really have to explain what happened next. Hermione runs in opposite direction, Harry sees her and tries to get to her, blah, blah, blah. Something did surprise me though. I actually broke free from Serine’s grip. It felt a lot like breaking free of a curse or something and my effort seemed to be working. I think the need to get to Hermione was fueling me. It felt a lot like breaking out of a binding rope, slowly loosening until I broke free. I sprinted after Hermione, leaving Serine way behind.

I caught up with Hermione and found her outside by the lake, curled into a ball. She was whimpering nonstop. I can still hear her sobs… We went, of course, in the “talking and explaining” mode.

I tried to explain to her, saying that I wasn’t my fault but she wouldn’t listen or accept an explanation. She did catch me one time, and a second time really had it! She was saying that I wanted to cheat on her and I said that I would never cheat on her and it was all a big misunderstanding. She did get me stuck at one point, she asked why I didn’t get away from Serine when she was all over me. If course, I didn’t answer her. If I told her that I couldn’t get away, she would’ve probably died of disbelief. We went back and forth, arguing constantly, to a point were I swear I would’ve slapped some sense into her. She cried when I raised my voice at her, louder than I’ve ever raised it before to her, or to anyone in that matter. I felt so bad ever raising my voice to her. But what can I say? It was her fault I was yelling at her. If maybe she listened, then maybe I wouldn’t be yelling.

I told her as truthfully as I could that I was sorry. To my surprise, she really didn’t believe me. I went to my last resort: I asked her to look into my eyes. I watched her as her brown eyes examined my eyes carefully. Surprisingly to the millionth power, she said that she didn’t see a ounce of truth in them. I couldn’t believe it! There was never a time where I felt so sorry in my life! In desperation, I asked her to look again. Same examining look in her eyes… same answer I got from her. I can still feel the tears running down my face as she… called off the relationship between us. Yes, she did break up with me. If I lived, after jumping off the highest building ever, I think it wouldn’t match the pain I felt after Hermione broke up with me… She told me to go…so I did… I went. It really was a lot longer than that, I just don’t want to relive it. I’m sure you get the idea.

I retreated to the boys dormitories to think about what went down. I have never cried so much in my entire life. I felt like such a baby. Why didn’t Hermione see the truth in my eyes? I think it was because I actually almost gave in to Serine. I probably had “guilty” written all over my eyes. To make things worse, it’s two days before Hermione’s birthday. Two days where we were supposed to make love. Because of a special curse Hermione cast upon herself I had to wait for 2 solid years for her 17th birthday and it had to end 2 days before I could take action. How pathetic is that?

Ron had shown up and saw me crying like a baby. Of course, he asked what was wrong and I, of course, told him. He couldn’t believe it himself. But the nerve of that guy to even ask if I was joking! My eyes were blood red, I had tears running down my face, and I was sobbing like someone had died and he asked if I was joking!? Luckily, I was way to weak from crying to do anything, or else Ron might just be in the hospital wing right now. Adelle came in to join us; probably hearing my cries as well. I told her everything I told Ron. The difference was that she believed me a lot more than Ron did, accepting that I couldn’t run from Serine. Ron wouldn’t give it up.

I went to a last resort to prove myself. I asked Adelle to sit and I told her not to move. I walked to Ron and cast a Petrificus Totalus spell on him, making him as stiff as a board. I whispered sexual comments to Ron about Adelle and taunted him, but only so that he could hear me. I could almost feel the punches that were ready to fly because Ron was so mad. Of course he couldn’t because he was petrified. It was quite funny actually…

I set Ron free and proved my point to him. “That’s exactly what it felt like Ron!” He did ask, why I didn’t tell Hermione that Serine cast a spell on me. It was because I had no idea what she had on me!

Ron, Adelle and I talked a little more before I told them I needed time to myself. They left and I was left alone thinking about what my future would become. Even after talking about it with friends, I still felt… incomplete. This is where the journal comes in. Hermione gave me this book in 5th year, before we went out and it lay buried in my trunk for about 2 years. I give her credit really; she seems to always know what can make you feel better. I’m glad she gave this to me and I finally have a good use for it. After writing in this, I feel so much better. I’m hoping that this is what’ll keep me sane in some distressed times.

Signed,

Harry Potter

Hermione blinked a couple of times before all of the words had registered into her head. To think, Harry did just begin to use the book. She couldn’t believe that Harry could write with such authority.

Many questions had been racing through her head and many of them were answered, assuming that Harry spoke the truth in the journal. So that’s what their special little kiss was called to him! She did consider to herself that that certain kiss was special, but she never talked to him about it. They just… knew. Then came the flirtations with Serine. She was flattered that Harry tried with all his might to escape from her, however, she was not too pleased with him almost giving into her. It was no wonder Harry didn’t answer her when she asked why he didn’t get away; Harry didn’t know what happened exactly either. He was just as confused as she, Ron, and Adelle were. The passage ended with Harry writing his thoughts and feelings into a journal. The first passage was very long, taking about 4 pages, from the time they went out, to the time they broke up. Why didn’t Harry ever write this much on a Transfiguration essay?

Questions still remained unanswered though. Why was it that she didn’t find the truth in Harry’s eyes like she did countless times before? Harry wouldn’t say that he was telling the truth when he really wasn’t. It just isn’t him…

Hermione felt really anxious after reading the first passage. She did promise herself that she was going to read one part and that was it, but the tension and mood were too high to pass on an opportunity like this. She took a deep breath, and her fingers fumbled nervously as she turned the page.

***

Harry had just finished building his snowman. There was nothing too special about it, just an ordinary snowman, complete with black rocks for eyes, an “Accio”ed carrot for a nose, and an old winter hat. He built him right in the notorious spot that Harry had come to know as.

“There,” he sighed, as if he just had the roughest game of Quidditch, “done.” He sat down next to the snowman and looked out into the frozen lake.

“Ahhh, it’s such a beautiful morning isn’t it?” said Harry, in a way of expecting the snowman to answer. “Wonder how the giant squid is doing in that frozen lake?”

***

Hermione looked at a new passage in Harry’s journal. It was much shorter than the first, but her curiosity was greater than when she read the first one. She made no hesitation to read:

Dear Journal,

I had a talk with Hermione. (Surprising isn’t it?) I thought it would be way longer than a few hours after she broke up with me. Of course, I wasn’t complaining. The sooner I talked to her, the sooner that I may have a chance of feeling better right?

Out of all the places to take me, she had to take me to the spot where she dumped me. That made the sickness in my stomach come back. As if it would be like a total effect on me or something. We both agreed that it was going to be different, now that we weren’t going out any more. And we both agreed that we could never forget all that happened between us. So, we concluded that we were going to be friends again. The platonic relationship we probably had since Ron and I saved her from that troll. I have no problem with that. It’s just going to be hard you know, no more kisses, probably not as much hugs, no fooling around, no more staying up late, no more late night kissing sessions, the list goes on and on. But it’s not going to be exactly the same…

As things were going good and smoothly, Hermione had to mess everything up. She assumed that I left her for Serine. What’d I tell her about assuming!? It makes an ass out of you and me! And it sure as hell did! Even when I told her directly that I didn’t have any feelings at all toward Serine, she still doubted me! I hated being insulted like that from her.

If that was bad, Adelle had to make me feel worse. She asked me if I really did love Hermione and not to just see what was she like in bed! Ok, first off, who waits 2 years to have someone in bed? Some sicko would have already left to find someone else that’s easier. Second, she saw how I was with her in school. If I paid as much attention in class as much as I did to Hermione… then I’d be a genius! I had never been so insulted before in my life! However, Adelle and I did clear her question about my faithfulness to Hermione, so there’s no bad vibes between us.

Signed,

Harry Potter

Tears had slowly rolled down Hermione’s face as she read this passage. First, she had to read and relive one of the hardest ordeals in her life. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Harry anymore, it was that she thought Harry didn’t love her. From what she was reading, she was dead wrong. Second, she felt bad and stupid for assuming that Harry had left her for Serine. Her hands did seem to have a mind of its own as they turned the page and onto the next passage.

Dear Journal,

Well… the day is finally here: Hermione’s birthday. I know it sounds like that I’m not excited, but really I am. You’re probably thinking I hate this day because today was the day we were supposed to have sex. Ina way, you’re right. But I don’t want that to get to me. Today is the day that Hermione was born, for if about 9 months ago her mother and father didn’t conceive, I wouldn’t know the sweet and admirable Hermione that I know today (I’ll have to thank Mr. and Mrs. Granger one day…)

Yesterday at breakfast, a Hufflepuff girl came up to us and asked Hermione if we were still going out. I was really anxious to hear her answer, even though I knew what the answer was. I was stunned by the look on Hermione’s face when she was asked, like she didn’t want to say the truth to her. More so, she hesitated to answer. I don’t blame her though, I wouldn’t want to answer something like that in front of Hermione either.

I saw Hermione wide awake this morning and I went ahead and gave her the gift. No, not the gift that I was supposed to give her, instead I gave her un-melting chocolates and a rose. Nothing too big, but I hope it still showed that I care. From the look on her face, she loved it and gave me a kiss on the cheek in return (a friendly one I might add). It felt so good to receive it because it was the first time in a long time that I felt the softness of her lips. Looks like I’ll be saving the gift for that special someone if she comes along on day. But I seriously doubt that.

Hermione and I talked for awhile before she said the one thing that felt like a dagger pierce my heart and twist, spreading the wound unmercifully. Hermione has found solace in another man. Well, she didn’t say it directly, but indirectly she did. “I think someone is hitting on me.” is what she said, if I remember correctly. The look on her face was priceless, the same look I saw when I looked at her in class. She told me he was in her Arithmancy class and his name is Xavier Blake. I haven’t met the guy, but if Hermione likes him, he really must be something. I tried so hard not to cry in front of her. She had gotten over me so fast; I expected it to be longer than that. This was one thing that was inevitable because it was bound to happen one day.

I told Ron about it and he couldn’t believe it. He thinks that unless Hermione actually says that she likes him, then she doesn’t until then. But that’s just the contrast of the way we think. I go by looks and feelings, Ron goes by word and proof.

That night, Ron and I surprised her with a birthday cake. We ate it like little children. I swear, since Hermione and I were together, we hardly had time to spend, just the three of us. Looks like we may end up making up for it though.

Ron left for bed, leaving me and Hermione alone. He just won’t quit, even though I think I already have. Hermione asked what I was feeling, after a few after the breakup. I told her what I told the Hufflepuff girl, “My heart is still sore, but I’ll manage”. I even told her that I cry myself to sleep sometimes. She told me that crying was sweet and she loves it when guys show emotion; probably what Xavier is doing to her now.

She said that she wanted to hang a bit after I told her that she better get to bed; again, probably a late night sneaking out with Xavier. The main event of the night is when she asked for a good night kiss. I thought about the deep meaning of her offer and I almost gave her a real kiss. You could say that she led me on, but instead, I kissed her on the cheek. Is it just me, or is she being obnoxious?

Signed,

Harry Potter

Hermione couldn’t help but shed a few more tears from this passage. There was something about the way Harry wrote. It was like he could capture a certain moment in time and retell it perfectly.

More questions raced through Hermione’s head. The “gift” Harry had given her, even though it was really sweet of him, wasn’t really the gift that he intended on giving her. What was it that he was supposed to give?

It hurt her a bit that Harry assumed himself that she had a crush on Xavier. Still, it was a bit funny that he thought they did such things as late night “meetings”. It also pained her to feel the suffering Harry was going through. She had looked at him everyday since the breakup and he started from a mess and gradually looked to be quite… ok. Maybe she would have to see his eyes again, just to make sure. She didn’t even think about the consequences as she turned the page to the next passage:

Dear Journal,

Even though Christmas is supposed to be a time of celebration and happiness, I felt the total opposite. Ron, being the prat that he is, left me and Hermione alone for the winter holidays. I was actually considering giving Hermione the gift I was supposed to give her. Instead, I gave her some cheap gift that she probably tossed.

A few days later, I woke up because of a dream that has been bothering me for days. Someone or something kept telling me to just give the gift up to Hermione. I got dressed quickly, stuffed the black box into my robes, and hurried downstairs. I almost bumped, or rather ran through, Sir Nicholas. He said that he saw someone with Hermione outside. Immediately, my stomach lurched.

After popping though the main doors to get outside, what I saw basically confirmed my assumptions. The exact spot where I confessed my love for Hermione, a guy that I’ve never seen before was leaning on the tree, apparently defending himself from Hermione because she was throwing snowballs at him. He was a few inches taller than Hermione with his hair combed back. I automatically suggested that the guy Hermione was with was Xavier Blake.

I watched the two of them sadly as they threw snowballs back and forth at each other. The both of them, especially Hermione, looked very… happy. I think I never saw Hermione have that much fun since she had broke up with me. I think I feel the tears starting to build up again and I realized that now was not a good time to give a gift to Hermione. I retreated slowly, hoping that she wouldn’t see me. To my luck, she did because she called my name.

She raced toward me, with her mate following close behind her. She noticed the box in my hand and asked what it was. I quickly stuffed it into my robes and stated that it was nothing. Luckily, she didn’t mention about it again. She introduced me to the guy standing behind her. Like what I thought, his name was Xavier Blake and he seemed like a really nice guy. There must be something very special about the guy if Hermione’s so fond of him.

Strangely, she excused Xavier to talk to me privately. I thought about what it would be because it must be important if she had to excuse her boyfriend. On the contrary, it wasn’t that important at all. She asked if I was dating Serine. As if! As if I would date someone like that! She admitted that there was probably something with Xavier that she hadn’t felt yet. If my heart could break anymore, it shattered beyond repair. More so, she asked if I ever cheated on her, thinking that I would come out with the “truth” since it’s been awhile since we broke up. Of course, that’s what I told her, the truth. I didn’t cheat on her. She, on the other hand, took it as a mere lie, saying that it was hard to believe and with all this bogus bullcrap about how it wasn’t logical. Of all times, she had to go ahead and bring her brain into all this. If she doesn’t want to believe me, she doesn’t have to. I know that I told the truth, and that fits fine with me… God, I was so pissed that I turned my back on her and stormed out, wishing her and Xavier a happy life…

Signed,

Harry Potter

Hermione slammed the book shut. Her breathing was sharp and tense. Just reading the last couple of sentences really got her temper up.

“Damn you Harry!” she gritted through her teeth. “Why do you insult me like that? Is it because you like it? Or is it because your mind is too occupied dating Serine?” Hermione flinched at her last sentence, feeling that it was not… right. She opened Harry’s journal and reread the last paragraph until she came up to, “As if! As if I would date someone like that! She admitted that there was probably something with Xavier that she hadn’t felt yet. If my heart could break anymore, it shattered beyond repair. More so, she asked if I ever cheated on her, thinking that I would come out with the “truth” since it’s been awhile since we broke up. Of course, that’s what I told her, the truth. I didn’t cheat on her.”

Hermione felt tears build up n her eyes. Harry had been telling the truth to her all along, she was just too stupid to see it. Harry wasn’t going out with Serine and he didn’t cheat on her when they were dating. She sniffled, wiped her eyes and casually went on to the next passage. Hermione noticed that this passage continued from the last one, as if Harry wasn’t at all done with it. Hermione wondered why.

Journal,

Sorry, I was so racked up with being angry at Hermione that I didn’t get a chance to write this piece of information down.

Guess who I bumped into as I walked away from Hermione? That’s right: Serine. I old her to stay away from me because I was already pissed and I didn’t want her to be a homicide victim. She asked if I was pissed because of Hermione. I responded with a yes. Astonishingly, there was no sexual tension, no flirting, no “Serine” stuff. I kept my guard up even more.

To another astounding revelation, Serine apologized for what she had done to me before. She said that she was really sorry and the funny thing about it was, she really looked it. She told me that I was about the most faithful and most loyal to any girl she had ever come across and because if that, she respected me even more. Most guys that she went after who already had girlfriends, didn’t even think about what they were doing and got in bed with Serine immediately; I quote her on that.

Then she told me the one thing that was basically bothering me since forever. She told me she cast a resisting spell on me. As unbelievable as that sounded to meat the time, it made sense. I felt “tied” down to her and it did feel like some sort of “magical” force was behind it. The thing that got to her was that I was so in love with Hermione, so faithful to her, that it was the only thing that could break the spell. Serine explained that the thing that made it so special was that the spell could be used without a wand… kind of. You cast the spell on yourself and whoever you touch, the spell starts to take place.

Even though I half forgave her, I made it clear that I never wanted that to happen ever again. Why she ever wanted to break me and Hermione up or whatever her reason was, I may never find out. She offered me a hug and of course, I was skeptical. The hug was innocent though, just a friendly and “I’m sorry, hope you forgive me” hug. Probably a final way of saying she was telling the truth.

I need to be getting to bed. I really don’t want to think about Hermione right now. Maybe a good night sleep will get my mind off her.

Signed,

Harry Potter

Hermione read and reread the passage over and over again, feeling joy and happiness fill her heart. It was so long since she felt so happy, that she almost forgot what it felt like. She found out everything she needed to know: Harry wasn’t cheating on her when they were going out and she knew why Harry didn’t back away from Serine. It wasn’t his fault! He was under the influence of magic.

“Harry was…” she mumbled, “telling the truth the whole time… about everything. And I was being such an ass and no seeing it! I knew it was too weird to be true. Harry would never lie to me. Because of me, I shattered his heart, and his heart was innocent the whole time. I’ll never forgive myself for that…” She wiped a tear from under her eye as she turned to the next entry. She noticed that this was the last one that Harry had written:

Dear Journal,

I woke up unusually early this morning because something is constantly bothering me. I’m thinking that I failed to give the gift to Hermione. Maybe there’s a reason why I’m not giving it to her. I slept in the original boy’s dormitories. I was still kind of upset at Hermione and there was no way that I was looking forward to come face to face with her anytime soon. Anyway, I woke up and walked down to the common room to find none other than, yes you guessed it, Hermione. Only that she was fast asleep on the couch, resting her head on the headrest. Unlike what you may be thinking, the sight of seeing her aggravated me. I thought about what she had said when I turned my back on her: “Some friend you are!”. Yeah I would see how great of a friend I was…

I raced into my private dorm and pulled out pictures that I have stashed away. Most of them were of Hermione, posing in various positions and looking very pretty indeed. Still, I had a huge hate for Hermione still. I struggled to pry a candle from its holder, intending on burning the pictures with no remorse. During the struggle, 2 pictures fell out. I casually picked them up and placed them on top of the stack when I noticed the pictures I had dropped.

The first one was of Hermione and me. She was irritably leaning forcefully on me with a grin on her face. I had an irritated, yet playful look on my face and gently pushed her a bit. We both laughed together in the picture afterward. The second picture was exactly the same, only I had my arm around her and we both looked like we were blushing, more me than her, as I moved closer to her. Though we weren’t giving “teeth” smiles, it looked… cute.

I went back and forth between the pictures, as if examining them carefully. I remembered exactly when these pictures were taken; in our 5th year, but way before we were going out. Then it hit me! This wasn’t about romantic relationships anymore. This was about love of friendship, where no one gets left behind, when it’s strictly platonic. I slapped myself in the head really hard. How could I even think of ruining or ending a relationship with Hermione! Let alone burn pictures of her. Hey, if I can’t still go out with her, she at least still wants to be my friend and I wanted to throw it away because I was being selfish! How stupid can I get?

I walked back to the couch where Hermione was sleeping still. She looked so beautiful sleeping like that, but nonetheless, she looked really uncomfortable in that sleeping position. Hey, I tried being a good boyfriend to her, but that obviously didn’t work out. The least I can do is be a good friend to her, right? I considered carrying her to her room, but realized that if she woke up, she would probably take it the wrong way and be even more mad at me than she probably already was. Instead, I carefully lay her on the couch and propped her feet up comfortably. I ran upstairs, grabbed a, extra pillow and blanket and tucked her into the couch. I retreated back to the private dorms and this is where I am now.

I’ve decided not to tell Hermione about me tucking her in. Why? For some reason, I can’t answer that one, I just won’t, or can’t. If she asks, well… I’m still going to say that I didn’t and it was probably someone else. I mean, it’s not that important anyway. Speaking of not telling anything, I’ve also decided not to tell Hermione about the spell that Serine had cast on me. As dumb and idiotic as that may sound, I think it would be for the best. She hasn’t brought it up anymore and I don’t think it’s a good idea that I do that as well. She may take it as some excuse I just made up to get out of it, plus, I don‘t have any proof except for m y word. I mean, she hasn’t believed me in anything since we broke up, I don’t think she’ll start now just because I happen to have an alibi saying that Serine used powering magic on me. I tell Hermione, she may blow up from taking any more “lies” from me.

I made my final decision: I am going to be straight-forward friends with Hermione, even though she may not consider me as her friend. I want to go back to how it was before and I hope that she feels the same way. If we so go out again, then that’s ok. If we don’t, then that’s ok too. If it wasn’t or our friendship, we wouldn’t have gone out in the first place. We may have been lovers that failed, but I have about 7 years of friendship with Hermione, and I wouldn’t want to throw that away for anything.

Love you forever Hermione Granger,

Harry Potter

Hermione shut the book for the final time, tears running freely down her face.

15. Harry's Gift

Chapter 15 - Harry’s Gift

Hermione placed Harry’s journal back on the coffee table, ran to her room, fell face forward onto her bed and broke down. She had never cried like this in her life. She was getting mixed feelings of guilt, anger, happiness, confusion, stupidity, and joy.

First, she was wrong. For the first time in Hermione Granger’s life, she was wrong. She was wrong about Harry, how he didn’t cheat, having no intention of cheating on her, and saying no when she had asked him. She had no feeling in her body. Getting yelled at or blamed for something that one didn’t do is one thing, but the person who shouts and blames the person takes the hit when they find out that they were wrong in the first place.

Hermione experienced this at full blast. She continued to cry, not thinking about anything except how she couldn’t be any more sorry to Harry.

After a very long and good cry, she walked back into the little common room and opened Harry’s journal once again, reading the last passage over, just to confirm it in her brain. She noticed something she hadn’t the first time: at the bottom-right corner of the page, there was a word written: “Irrisistol” followed by a dash and “Serine’s spell”. For the first time, Hermione smiled, knowing exactly what that was. Assuming that all in Harry’s journal was true, this was the spell that Serine had used on Harry.

“Maybe… this’ll be… of good use…” Hermione sniffed, wiping a last tear from her face and walked back into the Prefect common room. Just then, the door to the secret common room disappeared and Harry walked right in, his robes still with a bit of snowflakes on it.

“Oh hello Hermione,” said Harry as he tried to dust the snowflakes away. “I didn’t see…” but he didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence because Hermione had given him a weak smile, put her head in her hands and broke down happily into tears. To Harry at that moment, it didn’t sound like she was crying happily.

“Hermione, what’s the matter?” exclaimed Harry with concern, running over to her and putting both hands on each of her shoulders. She dropped her hands and looked up at him, the same smile still on her face. But before she could answer, Harry withdrew his hands and took a step back; his concerned face replaced with a “oh… that’s right. Why didn‘t I see it before?” look.

“Don’t tell me Hermione,” started Harry, his voice suddenly feeling weak. “Tears of happiness huh? Well, I knew that Xavier would’ve said something sooner or later. So… where you two going on a first date?”

Immediately, Hermione’s face went from happiness to confusion. She eyed Harry in shock, having no idea what he was talking about.

“Harry, what on Earth are you going on about now?” she asked. It sounded a bit harsher that she had intended. Harry looked like Hermione had just slapped him in the face.

“You’re right Hermione,” apologized Harry. “That’s none of my business.” He walked toward the fireplace and squatted in front of it to try and get warm.

“I guess I’m just… well… a bit surprised that you’ve moved on quickly and found yourself a nice boyfriend already,” continued Harry, with his back still toward Hermione. “Wish I could do that.” He gazed into the fire briefly before standing up and looking at Hermione again.

“Hold on Hermione,” said Harry holding a hand up to her as she was about to speak, “I want to give you something.” Hermione stared at him, not sure if she was excited or scared at what he was planning to give her. Harry walked past her and into his room briefly before coming out again with a black box about the size of a wand in his hand.

That’s the same box Harry had a few days ago, thought Hermione. Harry stood in front of her and took a deep breath, finding out exactly what to say.

“Look Hermione,” he started nervously, holding the black box out in front of her, “I was supposed to give this to you on your 17th birthday. But, due to unexpected events, I couldn’t.” She nodded, knowing that the “unexpected event” was when she broke up with him, days before her birthday. Harry nodded back at her as if saying that he knew that she understood before continuing.

“Even though my intent was to give it to you when we were a couple and… since we are no longer, I… still want you to have this,” he said as he handed the black box to her.

She took it from him and with very shaky hands, she opened it slowly. Hermione couldn’t help but gasp under her breath as she saw its contents. Inside was a thin ruby necklace, with an “H” for a pendant about the size of a half dollar. She took it out of the box and examined it delicately like she was handling glass.

“It’s yours,” explained Harry, not looking into Hermione‘s eyes. “If you want it, keep it. If you don’t…” Harry didn’t finish his sentence; he gave a very depressing shrug instead.

“It’s a Binding Love necklace,” he explained as Hermione still eyed it, trying not to look at her at all. “They say that if you give it to the one you truly love and that person loves you back, the necklace is supposed to glow.” He sadly walked over to one of the couches and sat in it, completely out of sight of Hermione because his eyes were slowly filling tears and he didn’t want Hermione to see - see how stupid he was and what a weak person he was. He wiped his face dry quickly, hoping that Hermione didn‘t notice.

“Why don’t you give it to Xavier?” asked Harry, trying not to sound to disappointed. “Maybe you can see what that glow is supposed to look like.”

“Harry…” said Hermione softly from behind him.

“No, go ahead and give it to him. Remember, it’s not mine anymore so you can do whatever you want with it.”

“Harry…” she repeated, a little louder than before. “Look…”

He gave one final wipe to his eyes before taking a deep breath, standing up and turning around.

16. The Truth

Chapter 16 - The Truth

Harry’s mouth dropped to the ground because the sight that he saw was one that he did not expect. Hermione stood before him, smiling and blushing furiously as the necklace Harry had given her was glowing very brightly. Harry walked over to her, squinting his eyes from the blinding light and looking down at the necklace with a quizzical look.

“Oh gosh,” Harry said, scratching the back of his head. “I’m terribly sorry Hermione, it’s broken. I should’ve known that the guy that sold this to me was ripping me off.”

Hermione let out a groan of impatience.

“Harry,” she said, putting her hand under his chin to make him look into her eyes. Those eyes, thought Hermione, its been so long since I’ve seen them. They’ve gotten so much more gorgeous these past few months. Hermione swallowed before continuing. “What did you tell me this necklace is supposed to do?”

“What?” he asked, feeling a bit awkward that Hermione was holding his face to make him look at her… into those eyes… I miss you so much Hermione, he thought.

“What’s this necklace supposed to do?” she repeated. “You said something about giving it to…”

“The person you love,” finished Harry. “And if the person loves you back, then its supposed to glow.”

“Well?” said Hermione, motioning toward the item around her neck. “Don’t you see anything Harry?”

“Yeah I know it’s glowing Hermione,” he answered, thinking that she thought he was stupid. Not only was she already with someone else, but now she had to rub in the fact that Harry couldn’t have been anymore cheap by giving her an out of order gift. “But its broken.”

“What makes you say that?” she asked, waiting anxiously for an answer.

“Well…” muttered Harry, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable and scratching is head again, “its not supposed to be glowing.”

“Why?”

“Because…” Harry muttered something that wasn’t very audible.

“What was that Harry?”

“Because… you… don’t… love me… anymore,” he replied in a very soft whisper. “It’s only supposed to glow when you give it to the one you love and he or she loves you back.” There was a long silence before Hermione spoke.

“The necklace isn’t broken Harry,” she explained, stepping closer to him. “I still love you Harry, and the glow on this necklace proves it.” Harry felt a shiver go down his spine as his ears registered what Hermione had said. His face was filled with mixed feelings of bewilderment and happiness. Hermione knew this, because Harry’s emerald green eyes never lied.

“But what about…”

“Never mind that Harry.” Hermione interrupted by putting a finger to his lips. “Forget the past. Forget about the cheating. Forget Serine, forget Xavier, forget the fights, forget the misunderstandings,… and forget that I ever broke up with you…”

“What?”

“I was the foolish and stupid one Harry,” she admitted. “I was stupid for ever thinking that you would ever cheat on me. But now I know the truth, and I’m sorry.” Harry was feeling happier by the minute, much happier than he had ever felt in the past few months. But there were still some things that didn’t make sense.

“Why the change of mind all of a sudden? I mean, what made you change your mind?” he asked.

“Well,” started Hermione innocently, putting both her hands on his shoulders and rubbing them subtlety, “how does… ‘Irrisistol!’ sound?” It took Harry a few seconds before he realized what she had done. His eyebrows dropped and suddenly, he felt very disgusted.

“You read my journal!?” he shouted, his voice echoing the secret common room.

“I did,” she said nonchalantly.

“What did you do that for!?” he asked, the same intensity in his voice. Hermione removed her arms from his shoulders and took a step back as a reaction. She was shocked at what his reaction was. Sure she knew he was going to get mad, but not like this!

“I didn’t think you’d mind…” she said in an apologetic way, her voice in a soft whisper.

“DIDN’T THINK I’D MIND! OF COURSE I’D MIND! HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF I READ YOUR DIARY!? READ ALL YOUR SECRETS AND DESIRES!?”

Hermione didn’t answer. It was her turn to be on the receiving end as she bowed her head and tried hard not to cry.

“I don’t believe this,” Harry said, shaking his head. “I’m out of here.” He wanted to turn around and get out of the room, feeling too appalled with Hermione to even look at her, when suddenly… he couldn’t. He stood there a few moments, feeling very stupid.

“I thought you were leaving?” said Hermione scornfully, not lifting her head up.

“I was,” retorted Harry. “But as stupid as this may sound as much as I look, I… can’t.”

Immediately, Hermione’s head shot up to him. She remembered what she had said a few moments ago… “Irrisistol”…

“What are you smiling at me for?” Harry asked, seeing the small smile on Hermione’s face. “Help me!”

“You can’t leave Harry,” she explained.

“And why not?” he said, in a way that Hermione would say it.

“You’re under a spell Harry… I accidentally used Serine’s spell on you ,” she said, walking closer to him.

“This is just great!” said Harry angrily. “Do you know the counter-curse for this?”

“I want to give you something too Harry,” she replied, ignoring Harry’s question and coming so close to him that Harry could properly examine her face. It was wet from fresh tears he had not seen Hermione shed.

“I don’t need anything from you in return Hermione,” said Harry. “Just keep the necklace as a token.”

“You want nothing from me?” she asked, pressing her forehead to Harry.

“No Hermione. Nothing.”

“Not even… me?”

17. Hermione's Gift

Chapter 17 - Hermione’s Gift

Harry thought about the deepness of Hermione’s statement - “Not even… me?”. It might’ve been the fact that he still was upset with her that she read his diary, or the fact that they were alone in the secret common together with her forehead pressed firmly against his, which was something they did on a regular basis when they were a couple; something that he hadn’t done with her in a long time. He couldn’t help but stare and found himself getting lost in Hermione’s deep brown eyes.

“What do you mean, ‘not even me’?” gulped Harry, feeling a stirring in his stomach that was so familiar to him.

“Harry…” whispered Hermione, her eyes locked with Harry’s. She still had a few tears in her eyes and she put her lips just inches away from his. Her breathing began to get slightly deep and heavy, making Harry feel a shiver go down his spine as he felt her warm breath on his face. “What… were we supposed to do on my birthday Harry…?”

“Get ice cream and cake?” he whispered back stupidly, inching his face a bit closer to her, now making their noses touch. His breath began to get heavy too.

“Try again Potter,” she whispered back in her heavy breathing, “then you might… get a reward…” Harry swallowed hard. He had a real answer in his head, but he was too embarrassed to say it. Hermione knew what he was thinking; his eyes never lied to her. She too gulped before speaking in a soft whisper. “Just say it Harry. I want to hear you say it. What were we supposed to do on my birthday?”

By now, Harry felt himself get really hot on the inside. He just decided to just say it. The look in Hermione’s eyes told him that the answer in his head was right.

“What were we supposed to do on my birthday?” she repeated in a whisper, but it had a bit more commanding tone in it.

“M… make… l… love?” whispered Harry, almost choking on his words. At that instant, he felt a rush of energy flow in his body. Something inside of him somehow told him, ‘she’s ready…’

“Uh huh…” nodded Hermione as she closed her eyes and moved her lips closer… and closer… until their lips met.

At first the kiss was soft and sweet, just brushing against one another. Harry waited for a reaction from Hermione, for her to take it a bit further or rather wanting her to take it a bit further. But, he figured out after just brushing their lips against one another that he was the one to make the first move. Hermione had somehow told him that, even though she didn’t say a word. Their feelings and connections for each other were beginning to come back as the kiss continued to go.

Harry pushed his lips harder against Hermione’s, making her moan through the kiss. That made Harry’s insides squirm as he withdrew slightly, paused for a split second, and came back again with an open-mouthed kiss. Hermione knew what he was getting to and she responded with an open-mouth kiss as well. Once again for the first time in a long time, their signature kiss was being initiated.

There was something very unique and special about this signature kiss though. Sure, it was a very passionate way of kissing and it never got very aggressive; the gentleness and sweetness was there just the same. This particular time just felt… different.

For one thing, the open-mouthed kisses lasted for a very long time, far longer than any other time they had done it. For another, the kiss was symbolic, as if it was a gateway or a foreshadowing of things to come.

Hermione was the one to feel it first as she absentmindedly removed Harry’s glasses and tossed it aside on the coffee table without breaking the kiss. Harry didn’t even seem to notice or care that she removed his glasses; not even glancing to see if it had broken. Still kissing like passionate lovers, Harry snaked his arms around Hermione’s slim waist and began to back her up slowly until she slammed into the door of her room. Even that didn’t phase her and Harry from the kiss. He fumbled with his hands to find the doorknob, turned it, flung the door open, and continued to back her slowly into the room; the both of them still engaged in the kiss.

Though neither of them said it, they both knew very well what was going to happen: they were about to make love. Hermione took the initiative and slid her hands from Harry’s chest up to his shoulders, sliding his robe off. As it fell to the floor, she undid the buttons of his shirt one by one to expose his chest before placing her soft hands there to feel his firm chest muscles.

It was Harry’s turn to work as he too removed Hermione’s robe and unbuttoned her shirt, exposing her white lace bra. Since Hermione didn’t take his shirt off, he took of Hermione’s and tossed it behind him as if telling her to take his off too. Hermione got the idea and slid off his shirt as well, feeling his firm biceps in the process. For the first time, since they started, Harry broke the kiss, took a deep breath of oxygen, and looked down at Hermione.

Even though they were going out for a long time before, this was the closest to naked Harry had ever seen her. She looked up at him, her cheeks a bit wet from tears, stood on her tiptoes and planted a soft and succulent kiss near his lips.

“What?” she asked, as she felt herself getting hotter by the minute.

“Are… you sure?” asked Harry, feeling a lot hotter than Hermione could ever be.

“Uh huh,” she nodded, pressing her chest against him. Harry gulped, before Hermione had captured his lips again.

Harry’s hands were moving absentmindedly on Hermione’s lower back, allowing his fingers to slide into the top of her skirt. He backed her slowly to her bed, held one arm around her waist and his hand from the other arm behind her neck for support as he gently lay Hermione down on her bed with her head on a pillow and lay on top of her, instantly covering her in a mating possessiveness. Immediately, Harry became aroused and Hermione sighed through the kiss he was giving her as she felt him press it against her.

Harry’s kiss moved from her lips and to her neck, planting deep and succulent kisses there. Hermione gasped and ran both hands through his hair as he kissed, gently nibbled, and softly sucked on her neck. From her neck, he kissed his way down her body, past her collar bone and paused, planting a few kisses on the sensitive skin right above her lace bra before continuing between her chest, down to her stomach, and ending right by her navel, gently swirling his tongue around it.

Hermione had never felt this sort of sensation in her life. She moaned with pleasure and her body kept buckling. Harry had to literally hold her body to the bed as he continued to pleasure her. Though he had not really received anything from her, he was turned on to the max by the sounds he was hearing from her. While kissing the sensitive skin on her stomach, he caressed and played with her thigh muscles through her skirt, which looked so mangled with, that Hermione saw no need for it to still be there.

“Take…it off…all…of it…” she gasped between breaths. “And… take yours… off too…” Harry obliged to both commands and slid her skirt off in one smooth motion, exposing her in white lace panties and removing them too, before unbuckling his belt and exposing himself completely. Though Harry was completely nude and Hermione only wearing her bra, he never felt so comfortable with anyone. And by the look of passion on Hermione’s face, she was comfortable too. After tossing the skirt and panties to the side, Harry made his way back up Hermione’s body as she unclasped her front-clasping bra making the cups part, exposing her nicely and well-developed breasts. Harry didn’t even seem to notice her chest was bare as he kissed between her breasts and moved his mouth straight to her lips in a passionate and loving kiss as he once again covered her in a mating possessiveness.

After a few moments of a signature kiss, Harry pressed his forehead to Hermione’s. The both of them were breathing heavily for air.

“Harry…” Hermione whispered out of breath. “I’m cold…”

Harry was so out of breath that he couldn’t even answer. He nodded, reached above Hermione’s pillow, and grabbed a blanket. Because of the position where Harry was on top of Hermione and because they remained in that position, it was difficult for Harry to unfold it and cover the both of them with it. Nonetheless, Harry did get it (though very sloppily) done. After taking a few more breaths for energy, Harry gave Hermione a quick kiss and looked deep into her eyes.

“You sure…?” he managed to say in a whisper, to get final confirmation with Hermione. Her eyes began to tear a little right when she nodded slowly.

Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes before taking his erection in hand and guided it toward her opening. He slid the head in a little before he let go and propped his elbows on each side of Hermione’s ribs. Knowing the pain that was coming for her, he let one hand softly creep on her nape and pulled her into another passionate kiss. After locking his tongue with hers, Harry slid in gently.

As slow and carefully as he slid in, Hermione still felt a sharp pain. She grunted in sort of a displeasure as she flung her arms around Harry’s neck and kissed him harder, almost bruising their lips, and trying to do anything to take the pain away that she was feeling. Harry felt a tear drop from her eye and he knew automatically what she was trying to do. He continued to enter her as he tried to kiss her back in a way so that her mind would come off the pain she was going through.

After all, this was her first time. And this was Harry’s as well. There was a feeling in his stomach that felt so bright knowing that her first time was with him and his first time with her. There was not one other woman in his life (not that he had many to choose from) that he could have imagined having sex with. This was because Hermione was it; the perfect person to give himself to.

When Harry had entered all the way into Hermione, he moved his head back from the kiss just enough so that he could see all of her face. She looked flushed under her rosy cheeks that were still wet with her tears, but nonetheless, she was smiling. Not the wide grin that Harry loved especially, but a cute no toothed smile.

“You ok…?” he whispered to her, looks of concern for her state of being on his face. Hermione did nothing but nod weakly.

“Uh huh,” she said back in a whisper, “go slow…”

Harry nodded and bend down to the side of her face to plant kisses there and worked his way down to her neck. Hermione gasped at the feeling of his lips on her neck with him inside of her. Harry kissed his way back to her lips and once again initiated the signature kiss. After resting his forehead once again on hers, their eyes locking, Harry began to move slowly against her.

Hermione moaned softly as he started his slow thrusts. She was afraid at first from the feeling of pain that was coming and she was right… in a way. There was a pain that she felt when Harry first penetrated her, but once he had a slow rhythm going, the pain slowly went away and was replaced with something that she had wanted to feel from him for so long: pleasure. She herself didn’t know what it was, but the fact that it was Harry who was making love to her probably contributed to the pain going away a lot quicker than it should have. The mere thought of Harry actually making love to her was also surreal. After years of waiting, months of misunderstanding, she was finally getting it. Though his thrusts were slow and delicate, it was enough to make Hermione feel more turned on than anytime in her life.

Harry closed his eyes and continued moving against her, his forehead still pressed firmly on hers, concentrating immensely on keeping his steady thrusts. His thoughts soon became clouded. When Harry had imagined making love to Hermione long ago, it was much different from the way he thought it was going to be. Having the state of mind of any sex-crazed male, he thought that it would feel best if was going to be wild and crazy sex: Harry thrusting madly into her with no remorse; an erotic whimper coming from Hermione every time he thrust back in again.

What he was doing with her now was the complete opposite.

It was slow and controlled, yet it was greatest sensation that he had ever felt in his life. His main concern, however, was Hermione. He didn’t want her to feel pain and to hate her first time, especially if it was with him. Harry drew his head back slowly and opened his eyes to get a better view of her face.

Deemed beautiful everyday of his life, it looked even more beautiful in the special bond that he and she were in. Her head was back with her hair spread wildly over her pillow, her eyes were closed, and her mouth was agape. From the heavy sounds of breathing he was hearing from her, he could tell that she was enjoying it too, just as much as he was.

Harry’s breathing got heavier as he studied Hermione’s expressions underneath him. It was very tempting for him to lose control now - seeing her with her head back, her eyes closed, her mouth open, and her hair wild was enough to make him thrust faster. Add the fact that she was breathing heavily and clearly enjoying his love-making, and it was certain he would lose control. However, even during those circumstances, Harry maintained his composure.

He was impressed with himself that he didn’t go ballistic and start speeding up. His mind and body wanted nothing more than to thrust into her roughly, over and over, but his heart - being the greatest thing that he had - had somehow taken complete control of everything. It stopped him from going out of control, stopped him from going to fast, and helped him to make love. It dawned on Harry that they were having sex like “real people”, not like porn stars. He wouldn’t have it any other way right now.

Hermione soon found Harry’s unique rhythm and their bodies fit perfectly together as they each matched each others movements. If Harry was unsure if Hermione was enjoying it, this told him that she did when she began to move her hips with his thrusts. She instinctively snaked her hands around his waist and caressed his lower back, moving them up until they were planted on the back of his firm shoulders. Harry couldn’t help but lean in again and capture her lips with his into another kiss. This time, Hermione kissed him with a little more aggression than before, but still with the passion and love their kisses always had. This of course, persuaded Harry to do other things, but he still kept himself in control.

“Mmm…” moaned Hermione through the kiss, “go… faster…”

This was all Harry needed to hear. As much as he wanted to “go faster” - which in his dazed mind meant going about as fast as a piston would in a car would - he did.

Though he didn’t speed up as fast as a piston would, he did speed up a bit; about as fast as his heart would allow him. Hermione groaned and moaned under him as he went into his new speed. She pulled him close to her body tightly and inhaled his scent in reaction, pressing her breast against his lower chest.

“Oh Harry…” she sighed, as her body was starting to get accustomed to his new thrusts. Harry reacted to her words by kissing the side of her neck. “Oh yeah…Harry…”

Harry gulped at her choice of words. Just hearing them escape her mouth as they made love was sending shivers down his spine. And it was driving him nuts! Still, he managed to maintain his speed. Hermione took the initiative to lower Harry’s head back down to her into a kiss. For the first time since their love-making began, this was their first really aggressive kiss. Harry’s eyes crossed in ecstasy as Hermione went even as far as to suck greedily on his tongue. Harry groaned as Hermione continued and his eyes crossed even more when she bit his lip before releasing the kiss.

“Oh Hermione…” moaned Harry as he stopped his thrusts to let his head drop to the side of hers and bury his face into the mattress to catch his breath a bit. It was no surprise that Harry didn’t speed up; Hermione had made him wither under her influence. Not more than a second later, Harry felt something wet and moist on the tip of his ear. He gulped as he knew what it was: Hermione’s mouth. She licked and nibbled his ear, making Harry squirm in the latter. He reacted by going back to kiss her again.

After the kiss had broken, Harry went back to his rhythmic thrusts. Hermione reacted by moaning softly, closing her eyes, tilting her back again, and biting her lip. That was definitely it and Harry could take it no longer.

Forgetting completely about everything, he immediately started to thrust a bit faster than usual, waiting to see how Hermione would react. All she did was bit her lip harder and arch her back, making him go deeper into her. This gave Harry the notion that she didn’t mind at all so he moved subtly faster. Hermione had nestled back into the mattress as Harry continued his thrusts and with her eyes still closed, she muttered under her breath.

Unable to make out what she was saying, he leaned a bit toward her, moving a little faster in the process. Hermione then could be heard.

“Oh yeah…Harry,” she moaned, almost in a whisper. “Oh… that’s it.” Harry’s mind raced through thoughts as he heard her. It was a terrible feeling really; half of him wanting to stay controlled, and the other half of him was losing control.

“Oh God…oh Harry,” she moaned again, a little louder than the first time she spoke. “Ah yeah…faster Harry…”

He did what she asked him and began to thrust like mad - not as fast as a piston - fast enough to get erotic, but slow enough to remain true to what he believe in.

“Yes Harry!” she said, the loudest she had spoken since they started. “Oh yeah…just like that!”

Harry couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of mouth. Add that to the way she was squirming under him and how he thrust into her, and a climax was inevitable.

“Mmm… yes! Yes! YES!” she screamed getting louder and louder with each shout. “Oh God Harry!”

“Oh Hermione!” groaned Harry, feeling his insides tightening up.

“Yeah Harry that’s it,” she said. “Keep going Harry… it feels so good…”

“Ahhh, Hermione…” moaned Harry, as he thrust into her over and over again.

“Oh God Harry…!” she moaned so loudly this time that he was sure someone would hear, but he didn’t care. “Ugh…ah yeah… oh Harry…OH HARRY..!”

He knew what was coming…she was. And in any minute, he would too.

“Oh God Harry! Yeah, YEAH, OH GOD… Harry…I’m coming…” she said. It sounded like she didn’t want to say it. Like she didn’t want it to happen…yet. To a sex-crazed man with a reputation to uphold, hearing her say she was going to come was music to his ears. To a romantic and passionate lover like Harry, it was distressing, because their love making would be over soon.

Hermione’s hands went crazy as she came closer and closer to climax. She went from caressing Harry’s body, to caressing hers, then back to caressing Harry’s.

“Ugh…HAARRRY!” she screamed in ecstasy, “I’m…COMING…!” Harry felt a sensation of her muscles clamp around him, making it a bit harder to him to slide, but feel a lot more pleasurable. She wrapped her legs around him, arched her back, making him go deeper into her, and screamed a scream that Harry had never heard before. It was pitching, it was erotic, and it was beautiful. She had reached orgasm.

It was inevitable that Harry was soon to follow. There were many things that was leading him toward it: Hermione squirming under him, the way she bit her lip in pure ecstasy, how she moved perfectly with his thrusts, and the fact that she had just climaxed because of him. If there were more reasons, he didn’t care, because he was coming too.

“Ugh…I’m coming too Hermione…” he groaned under his breath.

“Oh Harry,” she stated, in a half lustful, half loving sort of way. “Yeah Harry…I’m waiting for you…”

He continued his rhythmic thrusts as he felt himself get closer…and closer…

“Ugh…I’m coming Hermione…!” he grunted as he snapped his eyes shut and bit his lip in concentration. His final stroke came in one full and hard thrust, releasing himself in her. He continued his movements into her, releasing a little more of him every time with each thrust. Hermione could feel every bit of him shoot into her and pulled him down into a kiss, knowing that a new life was just beginning for the both of them.

“Mmm… mmm…” moaned Hermione through the kiss, gently probing her tongue with his.

Harry gave her a few more open-mouthed kisses before pressing his forehead to hers again and collapsing on top of her, once again their eyes locked and their breathing still a bit heavier than normal.

“I love you Hermione…” whispered Harry, his lips just brushing against hers.

“I love you too Harry…” she whispered back, and pulled him right into another signature kiss.