Disclaimer: I don't own nobody of the characters, they are property of JK Rowling
A/N: I'm back and here I have another chapter for you! Thanks to all my faithful readers! Sorry but these days I had problems in uploading, so I'm late.
Mister_Midnight: I'm not offended at all! I really appreciate your compliments, at least I have done something good in writing this story!
KypDurron: They will do it, don't worry! Read this chapter and you'll see…
Beppo: No I don't think so.
Coolone007: The Ministry cannot track the Unforgivables, if they could Lucius Malfoy would have been sent to Azkaban a long time ago!
Shawnpickett: Well, I don't think they will do very much about that.
PixieDust: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the story!
WilliamEP: Well, Dumbledore is not teaching that to them to make them use it but only to be able to defend themselves from the curses.
JayaMioneDurron: Hermione has understood that…but he doesn't admit it until now…
Nurray: This is IF Harry finds out that…
Chapter Twelve
"Dare"
After the Christmas holidays Harry tried and tried to speak to Ron but his best friend continued to avoid him. He still disappeared every night, too. Harry went to Dumbledore to ask advice.
"I really don't know what to do." Harry finished, after having explained the situation.
Dumbledore remained silent some minutes then he let Harry go away.
"I hope this does not mean what I fear it does" he muttered and a very concerned look filled his blue eyes.
***
The next stage of Harry and Hermione's training was to work together against Dumbledore and McGonagall.
They had no chance on their first try - the two Professors were so experienced that in few minutes both Harry and Hermione were overpowered.
However even though Harry was in a body bind he surprised Dumbledore. As the Headmaster was declaring the fight finished when Harry's ropes flew in the air, destroyed in thousands of pieces and Harry stood up - this time however, he was alone against two veteran mages so he was stunned and lost the fight.
Despite this, Dumbledore felt the need to congratulate him for his will power. Even in a training session Harry had not liked to be defeated and had rebelled against the situation. It was easy to imagine what he could have done in a real battle.
After a few nights Harry and Hermione finally succeeded in winning the fight against the Professors. As a reward, they were given a few nights rest from training.
***
It was the last Quidditch match against Slytherin. Harry and Draco Malfoy shook hands harshly and the match started.
As usual, the Slytherins tried every dirty trick to stop the Gryffindors but they didn't succeed in their task. Having practised only hurting their opponents, they were quite useless on the Quidditch pitch when their plan didn't work.
After an hour the score was 100 to 0 for Gryffindor and Harry decided to have a little fun with Malfoy. He went into a dive even though he had not seen the Snitch and Malfoy followed him. Harry was now perilously near to crashing…he suddenly flipped backwards over his head and stopped parallel to the ground while Malfoy crashed badly.
Harry chuckled while returning to his position in the air searching for the Snitch. His new move, the "Backward Flip Potter Feint" as he had called it, had functioned perfectly.
Harry quickly caught the Snitch in the air just over the Slytherin's fans. He showed it to them and didn't notice that one of the Slytherin's Beaters had thrown him a Bludger - this he avoided just in time to not be knocked off of his broom.
That night in the Gryffindor common room there was a huge celebration for the winners of the Quidditch Cup. Every one drank litres of Butterbeer and the music played all night. There were however two people not enjoying the feast: Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
She had expected him to do something, that night. She was quite sure he loved her but a little doubt was still in her head and as she didn't want to do ruin their friendship and make a fool of herself, she was waiting him to act.
Harry, on the other hand, was trying to figure if this was the right occasion to show her his feelings. He didn't want to make her think he had done anything only because he was drunk. As a matter of fact he was not drunk - he was perfectly sober. Well, maybe he was a little drunk, but not from Butterbeer but from her scent…
That night neither of them slept well. Both of them lay awake and worried about the other one. They both had the same idea of going to the common room and got there at the same time. They laugh about this then stayed there, in front of the fire until morning came.
Hermione was the first to wake up. Somehow she felt her body aching terribly so she opened her eyes. Harry was fast asleep and leaning on her so heavily she could hardly breathe.
"Harry, please move…I can't breathe!" she whispered in his ear, gently stroking his black messy hair. He yawned and realising what he had been doing, moved abruptly and fell on the floor.
Hermione couldn't help to giggle while he was massaging the shoulder he fell on.
"There's nothing to laugh about!" he said pouting. He threw a pillow at her as a declaration of war…
When the other Gryffindors came down they were still fighting and Hermione was laughing hysterically as Harry was tickling her in her more sensitive places.
"What a pathetic show!" Ron thought while storming out of the room. The others, however, enjoyed the sight a little until Harry noticed them and stopped tickling her abruptly.
****
On the Easter holidays Harry remained alone in the Gryffindor Tower as Hermione went to her home to be some time with her parents and Ron disappeared again.
Harry enjoyed Hagrid's company and was happy enough but something was wrong with him. He felt sad without Hermione - he was missing her tremendously.
He didn't know what to do. He knew she would be back in few days, but he could barely go through an entire day without her. How could he pass an entire week in this condition?
"Maybe Dumbledore could give me advice." Harry thought "After all, he is a kind of grandfather to me…yes, at times I could have been angry with him for keeping things from me but he was doing that thinking about my good, even if he wasn't always right."
Just as he reached Dumbledore's office he suddenly thought that probably the Headmaster had more important things to do than listen to his silly love problems.
****
Finally, the last Hogsmeade weekend of that year came. Harry asked out Hermione for the hundredth time. She agreed, not expecting anything to happen between them, as it never had on any other Hogsmeade trip.
However this time he had other plans for them. From the castle to the village he walked with his arm around her. He took her to all her favourite places and shops. Finally he took her to a romantic restaurant he had discovered few days before. It was almost hidden by a cave, but it was very nice.
Hermione liked it very much, and for one moment she hoped maybe something was different this time. However she didn't remain daydreaming too long.
"This will never happen - if he wanted to do something, he would have done it by now" she was thinking, when suddenly, just as they left the restaurant, she felt his hand pulling up her chin. A moment later his lips were on hers…
This time it was not a simple peck. Harry was really kissing her! After few moments his tongue met her lips. Hermione could not believe what she was feeling. She willingly opened her mouth letting him enter…then her tongue met his. Their tongues remained fighting in their mouths until they needed to part to breathe.
"How did you dare to do that to me, Mr. Potter?" Hermione teased him while going on tiptoes to kiss him again.
After another kiss he replied: "I guess even if it was a dare you liked it, Ms. Granger..." then he wrapped again an arm around her waist pulling her closer to him, while making their way back to the village.