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One heart, One voice by Just Breathing
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One heart, One voice

Just Breathing

Title: One heart, One voice.

Summary: A second Prophecy, a concealed love, and an unknown power come to light.

Based on: Books 1-5.

Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, never said I did… I just like to use the characters and the universe for my own little fantasies… is that so wrong?

A/N: OK, this is in response to a challenge set by Excalibur in the H/Hr challenges on Portkey.

Chapter 1

Hermiones eyes snapped open as her magical alarm screamed at her to wake from her light sleep.

She grabbed her wand from her bedside table, muttered the silencing charm sleepily and rolled over in her comfortable bed, trying to wake up slightly.

She had had a late night last night, and 7am was, in her eyes right now, an inhuman time to wake.

Since she left Hogwarts and moved in with her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley three years ago, she had become much more laid back, which surprised the two men immensely.

"What in Merlin's name has happened to you Hermione?" Ron would ask every morning as she lumbered out of her room into the kitchen.

"Are you OK Hermione?" Harry would ask, concern laced in his voice when she would walk straight past Ron without looking at him, and proceed to make herself a very strong cup of tea, to which she would reply "I'm fine. Just tired."

She would then grab The Daily Prophet from the table, and leave the two men in the kitchen goggling after her.

And so it went, morning after morning.

Eventually it seemed they both got used to it, and could anticipate her every sullen movement in the mornings.

Now, one of them, usually Harry, would bring her a large mug of strong tea to her warm room and hand her the paper silently, which she would take gratefully, muttering some form of thanks.

He would then smile and nod, in a silent 'You're welcome'

Today was no different.

There was a soft knock at her and a second later Harry entered, a mug of steaming liquid in one hand, and the morning paper in the other, which he handed to her carefully once she had successfully sat up in her bed, wrestling with the sea of covers surrounding her.

"Thanks" She mumbled, smiling feebly, not having the energy to do much more.

He nodded in response, and instead of leaving as he usually did, he sat on her bed, and watched her drink and read quietly.

"What?" She asked eventually, feeling much more alert as she had drained half of the contents of the mug.

"I was just thinking about how I didn't know you weren't a morning person all through Hogwarts." He answered smiling.

"Oh. Well, by the time you saw me, I had usually been awake for three hours, so I had time to make myself look more awake." She said shrugging slightly.

"Yeah, I guess… So?"

"So what?" Hermione asked confused.

"How was your big date last night? You never said." He enquired.

"Oh… that." She replied.

"That bad?"

"The worst. He was so in-my-face, I ended up trying to pretend I wasn't with him, which while someone is singing to you isn't that easy to do."

"You went to a karaoke bar?" He asked disbelievingly.

"No. We went to a restaurant." She sighed as Harry collapsed with laughter. "He wasn't even a very good singer." She grinned as Harry physically fell off her bed, his eyes watering from laughing so hard.

"Hey, it's not that funny" She insisted, but she found his boyish laughter infectious and began laughing slightly herself.

"Men!" She said rolling her eyes this stopped Harry laughing immediately.

"Not all of us are like that." He said, still smiling, sitting back on her bed.

"Yeah right."

"I'm serious. I'd never take you to a… restaurant and sing to you." He said desperately trying to hold in a laugh

"Yes you would, just to embarrass me."

"Not on a date I wouldn't." He said, suddenly serious.

"What would you do then?"

"I dunno… probably take you to a restaurant, no singing, and then we'd just walk around the park together, talking about anything and everything. We'd watch the sun come up, over the tree's… then I'd… kiss you." He said, whispering the last sentences, fully aware of the atmosphere that had descended on them.

"That sounds beautiful." She whispered.

"Yeah." He agreed, looking directly into her chocolate brown orbs, finding himself getting lost in their depths, his head gravitated slowly towards her while she leant up to meet him.

Her mind was screaming that this was wrong; she was about to kiss her best friend of ten years.

What was she thinking?

She couldn't possibly let this happen, but she couldn't stop it either. She wanted it so much.

But was it worth risking their friendship for a simple kiss?

Her eyes drifted shut in anticipation of the connection, she felt his lips close on hers, in a slow, sweet kiss.

Just before they both tried to deepen the kiss Hermione's magical alarm screamed at the pair again, causing them to jump apart guiltily, shattering the atmosphere that they were both desperate to keep merely moments before.

Harry coughed lightly and stood up from her bed, avoiding eye contact at all costs. "Do you have to work today?" He asked

"Yeah" She answered quietly "I should get ready."

"I'll leave you to it." He said exiting the room, and shutting the door behind him.

'What the hell was that?' She thought frantically. 'That didn't just happen did it? It can't have.'

She raised her hand and felt her lips, that Harry had kissed so softly a minute ago, she could still feel him there, the tingle lingering.

'Pull yourself together Hermione. It didn't mean anything… it was just a kiss… a spur of the moment thing. It didn't mean that you like him like that. It couldn't possibly… could it?'

She couldn't think about that right now though, she had to get ready for work, and she couldn't be late; Today was the 'Big-day'

Today she would meet the new Minister of Magic.

***

Harry had no idea what had just happened, one second they were talking, and the next he was staring into her eyes and kissing her, as a lover would, not a best friend.

'There's no denying it. She is a very beautiful woman, any man must be blind not to see it, but I just don't see her that way… I can't… can I?'

"You alright mate?" Rons concerned voice broke through his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm… fine." He answered, trying to shake the continuing thoughts from his mind.

"You sure? You seem a little out if it."

"No, no, I'm fine, really."

"OK." Ron said slowly "Hermione up yet?"

"Yeah. She's taking a quick shower. She'll be out in a bit."

"Right. I'll stick breakfast on then." He said walking into the kitchen "Toast do ya?"

"Yeah, that'll be great, thanks."

"Good, 'cause you know that's all I can do… I haven't got the heating charm perfected yet. I hate Mondays. How come I got stuck with breakfast duty on Monday's?"

"We pulled straws. You lost." Harry said walking to his room, his mind completely focused on what had happened, unable to think about anything else.

Would their friendship be ruined forever now, or was it the start of something beautiful?

He had no idea, and he found he needed to know. He couldn't let it pass until he was sure about what that was.

What if she didn't want to find out though? What if she just wanted to forget it ever happened? Would he be able to do that?

He couldn't force her to go on a date with him, that was barbaric, so if they didn't call it a date, and they just went out together, maybe she'd be more willing to explore why they had kissed then.

He knew that until he spoke to her about it, he couldn't know how she felt about what happened, let alone what she wanted to do about it.

So that's what he had to do, he had to talk to her, no matter how awkward things might be.

***

Hermione walked into the Ministry, keeping her mind focused on the task at hand. She couldn't keep thinking about what had happened that morning; she had more important things to do.

She didn't even stop to speak to Mr. Weasley when he called her from an office at the side of the corridor she was walking, in fact, she only stopped when she entered the lift and hit the button for the second floor, where her office was.

The doors opened slowly allowing her to step out and continue on her way to her office.

She has done this many times before, but she had such a strange feeling that she was being followed.

Whenever she looked behind her, however, no one was there.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she began walking faster, wanting to get to the safety of her office, or at least by the Aurors head quarters, there, she knew she'd be safe.

She didn't hear the footsteps behind her, nor did she hear the cruel incantation muttered that caused her to fall to the ground unconscious.

Well, there you go folks, chapter one. What do you think? Chapter 2 up soon.

Please R&R.

Thanks.

~Just Breathing