Wet

Wet

By: Cindy

Rating: PG-13 (Just to be safe)

Summary: "Was Ron right when he said I was a bad kisser?"

Disclaimer: If I owned any of these characters Harry and Hermione would have been making out by now.

Spoilers: Books 1-5

Author's Notes: This is a one-shot set in the middle of OotP, so I'd call it a deleted scene that would have made Pumpkin Piers a lot happier. Specifically, it's set right after the Christmas holidays, but before Harry asked Cho out. Also, this is my first attempt at a Harry Potter fiction so any and all feedback would be helpful. If need be, I will beg for reviews (or do a song and dance number). Anyhow thanks for reading and I hope you like.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Ummmm..."

"Yes Harry?"

"Oh, uh...nothing."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then."

A few moments later.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Ummm..."

Hermione was ready to kill him.

It was nearing midnight; she had been suffering from a pounding head-ache nearly all day; she had only received an A- on her potions essay, and the study time that she had been desperately looking forward was being completely ruined by her prat of a best friend.

When Harry had originally asked if he could join Hermione's little study session, it had brightened up her day considerably. She had thought it might be fun to have some company while she made her Arithmancy notes in preparation for the upcoming OWLs (She had also been planning on picking his brain about cheering charms as Hermione had unfortunately missed that lesson and was quite paranoid because of it.) But all of her plans for making notes, reading, and researching had gone out the window as soon as Harry took his seat on the common room couch across from her.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Ummmm..."

That racket had been going on from the moment he sat down. Harry would irritatingly tap his quill on his unopened Divination textbook, then hum and haw around something that he obviously wanted to say but for some reason couldn't get the words out, and then when Hermione would ask him what the matter was he would reply "nothing", and pretend to go back to studying. That is until two minutes later when the tapping would start all over again and the whole process would repeat its very annoying cycle. Throughout the night Hermione had been steadily losing a battle with her temper and she knew that if Harry started tapping his stupid quill just one more time she WOULD hex him into oblivion.

"Her....Hermione?"

"WHAT IS IT?"

Apparently, Hermione was not winning the battle as much as she thought she was. Harry, taken aback by his friend's outburst looked as if he was about to throw up. His eyes became glued to the floor and Hermione took some pride in the fact that she was at least giving a little bit back of what she had been experiencing all night.

"Sorry Hermione, I'll just be going to bed now."

This was all said very quickly and Hermione scolded herself for being so harsh to her friend and for enjoying his embarrassment. Harry had obviously mustered enough courage to tell her whatever it was that he'd been trying to tell her all night, and her stupid temper had scared him away. By the time Hermione had stopped berating herself; Harry had already packed up his books and was heading up the stairs to his dorm. Momentarily, Hermione thought it better to just let him go, and talk to him in the morning, but then she thought-- sure Granger, go ahead and add tension to one of the only friendship you've got. And so Hermione rushed to the stairs hoping that Harry might still want to talk to her.

"Harry wait!" She shouted.

"Would you two please be quiet!?" The mock whisper came from the girl's dormitories by someone who's sleeping patterns had obviously been disturbed by all the commotion.

"Sorry." Hermione whispered back, looking quite contrite.

Harry (who's cheeks were turning the color of Ron's hair in reaction to being scolded at by what was most likely a second-year) was frozen on the second-top step. He seemed to be debating whether to sneak his way out of the room, or make a mad dash for it. But it looked like Hermione had other plans.

"You wanted to talk to me about something." She said.

Although her tone was soft, there was no mistaking that she was not asking a question, but making a statement. This meant that Harry no longer had a choice in approaching Hermione about his so-called problem, she was not going to let him off the hook until he told her everything.

And so, with reluctance and a strange sense of anticipation, Harry Potter dutifully followed his best friend to the couch where they both sat down side by side.

It was obvious to Hermione by the way that he staring at his slightly shaking hands, and shuffling his feet, that she was going to have to give Harry a little push if he was going to get whatever this "big secret" was off of his chest.

"So Harry, what is it that you've been trying to tell me all night?"

Let it be noted that Hermione Granger has never been a very subtle girl.

Harry seemed to grow even more nervous at the sudden confrontation, and his hands started shaking more intensely than before. To calm him, Hermione slowly slid her right hand atop his, stopping the shaking with the soothing movements of her fingers on his knuckles. Harry seemed to be comforted by this single action, and with a sigh asked the question that had been circling non-stop in his head for the past two weeks.

"Was Ron right?"

'Huh?' Was Hermione's first thought. Her second being that she was very glad she always thought before she spoke.

"Harry, would you mind repeating that for me?"

With another deep breath and a slight squeeze of the hand (from Hermione) Harry asked again, "Was Ron right?"

Hermione chuckled a little and replied "Harry, Ron is a lot of things but he is rarely ever RIGHT."

At this response Harry shot Hermione a glare on behalf of his red-headed best friend. Hermione rolled her eyes and said "Harry come on I was only joking. Now what is this all about?"

The room was silent for a few minutes as Harry collected his thoughts. However Hermione barely noticed the passed time, she was much too involved with the feel of Harry's fingers entwined with hers. They're really quite lovely fingers, long and soft and slender and...

"Was Ron right when he said I was a bad kisser?"

Hermione was startled by the sudden disruption of her thoughts responded with the first thing that came to her mind.

"How does Ron know you're a bad kisser?"

Between Harry's disgusted face, and Hermione's confused one, both burst into laughter easing away the awkwardness of the situation.

After a couple of minutes of laughter, the two friends dissolved into a trail of giggles which simultaneously ended with a deep sigh.

"I needed that." Said Harry, still smiling from their laughing session.

"Me too. But I really could have done without that mental picture."

"Hey, you're the one who brought up the idea about Ron and kissing."

And at this they both fell into a few more bouts of laughter, before composing themselves enough to continue the conversation.

"Harry, I'm a bit confused as to what this is all about. Why don't you start for the beginning? When did Ron tell you you were a bad kisser?" Hermione asked, missing the feel of Harry's fingers, which had unfortunately untangled from hers during their little laughing session.

"Well... do you remember a couple a weeks ago when Cho and I kissed?"

Ahhhhhhhh... Hermione thought. It was all starting to make sense now. The memory of a blushing Harry returning to the Common Room after his tryst with Cho sprung into Hermione's mind and although she already knew what Harry was going to say she simply nodded her head, encouraging him to continue. Whether he knew it or not, it seemed that Harry needed to talk about this.

"Well, you see...ummm..."

"Harry, breathe." Hermione said amused that her best friend could face down the most feared dark-wizard in history, but was having trouble talking about a kiss.

"Look Hermione, I know you find all of this very funny at my expense but I really do need your help with this. So, could you just let me get this out?"

Hermione immediately felt very guilty for upsetting Harry. He had gone through so much in the year already, and she knew that the pressures of being the "boy-who-lived", preparing for the OWLs, and Voldemort's resurrection were beginning to take its toll on him. She had been trying to get him to open up for months now, but he seemed to not want to talk to her about much of anything let alone his feelings.

And now, when he did need her help and advice she poked fun at him. At that moment Hermione did not feel like a very good friend at all.

"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. I promise I will not say another word, just take your time. I'm listening."

This seemed to be the right thing to say, because all of a sudden Harry got a look of determination in his eyes, and straightened his posture as if to say, I am going to tell her this even if it kills me.

"We had just finished our D.A. meeting and I wanted to wish Cho a Happy Christmas. And on my way out I saw her crying in the corner. I didn't really know what to do so I just sort of ...patted her on the back. I honestly don't remember too much, a lot of it is sort of fuzzy round the edges, but I do remember that there was mistletoe, and some tears, and the kiss...it...it didn't seem to make her any happier than she was before. And isn't that what kisses do? Make you happy?"

For once in her life, Hermione Granger did not know the answer to a question. She found this both mortifying and humbling, and considered briefly telling Harry some lie about fairy-tale kisses and true love to save herself some embarrassment, but decided that if Harry could be brave enough to share this very intimate moment with her, than she could do nothing but reciprocate with full honesty.

"I honestly don't know much about kisses Harry. I've never had one."

Judging by the way Harry's mouth was now catching flies, this was apparently not the answer he had been expecting.

"B- b- but, with Krum...I- I thought.... And what about all that stuff you told me about how Cho was feeling and all that girl advice? How did you know if you didn't, well...you know?"

Hermione laughed softly at Harry's confusion, "Harry, I knew that 'girl' stuff because I am a girl. And despite being reserved about my own emotions I am quite good at reading other people's feelings. Cho just happens to wear her heart on her sleeve and I just happened to notice it."

Harry's eyes began to darken with understanding as the reality of the situation hit him. Hermione had no experience in this department and would not be able to help him. He quickly got up and said, "Sorry about all this Hermione. I was just being stupid. See you in the morning."

Harry was almost out of arms reach when Hermione grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down onto the couch.

"Harry, just because I've never kissed a boy before does not mean that I do not know what a kiss is supposed to be like. Why don't you just tell me what the kiss felt like and I'll try and figure out what it meant. Okay?"

Harry slowly nodded his head almost afraid that if he said "no" she would make him write an essay recounting every single detail of the kiss.

"Well, it was wet."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione replied "Harry I didn't mean what you felt literally. I meant what you felt emotionally."

Harry just gave her a blank stare as a response.

"Tingles? Butterflies? Warmth? Blood flowing to a certain lower area?"

"HERMIONE!!!"

"What?! I wanted to make sure you were paying attention."

"Yes, well..." Harry paused for a minute so that he could try to will away the redness gracing his entire face. "Just please, can we not talk about my lower areas?"

Hermione at this point could not hold back a reign of giggles that flooded through her body. Harry it seemed did not share her amusement as he kept sending her glares from the other side of the couch.

Once Hermione calmed down she resumed her original line of questioning.

"Well, Harry? Did you feel any of those things?"

Harry took a moment, pondering the question. He seemed to be re-playing the entire episode in his head trying to search for something.

"No. Not really. I mean it was nice and all but I didn't feel anything like that."

"Oh." Hermione said, a slight frown on her face.

"What? What did I do wrong? Is that bad?" Harry asked in a panicked voice.

"No, Harry it's not bad. Just, strange."

"Strange?"

"Yes, I mean you've fancied Cho for nearly two years now, right?"

Harry nodded his head very slowly, unsure of where Hermione was going with all of this.

"Well, one would assume that if you liked someone romantically and then kissed them, well, you would have some sort of emotional reaction."

It took Harry almost a minute of analyzing what Hermione had just said before he realized why she had looked so confused earlier. He didn't like Cho. The thought shot through him like an electrical charge. All the humiliation of trying to ask her to the Yule Ball, the awkward moments since the Triwizard Tournament, and his disastrous attempts at flirting were nothing but the results of plain old-fashioned teenage hormonal attraction.

Harry didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved at the revelation. Sure, it simplified his and Cho's relationship, but at the same time it made him feel abnormal. All of the other teenagers at Hogwarts were having romances and crushes both unrequited and reciprocated, whereas he had only felt a mere attraction to a very pretty girl. His feelings didn't even amount to a crush.

"Harry are you alright?" Hermione asked quietly, almost afraid of disturbing his brooding.

"Yeah Hermione I'm fine." He answered, a somber smile making its way across his face. Hermione was very familiar with this particular smile. It meant, something is very wrong, but I deserve it and I don't want to worry you or Ron anymore than I have to, so I'm just going to keep it to myself.

"Everything is not fine. Please Harry, just talk to me?"

"It's just that everyone else in our year has at least romantic feelings for someone and I...just...Look I don't know how to word this right so I'm just going to say it. I'm 15 years old and I've felt a lot of extreme emotions, but I've never felt...love. Does that mean that I'll never be able to love? I mean it's been fifteen years and..."

"Shut up Harry."

Harry was abruptly pulled from his ramblings and forced himself to leave that spot on the floor that he'd been starting at for the past 15 minutes and face Hermione. When he did, her reaction was not what he expected. She was crying. Not loudly sobbing or anything like that but she was crying none the less, and letting the tears fall down her face silently. When he looked into her eyes, his entire body became comforted in the warmth of her gaze. He saw sadness, admiration, and affection in those chocolate covered eyes, and found for several minutes that he could not stop staring at her.

"Harry James Potter you listen to me. You may not have experienced some immature infantile perception of love, but you are one of the kindest, generous, and by far the bravest person I have ever known and that's enough groundwork to guarantee that you are capable of loving someone."

"Guarantee huh?" Harry said through the smile that was now plastered onto his face.

Hermione saw his smile, and joined it with one of her own, brushing away her tears with the sleeve of her jumper.

"Yes, provided with the Hermione Granger lifetime guarantee."

And as they sat there just staring at each other and smiling the energy in the room began to change. It became heavier, hotter, and the pair found themselves finding it hard breathe. The silence was starting to pound in Harry's ears, until he could not bare it any longer.

"Hermione, have you ever been in love?"

"Ummm...oh...well...I..."

"Hermione, breathe." Harry smirked.

Hermione playfully threw at him the pillow she had been leaning against.

"Very funny Harry."

"Just a little payback for what you put me through earlier."

Hermione smirked and then steadily became quieter. Harry could see that she was making her "thinking" face which usually appeared during a study session, or when she was trying to solve one of their annual mysteries. He couldn't tell if he had been waiting for 30 seconds or 30 minutes but the silence was getting to him and he had just about had enough.

"It's all right, you don't have to answer, I just..."

"No, I've never been in love."

Harry looked at her in complete awe. Hermione was still staring at the fireplace, her eyes glowing from the light and hair frizzing from the moist heat. Harry was in utter shock that she was sharing this with him. He had asked her of course, but deep down he had expected her to joke around the subject, or briskly tell him in her McGonagall voice that is was "none of his sodding business", but he certainly did not expect her to answer it head on.

But she did. She was being completely honest and straightforward and brave - so incredibly brave - that Harry fully understood at that moment why Hermione (despite her cleverness) was a Gryffindor through and through. Then again, it really shouldn't have been a surprise to him. Hermione had never been anything with him other than honest and open about everything. She wasn't like other girls. She didn't play games, or beat around the bush, or hint in the subtlest of ways and expect a man to know exactly what she was talking about. No. There was no pretense about Hermione Granger, and Harry discovered it was a quality he greatly appreciated.

"Harry, are you okay with this? I mean...we're best friends. I trust you more than anyone except Ron, well maybe even Ron but still...we've never talked about this stuff before. It's not too girly for you is it?"

Harry laughed at that.

"Its fine, besides I brought up the subject didn't I?"

Hermione smiled, "I guess you did."

However, after initiating it Harry forgot where on earth he was planning to go with the conversation, and Hermione seemed to be equally inarticulate. Both began to fidget and felt the atmosphere around them changing into a kind of setting that neither were sure if they were ready for. Both were quite suddenly aware that they were completely alone, sitting comfortably close to each other, with a roaring fire glowing before them. If they had been anything more than best friends, this would be a very romantic setting.

But they weren't, and therefore the atmosphere was nothing but terribly uncomfortable.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

In her suddenly nervous state, Hermione had picked up Harry's quill and found that tapping it on her leg was a good distraction from the glow of the fire, and the way they made Harry's eyes sparkle. Come on Granger, they are not sparkling. You are simply tired and seeing things in a funny state. That's it. Concentrate on the sound of the quill. Relaxing, isn't it? Good Quill.

No wonder Harry was doing this earlier, she thought.

Tap. Tap Tap.

"Ummm..."

"Yes Hermione?"

"Oh, uh...nothing."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah,"

"Alright."

A few moments later.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Why does this feel so weird?"

Hermione smiled gratefully at Harry's admission and dropped his quill.

"I don't know."

Harry gave a soft-half smile, wow two 'I don't knows' from Hermione in one night, Ron would be...

"Harry can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

Hermione took a deep breath and said the dreaded things her mind had been repeating to her during their little bout of silence.

"Well, you see... I've never kissed someone, and I would like to...at least with someone that I trust and who won't laugh at me and you, well you want to see if you're a bad kisser right?"

Harry numbly nodded his head. Oh please let her not say what I think she's going to say. Please, please let her say I think she's gonna say. Oh hell, where did that come from?

"So you see, I was just thinking maybe we should do an experiment."

Huh?

"An experiment?"

"Yes, like a potions lab, or practical exam, or you kissing me."

Oh God did I just ask Harry to kiss me? Yes Granger, you blubbering idiot, yes you did. And he's going to...Oh Merlin I don't know what he's going to do!

Hermione was so busy berating herself that she almost missed Harry's quiet reply of "Okay."

Hermione stopped berating.

She also stopped breathing, and felt all her blood rushing to her face. She tried to calm down and get her lungs to work again, thinking that Harry might not actually want to go through with this if her face looked like a tomato.

Harry wasn't doing much better.

His heart was beating rapidly and that funny tingling he got before he kissed Cho had returned. He chanced a look at Hermione, and saw her cheeks were flushed and she was biting on her bottom lip. It may have been that it was late, or the knowledge that he was about to kiss her but Harry realized something he'd never noticed before. Hermione was beautiful. It was not the kind of beauty that stung you at first glance and then disappeared the minute the person was removed from your view. Her beauty was quiet and subtle. It snuck up on you so steadily that you could not tell where the outer beauty ended and the inner began. It could render a man to lose his heart in mere seconds, and Harry knew he had to be careful or this "experiment" could easily become a lot more complicated than either were ready for.

Just remember, 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE'. Don't let your guard down, and besides its just one kiss. Oh God if Ron finds out he'll kill me.

Harry felt an overwhelming sense of guilt as he thought about Ron. Realistically he knew that Ron had some twisted version of romantic feelings for Hermione. He was sure that all his rows with her were just cover-ups for a deeper layer of affection. But he honestly did not know how Hermione felt about Ron. She had very different relationships with each of her male friends, but had showered them equally with physical attention. Hugs at the end of term, a kiss on the cheek before a Quiddicth match. Tokens that provided a physical sense of caring but never went beyond the line of friendship.

Except that now she wants to kiss you with lips and possibly tongue, and there goes the heartbeat again.

Harry briefly thought that he shouldn't be the one doing this. That it should be Ron in his stead and then Hermione and Ron could get together and be happy and argue mercilessly while Harry watched from the sidelines.

But Hermione didn't choose Ron, she chose you. So shut up, stop thinking, and you might actually enjoy this.

With his internal debate over Harry moved over to Hermione's side of couch and sat beside her, however the sudden movement caused Hermione to look up and her eyes caught his. Harry had been in a lot of scary situations with Hermione, but he didn't think that he'd ever seen her quite that terrified before.

"Hermione if you don't want to do this, we don't have to." He said, torn between being half relieved and half devastated that she might stop this.

"I'm alright Harry, I'm just a little nervous."

"So am I."

They stared into each others eyes, and Harry felt the moment of truth coming upon them and knew that if he hesitated or analyzed anymore, the moment would pass and it would never come again.

He lifted her chin, closed his eyes, and pressed his lips softly against hers.

It was nothing either had ever felt before. For Hermione, she was reminded of the first time she had a nightmare and her father had brought her hot cocoa in bed and read to her till she fell asleep. For Harry it was like the first time he had put on his dad's invisibility cloak. Like finding your past and your future coming together in one blissful moment for the present. For both they could only associate their emotions with one word - peace.

And then the moment ended.

Their lips were still touching, but both were afraid that the other had thought this "experiment" was going on longer than what might be considered within the universal boundaries of friendship. Although really, none of this was within the boundaries of friendship.

It was Hermione who broke away first, wide eyed and with the taste of Harry still on her lips. Now that she was more aware of herself, she knew that the kiss had lasted mere seconds instead of the endless minutes she thought they had occupied. She was in a bit of shock that she had actually kissed a boy and Harry Potter for that matter. She brought her fingers to her mouth to see if the tingling that still resided there would spread to the rest of her body if she touched them; then she noticed that Harry had not stopped looking at her. The tingling forgotten, Hermione felt her body overcome with pure lust. She wanted to kiss him again.

For his part, Harry was more nervous now that they had kissed. Was I bad? Is she going to wish she picked Ron instead?

Doubt upon doubt furiously entered his mind until he could stand it no longer. He had to know.

"So how was it?" He asked, noticing that Hermione was breathing hard and her chest kept on moving up and down, but Harry quickly moved his eyes to her face because he knew that after what they'd just done he could not look at her chest and think of breathing. He saw that her eyes had grown darker since he last looked in them - a deep earth tone rather than the lighter mocha that he had grown so familiar with.

Hermione licked her lips, and at the sight of her tongue on those lips that he had just kissed he felt that he had to physically fight back the moan making its way through his body.

"Well, you see Harry because I have no other experience in this matter so I'm not quite sure of the definitive results of our experiment. Perhaps a second opinion would be helpful."

And before Harry had a chance to think Hermione's lips were on his again, and her hands were clasped around his neck. He tangled his hands in her hair, wanting to feel more of her. He could feel his body angling itself instinctively so that he could reach her more fully, and he felt her body doing the same. And then it was just right. Her body was pressed tight against his, her fingers were playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, and her lips were doing the most the most amazing things. This did NOT feel like it did with Cho.

This was kissing of an entirely different dimension. Granted it was still wet, but not with tears. No, this wet was with mouths, and lips, and teeth, and Dear Lord...was that her tongue? And Harry could do nothing but moan and pull her in tighter.

Oh God... Hermione. Oh please let this not be a one time experiment because this feels so good and I think I'm getting addicted to wetness.

Hermione's brain had shut down the moment they kissed. It was an odd sensation for her. She was not analyzing the remarkable way Harry was sucking on her bottom lip, or the way it made her gasp and hold onto him for fear of losing herself in his kiss. She was not questioning the way he knew exactly what do to make her want nothing more than to throw all his clothes off and make tonight a night for some more firsts. And she certainly wasn't debating what to do with her body. She felt as if something primal had take over her body, and therefore instinctually knew what to do to make the experience as mind-blowing for him as it was for her.

Harry was slowly losing control over his primal instincts. His hands had moved their way down from her hair to the bottom of her jumper and were playing with the ends of it. His conscience made a brief appearance telling him that this was going too fast, and that it would screw up everything, but Harry couldn't hear it. He was too overpowered by everything Hermione, and the intense desire to slip his hands over the smooth skin he knew lay beneath. Hermione stopped his semi-inner monologue when she took his hands and put them on her bare stomach.

They both instantly stopped ravishing each other and gasped. The sensation of skin on intimate skin was overwhelming, and Harry laid his forehead on hers and just breathed her in. He knew his conscience was right. This was moving too fast, and he didn't want to mess up their friendship just because they let their hormones get away with them. Then he felt her slender fingers play with his hopelessly unmanageable hair and her lips brush against his scar. Harry felt a rush go through his body and a weight settle nicely into a deep crevice of his heart. It felt like a combination of the gentle warmth of their first kiss and the intense heat of their second. Harry knew that whatever this feeling was it was not going to go away, as he could feel it steadily becoming more a part of him than the magic in his blood. He had no idea what these new feelings were, but he was sure that he would never be able to look at Hermione again without wanting to snog her senseless.

Hermione continued to play with his hair, and just looked at Harry. He had not once opened his eyes since they had started their second make-out session, and Hermione fully took the opportunity to reflect on her feelings for this incredibly complicated young man. Hermione had no idea why she had asked him to kiss her; it had been something purely spur of the moment, but once said could not be questioned with the rightness of it. She loved Harry, she trusted him, and after this night she knew she was attracted to him. She couldn't help but imagine how wonderful it would be to have his love and affection in return. She knew he had numerous emotional wounds. Scars no one could see caused by pain and hurt that had been cruelly thrust upon him, and she wanted nothing more than to literally kiss those wounds and make them better. Because maybe if she could do that, if she could just keep kissing him and loving him without anything in return, than some higher being would take pity on her and would make sure he wouldn't have to face Voldemort that year.

Harry finally opened his eyes, and found Hermione staring intently at him. She looked both sad and determined, and for the life of him Harry could not figure out how she could be feeling anything other than the elation he was experiencing.

"You'd think a bit of kissing would cheer her up" Ron's voice echoed from the conversation that really started it all.

"Are you that bad at kissing?"

All of a sudden Harry felt like his chest was being crushed, and turned away from Hermione's stare. He couldn't look at her and see the disappointment that her first kiss had been terrible, especially when this meant so much more than it did with Cho, and he could feel his eyes staring to water. But before he could wallow anymore, he felt her hand on his cheek as she pulled his face towards hers again.

"Harry, Ron's an idiot."

Hermione was beaming at him, and he could feel her thumb stroking the length of his cheekbone. Her smile softened, as did her eyes which showed nothing but infinite tenderness and acceptance in their gaze. Harry had never felt more loved than he did at that moment. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, how he would be lost without her. How he thought maybe he stood a chance against Voldemort because she was with him, giving him strength and support even when he didn't deserve it. But he couldn't say these things. The words were not there, and even if they were there was also their absent but mutual best friend to think about. And that was a whole set of sticky complications that Harry did not feel like he could deal with right now.

So, instead of trying to express the millions of new emotions he was feeling Harry simply looked Hermione straight in the eyes and willed her to see the love, desire, and absolute trust that he felt but could not articulate.

He finally answered, "Yes he is."

If you ever get tired of waiting for Ron to wake up, I'll be right here.

Hermione's eyes misted over, letting Harry know that she got his real meaning loud and clear.

It wasn't Ron I was waiting for.

And they smiled.

A/N: The lines "you'd think a bit of kissing ..." and "are you that bad at kissing?" were taken straight from page 405 of the UK version of OotP. I'm letting this be known so I do not get sued. Thank you and again, please review. Also, an extra huge thanks goes out to Nousia, Façade, EbonyBlack, and LadyGranger for recommending my story when it was on fanfiction.net. Thank you so much!

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