Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 2
"You thought I fancied Ron?" Hermione asked turning her head towards him. She was laughing.

"Well, yeah." Harry answered. "During the Triwizard Tournament you always seemed jealous when Ron took interest in Fleur, and during the Quidditch World Cup...all those other Veela's. Remember? And - "

"Harry!" Hermione said hysterically. "Of course I got jealous. I was jealous of you and Cho too you know."

"But you never seemed jealous of me and Cho. You even helped me out with her! And, that still doesn`t explain why you were upset when Ron noticed girls." Harry said, looking shocked.

"Okay, well first of all, of course I was jealous of you and Cho. I mean I didn't think you'd ever like me if you went for girls like her." Harry noticed the nasty tone she used when she said "her", she really must not have liked Cho.

"And second, I was upset with Ron because he was being so shallow. He was only noticing the really pretty girls. And well...when I sort of figured out that he liked me...I started thinking that if Ron were moving on from me, having higher expectations and noticing that Veela girl Fleur; then I thought that I really had no chance with you."

The beautiful smile she had on her face only moments ago had now disappeared and she looked sad again. Harry lifted her chin slowly, willing her to meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry." he said softly. He was looking at her with such intensity she thought she might pass out. His gorgeous emerald green eyes were mesmerizing.

"Harry," she said. "Don't be sorry. You don't have anything to be sorry for. You did nothing wro-"

She was cut off by his deep emotional voice. "I hurt you." he began. "I made you sad and - "

"But you didn't even know Harry." Hermione said.

"And that's what I'm sorry for Hermione." he said. He was holding her hand, entwining his fingers with hers.

"I should have known." Hermione was now staring at their tangled hands. Then she looked up at him.

"Harry," she said smiling. "I wasn't exactly sending out the signal that I was in love with you. There's no way you would have figured it out."

"But - " he started, while she continued.

"Even if," she continued playfully, "you had gotten passed how dense you are when it comes to relationships."

"Me? Dense?" he said defensively.

"Oh come on Harry!" she said, looking at him with disbelieving eyes.

"Well I wasn't completely dense. I mean there was this one time I suspected you liked me in fourth year. It was the night before the third task, Krum kept asking me if there was anything between us. He said you `talked about me very often'" Harry said with a sly grin on his face. "He seemed really jealous." Harry now wore a triumphant grin. Hermione blushed.

"Well, he actually had a right to be. I did talk an awful lot about you." she said smiling at him. "But other than that, you were still pretty dense."

"Alright. Okay, maybe I was a little dense." he admitted. "But, I got over it. I mean, look at us now."
He held her closer to him while she silently agreed by taking his free hand in hers. She held their hands out in front of them and smiled. "You're right." she agreed moments later. She turned her gaze back towards Harry and kissed him softly. "Look at us now. This doesn't even seem weird. Does it?"

"No."

They sat in silence for awhile, just holding each other. Harry broke the silence with a frightening thought.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?" she replied. Her eyes were closed and she was dozing off in Harry's arms.

"What are we going to tell Ron?" he said in an almost frightened voice. He knew Ron had fancied Hermione. It was plainly obvious to everyone except Ron.

Hermione smiled inwardly and simply replied, "The truth."

"Well I figured we'd have to tell him the truth, but I mean...he fancies you. He'll be really upset." Harry said trying to understand why she wasn't so worried.

"Harry, if you're wondering why I'm not worrying so much, it's because I know Ron will be really happy for both of us." Hermione said reassuringly.

"How do you know that?"

"Because he told me." She sat up to look at him. His expression was so priceless. He was so confused.

"When?" he asked.

"Over the summer." she replied. "Ron and I had a little "heart to heart". Hard to believe I know. But, he actually did confess his feelings for me."

"He did? Did anything happen?" he asked nervously. What if she and Ron had dated over the summer and didn't tell him.

"No. Of course not." she replied. "He told me how he felt and I told him how I felt."

"Which was?"

"That I loved you of course!"

"And what did he say? Was he angry?"

"No. Actually he gave me a really big hug and told me that you and I would be really great together...if it were to happen. So we agreed that we'd just be best friends - nothing more and nothing less." She smiled and gave him a quick peck. "Besides, he's moved on.""What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well," she said curling up next to him again. "You didn't hear it from me, but Ron has got his eye on a rather...er...unique Ravenclaw girl."

"Luna?!" Harry exclaimed.

"Mmm hmm." Hermione replied.

"Why didn't he tell me?" Harry asked. "And when did he start liking her back? I mean he always thought she was weird."

"Well after everything that we had talked about, he confessed that he had been thinking about Luna and how brave she was back in the Department of Mysteries. At first I thought it was a little weird but when he started talking about her, he just wouldn't stop. But every time he said her name he seemed to have this huge smile on his face. So, the next day he owled her and asked her out on a date. And he hasn't told you yet because he thought you already had enough on your mind."

"Oh, I guess I understand that. He still should have told me." Harry said.

"Well, now you know." Hermione said giggling.

"Wow, Ron and Luna? Who would've thought those two would get together."

"Well certainly not me." Hermione replied snuggling closer to Harry.
Harry's heart was leaping. Here, now, in his arms was the most wonderful person he had ever met. He loved her and she loved him. He held her close to him and rested his cheek on the side of her head. Hermione sighed with a smile.

"I love you Harry."

"And I love you Hermione."
They both sat in silence completely content with only the presence of one another, until Harry spoke.

"You know what?" he asked her.

"No, what's that?"

"I'm glad Ron snores so loudly."

"Why?" she asked puzzled

"Because if it weren't for his snoring I would never have come down here and this never would have happened."
They both laughed at the thought of Ron's horrible snoring."We'll have to thank him." Hermione said.

"Yeah." Harry said yawning and holding Hermione closer.

At 2 o'clock in the morning, Harry sat with his arms around a sleeping Hermione, listening to the gentle hum of her breathing. He had someone who loved him again. It didn't make the pain of losing Sirius go away, but the love of Hermione, the love she had for him made everything seem a lot easier. With a mind free of fear and sadness at last, Harry nodded off into a peaceful sleep.

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