AN: This is NOT a continuation, sequel or prequel for that matter to "Proof In the Pumpkin Juice". This is a separate story in itself, but I do hope all of you enjoy reading. And, er- I'm sorry if anyone's lifespan has been shortened due to cliff hangers.
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Hermione was having a bad day. Since her day started at 7am, she stubbed her toe on her trunk, snapped the bristles off her brush trying to get rid of a nasty tangle, spilled pumpkin juice on her shirt twice at breakfast and by 10 am she had recieved a 8 out of 10 because her potions essay was 'filled with spelling errors':
"Your capitols aren't large enough to distinguish their importance," said Professor Snape when she protested, "you're lucky I marked it at all."
Hermione thought things couldn't get worse...but they did. By 1:30 pm, Ron had yelled himself hoarse at Hermione because Crookshanks had peed on his shoes:
"I ONLY GOT ONE PAIR! SO HELP ME IF I EVER CATCH THAT BLOODY CAT IN MY ROOM I'LL THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW!"
She knew he was serious. So she made her way to her room on the verge of tears, desperately hoping that Crookshanks was still in her room. When she entered she saw his tail sticking out from underneath the bed, and with good reason- Lavender and Pavarti were having a row...over a boy. Except now it had launched into a full scale verbal assault.
"KNOCK KNEES!" yelled Pavarti.
"THUNDER THIGHS!" roared Lavender.
"UNDER-DEVELOPED-CALVES!"
Lavender, held her hand to her mouth and gasped. She always thought that her legs were her worst feature. But for Hermione however this was more than she can stand. She turned around and walked out slamming the door behind her. She stopped and leaned against it holding her face in her hands. She had never wanted a day to end so much in her life.
Her afternoon classes weren't so bad, though quiet because she never once raised her hand to answer.
Harry nudged her in the arm. "What's wrong?" he whispered.
"Nothing," Hermione lied.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Okay," and continued on with his notes.
Hermione sat there, a little stunned. Normally people would force you to tell them. If they cared. She didn't hear a peep out of Harry. He was probably mad at her too for Crookshanks peeing on Ron's shoes. Hermione's shoulders sank. Now she was having a really bad day. When the class ended, she stuffed her books into her bag and took off with out them.
"Wait- Hermione?!" Harry called after her, "what's wrong with her?"
"Who cares?" said Ron bitterly, screwing the cap back on his ink bottle.
Harry's face went straight as he turned towards him. "What did you say to her?"
"Oh, so it's my fault? Her cat peed on my shoes Harry!"
"So be mad at the cat, not Hermione!" said Harry, grabbing his books and taking off after her.
"So why don't you just marry her then!" he yelled out to Harry's back.
Hermione was desperately holding her book bag together (since it split open, giving Draco a good laugh) as she walked up to the Gryffindor tower she stopped right in the middle of the stair case. She wanted to go somewhere. Somewhere quiet so she could let out a good cry if she wanted to.
As if obeying her thoughts, the stair case shifted and took her towards another landing.
Hermione wobbled on her feet as the staircase shifted to the right. When it came to a stop, it brought her to a door that Hermione had never seen. Still, curiosity got the better of her and she continued forward. Clenching tightly on her bag she was positive that any moment now Mrs. Norris would come flying out of the corners to alert Mr. Filch of an intruder. That would just be my luck to, Hermione thought to herself. She pushed open the wooden door and observed a very peaceful room. Various windows filtered in the late afternoon's sunshine as the dust danced in the light. She turned around in a circle to look at the room completely, she was however, very oblivious the loose tile on the floor.
"Oh no!" she said tripping and falling, her book bag bursting all over the floor.
"Well that's just PERFECT!" she shouted dusting off her knees. She collected her books one by one, muttering to herself. She bent over to pick up her last textbook, "Potions...' the capitol letters weren't large enough to distinguish to importance,'" she said in a mocking voice. Pursing her lips together she gripped the book tight.
"Distinguish THIS."
Hermione hurled the book across the room and watched it slam against the wall and onto the floor. It felt good. Hermione let her shoulders drop as she sulked over to pick it up. It wasn't going to make her day any better if she came to class with tattered books. She stopped to look out the window and sighed.
A sudden thought came to her as she sat against the windowsill. Why wasn't anyone looking for her? She knew why. Ron wasn't about to speak to her anytime soon, and Harry...well she was sure Harry would take Ron's side like he always did. She felt very alone all of the sudden.
"This is depressing," Hermione said staring at her textbooks," and now I'm talking to myself."
Hermione sighed and picked up her bag to stuff her books in. She wiped away a tear or two before turning around to walk away, when she found herself toe to toe with Harry Potter.
She froze as she looked up at him. He had a grin tugging on the corner of his lips, and before she knew what happened he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. Her arms went limp before securing them tightly around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder.
"Oh, Harry I was having such an awful day, first with potions and then with Ron yelling at me when Crookshanks peed on his shoes-"
Harry snorted a laugh. "I know I shouldn't be laughing but, it sounds funny when you say it, you know, because you're so proper."
Hermione started to laugh and before they new it they were holding onto each other for support. When the laughing died down, Harry straightened himself up.
"So are you ready to come back downstairs?"
"I suppose I have to don't I?"
Harry nodded.
"Is Ron still mad?"
"A little, he'll laugh about it in a few days, besides," said Harry helping Hermione with her bag, "you still have me right?"
Hermione stopped and smiled at him. "Yes Harry, yes I do."
******
It had been a few days since Hermione's bad day. Ron saw fit to say sorry for yelling at her- which was a good start, and everything seemed to go back to normal. Snape seemed to be in a better mood (whatever that was) and gave Hermione a 9.5 out of 10 on her next essay, which was the highest mark anyone could get in that class, And Hermione and Harry's friendship seemed to develop a lot more since he went to find her. It meant a lot to Hermione- but she never told him. Life went on...and so did Quidditch...
Harry laid back in his bed exhausted. Quidditch had been hell, in fact he couldn't remember the last time it was fun. He had showered and changed into something soft and comfortable. He hadn't bothered drying his hair- his arms hurt to much to do so. Suddenly he heard the door open and close, must be one of his room mates- but the last he checked, none of them had curly brown hair.
"Er- Hello Hermione?" Harry said straightening himself up, the collar of his shirt still wet from his hair.
"Hello Harry," she said closing the door behind her.
"Er- what are you-"
" You know Harry," Hermione interrupted, " it's funny that we've been friends all this time, had our adventures...our heartbreaks, and yet there you are…always."
Harry stared at her, it was the way she was talking, how she tucked her hair in behind her ears...how she was looking at him. It made him gulp. She walked closer towards him, bitting her lower lip.
"I feel close to you," she continued.
"You- you do?" he said watching her trace her fingers along his bed curtains.
"So close in fact," she said slipping her school robe off her shoulders, "that I feel something growing inside of me."
"Oh?" said Harry feeling his heart began to race, " really?"
"Yes," said Hermione taking a seat next to Harry and leaning over.
Harry's arms felt numb as she drew her face closer and closer until she grabbed the back of Harry's wet hair and forced him into a kiss.
" OY! HARRY!"
Harry's eyes snapped open and he shot straight up in his bed.
"Wake up, Harry- you're going to be late!"
"What?!" said Harry forcefully running his hand through his sweaty fringe, "Where's Hermione?"
"Hermione? I don't know probably downstairs in the common room...why?"
"Oh, Er- no reason."
It was a dream. A dream that Harry couldn't shake out of his head. The image of Hermione kissing him was...different. He sat there covering his mouth with a concerned look on his face.
"You all right?" asked Ron, putting on his school robe.
"Huh? oh yeah, fine."
It was an outright lie. Harry felt a pang inside his stomach as he got dressed- how was he going to be able to talk to Hermione ...or be able to look at her for that matter. As they made their way to the common room, Harry got his first glance at the real Hermione.
All of the sudden- his cheeks felt flushed.
Harry built himself up to look at Hermione for more than five seconds. Still, he couldn't curb his blushing. He would pass off the excuse that he was feeling a little warm. But the one thing he couldn't shake was the instant image that would appear in his mind of Hermione kissing him. He wondered if it meant something. That's dumb, Harry thought. It was just a dream after all. However it wasn't so dumb when he found himself wondering the bookshelves in the library after one of his classes. If any, there would be some sort of book on dreams.
His eyes scanned up and down the rows of books in the divination section, "Dreams...dreams," he muttered to himself wiggling his fingers along the spines of the books. He stopped at a large green book and pulled it out:
What the Heck Was That? : Dream interpretations and their puzzling meanings.
Harry flipped the book open and chewed on the corner of his mouth as he scanned the pages. He didn't think that the book would have a section devoted to 'kissing your best friends'....but they did. Harry furrowed his eyebrows and read the passage.
"Harry?"
Harry snapped the book shut and spun around.
"Hermione?"
"You walked right by me without even saying hello," said Hermione with a small laugh.
"Oh, s-sorry, Er- what are you doing in the library?" he said trying to push the book back on the shelf without looking.
Hermione jutted her hip out and stared at him.
"Right, " said Harry nodding, "stupid question."
"What are you doing in the divination section? I thought you always make your homework up- which is very stupid to do by the way, I'm surprised Professor Trelawny hasn't said anything," said Hermione guiding Harry's book back onto the shelves. When Hermione moved her hand back it brushed against Harry's.
He Froze.
"You all right Harry? You're face is all flushed?"
"Ye- Er...I- I Think I should go outside for some fresh air."
"Oh, I'll come with you it's nice out."
"No!, It's - it's all right er-" Harry pulled a book off from the shelves and handed it to her," I wouldn't want to pull you away from your studying, I'll see you," he said and walked away with a quickened pace, touching his burning cheek.
Hermione watched him walk out of the library with her eyebrows furrowed, "Honestly!" she said and shoved the book back on the shelf.
Hermione spent most of the night in the library, as she usually did. Unless she was with Harry or Ron studying. Neither of them seemed to require her assistance so...
Hermione lifted her tired eyes up from her parchment scribbles. She looked around and noticed she was once again the last person in the library. Except for Madam Pince who was off returning the books to their shelves. She stood up and grabbed her books to return them to the shelves, when she felt someone's presence.
She stopped dead in her tracks, she slowly reached out behind her, grabbed the air and pulled hard. And there stood Harry, with his hair standing up and a silly grin plastered on his face.
"Hi?" he said waving.
"Harry, what are you-"
"Shh," he said placing a finger over his mouth, " follow me," and he grabbed her hand and dragged her off to the corner of the library. They stopped to listen for noises. When it was quit enough Harry tossed the cloak over them both.
"Harry what's-"
"Ever feel like you just want to disappear?"
"Sometimes," she said with a puzzled look on her face.
"I-I want to tell you something," he said lifting her hands up. " You've been constantly fixing my glasses to help me see and-"
"That's not a problem Harry-"
Harry covered her mouth. "The thing is, I saw perfectly all those times, but I still had trouble seeing what was right in front of me."
Hermione felt Her heart clench.
"What?"
"It's you," Harry said leaning in for a kiss.
Hermione felt this overwhelming urge taking over inside of her. She had to kiss him. And she did. They stumbled backwards underneath Harry's cloak and slammed into a book case. The odd book fell and one part of Hermione brain that was still functioning properly told her that Madam Pince was going to be here any second now-
"Miss Granger? Miss Granger Wake up!"
Hermione snapped her head up and looked around. She was still in the library, and Madam Pince was standing over her holding a candle.