One Boy, One Girl

PotterMama

Rating: PG
Genres: Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 5
Published: 18/03/2005
Last Updated: 18/03/2005
Status: completed

Seven years… Each moment captured to stay for eternity... The story of one boy and one girl.

Chapters

1. untitled

1. untitled

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books and Scholastic Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author notes : I was visiting a friend and went though his CD collection. I picked one album and a song title captured my attention. The moment I read it, I simply identified them as Harry and Hermione. I listened to the song, and Harry and Hermione’s story flashed in my mind. No, my work isn’t a song fic. The actual song was also telling a story, though about love-at-first-sight, getting married and having children.

Spoilers from the first five books abound!!! I am re-telling some parts from the books; sorry if I’m going to bore you there, but I think it is essential. You’ll see familiar lines I picked-up directly from canon where scenes had already happened. As for most of the later parts, those are mine and some of them taken from my previous works.

So here it is, the song title that grabbed my attention, used as the driving force for my story.

=====================

A skinny, small young boy of eleven with black messy hair and bright green eyes sat in a train compartment with his new found friend, Ron Weasley, the youngest red-headed boy in his old wizarding family, awkwardly tall with a long nose and full of freckles. Ron asked if the raven-haired boy is really the well-known Harry Potter, he got the answer with a nod.

Feeling quite brave, Ron further inquired by pointing at Harry’s forehead, "And have you really got – you know..."

Harry raised his fringe to show the scar, shaped like a bolt of lightning. Ron gawked and from then on they shared their frustrations and fears of entering school not knowing anything.

Ron was about to show Harry a spell one of his brothers gave him to turn his rat yellow, when their carriage door opened. It was the toad-less boy again and with a girl in tow, bushy-haired and with large front teeth, wearing her new school robes.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she asked in her bossy voice.

After seeing that Ron’s spell was a dud, she started ranting about having learned all their course books by heart, practised spells that work, and which house she would gladly be in. “I’m Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?” she asked.

Ron muttered his name.

“Harry Potter,” the skinny boy answered.

There they were in a compartment of Hogwarts Express, bringing them to a school they had never heard of until that owl post when they turned eleven, Muggle raised and entering the wizarding world for the first time, one boy and one girl.

***

Nearing the end of their first year at Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione reached for a door after playing their way across a giant wizard’s chessboard in a chamber wherein they left their friend Ron, unconscious.

There was nothing frightening behind this next door, which had a table with seven bottles; it was another room they had to go through to save the Philosopher’s Stone. Hermione smiled after reading the riddle written on a parchment sitting next to the bottles. She walked up and down the table, reading the lines over and over again, and at last she said, “Got it.”

Harry told her to drink from the bottle that will allow her to get back to Ron and ask for help and Harry decided to drink the one that will get him through the black flames guarding another chamber.

“What if You-Know-Who's with him?" she asked looking all terrified.

"Well – I was lucky once, wasn't I?" he replied. "I might get lucky again."

Hermione darted at Harry and threw her arms around him. “Harry – you're a great wizard, you know," she told him.

She drank from the round bottle at the right end of the line and walked through the purple fire, unhurt. Harry then consumed the contents of the small bottle and passed through the black fire.

The plan of the Dark Lord Voldemort, to snatch the stone that produces the Elixir of Life, was thwarted by one boy and one girl.

***

Harry was about to mount his broom at the start of a Quidditch match against Hufflepuff on his second year, when Professor McGonagall announced that the match had been cancelled. Amidst all the complaints of students, she motioned for Harry to come over to her. “Potter, I think you'd better come with me...” she said.

Worried that he had done something wrong again, Harry followed. Ron, too, followed as he saw them walking back to the castle. Even though they were not being taken to any office, Harry was a bit taken aback when they approached the infirmary.

"This will be a bit of a shock," said Professor McGonagall gently.

His heart seemed to have dropped at the pit of his stomach when he saw Hermione lying in bed, completely still with glassy, open eyes. When they got back to the Gryffindor common room, Harry could not shake off the picture of Hermione, motionless, as if carved out of stone. It was then that he decided that they needed to do something to help solve the mystery behind the attacks.

Harry heeded Hagrid’s hint about the spiders. He and Ron tracked them down to the Forbidden Forrest and were led to Aragog. Even though they have learned that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets, still they were clueless on what creature lurks in the castle petrifying the students.

Then one breakfast at the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall announced that the Mandrakes were ready and soon students who had been petrified will be revived. And so, when Harry and Ron were caught, as they were about to skive off to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, it was Hermione that came to his mind.

“Hermione,” Harry said to Professor McGonagall. “We haven't seen her for ages, Professor and we thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready and, er, not to worry – ”

Harry and Ron went to the hospital wing because of that lie, having been given the permission to visit their petrified friend.

Looking at her icy face, Ron said, "Wonder if she did see the attacker, though?"

Harry did not seem to have heard his friend, as he was too preoccupied at a piece of paper crumpled inside Hermione’s right hand.

From that page, bravely torn by Hermione from an old book from the library, Harry was able to solve the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets. The life of Ginny, Ron’s little sister, was saved and Tom Riddle was prevented from completing Salazar Slytherin’s work, all because of the genius and bravery of one boy and one girl.

***

After a few harrowing hours inside the Shrieking Shack learning about friendships and deceptions, and fighting off Dementors to save Sirius Black’s life, Harry lay in another bed at the school hospital. Feeling exhausted and worn out, he simply wanted to lie in bed forever. He looked to his right and there was Hermione lying on a bed next to him, eyes opened and listening.

Dumbledore sent everyone out to talk with Harry and Hermione alone. He told them that he believed that Sirius Black was innocent. Then he said something to Hermione that puzzled Harry, “What we need is more time.”

“But – Oh!” she gasped after a realization came to her.

The old man told Harry and Hermione where they locked Sirius and warned vehemently to not be seen. He then turned, and said as he was reaching for the door, “I am going to lock you in. It is five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."

Harry baffled at all the exchanges between Dumbledore and Hermione asked, “Good luck? Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?”

Hermione took a long, very fine gold chain with a sparkling hourglass, from her neck beneath her robes and threw it around him.

“Ready?” she asked him.

“What are we doing?” he asked back, having no idea of what was going on.

She did not answer him, instead turned the hourglass as Dumbledore instructed. Everything around them turned into a blur and the next thing he knew, they were standing in the middle of an empty entrance hall. She then pushed him inside a broom closet with her.

Hermione explained to the clueless Harry all about the Time-Turner. “Harry, I don't understand what Dumbledore wants us to do. Why did he tell us to go back three hours? How's that going to help Sirius?”

Inside a broom closet, across the entrance hall, crammed with buckets and mops, the life of Sirius Black, a convicted but innocent man, depended on one boy and one girl.

***

The three champions for the TriWizard Tournament were already inside a chamber right next to the Great Hall awaiting instructions, when suddenly the fire in the Goblet again turned red. Another piece of parchment shot out from it and Dumbledore reached for the piece and read the name – “Harry Potter.”

Harry could not believe if he heard Dumbledore right but when he saw all eyes were on him he said vacantly, “I didn’t put my name in. You know I didn’t.” He turned to Hermione and Ron, but they were just staring back at him, expressionless.

He relented and took what could have been the longest walk he had ever trod, towards that door of the chamber.

No one believed him. Well, some professors did, Mad-Eye Moody put it bluntly, “Maybe someone’s hoping Potter is going to die for it.”

Harry’s return to the Gryffindor common room was even more reprehensible. They were all cheering, roaring, and congratulating him for having hood-winked the Goblet. He fervently denied entering his name but everything fell on deaf ears. He instead went up to the dormitory, hoping to find the two people whom he thought would believe him.

However, his exchange with Ron proved him wrong. Harry woke up the following day not wanting to face anyone.

He walked out of the portrait hole and came face to face with Hermione, carrying a stack of toast.

“I brought you this… want to go for a walk?” she asked.

Harry was grateful that Hermione knew what he greatly needed and walked with her towards the lake and told everything that transpired inside that closed chamber.

Hermione accepted his story, “Well, of course, I knew you hadn’t entered yourself. The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name!”

Days and weeks had passed and the first task loomed on their heads. One night alone in the common room, surrounded by different objects used for Summoning practise and working so hard in keeping Harry alive, was one boy and one girl.

***

Harry sat in the common room with his two best friends and bashing their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; his bleeding right hand soaked in a bowl of Murtlap essence.

Coming into a conclusion that they can not learn any defence from Professor Umbridge, Hermione looked at Harry and said carefully, “Well, you know, I was thinking today… I was thinking that – maybe the time's come when we should just – just do it ourselves.”

Ron and Harry were adamant about doing more extra work, being that they could barely catch up with their own homework. However, Hermione easily convinced them that there were more important things than homework, like preparing to be able to really defend themselves.

The issue of who could teach them came up. “Who then?” asked Harry.

Hermione exhaled and said, “Isn’t it obvious? I’m talking about you, Harry.”

“But I'm not a teacher, I can't – ” said Harry, perturbed at her suggestion of him teaching them Defence Against the Dark Arts.

“Harry, you're the best in the year at Defence Against the Dark Arts,” she said.

He finally gave in, and met up with all those interested to learn at the Hog’s Head in the town of Hogsmeade. They called their group Dumbledore’s Army, or DA for short. The DA meetings pursued even after the issuance of Educational Decree Number Twenty-four, preventing the students from forming groups or clubs not sanctioned by the High Inquisitor.

A secret society of young wizards and witches met regularly under the very nose of Dolores Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad all because of the brilliant idea and cunning of one boy and one girl.

***

Umbridge got Harry by his hair, bending his neck on his back. Hermione’s dainty body was pinned to the wall by a bigger Millicent Bulstrode. Other members of the DA were fidgeting under the tight grips of members of the Inquisitorial Squad. They were all inside Professor Umbridge’s office, moments after she caught Harry bent on her fireplace, communicating with someone by Floo.

Harry felt all hope was lost, when he saw Snape walk out of the room, not understanding his babble about Sirius being held captive inside a dark room in the Ministry of Magic office.

Wanting to force information out of Harry, Umbridge appeared to be talking herself into something. She faced Harry and quietly said, “The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue.”

Hermione screamed, “No! Professor Umbridge – it’s illegal!”

However Umbridge did not bother to notice her. She was busy pointing her wand at Harry, moving it at the different parts of his body, deciding where to hit him to cause more pain. She even admitted to them that it was she who sent the Dementors, who attacked Harry and Dudley that summer in Surrey. “Only you wriggled out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today though, not now – ” she said. “Cruc – ”

“No!” Hermione cut her off. “No – Harry, we’ll have to tell her!”

Umbridge urged Hermione, who was crying, to come forward, but Harry noticed the absence of tears behind her sobs. He could only wish that Hermione knew what she was doing. However, maybe out of desperation in discrediting Dumbledore, Umbridge fell for the lie that Hermione weaved.

The witch stationed by the Ministry of Magic to keep watch over the affairs at Hogwarts was driven away, all thanks to the dauntlessness and quick thinking of one boy and one girl.

***

Hermione simply stood up one night on their sixth year after she finished writing her Potions essay. Harry gazed on her and saw the sadness and anxiety on her face. He turned to Ron’s favourite corner at the common room and realized that he did not join them in studying.

“Where are you going?” Harry asked Hermione when he saw her collecting all her parchments.

“Off to meet Ron…” she said absently, closing her ink bottle.

Harry merely nodded. He was used to these kinds of nights, ever since Ron and Hermione started dating. However, he felt a certain foreboding. Suddenly he remembered the exchange between Ron and Hermione over at breakfast that morning.

“You sure you’re going to be okay?” he said.

“Yeah,” Hermione whispered, though he could sense that her voice was apprehensive. She went off towards the portrait and was gone.

More than an hour had passed and still no sign of Hermione or Ron had ever passed thru the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harry waited; he knew something was up. He could feel it, and so he waited.

Two hours, he thought, and yet no sign of them. He turned his gaze to the windows and saw the looming rain. The sky outside was even darker, there were no stars visible. All of a sudden, a clap of thunder almost made him jump.

Harry threw cautions to the wind, and went out of the portrait hole. It was way past curfew, he knew he’ll get in trouble if someone caught him strolling the hallways at this hour.

Then he heard a loud banging of a door being shut. He hid behind a large post when he heard the heavy footsteps approaching his place.

Who could be running at this hour?, he asked himself and took a brave peek.

He was not sure if he was supposed to be surprised seeing Hermione, because he was out looking for her after all. However, the look on her face definitely got him dumbfounded. Her eyes, they were watery, yet traces of tears cannot be found on her delicate face.

“Hermione!” he called her name.

Yet she did not answer back, never even bothered to pause and look at him.

He heard the first hiss of the pouring of rain. He followed her, but her pace was getting quicker. He called again after her, “Hermione!”, but she didn’t seem to have heard him.

Hermione was running faster and faster, and with the path she was taking, Harry knew that she was going outside. Nevertheless, he ran after her. She threaded the Hogwarts’ lawn; her shoes were splattered with mud, her robes soaked by the heavy rain.

She only stopped when she got to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry saw her knelt down on the ground through the white veil of the heavy storm. He heard her cry out loud to the howling wind.

Not knowing what was going on, he called on to her, “Hermione, what’s happening?”

Again she did not utter anything, she merely looked at him. He knew that he too was soaked, and his robes felt heavier. “What’s wrong?” he asked her again.

Harry saw her body shake, he did not care if was out of coldness or out of despair, he just grabbed her. He placed his arms around her, squeezing her tight, and gave all the warmth his body could provide.

“Just hold me, Harry. Just hold me…” she cried to him.

Ron looked outside the window and saw two people by the edge of the forest, clinging to each other in the middle of the flurry of the heavy storm, one boy and girl.

***

Hermione was sitting beneath the beech tree close to the lake. Parchments were scattered before her and a large volume on Arithmancy sat on her lap. She could hear peals of laughter from a group of third year Hufflepuffs huddling about ten feet to her left. Hermione simply shook her head, well it was Saturday and the sun was shining just about right. She turned her gaze towards the Quidditch stands and saw a blur of specks flying around it.

Harry was out there with the whole of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, practising. Though she wanted to be there and watch him while studying, Harry pleaded her to find another spot as she had become quite a distraction to him. She actually left downhearted, never looking back to have seen Harry’s poignant look on his face.

“Distraction? How can I be such a distraction?” she muttered to herself. “I don’t fly over them – I’ll just be sitting on the stands…”

She picked their favourite spot by the lake not wanting to go back to the common room, nor stay at the library. She could not understand why Harry would push him away like that. After all that they had been through, she was there all the time. Being Head Boy and Girl, they have been spending more time together; they were even having those enlightening night talks for these past few weeks, just the two of them.

I even thought I was falling for him, she thought, and him for me.

Hermione stared at the lake and sighed, “You may not see me in that way right now, but maybe – just maybe, when the time comes… you’ll get to notice that I am here, waiting for you to love… the time will come that you’ll long for me too… that your heart will beat for me… maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow… yet I know that that time will come.” She wiped her eyes on her sleeves and went back to her revising.

An hour or maybe two had passed, Hermione had not noticed, but when she turned towards the pitch she could still see players riding their broomsticks, flying like trying to break the sound barrier. “Quidditch,” she mumbled to herself, “stupid game, really. Out to divide us all.”

“My house is better that you house…” she said in a sing-song chirpy voice.

“Stupid game, really?” said a deep familiar voice.

Hermione covered her face with both her hands, “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you were there. Why did you left your team? They’re still flying… How long have you been watching me, Harry?”

“Not that long…” he said while he sat on her side. “My practise was over. Seven years, and you still have not come around to love the game?” he uttered softly gazing into her.

She looked away and said, “I’m not in the mood for a little banter about such a petty matter, Mr. Potter.” She wanted to punish him for what he just did to her.

Harry knew right away what this was all about, the sneering remark and avoiding his gaze. He began to apologize, “I’m sorry – I didn’t mean to hurt you in anyway. It was just… you were… quite a…”

“Distraction,” Hermione finished it for him. “Tell me, Harry. How can I be such a disturbance to your Quidditch practise now, when for years I have done just the same? It’s not like I was up there in the air, doing a jig.”

He sniggered and stopped when he saw Hermione glaring at him.

Hermione continued. “When have I ever missed watching your Quidditch practise? Just this once… and it’s not out of my own volition, but because you pulled me out of the stands. I have never interrupted your game whatsoever for the past six years, and never planned to.” She paused and still saw the smirk on his face, which she madly wanted to erase. “You may think that this is such an irrelevant thing… I can understand if you wanted to be alone, sulking, I can back away – no, forget about that, I’m still your inquisitive friend and I’ll do what seemed proper – But what irked me was that, this was just a Quidditch practise, it’s not like you’ll be off fighting Voldemort and you were doing it to protect me from harm,” she ranted.

Harry locked into her eyes and said softly, “This isn’t just about this morning, isn’t it?”

She gasped when Harry caught up with the real issue behind her raving behaviour.

“This runs deep…” Harry continued.

“I’m not sure what you were trying to drive at, Mr. Potter,” she retorted, hoping to quell those thoughts from Harry.

“Denial isn’t going to work this time, Ms. Granger,” Harry threatened back.

Harry’s voice softened but still he never took his eyes off her, “You thought I never saw the joy on your face whenever I am happy… You just assumed that it never crossed my mind that I was part of your dreams… Whatever I say, I know you’re always listening…”

Hermione bit her lip and fidgeted on her place abashed that Harry was spot-on. She tried to look the other way to avoid his piercing stare.

He inched a little bit closer to her and continued, “You simply had this notion that I never felt your heartbeat close to mine… You thought that I never felt that I always have someone beside me in my sadness and joy, in danger and safety, in victory and defeat… Whenever I need you, you were always there rushing to my side…”

Her insides tightened and a surge of chill passed through her body. He’s getting closer, she thought. Too close.

Harry cupped her chin like delicate china and tilted Hermione’s head so that she’s inches closer to him. He could see her lips quivering… inviting…

“I knew you love me, even though you never said it out loud – just being there for me was more than a thousand ‘I love you’s,” Harry whispered, his voice faltering and for the first time Hermione felt she wasn’t the only one who was uncomfortable. “I have seen and felt them all – and more.”

Harry leaned over and captured her lips with his. The sudden brush of lips melted the world around them, time stood still, everything began to fade and all that was left was one boy and one girl.

***

Amidst the chaos surrounding her, Hermione’s thoughts of Harry never left her even for a single minute. The lives of the students were at peril when the Death Eaters entered their school grounds. Harry had been missing for days and Hermione felt helpless, knowing that he’s in deeper danger than they were and she could not come rushing to his aid, if she only knew where he was.

Then she felt something unusual that made her looked far into the Forbidden Forest. When she saw the feeble flashes of lights, she knew right then and there that Harry was near, needing her.

Hermione found her way towards the dark forest with Neville on her side. She stopped on her tracks as she heard the hooves of the familiar palomino centaur. “Firenze!” she exclaimed breathlessly.

“You’ve come for the Potter boy, haven’t you?” said the centaur in his deep booming voice.

Hermione nodded.

Firenze eyed her and Neville intensely and told them, “He is beyond help. You know there’s nothing much you can do.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “No,” she uttered.

“This is his fight and his alone…” The centaur turned his back on them and cantered a few paces back into the depths of the woods.

Hermione did not move.

Neville pulled her back. “Hermione, let’s go back. Firenze is right, listen to him,” he pleaded to her.

“No,” she said firmly. “I’m not going to leave Harry alone in this strife. This is my own battle, too.” She rushed towards the darks paths of the forest and stopped when again she caught Firenze’s piercing blue eyes.

“Your courage can only take you far,” he uttered pointedly.

“I don’t care where it will lead me to!” she yelled at him. “I’m going, whether you help me or not. But it will be faster with your help,” she added.

The centaur’s hind legs bended, he finally said relenting, “Get into my back and hold on tightly.” Hermione did as she was told. The centaur dashed around and lunged deep into the forest.

With Neville’s fears of the dangers lurking in the forest and keeping his word to Ron, he followed them on foot nonetheless.

Hermione clasped as tightly as possible to keep herself from sliding off the creature’s body. She only opened her eyes when they came to an abrupt halt. She felt the forest floor tremble and heard cantering surrounding them.

“Firenze, you have become such a disgrace to our kind!” yelled a deep male voice. Its owner then emerged followed by more centaurs. Hermione remembered the day when she led Umbridge and Harry inside the forest and lured the centaurs to help them get rid of the abominable witch.

“Magorian…” said Firenze.

“You had been peddling our knowledge and secrets, and served as a lowly mule for them. Now you have some audacity to come back here at such a momentous hour carrying yet another human!” said the leading centaur with a high cheek boned face and long black hair.

“Yes, servitude as you once called it,” replied Firenze. “But it’s a choice I had made to save this Forest you have been so bravely protecting.”

Some centaurs neighed in laughter while others shifted fervently, pawing the ground. “You’re about to again interfere with the readings from the movements of the planets,” Bane said in a gloomy voice, he was the wild-looking black centaur.

“Please, let us go,” Hermione pleaded, hoping that they will listen to her. “Harry needs me… I have to be there for him… Just let me through…”

Another chestnut-bodied centaur with red hair and tail stepped forward and said, “Let them through, it was for the best.”

“Ronan, we have come back full circle!” Bane shouted. “Don’t you remember that night when we let him through?” he pointed at Firenze, “Carrying the young Potter boy?”

“Just let them through…” Ronan said firmly, staring at Hermione.

Firenze kicked his hind legs and charged off. Hermione looked behind her and uttered silently, “Thanks.”

The sparks from fired spells were getting brighter, which meant that they were getting closer to Harry. Hermione’s heart pounded heavily on her chest, and her hands were getting clammy.

She saw him on his knees, clutching his head and screaming. Harry was obviously in such terrible pain, but she could not find grave blows showing on his limp body. She rushed to his side and shrieked his name, “Harry!”

Hermione understood then what was happening, Harry’s mind, body and soul again assaulted from the inside. “Harry!” she cried.

“I’m here Harry,” she said weeping. “Hold on… just hold on… I’m here with you.” From the hope that has leapt in her heart after seeing that he still survives, she kissed him and held him tightly in her arms.

She kept on whispering words to him, of encouragement and professions of love. Tears were freely flowing from her eyes, yet she held on.

Harry won over the internal battle, pulled her up and asked her to follow his lead. For the first time, she did not question his intentions and simply complied.

The next thing she knew, they were sprawled on the ground. Hermione grabbed his limp body, fearing the worst. However she felt him moved.

“Her… Hermione – ” he uttered softly, struggling to get his voice. He touched her face tenderly once more. “It’s over…”

All that was left at the heart of the battle, which decided the future of the magical world around them, was the broken and tired bodies of one boy and one girl.

***

All three of them were sitting inside a lone compartment in Hogwarts Express. The final train ride for most of them was somber. Hermione could now barely see the traces of the boyishness she first saw from her two best friends back then at their very first train ride to Hogwarts.

Gone were the awkwardness and the clumsy body movements. Gone were the wide-eye awe and innocence. The boys she had met seven years ago were now sitting beside her as learned and consummate men – wizards. Young men who had faced adversities far more dangerous for their years.

She loved these men and loves them still, one as a brother and one whom she could see herself living with for the rest of her life. Hermione never thought that one day she would end up with one of the boys who had rescued her from the troll that one fateful Halloween night inside a girls’ bathroom. Never did it too, crossed her mind that she will be saying goodbye to another on this very day.

Hermione’s eyes were all puffed up from crying, “Ron, I do hope you understand where this is all coming from.”

Ron’s voice tweaked in between his silent snuffles and replied, “I do – you may not have noticed it – I knew in some way that this is where our adventure will lead to…”

“We’ll see each other again, though I am not sure when,” Harry added, tears were rolling down his cheeks, too.

“Just keep in mind that I will always be here waiting for you,” Ron said. “Whenever you need me, don’t hesitate to send an owl – or send me a post the normal way.”

Hermione took Ron’s hand and said, “Don’t worry, Ron. We’re not going to disappear off the face of this earth. We’ll send you news, I promise.”

She alighted from the train at the King’s Cross station with Harry on her side. Surprised that the welcoming party was there waiting right beside the wrought-iron archway, they approached the Weasley family together with some members of the Order of the Phoenix. Mrs. Weasley hugged them each tightly and it was quite disconcerting not finding Mr. Weasley with them.

“Harry dear, where will you be heading off from here?” Mrs. Weasley asked. Hermione puzzled at Molly’s question turned at the platform and noticed that there were no Dursleys waiting for him.

Harry scratched his head and replied, “I’ll be going with Hermione for awhile.” Hermione knew that Harry was lying. She noticed the few quick glances Harry exchanged with Tonks and went along with the charade.

“I have invited him to spend the summer with my family this time, Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione chimed in smiling.

“Oh that’ll be nice, sweetie,” Molly blurted. “Where do you plan to go?”

“I’m not sure…” Hermione replied warily. “Maybe visit the beaches of Asia… see the pyramids… go hiking in the rain forest… we’re still not sure.”

“Excuse us, Mrs. Weasley, but I think Hermione’s parents are anxious to see us now,” Harry butted in, rescuing Hermione from slipping up.

They looked back at the train and saw Ron and Ginny still struggling with their trunks. Harry waved goodbye to them and Hermione did the same. She only hoped that the Weasley family would understand Harry’s and her decision to step away from the wizarding world for awhile.

Harry took Hermione’s hand and entwined her fingers with his. He leaned on her and whispered, “I love you.”

“I love you,” she whispered back.

Hand in hand, they walked through the gateway dividing platforms 9 and 10, back to the Muggle world, one boy and one girl.

***

He smiled, she smiled, and they knew right away

This was the day they'd waited for all their lives

And for a moment the whole world

Revolved around one boy and one girl

– Collin Raye – One Boy, One Girl

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A/N :

…everything began to fade and all that was left was one boy and one girl beneath the tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G…. (sorry, couldn’t resist *lol*)

I lifted something from Romulus Lupin’s review of my previous work and included it in here. *wink* I hope master Gil wouldn’t mind.

Previous works referred in this story are Crossroads, Fallen, Surrender and Interludes (slightly). If you were wondering what happened to Hermione during that stormy night, read Crossroads. Harry and Hermione were separated in Fallen, if you’re interested on what happened to Harry, read it. In Surrender you’ll get to know what Harry’s and Hermione’s decision was.

I know people are going to slam me again for my idea that Harry would want to leave the magical world behind after defeating Voldemort. I’m not going to relent… *jumps for cover* that’s how I see it ending… Some suggested a follow-up for Surrender, a story already started playing in my mind, but there’s this project I want to post and complete before the sixth book comes out. So we’ll see…

I’ll give a shout out to my ever helpful and accommodating (redundant,eh) beta readers Raven and AustenLover.

Fanfic writers don’t get paid for writing, but your comments and reviews will suffice. So please leave a review, let me know what you think of this.