A/N: This is my first Harry Potter fic to be posted. Anyways, the story is set during their 7th year in Hogwarts, after the Final Battle. Hermione realizes her feelings for Harry. Harry, on the other hand, was perplexed. Until, Hermione meets another guy and creates more nuisances in the plot.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, well, I own a character here (I made up a new character, but you'll soon find out who it'll be). Other than that, everything is owned by the virtuoso novelist herself; behold the queen, J.K. Rowling. Standard disclaimers also apply.
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Chapter 1: Letting Go
Tears were cascading down her cheeks. A girl is silently mourning because of her own choice. The choice she refused to make but she must, to let go of her feelings for the man she loves. Harry Potter. And the girl was the one who was supposed to be his girl best friend, Hermione Granger.
Hermione made up her mind to give up her love for Harry for the sake of their friendship and because of her fear of rejection.
All her life, she strived for perfection because she loathed being thrown out. Rejection makes her feel vulnerable and pathetic. She achieved the best grades, became a prefect, and later on a Head Girl, helped the-boy-who-lived defeat you-know-who and had the best adventures that could last her a lifetime with her cherished friends. But still she found out that there's something missing. It's like her heart isn't satiated. Until she found out that she desperately loved Harry. The only person that made her feel perfect just because she is herself.
She contemplated on this a lot, what if Harry do love her and he was just afraid to ruin their platonic amity? However, she remained firm on her decision to let go of Harry.
"If we really are for each other, only time can tell." She cogitated
But the truth is, deep inside her she felt her heart was shattered, but she couldn't help herself from loving Harry. She realized that she must do this before it's too late, too late that she had fallen for Harry so much that she wouldn't even think of liberating her sentiments for him, so deep she could commit suicide if she'd find out that Harry won't return the feelings she had for him.
"I must do this." She murmured in between sobs
"But I can't stop it either. I mean he's too good to be true." She exclaimed in her wits and felt fury rise to her head.
"Nevertheless, I don't want to lose him. If I tell him or if he finds out that I harbored feelings for him, he might avoid me for an eternity! I can't live without him and his friendship." She said and wept some more.
All of a sudden, she heard someone knock mellifluously at her door.
"Hermione…" the voice whispered
Hermione got up from the couch by the windowsill, straightened her robes, pulled her now-silky-and-soft wavy locks into a messy but striking chignon and kept it in place with a bejeweled hair stick, wiped her tears with her glad rags.
When she finished, she nonchalantly said "I'm coming!" to whoever that person is on the other side of her door.
She slightly opened her door and was startled. It was Harry, the boy-now-turned-man whom she was grieving about.
Harry, on the other hand, pulled her close to him and locked her into a tight but not suffocating embrace.
"This is inhuman torture, Potter! You don't know how much pain you're causing to me." She thought as she melted into his strong arms.
After a while, they both pulled away from each other.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked her with concern in his eyes.
"No. But I'm gonna be." She faintly retorted with melancholy in her voice and avoided Harry's gaze
She suddenly felt shivers climb up her spine when she looked at Harry, and stunned to find that he was also looking at her.
Abruptly, she became aware that she was staring into a pair of emerald green eyes under spectacles.
He found himself looking into a pair of chocolate brown eyes with flickers of gold in it.
"I love looking at those eyes; they're so beautiful and vivid." She thought languorously as she continued to look into his eyes.
Harry suddenly broke the silence and asked her, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She promptly fibbed and tore her eyes away from his gaze.
"C'mon, Hermione, we both know that you have a big problem." He replied.
"How sure are you?" Hermione said to him with a quizzical look on her face.
"It's not like we're best friends since we're 11." Harry uttered as he beamed at her.
"Yeah, friends." She faintly answered and hung her head low.
"You still have not told me what's bothering you?" he answered back, and then he pulled Hermione's hand and held it with his.
"You can trust me, I know you know that." He added.
"I understand what you mean. But I can handle this, trust me. I can do this." Hermione said firmly.
"Okay, you win! But remember that I'll always be here for you. I'll never ever leave you." Said Harry stressing almost every word he said.
"I'll keep your word then." Hermione said as she forced a smile on her face.
"Guess I should be leaving then. Promise me you'll be alright!" Harry uttered pensively to her as he pulled her again to a hug.
"I promise I will be." She said as she kissed his cheek as a sign of reassurance.
"Goodnight, Hermione." Harry whispered, closing the door.
Hermione let out a heavy sigh.
"I have been through a lot this night. How on bloody earth can I ever keep that promise?" Hermione thought as she reached for a crystal glass and muttered "MIzu!", and then the glass started to fill up with cold water.
She drank it hastily and returned to her four-poster with sheer canopy bed.
"Sweet dreams, Hermione." She mumbled as she drifted off to Dreamland.
Hermione had no clue what was going to happen in the following days…
* * *
Hermione woke up as soon as the first ray of sunlight hit her bedroom. She quickly paced to the shower, drowning all her thoughts on what happened last night.
"I know I can do this, Can I?" She thought adding more pandemonium in her head.
After taking a nice, hot shower, she examined her closet and decided to wear something nice and decent, to put up a brave front for her troubles.
She took a laced lavender cardigan that looked very frilly and fancy for a Hermione-type of person, but still decided to put it on for a change. She slipped the cardigan over her slight frame. After that, she grabbed her beloved pair of jeans, semi-flaired medium dark denim with dirty wash impression and pulled it over her legs.
She misted herself with her favorite scent, one which smelled like a bouquet of fresh flora and was hinted with citrus and early morning dewdrops.
She yanked her hair into a high ponytail. She applied a little amount of concealer under her eyes to cover the dark circles and the puffiness of her eyes -because of all that crying last night. As she was applying some nude-tinted lip gloss on her puckers, someone came barraging through her door.
"Hermione" The proverbial voice called
"I'm coming!" She said as she twirled in front of the mirror, hoping to get a glimpse that she looked okay.
"Hey, Good Morning!" Ginny shrieked in a sing-song voice
"'Morning, too. And don't bloody scream at such early time of the day. Anyway, what's with the rush? Is there good news or something?" Hermione told Ginny
"What an expressive language you just used Ms. Granger." Ginny reprimanded her; she returned the favor by smirking at Ginny
" Yup! Draco asked me out!" Ginny exclaimed
"Who? What?" Hermione said with amusement in her tone
"I said Draco asked me out!" Ginny repeated
"Draco… Ma… Malfoy? The gut who used to taunt us and thwart our missions and mocked your family?!" Hermione questioned, still puzzled.
"Yes, yes and yes!" Well, he asked me last night and I said yes. I should have told you last evening but seems like whirl of incidents, so I saved it for breakfast."
"Ginny, I'm happy for you. But be extra careful and wary. We're still not sure of him." Hermione advised
"I will, I have 6 other brothers to worry about him and I don't want to have a sister to do the same."
"Better to not keep your guard down."
"You still don't trust him completely. He's on our side now. Remember?"
"I know that." Hermione said as flashes of the Final Battle started flooding her mind.
- - - Start of flashback - - -
It was the night. The night of the Final Battle. Voldemort is starting to show signs of weakness, as well as his legion of Death Eaters. He was being fought by the Dumbledore's Army. The D.A. managed to stun and bind quite a number of Death Eaters. Leaving Harry, Hermione and Ron to face Voldemort. At the side of Voldemort emerged a recognizable figure namely Cho Chang. She became a Death Eater after she graduated from Hogwarts and later on, became Voldemort's girlfriend. And when Cho pointed her wand at Harry and began muttering the killing curse, out of nowhere, Draco jumped over her causing her to drop unconscious on the ground. They've found out that Draco betrayed Voldemort and helped Harry stay alive. To cut the long story short, Harry succeeded and fulfilled the prophecy, vanquishing the Dark Lord for good, together with his cherished friends.
- - - End of flashback - - -
"Well, yeah, probably it's time for us to trust him and give him another chance." Said
Hermione.
"Does Ron already know about this.: She promptly said to Ginny
"Not yet, but when the right time comes, I'll tell him. You know how anxious and mad he can get when it's about Draco…" Ginny retorted
"Well then, we better hurry up and go down to breakfast!" Ginny said as she tugged Hermione's arm and dragged her to the Great Hall
Together, they arrived at the Great Hall. Hermione abruptly caught the eye of Harry,
"Good Morning, Mione!" Harry said jovially as he ushered Hermione in to a vacant seat next to him.
"How are you feeling?" Harry barely whispered to her.
"Much better than last night." She softly answered
"Which is a lie. You know what? I want to scream to the whole world that I love you, but I can't and as if you'd ever return the feelings!" She thought
"Are you sure? You don't seem to be fine. By the way you look amazing." Harry said as he drank from his glass of pumpkin juice
"Pretty much. Certainly Potter, flattery will get you everywhere." She said in mock anger and gave him a peck on the cheek
"I hate acting as if I'm just his bloody best friend! But if I won't and he finds out the truth, he'll hex to death!" She thought
* * *
Weeks have passed after that dreary incident of Hermione, Harry noticed that the `old' Hermione was already back. She became the usual bossy-boots again and nagged him and Ron about homework.
"I am so relieved that she finally recovered." Harry contemplated
But little did he know that Hermione is just putting up a brave front act for them. Deep inside herself, she still felt miserable and the `butterflies' are still there every time Harry comes near her, touches her and giving off that immaculate smile of his. But she remained her composure and poise, and acted ever so innocent in front of him.
Will she be able to hold on to that act? Or will she burst like a bubble and finally say her feelings? Or will somebody make her forget Harry?
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A/N: And that's how my 1st chapter ends… Hope you liked it… Anyway, please review, I'll love you for doing so… Mizu means water in Japanese, so that explains the spell mentioned before.
I know it's really short and chapter 2 is coming soon… ^_~ Sayonara!
::: afterglow_megami :::
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