Diverge
He watched her.
It had become an obsession over which he had no power.
And a train wreck waiting to happen, what with Ron's obviously similar obsession.
Strange how it manifested itself so differently in two people so wholly enamored.
Ron's course of love seemed to run through a series of ill-sought arguments.
Harry's was silently adoring and completely imperceptible.
For now.
He knew the force of his feelings was growing daily and would soon burst out of him.
And he dreaded it with everything in him.
She blew a piece of hair out of her face and he grimaced.
Fight
"Stop being a prat, Ron."
"Get off my case, then. I've got a mum."
"Forget I opened my mouth."
"Well, considering your mouth never closes, that will be sort of hard, won't it?"
"You're being this absurd just because I gave you one bit of criticism?"
"Hermione, I didn't ask for a bloody life lesson on how I've pissed all my lessons for the last six years!"
"Never mind if you fail. Just don't have on at me for it!"
Harry slammed his book down and marched up the stairs without a word, leaving them both with mouths hanging open.
Studying
They sat alone. Studying…
Only, his book was upside down and he was slouched back in his chair, having found the perfect angle from which his green eyes could observe.
She looked up at him and smiled.
He pretended to be in deliberation, eyes darting to the left in "concentration".
Then he waited for her to go back to biting her lip in thought.
Before long, she was yawning and packing her things away.
As she walked past, a goodnight echoing from her lips, she pressed a kiss lightly on the top of his head and disappeared up the stairs.
Danger
"Lumos!" A voice said, stopping Harry and Hermione in their tracks.
"What do we do? We left the cloak!" She whispered.
"Shh!" He hissed and pulled her into a tiny hallway. They had to stay in the shadows to escape Snape's roaming wand.
She stood in front, her back to him, and he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her back against him. Tightly.
Warmth.
He was suddenly distracted by the warmth.
Closeness.
She seemed to sense it too and looked over her shoulder at him.
Ron's voice pierced.
"Come on! I've got the map, he's gone now."
Silence
"Here we go!" Ron sighed.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "I didn't say a word."
"You didn't have to. It's that noise you make when you don't agree with something, and no one asked you so -"
"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled.
Their heads snapped in his direction.
"Leave it alone." Harry said through gritted teeth.
Ron tossed Hermione a glare, "I'm going to bed."
"Harry…" Hermione began after Ron had disappeared.
"Shut up."
In the second it had taken him to say it, Hermione's back was pressed against the cold stone of the castle wall, Harry's mouth crushed over hers.
Silent.
Hiding
They had to tell him.
It was wrong not to.
But since Harry had kissed her twenty-one days ago, Ron was the farthest thing from her mind.
Probably because every time she saw Harry, her knees went to pudding.
Not that her knees weren't in danger of failing before the kiss, but until that moment she'd only imagined it happening.
She definitely hadn't been expecting it.
Now she spent every moment they weren't together wondering how they could steal away to snog in the shadows.
A very un-Hermione thing to do.
"We have to talk," He whispered into her mouth.
Knowing
"It's so embarrassing." Ron said angrily.
Harry and Hermione were sitting together on the couch while Ron paced in front of the fire.
"Ron, honestly, it's not that bad."
"Are you nutters? Loony likes me!" His face registered a strange look, "Why are you looking at each other like that?"
"What?" Harry said sharply.
"Do I have something on me?" Ron looked down at his shirt and continued talking.
But Hermione focused on what Harry was tracing into her palm.
I love you.
"Don't you get it?" Ron questioned.
"Hmm?" Hermione tore smiling eyes from Harry's, tears burning the corners.
Hero
"How long have you been together?"
Harry wrenched his face toward Ron. "What?"
"How long?" Ron was looking at his knees, dejected.
"Bugger." Harry breathed, "We didn't mean to keep it from you."
"Sure you did."
"We…"
"I never told you or anyone I fancied her, why should it matter?"
"Because we knew anyway." Harry answered honestly. "We talked about it and we - we didn't know what to do. So we waited... to see if it was real and when we knew that it was, we…"
"Real?"
"Yeah."
Realization dawned on Ron's face like a swift kick, "You're in love."
Healing
It had been a month since Ron found out. And amazingly, all was still right in the world.
"It's probably good Hermione never fell for me." He smirked and threw a chocolate frog at where she sat, leaning against Harry.
"Why is that?"
"Because I'm irresistible and it would be unfair to leave Harry with no one."
"Merlin, one girl likes him and you'd think he's taken Lockhart's place in Witch Weekly." Harry cheeked.
"Mind you it's also a girl he wouldn't consider two months ago."
"Things change." Ron cocked an eyebrow and poked his thumb in their direction. "Obviously."
Watcher
He watched her.
Chatting with Ginny.
Irritating him.
What the bloody hell was so funny?
"I've got rounds." She finally said.
Harry mumbled "good night" with everyone else and slipped upstairs.
He walked into the Room of Requirement minutes later, discarded his cloak and Hermione found herself pressed against another wall.
She wasn't complaining. Harry's hands were in her hair and at her waist and neck.
"That wasn't funny." He said hoarsely.
"I was torturing you," She said breathlessly.
"How do you know it was torture?"
"I was watching you," she whispered into his ear and found his mouth again.
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