Okay, okay, I KNOW I said I was going to take a break from HP, but after reading that book! I had to boost up my readers H/Hr spirit, including my own! I myself haven't given up and as a writer myself, know there's a million of things that can happen in our favor. This story of mind is not going to be long like Circle of Friends, but it will be uplifting I hope. Chin up ladies! It ain't over till the fat lady sings!
Chapter One
Harry tried not to look at her. He tried to keep his eyes on the flickering fire of their small and discreet campfire, but they kept moving over to her. She was sleeping on the ground not far from him, the flicker of flames danced over her pale face. The stress from all the traveling and her worrying about whether they would survive another day was getting to her. He wish he could think of a way to put some color into her cheeks.
He sighed as he looked back at the flames. Get a grip, Potter. Stop watching her sleep like some pervert! Not listening to himself he looked over at her again. He couldn't really blame himself, it was either looking at the fire or staring at Ron who was snoring so loud Harry was afraid he would give away their hideout in the small cave. Watching Hermione sleeping was the best choice, since he couldn't sleep. They took turns through the night to keep a lookout and he had the first shift, then Hermione, followed by Ron.
They had been apparating all over the world, looking for the Horcruxes and after five long months they had successfully found all four. It had been rough and a lot of close calls, but the three of them succeeded. Now, the only soul left to destroy was Voldemort himself and it was only a matter of time when the final battle between himself and the Dark Lord would take place.
Once again his eyes shifted to Hermione and frowned when that unusual feeling in his chest stirred. It only happened when he looked at her and it slowly started happening since the summer, when Ron and Hermione stayed with him at the Dursley's. At first, he was certain it had nothing to do with feelings that went past their friendship, after all he never had that unsettling stir when he was with Ginny. Sure, he had a few flutters here and a few skips of the heart there, but nothing like this. He rubbed his chest as if he was trying to sooth the ache away, but it wouldn't go away unless he didn't look at her.
He thought it was nothing to worry about…but now he wasn't so sure. What could have happened? He couldn't possibly fancy Hermione, the thought made him laugh, but when he looked at her again and then pain ripped through his chest, his laughter choked and his smile fell.
"Blood hell," he whispered as he buried his head in his hands. His mind drifted back during his private moments with Hermione since the beginning of summer, hoping to figure out how this could have happened….
Harry heard the sound of pages from a book rustling before he even opened his eyes. He sluggishly rolled over on his back, stretched, then yawned quietly as he opened his eyes. Hermione's mild sleeping drought worked wonders and knew he could easily roll over and fall back asleep, but the rustling of pages continued.
He sat up from his pallet on the floor of his bedroom and looked up at his bed to find Hermione up with the glow of her wand glowing around her. She was propped up on the pillows as she paged through one of her thick bound books, with a look of determination in her eyes. "Hermione," he whispered and waited as she jumped and looked over at him with wide eyes. "What are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep," she said with a whisper. "Sorry, did I wake you? I thought since you took the sleeping draught you'd be dead asleep."
"I was, but now I'm up." Ron continued to snore beside him as he flew the covers off of him and went to his bed. "Looking for more spells?"
Hermione scooted closer to the wall that the bed was pushed up against and allowed him to sit next to her. "Since I couldn't sleep I figured it wouldn't hurt. I've found loads of helpful stuff, Harry."
Harry looked down at her piles of parchments covered with neat little notes and couldn't help but smile. "So I see." He picked up the pile and stretched out his legs, leaning back against the pillows as well. They were hip to hip and their shoulders touched as Hermione continued to thumb through the book, while Harry scanned over her notes. "You've been busy. I like this one. The idea of making Voldemort get to all fours and bark like a dog is very appealing."
She giggled softly. "Actually, I thought it be funny to try on Ron, but hey…you're welcome to it."
He shared a look and a smile with her, then returned back to the notes. He had to admit, she was good and felt himself grow more confident in just knowing that Hermione was on his side. He was about to set the notes aside and try to see if he could get a few more hours of sleep, when an unfamiliar scent of sweet apricot swept over him. Puzzled, he studied Hermione out of the corner of his eyes, watching her as she casually played with a strand of her hair while she read on. He never noticed her scent before and that surprised him. She was with him all the time, why wouldn't he realize she smelled like apricots? It was different from the flowery scent that came from Ginny and he was surprised that he found himself liking Hermione's perfume better. "You smell like apricots."
He didn't realize he said that out loud until she looked up at him, blinking in surprise. "I'm sorry?"
"Er…sorry, what I mean is…I couldn't help but smell your perfume and…"
"I don't wear perfume, it's the soap I use."
"Oh," he mumbled. "Ginny's was perfume."
She blinked again. "I'm sorry, you lost me, Harry."
He let out a little laugh. "Sorry, I'm talking out loud to myself. When I noticed you smelled of apricots, it reminded me of what Ginny smelled like and I was comparing the differences in them." He blushed a little and gave a shrug. "That's all."
"Did Ginny smell like flowers?" she asked slightly amused.
"Yeah," he said surprised. "How did you know?"
"Can you keep a secret?" she asked in a lower whisper as she stole a glance at Ron, who was still snoring.
Harry looked back at Ron, puzzled and then looked back at Hermione. "Sure."
"You know that perfume that Ron gave me for Christmas during our fifth year?"
He nodded. "Yeah, of course."
"Well, I don't really wear perfume, too much of it gives me a headache. So, I gave it to Ginny."
His jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"
"Yep. I mean, I wore it that one time on Christmas, I didn't want to hurt his feelings or anything. But, after that I gave it to Ginny."
He smiled softly as he let out a whisper of a laugh. "Well, don't worry your secret is safe with me."
"Thanks. It's a nice perfume, but I like my soap better."
"Me too," he agreed then stammered when she gave him an amused look. "Er, what I mean is…it suits you better…er, than Ginny's perfume."
"Thanks," she said blushing softly. "Since we're on the subject of Ginny, are you nervous about seeing her next week at the wedding?"
At this question he realized that he hadn't given it much thought. They hadn't spoken since the day of Dumbledore's funeral, not counting the quick good bye at King's Cross. "Honestly, I haven't really thought about it," he said turning his head slightly so he could look at her. "I guess I'm more curious on how I will feel when I see her again."
"Well, don't let it be awkward, I mean remember. You two were friends first, so it shouldn't be hard to go back to that."
"I guess not. I'll worry about it then. For now, all I'm going to think about is getting a few more hours of sleep." He shifted his body slightly so he could grab the small vile of sleeping draught on the bedside table. "First, I want you to drink some of this."
She started to protest. "Oh, no Harry I don't need…"
"What you need is sleep," he said as he forced the vile in her hands. "Go on, don't make me force it down your throat."
She sighed in defeat. "All right, maybe a little sip."
"No, drink all of it," he said as he tilted the vile back up when she was about to bring it down.
Not expecting it she choked and pulled her head away. "Harry…"
"You haven't slept enough lately, Hermione. You have dark circles under your eyes. Now drink all of it."
He lifted the vile again towards her face, but she swatted his hand away. "Oh, I can do it myself." She huffed a breath of annoyance and then finished off the rest of the file wincing a little at the bitter taste. "There, you happy?"
"Ecstatic." He took the empty vile and set it aside. "Night Hermione."
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered as he stood up while she scooted under the covers. "Nox."
The soft light died and the room was embraced by the darkness once again. By the time Harry got back in his pallet, he could already hear Hermione's deep heavy breathing and grinned.
Harry, Hermione and Ron all promised Mrs. Weasley that they would be back at the Burrow the night before the wedding to attend the dinner party that night. They walked into the kitchen to see the long table already set with candles lit in the middle and fancy table tent name tags in front of each plate. At a glance Harry noticed that Mrs. Weasley placed him next to Ginny and he had a feeling this was not a coincidence.
"Oh you're here!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked as she stepped away from the stove to greet them. "I'm so glad you came for the dinner. How are you, Harry?"
"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley," he said offering his cheek when she reached up to kiss it. "Sure smells good in here."
Flushed with pleasure she waved it off. "Oh, it's just something I stirred up, no big deal."
"Where is everyone, Mum?" Ron asked.
"Getting ready for the dinner. Ginny and Fluer have been fighting over the bathroom for the past two hours." She beamed at Harry. "I'm sure Ginny will be glad to see you."
"Er…yeah, I…It will be good to see her, too."
"She's upstairs with Luna and Neville if you want to go up."
"Luna's here?" Ron asked as he looked up.
"Yes, I told Ginny she could invite some friends." She turned back to the stove but kept talking. "So many people will be at the wedding and she won't know half of them, so I told her she could invite a friend or two for company."
"I guess we'll go and put our stuff in our room," Ron suggested. "Which room are we in?"
"It's a tight squeeze, but you, Harry and Neville are in your room. Hermione, you're in Ginny's room with Luna."
Together they walked up the old stairs of the burrow and were half way up when Harry heard footsteps coming down. He stopped and looked up to see Neville and Ginny walking down the stairs, while Neville was talking to her a mile a minute as Ginny smiled and nodded letting him do all the talking. They were only a few steps away from them and Neville yelped in surprise when he saw Harry and would have tripped if Harry hadn't caught him. "Watch yourself, Neville."
"S-sorry, Harry." His face was red as a tomato and his eyes wide as dinner plates. "I didn't see you."
"Obviously." Anxious to see what he would feel, he shifted his eyes to Ginny, who smiled in return. He felt a little ache in his heart but it was very mild. "Hey, Ginny."
"Hi Harry. Hi guys. Did you just get here?"
"Yeah, we're going to put our things away. We'll be down in a minute."
"Okay." She gave Harry another quick look before smiling brightly. "See you down there. Let's go see if my Mum needs any help, Neville."
"Okay, sure," he said giving Harry a nervous smile before he followed Ginny.
Since when has Neville been nervous of me? Harry wondered as they walked up the steps. He shared a look with Hermione who had the same look on her face and knew she was wondering the same thing.
Ron led the way to the room and as he rounded the corner he rammed right into Luna who stumbled back dropping her copy of The Quibble. "Oi! Sorry, Luna." He bent down to retrieve the magazine for her.
"No, my fault Ronald," she sighed dreamily and bent down as well, causing their heads to crack together.
Ron winced as he rubbed his head. "You stay, I'll go." He bent down and picked up to hand to her. "There you go."
She smiled still in her daze. "Thank you, you're very kind."
"Sorry about the collision." He grinned. "Both of them."
Luna let out one of her loud laughs, causing Harry and Hermione to chuckle and Ron who was use to the laugh could only smile. "Always thought you were funny, Ronald," she said still laughing as she walked away down the stairs.
"Why do I find her so amusing?" Ron asked with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "Well, let's go get settled, Harry. See you down there, Hermione."
Ron sat on his bed and stretched out his legs while he watched Harry rummage through his trunk. "You know, Luna is kind of attractive if you think about it. I mean, she's not one of those girls that stops traffic or anything, but once you get past the loonyness she's kind of pretty."
"I think her loonyness adds to her charm," Harry said with a smirk.
Ron chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you're right. She makes me laugh. Unintentionally of course, but I laugh all the same."
"Plus, you have a thing for blondes," Harry teased.
Ron snorted. "Please, don't even put Lavender in the same category as Luna."
Offended, Harry scowled. "Luna is just as pretty as Lavender."
Ron's eyes widened. "No, I didn't mean it that way. I know she is, I meant that Lavender doesn't deserve to be in the same category as Luna."
Curious now, Harry sat on the edge of his bed and studied Ron. "Do you fancy her?"
"What?!" Ron looked completely flabbergasted. "No, of course not. I couldn't possibly."
"Why not? You yourself said she was pretty."
"I know but…I don't know, I guess I never thought about it."
Harry watched Ron stare off into space, obviously thinking of it now. "Ron, can I ask you something?"
"Hmm? Oh, sure."
"I know we've never talked about it, but I have to ask. Do you fancy, Hermione?"
Ron cast his gaze to the floor, quiet for a moment. "I don't know how to answer that, Harry. My relationship with Hermione is messed up. I mean, when I think of her with another guy, I start to get livid. I don't like it, but when she's not with anyone and know I have the reins to ask her out….I just can't go through with it. I don't know if it's nerves or fear that she'll turn me down, but whatever it is I can't do it. It's like …"
"You don't want to be with her, but you don't want anyone else to have her?"
"Yeah," he said looking miserable. "I think so. Is that so horrible of me?"
"Well, if Hermione heard you say that she'd probably cut your you know what off."
Ron winced as he crossed his legs. "Yeah, I know so I'd appreciate it if this stays between us."
"No problem. I do understand what you mean though. The thought of Hermione with a boyfriend is rather bizarre."
"I know, I mean…she's our girl, Harry. I don't want some git taking up all her time."
Harry laughed as he stood up. "Well, since we're about to go off together on a very dangerous mission, I don't think we have to worry about Hermione falling in love with some git." He grabbed Ron's arm and yanked him up. "Let's go downstairs. I'm starving."
Well what do you think so far? Like I said, it won't be too long. But it's been stuck in my head and I had to write it down. Let me know your thoughts!
~HM