AN: 9-13-2005 - I actually posted two chapters today, so if you haven't read chapter 4 yet go back and read it. I'll wait.
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"Hermione, I need to speak to you. Please put down your wand first."
Harry tried again.
"Hermione, have I told you what a kind and more importantly, peaceful person you are?"
The magic mirror to which he had been practicing said disdainfully, "Your apology would seem more heartfelt if you weren't so obviously worried about your own hide."
"What do you know?" Harry retorted. "You're a bloody mirror!"
But the mirror had a point. Harry wasn't too worried that Hermione would physically hurt him (after all, she wouldn't want to repeat herself, he thought wildly), but he didn't think he could bear to see the disappointment in her eyes. Who would want to be the girlfriend of a pervert?
"It's not my fault though," Harry grumbled.
"Are you sure that you're the Boy-Who-Lived? You sound more like the Boy-Who-Whined."
Harry pulled the mirror off the wall and dangled it over the ground. "What was that again? I can't hear you over the gravity."
"Break me and you'll get seven years bad luck," the mirror warned.
"I've already had seven years of bad luck! Not mention the 11 years worth I had before coming here. So now that I think about it, I think I'm overdue for some good luck!"
"Why are you yelling at your mirror?"
Harry turned around to see Hermione watching him with amusement.
"I said that I was the fairest one in the land and it disagreed," Harry quipped weakly. He quickly turned around to put the mirror back on the wall and started fiddling with it.
He decided that he really didn't like the disorienting feeling he got every time he was near Hermione. He really hoped that it went away at some point. It was stupid to feel off-balanced around someone he'd known for seven years.
"Don't think I haven't noticed that you've been avoiding looking at me. Do I suddenly look repulsive?"
Hermione's voice was teasing, but she also sounded a little upset.
"Quite the opposite, really," Harry replied softly. He gave up the charade of fixing the mirror and took a deep, soothing breath. When he turned around to look at Hermione, he felt calm.
As he suspected, part of the reason for his panic attacks was simply Hermione appearing when he wasn't prepared for it. He still felt giddy and his pulse was racing, but he wasn't in danger of going into epileptic shock this time.
"Hermione, I know that I've been acting loony all week..." Harry trailed off. There was no easy way to say this. It was simply too absurd. He went with the simplest method. "It was Fred and George."
Hermione, whose worried frown had deepened with his pause, looked relieved at his words. "Oh." Then her face turned worried again. "Oh. What did they do to you?"
Harry groped for the perfect words then finally gave up, deciding to trust in Hermione's ability to put pieces together. He said, "X-ray vision. Girls. White cotton."
Hermione looked puzzled for a moment then she turned bright pink.
She made a move to cover herself then dropped her arms to her side. Her nostrils flaring and her hands curled into fists, Hermione took a step forward and Harry involuntarily stepped back into the wall.
"So you've been ogling me and other girls for days and you didn't tell me?" Hermione asked in a calm, strained voice.
Harry had a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Angry, out-of-her-mind Hermione he could deal with, but deceptively calm, restrained Hermione meant the full use of her brain and abilities and that promised bad things for his continued status as a human being.
"I know this looks really bad," Harry said. He should have been scrambling for a way to spin this favorably, but he was too busy wondering if after Hermione turned him into a frog, Ron would get him a lily pad to sit on.
"Did you tell Ron?" Hermione sneered.
How bad could flies taste anyway?
"I suppose you and Ron have been having a good laugh about this."
This snapped him out of his thoughts. "Hey, wait a minute!"
Hermione's voice rose with every word. "I thought we were friends. I know you had to keep secrets from me sometimes but something like this? You just kept lying and running away from me. Why didn't you tell me? Were you afraid that I'd take away your fun?"
The anger on Hermione's face was being replaced by sadness and Harry couldn't take it.
"I was embarrassed!" Harry yelled. He rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. "I didn't want you to think I was a pervert. I was having Fred and George take care of it, so you'd never know. But I think I would have ended up telling you anyway if it wasn't for... the thing is... damn it, Hermione, you're beautiful!"
Harry squeezed his eyes shut, mortified. Why did he say that? Why wasn't she saying anything? Oh, God, he had ruined everything...
"I am?"
Harry opened his eyes to see Hermione's eyes, full of hope and uncertainty, gazing back at him. The nervous feeling in his stomach vanished like it had never been.
"Yes, you are," Harry replied gently. "Inside and out. You're the most amazing person I've ever known. And I was feeling things for you that I never thought I would. I didn't know how to deal with it. I felt ashamed and guilty for looking at you like... like, how a guy looks at a girl."
Harry looked at the floor with his hands clenched tightly. Why was this so hard?
"Harry, it's okay," Hermione said kindly, drifting slowly toward him. "It's normal to feel that way around girls, even ones that are your best friends. I guess you're just not used to seeing me as a real girl-"
"It's not like that!" Harry interrupted, anxious to correct her misunderstanding. "It's not just a physical thing. It's more than that. I think I fancy you, Hermione."
Hermione halted, mere inches away from him.
Harry had expected many things. Shock, denial, and even outright tears of either the I'm-so-happy or the I'm-sorry-to-crush-you variety, but he had never expected Hermione to look afraid.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked, taking a step toward her.
Hermione's voice trembled. "Don't you dare say that if you don't mean it, Harry James Potter."
"Of course I mean it!" Harry replied. He meant to sound upset, but he couldn't quite manage it. It was because he was getting the sense that his fear of his feelings being one-sided was unfounded.
"What makes you so sure that you're interested in me? After all this time?" Hermione shot back at him.
Harry understood the unspoken accusation. His first impulse was to say that if it was merely hormones he wouldn't have been so affected by her. After all, while her body was awesome, there were other girls that were more spectacular, but it was still her that he couldn't keep his eyes off.
He firmly squashed that impulse. He may not have known much about girls, but that was obviously a suicidal approach. There had to be a better way to say it.
Harry rubbed his arms, wishing he knew what he was supposed to do with them. It was a little awkward just standing here with his heart on his sleeves. Though at least he had sleeves unlike poor Hermione who simply had to be mortified.
Finally, not caring how stupid he sounded, he said, "I always knew you were a girl. I had just never considered that you might be the girl for me. It just feels right and I know, I know, feelings can be deceiving, but if it feels right and it makes sense... I have a list if you want to hear it..."
"You think we make sense?" Hermione asked. Her eyes were curiously bright.
Encouraged, Harry replied, "Yeah, I do. And I think I'd like to find out for sure."
"I'd like that too," Hermione replied, giving him an almost shy smile.
Harry smiled back at her, but he was inwardly sweating. He was overjoyed beyond belief, but he had no idea what he was supposed to do at the moment. He had never expected to get this far! It seemed rather anti-climatic to say, 'see you later' then leave and offering a handshake was plain stupid.
Before his thoughts could get any further, he felt the extremely familiar sensation of Hermione Granger tackling him. He almost fell over.
She was squeezing him with all her might and it was wonderful. A hug with Hermione always felt comfortable and uplifting, but he had never felt like he was going to burst with happiness before.
Life was actually going well for him. He wasn't a frog, Hermione liked him back and didn't think he was a pervert (or if she did, she evidently didn't mind), he was being hugged by a pretty girl, and the sight of her underwear wasn't making him pass out.
It was a little weird though. His fingers felt fabric, but his eyes insisted he was touching her bare back. He closed his eyes and that took care of the problem. Then the absurdity of what he was doing struck him.
Harry laughed.
Hermione pulled her head back to look at him. "What's so funny?"
He tried to force back his mirth but it just kept bubbling out of him, so he finally just gasped, "My life is just so weird sometimes."
Hermione's lips curved upward. "Just sometimes?"
That set him off again. He could feel the tension of the past few days drain out of him. He felt good.
Hermione set her head back against his shoulder. She said, "I'm glad you're feeling so well. You're going to do great at your speech tomorrow."
Harry stiffened.
Speech? TOMORROW?!!
Ah, the downside. His old, familiar friend.
Then he remembered where he was and who he was with and he relaxed. Some things were just more important.
Harry set his chin atop the mass of brown hair and decided to simply enjoy the moment.
~*~
AN: All good things come to an end. The epilogue should hopefully be up by next week. And yes, Harry will be cured at that point.
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