Hermione fell asleep easily on his shoulder that night, but Harry wasn't so lucky. He couldn't stop wondering if perhaps he was the world's biggest cad long enough to fall asleep.
Hermione was sleeping peacefully, her breathing slow, even, and nearly silent, but there was a little furrow in her brow that told all. She wasn't happy.
Was it because of him? Could she be depressed at him not returning her feelings? Hermione hadn't seemed quite as pleased - or perhaps she'd seemed too pleased - at the suggestion that they would never work as a couple. Could it be that she wasn't over him?
Or perhaps she was simply being honest. Yes, that would be the best option. She should forget him and move on.
And leave him to die alone and miserable.
Oh, who was he kidding? A very selfish and needy part of him wanted desperately that she pine away for him until her dying day.
Hermione shifted in her sleep, moving away from him, his hand unwillingly tugged along with her.
Just let her go.
~
When Harry next opened his eyes, he was surprised to find it was still dark, and there was something or someone tugging hard on his arm. He squinted in the dim light of the dying fire.
"'Mione? What is it?"
"We should go see if the potion is ready."
Harry stared. "Hermione, the sun isn't even up yet."
She attempted to pull him off the couch. "Please, can't we go? I want a shower before classes."
Harry snuggled resolutely into the corner of the couch. "She said it'd be at least twenty-four hours. It won't be done yet. And I want more sleep before classes."
Hermione put her free hand huffily on her hip. "Do you want me to smell, Harry?"
"You smell fine. Sleep."
Muttering under her breath, she settled back again. Harry closed his eyes happily. Sleep…sleep was good, especially when he had inner turmoil keeping him up late…
…Hermione was suspiciously still. And silent. He opened one eye to find her studying him.
"What?"
"Nothing," she said quickly, flushing. "Go back to sleep."
"Can't now," he sighed, pushing himself upright.
"I'm sorry."
Harry eyed her carefully. "No, you're not."
Hermione had the decency to blush. "Can we go check on the potion now?"
~
"Well, the git still hasn't done anything," Lavender announced, summarizing their progress succinctly. "We've tried triggering the hero complex. She's had a life-threatening accident, and that did nothing. And now he's spent a day holding hands with her, and they still aren't snogging!"
"Maybe he just doesn't like her that way," Ron suggested, trying not to sound too hopeful. He wanted Harry and Hermione to be happy - but if they could do that without being together, Ron might be a bit happier.
Parvati squelched his hope with a roll of her eyes. "Of course he does. You can see it in the way he looks at her."
"Well…maybe he just isn't telling her," said Ron.
Lavender frowned, pacing the empty classroom they were conspiring in. "That doesn't make any sense, though! He knows she fancies him. Why wouldn't he?"
"He does have that martyr thing going on. He probably thinks he's protecting her or something by sacrificing his own happiness." Parvati made a noise of disgust. "Boys."
Luna was giving him an odd look - again. "Maybe it's you," she said.
"Me? What have I got to do with it?"
"You fancied her," said Luna. "I'm sure Harry could tell. Maybe it's not Hermione he's protecting - maybe it's you."
Lavender nodded decisively. "That's a good theory. We should explore it. Ron, you need to talk to him about it."
Ron promptly turned pale.
~
It was with great relief that Harry sunk into his bed, alone, unglued from Hermione, his left hand blissfully free…even though he'd gotten used to Hermione's constant presence in just one day, and he almost missed the tugging on his hand. But the bed was soft and warm - softer and warmer still after having spent the previous night on a couch - and he could use the loo comfortably again. He hadn't enjoyed having Hermione there, listening to the entire process - if not peeking, which he felt sure she'd done on at least on occasion.
He didn't get nearly enough sleep…
"Harry?"
Oh, bugger. He was tempted to pretend to be asleep. "Yeah, Ron?"
Ron stood fidgeting beside Harry's bed, his pinstriped pajamas too small for his long, almost apelike arms. "I just wanted you to know, mate, that if you by any chance wanted to date Hermione, I'd be all right with it."
Harry stiffened, all thoughts of sleep out the window. "Why would I want to date Hermione?"
Ron shrugged. "Thought you might…y'know, fancy her."
"What would give you that idea?" Harry said, panicking. Had Ron figured it out? If Ron, perhaps the most oblivious git that had ever lived, could see it, then surely everyone would.
"Oh, um…just something Lavender said."
"Lavender?"
"Yeah. You know how it is…just a bit of gossip. Just thought I'd check. But never mind."
Ron went to bed, leaving Harry much less comfortable and sleepy than before. What were people saying?
~
"Did you talk to him?"
Ron gave up trying to hide behind a pitcher of pumpkin juice.
"Yeah, I talked to him."
"And?" said several voices simultaneously.
"He acted like I was mental."
Lavender and Parvati looked positively giddy.
"Was he tense? Jumpy?"
"Did he avoid admitting anything?"
"Well, yeah…"
"Then he fancies her. Definitely."
"He just needs to be forced to admit it, then," said Lavender.
"But…how do we force it out of him?"
There was a long, thoughtful silence.
"The Revelator Potion. We just finished brewing our own in Potions - we can filch some from the classroom."
~
Hermione was in all the same classes that Harry was in, so it wasn't hard for him to keep an eye on her. During the classes they didn't share, he had free periods and could follow her. What was hard was trying to do it without her noticing.
The girl was absolutely paranoid. He'd been following her under his Invisibility Cloak, and rather quietly, he thought, but she looked over her shoulder every five seconds, as if she'd heard his footsteps.
Today, unfortunately, the Cloak was missing. Harry'd dug around in his bag for at least five minutes looking for it, but it was no use. It'd gone missing.
Harry pushed away his panic at the thought that he'd lost his Cloak or that it had been stolen - he'd have to deal with that later, when he was done watching over Hermione. Just because nothing had happened to her yet didn't mean today wouldn't be the day someone snuck up on her and hexed her! Constant vigilance!
…Alert the press. I've truly gone mental this time.
Well, mental or not, he had a job to do.
He followed her most of the way to Arithmancy, ducking behind statues and tapestries whenever she happened to look over her shoulder, but Hermione soon led him through a stretch of hallway that had no statues, nor tapestries, nor conveniently large holes in the wall, and it wasn't long until the inevitable happened.
"I knew it!"
Hermione had gone into full attack mode, hands on her hips and eyes blazing.
"…Hi, Hermione."
"You've been following me around all week, haven't you?"
"Just a little bit," he said sheepishly.
"I know what you're up to," she said sharply. "You're on some over-protective kick because you think I can't handle myself now, but I can! I was just unlucky -"
"I know you can handle yourself!" Harry interrupted. "But what happens the next time you're `just unlucky' and there's no one around to save you?"
Hermione's expression was impossible for him to read as she replied, "Don't trouble yourself. I'll find someone else to save me."
~
Dinner that evening was a tense affair. Hermione hadn't spoken to him since he'd seated himself beside her, but at least she hadn't moved away.
Hermione aside, Harry had a feeling that there was something fishy going on, and it had nothing to do with the meal. He supposed he should have been more suspicious when Lavender and Parvati took the spaces across from him and Hermione. As it was, he remained much too engrossed in trying to puzzle out the meaning of Hermione's last words to him that he paid the two no mind.
When next he looked up to take a drink of pumpkin juice, they were both looking at him expectantly. Probably about to ask him about some ridiculous rumor again… The pumpkin juice was a bit warmer than usual…that was odd. The house-elves were usually good at keeping it chilled.
Lavender and Parvati smiled simultaneously, and Harry glanced at Hermione to see a look of horror dawning on her face.
Perhaps he should have passed on the juice…
"Harry," Lavender said with smirking satisfaction, "do you -"
"Lavender, don't, it's -" Hermione tried to cut in, but to no avail.
"- fancy Hermione?"
Harry meant to say something along the lines of "no" or "that's none of your business." What came out was something entirely different.
"Yes."
Harry flushed and realized too late what Hermione's look of horror had been for. They'd used a potion on him - the Revelator.
Slowly, he turned to face the music.
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