Hermione landed with a soft thud, with her wand drawn she looked around her. She was standing in the living room of a moonlit wooden cabin, she could hear the melodious crash of the waves on the beach only metres from the door. Turning she saw a half open doorway, and quietly she crept across the floor and pushed the door fully open. Lying sprawled across the bed, dressed in pyjama bottoms was her best friend. She took in his darkened skin, and the relaxed expression on his face, and admitted to herself that this was exactly what Harry had needed after all the stresses of the last two years. She smiled affectionately as he mumbled in his sleep and rolled over to lie on his back. Hermione silently stepped backwards and returned to the living room area, enlarging her shrunken bag and pulling out a pair of shorts, a novel she'd been wanting to read for weeks, and a bottle of water, she ventured out onto the deck of the cabin, smiling in satisfaction to see the comfy looking hammock Harry had told her about in one of his postcards. She knew logically that to get used to the time change she should try and sleep now, but she was nowhere near tired, so she settled comfortably into the hammock, with a flick of her wand she conjured a lantern, and soft warm light illuminated the pages of her book. She sighed happily, she hadn't realised quite how good it was to get away from home, she was already feeling so relaxed, and knowing that Harry was once again near reassured her, while simultaneously causing butterflies in her stomach, a feeling she was well used to having spent so long in close proximity to her best friend, and a feeling that she'd missed.
Hermione was soon lost in the pages, and a few hours later as the sun softly rose over the waves, the sound of the birds lulled her to sleep.
Harry woke slowly, and as everything came into focus, an enormous grin spread across his face. She was here. There was no mistaking that distinctive magical signature; he could identify many magical signatures, but none more so than those of his two best friends. He scrambled out of bed, threw on a t shirt, and running a hand through his unruly black hair he walked into the main living area of the cabin. He smiled again on seeing Hermione's bag sitting there, and his grin widened once more when through the window he spotted two familiar feet poking out the end of the hammock on the deck. He walked to the door, and opening it leant on the doorframe, taking in the image of his sleeping best friend. If he'd had any doubts about his earlier revelations, or his decision to invite her to join him here, they were quashed by the intense feelings of happiness that flooded through him on seeing her.
He desperately wanted to wake her, but seeing her sleeping form he guiltily remembered what Hermione had told him several times about time zones, and realised his letter must have arrived in the middle of the night. Grinning sheepishly he decided to let her sleep a little longer, and heading back into the cabin he changed into some swimming shorts and jogged down the beach, straight into the warm water for his morning swim.
When Hermione awoke from her nap she smiled to feel the sun on her face, and the sound of the ocean and tropical birds singing overhead. Glancing at her watch she realised she'd been asleep for several hours, and swinging her legs over the side of the hammock she eagerly headed towards the cabin to find Harry. She stopped in her tracks however as she detected that familiar wave of powerful magic which followed Harry wherever he went. She spun around and her eyes scanned the beach, seconds later focusing on a figure slicing through the waves, she watched him silently as feelings she had tried so hard to quash flooded through her once more. His note had been so beautiful; she only hoped she hadn't got her hopes up in regards to the meaning behind Harry's words.
The ocean looked so tempting that she headed inside, dug out a new bikini, changed quickly and headed back outside.
Harry stood in the shallow water, watching as a young father taught his son to surf, he smiled at the idyllic scene.
A flash of emerald green in his peripheral vision caused him to turn his glance towards the beach, and what he saw
there caused all the air to rush from his lungs as if a large wave had crashed into him, winding him. She was
absolutely gorgeous, walking lazily towards the ocean, while pulling her beautiful curls into a knot on the top of her
head. He'd never seen her in a bikini before, and was wishing he had, as if he'd seen her like this before he
surely would have realised just how deeply he felt for her. Watching her transfixed, he walked towards her, rising out
of the water, and as she glanced towards the water their gazes met and they both stopped. He watched as the most
wonderful smile spread across her face, her eyes sparkling with happiness, the sun already highlighting the few
freckles spread across her nose and cheeks. He grinned back at her, and ran the rest of the way out of the water until
he reached her, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off her feet, twirling her around. He could both feel and
hear her laughter as they spun around, and as he put her down they stood face to face grinning at one another he gently
rested his forehead against hers, his arms still locked around her waist.
"I've missed you so much" he said softly.
"I missed you too." She said with a smile, looking at him thoughtfully. "I'm glad you decided to come though…you needed this."
He hugged her to him again, lightly planting kisses on the top of her head.
"Fancy a swim?" He asked happily, taking her hand to lead her to the water as she nodded in response.
As they approached the water, Harry grinned to himself and instinctively picked her up in his arms and ran into the water, Hermione shrieked with laughter and wrapped her arms around his neck, both of them laughing as Harry threw them both into the waves. They surfaced, and Hermione laughed again, splashing water into his face, before pushing his messy hair back from his face.
Harry gazed at her face, water droplets slowly moving down her face, and resting on her long eyelashes as she smiled up at him, the palm of her hand rested against his cheek and he raised his own hand to keep it there, his eyes meeting her own, registering the slight confusion along with the hope and happiness, and suddenly the words were there, and he knew he meant them. Three words he had never said once in his entire life, he smiled at his best friend, gently kissed the tip of her nose before meeting her eyes once more.
"I love you" he said softly.
Hermione's heart seemed to skip several beats as Harry's words sunk in. Her eyes were locked with his, and she saw there what she had waited for, and hoped for, for so long. She smiled at him softly, moving her thumb to caress his cheek.
"I love you too."
Harry reached out and cupped her face with his hand, his other arm gently wrapping itself around her waist to pull her closer to him. They stood smiling at each other like idiots in the ocean for several moments before Harry lowered his head to hers and kissed her. Initially it was a tentative, gentle kiss, but it deepened into a passionate kiss as Hermione's hands found their way into his hair and Harry's arms held her close to him. When they eventually broke apart they were both breathing heavily, and Harry couldn't have wiped the grin from his face if Voldemort had risen from the dead in front of them at that moment.
Hermione smiled at him.
"I can't believe it took me so long to do that" Harry said with a laugh.
"I think it was well worth the wait." Hermione replied softly, smiling as she reached up to kiss him once
more.
Neither of them noticed the flash of a Wizarding camera from the shore, capturing their moment of bliss for the eyes of the Wizarding world, and neither cared too much when they received the clipping of the Daily Prophet several mornings later in an owl from Ron, declaring, "Harry Potter and Hermione Granger in Love!" They'd giggled at Ron's scribbled commentary on the article "about time you two…"
Hermione snuggled up against Harry's shoulder, an arm around his waist, his arm around her shoulders, before pulling the covers over them.
"I guess we'd better be a bit more discreet in public now" She grinned.
"Alright, well you'd better stop seducing me in public places then Miss Granger" Harry teased, tickling her lightly as she giggled.
"That was just the once and it was dark!" She protested with a laugh, reaching up to kiss him softly.
"Next time we'll take the invisibility cloak." Harry laughed loudly and kissed her again.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Better Together"
Jack Johnson
There's no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things
Like a, shoebox of photographs
With sepia-tone loving
Love is the answer,
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And, where do we go?
And how come we're so hard?
It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing its always better when we're together
Mmm its always better when we're together
We look at the stars when we're together
Well, Its always better when we're together
Yeah, its always better when we're together
And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight
But I know that they'll be gone
When the morning light sings
And brings new things
But tomorrow night you see
That they'll be gone too
Too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way
Into my day to day scene
I'll be under the impression
I was somewhere in between
With only two
Just me and you
Not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be
We'll sit beneath the mango tree
Yeah, its always better when we're together
Mmm, we're somewhere in between together
Its always better when we're together
Yeah, its always better when we're together
Mmm, Mmm, Mmm
I believe in memories
They look so, so pretty when I sleep
Hey now, and when I wake up,
You look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time,
And there is no song I could sing
And there is no, combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thing
We're Better together
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