THE MESS!

Prologue

The sun had long risen above the frosty land, failing to warm the ground, and to clear the misty sky of its gloominess. It was dark where Harry was sitting, but he would have been feeling miserable even if there had been no promise of another blizzard in the air, even if he were rubbing suntan lotion on his pale skin right now, even if the trees in the area were portraying all hues of green, rather than competing in which of them could produce the most meaningless shade of grey. He would have been feeling miserable anywhere, and the fact that he was sitting at the very entrance to Voldemort's lair did not help in the least.

Rubbing a stray remainder of sleep from his eyes with his sleeve, Harry got up, kicking yet another tin can against the wall of their hideout. His hideout, as he reminded himself, and the feeling of misery increased. Now that Hermione had shown her true colours – some boyfriend was more important to her than staying by his side at this crucial point – he was completely alone. He had been fighting loneliness ever since Ron had been taken out early, and Ginny's letters had stopped, but it had been bearable, because he had known that Hermione was by his side, to talk into the night with, to forget about those nasty pestering thoughts…

Early this morning, Hermione had all of a sudden received an owl – a terribly exhausted one at any rate, but Harry felt he'd rather it had not made its way to the hideout… There had been no information on it at all from Hermione, only thatRon was keeping in touch. She had seemed deeply immersed in thought for a while. Then, she had stood up, faced him, and told him she needed to seeRon now. Before he could say another word, she had Disapparated.

Harry sighed heavily. He might as well get going, before another storm buried him for good inside the cave. There was just no point in waiting… He tore his eyes from the Hermione-free horizon and reluctantly started to approach the entrance…

It was not just a dark night that followed Harry's darkest day. The sky had been bathed in raven-coloured ink and drained of the slightest trace of light. Snow was coming down thick and fast; it looked as though clouds from all over the world had gathered in this one place. The storm would be going on for hours. And yet, the girl's face was not so much wet with snow as it was with tears. Her blue lips barely moved, repeating the same word over and over again.

"Harry"

He did not hear her. He could not hear her, a snake being firmly wrapped around his body, and Voldemort's laughter echoing in his ears.

As his stiffened fingers helplessly scratched the surface of the tip of his wand, the girl stumbled and fell, as it happened, into their very hideout.

It took her about five minutes to smile at her success. Her cheeks felt as though they were frozen, and only reluctantly obeyed instructions from the brain. When she realised he was not there, which she ascertained within these five minutes, the smile faded quietly into nothingness.

She settled down, her back against the cold wall, and buried her head in her hands. There was nothing she could do now. The outline of the entrance, which had always been their lone companion, glowing eerily in the darkness, was gone. Harry must have sealed it, or Voldemort probably had. She preferred not to think about the consequences of the latter.

And yet, an image of Harry, struggling in the giant serpent's cold embrace, fiercely clenching his fists and ears to block out Voldemort's high-pitched laughter, pushed itself into her mind. "You read too much, Hermione", Ron had told her ages ago. She smiled bitterly; for the first time, she just had to agree with his statement. She had learned too much. She knew too much about the cruelties the world had in store, about the unlimited number of possible deaths one might encounter. If only she had never come across Harry's name in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century… She would have done well to stifle her curiosity at an earlier stage!

Hermione stuffed her fists into her mouth, almost chewing on them to produce some warmth. "No, no, no", she thought violently. She would have made friends with Harry regardless of what she might have and have not read about him. She would have followed him to the end of the world, ever since he had rescued her from the troll.

Silent tears were streaming down her face as she pulled out her wand once more. She could barely hold it for her icy fingers. But Harry's face, white as the snow falling down in the world above her head, had just floated through her mind, accompanied by Wormtail's cackling. She could not bear it, nor those blank eyes staring at her reproachfully. She needed to have another go at reopening the entrance, if it was only to find him the way she had pictured him now, eyes wide open, and blood trickling down his forehead.

Spell after spell shot from her wand in vain. Once, the entrance did suddenly glow faintly – her heart skipped a beat – but it faded immediately. Finally, Hermione's wand dropped to the floor. She wiped her forehead and her cheeks.

"I can't do it, Harry", she whispered, her voice unusually high. "I've studied so hard, and now I can't be of any use to you…"

She curled up to have at least some resistance against the cold. Her eyes closed instantly. She was about to fall asleep when one last thought came to her. She reached out for her wand without changing her position in the least.

"Expecto Patronum", she mumbled.

A dazzling white light shone through her eyelids, momentarily too bright for her tired eyes when she reluctantly opened them. A small white otter was prancing up and down before her.

"Go find Harry", she whispered. "Take the remainder of my strength and pass it to him. I want him to succeed. I want him to survive. Please, do whatever you can…"

The animal touched her forehead with a tiny paw and then vanished through the very entrance that would not budge.

"That means Harry's still alive!"

And on that thought, Hermione fell asleep, and only awoke when rumours of an explosion reached her ears from deep down below. She started, sat up, and the tentative early morning sun was blocked out by the figures of three adults.

The Mess!

Life had Harry back in its arms.

It was probably squeezing him a tad too tightly. He was not sure how to feel.

"I'm sorry, Harry," said the red-haired girl, not meeting the eyes of the young man standing before her who was looking at her as though he were seeing her properly for the first time. "Really, I am. I know I said I'd wait for you, but…"

Harry did not reply. He glanced at the other male in the room, who was currently pretending, and failing to put up a good pretence, not to listen. The guy seemed like a much healthier-looking version of Draco Malfoy, with coloured cheeks, wavy blonde hair, and bright turquoise eyes. Harry had recognized him the moment he had laid eyes on him, even though he was different to when they had last met. And he had been entangled with – wrapped around – well, been in a position in relation to Harry's girlfriend that Harry would not have believed possible. Considering all angles, the whole thing was absurd.

An image of the situation Harry had found them in came drifting, unbidden, across his mind. Previously, it had been a sickly white, skull-like face that had kept intruding him so nastily. Harry had been longing to find something that would clear his mind from the memory of Voldemort. But to see Ginny and that – for the lack of a decent word to describe that guy, him – was definitely not what he had wanted.

Harry clenched his fists. "Just one question, Ginny."

She turned her pale face towards him, probably for the first time.

"I can understand that you couldn't bear waiting for me anymore, but really… why, of all people, did you choose HIM?"

Ginny swallowed hard. "Well, I certainly thought he was attractive the day we first met, but of course, I would never seriously have considered dating him… Well and I think he's so full of potential, and the mistakes he made in the past don't count anymore, because he's forgotten them anyway, and because of that Youth-Returning Elixir, which makes him your age, doesn't it. He's starting all over again, and I, I'll be with him, he's intelligent, he's charming, he's gifted, he's famous AND wealthy, so that's one full promise of happiness…"

"Unless he comes across another backfiring memory charm and forgets all about you, now that would be tragic", said Harry coldly. Lockhart chuckled in his armchair.

Ginny burst into tears. "Oh, don't be like that…"

Harry had barely any emotion left to spare for his former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and little more so for his ex-girlfriend. She wanted to be with THIS guy, which was quite sickening in itself. Her explanation revealed that she appreciated the looks, the fame, the money, which told him enough to see her in an entirely new light.

"Wish you well", he said coolly, and turned to leave.

As he stepped into the sunlight, Ginny's sobs no longer reached his ears, which did not make the sight that greeted him in the untamed garden of The Burrow any less disgusting. There was another pair born from out of nowhere, well, not really, but still, the sight of Krum kissing Hermione, or holding hands with her, was one he found hard to get used to. THIS was why Hermione had abandoned him on the eve of the final battle. Moreover, Harry had always seen Krum as someone out of Hermione's past. He had never pictured him to suddenly reappear on the scene, throwing everything into disorder. Women, he thought angrily. He was quite sick of them at the moment. Hermione pecked Krum on the cheek as Harry watched her sadly. First Ginny, now you.

Harry slouched over towards the hedge where Ron stood, watching the happy couple with a face that betrayed emotions quite similar to those Harry was experiencing. Ron's expression lit up slightly as Harry reached him.

"Can you believe this?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head. "I've been waiting for someone to shout 'April Fool' ever since I saw Lockhart…"

Ron did not reply, but again, the look on his face was telling enough.

"What a mess", said a voice behind the hedge, and they both jumped. "You could put it down to spring, but honestly, I'm not making stupid decisions like, hooking up with Umbridge, you'd think people are out of their minds…" Fred, wearing a tragic expression, had obviously overheard their conversation. And so had George, who went on, "With Fleur around, mind you, that was not an easy task, she's way too attractive…"

"Yeah, insufferably", said Fred in a serious tone as Harry raised an eyebrow.

"But there's no defence against Lockhart. He keeps strolling around as though he owned the place. Might even be the case in the future", George added darkly. "Who knows, our silly sister might end up marrying that git, and then she'll inherit The Burrow. Mum told us the other day…" He put on a comical expression. "'To think that we might have THE Lockhart in our family!'" he squealed in an attempt at Mrs Weasley. Fred heaved yet another tragic sigh.

A giggle, unasked for, followed these severe words. It took Harry thirty seconds longer than Ron and the twins to realize that the giggle had not come from the Ginny on his mind: Krum was tickling Hermione.

They all cast the bench in the sunlight where the pair was sitting dark looks.

"Never thought we'd see Krum again", Fred began, but Harry interjected, "Who else feels like a game of Quidditch?", which silenced any discussion of Krum.

A Walk In The Dark

In the evening, Harry was reminded of dinner at the Dursleys with Aunt Marge. He had to concentrate on eating very hard, so as to block out any giggling or smooching noises, Ginny's voice drowning every feeble attempt at conversation with a shower of "Gildy, my dahling", and Hermione's voice being remarkably void of words… He could hardly stand it all.

"Bill and Fleur were absolutely tame compared to this", Ron muttered, and they agreed to finish quickly and take a walk until everyone had hopefully gone to sleep.

Ron, however, was called back by Mrs Weasley the moment they had reached the front door. "I've got something to talk about with you. Harry, dear, if you don't mind, please go ahead…"

As the door slammed shut behind him, Harry felt more miserable than he had in a long time, probably since he had left the Dursleys, and he would not have thought this possible before. "It's simply that they are relieved of their worries since Voldemort is gone. I have to start over again, too", he told himself. "I have just defeated Voldemort and my life needs a new goal… The insanity of this place just prevents me from finding it…"

He glanced at Krum through the window. Ginny's tinkling laughter could be heard. Harry's stomach clenched painfully, setting a stream of thoughts loose. Hadn't his goal been to return here and settle down with Ginny as soon as possible? After all, they had exchanged a promise at the wedding… His desire to be with Ginny had been extinguished completely, she had seen to that. All the tear-stained letters she had written to him, they were not worth the parchment they were written on.

He was still dreaming about Voldemort sometimes, but had come to accept this as something that would never completely fade from his life…

The Burrow had turned into some sort of a mad house, upsetting the safe haven he had always found here… Hermione… he could not even get started on Hermione and her betrayal. Once she left with Krum, things would probably settle down a little. There would only be Ginny and Lockhart around, and he felt he could handle them if nothing else was there to trouble him. And then, he would move to London with Ron, and they'd tackle their careers as Aurors.

Harry found that his stomach had not unclenched considerably, even though it did seem to improve whenever he hit a thought that seemed perfectly in tune with what he was truly feeling. Harry had found himself increasingly out of touch with his emotions for a longer period now. For example, Ginny's betrayal should have completely thrown him, even though she had revealed an entirely unknown façade of her character… but was he even shocked? Had he not expected something like this to occur? After all, what girl in her right mind waited for a man running of to defeat the most evil wizard of the time, to maybe never return?

It was probably why she had chosen Lockhart… After all, Gilderoy Lockhart had never set out on one single adventure himself – he had 'borrowed' greedily to become famous, but there was no danger of him setting his life on the line.

Harry smiled bitterly. For Lockhart, to come across a bottle of Youth-Returning Elixir! It did not matter that he had lost his memories; he could create new ones from a fresh start. Little though were the chances that his new life would be much different to the one he had led before…

It took Harry a while to realize that he was no longer watching Krum and Hermione, but that his feet had set themselves into motion, and were now soaking – he had walked straight through a puddle. He looked around… He was alone. The path he was walking had taken him into the middle of a field. Wheat spikes were towering over his head, and far above him, the sky stretched endlessly, punctuated by a few stars. If not for them and a last glow of the setting sun far away at the horizon, it would have been pitch-dark; light would certainly fade within the next hour. Should he return? But there was no need to at the moment, Ron might still be talking to Mrs Weasley, and the other – persons – present tonight cared little about him being there.

Lost in thought as he was, Harry only noticed the sound of feet asit suddenly died away and someone touched his shoulder. He jumped, and found himself face to face with one of the people he was least anxious to meet at the moment.

"Krum!"

"Call me Viktor", said Krum in a friendly tone. "We have been through so much together."

"Your English has improved", said Harry, in spite of himself.

"I have been training for Hermione", Krum answered proudly, watching Harry.

"That's, erm, nice…" Harry could not help peering over Krum's shoulder into the darkness, but no-one seemed to be there…

"I need to talk to you", Krum stated. "Let's walk a little further down this path…"

For one wild moment, Harry considered actually refusing and turning his back on Krum, but then, he merely nodded.

Five minutes passed, and nothing happened except that the sky went completely dark, yet neither of them lit their wands, as the moon had come out and the path was clearly visible. Harry wondered what on earth Krum might want with him, but Hermione's boyfriend remained silent.

Their path entered a wood, and so did they, muttering "Lumos" as darkness immediately swallowed them. Roughly another twenty minutes were spent in silence; Harry, however, had already forgotten that Krum was there. He enjoyed just walking wherever the path took them, slopes, bends, and even a few cross paths, on which the pair instinctively chose the same direction without so much as looking at each other.

Harry felt like he was floating along through the night in a bubble, but suddenly, Krum coughed, and the illusion collapsed with another start of Harry's. Krum said nothing, but pulled a bottle of orange juice, which Hermione must have given to him, out of his sleeve, and drank. He did not offer anything to Harry, whose throat was sore, but who would rather have chewed his tongue than asked Krum for the juice.

Inner Struggle, Outer Peace

They reached a fairly round-shaped clearing with a large tree in the middle. Right through that clearing ran a creek, which diverged before the tree and rejoined afterwards, isolating the tree as though it were standing on an island. Krum stepped onto that island, and Harry followed suit. The water was glittering in the moonlight and emitting faint splashing sounds. Nothing else could be heard.

Harry took off his shoes and socks and bathed his feet in the water. A chilly breeze passed them. The leaves of the tree rustled. Krum shivered and made as if to draw closer to Harry, and changed his mind at the last moment.

Oh my God, I hope he doesn't fancy me or something, Harry thought desperately, suddenly realizing the weirdness of the scene. Well, a confession from Krum would top it off, wouldn't it? Harry almost smiled at the notion.

Krum still didn't seem inclined to speak, so Harry finally said, "Nice evening, isn't it?"

Krum nodded, his expression sour. What on earth did Hermione see in this… "Why didn't you bring Hermione here, instead of me?" Harry continued in a hearty voice, as though making a joke. Krum grinned vaguely at him. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Well?"

Krum said nothing.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Harry pressed.

Suddenly, he had the impression that Krum was doing some very intensive thinking. He was not silent because he did not want to speak, but because whatever it was, it needed to be laid out very carefully.

Harry resigned to watching the sky. The moon was a perfectly round shape above their heads. His thoughts suddenly strayed to Lupin and how the poor man could never watch this beautiful moon on a night like this, in a romantic scenery like this, with the woman he loved…

Harry turned to Krum, half expecting to see him transformed mysteriously into the girl of his dreams. Then he realized where this was taking him, and panic swept over him.

What's going on here?! I'm not… falling for… Krum?!

As if on cue, Krum finally opened his mouth. "Harry, I would like you to forgive Hermione."

An intense cold swept Harry's chest, gripping his organs with icy fingers. "What are you talking about?" he asked politely, once he trusted his breath again to be steady.

"You know what I'm talking about. You think she's abandoned you for me, don't you."

"Why would I believe such a thing?"

"Well", Krum explained with a patience that would have been suitable before overexcited kindergarten kids, "you were about to face You-know-who, and you were scared. Ron had already been injured horribly. You and Hermione had been travelling alone for a few days, and together secured the last Horcrux. You were happy about this, yes, but it also scared you. You had nightmares…"

"Hermione has sure let you in on the details", Harry remarked sourly. Krum ignored him. "You had nightmares… Hermione had them, too, you know? About one or several of the Horcruxes being fake… about some detail she might have overlooked… Anything that would allow Voldemort to triumph over you, and to… kill you…" Krum faltered, and Harry looked at him. Emotions seemed to be waging war in Krum. Hermione must have told these things with great passion, Harry thought bitterly.

"Then one day, when you had finally learned about Voldemort's whereabouts, Hermione received a letter from me."

Harry fixed his eyes onto the gurgling water. His face did not betray any emotion to Krum, but he remembered that day all too well.

"In that letter", Krum continued, "I told her I had been trying to find her. That this had led me to The Burrow. That Ron had told me all about everything… And, that he was probably dying. I described all of this very accurately. I knew Hermione was out there with you, risking her life for you. I wanted her to come back. I honestly did not care about whether you would be alone then; Ron had spoken of some prophecy that made you out to be the one who had to finish Voldemort…"

"Ron was DYING?"

Tears In His Eyes

"Ron was DYING?" Harry asked.

Next to him, Krum sighed heavily once more.

"No… that was a lie. See why it has taken me so long to get started on this? I am very much ashamed of what I have done… Anyway…" Krum sighed heavily, this time actually moving closer to Harry, who sat as still as though he had been Petrified.

"Hermione Apparated to The Burrow, found that Ron was alive and well, gave me a horrible telling-off for my lie, and returned to where you'd been hiding."

"She didn't!"

"Well, you had already entered Voldemort's lair, hadn't you, thinking that she'd gotten scared and run away. Therefore, you never realized. She tried, and failed, to reopen the entrance – I believe you or Voldemort sealed it?" Harry nodded grudgingly. "She waited, but then a couple of Death Eaters attacked her and she couldn't handle them alone, so she fled…" Krum displayed a twisted smile that emitted no warmth. Harry had no answer to this. He tried a different tack.

"Why didn't she tell me about Ron?"

"You were already preparing for battle… She had to make a quick decision, and found it was best not to distract you…"

"Well, that was stupid of her", said Harry loudly, "I could always have Apparated back to Voldemort's hideout…"

"After Ron had died? After your best friend had left you? You would have needed to recover from that, and during that time, Voldemort would have regained strength, or even created some more Horcruxes", Krum said quietly. Harry struggled for an answer. "Well, then she's quite heartless, deciding I'm not to see my best friend die, because my task is to defeat Voldemort!" He had spoken himself into a rage, and was surprised to see a tear glistening in Krum's eye.

Oh my God, this is getting ridiculous… He sure takes Hermione's matters to heart…

"I can see her point", Harry said, in a calmer voice, "but why has she not once tried to talk to me ever since I'm back?" Because she's been busy snogging you?

"She couldn't work up the nerve", Krum said in a strained voice. "Which is why she asked me to talk to you."

"She asked –"

"I turned her down", Krum cut in, wiping his eyes. "Told her she had to do it by herself, if she wanted to clear the air that desperately. It had been my lie, yes, so I agreed to help her on a few things, but the talking she had to do for herself."

"Then why –"

Harry could not make sense of it any longer. Had Krum changed his mind, even though he had been so thoroughly convinced that Hermione should be the one to do the talking?

"You see, when I received my telling-off from Hermione for the lie, I told her it was because I loved her, and I didn't want her to be in danger, I wanted her to risk her life for no-one but me." Krum's voice was on shaky ground again.

Harry did not want to hear this; he didn't care, he knew they had worked it out somehow, although he could not see how Hermione could forgive Krum that easily for a lie involving a matter of life and death for Ron. Surely, Ron meant something to Hermione? Did she love Krum that much? And why had he, Harry, never noticed? All those years, why had Hermione never confided in him about Krum?

"She rejected me."

Harry stared.

Krum blinked, apparently still fighting back tears.

"What I am telling you now, Harry, will be confusing to you –" Harry snorted. Had any part of Krum's speech so far not been confusing? "– but I am asking you to listen only, and to keep any question you might have for later." Krum paused.

"Well", said Harry, finally reaching the end of his tether, "I know you've worked it out somehow, you've been fooling around all day together, haven't you, and anyway, I don't mean to be rude, but I've heard enough from you now and I'm sick of it. Please, don't ask me to listen to more of your—"

With that, he got up, took his socks and shoes in his hands, and began wading through the water.

As he re-emerged and set foot on the grass beneath, he heard a sob behind his back that was quickly stifled.

Oh, no.

Harry turned around to face Krum.

"Merlin's beard, what's the matter with you?"

Krum looked up. His gaze lingered on Harry for a minute or two, apparently considering him intently. Then he said, in his recently adopted croaky voice,

"I love you, Harry."

Sh-outing

The full moon above their heads cast an eerie light onto the frozen scene. Harry was standing very still, grass caressing his toes, wind streaking past his face. Krum was sitting below the tree on the opposite side of the creek, like a carnivore ready to pounce. Harry felt a cold shiver run down his spine. He had not heard correctly was all. Had to have been.

"You… what?" he asked finally, although he did not want to hear the answer.

Krum did not speak.

"Alright", Harry said angrily, "so you're not talking to me again, I'm not even sure why you wanted to talk to me in the first place, first you tell me you wanted Hermione to come back to you so badly, then you change your mind and fancy me, but as you know, I have –" Here he checked himself. "Well, at least until today, I had a girlfriend, I'm not interested in men, and there's no point in talking to you any more—"

Krum wiped his face. Suddenly, he seemed equally furious.

"You – you don't have a clue, do you?" he shouted. "About all the things I've been through, for your sake – you don't even see them! I've spent so much time and energy on you, and I've been sick with worry because you were out of my reach with Voldemort, and because you might be showing after-effects, and I don't want you to have nightmares, do you know you were groaning and tossing and turning all night –"

"It's none of your business!" Harry yelled back. "What are you playing at anyway, you and Hermione! She grew tired of fussing over me like that, you know –"

"You – don't – have – a – clue!" Krum returned, very red in the face. "You know what love is?"

"Course I do", Harry said, taken aback.

"No you don't!" Krum hissed, his face scarlet by now. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be judging that harshly! Hermione needed you to keep your mind set on Voldemort, or your defeat would have been horrible! You realise this is love? Taking a matter out of your hands for the time, so as not to increase your worries? DO YOU HEAR THAT?"

Enraged, Harry retorted, "I would have wanted to know about Ron! You think that this is love, leaving me alone before the battle –"

"I TOLD you, she RETURNED!"

"LEAVING ME ALONE", Harry went on, ignoring Krum, "because it's my job to finish Voldemort, that's what she thought, isn't it, and Voldemort would have done me in, if that little white animal hadn't shown up –"

"It did?" Krum said, looking puzzled. "A tiny white otter?"

"Sure, it gave me my wand when I couldn't reach it, but… What's that got to do with anything?!"

There was silence. Krum's chest was heaving with emotion, from what Harry could tell. He himself felt little better. Nothing – nothing – at all made sense anymore. Fred had captured the situation with his, "What a mess" from behind the hedge. All this absurd scenario needed was that Luna showed up and got involved with, well, Ron maybe. At that thought, Harry rubbed his temples. He felt exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Krum asked, concern in his voice.

"Never better", Harry snapped.

"Oh right, just don't drop your foul mood", Krum said, flaring up. "Of course you never gave Hermione a bad time, it's all down to her selfishness and her stupid, stupid decisions –"

"Hang on", Harry interjected. "Didn't you just recently declare yourself in love with me? What's happened to that?"

Krum stared at the tree behind him surly, as if it were at fault. "You", he said furiously, "have been between me and Hermione all the time. She wrote me letters, yes, and I got my hopes up over them! But then I came here, and she told me she'd never seen me as more than a friend!"

"What's that got to do with –"

The tree burst into flames. Harry leapt back in shock. Apparently, Krum was losing control of his emotions.

"You are SO DUMB!" Krum screamed, in a voice that did not remotely sound like his own. "How I've been wishing I could shake you to see the truth –"

He took a steadying breath.

"Alright", said Harry in a calm voice, "alright…"

Krum was sobbing again.

This is getting ridiculous, Harry thought resignedly. He stepped over the creek back into the circle, put out the flames with his wand, and moved gingerly towards Krum, not too close, rather a little too far away from him.

"Shall we call it a day and go back?" he offered.

Krum shook his head, staring at the ground. He was obviously fighting tears; his shoulders were shaking. Instinctively, Harry wanted to move closer, but restrained himself once more.

It's as if I'd known him for ages… What's going on with me? I want to… comfort him?!

"Okay", he said finally, realising he had no choice. "I'll hear you out."

That very moment, the moon was covered by clouds, and rain started to pour. Harry reached for his wand, conjuring a shield above them. Krum again moved closer to Harry in the dark, lit his own wand and smiled at Harry, a rather embarrassed smile that involved red cheeks… and brown eyes swimming in tears, and a face framed by bushy brown hair…

Still Got Some

Harry's heart gave a huge leap. "Hermione?"

She nodded and took yet another steadying breath.

"Oh Harry… I'm sorry, but I could not have told you otherwise… I was so scared that you might h-hate me now…"

He was unable to speak. So that is why Krum made me feel so comfortable.

"Viktor says he is sorry, too… It was his idea to disguise one of his fangirls as me and have her play his girlfriend… He noticed you were feeling uneasy around us…"

"You were just not yourself", croaked Harry. "I mean, it wasn't you, but if it had been you, that wouldn't have been you anyway…"

Hermione gave him a curious look, but he knew she had understood his stammering.

"Oh my God, all this madness is getting to me… Nothing but weird talk since morning…" He drew her closer to him and absently stroke her hair, as she was still shaking with emotion, and shivering from the cold. He could tell that she was smiling.

Neither of them spoke for a while. Harry's thoughts, however, were racing through the past minutes. He could now make up for all the inconsistencies in "Krum's" speech… She had not been able to keep her feelings out of the play to the necessary extent. But that meant…

Harry blinked.

It was as though he had been slapped in the face just when he was about to fall asleep.

Of course, it wasn't Krum who had confessed his love…

But did he mind? He had never spent one single thought on her in that light. She had, after all, never displayed that interest in him, had she? If anyone, he had suspected she might end up with Ron…

And yet, had she not always been by his side when he needed her? Had she not made his worries her own, and buried herself into research and – come to think about it, she had sent that otter too, hadn't she? And had she not tried to better him whenever he had been lax in the wrong places, had she not pointed out where he went wrong when the whole world chose to ignore Harry Potter's shortcomings? Had she not, even though he could not say that in all likelihood, seemed to enjoy his company? And he, in return, enjoyed hers, didn't he. They had always shared something special, and he knew it, although he had never allowed himself to touch on it.

A warm feeling flooded Harry's chest. He was overwhelmed by this torrent of realizations, his head felt heavy and light at the same time, and he did not know about his heart just yet, but there was something, something incredibly happy that had not been there before…

However, he dared not continue, as that would make it final. It just could not be true. Compared to Krum, who was he – he had better suggest they head back to The Burrow, before the others went looking for them. But before Harry could find his voice, she straightened up so quickly he started. "What?"

"There's something left I need to say", she informed him, making a strict face. "And you'll hear me out, ok?"

He nodded; even though he did not really appreciate any more surprises, he couldn't refuse to that look of hers.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

Hermione smiled.

All of a sudden, she bent forward and gave him a swift kiss. She missed his mouth, but the soft, prickling sensation he had not been expecting made his stomach clench in a very different pain to the one he had experienced earlier the day.

She then came very close to his ear – it was all a matter of split seconds, and whispered, "I love you, Harry…"

And she retreated, obviously embarrassed by what she had done.

Harry was stunned. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish on dry ground, but no words came out. Hermione did not seem to mind. She snuggled up to him and waited for his voice to come back, so he could give her a brief and stammered overview of what he had come to realise about her during the last, what was it, five minutes. It was not a complete promise to be with her forever, seeing as he had only broken up with Ginny that morning, and had been quite at unease with his emotional life for a while now. But she gathered enough from his stutter-frayed speech to have plenty of hope for the future. At the time being, this was more than enough for Hermione; after all, she had abandoned him, and avoided him, and only initiated talk to clear the air, again by deceiving him. When had she earned the right to such happiness?

When the rain had ceased, they got up to walk around some more, and Harry, although not fully restored, teased a much more relaxed Hermione about how they both had kissed Krum, to which she replied with a mischievous grin that she still had some Polyjuice Potion left.

"That would top off this weird day", Harry chuckled. "The two of us walking back to The Burrow, both disguised as Krum and holding hands… Imagine the look on their faces…"

"But that's brilliant!" Hermione said eagerly, her eyes very round. "Shall we?"

"They're probably asleep by now", Harry reminded her. "And anyway, d'you feel like going back already?"

"Noooooooo…"

"See…"

THE END