A/N at the end of the chapter.
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Once their lips met, Hermione realized that she her books had lied to her. There were no fireworks or angel choirs or random applause of bystanders. But the feeling of Harry overwhelmed her. His scent, his feel, his taste, all of him. She quickly understood that she could lose herself in Harry if she wasn't careful and she wasn't all too sure if she wanted to be careful. He pulled away when it was obvious that neither of them could breathe. She leaned back and gasped at the sight before her.
He was glowing.
Bright golden light blinded her and Harry, who jerked away. The panic he felt was reflected in his eyes. "What in the bloody hell?" he hissed.
She couldn't admonish him on his language since it was the exact same thing she was thinking. It took a few seconds for her to regain her mental footing. She had read of this somewhere, but she couldn't remember. Where? Suddenly, she exclaimed, "So You Want To Be In Love!"
"What?"
"That's the book I read this in! Don't worry, Harry, it'll be over in just-"
The light faded away as quickly as it came.
"A moment," she finished. "Wow, they called it to the second."
"Called what? Who's `they'? And what just happened?" he asked in rapid succession.
"The writers of So You Want To Be In Love. `If the person is ever lucky enough to have the spell broken, a golden glow will flash and disappear within ten seconds,'" she quoted. The gravity of the situation hit her. The spell was gone. Harry was no longer under its effects and Hermione could now be forgotten in the blink of an eye. She could be in love with someone who might not care anymore.
His eyes grew wide. "So then, it's done?"
"Yes," she whispered. "It's done." Was that hope in his voice?
"Wow." He stepped away from Hermione and scratched the back of his head. "Wow," he breathed.
Panic set in. He didn't want to be a part of this. And to be fair, he had never had a real say in "this." Not a say that had been influenced by the spell anyway. "Harry, what," goodness this was frightening, "do you want?"
He ran both hands through his hair. "This is unexpected, isn't it? Certainly not in the middle of the hall right before curfew. I always imagined this happening on an island or on the Quidditch pitch under the starts; somewhere romantic where I could declare my undying love and affection." He gave a nervous laugh.
"You seem to have an active imagination," Hermione teased.
Harry was about to speak when the hall seemed to fill with people instantly. She silently cursed the "stragglers" as the seventh years called them. Her and Harry shared a long look and she sighed. "To the common room?"
"I think so," he replied. They were approaching a suit of armor when Harry pulled her out of the crowd. He stood next to it and tried to appear as if he was relaxing. She shot him a confused glance, but he grinned, "You'll see." He looked down the hall both ways after the hall had cleared out. "Coast's clear." He knocked on the armor five times and to her surprise, it moved to the right to reveal a small passage. He looked back at her. "This is one I found. It would get us to the common room a whole lot faster than taking the stairs. Are you willing to go with me?"
What kind of silly question is that? she thought. At her nod, he led the way into the passage. It was cramped and maybe it was her imagination, but it was getting smaller all the while. She would have attributed it a trick of the light if there was any. As soon as they had gone in, the former knight had returned to his post, cutting off the light from outside. Harry lit his wand and they continued on their way.
"This reminds me of when we went to go save Ron from Sirius," Hermione said quietly.
"Yeah. We always end up together at the end of things," he mused.
"First year, third year, fifth year…what a weird pattern."
"You know, when you got hit at the Department of Mysteries, I thought you were dead. I've never been that scared in my entire life."
She was glad that he hadn't turned around to see her deep blush. Haven't done that for a while. And I'm glad to have it back.
Both were lost in their thoughts from that point. She only knew that they were at the end of the tunnel when the sudden light made her wince.
"It takes some getting used to." He looked at his watch. "Three minutes until curfew."
"That was faster. I'll need to remember that one." The Fat Lady was only a few meters away, but the opening of the passageway was out of her range of sight. She walked towards her.
"Wait."
She turned to see Harry scratching the back of his head again.
"I want-I want to think about this. So that I won't cheat you." He scuffed at the floor with his shoe. "Tomorrow. I promise."
Hermione realized that he wasn't going to say things off the top of his head anymore. No more completely open Harry. But she would meet him halfway. "Okay."
Gratefully, he kissed her on the cheek and walked away with his hands in his robe pockets, leaving Hermione alone and just a little brokenhearted.
She came down the next morning feeling a bit groggy. It had been a night of little sleep and vivid dreams involving floating mistletoe and shouts of "Crucio!" Pavarti had even pulled her aside before she went down to breakfast if everything was alright. "You woke up so many times, I was worried that you were sick or something like that," she said.
At breakfast, there was no Harry or Ron. It confused her to say the least. Ron never missed a chance to eat. Never. She asked Neville if he had seen either of them, but he shrugged his shoulders. Both of them were missing at Potions also. She was beginning to get worried, but when she reached Charms, they were there, Ron looking determined and Harry looking uncomfortable. Her breakfast churned in her stomach. That look could mean anything. She sat in her usual desk between them.
"Morning, Hermione," Ron said in a business-like tone.
"Morning," Harry mumbled.
She didn't trust opening her mouth so she nodded at them instead. The rest of class went by uneventfully, even though Hermione kept expecting Harry to jump up and scream, "I really don't want you so leave me alone!" When class ended, she stopped to talk to Terry Boot on the fast approaching N.E.W.T.S. A backwards glance found Ron speaking in hushed tones and gesticulating wildly to Harry, knocking over small Professor Flitwick in the process. Ron apologized profusely while Harry coughed into his hand to hide his smile. He looked up at her and for a moment, it seemed as if he was going to walk over.
"Hermione? Are you still there?" Terry waved a hand in front of her eyes.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she asked as she forced herself to pay attention.
"I was just telling you that you'll do fine when test time comes around, but you seem distracted," he said worriedly. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Never better. I'm thinking about a few things, that's all."
He smiled and laughed, "That's okay. I have to be getting on to class anyway. I'll see you later!" He waved at her over his shoulder.
"Way to keep your wits about you," she grumbled to herself. "Now everyone is going to think I'm mental the entire day." She readjusted her bag and began to walk out of the door. A humongous weight slammed into her back causing her to stumble. Before she could fall, a pair of arms grabbed her around the waist and held her steady. She would know that grip from anywhere.
"Ron!" Harry shouted. "What are you playing at? You could have knocked both of us over!"
"Better than you avoiding the situation." He glided in front of them. "You two are going to talk." He stopped their stuttering with an upheld hand. "You're going to talk and that's the end of it. I'll be right outside that door and if either of you come out without giving me a thumbs up, you're going to wish you could snog Malfoy."
"I think I just threw up a little in my mouth," Hermione teased. She felt Harry nod his head in agreement.
"I'm right outside." He made a large show of walking out and settling against the wall.
"We have a scary friend," Harry sighed.
"Yeah," she said a bit breathily. It was getting rather hard to concentrate with his breath tickling her ear.
"Oh!" He let go of her and she turned to find him standing stiffly with his arms by his side. He cleared his throat. "Well, I guess you know what we need to talk about, huh?"
Her legs felt like someone had tied rocks to them. Here it was. "Yeah."
He cleared his throat again. "Hermione, I-what I mean to say is-you see…." He snorted. "Forget it."
Before she could open her mouth to say "What do you mean," Harry kissed her. And she knew exactly what this meant. Yes, yes, YES!
He pulled away with a sheepish grin on his face. "You know I'm not the guy for words."
"I really don't mind at this point," she said dreamily.
"The common room, then?" She nodded and he flashed a grin that could have lit up the Great Hall. "Great!" There was a definite spring in his step as he walked out the door.
She sat on the edge of a nearby desk and smiled. This could easily be categorized as the second best day she of her life. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Professor Flitwick.
"Ms. Granger?" he asked amusedly.
"Hmmm?"
"Don't you have something to do?"
"None that I can recall."
Flitwick chuckled. "Class, Ms. Granger. You have class."
"Class where?"
"On the other side of the castle. Advanced Muggle Studies. Remember, Ms. Granger?"
There wasn't anything else she needed to do today. Just go meet Harry in the common room after lunch which was right after…. "Oh, goodness, I have class!" She almost knocked the desk she was sitting on in her rush to get out the door.
Flitwick chuckled again. "Poppy is going to be tickled pink."
* * *
Hermione toyed with her necklace in the common room. Waiting for Harry had never been so nerve-wracking. What would happen now? Would their friendship stay the same? Would he still care in a few weeks? A few months? A few years? Would this relationship go that far? What if…?
"Hey."
She jumped in surprise. There was Harry sitting on the opposite side of the couch. Her mouth went dry. What do I say? "Hi," she squeaked.
Oh, good going, Hermione! she berated herself. She fumbled with her necklace. "Where were you today?"
"Ron was telling me," he launched into an impression, "why I should stop being so bloody stupid because you already knew how I felt." He grinned, "And I was being bloody stupid."
"No, not really." Fighting down the butterflies in her stomach, she slid down the length of the couch and leaned against him. "At least you didn't run up to me in the hall and proclaim your love for me," she joked.
"That was Plan B if I couldn't think of anything else. Always go for the romance movie effect." He laughed at her groan. "It certainly would have made Ron leave me alone. Speaking of Ron, where is he? He told me he'd be down from the library in a few minutes." He looked around the room as if expecting for Ron to appear from one of the corners.
"I haven't seen him. If he was coming from the library, he should have been here by now." They exchanged questioning looks.
Harry sighed, "Oh, well. He probably saw Luna in the Great Hall and stopped to sit with her."
"Did she tell you about Hungarian Dream Gnomes?"
"What?"
Hermione began to explain exactly what they were and watched as Harry's expression went from confusion to incredulity to amusement. In the back of her mind, she noted that this was going to be a work in progress. Things might be perfect now, but everyone had their trials and tribulations to go through. There would disagreements, arguments, times where each of them might need space. It would take effort on both of their parts to make this work.
Looking at the light in Harry's eyes made her want to try harder than ever.
* * *
Down in the Great Hall, a group of people raised their glasses of pumpkin juice in a toast. To the outsider, a single Ravenclaw standing in front of three Gryffindors would have been odd, but they wouldn't have cared at all.
"To a job well done," Luna said proudly.
Cheers of agreement and the clink of glass filled their small corner.
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Well, that's the end folks. I have a few thanks to say:
Miss Mady for listening to me whine and being one of the BEST PEOPLE EVAR. Because caps make things true; pstibbons for making me think about my story farther than before. I appreciate your questions and comments; Madam_05 for giving me support and pushing me to post on FF.net, fenriswolf for having me figure out where in the heck this was going to go in the first place. Without you, most of this would not be possible.
And finally, all of you guys! It may not seem that I'm paying attention, but I've read every single review. I appreciate you all so much. Thank you for reading!
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