Disclaimer: I'd be saving this stuff for the 7th book if I owned any of this, but I don't so you get to read it now, and I stay penniless.
A/N: Yada yada yada, my first story, yada yada yada, maybe review?
She would do anything for him. It was that simple yet that complex. When she thought about him everything was cliché; she would move mountains for him, swim the oceans for him, and walk thousands of miles for him. She would die for him. Granted, any one of the well-adjusted members of the wizarding society would die for him… so he could save the world, but she would die for him so he could have a chance to be happy someday. She would die for him so he didn't have to.
How many hours had she spent helping him, scolding him, secretly wondering if he got that plummeting feeling in his stomach every time he laid eyes on her? She was used to it now; that feeling of her heart dropping to her knees and that ungodly sensation of foreboding terror that ricocheted across her nervous system every time he smiled.
This wasn't like those stupid puppy-love high school crushes that she had read about in one of those trashy teenage 'coming of age' novels that she still denies ever reading. Maybe this wasn't even love. It probably wasn't. Who was she to know and judge? It was more like fear. That feeling that jetted through her nervous system like a shot of double espresso was fear. Fear that every time he smiled would be his last.
God how her heart ached every time that boy gave the slightest hint of a smile. Ron makes him smile. She makes him smile. Ginny made him smile, but she makes him smile.
Ron makes him smile with his constant complaints of hunger. She makes him smile with one of her infamous Hermionisms; an eye roll here, a scolding there, but never a tongue lashing, those stopped after fifth year.
Ginny made him smile. Ginny has a way of brightening people up. Maybe it's the red hair, but it's probably the Weasley charm. Ginny isn't around to make him smile though.
Ginny. She never had gotten up the courage to ask what happened between him and Ginny. One day the snogging had suddenly stopped. That was the same day her feelings for Ron stopped. There was a simple explanation as to why she liked Ron. When two people of opposite sexes are friends for a very long period of time they are certain to develop sexual tension. This sexual tension was formed when Harry and Ginny were dating. She realized that she was no longer the center of her two best friends' attention. Harry had Ginny, Ron had Lavender, and she had well… yeah.
But she was okay with that. Harry was happy and that's the most she could have wanted from him. Harry was happy so she was…content. Ron was happy so she was, well she was frustrated but looking back she should have been happy.
"Hermione? You alright?" And there in the doorway stood the-boy-who-lived, and rather than being concerned about the fate of the world he is worried about her. That alone is enough to bring a slight smile, but it's quickly covered by the fake 'I'm fine' smile.
"Why do you ask?"
"Erm, you just looked…sad?" She gives him her 'you caught me' smile and turns back to the books strewn in front of her.
"Did you need something, Harry? I mean I haven't found anything on Horcruxes yet but the Blacks should have something about them somewhere." She would read a thousand libraries if it would help him. Once again, so cliché.
"You're Hermione, the-girl-who-reads, you'll find it if it's there," ah, the pep talk from Harry. He's been trying so hard to stay positive lately.
"Oh, we've all got nicknames now? Is Ron the-prat-who-eats?" They enjoy the momentary humor. Everything seems funnier these days.
"Oi, Harry does she know how to do it?" Ron asks coming up behind Harry in the doorway.
"Do what?" Hermione, now intrigued, turns back around to face them.
"This new curse we're trying to learn. It renders your opponent blind for a couple of minutes, Mira Nox." Hermione quickly checks her mental library, pulling out book after book in rapid succession.
"Mira Nox is a slash and flick motion. Downward slash and counterclockwise flick." Both boys nodded and Ron raised his wand at Harry. "Ron! Perhaps you should try it on something else first. And don't you dare point that wand at me!" Hermionism #2: scolding.
"Hermione!" Ron whined.
"Hey Hermione? Do spells like this work on portraits?" Harry asked innocently twirling his wand in his hand. She didn't know the answer so she simply looked at him and sighed. Both boys smiled as they ran back to the hallway.
She turned back to work. So maybe it was love. So what? She was entitled to feel something girly once in a while. She loved both of them, truly she did. Just with Harry her heart ached just a little more, her pulse beat just a little faster, and her stomach twisted just a little harder. So what if it was unrequited…whatever it was; as long as she could help him as long as he was happy...
"Filth! Intruders! Soilers of the Black household! I can't see you Mudblood but I can smell your filthy stench from here!"
She was happy.