Unofficial Portkey Archive

Thank you for your reviews, it really is great! Thanks to Chelsey and Jamie, my betas! Ok don't throw tomatoes at me after you've read this chapter. A lot of you WILL find Harry and Hermione a bit out of character, if you don't like those kinds of stories, then don't read this one! You've been warned

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Chapter 3

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Trouble

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Oh no, I see
A spider's web is tangled up with me
And I lost my head
And thought of all the stupid things I've said

And oh, I never meant to cause you trouble
Oh, I never meant to do you wrong
And oh, well if I ever caused you trouble
Oh, no I never meant to do you harm

(Trouble by Coldplay)

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Hermione became quiet; she knew Harry had been drinking, as had she. But he had definitely not drunk enough for this to be only alcohol talking.

"I don't know what to do about it," Harry spoke in a weak voice.

"Look, Harry, we all have crushes on our friends sometimes."

"Did you ever have a crush on me?" Harry quickly asked.

"Oh, I don't know…" she answered nervously. Harry stood up quickly. "Oh, stop it," she said. "You must have known I did."

He spun around so fast that he hardly could keep his balance. "If you did, why the hell didn't you do anything about it?"

"Harry, you're crazy, you never wanted me, you still don't. This is just because things aren't going great with Ginny. I mean you didn't want her for years, and she was mad about you... maybe this is just what you do. You want girls you can't have, like when she was with Dean…."

Harry held up his hand to silence her. "When, Hermione?"

"When I had a crush on you? Well, I don't know, I guess I kind of always did a bit. But you never seemed to care at all about me in that way. It was always Ron who got jealous about other boys."

"I was an idiot," Harry said resigned. He sat back down on the bed. "When did the crush end then?"

"These questions are just crazy, I think you should go to your room now, and you'd do well in remembering that I am Ron's girlfriend," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, believe me, I haven't forgotten." He walked over to the door and left before she could say a single word.

Hermione's heart was pounding so hard, it felt like it would break her chest. If Harry had said this a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, everything would have been different. But she was with Ron now. Ron was so good to her, she had so much fun with him. She had such strong feelings for him, she thought. Why was Harry doing this? Was he going through some kind of crisis? Was he just feeling left out from the trio's old friendship?

What was happening?

Hermione walked over to the old mirror hanging on the wall. Her reflection looked pale. Why? Why now? And why was she so upset over it? Why did she care like this? She felt like cursing herself for feeling this much for Harry still. She really thought these feelings had completely died. She was so used to seeing Harry with Ginny, and she really did have feelings for Ron. How could Harry do this to her, to Ron? Who did he think he was?

Harry was pacing back and forth in his room. He wondered what was happening in the next room. His mind was racing.

What had he done? It was just yesterday that he had finally realized his feelings for Hermione, and now he had just blurted it all out. But he knew that he had felt like this for a long time. He just couldn't believe that she had had feelings for him, at least once. Why hadn't he noticed? Why had she given him advice about Cho Chang, and why had she been so happy for him and Ginny when they got together? But other memories flashed before him as well, times when Hermione had hugged Harry harder then Ron, kissed Harry goodbye without doing the same to Ron. She had always been so concerned about him, so caring, maybe that was her way of showing it. Before Harry could think another thought, there was a loud, angry knock on his door.

Holding his breath and hoping for the best, he opened the door. Hermione had a furious look on her face.

"Where do you get off telling me…." She suddenly stopped talking as Harry took a step forward. He was now standing inches from her. He seized her around the waist and pulled her as tight to him as he could. Without another thought, he kissed her. He felt fireworks inside. His stomach was bubbling so much, he almost thought he'd be sick. Hermione kissed him back with just as much fire as he was kissing her. She had her hand in his hair and she lowered it down his neck. She had no idea how long they kissed. Harry backed into the room, still holding her and kissing her. He kicked the door closed and backed against the bed. He fell backwards and she tumbled over him. He ran his hand down her back, while the other hand was pushing back her hair so it wouldn't be in her face.

They broke the kiss and looked deeply into each other's eyes. Was this happening? Were they going to do this? Harry was sure this was the most intense moment he'd ever felt.

Hermione broke their gaze, and started collecting herself.

"Harry," she said quietly and slid off him. She sat on the bed, kneeling beside him.

"Hermione please, don't go."

"I really have to. This, I don't know what this is, what I just did…we did… it's so wrong Harry."

"But it feels so right, I know you feel it too".

Hermione turned to look at him and Harry saw that her eyes were completely filled with tears. He didn't stop her when she got out of the bed.

She turned around and looked at him. "I just don't know," she whispered sadly, and the door closed behind her.

Harry leaned back on the bed. He could smell her scent on the pillow, he couldn't help smiling. Kissing her had been so wonderful, like no kiss he'd ever had in his life.

-

The next day Hermione was afraid to leave her room. She didn't want to meet Harry; she had no idea what to say to him. She had no idea what she felt for him, or what she felt for Ron.

She tried to lay as still as possible so she could hear something from Harry's room and began sobbing. He didn't understand what he had done. No matter what happened now, it would affect their friendship; nothing would be like it used to be. There was a gentle tap on the door.

"Hermione, can I come in?"

"Yes," she answered.

Harry sat down on the armchair opposite the bed. "You've been crying," he whispered.

She didn't answer and just stared at the floor. Harry felt so bad for her, she looked so small sitting there at the edge of her bed.

"I'm not sorry," he said. She suddenly looked up.

"Well you should be, what do you think Ron is going to say when I tell him what we did?" She cried through the words. Harry's heart ached for her. He quickly walked over to her, put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her into a hug. She sobbed against his shoulder.

"Why? Why Harry? Everything was going so well."

"I guess I just had to."

She looked up at him, and he saw that her face was covered by tears. "Oh, sweetie."

He put his hands on both her cheeks and he started caressing her face, removing her tears. He leaned forward and started kissing her cheeks. Hermione closed her eyes with pleasure. Harry gently started kissing her neck, and carefully let his tongue make playful circles on her shoulder. She sobbed loudly as he kissed her neck again. How could this feel so right when she knew so well that it was wrong? She broke lose and gave him an intense look. Just as Harry was about to ask her if she wanted him to stop, she reached out for the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head. She looked down at his beautiful body - he was so unbelievably sexy. She leaned over and kissed his torso and then straddled him and gave him a deep kiss. Hermione could hear someone walking outside in the hallway, so she reached for her wand and pointed at the muggle radio she always had in her bag. It started playing music as they made love.

And oh, I never meant to cause you trouble
Oh, I never meant to do you wrong
And oh, well if I ever caused you trouble
Oh, no I never meant to do you harm

Hermione fell asleep in Harry's arms, and she slept wonderfully. She woke up when she felt him stirring.

"Are you leaving?" she asked in a worried voice.

He gave her a soft kiss. "No. I just thought I'd sneak downstairs and get us some food. I never ate breakfast and it's now..." he paused to look at his wristwatch. "...seven in the evening."

Hermione sat up, completely shocked.

"How can it be?"

He smiled affectionately at her. "Well. first a few hours were spent, doing... you know. And then we slept for a couple of hours. Why don't you take a nice long bath, and I'll get us some food."

Harry stood up. He was completely naked and Hermione blushed; she wasn't used to seeing Harry this way, even though they had just made love, he was still Harry - naked Harry.

He put on his clothes and left without another word. Hermione went into her bathroom and ran a bath. As she sank down in the bubbles, she closed her eyes.

That afternoon had been wonderful - who knew Harry was such a careful and tender lover? His touch had been so soft and careful. She could feel his hands all over and became excited. She heard Harry entering in the other room; she rinsed off the bubbles and put on her robe. When she got out of the bathroom, she saw that Harry had lit the fire and had put all the food on the floor.

"Oh my, did you bring the whole kitchen?"

"Well, I thought those house elves didn't have enough to do," he answered. She frowned at him. "I'm joking!" he exclaimed. She sat down on the floor opposite him and hungrily reached for some bread. Harry was busy loading mashed potatoes on a plate. He looked at Hermione and felt truly happy.

"What?" she wondered.

"What we just did, it was perfect," he answered with a sweet smile.

She blushed and reached out for some sausages on a plate. He grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her close for a kiss. While kissing her, he opened her robe. He stopped for a second and looked at her body.

"Harry!" she said embarrassed.

"You are perfect!" he said. He gave the robe a light push, and it fell of her shoulders and down to the floor. He pulled her into another kiss.

"Come on." He walked over to the bed.

"You're an animal," she giggled, but followed him obediently.

Hermione didn't know how many times they made love that night, but they hardly got any sleep. They just lay in each other's arms in front of the fire discussing the future and their dreams. Harry told Hermione of his childhood, things he thought he had forgotten and she listened intently. Hermione amused Harry with some funny Muggle stories from her old school, it was nice to talk to someone who actually understood the Muggle world. For what felt like an eternity, they just looked at each other, Harry stroking Hermione's cheek, while she lay on his arm.

"I want to freeze this moment forever," Harry whispered softly.

Hermione put her head on his chest and with one of her hands she softly touched the hairs he had below his navel. Harry smelled so wonderful, she thought. He smelled like fresh air, new rain, a hot fire and sunshine. She knew it was silly, but she felt like Harry smelled like home.

The next morning, they both woke up by the sound of Hedwig scratching the window with her claw. Harry got out of the bed and opened the window. She flew right at him and he backed away.

"What are you doing?" he said irritated. She flew at him again and he backed right into the plate of mashed potatoes. "Bloody hell, Hedwig," he said annoyed.

"She is trying to tell you something." Hermione sat up and covered herself with a blanket on the floor. Hedwig backed Harry all the way into the door. It dawned on Harry at that second.

"I think I better get back to my room and see what's going on," he exclaimed.

Hermione immediately knew what he was thinking. She reached for her wand and with a quick flick all of the food vanished.

"Hermione I…" Harry didn't know what to tell her.

"Go now, Harry!" she said and pushed him out the door.

She ran over to the window and there they were. Ron, the twins and Ginny were walking down the street bickering about something. She ran over to the mirror and looked at herself. She was a mess; her hair was bigger and bushier then ever. Oh Harry, what did you do? she thought and smiled a little bit. She quickly fixed the room to its usual tidiness, and then she threw herself into the shower. It didn't take long until she heard the bathroom door open.

"Hello, beautiful girl. Guess who?" Ron said.

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