Chapter 4
A/N: Wow, thanks again for another overwhelming response on the last chapter! More romance in this one, although you guys might want to kick us at the end of this one :D
Review Responses:
John (jwbartle): Draco is in Ravenclaw
Blue Eyes: If we got them together, then the story would be over ;) You don't' want that yet do you?
VipyGirl831: Thanks! We both enjoy working together!
Crimson Lioness: We all want Harry, don't we? LOL
Bookworm Sweetheart: We still owe you one for the story idea!
Coolone007: just wait and see how everything comes about, the story isn't that long you won't have that much of a wait
Zee: Harry's not dumb, but he's cautious, he wants to make sure girls like him for him and not his fame
Dan: If you like the dreams, keep reading ;)
Paladin Steelbreaker: Maybe you are psychic ;) Anyways, glad you're enjoying, and thanks for the compliments!
LeBoshi: You want to sketch Hermione for us? Tha'd be cool! :D
HarryNZ: satin sheets huh. How about a light beer?
Hermione Potter: Blaise and Hermione are both in Slytherin. Blaise is the Head Girl so she gets her own room and Common Room. Justin is in Hufflepuff, even though he's a big jerk…
Mistocean: Glad we were able to help you love H/Hr! It's the best ship out there!
MythX: Better late than never, for a review ;) Glad you like it
Paws: Here's your next chapter! Enjoy!
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And now, on with the chapter!!!
"He took you FLYING?" Blaise asked excitedly, her eyes wide. "Excellent!" She grabbed Hermione and hugged her tightly.
"It was just flying." Hermione protested, pulling away from her best friend. "Nothing happened, not like you're thinking."
"Not because you didn't want it to." Blaise grinned wickedly.
Hermione crossed her arms. "You know me too well."
"I may suck at Muggle Studies but I'm damn good at you Hermione." Blaise said, sitting down next to her. "I want details, and lots of them!"
For the next half hour, Hermione sat and recanted each detail, how it felt to sit on his broom, with his arms wrapped around her waist, how Harry's robe had been so warm on her, how they'd gone high above Hogwarts and she hadn't been scared….
"You have stars in your eyes!" Blaise exclaimed, jumping up from the sofa. "You kissed him!"
"I did not!" Hermione said. "I already told you nothing happened!"
"Why are you blushing so bad then?" Blaise asked, dancing around the room. "Hermione and Harry were SNOGGING! Hermione and Harry were SNOGGING!"
"Will you shut up please?" Hermione hissed, rising up from the sofa menacingly. "Justin's in the next room and I really don't want to deal with him."
"Right." Blaise lowered her voice. "Hermione and Harry were snogging!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "With friends like you, who needs enemies?" she pouted, sitting back down again.
"He loved the makeup, that's why he took you flying!" Blaise said, hugging herself.
"Thanks Blaise. So you're saying that he only likes me when I'm made up, that's a real confidence booster." Hermione snapped.
"Oh, Hermione, I didn't mean it like that." Blaise dropped down beside her. "It's just that when you present yourself nicely, guys begin to take notice. Tomorrow we'll…"
"No, tomorrow I'm not going to make myself up." Hermione said firmly. "I like the way I am, naturally."
"Just a little like today." Blaise wheedled.
"We'll see." Hermione was indefinite. "I'm going to bed."
"All right, all right." Blaise knew when to back off. "See you tomorrow."
Hermione said good night and left Blaise's common room. A large smile stretched across her face as she slipped into her nightgown. She hoped she'd be dreaming about more than just Harry's broomstick that night.
**** One Month Later, Valentine's Day ****
"I truly detest and despise this holiday." Hermione said flatly. She looked on with a hint of jealousy as three guys came up to her and Blaise, handing her best friend boxes of chocolates and red roses.
"Oh Hermione, it's really not that bad." Blaise spoke from behind a mountain of flowers.
"Easy for you to say." Hermione muttered, shifting her bag and Blaise's more comfortably on her shoulder. She'd hated Valentine's Day for as long as she could remember, and she'd never once gotten a single flower, chocolate or card. Instead, she'd sat back and watched all the other girls at Hogwarts squeal over sappy cards and pink hearts.
"Hi Blaise!" a stammering Seamus Finnigan was now approaching the two girls. "I got these for you!" he held out two dozen red roses.
"Thank you Seamus." Blaise flashed an artificial smile at him, she'd been nicer to he and Dean ever since they publicly apologised to Hermione about the things they'd said, but she had no real interest in him. She gathered the flowers into the cumbersome bundle she already had in her arms. "How sweet of you."
Seamus grinned and mumbled something incoherent. "Oh uh…Happy Valentine's Day Hermione." He said and stumbled off.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I think I'm going to skip breakfast and go right to class." She moaned. The last thing she wanted to do was walk into the Great Hall and see girls mooning all over Harry.
"You will do no such thing." Blaise said firmly, shifting the flowers so she could look at her best friend. "Besides, weren't you going to give Harry your gift?"
"Not in front of the whole bloody Great Hall!" Hermione replied. "And if you've already gotten this many flowers and chocolates, I don't want to see how many he has."
"Don't be jealous." Blaise said, precariously trying to hold her roses without pricking herself on the thorns. "How about I give you these to hold, it'll look like you have so many admirers then."
"Right, like people will really believe that." Hermione rolled her eyes again. "Never mind, I just won't look at him."
"I'll believe that when I see it." Blaise grinned. "Open the door for me, will you?" The girls had reached the Great Hall. Hermione used her shoulder to push the door open, and Blaise broke into a run to drop her flowers by her seat.
"Ow!" she cried as a thorn scraped the side of her hand. Hermione kept her head down, trying not to look in the direction of the Gryffindor table. Around her she could hear the screams and squeals of her classmates exchanging dumb cards and cheap chocolates, and she tried to contain her jealousy at not being included.
She sat down next to Blaise, thankful that the chocolates and roses were now on the floor out of sight. Hermione reached for a slice of toast and nibbled on it, not caring if it was dry, she just wanted something to do with her hands.
"Hi Hermione!" Harry's voice made her look up. He was working his way past the Hufflepuff table, with a large grin on his face.
"Hello Harry." She smiled back, nervously.
"I just wanted to come over and wish you a Happy Valentine's Day." Harry said, his hypnotizing emerald eyes glowing brightly.
"Really?" Hermione asked, rising from her seat. Her heartbeat quickened under his gaze.
"For you." Harry whipped a large box from behind his back. It seemed the whole Great Hall quieted down and turned to look at the two of them.
Hermione couldn't stop the large smile that crossed her face as she untied the ribbon and carefully tore the paper off. "Oh!" she gasped as she drew a long, ivory nightgown from the box.
"It's for later." Harry said in a low voice, sweeping the box aside and drawing her to him. "I saw it and I knew it was for you."
"I don't know what to say…" Hermione stammered, a faint blush appearing across her cheeks as she stared at the lovely negligee.
"Don't say anything." Harry put his finger to her lips. "Not a word…" his breath was hot on her face as his mouth neared hers. Hermione could barely swallow; his luminous eyes were bearing into hers.
Before she could do anything else, his lips had crashed down upon hers, his hands winding around her waist, pulling her body tightly against his. She cupped his cheek, tracing the lines of his face with her fingernail as she opened her mouth to him, their tongues caressing and exploring.
Harry took his hands from her waist and with one swoop, cleared the Slytherin table. He scooped her up and laid her down on the top, pressing his mouth back to hers hungrily. He ran his hands down her body, gently caressing the side of her breast.
"Ohhh!" Hermione moaned as he attacked her neck with his lips; she arched her back as his kisses grew hotter and more demanding.
"Boy, let me have that toast if it's that fascinating." Blaise's voice interrupted Hermione.
"What?" Hermione snapped out of her daydream and looked at her best friend.
"You've been staring at that toast for the past five minutes like it's got Harry's face on it." Blaise teased.
Hermione's face reddened. "Don't say such stupid things Blaise." She snapped, biting into the toast. She glared at her friend and then turned out of habit to glance at the Gryffindor table. Her heart sank as she saw that her earlier prediction was right, the seats next to Harry were piled with gifts, ranging from flowers like the ones Blaise had, to Muggle balloons, chocolates, bags of candy hearts, and three large stacks of Valentines.
"I can never compete with that." Hermione muttered darkly.
Harry stared at the legions of gifts that were piling up around him. It was quite unbelievable, really, the amount of trouble all these girls went to for him on Valentine's Day. He hadn't even heard of half the females he'd received cards and gifts from.
Glancing up, he found himself looking straight at Hermione Granger. His heart skipped a beat as he watched her talk to her friend Blaise Zabini, who was also being showered with gifts that morning. He and Hermione had gotten, in his opinion, quite close over the past month, they now considered themselves to be good friends, but Harry knew he wanted more.
Watching her now, he could see she was trying to act happy in front of her friend, but she was feeling down, most likely because Blaise had so much attention, and she had none. Harry narrowed his eyes as an idea came to him; he grabbed a blank piece of parchment from Neville Longbottom and snatched his quill from his bag. Working quickly, and from the memory of the daydreaming look she'd just had a few minutes before, he drew an ink sketch of Hermione; quite detailed and lifelike considering it only took him ten minutes to do. Rolling it up, he pulled a red ribbon off one of the gifts.
"Dean." Harry nudged his friend. "Do me a favour- take this over to Hermione for me."
"Sure." Dean looked excited at the chance to go near Blaise. He grabbed one of the roses that had been delivered to Harry that morning and pranced over to the Slytherin table.
"Hi Blaise!" Dean said, grinning foolishly. "This is for you." He handed her the red rose.
"Thank you Dean." Blaise said politely.
"And this is for you, Hermione, from Harry." Dean said, handing over the rolled parchment.
"Oh…uh…thanks…." Hermione said, flushing. Blaise grinned wickedly at her as Dean ran back to the Gryffindor table. "What do you suppose it is?" she asked quietly.
"Open it." Blaise was as curious as Hermione was. She pulled the ribbon off, and unrolled the parchment.
"Oh!" Hermione gasped, her eyes going wide. It was a portrait of her; he'd obviously been looking at her when she'd been daydreaming. Her eyes were turned off in the distance; a dreamy, happy look was captured from them.
"That's incredible!" Blaise said, staring at the drawing.
Hermione felt like she was drowning, he had done this, this beautiful sketch of her. After what felt like an eternity, she raised her eyes from the parchment and met his from across the Hall. Harry gave her a slight smile and raised his eyebrow, nodding his head towards the doors. She nodded back, a smile blossoming across her lips, and got up to meet him.
Harry grinned and got up as well; he was almost to the doors when someone called his name.
"Harry Potter!" he turned around and saw a head of long red hair flying at him before he was nearly bowled over by the figure attached to it.
"Did you get my Valentine?" Ginny Weasley squealed loudly.
"Uh…yeah Ginny, thanks." Harry tried to pull away but she was like a leech.
"I picked out those flowers just for you, and the chocolates are your favourites as well." She flung her arms around his neck.
Hermione felt a lump the size of a Muggle basketball lodge itself in her throat as she watched Ginny throw herself at Harry. Why wasn't he pushing her away, Hermione wondered, perhaps he really did only think of her as a friend. Blaise came up behind her.
"Come on, Hermione, we'll be late." Blaise glared at Ginny. "Don't think about her, she's the Hogwarts slut, I'm surprised she's not sleeping with any of the teachers…" she stopped at the sight of Hermione's long face.
"But he wasn't even pushing her away." Hermione said glumly. She rolled the parchment back up in her hand.
"Hey." Blaise stopped and dropped all her gifts on the floor. "Who did he draw a picture of?"
"Me." Hermione said.
"I'll bet he didn't do that for any of the other girls. Just you." Blaise said firmly. "I don't want to see any more of that long face."
Hermione pouted anyway. "You don't know what this feels like." She said, helping Blaise pick up her gifts. "You have guys admiring you every two feet you walk."
"Every two feet?" Blaise wrinkled her nose. "That's ridiculous Hermione." She paused and grinned. "It's more like every two inches."
Her statement was so ludicrous that Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Blaise smiled in satisfaction.
"There, that's the Hermione I want to see. Laughing and happy because the guy she loves just drew her a portrait."
Hermione just shook her head as they entered their class.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Hermione watched as Blaise bounded off towards the Ravenclaw table and her date for that evening. Most everyone was pairing off to go down to Hogsmeade for a romantic evening, but she was headed to the library like always. She hadn't had a chance to talk to Harry that day, to thank him for the drawing, she wasn't even sure if he'd be working with her that night. 'Probably not.' she reasoned, he most likely had a date himself.
Bending down, she tossed her books in her bag and straightened back up. A red rose sat on top of the parchment she'd been taking notes on.
"Happy Valentine's Day." Harry grinned at her.
A slow smile spread across her face, she bit her lower lip to keep it from growing too wide. A warm, tingling feeling came up from her toes, his smile made her feel like she was stepping into a hot bath.
"I...uh..." Hermione swallowed. "Thank you Harry." she managed to say through the lump in her throat.
Harry grinned wider, and felt a slight flush begin to make it's way across his face. "You're welcome." he bent his head down, feeling a bit shy. "I'd hoped you would like it."
Hermione picked up the rose and touched it's silky petals. "It's beautiful, no one's given me flowers before." she looked back up at him. "I loved the drawing too."
"Really?" Harry's eyes brightened. "I drew it this morning, right before I sent it over with Dean. You looked like you could use a little cheering up."
Hermione fought to keep her face composed. "I'm not used to people making a big fuss over me, especially on Valentine's Day." she tossed her bag over her shoulder. "So...what are your plans for this evening?" she asked tentatively as they walked from the Great Hall.
"Well studying with you, what else?" He grinned.
Hermione stopped in her tracks. "You mean you're not going down to Hogsmeade like everyone else?" she asked. She thought for sure he would have a date for tonight.
Harry sighed, "Nah it gets really crowded in Hogsmeade during this time, and I'm not a real big fan of crowds."
Hermione didn't know what else to say, she was so pleased that she would be spending her Valentine's Day with Harry, even though they would be in the library and not in town.
"This is the most perfect rose I've ever seen." Hermione lifted the flower to her nose. "Did you pull it out of the many dozens you got today?" she asked a bit teasingly.
"What makes you think I would do something like that?" Harry sounded slightly hurt by what she had said. "I had to sneak out during lunch to get it." He took a breath.
Hermione felt bad immediately, she could tell he was hurt. "I'm sorry, I just saw you had so many flowers...." she fought the impulse to turn and throw her arms around him.
Harry looked at her, "I would never give you anything that was given to someone else like that, it's a bit disrespectful and lazy, and I'm not either of those."
She looked up at his eyes and felt like melting into a puddle. "You're right, I'm sorry for saying that." she looked away. "You can tell I'm not used to this sort of thing."
Harry smiled, "It's all right, don't worry about it. So-- what's on the schedule for tonight?"
"Oh." Hermione carefully set the rose down and rummaged through her bag. "We're about done with the research, we have managed to get through all centuries of witch burning." she thumbed through a stack of parchment. "Basically now it's compiling and putting it into the final form for when we turn it in."
Scratching his head Harry glanced at her, "When is the project due again?"
Hermione glanced up from her stack of parchment. "We have until April seventeenth." she replied. "But I think we'll be done with it by the first week of March, we've gotten so much done already."
Harry nodded, "I agree, we are making excellent time on this."
They both sat down and bent their heads over various textbooks; the only sound between them for a while was the scratching of their quills on the parchment. Hermione found herself raising her eyes to look at Harry every so often. She noticed for the first time how his glasses seemed to be a little scratched. An idea formed in her mind of something she could get him as a belated Valentine's Day gift, the next time she was in Hogsmeade she'd find it. Smiling to herself, she went back to her research with renewed energy.
Harry shifted in his seat a little, turning his head slightly he stole a glance at Hermione, she had just started twirling a piece of her hair around her finger as she searched for some information in the book. His eyes took in her slender face; her eyes were downcast as she was reading silently. He took a breath and noticed the way she tilted her head a bit to the side.
Hermione looked up at that moment, and their eyes met across the table. He had been looking at her; this realization made her heart pound slightly harder than before. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, when the sound of flapping wings pulled their gaze away.
Hermione looked away reluctantly. "An owl in the library?" she was confused.
Harry just shrugged "I guess so."
To her great surprise, the owl swooped down and dropped a large package directly in front of her. "For me?" she asked it, then immediately felt stupid.
Harry looked away a moment, who would send her a present. Harry felt his blood boil with just the thought of someone else sending her something sweet and romantic. Some other guy, with his sloppy writing, was making her blush and giggle. He didn't like this one bit, he wanted to bet he one to make her blush and giggle. "So who's the gift from?" Harry said hoping he didn't sound as bitter as he felt as he leaned back in his chair.
Hermione lifted the package closer to her, from his reaction; she guessed that this wasn't another surprise from Harry. "I don't know." she pulled off a card in a pink envelope. Her face fell as she read. "It's from Justin."
Harry forced a smile, thinking boy do I hate that guy. "What does the card say?"
"For MY Valentine." Hermione read on the outside, it showed a picture of a guy holding the girl in his arms tightly, almost possessively. "We can get back together when you've opened this. Justin." Hermione looked up and wrinkled her nose. "That's.... romantic."
Harry nodded, "More like freaky if you ask me." He shrugged. "He automatically thinks you'll fall into his arms after whatever he gave you." He poked the wrapped box with the tip of his quill.
"I'm almost scared to find out what's in there." Hermione said, but after looking at Harry, she began to peel off the wrapping paper gingerly. She pried open the box with her fingernail, and gasped.
Harry was torn, he wanted to know what was in there, but then again he wanted to burn whatever was in there. He cleared his throat his curiosity got to him. "So what did you receive from Mr. Romance?"
Hermione fought hard to stifle her laughter as she used the tips of her fingers to pick up a pair of hot pink underwear. She watched Harry's eyes grow wide as she turned them around so he could see the flashing JUSTIN on the seat. "For one thing, I make it a point never to wear pink, especially this shade...." her voice was thick with laughter.
Harry was still shocked but he couldn't help but start to laugh. It was the most ridiculous thing he had ever seen. "Who in their right mind would find this appealing." Harry nearly clutched his side from laughing so hard.
"Justin." Hermione answered, dropping the underwear back into the box like it was on fire. "Oh and look, perfume!" she picked up the heavy bottle. "Eau de SwampFire." Hermione raised her eyebrow. She pulled the top off the bottle and lifted it to her nose, and immediately pulled it away, coughing and sputtering. "That...has...got.... to be...worst smell ever!" she gasped, trying to breathe. She passed the bottle to Harry.
"Ugh, what is that smell?" Harry cringed; he felt short of breath. "Is that the perfume? Gods it smells like a dead skunk!"
Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, she actually felt nauseous. She quickly covered the bottle back up and threw it in the box. Both she and Harry fanned the air, trying to clear it so they could breathe again. "Well honestly!" she huffed when they were finally able to remove their hands from their mouths. "If he REALLY thinks that would win me back...."
"Then he's got another thing coming." Harry finished her sentence.
They both grinned each other again as Hermione's brain started to work. "I've got an idea," she said wickedly, grabbing the box. "You might want to cover your nose again."
Harry wasted no time, and pinched his nose closed.
Hermione took a deep breath, then pulled the top back off the perfume and dumped half the bottle on the underwear. She picked it up with the tips of her fingers again and carried it quickly across the room where Justin's bag sat on a chair. Hermione threw the underwear in, and then proceeded to dump the rest of the perfume all over his books.
"That should teach him," she said, coming back to the table, this time sitting down next to him. Harry removed his hand from his mouth, looking at her with shock.
A loud burst of laughter suddenly broke out of him. "I can't believe you just did that?"
Hermione looked up at him, a smile gracing her face. "Did what? Get revenge on him finally, for all that he's done?"
Harry shook his head, "You're sure something Hermione." He grinned.
"What do you mean?" Hermione's voice quavered slightly.
"You surprise me, is all." Harry fumbled for the right words. "I'd never have thought you'd do something like that."
"Well Justin just makes me so angry, he treats me horribly, cheats on me and then thinks a stupid gift and some commanding words can make me want him back!" Hermione burst out angrily.
"You deserve someone better than that prat anyway." Harry said. 'Like me.' His mind echoed, but he didn't dare say that aloud.
Hermione looked up and was startled to see him sitting so close to her. Harry's eyes were boring into hers; neither of them could look away. She could swear he was leaning in closer, now she could almost feel his warm breath on her face.
'Am I imagining things?" her mind screamed, as he moved in his face even more. 'Oh Merlin's beard, he's going to kiss me!'
Harry wasn't sure exactly what he was doing; it was like a magnetic pull from his lips to hers. Her eyes fluttered closed as he bent his face even further.
"HA!" a loud laugh made both of them jump apart. "Finch Fletchley wears smelly pink underwear!" Draco Malfoy was guffawing; he had just discovered the raunchy knickers. "Wait till this gets around!" he gleefully stuffed them into his bag, intent on embarrassing the Head Boy.
Harry saw Draco turn and jerk his head in their direction. Harry glumly waved back, he'd lost his chance to kiss Hermione and he wasn't pleased about it.
"What's going on, Potter? No date tonight?" Draco sat himself down in Hermione's vacant chair across the table. "Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy." He introduced himself.
"I'm Hermione Granger." She replied, shaking his outstretched hand. Her mind seemed to be going in overload, it was still back a second earlier when Harry's lips had been so close to hers.
"I'm surprised you're not out tonight." Harry was saying, shooting Draco a look that said he wanted to talk to him later.
"Ahhh, I'm meeting Ginny Weasley later." He said languidly. Harry grinned, knowing exactly what would be happening there. "So what were you two up to, this is a nice cosy corner to be tucked into."
"Just research for our History of Magic project." Harry replied, and Hermione nodded. "We're almost finished."
"Lucky." Draco said. "I have to work with Parkinson, and all she wants to do is check out my ass."
Harry and Hermione stifled their laughter; Pansy Parkinson was another well known slut of Hogwarts. Both looked at each other and smiled, and the awkward moments were past.
*** *** *** One Week Later *** *** ***
Hermione's eyes were sparkling as she landed the broom on the Quidditch pitch. She and Harry had been out flying again, and her fear of heights was almost completely gone. They'd flown even higher than normal today, he'd let her have complete control of the broom; he was just on for the ride.
"You were fantastic up there!" Harry grinned as they both hopped off the broom. "Are you sure you'd never flown before I started giving you lessons?"
"No, I swear!" Hermione's face was flushed with excitement.
"All right, all right." Harry relented. They walked back through the locker rooms and up to the castle. "We'll do this again next week, you'll be a total pro before you know it."
"Great." Hermione said happily as they approached the library, where they'd left their books when they decided to go for the impromptu flying lesson. "I uh…I have something for you." She said.
"You do?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, it's sort of a belated Valentine's Day gift, I got it in Hogsmeade last weekend." Hermione blushed as she fished around in her bag and pulled out the small box.
Harry took it and unwrapped it curiously. It was a slender, narrow gold wooden box, with the name Harry James Potter written out in scarlet calligraphy on the top. Opening it, he saw the inside was lined with scarlet velvet.
"It's a glasses case, in the Gryffindor colours." Hermione's face was scarlet as well. "I saw your glasses were a bit scratched up and I figured you had no place to put them…" she was cut off as Harry came forward and hugged her tightly.
"This is wonderful, Hermione." He spoke into her hair. Harry felt her arms go around his waist tentatively. "No one's ever bought me something like this."
"Well it's not much." Hermione mumbled, elated to be in his embrace. He smelled so wonderful too, like sweat and wood and pine all in one.
"I think it a very thoughtful gift." Harry said, regretfully breaking away from her. "I always throw my glasses on my nightstand, so they get pretty scratched up."
"Well I'm glad you like it." Hermione was pleased with herself. They both looked up as the lights in the library dimmed, signalling that it was about to be locked up for the night.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Harry said, patting her arm.
"Harry?" Hermione said softly as he turned to go.
"Yeah?" he asked, looking back at her.
"I have a silly favour to ask of you." She looked down at her shoes.
"What is it?" he stepped back over to her.
"Well…" Hermione twisted her robe in her hand. "Justin somehow found out that I was the one who dumped the perfume in his bag on Valentine's Day, and now I've caught him following me in the corridors…"
"Has he done anything to you?" Harry put his hands on her shoulders.
"He um…" Hermione looked away nervously. "He pushed me against the wall the other night when I was walking back from studying…"
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Harry demanded.
"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it." Hermione replied. "If I ignore him, he usually goes away, but I was hoping if he saw you walking me back to my Common Room, he'd leave me alone."
Harry nodded, releasing her from his grip. "All right." He said as relief wove its way across her features. "But tell me from now on if he tries anything… you shouldn't have to put up with his shit."
"I know." Hermione looked downcast as she picked up her bag. They started down the corridor in silence. "Are you mad at me?"
"No! Of course not!" Harry said quickly. He stopped and looked at her. "Hermione, I just… I don't want him hurting you." He bit his tongue. He'd almost come out and said that he'd fallen for her; it wasn't the right time for that. Instead, Harry reached over and took her bag from her shoulder.
"Thanks." She said softly, and they resumed walking, but the silence was comfortable this time. "I really appreciate it, Harry." She said once they reached the Slytherin Common room entrance.
"Anytime." He said, handing her bag back to her. Their hands brushed as she took the bag, causing them both to gasp at the electricity that passed between them. Hermione raised her eyes to his; they had darkened from emerald green to a forest hue. Why was he looking at her like that, she wondered, if he felt even a fraction of the way she felt about him then…Hermione swayed a bit under his intense gaze.
"Hermione…I…." Harry felt at a loss for words as they stared at one another.
She couldn't figure out anything to say either, as he gently touched her cheek with his fingers. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps as his lips came closer to hers.
Harry watched her eyes slowly close, she wanted this as bad as he did, he could tell. He lowered his mouth even more; his lips had just brushed against hers….
"So, we have another Hogwarts slut I see!" Justin Finch Fletchley had just rounded the corner and was looking at them scornfully.
Harry glared at him. "Go inside, I'll deal with this." He said, pushing Hermione towards the door. She spoke the password softly and looked back at him. "Go!" he said as she disappeared inside. He turned back to look at Justin.
"Messing around with my girlfriend?" he asked, sneering.
"She's not your girlfriend." Harry said coolly, refusing to lose his temper. "You're the dumb ass who made the mistake of cheating on her; Hermione doesn't want anything to do with you."
"You want her for yourself, I can tell." Harry and Justin were circling each other like vultures.
"Who wouldn't want her?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes. "She's smart, sensitive, and attractive. I suppose that's why you had to cheat on her, she was too smart for you."
"The only attractive thing about her is her ass; that's the only important thing." Justin said and Harry growled and rushed at him.
"You watch what you say about her!" Harry's eyes glowed angrily. He grabbed Justin by his robes and pushed him roughly against the wall. "Hermione's not a piece of ass, or a piece of anything else for that matter!"
"It's not like she's given you any." Justin smirked, curling his lip in a Snape-like sneer. "What good is a girl if she doesn't put out?"
Harry had heard enough by now; he pulled one arm back and rammed his fist into Justin's perfect straight nose. "If I ever, EVER hear about you even going NEAR Hermione again…" he glared menacingly down at Justin.
"Like you can stop me." Justin wheezed, holding his nose. Harry snarled and delivered another blow, this time knocking him out cold. He watched him fall to the floor.
"That felt good." Harry said to himself, then stepped over the unconscious Head Boy and walked away, glancing one more time at the Slytherin Common Room before he went around the corner.
A/N: WHEW!! I'm so glad I finished that…now be good readers and review!!! Thanks!!!