A hug to remember by SilverFoot

Rating: G
Genres: Romance, Humor
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 26/12/2007
Last Updated: 29/12/2007
Status: Paused

Hermione reveals her feelings but Harry is closing in on himself, she had to do something,
something that would surprise him to make him understand that this was real...




1. Chapter 1
------------



A little idea developed into this story, it's been several years since i've written
anything about the potterverse but this one had to be told . Haven't even read HBP and DH for
that matter, hp stopped being interesting with the release of HBP for me, but never lost interest
in the fanfiction part of HP, especially H/Hr.

No profit, no responsibility, just pure fun. Non-betaed so please forgive errors. Hope you enjoy
this. Review if you wish, I'm just pleased you found this story and read it .

A hug to remember

She had to make him understand, to make him see that she meant what she had just said, that she
really did have very strong feelings for him.

Seeing his eyes loose the sparkle she always noticed when he was in a good mood or looking at
her was almost as gutwrenching as imagining him being dead at the hands of Voldemort, and lord
knows that she had imagined that so many times and always felt the same hollow feeling of despair
and loss.

“Harry please!, don't you see?, I AM serious, i…oh god please don't leave me now, not
when I show you my soul!”, Hermione was at her last breath and thoughts on what to do to so Harry
would see that she was serious, as serious as she had ever been with anything, to open his eyes and
see the girl in front of him, telling him that she thought he was the one for her.

She should have known that living without love and care from the darn Dursleys would have made
him crippled in that particular department of feelings and she was really having a hard time
getting her point across.

Hermione had never been lacking ideas when she stumbled upon a problem that needed a clever and
intelligent solution, she would say or write whatever needed to be said or written down and then
move on to the next problem that needed to be solved. This problem was different because it
involved her feelings for her best friend and hopefully his feelings for her also.

But since the subject of her immediate problem was about to walk away from her, her mind told
her the most ridiculous thing to do and the intelligent part of her had only negative thoughts
about the idea, but her heart took over, and commanded her body into actions.

Looking back she could only imagine what thoughts ran through Harry's mind when he was
tackled from behind with Hermione's body in a reverse hug, she took a good hold on him and dug
her fingers into the front of his robes to get a good grip if he indeed would try to struggle
free.

Harry almost fell over and had to steady himself and Hermione by catching hold of the door out
of the Gryffindor common room.

Everywhere in the room people stopped writing essays, stopped reading, stopped talking about
everyday events, stopped breathing and sat perfectly still, all eyes on the latest development with
Harry and Hermione.

Ron was about to make his rook take out Dean's queen in the latest game of wizard chess but
he never made it. Lavender was reading her copy of the Daily Prophet but never finished the article
and Ginny was in the middle of a chat with Neville when she saw his eyes become very large by the
actions at the door, she herself sucked in a large breath of air and almost didn't exhale from
sheer shock.

Those were the reactions of the people in the room of the forever named hug event.

“Hermione what are yo..”, Harry said, but never finished the words because Hermione took a even
greater hold on him by locking her legs around his hip, the surprise of that action and the
apparent strength of her body was enough to render him speechless.

“I want you to understand that I like you Harry!”, Hermione almost screamed into his back, “I
hate it when you try to walk away if someone is trying to make you feel loved!”, she was shaking
violently now and the silence in the room told her that she had the undivided attention of everyone
present, she couldn't care less at the moment since all her focus was on the boy she had
completely engulfed in her hug.

“If the only way I can get through that big skull of yours, is to hold you tight until you
understand, then better prepare to have me coming everywhere you go, when you go to eat, I will be
there holding you, when you go to bed, I will be laying beside you holding you!”, that last part of
what she mumbled into his back made her blush violently into his robes and she could only imagine
that Harry himself was pretty red all over his head, but it was worth it if she could convince
him.

Harry tried to turn around to get a good look at Hermione, but instead he found himself facing
all of his friends, well almost since his best friend was locked tight onto his back. In the span
of three seconds before he turned around once more he managed to get a good look at the faces of
the different people present and the look of pure anger and jealousy on both Ginny and Ron's
faces made his stomach turn. Oh boy did he notice that look.

“Hermione please get off me!”, he said with rising voice. “NO!”, Hermione responded and squashed
Harry even more. He was becoming quite agitated with the situation and wanted nothing more than to
escape this place and the audience and solve this thing fast one way or the other, so he finally
pushed the door open and struggled to get out since Hermione never once let go of him.

Once out of the common room Harry turned left and began walking as good as was possible with
Hermione on his back, intent on finding a private place.

“The requirement room”, he mumbled to himself, and noticed that Hermione was nodding into his
back to agree with him, he sighed greatly and stumbled on to the hidden door, Hermione in tow.

TBC…

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2. Chapter 2
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Back again, thanks for your reviews people, they warmed me. Still non-betaed so please forgive
any errors.

A hug to remember.

He should have guessed it.

Yes of course they would not be able to go the distance to the room of requirement without
anybody seeing them, if he is not “the boy who lived” anymore, he sure is “the boy with Hermione on
his back who ran into Peeves”…

Apparently even poltergeists can look surprised, Harry thought, while still trying valiantly to
walk decently with `her!' on his back.

“Hermione?” he asked after stopping by a statue of Merlin to catch his breath. “Mphhyah?” she
mumbled with her head still dug deep into his robes.

“Will you let go of me when we get to the room of requirement?”, he asked and felt the small nod
again against his back, “ok then, well we better get going fast or perhaps run into Peeves again”,
he resolutely straightened himself and walked the last corridors to the place.

Why on earth do you have to walk by that blasted door three times to get it to reveal itself!?,
Harry thought, and on top of that he had to do it with a girl on his back, albeit not a heavy girl
at all, Hermione was so small compared to him and Ron, but what she lacked in height and width, she
made up for in intelligence and fierce loyalty. But having her jump onto your back and off is one
thing, walking to the room of requirement from the Gryffindor common room is a whole other thing.
Harry was not build heavy or anything, and the years at the darn Dursley's did nothing good for
his physical appearance, he was infact skinny and non muscular although playing Quidditch had
surely helped a little.

He was getting very tired now and the last steps into the room were not in a straight line
anymore. He slumped head first against a column right inside the entrance.

“Hermione, please jump off me now…I a little tired now”, he told her, but this time he felt her
shaking her head. “Why not?!?!?, please Hermione this is absolutely ridiculous!” he was almost
shouting now from irritation and exhaustion.

“I'm am sooo embarrassed from this and I cannot have you look at me at the moment!”,
Hermione squeaked out in a tiny voice, Harry could almost feel her radiating waves of blushing
against his back and he actually understood her predicament, especially since he was the one who
saw how the whole Gryffindor common room reacted to her actions.

“Hermione, it's okay, you can let go of me and we will talk, please?” he tried to untangle
her hands in front of his robes but she just shrieked into his back and took a harder hold on
him.

Godric Gryffindor must have possessed him looking back, because his actions after trying to pull
Hermione's hands off his robes were something quite un-Harry like. But it worked.

“Ok, Hermione, just remember that it was you who put yourself in this position, and that I am
only trying to make you see sense again?”, he could feel her head lift a little and almost saw her
golden brown eyes light up in confusion in his head.

He bent his head down.

And the next thing Hermione felt was Harry tongue licking a large part of her right hand, all
the way up to her knuckles that had turned white from holding on to him. Hermione's eyes
widened with shock and she squealed loudly while letting go, letting go of all of him!

*FHWUMP*

Hermione hit the floor with her backside and gave a little heartfelt yelp. “Ouch! Harry!, I hurt
my bum!” she complained while trying to get up from that embarrassing position on the floor.

Harry was delighted that the weight of her was finally gone and he almost got goose bumps on his
back from the coldness of the loss of her body, he was smirking at her in a gentle way while giving
her a hand to help her get upright again.

Hermione was meticulously cleaning her backside with her hands and setting her clothes right
again all the while she was staring a hole into the floor, she dared not to look at him, she was so
ashamed of herself and her actions spoke volumes of her state of mind.

“Aaah this is so much better”, Harry said while stretching grandly and looking back at her,
“how's your bum?” he casually asked her.

Hermione's eyes went directly to his and almost at the same time down again while a new
blush adorned her head; “fine!” she tartly replied and stopped cleaning her robes. Since her hands
did not have a job to do anymore they began fretting at her sides. She took a large breath of air
and slowly looked up at him again.

Hermione was having a hard time breathing regular since the piercing gaze of Harry did nothing
soothing for her mind, and body for that matter.

Harry saw how she reacted to him scrutinizing her features, and loving what he saw, the small
mole at the base of her throat, the well defined eyebrows, her small but sweet earlobes, her lips
and how they could make the day worth living when smiling at him, her small frame that belied the
fierce, sweet, caring, loving and needed to be loved soul that was Hermione. She smelled of
cinnamon, books and ink, that was Hermione and he would recognize that combined smell in a room
filled with other people.

Who was he kidding, he had already fallen head of heels for this woman, this female that would
walk through fire for him, and come out on the other side clean and nagging him about his
schoolwork. Harry smiled at the thought.

Hermione on the other hand was at a complete loss as to what kind of look was on Harry's
face at the moment of his thoughts, she had never really seen that look before, oh sure, she had
memorized all of his looks, that's why she knew she had to react so fast before he managed to
escape in the common room, but this one, this look was new. If she had to categorize and catalogue
it, and of course she had to, she would say that he looked like a man that had found the source of
life, a man that had asked the question, why are we here? And then gotten a positive answer. He
looked like a man in love.

That last thought brought Hermione's senses to a halt, everything began to move slowly and
she felt like someone had dropped a big bucket of hot water all over her, and then a cold one right
after that. She had never been so sensitive to details in Harry face than she was at that precise
moment, his scar, his green eyes and the wrinkles at the sides when he smiled, his sweet nose that
was smaller than normal but still sweet, and his great big mop of unruly black hair, and dimples!,
he had dimples, she was amazed at discovering them, they were so small but still there, and the
thin lips of his that were at the moment smiling shyly at her.

They were in fact moving right now, but she didn't really hear any sound come out, or did
she?

“Hermione?” he was saying, “are you ok? you don't have any pain anymore do you?” he was
concerned now since she didn't react at all to his questions.

“Ok is bum sore” she said, and then silence. Harry widened his eyes at this, he had never in his
life heard Hermione say anything like that, completely butchering her grammar with that one
sentence. He could not help himself, he began to laugh, first in small chuckles but soon he was
bending over and hooting with laughter, all the while Hermione was smiling weakly at him and
blushing over her little mistake, well to most people the mistake was small, but this is Hermione
we are talking about, and she just knew that she would never hear the end of it.

Harry finally stopped laughing and looked at her again, and yes, that darn sweet look was back,
but also mixed with a look of uncertainty.

“Did you mean what you said? you know, in the common room, before all this?” he asked her.

TBC.

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3. Chapter 3
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Back again folks. Thanks to those of you who have reviewed, they are warming me greatly .

A hug to remember.

That does it!!, Hermione thought, she would forever dedicate at least one hour a day to develop
a spell that would make blushing a thing of the past. At this precise moment when Harry asked that
question she could feel her face were on fire and not only did the shyness effect her face but also
the rest of her body, never had she fidgeted so much with all of her limbs at the same time that
she almost felt like a monkey with its fingers in an electric socket.

When she told him of her feelings, the time, settings and mood had been carefully planned so she
would have total control of the situation. Hermione laughed inside her head from that thought,
control….oh my…yes the little miss know it all and intelligent witch certainly had everything under
control, that is why she was now standing in the room of requirement in front of the very person
she was supposed to have a civil conversation with in the common room, but destiny and her instinct
had chopped that plan into small blocks and then avada kedavra'ed them to ash.

She sighed and looked at him. “Yes, I really did mean what I said back there Harry”, “you really
didn't expect me to confess to such a thing without me having researched it and thought it over
and over in my head?” she asked while stepping closer to Harry.

He smiled while looking down at his shuffling feet. “It's amazing how easy we feel shy
around each other when the subject lands on feelings, don't you think `Mione?”, he mumbled to
her.

She took a small step back from surprise, “'Mione??...” she squeaked. She thought about it
for a second and didn't really mind so long as it was him that called her that, if Ron would
ever attempt such travesty she would hex him into the next year and back again, but Harry….that was
another thing, more private for only the two of them, and she actually liked it when thinking more
about it.

“Is that what you call me now?” she asked him in a low and almost sensual voice, while she
looked at him from under her eyelashes.

“Erhm…well if you don't mind?, I'd never call you that in front of other people, only
when it's me and you” he said in a soothing voice since he was afraid that her actions were
just a trap so she could give him a good scolding, he knew that she would do just about anything to
get his attention away from her earlier actions.

“I like it” she said with a brilliant smile, and then frowned. “But as you said, it's only
for you and me”. Harry nodded and gave her a hesitant smile.

Hermione really loved when he smiled, just that simple gesture was enough to make her feel ready
to battle Voldemort over and over again, and it just lifted her spirit to new heights. She
couldn't recall what the feeling was since she really never had been in love with anyone, yes
there was her unfortunate crush on Gilderoy Lockheart in her second year but that was only a crush,
this was lo….wait a second?, Hermione stiffened and her intelligent brain took over and began to
digest her feelings for this particular boy. Her earlier conclusion about having strong feelings
for him was not adequate to describe what she really felt at this moment.

“So this is love?” she said out loud.

*FHWUMP*

This time it was Harry that sat down on the floor since his legs had decided to give up,
although he gave no indication to any pain since all his focus was on what Hermione had just said.
“LOVE?!” he said with a high pitched voice and harrumphed a couple of times to get his voice back
in control.

He stood up and brushed himself off all the while Hermione noticed that he suddenly had a
panicked look in his eyes, she began to think that perhaps she had pegged his own feelings wrong
and that actually scared her, she didn't know what to expect so she just stood there, waiting,
waiting for the focus of her whole being to say something, to throw her a bone so to speak. And
Harry spoke…

“Hermione…” he coughed, “erh...I….I don't” Harry mumbled while his eyes looked down.
Hermione's breath caught in her throat and she felt completely numb all over, no no no Harry
please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, Hermione kept saying over and over in her head,
she could almost taste the humiliation in her mouth, the bitter taste of rejection and
disappointment. She looked at him with pleading eyes, trying to plead with him that he must feel
something for her!.

Harry gazed at Hermione just a fraction of a second, looked down again and then mumbled “I
don't….” he said, and Hermione could see that he had real trouble with what he was saying, he
then gave a big sigh and steeled himself, this needed to come out, be a man he told himself. “I….
don't know…..what love is……” he said in a small voice, his shoulders slumped, his hands
fidgeting in the front of his robes, his feet shuffling around each other and his head lowered so
much that he gave the impression of a boy who did something wrong.

Silence.

TBC…

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