Reading Together

Harry85

Rating: PG13
Genres: Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 18/03/2008
Last Updated: 18/03/2008
Status: completed

“I love you, you know” he said. Harry and Hermione are reading together in the library, a new habit for them, when he suddenly tells her his feelings. Reply to a challenge on the forums, by Jayu.

Chapters

1. untitled

1. untitled

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. With how it ended, I wouldn't want it to be.

A/N: My reply to the “Reading in the Library” challenge by Jayu, you can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26765 . I hope you'll enjoy this one-shot, I think we all can do with some fluff, don't you agree? ;)

So, as usual, read and review so I know how I did on this one, ok? I'll be looking forward to read your comments.

I'm reposting this after some corrections from my new beta Gingercat. Thank you so much for helping me!

Reading Together

Hermione was nervous. The N.E.W.T.s were only two weeks away, and she felt like she hadn't done all the revising she should, and that she wouldn't be able to do it in time.

On her right, Harry Potter was busy studying too. It was an habit they had picked up since a month after they were back from Christmas break, so it had been few months now. With Voldemort gone on New Years' Eve, almost like it was signalling a start of a new life for them all, Harry had found himself relieved of an huge weight, and he had spent the first few weeks having all the fun in the world.

But, after a while, believe it or not, it had become boring, and almost mechanical. He and Ron would push homework to the back of their minds, play chess or Quidditch, go on dates as Ron had hooked up with Luna and Harry had for once decided to enjoy the attention of the female body of the castle, dating several different witches.

But he missed her.

He perfectly knew where to find his brown haired best friend he had seen so little of in that last month, so he had decided to hang out with her there, in her sanctuary.

Of course, this meant he would have to be in the library whenever he wasn't attending a lesson, and study to have his homework done on time, ahead of time even. Most teenagers wouldn't have done it. He did.

He had been a bit bored at first, but then, slowly, he had started seeing why she loved reading so much. There were lots of interesting things to be found in the Hogwarts library tomes.

Granted, Goblin wars weren't the most of fun to read about, and even Hermione admitted it, albeit never stopping to do her assigned essay for Professor Binns, which ended being five foots longer than required.

But when you found yourself engrossed in reading about some pretty cool defensive spells they still hadn't been taught, or Charms, which supposedly were his mother's best field, then Harry knew why the witch currently on his left side loved reading so much. He had even been convinced by her to finally read Hogwarts: A History.

It had taken seven years, but he would never forget the smile that had lit her face when he finally agreed to read the huge book. Had he known sooner that her reaction would have been that one, he would have read it years before.

Which lead to the other reason why he had finally found he loved reading. See, reading allowed him to be in the vicinity of Hermione. And he wasn't foolish and delusional enough to believe that fact was completely extraneous to his new passion for old books.

No, Harry James Potter was perfectly aware that he was in love with Hermione Jane Granger. He just hadn't told her that yet.

Ron had often told him, in those months, that he had finally gone mad, when he had refused going out to play Quidditch, in a perfect weather day mind you, because he had to work with Hermione on an extra-curricular assignment from Flitwick.

Maybe the redhead was right. Maybe he was really mad. Scratch that, he was definitely mad. For the beautiful girl sitting few inches from him, of course.

It had taken Ernie McMillan asking her out on the first Hogsmeade weekend to start wake him up. He had seen her, that Saturday, walking to the village with the Hufflepuff, her brown soft curls framing her face, on which she had applied the faintest hint of make up. Her jeans snugly hugged her long legs, and her bum.

Harry was startled when he first realized he was staring at her bum, but he had to admit it was really a nice one.

Then there was the white top she had worn, which showed much better than her school robes just how much she had filled out in certain areas.

That whole day, Harry hadn't been able to stop thinking about the fact he had been checking out his best female friend, and couldn't decide if he was more shocked because of his action or because of how good she looked.

He also wondered why he had been so entranced with Ginny the previous year, when he had Hermione constantly by his side.

Long story short, since then he had started noticing her more and more, how she would bite her lip when she was thinking, how she would furrow her brow in concentration if something complex arose, how her face would glow in the light of the fireplace, how her hair shined in the sunlight, at times casting an almost ethereal glow around her face.

He tried distracting himself dating those other girls, there had been Lavender, Susan, Hanna. He had also dated a Ravenclaw seventh year, Stephanie Holbath, but in the end he went back to hanging out with her.

The raven haired young man had realized he ended always comparing the other girls to her, and she always came out victorious, hands down really.

Harry raised his eyes from the book, and cast a sideways glance at her. Eventually she looked up at him too, and they nodded at each other, like some kind of communication had been exchanged between them. It drove Ron mad when they did that, but the redhead rarely ventured there in the library anyway, and so the comfortable silence between them almost never needed to be broken.

Each knew exactly what the other was thinking, without need of wording it.

So, Hermione was more than a little startled when she heard his voice, while his eyes never left the book he was reading.

“I love you, you know” he said. There, he had finally found the courage to tell her. Now the ball was in her court.

She looked at him, surprised by his admission. He rarely expressed his feelings. Of course, now that Voldemort was gone, there wasn't the risk of a madman finding out and using them against him, so he had more liberty about that.

She felt her cheeks grow warm, and while the reaction most would have expected from her was to be angry that he had interrupted her precious revision, she felt she couldn't care less about exams at the moment.

She was definitely blushing now, he noticed with the tail of his eye. That made her even more pretty, he thought.

He didn't expect her to reply, he had just wanted her to know before school was finished, and now she knew.

He resumed reading like he hadn't dropped such a bomb on her.

However, Hermione wanted to reply, to let him know where she stood on the matter. She felt she had to. The problem was, she was a bit embarrassed.

See, she had been fancying him, maybe more than that, for years now. She had admitted it to herself in fifth year, and seeing him with Ginny had been torture for her last year. Which was why she was so easily angered, and had kept her distance from him. Then, seeing Ron date Lavender had made her feel like she was the only one unable to raise the other sex's interest, which frustrated her, albeit she would never admit it.

So now she was faced with the task of letting him know her feelings, and overcome her embarrassment in doing so. Wasn't she just like that throng of adoring fan girls following him everywhere since he had killed Voldemort? Or just like those following Krum around in fourth year?

No, she knew she was much more to him. He had just told her that, and showed it constantly with his actions, now that she thought of it.

Still, the words wouldn't leave her mouth. Steeling her resolve, she went the other only available route to let him know what was going on in her heart.

Hermione gently placed her hands on his cheeks, turning his head toward her. Then, she crashed her lips on his own. She barely noticed his eyes widen before she closed her own, letting the sensations overtake her, for one of the rare times in her life when she wasn't analyzing everything.

Harry's lips felt amazing, really. Even softer than she had imagined, and boy if she had imagined them.

He started kissing her back, and her tongue boldly touched his lips. He let her in, and started exploring her mouth with his own, now and then clashing against hers, as both revelled in the total bliss they were in.

No fireworks, no butterflies in the belly, only the sensation of loving and being loved back, which was pretty amazing in itself, you know.

After some minutes snogging each other silly, the two teenagers parted, both blushing madly, and both with identical smiles on their faces.

Neither spoke for a long time, as they both engulfed themselves in their reading again, like what had just happened was an everyday routine for them, and who knows, maybe it would soon be.

Finally, Harry spoke again.

"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade next weekend then?"

She only smiled a smile of pure happiness, and it was a good enough answer for him. After all, they didn't need words. They knew exactly what the other was thinking, as their hands entwined under the table, and no words were spoken again till it was time for them to head down to dinner.

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