Disclaimer: JKR owns.
A Late Night Visit
Chapter 2: Tangled
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Harry and Ron walked down to breakfast together after Ron told him that he'd heard Hermione leave a few minutes ago. As they entered the Great Hall, Harry immediately spotted Hermione and instinctively made his way over to her. He didn't realize who she was sitting next to until he was right in front of them.
"Morning Hermione… hey Ginny."
"Hi," she replied before turning awkwardly back to her breakfast.
"Good morning boys," Hermione greeted both of them, putting her confusion when she met Harry's eyes out of her head.
Harry smiled and Ron just lifted his hand in a semi-wave.
"You should hurry and snatch up an omelet. They're really good this morning," Hermione told them, trying to smooth over the uncomfortable atmosphere.
"Yeah, they look great," Harry said sitting down next to her and grabbing for his fork.
"Not hungry Ron?" Hermione asked him noticing that he didn't sit but was glancing desperately at the food Harry was shoveling onto his plate.
"Um, I have to go talk to Dennis about some quidditch stuff," he muttered not meeting her eyes. Before Harry and Hermione could question it, Ron had taken off towards the opposite end of the table.
"Okay…" Hermione voiced skeptically, but turning back to her breakfast nonetheless. She figured it'd be a while before Ron was comfortable being near her again.
"Hey Hermione, what time is it?" Ginny asked after swallowing a bite.
The brunette witch glanced down to the watch her parents had gotten her for her birthday, "About 8:15."
"Uh oh," Ginny sounded, pushing her plate away from her and gathering her bag from under the table. Both Harry and Hermione gave her questioning looks.
"I promised my mum I'd write to her this morning," she explained. "See you in class."
"Bye," Hermione replied. Harry would have said good bye to her as well, but she had taken off down the aisle in a hurry.
"Wow," Hermione muttered, looking to Harry once they were alone.
Harry grinned, "We sure know how to clear a table, don't we?"
Hermione let out a laugh, "Something tells me we'll have to be getting used to that for a while."
"Probably. But I guess there isn't anything we can do about it. They'll come around in their own time," Harry said, taking another bite, "This is really good."
Hermione smiled, finding it cute the way he could talk with his mouth full and not spit it all over her. She frowned slightly; she had never really referred to Harry as cute before.
Internally, she let it go and let out a small yawn.
"You're tired?"
She nodded, "We fell asleep way past my bedtime last night."
Harry grinned again, "Sorry. I had a good time though…" he trailed off, going out on a limb by telling her.
"Yeah it was nice," she agreed truthfully. Harry had opened up about so many things last night and they had continued talking up until 2:30 in the morning. She had a feeling that he had never spoken to anyone, not even Ron, about some of the things he wanted to do and see, and felt quite honored that he chose to discuss it with her first.
They both turned away with discrete grins. Hermione looked up to the loud guffaws of laughter coming from the other end of the table to see Ron telling a story to the teens a year younger than they and making big gestures with his hands. He slammed his arm down and the kids, especially the girls, laughed loudly, causing Ron to grin from ear to ear. Hermione smiled and continued on with their surroundings. She noticed that her and Harry were quite isolated from the groups on either ends of the table.
She turned to him and smiled, "Well at least we have each other."
Harry smiled back, "My thoughts exactly."
…
Later that night Hermione was back in the dorm she shared with Ron and Harry, in her room changing into some pajamas. Overall the day had run by smoothly, which Hermione was rather grateful for. Of course, Ron avoided her by all costs during classes so she and Harry winded up sharing tables at the front of each class.
She didn't let the strange situation earlier that morning make it weird between Harry and her and was glad that he seemed to forget about it as well. That wasn't to say she had forgotten about it because it was currently the memory occupying her thoughts.
Hermione pulled her tank top over her head and then climbed into bed, still thinking on the matter.
Was it a simple mistake? Did it mean nothing? Was she reading too far into it?
"Probably just an accident. Maybe he had a dream about someone else or something…"
The thought made Hermione cringe inside. She didn't want Harry to be in the same bed as her but having dreams about another girl. Hell, she didn't want him to have dreams about girls period!
"Relax… you're thinking way too much about this," she told herself, releasing a deep breath she'd be unknowingly holding and settling deeper into her pillow.
"It's never going to happen again so forget about it."
With that last calming thought, she let her eyes fall close and tried to drift off into a peaceful sleep.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Hermione opened her eyes and sat up, blearily trying to focus in the dark room.
The door cracked open and Harry's head popped through, "Hermione?"
"Harry?" she called out in a daze. Was she dreaming?
"Oh, were you sleeping? Sorry, I probably should've known. Go back to sleep," he whispered quietly and moving to close the door.
"No wait," she told him, rubbing at her eyes. Harry looked back at her and she smiled faintly, "I'm awake now."
"I really didn't mean to wake you up…" he apologized again, stepping further into the room.
"Harry, its fine. What are you doing up?"
Harry shrugged, "Couldn't sleep. I thought maybe you'd be up doing homework or something…"
"We finished all our homework in the library today," she told him, sending him an odd look. His posture made it seem like he was nervous or something.
"Oh right, right," he nodded, talking to himself. That's what happens when you try to come up with an excuse off the top of your head, Potter.
Hermione observed him for a few more silent moments before she scooted over, "Come on, get in."
Harry wanted to grin, but instead followed her orders and climbed into her bed.
As he settled in, Hermione figured that he must have had another nightmare and just didn't want her to worry over him about it. Trying to lighten the mood, she smiled cleverly, "You know Potter, I'm starting to think that you find my bed way more comfortable than yours."
Harry chuckled, "You know me best, Granger."
"Well, you can't have it," she continued to play, "It stays with me and that's that."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said lowly, his eyes beginning to shut with exhaustion.
Hermione studied his face as his breath began to even out. She was becoming increasingly confused where Harry was concerned. He said that he was having trouble sleeping, and yet he had dozed off after a minute of being with her. Did he just not want to be alone in his own room? Or did he have other reasons that he didn't want to share with her?
Hermione conceded that she wouldn't be getting her answers by watching him sleep all night, so she too slid back down into the bed and buried her head in the pillow, ready for a good night's rest.
…
The next morning, Hermione was the first one awake again. And again, she found herself confined to Harry's chest and being held there by his strong arm. This time, her face was laid over his heart while his was buried into the crook of her neck.
Just like yesterday, she was hit with the question of how did this happen? Only today her question was accompanied with why wasn't she moving off him and why was she admitting she was very cozy in their current entanglement?
She laid there frozen for ten minutes before the tranquility of the early morning and soft movements of Harry's chest lured her back to sleep.
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