Chapter Thirteen - Moments of Truth
Disclaimer - Everything recognizable is owned by JKR and various corporate entities. No infringements intended
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"Harry, would you mind giving us a moment? Alone?"
Looking up, Harry gazed at Ron for a couple of seconds and then at Hermione. Looking at the two one last time, he gave them a thin smile and nodded. "No, not at all, I'll run down the hall and check on what time your meal tray is." Standing up, Harry leaned over and kissed Hermione on the top of her head. Looking at Ron for a second, Harry shook his head and headed for the door.
Waiting until the door was closed; Ron sat back down and took Hermione's hands between his. Sitting there for a minute, he closed his eyes and sighed.
"I don't think I've ever loved anyone like I've loved you," he began. A bit startled, Hermione stared at him with surprise. "During the last few days, the question that I've asked myself a hundred times wasn't `Do I love you?', but `Do I love you enough?'."
Sitting there quietly, Hermione watched Ron as he sat there, eyes closed. Realizing that the time had finally come for them to be honest with each other, she found that it was harder to begin than she had feared. Taking a deep breath, she decided to let him lead. "Ron, I've never doubted how you felt about me. Even though you never said it, I knew that you loved me. Why would you ever doubt that you loved me enough?"
Opening his eyes, he stared at her, his blue eyes swimming with tears as he gazed into hers. "Because I have to stop being selfish and think about what's best for you, not what's comfortable for me." Looking away for a second, he squeezed her hands. "How many major arguments have we had over the past two years?"
Looking a bit taken aback, Hermione sat back against her pillows. Shaking her head slightly, she hedged. "A few, but nothing we haven't survived."
Shaking his head, Ron smiled. "A few? We have a few every week. That big one, in the terminal, made me start thinking, even before you disappeared."
Leaning forward, she raised her hand and cupped his cheek. "It's just that you worry about me, you care. When I'm not being a total shrew, I understand that."
Smiling ruefully, Ron shook his head. "I'm ashamed of some of the things I said that morning at Heathrow. What if those were the last words I'd ever spoken to you? Or you to me? Could either of us live with that if something happened to one of us and the other survived after something like that?" Tilting his head, he kissed the palm of her hand tenderly. "Those two days you were gone made me realize that something desperately has to change."
Sighing, Hermione nodded. "We need to change, but I'm not certain we can."
Standing up, Ron began to pace back and forth. "When we were in school, we bickered and fought, all the time." Looking up defiantly at her, he waited until she nodded until he continued. "The first four years it was because I was an idiot and didn't appreciate you as a friend and a person. I was too immature and petty to be a good friend to either you or Harry, but you both stuck by me and I'll be forever grateful for that."
Clasping his hands behind him, he began to pace again. "After the Yule Ball, we fought because I knew that I fancied you, but I couldn't think of a mature way to let you know. And, of course, since you knew it, we both fought rather than actually going out with each other. I heard a muggle born friend of Ginny's call it `the worst of all possible worlds'. We didn't have any of the positive sides of a relationship, but we had all the negatives."
Shaking her head, Hermione sighed. "It was pretty bad; I'm surprised Harry didn't chuck both of us."
Stopping pacing, Ron came back and sat on the edge of the bed. Giving her a sad smile, he smiled. "The problem is that Harry loves both of us too much to do that, no matter how much we richly deserved it." Putting a slight emphasis on `both', he watched for her reaction.
Looking at her for a second, Ron shook his head. "We finally got together, and it's been two years of moments of being happy and moments of tearing each other to shreds." Shaking his head, he sighed. "And the last few days I finally realized I loved you enough to do the right thing."
Looking at him in amazement, Hermione slowly nodded. "Ron, what are you trying to tell me?"
Turning back to her, she could see the tears in his eyes. "Hermione, I love you. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you, but the thing I finally figured out is that while we both love each other, I don't think we've ever been `in love' with each other. We've been trying to make this relationship work for two years now. There are only two things I can take from that. Either we're both incredibly bad at this relationship thing, or there's nothing there to make work."
Closing her eyes, Hermione took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Do you realize what you're saying?"
Nodding, Ron sighed. "I think so. For two years we've been trying to make something out of this because everyone expected it to work. My Mum was the worst. If we both weren't so bloody stubborn, we would have seen that it wasn't going to happen." Shaking his head, he chuckled. "I've loved you for a long time, but I could never say it because I knew, deep down, that I didn't love you in the way that we needed for it to work."
"What changed?"
Smiling sadly, he shrugged. "Irony is becoming my new best friend, I think. When you were taken and being tortured, you showing up in Harry's mind was what made me realize exactly who you were in love with." Seeing the look on her face, he nodded. "From what we can determine, Harry `knew' you were in trouble almost the second you were portkeyed away from Oscar by that cup. He apparated out of a dead sleep to my flat and was standing beside my bed, trying to wake me up, when the first Cruciatus hit."
Shaking his head, he stared at Hermione, noting the look of disbelief on her face. "There I am, trying to wrap my mind around what Harry was doing in my flat at four in the bloody morning when he falls to the ground and begins writhing in pain. Once he stopped, he gasped out that an animagus dark witch had taken you and we needed to alert the Ministry. My first reaction, for about half a second, was to be angry that Harry could connect with you on that level and I couldn't. Then I kicked myself in the arse and realized what a prat I was."
Leaning forward, Hermione wrapped her arms around him and whispered in his ear. "What do you mean by that?"
Putting his arms around her, he held her tightly for a few seconds. "Harry glossed over his connection to you." Feeling her nod, Ron took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Actually, he flat out lied. He could feel everything that happened to you. It was the old days with the scar all over again, but this time it was much worse."
Hearing Hermione's sharp intake of breath, Ron nodded. "Instead of a few minutes of Tom Riddle torturing someone and him having to watch it, it was you being tortured for longer than anyone should have been able to stand and him feeling it. This time, all he would do was stay connected to you and push as much strength and love as he could to you."
Nodding her head, Hermione could feel the tears starting in her eyes. "Merlin, Harry felt everything?"
Nodding, Ron leaned back so she could see his face. "Every bit of it, the Cruciatus, the torture, everything she inflicted on your for those forty-eight hours. Chastity alternated from feeding him potions to trying to find a way to break the link. Harry told her, in no uncertain terms, that if she broke the link, it would be the last thing she would ever do as a healer."
Shaking his head, Ron closed his eyes as he remembered his best mate's face. "I hope no one's ever mental enough to try to use you to get to Harry."
As he opened his eyes and saw the look on Hermione's face, he shrugged. "There was an auror class we took, Misuse of Magic, during the last month of our training. The trainer was an older witch who had been an auror during the Grindelwald Wars with Dumbledore. One day, she was talking about Atlantis and the collapse of the magical fields that destroyed the island. She quoted from one of the firsthand accounts that survived the destruction. The writer was going on about the Autarch and the look on his face when he cast the spell that sank the island. The `look that killed Atlantis' was the look on Harry's face that last time you were being tortured."
Shaking her head, Hermione stared at Ron in disbelief. "What do you mean?"
Sighing, Ron nodded. "It was Harry, but for one brief moment it was Harry as he could have been if we hadn't been his friends, if you hadn't loved him since that day on the train. Cold, merciless, and utterly without anything remotely resembling compassion is how he looked for just a moment. One of the senior aurors was in the room just then. He took one look at Harry, when pale as a sheet, and then raced out of the room and puked up everything he'd eaten for the past ten years. I just kept telling Harry, over and over, `We'll find her, we'll bring her home, and it will be fine.'"
Leaning back, they both looked at each other for several seconds. Smiling sadly, Ron looked at her for several seconds, as if he was trying to memorize her features, one last time. "We both knew today was coming, didn't we?'
Shrugging, Hermione smiled back at him. "We probably did." Looking at him intently, she seemed hesitant. "Is there anything I can do to make this easier between us?"
Looking thoughtful, Ron smiled. "If anyone asks, I'm the one that broke up with you."
Nodding, Hermione looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds before she smiled back at him. "I suppose I can live with that. I can have a talk with Lavender for tips about how to get over losing you."
Looking a bit guilty, Ron glanced over his shoulder and then back. "I knew enough that you should be the one that I talked to about this first, but I did try to clue Harry in on the fact that I had finally figured out what I needed to do about our relationship." Rolling his eyes, Ron shrugged. "Harry, being Harry, jumped to the conclusion that I was finally going to ask you to marry me and he's been killing himself trying to keep what he feels for you from me."
Shaking her head in turn, Hermione chuckled for a second. "You do realize it was a tad cruel to ask him to step out like that? He's out there trying to figure out how he's going to congratulate us on our engagement."
Smiling sadly, Ron agreed. "I know, but I thought since he's the one who's actually getting the witch out of all of this, a little anxiety won't kill him."
Looking at him carefully, Hermione could see the sadness and relief in his eyes. "Still my best mate?"
Nodding, Ron broke into a smile. "I think it'll be sort of a relief. Not only will I be able to for several months or more without annoying you into wanting to hex me, I finally get to be the one that says `You know she hates it when you do that' to him when you two are rowing."
Grinning at him, she put her hand on his arm. "Are you going to be all right if things change between Harry and me?"
Snorting, Ron looked at her in disbelief. "Change? If the two of you become any more of a couple, you will be scary. I've lived with the fact that my two best mates were inseparable for the past nine years. While we were together, the two of you spent more time with each other than you either did with Gin or me. Just because the two of you are going to come clean with each other, why should anything change?" Seeing her nod, he added. "But the two of you are going to have to deal with the fact that you've loved each other for almost as long as you've known each other and you've spent all this time trying to convince everyone, including yourselves, you didn't."
Hearing the door open behind him, Ron winked cheekily. Sliding off the bed and down onto one knee, he took Hermione's hand. Pausing for a second, Ron waited until her face started to turn red as she realized what he was doing before he started to speak. "He'll probably kill me for saying this, but Harry's been in love with you for longer than he can remember. He'll never tell you, for some reason he thinks you deserve better than being with him."
Bringing her hand up to his lips, he placed a gentle kiss on it as he began to stand. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Harry standing in the doorway, staring at him with a shocked look on his face. "Harry, you can hex me later, but the only thing you're going to do right now is come over here and tell this witch exactly how much you care about her and how long you've loved her."
Chuckling, Ron watched Harry walk over and sit on the other side of the bed, staring out the window and not looking at Hermione. Shaking his head, he leaned over and kissed Hermione tenderly on the lips one last time. "I'm going to go out and send a message home to let everyone know that Sleeping Beauty is finally awake. I'll also call Helen and let her know you'll be calling with news after a bit." Smiling at her and nodding encouragingly, he sighed. "I'll just leave you two to discuss this."
Heading towards the door, he stopped and turned just has he reached the door. Shaking his head at the sight of them sitting there, Harry with his back to her and Hermione looking over at him and then away, trying to decide where to begin, he sighed. "And by `discuss this' I mean you two should actually talk to each other, because if I come back and find you two still sitting like that, even I will be able to figure out that this isn't resolved." Turning on his heel, he exited, closing the door behind him, heading down the hall of St. Alban's.
Silence reigned in the room, as Harry seemed to be very interested in different spots on the wall while Hermione would start to speak, and then lapse back into watching him intently. After about five minutes, a silver streak flew into the room and coalesced into Ron's patronus. "Enough of this, you two. Talk to each other. I can't believe you're making me be the adult this time." Shaking his head, the patronus looked at both of them for a second. "Don't make me call in reinforcements. I can have Hermione's mother here before dinner if that's what it takes." Sitting there, with a smirk on his face, the silver dog faded from sight.
Smiling guiltily, the two looked at each other. Snorting in disbelief, Hermione chuckled. "It is sort of ironic that we're depending upon Ron to have us sort out something between us." Grinning, Hermione reached over and grabbed Harry's hand. "Was the sight of me standing there starkers so hideous that you can't bear to talk to me about how you feel?" Hermione's eyes were twinkling as she asked Harry in a very serious voice.
Caught off guard by Hermione's question, Harry closed his mouth with an audible snap and stared at her in disbelief. Twice more he opened his mouth, but nothing would come out. "Out with it Harry, I think I can live with the fact that you find me physically repulsive."
Suddenly Harry burst into laughter. Hermione began giggling and the two of them kept going for a good five minutes. "For Merlin's sake, Hermione, I can't believe you said that." Wiping his eyes, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Hideous is the last word I would have used. A cross between magnificent and downright scary is more like it."
"I think I've heard `scary' used a bit too often for my liking, but I'm glad to see I was up to snuff, otherwise." Smiling, Hermione watched Harry blush and then look down. "Then what is the problem? Why can't we talk about it? I can't believe that after living in a tent with me for seven months, we'd suddenly get this way with each other. You'd think we could finally talk about what we've both been ignoring for years. Especially after Ron has ever so politely rubbed our noses in it."
Before Harry could speak, Hermione reached over and took both of his hands between hers. "However, we're going to start this from a point where we don't have to backtrack later. You were living in my head for two days, Harry. You felt everything I felt, you knew everything I knew. You know exactly how much I love you, as I know exactly how much you love me. I didn't have any choice about being crucioed by that fanatic, but you did. And you stayed. And told me that you loved me. Repeatedly. So we can cut all that `echoes of pain', `she's my best mate', and especially the time honored `she's like a sister to me' shite that we've been feeding the rest of the world for almost ten years now."
Blushing, Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, for so long I was so afraid to feel anything for anyone. Everyone I became close to, anyone I dared to love was taken from me." Seeing the look on her face, he nodded. "After the Department of Mysteries, I promised myself I'd protect you by keeping my distance, so I just locked everything away."
Shaking his head, he sighed when Hermione reached up and gently caressed his cheek. "I finally realized that the reason I let things go on with Ginny for as long as they did was I knew it would be safe to be in a relationship with her because, though I loved her, I didn't love her enough to endanger her."
Nodding Hermione wrapped her arms around him and held him close. "Harry, it's all right, I think I understand a bit. I do love Ron, and I think I always will. But I think you and I have both been `taken' for a long time now, and it wasn't with the people we thought it was."
Sighing, he returned the hug and held her close for several minutes. "After that last night in your apartment, I realized that I couldn't lie to myself and you any longer, but I couldn't see what I could do about things. It felt wrong to tell you how I felt since I'd been the sounding board for your dissatisfaction with your relationship with Ron. It felt like I'd be betraying the trust you both had in me if I told you how I felt after all of that.
Shaking her head, Hermione leaned back against the pillows and rolled her eyes. "Even at his most barking mental, Ron knows deep down that you'd die before you'd betray us, or let one of us come to harm." Tears glittering in her eyes, she nodded. "You did die before you let us come to harm."
Leaning over, Harry brushed his lips against hers, his emerald eyes fixed on her chocolate brown ones. Seeing her slightly nod, he slowly began to kiss her. Hermione's arms moved up around him, pulling him closer to her as they began to deepen their kiss. Feeling her body begin to respond to his, Harry leaned closer and wrapped his arms around her as he began to feel her presence in the back of his mind. Feeling her love and need for him match his own for her, their minds became as entwined as their tongues.
The need for oxygen forced them to break the kiss sooner than either one wanted. Sitting back, matching grins on their faces, they both fought to bring their breathing back under control.
Opening her mouth to speak, Hermione slowly shook her head. "Harry, that was only a kiss. I don't think I'm quite well enough for anything else, but I'm willing to risk it if you are."
Swallowing, Harry looked at her, her flushed cheeks and her eyes shining with love and desire. Slowly shaking his head, he raised her hand to his lips and gently kissed it. "Hopefully we can find a way to gracefully ask the healer, but we've waited years for this, I'm willing to wait a bit longer until we're both ready."
Laughing, Hermione closed her eyes and leaned back on her pillows again. "Harry, I'm very ready and very willing. It's just `able' that's in question." Moving a bit, she shook her head. "We'll figure out what we can do and what we can't until we can do it all."
Shaking his head, Harry held onto her hand and watched her. "Before we do, I suppose there's a confession I need to make." Seeing the look on her face, he smiled. "Just so you know, the Thursday edition of The Daily Prophet is running a story tomorrow about how Ginny and I are back together."
Shaking her head, Hermione leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Harry, even for you, this is a bit odd. Just why is the Prophet heralding the return of the `Golden Couple'?"
Getting up, Harry removed his shoes and clambered up on the bed beside her. Settling himself into the pillows, he conjured another one so they were both comfortable.
Arching an eyebrow at him, Hermione turned sideways a bit and let her legs drape across him as he wrapped an arm around her. "I'm still waiting, by the way. Just what have you and Ginevra being getting up to the moment my back was turned?" A faint smile playing around the corners of her mouth, Hermione treated him to a McGonagall worthy glare.
Watching her out of the corner of his eye, Harry waited until she was just about to speak again before starting. "Thursday morning, after I took Crooks back home and dropped him off, I went to the Ministry and attempted to be a productive member of my team."
Nodding, Hermione smiled a bit as she snuggled closer to him. "And Ginny's now a member of Auror Team Twelve?"
Rolling his eyes, Harry looked at her. "Would you like for me to tell you what actually happened, or are you going to take a leaf from Pansy's notebook and go with what makes the most sensational story?"
Shaking her head and biting her lower lip to keep from laughing, Hermione pulled a contrite face. "I'll behave. You go ahead and tell the story at your own pace. I'm not doing anything for the rest of this week."
Sighing, Harry leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head. "Sorry, I deserved that, I suppose." Closing his eyes, he leaned back against he pillows. "I couldn't concentrate, couldn't think, all I could do was fret about what I should do regarding you. I needed to talk to someone, but the particular someone that I usually talk to about things like this wasn't exactly available or suitable for this particular conversation."
Nodding sagely, Hermione's eyes twinkled. "I can see how my being in America would make a discussion like that a bit problematic."
Smiling, Harry agreed with a nod of his own. "And that's totally discounting the fact that my talking about my dilemma with you to you would be a bit sticky."
Chuckling, Hermione agreed. "There is that. Please continue. You were skiving off at your desk…"
"I wanted someone who would be very honest with me, someone who would not tell me what I wanted to hear but tell me what I needed to hear. Someone who wasn't afraid to tell me if I was being an egregious prat."
Sitting upright, Hermione stared at Harry in wide-eyed disbelief until he opened his eyes and looked at her. "Are you barking mental? You went and talked to your ex about your feelings for me? Ginevra `Bat Boogey', `I'm going to hex you into next week' Weasley? You went to her about your feelings for the person that she blames for your relationship ending?"
Eyes twinkling, Harry nodded. "Are you finished? And Gin never blamed you for what happened that night. It was totally my fault that I blew off dinner with her to help you repaint your flat."
Shaking her head, Hermione started laughing. "Harry, you blew off dinner with your girlfriend on Valentine's Day to show up unannounced and help me paint my flat. I had an excuse for not remembering, Ron and I were fighting and he was in Ulan Bator picking up a Death Eater that they were holding. You, on the other hand, showed up out of the clear blue sky with Caribbean takeout and pails of paint to help me redo my bedroom."
Blushing, Harry sighed. "She called and asked me to dinner that morning and didn't make a big deal about it, I'd been on an assignment for over two weeks and just gotten back in country, so I'd forgotten what day it was. As far as I knew it was just Monday."
Shaking her head, Hermione stared at him for almost a minute. "Harry, when did we first meet?"
Looking perplexed, Harry tilted his head to get a better look at her. "First of September, 1991, on the train to Hogwarts. It was a Sunday."
"When did you first meet my parents?"
Thinking for less than a second, Harry shrugged. "19 August, right before our second year, Arthur took your parents to the Cauldron for drinks so he could ask you dad to explain everything muggle to him."
"When was the first Hogsmeade weekend we went together?
Smiling, Harry nodded, "21 November our fourth year was the first one we officially went together, but I snuck out back in December and February of our third year using my cloak, remember?"
"The first time I flew with you?"
"When we rescued Sirius, June 9th our third year"
"When was the first time you took me to that little Thai place in Kensington?
"We went the night before your birthday back in 98, September 18th."
Shaking her head in exasperation, Hermione looked up into his eyes. "Harry, if you can remember the date of everything we ever did together, how is anyone supposed to credit that you didn't remember it was Valentine's Day?"
Sitting there for several seconds, Harry grinned sheepishly. "I wasn't doing it with you?"
Giggling, Hermione rolled back on the pillow. "You're hopeless. You do remember you sent me flowers, don't you? You thought ahead enough to make certain Neville would deliver flowers from his private greenhouse on Valentine's Day for me, but you didn't remember what the day was when your girlfriend called and asked you to dinner?"
Blushing, Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I did that before I left for Estonia back in January. You had just had a fight with Ron and I thought it would be nice if you received flowers on Valentine's Day. Though Neville did look a tad confused when he showed up to deliver the flowers and saw that I was actually there."
Trying to smother a laugh, Hermione's eyes glittered as she stared at him in disbelief. "Harry, Neville asked you if he was delivering the flowers to the right witch, because he just passed Ginny heading for Grimmauld Place from the Cauldron where she was supposed to be meeting you."
Looking distinctly uncomfortable, Harry nodded. "Well, yes. That was when I deduced that I might have made a mistake just leaving Gin a note with Hannah that I wasn't going to be able to make dinner, something else had come up."
Laughing hysterically, it took Hermione several minutes to regain her breath. "Might have made a mistake? The only thing that made the evening worse is that Kreacher informed her that you had left for Kensington with a couple of pails of paint. She apparated to outside my building and started threatening to level the neighbourhood if you didn't come out."
Shaking his head, Harry smiled ruefully. "Well yes, that's why Molly calls it `The Incident'. I'm not certain who called the Magic Reversal Squad, but I do know it was that nice old lady on the corner who has that vicious rat dog who called the constables on her."
Shaking her head, Hermione sighed. "Harry, they're called Chihuahuas. And she's not the one who called the constables. I can still remember the look on Kingsley's face when he told you about having to call 10 Downing Street to get her released since New Scotland Yard was convinced she was some sort of terrorist."
Trying not to laugh, Harry nodded. "I suppose red hair, freckles, and four burning SUVs might cause the authorities to jump to a few conclusions."
Looking at him in disbelief, Hermione shook her head. "And how many vehicles went up in flames when you told her that you'd finally sussed out how you felt about me?"
Blushing, Harry mumbled something and looked over at the windowsill.
Smiling, Hermione put her hand under his chin and turned his face towards hers. "I didn't quite make that out, Harry. Was it four or five burning lorries?"
If anything, Harry's blush became almost Weasley worthy. "Actually, she squealed, jumped up from our table at Maxine's, threw her arms around me and kissed me."
"She what?"
Nodding, Harry closed his eyes. "Which gets us back to how the Prophet is running a story about the return of the `Golden Couple'. It seems Pansy and that idiot photographer of hers just happened to be at the restaurant interviewing someone else and he got a couple of very good pictures of Ginny kissing me."
When silence followed, Harry opened his eyes and glanced over at her. Seeing the look on Hermione's face, he amended. "On the cheek." As the glare intensified, he added, "In a public place. We went dutch."
When Hermione closed her eyes, Harry sighed. "She's actually very happy for us, as long as I don't mess this up."
Opening her eyes, Hermione stared at him for a couple of seconds. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked icily.
Looking a bit nervous, Harry smiled thinly. "Well, she did mention something about if I was actually stupid enough to blow this, she'd hunt me down and turn me into something that even Luna's never imagined seeing before."
Breaking out laughing, Hermione threw her arms around Harry's neck and started pulling him towards her. "I was wondering how long you'd babble on if I just kept giving you `the look'."
Putting his arms around her, Harry held her while she laughed. "You might think it's hilarious, but I'm still convinced Ginny means it. And I have a high degree of faith in my ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when it comes to witches."
"Merlin, Harry. Have a bit of faith in yourself. To them, you're the `Boy Who Bloody Lived', the `Wizard Who Won', Witch Weekly's most eligible wizard every week since we got back from Australia."
Shaking his head, Harry scowled. "And you don't give a tinker's damn about any of that."
Putting her hands on either side of his face, Hermione gazed into his eyes for several seconds. "Exactly. Which is why I'm telling you to have faith in yourself. I love you in spite of all that rubbish, not because of it. Thank Merlin you're not one to believe your own press clippings."
Kissing him tenderly on the lips, she held the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her. Breaking the kiss, she smiled. "It doesn't matter what the Prophet says, the three of us know the truth."
Leaning back on the pillows, Harry rested his head against hers. Smiling, he felt her move until she was pressed against him and her legs were back across his lap. "Comfortable?"
Nodding, Hermione sighed. "Very, but I'm getting the sense that you're still a bit off about something. Care to share?"
Blushing a bit, Harry shook his head. "It's just that it's a bit awkward, being there and seeing you standing there all starkers with Ron in the room and all."
Pushing herself up, Hermione tuned until she was facing him, half across his lap. "Why? Is there some unwritten guy rule about seeing your best mate naked?" Keeping her voice calm, Hermione watched him carefully, feeling his unease through the connection they had always felt to each other which had suddenly blossomed into something more.
"Not that I know of, but this was different." Harry relaxed, leaning back on the pillows. "Once I thought about it, it was different."
Sighing, Hermione just let the moment go on for a second. "I suppose some people would say we think too much. You've seen Ron starkers and it wasn't wrong."
Blushing a bit, Harry laughed. "True, but in case you haven't noticed, Ron isn't a girl." Looking down at her, his grin became a bit mischievous. "But, then again. Neither are you."
Sitting up and blushing indignantly, Hermione punched Harry's arm hard enough to rock him a bit. "Oh, really, Mr. Potter? It only took Ron until our fourth year to notice I'm a girl. What's your excuse?"
Laughing, Harry rubbed his arm as he watched her bristle. "Miss Granger, I noticed you were a girl the first day we met on the train. You left being a girl behind the moment I saw you in that dress for the Yule Ball. You're very much a woman, Hermione. And that is the problem."
Blushing, Hermione stared at Harry for almost a minute. Sighing, she nodded her head and leaned back against shoulder. Waiting until they had settled against each other, she asked, in a very timid voice. "Would it make a difference if I told you that we were even now?" Feeling Harry start, she looked up to see his emerald green eyes staring at her, gobsmacked.
"Hermione Jane Granger, I think you need to explain that remark." Turning slightly, Harry watched Hermione as if he'd never seen her before.
Blushing, Hermione looked down at her hands, unable to look him in the eye. "Near the end of our sixth year, I puzzled out how to cast a disillusionment spell." Looking up, she watched Harry nod warily. "Well, and you know how the stairs to the boy's dorms will let the girls up, but the other set is trapped to keep the guys out of the girl's dorms?"
Harry nodded, again, comprehension dawning in his eyes. "Well, I decided to sneak up to your dorm to see what you and Ron talked about when I wasn't around." Blushing furiously, Hermione defiantly looked Harry right in the eye. "You two were going on about Snape, your detentions, how you didn't have enough time for Ginny between the detentions and trying to find out information for Dumbledore. Then you decided to start changing for dinner and I was trapped sitting on your bed. You pulled the hangings but I had a very free show of you changing to meet Ginny down in the Great Hall."
Smiling a bit at the thought, she kept her gaze locked on Harry. Watching him blush, she saw he was going to ask a question. "I know what you're going to ask, but it really never had a chance to come up. This was not long before Dumbledore's death and after that; there really was never a good time to discuss it."
Smirking, she added in a deadpan voice. "Of course, later that night I was able to contradict Ginny most authoritatively up in the dorm about your alleged tattoo. She was very cross with me until I showed her how to cast the spell and how to sneak up without being noticed."
Laughing, Harry slid off the bed and landed on the floor with a thump. "I'm so dead if Ron ever finds out."
Smiling and leaning over, giving Harry a hand up, she hauled him back up onto the bed. "Harry, why are you worried about Ron now? He's no longer my boyfriend, you are. He's certainly seen me starkers, and he knows you saw me starkers."
Pulling himself together, he sat up and grinned. `Yea, but he doesn't know that not only has his former, by a matter of minutes, girlfriend seen me starkers, but his then underage sister saw me as well. You might as well pass the marmalade, Hermione."
Looking puzzled, Hermione tilted her head to one side. "Marmalade?"
Grinning, Harry answered back, "Because if Ron ever finds out, I'm toast."
The two of them were still rolling on the bed, laughing, when Ron returned.
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