You And Me

You and Me - part 1

A/N: - War is over. Harry, Ron and Hermione are back to Hogwarts to attend their seventh year. Harry is enjoying his life, dating different girls.

Harry Potter was called as the boy-who-lived, boy-who-defeated the dark lord, best seeker of the century, most handsome Quidditch captain and so on. He had many names, and was described in various ways by his fans and the media. For them he was a perfect, flawless person, their hero, their savior.

But here we would not be talking about Harry Potter the savior. Here we would be focusing on Harry Potter who resides in the heart of many young witches in the country.

Harry had a loveless childhood. He didn't know what love was until he came to the Hogwarts. Here for the first time in his life he experienced love of the friends and the family. However, most importantly he found two best friends he could have ever asked for, Ron and Hermione. They stood by his side from the very start to the very end, especially Hermione. She was his safe harbor, his savior, his anchor during those tumultuous and dangerous times of his life.

Harry defeated Lord Voldemort when he was 17. After the war, he wanted nothing but to live his life like any other teenage boy. Harry, Ron and Hermione decided to attend Hogwarts for their final year. As they were hunting down the Horcruxes during the time of their actual seventh year, they were going to share their classes of seventh year with Ginny, Luna and other students of their year. Many of Harry's actual classmates also attended Hogwarts including Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Parvati and others from rest of the 3 houses. Harry and Hermione were appointed as Head Boy and Head Girl respectively. Harry also became captain of Gryffindor Quidditch team.

After defeating Voldemort, Harry felt as though if a huge burden was lifted off his shoulder. It brought a very positive change in his attitude and personality. He became more outgoing and more confident around the girls. He had even learned to flirt with them.

Almost every girl in the school was trying to get his attention but Harry was in no hurry. However, he finally asked Sophie out, a transfer student from USA. She was a seventh year Ravenclaw and very attractive. Every boy was jealous of Harry for going out with the most beautiful girl in school.

However, after a month Sophie broke up with Harry. She told him that he never really shared anything about his life except what everyone else already knew. He never shared anything with her that only his best friends knew about. She was also bugged by the fact that Harry always gave more importance to Hermione as compared to his girlfriend. Many times he even cancelled his date with Sophie because Hermione needed him.

Harry was a bit upset with the breakup, but soon forgot about it and in a span of 2 weeks he started dating Maggie, a sixth year Hufflepuff. But she also had the same problems as Sophie had.

Harry dated four different girls in a span of next 2 months. But it was the same with every girl. They never liked the closeness Harry shared with Hermione. His last girlfriend even forced him to make a choice between her and Hermione. Well there was no arguing, as everyone knew whom he would have chosen. Rumors about Harry and Hermione dating secretly were spread throughout the school by one of Harry's ex-girlfriend.

Breakups never really bothered Harry much as none of his relationship reached to the level where he would take them seriously. For him all this was just for fun. But Harry was worried about Hermione. Daily Prophet was focusing on Harry's love life. Everyday there was some or the other thing about his affairs. Most of the articles showed Hermione as a scarlet woman who was trying to steal famous Harry Potter from his innocent girlfriend. Many references were given to the stories run by Rita Skeeter during Harry's fourth year.

Harry was getting frustrated with the rumors. He even thought about sending a letter to Minister of Magic, Arthur Weasley, to take some action against the lies The Daily Prophet was printing about Hermione. But Hermione stopped him from doing so. She told him that it would only confirm everyone's suspicions about the lies The Daily Prophet was printing and asked him to ignore the gossips.

But Harry was finding it difficult to control his temper. Hermione had started to receive the hate mails from various people. And most of them contained different kinds of dangerous curses and jinxes. And once or twice she got hurt as well.

Harry finally decided to have a talk with the Headmaster Dumbledore about it. From next day onwards letters for Hermione were checked for any kind of dangerous item or jinx before being delivered to her. Hermione was surprised as she didn't receive a single hate mail that day. When she found out that Harry was behind all this, she thanked him for it.

It was Sunday morning. Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall taking their breakfast.

After some time owls started arriving with the letters or parcels for the students. To Hermione's surprise she got no mail that day except the newspaper 'The Quibbler' which was run by Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father. After the final battle, Xenophilius had started to print the newspaper as well, along with his already existing magazine.

Ron noticed this as well. But as tactless as he was, he opened his mouth

"What, no hate mails today?" Ron asked casually before filling his mouth with the toast.

Hermione glared at Ron.

"What you mean? Did I deserve all those letters?" Hermione asked crossly.

Ron quickly swallowed his toast and spoke. "Err… no. I mean, everyday you were getting those hate mails but today there are none. So…." Ron trailed off. He looked at Harry for help. Harry just smirked in return.

Hermione calmed down a bit after that.

"Well yeah, I am surprised as well." She said thoughtfully.

"Do you know anything about it?" Hermione asked Harry.

Harry was drinking his pumpkin juice. He finished his juice and looked at Hermione.

"Umm…Yeah. Yesterday I spoke to Dumbledore about checking your letters for jinxes and curses or any other dangerous object. I hope you don't mind that." Harry said looking at Hermione anxiously.

Hermione just smiled at him.

"Thanks a lot Harry. You are really a very great friend." She said softly. Harry looked relieved at this.

"Hey I am also a great friend." Ron said in whining voice.

Both Harry and Hermione laughed at this.

"Yes you too Ronnikins." Harry said laughing harder at Ron's scowling face.

"So Harry, are you ready to study for Transfiguration project?" Hermione asked.

Prof. McGonagall had given the project work to seventh year students. They had to work in pairs and Harry and Hermione were paired together to work on the project.

"Yeah I am ready. Today I am all yours Miss Granger." Harry replied playfully tickling her on the side.

"Harry, stop it." Hermione said laughing uncontrollably. She finally managed to stop him, grabbing his hands with her own.

"I love it when you laugh." Harry said as his eyes gleamed with happiness.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I was laughing like a banshee, Harry." She replied.

Harry was about to reply but was interrupted.

"Hi Harry" Tracey Jones said. She was Harry's latest girlfriend, a sixth year Gryffindor.

"Oh Hi Tracey" Harry replied.

Tracey's eyes went to Harry and Hermione's joined hands. Hermione quickly pulled away. Tracey gave a hard look to Hermione and then turned to look at Harry.

"Harry I was just thinking that we should spend the day together. We can take a walk near the lake and can arrange a romantic picnic there. It would just be you and me for the whole day." Tracey said the last part in seductive tone. She bent down and kissed Harry on the lips, giving him a good view of her female assets.

Hermione averted her eyes from them. Although Harry dated different girls, he always gave more importance to Hermione. He cared a lot about her. She was the most important girl in his life. And yet it was not enough for Hermione. His care and friendship were not enough for her; she wanted more; she wanted him to love her the way she loved him. He never realized how much it hurt Hermione whenever she saw him with other girls.

Hermione had been in love with Harry since their fourth year. But she never had the courage to tell him. He had crush on Cho Chang that time and next year they started dating. How could she have ever competed with her? Cho was beautiful, played Quidditch, had slender form; everything Hermione was not. However, a little hope was always there in her heart. But then she had given up on him before the final battle started. She knew he would never feel the same way for her and she was also scared to destroy their friendship.

She knew he needed a best friend, not a jealous girl with stupid unrequited feelings. So she just locked up all her feelings in her heart and threw the key away. But that doesn't mean it didn't hurt her to see him with other girls.

Hermione's eyes met with Ron's. He had a knowing look in his eyes. He knew that Hermione had feelings for Harry. She just smiled at him sadly.

Tracey pulled back and smiled at Harry.

"Well sorry Tracey. But I can't. Hermione and I are going to work on our Transfiguration project today." Harry said, without any kind of regret in his voice for turning down his girlfriend's offer.

"So" Tracey said.

"So what?" Harry asked feeling confused.

Tracey rolled her eyes. "Cancel your plan with her." Tracey said pointing towards Hermione with her finger. Harry got angry at her attitude.

"I won't." He answered flatly.

Before Tracey could say anything, Hermione interrupted between them. "It's ok, Harry. We can work on the project some other time. Go and enjoy your day." Hermione said to Harry with a friendly smile, even if it hurt her to say this.

"No" Harry said plainly.

"Fine, do whatever you want." Tracey said angrily and sauntered out of the Great Hall.

Ron just shook his head and looked at Hermione.

"Have you ever seen a boy, as clueless as our dear Mr. Potter?" Ron asked in a dramatic fashion.

Harry glared at Ron. But Hermione laughed at this."Nope. Not at all." She replied laughing harder.

That whole day Harry and Hermione spent together. They made a very good progress with their project work. Moreover, to Hermione's surprise, Harry dragged her out, for a walk near the lake.

Hermione never felt so happy, but she knew that it was just an illusion and would come to end, at the end of the day.

Author's note: - Read and give your reviews.

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Author's note: - This part contains conversation which changes everything.

One evening, after dinner, Harry, Ron and Hermione were relaxing in the common room, talking with each other. A couple of hours later Harry and Ron left for the bed while Hermione stayed behind to do some reading.

Harry had a nightmare that night.

"No!" Harry screamed and quickly sat up, wiping his forehead. His nightshirt was completely drenched with sweat and he was finding it difficult to breathe properly. He closed his eyes, trying to get rid of the horrid images from the nightmare. At some point in the war, Harry had seen Hermione falling at the battlefield after being hit by a dark curse, thrown at her by Bellatrix Lestrange. For a couple of moments after she fell he had thought that she was gone forever, fortunately she survived. After that Harry was never really able to let go of the feelings he had experienced in those moments. It was a feeling of being stabbed directly through the heart and soul.

Tonight he again saw the same thing in his nightmare except that this time Hermione didn't survive.

Luckily he developed a habit of placing silencing charm around his bed since he started having nightmares, as nobody was disturbed due to his screaming. He checked the time, it was already past midnight. He knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so he left the dormitory and went down to the common room, hoping that no one would be there.

In the common room, he was surprised to see Hermione sitting there on the couch and reading a book.

"Hey" Harry said with soft voice, startling Hermione as he was standing right behind where she was sitting.

"Harry, don't ever do that again." Hermione hissed.

Harry smiled at her sheepishly. "Sorry" he said.

Hermione shook her head. "It's ok." Hermione said with a smile.

Harry sat beside Hermione on the couch.

"So what are you doing up so late? It's past midnight." Harry asked.

"Oh it's nothing, just reading a book." Hermione replied dismissively as she tried to cover the title of the book with her hands.

Harry raised his eyebrows at her, giving her a look which said 'I know you are hiding something'.

Hermione huffed. "Ok fine. It's a romance novel. Mum sent me some romance novels as an early Christmas present. She thinks that I read too many subject books and should start reading some light romance novels as well." Hermione said while rolling her eyes at her Mum's thinking.

"So I thought about reading them so as to find out what exactly these books are like." Hermione finished.

Harry gave her a teasing smile. "Romance novels… Huh?" he said playfully.

Hermione again rolled her eyes at his juvenile attitude.

"Ok enough about me. What are you doing here?" Hermione asked him.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders. "It's always the same reason." He replied in emotionless voice.

"Nightmare?" Hermione asked with concerned voice. Harry merely nodded.

Hermione simply looked at Harry for some time. She wanted to hug him tight and take all his pain and nightmares away.

She closed her book and placed it on the table next to the couch. She motioned Harry to rest his head on her lap. Harry did as was told. He rested his head on Hermione's lap and stretched his legs to the other end of the couch.

Hermione started moving her fingers gently through his messy, yet soft hair. Harry closed his eyes at her, reveling in the feeling of her caring touch. Hermione could feel him getting relaxed.

After a couple of minutes Hermione saw a smile appearing on Harry's face. His eyes were still closed. Harry opened his eyes and looked at Hermione.

"You always know how to make me feel better." Harry said with a smiling languidly at Hermione.

"It's a special talent." Hermione said looking amused. She continued to move her fingers through his hair.

Harry didn't say anything. He simply continued to look at Hermione with warmth filled eyes. He knew he was very fortunate to have her in his life.

They both were lost in their thoughts. After sometime Harry broke the silence.

"Hermione" he called.

"Hmmm…" Hermione replied distractedly.

"Why my relationships with any of my girlfriends didn't last more than a few weeks?" Harry asked curiously.

Hermione looked surprised at his question.

"Don't you know?" She asked with bewilderment.

"I think they are envious of you." Harry said earnestly "Though I don't know why." He added as an afterthought.

Sadness filled Hermione's heart. She knew Harry didn't have non-platonic feelings for her. For him, she was just a best friend, nothing more. So definitely there was nothing for his girlfriends to be jealous of.

"It's obvious Harry. No girl would ever want another girl in her boyfriend's life, even as a best friend. I mean any other girl or woman, except mother and sister. It's very rare when a girl doesn't have any problem with another girl in his boyfriend's life. Also your girlfriends have always been jealous of the close friendship we share." Hermione explained.

"That's complete bullshit. They should know that you are my best friend. With everything we have been through together, how can they expect me to choose between you and them? Of course I will always choose you." Harry said straightforwardly.

Harry took sitting position and looked at Hermione. "You are most important person in my life and others should accept it." Harry said in intense voice.

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment.

`Why are you making it so difficult for me Harry?' Hermione thought sadly.

"Harry your girlfriend would expect you to give more importance to her, as compared to your best friends. She would want you to share your secrets with her. You would have to let her in, in your life. She would expect you to come to her if you have any problem. She would never like it that I, Hermione Granger know more about her boyfriend than she herself knows. She would want to be the most important person in your life." Hermione explained.

"But I always talk to you. I can't talk to anyone else." Harry said helplessly, shrugging his shoulders.

Hermione smiled sadly at him.

"I won't be around forever Harry. Someday you would have to talk to someone else as well." She said looking at Harry with a sad look.

Harry frowned at this. "Why not? I will never let you go anywhere." He said firmly.

Hermione chuckled. "But you won't want me around forever either, Harry." Hermione reasoned.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking confused.

Harry looked at Hermione. She looked a bit down. There was a sad look in her eyes. Harry realized that she had this look in her eyes for quite some time now. He didn't understand it before; however, this night he realized what it was. Hermione quickly looked away in other direction to hide her emotions. Once she was able to control her feelings she looked back at Harry and smiled. She took his hand in her own and started caressing it gently.

"Harry someday you would find a girl with whom you will fall in love with. You will want to share everything about yourself with her and not with me. She will make you the happiest person and you would want to make her happy as well. She will be the most important person in your life. She will know you better than anyone else, even me. That's how life works Harry." Hermione finished.

Harry was speechless. Everything Hermione said, it scared him. He didn't want her to be away from him, whether now or in future. She was a major part of his life. No one could replace her.

"So does that mean you won't be a part of my life? Harry asked.

"I will be, but we won't be as close as we are now. And it's not something terrible. Best friends generally grow apart when they get involved with someone else in romantic way. Like you, Ron and I; we have spend most of our time together for last 6 years. But when we will graduate and start working, things would be different. We won't spend majority of our time together. Each of us will have a different life. Ron would be busy with his Quidditch training, you would be in your Auror training and I will be in my training to become a healer. Then we would probably meet on weekends or on get together or for Christmas dinner at the Burrow. It's a natural process." Hermione said with deep understanding in her voice.

Harry became sad. He knew one thing that he didn't want to grow apart from Hermione. He never wanted to lose the closeness they both shared.

Seeing Harry's sad look Hermione squeezed his hand. Harry looked at her.

"You know, it doesn't mean that we won't be best friends anymore. We would always be there for each other." She said.

Harry knew Hermione was right. Most of the things she said made sense. But still he wasn't able to accept that Hermione won't be a permanent and most important part of his life.

"Oh God!" Hermione exclaimed looking at her watch. "It's 2 in the morning, we better get some sleep." She said while standing up and stretching herself. She picked her book and looked back at Harry who was still lost in his thoughts.

"Goodnight Harry" She said.

Harry looked into her chocolate brown eyes. "Goodnight" he said.

Hermione was about to leave when something clicked in his mind. Harry called her again.

"Hermione" Harry said.

"Yeah" Hermione said turning around.

"You said that we would get involved with others in romantic way. Does that mean you will have a boyfriend?" Harry asked.

Hermione looked surprised at his question. She wasn't sure what to answer.

"Umm…yeah, may be." She replied with hesitation in her voice.

Harry frowned at this. "Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked apprehensively.

"Yeah I am alright. You better go and get some sleep." Harry said gently.

"Okay. Goodnight." Hermione said and left for the girls' dormitory, leaving Harry struggling with his thoughts and emotions.

What surprised Harry the most was that he not one bit liked the idea of Hermione dating someone else. It would mean that her future boyfriend would take most of her time. And that would mean that she would not have much time for Harry. It irked Harry to no end. He just wanted to strangle that bloody future boyfriend of Hermione.

However, he knew he didn't own Hermione to tell her not to date anyone as he wanted her to spend all her time with him and not with any boyfriend.

Harry realized that the conversation with Hermione had opened a whole new can of worms, he didn't know existed.

Days passed but Harry couldn't get the conversation out of his mind. It hurt him physically to know that Hermione would not be with him forever; one day a boy will come in her life and take her away.

Whenever he would see Hermione talking to some other guy, jealousy would flare inside him. He was becoming more and more restless with each passing day.

He started spending most of his time with Hermione. He wouldn't let her spend time with any other boy, except Ron. He knew it was wrong. Hermione was his best friend and he shouldn't try to stop her from spending time with others. Who knows if she was interested in someone? His head told him not to interfere, but his heart wasn't agreeing with it.

Fear of losing Hermione gripped his heart. Sometimes even his nightmares were plagued about Hermione leaving him. He had broken up with Tracey. She was getting onto his nerves about leaving Hermione. It was the first time that Harry broke with someone.

Hermione noticed the change in Harry's behavior. She knew something was bothering him. Whenever she asked him about it, he just waved it off as stress.

In between all these things Harry had started noticing small things about Hermione. Like she always bit he lower lip whenever she was in deep thought, she would always talk to herself remembering the facts while doing her homework or whenever she would smile her eyes would lit up like Christmas tree.

What he realized the most was that he was falling for his best friend, hard and fast and it scared him.

Author's note: - What you think about conversation part? It's not very good but I wrote what I thought was the possibly correct. What you think so far….Read and review. I would like to know what you think about it…..:)

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Author's note:- This is the final chapter. Many fics that I have read about H/Hr, most of the times Harry and Hermione don't reveal their feelings due to the fear of rejection and keep hurting each other unintentionally. So I just thought about making it other way and make Harry reveal his feelings when he realized. Finally Harry is not so clueless after all.

For Harry, Hermione had always been something so pure, so honest, and so innocent, just like an angel, just like, Hermione. She was bossy, know-it-all but also much matured and fiercely loyal. And he wouldn't have changed her for anything in the world. He never thought that she could ever have any kind of non-platonic feelings for him. Also in turn, Harry never allowed his own heart and mind to stray towards having non-platonic feelings for her. He always held back because of Ron, his other best friend. Ron always behaved like he fancied Hermione. And seeing their fights over the years, Harry took it as existence of more than friendly feelings between them, thinking that they were made for each other. However, all this holding back turned futile, as Ron started dating Luna.

After all, it's your heart that decides whom to fall in love with. You can't tell you heart, what to do. It does everything on its own; all you can do is, follow it.

Harry was now in bit of a dilemma. He couldn't decide what to do.

`Should I tell Hermione about my feelings? Would it destroy our friendship?' These thoughts, along with many other similar thoughts, kept swirling around in his mind.

He knew there would be no point in having regrets in future; thinking about what would have happened if he would have revealed his feelings for Hermione. Would she have returned his feelings? Or would she have said no?

It was better to be open with the feelings, a lot better than regretting for the rest of his life. If she said no, at least he would know about it and would be able to move on at some point in his life. But he was just hoping that Hermione would return his feelings. He didn't want anyone else.

But before telling Hermione about his feelings, he wanted to talk to someone. And this someone was none other than his other best friend, Ron Weasley.

Harry and Ron were in the boys' dormitory, getting ready to go for sleep.

"Hey Ron" Harry said. He was sitting on his bed, as Ron was looking for something in his trunk.

"Yeah" Ron said, looking at Harry.

"I wanted to talk to you about something important." Harry said fretfully.

"What is it?" Ron asked curiously, sitting on the edge of Harry's bed. Harry looked at other boys. They were already in their beds. But he knew they would be listening. So he picked up his wand from the nightstand beside his bed and performed a Muffliato charm around his bed. Then he looked at Ron who was looking back at him, intriguingly.

"So what is it?" Ron asked inquisitively, sitting comfortably on the bed.

Harry fidgeted a bit under Ron's stare.

"Well you see I…I think I am falling for Hermione." Harry blurted out.

Ron raised his eyebrows. "You think?" he asked with questioning glance.

Harry thought for a bit, and then answered.

"No, I know I am falling for her." Harry said resolutely.

Ron gave him an amused smile.

"Harry, for your information you have fallen for Hermione, a long back." Ron said with a knowing look.

"What?" Harry said looking surprised at this revelation.

"How could it be? I realized it, just a few days back." He said.

"Exactly, you realized it now. But you had been in love with her for ages. Almost everyone around you knows about it, except you. Or probably deep down inside, you knew, but denied it." Ron said thoughtfully.

"Was I that obvious?" Harry asked, smiling awkwardly.

"Want me to make a list?" Ron said, with a smirk on his face.

"Let's see.” Ron continued “You have always been so protective of her, more than one would be of their best friend or siblings. You never like it, when Hermione talks to some other guy. You always confide everything in her. The way you had reacted, when she fell in the battle and you thought she had died; you had stopped fighting as though if it didn't matter anymore. Like there was no reason for you to fight or live any longer." Ron said, remembering that day sadly.

Then he continued. "You truly smile whenever you are around her. You had once, cancelled your romantic Hogsmeade trip with your so called girlfriend because Hermione was having cold, that too on the birthday of your girlfriend. You always choose her Harry, no matter what happens. And the way you have been acting lately around her, like a freak, trying to be with her all the time and the way you threatened Zacharias Smith, asking him to stay away from Hermione. Want me to continue with the list?" Ron said taking deep breaths as though if he had run miles. "You know, list is so long that I can go on for the night." He finished.

"No, I got your point. But I don't think you have come up with this list on your own. You are too busy with Luna, quidditch and eating, to notice all these things by yourself." Harry said with a smug look.

"Hey I do notice things." Ron said in complaining voice "Though Luna helped me a bit as well." He mumbled towards the end.

"I knew it." Harry said, laughing at his friend.

Ron glared at Harry but then started laughing with him.

At last Harry calmed down a bit.

"So do you think Hermione would return my feelings?" Harry asked anxiously.

"It's not my place to tell, Harry. You would have to find it on your own." Ron said. Harry nodded with understanding, agreeing with Ron.

Harry was deep in thought for few minutes. Then he quickly jumped off his bed, opened his trunk and took out the Firebolt, his flying broom. He pulled out a pair of jeans and t-shirt. He made his way to bathroom to change his cloths.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked with confusion in his voice, as Harry came out of the bathroom.

"Where do you think I would go? To Hermione of course." Harry said in a matter-of-fact tone, as he started pulling on his socks and shoes.

"But…" Ron started but Harry interrupted him.

"No Ron. I have already wasted so much time due to my ignorance. I don't want to wait anymore." Harry said and quickly moved out of boys' dormitory, taking his Firebolt and leaving a baffled Ron behind.

'Boy, he's crazy' Ron thought, as he settled back into his bed.

Harry went to the common room and opened a window. He took off in the air, out of the window, on his broomstick. Harry knew which window belonged to seventh year girls' dormitory. He was sure that Hermione would still be up, reading some book. He chuckled at this.

`Hermione and her books.' Harry thought fondly.

Being the Head Girl and the Head Boy, Harry and Hermione were offered separate private quarters in Gryffindor tower. But they both refused the offer. They didn't want to stay with extra privileges and away from their friends as this was their last year at Hogwarts.

Harry flew towards the window of the seventh year girls' dormitory in Gryffindor tower, stopped outside and knocked lightly, on the glass of the window

As Harry had guessed, Hermione was reading a book. Fortunately, Hermione's dorm mates were heavy sleeper. If girls would have woken up, he would have been in deep trouble.

Lavender Brown, one of Hermione's dorm mates and a fellow seventh year student, had tried to seduce Harry after he broke up with Tracey and was extremely jealous of Hermione, due to her close friendship with Harry. Harry simply ignored her and her attempts to seduce him. So he knew that if she would have seen him outside the girls' dormitory window, she might have started screaming. But today luck was on his side.

Hermione was busy reading a book, when she heard a knock on the window. She knew that it would be Harry. He had come a few times, like this, to talk to her when he had a nightmare and she was not in common room. He would usually come and wake her up, and then she would go to common room to talk with him.

She made her way to window and cast a silencing charm around it. Then she opened the window.

"Harry what are you doing here?" Hermione whispered furiously.

Harry moved his broom a bit closer to the window. He smiled guiltily at Hermione. "Sorry but I wanted to talk to you. Can't wait till morning." He said in somewhat desperate tone.

Hermione sighed. She couldn't say no to him, when he was like this. "Ok, go back to the common room. I'll be there in a couple of minutes." She said.

Harry shook his head. "No come with me." Harry said his emerald eyes looking intensely into Hermione's chocolate-brown eyes.

Hermione felt a little dazed by intensity of his eyes. She immediately pulled herself out of her stupor.

"What? You know I hate flying." Hermione said with panic rising in her voice.

"Trust me Hermione. I won't let anything happen to you." Harry said earnestly, looking at her with pure intensity.

Hermione knew that Harry would never let anything happen to her. And she couldn't say no to him, when he was being so honest. Sometimes she resented him for it but then this is what made him Harry and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Ok. Let me get a jacket then." Hermione said as she started moving back towards her bed.

"No" Harry stopped her. "Come with me. I'll keep you warm." He said softly.

"Okay" Hermione said without thinking. “But at least, let me put on my socks and shoes.” She said. Harry just laughed at this and nodded.

Once Hermione was ready, Harry moved his broom, very close to the window. He gestured Hermione to sit in front of him. Hermione climbed on the window ledge. She was feeling very scared and tried, not to look down.

"Just look at me Hermione. I won't let you fall." Harry said in gentle voice. Hermione looked into his eyes and for a moment, everything else was a blur. All she could see and feel was Harry, just Harry.

Harry took her hand and helped her to sit in front of him, on the broom. Once Hermione settled herself comfortably, Harry quickly wrapped his one arm around Hermione's waist pulling her close to him, so that her back was completely pressed against his chest.

"Are you alright?" Harry whispered in her ear. Hermione simply nodded. Harry's proximity was sending a jolt of electricity throughout her body, making her feel warm throughout the body. She closed her eyes, reveling in his warm presence. She just wanted to turn around and kiss him senselessly.

Harry carefully guided his broom upwards. He kept one arm around Hermione, holding her very close to him and other hand on the broom handle.

Harry landed his broomstick on the Astronomy tower. Hermione got off first and Harry followed. Then he performed a warming charm around them. They both were quiet.

It was a beautiful night. Sky was full of stars and a bright moon. Whole Hogwarts was immersed into the moonlight.

Harry looked at Hermione. She was staring at the sky. Harry was completely mesmerized by the site in front of him, in the shape of Hermione. Her hairs were tied in a loose ponytail. She was wearing simple flannel pajamas and a light blue shirt. Her chocolate brown eyes were practically glowing in the moonlight.

"It's beautiful. Isn't it?" Hermione said as she removed her eyes from sky, to look at Harry, only to find him staring at her intensely.

"Yes. Beautiful." Harry said softly, his gaze fixed on Hermione. She blushed, realizing that Harry was referring to her.

That moment Harry realized that what Ron had said was right, he was always in love with her. That's why she always came first, before any other girl.

"So, why are we here?" Hermione asked curiously, breaking the silence. She knew that it was something very vital, otherwise Harry wouldn't have brought her to the tower.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." Harry said apprehensively.

Hermione nodded with understanding. "Ok. So what is it?" Hermione asked "You know, you can tell me anything." She added, seeing Harry's anxious expression.

Harry was getting extremely nervous. He was going to tell Hermione about his feelings for her. Tonight, he was going to open his heart and show his feelings, for her, hoping that she would embrace them and in return, would love him back.

He was also terrified about, what if she rejected, what if she didn't feel the same. But he didn't want to have regrets for the rest of his life, thinking, what would have happened if he would have told her about his feelings. He knew even if Hermione didn't feel the same, their friendship was very strong and would not get affected by this. But something in his heart was telling him that she feels the same.

"Hermione there's something I want to tell you." Harry said. When Hermione started to speak, Harry put a finger on her soft lips, to stop her.

"No, first it's my turn. You will not speak until it's your turn." Harry said with a roguish grin.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and nodded. Harry removed his fingers from her soft lips, reluctantly. He looked towards the sky as he started talking.

"You know, since we had that conversation in the common room, about you not being a part of my life forever. It got me thinking and I realized that I don't want a life where you are not with me forever. I don't know if I can live without you or not, but I know that I don't want to live without you." Harry said looking deeply in her eyes. She had an unreadable expression on her face.

"I love you Hermione Granger. I am in love with you. I always have, but I didn't realize it until recently when you said that you won't be around, forever. I have shared everything about me, with you and I will continue to do so. You make me happiest and I want to make you happy as well. You are the most important person in my life and you know me better than anyone else, including myself." Harry said, his voice full of love for Hermione.

Harry took a deep breath and took a step, closer to Hermione. "I don't want to see you just on weekends, but every day and every moment of my life. And also I don't want you to get involved with any other boy, romantically, except me." He added last part with a chuckle.

Harry had lots of things on his mind that he wanted to tell Hermione. But finally Hermione couldn't resist and interrupted him, however, not with the words, but with a passionate kiss.

Harry was stunned at first but soon his mind registered what was happening. He quickly gathered Hermione in his arms and kissed her back, passionately.

After some time they both pulled apart. But Harry still held her close to him.

"I love you too Harry" Hermione said breathlessly.

"You do?" Harry asked with awe.

Hermione grinned at him. "Yes, since the fourth year." She replied enthusiastically.

Harry's face fell a bit. "Why didn't you tell me? We might have got together, a long back." He said despondently.

Hermione smiled at him, her eyes full of love.

"I never thought that you would feel the same." Hermione said softly. "I was content in loving you from afar. But as time passed, it became unbearable. It really hurt to see with you other girls. I never thought that you would fall for someone like me, you know ugly, bookworm, know-it-all." She said with a sad look in her eyes.

Harry cupped Hermione's cheek with his hand. "I am very sorry for hurting you." He said apologetically. "And you are the most beautiful, intelligent and kind girl I have ever seen." He said kissing her lightly on the lips. "And don't you dare insult my girlfriend." he added last part jokingly to make Hermione smile. It worked and she smiled.

Also tears of happiness filled in Hermione's eyes, at Harry's words. She just shook her head.

"Don't be sorry. You didn't know how I felt about you. And it doesn't matter anymore. I couldn't have asked for more." She said while grinning at Harry from ear to ear. Harry wiped her tears away. "It's just you and me, now."

Harry grinned back at her. He couldn't stop himself from kissing her again. He leaned towards her. "Just you and me." He whispered in her ear and crushed his lips to hers, holding her tightly, almost lifting her from the floor. They both continued to kiss each other, exploring each other. They spent most of the night at astronomy tower kissing and talking about their future and life, which was waiting for them outside Hogwarts.

They both were happy, to finally find the love of their life, especially with each other.

The End.

Author's note: - Finally done. So what do you think of this fic? Was it any good? Please give me your reviews about whether you liked it or not.

So read and REVIEW…REVIEW…REVIEW…

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