Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter because if i did this scene would definitely be in the movies and the books.

OK guys here is the second chapter which I was not going to add but upon reading my first ever reviews here on portkey, I have decided to dedicate this chapter to my reviewers: MapleMountain, HoosierPotter, and pianomouse for being their wonderful selves and r&r my story. You guys are what motivate new writers like me to do more.

Enough of my ramblings now. On with the story. Please review, it makes me super happy

It was long past noon and the sun was sinking behind the distant Blue Mountains, casting its last crimson orange beams on the ground and onto the faces of two young people sleeping alone in the middle of the forest.

"Harry", Hermione mumbled sleepily. Her eyes were still closed to block out the soft sunlight.

"Mmh" Harry grumbled and fell silent again.

"Harry it's late! I can't believe we slept through an entire morning. We were supposed to be keeping watch and I think I just heard someone moving around in the forest", her concerned voice woke him up somewhat and he opened his eyes to see a worried Hermione looking around them, searching warily for anything abnormal or suspicious.

"Come on Hermione there is nothing there", He sat up beside her, yawning slightly. Boy it felt good to get proper sleep for once in a while.

"It could be, I don't know Harry maybe we should apparate somewhere else. We have already spent two days here. What?" She asked at his dumbfounded expression.

The sight before him had stunned him into silence; Hermione was sitting in a way that she was obscuring the path of sunlight, Harry observed. Her hair blazed golden around the edges where the fiery light refracted off it. Her skin was radiant in the warm glow of the fading sun. Surrounded by the orange-brown falling leaves and framed by golden light she looked like she belonged here; in the unchanging, pure and timeless nature, an otherworldly creature. Apparently Hermione had asked him something, judging by the inquisitive expression present on her face. "What?" he asked, feeling dizzy all of a sudden for no apparent reason.

"What were you thinking? You really zoned out for a moment there", she cocked her head to the side, watching him with a glint in her eyes.

"I um just ..ah..", After all they had done, he still felt shy about expressing his emotions in words. But he looked at her again and the words tumbled out of his mouth without further self-persuasion, "You look really beautiful right now".

Hearing that she shyly looked down from his face to her own hands in her lap, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. She was not a low-esteem kind of person, actually she prided herself in who she was; strong willed, intellectual and logical person. But hearing Harry say something so out of character for him, she felt overjoyed and pleased and then embarrassed that she felt like this. She looked at him with doubtful eyes, "You are just saying that, Harry. I am far from beautiful" she said nonchalantly.

"You are beautiful, Hermione", Harry said to her and then decided she needed more reassurance so he went on, "The way the sunlight make your hair like molten gold, swaying in the wind around you, you glow like a thousand stars, sewn into the ivory fabric of your skin, your eyes just make me bow down and fall to your feet" He enacted the last part by bowing down and started tickling her feet with his fingers, making her shriek and squirm uncontrollably.

"Stop Harry stop", she was laughing heartily at his lame attempts at romantic prose. "You are really terrible... But thank you", she said, with tears of laughter, swimming in her eyes, after he had stopped making her scream like banshee.

With a perfect synchronized movement, they drew close to each other and kissed softly on the lips. Instead of just a loving peck on the lips the kiss slowly morphed into something intense. Their lips fought for dominance, tongues invading the other's territory, trying to mark the sacred places first.

A loud chattering noise by a nearby kestrel disturbed the serene silence that had prevailed after setting of the sun, and the passionate kiss of two young couples.

"Come on, let's get inside. I would really love some tea right now with those left over rolls", Harry stood up and with a wave of invitation went inside.

Smiling at the retreating figure, Hermione went after him.

After they had finished tea, Hermione went outside for her turn to watch out for the night. She had declined his offer, saying she needed some fresh air to clear her mind. He watched her go and then plopped down on the saggy old chair. He felt like he had forgotten to do something. He racked his brains but could not remember as to what that was.

Sitting outside, Hermione pondered on all that had happened between Harry and her since last night. She had wanted this for so long; not the physical aspect only-which was mind blowing to say the least- but the need to tell him what she felt, able to look at him without feeling the need to hide her true emotions from him. She felt free at last to show him how much she liked him.

A small nagging voice in her mind kept reminding her that Harry might not feel the same for her. To him all this that happened could be summed up to pent up sexual frustration, nothing more. That thought really depressed her and she tried to banish it from her mind with little success. In the end she decided to talk to Harry about it and with that thought her rational mind made peace with her, to let her continue the watch for the time being. Watching the same scene in front of her made her doze off into a warm stupor.

She was shaken gently by someone. "Come on Hermione go back inside to sleep. I will watch over here", he said it, his mouth so close to her ear it made her shiver despite the mild wind of late autumn blowing past her. She clutched his jacket to keep him close, not wanting to part with him.

"Only If you come to bed with me", she whispered softly into his jacket. Her request was met with silence. She looked up at him and saw him looking at her. Her meaning behind the request had not gone unnoticed by him. So with one little "okay" he pulled her up on her foot gently and they made their way to the single bed in the tent. The rest of the night was spent exploring the newly found terrain and reuniting with previously discovered secrets between the newly bonded lovers.

Slightly shivering from the cool morning draft coming through the open tent flap, Hermione drowsily made to grab the blanket only to be resisted by Harry's weight. After several unsuccessful attempts at snagging the warm blanket from him, she did the only thing she could and snuggled closer to him under the little provided blanket. His body heat and the arm unconsciously drawn around her lulled her softly into peaceful sleep.

Something was moving on her, interrupting the beautiful dream she was having just moments ago. Her hand flew around to swat away the source of her annoyance only to be met with nothing. Moments later she felt something soft against her neck, moving slowly, lazily wandering around. She kept her eyes closed, but she could very well imagine the smile she must have on her face right now. She moaned her appreciation at the touch and extended her neck to give him better access. His lips were now making for her lips. But before they could reach where she wanted them, they swerved to the side and kissed the corner of her mouth before going further back and nibbling on her ear, teasing her.

"Good morning", his voice tickled her and she giggled at the sensation.

Hermione opened her eyes and turning her head, kissed him before saying," Good morning".

"What time is it?" She asked while grabbing her shirt from the edge of the bed and started looking for her jeans; Harry handed her the jeans with a grin on his face that made her blush involuntarily.

"Around nine", he shrugged. His eyes were watching her skin slowly getting veiled behind the layers of clothing, he didn't like it.

"I am hungry", she whined, making Harry laugh.

"It's your fault you work out so much," he teased her.

"For that you won't be 'working out" with me tonight then", she pulled out her tongue at him childishly and pushed past him.

"No can't do, have to keep myself up in shape", He called after her and heard her snort.

She turned, giving him a sweet innocent look and said, "Well, it won't do us any good if we do not replenish our energy for such strenuous exercises"

And with that she went to the kitchen part of the tent, leaving a dazed Harry behind.

They made tea and settled with some boiled eggs taken from a nearby store. After that they both once again went to sit outside, to keep watch and also to soak up the last sunny days before winter made its appearance known.

"Hermione?" Harry was trying to show that he wasn't nervous; he was anything but. He had decided they should talk about 'it'. He knew he liked her and she must do to some extent too or she wouldn't have done what they did that night, and again last night he thought with a smile. He wasn't an expert on relationship matters, but he knew communication was the key to a healthy one. So he bit the bullet and asked her, "I think we should talk about... What we have been doing".

Hermione had guessed pretty much what he was going to say. With a sigh, she closed her book, bookmarking it, and faced him fully with a serious look adorning her features.

"You are right, we should, Harry", she steeled her eyes for a moment, taking control of her emotions, "Harry I want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened. You were emotionally vulnerable and I knew that, but still I didn't stop you".

Harry tried to say something, but she stopped him. "Let me finish, please. I used you like that, knowing what it would do to our friendship. But I am really sorry Harry. You can't know how sorry I am. I let my selfish side guide me for once and look what happened. We can forget that it ever happened. I really don't want to lose our friendship, harry" Her voice broke at the end and she used her sleeve to rub away the stray tears on her face.

"Are you finished? Good, because what you said is complete bull. I wasn't drunk or unconscious that night to think properly, Hermione. It wasn't your fault entirely. I was the willing party too, so you couldn't have used me anyway. And it was the amazing mistake I think I ever made, if you want to call it that. I don't know about you, but I don't want to forget all of this. I don't want to forget how you make me come alive with the bare touch of your hand or how your lips part whenever i touch your face" he emphasized his point by running his fingers softly on her face and was proved right when she half opened her mouth to let out a breathy sigh.

"But Harry it was all just physical attraction for you. We both needed some intimacy and comfort from each other", she said, her heart breaking with every word she uttered" it was nothing more".

Harry grabbed her arms firmly and turned her to look into her eyes with fierce determination, "Hermione it was never just physical attraction with you."

She stared at him, confused at his statement, "But it was, Harry you didn't feel anything for me like that before. Am I to believe that all of a sudden you like me?" she almost shouted the last part at him.

He regarded her for a moment, thinking of words forming in his minds to answer her question.

"How do you know I felt nothing for you before?" He asked rhetorically with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I know you didn't", she was being stubborn now like she always did when some particular Arithmancy problem refused to be solved in the first attempt.

"For once, Hermione, you are wrong", he said loudly. "I fancied you way back in our third year. When you helped me save Sirius, ignoring the consequences had we been caught that time, made me realize what you meant to me. You had no obligation to help me, but you did and I knew that day that we were going to be more in future. We became best friends. In our fourth year you were the only one who believed me without a doubt. That once again made me realize how much you meant to me. I had been a right bloke then, ignoring what I felt for you, categorizing it into just best friends' feelings. But then I decided to talk to you, work up my courage to tell you how I felt, but before I could muster up my guts, Ron told me he fancied you. I was going to tell you Hermione, but after hearing Ron, I chose to keep my mouth shut. I now know it was highly cowardly and stupid on my part, but Ron's friendship meant more to me than what my heart wanted that time and after what with the night I was chosen to participate in the tournament, I didn't like not talking to him no matter how much of a prat he had been. So I decided to step aside, and keep what I felt for you to myself."

She was looking at him like she had never seen him properly before. Her eyes were on him, rapt with attention to his every word.

"But it was hard, Hermione. To watch you with Krum at the ball and then hear Ron talk about you all the time. I wanted nothing more than just to yell at him to shut up and tell him he had no right to talk about you like that.

I had so many chances through the next year, but I was too coward still. So I decided to distract myself with Cho but even that couldn't divert me from the constant presence of you in my mind. In our last year I promised myself that I will tell you at last. May be you felt the same for me after all this time. Remember, I asked you to come to Slughorn's party with me? I was going to tell you that night, but you said you were going out with Mclaggen to make Ron jealous. That was my cue that I had been too late; you liked Ron after all. So I tried to move on and got out with Ginny. She was everything a guy looks for but she wasn't you. I satisfied myself that whatever made you happy was good enough for me, if it was Ron that made you happy so be it."

He took her hands in his then, grasping them tightly, "But I never stopped, Hermione. Merlin, I tried, but it was you all along. You are what I want. I want to be selfish with you. I don't care anymore about anyone but you".

Hermione was crying now, her hands still clutched in his, her breadth was shallow and fast. She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Harry why didn't you? We could have had so many years to enjoy, to be with each other like we were meant to. You are wrong too, you know. I liked you even before that; when you saved me from that troll in our first year, our friendship bloomed but so did my feelings for you. I was so young back then to fully understand what those feelings truly meant and I attributed them to the close friendship we had. Over the years I started to understand those feelings and I fell more for you with every year that passed. I knew you would never like me like that. I was just a know-it-all big toothed friend who helped you with your homework. I knew I wasn't pretty like Cho and Ginny, the kind you seemed to prefer. So I didn't say anything. Then Ron asked me out and I tried to move on by accepting his offer. But I never stopped loving you, Harry", she sobbed and tried to pry her hands out of his but he held on.

"I can't believe we wasted so much time being stupid. But it's in the past. What matters is now" He brought her hands to his face and softly planted a kiss on her palm.

"I have loved you before I even realized that. I know with hundred percent surety that you are the one and only person I want to spend my probably last counted day with. I don't want to waste another minute of it to be apart from you." He kissed her then, with delicate press of his lips on hers.

"I don't want to waste another minute without you either," she rasped against his lips before resuming the kiss with new found fiery passion ignited by tonight's revelations. Their lips crashed against each other, conveying the raw emotions through the joining of tongues.

Only when they both started to get light headed from the lack of oxygen did their lips broke apart to gulp in the much needed air. They brought their foreheads together and kept breathing and slowing down their frantically beating hearts.

"So does that mean we are together now?" Harry asked her with feigned innocence and was rewarded with an unbidden burst of laughter from her.

"I think you may be right, Harry, " she said with a beautiful smile and pulled him for another kiss. This one was sweet and chaste and full of promise for the future. Their future.

A/N: It is complete for now but I may add more chapters later whenever I get inspired to write. I am a really lazy person so I won't torture others by keeping it in "in progress" state.

Hugs and kisses for those who review. Take care.

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