The Best Medicine

I've seen Harry date other girls. He's had his share of bad ones, and a few decent ones, but he's never had a good girlfriend. I'm not meaning to be harsh, but it's the truth. They're always very pretty girls, I'll admit; they're much prettier than me, for certain. And they're always a little bit star-struck, which makes them look up to him, but they're never really girls that he can sit down and talk to. They're so very shy about being on a date with the Boy Who Lived, and they sort of freeze up, and get nervous. They're hard to converse with.

Part of me sympathizes with them a bit, because Harry can be very intimidating sometimes. He's gotten so tall since his time at Hogwarts was over, and he's got very intense, penetrating eyes that look even bigger behind those glasses, and, of course, there is that scar that just openly states that Harry is, in fact, the famous Boy Who Lived. If I met him for the first time, and was bent on impressing him, I would certainly have a difficult time -

Still. Perhaps this is all very rude of me to say, and I apologize - but honestly, no one would be able to enjoy a date with a girl who was too much in awe, too flabbergasted to make decent conversation. I feel worse for him than for those girls, because those girlfriends of his can turn around in an instant and go and have a normal relationship with a man if it doesn't work out. Harry can't. If his relationship falls apart, and he goes to find another girl, it's exactly the same thing, over and over again. She's always that same type, that coy fan-girl who giggles and smiles, but she never asks, "How was your day? How are you? Do you need anything, Harry? What's the matter?"

That's what I'm here for. I'm the girl in his life that asks those sorts of questions, who really cares. I'm not saying I'm perfect, and that I'm the best friend in the world. I'll admit that I can be irritated, and bossy, and when I'm not in the mood for much of anything, I might say, "Quiet, I'm trying to read right now." And it's easy to bury my face in a book. But Harry's my friend. He's been my friend for ages, and he knows, even if I can be silly and trivial sometimes, that he can come to me. And he does.

He lives in the next apartment, to the left of mine, and Ron's just down the hall, too, so Harry might come in, with hardly a knock, just to say his hellos, and drink some coffee before he goes off to his Auror training, and ask me about something that confused him last night in his usual studying.

I'm the girl who cares. I'm not meaning to be cocky, but I know I am better than all the girlfriends he's ever had, because I care about him. He's more than just a man who has a scar from when he was a baby, who suffered under the terror of Voldemort for all of his life. He's not just someone to be written about in the "Prophet" to get papers sold in the morning. He's not just someone who you go on a date with and then you tell all your friends the next day, "I went to dinner with Harry Potter," like he's a prize, like it's some great honor, like it's just for the shock factor of it.

He's a person. He's a human, who goes and studies and lives in an apartment and needs to shower every day, and - he shaves with a razor that's collecting rust. He cooks his own food when he's not too tired, though his best friends do it for him when he's really exhausted and needs his rest. Usually I do it. Ron's cooking is lax and he knows it. I'm a much better cook than he is, and I make good soup, which Harry likes very much.

Harry Potter likes soup for God's sake; he's a normal person. Anybody likes soup -

But, anyway. The point of the matter is that Harry stopped dating a while ago. It's been several months since he last went out with a girl. I think he's waiting for everything to die down, for the public to forget him a little bit, so when he goes out with a girl, and he tells her his name, she won't know who he is right off. She'll have to think about it, but she won't be able to quite remember at first. It'll be right on the tip of her tongue. She won't remember who he is until the end of the date, but by that point, it'll be too late for her to make a fool of herself. That's Harry's plan for dating - somewhat of a joke, but it might really work.

If it ends up working out really well for him with a nice girl, he'll tell me. He always has told me about his dates. If he gets lucky with a decent date, he'll come home with a big smile, proud and happy, hopeful like when he was a young boy at Hogwarts for the first time, and eating Chocolate Frogs on the train with Ron. I'll be happy for him if he finds himself a good girl. After all, Harry does deserve it more than anyone.

I mean, Ron is too much of a goof to really get upset about a bad date, and his spirits don't falter, and he doesn't get too attached. And me - well, I'm content. I'm studying at the local London wizarding university, and taking all sorts of difficult classes, and I don't have much time to date. And, like I said, I'm content with what I have.

But, Harry - he really does deserve a good girlfriend, someone who he can talk to late at night, and someone who can make him smile when he thinks of her, and someone who won't be scared to stand up for him, and someone who loves him. A part of me knows that even if he doesn't find a girlfriend like that, he's got a girl right here, waiting for him, who's better for him than anyone else - but, he really does deserve a good girlfriend.

I'm not saying that I'm in love with him. Or maybe I am. But that's not the point - the point is, Harry's gone around, gone on dates, like he's searching for something, but doesn't he know that his best friend is a girl who cares about him so much, more than all his past girlfriends have ever cared?

He said to me once, "It would be nice to have a girl who was just comfortable to be with - none of those silly teenyboppers or airheads. I just want someone who's normal and understands and sees me like more than just someone who gets in the newspaper." Well, Harry, I'm your best friend, but I'm everything you're looking for in a girlfriend.

But maybe Harry's problem is just that. I'm his best friend, not his girlfriend. I never have been. He's seen me turn into a cat, petrified, beat up - it was all for him - but, more importantly, he's seen me at my worst. There's nothing attractive about that. It's like I'm too comfortable, like he doesn't even consider it. I'm a girly, bossy, studious version of Ron. I'm a best friend, not a girlfriend.

I don't really like to think about it too much. It's upsetting, because, as conceited as this sounds, I know that if I was Harry's girlfriend, he'd never go looking again for anything else. It's frustrating, because he's unhappy, and I know I could make him happy. Does he not even see it? Am I not enough? I don't know.

Once, I talked to Ron about it, but I don't think he knew terribly well what he was talking about, although I got the impression that it's simply a lack of attraction, which I can understand. His girlfriends have all been much prettier than me, certainly.

But, I said, I don't like to think about it too much, even though I do think about it more than I should. I don't even know if it's that I'm in love with him, or that I want to make him happy. Maybe it's both. I don't know. But there's a part of me, a huge part, that's so curious - what would it be like to kiss him? I won't deny that Harry is a very attractive man. And I know him so well. I know everything about him. I have a right to be attracted to him - more of a right than any of those girls. I know who he is. I know his heart, I know his mind. Can you deny a young woman's curiosity to know his body?

Well, I'm Hermione Granger. I'm Harry Potter's best friend, and the best medicine he could ever have for his lovesickness. It's okay, though. I can go about my life normally, easily, quietly. Harry can always come to me when he needs me. It's been more than 10 years since I've known him and my craving to do anything to make him happy grows with each day. He will always have me, no matter how he has me.