Just Us

The temperature outside was beginning to cool down from the unusually hot summer. Leaves were starting to fall to the ground gracefully as another year at Hogwarts was set to begin. This was going to be Hermione's seventh and final year. She had gotten a summer internship with the Ministry of Magic that had ended up isolating her from her friends. She tried to write letters but was constantly getting interrupted and she knew that she couldn't push aside her work so she could write a silly letter to her friends. She did however realize how much she missed them, especially Harry. After talking to some of the older women she was working with, she realized that she truly did have feelings for him and she decided she wasn't going to hide them anymore.

The wind nipped at her cheeks as she pulled her sweater closer in around her body as she waited to see her two best friends. She was anxious to hear about their summers, and she knew that they were going to be bored out of their minds when she got around to telling them about hers, but she didn't really mind, she was used to it. Finally she saw the pack of redheads, known as the Weasleys, and the odd man out with the black hair, Harry. She ran up to them and gave each of them a big hug. She noticed how different everyone looked and wondered if they thought the same thing about her. Both of them seemed like they would catch up with Hagrid's height in a couple of years and Ron's slight acne problem seemed to be gone. Harry let his hair grow out a little longer which Hermione thought made him fit that "tall, dark and handsome" look much better. Ron had cut his hair short again after having it long which secretly made Hermione happy because she despised the long hair look on ! him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent the day walking around Diagon Alley under the clear blue sky joking and reminiscing about the past and the year ahead of them until Ron had to go with his family to re-size his robes, leaving Harry and Hermione alone together.

"Harry, if you could pick one thing that you could do again this summer exactly the same what would it be?"

"Let's see...I'd say going to my friend's lake house for the weekend."

"Oh, Ron has a lake house?"

"Oh no, not Ron, Chloe. I met her when I was practicing Quidditch late one night. Then we just became instant friends. She's really nice, you'd like her. She could even be smarter than you!" he joked.

Hermione laughed nervously. Who was this girl he's been hanging around? Smarter than me? I don't think so. "So, Harry, did Ron go up there with you?"

"Nope, just Chloe and I."

"Oh...just the two of you, how pleasant. So then...are you two going out?" Hermione asked in a rushed voice.

"Well, no, not yet, I only met her in the last few months of break but I really like her. She's so fun to be with and she's really pretty," Harry said as his cheeks turned a light shade of red. "We got really close...oh hey look there's Ron!"

Hermione looked away and quickly wiped the tears forming at her eyes. "Um...Harry, I'm going to go to bed. I'm really tired. I'll talk to you and Ron tomorrow. Good night."

Harry looked at her quizzically. "Hermione, it's only 7 o'clock."

"Oh it is, isn't it? Well, nonetheless I'm still tired. See you."

She turned on her heels and walked away casually until she turned the corner and was out of sight and hurried to her room not knowing how long she could hold back her tears. Finally the inn was insight and she barged in through the door and up the stairs.

Hermione walked quickly back to her tidy room, lit a candle on her bedside table and threw herself onto her bed and cried large salty tears into her big soft pillow. "This is all my f-fault...I should have told him earlier...now, now I'm all a-alone because of my own s-stupid ignorance. I'm sure this girl is p-prettier than me, and smarter than me, and more f-fun than me. Why would anyone want to be with me? I'm just some average g-girl who is an extreme workaholic...no one would want to be with someone like that" Hermione choked out in a whisper.

She was too consumed in her thoughts to realize that Harry was standing in her doorway listening to what she was saying. He was worried that maybe she was sick because of her quick departure and decided to check up on her. It was only after he saw her run into the inn that he got really curious about what was wrong with her. He waited for her talking to turn into quiet sobs before slowly walking over to the shaking figure on the bed. He sat on the edge of her bed and started to rub her back in a calming way. "Hermione, it's me, Harry."

Hermione turned over and sat up quickly, her face was blotchy and red from crying but the dim light didn't show that. "Harry! Um, I was just practicing for a play that I'm auditioning for during Christmas break. Yep, I'm pretty good, right?"

Harry didn't smile because he knew she was lying. Hermione was good at a lot of things, but lying wasn't one of them, which was a good thing. "Hermione...I know you're lying...you don't have to. I heard everything and-"

Hermione cut Harry off mid-sentence. "Harry, you don't understand. I've had feelings for you since we met, but I didn't realize them till over the summer when I didn't get to see you at all. I waited everyday for a letter from you, but you didn't write...and I couldn't write because I never had any time, but that's not an excuse. Maybe if I had written to you...and told you the truth...we wouldn't be having this conversation..."

"But Hermione-"Harry started again.

"No, Harry, I know that Chloe is probably prettier than me...and smarter than me...and I'm sure she's a whole lot more fun than me...but I know that she could never love you as much as I would, as I do."

"That's not true."

"What isn't true?"

"All of that, except for the part about love...I don't know how much you love me...but I'd like to know...if you'll show me..." Harry said blushing as he wiped her tears away with the corner of his cloak.

Hermione gave him a confused look. "Well, I don't know how to show you...you just have to trust me..."

"Well, I think I can try and show you..." he said as he leaned in and kissed Hermione's lips softly. After he kissed her he placed his forehead against hers and kissed her lightly freckled nose.

"But Harry, what about...what about Chloe?"

"It doesn't matter Hermione. Don't think about things so much...right now it's just about us," and then he kissed her again.