This Thing Called Love

The dungeons. A horrible place to be in during the summertime, especially if you were sharing the dungeons with Severus Snape and some of the Slytherin population. It was burning in the dungeons, and the seventh and sixth year students were dumping out ingredients in their cauldron for their potion. The Gryffindors' fingers were trembling as the Potions master hovered over each student, giving snide remarks.

The trio of Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter had occupied the back seats as usual. While they worked on their potion, Hermione corrected their mistakes, and saved them the trouble of tension over their potions grade. None of them were paying attention to anyone else in their room since they were taking the opportunity to converse about the Order of the Phoenix in low whispers.

As Harry leaned over to whisper something to Hermione, his nose made contact with her hair, and he caught the sweet smell of her shampoo. He couldn't pin point just what it was, but he was positive there couldn't be one shampoo in the world that smelled like this. There was a bit of the coconut smell, mixed with vanilla essence as well as passionflower.

He sucked in a breath, and Hermione turned to him, looking startled. Harry recovered himself quickly and whispered, "Hagrid said that there was going to be a meeting soon. We could sneak in..." Harry trailed off. They weren't allowed to go to the Order's meetings. Mrs. Weasley had stomped the idea even before Dumbledore had suggested it. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, were determined to go to the meetings and they enjoyed getting Hagrid to leak out information.

She turned away from him to pass the information down to Ron, and Harry felt disappointed. Odd, how he was acting. Harry focused on his potion and was about to pour in fluxweed, when Hermione grabbed his wrist. He felt a chill run down his spine. He turned to Hermione and saw the concern in her mahogany eyes. Harry closed his eyes and focused on his potion. He put the fluxweed down and looked up at the directions once again to ensure the right ingredients.

That night in the busy common room, a seventh year's heart was spinning out of control. The room was buzzing with activity. Parvati and Lavender were quizzing each other while painting their nails, Dean and Seamus were discussing brooms, and most of the others were busy studying for the end of term exams.

Harry was sitting comfortably on the squishy armchair. Ron was seated next to him and was working on his Charms essay. Hermione was sitting across the little fireplace area. She was on the couch placed diagonal to the armchair. She was nibbling slowly on her quill and after a couple of seconds, she scribbled fiercely on the parchment in her hand, supported by the hardbound book.

Giving up on his Potions essay, Harry focused on observing her very closely. She was still scribbling away, and Harry noticed the curve of her hands when she moved her hand across the parchment. She stopped scribbling and unfolded her legs. She stretched them out across the couch, and Harry closed his eyes.

He really didn't want to look. He didn't want to look. He did not - oh, what the hell! Harry opened his eyes and saw her long legs, with one ankle crossed over the other. He watched them fold together again and watched Hermione resume her nibbling on the quill. Harry had a strange urge to be the quill. The feel of her teeth softly biting down and her tongue flicking over. He'd get to feel her lips...

Harry shut his eyes and thought about his craziness. He wanted to touch her. Odd... He was having thoughts like when really, he was supposed to be thinking about brewing potions. This had never happened to him. How could he have sexual thoughts about Hermione? She was his friend. His best friend. More over, his best friend that might have a crush on his other best friend.

Thoughts were spinning out of his head. This really wasn't right. It wasn't right. It was wrong, and he had absolutely no morals. Just like his father had been at that age. Perfect. He really was the spitting image of James Potter. Both inside and out.

Harry broke out of his reverie as Hermione's voice flooded through his ears.

"Harry! Harry! I completely forgot. We've got detention for Snape today. Oh my goodness! I can't believe this! Now we're in even more trouble. How could he possibly have even known we were sneaking into that meeting? Oh, I hate him! We'd better get going! Come on, Ron! Leave your essay! You won't have time to finish if we don't get to the dungeons in time," She grabbed his arms and pulled him up. Harry was blown away just by the contact and remained a statue, until she gave him a little push and started shrieking again.

They reached the dungeons five minutes later than the set time, and Hermione was nearly in tears. "You watch what he's going to do! He'll give us detention for the whole week and then we won't even have any study time!" She said it like it was a conspiracy and Harry was ready to bet him money, that it was, since Snape hadn't even bothered to remind them about it in class.

"Ahhhh, I see you have arrived late. Well, I can't say I expected the famous trio to ever be on time," Snape sneered at them. "I had planned on giving all of you a week's worth of detention, but of course, Dumbledore saved Potter, so instead, your detention will be rather difficult...." He smiled at them, and Harry felt apprehensive.

"You are to go into the Forbidden Forest by yourself." Hermione opened her mouth, but Snape just continued, "Of course I had to pass it by the Headmaster first. He seems you three are quite capable of handling the creatures in the Forbidden Forest, as you have been there numerous times. Your task is to go into the forest and get me a Tribulus stem. It is a thorny plant with other special features, which I think you will find interesting to discover. Bring me these stems by morning, before sunrise." Snape finished his explanation and the there of them turned away, Hermione leading the way, babbling on about the 'special features' Snape had mentioned. Harry was just noticing that 'Hermione Walk' when she turned around, hands on her hips and regarded Ron and him.

"Will you two pay attention? We need to go to the library and find out all these 'special features' and then go to the forest and get those bloody stems Snape wants. I'll bet you anything he needs it for a potion that he's making for the Order." Hermione turned and kept walking while Harry and Ron just followed.

Harry had the full opportunity to have a look at how she walked now. She hips didn't quite sway from side to side, but for some reason, he still found it appealing. They arrived at the library and Hermione went straight to Madame Pince. Harry watched as Hermione questioned Madame Pince about the Tribulus, rather bravely and he watched as Madame Pince regarded her with suspicious eyes. He followed the two as they went over to the restricted section, and then they were sitting at a table,

"I hate him! That bloody -" Hermione started and Harry noticed this was the first time she was swearing at a Professor and he found it rather arousing. He focused his eyes again to look at Hermione. " That git has left us to deal with this idiotic plant. Listen to this - A Tribulus is a thorny plant that originated from Greece. No one quite knows how this plant was formed, but it is the most interesting species of plant. The thorns in its stem cause the person who comes in contact with them to discover a part of their life. The roots of the plant are impossible to obtain, but research shows they are the cure of many magical sicknesses. Stems are used in Potions, but they are also hard to obtain. Potion makers have used summoning charms in the past and some have succeeded. Most potion makers prefer to get their own stems, since they are so expensive to buy, but anyone who dares to take a thorn-full stem of a Tribulus must do it with caution and must be armed with a wand. The stems can only be pulled on crescent moons. Trying to take them on any other days can be harmful and rather difficult..."

"Can you believe it? I refuse to believe Dumbledore let Snape do this. I bet he's lying. A Tribulus. And this was in the restricted section of the library. I hate him!" Hermione expressed more of her thoughts about Snape as she shut the book and returned to the librarian, and then headed out towards the grounds. "What is wrong with you two? You're not talking!"

Harry genuinely didn't trust his voice and remained quite, but next to him, Ron piped up, "We'd talk if you'd let us, Hermione. You've been going on and on about this."

"Sorry Ron, but oh, I hate him!" Hermione screeched. "This is such a waste of time! It's a night of study time gone!" She marched down the front steps and into the night air and Harry and Ron followed her.

The night was wonderful. There was a little breeze, but the weather was warm. The stars above were gleaming upon them and the perfect crescent moon was looking down on them. They walked most of the way in silence, and when they reached the edge of the forest, Hermione said, "Light your wands!" And they did so.

They headed into the forest and found it was rather difficult to look for this plant, as they had no idea what part of the forest they would find it in. They moved in deeper and deeper and the branches grew thicker around them. Harry and Ron had no idea where they were going, but they knew they weren't taking the same path they'd taken when they'd gone to see Aragog, and that relieved them both.

Finding his voice, Harry asked, "Uhhhhh...Hermione? Do you know where we're going?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do Harry. We're going to the other edge of this forest." She stopped and turned to him, and through the dim light of the wand, he could see the concentration on her face. She turned and started walking again.

They walked on and on for what seemed like hours, but could only have been a few minutes. It was odd that they hadn't encountered anything in the forest yet. Harry was suddenly stricken by a thought. "Hermione, if it's on the edge of the other side, couldn't we have just flown over all this."

"No, we couldn't have, and you should very well know why," she said sharply and then kept on walking.

Harry pondered the idea, his brows furrowed in confusion. She's afraid of heights. Harry realized. It had to be. But then, how could she have jumped through the trapdoor in their first year. Odd. He never knew Hermione was scared of heights. "You're scared of heights?" he asked, not really sure she was.

"No, I'm not. I just don't like flying."

"Hermione! How could you not like flying!" Ron burst out.

"Be quiet Ron! We've managed to come this far without meeting something, so let's keep it that way."

They resumed walking and the silence came with it. After about another thirty minutes of walking, they could see some light. They walked out of the shadows of the forest and were greeted by a magnificent sight. They were at the edge of a cliff, and below, they could see pure water, which was reflecting the stars above.

To the left of them were some plants, set out at the edge. They were stationary and motionless, and Ron started towards them, but Hermione put a hand out to stop him.

"They might look still, but get too close and they'll attack," Hermione warned.

"How are we supposed to get the stems if the bloody thing will attack us?" Ron piped up.

"There's a way. There's a way to do this. We could use a Summoning Charm. The book said Summoning Charms work best on Crescent moon days. Let's try Summoning. One at a time. Move over, move over, I need some room," Hermione pushed them gently.

"Do you want me to go first Hermione?" Harry asked.

"I want to do it Harry." She said it in such a final tone, that Harry knew she wasn't just doing it to prove something. "Accio Tribulus stem!" A root came shooting out to her and she cleverly held it in the air with her wand. "We can't touch the stems. They become useless in potions if they're touched by human hands and anyway, we don't want to risk getting hurt by the thorns. One of you go next now."

It was odd how she seemed to be so controlling over this. And Harry looked at the Tribulus and noticed that it had started thrashing and clashing together.

"Uhhh, Hermione, how am I supposed to get a stem if it's moving all this time?" Harry asked.

"Wait awhile. It might stop moving after a couple of minutes."

They waited and a couple of minutes passed, but the Tribulus kept on moving. Harry looked at Hermione and this time, he saw fear reflected in her deep brown eyes. Her eyes were beautiful and now he had to focus and get the damn stem.

"I'll just do it anyway." He raised his arm, but Hermione pushed it down.

"You can't do that. The stem will come to you with such force, that you won't be able to control it and then you'll come in contact with it. We have to wait."

"Hermione, let's just get this over with. Ron can control it when it comes over," Harry said and before Hermione could stop him again, he cried, "Accio Tribulus stem!" He watched as a stem somewhere in the middle of the plant, came towards him, in slow motion. He saw it spin on its axis and he realized two second before that he was going to make contact with a thorn. Playing Quidditch, his reflexes were good, but they weren't that good.

His palm made contact with thorns, but instead of hurting, it was like Harry was being sucked into the whirlwind of a hurricane. His head was spinning and then it stopped. Harry was still having trouble organizing his thoughts when he noticed he was alone. He was all alone in a white world. And somewhere far in the distance he saw a shadow. A shadow that was drawing closer and closer to him. And as the figure stepped into the light, Harry noticed who it was. Long legs. The odd smell of her hair. The dark mahogany eyes. The thin, pink lips. It was Hermione.

She was just standing there. Just standing there, and Harry found himself edging closer and closer to her, inch by inch, step by step, foot by foot. Ten feet away, five feet, three feet, one feet away and there was a noise and Harry was clutching to the ground for dear life.

A circle had been surrounded around him and as he looked down, he saw redness with rocks falling into it. It was lava. How typical. He was about to loose his life. He saw Hermione above him, just standing there, smiling at him, like an angel. He tried to pull himself up. He called out to his friend, but she just stood there. Time ticked by faster than ever as he tried to bring himself up, his palms getting sweaty. And then he lost his grip.

He was falling and it would only be a few seconds before he'd feel pain and agony. In those crucial moments, what he saw was Hermione. Her face, just like the angel she'd looked like earlier. Like the angel she'd always looked like. The angel she'd always been. He needed her. She belonged to him. He had to keep her. She was his. Only his. No one else's.

And it struck him, that the desires that had started earlier on the day had really been a form of love. It was odd, to discover you loved someone right before you were about to die. He wouldn't even get to vanquish Voldemort now and he felt guilty that he was leaving the whole world to die. Tears streamed down his face at the thought. He was leaving his Hermione all alone. But then he smiled as he realized that there was Ron. Ron would take care of her.

Harry looked down and closed his eyes as he hit the lava and it felt nice. Nice. How odd... He opened his eyes and saw stars. But how could that be? Was he in Heaven? He blinked and saw Ron and Hermione next to him. Before he'd recovered himself, Hermione was on him.

"Harry! Oh, Harry! I told you not to do that! You could have died! Oh, thank goodness! You're okay!" She had tears of happiness streaming down her face and Harry felt a tingle because of her touch. He didn't even insist on having her let him go, and after a while she stepped away herself. "You could have died! You could have been killed! I told you to be careful! Now, we're going to do this my way!" she shrieked and Harry found it comforting that she was worried about him.

"We do it your way, Hermione," Harry said and next to him, Ron nodded.

"Right, now, Ron, you just keep hold of my stem over there. Harry, you can summon a stem over right now since the plant stopped moving after the thorn came in contact with you. Go on, summon one," Hermione said and Harry found it pleasure in just hearing her voice.

He said as she had instructed and soon enough, he was controlling a stem in mid air too.

"Now, Harry, you give the stem to Ron. Ron, you know how to control two things, right?" Hermione smiled at Ron and Ron slowly nodded.

Harry left the stem to Ron to control and listened to Hermione. "Okay, Harry. Now you stun the plant and I'll summon a root, alright?"

Harry did as he was told and five minutes later, each of them were controlling one stem and were walking back, this time Ron leading the way.

It was odd, having felt love.....

To know he loved someone. To know he cared about that one person more than he cared about anyone in this world. To know that person might not be his. To know he couldn't have a relationship with that person until the Dark Lord was gone. To know by that time, it might be too late. To know, she might no love him at all. To know he might be stomping in between two people's love.

It was nice though....Between all that tension, there was a voice deep inside that told him he was happy. He was glad, even if his love might end in tragedy. Harry grasped Hermione's hand in the dark, since they couldn't light up their wands, and he felt that maybe, just maybe she liked his touch. He had no way of knowing it, but it was a feeling. A feeling he hoped was true and false.

~*Finis*~