Sleepless

I don´t know why, but I feel the need to thank you, to tell you that you´re the reason I´m not already insane. You may not know it, but you´re the only reason I look forward to mornings, because that means that night will come one more time, beckoning me to sleep where I will find you waiting there to comfort me. Every night, you come to me, hold me, sleep in my arms, and protect me from all ails of my heart and my mind. Part of me knows they´re just dreams, but there are times when I believe that the entire day is a dream and the night is when I wake up to find myself in your embrace. Sometimes, I wonder if you really weren´t laying beside me the night before, because I could almost smell you and I could swear I saw a strand of brown hair on my pillow. Either way, my dreams with you make more sense than the supposed reality. Because of you, the last two months have been the best two months of my life. I can never thank you enough. I don´t know why I´m telling you this. Perhaps I´m asking permission to dream about you again and again, until the day comes that I will no longer need to. I don´t know when that will happen. So, I guess it will be safe to ask if you could come to me in my dreams forever.

Harry

Hermione clutched the letter tightly to her chest. She had folded and unfolded the letter so many times that the places along the creases were almost torn. Hedwig delivered the letter to her a week before, and since then, it hasn´t left her side. She held it while she slept, kept itsafely tucked in her breast pocket at dinner, opened against her books while she studied and read it again and again while she leisured in a bubble bath.

All those times that she read the letter, not once did she consider writing back. Not because she did not want to, but because she simply didn´t know how to respond. If Ron had sent her the letter, she would´ve thought he was a sick pig who fantasizes about their female best friends, and she would´ve told him that too. But with Harry, it was different. For some reason, she felt guilty that it wasn´t her comforting him, but a figment of his imagination that took her form. Just the thought of him alone in his room with nothing to comfort him but prospect of having dreams about her kept her awake.

Every night for the past seven days she couldn´t help but wish that it were really her that was with him, not some dream. This night was no different. She closed her eyes, trying to get the lull of sleep to come to her. But the loud clunking noise on her window made it impossible. She turned to see what the ruckus was all about and she found the familiar snowy owl. She quickly lifted the windows and Hedwig perched herself on the ledge. She found a thin roll of parchment tied to the owl´s leg.

Hermione,

I apologize for my hasty revelation, or whatever it was. What was I thinking? It´s probably the dumbest thing in the world for a boy to tell a girl that he´s having dreams about her every night and it involves them getting into bed together. But I never dreamt of you that way -- we just slept, I promise. I hope you have no ill feelings for me, but I´m afraid you do. You haven´t written back, and it´s been a week. Hermione, I hope you don´t hate me. I can´t bear that. If it feels too awkward, then tell me, and I´ll try and stop dreaming about you, if it´s possible. Just please, write back.

Harry

Her heart heaved a heavy sigh as she let the parchment fall to the floor. She could almost see him, lying in his bed, feeling extremely wretched about himself, thinking he made the biggest mistake of his life by telling her something so intimate about himself. She was his only hold; even if it wasn´t her in reality, to him it was. And now she had let him down. She took one look at Hedwig and knew instantly that she wasn´t fast enough and a letter was not enough to contain all the emotions and thoughts that were going through her mind. There was only one way she could sleep that night and that was if she was lying beside him.

She went to her wardrobe and hurriedly changed into a pair of jeans and a white cotton shirt and a black coat. She took her wand from her trunk as well as her velvet pouch that carried ten galleons of advanced birthday money. As she made her way out the door, she remembered Hedwig was still in her room and she had to dash back in to let her out and give her owl treats. She stealthily climbed down the stairs and made her way to the front door without event. Her parents were not going to be very happy with her, but she didn´t care. All that mattered was that she got to Harry.

After walking a safe distance from her house, she found a fairly secluded area. She checked over her shoulder once more before raising her wand with her right hand. Within a minute, she saw a purple double decker bus careening from a nearby alley. A loud sign announced that it was the Knight bus, exactly how Harry described it. The door opened at Hermione´s feet and she cautiously boarded it.

A pimply boy of around twenty turned to her and said, "Where to, little miss?"

"How much does it cost to get to Privet drive in Little Whinging, Surrey?" she asked politely.

"Five galleons and seven sickles, for six galleons, you get a hot chocolate," he answered with a croaky voice.

Hermione digged into her pouch and pulled out six shiny galleons and handed the money to the boy. "Never mind the hot chocolate," she said with a smile.

"Are you sure, miss?" he asked with furrowed eyebrows. "It´s really good."

"I´m quite sure," she said.

"If you´re sure," he answered as he handed her ten sickles, which she quickly placed in her satchel.

Hermione took a seat in one of the beds near the front. She couldn´t possibly lie down. She felt as if she was about to be sick. She was anxious in every sense of the word. She watched two warlocks and one really unpleasant hag unboard the bus before the conductor announced, "Next stop, Privet Drive."

She practically jumped in excitement. In a few seconds, the bus screeched to a stop and she almost fell to her face.

"Here we are miss," the conductor told her.

Hermione thanked the conductor and the driver before getting of the bus and stepping onto the pavement. The night had become colder and she clasped her coat to her neck. She stared at the monotonous suburban life that faced her. For a moment, she was overwhelmed by the fact that she was standing in an entirely unfamiliar place and did not have a single pound in her pocket. She scolded herself for not thinking about bringing muggle money, especially now that she realized she only had four galleons, which was not enough to get her back. But she soon forgot about her problems as she reverted her attention to the task at hand. She began walking up the street and read the numbers on the houses.

"Eight, Six and, Four." She stopped in front of No. 4 Privet Drive, staring at its quiet and peaceful, suburban existence. It was hard to believe that Harry Potter was living inside such a simple, ordinary muggle home. She examined the exterior of the house, trying to figure out which room was Harry´s and how to get inside without anyone knowing. Based on what Ron had told her, she figured that the room at the far right of the house was Harry´s. Besides, the round light on the ceiling that resembled a flashlight was a dead giveaway. She spotted a tree that had branch leading directly to Harry´s window. She made her way towards it and grasped the side of each trunk with her arms.

There was one problem though; she forgot she couldn´t climb trees. She landed on her bum with a not so soft thud, enough to make the head of a certain green-eyed boy peer out of his window to see a brown haired girl gracelessly sprawled on the front lawn as she rubbed her backside with her hand.

"Hermione?" he asked.

Hermione looked up to see Harry´s eyes, which were as wide as dinner plates, looking at her as if she was Moaning Myrtle.

"Hullo," she said, grinning awkwardly and waving with her free hand.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, still not recovering from the shock of seeing the object of his dreams for the past two months standing, or rather sitting, right in front of him.

"You told me to write back," she answered.

"Exactly, I said write back, not fall on your back," Harry said with a smirk.

"Harry, do you mind letting me in, because it´s cold, and I really don´t want to tell you what I came here for looking like this," she said.

Harry took a large gulp and said, "Alright, go to the back door, okay?"

Hermione nodded and carefully stood up. She went around the backyard towards the door to the kitchen. She waited for a while before Harry opened the door for her.

"Ha--" But Harry covered her mouth with his hand. She looked at him quizzically and he pointed towards the living room. She could see the reflection coming from the television and quickly understood. Harry grabbed her hand and led her up to his room through the backstairs. As soon as he quietly closed the door behind him, he turned to face her. Without saying a word, he asked her what the matter was.

"I couldn´t sleep," she said with a sheepish grin. She realized that he only had his pajama bottoms on and she blushed slightly.

He realized that he was half-naked in front of her, but he wasn´t the slightest bit shocked. To him, this happened a hundred times before.

"Then why did you come here?" he asked.

"Because I thought you couldn´t sleep either," she answered.

"And?"

"And I might be the reason," she said.

"And?"

"And so, I wanted to be the one to fix the problem," she said.

"And?"

"Harry, you´re not daft, I know you get it. So stop playing with me or I´ll leave you and your half naked arse."

Harry grinned slightly. There was nothing better than the real Hermione. Her eyes traveled to his bed. "Is that your bed?"

"Yes."

"Do you mind if I sleep here tonight?"

Harry just shook his head. She took her coat off and hung it by the window and sat by the edge of the bed. She looked questioningly at him and he responded by sitting beside her. After a few minutes, he turned to lie in the bed and she followed suit. There was an awkward space between them, and they both felt that it shouldn´t be there. He gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder as she put her head on his chest rested her arm around his waist. They lied in silence until Harry spoke up.

"Hermione, I don´t think I want to sleep tonight," he said.

She cocked her head up and asked, "Why not?"

"I shan't need to dream of you. You're already here."

Hermione simply smiled at him and nothing made her happier than lying there in Harry´s arms until morning came announcing the birth of a new day.