It Was A Wonderful Picture

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Hey all!

A picture of my friend and the guy she liked inspired this story.  It was just so adorable.  Anyway, the story “Matchmakers” inspired the second picture.  I hope you enjoy! OH! And Please read and review!

Hermione potter a.k.a. Kasumi SSK

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It Was a Wonderful Picture

By Mione017

                        It was one of the happiest days of my life.  It was the sixth year and we had all finished midterms.  Harry, Ron, and I were outside haven’t the most wonderful time snowball fighting.  Colin came by with his camera and snapped a picture.  That is the same picture I’m looking at now.  Harry’s hair was dripping wet from the snow.  He had his arms around me and our heads were leaning on each other.  To my surprise, our photographic selves were blushing furiously.  It was probably from the cold.  I put the photo back on my desk and tried to study for my final NEWTS in my Hogwarts career.  I couldn’t concentrate, maybe for the first time in my life.  I couldn’t remember a single thing I learned to the last seven years.  All I could think about was a raven-haired, green-eyes seeker.  Damn him!

            Why did he have to be so damn cute all the time?  I kept telling myself to concentrate but it didn’t work.  A tapping on my window interrupted my thoughts.  It was Hedwig.  I opened the window and let her in.  A small envelope fell to my feet and Hedwig flew away.  I picked up the note.

             Mione,

 Where are you?  Probably studying.  Anyway, please come down and have some fun.  Haven’t seen you for days! L

                                    Miss you,

                                                Harry

            I couldn’t help but smile.  I really needed to stop liking him.  I’ve been telling myself that for years.  You want the truth?  Yes, I do like Harry.  Unfortunately, so does the entire female population of wizarding world.  Just my luck, huh?  I just HAD to fall for the Boy Who Lived.  I blame him for being so adorable.  I shook my head in a sad attempt to get him out of my head.  It didn’t work. 

            I changed into one of my many ‘Go Gryffindor’ t-shirts and walked down to the common room from my Head Girl dormitory.

            “Hermione!” exclaimed Ron.  “We thought you might have died!”

            “Yeah,” said Harry smiling.  “You don’t even come down to eat.”

            “Well, if you must know,” I said sarcastically.  “I AM dead and I’m a ghost now,” I replied and flopped down on the couch next to Harry.  I leaned my head on Harry’s shoulder and sighed dramatically.  “I’m so stressed!”

            “Oh shut up, Mione.  You and I both know that you don’t need to study for anything in your life.” He poked me in the forehead.

            I sat up and threw a cushion at him.  “That’s not true!”

            He raised his hands as if to tickle me.  I raised an index finger and glared at him threateningly.  Harry tried to glare back but soon, we were both in a fit of giggles. I glanced over to where Ron was.  He winked at me and got up.

            “Well, I better go find Lav,” he said.  “You two lovebirds have fun!”

            I was about to attack him when Harry grabbed my arm.

            “Ron, you better watch yourself!” I screamed as he disappeared through the portrait whole.  Then I realized what Ron just said in front of Harry and I felt my face burn.  I looked at Harry then at my arm that he was still holding.  He immediately let go.

            “Sorry,” he said just above a whisper.

            “It’s alright.”

            There was a pause.

            “What’s new with you?” Harry asked.

            “I dunno, nothing really.”

            “Hermione Granger doesn’t know?” he asked sarcastically.  “I have to alert the press!”

            I threw another cushion at him before I sat down on the opposite couch.

            “Shut up! Since when were you so mean?”

            “I’m never mean! You’re the one throwing the cushions at me.”

            “That’s because you were being stupid.”

            “I can’t be stupid. I’m Head Boy!” Harry said pointing to the badge pinned on his red and gold sweater.

            “Well, I’m Head Girl and I say you were being stupid.”

            “I’m hurt,” Harry said pouting.  He and his stupid pouty puppy-dog face.  It was things like this that fueled my growing attraction to him.  His brilliant emerald eyes sparkled and his mock frown slowly turned into a smile.

            “Okay, what are you plotting now?” I asked uneasily.

            “I’m not plotting anything!” he defended.

            “Yes, you are.  Every time you’re plotting something, you always get that look in your eyes.”

            Without warning, Harry jumped over the table and tickled me.

            “Stop! I’m - going - to - get - you - for - this!” I yelled in between giggles.  It was no use.  I’m terribly ticklish.  That and Harry was stronger than me.  He soon had me pinned to the couch, his face inches from mine.  Only when I stopped giggling did I realize what an awkward position we were in.

            “Excuse me,” I said getting up and turning away from Harry as I felt my face burn up again.  “I should get back to studying.”

            “Yeah, me too,” Harry said before clearing his throat.

            I walked back to my dormitory and flopped facedown on my four-poster.  Why did he always have to do that?  Oh well.  I recited all the Headmasters of Hogwarts in chronological order.  At least my knowledge came back.  I rolled over onto my back and looked to the side so I could see the window.  The sun was just beginning to set.  One more week at Hogwarts and we were all going to go our separate ways.  Ron was going to work for the Ministry of Magic, Harry was going to train to become an Auror, playing Quidditch on the side, and I was going to train to be an Auror and be a dentist.  Only on major holidays would we have the chance to see each other.  And even though Harry and I are both training to become Aurors, the Order put us in different training locations.  Just my luck I assume.

            So basically, it was now or never.  I had to tell him how I felt about him.  What’s the worst that could happen?  He would probably laugh at me.  Then, at least, I’d know the answer was definitely no.  It was a lot better than spending the rest of my life wondering what would happen if I didn’t do anything.  Yeah right, I’m not THAT brave.  I could never do it.  I sighed again.  A large dark brown owl dropped a note at the foot of my bed and flew away in the direction of the owlery. 

            Go to the Astronomy Tower at 10:00.

            That’s all it said.  There was no signature.  The funny thing was I couldn’t recognize the handwriting.  Who would send me this note?

            It was 8:15 so I decided to do a bit more studying before I met whoever sent me that note.  At 9:45, I went down to the common room, again greeted by Ron.

            “Where’s Harry?” I asked.

            “He went to bed already.”

            “Oh,” I said as I walked to the portrait hole.

            “Where are you going?” Ron asked.

            “For a walk.”

            “Are you crazy?  You’re going to get yourself in trouble a week before graduation?”

            “Who’s going to write me up? I’m Head Girl, remember?”

            “Oh yeah.  I blame the NEWTS for making me so tired.  Well, I’m off to bed.  Lucky tomorrow is Sunday, really. Good night.”  Ron walked up to the boys’ staircase wobbling so much he looked as if he would topple over any minute.  I just shrugged and tiptoed outside the portrait hole.

            It’s so strange.  Who would tell me to meet them in the Astronomy Tower?  It was supposed to be the most romantic spot in Hogwarts.  I stopped walking.  I hope it’s not Draco.  Nah, he doesn’t like me.  At least I hope not.  It COULD be Harry.  Yeah right, not in your wildest dreams, Hermione.  I heard footsteps and I leaned so close to the wall I thought a rock might have cut into me.  Why didn’t I borrow Harry’s invisible cloak?  The footsteps started again.  Looks like someone already borrowed Harry’s cloak.  The door to the Astronomy Tower opened and closed.  I didn’t even know why I was there.  If it wasn’t Harry waiting for me in that tower, I didn’t want to see him.  I turned around and began to walk back to Gryffindor Tower, but a gut feeling stopped me from going back.  So I slowly crept over the door.

            When I reached the top of the staircase, I hesitated to open the door.  The tower would be completely dark if it wasn’t for the moonlight.  I saw the tall dark figure standing there with his back towards me.  I think my heart my have leapt because I immediately knew who it was.  How could I not know?  He was my best friend.

            “Hello, Harry,” I said.

            “How did you know it was me?” he asked, turning around.  It was too dark to tell but I could feel that he was smiling.

            “How could I not know?  I know everything about you, from how much you hate potions to how much you love pumpkin pie.”  I smiled back.  “Although I must admit I didn’t know it was you until I saw you here, well your back anyway.”

            “So my handwriting charm worked?” he asked taking a step towards me.

            “Yeah, I guess it did,” I replied fidgeting with the hem of my t-shirt.  I realized I didn’t have my robe on and since it was pretty late at night, I felt a little cold. 

            “So I fooled the un-foolable Hermione Granger?” he joked.

            “Shut up!” I said lightly punching him on his shoulder.

            “Hey! That hurts!” he said pointing to his heart and pouting.  Damn, it was the pout again.  I’m almost positive it was that pout that stopped me from even looking at other guys.

            “You started it, as usual.”  I shivered.

            “Did not.  Are you cold?” He sounded concerned.

            “Did too.”  I shivered again.  “No, I’m fine.”

            “Do you want my cloak?”

            “It’s fine.” I shivered again.

            “Oh, stop trying to be brave, Mione,” he said as he draped his clock around my shoulders so his arms were on either of my shoulders.

            “Thanks,” I said hugging his giant cloak around myself.  “So why did you want to meet me here?”

            “I wanted to tell you something but I don’t think it’s that important.  So sorry for bothering you.” He started walking to the door.  My heart sunk.  It’s not like I could feel any worse if I told him now.

            “Harry, wait.” He turned around.  “Your cloak.” 

No, you idiot!  Not ‘your cloak,” you’re supposed to say ‘I love you.’ Stupid brain.

            “It’s okay, you can give it back tomorrow or something.”

            “Oh…” Tell him!  Tell him or I’ll fail you NEWTS!  You wouldn’t!  Oh yes I would! “Harry, I actually have something to tell you.”  I shivered again.

            “You want my sweater too?” he joked.

            “No, it’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for years.”

            “Oh?” He walked back to where he was before.

            “Yeah,” I took a deep breath.  Here goes everything.  “When I first met you on the Hogwarts Express when we were eleven, I was slightly disappointed.  I mean, I’ve read so many wonderful things about you in books, but you just looked like any other normal boy.  That changed the day you saved me from that mountain troll.  I found out just a couple months ago that Ron didn’t want to save me but you insisted.  After that whole troll thing, we began to do everything together.  I must admit that you two were a little hard to deal with at times but I lived.”  I chuckled.  “When you started liking Cho, I felt the strangest feeling inside.  It wasn’t until fifth year that I realized it was jealousy.  I didn’t like the fact that I had to share my best friend with another girl.  I assume that your crush for her has faded since you don’t talk about her every move now.”  He blushed.  “Actually, I wasn’t jealous that I had to share my best friend.  The truth is I wanted my best friend all to myself.  I realized I had fallen for that raven-haired, green-eyed Boy Who Lived.  Harry, I know you probably don’t want to hear this but I just had to tell you.”  He was staring at me.  I really couldn’t read his expression.  For the first time in quite a while, I couldn’t tell how he was feeling.  “Well, good night.”

            I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I turned around and began to walk away.

            “Hermione?”

            “Hmm?” I tried holding back sobs.

            “Is this all true?”

            “Well, yeah.”

            “Look at me, Mione.”  I turned around as a tear rolled down my cheek.  Why didn’t I just walk away? I should have walked away.  I was pretty sure I didn’t want to hear what he was going to say.

            I was wrong.             

            “Hermione.”  He used his thumb to wipe away the tear.  “The truth is…” Oh great Merlin, not the truth. “I fell for someone too.”  Talk about pain, I think my heart just exploded.  “She was a bushy-haired, bossy girl who knew everything and was no fun at all.  Of course, in the last seven years, she’s proven me wrong.  She’s amazing, you know.  I’ve never met a girl who’s top of her class, yet still so much fun.  She throws hard for someone who’s such a bookworm though.  She’s the most incredible person I’ve ever met.  She’s the most beautiful witch both inside and out.”  My heart exploded again, but this time, it was out of pure joy.  As more tears streamed down my face, Harry pulled me into a hug.  I buried my face into his chest.  “I love you, Hermione,” he whispered.

            I looked up at him.  Slowly, our lips came together in our first kiss.  I didn’t feel cold anymore.  I couldn’t believe it.  My head was spinning.  Sure, I’ve kissed some boys before, but it was nothing like this.  Once again, I seemed to forget every single thing I knew.  Everything around us became blurred.  It was just so amazing.  We parted, both a little short of breath.

            “Thanks, you stupid brain,” I whispered under my breath still hugging him.

            “Pardon?” he asked.

            “Oh nothing, I just thought we should head back to the Common Room,” I replied.

            “That’s a good idea.” He took my hand and led me to the door.  We didn’t talk the entire way back to the Common Room.  We didn’t have to; being with each other was good enough.  When we arrived at he portrait hole, the Fat Lady wasn’t there.

            “Now, what do we do?” I asked.

            “I guess we can sit here and wait,” he replied.  We sat down on the cold stone floor and leaned against the wall.

            “So what’s going to happen to us now?” I asked.

            “We could always see what the Order can do about our assignments,” he said smiling mischievously.

            “You can keep dreaming,” I replied leaning my head on his shoulder.

            “Don’t worry, I will.”

            I lightly elbowed him in the side.  He just held me closer.  I felt so happy.  I felt absolutely perfect.  I felt like I just belonged in Harry’s arms.  That was the last thing I remembered before I fell asleep.

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            I woke up to the sound of giggling. I rubbed my eyes awake and realized what happened last night wasn’t a dream.  I shook Harry awake lightly as the giggling first years scurried away.  Harry stood up and helped me to my feet.

            “Good morning, love,” he said running both hands through his hair.

            “Good morning, indeed,” I replied.  “I’m going to go freshen up before I face Lav and the rest of the world.”

            “Me too, the Daily Prophet is going to have a field day.”  He hugged me and we walked into the fortunately empty Gryffindor Common Room. We both went up to our respective Head Girl and Head Boy dormitories.

            After I brushed my teeth, washed my face, showered and changed, I made my way back to the Common Room.   That was a mistake.

            Everybody was there.  Ron, Lavender, Ginny, Seamus, Parvati, Dean, Colin, basically all the Gryffindors above the fourth year were there.

            “It’s Hermione!” Ron exclaimed.

            “Huh?”

            “Care you explain this?” he asked waving what looked like a photograph in front of my face.  Harry crept behind him and snatched it away.  He looked at the photo and smiled.  He put an arm around my shoulder and showed me the picture.

            My head was leaning on his chest and his chin was rested lightly on my head.  Harry had an arm around my shoulder and my arm was around his waist.  Our photographic selves snuggled closer together.  Harry, the real one, hugged me closer.  I almost forgot all the people who were there.  Almost.

            “So, judging from their behavior and this photograph,” Ron said,” My best friends here are now a couple.”  He was beaming.

            There was cheering, a lot of cheering.

            “Yes.  Obviously, Ron,” said Lavender.  “Now, everyone, let’s leave them alone.” She began shooing everyone away.

            That was the greatest 24-hour period of my life thus far.  Now, a month later, I’m sitting at my desk looking at the picture of Harry and I sleeping in front of the portrait hole.  I just always got this warm, fuzzy feeling every time I saw that picture.  I have two more months of freedom before I become an adult and faced the real world and real life. 

            At least, now, I know Harry will be there every step of the way.

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A/N:  So here it is! I really hope you guys like my fic.  I haven’t written in quite a while and inspiration just hit me.  Please read and review.  Constructive criticism welcome, no flames please.