This is the Night

This is the Night

When the world wasn't upside down, I could take all the time I had
But I'm not going to wait when a moment can vanish so fast
'Cuz every kiss is a kiss you can never get back

Harry Potter had never been so nervous in his life. Not when he had found out he was a wizard, not when he faced Voldemort (all 7 times). No, never in his life had he felt such a flurry in the pit of his stomach.

At least, not in a good way before. Harry was used to dangerous situations. He could handle basilisks, he could face escaped prisoners, heck, he had even survived the Dursleys.

Then came a girl.

Not just any girl. Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Conqueror of all things bad and evil, had fallen in love with his best friend, Hermione Granger.

Lift me up in your eyes
If you told me that is what Heaven is, well, you'd be right
I've been waiting forever for this
This is the night

Harry grinned in the mirror as he adjusted his tie. Hermione. The thought of her name made him weak in the knees. How could it have taken him so long to realize that she was perfect?

**Two years earlier**

Harry and Hermione sat on a park bench eying each other nervously. Harry had finally gotten up the nerve to ask her on a date. Not one of those Ron-has-a-new-girlfriend-and-wants-us-to-come-along kind of dates, but a real one, alone. As they sat there looking at each other, Harry realized that he was slowly inching closer to the woman he was staring at so blatantly. He glanced up at her and saw something he had never noticed before. Her eyes, which were looking at him just as intensely, were looking at him with an emotion he had never seen in them before. He saw affection, caring and love.

At that moment, Harry realized that he could never be without her. There wasn't a moment that was significant in his life that didn't have her in it, and he understood that he didn't want there to be any. Hermione was more important to him than he had ever known. How had he not seen it all before? She was sitting there, looking beautiful with her bushy chestnut hair and awe-inspiring brown eyes. And then he knew.

He loved her.

Slowly, he lowered his face to hers and taking one moment to look into her eyes, gently brushed her lips with his own. The feelings that branched out from his lips were like electricity. Suddenly he was on fire, every fiber of his being positively glowed from her touch. After a few minutes he raised his face and gazed at her.

"Wow," Harry breathed as he looked at this woman who had been so important to him for so long.

"My sentiments exactly," Hermione replied, as she raised her mouth to his once more.

**Present time**

Harry placed his hand to his smiling lips as he recalled that memory. They had shared many kisses since that first night, but that was definitely one of the most memorable. He surveyed himself one last time in the mirror. "Well, this is it. Tonight's the night," Harry whispered.

"You look marvelous, dear. If only your hair would behave," the mirror replied.

*

When the answer to all my dreams is as close as a touch away
Why am I here holding back what I'm trying to say?

Harry stood outside Hermione's flat. She had asked him over for a special dinner. "If only she knew how special tonight would be," Harry thought to himself. He fingered the velvet box residing in his pocket and knocked gently on the door.

Harry heard soft footsteps come toward the doorway and he was soon greeted with the smiling face of his best friend. Harry's stomach did a familiar flip-flop with the sight of Hermione beaming at him from the hall. Suddenly he was overwhelmed with emotion and caught her up in an earth-shattering kiss. His mouth crashed onto hers and his tongue sought out hers. For several moments they stood there, kissing passionately, the open door quite forgotten.

"What was that for?" Hermione asked breathless.

"I love you," Harry replied, quite out of breath himself.

"Well, that was a wonderful greeting. I could get used to that." Hermione rewarded him with another smile as she led him into the kitchen.

Lift me up in your eyes
If you told me that is what Heaven, well, you'd be right
Hold me close to your heart
I would go with you to the ends of the Earth and we'll fly
I've been waiting for this
This is the night

"Hermione, I need to tell you something." Harry's stomach did another flip-flop.

"Is there something wrong?" Hermione's smile immediately changed into a look of concern.

"No, no, nothing like that. I just -er- there's something that I've been meaning to do for a while now." Harry could only hope that his nervousness wasn't visible. He looked up, and into her beautiful brown eyes that showed such love for him, and he found his voice again. "I love you. So much. You've been my best friend, my confidante, my rock, my strength, the one person that I can go to. I don't know why it took me so long to realize just how important you are to me. I can't live without you. Hermione," He looked directly into her eyes now, "will you marry me?"

He heard her gasp.

This is the night where we capture forever all our tomorrow's begin
After tonight, we will never be lonely again

Harry knelt down to one knee and brought out the velvet box he had been fiddling with earlier. As he popped open the top, he revealed a brilliant solitaire diamond ring. Nervously, he glanced up. Hermione's face was wet with tears, but her eyes were shining. "So? Do you have an answer?" Harry was suddenly stricken with fear. What if she said no?

Just as suddenly he felt a mass of bushy hair hit his face and two lips quickly capture his own. Hermione rained kisses upon his face with small exclamations of "Yes!" scattered between them. Harry revisited the night they had first kissed. His entire body was on fire with her sweet assault, but his mind was in shock. "She said yes, I can't believe she said yes," his mind screamed.

Slowly, Harry pulled away and slipped the beautiful ring onto her finger. Tonight everything changed. All the loneliness of his childhood was finally erased as he looked at Hermione's face. His new fiancé, his new family. How did he ever get so lucky?

Lift me up in your eyes
If you told me that is what Heaven is, well, you'd be right
Hold me close to your heart
I would go with you to the ends of the Earth and we'll fly
I've been waiting forever for this
This is the night