Sweetest Sin

Chapter 4

The next morning when Harry woke, he found the dormitory empty, which meant he was going to be late for breakfast. "Shit," he muttered under his breath as he hurriedly got dressed.

Harry entered the Great Hall five minutes later and searched for Ron and Hermione. He spotted them sitting with Neville and Ginny and headed towards them. He slid in next to Ron and quickly filled his plate up with food. He glanced up at Hermione as he started to eat and she gave him her typical friendly smile. The three of them had a lively conversation through breakfast and Harry was wondering in the back of his mind if the kiss was all just a dream. But he had promised to give Hermione all the time she needed, so he wasn't going to say anything.

After they had all eaten, Ron and Harry trekked back to the dormitories to pick up their books for classes that day. As Harry shoved his books in his bag Ron said, "So, have you and Hermione figured out what's going on between you two?"

Harry looked at him, debating for a moment whether to tell him or not. "Ron, I care for her, and I'm nearly positive she cares for me too. I think she's scared of possibly putting our friendship in jeopardy if things didn't work out. But I would always be there for Hermione, whether it's a romantic situation or just as friends."

Ron paused for a moment before saying, "Has anything happened between you two?"

Harry's cheeked flushed red. "Um, I kissed her last night, but then she said she needed time to think about things, so that's what I'm doing. So for the time being, nothing is different between Hermione and I okay?"

Ron nodded. "I was just wondering. I guess we better be heading to Potions then."

They headed down to the dungeons and Hermione was already there with a table for the three of them. Harry slid into the seat next to her and Ron sat on her other side. Snape entered the room and looked around at all of them. "Well, you have finally reached your final year here at Hogwarts, we're not going to waste any time. Turn to page twenty-three and begin, you have forty-five minutes."

Harry rolled his eyes at Hermione and opened his textbook, flipping through the pages until he got to page twenty-three. He looked over the instructions and set to work on brewing his potion. When Snape told them time was up, Harry looked into the cauldron. His potion was bright blue, just like the book said it should be. Snape was working his way around the room, checking student's potions. Harry glanced up when he saw Snape's shadow looming over him. Snape stirred the potion, looking into the cauldron. Finally he said, "Perfect potion, I'm impressed, Potter."

He moved along quickly and Harry gave Hermione a surprised look. "Wow, I can't believe that!"

She gave him a smile. "Come on, you know Snape is not that bad anymore!"

He grinned. "Yeah but I still don't think I've ever heard him actually utter the words 'I'm impressed', at least not in my direction!"

Once they were dismissed, they had a small break and then ate a quick lunch. Lunch ended and they quickly gathered up their books, heading for the front doors.

The trio headed outdoors to go to Care of Magical Creatures. Hermione walked ahead while Ron and Harry walked side by side as they headed down the sloping lawns. Harry said quietly, "Does Hermione seem to be acting differently do you think?"

Ron shook his head. "No, if I didn't know better I wouldn't think anything was going on between you two."

Harry sighed. "Well technically nothing is going on, we're still just friends."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, 'cause friends kiss ALL the time, mate!"

Harry just gave him a dirty look and then they arrived at Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was standing there waiting for them. "Is everyone here? All righ' then, let's get started. I don't have any creatures for you to look at today, so it's just going to be bookwork. Pick your favorite magical creature and write a two foot essay about it, due next week. You can work together if ya like."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed off a little bit away from the rest of the group and settled onto the grass, opening their books. Harry turned to the section on thestrals, unrolling a piece of parchment. The three started talking about their summers again, their parchments left blank. Hagrid came over to them. "Hey, you three! How were your summers?"

Harry smiled at him. "Fine, Hagrid, how was yours?"

"I guess I can't complain," Hagrid replied.

They talked for a few more minutes and then Hagrid moved off to check on other groups. Harry read over the section on thestrals and soon Hagrid dismissed them. Ron stretched and said, "Let's take a walk around, I don't want to head back in yet and dinner isn't for another hour or so."

They agreed and Ron started walking towards the lake. "Let's go check out the giant squid."

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other and Harry looked over to the spot where he had kissed Hermione last night. Hermione brushed her hand against Harry's and he jumped slightly, looking over at her; but she looked like she wasn't even aware it had happened. Ron stopped near the edge of the lake and the settled down onto the ground. Harry sat down next to him and Hermione sat on Ron's other side. Harry picked up a rock and chucked it across the water, it landed with a soft plunk.

Harry then stretched out on his back and looked at the clouds. Soon Ron and Hermione laid back and they started trying to pick out shapes in the clouds. Harry laughed. "I feel like I'm going backwards into childhood, remember how often we did this first year?"

Ron chuckled. "Too right, we were out here every time we were bored, talking and looking at the clouds. And now, we're almost done with Hogwarts, it's almost time to move forward in our lives, to leave this school and find a job. Kind of scary, don't you think?"

Hermione said softly, "I know what you mean. For me, it'll be strange living in the wizarding world full time. I mean, in the summer I go back home to my Muggle life, it won't be like that anymore. I wonder how much it will change things with my parents, they support me and everything, but they don't understand. We'll just slowly drift further and further apart. And then eventually I'm going to be married and have a family, the future is very very scary."

Harry was surprised to hear that Hermione was scared about the future. She was so confident in school, never faltering, always knowing exactly what she was doing and how things should be. He tried to picture his future, his future job, his future wife, and his future children. He couldn't really see it and his thoughts were broken when Ron said, "Well it's almost time for dinner, let's head back inside."

They all got to their feet and walked towards the castle, everyone seeming to be lost in their own thoughts. Their unclear futures were rapidly approaching, and it seemed no one was ready for it.