CHAPTER 1

A Rainy Arguement

It all began when they were on the search for horcruxes. Staying in an enchanted tent in very secluded locations, and ensuring they were safe by constantly putting up different protective charms. Every few nights they were breaking down camp and aparating to a new location just to put everything together again. Harry and Hermione would put up the charms and enchantments to keep them safe. Ron would put up the tent and begin unpacking. They had to do all of this in the dark to make sure they weren't seen.

They were hungry, dirty and their spirits were broken. Emotions were running high and the horcrux was taking its toll on everyone. They had been at this for ages and sadly, they weren't really any closer to defeating voldemort than when they first started. Despite how optomistic harry was on the matter. Hermione had her doubts. They all did.

It was raining rather fiercely the night Ron left the trio. It had all started shortly after they had spoken to Phineas Nigellus Black's portrait, which Hermione had stashed away in her beaded back. They had found out that the sword of Gryfindor could destroy a horcrux and that was why Dumbledore had left it to Harry in his will. How ever, when Harry acknowledged Ron, he lost it. Ron was obviously under the thrall of the horcrux around his neck, but no one even thought of this until much later. Because everything Ron was saying was true, to some exaggerated degree or another.

The rain was picking up outside. The wind was howling like a banshee, the trees brushing against the walls of the tent. Ron became even more outraged. The boys were having it out verbally like there was no tomorrow. All the thoughts they had been keeping inside were unleashed. Ron was very insistent that Harry didn't know what he was doing at all, that Dumbledore never told him a thing and as much or as little as Hermione actually agreed with him, Ron actually had a bit of a point. Ron was now screaming about how Harry didn't care about his family at all. Hermione had been trying to talk Ron down, when Ron mentioned Harry & Hermione's parents.

"Oh, you're sure, are you? Right then, well, I won't bother myself about them. It's all right for you two, isn't, with your parents safely out of the way...", Ron carried on.

"My parents are DEAD!" Harry Bellowed.

"And mine could be going the same way!" yelled Ron.

"Then GO!" roared Harry. "Go back to them, pretend you've gotten over your spattergroit and Mummy'll be able to feed you up and..."

Ron made a sudden movement: Harry reacted, but before either wand was clear of its owner's pocket, Hermione had raised her own.

"Protego!" she cried, and an invisible shield expanded between her and Harry on the one side and Ron on the other; all of them were forced backwards a few steps by the strength of the spell, and Harry and Ron glared from either side of the transparent barrier as though they were seeing each other clearly for the first time. Harry felt a corrosive hatred toward Ron: something had broken between them.

"leave the horcrux" Harry said.

Ron wrenched the chain from over his head and cast the locket into a nearby chair. He turned to Hermione and he asked her, "Are you staying with him, or coming with me?"

"I..." She looked anguished. "Yes...yes. I'm staying. Ron, we said we'd go with Harry, we said we'd help..."

"I get it. You choose him."

It was at that very moment, that Harry had caught himself wondering if that was true. It was just for a second before he heard hermione screaming after Ron.

"Ron, no...Please...come back, COME BACK!"

Harry's heart faltered at this, but he said nothing, he watched as she was impeded by her own shield charm. He watched as she removed it and ran out into the storm after her first love. Harry stood quite still and silent, listening to her sobbing and calling Ron's name amongst the trees.

After a few minutes she returned, her sopping hair plastered to her face. "He's g-g-gone! Disappaerted."

She through herself into a chair, curled up and started to cry. Harry felt dazed and rather confused. He could never stand to see Hermione cry. He spent all last year watching her cry over Ron while he was messing around with that god awful Lavender Brown. He did everything he could to keep a smile on the poor girls face. Ron really could be so daft sometimes. How could he not see that Hermione was in love with him?

Harry quickly bent down, picked up the horcrux and placed it around his own neck. He dragged blankets off Ron's bed and gently placed them over Hermione. Then he climbed onto his own bed and stared at the dark canvas roof, listening to the pounding of the rain on the tent. He had to figure out what he was feeling.

The next day they went about there business almost as if Ron had never left, routine was best to dull the pain, or so Harry thought. He came back from washing up in the river to find Hermione had packed everything of Ron's that he had left behind into a little sack and tossed it into her beaded bag where she wouldn't have to look at it anymore. She went about packing up the rest of the campsite and decided moving sites would be best, in case Ron tried to return and accidentally brought unexpected visitors. She and Harry grasped hands and disapparated to their next location.

CHAPTER 2

Noticing The Unoticed

They had spent a few months searching different places for the sword, keeping an eye out for horcruxes along the way. They had a few close calls and had just barely escaped with their lives from nagina in godric's hollow. They had finally settled in the Forest Of Dean, someplace Hermione had chosen for some reason Harry couldn't remember right now. His head was still realing with everything that had gone on over the past few days since their near death encounter with that dreadful serpent.

It was just begining to snow outside, Harry noted. It wasn't awful of course. He was inside the tent, which was magically heated. He was safe with Hermione, and she had taken care of him while he was unconcious and weak from the fight with the snake. She had side-apperated them here safely. She had tended to his wounds. She had changed his clothes, he noticed as he began to sit up in the bed. He wasn't going to dwell on the fact that Hermione had probably seen him naked, if not atleast very under dressed and vulnerable.

He sat up to find her writing in her journal, something she only did when she thought no one was looking. She claimed it help her clear her mind, but still retain all the valuable information. He couldn't really relate, reading and writing had never been Harry's strong points. But he understood their usefulness and he could see the point Hermione was trying to make every time she had tried to explain why she kept a journal to Ron in the past.

When Hermione had noticed Harry was awake and coherent for the first time in three days, she was ecstatic. She had hugged and smiled at him with so much warmth he could have sworn she was generating heat. But, Harry soon found out some bad news. His wand had been damaged in the encounter with Nagina and he was now at the liberty of Hermione. She was kind enough to let him borrow hers when necesarry.

Harry had never truely noticed before just how kind Hermione was. Granted, he knew she was nice. But this was a flourence nightingale kind of sweet. It was almost sickening. Except he found it only came out when someone she deeply cared about was in need.

"I suppose that is why she was always so willing to help my dumbass with my potions essay." Harry thought.

Harry continued to think on this and he realized there was alot to Hermione he had overlooked over the years. For example, He always knew she was pretty. Yet he never paid as much attention in the past as he did the past few months. Even now as she was sitting in the oversized armchair, legs curled beneath her, toes slightly visble. He could see that she was actually quite tall for a woman of their age. She sat there writing furiously, occcasionally chewing on the end of her muggle pen. Her lips have filled out over the years, he thought. Her usual school robes where usually just a bit to big and hid her frame, but these tradition muggle jeans and simple vneck tee clung just right to her obviously visible curves. Where had she been hiding these the past few years?

Her hair however was the one thing he really should have noticed, It had been a bushy, tightly curled mess when they had first met when they were eleven. It was a medium brown and it was so matted half the time people sometimes thought she had dreadlocks forming. But now, just looking at her, he had realized that not only was her hair longer, hanging in gentle ringlets all the way to her hips, it was completely a different color.

The way the fire reflected he could tell why he never noticed before. Her hair had changed with the many years of sun. It was now a light caramel color with natural low lights faded through out. It was lovely. He clearly remember her hair, neatly up in an magnificent updo the night of the yule ball and he could only guess that it had been sometime in third or fourth year when her hair had finally calmed itself down.

Hermione looked up from her journal and smiled at him. Her sparkling hazel eyes gleaming like topaz in the fire light. There it was, the one thing he had always noticed about her from day one. Her eyes. They were still the same. Beautiful and ever changing. The way they had those shades of green, orange and chestnut brown mixed in. They were perfectly unique, just like her.

She slowly rose up from the chair and turned on the wizarding wireless. "a cauldron full of hot strong love" was just ending and hermione was switching it so it would play her muggle ipod. As the band Good With Grenades started belting out "pop, lock & drop dead", she grabbed Harry by the hands and pulled him up to dance. He was rather surprised by her taste in music, he'd never really spent time with her alone like this.

(it's just that feelin

hell yeah

it's all about the timing when you walk

heard you're poison

but I don't care

I'll build my own disaster

let me take ya to school

I'll show ya the rules)

"wow, these lyrics and the way she's dancing...I'd really love to show her something, alright." Harry thought as hermione was pop dancing like something out of a muggle music video.

Then the song changed and so did the mood in the room as Jana Kramers "circles" began playing nicely and Harry took the opportunity to take Hermione in his arms and do just as the song suggested. He spun her around, showing off those dance classes he took in fourth year with Proffesor McGonagall.

('Cause where i am,

Is where you begin

You picked up the pieces

And put me together

You're the only part of me unbroken

And I'm going in circles)

This girl was a walking contradiction if her playlist was any indication. But these lyrics, they definitely fit they way he felt for her. He was certain as he watched her lighting up the room and laughing out loud, that he had never felt this way before in his life. He was certain he had never seen anything more beautiful in all the world. He was screwed, He was falling in love with Hermione Jean Granger. That is something you don't recover from. What was he going to do?

Chapter 3

Calming Circles

Hermiones head was spinning, she was so confused. How could he just up and leave them, leave her? She had loved Ron. She knew it. But the question remains, was she in love with him, still? When he had left she was distraught and cried herself to sleep. She couldn't picture her life without him in it. However, she had to keep going, Harry needed her.

They had to be strong, So when she got up the next day she made the unconcious decision to remove every reminder of Ron from her sight. Harry and her went on their way, pursuing their quest and keeping a stiff upper lip. It wasn't until the moment Nagina had appeared in Bathilda Bagshots bedroom, seemingly out of nowhere that she even realized how truely able she was. She could handle herself, with or without Ron. Harry was unconcious and she was managing just fine on her own. She felt this new sort of power over her self and with that, she set to work.

She stripped Harry of his bloody clothes and tried her best to keep his modesty protected. She wasn't to sure how he would feel about her seeing him so...exposed. So she left his undergarments on and set about a cleansing spell and then began to redress him.

She couldn't help but notice the subtle changes in his form while doing this though. He used to be average height and kind of lanky. However, he had grown to atleast six feet since third year and he was definately a seaker. He was lean, but muscular. His dark hair had grown a few inches, gotten a few shades darker and hung gorgeously around eyes. The scar on his forehead, just above his left eyebrow, it was unique just to him. His arms were what got her though. They were strong, but thin. The veins were visible when he stretched them. This wasn't the same little boy she had become friends with on the train, nor was it the fearless teenager she had fought a werewolf with at thirteen.

This was a man in front of her. How had she not noticed this before? "pfft...you've been to stuck up Ron's arse to even give any thought to even glance in anyone elses direction" Hermione thought. "well, not anymore, from now on, i'm going to take the time to notice everything i've been missing."

Soon, it began snowing in the Forest Of Dean, a place she used to go with her parents. It wasn't long before Harry was awake and feeling a bit better. Hermione was writing in her journal about their recent adventures and her confusing feelings regarding the oposite gender. When she looked up to find Harry looking at her as though he were analyzing her.

She smiled at him and when he smiled back, she had an amazing idea. She got up from her chair and began to play some music from her favorite playlist. Thankfully Ron's father had rigged their wizard wireless so it would work for Hermiones ipod via a magically enchanted aux cord. She began dragging Harry up to dance to one of her favorite songs. The way he looked at her, she could tell he was confused by her "alternative taste". Most people clasified this as "erotic dancing", It appeared to shock Harry that Hermione actually knew how.

However, it surprised Hermione when the song changed and Harry actually knew how to dance, in rythym to what hermione considered a love song. He had his arms is places she'd never been touched before. This was so intimate it was driving her in circles just like the song said. He would swoop her up, dip her down, it was so elegant and fun. Harry always knew how to make her laugh. The song kept changing and She could feel herself relax into his touch, leaning her head on his shoulder now. This was so nice after everything they had been through. Just dancing around, calmly in circles together, not even noticing what was actually playing.

But of course, the calm couldn't last. Just as the ipod was begining to play some ancient britney spears song, There was a loud pop in the distance. They both jumped apart and quickly turned off the music. Hermione reached for her wand and began to panic, Someone had just apparated outside their wards.

Chapter 4

Intimate Distruction

Insisting Hermione stay inside the tent and the safety of the wards, Harry borrowed her wand and had gone to investigate the sound of the obvious intruder. Resulting in his following a silver doe to the frozen lake to find none other than gryfindor's sword at the bottom. Perhaps, he was slightly insane from wearing the horcrux around his neck. Yet, he stripped down and dove in, only to begin to drown. Right when he thought all hope was lost and would die, he was saved by none other than Ronald Billius Weasely. Who had found his way back to them via the diluminator given to him in Dumbledores will.

Well, considering they now had the sword, Harry decided they should destroy the horcrux imediately. Ron however was very against opening the locket, it effected him to strongly, but Harry insisted.

The moment the locket opened, Ron's worst nightmare and Harry's wildest fantasy appeared before them. A completely naked phantom version of Harry and Hermione, entwined in an intimate embrace. The phantoms were speaking so harshly to Ron, but they were actually saying exactly what Harry was thinking.

The real Harry was so shocked by the view of himself so intimately involved with Hermione, that he couldn't help but wonder what it would actually be like to have his hands on her bare flesh or to feel his lips on hers. however, now was not the time to dwell on these thoughts. There was a horcrux to destroy.

"least loved, now, by the girl who prefers your friend...second best, always, eternally overshadowed...Why return? We were better of without you, happier without you, glad of your absense. laughing at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption." - phantom Harry said.

Ron could feel his heart breaking, as the horcrux brought his every insecurity to life. But he knew what he wanted, he wouldn't have come back if it wasn't what he really wanted. He was going to everything in his power to make sure he made Hermione fall in love with him all over again.

"Presumption!" echoed phantom Hermione. " Who could ever want you, when they could have Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared to the chosen one? What will you ever amount to compared to the boy who lived?"

And with that, Ron had finally heard enough and he lifted the sword high above his head and destroyed the locket. A long, drawn out scream was unleashed and then there was silence... what ever was in the locket was gone. It was over, until they found the next one.

When they returned to the tent, they hadn't even been inside two minutes before Hermione had launched herself at Ron and began punching every inch of him she could find.

"ouch..ow, gerrofff... WHAT THE...? Hermione, ow!" -Ron moaned

"YOU! comeplete...arse!" RONALD WEASELY, you ...ugh!" - She screamed, punctuating every word with a blow: Ron backed away, shielding his head ad Hermione advanced on him even more.

"You crawl back here, after weeks and weeks! Oh! WHERES MY WAND!" -Hermione bellowed

She looked as though she was about to wrestle it out of Harry's hands, he reacted instantly casting a shield charm. "Hermione, calm down, sweetheart..."-he pleaded.

Hermione, shocked by his unusual term of endearment instantly stilled. She sat on the far side of the tent and listened to the idiot red heads story of how he tried to find his way back for weeks. It was her voice he kept hearing, the thought of her that kept him going, his love for her that brought him back. How ever, she was far more concerned with what she was feeling about Harry. Things were about to get really interesting, really soon. That much she knew.