His soft stare penetrated through her mask. She tried to hard to make him believe everything was alright, that she was happy and content. She tried to believe it herself. She had been deceiving, or at least had attempted to be. The truth was he had known right from the moment she had made the fatal mistake of looking in his eyes as she tried to convince him no. The girl had failed deeply.
Her bushy hair rustled in the wind as it blew past as if trying to sway her into his arms. He had declared them as always open, for her, only her, and she had kissed his nose and they had giggled as they watched the stars drift past in a cloudless night. How the Gryffindor longed for those days, those happy indescribable days of when they had had truly been in love, and had longed for the ability to tell the third of their trio how they felt about one another. Now the thrill and rush of being young and vulnerable and in love had long since faded.
"Hermione," he tried desperately, looking at her from under the red hair that fell in front of his face. "Please." She could see his finger twitch as his hand lifted ever so slightly, a sign he wanted to put a hand on her shoulder. "Hermione." He whispered her name again, rolling it around on his tongue, his love's name around on his tongue.
"R … Ronald." She muttered hesitantly. The unspoken apologies hung in the air like the smell of death, rotten. She was truly sorry for hurting him, but the heart wants what the heart wants. If she could have forced herself back into loving Ron she would, just because she hated hurting him. But Harry Potter told Hermione he loved her, and the Granger didn't reject him. "I'm …"
"…Don't say it, 'Mione. Just don't." Ron whispered, tears spilling onto the floor. The girl hated seeing him cry, but knowing it was her who caused it put her in agony. Even if she didn't loved Ron Weasley in the way he loved her, she loved him as her closest friend.
"Sorry." She quickly blurted out the word, once more fooling herself to believing that word would mend him.
It didn't, and as she walked away to her new found glory, he sank into the December snow which had lightly begun to fall, and cried.
-.-.-
Thud, thud thud, thud thud, thud thud …
Her legs stopped. Hermione Granger was never one for running, the thudding of her heart proved that. But love makes us do things we don't like, and usually we do run into the arms of loved ones.
Raven black hair. She seen a glimpse of it in the snow. What was he feeling? She had ran away from him when he confronted her. This was not her rejecting him but he had uncovered her feelings for him. She had needed to tell Ronald.
Harry Potter felt a presence. Turning, he saw the adoring eyes and bushy wild hair of the Gryffindor. Sucking in a breath, there was silence between the two teens before Hermione rushed up to him, enveloping him in a crushing hug. Hesitantly, he too wrapped his arms around her waist, as she muttered in his ear, "Harry Potter I love you so much."
With a soft chuckle, Harry replied, "I love you too, Hermione." December snow fell atop their heads as they wished this embrace could last for eternity.