Guardian Angel
By Yasashii Tsubasa
A/N: What can I say? I do not own Harry Potter; it belongs to J.K. Rowling. This is my first successful attempt at H/Hr fluff (it took me a few tries), but I hope you like it! This is a classic case of classic fluffiness…
" Hermione, what are you doing?"
Hermione Granger looked up to see Harry Potter leaning against the doorjamb of the girl's dorm room, his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised as he watched her stuff cosmetics, jewellery, clothes, her wand and some money into a small bag. Hermione sighed at his look and continued to pack without answering his question.
" Hermione, what—"
" I'm packing," she said bluntly before Harry could fully repeat himself. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
Harry crossed the room and sat on Hermione's bed, looking very sceptical.
" And why, may I ask, are you packing?"
" Viktor's outside," Hermione said quickly, avoiding his gaze. " He's waiting for me."
Harry's eyes widened as Hermione closed her bag.
" You're not—you can't be leaving with him, can you? I mean…isn't that seriously against the school rules, not to mention moral ones?"
Hermione glared at her friend as she sat down beside him on the bed.
" You should talk, Mr. Break-The-School-Rules-Every-Single-Day. I'm sixteen, Harry. I'm adult enough to make my own decisions. Besides, there isn't much for me to do here anyways," she indicated the castle around them. " I already finished my first few N.E.W.T.s last month, and I don't need to do anything more to graduate. This is…well, I think of it as an adventure."
Harry sat back against the headboard, thinking. Hermione hadn't seen Viktor Krum since the end of their fourth year, one and a half years ago. He had come to Hogwarts this year and had been employed as a Quidditch assistant to Madam Hooch. Hermione, who had finished two N.E.W.T.s and had passed them with flying colours, had actually skipped classes to spend time with Krum a few times, though she still knew nothing about him. Her drastically out of character actions had placed a sense of concern on the Gryffindor sixth years, and they had all feared for her in their own ways. Harry had worried about Hermione doing something stupid, but now that the act was actually happening he felt his stomach churn with fear.
Hermione's nervous laugh brought Harry back to reality and he realized that he had been staring into his friend's beautiful brown eyes for a while. Harry sighed as she looked away—he had never actually told anyone that he had liked her since third year, and still adored her. However, Harry knew that, if Hermione didn't like him back, the effect of his confession would completely ruin their friendship, and Harry, for the first time in his life, had been afraid to do something about a problem. Now, Hermione was leaving and Harry knew that nothing would ever be the same.
" Why, Hermione?" he whispered, sitting up again. Hermione looked back at him, with something that looked like desperation in her eyes.
" Because Krum likes me," she replied softly, her tension-ridden voice quiet. " Because he is the only one in this world who thinks that I'm remotely pretty. Because he's the first boy that has ever liked me, and for that I'm willing to love him back."
Harry toyed with the bedspread beneath his fingers.
" But," he said. ' You don't completely love him back, not as much as you'd like. Correct?"
Hermione sighed.
" I don't love him in the way of a first love," she said. " But, right now this seems to be the only way that I'll ever have someone in my life as a soul mate or a spouse. He loves me, Harry, or at least I think he does."
Harry fell silent again, knowing that loving Hermione would not do one ounce of good any more—she was as stubborn as he. Still, he did love her—more than life itself. He loved her soft brown hair, her cinnamon brown eyes that always held so much mischief and purity at the same time. He adored Hermione's captivating smile, not to mention her intelligence and the fact that she, unlike the other girls in their year, didn't fawn over Harry every single moment.
I will always love her, he thought to himself. No matter what. And if I have to sacrifice what dignity I have to save her from being cradle-snatched by Krum, I will do it—for Hermione's sake.
Harry placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder.
" Hermione, you're throwing your life away for someone you barely know. You have no idea what Krum has been up to these years—for all you know, he could be a rapist, or a serial killer. You have so much to lose in doing this, Hermione—what's to gain?"
She tried to smile, but the attempt failed.
" Krum," she said simply.
Harry sighed, allowing his hand to slowly travel from Hermione's shoulder to rest on her soft cheek. Hermione met his eyes slowly and kept the gaze steady, though she trembled slightly.
" Hermione," Harry whispered, stroking her cheek gently. " You just don't get it, do you? I don't think you're pretty."
" What—"
" I think you're beautiful," he murmured, interrupting her reply. " And…I completely support you if you really want to leave, but…"
" But what?" Hermione whispered as Harry took her chin in his fingers.
" I just need to say this …Krum wasn't the first boy who liked you," without another word Harry pulled Hermione's chin towards him and kissed her, catching the girl completely by surprise. Harry expected his friend to pull away in disgust, but she didn't—Hermione was frozen, completely stunned by the lip lock, but she didn't yank away from him. Her lips were warm on his, and the softness of her cheek resting against Harry's own sent shivers up and down his spine.
Harry pulled away slowly, leaving his fingers resting on Hermione's chin. He looked to see his friend's beautiful eyes, only inches from his own. She appeared shocked into silence, unable to say a word. Harry began to say something, but before he could get anything out—or close his mouth, for that matter—Hermione kissed him again, a long, lingering kiss that made pure rapture zip through every atom in Harry's body. His hand cupped her cheek and he deepened the kiss, lost in her taste, in her touch, lost in the fact that Hermione—his best friend, his one crush, and the very person that he copied most of his homework off of—was kissing him.
The need for air caused the kiss to end. Hermione pulled away reluctantly, breathing a bit raggedly, but not moving from her position across from Harry. He was also breathing hard, but the ecstasy that was coursing through his veins gave him an adrenaline rush like no Quidditch game ever had. Looking into Hermione's eyes, Harry saw the love that he had for her mirrored back to him, an emotion that made him happier than he could ever remember being. Harry and Hermione moved in to kiss again…
" Her-mi-own! Ver are you? I'm going!" Krum's voice echoed in the common room, which had been empty for a week already because Christmas vacation had begun. Hermione pulled out of Harry's arms quickly and jerkily, almost in a panic. She turned and picked up her bag.
" I have to go," she whispered, fighting the urge to cry. She disappeared out the door without another word, leaving Harry stunned and in tears himself, with the taste of her mouth still on his tongue.
Hermione and Krum were a few feet out of the front doors, into the snow, when Hermione stopped and looked back at the school that she would never see again, on the place that had been her home for six years. It was the place where she had found friends—wonderful friends—and the place where the weirdest things happened every single day. Hermione wanted to see it again, just one last time.
However, instead of seeing Hogwarts, she saw a figure in a window, silhouetted against the light of the girl's dorm room—a figure that was standing, motionless, watching her go silently.
Harry.
Hermione stood, frozen, watching him stand there, waving goodbye with a single hand. She remembered the warmth of his kiss, the feeling of being in his arms after longing for so many years to be in that position. She had loved him from day one of their first year—but why hadn't she realized it until it was too late?
Krum tugged on Hermione's elbow, bringing her back to reality. It isn't too late, she realized. And he knows it: that's why he's there, waving goodbye: because he knows I won't go.
" Her-mi-own, vat's wrong? Vee hav to go!"
Hermione pulled out Viktor's hold and ran up the front steps of the castle, into the staircases. She raced along the corridors and up the stairs, taking the fastest route she could back to the common room—and to her dorm room, where Harry was waiting.
Dropping her bag, Hermione flew into Harry's outstretched arms without a word, kissing him with all the strength that she possessed, a strength that Harry matched easily. When they parted, silently gulping for air, Harry hugged Hermione tighter.
" You knew I'd come back," she whispered in his ear. " You knew all along."
Harry nodded.
" You stopped five feet from the front door, 'Mione," he replied. She smiled at the old nickname. " I knew, deep in my heart, that you couldn't actually leave Hogwarts behind—not truly. No true runaway would stop to look back."
Hermione grinned.
" I love you, Harry Potter," she whispered, watching his emerald eyes light up as she said the words. " I love you…"
Harry kissed her in response.
Later that night, Hermione awoke in her bed, snapped out of a dream by some unseen force. She rolled out of bed and went to the window, where the moonlight fell on her night gowned form and illuminated her hair with silver.
" I love Harry Potter," she whispered to the moon and the stars. " He is my guardian angel, you know. I can sense it—I knew it when I saw him waving goodbye to me…did you send him, God? If you did, thank you…I love him more than anything, and I promise to take care of him. It doesn't matter if either of us live or die, though: we're going to be together forever, you'll see. Just me and my guardian angel…my angel named Harry Potter."
A/N: Whew! 3 and a half pages, that's pretty good! I haven't written shameless fluff in a while, and it's actually quite refreshing. Did you like it? Review please!