Disclaimer: I do not, I repeat, do not own Harry Potter. This is simply a humble fanfic. If you do own Harry Potter, as in JKR or Scholastic, you may contact me to take this fanfic down. Thank you.

"An Unexpected Turn of Events" by Cayster

This will be my third Harry/Hermione fanfic and it's better than the other two in my opinion. Hope you like it!

The serenity of the Lake in October when orange, red, and yellow leaves fill the branches of the enormous ancient trees was simply breathtaking. No matter how many times Harry would sit outside, the scene always made him be in awe. That was the one place he was able to clear his head and just be content with his life for once and a while.

Harry's life, to say the least, was very chaotic. School, Quidditch, and the Prophecy always consumed his thoughts and worries. Many people sensed Harry's depressed attitude, one in particular, Hermione Granger.

She seemed to be able to read Harry just like one of her interesting school books. He often caught her staring at him anxiously when he was doing his homework. He even caught her trying to baby him every now and then making him feel like a hopeless child. Harry knew Hermione meant well and was being a caring friend, but it sometimes just made him angry.

Harry stood up from his relaxed seat overlooking the Lake, which he visited immensely this year. He picked up his school bag and placed it on his shoulder and headed up to the looming Hogwarts castle in the distance.

He didn't have a very good day. Snape seemed to have the urge to pick on him more today than he ever did before. He lost his temper near the end of class when he threw his cauldron at the Greaseball, which made Snape furious. He ended up with two Saturday detentions and 50 points from Gryffindor.

His day didn't brighten up either. He seemed to be a bit more snappy to anyone who he felt was annoying or insulting and the person who was bullied the most was Hermione. After his fifth attack, Hermione finally retaliated.

Flashback

"Harry," shouted Hermione, "would you please stop biting my head off every second because it's getting rather old rather quickly!"

Harry whipped around to face her dead in the eye. "Well, if you weren't taking other people's sides, I wouldn't be getting defensive!"

Her eyes were showing a lot of emotion, but the strongest passion Harry could make out was fury. "How dare you accuse me of taking other's sides when I'm clearly standing by yours." Hermione whispered dangerously and at that, she turned on her heal and headed off towards the Gryffindor tower.

End of Flashback

Harry felt guilty for that, but he still felt as though Hermione was giving others too much sympathy or leeway for thinking Harry was still a nutter even after the Ministry of Magic announced that Voldemort had indeed come back to power.

He finally reached the Hogwarts Entrance doors and gave them a good, hardy push to open them. Harry walked over to the Grand Staircase and started his journey skyward while jumping and skipping trick steps along the way.

After a couple of minutes, he was standing in front of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" She asked elegantly while looking down at Harry.

"Sphinx," Harry said curtly, he was not in the mood to stand and wait for ages just to get in.

The Fat Lady's portrait swung open and revealed the portrait hole. Harry climbed through clumsily. He reached the Common Room a second later.

He made his way towards the Boys' staircase which led to their dormitories when a shrill voice met his ears.

"Harry Potter!" Hermione barked aggressively.

Harry slowly toward her; he wasn't up for hearing one of Hermione's tirades, especially after having one with her earlier that day.

She had her hands on her hips and looked like she was expecting to hear something from Harry. He huffed out of agitation and crossed his arms. Harry was unwilling to cave just yet, after all, he didn't want to admit he was wrong since he had done so many times this year already. But this time, he didn't feel very confrontational.

"Well?" Hermione asked pressingly. She was starting to tap her foot out of impatience.

Harry laughed slightly because he knew what was coming. "Hermione," he began slowly, "what do you want? I'm not in the mood to hear any of this so can we just forget about it?" Harry asked a little too testily.

Hermione let out her 'I can't believe my ears' laugh and had her 'unbelievable' smile on her face. "Harry, we can't just forget about it! Then the problem wouldn't be resolved so then it would most likely just happen again." She said in a very matter-of-fact way.

Harry wasn't up to hearing this so he ran his hands through his hair impatiently. "We don't need to solve anything, let's just leave it alone for once!"

Hermione was beginning to look outraged and Harry knew that the wrath of Hermione was about to be unleashed. He looked around and saw that many of the students who were studying and chattering quietly had started to take a keen interest in Harry and Hermione's conversation.

His attention was demanded back upon Hermione when she started to yell slightly. "Harry, how many times must I tell you that that's not the way to fix a problem…." Hermione berated profusely.

Harry was thinking of ways to shut Hermione up, but all of them seemed to ridiculous or absurd.

"We need to try to be a little more understanding and patient with one another, then this sort of thing wouldn't happen as often." Hermione kept lecturing Harry in a very heated manner.

He couldn't think straight anymore and just started thinking of anything to stop her ranting. Finally an idea came to him.

"And, Harry, you do need to understand that I'm on your si—" The end of Hermione's sentence was smothered when Harry forcefully pulled Hermione into a kiss.

People who were watching them with great interest couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the two in a lip lock. Suddenly someone started whistling and shouts erupted from the Gryffindors.

Harry finally backed away from Hermione, shocked at what he just did. He was baffled beyond belief of his own actions. Harry looked at Hermione; she was taken aback as well. Her eyes were dazed, but bright at the same time. Hermione finally woke up from her trance a couple of seconds later. She looked up at Harry with confusion now bearing through her honest brown eyes.

Reality started to set in even deeper now. Harry started calculating everything-it all happened so fast that it seemed like an uncontrollable rollercoaster. He finally broke from his thoughts when he felt someone bump into his shoulder, hard.

Harry turned around to see Hermione running up the Girls' Dormitory stairs.

"Hermione, wait!" He cried, but all was futile because she kept running up them even quicker.

The Gryffindors that witnessed the scene simply stared at him. Some of them patted Harry on the back while telling him "Nice try" or "I thought she was into you, too." A few of them, like Seamus and Dean, congratulated Harry "for going for it." The girls who saw the whole fiasco were all looking at him differently, as though he was all of a sudden attractive.

Harry didn't know when or how he ended up in his bed that night. The whole night after the unexpected kiss seemed to go by in a haze. All he knew was that that kiss wasn't just any ordinary kiss for some reason. It was somehow different, somehow unique. The thought of him kissing Hermione before this day seemed like a joke, but now after actually doing it, it was polar opposite of what he used to think. Harry needed her now more than ever in a different way.

A/N:

Well I hope you all liked the first chapter. If you didn't go ahead and tell what you thought anyway; I like to hear from people who read my story even if they don't ship H/Hr. Hopefully this was a breath of fresh air for you all and not another cliché fanfic, I'm sorry if it was cliché. Please tell me your thoughts, your dislikes and likes, or constructive criticism. Whatever you think, do tell! I just want to say thank you for reading so far and I hope you stick around for the upcoming chapters.

Cayster (Caley)