The Dare
Silence filled the common room. The only sound was the
scribbling of quills and the crackling fire, as Harry and
Hermione finished their potions homework.
Harry looked up when he heard a deep sigh coming from his
best friend.
He smiled as he looked at her, she was biting her bottom lip
in concentration, and absentmindedly winding a loose,
brown, curl around her finger.
'She's so cute when she's thinking.' He thought.
'Wait…WHAT? Where did that thought come from?' Harry
thought, startled.
'Oh please, will you EVER stop being so thick? Of course you
like Hermione.' A voice in his head retorted.
'No! I like Hermione as a friend…nothing more…at least…I
don't think so.'
"Harry?" Hermione said, breaking him out of his reverie
"Are you ok?" She said, concern showing in her big brown eyes.
Harry loved those eyes, they were beautiful, and he could
always tell how Hermione was feeling, just by looking into
them. 'You could get lost in them forever.' Harry thought.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry answered a little too quickly.
Hermione looked suspicious, but said nothing.
"Are you done with your essay?" Harry said, hoping to
change the subject. "Yeah, I just finished." She said, closing
her book and putting away her ink and quill "You?"
"Yeah," Harry said gathering his things together. "Are you
hungry? We could go get some food from the kitchens to bring back up here."
Hermione looked confused up at him. "Harry, do you have
any idea what time it is? What if we get caught?"
Harry laughed saying "its 1:03 Hermione, but were Head
Boy and Girl, if we get caught we can just say that we were making our rounds."
Hermione seemed to think about it for a minute, but then a
mischievous smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"Let's go." She said.
'You know, Hermione's kind of sexy when she smirks.' Harry
thought, and then mentally slapped himself, 'Friends don't
think things like that about each other.'
'Well it's the truth!' said a voice deep inside of him.
His thoughts were interrupted by Hermione grabbing him
by the wrist and pulling him out of the common room.
Once they were back in the common room with food, they
sat on the rug in front of the fireplace.
"Dare" Hermione said.
Harry thought for a minute then, slowly, a grin spread across his face.
"I dare you to let me take you flying on my broom tomorrow."
Hermione's face paled and her eyes grew wide.
"I…I…Oh Harry, You know I don't like flying!" She said shrilly.
"Come on 'Mione…You can trust me." Harry put on his best
puppy-dog pout and Hermione let out a huff of frustration.
"Harry, that's not fair, you know I can't say no to the puppy-dog pout!"
Harry did his best to look innocent.
"Whatever do you mean, Hermione?" he asked, smiling sweetly at her.
"Harry James Potter! You know exactly what I mean!" She
hesitated, opening her mouth to say something, but then
deciding against it and closing it again.
"Oh FINE, I'll go flying with you tomorrow." She said,
sighing.
Harry triumphantly punched the air, letting out a long "Yessss!"
"But Harry...don't get any ideas, if you try to pull a stunt on
me I'll curse you into the next generation!"
'Hermione is hot when she's mad.' As soon as this thought
crossed his mind he froze in mid-bite, causing the remnants
of a chocolate frog dribble out of his open mouth.
"Harry!" Hermione squealed in disgust and concern.
"What's the matter?"
Harry felt his face heat up.
"Nothing." He said after a second. "I just had a sudden
vision of Snape singing 'Don't go breaking My Heart' in his
underwear to Professor McGonagoll." Harry thought this was
a stupid excuse, and knew Hermione would see right through
it, but it was the best he could come up with in such little time.
Hermione's expression changed from surprise to horror,
then to amusement as she burst into a fit of giggles.
"Ohgasp mygiggle Gosh, Harry!"
She said attempting to catch her breath. Harry was now
laughing so hard he was rolling around on the floor, holding
his stomach, while his face turned a deep purple from lack of air.
"Wellgasp Iburst of laughter can't helpgasp what I snickerthink!"
Hermione suddenly sat up. "You know Harry," she said
smirking "You got me, now I have to get revenge."
Harry's laughter quickly subsided.
"What, are you keeping track or something?"
"Harry:25, Hermione:24… and that's just this week." She
stated, raising her eyebrows as if to challenge him.
Suddenly she lunged forward and started to tickle Harry.
She knew every one of his most ticklish spots, and took advantage of it.
Harry struggled to stop her. He grabbed her just above the
elbows and lifted her off of him, earning a squeal from Hermione.
He flipped her onto her back, and towered over her,
supporting his weight evenly on his elbows.
"Harry, Stop!" She said shrilly between little spurts of laughter.
Harry didn't answer, just grinned and kept tickling her.
"Harry Potter! Stop it this instant!" She laughed, attempting to block his hands.
Harry reluctantly stopped, putting his elbows on the ground
to support his body's weight. They stayed there for a
moment, not fully comprehending the position they were in.
Then Hermione's eyes widened.
"Harry…"She said obviously embarrassed.
"Right, Sorry." He said getting off of her. But once he was
sitting down, he couldn't help but miss the warmth of her
body against him.
'Why do I feel like this? Hermione is just my friend!' He
thought irritated. But something deep inside of him felt otherwise.
"Ok, your turn, Truth or Dare?"
Hermione asked, trying to ignore the steady, thumping of
her heart.
"Um…Dare." Harry said after pretending to think it over.
The mischievous glint returned to Hermione's eyes.
"I dare you to kiss someone in our year." She said, with a
trace of a smirk.
Harry groaned, "Why me, Lord?" He asked, dramatically
throwing his hands up in the air.
Hermione giggled, rolling her eyes.
"Honestly...so who's it going to be?"
Harry thought for a minute, "Well…it's definitely a 'no' to
Parvati, Lavender, or any other member of the giggly-girls group."
Hermione was secretly relieved.
'Why can't he see?" She thought as Harry made a list of every
girl in their year and marking them with either a no, or a maybe.
"Dn Hermione, do I really have to do this?" he pleaded
after settling on a 7th year Ravenclaw, Natalie Sherman.
"Well, you picked dare and I gave it to you…so unless you
want to take the punishment for not accepting the dare, I
suggest you go track Natalie down before she gets a boyfriend." Hermione teased.
"And what's the punishment?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.
Hermione pretended to be deep in thought, then grinned at what she had come up with.
"Uh-Oh, that grin never means anything good for me."
Harry said with mock nerves in his voice.
"From now on if either of us refuses a dare, the other gets
to pick who that person has to snogg in a broom closet." She
said smugly "You know what that means right?"
Harry paled; he knew exactly what that meant. He would
be making out with a 'giggly-girl' within the next 24 hours if
he didn't kiss someone else first.
Hermione smiled at the look on his face, there was no
doubt he knew what she meant.
However Hermione's smugness was interrupted by Harry's
face slowly inching closer.
Confused Hermione looked into his bright orbs. What she
saw there was a mirror of her emotions; surprise, confusion,
wonder, fear, appreciation, hope, desire, and was that…love?
Slowly she leaned in and their lips met for the first time.
Harry didn't know what had possessed him to do it, but he
had been trying to think of what was worse; kissing Natalie,
or Lavender, and then it was as if some invisible force had
drawn them together.
But when his lips met hers, he knew… he loved this girl.
He loved Hermione Jane Granger with every fiber of his being.
It took a minute to register in Hermione's mind what was
happening, but as she did, she returned the kiss with a
surprising amount of passion.
She pushed all of her common sense out the window as she
melted into Harry's embrace.
The longer the kiss lasted, the bolder they both became.
Hermione heard herself gasp as she felt Harry's tongue graze across her bottom lip.
She moaned, parting her lips enough to let him in.
Harry was overwhelmed with the passion Hermione was returning to him.
He pulled her onto his lap, kissing her with every emotion
he was feeling; passion, excitement, love.
As Harry moved his lips to her ear, nibbling on it softly,
Hermione softly asked, "What are we doing, Harry?"
He pulled away slightly so he could look into her eyes.
"I believe we're kissing." Harry smirked.
Hermione paused,"…why?"
Harry began to look awkward.
"Um, well…you dared me to kiss someone…and I choose you."
"But why me? Why would you risk our friendship over
some stupid dare?" Her face was beginning to take on a
hurt, angry look.
"Isn't it obvious? "Harry yelled standing up, causing
Hermione who was still in his lap, to fall over.
"I…I don't know what your talking about. "Her voice faltered.
"I bloody love you, Hermione!" He said, voice shaking. "I
love you okay…" He sighed "That's why I choose you."
Hermione was stunned. She had prayed for him to say that
to her for four years, and he had finally said it to her.
She felt a surge of happiness course through her.
"Y-you…you do?" She managed to stammer out.
"Yeah, I do…" He said softly, looking away from her." Look,
'Mione…I understand you not loving me back but…could we at least still say fri-"
He was cut off by Hermione leaning in and kissing him firmly.
"I love you too, Harry." She said breathlessly, as a tear slid down her cheek.
Harry opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, not sure
whether he had imagined it, or if she had really just said that.
"No, Harry, you're not imagining this." Hermione laughed, reading his thoughts.
Harry grinned, pulling her towards him and softly kissing her.
"I love you so much, Hermione" He whispered in her ear.
Hermione kissed him again, then whispered to his lips "I love you too, Harry."