Disclaimer: I claim the right to dis those who think I'm JKR. What an insult to JKR.
They hadn't spoken in a week. No, they hadn't had a fight. They had kissed. And all of her worst fears had come true.
He wouldn't talk to her. Couldn't look at her. What was she going to do.
Certainly she wasn't going to wait until after dark when everyone was asleep and sneak into his room to talk to him. Certainly not.
Oh, shoot, she already was wasn't she?
He was snoring loudly. How pathetically smitten did it make her that she found that endearing? So endearing that she began to cry. Very pathetic, indeed…
He startled out of sleep.
"Her-Hermione?" he said groggily.
She was crying too much to speak.
"What is it?" he said, his tone switching from sleepy to worried.
"I'm—I'm so sorry!" she sobbed. "I'm sorry that it happened! We can pretend it didn't! I don't want to keep going on like this! I'm sorry that…I know you don't like me like that. I understand. We can put it all in the past and I promise I won't ever bug you about it again. We can be friends. Please. I won't do anything stupid."
"Hermione…" he said, getting up.
He walked over to her and lifted his arms as if to perform some gesture of comfort but she never found out what as didn't seem to want to touch her.
"That's not…I don't…" he seemed uncomfortable.
He wasn't used to sobbing girls in his bedroom that he'd kissed a week before. Usually the sobbing girls went to their own bedrooms.
"Hermione…" he said gently, and finally dared to touch her hands gently so as to move them away from her face.
She slowly tilted her head upwards to look him in the eye. And they were suddenly in much the same position they were in a week before.
"Oh, this is just going to keep happening, isn't it?" she said, taking her hands from his and folding her arms over her chest. "We need to be logical about this—"
That's what got him.
"Logical?" he said, looking at her incredulously. "Logical? You're in my bedroom in tears at three in the morning! We kissed for virtually no reason a week ago! We've been dancing around each other for years! How can you still not know that love isn't logical?"
And just like that the entire atmosphere changed. Because he'd done it then. Without giving it a second thought he'd uttered the 'L' word.
Hermione felt like she was drowning. They'd never even been on a date, had never had anything but that one kiss, and now this. And she knew her feelings for him were strong, very strong, but love? How did she know whether she was in love or not? How did anyone know?
And almost as suddenly as the confusion set in it cleared as she had a realization. It was like everything clicked into place and she finally understood what he'd just said. It had been apparent all these years. It had been showing itself to her in every way it could, posting huge neon signs. And they called her smart.
"Love isn't logical…" she repeated. "Well, in that case…"
And she kissed him again.
He didn't object. In fact, what he did was about as far from objecting as it's possible to be. It was as if he was objecting the whole rest of the world and putting everything he could into that kiss, and she responded with the same.
They did have to pull away eventually. And they had to talk about it. They had to define their new relationship. They had to deal with the Granger's over-protectiveness and the Weasley brother's merciless teasing. They had their show of bad rows and bad days and bad years. He died before her, and she had to live with out for a nine months that was far worse than any other she'd ever experienced. It wasn't "happily ever after" but it was "till death do we part" (not literally, we've already covered that they eventually stopped kissing) which is a lot better than most get.
AN: Intense sleep deprivation equals this story. Gah.