A/N: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. Yep, just double-checked, and according to the Marauders' Map, I'm not JK Rowling.
Quotes are in bold, are taken from Chapter 15: The Unbreakable Vow, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
"And incidentally," said Hermione, after a few moments, "you need to be careful."
"For the last time," said Harry, speaking in a slightly hoarse whisper after three-quarters of an hour of silence, "I am not giving back this book, I've learned more from the Half-Blood Prince than Snape or Slughorn have taught me in –"
"I'm not talking about your so-called Prince," said Hermione, giving his book a nasty look as though it had been rude to her, "I'm talking about earlier. I went into the girls' bathroom just before I came in here and there were about a dozen girls in there, including that Romilda Vane, trying to decide how to slip you a love potion."
-.-
"Hi, Harry!" said Romilda Vane, the moment he had climbed through the portrait hole. "Fancy a Gillywater?"
Hermione gave him a 'What-did-I-tell-you?' look over her shoulder.
"No thanks," said Harry quickly. "I don't like it much."
"Well, take these anyway," said Romilda, thrusting a box into his hands. "Chocolate Cauldrons, they've got Firewhisky in them. My gran sent them to me, but I don't like them."
"Thanks," said Harry, smiling slightly at her. "I'm a bit full right now, but I'll have them later." He smiled again, unsure what to do, before following Hermione over to one of the couches.
As soon as he sat down, Hermione turned to him again. "What are you going to do with them, Harry? Are you going to throw them away, or take them to a Professor?"
"I was thinking about eating them, actually." Harry replied.
Hermione gasped, staring at him in shock. "Why would you do that? You know they're probably filled with a Love Potion."
"So?" he asked.
Hermione's jaw dropped. "What do you mean, so? Are you really going to take something that will take away your self-control, and make you fall in love with some girl you've never had a full conversation with?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I don't want to talk about it, Hermione."
"Harry ..." As she began to question him, he got up and walked back out of the common room. Without thinking, Hermione stood back up and followed him through the portrait, completely ignoring Ron and Lavender, who were snogging aggressively in an armchair.
"Harry!" Hermione called out once she was out in the corridor, before she spotted the back of his cloak swish around the corner. She immediately began to jog after him, catching him outside the unused classroom she'd fled to after seeing Ron and Lavender at the party. He held the door open for her, knowing she wouldn't leave it until he explained. After they both stepped in, he closed the door and put up Silencing and Notice-Me-Not charms. After all, it was late evening, and he didn't want an interruption like Ron and Lavender had done when he was talking to Hermione before in this classroom.
"Harry, why are you even considering taking Romilda's Love Potion?" Hermione asked, jumping straight to the heart of the matter.
"Hermione, you know what my life's been like?" Harry responded, leaving Hermione with a puzzled look on her face. When she nodded, he continued. "Then you can understand why I want to take this. Dumbledore thinks the 'power He knows not' is love, and I don't know what love is."
"I –" Hermione began, but Harry cut her off.
"I've never been loved, Hermione. Sirius was the only person I can remember who's always loved me, and I never got to know him." A sob escaped his throat, but he continued. "I've just been alone for so long, and I – I can't do it anymore. I don't care if it's not a real thing, I just want to die having had ... something, even if it comes from a cauldron." Tears rolled down his cheeks as he continued, and Hermione was fighting back tears herself.
"I love you, Harry." She whispered, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back at first, before pushing her away and looking at her closely.
"I thought you loved Ron?" he asked hesitantly, not wanting to know the answer. "And you've been so harsh on me since the Department of Mysteries, I thought you ... I thought you hated me."
Hermione recognised that the young wizard in front of her was revealing his deepest fear, and reached out for his hand, holding it reassuringly. "I could never hate you, Harry. The Department of Mysteries wasn't your fault, I promise you."
"Then why have you been pushing me away?"
Harry sounded so vulnerable when he asked that, as though he was a small boy asking why his pet had been 'sent to the special farm', and Hermione's heart broke. She flung herself at him, tears streaking down her face just as much as they were streaking down Harry's, hugging him as tightly as she could.
"I haven't been pushing you away, Harry." She told him, still holding him.
"But ... you and Ron have been arguing since he hooked up with Lavender, and you've been arguing with me all the time about the Prince's book and Malfoy." Harry murmured, still looking upset.
"Oh, Harry," she sighed, "I just don't think it's likely that Malfoy would be a Death Eater and not be noticed. I've been arguing with Ron because we had a date coming up, and he went and kissed Lavender in the middle of the common room."
"What about the Prince's book? I've learned more from it than I've ever learned in Potions in six years, and you've been telling me to get rid of it all the time." Harry asked nervously.
"Harry ... I was scared that you might not need my help any more, and you might not need me ..." Hermione whispered, terrified that she might be right when he stiffened in her arms.
"Hermione, I'll always need you. The book was just ... I wanted to do well, so you'd be proud of me." Harry said, sniffling. "When I found the notes ... Potions were finally working for me, and I was sure you'd be so happy, but you began having a go at me ... I was scared you didn't want me to succeed."
Hermione hugged him even tighter, not wanting to let go of her best friend. "I'm so sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to push you away. I just wanted you to need me for something, even if it was just someone to help you do your homework." She loosened her grip slightly, feeling ashamed.
Harry pulled back slightly, placing one hand under her chin and tilting her face up to look at him. "I'll always need you, Hermione. I promise you that." To make sure she understood just how much she meant to him, he kissed her on the lips, putting all of his love and trust for her into the kiss.
After a few seconds, Hermione pulled away, and Harry immediately began to panic. These thoughts were interrupted when she spoke, her voice as panicked as he was. "Harry ... you like me that way?"
Harry nodded hesitantly, afraid to speak, and even more afraid of what she was going to say next. "How long?" she asked nervously.
"Since second year." Harry answered cautiously. "I realised after you were petrified, and I spent all my time sitting by your bedside, wanting to tell you, but I got so scared that you would stop being my friend if I told you how I felt. I was going to ask you to the Yule Ball, but Ron told me he wanted to go out with you, so I didn't, because I thought you liked him."
Hermione groaned in annoyance. "I had a crush on you ever since you saved me from that troll back in first year." She confessed. "When you started to have a crush on Cho, I tried to move on to Ron instead. I couldn't compete with Cho, even if she had a boyfriend at the time. If you'd asked me to the Yule Ball, I'd have ditched Krum in an instant for you."
Harry shook his head vigorously. "Do you know why I liked Cho? Because she reminded me the most of you. She was smart and pretty, even if she wasn't as pretty or as smart as you." Hermione blushed brightly, and gestured for him to continue. "But it never would've worked between us, because I liked you too much. I ran out of my date with Cho for you, because I realised she could never compete with you. You were the one I wanted to be with on Valentine's Day last year, not Cho."
"Harry ..." Hermione began, but he interrupted.
"So, to make up for the fact I never asked you to the Yule Ball, I was wondering if you'd want to go to Slughorn's party with me?" Harry asked bashfully.
Hermione blushed. She'd actually not thought about asking Harry, and had been entertaining vague ideas of asking someone like Zacharias Smith or Cormac McLaggen, just to annoy Ron. Now, though ... "Of course I'll go with you, Harry."