Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, therefore I do not own Harry Potter.
As every teenage boy was due at some point in his pubescent years, Harry started to notice girls. It was around his fourth year at Hogwarts during the Tri-wizard tournament when he noticed how pretty and alluring Fleur had been. There were a few others in passing that caught the Boy-Who-Lived's eye but the one who held the title of his first crush was the Ravenclaw, Cho Chang. Her long, black hair framed her narrow face and accented her dark eyes in a way that stood out to Harry and made the then fifth year girl linger in his mind. Cho had been quite pretty and he was glad that she was his first kiss, but their relationship had never developed further than that.
The next girl to catch his attention had been his best mate's little sister, Ginny Weasley. With a spitfire temper that rivaled Ron's and a smile that could charm anyone better than Lockhart's ever could, Ginny had once held a flame for the famous Harry Potter for years, so one would think this would be the perfect set-up right? It was perfect in Harry's mind until he plucked up his Gryffindor courage to tell the redhead his feelings and she turned him down (Ginny and Harry would later laugh over the irony of the situation in the later years when their kids were running circles around their legs). The two decided to stay friends, but Harry was still understandably upset by the outcome.
After two failed relationship attempts, Harry decided to try and focus on the upcoming war with Voldemort and staying alive instead of having his heart shattered again. It was during the next year hunting alongside his two best mates Ron and Hermione did Harry begin to pay attention to his heart once again.
Her bushy hair had long since stopped being bushy and instead turned sleek and wavy, soft to touch. Her cinnamon-brown eyes that could be so warm and affectionate, but then turn into stone cold fury next in a flash, were so entrancing to Harry. She was the studious one, the one who recited facts and solved the puzzles, and the one who had saved Harry's life more times than he could count. Hermione Granger was a compelling force of nature that he both loved and respected with all of his heart. He couldn't live without her, something he had always known for the fact that she was his best friend, but now he was realizing it was because he loved her more than that. In a type of love that his parents had shared.
It had been after Ron had left them when their relationship had started with simple gestures of affection. He would brush the hair out of her eyes or she would rest her hand on his arm longer than normal. These gestures had an unconscious beginning, when Harry and Hermione had tried to comfort each other over the loss of their friend. Harry would hug Hermione while she wept or she would cradle his head on her lap when he would be too depressed to speak. The two of them began to rely on one another for physical and emotional comfort, and that was when his feelings for Hermione had started to evolve into something more.
When Ron came back, they tried to refrain from being so close in attempt to not make their friend uncomfortable in their presence (and also the fact that Ron still had feelings for Hermione). Throughout that time, Harry realized that he missed being able to touch Hermione, and his heart ached every time he held back his hand from reaching out. He hated seeing Ron try to continue on his path of wooing Hermione, but Harry hated himself more for having infringed on the girl that Ron had liked since sixth year.
Harry allowed the internal torture until one day he noticed Hermione staring longingly at him. It was subtle and hard to notice as he was washing the dishes in their makeshift kitchen and Hermione was at the table reading one of her books while Ron was who knows where. Every once in a while, Harry would feel a pair of eyes on him coming from Hermione's direction and when he would glance at her, Hermione's eyes would be downcast.
For the next few days, whenever it was just Harry and Hermione, he would feel the same pair of eyes looking at him and somehow internally he knew Hermione felt the same way he did about their situation. His best friend felt the same way he did, and Harry was noticeably happier after that discovery.
However, neither decided to act on their feelings until they were in the midst of the final battle and Harry had just been told he had to die. He was heading towards the woods when he saw Hermione coming in his direction. Their eyes met and he couldn't resist any more when they scooped each other up into each other's arms. Instead of just hugging her, Harry leaned down to press his lips to hers. It was perfect, the months of longing and angst swirling inside of him came out in that moment and he made sure Hermione could feel how much he wanted her.
Hermione had been surprised at first, but only took moment to catch up and kiss Harry back, letting him know how much she desired this simple, yet breathtaking thing that had grown between them. After a minute, dizziness forced him to pull back to the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Hermione Granger, breathless and bruised lips, with her cinnamon eyes swallowed by black.
Harry wanted to keep kissing her senseless, but the little worm in the back of his mind was telling him it was time to go face Voldemort. With one last chaste kiss, he left Hermione before she could argue and went on to face his adversary.
And after Harry came back to life and his wand at Tom Marvelo Riddle (who would definitely die now), he could only feel pity for the man who would never know the ability to love. Anyone who would never have a love like his for Hermione for that matter deserved to be pitied in Harry's mind. After the Dark Lord's body, crumpled and beaten, hit the ground Harry only felt relief that he was able to kiss those lips again.
Now shaking him back to the present, Harry found himself looking into the cinnamon eyes of his bride and he couldn't help but flash his signature marauder grin at her suspicious expression.
"What are you thinking about, Harry Potter?" Hermione whispered furiously, her eyes glancing at the officiator who was luckily addressing the crowd and not the couple, "You're supposed to be paying attention. This is a terrible time to be zoning out because if you haven't noticed we are in the middle of getting married."
Harry chuckled at his soon-to-be wife, "I'm just thinking of what I'm going to do with you tonight in our bed alone and married." He stressed the last three words and took pleasure in the blush that spread across Hermione's face.
"Why you-" She didn't have a chance to finish because the officiator said, "You may now kiss the bride" and Harry happily took that opportunity to cut her off with a kiss.
A/N: I've been wanting to write a HarryxHermione fic for a while and this is what finally sprouted out of my head. It is my first, but if I get more ideas I will definitely write some more stories. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think by clicking the review button!