Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. At all. : (

Author's notes: This was initially the prologue to my D/Hr fic (Beauty in Dishonesty), but it confused people. So, being the lazy person I was, I took it out. And now, it's a short H/Hr one-shot. It's a bit cheesy. Sue me. Thanks a lot to Chrissy, who kindly went over this for me. : )

Still With Me Is Only You

How many times have you told me you love her?
As many times as I wanted to tell you the truth.
How long have I stood here beside you?
I lived through you, you looked through me.
Oh solitude, still with me is only you...
Oh solitude, I can't stay away from you...
-- Solitude, Evanescence.

Hermione Granger had a predicament. Did she love Harry Potter? As a friend, she had loved him since they were 11 years old and he (and Ron) had just saved her from a mountain troll. As a teenage witch, she had loved him since they were 15 years old and on the brink of war. She was now 17 years old and while she wished it weren't so, her feelings for The Boy Who Lived had neither waned nor changed. So yes, Hermione did love Harry. Though everyone lived in constant fear and anxiety, Hermione felt at ease fretting over petty things like boys. When she didn't think about the potential death and imminent destruction that awaited her and her friends, she could breathe. She could almost function like there wasn't a war looming heavily over them. That was her way of coping. No more dreaming up fantasy worlds because that world had become her reality.

The newly crowned Head Girl was quite sure that Harry didn't see her as anything but a good friend. As far as she was concerned, he viewed her in a completely platonic fashion and nothing more. And that frustrated her. Since the Cho Chang incident, Harry had shown exactly no interest in the opposite sex. Or the same sex for that matter. Sure, he had more pressing matters at hand, but Hermione believed in the saying "All we need is love." She'd give anything to see Harry laugh with feeling behind it. She wanted him to smile genuinely. Harry had distanced himself when You-Know-Who had fully returned and she knew that he was aching inside. His anguish had split him into two different people: one was the hollow shell of what Harry Potter had been and the other was the Harry Potter that will be – biding his time until he can unleash his fury upon those who had wronged him and those he cared deeply for. She could only hope that she could help ease the pain of his past and present. She knew after he had been through hell and back again, he would never be the same again, not ever.

But how to find out if Harry liked her was another matter. He didn't speak of his feelings anymore. She wanted to go about this delicately – she didn't want to ruin one of her most cherished friendships. Should she write him a note? Should she ask Lavender to ask him for her? Should she

Hermione shook her head. She was being silly. She felt ridiculous sitting alone at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall trying to figure out a boy. Soon enough, students and teachers started filing into the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione smiled at Parvati and Lavender who decided to sit with her. As the friends caught up on their summer holidays, a light bulb lit up in Hermione's head. Perhaps figuring out Harry Potter wouldn't be so hard after all.