Guy's this story is so old that it's actually faded in parts. It's one of the first fic's I ever wrote and my beta senbongirl614 said its good do I'm finally putting it up.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Believe me if I did I wouldn't have student loans.
All It Took Was An Outburst.
There were two people in the basement kitchen of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. One was a red-haired, blue-eyed young man and the other was a bushy, brown-haired, brown eyed woman. They were both famous for the same thing: being Harry Potter's best friends. The man was Ron Weasley and the woman was Hermione Granger.
"Hermione, you've got to go talk to him. He listens to you. You're the only one he listens to." said Ron.
"What's to say he'll listen to me now? He won't let anyone in. He's hexed everyone who's tried to get him to come out and that includes Ginny, the girl he loves!" Hermione said.
"Just try. He trusts you more than anyone. More than himself, I think."
"Fine. I'll try. I'm not promising anything though."
She got up out of her chair and walked out of the kitchen. Passing the open library door Neville Longbottom caught her eye. He was no longer chubby and clumsy but thinner, agile, and like Hermione had lines on his face that made him seem far older than his true age. He gave her smile that didn't reach his eyes before turning back to his research. She thought she heard a faint "Good luck" as she started up the stairs. Reaching the second landing she knocked on the first door to the right.
"Go away." said a hollow voice from behind the door.
"I'm not going to make you leave, Harry. I just want to talk with you."
"It-It's just you? No one else?" he asked almost childishly.
"Yes, it's just me. Ron's in the kitchen, Neville's in the library, and everyone else is sleeping."
"Okay. You can come in."
The door opened revealing the soon to be 18 year old Harry Potter. The year since Dumbledore's death had changed him. His face once so smooth was wrinkled and scarred. The emerald eyes once so full of emotion were empty and deadened. His jet-black once full and thick was thinning and graying. Hermione stepped inside the small room and the shut the door.
"How is everyone?" he asked sitting on the bed.
"Worried about you, nervous, and a little scared."
"What about you?"
"Worried about you."
"Not nervous or scared?"
"Never. I trust you with all my heart and soul. I will follow you to the very gates of heaven or fires of hell." she responded kneeling in front of him.
"You may very well do just that. There's no love in my life. I have no power that Voldemort knows not."
"Harry, so many people love you."
"Yeah! For being the Boy-Who-Lived-When-His-Parents-Were-Murdered!"
"Harry, its not-"
"It's not like that? Yes it is, Hermione!"
"
"That's not real love!"
"It's not real love! They love me because they think I'm a hero!"
"How do you know everyone loves me?"
"I already told you they fight for you. Everyone in this house loves you in their own way. That's why they're here."
"How does Neville love me?"
"As a hero and a friend."
"Ron?"
"As a sibling and a friend."
"You?"
Hermione stood up and put her back to Harry.
"Me?" she asked sounding scared.
"You. I don't want any more doubts. I know how everyone here except you loves me.
"Do you really want to know how? Are you absolutely positive that you want to know?"
"Yes. I want to know."
"I love you as you. Not as the Bloody Boy-Who-Lived. Not as The Bloody Chosen One! But as Harry Bloody Potter! Not just as my best friend but as my SOULMATE!"
There was silence after her outburst. She walked away from Harry to the window and looked out on the nearly full moon. Afterwards, whenever she remembered this part of what happened, Hermione swore she could hear crickets chirping. Suddenly she could feel Harry's hot breath on the back of her neck.
"So you're saying," he whispered breaking the long silence, "That you're in love with me?"
"Yes." She said not looking away from the window.
Harry could hear the tears in her voice. He hated making her cry.
"And," she continued, "It hurts me to see you like this. It hurts me to see you withdraw like this. Why do you think I came back here during the Christmas holidays in fifth year?"
"You said that skiing wasn't your thing."
"That was a load of bull. I knew you had withdrawn from everyone."
"How?"
"Because I could feel your pain. I feel it now too. And I don't want to feel this pain anymore and yet I can't stop feeling it."
Harry looked at Hermione's reflection in the window. He didn't see the tear-stained 18 going on 48 face of Hermione Granger; instead he saw the face he had seen on Halloween night in their first year. The 11 year old girl crouching, hiding from something that was too strong for her to fight. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder while murmuring her name.
"Don't touch me!" she spat.
She waited a second before turning and pushing him aside. She clunked down the stairs and out the door. Once out the door she apparated away. Harry stood, shell shocked, for a moment before running after her. He met Neville on the first landing.
"Harry! Hermione just-!"
"I know Neville. I'm going to find her. Tell no one."
"I won't. Good luck Harry. And we all do love you. Just not like Hermione does."
Harry followed Hermione's steps out the door. He looked around and didn't see her anywhere, so he knew she had apparated. The only thing running through Harry's head was the question where did she go?
Her parents? He thought No. Too obvious. I wish there was some way I could apparated to her without knowing where she is.
Then he remembered about reading an article about some sort of apparition where if you focused on a person then you could apparate to them without knowing where they were. So Harry focused his whole body on Hermione. He felt like he was being squeezed through a hose pipe and when he opened his eyes he was at Hogwarts. She was in front of him on the ground at the foot of Dumbledore's tomb.
"I tried to save him, Professor," she was saying, "But I don't think I can. I don't think that I'm the one meant to save him. I told him I love him and he did nothing. Maybe you were wrong. Maybe it is Ginny."
"Perhaps, Miss Granger, he was trying to understand the depth of your feelings for him." Harry said in his best Dumbledore voice.
"Harry!" she exclaimed looking over her shoulder.
"The thing is Hermione, I love you. I just didn't know if you loved me or Ron."
"Well, well. How very, very touching young Harry. Confessing your love to a mudblood. I think I'll kill her first so that you may watch the light leave her eyes."
"You won't touch her Tom! She's protected by love. And that is something that you don't understand."
"Love is something for people like you and Dumbledore. Weaklings. Mudblood lovers. Fools."
"I'm no fool Tom. I'm fact the only fool here is you. The wizarding world can't survive without muggleborns. And what about the half-bloods like you and me? We've got muggle or muggleborn blood running through us. Getting rid of us next?"
"I am not a half blood! I am descended from Salazaar Slytherin! "
"Yeah but remember your dad was a muggle! So that makes you a half-blood just like me."
"Say another word and I'll kill the girl Potter!"
"Like I said before you can't touch her."
"Why because if loooovvvvee?"
"Well actually Tom, yeah. Love overcomes everything. Didn't the nuns teach you that?"
"Avada Kedavra!"
The green light headed straight for Harry but he managed to dodge it and it bounced off Dumbledore tomb, went over Hermione's head (she ducked), and hit Voldemort who sunk to his knees.
"Now, Tom, it would be nice of you if next time you gave me some warning but there won't be a next time. That Killing Curse you cast is weakening you and I think I'll help it along."
Harry went over to where Hermione was and raised her from the ground. Before she could speak her lips met Harry's in a gentle kiss. There was so much love in the kiss that even Voldemort could feel it. He doubled over in pain before bursting into flames. He blew up, leaving only a scorch mark on the grass. Hermione broke the kiss.
"Looks like all it took was love."
"No. All it took was an outburst."
The End! So what did you think? Kind corny but kinda funny, right? Leave a review!
