Disclaimer: If I'd owned Harry Potter, the epilogue would have been different. Completely different. But unfortunately, I don't.
Enjoy reading this one! Actually based on some real-life experiences, and written a loooong time ago. But well, I decided to post it anyways.
It was one kiss. Just a little kiss. Why did she have to make such a big deal out of it?
She was lying on her bed at the Burrow, staring at the ceiling, telling herself the same things over and over again.
How could one kiss mean so much to one person, and so little to the other?
Her thoughts floated back to four days ago, when Ginny had gotten the not-too-great idea to have a slumber party.
"Come on, it would be fun! We could invite Seamus, Dean, Neville, Lavender, Parvati and Luna, and get mom to make a lot of sweets and such, and just have fun! I already asked mom, and she said it's alright."
Harry and Ron practically jumped to their feet. "Great idea, Gin! We'll go and floo them." Ron said.
There had been nothing to do lately, and all four of them were bored out of their minds.
After Ron and Harry had left, Ginny asked: "'Mione, you're allright with it too? Come on, you know you'll like it once everyone's here!"
"Yeah, it's okay. It will probably be fun." Hermione smiled.
She hadn't known back then what would happen. If she had, she'd probably have blown off the whole thing. Or she would just not have attended the party. She could have been reading books all evening, but instead she had chosen to 'have fun'.
Hermione poured herself another butterbeer. The party had been great so far. Everyone was laughing and talking, the girls were applying make-up to the faces of the guys, who, as a payback, hid every single thing they could find that belonged to one of the girls. They had even watched a muggle movie, on a by mr. Weasley altered tv/dvd-set.
Not too long after a second movie, they all decided to try and get some sleep. Matresses with blankets had already been conjured up by mr. Weasley, so they all just picked a place to sleep. Hermione got a place to the side. She was quite tired and didn't want to be kept awake by the talking. Harry was lying next to her. She turned and looked at him. He was staring right back, and their eyes focused on those of the other. Hermione gave him a slight smile, then averted her eyes and shifted again, turning her eyes to the wall. She heard Harry move behind her back and suddenly felt two arms around her waist, and his warm breath in her neck.
It hadn't been anything out of the ordinary. When they were only with their friends, Harry often put his arms around her, or stroked her hair or arms. She didn't mind it: it made her feel safe and loved and happy, and most of the time she didn't really want him to stop. It was one of the special things of their friendship, one of the things few people knew about and even less understood. It never had been uncomfortable. Never. Until then.
They just lied there, occasionally whispering something for the other to hear, but mostly silent, each of them lost in thoughts. She wasn't tired anymore. Wide awake she lay, listening to the stories and things Harry told her, feeling his hands softly stroking her hair, her arms, her face. She now faced him, looking into his eyes while she exposed her own thoughts to him.
At one point, she realized she was cuddled up against him, his arms around her while her head lied on his chest. Embarrassed she got off him, lying next to him instead. Harry didn't seem to really care about it, and relaxing again, she looked up at him.
He was looking back at here with a loving look in his eyes. Hesitating, she reached out and cupped his cheek with her hand.
"What do you want, Hermione." His whisper resounded in her head. Their mouths moved towards each other, slowly. Just before their lips touched, she heard him whisper.
"This?" Then their lips touched, Harry closing the gap between them by pulling her towards him.
The kiss seemed to last forever. When they drew back, Hermione could feel her lips tingling.
"I shouldn't have done that." Harry looked pained, and turned to lie on his back. Immediately Hermione cuddled up against him, trying to show him without talking that she didn't mind. He smiled and hugged her.
"This isn't going to change anything, is it?"
She shook her head. She didn't want anything to change either, so this shouldn't become a problem.
How wrong she had been. While she hadn't realized it at the time, the kiss had awakened something in her. Something confusing, something she shouldn't have at all. Just this morning she'd understood. She was falling in love. With her best friend.
All because of that one kiss.
It almost seemed nothing ever happened. When they woke up, he had been distant, almost cold. After that first day he just treated her like he did before, like nothing happened. She hadn't talked to him much. It hurt, because she knew. She knew that to him it was one of many kisses, that she was one in a long line of girls that kissed him.
It wasn't 'just' a kiss to her.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Hermione got off the bed. She would go and find Harry, and just talk to him again. After all, he couldn't know. He couldn't possibly know that he had stolen her very first kiss.