She's crying, Hermione Granger never cries.
Only if you saw her now you'd think that she'd cried like this before. She's chosen the perfect place and time. The back of the library, where the defence against the dark arts books are kept. Its dark back there with no windows meaning the little light that reaches there is from the hanging light bulb in the potions section in front. It's a secluded area with nothing but shelves of books which are old and dusty from lack of use. The library should be empty by now, its nearing 12 o'clock at night. Hogwarts is silent and all students and teachers are sound asleep in their rooms except one child. The library's sole occupant, Hermione Granger.
She's sitting on the floor with her back resting against the shelves piled with books. She's not reading or studying, she has her head resting on her arms and her knees pulled up to her chest and she's crying. Her body shakes with every sob and her breaths come out in rasps. Her hair has a tinge of bushiness from running her hands through it so many times, her pale skin is marked by the tear tracks that run down her cheeks, her eyes are slightly red with heavy bags underneath from the lack of sleep and hold so much pain. She's a mess only she doesn't care she can hide it all with a simple charm like always. No-one would ever guess that she could be anything less than perfect. No-one ever see's past the mask.
That's how he finds her. Curled up on the floor in the dark arts section or the library. Crying.
"Hermione?"
She looks up startled and wipes her eyes on the arms of her school cardigan. She blinks to keep the tears, which are threatening to fall, back.
"Harry, it's about time you started studying for Defence against the dark arts especially with that awful Umbridge woman as a teacher" she plasters a smile on her face and stands, brushing herself down.
She's putting the mask on again and she's sure it wont fail her only he knows her better than she thinks and he see's straight through her lies.
"Were you crying?" he asks, he knows she was he's just hoping she'll be like everyone else and answer that question with the reason. Only she's not like other people and is determined to avoid his probing questions so she brushes it off with a simple "no" and briskly walks past him towards the library entrance only to be stopped by the strong hand that grips her upper arm.
"Don't lie to me Hermione, I know you and I know that your lying" his answer isn't harsh or uncaring but it makes her see red.
"No you don't know me, you know nothing about me except that I'm good for homework answers!" her voice is cold and her eyes show no emotion. She watches as he shakes his head, denying her accusation, his unkempt black hair shakes making it look even messier. "Tell me what you know about me then Harry Potter!"
Her accusation is harsh but he's not about to let her believe that. His voice came out quiet compared to her outburst.
"I know that your middle name's Jane and your parents are both dentists. I know that your favourite colour is green and you love my eyes because of that. Your favourite things to do are read in front of the fire in the common room and watch me and Ron play quidditch only you'd never play it yourself because you hate broomsticks because you're terrified of heights and only ride one if I'm with you because you feel safe with me. I know that you love the film titanic even though your not a big fan of romance films or books and I know that your best girl friend is Ginny and she tell you everything even though you don't tell her anything because your secretive like that. And I know that you've been crying and all I want to know is why because I know that you hardly ever cry unless something has really got to you" she stared at him, amazed at what he knew about her, things she'd never told anyone, not Ron or Ginny and certainly not him but she wasn't about to let this go.
"I cry because I'm so scared all the time. There's an evil wizard out to get us and he won't stop until he does. My family's at risk and I can't do anything about it except carry on trying to stop him." her voice came out loud and clear even though she was whispering. She diverted her eyes to the floor as tears pooled in her eyes and spilled over, creating fresh tear tracks on her cheeks "I cry because I'm supposed to be the brains behind this operation. One wrong move and although indirectly, I could kill everyone, my family, Ron's family, teachers and students here, I could kill Ginny and Ron and I could kill you" tears freely overflowed now, she looked so defeated and fragile. Green met Brown as she finally met his eyes in a direct stare. "I cry because I could have stopped myself becoming part of this, if I had never come into that carriage on the first train ride, looking for that stupid frog then I'd never have met you or Ron and I could have kept my family safe. I could have stopped myself so easily if only I'd never met you" His heart broke at her words and he was so devastated that he almost didn't hear the next thing she said as it came out almost inaudibly. "I cry because I know that no matter how much danger I'm in I'd never change what happened that first day"
Her knees gave way and she fell gracefully to the floor as if all her breath had been knocked out after her words. She wiped furiously as her cheeks as if mad at her tears for betraying herself. He couldn't believe what she was saying. After all he'd brought her through she'd do it again for him.
He fell to his knees in front of her and gently got hold of her hands and brought them down from her face, looking her directly in the eyes. "I know that I'll do anything to keep you safe" and before she could contradict him, he kissed her.
Her lips were soft and they tasted of tears. His hands had dropped hers and were now holding the back of her head whilst hers were resting on his shoulders. It was nothing major but he had just convince her she had made the right decision that first day.