When Harry and Hermione arrived back at the kitchen of Grimwauld Place, Hermione let go of Harry and immediately headed up the stairs. Harry decided not to follow her. He sat down at the table, and took some deep breaths. Harry then dropped his head onto the table, and stayed like that for twenty more minutes, when Sirius popped back into the kitchen. Sirius saw Harry with his head on the table, and thought he was asleep, so he just decided to creep by Harry and up the stairs.
"How'd it go?" Harry said, with his head still on the table. He lifted it up and looked at Sirius who gave him a grim smile.
"As good as you could expect. There was some accusing of me stealing their daughter, but then I told them technically she was my daughter, and then after some more arguing, they pretty much kicked me out of their house. But not before I had them agree to let us go their tomorrow and get Hermione's things."
"They sound like nice people," Harry said, smiling slightly. Sirius laughed.
"Sure. Where's Hermione?" Sirius asked.
"She went upstairs. I thought it best not to bother her."
"Good idea. This is a lot to take in a little amount of time," Sirius agreed. "We need to talk, Harry."
"About what?" Harry asked.
Sirius sat down at the table across from Harry and said, "Hermione."
"What about Hermione?"
"How you feel about her," Sirius said. "Don't deny it Harry, you have a thing for her."
"No I don't, we're just friends."
"Harry, I see the way you look at her, and I see the way she looks at you. You both like each other, everybody knows it, but you two."
"Really?" Harry asked, looking up eagerly.
Sirius smiled at his godson and said, "Smooth, Potter."
"Um, I think I'm going to go see how Hermione's doing."
"Alright then," Sirius said, smiling again.
Harry hurried up the stairs to the second floor landing. He softly knocked on Hermione's door. Harry heard a choked, "Come in." Harry opened the door slightly and stuck his head in the doorway.
"Hermione?"
Hermione looked up from the bed where she was sitting and said, "Hi Harry."
"Can I come in?"
"Sure." Harry opened the door and walked into Hermione's bedroom. He grabbed the chair from her desk and put it in front of Hermione and sat down.
"How are you doing?" Harry asked.
"Alright, I guess. I just wish I could have known sooner, because then maybe it would have been easier," Hermione said sadly.
"But the good thing, Hermione, is that you actually do know now. That way you and Sirius can be a right, proper family."
"What about you?" Hermione asked.
"What about me?"
"Well, can't you be in our right, proper family? Seeing as your his godson and all. Technically he is your legal guardian now."
"I never thought of that. Do you really want me to be in your family? I would think that you would want some time to get to know Sirius alone."
"I want you to be there with me. You know Sirius better than I do, and You know me better than he does, so I want you to be there for the both of us."
Harry smiled and said, "Thanks, Hermione. That means a lot to me since I didn't really have a family of my own until you came along. And then when Sirius came into our lives. Remember that?"
Hermione laughed and said, "How could I forget? Going back in time, getting abused by a tree, flying on Buckbeak, a fight between a werewolf and a dog, dementors, Ron and his stupid rat."
"Yeah," Harry smiled. "A lot of things happened that night."
"And one more thing happened too," Hermione said.
"What was that?" Harry asked.
"I figured out something."
"And what did you figure out?"
"That I love you," Hermione said softly. Harry looked at her surprised.
"What?"
"I don't know if you feel the same way, and I don't care. But I love you, Harry Potter, with all my heart."
"Hermione, I love you too. I just thought that you didn't feel the same way about me. I always thought you liked Ron."
"Well, I liked you, but then I figured out you could never like me, so I forced myself into thinking that the only person that would ever be with me was Ron."
"Don't you ever think that, Hermione. Ever again. I love you so much that I would go to the hottest hell and back for you. Please believe me, Hermione. I love you."
Hermione looked deep into Harry's eyes and said, "Really?"
"Yes." With that, Harry pulled Hermione into a deep and passionate kiss. At first she was stiff, but then she relaxed and started to kiss back. Harry slide his tongue over Hermione's lip, and she parted her lips to allow his tongue entrance. Harry and Hermione fell back onto the bed, and finally pulled apart for air.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, moving a hair off of her face.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
"Of course," Hermione said and kissed Harry again. They pulled apart and Harry smiled at her.
"Should we go downstairs now? So we don't keep Sirius waiting?" Harry asked.
"Sure. Are we going to tell anyone? Ron and Sirius and the others?"
"How about we let them figure it out for themselves," Harry said, pulling Hermione off of the bed and out the door.
They walked downstairs smiling. Once they entered the kitchen, Sirius looked up, and smiled too at the looks on their faces. He noted there grasped hands. Took them long enough, he thought.
"How are you doing, Hermione?" Sirius asked.
"Better, now that Harry and I talked about it."
More like snogged about it, thought Sirius. "That's good. I was thinking, maybe we could go out for supper? As a family?"
"Sounds like a good idea. How about that new Mexican place in town?" Harry asked.
"Sounds good," Hermione said. The three of them went upstairs and walked out the door.
Next chapter will be at the restaurant. Please review!!! Thanks for all the great reviews so far!