Disclaimer: The usual! NOT JKR.

Thanks to Manuel, for beta-ing this story. I desperately needed help and he gave it to me. THANKS!

I hope you like this chapter!

It was freezing cold outside, but the tent was warm. "Thank God" she thought. Her eyes were still closed, but she was slowly becoming conscious of everything around her.

She could hear the movements of the trees surrounding the tent, and the breeze moving them. She could hear the cracking of the fire in the fireplace, the noises her bed made as she moved a muscle.

She slowly opened her eyes, looking over to the lonely tent. She got up, putting on her warmest sweater; she walked outside, looking for Harry.

But he wasn't there. She stared to the spot where he should have been, blankly. She looked around, then inside the tent, but he was nowhere to be found.

She panicked. Where the hell had he gone? Her breathing was starting to come in short gasps. She had dreamed about it a couple of nights before.

She had woken up shaking violently and crying, in her dream Harry had walked out on her too, leaving her the task of finding and destroying the Horcruxes. A task, she knew, she could never complete alone.

Her worst nightmare had become true. She couldn't find him. Either he had been taken by Death Eaters or he had walked out on her.

The second choice was the most likely. The Death Eaters wouldn't have taken Harry away, while leaving her behind, sleeping peacefully. It was ridiculous.

She looked around for her wand; it was nowhere to be found. Now, she was mad at him. He hadn't just walked out; leaving her completely alone, he had also taken her wand.

But then, a silver doe walked over to her. She blinked. It couldn't be. It was a patronus, but... she didn't know to whom it belonged.

The doe nodded to her, and walked away. It turned its head back to her, nodding again. It wanted her to follow. But, could she trust it? She didn't even knew to whom it belonged. It could very well be a trap.

The doe nodded again, more desperately this time, so she made up her mind. She started to follow it through the woods, through a big maze of trees.

She walked into a clearing just in time to see Harry diving into a frozen pond. She blinked. 'Had he completely lost his mind?'

She walked over to the pond, and saw him coming to the surface, but something, or someone, pulled him back.

She gasped. She didn't think about it twice before diving into the pond. The water was freezing cold, and she felt like thousand knives were piercing through her skin. She found Harry immediately and tried to pull him up, but she couldn't.

He was holding his hands to his neck, and she understood. She used all of her strength to rip the locket out of his neck, and she did. She was sure she had hurt him, but she managed to get it off.

She helped him out of the pond, and onto the ground. They were both shaking violently, and Harry's skin was an alarming shade of purple.

"The sword..." he managed to say between coughs.

"What?" Hermione said.

She looked over to the pond, and saw it. He was right. The sword they had been looking for like mad was right there. She didn't think twice and dove into it.

She grabbed the sword and threw it outside just before she slipped out of it, too. She walked over to Harry, who was still shaking on the ground.

"Talking about foolish, Harry Potter!" she screamed. She, too, was shaking. But Harry had been under the water for longer, and he wasn't wearing as many layers of clothes as she was.

She crawled over to him, and pulled his head up to look at him in the eye. "You're going to get hypothermia!" she said, losing control.

Harry's breathing was slowly regaining control, and soon he managed to say without coughing. "The... locket..."

"It's here" said Hermione, as she grabbed it.

"Destroy it!"

"No, do it yourself..." she said

"Destroy it!" Harry demanded again. "You got the sword... you should do it."

Hermione looked frightened. She surely couldn't do it. It was Harry's duty, after all. Not hers. But when he saw the determination in his eyes, she nodded. She got up, helping Harry to stand as well.

Harry grabbed the locket and laid it on a rock, as she grabbed the sword. It was heavier than she had expected, she wondered if she would be able to hit the locket right.

Harry was kneeling next to the locket, holding it with his hands; he whispered something she couldn't understand in parseltoungue.

The locket burst open and a very young Voldemort submerged from it.

"I have seen your heart, Hermione Granger..."

She closed her eyes and forced herself to not listen to what he was saying, but it was hard.

"... but he walked out of you. Just like everyone else will..."

She closed her eyes with more force that time. She whispered something illogical even to her, just trying to keep her mind somewhere else... she vaguely heard Harry calling for her. Her mind drifted back into what Tom Riddle was saying...

"... and he... his heart does not belong to you. He holds on to you, on to your body, but it is not you he thinks of..."

Hermione opened her eyes. He was talking about Harry. She could feel Harry's eyes on her, but she refused to look at him.

"... someone who doesn't even deserve him..." Ginny's form was suddenly in the middle of the forest, and for a split of second, Hermione allowed herself to fall into Tom Riddle's trap.

Then, she heard Harry calling for her. Her mind drifted back into reality, with all the strength she didn't know she had, she hit the locket. The force of the strike made her hands feel numb, forcing her to loose her balance.

She was on the ground, on her knees, crying out tears she didn't even know she was crying. She could feel Harry moving near her, he put on his dry clothes and wrapped a warm sweater around her.

Hermione didn't dare to look at him, she had the strange feeling he didn't want to look at her, either.

Had Riddle been right? Could it be he knew more about her than she did?

What had changed in that couple of days inside of her, that she didn't even noticed. She had indeed noticed that she reached out for Harry more often than it was allowed between friends. She realized she missed him when he wasn't with her. And that was a lot considering, they were always together.

"Hermione?" she heard Harry whisper, unsure.

She finally gathered what was left of her strength, and looked up to him. His skin was returning to a, barely, normal color. He was still shaking, though.

He offered her a hand, and helped her up. They both looked down to the, finally destroyed, locket.

"It's finally destroyed..." he said, barely audible.

She nodded. Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her back to the tent.

Harry entered first, quickly walked over to her clothes. He had been longer under water, but she had dived with her clothes, which were still dripping. The sweater Harry had wrapped around her was already soaked as well.

Hermione's eyes were wide open, staring blankly before her. She vaguely felt Harry pulled her hands, taking the sweater off, as he led her closer to the fire.

Her mind was a mess. Perhaps Riddle had been right. Perhaps she was falling for Harry, she wondered as she watched him walk over to a chair where he laid the, now, wet sweater.

She wondered what he felt about what he had just heard and seen. But she didn't have much time to wonder about it, for Harry started pulling her own sweater up.

She lowered her arms, trying to cover herself. Harry smiled warmly to her, and tried again. This time, she didn't try to stop him. She just raised her arms, and left him take the soaked clothes of her.

Her mind vaguely registered how odd the situation was. She was almost naked in front of Harry, making her feel more vulnerable than she had ever felt. But she didn't even have the strength to think much about it, not even to try to cover her up.

Harry helped her into some warm pants and sweater. He used her wand to dry her hair. Having wrapped another blanket around her, he walked over to the kitchen.

How foolish of her. To fall in love in the middle of a war. And with Harry, nonetheless. But, she wasn't even sure she had fallen in love. She just... felt for him. What, she wasn't sure. Sure, it wasn't the same feeling she had back at Hogwarts, but it wasn't love, she was sure.

It was need, she realized. She needed him, desperately. That was why she had been clinging to him so desperately.

He entered the room again, holding two cups of steaming tea. He walked over to her, and handed it to her. She took it, and let her hands warm with the heat of it.

She took a single sip, before putting it down and sitting on the floor as Harry watched her closely.

She wrapped the blanket more tightly around her.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Good..." she said. "How are you?"

"Good..." he replied. They both nodded. Hermione noticed Harry's skin was now showing a healthy color.

They were both sitting on the floor, just looking at each other. Hermione darted her eyes around the room as she tried to find words to what she was feeling.

As soon as she opened her mouth, she felt his arms around her neck.

"You must not listen to him, Hermione..." he was saying. "That's what he does. Try to confuse people..."

He stopped, and pulled away slightly. "I will not walk out on you, I swear" he said firmly.

She nodded, bitting her lip. She felt the familiar sting in her eyes as tears were coming.

"And do you really believe I care for Ginny right now?" he said. "She is the very last on my mind. Right now, you come first, I swear"

The tears finally found their way through her eyes and were falling on her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him fiercely. He returned the gesture with the same force, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She cried what felt like all the tears in the world, before she finally managed to sooth herself taking deep breaths that hurt her ribs. He was holding her head by the sides, helping her wipe the rebel tears that kept falling down.

She raised her hands as well, resting one on his shoulders while the other was tangled on his hair.

He wiped a tear that was very close to her lips, his eyes stayed locked there. Before she realized what was going on, Harry lowered his head and pressed his lips, softly against hers. It was so gentle, that Hermione even doubted it could be considered as a kiss.

Harry pulled away slowly, but Hermione reached out for him. Their lips barely rose, they pulled away again, both at the same time. Then, they both leaned down again and their lips met half way through. She closed her eyes at the contact.

It was a small kiss, but it was enough for the cold blood in her body to warm up again. His hand rested against her cheek, while the other was grasping her sweater with such force.

He rested his forehead against her, his eyes closed. She closed hers, too, and welcomed sleep.