Chapter 7

The mission to get the memory from Slughorn was a success, finally revealing the truth about Voldemort to Harry and Dumbledore. He later recounted the information about Horcruxes to Ron and Hermione during one of the few moments that the trio had together in the two weeks since he had taken the Liquid Luck.

Since that night, the trio's relationships had improved for the most part. Much of the conversation in the Common Room and in the Great Hall that were once filled with awkward silences and stunted conversations were now filled with laughter. Though, there was still a little awkwardness between Ron and Hermione ever since their break up, the pair of them never hung out without Harry being there as a buffer. Hermione had told him about their break up the following day, but after talking with them both, he realized that they both believed thought that this was for the best and that they needed time to move past this. Still, it left him in the awkward position of not knowing how to approach any situation where interacting with them both was involved, despite their assurances that everything was fine, like today.

It was a Hogsmeade weekend, so the castle was experiencing the usual hustle and bustle associated with being able to leave the castle. In years past, Harry, Ron, and Hermione would all go to the village together and explore the shops as a group until one of them got tired of walking around all day. Recently, they would hang out together for a while, before Harry would let Ron and Hermione spend time together as a couple. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen so it left their trip today in a state of flux.

Ron was the first to stand up after they had finished eating. Judging by the look in his eyes, what he was about to say was both reluctant on his part and potentially upsetting for them.

"Hey," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I think I'm going to hang out with Seamus and Dean today if that's fine with you guys."

Dumbfounded, all Harry could do was nod. Hermione was able to vocalize her answer, wishing him a fun time, but when Harry chanced a glance towards her, he saw that tears were beginning to form in the corner of her eyes.

As Ron walked away, Harry witnessed as Hermione managed to pull herself together and give of an almost imperturbable sense of stability that would've fooled him if he hadn't seen her near breakdown moments ago. Deciding that it wasn't good for her to try and bottle it up, he scooted next to her and draped an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey," he said in a comforting whisper, drawing her attention from the exit where Ron just disappeared to himself, "he just needs a little more time." He could see the uncertainty that still lurked in her eyes so he tried a slightly different tactic. Bumping her shoulder, he continued, "Hey, that doesn't mean that we can't still enjoy ourselves, right?"

She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips and Harry didn't believe that a more beautiful sound existed. In the back of his mind, he knew that spending the day alone with Hermione wouldn't help his growing infatuation with her at all. She didn't need someone lusting over her after she just went through a break-up. He was also under the impression that Ron and Hermione would end up back together eventually anyway; that was the way their friendship worked, why would their romantic relationship be any different?

Little did he know how wrong about the situation he truly was.


Hermione's spirits had lifted considerably during her and Harry's trek through Hogsmeade. Instead of the wall of sadness that she felt that she was repeatedly running into, she managed to have a very enjoyable time walking with him.

As the day progressed, Hermione found herself comparing Harry's behavior to how Ron did when they were an item. Early on Ron had given an interest in what she wanted to do, but as their relationship progressed, he regressed to old habits and would complain when she wanted to visit the book shop or purchase fresh parchment and quills, but would turn around and spend more time than she did in Zonko's and Honeyduke's. Harry, on the other-hand, was patient and let her browse the shops to her heart's content, and though, he too wanted to visit the same shops as Ron, he didn't want to spend the entire trip there and was more agreeable to simply walk around the wizarding village.

They finally entered their last stop of the day, the Three Broomsticks and sat down to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the castle. Once they sat down, got their drinks and ordered food, Hermione noticed that Harry was staring at her, a slightly puzzled expression on his face. She tried for several moments to figure out what it was. Finally, she realized that instead of sitting across from him like she would in trips past, she was sitting next to Harry for no other reason than because she wanted to.

"Today was a little weird, huh?"

Harry snapped out of his stupor at her question and quickly righted himself to appear as if nothing had happened. "Yeah, I guess. Hopefully, things will get completely back to normal soon."

He turned just in time to catch her as she cast her eyes down to the table and softly whispered, "I'm not so sure anymore." She had hoped that her words were quite enough to go unnoticed, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

"Hey," he said, reaching over to take one of her hands in his, "This isn't your fault."

"But it is," came her immediate reply, the frustration and guilt that had built up over the past week had finally taken its toll, causing the words to tumble past her lips before she could stop them. "If it wasn't for me, all three of us would be here today enjoying ourselves. Instead, I feel as though it's my fault that Ron is so distant."

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but Hermione wrenched he hand away and cut him off before he could get going. "I'm the reason we've all been so distant. I tried to save my relationship with Ron, but all I was doing was causing the both of us more pain." She paused momentarily and directed her attention once more at Harry. As she briefly studied him a small smile, that did nothing to cover up her sorrow, but instead made her look all the more morose crossed her features.

"And her I am, ruining the good time we've been having by bringing all of this up instead of doing what I should be doing, moving on and trying to fix this," she visibly slumped in her chair, and whispered as lowly as she had before, "I must be a terrible friend."

Not wanting her to stew in her own bad emotions any longer, Harry quickly slid closer to her and wrapped her in a hug that he hoped was every bit as reassuring as her own were. She gratefully returned the hug, Harry's reassurance making her feel a little better but the doubt still lingered in her mind.

"You're not a terrible friend Hermione, so don't even say it. How can someone who has been by my side through everything be a terrible friend?"

Hermione pulled away from him as she began to dispute what he was saying. "You're just saying that Harry. Look at us now? How can you-"

"No Hermione, you're not just a great friend, you're a great person. You fight for house elves rights because nobody else will. You were willing to go up against the Ministry and helped organize an illegal group to train students how to fight, the same person, and fought alongside me at the Ministry despite knowing that it was likely a trap."

Hermione's mouth hung open at the sincerity in his voice. She thought about trying to refute his claims but she couldn't get the words to form in her brain as Harry continued on.

"You're one of the most amazing people I know, and I don't know how long I would've survived without you. I know you doubt yourself, and think that you're nothing but a bother, and that you're not pretty compared to other girls, but to me Hermione…you're one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out."

Hermione's brain had effectively shut off. She was caught off-guard by the honesty in his voice and by the passion with which he said those things, and because of it, she couldn't stop her heart from fluttering at his words. A warmth that she had never felt before bloomed in her chest and she for the first time, she finally understood the strange feeling that she had been experiencing for weeks.

Before she could stop herself, she hesitantly leaned forward and kissed Harry on the cheek, before reengaging their hug with more vigor. She was aware that her instincts had tried to guide her lips towards his own, but her understanding was fresh and she didn't want to scare him away.

"Thank you, Harry," she tearfully whispered as she squeezed her arms around him. He returned the gesture before the pair reluctantly disengaged themselves, just as their food arrived. As they began to dig into their food, Hermione's brain tried to process everything that had just happened, but even as she processed this, one thing as absolute in her mind.

She now knew exactly what she wanted.


When the pair had made it back to the castle, Hermione was aware that their relationship had shifted unexpectedly since their talk in the Three Broomsticks. The rest of lunch had gone on with easy conversation mixed with comfortable silences. Almost unconsciously, Hermione had begun walking closer to Harry, not close enough that it would draw the attention of others, but enough that Hermione mind locked onto it the moment she noticed it.

She thought back to Ron's words and how it was now apparent that he had been right. She did feel something for Harry. If she was being honest with herself, when she looked back at past events with her newfound clarity, she realized that she had felt something for him for a long time.

Now that she had that figured out, her brain constantly began to fret and analyze their current situation, namely, where do they go from here. She would've continued this line of thought further but Harry's voice roused her from her musings.

"Look Hermione, Katie's back." She looked up the corridor and sure enough, there stood the 7th ear Gryffindor Chaser. She had been at St. Mungo's ever since she was cursed weeks before the winter holiday, but now it appeared as though she was healthy enough to return to school.

Harry turned to look at her briefly before saying. "Hey, wait here a minute. I want to go see how she's doing." She nodded her head in affirmation and watched as Harry approached the older girl and began talking to her. She wasn't close enough to hear the conversation but she figured it was about what happened to her as Katie shook her head and looked as though she was trying to remember something.

After about a minute of conversation, she saw both Harry and Katie down the corridor behind her, Katie's eyes widening with shock as Harry's narrowed in anger. She whipped her head around to catch what had cause their respective reactions, but whatever the pair had seen was gone by the time she looked behind her. When she looked forward again, she was greeted by the sight of a visibly angry Harry moving past her at a brisk pace in the direction of whatever disturbance he had just witnessed.

"Harry," she cried out but he seemed to not notice her voice as he rounded the corner and the sound of hi running faster met her ears. Panic began to plague her mind as she tried to figure out what was going on. She quickly moved up to Katie and asked her what they had seen.

"He asked me who cursed me," began the older girl, as she tried to recover from the shock of whatever she saw, "at first I couldn't remember but then," she paused as she look down the hall again, the worry evident on her face.

"What? What did you see?"

"Malfoy."

At the mention of the Slytherin's name, she finally understood. Katie recognized Malfoy as the one who cursed, which was why Harry took off down the corridor; they had seen Malfoy.

Without further thought, Hermione turned and took off as fast as she could after Harry. She couldn't stop the thoughts of all the terrible thing that could happen if Harry confronted Malfoy, but even more prevalent was the thought that Harry had been right about Malfoy. He truly was up to something, and if he wasn't above cursing a student to try and smuggle in a cursed necklace, who know what he would do if Harry tried to stop him.

After running several moments, Hermione nearly lost hope in finding Harry, his head start making it hard for her to determine where he had run off to. She was about to give up hope when the sound of distant spell fire caught her attention, making her fear for the worst.

She continued on to the source of the sounds and found herself outside Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Memories from their 2nd year briefly entered her mind until one voice rang out from within the bathroom.

'Sectumsempra!'

Hermione's heart nearly stopped as she burst through the bathroom door, only to find a terrifying sight on the other side.

Laying there on the floor, as blood poured from what seemed like hundreds of lacerations…was Harry.

She immediately knelt down next to him began muttering every healing charm she could think of but to no avail, as Myrtle screamed bloody murder from a few feet above. She was too focused on trying everything she could to stop Harry's bleeding to notice that Malfoy had chosen to turn and run from the lavatory before help could arrive.

She eventually came to the conclusion that none of her spells were working, and in a near hysterical state, attempted to rouse him from unconsciousness in the hopes that he would wake up.

"Harry!"

No response.

"Harry, please!"

Still she got no response.

"Wake up Harry! Don't do this! I don't want to lose you!"

She continued her attempts to rouse him with no success until the bathroom door opened to reel Professor Snape. She saw a flicker of what she thought was realization flash across his eyes, as he too knelt down next to Harry and began uttering an incantation that she had never heard before.

Thankfully, whatever spell he was using was working as the wounds in Harry's chest closed up. Once he began breathing again, Snape levitated him into the air and began taking him to the hospital wing, with a still hysterical Hermione following briskly behind him.

AN – So I know that that was probably a weird place to end the chapter but I felt that it was a fitting cliffhanger to end it on. It's been a head-canon of mine that Snape would've probably taught Sectumsempra to Malfoy and a while back I had read a one-shot that has since been taken down, where Draco uses it on Harry instead of the other way around.

I tried to right the scene where Hermione realizes that she really does have feelings for Harry but it was hard to write. I hope I've done a good enough job and that people would by the way that it unfurls.

I'm thinking this story should round up within the next 3 or 4 chapters so the progression might ramp up a little bit but hopefully nothing will come across as rushed.

As always, thanks for reading!