"P-Patrick?"

There he stood, in all his blonde, blue-eyed, ridiculously handsome glory. He gave a nervous smile, holding the daisies up a little higher. I realized, then, the impropriety of what I'd just said. "I-I mean... Mr. Ness," I attempted to appear professional. "Is everything all right? What can I help you with?"

"Er..." he bent his head forward and scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. "I don't... I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing here."

I frowned. "Okay..."

"I mean, this is a little awkward, not to mention borderline stalking..."

Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it until he brought it up, but now I was a little wary. "How exactly did you get my address?"

He blew air out, puffing his cheeks. "I got it from the receptionist at the hospital, with much coercion. I won't get into that, though." I made a mental note to fire Janet (even though I had absolutely no authority to do so). "And I don't even know why, I just..." He sighed. "I just really wanted to see you again."

I knew I should be a bit miffed, and perhaps scared, that a strange man had all but begged for my address, in order to show up here unannounced. But I couldn't help but find it absolutely adorable. And I supposed my irrational attraction to him didn't help matters any. I smiled at him, taking the flowers.

"That's oddly sweet of you," I said. "Thank you."

He returned my smile, then seemed to notice something on me. "You were going out at 10:00 in the morning?"

I felt myself blush. "Oh, er... I went with a friend on a little road trip, and we went to the theatre, and it turned into an overnight thing..." I trailed off, and the reality of what I'd just done sank in. I'd slept with Harry. As in, had sexual intercourse with him. I had sex with my best friend. Bloody fucking Merlin.

"Ms. Granger? Are you all right?"

I started back into reality. "Fine," I forced a smile. "And please, call me Hermione."

"All right... Hermione," he added, testing it out.

The smile remained on my face, but something about the whole interaction somehow felt... unnatural. I supposed it was just my scruples reminding me that this man was the father of one of my former patients, and as such, any attempts at a relationship would be extremely tricky. That was enough to warrant this squirmy hesitance.

Wasn't it?

"So, I'm going to try something," he said abruptly. "I haven't done this in a long time now, so I don't quite know what I'm doing, but I'm going to try it anyway." He lifted his eyes, looking directly into mine. "Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

I would be lying if I said I was expecting this, but I would also be lying if I said that it hadn't once crossed my mind that he might ask me out. I mean, hello, the man had tracked me down through the hospital receptionist, and showed up at my door with a bouquet of flowers! That says something. Even so, I couldn't help but feel an initial surprise... and that same hesitance.

"You're not married, are you?" I asked bluntly, and almost smacked myself for it.

He laughed. "No. I got divorced three years ago."

"But... what about your daughter? What would she think about this?"

Laughing again, he explained, "Sammie's the one who encouraged me to come. She kept saying, 'That Healer Granger sure was pretty.'"

I smiled at the matchmaking schemes of this little girl, but still couldn't stop feeling uneasy. "Patrick, I—"

I was about to answer when a loud crack sounded behind me. "Hermione, I spotted this in the car on my way home, so I thought I'd ret—oh."

Every ounce of color drained from my face as Harry's eyes landed on Patrick. I noted the jeans in his hands, and the color came rushing right back. I turned to Patrick, who seemed to be fighting an internal battle. Harry was still dressed in his suit, his hair slightly mussed, and his eyes bright. Or, well, they were. Until he saw the man standing in my doorway.

"Oh," he used Harry's word. "I see. Er... I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"No!" I practically shrieked. "It's fine, Patrick. This is—"

"I know who he is," he interrupted. "Harry Potter."

Harry stepped forward, giving a tight, obviously forced smile. "In the flesh," he said in a clipped voice. "And you are...?"

"Patrick Ness. I'm... well, my daughter was one of Hermione's patients."

His eyes narrowed. "Is that so?"

I'd had about enough. "Harry, would you excuse us for just a minute?" I asked in a whisper. "I need to... resolve something here."

He didn't look at me, but nodded. "I'll put the jeans in your room, then. Nice meeting you, Pat, ol' boy."

"Um, Patrick," he corrected. "I don't really go by Pat."

"Still nice," Harry sneered—since when did he sneer?—before disappearing into my bedroom. I waited until I heard him disapparate before I turned to Patrick. "It's not what it looks like," I said.

"Why don't you tell me what you think it looks like?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Because I'm having a little trouble deciding."

I sighed. "I know it... it probably looks like I'm in a relationship with him, but I swear I'm not. We're just friends."

That was technically true. Although I had a sneaking suspicion that, were I to inform him of the previous night's activities with said "friend," he wouldn't be as prone to believe me. Good thing I wasn't planning on telling him.

"Are you sure?"

I smiled, trying to make it look convincing. "Positive. We're friends, nothing more." I squirmed from the obvious lie. "Okay, we're best friends. Nothing more than that."

Patrick grinned, seeming satisfied. "So... back to my question." He looked carefully at me. "Dinner tonight?"

As I could find no logical reason for my earlier hesitation, I had no choice but to say yes. "I would be honored," I said. "What time?"

He grinned. "I'll be here at 6:00."

After a quick goodbye, I closed the door... and Harry appeared.

"I thought you'd left!"

"Nope," he shook his head. "Just apparated across the room."

"Damn it, Harry!" I yelled. "What's wrong with you?"

"I could say the same thing to you!" he shouted back. He grasped my shoulders, his face inches from mine. I felt momentarily dizzy from the proximity—would I never get used to that?—but forced myself to concentrate, as he spoke again. "How can you just agree to go out with this guy after what happened last night?"

My cheeks grew warm. "It... last night was a mistake."

"Oh, come on, I know you don't believe that!" he hissed, pulling me even closer. "I know you felt something, Hermione Granger, and I'm not going to let you deny it any longer."

I frowned up at him. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Last night meant something, Hermione."

"Not that," I shook my head. "What do you mean, 'deny it any longer'?"

He paused, his mouth hanging open for a moment, before he inhaled deeply, and said in a low voice, "I love you."

I gasped aloud, and my eyes flew wider than I ever thought possible. "You what?"

"I love you," he repeated fervently. "I've loved you since the day you showed up on the train, a skinny, bushy-haired, buck-toothed know-it-all. I've loved you all along, but I fought it, because you loved Ron. Or I thought you did, and I knew he fancied the pants off of you. So I figured I'd find someone else, or I'd just be content with knowing you were happy." He paused, taking another breath. "But then you and Ron broke up, and we went to the Room of Requirement that night... and I thought, 'This is it. This is my chance. If I don't do something now, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. So I did something."

My eyes glazed over as I remembered. "You asked to kiss me."

"Yes, I did. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that you might actually say yes! I thought at best, you'd tell me to take it slow, and at worse, you'd throw things at me and tell me to shove off. But you said yes! And that night... was possibly the best night of my life... until last night, that is," he added, blushing. "And while we're on that subject... you were the one to initiate everything. You told me not to stop. You were the one screaming my name in pure ecstasy. And now you have the nerve to say it was a mistake?"

By now, I was feeling the telltale sting of tears behind my eyes. "Harry, I... I wasn't thinking clearly," I attempted lamely. "I was... driven by lust and the thrill of the moment. I didn't... I guess I didn't think that there would be... repercussions."

He stared at me, obviously hurt. "'Repercussions'?" he repeated. "That's what you call this? Damn it, Hermione, I love you! Don't you get that? I love you! I can't just pretend I don't anymore!"

"Harry, please stop," I sobbed, the tears finally leaking out.

"Tell me you don't love me!" he shouted. I looked pointedly at my shoes, but he wasn't having any of that. His hand slid beneath my chin, and somewhat roughly forced me to meet his emerald gaze. "Look me in the eye... and tell me you're not in love with me, too."

I opened my mouth to say the words, but they wouldn't come out. I couldn't inflict that kind of pain on my best friend. And in all honesty, I wasn't totally sure what I felt. Did I love him? Had I fallen for him, without even realizing it?

The ringing of my mobile phone saved me from having to respond. I answered, doing my best to keep my voice steady. "Hello?"

"Hermione, it's Jan. Hey, I know you've got your personal stuff going on, whatever that may be, but we really need you here. It's crazy! If you can come in for just a few hours, five tops, then that would be fantastic, and I wouldn't have to report you to Healer Thomson, or lose my job for lying about your whereabouts."

I sighed. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Thank Merlin! Okay, I'll see you in a bit!"

Hanging up, I looked at Harry. "I have to go in to work."

"Hermione, please," he switched instantly from anger to pleading. "Don't go."

"I have to," I said firmly. "They need me at work."

"They can wait!"

"No, Harry, they can't!" I screamed. "I have to go to work, because it's busy, and they need me, and I can't deal with this right now, so I'm going to go! And so are you! You're going to go home, have a cup of tea, and then, tomorrow, we're going to sit down and discuss this like civilized human beings. Okay?"

He didn't respond. He just stared for a moment, before suddenly, with a crack, he was gone. I heaved a sigh, collapsing onto the floor in a heap, shaking with sobs.

This just got really complicated.


A/N: Wow. That was intense. I can't believe I came up with that. Dude. Anyways, did you like it? Did you hate it? Let me know, please!