Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 21: A Photo and a Map

Harry lay on his bed in the tent, a photo propped up against his knees which he had drawn up, and the Marauders map in his hand. He alternated between looking at the photo and following the little dot walking back from dinner.

"Who took that?" asked Hermione as she stood next to Harry and looked at the photo of him standing behind Ginny, his arms around her as she laughed at something he was whispering in her ear.

"Colin." He answered quietly, still staring intently at the photo

"It's really nice." Hermione replied, now pulling up a chair so she could sit next to Harry

He didn't reply right away, now looking at Ginny's dot entering the Gryffindor common room, "Yeah, I didn't even know he'd taken it until he gave it to me after the funeral."

"Does Ginny have a copy?"

"Yeah, she had it next to her bed. I..." Harry stopped to take a big gulp of air, sometimes just thinking about Ginny made him worried and short of breath, he was terrified for her, not knowing how safe she really was at Hogwarts, "I saw it when I was in there on my birthday."

"That's great, Harry." Said Hermione, referring to the photo

"I miss her so much." He mumbled after a few more moments of silence

"I know you do. I see you watching her on the map, all the time." She couldn't help but giggle a bit at this.

Harry blushed at this and decided that seen as he couldn't hide what he'd been doing then there was no need to really care about being soppy, "I wish it didn't have to be like this. I just want to be with her."

"You really love her, don't you?" Hermione asked after she had examined Harry's sincere expression attached to those last words.

"With the risk of sounding very corny? More than anything in the world. She's what's getting me through this. Knowing she'd back there waiting for me and is on my side."

"And you tell me I'm good with feelings?" said Hermione is a fake scandalised tone

Harry burst out laughing at this and replied through hiccups, "Just don't tell Fred or George."

They lapsed into silence for a while, both looking at the photo and map.

"I wish I had noticed her sooner."

"You're not completely to blame for that. She needed to be more herself, you'd never have seen if she was too scared to be around you."

"Yeah, she told me that you told her to be more herself."

"Oh, she did, did she?" laughed Hermione, "Well I'm glad she listened to me for once."

"Why didn't you tell me that you knew how I felt about her?" Harry looked at Hermione now

"Because I know you, you'd have denied it and told me to shut up." She replied with a smirk

"Maybe so." He laughed, "You want some tea?"

"Sure, thanks." Hermione said as Harry got up, putting the map and photo on his bunk and walking into the kitchen

Now that he was thinking about how he felt about Ginny he started to think about how Hermione and Ron felt for each other, "Do you think that when this is all over, you and – that you guys will get together?" Harry didn't need to say his name, Hermione wasn't stupid.

"I don't want to talk about that." Mumbled Hermione

"Come on, it's just a question." It hurt to think about Ron and talk about him but Harry wanted to know

"I don't know, I mean...I like -."

"Love." Interjected Harry

Hermione just glared at him, "I don't know. We'll see, it's gonna take a long time to figure things out and he may not feel that way about me."

"Oh please, we both know he does!" said Harry after a long drink of scalding hot tea that burnt his throat

"It doesn't always seem that way." Hermione said miserably

"That's because he's a prat and doesn't know how to express his feelings for you. Not that you're any better." He said as a side note

"What?" snapped Hermione, "I've been perfectly clear about how I feel for years! He's just stupid!"

Harry laughed so hard at Hermione's reaction, he knew just how to tick her off, she reluctantly joined in when she realised he wasn't being serious.

Hermione sobered up first and asked a question that had been in the front of her mind for months, "Do you ever think it'll end? Do you think we'll come out of this alive?"

Harry went quiet and avoided Hermione's eyes, he'd been wondering just the same thing but to be honest, he didn't know the answer.

Hermione nodded, she didn't need Harry to answer the question, and they both didn't know what tomorrow would bring.

She took their tea mugs to the kitchen and went to her bunk as Harry climbed back on his and picked up his photo and map.

End