Not Proofread. All mistakes are my own.

Thank you for reading.

Kairos

(ancient Greek) (n) the perfect, delicate, crucial moment; the fleeting rightness of time and place that creates the opportune atmosphere for action, words, or movement; the time of possibility.

also, a word for weather.

His heart is thundering in his chest. His eyes shut on their own volition as he burrows momentarily in the warmth of her embrace, smelling her faint sandalwood perfume.

Ever since the day his name was drawn for this blasted tournament, she has been his rock, his lone supporter, his only friend.

He knows it with a certainty that if she could have, she would've faced the dragon with him. He doesn't even know why or from where the thought popped up in his head but he knows he's not wrong in his assumption.

Hermione's murmuring something even now but despite his eyes being focused on her lips, her voice doesn't reach him over the roaring of blood in his ears.

Leaning in, instinctively, he captures her soft lips with his own in a tender kiss.

As his name is announced over the microphone, he draws back and cups her cheek lovingly; her eyes wide as she looks at him.

He whispers softly, "I had to know what it felt like... to kiss you... just once, lest I never have this chance again."

And he's gone before she can get a word out. —

She remains standing there, even as her eyes follow his movements as he walks away from her.

His words, spoken so softly, she doesn't doubt that she would have missed them if she weren't standing so close to him still echoing in her ears…her lips though, her right hand trembling slightly, touches them, the ghost of his lips, still clinging to hers as she relives the moment yet again.

Her first kiss.

She just had her first kiss.

With Harry.

Harry kissed her.

And then her eyes widen as she recalls what must be happening outside the tent. She rushes as Bagman's commentary booms in the arena.

That stupid prat, she thinks to herself as her feet take her to the stands, her heart in her mouth as she hears how Harry's doing as she finally finds her seat and her eyes land on the boy who is now facing a dragon, with nothing more than a broomstick and his skills at his disposal, the boy who just kissed her.

Praying to every deity she has ever known or heard about she hopes he stays safe, she doesn't care about anything else but his safety. She doesn't even realise it but her fingers are clawing at her own face as her dread mounts and all her heart can wish in the moment is, you have to come back safely Harry, you have to come back to me.

She jumps with a whoop of jubilation as Harry emerges successful from the task, though a little banged up but she thanks every single deity who heard her prayers and kept him safe, kept him alive.

Now if only she'd have a moment alone with him.

—

It doesn't happen in the tent as Harry patches up with Ron.

She has mixed feelings about their patch-up but she keeps her thoughts to herself, unsure if her thoughts are colored by her annoyance at Ron interrupting the conversation that she wanted to have with Harry or Harry's easy forgiveness that Ron bagged without even offering him a proper apology let alone doing anything to earn it.

She wants to be clear in her head before she makes her opinions known.

She wants to give Ron a chance to redeem himself truly, for Harry's sake, hoping he would not be a distraction but a help to Harry now for the tasks up ahead. She doesn't wanna muddy the waters that have cleared a bit too soon, most importantly she doesn't want anything else to ruin Harry's good mood.

He had sounded so…. she doesn't even know how to even explain how he sounded after he had kissed her; even if he had marched out of the tent with determination. Those words… they were like he had a final wish, something that he dared not have hoped to gain but in those moments wanted desperately more than anything else and had stolen the chance to do so, to seek what he so craved and it was a kiss, from her.

He sounded like he didn't believe that he could have her kisses but had wanted them, had thought of them. Harry had been thinking about kissing her, she muses with a faint smile as a slight blush colours her cheeks as she watches him being celebrated in the Gryffindor tower.

Her eyes follow him as he is cheered on by his teammates. As the celebrations die down, she walks to her dorms, unable to get a chance to have a word with Harry in private. She did however hug him once, before heading up, bidding him a good night and congratulating him once again for his performance in the task.

She had seen it in his eyes, his trepidation, when she had walked up to him. Hugging him fiercely, she had whispered in his ears softly, "Meet me at 6 am tomorrow." She had felt his faint nod and had released him and with a smile turned on her heels.

She's pacing around the common room, when she hears footsteps. His eyes immediately land on her as he takes the final steps towards her and stands a few paces in front of her. Suddenly, they find themselves blushing and nervous as they relive the brief kiss they had shared yesterday.

"Hermione…" he begins hesitantly, when she cuts him off.

"Not here Harry, somewhere else."

He nods immediately, his head bobbing up and down, comically a little too fast and she finds it adorable that he is so nervous. If she weren't feeling so nervous herself, she'd have found it hilarious and laughed that the boy who faced a dragon, and not just any dragon but a Hungarian Horntail; the most dangerous of his species, less than 24 hours ago is seemingly afraid of her, after kissing her.

They walked in silence to the fifth floor, stealing glances of each other occasionally, blushing furiously when they did so simultaneously and looked away from each other so fast, she feared they'd have whiplash.

She stood in front of an empty classroom, one not used in ages, allotted to music and muggle music studies.

Harry quietly follows her in, though she sees him gulp as he enters the classroom following her lead. Shutting the doors quietly behind them, after making sure no one followed them and the corridor was empty, she quickly casts a muffliato and a colloportus and turns around.

She sees Harry standing mesmerised, by a baby grand piano, his fingers hovering above it slightly.

"I never knew Hogwarts had a piano."

"This is the music classroom Harry, no one has taught the subject in at least 20 years so it's …. well you see the condition it is in." She says simply. Harry doesn't even question her how she knows that.

As if just absorbing the information, Harry turns around the classroom and finds a violin, a flute, a trumpet, a saxophone, a cello, chimes, a trombone, a clarinet and even a harmonica that he picks up and laughs.

"I always wanted one as a kid, but…. who'd have known I'd find one here at Hogwarts…"

She hears him saying when he stops abruptly, his voice had been so wistful and her heart broke once again for that little boy who had to grow up feeling so unloved. She vowed that she'd get him to open up to her one day about everything that those horrible people made him live through, but today was not that day.

"Harry."

She calls him softly and just like that, he is back to reality again when a moment ago, he was flipping over the harmonica in his hand, gazing at it so longingly that her heart went out for him. Things other children took for granted, he never enjoyed them, not even once… she has to blink back her tears, recalling how she had been one of those children, her mind recalling a discarded harmonica she had grown bored off at age 6.

He seemed lost for a moment though he had looked at her, when she called him and she could point out the exact moment when in the ensuing silence in which she was lost in thoughts of an old harmonica partially, that it came back to him - the reason why they were here, when his eyes widened a bit and his breath hitched slightly.

She somehow saw him struggling with himself so summing all her Gryffindor bravery, she stepped closer to him, keeping barely any distance between them.

Her tongue came out on instinct to wet her lips, as she felt her mouth go dry but the sight of his eyes on her lips again, the minuscule reddening of his cheeks as he saw her tongue swipe over her lips emboldened her further. "Harry… about the kiss."

"Hermione… I…"

"If you're gonna say you're sorry Harry James Potter."

"NO!" He yelled and then demurred as if taken aback by his own outburst, as much as she was.

Clearing his throat, closing his eyes briefly as he took a deep breath, he finally focused his emerald gaze upon her and the intensity, the determination in them made her tremble a little, as she was unused to such focus being upon her; but she knew in her heart she wasn't afraid of it, of Harry, whatever it was that made her shiver a little was from the good kind of excitement, the kind she'd only ever read about in her mom's romance novels when she was at home. The thought made her feel giddy even as she felt butterflies in her stomach.

After what felt like an eternity, but was but a few brief moments, Harry took a step towards her and reached out for her hands with his. He held them tightly, looking at their joined hands, as if captivated by the sight of them, drawing courage from them somehow.

Taking a deep breath, he started speaking, his voice somehow deeper even as he was speaking to her in dulcet tones,

"Hermione, yesterday… when I woke up, I… I was up earlier, earlier than usual and well I guess it was because of the task."

He shrugged slightly, a corner of his mouth lifted up as if in a facsimile of a smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes, it didn't light up his face. She didn't interrupt him, didn't ask anything. She wanted to hear him out and knew this was important for him, for them somehow on instinct though she couldn't answer how she knew it or why.

"I looked around you know, at the beds of the other guys; Ron is still miffed at me so he had curtains drawn around his bed and Neville and Seamus were sleeping so calmly I felt a little jealous of them. There they were... asleep, dreaming probably of home and holidays and all the things they liked and enjoyed while here I was, almost dragonfeed amidst them not knowing if I'd return to that room again, sleep on my bed again. And I wanted to hate them so much."

He lets out a breath and closes his eyes as if ashamed of himself, embarrassed by such an admission. She ran her thumbs, over the back of his hands in small circles as if guided by some instinct, as she began to speak softly,

"It's okay Harry, you're allowed to feel those things. You're only human, you're supposed to feel those things so don't be ashamed of them."

"Am I really allowed to be human Hermione?" He asked her, his eyes hard and his voice a little clipped, with a bit of an edge to it.

Her thumbs stopped their movements and caught his attention, making him sigh.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"No, it's okay. You can be yourself with me Harry. You know that. Never be sorry for that Harry, never." She told him with a smile, her eyes and her words, her ministrations on his hands once again resuming and she saw their immediate effect on him.

He glanced between them at their hands once again and continued looking on at them, she saw him gulp and his voice dropped a little, as if he was letting her in on a secret, entrusting her yet again with something precious, something he was embarrassed by, but not in the way he was for taking that tone with her just a few seconds ago.

"I saw Dean's curtains drawn on his bed too. He… he never used to do that before. I mean, we all have been sharing a dorm since our first year, so you pick up a few things, learn something about each other's habits. Dean… he is muggleborn just like you. You know that right?"

When she nodded, but realised he wasn't still looking at her, feeling a little silly, she pressed his hands lightly and he began again.

"Since last year, after the Christmas break, he… he started bringing back a few more muggle things with him. Pictures… and while usually Ron whines about how muggle pictures have nothing on wizarding ones, even he doesn't have a single bad thing to say about those pictures."

He looked at her then briefly and she saw crimson blooming on his cheeks and if there was any doubt about the kind of pictures that Harry was talking about, the ones Dean brought with him now there was none. She was sure her own cheeks were just as red as Harry's as she felt heat rising up in them.

"He… well he closes his curtains when he's going through his Playboy. And I am not even sure what made me do it but I laughed, just a little. I swear Hermione, I have never thought of you like that."

He said immediately, frightened somehow as his face looked alarmed and for some reason her heart dropped and she wanted to cry and perhaps that showed on her face. She should have known, she wasn't pretty enough for any boy - the buck-toothed, bushy haired, know-it- all bookworm, what boy would want her; let alone Harry Potter, who could have any girl in this castle? She wanted to pull her hands from his when he held onto them tightly.

"Hermione please… let me finish."

She was too embarrassed to say why she was offended by Harry's admission that he never thought of her, like one of those girls. She might have never seen a playboy but she knew what it was and how it featured all the prettiest girls ever.

"Hermione, look at me please." He asked her so fervently.

So she did, with her eyes shining with unshed tears and the color faded from her cheeks as she prepared herself for a blow. For Harry to tell her he did what he did in the heat of the moment and it was because he just wanted to experience what kissing a girl felt like, even if it was just her.

"It's alright Harry. You can say what you want. I… I promise you that I'm still gonna remain your friend."

His brows furrowed slightly as he took in her face and her words; when it dawned on him what she might be thinking.

"Hermione… I… I shouldn't have said that. When I meant I never thought of you like that… like those girls, it's… it's because you're special to me. You're so much more than they can ever be, I can never think of you as just a stranger to wank too."

And suddenly he pulled his hands from hers as they covered his face.

She was sure she heard a mumbled, why is this so difficult, gods this is so embarrassing, facing the dragon was easier than this, from him but couldn't be sure thanks to his hands muffling his sound, still over his face.

The words elicited a shocked laughter from her though and the sound got him started too as his hands finally came down from his face and she saw him shyly looking down at his feet as he mumbled a soft shut up to her, his feet shuffling on the floor.

When she regained enough control, though, a last batch of giggles escaped her when he finally looked at her, making him glare playfully at her. She saw his whole face was red and somehow he had never looked more adorable to her than he had at this instant.

When she was sure she had some of her composure yet again she softly murmured, "Thank you Harry for… for being so nice, so sweet I guess. I… I must admit I didn't imagine you partaking those ah.. activities…" she said coloring up a little, noticing color bloom on his cheeks too. "But I am also glad that in the madhouse that is your life, you still have something normal, something that makes you just another teenage boy."

"Thank you." He said a little abashed but finally meeting her gaze.

"You're the only one here who is my friend right now and it seems like you're the only one who hasn't forgotten I'm just a teenage boy too. Not some celebrity to be gawked at or some evil heir to be vilified or a gloryhound. Only you ever remember that I'm just me, just Harry, Hermione."

The look he gave her as he said those words, he had never looked at her like that before. Unaware of the torment he was causing her by merely focusing on her with those gorgeous green eyes of his, he went on.

"Away from Hogwarts I am nobody, in that hellhole I'm forced to call home, surrounded by people who can't wait to be rid of me. Over here, I am always somebody, and get loved and hated for that in turns. I am just so sick of it sometimes Hermione, so sick of being me…"

He closed the distance between them, the one that had yawned across them as at first she had tried to get away from him and later as they had laughed. He needn't have held her physically anymore, for his eyes held her so completely, she wouldn't have noticed if the room had gone up in flames around them.

"Regardless of where I am though, you… you're always so… so… you are always there for me Hermione… for Harry, not for the boy who lived, not for the stupid savior of the wizarding world or whatever, just me. Your letters keep me sane when you're not around, as you show you care for me with your words. When you're here, with me… I know you'll be with me no matter what."

He took another step towards her and they were standing so close, she could feel his breath on her face as goosebumps danced across her spine.

She thought she'd forget about breathing lost in those eyes as she was, when she felt a gentle hand, going through her hair as trembling fingers tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and a warm palm cupped her cheek. He spoke in a whisper as if afraid to break the fragility of this moment.

"I stopped laughing after a while Hermione and wanted to cry, but I couldn't. I don't know how to explain it to you but I just felt like I couldn't breathe for a minute there until I heard a voice, a soft soothing voice in my head and I swear I looked around so fast I am surprised how I didn't end up with a whiplash. It was your voice Hermione, I thought you were in my room telling me, it would be alright, but you weren't around and yet I knew it was your voice and though I was imagining it I believed it. I believed what it was saying just because it sounded like you."

Her heart was thundering and at those words, she felt something akin to an agony she had never felt before for another human being and a sense of such profound humility that she would be hard pressed to put it into words. How lonely was this boy in front of her she couldn't fathom to imagine, she'd been a part of his life a little over three years now and for him to show such faith in her was a moving experience. No one had ever trusted her like that before, shown such vulnerability in front of her with such simplicity that she couldn't even find the words to describe how much it meant to her to be so revered.

"Oh, Harry."

Her words came out in a whisper at his admission.

She did the only thing she could in the face of such absolute trust and vulnerability displayed before her with such sincerity, she hugged him tightly, her arms holding him to her as she felt him reciprocate and his arms went around her and Harry held her, with such fierceness it overwhelmed her. He spoke again, his breath dancing across the side of her neck and jaw, tickling her and making her feel things she had never felt before, things that were foreign and a little scary but which felt good, so good; nothing had ever felt this wonderful before.

"I got up from my bed and started getting ready for the day." He began again. "I wasn't a mess again after that, but I wasn't still out of the funk you might say and I wasn't trying to be morbid or anything but I couldn't help myself. I just thought about what would happen if I died today."

Her arms tightened around him at the admission and she felt furious on his behalf. Every year since they had met, Harry was forced into situations no one his age should have had to face and here he was again, with two more blasted tasks ahead of him. She wondered if he'd ever know peace and her heart bled for him. This wonderful, kind and beautiful boy in her arms.

"I thought there was so much I would miss out on if that happened. Graduating Hogwarts, getting Sirius exonerated, getting shot off the Dursleys for good…"

And he moved back from their embrace, though he never let go off her.

His voice was husky when he spoke next and she felt him trembling a little in her arms.

"Kissing a pretty girl, a girl who would kiss me back, not the boy who lived, but me, someone who kissed me in the first place because she likes me, Harry, a girl I'd like to date, someone crazy enough to know me, but also not run to the hills when she realises what a nuthouse my life is."

At that declaration, they both had to smile.

His eyes softened as they took her in after that and he looked at her like he had, a fraction of a second before he had kissed her in the tent, when he had spoken to her in that soft voice after he had.

"And all my answers… all those thoughts made me think of just one girl Hermione - you."

She felt trembling hands cupping her face as he looked on at her.

"You're my best friend, my only friend right now. But that's… that's not why I thought of you. You have gotta believe me when I say that Hermione. You... you've been sneaking up on me Hermione ever since you held me years ago when you said you had faith in me when I was gonna go face Voldemort to save Nicholas Flamel's stone. No one had ever said anything like that to me ever before, believed in me, let alone hugged me before that day, not that I can remember at least. I dreamed about that hug more than I can say during our holidays. When you were petrified, I had never felt so sick and helpless and angry and sad, I never thought that it was possible to feel like that or all of that together. Then you were back again and gave me the second ever hug of my life and I knew that there wasn't anything better than getting hugged in life, especially if those hugs came from you. I'm… I'm so sorry for my behaviour last year Hermione but even though I was a complete prat you were there for me again. You went back in time and helped me rescue Sirius… you climbed on Buckbeak's back even when you hate flying because that's who you are… someone who has my back always and again you're here for me this year. I… I would have gone spare Hermione if you hadn't believed me too... and I'm sure I wouldn't have survived yesterday's task or will those ahead if not for your help."

He took a deep breath as he soldiered on.

"And I… I don't want to just be your best friend anymore Hermione… like I said I… I wanted to know what it would be like to kiss you… I couldn't get you out of my head… when I first imagined kissing a girl, yours was the first face that popped up in my head, you were the first girl I ever wanted to kiss and even though I was scared you might not like me back like that and you might stop being my friend if… but in that moment I wanted nothing more than to kiss you... I... I don't know what took over me but I'm not sorry, all I know is something in me told me to kiss you right there and then so I did, I kissed you. And when you didn't shun me or get angry at me after that kiss... when I faced that dragon I had this… sense of purpose that helped me along when I was out there. I… wanted nothing more than to come back to you because I had kissed you out of the blue and I wanted to tell you why and ask you if I could kiss you again. I… I won't apologise to you Hermione even though I should have asked you before kissing you like that because…because I want to keep kissing you like that as much as I want, whenever I want… I… I guess I mean, I want to ask you if… if I can be your boyfriend. I want… I want to hold your hand and hug you and go out on dates with you to Hogsmeade and possibly other places once we are out of here Hermione. I really, really like you Hermione and I want more than what we have now. So… will you be my girlfriend Hermione?"

She looked up at him - her eyes shining with so many emotions that it took her mind a moment to process what her heart had already caught onto but words still failed her because she didn't trust her voice. Not after hearing Harry lay his heart out on the line like that.

So she did what she could in that instant to give him what he wanted - an answer to his question and in the process take from him what she had been thinking about since yesterday, what her dreams had been all about last night and what her heart wanted more than anything it had ever wanted in her life.

She stood on her tiptoes and claimed his lips with hers.

He was frozen momentarily, just like she had been yesterday; and she couldn't help the small smile that flitted across her lips at that but soon she felt his lips smiling into the kiss too and they both were smiling too brightly to kiss anymore for a while.

"I take it, that's a yes?"

He asks her still, eyes sparkling like she had never seen them before, his face lit up with so many hopes and expectations and yet his voice carrying a hint of trepidation, betraying something akin to a doubt that still lingered in his mind.

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend Harry."

She told him then, in a hushed voice, joyful and yet still full of disbelief somehow.

And then withdrawing her arms from around him, she snaked them up his chest, to his shoulders and behind his neck, and gently pulled him in, her fingers running through his hair, unruly, much like her own, their texture soft to her surprise as her lips found his again, while she closed her eyes. Harry's arms held her with such tenderness and yet a hint of possessiveness, the likes of which she had never known before as they encircled her waist.

When breathing became imperative, they stopped but their arms remained firmly around each other as Harry leaned in his forehead against hers. She had never seen him look at her like that, with such open expressions of awe, devotion and happiness spread across his face and then he cheekily grinned at her.

"Your hugs just became my second favourite thing in the world now Hermione".

And she laughed brightly at that, beaming at him, making the sound, his third favorite thing in the world as he leaned in and kissed her again, his arms a bit tighter around her, his lips a bit firmer on her as his heart burst with a happiness, the likes of which he had never known before.