Hermione felt hot, she seemed to be sitting on the edge of a table in an empty classroom, holding onto a strong masculine body. He was attacking a sensitive spot behind her ear. She moaned.

He murmured against her ear, "Hmm… I love it when you sounded like that", then he raised his head to look at her lips, "These lips will be the death of me." He leaned forward, and bit it teasingly.

Wait a minute… Hermione's mind abruptly cleared and saw Harry smirking down at her, unbuttoning her shirt…

What?!

Hermione quickly pushed Harry away and backed to a corner, leaving Harry with his hands in mid-air and looking at her confused.

"What's wrong?"

"What are you doing?" She shrieked.

Harry tried to walk towards her... "Stop! Don't come closer."

"Love, are you all right?" He looked thoroughly confused.

Love? Harry never called her that.

"Harry, how did we end up here, and why are we…" she blushed, "we are not even dating!" Though she wished they were.

"What? What are you talking about? Of course we are dating! Since the fourth year, today is our second anniversary!"

Huh?

Before she could say anything, the bell rang.

"Oh dear, come, we need to get to class now. Mum will not be happy if we are late to Potions."

Mum?

Harry dragged Hermione out of the empty classroom.

Hermione was shocked to see Lily Potter. In person. Living and breathing. She was stunning with her red hair, she was also knowledgeable and approachable in class. Potions was decidedly more enjoyable with her teaching instead of Snape.

It seemed like she had a good relationship with Lily. After the class, Lily called Hermione by her first name and gave her a book, "Here you go. I know you have been eyeing this book for a while. Happy Anniversary, both of you".

"Hey, why didn't I get anything?" Harry pouted.

"You're not important." Lily jested.

"…Thank you, Mrs Potter"

Both Harry and Lily were taken aback, before Lily could react, Harry dragged Hermione away to the Black Lake.

"What's wrong, you looked like you saw a ghost when you looked at mum, you were struggling to pay attention in class, and you called her Mrs Potter."

"Am I not supposed to call her that?"

Harry paused, "No. you usually call her Lily, after we started dating. Unless you lost your memory, you are really weird today. Please don't scare me."

"Harry… I'm going to ask you a few questions, just answer me. "

"OK…"

"What happened to Voldemort?"

"Eh… Died?"

"When?"

"What when?"

"Just answer me."

"Sixteen years ago? When the Order of the Phoenix took him down?"

Hermione quickly pushed away Harry's fringe, there's no scar on his forehead!

"Merlin!" She had travelled to another dimension, where Voldemort were died, Harry's parents were alive, and they were dating! Hermione's mind was in a whirlwind. What should she do from here? She could pretend that she lost her memory or she could tell Harry the truth. What would he think of her if she said that she travelled from another dimension?

"Darling, talk to me. This is not how I envision our second anniversary to go."

Hermione's heart broke a little at that. Well, she never lied to the Harry in her dimension, she would not start here.

"Harry, I am going to tell you something that sounds absurd, but it's the truth." She breathed "I came from another dimension."

She went on to tell him their tales from the day they met. To his credit, he didn't interrupt her, though his eyes went wider and wider.

"This is really absurd…. Did you game up with dad and Sirius to prank me?"

"Do the Hermione in your dimension play jokes like this? On a dating anniversary? Because I won't."

"No… she…you won't."

"Precisely." Hermione felt her the side of her body aching a bit, and remembered something. She hesitated for a while, but thought that since the Harry and Hermione in this dimension could do something like that earlier today, they might be quite far on in the relationship.

"Well, this might help to convince you." She unbuttoned the middle of her shirt, and true to her guess, the scar to Dolohov's curse was there.

Harry was shocked. "When did you get this?!"

"From your reaction, looks like the Hermione in this dimension does not have this scar. I got it last year from a death eater."

He clenched his teeth, "Did I… did the Harry in your dimension not protect you?"

"Curses were flying everywhere, he was trying to survive himself." She paused, "Anyway I was not his girlfriend."

"…Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you two not dating?"

"He's not interested in me"

"But you are interested in him?" Hermione were silent for a while, "Yes." She admitted for the first time in her life. She tried to hint to Harry that she was interested in him many times, but he took no notice of her. And so, she decided to thoroughly move on this year.

"You know, you re somewhat similar to the Hermione in this dimension, based on what you shared. Bossy, brilliant, loyal, kind, brave, but maybe you worry and mother more… If I am interested in you in this dimension, I don't see how he would not."

"Well, YOU are different. You grew up with a loving family while he was abused by his relatives, and you don't have a mad powerful wizard and his army trying to kill you."

"Make sense. I kind of think of him as a jerk for being moody and unappreciative for what you did for him over the years. But I guess he had a lot going on for him."

"Yeah. He would not be comfortable talking things like this, but you're. that's another difference."

Both of them were silent for a while.

"Well Hermione, do you think you will be here forever?"

"Is this a polite way of asking if I will occupy your Hermione's body forever?"

He blushed and she smirked.

"Don't worry. I understand that you're concerned. And to answer your question, no, I don't think so. I have a strong feeling that I will only be here for a short time…"

Harry and Hermione agreed that they will keep this between themselves. And there would be no intimacy except for holding hands, as it would feel like cheating since she was not the Hermione this Harry was in love with. They talked most of the time, Harry shared with her how the Hermione in this dimension was, so that she would not act too differently. She realised his Hermione was more relaxed and assured than her. She shared with Harry that it probably helped that she only needed to worry about what normal teenagers needed to be concerned about, in which he replied, ""I think it also helped that she felt accepted. My mum adored her, and well, I'm in love with her."

Yes, she thought that definitely helped. She had a role model in Lily, who was like her in many ways, and guided her in things such as finding a place as a muggle-born in the wizarding society…and even relationship matters. She could also feel the love this Harry have for his Hermione, his eyes literally sparkled when he talked about the time they had. She felt envious of, yet happy for her counterpart.

One day, Hermione felt that her time was soon to end, and told Harry.

They went to the same empty classroom. In his parting words, he told her, "You're brilliant being who you are. I hope that you will bring back something that will change your life for the better over there. You deserved all the good things and all the love. I know you felt that you have the duty to make sure he survives, but you need to live for yourself too."

"Thank you, Harry." She hugged him tightly, felt groggy and soon went out.

Hermione woke up, confused with where she was. She seemed to be in her own bed in the dorm. Was it a dream or did she really travel to another dimension? She jumped out of her bed to write down everything she remembered and resolved to live a little differently.

She went back to being a friend and an ally to Harry, and watched him and Ginny got together. She never got together with Ron. The Harry in her dreams/dimension travel (?) gave her an inkling how a healthy relationship should look like, she didn't think she could accept anything lesser. She became more assured of herself and seemed to behave differently, because Harry looked at her weirdly and Ron even asked her if she ate anything wrong, earning him a hex. Her relationships with both boys improved. She also tried to have her own life outside the trio while trying her darn best to ensure Harry survive.

During the Horcrux Hunt, Harry asked her to dance while she was upset that Ron abandoned them. At one moment where they looked into each other's eyes, she felt that Harry wanted to kiss her, she never moved away, and kissed him back. They never spoke about it, though she caught Harry looking at her a few times.

They won the war. Her duty was over, Harry survived.

She heard a knock. Harry was leaning against the door to Ginny's and her room.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure, I'm just packing."

Harry walked over and sat beside her. "what time is your portkey tomorrow?"

"6pm"

"What kind of clothes do I need to pack for Australia?"

"What?" She stopped folding her clothes and looked at him.

"You think I will let you go alone?"

"Look Harry. The Weasley are still mourning, it's a difficult time, you are needed here to…"

"I just talked to Ginny. I made it clear to her I'm not interested to pick up from before"

Hermione's eyes widened, "Erm… Well, you alright?"

"No."

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry…"

"I want to talk about the kiss in the tent"

"What?!" She froze, "Well… what is there to talk about?" Hermione started to walk towards the door. Harry jumped up, closed the door, and pulled her towards him.

"There is a whole world of things to talk about. I kept thinking about it. When I died… well, kind of… I had a chat with Dumbledore, my parents and Sirius, and I was given a choice to go with them or to come back… The kiss pulled me back."

"Harry, I…"

"Hermione, I'm not good with words. I want you to know that you made me want to live. You did so much, I can't die on you. And I won't let anything happen to you either. You're brilliant the way you are, I'm sure there's many guys out there who will give a limb to be with you. Maybe I don't have any chance… I just…"

"Shut up and kiss me."

Harry was stunned, and happily obliged her. After a while, he said, "Merlin, these lips will be the death of me…"

Fin

Author Notes: Recently, I have been wondering about an alternate universe where Harry's parents lived and he had a normal childhood. Will he still befriend Hermione, will he fall in love with her? Will Lily Potter like her? How will their personalities be different?

And so, I sat down today, and wrote the story.

Discussions are welcomed, and if this work could inspire other (longer) works, I will be happy.