Harry, Hermione and Ron were currently on their way back to Hogwarts for their sixth year, after a (fairly) relaxed summer, they were all hoping for a relaxed year at Hogwarts, but they all knew that was never going to happen. They were sat chatting away when they got onto the topic of what Harry saw at borgin and burkes.
"Don't you see? It was a ceremony, an initiation!" Harry said confidently
"Stop it Harry, I know where you're going with this" Hermione said, with a disapproving look on her face
"No, it's happened, he's one of them" Harry said, questioning the fact why Hermione would look at him like he was mental for thinking what he thought about Draco
"One of what?" Ron piped up, eager to get into the conversation
"Harry is under the impression Draco Malfoy is a death eater" Hermione replied
"You're barking, what would you know who want with sod like Malfoy?" Ron chuckled, clearly not wanting to believe he shared the same classrooms as a death eater
"Well then, what was he doing in borgin and burkes? Shopping for furniture?" Harry snapped back, getting more and more annoyed that no one believed him.
"Creepy shop, he's a creepy bloke" Ron said, acting like it was all a joke
"I need some air" Harry said while grabbing something from the shelf above his seat, something which Hermione thought looked very familiar. A few seconds after Harry left, Hermione's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to follow Harry to see what he was doing, she couldn't explain it, but she knew that whatever he was doing, was gonna get him in trouble, Ron was fast asleep at this point, he didn't even notice Hermione leave. Hermione made her way through the train carriages until she eventually found Harry, in the carriage just before the carriage Malfoy was in.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione whispered, although with a stern tone.
"Nothing 'Mione, just getting some air like I told you" Harry lied, hoping she wouldn't notice
She did
"Harry James Potter I have known you for the better part of 5 years, I know when you are lying!" Hermione raised her voice. Harry decided, for his safety to tell Hermione what he was actually there for, not wanting to get on the wrong side of Hermione Granger.
"Okay I'll tell you, just keep your voice down" Harry started to whisper as he said this, Hermione nodded as she sat down next to Harry.
"Alright, spill" Hermione said
"Okay, I was going to use my cloak to eavesdrop on Malfoy to see if I could get any more evidence of him being a death-eater" Harry said, rather quickly.
"Harry are you insane! You can't do that, what if he saw you! Not to mention you'd be breaking a couple of school rules!" Hermione blurted out. Harry reflected on his rather poor decision.
"Okay 'Mione, you're right, I'm sorry for worrying you" Harry said while raising his eyes to meet hers. Hermione loved when Harry called her that, it always made her blush, which now that she thinks about it, is probably why he used the nickname.
"It's okay Harry, let's get back to Ron" Hermione said, trying (and failing) to hide her blush from Harry
"You know, Ron is probably asleep, we would probably wake him up going back into our room, how about we just stay here for the rest of the journey, it's been ages since we spent some time together, just me and you" Harry said, while smiling at Hermione (A/N I have absolutely no idea what to call the rooms they have on the Hogwarts express lmao, someone please help in the comments haha)
"It's hard to argue with your logic, okay, we can stay here" Hermione said, sounding very enthusiastic about spending time with her best friend. Friend, something about that word made Hermione cringe, but only when she thought of Harry as a friend, not Ron, or Neville, just Harry. She tried to brush this off, as she always did when a thought like that entered her mind, but she couldn't shake this one for some reason. She rested her head on Harry's shoulder with a confused look on her face.
"What's up 'Mione?" Harry said, as it was very rare to see Hermione Granger confused
"O-Oh nothing, just thinking, that's all, yeah, just thinking" Hermione said, stumbling on her words.
"Righhhtt, i see" Harry said, not wanting to ask any further questions. He was happy to see that she was smiling though. That always made Harry happy, seeing his best friend smile.
"This is nice" Hermione said, snuggling further onto Harry's shoulder. They sat there for a while, just happy to be in each other's company, Hermione had nearly dozed off when Harry said something, something she never thought she would hear from anyone, let alone Harry Potter.
"You know 'Mione, you look cute when you blush" Harry whispered, smiling as he did so. Hermione on the other hand, had gone as red as a tomato, she wasn't good with this sort of stuff and didn't really know how to react.
"Wait-What. Yo-you think I'm cute?" Hermione managed to croak out, failing to believe someone could think she was cute
"Of course I do, why wouldn't I?" Harry said, it was obvious to him, however, he didn't really understand why Hermione was shocked
"Well, it's just, no one has ever called me that before, it's nice. Thank you Harry" Hermione said, still blushing profusely.
"Well, get used to it, because it's the truth." Harry said to Hermione with a small wink. Hermione got comfortable on Harry's shoulder again, trying to seem calm, though on the inside she was ecstatic.
Did we just flirt? Oh my god, we just flirted. Why does this make me so happy? Hermione thought to herself. She was so deep in thought that she hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep on Harry's shoulder.
"Mione, it's time to wake up, we're home" Harry said while lightly shaking Hermione awake
"Oh Harry I'm sorry for falling asleep on you, I didn't mean to i swea-" Hermione was cut off by Harry putting his hand on her shoulder
"Hermione, it's okay, I don't mind, in fact, it was kind of nice" Harry admitted
"It was?" Hermione questioned
"Yeah, you can fall asleep on my shoulder whenever you like" Harry chuckled. They left the train and went up to the great hall for the feast, where they encountered a fuming Ron.
"Where have you two been!" Ron shouted, not caring who heard him, if Harry wasn't mistaken, he saw a hint of jealousy in Ron's eyes.
"Well, I went to find Harry, then when I found him, we decided it would be better if we didn't come back, as you were asleep we didn't want to wake you, we all know how angry you get when someone wakes you up." Hermione answered nonchalantly
"Oh, well, I suppose that makes sense, sorry for getting angry" Ron said, regretting his decision to get angry at the pair.
"It's okay Ron, no worries" Harry said, happy Ron hadn't caused yet another argument.
"So, what have we missed?" Hermione asked
"Nuffin much, oh. Dumbledore announced that Horace Slughorn was to be our new potions teacher" Ron said, while stuffing his face full of chicken
"So who will be our Dark Arts teacher?" Harry questioned, deep down he knew the answer
"Snape" Ron said with a loud gulp
"Oh, im sure that will be just brilliant" Harry said sarcastically. After the feast, everyone retreated to their dorms for the night. Ron went straight to bed as he had consumed way too much chicken and was in a borderline food coma, which just left Harry and Hermione, sitting in the Gryffindor common room.
"Harry?" Hermione said, suddenly looking up from her book
"Yes 'Mione?" Harry replied
"Did you really mean everything you said on the train before?" Hermione questioned, she still refused to believe it
"Of course I did Hermione, I meant every single word" Harry said, bringing his eyes up to meet hers.
"Even the part about me being cute?" Hermione asked
"Especially the part about you being cute. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise, if they do, just tell them Harry Potter thinks you're cute, that will shut them up" Harry said with a smirk. Hermione couldn't help herself, she flung her arms around Harry, giving him the most passionate hug she's ever given him.
"Thank you so much Harry, you have no idea how much this means to me" Hermione said, burying her face into Harry's chest
"As I said on the train, it's nothing but the truth 'Mione" Harry said, still holding onto her for dear life. But then, Hermione did something she very rarely did, she kissed Harry on the cheek, but this wasn't her normal kiss on the cheek, her lips lingered on his cheek for a couple of seconds longer than usual, causing Harry to wonder if this was just a friendly gesture, or if it was something more.
When they pulled away, Hermione was as red as a tomato yet again, so she decided now would be a good time to go to sleep, as she got up, she looked back at Harry and locked eyes with him.
"Goodnight Harry" Hermione said
"Goodnight Cutie" Harry said with his signature Potter smirk.
As they went to bed that night, they couldn't help but wonder, were they just friends, or were there hidden feelings, slowly making their way to the surface?
A/N: Ahhh thank you all so much for reading I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, as I said in the description please do not be afraid to give me some constructive feedback in the comments, it really does help me improve my writing!
Thank you all! - Nerdy Fan