Unaware of the events surrounding Ron and Hermione, Harry was suddenly inspired by recalling the statement of no living person having seen the diadem. It was obvious. He knew he needed to speak to someone who was dead, probably the Grey Lady. He called out to Nearly Headless Nick and inquired about where she might be found. Nick pointed her out and Harry headed off in the small hope she would help him.

She was not overly friendly, but eventually confirmed Tom Riddle had gotten the secret hundreds of other could not get from her. Harry was now certain he needed to find the diadem. The fact Voldemort was here was a definite indication that the diadem was here, as well, and not in Albania.

Voldemort's presence continued to torment his brain as he ascended the Astronomy Tower. He still did not have any idea where the diadem was hidden, but he had to start somewhere.

The battle was raging and the castle was starting to incur damage. As he ran followed by Hagrid and Fang, who he had met moments before, he stepped over the disembodied head of a fallen stone statue. Seeing the stony head jogged his memory. He knew where the diadem was at last.

Harry ran with renewed purpose combine with terror back toward the Room of Requirement. His brain was racing with thoughts about what he had to do and how to do it. As his heart pounded, it also wanted to find Ron and Hermione. It knew Harry still needed them to complete the task and to defeat Voldemort.

Ron and Hermione were also rushing toward the room. They figured it was their best chance to get an idea of where to look for Harry now that they had something capable of destroying the horcrux he was seeking and to bring Voldemort one hit closer to defeat.

Harry raced past students, professors, more students, and even Aberforth, who had come to fight. Then, as he rounded a corner, there they were. His heart leaped with joy. Amidst mutual cheers, they embraced, never so happy to see each other in as long as they could remember.

Ron explained they had gone into the Chamber of Secrets and harvested basilisk fangs and had also killed the horcrux in the cup, so they knew they would work. Harry inquired how they had got into the chamber since neither of them could speak parseltongue.

Hermione explained how Ron had come up with the idea and spoke parseltongue to open the chamber. She had him demonstrate how he copied what Harry said when he opened the locket. All of the time she spoke she was repeatedly calling Ron and his plan brilliant. Harry had seldom heard her praise the intelligence of another person, let along Ron, in such glowing terms. It gave him a warm feeling in his heart.

Harry then explained the diadem was in the old Room of Requirement, the one where he had hidden his potions book the year before. They needed to clear out the current room so it would close, then they could open the correct one and find the diadem and destroy it.

Together they sprinted down and into the entrance to the room. Unlike before, it was empty except for Tonks, Ginny and Neville's grandmother. He explained they needed to leave so he could close this room and enter a different version of the room.

Neville's grandmother left to go find Neville and to fight alongside him. Tonks left to join Remus. Ginny was allowed to leave but was required to return to the room once they were finished. Once the room was empty they prepared to leave so it would close. Harry took that moment to wrap her in a tight hug paired with a kiss fueled by the desperation of the moment.

"I love you, Gin," said Harry as he stared into her beautiful eye.

"I love you, too," replied Ginny as she looked back into his.

"If we ever get out of this, I promised to love you forever."

"I am going to hold you to that," she said as she rekindled the kiss.

Ginny started out of the room. All that was left to do was for them to leave, as well. Then the room would close and they could reopen it as the room for hiding object where Harry knew they could find the diadem.

That is when it happened, right there at the most unlikely of times and places. Ron said they needed to warn the house elves, to give them a chance to leave just like everyone else. They did not need any more Dobby's. This triggered something inside Hermione that had been lying dormant, hidden, waiting for too many years for the right moment to assert itself. A strange, warm feeling filled her. The long-absent pieces finally awakened and took their proper places. The emotional side of her heart was finally whole.

It was also then that her heart and the nurturing side of her brain finally joined forces in overruling the critical side of her brain that had long-crippled her ability to express her true feelings for Ron. She knew they may not live out the night, but if they were destined to die, she was not going to do it without showing Ron that she loved him. The time was now.

Hermione's eyes looked across the room and locked with Ron's as she dropped the basilisk fangs. They bounced and clattered across the floor in a hollow cacophony. She stared at him and him at her for the eternity of a second. They were like two strangers who had known each other for years but had never actually met. It was time for them to be introduced.

As Hermione started across the room, a similar set of feelings filled Ron. It was now or never, and he was not going to allow himself to die without finally telling Hermione he loved her with all his heart. His critical brain needed to shut up and step aside. His heart was taking over.

Hermione was running by the time Ron dropped the broom and his load of basilisk fangs so he could meet her open arm sprint. Their hearts were like living magnets reaching out, locking grip and pulling them together. They met in an embrace charged with the intense passion pulsing through this long overdue moment. As Ron lifted Hermione off the ground their lips finally met for their first kiss. Hermione's heart threatened to explode, her brain short-circuiting in the electricity of the first romantic kiss of her life.

Harry looked at them, his heart thrilled that they were finally expressing their desires for each other. However, his brain could not believe they were doing it now. His comment about this finally being the moment rolled off them like water off a duck. It only caused them to increase their embrace and snogging twofold. It was not until Harry finally shouted that there was a war going on that they stopped kissing and broke apart, still not fully releasing their arms from around one another.