Easiest Choice Ever

By: Morrigan Raven

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Notes: This story takes place sometime after Harry and Cho kiss in the Room Of Requirement. And Harry didn't wait until Valentine's Day to ask her to Hogsmeade. It's a Harry/Hermione. It has some Cho Chang bashing. There are some hints of previous child abuse. It's my first Harry Potter FanFiction.

Disclaimer: I kind of want to say: "I own nothing, Jon Snow" but might have to make a disclaimer for that one too.

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It was almost curfew on a Saturday night. The Gryffindor Common Room was mostly empty. Just a few students remained. Amongst them, was Ron, playing Wizard Chess with Dean while Seamus cracked jokes next to them. Across the room, Hermione sat alone on a couch, reviewing her work on her Transfiguration's essay.

The door to the Common Room suddenly opened and Harry walked in. He looked around the room and when he spotted Hermione, he walked towards her and sat on the ground next to her leg. Rubbing his hands over his face letting out a long sigh in frustration.

Turning to look at him, one eyebrow raised, Hermione asked "Bad day?" "The worst!" Harry answered.

Putting down her parchments, Hermione turned her whole attention on Harry. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not right now" replied Harry, letting his head fall back on the seat of the couch, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Oh, okay. I'm here, if you change your mind" she said as she patted his shoulder and returned to her work. After a few minutes she felt a light weight rest against her leg. Turning to look, she noticed Harry had fallen sleep and his head rested against her. Deciding to let him rest, she went back to reading. Sometime later she noticed him turning his head, wincing and gasping as in pain.

Worried, knowing he had been having awful nightmares, she gently ran her hand over his forehead and hair whispering softly "It's okay, Harry. You're okay" After a moment, he seemed to calm and go back to sleep peacefully. Hermione decided to keep her hand on his head, her thumb softly rubbing his forehead.

Her free hand holding her essay, though she could not fully concentrate on reviewing it. From time to time, she turned to check on Harry, unsure if she should wake him and send him to bed. Ultimately deciding against it since he looked to peaceful and she didn't want to disturb him.

A few minutes later, a loud bang made Hermione jump and Harry jolted awake. Noticing Ron standing over the table where he had dropped some book she hissed "Ronald!". "What!?" He hissed back, while Harry took a moment to look around trying to figure out where he was and what was going on.

Blinking his tired eyes, Harry focused on Ron. "What's up, mate?"

"It's late, you're so tired you fell sleep and were drooling all over Hermione" said Ron with a frown on his face.

"Was I!? "He wasn't drooling!" Came the reply. Harry raised his hand to his mouth to check or clean himself if needed, saying a quick "Sorry!" To Hermione.

Throwing a glare at Ron, she answered "No problem, Harry. And you were not drooling"

Under different circumstances, she might have laughed it off, but something on Ron's face, kept her from it. Instead she raised an eyebrow at Ron in question. It was then she noted where Ron was looking or rather glaring at. Her hand was still laying on Harry's head. Taking note of Ron's behavior to analyze at a later time, she lifted her hand and picked her essay again.

"So! If you're so tired let's go to sleep in our dorm room" said Ron after a few moments of silence.

Harry took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and shook his head, trying to further wake himself before replaying "I'll be there in bit, mate" putting his glasses back.

Practically scowling now, Ron turned around and stomped towards the boy's dorms. Hermione could feel eyes on her, looking around the common room, she noticed some of her fellow Gryffindor students avoiding her eyes, all but Ginny, who upon meeting her eyes, stood up and left up the stairs to the girl's dorms.

'Another thing to analyze later' she decided with a sigh, Hermione turned to look at Harry. The room cleared soon after that.

"Sorry, Hermione, it really was an awful day and I feel very tired and… I dunno, I feel a little bit funny. Snape gave me a potion" Harry told her as he rubbed his eyes again.

"A potion? What happened? And… wait… wasn't today your date with Cho!?" She asked as she looked around for possible injuries.

"Yeah, but it was awful! Who knew I could get bored talking about quidditch! And then, she started talking about some essay she had to do. She talked about it as if I was very stupid, and like she's so smart that I couldn't possible understand what she was saying" Harry said as ran his hands over his hair in frustration.

For a moment, Hermione tensed and asked "And, is being smart a bad thing?"

"Depends, if you show you're smart just to make the rest feel stupid, then yes" "How so?"

Scratching his neck, Harry tried to find the best way to explain what he meant "Well, if she were to learn something new, she wouldn't want to share that knowledge, she'd just brag she knows and probably hint that you'd have a hard time learning it yourself. While you, for example, when you learn something new, you get so happy and exited, and you want to share what you know with us to help us do better, even if we do have a hard time understanding, you take the time to explain things. It's one of the best things about you"

"Oh" Hermione could feel herself blushing, she just hoped it was dark enough, that Harry would not notice.

"Yeah, so, I told her that you probably already finished all of your assignments, and how you usually help me check my work" continued Harry, but Hermione interrupted him with a "Oh, Harry!" "What?"

"When on a date with a girl, you should never mention other girls" "But you're my best friend!"

"Even so, or more the reason not to mention me. But if you do, you should say how much I nag you or how annoying you think I am. And it might be a good idea to add that you think I'm ugly" advised Hermione.

"What!? But… I could never say those things! You're my best friend and the best person I know! And you're beautiful" Replied Harry.

"Yeah, you definitely should not tell her that" advised Hermione, she could felt herself blushing.

"Well, too late!" Harry said making her gasp "What!? What did you say, Harry?"

"Well, she started badmouthing you! And no, I'm NOT repeating what she said! So I told her as I just said and she got very angry and told me I had to make a choice. That, if I was to be with her, then I couldn't be friends with you!" Harry took a moment to calm himself.

"And.. what did you say to that?" For a one awful moment Hermione worried. She knew Harry had liked Cho for a long while.

Shrugging as if the answer was obvious, Harry continued his tale "I said 'That's easy' and then made to leave that awful coffee shop, but before I could leave I heard her cast a hex and…"

"She did WHAT!?" Furiously interrupted Hermione.

"Yeah! And I couldn't dodge or the couple that was about to go in, would have gotten hit instead, and I didn't have time to cast a shield either! And it was a bad one too! It felt like…" Harry shook his head before continuing with the story, but Hermione made note of his behavior.

"Anyway, so I left Madam Puddifoot, came back to Hogwarts. And I was on my way to Madam Pomfrey when I ran into Snape and the damn git started the occlumency lesson right there, saying I had to be on my guard all the time, and since I was still thinking about what happened, of course he saw the memory… and memories of the Dursley's when I managed to push him out" Harry ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath.

"Then, he just stared at me, told me to follow him. We went to his office and he made me a potion. He said it would heal me and help with the pain. Told me to go to sleep, the potion is supposed to help with that too" Harry finished his tale with another deep breath.

Hermione, had started to plan vengeance on the Ravenclaw and trying to figure out how to punish those awful relatives of his, when Harry after a long yawn, pull her on a hug, burying his head on the crook of her neck. She gasped and lost all train of thought when she felt his lips brush her neck. Her hands fisted the back of his shirt as she felt his hand rubbing the small of her back. Then he pulled away and leaned towards her, her eyes widened in surprise. She felt his lips pressing against the corner of hers. She admitted to herself to be a little disappointed as he let go of her.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that Harry… and I'm sorry about Cho" as much as she hated the witch now, Hermione knew that Harry must feel sad about the whole thing.

"I'm not! Easiest choice ever! You're my favorite person!… Just don't tell Ron, or we'll never hear the end of it" Harry grinned at her, and Hermione felt her heart flutter as she returned his smile.

'What is this boy, doing to me?' She thought as she ran her hand down his arm "You should go to sleep. Goodnight, Harry" Summoning her Gryffindor courage, she leaned to give him a quick peck on his cheek. "And you are my favorite person too!"

"Night, Hermione" he beamed at her, then walked to his dorm, turning to look at her one last time, waving his hand before climbing the stairs.

She smiled to herself and turned to put away her things while continued to plot revenge on the witch and on the Dursley's… and maybe find a way to thank a certain Potion Master. She made a mental note to analyze the Weasleys sibling's behavior for later. An another for Harry's words and if they would change anything between them.

The End

Notes: Sorry, but no current plans for a continuation to this story. Maybe I'll come with something later but right now I've other ideas I want to try first. Grammar mistakes are all mine, sorry. Hope you liked it. Bye.