Harry couldn't get to sleep that night. He just kept tossing and turning. Try as he might, he just couldn't get Hermione's face out of his mind. Finally, he sighed and decided to go out to the Astronomy Tower and gaze at the stars. It had always soothed him. He removed the invisibility cloak from his trunk outside.
He had just settled comfortably into his favorite corner when he heard somebody else climbing up the ladder. He reached instinctively for his wand when he saw a dark cloaked figure climb up. He was just about to perform a body-binding curse when the figure removed her hood and shook her hair out. Even in the dark, Harry knew immediately who she was. He stopped his wand in mid-air.
Hermione sighed. "What a beautiful night," she said to nobody in particular. Harry nearly melted at the sound of her voice. He wanted to take off his cloak, but he decided he might frighten her off. So he continued listening.
Hermione removed the heavy cloak and spread it out on the corner opposite of Harry. He saw that Hermione had brought an extremely ugly tabby cat with her.
The cat hissed at where Harry was sitting. He froze, trying not to make a sound. The cat was about to pounce when Hermione gathered him up and started stroking him.
"It's alright, Crookshanks," she cooed, "There's nobody there."
Harry wished that he was in Crookshanks position, who was purring contentedly in Hermione's lap.
Suddenly, Hermione cried out, " Oh, it's just not fair! It just had to be Gryffindor!"
Harry held his breath so he wouldn't give himself away. Hermione continued moaning to her cat.
"It's just my luck that the first guy I love is a Gryffindor! All the other Slytherins would be furious if they found out! Oh, Harry, why couldn't you have been in some other house? Any other house rather than damned Gryffindor!"
This made Harry just a little mad and he was just about to retort when Hermione went on.
"But the funny thing is, I don't care. I mean, it's not like I love him any less than I would if he were in Ravenclaw or something. But he'll probably be disgusted with me after he finds out I'm a Slytherin," she said miserably.
"That's not true!" Harry burst out.
Hermione gave a little shriek and started looking around wildly, nearly stepping on poor Crookshanks and falling off the tower. Harry caught her by the arm and suddenly remembered that he still had his cloak on. He took it off immediately.
"Oops," he said sheepishly, "I'm sorry I frightened you."
Hermione, who was still in a state of shock, whirled around to face him and snapped angrily, "I suppose it's a favorite hobby of yours to spy on poor girls and then scare them half to death!"
"No," said Harry, "Just you."
This made Hermione even angrier and was about to shout at him again when she realized that he sounded familiar.
"Wait," she said slowly, "Aren't you the guy I was talking to earlier? Harry-"
"Potter," finished Harry. "And you're Hermione."
"Guilty," she said. They stood and stared at each other for a while until they both started laughing.
"We…mustn't…laugh…so…loud," gasped Hermione in mid-giggle. "Someone could hear us."
"You forgot about this," reminded Harry, pointing to his cloak.
Hermione examined it in great interest.
"Is that a real invisibility cloak?" she asked, feeling the smooth cloth between her fingers.
"Yes, it was my dad's," said Harry shortly. Hermione wisely decided not to pursue on the subject.
"Well, this is one thing we have in common," she said, changing the subject. "We both like to look at the stars."
"Yeah," agreed Harry, "I always come out here on clear nights to try and look for Cassiopeia, Hercules, and so on."
"Not me," said Hermione, " I look at the stars to try and predict the future. My grandmother can do it. I'm not sure exactly how to do it, but it has something to do with the alignment of the stars. My grandma saw a snake in the sky the night before I boarded the Hogwarts Express seven years ago, and she predicted that I would be in Slytherin. She was right."
"Yes, she was," said Harry, a bit bitterly.
They continued to make small talk until Hermione burst out,
"Harry, are you going to ask me out or not?"
Startled, Harry admitted sheepishly that he had been trying to find a way to ask her without sounding too eager.
"Oh," said Hermione. "Well I accept." And she kissed him.
"Wow," whispered Harry.
They were sitting there, grinning broadly at each other like hyenas, when Hermione's lovely face suddenly creased with worry.
"Oh, Harry," she said, "What will we do about the others?"
"The others?" said Harry, confused.
"I mean the people in Gryffindor and Slytherin. I know Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff won't give a damn whether we're going out or not, but the others will force us to break up and maybe have a wizard's duel if they find out!"
"Well… they won't find out," said Harry decidedly, "We'll have to keep it a secret just between us."
"Yes, you're right," said Hermione. "I'll--"
But Harry never found out what she was about to say. Just then, he spied Filch and Mrs. Norris coming out of the castle doors. Hastily, he covered Hermione and himself with the invisibility cloak and together they crept down and away to the safety of their own dorm rooms, Hermione to hers and Harry to his. Just before they parted at the entrance of the Slytherin common room, Harry whispered to Hermione, "Meet me tomorrow night at the Astronomy Tower."