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     It had been a year to the day since the death of Cedric and the students of Hogwarts were sitting around their house tables in the Great Hall. They were having a three-minute silence in honour of him.

     Harry tried not to think of the previous years' events but it was no good and, to his horror, his face started to burn up and the corners of his eyes stung as they filled up with tears. He partly still blamed himself for Cedric's death, although he knew nobody was to blame. Harry blinked and tried to wipe his eyes without anyone noticing. He glanced sideways and saw Hermione with tears rolling down her cheeks. She caught sight of Harry and stared down at the table.

     The silence ended and food appeared in front of the students but no one felt like eating and the Hall remained very quiet.

     A lot had happened that year since Cedric's death. No one had seen nor heard of Voldemort, but that worried people because they suspected he was planning something extremely dangerous. So, in this case, no news was bad news. There had been some good news. Hermione and Ron had started going out. Of course, Malfoy had a fair few comments to throw at them, as usual, but within a few weeks, everyone had become bored of teasing them and sneering at them and everything seemed almost normal again. Or, at least, as normal as it could get when you were at Hogwarts

                                                 

                                                                  ***

     Harry, Hermione and Ron were all sat round their usual table in the far corner of the Gryffindor common room. Everyone else had gone to bed.

     There were pieces of fruit scattered across their table (Hermione was trying to teach them the animation charm they had to learn for homework, they still hadn't quite grasped it)

    "How about this, then?" said Ron, as he flicked his wand at the fruit, the slice of apple tipped up onto its end.

    "Look! It's work- Oh…" The fruit flopped miserably back down onto the table, "I'm never going to learn this by Monday!" moaned Ron.

    "You will," said Hermione, "You're just not concentrating hard enough, maybe you should get some sleep and try again tomorrow."

    "You're right," Ron got up, kissed Hermione good night and headed towards the stairs, "Harry?"

    "I'll be up in a minute, I'll just practise this a few more times," said Harry, "I think I've finally got it, look," Harry waved his wand, and the piece of fruit jumped up, walked to the edge of the table and… fell off, "Oh, well, I think it needs a bit more practise," he conceded.

    "OK, I'll see you in the morning then," said Ron, as he trudged up the stairs to the boys' dormitory

    "OK, I'll try it once more, then I'll go to bed too," said Harry, "It's the last Quidditch practise tomorrow before the final against Ravenclaw."

     He flicked his wand and the piece of fruit walked to the edge of the table then fell off again and flopped onto the floor beside his feet. He reached down to pick it up at the same time as Hermione did. His hand fell upon hers. They both stopped, then, looked up at each other. They were staring at each other for what seemed like ages, then, slowly, they drew together and kissed. They both knew it was wrong in their minds but in their hearts, it felt so right. Harry felt a warm glow spread through his body as they kissed.

      They pulled apart and gazed, deeply into one another's eyes. Suddenly, they heard footsteps, coming downstairs. It was Ron. They quickly tried to occupy themselves, reading spell books.

    "Sorry, just forgot my wand," Ron walked up to the table and picked up his wand, "Are you two alright?" He said, "Only you look a bit, well, edgy."

    "Who u-us?" stammered Hermione.

    "We're fine!" said Harry, "probably just a bit tired."

    "OK then, well, see you in the morning," Ron walked towards the staircase, then turned around, "Oh, by the way," He said, "You've got that book upside down, Harry."

     Harry looked at the pages, "So I have!" He laughed nervously.

    After Ron had left, they both relaxed again.

    "We really shouldn't have done that," Hermione said.

    "I know," said Harry, "But it just…"

    "Felt so right?" Hermione finished for him.

    "Yeah…"

     They stared into each other's eyes again for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly, they both realised what they were doing.

    "What are we going to do now?" said Hermione, "and what are we going to tell Ron?"

    "Ron doesn't have to find out, unless…" Harry trailed off with a hint of suggestion in his voice.

    "Unless what?"

    "Well, put it this way, we both know that kiss wasn't an accident."

    "H-how do you mean?" said Hermione, blushing slightly.

Harry looked straight into her eyes, "I… I love you."

     Hermione felt like her heart had melted into a warm liquid and was spreading all through her body. She felt as light as a feather as she stared into those dazzling green eyes of his.

    "I love you too," she whispered

     Hermione leaned forward and placed her head on his shoulder, while he wrapped his arms around her.

     

                                                                ***

     Harry awoke with a start. He raised his head and then realised why he had awoken so suddenly. He was still in the common room and Hermione was beside him, her head resting on the table, still asleep. Harry slid out his hand from under hers and crept towards the staircase, being careful not to wake her.

     When he entered the boys' dormitory, Ron was nowhere to be seen. Harry sighed with relief, then suddenly gasped as realization dawned on him

     "Oh God! What if he saw Hermione and I, I've got to find him!" Harry exclaimed, to the world in general.

     He quickly packed up his Quidditch equipment and Firebolt and raced downstairs, out of the portrait hole and into the Great Hall. He found Ron sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table, eating breakfast

    'Well, he doesn't look upset about anything,' Thought Harry, 'I just hope to heaven he didn't see us last night, or this morning.'

     Harry walked up to where Ron was, and seated himself beside him.

    "Hi," said Ron, "where were you last night?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well, I waited for ages and you didn't come up." Ron looked up at Harry with a concerned expression on his face, "Are you alright?" he said.

    "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" replied Harry, with a nervous laugh.

    "It's just that you look exhausted- Oh, hang on, you've got an apple seed in your hair."

    Harry brushed the seed out of his hair absently, "I must have fallen asleep when I was practising that spell last night."

    "Hey, where's Hermione?"

    "What? Oh, I don't know, maybe she's not up yet," Harry lied.

    "Hmm, she's not usually this late getting up," said Ron anxiously, then, continued, "That's a point, Harry. You'd better get going or you'll be late for Quidditch practise."

    "You're right! I totally forgot about Quidditch!" Harry picked up his Quidditch equipment and Firebolt and set off for the door at sprinting speed, very nearly injuring several Gryffindors along the way.

                                                             ***

     Later that evening, Harry slumped into a huge chair in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. He needed all the rest he could get after that training session!

     Shortly afterwards, Hermione and Ron joined him by the fire.

    "Er, Harry?" said Hermione, "could I have a word?" She gave Harry a meaningful look.

    "What about?" asked Ron, puzzled.

    "Oh, er…" Hermione began, but was interrupted by Harry, "Just something about your birthday present"

    "But my birthday's not until March!"

    "We like to plan ahead," said Hermione, smiling.

    "Oh, OK then." And with that, Ron got up and headed for the boys' dormitory.

    "We need to talk," Hermione took Harry's hand, "But not here, we'll go to the lake."

Harry followed Hermione out of the portrait hole and they made their way down to the lake. They sat, hand in hand, on the grass, staring into the icy water.

    "We've got to sort this out," said Harry, turning to look at Hermione.

  Hermione looked up at him, "I know," she said, "but what can we do?"

    "We've got to tell Ron."

    "W-what?"

    "It's not fair on him," said Harry, "It's best if he hears the truth now, rather than find out we've been going behind his back."

    "You're right," sighed Hermione.

They stared at one another, both, secretly hoping they didn't have to tell Ron, but it was no use. They had to tell him.

    "I think we'd better tell him now," said Harry, getting up off the grass and holding a hand out for Hermione.

    "I really wish we didn't have to do this," said Hermione, taking Harry's hand and pulling herself up, "it'll break his heart."

    "He needs to know the truth."

    "I know."

They made their way, slowly, back to the Gryffindor common room.

    "I'll go and get Ron," said Harry, walking towards the staircase, "wait here."

Hermione sat beside the fire and waited for Harry to return with Ron. She was beginning to feel nervous, she didn't want to hurt Ron, but what choice did she have? She was in love with Harry and she couldn't keep that from him any longer.

     Suddenly, she heard footsteps and Harry appeared at the bottom of the stairs, followed by Ron.

    "What's up?" said Ron, looking from Hermione to Harry.

    "Er, there's something we need to tell you."