Disclaimer

I do not own any of the characters in this chapter. Not one; they all belong to J K Rowling, and I'm proud to say that. J

In the previous chapter…

Hermione smiled once again when she saw the image produced in front of her. The sun was setting in a most beautiful way; it looked as if its wild and fiery flames were suddenly tamed down and it had suddenly turned into such a docile animal. At the horizon, where half the sun was already disappearing into the forever stretching sea, Hermione could already see a tinge of dark blue mixed with the slightest touch of dark purple, giving it a mysterious look. Suddenly, Hermione felt like reaching out and feel the beauty of everything.

She didn't, in the end. But Harry did. He kissed her.

More Than Memory

It was done so quickly, Hermione wasn't even sure that it happened. She turned and looked around and Harry. She didn't have to turn much; they were sitting so close together.

Harry's face was no match for the sun, but it could easily win a tomato. His red face was the only evidence Hermione could find and led her to believe that he had just did what he did.

For once, Hermione was speechless. She stood up abruptly and turned her back on Harry to walk away from this uncertainty lying before her.

Harry gripped her arm before she could leave him and his life forever. "Hermione, please wait." He pleaded softly.

Hermione turned and the looks of confusion and fear came close to slashing Harry's heart into two with a dagger.

Harry looked around her and saw that the only place that was left alone by the people on the deck was a dark and secluded room that didn't seem to belong there on the deck. Harry didn't know where he got the courage or the strength to gently shove Hermione and push himself into that room. Hermione made no sound at all. Once inside the dark room, Harry cast a locking spell and silencing charm on the room.

"Lumos," he whispered, so he could see Hermione's face. She looks so tired and forlorn all of a sudden… Harry thought, and he wanted to slap himself right in front of her just to say that he was sorry and that he didn't mean it. Before he could say 'sorry', Hermione spoke first, in a quiet voice Harry never knew her to have.

"What's going on, Harry?"

"Nothing." Harry thought he had just told the biggest lie in his whole seven years spent in Hogwarts.

"Nothing?" Hermione's face was incredulous. "You just k-kissed me and it was nothing?"

Harry was dumbfounded, he seemed to have lost his voice. As he searched for it, Hermione continued.

"Or maybe it's nothing to you, huh? To you, it was just a kiss."

He found it; he found his blasted voice. "NO!" he exclaimed loudly, eyes wide. "It will never be just a kiss. It will be a… a… memory." Hermione looked puzzled by his choice of strange words.

"B-but-" Harry found more courage in him to continue speaking. "-I want us to be more than memory; I want us to be… more than friends." The last part of the sentence came out as a whisper, but Hermione heard every word of it.

"What?" she asked in a staggering breath. "You want me to be… what Patricia is to Ron?" Hermione asked softly, beginning to feel as if she was in a dream and she would have to wake up soon. God, she'll be glad when she does.

"Y-yes, Hermione. I never thought I would tell you this, but… I think I like you. I think I'm actually falling in love with you."

Hermione looked dazed for a moment. Then suddenly, she did the most unexpected thing; she pinched herself on the arm. Hard. It hurt. It's true… Hermione thought with dread. Then she did the most logical thing that came to her mind, yet it wasn't the most logical thing to do in the world. She screamed, shouted "ALOHOMARA!" and fled, leaving Harry staring after her fading shadow.

Hermione stood in her room, unsure of what to do. She thought she must have looked like an idiot, standing there in the middle of the room and not doing anything at all. She conjured up a mirror and suddenly looked at her own reflection self-consciously. All she saw was a great bush of hair, though now not so bushy. It had turned a bit wavier during the years, but she still thought it was like a bush. Her eyes were a sickening brown. It wasn't warm like what Ron called them. She thought they looked horrible and pathetically common.

Her nose… she didn't even want to go there. It was turned up and she thought it looked like a pig's. And she mentioned it so to Ron but got frustrated in the end when Ron asked her what in the world was a pig. Parvati Patil said it was cute though, her nose. Hermione was doubtful.

Her lips were thick, for heaven's sake. It looks like a clown's, she thought desperately, looking for other signs that could possibly tell her why Harry liked her. She couldn't find any.

She sprawled down on her bed, face-down, sulking over the very fact that between friendship and love, she could never choose one. She actually felt guilty. Now that she knew what Harry really felt towards her, she then realized for a fact that she could never give him anything more than friendship. For now, at least. Or maybe, just maybe… she should just give him a chance, to see if it all works out; besides, feelings can be developed over time, right?

Just then, her partner, Lavender Brown came in and saw Hermione flat down on her tummy on the messed up sheets.

"What are you doing, Hermione? Trying harder to turn that nose down?" Lavender was forever teasing her nose, even though she thought it was lovely and looked pretty on Hermione's face.

Hermione's only reply was a snort.

"What's wrong?" Lavender asked concernedly.

"Nothing," came Hermione's muffled voice.

"Nothing? Could've fooled me." Lavender said doubtfully.

Hermione kept quiet. She then turned around and sat up on her bed. She looked at Lavender and saw her friend's worried face.

She smiled and reassured Lavender that it was nothing. She just had a bit of sea-sickness.

Hermione felt the worst emotion of all: guilt. She felt guilty for not telling Lavender about what happened just now. After all, she always told Lavender what happened, whether good or bad. However, this time round, she didn't know why and couldn't explain either, but she just couldn't bring herself to tell Lavender about Harry. She just had a feeling that it wouldn't be right.

Lavender saw Hermione's smile and although she was still worried about her, she let it pass. After all, if Hermione felt like telling her the truth, she would, eventually, just not now. She didn't want to force anything out of Hermione anyway.

Just then, a most surprising thing happened. The door flew open and Hermione gasped at the shock of it suddenly flying open. She was also half-afraid that it would actually be Harry, demanding an answer from her.

Lavender was terrified, yet she kept her emotions in check. She walked slowly and tentatively towards the now open door. Wasn't it locked? Lavender thought.

She then took a good look around and turned around to Hermione, who was still on the bed, calming her heartbeat down.

"Strange… there's no one here…" Lavender muttered.

Hermione heaved a sigh of relief and got up from her bed. She needed to take a walk outside alone, just to clear her thoughts. And she told Lavender just that. Lavender smiled and said, "It's about time, too. You were sulking for too long a time." Hermione smiled and was glad that she had a friend like Lavender.

"Thanks, Lavender, for-" she couldn't finish her sentence as she felt herself levitate. She looked down and saw her feet leaving the ground. Looking up again, she saw Lavender floating in mid-air as well. She quickly reached for her wand but couldn't quite find it. By the time she found it, she, together with Lavender, were floating down the corridor, along with the other Hogwarts students. Hermione quickly muttered a spell to counter-attack the levitating charm, but it was to no avail. She could see around her that people were trying to chant the same spell to put themselves down, yet no one could do it. Everyone remained floating, or rather, flying down the corridor. Lavender screamed suddenly, and then, everyone followed suit. Hermione didn't; she was too surprised to scream or make any sounds. She simply couldn't believe her rotten luck.

Indeed, it was a strange phenomenon, for every Hogwarts student was being levitated into the air and they were no longer restrained on the deck or, on a bigger scale, the ship. They were all floating… in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of the South Seas, to be specific.