Scared Of Loving You
Part 3- Harry and Cho
"Hermione Granger!"
A sharp voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Huh?" she replied sleepily.
Ms McGonagall stared at one of her best pupils in shock whilst her other classmates giggled at her reaction.
"If you would like to join us again, I would like you to answer my question," she stated coldly.
Hermione froze. She had always been able to pay attention in class before! Harry, who was sitting on her right, had squeezed her arm for a second to tell her something. She felt dizzy for some reason and hadn't noticed anything except the warmth of his hand and the fact he had actually touched her arm. And as silly as it sounded, when Hermione had leant over to talk to him, she could smell a nice, clean soapy kind of scent from his body which had made her feel dizzy all over again. In her happy daze, she had forgotten that she was in Transfiguration listening to McGonagall explain another difficult, but more effective form of transfiguration done by some animals. This was something she would have loved to learn about, but somehow, it didn't really matter when Harry was next to her.
When Hermione blushed furiously and mumbled something about not listening, the professor stared at her as if she knew the truth (which scared her for a minute) and continued her lesson. Hermione was staring at her table, feeling utterly humiliated about the scene, when Harry nudged her arm. She would have leapt out of her chair and out of the window beside her at that moment, if she hadn't had more sense than that. Why was Harry affecting her so much lately? Her heart beat began beating faster at the thought of liking him more than a friend. Licking her lips nervously, she turned around casually to face Harry's concerned face.
"Hermione? What was that about? You normally pay more attention than everyone in this classroom put together!" he whispered.
"I'm.. I'm a bit.. out of it today" she replied wearily carefully avoiding his intense green eyes.
"Yeah, after last night you would be!" Ron quipped.
Suddenly forgetting about her previous thoughts, she giggled at the thought of last night's adventure and then began laughing silently to herself when she remembered that morning in the Great Hall. The words "Draco", "permanent marker" and "moustache" were all that were needed for her to collapse in a laughing heap. To draw a moustache and other "facial features" on Draco the previous night had been her own idea. Fortunately, Draco was too "traumatised" by that morning and was given the day off.
It was obvious that Harry and Ron were also remembering Draco's makeover as well. A giggle escaped her mouth when she saw them trying not to laugh beside her. Harry's body was shaking from the effort and had his hand pressed to his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud and beside him, Ron had his head in arm which muffled his laughter and was banging the table with his other fist in his silent hysterics. Hermione desperately tried to control her giggles, but she could tell she was weakening because she couldn't even hold her quill anymore.
"Don't look at them. Do NOT look at them." she instructed herself sternly.
She couldn't help herself. She glanced at a peek at them and saw Ron face begin to go bright red and Harry nearly fall off his chair. Harry looked at Ron who was looking at Hermione who was looking at Harry. And suddenly, all three of them burst out laughing in the middle of Transfiguration to the bewilderment of the teacher and the other classmates. Professor McGonagall tried to tell them off and give them a detention, but they couldn't help laughing, even when she glared sternly at them. To her distress, some of their classmates (except the Slytherins who they shared the class with) began to giggle as well for no reason at all and it took her the remainder of the lesson to calm the students down and give nearly all the Gryffindors a detention that afternoon.
Though, later that evening after detention, Ron swore he saw McGonagall's mouth twitch. Which started them off again.
***
Hermione grinned at Harry and Ron as she joined them at the Gryffindor table for dinner. Ron grinned back and resumed hungrily devouring his food, but Harry was staring, to her annoyance, towards the Hufflepuff table.
"Hi H-mm-ermione!" Ron greeted her, with his mouth full of food.
"Hey.." Harry said absently.
Hermione sat down quietly next to Harry and tried to dismiss her jealous thoughts. Maybe she really did like Harry, a lot. She suddenly didn't feel very hungry and began to play around with the food on her plate.
"Oh no, look who's back to accuse us again." groaned Harry.
"Well, well, well, Harry Potter," snickered Draco Malfoy, who stood near the three friends. "Feeling pleased with yourself, are you? Well I wouldn't be smiling if I were either of you! Father has already heard about this and I'm sure Dumbledore isn't too pleased about this."
Laughing loudly, he sauntered off towards the Slytherin table.
"Ooh! That stupid bouncing ferret really gets on my nerves sometimes.." growled Hermione.
Harry patted her arm sympathetically.
"Don't worry about Malfoy, he's just whinging as usual."
"Yeah, I'd be whinging too if I was humilated in front of the whole school!" snorted Ron.
They laughed and joked around until dinner was finished. When the plates were as spotless and shiny as before, they got up energetically, ready to go back to the common room.
"Let's have a race!" announced Ron suddenly.
Harry and Hermione exchanged a look. Hermione giggled and then blushed when she realised they both had the exact bewildered expression on their faces.
"1... 2... 3... GO!"
The three friends shot off towards the Gryffindor common room, twisting around corners, speeding down corridors and racing up stairs. Being light, agile and a fast athlete, Harry sped ahead of his two friends and quickly overtook them. Breathing loudly and heart beating madly, he raced around another bend and ran straight into someone. They toppled over onto the ground from the impact. Suddenly, two other figures hurtled around the corner, but they stopped just in time, in front of the two tangled bodies.
"Sorry!" gasped Harry, out of breath.
Hermione, who was leaning against the wall trying to catch her breath, stared at Harry as he realised he was lying on top of the person and got up blushing madly. He gently helped the figure up who got up slowly and looked up at the three friends. Harry gasped in shock and nearly let go of her, but he held on tightly because she winced in pain. Rubbing her sore ankle, she gingerly took a step, but fell straight into Harry's arms again.
"I think you've sprained your ankle, Cho." Ron said worriedly.
Hermione scowled. Harry looked like he was in heaven.
***
A surprisingly cool breeze blew into the Gryffindor common room. Hermione, who had miserably flopped into a huge armchair that hot summer night, ran and sat by the window ledge. She stared outside the window, looking up at the moon shining brightly and the stars twinkling in the clear sky. Ron had gone to bed earlier saying that he needed to sleep after all that running. Harry, being the gentleman he was, carried Cho to Madame Pomfrey to get her ankle fixed. Somehow, she couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealously.
"Lucky Cho..." she thought to herself.
"Lucky Harry..." she said aloud.
"Why am I lucky?" asked Harry.
Hermione gasped and jumped up in surprise. She spun around and glared at him.
"Don't scare me like that!" she scolded, "You gave me an awful fright..."
Harry laughed and sat down beside her on the window ledge. Realising how close they were, Hermione's heart began to race. They stared up at the night sky together in silence. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, reminding herself not to think of Harry in any other way because he was a great best friend. She glanced at his face. His sparkling green eyes gazed in awe at the twinkling stars. Even though he had a small smile on his face, a shadow of sadness masked his expression. Hermione's heart reached out to him. She felt like holding him in her arms and telling him everything would be alright. Harry turned his head and smiled warmly at her. Caught off guard, Hermione blushed and tried not to show her embarrassment.
"S... So... I'm lucky because..." Harry began seriously.
His voice had broken the silence.
Hermione mentally cursed herself for thinking out loud earlier.
"It was... er... nothing Harry." she replied.
He stared intensely at her.
"No, what is it? I want to know. Why am I lucky?" he asked urgently.
For the first time in her life, Hermione was tongue-tied. She couldn't think of a good response. Blushing furiously, she tried to think of a better answer than the truth.
"Well..."
"That's a start..." she thought. "Wait a minute, Harry's your best friend! You can tell him anything right? Well, except the fact that you pretty much like him..."
"You... You've always liked... Ch... Cho right? And you got to talk to her today... more!" she answered brightly.
Harry looked at her strangely and then looked a bit embarrassed.
"Um... yeah. That's right, I guess." he said nervously. "Nothing... really... happened today you know. I just apologised and she said it was OK."
"Oh..." Hermione managed to say.
"And... you know what? To be honest, she seemed... well... different. A bit too... um... giggly and flirty in my opinion."
Hermione looked right at him, her heat beating louder and her eyes wide open. Harry looked away, hiding his blushing face. They both wondered why things had become so awkward between them.
"Anyway, I have to go to bed now. All that running made me very tired." Harry said wearily, ignoring the awkwardness between them.
They got up and began walking slowly to the middle of the room.
"Night Harry!" squeaked Hermione, licking her lips nervously.
"Night Hermione." replied Harry, sounding a bit strange.
And not knowing what possessed her, she leant towards him, kissed his cheek and raced to her dormitory. Harry stood shocked and touched the cheek she had kissed, realising that this was only the second time she had done this. Feeling a bit confused, he turned and walked off to his room. After Hermione raced into her room, she flung herself onto her bed and buried her burning face into her pillow. Her madly beating heart pounded on her chest as she lay back, staring up wide-eyed.
"Why did you do that!?" she shrieked inside her head. "Harry must KNOW you like him now! How will you face him in the morning? Well, come to think of it, DO you like him? Actually, you've kissed his cheek before. Once. Before the train left at the end of last year..."
Her thoughts whirled around her head until, suddenly, a picture of Cho and Harry smiling together flashed in her mind. She sat up straight, banging her head on the bed above her.
"Ow!" she exclaimed loudly.
She quickly clapped her hand over her mouth, hoping no one had heard her. Someone murmured and rolled over in their sleep. But that was all. However, the bump on the head had seemed to knock some sense into her.
"You CANNOT like Harry," she scolded herself. "He is your best friend and he likes CHO."
End of Part 3 - Harry and Cho
A/N: Wow! Finally chap. 3 is up! I've been too lazy, but one day... ONE day I'll finish the story. somehow i think i'll only write when any ideas come to me =) please review!
