Thank you Thank you Thank you EVERYONE who has reveiwed so far!!! I love you very much for it! Lol. Sorry it's been a while, but this is the first bit I've had to write out before posting, so it took a while. I hope it's worth the wait! I'll try to be quicker with the next one.
A/N: More fluff! Not as much as before! Well, there's one bit that's kinda cheesy, but oh well. *smiles* And I think it turned out a bit longer than I wanted, but it ended in a good part and it picks up in a good part.
Disclaimer: Do I really have to say that this these characters and all that belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling? Didn't think so.
~~~
The weeks went by. Harry and Hermione met up each night for a secret rendezvous in the common room. So far, they had never been caught, though there were a few close calls. And, unfortunately, they were both exhausted.
Ron noticed this, though thankfully he didn't make the connection. He merely assumed that Harry was tired because of Harry's duties as Quidditch captain and Hermione's intense work load.
One morning at breakfast, Harry fell asleep. His head slipped off his hand and hit the table with a loud bang. Ten minutes later, in the Transfiguration room, Ron was still in hysterics and Harry was still nursing the spot on his forehead.
It wasn't only Harry who was taking a few unbidden catnaps between class. Three times in one of their History of Magic classes, he'd had to nudge Hermione awake. Luckily for her, Professor Binns was so used to students falling asleep in his class, he hadn't even noticed.
*
The first Quidditch match of the season had finally started. Hermione took her place wedged in between Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, eager to watch her secret boyfriend in action.
All three sported binoculars, though it was obvious that watching the game at a closer distance was not what any of them had in mind.
"Is it just me, or has Harry grown up in these last few months?" Lavender asked suggestively.
"Huh?" Hermione said, peering at him across the pitch.
Lavender lowered her binoculars impatiently. "You know. Better looking?"
"Yes!" Parvati answered feverishly.
Hermione remained silent.
"Ron's not bad on the eyes either," Lavender went on. "What do you think, Hermione?"
"I think they're the same. Just Harry and Ron."
It nearly broke her heart to say so. He wasn't "just Harry" to her. Not anymore.
Lavender rolled her violet-coloured eyes. "That's what happens when your best friends are boys," she said to Parvati.
"Look at Harry," Parvati said with a sigh. "I bet he could get any girl he wants."
He has the girl he wants! Hermione wanted to shout out. She was so tired of keeping her relationship a secret! It was just so hard. But she knew it was for the best.
A sudden cheer from the crowds told Hermione that the game had started.
"Woo! Go, Gryffindor!" screamed Lavender.
The game was intense. More than once, Hermione watched in horror as a bludger narrowly missed Harry's broom. But not ten minutes after it started…
"Gryffindor Seeker Harry Potter has caught the Snitch! Gryffindor wins!"
Pandemonium erupted in the stands. Hermione raced down to congratulate Harry.
The rest of the team was already practically piled on top of him, but somehow he had managed to extract himself.
"You were so great!" she exclaimed. She kissed each cheek once, but when she hugged him she whispered in his ear, "Common Room, 1:30, okay?"
She congratulated the rest of the team, kissing Ron on his cheeks, too. Someone yelled, "Party in the Gryffindor Common Room, right now!" and there was a mad dash to get back to the castle.
Hermione joined her roommates in preparing for the party. Normally she didn't take any extra steps to look nice, but now things were different.
She pulled on her nicest Muggle clothing: a black skirt and an abnormally (for her) tight red shirt with quarter-length sleeves. She was just about to start sleeking down her hair when something happened.
Lavender whispered something to Parvati, who nodded and left the room. Lavender grinned at Hermione and said, "Let me help you with that."
"Okay. Thanks."
Lavender squirted the cream into her hands and began to run it through Hermione's thick hair. "So," she began conversationally, "When did you and Harry happen?"
"What?" gasped Hermione. She was stunned.
Lavender giggled. "Oh, come on! You two are so obvious."
"I-I don't know you're talking about," Hermione said, trying to sound nonchalant. Inside, though, she was panicking.
"Don't play dumb with me, Hermione. I sort of thought you two were together—y'know, you're always together without Ron, and the look on your face when I said he was cute—but it didn't hit me until I saw you hug him after the game."
"Harry and I are friends, we've always gone places without Ron. And I've hugged him before," Hermione pointed out.
"I saw the look on your face! And his. It's so obvious. You totally gave yourselves away."
Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but her eyes met Lavender's in the mirror. She was busted.
Lavender squealed excitedly. "I knew it! I so knew it! Oh, I'm so happy for you two! You're adorable together. You have to tell me how you got together."
"Lavender, please, we don't want anyone else to know," Hermione pleaded.
"I won't tell a soul, not even Parvati, I swear!" Lavender squealed again. "You and Harry! Give me all the details!"
"Such as?"
"Oh, I don't know. First kiss! Who initiated it?"
Hermione ran over the details of their unexpected kiss in the common room, and explained how they were meeting up late at night.
"Wow," Lavender sighed dreamily. "I had no idea Harry could be so romantic! Is he a good kisser?"
Hermione thought back to the previous night where they'd kissed for a long time. Yes, he was a good kisser, but there was more to it than the kisses themselves. It was the way he held her so close, as though she'd fall off Earth's surface if he'd let go. Or the way they would laugh together softly, lost in a moment, or the way she felt exhilaratingly lost whenever she looked into his bottle-green eyes, and made her wonder if this whole thing was real, if two best friends could really fall in love.
But most importantly was the way he made her feel. She felt truly loved, like she meant the world to someone who had once been a complete stranger. For once, she was the chosen one.
"Yes. He's a great kisser," she replied.
*
As Harry and the rest of the team entered the common room, they were greeted with cheers that made his eardrums explode.
"Wicked playing, everyone!" Neville Longbottom shouted.
"Great job, Harry!" yelled Colin Creevey, and a blinding flash went off.
Harry grinned ear to ear as the room shook with enthusiasm. He'd never say it out loud, but he was very proud of his game-saving catch.
Somebody shook a bottle of butterbeer and opened the lid, spraying everyone nearby. Drenched head-to-toe in the drink, Harry laughed out loud. He'd never felt better.
"To Gryffindor!" Seamus Finnigan cried out, raising a bottle in the air.
"To Gryffindor!" the room echoed. Bottles clanked together.
The crowd began to recount every play of the game, and Harry used this time to look for Hermione.
He found her at the back of the room, wedged in between two third years. She was drinking butterbeer and apparently listening to Ron's version of the story. Unaware of being watched, Harry was convinced she had never looked more beautiful.
He continued to stare at her. Everything about her is perfect, he thought. He held back a sigh, knowing how much wanted to kiss her and expose their secret to the world. But he couldn't.
Ron would be outraged. Betrayed. Though the break-up had been mutual, not to mention long ago, Harry privately thought that he, Ron, still had feelings for her. How would he react when he found out that his two best friends had gone behind his back and betrayed him?
It wasn't just Ron, either. Dean Thomas had recently hinted that he was interested in her, too. Would he feel betrayed at their actions, too?
More than anything, Harry wanted to speak to her privately, but he knew better. He'd have to wait.
In the meantime, he opened a bottle of butterbeer and sat back to enjoy the party.
*
It wasn't until a first year dropped off asleep and narrowly missed the fire that the others noticed the late hour. With a final cheer for the team, the rest of the students trickled off to bed.
Hermione lagged behind, pretending to clean up the mess. Harry caught her attention, signaling he'd be back as soon as the others fell asleep.
She waited for him for quite some time. It was almost two-thirty, she realized, it had been a long day, and they had been up late from the night before.
Hermione collapsed into a comfortable armchair by the fire and curled up. Just as started to drift off, someone gently ran a finger across her forehead.
For a split second, she thought she'd dreamt it. Then she sat up with a start.
"Harry," she mumbled, a grin spreading across her face at the sight of him.
"It's really late, I know. It took a while for Neville to stop talking," he said quietly. He kneeled by her chair, the light from the fire behind him illuminating his frame.
"I'm really tired," she said apologetically.
He nodded. "So am I. Guess we should call it a night?"
"There's something I need to tell you first. Lavender found out about us. She knows."
Harry was quiet for a moment. Then, "How?"
"She said she always thought it, but after the game we 'gave ourselves away.' I tried to deny it, Harry, but she didn't believe me. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," he said reassuringly. "Someone was bound to find out sooner or later."
Hermione smiled; he smiled back. For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her, but she decided to take the plunge and kiss him first.
It was a small kiss, but very tender. She pulled back and whispered "Good-night, Harry."
Yay chapter five!! See, I attempted humour in the first little bit. I really hope you all like it, and please R&R. It would be much appreciated. Ch 6 is coming soon!!
