Chapter Four: Rising Boldness
"What in the bloody hell was I thinking?" Ron paced back and forth fiddling with his hands. "What am I going to wear?" Ron's face was getting sweaty. "What if I don't know how to dance? What "
He stopped dead in his tracks. "W-what am I going to talk about? What was I thinking?" He said once again and sat down in the armchair next to Hermione.
"Relax, Ron, you'll be fine," Harry said completing his two feet essay on the Art of Wand Motions and Power.
"No, I'm not!" Ron said, there was a bit of panic in his voice.
"Oh, Ron, would you give it rest?" Hermione said putting down a large book. "Look, all you have to do is take Amilynn out, get to know her better, and make her laugh."
There was a pause, where Ron was thinking about this.
"Listen, me and Harry have full confidence in you. Right Harry?" she said as she picked up an equally large book as the last, and began scanning the index.
"Of course, just stay away from little decorated tea shops," Harry said.
"Okay, okay," Ron sighed, "but if anything goes wrong, it will be the you two's fault!" And with these words, Ron strode off to the boys' dormitory, which was actually the girls.
"Er, Ron, the boys' dormitory is to the left," Harry said grinning.
"I told you I'm losing it!" Ron said and walked the right way to the boys' dormitory.
As soon as he left, Harry and Hermione broke into laughter. The laughter died away and the pair of them went back to working on their homework.
Most wands consist of... Harry wrote down
Ask her... a voice and Harry's mind said.
He looked up at Hermione who was reading the large book. Harry shook his and tried to concentrate.
The swish and flick motion... he wrote faster.
Come on, just ask her. Like you said, 'What do you have to lose?'...
He looked up at Hermione again; it seemed weird, because he didn't really think of Hermione as more than a friend before.
Harry took a big breath and started. "Er...so...er...so," Harry babbled, saying the same two words.
"Er...so," Hermione said smiling at Harry.
"Er...I was...if," this was harder then he thought it would be, "er...do you...er "
"Harry, are you trying to ask me to the Congratulation Dance?"
Harry looked up and to his relief, she was smiling.
"Er...yes," Harry finally managed to say.
Hermione laughed.
She thinks I'm a loser! He thought to himself.
"Are you just asking me because all the other girls turned you down?" Hermione asked still smiling.
"What, no, no, actually, you were the first girl I asked," Harry said blushing.
"No way," Hermione said.
"Oh, er, that's okay, if you don't want to go," Harry said taken aback. He got up and started for the boy's dormitory. "Er...Good Night "
"Harry, I didn't mean 'no way' as in I don't want to go, I meant 'no way' as in I can't believe you asked me," Hermione said smiling.
"Oh I er, so do you want to go with me?" Harry asked feeling extremely stupid.
Hermione, still smiling, nodded and said, "Sure."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way down to the Great Hall, for lunch. The 6th years talked excitedly about the dance. Every face in the hall had a smile stretched across their face, everyone except Ron.
"Oh, cheer up, Ron!" Hermione said, opening the presents Harry and Ron had given her for her birthday. "Amilynn's like the sweetest girl ever. She'll understand if something goes wrong."
Ron stared at her with his mouth open.
"Oh! Er...not that anything is going to go wrong," she quickly added.
Ron sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay," he said slowly.
Hermione got up and smiled earnestly at Ron. "Trust me. I'm going to go get ready, see you two in a while."
"Get ready?" Harry said. "We still have an hour and a half left."
"Well, it takes longer for a girl," Hermione said gathering her stuff. "See you."
"All you have to, like Hermione said, is just ask her to dance "
"BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW!" Ron interrupted.
"Talk to her in a mature way," Harry continued ignoring Ron's last comment.
He grabbed some hair gel, and passed to Ron. He was helping him get ready for the dance.
Ron was very nervous. He kept shaking like crazy, whenever anyone mentioned the dance, and kept making lame excuses. One time, he even suggested to himself, that he should leave the school grounds on his broomstick, like Fred and George had done in their previous year.
"Make her laugh, but no corny jokes, and oh yeah, if Amilynn want to talk about her old boyfriend, if she had one, don't say that you want to talk about something else."
"Oh god! There's so much to remember," Ron said playing with his hair. "Can you tell me if this looks okay?"
Ron moved away from the mirror and faced Harry. He gave a cheesy smile to him, which looked like a desperate sign of help.
"Er...yeah...er, you look great," Harry said smiling weakly. Ron turned back to the mirror.
"So, Harry, who are you going with?" Ron asked, still playing with his hair.
Harry looked up at him. He wondered what Ron would think, if he told him that he'd asked Hermione.
"Oh...er, I asked...er...Hermione," Harry repeated quickly.
Ron looked at Harry. "Hermione? W-wait our Hermione? Hermione Granger?" Ron asked shocked.
Harry nodded, trying to look causal.
Ron smiled weakly. "Oh, that's...cool." It didn't sound like it was too cool to Ron...
The 6th year students (not including the girls) once again met in the Great Hall an hour later. The guys stood around the Hall negotiating with one another. Ignoring the notice, they were all wearing a simple shirt, and dirty pants, as if they didn't care what they were wearing.
Harry walked through the crowd. He started looking for a glimpse for Ron and Hermione. Ron had gone to the Great Hall twenty minutes before, not wanting Amilynn to wait for him. With his flaming red hair, Ron wasn't hard to find.
"Hey, Ron, have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked looking around
"Nope, have you seen Amilynn?"
"No, they're still getting ready, you know how girls are."
Harry and Ron talked more about the weird things girls do, for another five minutes, until Hermione and Amilynn Tronyer arrived. They both looked very pretty. Amilynn was wearing a pretty blue blouse and a skirt, her hair was tied up in a ponytail. Hermione was also wearing a pretty blouse and a skirt, but her hair was down and loose. But this didn't really matter, because Harry and Ron were boys, they didn't notice this.
"Hey, Amilynn, Hermione," Harry said. He nudged Ron.
"Oh, er, hi," Ron said. Harry rolled his eyes to Professor McGonagall who was writing everyone's name down on her checklist.
"Your attention, please," Professor McGonagall said clapping her hands. The Great Hall fell silent. She had counted up all the students, and they were ready to go. "We will now go to Hogsmeade, be on your best behavior. Okay? Lets go then."
When they got to the Three Broomsticks, it was decorated beautifully with a huge table in the middle. The table held many luscus treats of all kinds, stacks upon stacks of rich chocolates, scrumptious, tender meats, and all the refreshments lined up near the huge punch bowl.
Harry raised his brows; he wasn't aware how hungry he was. He slowly walked away to the group, towards the table, while Professor McGonagall set the rules.
Hermione grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"
"Er..." Harry said, looking back at the food table. "I was hungry!"
Hermione snorted, and rolled her eyes.
Professor McGonagall's lecture was finally over, and the music started. The students stood awkwardly around the dance floor. A few brave souls started dancing, and soon, everyone began.
Harry and Hermione looked at Ron to see how he was doing. Apparently, he had just asked Amilynn Tronyer to dance, and it looked like it was going pretty good.
"So, Hermione," Harry shouted to her; it was really loud. "Er, do you want to dance?"
"Sure," she shouted back.
The two of them danced, until the song was over. Everyone clapped and many returned to their seats; all of them had become tired after dancing for so long.
Harry and Hermione went to the food table to get some refreshments. Harry went down to the end of the table to get some cookies, while Hermione was on the other side getting punch.
"Well, well, well," sneered a voice. Draco Malfoy was standing behind Hermione. "so, Granger, I hear you came with scar face." Pansy Parkinson laughed. "Is it true?"
"What if it is?" Hermione sneered back "Why do you care who I came with?"
"I was only wondering who the unlucky guy is," Malfoy said cooly. Pansy laughed again.
Hermione turned around trying to ignore them; she wasn't going to let them ruin the dance for her...
"Come on, Granger," Pansy Parkinson teased, "we just want to know what kind of bet Potter lost."
Hermione spun around. "The bet was," she started, "that whoever could make Pansy Parkinson look and act like a lady, wouldn't have to take me to the dance! And guess what? They both lost!" She stomped off to a table, leaving Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy flabbergasted.
Harry, who was still stuffing himself with cookies, now went down to the end of the table to get a cup of punch.
"Okay, this is what we do," Harry heard Draco Malfoy say quietly to Pansy Parkinson. Malfoy's voice got so quiet, that Harry couldn't hear one word he said...
Harry made his way to the table, where Hermione was sitting. He sat down. "I think Malfoy is up to something," he told her.
"Oh, he's always up to Harry are you okay?"
Harry held his stomach and his forehead tightly. His stomach seemed to be growling out of control, and his scar burning.
"M-my scar is hurting, and I-I think I ate too many cookies!" Harry got up and walked to the bathroom.
Hermione looked after him, grinning, and at the same time looking dumfounded. She continued to look at the students who were dancing until...
SPLASH!
A familiar laughter came from behind Hermione, for Draco Malfoy had just dropped all the punch on Hermione's head.
The students who were dancing now took a look at Hermione; the whole room started laughing. Hermione looked around the room, she couldn't stand it. With her eyes sparking with tears, she dashed out of the room.
At the same time Hermione had left, Harry came back from the bathroom. The laughter raised, the Slytherins rolling around with enjoyment.
Harry went straight to Ron, who was talking with Amilynn Tronyer. Unlike everyone else, they weren't smiling at all.
"Ron, what happened?" Harry asked quickly.
"I dunno, one minute everything was fine and the next, Hermione just dashed out of the room.
"I bet Malfoy had something to do with this," Harry said.
Harry walked over to where Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle were wallowing in laughter.
"Malfoy," Harry spat.
Draco Malfoy got up, this time, he wasn't laughing. "You got something to say to me Potter?"
"Yeah, I've got something to say," Harry said. Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy were now up too.
"So Potter, what is it? Malfoy asked.
"No one," Harry said cooly. "No one deserves that on their Birthday, not even you. But unfortunately, for you, it's not your Birthday." Harry swung his fist into Malfoy's face, and slowly walked out of the Three Broomsticks.
Harry walked down Hogsmeade, it had gotten very dark. He kept walking until he saw Hermione sitting on a bench, wiping her eyes. He sat down next to her.
"Sorry," he said slowly, not looking at her
Hermione looked up. A lot of her makeup had came off, and it was dried on her face. Her hair had become sticky and wet, still she looked very pretty.
"Oh, Harry, why are you sorry? You didn't do anything." Harry didn't know what to say, why was he so sorry?
Hermione got up. "Well, I guess I'm just going to back now...er..."
"I'll come with you," he said. He didn't feel like going back to dance. After what he did to Malfoy, he wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy had told on him.
"Oh, you don't have to," Hermione said looking at him carefully.
"Er...I'll just come..." he said, still not looking directly at her.
They walked down the path in silence. Harry was so amazed how nervous he was; he was never really nervous around Hermione. She was one of his best friends...
A clap of thunder filled the sky, tiny droplets of water began falling ground, and heavy winds swopped Hogsmeade. Hermione shivered. Harry thought how cold she must be. He took off his jacket and handed it to Hermione, causally.
She looked up at him. "What's this?"
"Er...you must be cold," he said. It was a good thing that it was dark and raining, because Harry was blushing and sweating like crazy.
Hermione took the jacket and put it on. They kept walking.
"Harry," Hermione said quietly, "why did you ask me to the dance? Tell the truth, okay?"
Harry took a moment to consider this. "I dunno. I guess you're just...er...always there for me, and always by my side and er...you've really changed, I mean you're way more flexible about the rules and you're really helpful. I-I like that about you." Hermione snorted and smiled broadly.
The pair of them kept walking until they reached the Gryffindor common room. They both were exhausted from walking in bad weather. The common room was quiet and peaceful. All of the other students had fallen asleep, and Harry was sure that the 6th years would be returning soon.
Harry and Hermione stood awkwardly by the fireplace, each one waiting for the other to say something.
"So "Harry said.
"I " Hermione said at the same exact time. They both fell silent. "So...er...well I'll see you later, I guess."
Harry nodded.
She turned on her heel and walked until she got to the stairs.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to give you your jacket back."she took it off, and handed it to Harry.
Harry stared in amazement, like she had just handed him a knife and asked him to kill Ron. Hermione looked at him bemused for a few seconds and then slowly left for the Girl's Dormitory.
Harry stood, still staring at the jacket. A jolt of boldness exploded inside of him. He ran. He ran up the stairs and to the dormitories.
"Hermione!" he called. "Hermione, wait up!"
Hermione spun around, her brows raised. "Yeah, Harry, what is it?"
"Er..." Harry tried to speak. He rubbed the back of his sweaty neck. "I-I forgot to give you something too." His voice was getting higher as if he was scared.
Hermione looked at Harry in a funny way. Confused and not knowing what Harry was talking about.
Harry slowly and gently reached over and touched Hermione's soft cheek with his hand. Slowly and steadily, he moved closer to her face...
"What in the bloody hell was I thinking?" Ron paced back and forth fiddling with his hands. "What am I going to wear?" Ron's face was getting sweaty. "What if I don't know how to dance? What "
He stopped dead in his tracks. "W-what am I going to talk about? What was I thinking?" He said once again and sat down in the armchair next to Hermione.
"Relax, Ron, you'll be fine," Harry said completing his two feet essay on the Art of Wand Motions and Power.
"No, I'm not!" Ron said, there was a bit of panic in his voice.
"Oh, Ron, would you give it rest?" Hermione said putting down a large book. "Look, all you have to do is take Amilynn out, get to know her better, and make her laugh."
There was a pause, where Ron was thinking about this.
"Listen, me and Harry have full confidence in you. Right Harry?" she said as she picked up an equally large book as the last, and began scanning the index.
"Of course, just stay away from little decorated tea shops," Harry said.
"Okay, okay," Ron sighed, "but if anything goes wrong, it will be the you two's fault!" And with these words, Ron strode off to the boys' dormitory, which was actually the girls.
"Er, Ron, the boys' dormitory is to the left," Harry said grinning.
"I told you I'm losing it!" Ron said and walked the right way to the boys' dormitory.
As soon as he left, Harry and Hermione broke into laughter. The laughter died away and the pair of them went back to working on their homework.
Most wands consist of... Harry wrote down
Ask her... a voice and Harry's mind said.
He looked up at Hermione who was reading the large book. Harry shook his and tried to concentrate.
The swish and flick motion... he wrote faster.
Come on, just ask her. Like you said, 'What do you have to lose?'...
He looked up at Hermione again; it seemed weird, because he didn't really think of Hermione as more than a friend before.
Harry took a big breath and started. "Er...so...er...so," Harry babbled, saying the same two words.
"Er...so," Hermione said smiling at Harry.
"Er...I was...if," this was harder then he thought it would be, "er...do you...er "
"Harry, are you trying to ask me to the Congratulation Dance?"
Harry looked up and to his relief, she was smiling.
"Er...yes," Harry finally managed to say.
Hermione laughed.
She thinks I'm a loser! He thought to himself.
"Are you just asking me because all the other girls turned you down?" Hermione asked still smiling.
"What, no, no, actually, you were the first girl I asked," Harry said blushing.
"No way," Hermione said.
"Oh, er, that's okay, if you don't want to go," Harry said taken aback. He got up and started for the boy's dormitory. "Er...Good Night "
"Harry, I didn't mean 'no way' as in I don't want to go, I meant 'no way' as in I can't believe you asked me," Hermione said smiling.
"Oh I er, so do you want to go with me?" Harry asked feeling extremely stupid.
Hermione, still smiling, nodded and said, "Sure."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way down to the Great Hall, for lunch. The 6th years talked excitedly about the dance. Every face in the hall had a smile stretched across their face, everyone except Ron.
"Oh, cheer up, Ron!" Hermione said, opening the presents Harry and Ron had given her for her birthday. "Amilynn's like the sweetest girl ever. She'll understand if something goes wrong."
Ron stared at her with his mouth open.
"Oh! Er...not that anything is going to go wrong," she quickly added.
Ron sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay," he said slowly.
Hermione got up and smiled earnestly at Ron. "Trust me. I'm going to go get ready, see you two in a while."
"Get ready?" Harry said. "We still have an hour and a half left."
"Well, it takes longer for a girl," Hermione said gathering her stuff. "See you."
"All you have to, like Hermione said, is just ask her to dance "
"BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW!" Ron interrupted.
"Talk to her in a mature way," Harry continued ignoring Ron's last comment.
He grabbed some hair gel, and passed to Ron. He was helping him get ready for the dance.
Ron was very nervous. He kept shaking like crazy, whenever anyone mentioned the dance, and kept making lame excuses. One time, he even suggested to himself, that he should leave the school grounds on his broomstick, like Fred and George had done in their previous year.
"Make her laugh, but no corny jokes, and oh yeah, if Amilynn want to talk about her old boyfriend, if she had one, don't say that you want to talk about something else."
"Oh god! There's so much to remember," Ron said playing with his hair. "Can you tell me if this looks okay?"
Ron moved away from the mirror and faced Harry. He gave a cheesy smile to him, which looked like a desperate sign of help.
"Er...yeah...er, you look great," Harry said smiling weakly. Ron turned back to the mirror.
"So, Harry, who are you going with?" Ron asked, still playing with his hair.
Harry looked up at him. He wondered what Ron would think, if he told him that he'd asked Hermione.
"Oh...er, I asked...er...Hermione," Harry repeated quickly.
Ron looked at Harry. "Hermione? W-wait our Hermione? Hermione Granger?" Ron asked shocked.
Harry nodded, trying to look causal.
Ron smiled weakly. "Oh, that's...cool." It didn't sound like it was too cool to Ron...
The 6th year students (not including the girls) once again met in the Great Hall an hour later. The guys stood around the Hall negotiating with one another. Ignoring the notice, they were all wearing a simple shirt, and dirty pants, as if they didn't care what they were wearing.
Harry walked through the crowd. He started looking for a glimpse for Ron and Hermione. Ron had gone to the Great Hall twenty minutes before, not wanting Amilynn to wait for him. With his flaming red hair, Ron wasn't hard to find.
"Hey, Ron, have you seen Hermione?" Harry asked looking around
"Nope, have you seen Amilynn?"
"No, they're still getting ready, you know how girls are."
Harry and Ron talked more about the weird things girls do, for another five minutes, until Hermione and Amilynn Tronyer arrived. They both looked very pretty. Amilynn was wearing a pretty blue blouse and a skirt, her hair was tied up in a ponytail. Hermione was also wearing a pretty blouse and a skirt, but her hair was down and loose. But this didn't really matter, because Harry and Ron were boys, they didn't notice this.
"Hey, Amilynn, Hermione," Harry said. He nudged Ron.
"Oh, er, hi," Ron said. Harry rolled his eyes to Professor McGonagall who was writing everyone's name down on her checklist.
"Your attention, please," Professor McGonagall said clapping her hands. The Great Hall fell silent. She had counted up all the students, and they were ready to go. "We will now go to Hogsmeade, be on your best behavior. Okay? Lets go then."
When they got to the Three Broomsticks, it was decorated beautifully with a huge table in the middle. The table held many luscus treats of all kinds, stacks upon stacks of rich chocolates, scrumptious, tender meats, and all the refreshments lined up near the huge punch bowl.
Harry raised his brows; he wasn't aware how hungry he was. He slowly walked away to the group, towards the table, while Professor McGonagall set the rules.
Hermione grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"
"Er..." Harry said, looking back at the food table. "I was hungry!"
Hermione snorted, and rolled her eyes.
Professor McGonagall's lecture was finally over, and the music started. The students stood awkwardly around the dance floor. A few brave souls started dancing, and soon, everyone began.
Harry and Hermione looked at Ron to see how he was doing. Apparently, he had just asked Amilynn Tronyer to dance, and it looked like it was going pretty good.
"So, Hermione," Harry shouted to her; it was really loud. "Er, do you want to dance?"
"Sure," she shouted back.
The two of them danced, until the song was over. Everyone clapped and many returned to their seats; all of them had become tired after dancing for so long.
Harry and Hermione went to the food table to get some refreshments. Harry went down to the end of the table to get some cookies, while Hermione was on the other side getting punch.
"Well, well, well," sneered a voice. Draco Malfoy was standing behind Hermione. "so, Granger, I hear you came with scar face." Pansy Parkinson laughed. "Is it true?"
"What if it is?" Hermione sneered back "Why do you care who I came with?"
"I was only wondering who the unlucky guy is," Malfoy said cooly. Pansy laughed again.
Hermione turned around trying to ignore them; she wasn't going to let them ruin the dance for her...
"Come on, Granger," Pansy Parkinson teased, "we just want to know what kind of bet Potter lost."
Hermione spun around. "The bet was," she started, "that whoever could make Pansy Parkinson look and act like a lady, wouldn't have to take me to the dance! And guess what? They both lost!" She stomped off to a table, leaving Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy flabbergasted.
Harry, who was still stuffing himself with cookies, now went down to the end of the table to get a cup of punch.
"Okay, this is what we do," Harry heard Draco Malfoy say quietly to Pansy Parkinson. Malfoy's voice got so quiet, that Harry couldn't hear one word he said...
Harry made his way to the table, where Hermione was sitting. He sat down. "I think Malfoy is up to something," he told her.
"Oh, he's always up to Harry are you okay?"
Harry held his stomach and his forehead tightly. His stomach seemed to be growling out of control, and his scar burning.
"M-my scar is hurting, and I-I think I ate too many cookies!" Harry got up and walked to the bathroom.
Hermione looked after him, grinning, and at the same time looking dumfounded. She continued to look at the students who were dancing until...
SPLASH!
A familiar laughter came from behind Hermione, for Draco Malfoy had just dropped all the punch on Hermione's head.
The students who were dancing now took a look at Hermione; the whole room started laughing. Hermione looked around the room, she couldn't stand it. With her eyes sparking with tears, she dashed out of the room.
At the same time Hermione had left, Harry came back from the bathroom. The laughter raised, the Slytherins rolling around with enjoyment.
Harry went straight to Ron, who was talking with Amilynn Tronyer. Unlike everyone else, they weren't smiling at all.
"Ron, what happened?" Harry asked quickly.
"I dunno, one minute everything was fine and the next, Hermione just dashed out of the room.
"I bet Malfoy had something to do with this," Harry said.
Harry walked over to where Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle were wallowing in laughter.
"Malfoy," Harry spat.
Draco Malfoy got up, this time, he wasn't laughing. "You got something to say to me Potter?"
"Yeah, I've got something to say," Harry said. Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy were now up too.
"So Potter, what is it? Malfoy asked.
"No one," Harry said cooly. "No one deserves that on their Birthday, not even you. But unfortunately, for you, it's not your Birthday." Harry swung his fist into Malfoy's face, and slowly walked out of the Three Broomsticks.
Harry walked down Hogsmeade, it had gotten very dark. He kept walking until he saw Hermione sitting on a bench, wiping her eyes. He sat down next to her.
"Sorry," he said slowly, not looking at her
Hermione looked up. A lot of her makeup had came off, and it was dried on her face. Her hair had become sticky and wet, still she looked very pretty.
"Oh, Harry, why are you sorry? You didn't do anything." Harry didn't know what to say, why was he so sorry?
Hermione got up. "Well, I guess I'm just going to back now...er..."
"I'll come with you," he said. He didn't feel like going back to dance. After what he did to Malfoy, he wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy had told on him.
"Oh, you don't have to," Hermione said looking at him carefully.
"Er...I'll just come..." he said, still not looking directly at her.
They walked down the path in silence. Harry was so amazed how nervous he was; he was never really nervous around Hermione. She was one of his best friends...
A clap of thunder filled the sky, tiny droplets of water began falling ground, and heavy winds swopped Hogsmeade. Hermione shivered. Harry thought how cold she must be. He took off his jacket and handed it to Hermione, causally.
She looked up at him. "What's this?"
"Er...you must be cold," he said. It was a good thing that it was dark and raining, because Harry was blushing and sweating like crazy.
Hermione took the jacket and put it on. They kept walking.
"Harry," Hermione said quietly, "why did you ask me to the dance? Tell the truth, okay?"
Harry took a moment to consider this. "I dunno. I guess you're just...er...always there for me, and always by my side and er...you've really changed, I mean you're way more flexible about the rules and you're really helpful. I-I like that about you." Hermione snorted and smiled broadly.
The pair of them kept walking until they reached the Gryffindor common room. They both were exhausted from walking in bad weather. The common room was quiet and peaceful. All of the other students had fallen asleep, and Harry was sure that the 6th years would be returning soon.
Harry and Hermione stood awkwardly by the fireplace, each one waiting for the other to say something.
"So "Harry said.
"I " Hermione said at the same exact time. They both fell silent. "So...er...well I'll see you later, I guess."
Harry nodded.
She turned on her heel and walked until she got to the stairs.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to give you your jacket back."she took it off, and handed it to Harry.
Harry stared in amazement, like she had just handed him a knife and asked him to kill Ron. Hermione looked at him bemused for a few seconds and then slowly left for the Girl's Dormitory.
Harry stood, still staring at the jacket. A jolt of boldness exploded inside of him. He ran. He ran up the stairs and to the dormitories.
"Hermione!" he called. "Hermione, wait up!"
Hermione spun around, her brows raised. "Yeah, Harry, what is it?"
"Er..." Harry tried to speak. He rubbed the back of his sweaty neck. "I-I forgot to give you something too." His voice was getting higher as if he was scared.
Hermione looked at Harry in a funny way. Confused and not knowing what Harry was talking about.
Harry slowly and gently reached over and touched Hermione's soft cheek with his hand. Slowly and steadily, he moved closer to her face...