Hermione looked at the spread in front of her, she hadn't eaten since leaving home that morning and felt as though her stomach was going to eat itself. She loaded her plate: Shepard's pie, carrots, and beans, some of that beautiful white sauce that was almost hiding the cauliflower. With her plate now full, she reached for the jug of butter beer at the same time that Harry had the same idea. Their hands touched and Hermione felt as if electricity had just passed through her, to the deepest part of her stomach. She blushed and looked down.
"You go first." She mumbled.
Harry felt more alive than he had all holiday. Creeping out of Ron's room, he put on his invisibility cloak and crept down the stairs. He had to clear his head. He snuck out of the front door and walked slowly through the garden, kicking at the gnomes that tried to attach themselves to his legs. What was he feeling? He was now walking subconsciously, all his thoughts on himself.
For once, he couldn't work it out. What was it? It didn't seem to be Sirius or Voldemort, those things seemed so small now in comparison to this, this feeling he had discovered that evening. The things that had been so huge only that afternoon were now mediocre. He thought back to the electricity he had felt at dinner when he was reaching for the...
He gasped, "Hermione!" he thought aloud.
"Harry, is that you?"
Harry looked around and came face to face with Hermione. She had heard! He whipped off the cloak.
"I was, I was, I was just taking a walk." He lied.
"What, at this time of night?"
"You are too." He retaliated.
"Yeah, but I wasn't calling out your name, was I?"
"That was just because I saw you." He yawned unconvincingly. "Right, well I think I'm going to go to bed now."
He raced back inside; his heart seemed to be beating a million times a minute.
Hermione looked after him and sighed. He had seen her, although she knew it was a long shot, she had hoped he might have felt it at dinner as well. There was no denying it, she had fallen for Harry!
She stifled a yawn (a real yawn!) and made her way inside to the warm, comfy bed Mrs. Weasley had conjured up for her in Ginny's room.