Meet You There
Chapter 10 - Complicated
This morning, I woke up with this feeling
I didn't know how to deal with
And so I just decided to myself
I'd hide it to myself
And never talk about it
And did not go and shout it
When you walked into the room .....
I think I love you
"Oh bloody hell…" was the first thing to come out of Harry's mouth as he woke up. He'd been having a dream about Hermione again…but it wasn't just them kissing or anything like that…they had children, they were a family…and the worse thing was how happy and complete Harry had felt watching two mini-versions of himself and Hermione running around. It had felt perfect.
Harry groaned as he came to the dreadful conclusion. "I love her?!" Harry asked himself, although he knew it was true, he'd probably known for a long time, he'd just always pushed his real feelings down and covered them with his stupid childish crush on Cho.
"I do love her…bloody hell" he closed his eyes and put his hands over his face.
"Why!? Why did this have to happen to me!! Why do I want what I can't get…" he thought to himself.
As he thought of all that had happened since he'd met her, he didn't understand why he'd never noticed.
She'd always been there for him, when ever he was stressed out or upset about something, there she was to make him feel better. Hermione was the best friend he could ever ask for, other than Ron of course…but he didn't want to be just her friend anymore.
He knew he couldn't have her though…that was just too complicated. Ron liked her, he made that more and more obvious every year, and if he, Harry, ever got involved with her like that, it'd be violating the best friend code big time.
He didn't have long to dwell on this however, as he saw the beautiful subject of his thoughts open his door cautiously. Her wavy brown hair was up in a high ponytail, her make up was very natural, and she was wearing a simple, but fitted white sweatshirt with a pair of dark jeans…in Harry eyes, the simplicity of her was gorgeous.
Harry sat up, suddenly slightly nervous in front of her, they hadn't spoken since the closet incident yesterday…and now that he realized he loved her, he was absolutely clueless on how to act.
Apparently she felt the same, "Breakfast is ready if you want it Harry" she said rather awkwardly, avoiding his eyes as she quickly left the room, shutting the door carefully behind her.
But Harry jumped up, pulling on the closet shirt to him he found, and ran down the hall after her, "Hermione, wait up!" he yelled and she stopped, looking up at his tall frame reluctantly.
"I just wanted to apologize for yesterday Mione" he said quietly, leaving a rather surprised look on her face. "I just…erm I don't know what I was thinking…" Well that was a lie… "I guess I was just…caught up in the moment, or something. I honestly have no idea why I would want to kiss my best friend." He said forcing a laugh.
It was killing him to say this when all he really wanted to do was continue from where they'd left off yesterday. As he looked down at her cautiously, he could've sworn there was a look of disappointment and hurt on her face but she quickly forced a smile.
She nodded with her fake smile in place, "Yes, so was I…it didn't really mean anything…" she laughed nervously, but she saw with a bit of a shock that his reaction mirrored hers from before as he tried to smile humouredly.
Was he lying? Had he actually wanted to kiss her for a reason? He shook his head as if answering her silent questions, but he looked at the ground so she couldn't see the emotions in his eyes, knowing they'd give him away.
"You're right …let's just, forget it" Harry forced the words out, though he didn't know why he was doing it. It wasn't possible for him to forget it.
Hermione smiled falsely again, "Sure…so we can act normal again now?" she asked laughing, putting out her hand and Harry laughed along with her.
He took her small hand in his, but instead of shaking it he pulled her into a hug. Hermione grinned into his shoulder, and they both sighed contently at being in each other's arms, savouring the rare moment. After they pulled away Harry's feelings were torn, he was happy that they were acting like friends again, but he couldn't help feeling a lost, empty feeling inside him. Probably because he knew they could never be more than just that.
"You know what Ron; I think we should wake up the girls this morning don't you?"
Ron smirked at his best friend, "That's a good idea you've got there Potter"
Harry laughed, it was finally September the 1st and they would be going back to Hogwarts in a few hours. The past week, after Kate and Seamus had gone home, Hermione and Ginny had been waking the two boys up at all sorts of ungodly hours in the morning.
Today, however, Harry and Ron had appeared to have woken up earlier than the others. "I say we throw water on them" Ron said mischievously.
"Nah…that's too predictable" Harry replied, as he pulled his blue sweatshirt over himself, which went rather well with his blue and white pyjama bottoms.
"We need something more original, let's just do whatever comes to mind when we get in there" he said, looking over at Ron who had his black pyjamas bottoms on with a dark green shirt.
"All right, ready?" Ron asked, grinning evilly.
"I can't wait" Harry responded with a smirk, following Ron out the door, and up a short flight of steps to the girl's room.
"Okay, you take Ginny, I'll take Hermione" Harry whispered, as they opened the door.
"Why do you get Hermione?" Ron asked in a quiet voice, but not bothering to cover up his annoyance.
"Because you know how to wake Ginny up, I have no idea" he said simply, as he walked over to Hermione's bed.
"Okay, so how are you going to do it?" Ron asked quietly as he sauntered over to his sister.
Harry grinned at him; "Do you know who blink 182 is?" he asked trying to keep his voice down, as not to wake them up too early.
Ron gave him an odd look, as if he hadn't heard right "Blinky 92? What?"
Harry almost burst out laughing, but he controlled himself as to not disturb the girls.
"Blink 182 Ron, they're a Muggle group Hermione likes, she brought a few cd's with her, and there's a muggle cd player in here"
Ron was looking more and more confused, "What's a…" he started but Harry shut him up before he could say anything else.
"It's just music Ron, now if I play a blink 182 song really loud, she'll be awake in a second, believe me" he said, finding the right cd, and putting it in the cd player.
"It'll wake up Ginny too most likely" he added, laughing quietly.
Ron chuckled as he watched his best friend, "Well my job's done for me then." He said in reply, sitting down carefully on to Ginny's bed.
"You've got to get on her bed and yell at her too though Ron, they did that to me" Harry said, remembering the awful but funny memory as he couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay" Ron got up, and got ready to jump on the bed, "Ready?"
Harry pressed the play button and the music blared out into the room. "Yeah!" he yelled over it and jumped on Hermione's bed.
In the car I just can't wait
to pick you up on our very first date
is it cool if I hold your hand?
Is it wrong if I think it's lame to dance?
Do you like my stupid hair?
Would you guess that I didn't know what to wear?
I'm just scared of what you think
you make me nervous so I really can't eat
Harry laughed hysterically, as Hermione woke up, looking extremely startled. She looked up to see him laughing so hard that he fell on top of her on his hands and knees still laughing his head off. Though rather confused and still very sleepy, Hermione couldn't help but laugh too at how funny he looked.
Across the room Ginny, who wasn't exactly a morning person, was trying to yell at Ron to get off but he couldn't hear her over the music, as he just kept laughing at her annoyed face.
Let's go
don't wait
this nights almost over
honest, let's make
this night last forever
forever and ever
let's make this last forever
forever and ever
let's make this last forever
"Time to wake up Mione!" Harry managed in between his roars of laughter, and stood up on the bed bringing her up with him. Hermione grinned at him and was now laughing with glee, as he began to sing along to the song.
When you smile, I melt inside
I'm not worthy for a minute of your time
I really wish it was only me and you
I'm jealous of everybody in the room
please don't look at me with those eyes
please don't hint that you're capable of lies
I dread the thought of our very first kiss
a target that I'm probably gonna miss
Ginny was now ignoring Ron, who had collapsed on the bed laughing to himself, seemingly thinking her bad mood was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. She was watching Harry and Hermione, which to her had to be the cutest thing she'd seen all week.
Harry had started singing the second verse to her, and she had joined in too clearly loving the fact that he knew the words. Ginny watched the emotions on Harry's face carefully, and was pleasantly surprised to see the pure happiness shining in his eyes as he danced around with Hermione. He looked happier then she'd seen him look in a long time as he gazed down at her, the grin never leaving his face.
Ginny smiled happily to herself as she saw this; to her it was obvious how he felt about her, and she definitely didn't believe Harry's 'caught up in the moment' excuse that Hermione had told her about earlier.
The song ended, but Harry and Hermione didn't seem to notice as a new one came on, and they continued to dance around on the bed stupidly holding each other's hands so they wouldn't fall off.
Ginny looked at her brother, amazingly he was still rolling around on the bed laughing. Suddenly she felt a horrible nauseous feeling in her stomach…he still liked Hermione.
"Bloody hell…" thought Ginny, "…how's he going to react when he finds out Harry's his competition?"
She didn't have much time to dwell on this however, as the door to their room slammed open, and Mrs. Weasley came storming in looking very angry. Ginny looked over at Harry and Hermione, and saw that they were completely oblivious to the new arrival, still singing loudly and dancing around on the bed.
"WILL YOU TURN THAT BLOODY RACKET OFF!"
That got their attention. The two stopped dancing, whipping around look fearfully at Mrs. Weasley as Harry quickly jumped down off the bed, and pressed the stop button.
He turned to look at Ron's mum sheepishly, "I'm really sorry Mrs. Weasley, did we wake you?" he asked, although he knew it was a stupid question.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK, POTTER?!" she yelled sarcastically, and Harry winced. She'd never yelled at him before, and she'd most certainly never called him 'Potter' either.
"Honestly Mrs. Weasley I'm sorry, I guess I didn't realize other people were still sleeping" he said, backing away from her a bit, until he knocked into Hermione, and she let out a small squeal of pain as he trod on her foot.
Harry whipped around quickly, "Merlin I'm sorry Mione, are you all right?!" he asked concerned, completely ignoring Mrs. Weasley.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"
Harry winced again at the use of his full name and turned to face her. "Sorry" he muttered, and Ginny snickered.
"WHAT IS SO FUNNY VIRGINIA?"
Ginny cringed at the name she despised. "Sorry mum" she said quickly, working hard to keep her face straight.
"I was up late last night, and I got hardly any sleep, why on earth did you have this music blasting at 7 o' clock in the morning?!" Mrs. Weasley asked looking scarily furious.
"Erm…we were just…waking the girls up…" Harry answered, feeling extremely stupid for not thinking about the other people in the house.
"WAKING UP THE GIRLS? And there was no other way of doing that!" she asked, looking incredulously at him.
Harry opened his mouth to answer, but Ron stepped up nervously.
"Mum, it's not just Harry's fault, I helped too..." he said trying to take some of the heat off of Harry.
"I don't care who did it! I'm ashamed with the lot of you!" she answered, looking disapprovingly at them. "Now that you're all up you might as well start packing, and get ready to leave." She finished shooting them one last furious look as she left the room.
They all let out a deep breath, and Harry looked at them guiltily. "Sorry, that was completely my fault" he said immediately, but Ron shook his head.
"It's my fault too Harry" he said sighing.
"No it isn't, I was the one who thought of it" he replied, but Ron wouldn't have it.
"Well I should've stopped you then, I agreed with it!"
Harry was opened his mouth answer back but Ginny stopped them, "Who cares whose fault it is all right? She'll get over it" she said shrugging, making Harry swallowed his words.
"I suppose we should go pack then" Ron said to Harry, and he nodded in agreement.
The moment they left, Ginny closed the door and turned to Hermione grinning devilishly.
"What are you so happy about?" Hermione asked laughing. Although she had to admit, she was in a rather good mood too.
"Harry's in love with you" Ginny said simply, letting her words sink in as she sat down on her own bed smirking.
Hermione looked at the red head as if she'd gone nuts. "You're mad Gin" she said, laughing and turned back to her bed to make it up.
But Ginny wouldn't let it go, "Hermione look at me" she said.
Hermione rolled her eyes, and looked at her friend. "Harry – Loves – You" she said pronouncing each word carefully, making Hermione shake her head with laughter.
"Honestly Ginny, he thinks of me as nothing more than a friend all right? That almost-kiss didn't mean anything I already told you what he said" she responded firmly, although she half looked like she didn't want to believe her own words.
"Hermione come on!" Ginny whined, "He does love you, I swear! I was watching the two of you before, and it was so bloody obvious!"
Hermione was fluffing her pillows, not looking at her friend but Ginny knew she was listening intently.
"If I'm going to be honest it looked like you feel the same way" she added smirking, as her friend turned to face her, arms crossed over her chest.
"Listen up Ginny okay; I'm only going to say it once. Harry is NOT in love with me!! And I…I don't love him either" she said, very unconvincingly, "…we're best friends, and what would Ron think anyway? It just can't happen…" she finished, looking almost miserably at her freshly made bed.
Ginny looked at her sadly, "Ron would just have to get used to it…why can't it happen Hermione, why are you so determined to hide your feelings?" she asked quietly, knowing Hermione was making a big mistake.
"It would just be too complicated Ginny" Hermione responded sighing, "It doesn't matter because I don't like him like that…let's just drop it okay?" She dropped to her knees, pulled out her trunk from under the bed and started to pack wordlessly. Ginny sighed in defeat, and followed suit.
For the first time anyone could remember, the kids were ready to go before the adults.
"HEY YOU LOT! HURRY UP! We're going be late!" Ron yelled down the stairs to the kitchen and turning around to grin at the others, "It feels great to be the one saying that, rather than hearing it" he said happily and everyone laughed, just as Mr. and Mrs Weasley, Lupin, Tonks, and Mundungus came up the stairs looking very solemn.
"All right, let's get going" Mr. Weasley said, picking up Ginny's heavy trunk. "Good god Gin, what've you got in here?!" he said, heaving it out the door.
Ginny simply laughed, "I'm a girl dad…so how are we getting there?" she asked, as she and the rest followed Mr. Weasley. He didn't need to respond, as they all saw two large ministry cars waiting for them outside.
"This is only a small part of what the Ministry's doing to apologize for their…lack of faith in us" Lupin said smirking, but Harry winced at his statement. Every time he heard the word 'ministry' it reminded him forcefully of the incident in June, if they hadn't had that stupid veil down in the Department of Mysteries, Sirius would still be here.
"Don't think about that Harry" he thought, mentally hitting himself. Luckily he was quickly distracted as Mr. Weasley told him to put his trunk into the back of the car.
As they drove up to the entrance of King's Cross, Ginny beamed happily out the window.
"Dean's already here waiting for me! He's so cute!"
Ron rolled his eyes as Harry and Hermione laughed at his antics. Ginny tore out of the car to go meet Dean with Ron running after her yelling, "I'm not carrying that trunk for you Ginny, you better get back here!"
Harry chuckled as he got out of the car, and held out his hand almost reflexively to help Hermione up.
She smiled at him, as she stepped gracefully onto the sidewalk, looking like she was trying not to laugh.
"What?" he asked her curiously, as he took their trunks from the back of the car.
"You're such a gentlemen Harry, it's cute. I just can't see where you got it from, certainly not your Uncle" she answered laughing.
Harry laughed awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"I can answer that for you" came Lupin's voice from behind them, as he got out of the other car.
"James" he said, "Such a charmer to the ladies…but very gentleman like with Lily, especially since he had to work rather hard to win her over" he said, smiling fondly at the boy in front of him, who was now almost the same height as the aging professor.
"You're so much like him, it's baffling Harry" he said, and Harry grinned. He couldn't help but enjoy it when people told him that…even after what he'd seen in the pensieve.
Ron came back to the car looking disgruntled and rather fidgety as Ginny, Dean, Kate and Seamus trailed behind him.
"Look who we found!" Ginny said happily, everyone greeting the two new arrivals before Mr. Weasley butted in.
"All right, let's get a move on" he said, loading the trunks on to a couple of trolleys.
As they all embarked onto the platform, they quickly ran through the barrier in pairs and even after all these years, Harry still marvelled at how not a single muggle ever noticed. In minutes, they were all through, looking around the platform in interest, seeing how so many of the students had changed over the summer.
"Merlin! Who do you think that is Hermione?" Ginny said almost excitedly, pointing to an extremely good looking 16 year old boy, with white blond hair that was spiked up, like many boys seemed to have their hair lately.
Hermione studied him for a moment, and watched him smirk and then laugh at something Goyle had said to him…the evil smirk, and sneering face looking awfully familiar. "I don't believe it, it's Malfoy!" she exclaimed loudly, blushing as a few people turned to look at her oddly.
Harry and Ron whipped around, "What's he done now?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"I don't know but it sure as hell looks good on him" Hermione said eying Malfoy's new look.
"HERMIONE!!" the boys shouted angrily at the same time, and Ginny giggled.
"Well it's true, look at him! He looks like a bloody god!" She said, practically drooling as she watched Malfoy saying something sarcastic to Pansy Parkinson.
"Ginny!" Dean said indignantly and the two girls laughed, while the boys looked disgusted.
"Shame he's such a git" Hermione and Ginny said together, laughing uproariously.
Ginny turned to Harry, "Then again…you're not so bad your self there Harry, and at least you're a decent fellow" she said looking him up and down. Harry looked at her in embarrassment as she gave him a once over.
"In fact…" she patted his stomach and smirked at the rather hard surface beneath his shirt. "…nice abs, great eyes, overall really good looking face, and…" she gestured for him to turn around, and he did so chuckling to hid his embarrassment, feeling rather like a zoo animal and he rolled his eyes at Ron, Dean and Seamus. "…and a very nice ass as well, good job Potter" she finished clapping. Harry's cheeks tinged pink as Hermione smiled at him, and Ron and Seamus roared with laughter. Dean didn't look too happy, but he kept quiet.
"I'm still not a god like Malfoy though eh?" he managed to joke through his embarrassment and everyone laughed along with him.
Ginny looked thoughtfully over at the flaxen haired Slytherin again, "You know what, I think you may actually be hotter than Malfoy" Ginny said appreciatively, and looked over to Hermione.
"What do you think Mione?" she asked smirking, knowing perfectly well what she thought.
Harry looked at Hermione quickly, flashing her a charming grin that his father had been famous for. She blushed sweetly as the others laughed. "I'd have to say Harry's hotter" she answered.
Harry raised his arms in pretense of victory as the group laughed again at his antics.
"I don't think we're the only ones who think that either." Ginny said, looking around the platform. "There seems to be an awful lot of people looking over here"
Sure enough, as Harry looked over his shoulder many girls turned around and started to giggle and blush. They were all talking to each other excitedly, making it clearly obvious who they had been talking about. "They're probably just like the fact that I'm Harry Potter" he said rolling his eyes.
"What's with all the guys though?" Ron asked stupidly, as many boys had been looking over at the group too...and still were.
Dean laughed, while Harry rolled his eyes, and looked at Hermione who was wearing a modest, but flattering jean skirt, with a white halter top and a pair of pink flip flops, her hair in silky neat waves falling down her back.
"Isn't it obvious Ron?" Seamus said, gesturing to the girls who laughed, "We're with some very good looking girls here"
"I'd definitely have to agree with you there" Harry said, glancing at Hermione.
"Right..." Ron said looking at Harry oddly. "What time is it mate?" he asked, but was answered when Mrs. Weasley came up from behind them.
"Time to go!" she said, giving them all quick hugs, "You've got ten minutes to get this lot onto the train!" she said, gesturing to their luggage as she finished her hugs, and pushed them towards the Hogwarts Express..
Harry said bye to the adults one last time, grabbing his trunk and heaving it onto the train, with Seamus and Kate in front of him, and the rest behind. They walked down the corridor, easily finding an empty compartment, but just as they were putting all their things away Hermione gasped.
Harry turned around to find her looking out the window, with her hand over her mouth.
"What's wrong Hermione?" Kate asked.
She turned around to look Harry, "My…dad is here" she said to him quietly, and Harry's eyes widened as he looked out the window too.
Sure enough, Mr. Granger was standing on the platform, looking quite out of place as his eyes wandered around like a lost child.
"Maybe you should go talk to him" Harry suggested gently.
Hermione looked at him stubbornly, "Don't you remember what he said about me? About S…Padfoot…"she said looking slightly angry for a moment.
Harry sighed, "Yes I do remember Hermione, but he's loved you and cared for you all his life, don't you think he probably feels terrible about it?" he asked her.
By the look on her face, she knew he was right. Hermione nodded, "You're right Harry, I'll…I'll go talk to him" she said sighing and reluctantly leaving through the sliding doors.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked as soon as she'd left.
"You're going to have to ask her Ron, sorry" Harry said lightly, "I would tell you but I don't know if she'd want me to" he added as he walked over to the window to watch as Hermione found her dad.
Ron followed and looked rather surprised to see Mr. Granger crying while he was talking to Hermione. When he'd started off she was looking rather coolly at him, but it was easy to see she'd slowly melted as she pulled her father into a hug.
Harry smiled at the sight and was about to sit back down, when a good looking, familiar boy appeared, and started talking to her animatedly. "Who's that?" Harry and Ron said at the same time, as Hermione started to laugh at the 6th year Ravenclaw,
"Terry Boot" Dean said, smirking, at the jealousy in both boys eyes.
"He was in the DA wasn't he?" Harry said, unnecessarily, trying to ignore the feeling in his stomach at seeing Hermione smile at Terry.
"Yeah he was, he helped you curse Malfoy at the end of last year too" Seamus said laughing at the similar look in the two friends eyes.
Harry turned away from the window, as he couldn't take it anymore, both he and Ron grumbling to themselves. Ron looked at his watch and saw with a jolt that it was a minute to 11.
"Merlin's beard, she's going miss the train if she doesn't stop messing around with Boot" he said, clearly just as ticked off as Harry. The whole group laughed, as they both opened the window and Harry yelled out of it, "Hey Boot!! Do you think you could stop flirting for one second to realize what time it is?!" Ron laughed at Harry's comment, enjoying the look on Terry's face.
Terry looked at the two of them oddly, then at his watch and his eyes widened as steam started to billow from the train. He quickly took Hermione's hand and ran towards their compartment, Ron scowling as he opened the door for the pair.
"Of course she's just so helpless that he has to hold her hand so she can get on to the train, bloody git" he muttered sarcastically to Harry, as they both sat down laughing rather cruelly.
Terry closed the doors, and sat down to the left of Hermione who had Harry to her right, Ron next to Harry, with the two couples across from them.
There was a rather awkward silence for a few seconds before Seamus broke it, "So Terry, how was your summer?"
As Terry started to talk, and Hermione laughed good naturedly at his jokes Harry thought miserably to him self that this year might be a lot different then he had hoped it would be. And as he glanced at the look on Ron's face, apparently he wasn't the only one bothered by the situation.
Hope you liked that chapter, and please don't forget to review. The song at the beginning is called 'I think I love you' by David Cassidy and the quote "Why do I want what I can't get" is from a song by my favorite band, which is quite obvious by now, blink 182 called 'Wendy Clear' and of course the blatant use of a blink song in the middle of the story is their song 'First Date' and just so you know I'm not one of those people who only likes there new songs or anything, I just use them because they're the ones that the readers probably know best…haha okay so there's all the disclaimers…review!