Title: Harry Potter and the Year of Realizations

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts wasn't the best. Will his sixth be any better? He thinks it might be, but what's going on with Hermione, and what about these confusing feelings he has? A story with angst, drama, mystery, and of course, romance.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling. (Although sometimes I wish I owned Harry, j/k (strike the 'sometimes'))

Thanks for being patient. I was on vacation for two days. (Yeah, I know, what a long vacation.) Anyway, I hope you can forgive me. This chapter took a lot of planning so please review. I was thinking of ideas my whole trip, so I hope they're good. Anyway, I hope this is okay, yet another twist is yet to come. Read on! Please review.

3 Michelle 3

Chapter Seventeen: The Potion

PREVIOUSLY:

Harry woke with a start. "HERMIONE!!!" He yelled. He looked around wildly. Madam Pomfry wasn't in her office. He glanced over and Hermione was still lying there, unconscious. He checked the clock on the wall, it was 3:30 am. Maybe I can communicate with Hermione; the spell has worn off by now. He concentrated. Hermione? Hermione, can you hear me? He waited for a reply, but none came. He positioned himself down on the floor. Harry?

Harry jumped up off of the floor. HERMIONE! He turned to face her still slowly breathing form. Harry didn't hear a reply. Maybe it was just my imagination. He thought sadly. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. Harry turned around ready to go back to sleep. "Harry?" He stopped. He was sure that was NOT his imagination. He spun around. "HERMIONE!" He yelled as a wave of relief passed over him. "How long have you been conscious?" Harry asked suspiciously. Hermione smiled and laid back down. "Long enough." She said, staring at the ceiling. Harry slipped under the covers of the bed next to Hermione's and they both fell into a dreamless sleep. Yeah, right.

"NO!" Harry screamed as he watched Hermione fall to the floor, not even caring that Voldemort was coming toward him now. Voldemort laughed. "You think you can defeat me?!" He asked venomously. "All your little bitch could do was sit there quivering in fear of me, stupid mudblood." Harry struggled against the spell. "Don't. Call. Her. That." Harry spat. He punched at the spell, letting it drop him to the floor. He landed on his knees and heard a 'crack'. He quivered feeling the immense pain from his knees spreading throughout the rest of his body.

He looked up and saw her body lying on the floor only 5 feet in front of him. He brought out all the strength he could muster and lunged at Voldemort. Voldemort, not expecting this sudden attack, fell backwards. Harry stood up over him. He pointed his wand at him. "avadra..." He heard a soft moan. He turned around. Hermione shifted. Harry ran to her side. "Hermione?" He asked slowly. "FOOL!" Harry whipped around. The last thing he saw was a wand, not unlike his own pointing at his face. "AVADRA KAVADRA" He blacked out muttering 'I'm sorry'.

Harry woke with a start, his scar was burning and he was covered in cold sweat. "HARRY!" Hermione was at his bedside. "You were screaming and kicking and...it was awful." Hermione said, clearly scared. "It's...It's okay." Harry said, unsure of himself. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her. She frowned. She turned and started pacing the 7 feet up and down the aisle. Harry waited for her to say something. "Harry, why can't you tell me?" She asked pleadingly. "I'm your best friend. Or is that Ron?" She asked, her bottom lip trembling. Harry was astonished by this. Did she actually think he'd rather talk to Ron? Did she really believe he wasn't her best friend? Why couldn't he just tell her? These questions raced through his head. Hermione didn't seem to notice, considering that she was still pacing.

"Listen to me, 'Mione. I don't want you to have to worry about these things. It's not that I'd rather tell Ron. I haven't even talked to Ron since..." He trailed off. He honestly didn't remember the last time he'd talked to Ron. He looked up at Hermione, who had stopped pacing and was now staring into his eyes as if trying to find something hidden that he hadn't told her. "I swear." He added. "Harry, I just want to be able to understand what you're going through." She said truthfully.

Harry proceeded to tell her about the dream, minus a few details. She had tears in her eyes the whole time and they were threatening to spill over. When Harry finished he was very still as though he had relived a very painful moment in his life. Harry and Hermione left a note for Madam Pomfry telling her that they were fine and that they were heading back to their dormitories.

They walked to the Head Boy/Head Girl dormitories, which were right next to the Gryffindore tower. (I know it's a little different, but, oh well.) They realized they portrait wasn't open and they didn't know the password. A pretty women walked into the picture and smiled at them. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, nice to meet you. My name is Lady Elizabeth, but you can call me Liza. (Lie-za)."

Hermione smiled at her. "Yes, thanks, you can call me Hermione. Ummm, we don't happen to know the password." Liza smiled at them. "Yes, um, the password is Phoenix." Hermione thanked her and Harry stepped up. "Thanks, and you can call me Harry." Liza smiled and sat down by her fireplace in the background. "Goodnight, Harry." Harry and Hermione stepped inside the room and gasped.

There was a fireplace and a chandelier. There was queen sized beds at wither end of the room, which was HUGE. There were two desks and a journal on each. Hermione's bed had a canopy and Harry's a headboard that had a phoenix carved into the fine cherry wood. The room was painted dark red and the bedspreads were beige. Hermione walked over to the desks and grabbed the journal. It's cover was hard and 'Hermione' was on the cover. The cover was deep red and the letters were golden. Harry's was the same only the letters spelled 'Harry'. Hermione opened her journal and realized the first page was her days schedule. She turned to the next page and it was lined parchment with a golden book at the top that opened when she was writing and closed when she wasn't. She flipped back to the first page and read her schedule.

Monday: September 2nd, 2004

8:00 am DADA Professor Lupin
9:00 am Divination Professor Trelawney
10:00 am Potions Professor Snape
11:00 am Potions Professor Snape
12:00 pm Lunch (great hall)
1:00 pm Meeting Professor Dumbledore
2:00 pm Free (common room)
3:00 pm Transfig. Professor McGonagal
4:00 pm Charms Professor Flitwick

Meeting with professor Dumbledore once a week to discuss current situations.

Harry walked over to her. "What are you doing?" He asked casually. Hermione pointed to his journal. "We've gotten journals." She said. Harry grabbed his off the desk and flipped to the second page. It had a golden snitch on it that was fluttering around the page. He flipped back to the first page which had his schedule for the day. (Same as Hermione's). PROFESSOR LUPIN! Harry thought happily. He thought he'd never see him at Hogwarts again.

Harry remembered that they had to do the spell, they had missed their midnight marker, but he thought it'd still work. "Hermione?" He asked. Hermione walked over to him. "We've got to do the spell." He said plainly. She pulled out her wand and they touched the tips of the wands. "INCANTATUM REVERO!" They yelled in unison as a bright light erupted from their wands. They were both thrown across the room. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Hermione said to Harry as they got up. Both remembering the whole 'soulmate' thing was why they had to do the spell in the first place, they blushed and turned to explore the rest of the room.

They were both really tired when they heard a rapid knock on the door. Harry ran to the door and opened it. Ron burst in. "Harry, I can't find Ginny, all the girls were looking for her. I went to the hospital wing and you weren't there so I ran up here and here you are." Ron leaned over and put his hands on his knees. He was breathing very ragged and hard. Hermione came up to the door behind Harry. "Did you look in the lavatories?" Hermione asked, remembering in first year when she went in there when Ron was making fun of her. Ron shook his head. "No, but Lavender ran down there. She wasn't there either." Ron said frantically. Harry seemed worried where as Hermione had an idea of where she might be. Malfoy! Hermione thought. Harry heard this and they both flew out the door, leaving Ron very confused.

Harry and Hermione ran all the way down to the Slytherian common room and pounded on the door. Malfoy answered it and looked at them with a scowl. "What do you two want?" He asked, seeming a little more anxious than usual. Harry tried to step in but Malfoy blocked him and shut the door, stepping out into the hall. "Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked, accusingly. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, why would I know where Weasley # 6 wou..." He was cut off. "Draco?" They heard from inside the common room by a voice that sounded very mush like Ginny's'. Pretend like you didn't hear anything. Harry heard Hermione think.

Harry had no idea what she was thinking about doing, but went along with it. "What?" Hermione asked by Draco's sudden pale face (or more so). "Uh, nothing." He tried. With Harry and Hermione seemingly clueless, Draco opened the door and walked inside. Before he could shut it Harry grabbed the door and pushed it, knocking Draco over with a 'thud'. Harry blocked Draco from getting up and Hermione ran to the couch where Ginny was waking up.

"Ginny?" Hermione asked slowly. Ginny suddenly sat up straight. "Where am I?" She asked frantically. "You're in the common room." Hermione said, deciding to leave out the fact it was the Slytherian common room. Ginny looked around. "This looks different." She said slowly. She suddenly went rigged and her eyes got wide. "Ginny!?" Hermione asked, a note of panic in her voice. "Oh, my God." Ginny said as she grabbed her robe and ran out of the room, shooting a dirty look at Draco. Hermione got up to run after her when Ginny calmly walked back into the room. She smiled at Hermione and spun around to face Draco. She slapped him, hard. Leaving a very visible hand print on his face. She scowled and ran back out of the room. Hermione at her heels.

"What did you do to her?" Harry asked, clenching his teeth. Draco looked down, "she wasn't supposed to remember" he muttered under his breath. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!?" Harry asked, yelling and throwing him up against the wall. "Nothing!" Draco said, obviously lying through his teeth. Harry punched him in the face. Draco looked at him, struggling against his firm grip, a trickle of blood running down from his nose. Harry pulled back his fist. Draco put his hand over his head. "Okay, Okay, I'll tell you." He said, defeated. "I gave her a love potion." He said softly. "What?" Harry asked, as if really saying 'why'. "I GAVE HER A LOVE POTION!" He yelled again. "I fell in love with her. I knew she wouldn't love me back, what was I supposed to do?" He asked.

"You should have left her alone. She can choose for herself!" Draco smirked. "Oh, yeah, I can see how well she chooses." He said, sarcasm dripping from his lips, looking Harry up and down. Harry punched him again, harder. "If you touch her again, I'll kill you." Harry said, almost wondering if he was really kidding or not. "You don't love her, and you're right she'll never love you." Harry spat, turning around. As Harry was walking he heard Draco mutter something that sounded like 'You would know, wouldn't you, Potter?'. Harry stopped and turned his head sideways. He was about to say something and then decided against it and walked out the door, slamming it hard.

Hermione finally caught up with Ginny at the common room. She had left the portrait open and Hermione walked inside. Ginny was on the couch, crying. Hermione sat down beside her. "Ginny?" Hermione asked slowly. Ginny looked up, tears streaming down her face. "What happened?" Hermione asked. "I...didn't do that...I...don't....I don't...remember..doing.......that." She said stuttering a little. Hermione looked at her worriedly. "What did he do to you?" She asked, pulling stray hairs out of her face. "I don't remember exactly, I can remember some, but I would never..." She trailed off.

Hermione realized what she was talking about. "Oh, Ginny!" Hermione said softly, some pity in her voice. "Why don't you get some sleep and we can talk about this tomorrow, okay?" Ginny nodded and trudged up the stairs to her dorm. Hermione put her hands over her eyes and leaned back on the couch. Harry walked in and saw her sitting there and walked to the couch, sitting down beside her. She sat up a little straighter and leaned in close to him, her head resting on his shoulder.

Back at the Granger's house Mrs. Granger was yelling at Mr. Granger. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE?!?!? I HAD A RIGHT TO KNOW! IS WILL EVEN YOUR NAME?" She yelled, tears pouring down her face. Mr. Granger walked back into the room. "I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you. I broke myself away from the wizarding world when James and Lily died." He said sadly. "What about when Hermione was told she was a witch? You couldn't tell me then?" She asked again. "I don't know." Will said truthfully.

"This isn't working." Said Mrs. Granger sadly. Mr. Granger looked at her confused. "What do you mean?" He asked slowly, not really wanting an answer. "This, you and me... I think I just need some time." She said, looking at the floor. "Time? We're not going out, we're married!" He shouted. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "Maybe we shouldn't be." She replied, looking back down at the floor. Mr. Granger looked at her, his eyes wide and angry. He turned his heel and walked out of the room.

Ron trudged back to the common room, very confused about Harry and Hermiones strange behavior. He decided against better judgment that he would wait until tomorrow to find out where the hell Ginny was and what was going on with Harry and Hermione. He walked in to find Harry sitting next to Hermione on the couch. They looked very.....comfy. They didn't even seem to notice his presence. He stood there for a minute thinking to himself. They're just sitting there, nothing weird about that, they ARE best friends, and if I was there, I'd be sitting there too. Maybe she's just tired and rested her head against him, it's absolutely nothing! He assured himself. All doubt was gone from his mind about a millisecond later when Harry leaned down and kissed Hermione on the lips. Ron turned his heel and slammed the common room door.

Harry and Hermione jumped. They both stood up so fast you'd think the couch was on fire. RON! They thought in unison as they rushed out the door.

This was a hard chapter, that's why it took me so long, also I went on a 2 day vacation. I know this took forever and I'm sorry, but hopefully you all liked it. Sorry for any Draco-lovers out there, it was necessary, but don't worry, things will....change. Anyway, everything will be explained in time. I hope to update around midnight tonight again, maybe 1:00am. (Central) I don't know when it will actually be posted on the website, it takes a few hours I think. R&R!

!!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! POLL ALERT !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!!

Ron, mad or sad or happy, just taken aback?

Thanks for your reviews:

PinkPixieDust16: Thanks, I hope you love this too. Sorry about the 'long' wait.

Linzat04: Thanks, I hope you like this too. Thanks about my dad too. He is having a hard time staying off his feet though, lol. Anyway, please read and review again.

Amber: WOW! Thanks, I know how you feel, I just never thought people would like my story this much! I hope to write some one-shots later on and there should be another chapter by tomorrow. THANKS, I do care about the readers because they are the people who are telling me how I'm doing. Lol, R&R again, thanks about my dad too.

ElZero: (rolls eyes) The slap I used, so thanks...I guess.

Andrea: A writer? I don't know, maybe just in my free time, anyway, thanks for reviewing! I hope you like this chapter too. Sorry about Draco, good things will happen later on.

Ron: Yup, right on. Thanks for reviewing! I hope you like this chappy!

WolfKeeper989: Thanks! I hope you like this chapter too. Please R&R again.

Icypeel: WOW! JK Rowling? WOW! What an honor! Thanks so much, I would make this a 4,000 word per chapter, but 3,000 is hard enough, so how about 3,500? Thanks for reviewing! Everything will be explained in the near future, don't worry! Thanks again!

Shinji-Higurashi: Thanks, it's getting difficult to keep up with everything, but I will stay true to the summary and the story later on. Please read and review again. Thanks!

I hope you all like it, please review, I'll probably get the next chapter up in a day. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! I'll give you a cookie. XOXO

3 Michelle 3