Disclaimer: I don't own them.

Thinking through everything, he reached a decision.

Chapter 12: The Day of Confessions
And A Finding

Troubled by the recent terrible changes in her common roommate, Hermione wanted to relieve herself of stress. The only way to do that, was to get someone to hear her out. After a few milliseconds of fussy choosing, the best candidate on her mind was...

Hermione was speeding down the corridors of the Gryffindor's Tower when she caught a glimpse of red hair turning round a corner which led to a stairway. She wasted no time and sprinted in the red head's direction, for fear of losing a companion to hear her out... Wow, she was desperate!

"Ron! Ron Weasely! Wait up!" She coughed out in between her pantings. Hmm... Exercising was down onto her To Do list.

"Hermione?!" He gasped in mild surprise, anxiety mingled with his tone, "I'm in a sort of hurry... but what can I do for you?" Ron grinned politely.

"Oo... kay." She struggled to get her 'kay' out. "I need to see Harry, where..."

"Here." Harry's voice rang from the stairway. "What can I do for the pretty Head Girl?" He asked gently and teasingly, not wanting to make Hermione feel uncomfortable.

At this point of time, Ron had miraculously vanished (not literally) without a trace. The strange thing was that the pair of Aurors-to-be were not aware of it. 'Great!'... That was from Ron.

Harry took Hermione by her arm and led her to a more secluded place when a first-year Hufflepuff passed by, looking as lost as Neville looked most of the time. He went over to a dusty and creaky step of the staircase which led to... He'll check it up later with the Marauder's Map later. Feeling comfortable with the seat, Harry faced Hermione as he patted the space next to him. This action caused dust to rise from that step and pollute the surrounding air before drifting off to another place to again, pollute air. Whatever. This action was actually to beckon Hermione over.

"So... What's it?" He asked as Hermione approached the seat.

"Nothing... It's no big deal..." She turned away to avoid eye contact for she knew the piercing green eyes of his could see through her lie. She did not really know why, but she just gobbled all that was meant to be shared into her rather empty stomach when her eyes met Harry's. If only it could be used to fill stomachs like food, she wondered when was the last time she fed herself something... Well, she just had to treat it as a diet. Though anyone who had seen her present state would think that a diet was very unnecessary.

"Come on..." Harry gave her a friendly back rub as he cooed soothingly. His emerald green eyes were flashing with concern behind his (cute) glasses. "You wouldn't want to get sick with all those worries bottled up... Or do you not feel right to talk to me about it?"

Hermione thought, 'Why did I want to talk to a guy about another guy?' She found it wierd to talk to Harry about things like that. However, she blurted everything out... "Malfoy had changed! Well, I think so, and the worst thing is that he was changing for the good! ..."

"Don't let Ron hear that! It'd be too shocking for him." Harry interrupted as he felt like it.

Hermione did not mind his last statement and continued, "But later as I think more about it, I... I..." She couldn't find the right word to say. "I'm not even sure if he really did change! It's just that I thought maybe that was what he was like all the time, only that I get to know him better... Give me your opinions."

Then, Hermione just kept ranting on Draco Malfoy until the evening, when dinner was about to be served in the Great Hall. She did not even realise the wierd expression Harry wore throughout her story. It was a mixture of jealousy and agony.

Harry headed down for the Hall while Hermione said she wanted to refresh herself a bit before strolling back to her Common Room.

A talk with Harry was a pretty nice experience, though that was not the first time she had confided most of her stuffs into him (they had a looooonnnnggg chat once during their sixth year when she treated Harry to a dinner, it was like a date, um, sort of).

He advised Hermione, "Draco Malfoy being good just sound ridiculous to me... I'm not prejudiced or something, or maybe I am... Anyways, he had a bad Death Eater as a father. No matter what, be cautious when you're with him... He could be... up to something" but he ended all his comments with, "... he could really be nice, but you just be careful. Too bad you get to live with him alone in that room with no protections from us". Hmm... It sounded as sour as an unripe lime (I'm not sure if it does taste very very very very sour).

Hermione entered the Great Hall for dinner after a quick, relaxing shower. Feeling refreshed and energized, she put on a big, bright smile on her face as she proceeded to her House table. Everything was right! Neville was keeping an eye out for Snape while having his steak; Ginny was into one of her beauty magazines while feeding herself a spoon of diet sauce; Ron was wolfing down his tarts like there's no tomorrow; Dumbledore was smiling down at his students...

"Hermione, it took you so long to reach here." Harry 'reprimanded'.

"Hi Harry. Sorry, I went to bathe, you see..."

"Hahah... I know, there's a strong smell of lavender. Eat something?"

"Yea, what 'bout you?"

"I'm done with the food. I bet the elves were slacking down there, the food was not up to their usual..." Harry was shot a reproachful look, so he decided to end his remark in an unheardable mutter.

Harry stared at Hermione as she sipped her goblet of pumpkin juice.

"How long does it take for an average teen like you to finish up her plate of salad, a mini Cauldron Cake, a half-size pudding and two goblets of pumpkin juice?" Harry inquired quizzically.

Hermione really did the calculation, but it was done casually for she did not set her full attention on it. Plus, her calculationing skills were so good that she rarely miscalculate anything. Then, she replied, sounding bored, "If eaten in a rush, the meal would be completed in less than fifteen minutes and fifty three point one second. If the speed of eating was moderate, it would take twenty-two minutes. If eaten at snail's pace, it would take exactly thirty minutes!"

"Great," drawled Harry, he continued with a yawn and a look at the watch, "one more minute."

"Hermione, still not done? My, look around you." Ron mocked incredulously. It was true that the hall now consist of less than ten people, including them... Hey, but she needed to truly be able to appreciate the food prepared full-heartedly by the poor, dutiful elves. Plus, she was happy!

After eternity, she was done with the food and finally focused all her attention on the boys. "What's up, boys?"

'Exactly thirty minutes.' Harry thought.

"Something was up, but not much's at the moment. Nothing more serious than Dumbledore falling down a flight of steps, I guess." Ron said. A distant tumbling sound and a muffled groan filled the place as if on cue.

"Okay. What was up before this, then?" Hermione asked, interested in the topic.

"Malfoy."

"What?" She suddenly remembered she had not seen Malfoy around since he left in the middle of their arguments.

"Never mind, actually." Harry cast off the topic of the prick in his heart. "Hermione, care to join me with a night stroll near the lake?" It was near curfew, but the defination of curfew in the trio's dictionary, was nothing more than a word made up of six pathetic letters.

"Sure!" She gazed into Harry's eyes and lost herself in it...

This allowed time for Ron to slip away, back into his own Common Room. He's not stupid.

There was a misty glow of light surrounding the lake as the water reflected moonlight from the new crescent above. Owls hooted, crickets played their creaky songs and toads croaked to the 'music'. The Whomping Willow could be seen in the distant, looking as harmless as ever. Thoughts ran back to the third year when Hermione and Harry had been working close to ensure the trio's survival as they fought through the deadly branches of the Willow's to a world of truth on Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and more.

Harry and Hermione settled under a raintree-like tree as they peer into the starry night sky. Hermione turned to her right and saw, to her amazement, a Frinskin Bush! Wasn't it suppose to be extinct?

"Harry..." She whispered like she was afraid that the bush would get frightened and escape.

"Hmm...?" He answered lazily with his eyes closed in a relaxed manner. Hermione turned to him and found his peaceful, sleepy, angelic face.

She could not answer him. For the moment, she forgot cleanly about the Frinskin Bush.

Harry opened his eyes and turned to Hermione when he did not hear her answer. "What was it, Hermione?"

Hermione blushed and looked away instantly, still not answering his question. She'd decided to forget about the bush for then...

Harry, on the other hand, tugged the corners of his lips, forming a smile. Despite the size of the crescent, it's light was enough to show the crimson cheeks of Hermione.

"Actually, I had been thinking about this for a long time..." He said, resting a hand behind his head.

During Harry's long pause, Hermione could not help but open her mouth to ask, "What?"

He smiled all-knowingly. "Nothing. Do you have something to tell me?" Note the imitation.

"No." She replied almost immediately after being questioned.

"You can't lie, Hermione. You know that. Especially when it comes to such matters, your looks, tone and actions would all betray you..."

"Like real!" She rolled her eyes and stifled a giggle.

"Hermione, I love you." Harry confessed admidst her giggles. This resulted his words to muffle.

"Sorry?" She grinned.

Since he could say it once, why not twice? "I said, I love you." He paused to observe for any change in Hermione's face. "Remember what I told you earlier today? Well, I suppose you know who that girl I was referring to. The girl who truly touched my heart. I would have confessed then, if not for the distractions."

"Harry... I... I don't know what to say." Hermione believed her feelings towards this boy. She felt that the feelings were mutual, or... what?

"Just tell me your feelings. What are thinking of now?" He sounded hurried as patience began to ebb out of him. Not that he was irritated with Hermione's unenthusiastic response, it was that he had been waiting a month for this day already.

Hermione inhaled deeply, "Harry, I think I... love you too... Though I don't know when I..."

He need not hear more. Hermione was lifted off the ground by him as they spinned together in the cool night's air. This was the life.

Important A/N: For fear of losing DMHG readers, I am not doing a Harry/Hermione fic (at least I think so)!! Please continue to read...

It had been almost a month already and their relationship was going steady. Hermione told Harry that their relationship was to be kept a secret till the day she was comfortble to announce and he agreed. He practically agreed to everything she mentioned... Um... Almost.

"Miss Granger, the Headmaster asked to see the Heads. Please report to his office as soon as possible. I'll be calling on Mister Malfoy now. Do wait patiently if you do not find the Headmaster in the office." Professor McGonagall instructed. Harry heard it as they were together, in the Great Hall, for lunch.

She let out a sigh and shook her head at Harry and Ron. "You heard her. See you in class, guys!" And she left, with a hardly-noticeable wink at Harry.

"Twisted Toffees." The gargoyles sprang aside and admitted Hermione. She stepped onto the spiral staircase leading to Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore was not in when she entered the office, its doors were left opened. The former Headmasters and Mistresses were all sleeping soundly in their picture. Fawke's no where in sight to. Perhaps he was on another assignment.

Hermione wandered around the office, she had not had a chance to do this before, so, she decided to take a look for Harry said it was a fascinating place. The circular office seemed to hold more than what it appeared to, like it had inner depths. Hermioe looked around a cabinet filled neatly with exotic objects ranging from a spiky quill (at least it seemed like a quill) to tiny quivering balls (not a Snitch).

One thing caught Hermione's attention. It was a book! Well, what else but books?

It was entitled... Some funny characters which Hermione did not know, but something made her attracted to it. This pocket-sized book was only the size of her palm (thus pocket-sized) but was as thick as a normal Muggles' dictionary when opened up. It had been placed with a Compress Charm. The first page of the book was filled with characters, and so was the next other pages.

She might not know what it was talking about, but she would be able to understand it later. She had her way. The golden characters on the yellowing parchments shone brightly as her fingers touched them tenderly.

Creak.

The doors she had closed opened and revealed the owner of the office and a smart young boy whom Hermione had not been in contact with, literally, since about a month ago. They had not been talking. She smiled at the Headmaster as she gently drop the book down.

"Good afternoon, Professor." Hermione greeted and join Draco infront of Dumbledore's office table. "Good afternoon, Malfoy."

Draco returned it with a curt nod and Dumbledore boomed a 'hello'.

He stated the day's topic of discussion clearly. It was on the Inter House Gaming Day, which they called the gaming day for short. IHGD was a downright disgusting name!

A/N: I solemnly swear that this chapter has got plots inside! And I apologize for not updating for such a long time! bookwrom-2111 was right. This story (and the author) is starting to lag (ok, it's already lagging). Sorry. But I wasn't slacking or what. My PC crashed and I was 'devastated'. However, I spent time plotting offline so that once the PC's recovered, I can set to work right away. And here I am! Don't get your hopes high now for I have to re-repair the PC again. It stupidly downloaded viruses unknowingly. Ta-ta.

Now now people, REVIEW!!! Or I shall update the story one chapter per month...

Joking.

Smile,
fionger