"I love him. Cho doesn't. I've been with him through everything; ok so I'm not with him right at the end but close enough! I guess I can see why he likes her, it's obvious, she's really pretty, loves Quidditch like he does and she's popular. I bet they'd have loads to talk about. But if they went out I don't think it'd last...Even though, he'd never look at me I'm just his friend someone there to help him when he needs it. But that doesn't matter I'm just glad that I get to be friends with him ...

... She doesn't know what he's been through! From saving the Philosopher's Stone to Sirius and the tournament she just sees him as some sort of trophy she can parade around with, a link to Cedric, I'm the only one that sees him for who he really is... Just Harry... My Harry..."


The colour visibly drained from Hermione's face.

"Hermione it's not what it looks like," Harry managed to choke out noticing flashes of panic in her eyes.

"How long?" Whispered Hermione.

"How long what?"

"How long have you been SPYING ON ME!" She screamed at him crushing the helpless parchment in her clenched fist like the wind flattening a lone wheat crop.

"H-Hermione," he stammered, "I didn't mean-"

"YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO WHAT? INVADE MY PRIVACY! FIND MY INNER MOST THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS? YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO GET CAUGHT? I BET YOU AND RON HAVE BEEN HAVING A GREAT LAGH AT MY EXPENSE. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOI- "Hermione ceased ranting her tirade abruptly and gasped "you… have to have the original item to cast a charm like that…" Time stood still as realisation dawned in Hermione's eyes the hurt rolling in in dark stormy clouds... "Where are they?" She whispered.

Harry didn't need to aggravate Hermione by playing dumb to her question and glanced at his trunk.

She covered the ground quickly and threw open the lid rummaging frantically inside for her beloved chest. She pulled it out seconds later holding it close to her chest protectively tracing the emblem lovingly with her fingers.

"You know I thought I left it at Hogwarts…I asked you, I asked you if you'd seen it but you denied that you had."

"Hermione I don't know how it got there you have to believe me."

" I HAVE to believe you do I? Really? See you at school Harry," she said before exiting the room and slamming the door behind her.

Frustrated Harry collapsed onto his bed, head in hands gripping his hair in defeat.

Hermione didn't speak or even make eye contact with Harry all the way through the journey to King's Cross and she was the first to go through the barrier and disappear from sight. After the meeting with head boy and girl Hermione had taken the total opposite direction from him while patrolling the carriages.

Head Girl, Harry, who was Head Boy, mused he knew she was the obvious candidate but he couldn't help allowing a small smile to form on his face, the day he remembered Hermione finding out the good news...

Harry heard a scream from upstairs and glanced at Ron in terror. That was Hermione. Both boys darted from the kitchen table racing upstairs, Harry taking the steps two at a time. Please no, not Hermione, please tell me she's safe he repeated in his head, willing himself to believe it. Harry had not turned into Hermione's room before a small body flung herself at him almost winding him. Clinging to him momentarily before pulling back and smiling at him her eyes shining captivating him. Ron barrelled into the back of Harry as he had stopped when Hermione hugged him.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here Hermione?" He demanded, "me and Harry were having kittens downstairs at the sound of your scream, would you like to kindly explain what's going on?"

Harry released a breath he'd been holding without realising, calming himself. Of course Voldemort couldn't get into Grimmuld Place Dumbledore was the secret keeper, everything was fine.

"I got it, I got it, I got it!" exclaimed Hermione bouncing around the room in sheer exhilaration.

"What you waffling on about Hermione," grumbled Ron. Annoyed at having sprinted up three floors for no emergency reason.

"I made Head Girl Ron!" She commented proudly thrusting her badge upon him.

Ron merely rolled his eyes muttering something suspiciously like " another Percy wannabe" but Hermione simply giggled at Ron that made him more annoyed and leave the room.

"So much for a congratulation eh?" She asked a bright smile gracing her face. "Did any of you two happen to be Head Boy?" She asked, "because if it's Malfoy I swear I'll-"

Harry cut in before she could finish her sentence, "yeah... I did actually."

Hermione's eyes widened in excitement, "really? Oh Harry that's brilliant," and once again she flung her arms round Harry her head resting on his shoulder.

This time Harry wrapped his arms around her in response. Relishing in the feeling of her in his arms" you deserve it you know," she whispered pulling him from his thoughts.

"Do I?" He asked reflexively.

From a childhood of resentment and ignorance the praise that came his way always felt unnatural and undeserved, he still wasn't used to it. "Is that why you haven't told anybody?" She asked raising a concerned face to meet his own gaze. "Do you think you don't deserve it?"

Harry shrugged, "I didn't want to make a fuss I guess."

Hermione gave him a sad smile before repeating an action she had only done once before and she kissed him on the cheek, "just think of this... Potter and Granger, we'll be an unstoppable duo right?" She joked before releasing him flushing slightly and dragging him downstairs to tell the others...

Unconsciously Harry reached up to the spot on his cheek Hermione had kissed him on only weeks ago.

But now she didn't even glance at him as she passed keeping her eyes firmly on the carriages in front and it hurt him terribly...


"I feel horrible, I don't know what to do as until now I've never lost anyone close to me. I know he'll need to talk about it, if not it'll eat him up inside and I know Harry, he'll keep it bottled up till it tears him apart. Sirius was the closest person he's ever had to a father and he is his one of his last links to his parents. I'm going to try and get him to open up tonight. But if he doesn't I'll just keep waiting until he is. One thing about Harry is that he's stubborn so you can't push him to do anything he doesn't want to, like me really. I agreed to go to London with him to watch over him, protect him but I failed I wasn't there to help him, Ron or any of the others... He needs me, but he doesn't know it yet not necessarily for love but just to be there...and in future I will try hard to be."

Harry held back the grief as he remembered that Hermione was the only person he ever talked to about how he was feeling about Sirius's death...

"Harry?"

Harry glanced up knowing who would be stood in front of him, he knew as soon as she had stepped in the room. He could always tell when it was her he didn't know how he did, just that he did.

"I don't want your pity Hermione, I don't want to you to tell me how sorry you are like everyone else has done, I'm fine. There you can feel better about yourself now you've seen me... I want to be alone," He replied bitterly.

"Harry I haven't come to pity you, I've come to listen."

"Well I've got nothing to say."

"Harry you need to talk about it."

"No I don't I'm fine I'm handling it my own way."

"You call this handling it?" Hermione gestured to himself, "not eating? Not sleeping? Not living? You're just a shell at the minute Harry."

Harry stayed silent. He just wanted her to leave him so he could wallow in his own destructive self-pity and guilt.

"You need someone to listen to you Harry, you need someone to confide your fears and pain in Harry and I'm here. If I could take all your pain away Harry I would, instantly. Seen as I can't, share it with me instead... You'll feel better."

Harry stayed silent so she kneeled down in front of him gently placing one finger under his chin to lift it up and make her gaze meet his. His eyes were dull; there was no other word for them. She'd always loved his eyes but these weren't the eyes she knew and fell in love with.

"It hurts doesn't it? Right here?" She placed her other hand over his heart. "You don't want to face reality because then you'll know it's real that he's really gone, that Sirius is dead."

Harry choked holding back a sob but his eyes betrayed him shining with tears. She dared utter the words everyone had not, she had dared utter those words to Harry who had for so long been trying to deny their true meaning. Those three words that Harry didn't want to hear. Sirius is dead.

"You feel numb, hurt and... responsible?" Harry looking away from her fascinated with the wardrobe at the other end of the room trying desperately to block out her words. "Listen to me, Sirius's death should not be on your conscience. It was Belletrix LeStrange's fault she hit him with the curse. He did what, as your guardian, he had agreed to do. Protect you. He wanted to protect you, you were, are, his godson and he loved you like a son. He would have wanted nothing more than to make sure you're safe as would a lot of people." Harry looked back at her noticing emotion swimming on the surface of her eyes he didn't recognise. She reached up from his chin to his scar and softly traced it with her finger.

"One day everything will be ok, in the meantime you can always come to me Harry, if you want to talk or just sit with some company, come and find me and I'll come... ...I'll leave you alone now." She made to get up from her kneeling position but Harry stopped her placing a hand on her arm.

"It hurts so much," he whispered, " and what's worse is, I killed him... I did," and with that he slid from the bed to his knees in front of Hermione so they were eye level. "And I almost lost you... And I put everyone else in unnecessary danger b-because I d-didn't listen to y-you." Several tears slipped from his eyes tracing a steady path down Harry's face. "I can't handle all this, I don't know how."

"No one does Harry, each deal with death in their own way."

Harry didn't correct her. He didn't want to reveal the prophecy to her. He placed her hand back on his heart, " and it's tight in here, whenever I think about him. You know he gave me a two-way mirror?" Harry laughed bitterly, "I never used it to talk to him, I forgot about it. If I hadn't been so stupid I could have used that; he'd have answered then... unlike now. When I call for him it just stays black. You know you can describe your feelings' using a colour well that's how I feel now black just another word for nothing isn't it. I just want him to come back Hermione." With that Hermione placed a finger on his lips stopping him from talking and let him cry. He collapsed into her embrace, Hermione holding tightly onto him.

She didn't know how long he cried for, she couldn't remember how long she held him but it was all night. His tears soaking her top, Harry clinging to her in need of comfort, comfort for Sirius's death, comfort for the lack of which he received while growing up. She ran her hand through his hair and whispered soothing words into his ear.

Finally Harry pulled away and glanced over Hermione's face brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Go to bed Harry get some sleep."

"I can't sleep," he muttered.

"Tonight you will," she reassured.

Without undressing Harry collapsed onto his bed and closed his eyes. Hermione sat down next to him and gently stroked his face clearing it of his offending tears. After a while Harry's steady breathing told her he had drifted off and ever so quietly she slipped her shoes off and laid down on the bed next to him one arm covering him protectively. He hadn't dared ask her to stay with him but she knew he wanted to her to. Closing her own eyes she tightened her arm around his body surprised to feel two strong arms pull her closer to him wrapping them around her smaller frame. She glanced up to see his emerald eyes expressing an immense gratitude. She merely gave him a small reassuring smile before she closed her eyes and they both fell into a peaceful slumber.

They had been their closest they had ever been those next few months, physically, emotionally and mentally. Hermione stayed with him through everything, looking back now he realised he would not have coped, not in a million years. He would have fallen deeper and deeper into depression. That's why he couldn't lose her now over some petty argument...ok so it wasn't so petty but he couldn't live without his Hermione.

And there she was again passing him without looking in his direction. Harry leaned casually against the compartment door and she brushed past him her arm catching his chest. The brief amount of warmth emitted from her sent tingles through his body.

Watching her walk down the corridor further and further away just out of grasp stabbed at his heart. All those things she'd done for him, all those months she helped him through after Sirius's death. She always went that extra mile for him. She was loyal, brave, intelligent and ... beautiful.

His heart hammered in his chest.

He was indeed in love with her and a smile slid onto his face. It felt wonderful. He wanted her back; no he needed her back. He needed her forever.

"Hermione."

Hermione turned around instinctively at the sound of someone calling her name until she realised whom it was and carried on with her patrol.

"Hermione please don't walk away from me, Hermione come bac-"

She stopped.

"What do you want Harry?"

"You told me if I ever needed you you'd be here. I need to talk to you," Hermione made no motion to move but merely faced Harry expressionless wearing a mask of indifference.

"I'm sorry I know I shouldn't have done what I did erm...i really am sorry I-

"If this is your idea of an apology it sucks," she stated bluntly making Harry wince at her words.

"I-I-know I'm," he started afresh, "look I know I'm not very good with expressing myself just give me a chance, please."

"This is your chance and you're wasting your time, come back when you actually know what you want to say. When you'll have written it down, memorised it and then you'll come and find me and recite it to me. You'll probably get me to check it before hand just to make sure it's perfect."

She turned once again.

Suddenly Harry had an idea, it would work, it had to work, "wait!" She didn't turn back but stayed still, "you've been my best friend for 6 years and over the holidays I did something really stupid I know that but I want to do anything I can to make everything better between us...i need to tell you something. Over the holidays there was something I realised about myself and the relationship i have ... well with you. There was something I've been overlooking all these years. That before my eyes you has transformed into this amazing, pretty girl who I could never live without. I couldn't stand it if you hated me."

Hermione gasped and slowly turned to face Harry and her heart rate sped into overtime, "what?" She whispered.

Taking this as a good sign he slowly began to walk towards her, "I want to apologise. I'm sorry, I am so sorry, what I did was stupid and juvenile and you don't know how miserable I'm feeling at this minute because you hate me. Hermione I-"

Without realising it he had reached Hermione and was gazing deeply into her eyes. His mind drew a blank at what he was going to say as he lost himself in her dark swirls.

Hermione could understand him better than he could himself and she caved. His attempt at apologising worked. Making this easier for the both of them she gave him a small smile and let herself be enveloped in his embrace. His heart jumped slightly at the contact but nevertheless he wrapped his arms around her squeezing her gently.

"I lied," he whispered.

"What?"

"Hermione I don't think you're pretty, I think you're beautiful. I don't want to be with you forever... I need to be with you." he pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, " and I wouldn't cry if you left... I'd die." Hermione gasped in surprise at his admission and felt several tears slip down her face. He brushed them away gently one at a time. "You're my everything Hermione, you're mine forever I'm never letting you go," Hermione smiled and leaned into Harry's chest her hands resting on his firm muscles, "I love you." All traces of apprehension vanished from her eyes.

Harry grinned at the girl in his arms and captured her lips with his. It was a soft, slow and tender kiss but still pouring himself into it. Hermione wound her arms around Harry's neck while he slipped his hand into her hair pushing her head closer to him as possible.

Pulling back after what seemed like an eternity he traced her face with his fingers memorising every detail. Hermione closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, "I love you too."

A red headed best friend smirked at the scene he was witnessing, sometimes, he mused to himself all you need is a good book to give yourself some idea about the girl you love. Grinning at the couple the image of a certain wooden chest flashed into his mind and of course a willing house elf that worshipped the-boy-who-lived.

THE END

I stole the lastpiece Harry said form an email i recieved from a friend.

Well that's the end, just a little ficlet that i thought of

hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!

Granger-gurl-rox