Ch. 3: Waking Up

He hadn't been sure what had woken him up, but he was now feeling a lot of pain in he scar and the back of his head. Somehow he had fallen asleep in the hardwood chair at his desk and in waking he had fallen backward onto the unpadded floor; why had he fallen asleep in his chair anyway, he thought through the stinging pain?

He gently rubbed the back of his throbbing head, wincing at the new shocking pain that had arisen. Then he felt another set of hands on his head pushing away the hair looking at his skull, he whipped his head around to see her. Her face was contorted in pain and worry but her beautiful cinnamon eyes were looking right into his now and he couldn't look away. Beautiful eyes, that's what they certainly were his stomach started to tingle again but something was different. The mixture of pleasure and pain pushed him over the edge; he quickly searched for the trash can near him and relieved himself of his unsettling stomach. He must have been bloody dreadful to watch right then, he thought.

She reached out and touched his back; her hand was soft on his bare skin. Why wasn't he wearing a shirt? His cheeks were a little pink as he relieved his stomach a bit more, spitting into the trash bin. When he had finally finished she looked at him still with a worried expression, and he knew that he wasn't helping how she must have been feeling. The pain had slowly subsided, but now the embarrassment slipped in, "I'm sorry Hermione. I don't know what came over me, just suddenly felt sick."

She shook her head, and he noticed a tear rolling down her cheek. How had she taken him vomiting after looking into her eyes? Did she think that it was because of her, or because there was too much stress in his life? He knew it was a mixture of both, but how could he ever tell her about the wonderful sensation in his stomach? He gently wiped away her tear with a hand which hadn't gotten anything on it, and he smiled at her.

"Are you going to speak to me?" he hesitated in asking, but when she opened her mouth nothing came out. Another tear trickled down her cheek before he wiped it away as well; he pulled her close to him and shoved the foul smelling bucket away. "It's okay. I'm here for you to talk to me whenever you're ready."

She sobbed into his shoulder again, and they sat for a while with Hermione curled up between Harry's legs and her face buried in his neck. When she had finally stopped he looked at her face and noticed she was asleep again; their talk would have to wait. He stood and picked her up gently, he was unsure at first of his own strength but the workouts had built him. He placed her on the bed, and pulled the covers back over her when he finally noticed that she was wearing his oversized shirt and a pair of shorts; he grinned thinking how cute she looked but quickly pushed it out of his head as he headed for the shower. A nice cold shower he thought, maybe he would wake up from this dream.

He had gotten out of the shower and wrapped himself in a towel, expecting to go back into his room and realize that Hermione was not there and that he was just imagining the whole situation. There was that annoying feeling in his stomach again, he thought as he pushed open the door to his room which held the witch still lying on his bed. She had rolled over and was now staring at him with wide eyes, and her eyes traveled up and down the nearly naked boy before her and she was smiling. He hadn't seen her smile but once since Ms. Figg's house, and did it make his heart jump. Jump? Had he just described his heart jumping at the sight of his best friend? Was she checking him out? What could possibly be going on in her mind, he thought. Hmm, this would be difficult as he looked around for clothes; her eyes follow his every move.

"I'm going to go change in, umm… the bathroom. I'll be back in a second, and then you can shower if you like. I usually go running in the morning, helps me keep my mind off…" Harry trailed off as he looked away, when he looked back she nodded slowly. He walked off cursing himself for making already thinking about Sirius when he knew that she was dealing with something much worse. He cringed as he finished getting dressed, how was he going to handle all this?

When he had returned to the room she was prepared to take a shower, a few things in her hand as he lead her to the bathroom that he used. He had shared it with Dudly the summer before, but his dear cousin was away for the week. He found a towel for her to use and handed it to her but didn't leave yet. She set the towel on the stool and turned the water on and adjusted it; she was about to pull off the shirt when she turned around and looked at Harry.

"Oh, right." He said blushing. He hit his head with his hand as he quickly walked out of the bathroom. He had begun he routines of push-ups and sit-ups; thinking Hermione probably wouldn't want to do them but she might go for a jog. As he was finishing a set the door had opened and he looked around to face Hermione, and it was his turn to gawk as she blushed. She was wearing a pair of very short shorts, and a tight fitting top. "You're looking good," he tried to say nonchalantly, he hadn't even noticed his eyebrows arch as she looked away. Her mouth opened again but no words came out, so she just sat on the edge of the bed and waited for him to finish his set.

They had started running from out the door, his pace was much slower than it usually was but Hermione was still struggling to keep up. When they had arrived at the jungle set she was nearly out of breath and Harry couldn't stop looking at her; finally after she had sat down he began a set of pull ups. This must be boring for her to watch, he thought as he finished his fourth set; she had been intently watching him since he started, watching his muscles flex as he pulled himself up to the bar and then slowly descend.

"You want to go change?" he asked her when they arrived back at the house, she was out of breath yet again but she slowly nodded her head. "Alright, I'll go make us some breakfast and then we can figure out what we're going to do today." Harry said, and his hands had found her shoulders, which were softly massaging them; she simply nodded again and bit her lip as she slowly pulled away from his grasp. His eyes followed her to the stairs and she turned around to give him one look before heading up the steps.

What was going on between us, Harry thought as he pulled open the fridge and removed several ingredients for breakfast. He had finished the eggs and bacon before she returned in a looser, sleeveless shirt and a much longer skirt. What could they do today? He usually just sat around and felt pity for himself, but he didn't want her to feel that way. After all, it wasn't her fault… what had happened. They ate in silence; every once in a while one would steal a glance or two at the other. They quickly retreated to Harry's room when Vernon came into the room, looking upset about something. He had grunted at them, barely acknowledging their existence; Harry was used to this but he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as they walked up the steps to his room.

He smiled at her again, she may not be talking but damn did it feel good to have her here with him. He chanced another glance at her, she was looking at the ground when he asked, "What do you want to do today?" she didn't respond for a second, but then she opened her mouth again.

She shook her head as if trying to throw something off and looked up into his bright emerald eyes, "I want to…"