Something to Look Forward to
AN: Hey everyone, this is my first fanfic and I don't think it is very good, but I will let you be the judge . This is a HarryxHermione fanfic so if you are not a supporter of this pairing than I strongly suggest that you don't read this because even though I don't mind criticism I don't want flames. I know you may think that this is a common theme but I just felt like writing this one-shot. You have all been warned, please try to enjoy
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter that is why I am on a fanfiction site XD
Snow. Harry looked up, watching the snow fall slowly from the skies, like balls of cotton, while walking in the more remote parts of Hogsmeade in a dark green sweater that matched his eyes and dark jeans since muggle clothes are much warmer. The snow symbolized a lot of things to him. It reminded him of both the good and the bad.
When he looked at snow he'd think of the kids who play in it and the times he'd have a snowball fight with the Weasley's before and during break. He was also reminded of the times back when he would stay with the Dursley's, stuck inside his room or doing chores around the house, hearing Dudley and his friends playing outside and wishing he could just be a part of the group not just the target to practice on. It reminded him of Christmas, the time he felt like he had many friends and family and was very grateful for having so many who cared for him.
The snow also was a reminder of bad. When he thought of the cold the winter brought along with snow he'd think of the dementors, and the effect they had on his body. He also thought of it as the battle between good and evil. The snow would cover the grass and trees, trees no longer would have the beautiful leaves attached to their branches and the grass was buried under the snow. It didn't stay this way forever though, spring would arrive which brought sunlight. The sunlight melted the snow away, leaves would once again return to the trees, and beautiful flowers would appear. Voldemort was the snow covering everything up and he, Harry was the sun, that all of the plants and animals would wait for so they could grow once more.
He was not yet ready for such a responsibility. How could they all expect this of him? Why was he the one who had to fulfill this prophecy? How could they expect him to defeat such a powerful wizard if he was still unable to duel for longer than five minutes against Dumbledore after training with him during his sixth year and continuing to train? He know why Dumbledore couldn't defeat Voldemort though, 'He may know more spells than me but he becomes weaker each day, just training with me is pushing his old muscles to the limit and when he speaks it sounds like he hasn't had anything to drink in days.
Dumbledore wasn't the only one Harry was worried about. His friends and the D.A., which he had kept running because of his joy in teaching and everyone's begging, were determined to fight along his side. He tried not to allow it, but Neville said the speech he had given Harry in their fifth year in front of the whole D.A. in the beginning of the sixth year and had no choice but to say they would fight. With this new pressure he never did play Quidditch once he received permission to unless he was with Ron during breaks. He trained them hard, teaching them everything he knew and learned. They were a team, members from three of the four houses for fighting to reach a common goal of a peaceful world without the constant threat of Voldemort.
Ron and Hermione were two of his biggest concerns. Not only did they want to fight, but they wanted to fight at his side in front. He has insisted they stay in back, but later he gave in knowing he couldn't stop them. Ron, his best friend since first year had matured. Sure he cracks a joke once in a while, but has learned when to be serious. Also his chess playing seemed to show he was very good at forming strategies. For this reason not only was he Quidditch Captain, but also helped form plans during Order meetings. He'd also become taller and a little stronger due to being the captain and his hard work training for the Order. He still had his freckles, but the tan he formed from playing out in the sun so much seemed to make them less noticeable.
Then there was Hermione... He wasn't worried about her not being able to handle herself, she was the strongest witch he knew when it came to casting spells. She was also the brightest witch. Number one in the class since first year, many say she is the smartest witch to grace Hogwarts in the last one-hundred years (AN:My fic so if that is technically wrong, oh well, I think she is XD). She had also matured over the years, and proved why she belonged in Gryfindor, rivaling even him in courage she over the years began to relax about breaking rules if for the greater good, and tended to have not a saving people thing that Harry was accused of fifth year. Hermione had a saving Harry thing, unrecognized by Harry naturally.
Of course her physical appearance is something that still left Harry in awe. He laughed at those fools who at a younger age were unkind to her and now looked at her wishing they could take it all back, wanted her not because they realized how good of a person she is but because she was very good looking indeed. Her hair was curly, but never out of control, now sometimes it even would look wavy. It was below shoulder length so she could put it up in a ponytail or wear it down, but not at her lower back which resulted in hours working on it. It looked so soft that he had to constantly resist the urge to reach for it and stroke it. The smell was tantalizing, a smell so wonderful it was difficult to describe but left him with desires you would not be having for your best friend. Her eyes were a mixture of different shades of brown, and varied on her mood. Sometimes a rich chocolate brown and other times the color of honey. He noticed her eyes were only honey colored when looking at him, when he had this thought hope would bubble up inside him. Wishing that it meant something more.
Yes, for you see Harry Potter had feelings for his best friend of seven years Hermione Granger. This was not something he had woken up to suddenly, it was a slow developing feeling that was created after a lot of time spent with her and past girlfriends. He hadn't had many girlfriends and they never lasted long and for one reason: he would compare them to Hermione. Once he would get the courage to ask the girl out he couldn't help but compare her to his best friend and would always realize she wasn't the one. There was always something wrong with them. Once he had spent many nights thinking about this by the lake and talks with himself, at first refusing to accept his own conclusion, he realized he felt something for his friend.
This was a problem, there was nothing wrong with her she was perfect, it was the fear of Voldemort to catch these thoughts or see them together. Many children whose parents are Death Eaters go to Hogwarts and one person is all it takes to put her in danger. 'I will not put her in danger for my own selfish desires!' This was a constant thought and what had kept him from admitting his feelings of liking her as more than a friend to himself. That and the fact that his best friend Ron had liked her until the middle of sixth year, he finally got to know Luna Lovegood and realized she was a very nice person and just had an odd sense of humor and was not very good at being sarcastic. Sure she believed some stuff that most people wouldn't, but everyone has that right. By the end of sixth year they were seeing each other. This was one of the large hurdles he had overcome, but Voldemort was like a fifty foot wall. Would he be able to defeat him, and even if he did would Hermione even return his feelings?
Looking at where he was he realized he was at the bottom of the small mountain with the cave that Sirius hid in forth year sitting on a rock. Checking his watch he realized he had been thinking for an hour all of these thoughts and should return soon. Resting for a couple of more minutes, he sat there with his eyes closed, and was about to get up when he heard a twig snap.
Snapping his eyes open and taking his out his wand he saw Hermione standing about ten feet in front of him with a smile on her face. She had on a red sweater with a gold capital G with jeans. Looking at her perfect smile, her lips...'STOP IT! I can't have these feelings for her or thoughts, not with Voldemort always being able to go in my head when I am not focused'. It was very hard for Harry to focus on locking Voldemort out of his head when having thoughts of her. Looking up at her she seemed to feel she finally caught his attention and he was ready to listen.
"Harry I've been looking for you...are you all right?"
"Sure, I was just thinking about everything."
Now standing a quarter of the distance she was from him before he couldn't help but wonder how she got there without him noticing. 'Probably because you were to busy looking between her lips and chest you pervert! I am not a pervert and I was not looking at her chest! Oh really what do you call that area between her stomach and neck?' Realizing he was once again arguing with himself he stopped to listen to what Hermione was saying.
"...Harry I know this must be really hard for you, but we are here for you...I'm here for you"
Engulfing him in one of her now well known hugs, he made the mistake of breathing in through his nose. Once again smelling her wonderful hair which was down and appeared to look more wavy he closed his eyes, and couldn't help smiling feeling her silky hair touch his cheek. The smell of her and the feel of it drove him crazy and he never wanted to leave that spot. They stayed like this for what felt like hours and then she gently pulled away so that they could look at each other. Harry being a few inches taller she was forced to look up to make eye contact.
"We should get back..."
"Yeah..."
He couldn't take it, this was driving him crazy. With such close contact with her, he was now able to feel her body heat radiating. Her eyes looked as if they were liquid pools, inviting him to jump in and swim forever. Her lips...they were perfect. The smell of her hair was still in his nose, and he couldn't help but wish the smell would never go away.
Looking once again into her eyes, his body took over and he slowly leaned down to meet her lips with his own. It seemed to take forever to reach her lips, as if he was giving her a chance to run or stop him while she had the chance, but she did quite the opposite. Her eyes were closed and met with his lips in a sweet gentle first kiss.
It was the kiss that she had read about in many romance novels, she felt as if she were on air, floating higher up the longer the kiss. Fireworks were going off and she didn't care where she was, if Harry was there with her talking to her, kissing her she would be happy. Meanwhile Harry was experiencing the same thing. Fireworks went off and he no longer cared about anything. He wanted to talk to her more, spend more time with her, get to know her more than anyone has before, and most of all share moments like this.
Both needing air they both broke apart slowly, trying to savor the moment for as long as possible. Finally realizing what he'd done, a million of thoughts ran through his head, but he also had to say something.
"Hermione, I'm sorry I did'n..."
Hermione had wrapped her arms around his neck and had pulled him in for another kiss. Shocked that she at least wanted to be more than a friend he gladly wrapped him arms around her waist pulling her closer. This continued, soon both were battling with their tongues, trying to desperately get closer to each other. She still had her arms wrapped around his neck but was playing and gently tugging or pushing on his hair as the kiss deepened. Harry moved one hand from her waist to her face, cupping the right side of her face and would sometimes use it to go through her wonderful silky hair, savoring it. Hermione had occasionaly moved her hands on his back, most of his body a healthy amount of muscule because of training to fight Voldemort she ran her hands along his muscules. He enjoyed it as much as she did, the feel of her hands on his sweater running along his back, arms, and moving back to his hair he felt like a gentle wind was running along his skin, not her hands.
Pulling away both checked the time and realized that they both had to return to the castle or else they were going to hear it from Filtch. Hermione was red in the face with slightly puffed and her hair seemed a little messy, but if you looked at Harry his lips were slightly puffy and that was the only give away since his hair was still to this day messy. She was smiling at him and so he extended his hand.
"Shall we?"
"Of course" With that she grabbed his hand.
While walking back he knew what he had to do, "Hermione, I realized and have for a while that I like you has more than a friend. I really want to spend more time with you, and so...if you want...if I haven't fought him yet...would you...um...come back here with me the next Hogsmeade weekend?"
By now Harry was beet red. 'I just snogged her and I can't even ask her out! What kind of guy am I? She is just a girl...no she is Hermione' With that he had to smile at the thought her being with him, HIS girlfriend. 'Well I have to ask her first, but I can't yet'.
Looking at him with cheeks tinted pink "I would love to come the next weekend. Harry, where do we go from here? What about Voldemort? I am still coming with you and I am going to be right next to you!"
This seem to knock Harry back into reality: There is a prophecy about him being the only one to defeat Voldemort, Voldemort will hurt or kill anyone close to him until he is defeated, his friends are going to be fighting along side him and it will be by the end of his last year at Hogwarts. With these thoughts he hit wall reality so hard he wish he could turn around and continue to live in his world of fantasy with Hermione. He couldn't be with her until Voldemort was destroyed, they would have to stay hidden and do things such as carry the map and wear the cloak if they wanted to be together romantically. Even worse, she wanted to fight next to him, he knew she would probably help him in the end, but what if she died? Would he be able to live with himself if she did?
Turning to her with a grim expression on his face, "Hermione I want to be with you more than you can even imagine, but with Voldemort keeping a watch on my every move we can't be together. Not until I defeat Voldemort will we be able to do anything that would be considered romantic in front of people, not even people we trust. About Voldemort, we know he will attack by the end of this year. I don't know if I will make it out or not...but now I have something to look forward to...someone to fight for and to look forward to seeing agian". Looking at Hermione tempted to stop and kiss her once more he realized they were almost at the castle and if he did that they would both be in danger, so he simply released her hand that he had been holding onto since the beginning or their trip back to the castle, and looked at her and smiled.
Arriving at the castle, they barely made it through the door before they were met up with Tonks, "Harry! Hermione! Finally, I've been looking everywhere for you, we have to get to headquarters now. Something has come up.". With a look of new determination on both of their faces they followed Tonks to the nearest teacher's office so they could floo to headquarters. What they were about to hear was going to make Hermione forget about N.E.W.T.S...
Sorry everyone if it wasn't that good, but before I receive any flames I did this all from 10-1:48 and I really did try. If I made any typos (I probably made a ton) I don't have someone to check it, but I tried to fix as many as I could. The problem with me doing it is sometimes I will end up changing the whole story and although this isn't all fluff or angst I just wanted to describe what Harry is thinking. Any critisism that isconstructive I will gladly accept, I love to hear everyone's opinions and advice.I hope you all understood my descriptions . I really liked writing this story and for those who like it gasp thank you.