Saturday Night At Hermione's

By Dorothy Pepperpot.

Hello all, I'm Dorothy and I'll be your host this evening. I'm new to this fan fiction lark so be kind. Thank you to my wonderful beta BB - I don't know what I'd do without you and I certainly wouldn't go to "any special places!". Just so you know, this story has been in existance for a few years, but with a popular television detective duo as the main characters. I've since adapted it. Please Read and Review. Any comments? - The portion of this story in italics is from HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE by JK Rowling. I don't own the characters, I'm just borrowing them.

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Harry Potter sat in his flat in Muggle London. Music was playing on the radio. What song it was, he couldn't have told you. He had long since let it fade into the background. He was thinking. He was doing quite a bit of that these days - thinking. About what life would have been like if he had never discovered that he was a wizard. If he had gone through life without that knowledge, he would have gone through life without knowing his two best friends; Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger.

Hermione. That name lingered in his thoughts. What would have happened if they had met under different circumstances - would they be friends like they were today or would this friendship have given way to love that would have been consummated years ago? Fate had chosen this way for their lives to go and at the moment there was nothing either of them could do about it. Harry slowly got up from the sofa and switched the radio off. It was night and his flat was only lit from the streetlights outside. His eyes closed.

"Has anybody seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.

"Oh, are you doing? Let's see it then."

She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.

"Er - all right."

He cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed grey and fast asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of Witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learnt all out set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

She said all this very fast.

Harry looked at Ron and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learnt all the set books off by heart either.

"I'm Ron Weasly," Ron muttered.

"Harry Potter" said Harry.

" Are you really?" said Hermione.

His eyes opened at the memory of the trio's first meeting. She had read all about him and already knew that he had forced a weakened Lord Voldermort into hiding when he was only a baby.

Hermione also lived in a flat in Muggle London, as did Ron. Whereas Ron was away with his Quidditch team, Hermione had gone on holiday with her parents. Harry was safe in the knowledge that no Dark Lords or their Death Eaters could get to her; the trio had seen to that a good few years ago. After the celebrations and media frenzy surrounding the three friends had died down, they lived relatively normal lives. They had even had a party last New Year, Harry had kissed Hermione at the stroke of midnight - neither of them had spoken about it, preferring to put it down to the fact that it was New Year and well, isn't that what's supposed to happen between friends at that time?

Something had changed in Harry a long time ago and he didn't see himself and Hermione as friends anymore. Something much more than friends. It seemed that their relationship existed on a plain high above everything else, but it hadn't quite reached the top. To have a relationship this intimate without actually being intimate was quite a feat considering that Harry Potter was no good at relationships.

He wasn't quite sure when it was when he had fallen in love with Hermione Granger. He supposed it was a natural progression after that first meeting, all those years ago on the Hogwarts Express. The love that he felt for her was unlike anything he had experienced before. A force so strong that he felt he had to see or touch her soon before his world imploded and he was left alone with only the darkness to comfort him.

He would give anything for this woman but there was one problem that had been nagging at the back of his mind. What if the love was totally unrequited and she laughed in his face when he told her? He didn't think he could handle that sort of rejection and he would rather gall on Gryffindor's sword that live without the woman he loved so completely.

He looked at the clock above the fireplace. 9.55pm. It was Thursday. Hermione was back in two days. He sat thinking about if he should tell her how he felt and if he did, how would he do it? What would he say? He considered writing her a letter. No, he told himself, there is only one way to do this. He sat in his flat and willed the sleep to claim him. He would tell Hermione on Saturday night.

Friday was achingly depressing. Mountains or paperwork needed to be seen to at the Ministry and he had to have something to keep himself occupied until Saturday, so he spent the entirety of that day and the majority of Saturday ploughing through report after tedious report. He was half way through report number god-knows-what when Hermione flooed him.

" Harry, it's a Saturday evening. What are you doing at the office?"

He tried to stay calm but he all of a sudden felt like he was trying to get a date to the Yule Ball again.

"Hey 'Mione. Just catching up on paperwork. Good holiday?"

The conversation turned to idle chitchat about the holiday and work until Harry decided it was time to act.

" Hermione, how long have you been home?"

"About half hour. Why?"

" I'm gonna come 'round and you can tell me more about that holiday of yours. Shall I bring food?"

"Okay, but I'm not unpacked yet. Give me an hour?"

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An hour later, Harry was pacing around outside Hermione's flat with a bottle of wine in hand. He'd been eager and apparated far too early. He had been rehearsing what he was going to say but still couldn't get it right. He's ordered Chinese from a muggle take-away that would deliver straight to Hermione's flat; that was going to give him sometime to ready himself and at least try and seem comfortable in her presence despite what was going on in his mind.

He arrived at her door and knocked. Hermione answered and he thought he was going to faint. She wore well worn jeans and a t-shirt that clung to her, not in a sensual way but in a relaxed and comfortable way that made Harry Potter's heart skip a beat. He was more in love with her now than ever and just seeing her made Harry happy.

"Where's the food?"

"Oh, it's on its way. I ordered from the place 'round the corner. You don't mind do you?"

"No."

The conversation That followed was mostly about Hermione's holiday, where Ron was, and what Harry had been doing at work, but mostly Harry just let Hermione talk and he was content just to listen. The food arrived and was eaten. The laughed and joked around and enjoyed each other's company. The TV was on in the background and soon the conversation waned and both sat on the sofa and watched, content just to be there together. Sometime later, Harry decided it was time to get his thoughts out into the open. He turned to Hermione. It was now he had to speak or he forever held his peace.

"Hermione, look at me. What do you see?"

"I see you Harry."

"No deeper than that, beyond Harry, what do you see?"

"I see my friend. My true friend who I trust with my life. I can confide in you Harry, tell you things that I can't tell anyone else. I feel safe when I'm with you. You are my best friend. Where is this leading?"

"You'll see. Now I'll tell you what I see when I look at you. I see my soul mate, the one person who I can't live without. The one woman who makes me complete. I can't even begin to imagine what life would be like if you hadn't been helping Neville look for his toad, or it you hadn't been in the way of that troll. You saved me from falling apart Hermione and I found myself falling for you. 'Mione, I love you, I don't know when it happened but it did and I'm not sorry. There, I said it."

A great wave of relief washed over Harry. However, Hermione Granger sat on her sofa in stunned silence. She had no idea what to do now, no idea what to say. Her best friend had just confessed his undying love for her. What was she going to do? She had feelings for him too but had been too chicken to do anything about it. She hadn't even admitted it to herself. She wasn't ready for this and now the subject was being forced on her.

Harry got up to leave. He put his jacket on and went back over to Hermione. He took her face in his hands and kissed her roughly. She found herself responding but Harry pulled away and walked out the door without saying another word. Hermione stayed sat on her sofa for a long time, still able to feeling Harry's lips on hers.

Harry went back to his own flat, and that was where he stayed. He stayed there so she could find him with the answer he knew as coming. He knew what she would say. He smiled to himself. A while later, he heard a faint 'pop' and a knock on his door. He opened it. Hermione Granger was standing on the other side.