5

"Stupid. Stupid! STUPID!" He lay there on his bed face down in the pillow with the scarlet hangings pulled around him still in wet clothing, thinking about what happened earlier that day. Harry rolled over, face deep red and blotchy. "God," was all he could manage to say before sleep consumed the boy.

-----Earlier-----

He made a flying tackle and brought her down. She was laughing and out of breath.

"Harry what are you ..."

He leaned his head down and lightly kissed her on the lips. This warm sensation filled him starting from the pit of his stomach and spreading in every direction. It seemed for that moment everything, all the homework, school, Malfoy, Voldimort didn't matter, he had Hermione... or did he?

The brunette's eyes shot open full of horror and stood up so quickly he wobbled as if he were dizzy. He shook his head and blinked a few times as if hoping what had just happened had all been a dream of some kind. When nothing had changed he began to breath faster.

"I-I-I-I... gah... I a-am so-so sorry. I have no idea why I-I k-ki... did that. Are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

With that his eyes began to water so he took off toward the castle so she wouldn't see him like this/ so unsure, confused and scared. He cared for Hermione so much it hurt him to just not be with her, to not be near her and he couldn't take it if she were to just reject him and dismiss all his feelings. He would rather die. There was no solution he could come up with that would fix the mess he just made, so he just kept running until he hit something. Harry found himself on the ground and stood up to see that he had made it back to the portrait of the fat lady.

"Password?"

"Red Cap." He said his voice now low, barely audible.

The painting swung open once again to reveal the Gryffindor Common Room. So he ran through the Common Room, up the boy's staircase and into his dormitory, finally letting the tears he had been fighting back fall.

-----

She just sat there in the snow sopping wet, cold and confused. /What just happened? What I think just happened could not be real. Could it? No. No... Yes, it did. /

"But why?" Hermione said now3 thinking aloud. "Could he have found out how I felt? Was he just toying with my emotions?"

Now she knew Harry would never do anything so mean but she could not think of any other reason for what just happened. She felt too much at once and found the sudden surge of emotions tiring. She fell back onto the soft wet ground and let it all out. After what seemed like hours she gasped, a thought had just entered her mind that until now she thought would be foolish to believe.

"Harry."

She got up and ran as fast as she could toward the castle.