They walked into the cottage and began trying to figure out who was going to sleep where. Harry briefly entertained the thought of sharing a room with Hermione, but that quickly flew out of the window.

"Whoa!" shouted Ron from upstairs, his voice probably reaching the end of the village. He came thumping down the stairs and had a happy look on his face. "I won't have to give up my bed after all! There's five bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs now! Wicked, eh?"

"Always the gentleman I see," said Susan with a smirk on her face. "Well I'm quite tired, I think I'll go and put my stuff away." Susan headed up the stairs followed by Luna and Ron. Harry stood in the hallway waiting for Hermione to follow them. He began to feel nervous as she just stood there in the hallway with him, and waited in silence as one by one the doors closed shut upstairs. Harry's heart felt like it was in his mouth as the lights in the hallway went out.

He couldn't see anything, but he felt something soft pressing against him. He took in a shaky breath and lowered his head towards her. His cheek brushed against her hair and he felt her move so that her cheek rested upon his. She moved her arms around his waist and pushed herself against him. He felt his arms automatically slide around her before he could control himself. He felt her warm lips press against his neck and he groaned and held onto her tighter.

"Do you want me Harry?" she asked him huskily. He sighed deeply and felt himself giving in. He couldn't fight her when she was acting this way, he couldn't tell himself he didn't care when he could feel what she did to him. He lifted her head slowly and ran his thumb over her cheeks, leisurely tracing circles. He moved to her mouth and slowly explored her lips with the pads of his thumbs.

"Of course I want you," he replied and lowered his mouth slowly onto hers. It was a slow and gentle kiss, innocent and yet full of promise. They stroked each other's faces and hair, gently exploring this new territory. 'I can't believe I'm doing this with Hermione' Harry thought 'My best friend, how did we get here?' Hermione let out a little giggle as Harry nibbled on her ear, but it stopped quickly as he did it a little harder. He heard her gasp and felt familiar warmth begin to spread through him. She put her mouth on his a little harder and their kiss this time was deep. She was breathing deeply as his hands travelled over her hips and down the sides of her thighs. She gripped onto him harder and pushed her hands thorough his hair. He spun her around so that her back was against the wall and lifted her up a little. She (very daringly for Hermione) put her hands around his bum and pulled him closer to her. They kissed for a while longer, until Harry thought he would go insane if they went any further, and insane if they didn't.

A light suddenly flipped on and Harry's first thought was 'Ron!' They leapt apart quickly and Harry flung himself backwards so that he was resting on the wall opposite Hermione. They looked at each other in horror as the footsteps on the stairs became louder….

A hum filled the air and Harry strained to listen to who it could be. After a few seconds of terror, Harry recognised the tune to be 'Weasley is our King'. He hung his head in relief as Luna entered the hallway.

"You know," she said "you two are awfully lucky that I happen to have very good hearing. You are also lucky that I came down here to get Ron his pumpkin juice rather than let him get it himself." She smiled serenely at them as if this they were discussing the weather. Hermione mumbled an apology and rushed away from them. Harry sighed and wished that the floor would open up and swallow him. Then he remembered the room of requirement and quickly changed his mind.

"Love can be quite confusing sometimes, can't it?" said Luna conversationally.

"I'm not in love Luna," said Harry beginning to feel irritated. "We're just, well… I don't know what we are right now! But nothing to do with love. Why is this happening now? Why couldn't I have just carried on liking Ginny? She's my best friend! Why is my life always such a mess?"

"You know my mother once told me that love is a branch of magic in itself." said Luna sympathetically "You can't control who you fall in love with and when it happens. What I do know is that it doesn't happen very often. You can't punish yourself for the way you're feeling Harry. You just feel funny about it all because you've been best friends for such a long time. Daddy always said that being friends with someone before you love them is the closest kind of love you can get. He and mother were best friends for a long time before they got married." Harry was grateful that her speech had finally ended; it made him feel very uncomfortable that Luna was talking about him and Hermione this way. He angrily found himself wondering why he had offered someone that is clearly insane to come and stay with him. He nodded his head curtly towards Luna, and made his way to the back garden. Luna just smiled to herself as she made her way to the kitchen and the pumpkin juice.

Harry sat down outside and ignored the slight chill of the night. 'Why can't I control myself?' he thought 'I've heard Mr. Weasley joking about 'young boys' but this is ridiculous.' His mind wandered to Hermione again and he found that he was angry with her too. He told her they couldn't do anything, and yet she threw herself at him anyway! He knew he was being unreasonable, but being angry helped him not think about Hermione and what they had just done…again.

"Harry," said Hermione quietly from behind him. She saw him stiffen and slowly moved to sit down next to him. "I want to talk to you…about us."

"We shouldn't have done that Hermione. That could have just as easily been Ron! Can you imagine what he'd do if he found out about…this" said Harry.

"What exactly is 'this' Harry?" asked Hermione quietly. Harry looked at her for a moment and found that he was nervous. What was he supposed to say?

"Well, uh, I don't know…" said Harry, and was very glad that it was dark out so that Hermione couldn't see the redness creeping into his face.

"I had a chat with Ginny while we were at Hogwarts. She seems pretty sure that you're going to go back to her. I don't want to be someone you're with because you're trying to get over someone else. I also don't want to be kissed one minute and ignored the next." said Hermione, and waited anxiously for his reply.

"I don't want to be with Ginny. I'm not kissing you because I'm heartbroken," said Harry. He stood up and began pacing back and forth, trying to think of how to tell her how he was feeling without sounding like a total prat. "I wasn't with Cho for very long, and me and Ginny only lasted a couple of months. Look at what's happened between them and me. Our friendship is ruined. What happens when we break up? You're my best friend, I don't want to wreck that." He looked at her intently, hoping that she would understand.

"Why are you planning on us breaking up before we've even started anything Harry?" she said, "You can't just assume that we won't last because your relationships didn't last with those two."

"But can we risk trying it? Think of everything we're risking. Our friendship. The friendship we have with Ron. Everything could be ruined!" said Harry, his voice rising.

"Do you want to ignore what's between us Harry?" asked Hermione, and tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. "Can you ignore it? I don't know if I can. I know I should be more worried about Ron, but when I'm with you I can't think of him or anyone else." Harry had the urge to go over and kiss her senseless, but he knew that would be the wrong thing to do. Instead he breathed deeply and looked at the stars and tried to think about what it was he really wanted, and what price he would have to pay to get it.

"Will you give me some time Hermione? I can't do something like this to Ron without thinking it through properly. I just need some more time…" Hermione nodded and felt her hot tears splash on her cheeks. Harry sat down next to her and put his arms around her shoulders. They sat like that for a long time, watching the stars and saying nothing…neither wanting the moment to end.