Can you remember what it's like to be young and in love? You're first love, the one who you fall for so deeply you feel that they are ingrained into your very soul. You wake up at night and have been dreaming about them, you wake up in the morning and they are the first person you think about, and when you go to bed they are in your mind when you fall asleep. You can't concentrate during the day because some tiny thing that happens inevitably reminds you of them, and then getting them out of your mind after that is virtually impossible.
Can you remember the passion? Not the passion that mature people feel but the young and raw kind you only experience a couple of precious times. It's almost foolish because all caution is thrown to the wind. A tiny peck on the cheek can ignite a whole host of feelings, and controlling them is hopeless. Can you remember kissing the first person you wanted, really wanted with every fibre of your being? If not let me remind you, it starts with a simple kiss, and you feel such heat, passion and obsession for this one person that the whole world around you fades away. Inevitably you enter the world again, only to find that hours and hours have passed, and all you did was kiss. Can you remember making love with them for the first time? The feeling of never wanting it to end, and how that one thing filled most of your time as if the other person were a drug. If you didn't have more of them you would surely die, and the thought of not being able to have them is enough to drive you to the point of insanity. Some people say it's all in the hormones that young people have and they have difficulty in controlling them. I think it's because love is so new and so exciting that it cannot possibly wait to be explored. It's because you haven't yet been hurt by love and so you can give up to it, sacrifice everything that you are for those few precious moments with this person who has become your whole world.
Can you imagine feeling all of this, wanting someone so much you can hardly take a breath when you think of them, and not be able to have them? Can you imagine feeling so happy when you share those precious kisses, then having an enormous guilt crashing down upon you? The fevered inner torments of the young in love; trying to do what's right but unable to stop themselves from the most perfect temptation of all.
What if you were too scared to give yourself to these feelings? What if you tried to hold back on those burning thoughts that plagued you day and night? Why would you do that? Fear. Being afraid to lose who you are by giving yourself to them entirely, the fear that now you'll be emotionally vulnerable. You have to wear your heart on your sleeve. What if the other person decides to break it in two? What if you feel that love is too much of a risk after everything you have already been through? What if you couldn't handle heartbreak but knew it would happen either way?
This is Harry and Hermione. Hermione deeply in love with Harry and so far gone that she would give up her friendship with Ron just to be with Harry for a few happy hours. Harry scared to admit his feelings because of what it might mean for all three of them, for what it might mean to him and the risk it will put Hermione in. Living day in day out with the threat of death over their shoulders, and these smouldering feelings getting stronger and stronger. How long will it take for Harry to understand and admit his feelings? How long will he wait until he realises that the biggest risk of all is losing the one you love?
Can you remember?