Guilty Love: Year 6
Chapter 2: The Truth Comes Out

After a nearly sleepless night, Harry Potter awoke to Ron's loud snores. He pulled his pillow over his head, in an attempt to block out Ron's room shaking nose noise.

With a sigh, Harry mulled over his thoughts about the night before, his friends, his sixteenth birthday, and the kiss.

With a jolt, he remembered Hermione. Hermione feels the same way I do! Then, reality crashed on him, and he thought to himself, I must have hurt her. She kissed me, and I walked away. I am such an idiot. Then, the second voice awoke. No, it said, I was right. I have to protect her. And what if Ron found out? It would crush him. She wouldn't be safe. If Voldemort knew…Harry shuddered at the thought of what Voldemort would use that information for.

Harry rolled out of bed and put on clean clothes, with the intention of going out and getting some fresh air, when Ron sat up suddenly.

"S'time?" he asked groggily.

"No, Ron, go back to bed," Harry replied, suppressing a laugh.

"Alright, Harry, but…what out for those damned pigeons."

"Sure, Ron, I'll do that," said Harry, bursting to laugh now.

"Damn potatoes," was Ron's reply, and with that brilliant statement, he flopped back against his bed, snoring loudly once more.

Harry let out a short laugh, before tying his shoes, and heading out the door. It was early again, not many people in Diagon Alley. Harry went into Flourish and Blott's and spent an hour browsing through some Defense Against the Dark Arts books. He found himself planning lessons for the D.A.

Just as he was about to head out, he saw Hermione curled up in a chair, reading a book as well. For a moment, he hovered out of view, taking in everything about her.

Hermione sat curled delicately in an armchair, a steaming mug of coffee on the table next to her. She had the large book propped against her knees and the chair, and would reach forward every so often to slowly turn the page. A few strands of her brown hair had come loose from the messy bun in which most of her hair was currently tucked. When she finished turning the page, she twirled a finger in this strand of her. Even when she was just being herself, being totally comfortable, Harry couldn't help think how beautiful she was.

Hermione must have sensed someone watching her because she looked up. For a split second brown eyes locked on green, then Hermione set down her book, stood up and grabbed her bag and headed towards the door.

Without even thinking about it, Harry darted over and blocked the doorway.

"Please, Harry," Hermione said quietly, looking at her shoes, "Please, just move."

"Let me explain Hermione, please," Harry said softly. He hooked his finger around her chin and dragged her face up, looking directly into her eyes, "Please, let me explain."

"I'm already embarrassed enough," Hermione replied, but she allowed Harry to lead her back to her chair. She sat down slowly, and Harry quickly sat across from her, their knees almost touching.

"Hermione," Harry began, without really being sure where to begin, "Last night was, I mean, it was, erm…" ,I have no idea what to say, he realized. "What I meant to say, was that, last night we, I mean…"

"Harry!" Hermione cut in suddenly. "I get it, so just stop. I shouldn't have done that. It was bad, it was wrong, I crossed the line. You obviously don't feel that way about me. It was a horrible thing for me to. I feel horrible. I…"

Harry stared at her as she ranted. He wasn't even really listening. God, she is even beautiful when she is upset, Harry thought. Tears were beginning to spill onto Hermione's face. And then, right in the middle of Hermione's "I don't know what I was thinking," part of the speech, without realizing what he was doing, Harry leaned forward and kissed her. He put one hand on the back of her neck, and ran it through her hair, and put the other on her waist and pulled her closer. Hermione was shocked, but quickly recovered. She put her arms around Harry's neck, and ran her hands through his mess of back hair.

After a minute, Harry broke the kiss. "I do feel the same, Hermione," He said quietly. His brain was over heating. What have I done? It screamed. Then a second voice chimed in, I want this, but it can't happen, just tell her why. She'll understand…won't she?

"Harry, what's the matter?" Hermione asked, noticing the distant look on his face.

"Hermione, I need to explain some things to you, ok?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded and he took a deep breath and plunged in, "I like you, Hermione, I like you a lot. I have since fourth year, and I've only just realized it. But, if anything happened to you, I don't know what I would do. You are the reason I've made it this far.

"I have to tell you something, and hopefully it will make this all make sense. Last year, after we made it back from the Department of Mysteries, Dumbledore told me what was in the Prophecy we smashed. It's not good. It basically said that either Voldemort or I has to die, because neither can live while the other survives. I am going to end up killing him, or he is going to kill me."

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione gasped, "I can't believe this!"

"Wait, I'm not done." Harry told her, "I have to finish this now, otherwise I might change my mind." Hermione nodded. "If Voldemort knew how I felt about you, I am positive he would go after you. I can't let anything happen to you. It would kill me if something did."

"But, Harry, I…"

"Wait, please. Sirius died because of me. It was my fault, and it's been killing me. If anything happened to you…I don't know what I would do…" Harry broke off; his eyes were starting to sting.

"Harry, can I talk now?" Hermione snapped, but she didn't wait for an answer, "Sirius' death was not your fault, so stop blaming yourself. We all loved Sirius. We are all upset. Yes, he was closest to you," she said as Harry opened his mouth to protest, "but you are not the only one hurting here."

"He was like a father to me. I never had a father…a father that I knew anyway."

Hermione took Harry's hand in hers. "Also, Harry, if Voldemort really wanted to go after me, he would have done it already. Ron too. We are the closest people to you. He knows, I'm sure of it."

She's right, you know, said Harry's mind.

"Hermione…It's not a good idea," Harry said quietly, looking into her eyes, because I love you, his brain added.

"Harry," Hermione said, noticing the distant look in his eyes had returned, "Harry, I don't care what you think is going to happen. I love you and I always will."

Harry stared at her for a moment, his brain trying to register it all. Did she say love? Love? I love her too…should I tell her?

"I-I love you too, Hermione," Harry said, "But I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Harry, I would risk anything for you." And then she leaned forward and kissed him again. When they broke apart, Hermione looked at Harry nervously, expecting him to yell, or tell her that it wouldn't work again. To her great surprise, however, he broke into a smile.

"You're right," He said. "But I think we need to be careful. Anyway, we should go back and see Ron, and…" Harry suddenly stopped; a pained look crossed his face.

"What is it?" Hermione asked immediately.

"Ron," Harry replied flatly.

Hermione put her hands over her eyes, "Ron," she said in reply.

"What are we going to do about Ron?" Harry asked, hoping Hermione had the answer.

"Ron is going to feel left out. He will probably be angry." Hermione replied softly.

"He likes you," Harry said, thinking it would come as a surprise to her.

"I know," she answered flatly, "He wrote me and asked me to be his girlfriend in the first week of the holidays."

"He did what?"

"Don't worry, Harry. He is like a brother to me, and I told him that."

"We can't tell him."

"We have to."

"We can't, he would…"

"Harry!" Hermione stopped him, "He is our best friend, and we owe it to him to tell him about us." She said, smiling at the last word.

Harry grinned too. "Us." He took Hermione's hand. "But, it can wait until we get back to school. Fair enough?"

Hermione sighed. "Ok, but right away when we get back. I don't want to hide."

"I know," Harry smiled, "I don't want to hide us either." He pulled her up, "Come on, let's head back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Harry, wait," Hermione stopped him.

"What is it?"

Hermione pulled Harry's face down to hers and kissed him softly. "Ok, now we can go," she smiled, took his hand, and pulled him out the door.

When they reached the inn, they stopped holding hands, and smiled at each other before heading into the building. "Friends by day, lovers by night," Harry grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Harry, stop it!" Hermione smacked him, and then they went inside.

"Harry, Hermione! Good, you're back!" It was Mrs. Weasley, "You should go get packed because we are getting ready to head back home, and Hermione, your parents will be here to pick you up shortly."

Harry looked at her, "You aren't going to the Burrow?"

"Oh, Harry, sorry. I thought I told you in the letter, I'm going to spend the rest of the summer with Mum and Dad."

"Oh, yes, I remember now," Harry told her. "You don't see them much, it's ok."

Hermione squeezed his hand, thanking him, and then dropped it before Mrs. Weasley noticed.

They went upstairs, Hermione disappeared into her and Ginny's room, and Harry continued on to his room. To Harry's relief, Ron wasn't there. That meant he didn't have to start lying to his best friend. Not just yet anyway. Harry got all of his things back into his trunk, and returned Hedwig to her cage. He was making his bed, when someone knocked at the door.

He opened it. "You know, they give you a key for a reason." Harry said, expecting it to be Ron. "Oh, Hermione, sorry I thought you were Ron…" He grinned, "Hey."

"Hey," She said, walking in and shutting the door. "I just wanted to make sure I said goodbye to you before I left." She smiled, "And make sure we we're all clear on…well, I'm not exactly sure what we're supposed to be all clear on."

"Well," Harry stepped closer to her, and took both of her hands. "From what we talked about this morning, I think that you," he kissed her sweetly, "are my girlfriend. Now are we clear?"

"Crystal," Hermione said with a smile, as she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, and kissed him again.

After a few minutes, they broke apart. "So, I guess I'll see you on the train," Harry said.

"I'll write," Hermione assured him.

"Me too," answered Harry. They left the room, and Harry helped her carry her stuff downstairs, to where her parents were waiting for her.

"Hey, Mom! Hey, Dad!" She hugged them both. "Well, I'll see you soon, Harry." She looked around, "Where is Ron?" When she saw he wasn't there, she sighed, "Well, tell Ron I said bye, since he's not here."

"Ok," Harry said, giving her a brief hug, "See you soon."

And then she was gone.

Ron returned right as they were loading things into the Weasley's rented car. "Where were you?" Harry asked. "You missed saying bye to Hermione."

"Oh, I was…taking a walk," Ron answered.

"Well, at least you packed your trunk before you left," said Mrs. Weasley.

The next day, Harry woke to find a letter had already been delivered to him. Two actually. One was his school letter, although he had already gotten his books, it seemed thicker than normal. The other was from Hermione.

Harry decided to save the best for last, so he quietly tore open the school letter first, so as not to wake Ron.

Mr. Potter,
Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock.
Congratulations on being selected as the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. Enclosed you will find your badge, as well as a list of positions you need to make sure are filled before the first Quidditch match.
Also enclosed, are your O.W.L. results.
Yours sincerely,
Professor McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress

Harry let the badge fall out of the envelope. He ran his fingers over the cool medal of it. Quidditch Captain, Harry thought to himself. Then, he smiled, and set the badge down. Next he unfolded his O.W.L. results. 9 O.W.L.s! I got 9 O.W.L.s! Not good in Divination, or History of Magic, and an A in Potions. 9 O.W.L.s! Smiling even broader, he set it aside and tore open Hermione's letter.

Dear Harry,
I can't seem to stop thinking about yesterday. Mum keeps asking me why I didn't stop smiling the whole ride home. It's because I was thinking about you. I am so happy! Just don't forget that you promised to tell Ron as soon as school starts. I won't let you forget.
Anyway, I guess that's all I have to say, since I just saw you hours ago.
Look at the bright side, only three and three-quarter weeks until we see each other again.
I love you,
Hermione

Harry sighed, Three and three-quarter weeks is a long time. I just want to hold her in my arms, and kiss her, and... Harry stopped that thought. I guess I should just try and enjoy the time before school starts, as much as I'll miss her.
Harry grabbed some parchment off the table next to his bed, and a quill, and he began to write a reply to Hermione.

Dear Hermione,
I can't stop thinking about you either. It's going to be a long three and three-quarter weeks, I guess. Don't worry, I'm sure Ron and I can find some way to amuse ourselves. Who knows, we might even start our homework. Just kidding! I already finished mine; there really isn't much for me to do at the Dursley's. By the way, did you get your O.W.L. results? I got nine O.W.L.s. You probably did loads better. I haven't seen Ron's scores yet, since he is still sleeping. Also, I got Quidditch Captain! I think it is going to be a busy school year…
I love you too,
Harry

Just as Harry was sending Hedwig out the window, Ron woke up.

"Who are you writing to this early in the morning?" Ron asked, groggily.

"Nobody, just letting Hedwig out for a stretch."

"Oh, alright. Hogwarts letters!" Ron said, noticing the fat envelope on his chest.

"Yeah, it's got your O.W.L. results in it. You might want to open it right away."

Ron opened the letter and flipped through the first page, heading straight for his results. His eyes quickly scanned the page, and then his face fell. "Mum's going to kill me!" He moaned, thrusting the parchment at Harry and putting his face in his hands.

Harry glanced over the page.

"I only got five O.W.L.s!"

Just then, they heard Mrs. Weasley calling Ron. "Ronald, would you come down here? I know you got your O.W.L. results!"

"Coming," Ron muttered, standing up, "Hey, before I go to my death, how did you do?"

"Nine," Harry replied.

"Lucky," muttered Ron.

"I am, aren't I?" Harry grinned as Ron left the room muttering something about not having written his Will yet. But for a different reason than you think, Harry's brain added.

The weeks passed slowly. There was a lot of Mrs. Weasley glaring at Ron in the beginning, but she calmed down after Ron assured her that he did not plan on going into business with Fred and George.

Ron and Harry played a lot of Quidditch. Ron was jealous that Harry was made Quidditch Captain, but he quickly got over it when Harry politely reminded him that he had been made a Prefect, and not Harry. They talked about who they thought would be good to fill the empty positions, and tried working out some new plays. They even put some thought into whether or not they should reinstate the D.A. when they got back to school.

Harry did his best to write back to Hermione. She usually wrote every other day, giving her new little owl, Snitchlet, time to rest between trips. Harry noticed that Ron also seemed to be writing a lot of letters. He didn't ask why though. He and Ron had a sort of silent agreement, "I won't ask who you're writing to, if you don't ask me."

The morning of September the first, Harry woke up to Mrs. Weasley shouting up the stairs for everyone to get up, or they were going to miss the train. Everyone ran up and down the stairs, trying to find all of their last minute items, and got ready to go. Harry crashed into Ginny, on his way back to Ron's room, because he'd forgotten his wand. They managed to squish all of Harry, Ron, and Ginny's things into one taxi, and they were off. It was the first time in Weasley history that nobody had to go back for anything…until Ron realized he'd forgotten Pig.

They made it to the station with one minute to spare. They hurriedly said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, as well as Fred and George who had decided to come see them off. The boarded the train and Harry set off to find a compartment, while Ron went up front to join the prefects. Ginny disappeared to go sit with a group of fifth years, and Harry found an empty compartment near the end of the train. For the first hour or so of the journey, Harry was constantly being bombarded by his fellow Gryffindors, who wanted to hear if he had been made captain or not.

After people stopped visiting him, Harry took out Quidditch Through the Ages and sat back to enjoy his book. A few pages in, he heard the compartment door slide open, and the familiar scent of cinnamon washed over him.

"This is possible the cutest thing I've ever seen, Harry Potter reading a book!" Hermione said, a great smile on her face.

"Hey," was all Harry could manage. She looked really amazing in blue jeans, a plain white tee shirt, and a brown jacket. She had her hair pulled into a loose bun, held together with chopsticks. He stood up and slid his hands around her waist, and looked at her, their noses inches apart.

"Hey," she smiled, and went up on her tiptoes to kiss him sweetly. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

"Whoa, sorry, guys, I didn't mean to intrude or anything."

Harry and Hermione spun around. "Neville?"

Neville went bright red. "Sorry, I was just looking for somewhere to sit…Malfoy was being an asshole, so I…" He looked sheepish, "Sorry, I'll go."

"No, Neville, please sit down, it's ok," Hermione said kindly.

Neville obliged, though he looked like he would rather be anywhere else. After a few moments of silence, he asked nervously, "So are you guys a…I mean, are you two…dating?"

Hermione and Harry looked at each other nervously, and then Harry said, "Yes, but you can't tell anyone."

"Oh," said Neville. "Just wondering, but, why not?"

"Because, we haven't told Ron yet," answered Hermione.

"Ohh," said Neville, a look of comprehension dawning on his face. When he realized that both Harry and Hermione were staring at him he quickly said, "Oh, don't worry, I promise not to tell anyone, especially Ron."

"Yeah, wouldn't want that big bloke to find out," snapped an angry voice.

Three pairs of eyes turned to see Ron standing in the door of the compartment, his ears red and his eyes glinting dangerously.

"Ron!" Harry jumped to his feet, "Please, this isn't how I wanted you to find out. I was going to tell you tonight, I swear!"

"Tell me what, Harry? Tell me that my two best friends have been lying to me? Tell me that I'm the odd man out? Tell me that she picked you over me? Tell me what, Harry?"

"What do you mean by she, Ron?" Harry asked angrily, "She has a name you know, it's Hermione."

"I know her name," spat Ron.

"Then I suggest you use it," Harry snarled.

"Harry! Harry, don't," Hermione said, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him down. Once she had Harry seated, she stood up and faced Ron. "Listen, Ronald, I'm really sorry that I picked Harry, or whatever you called it, but did you really want me to pick you and then not truly feel that way? So we could break up later on, and be bitter and angry at each other? I was really hoping you would handle this like an adult. You and Harry are my best friends, Ron, and I don't want to change that."

Ron muttered something that sounded a bit like, "Free willy," before he stormed out of the compartment.

Hermione sighed, "Well, that went…well," when Harry and Neville looked at her, eyebrows raised she gave in, "Ok, no, it didn't. Either way, I've got to go patrol the corridors." She squeezed Harry's hand, "I'll be back soon," she told him as she left, shutting the compartment door behind her.

"So, Neville," Harry grinned, "Exploding snap?"