Chapter 2

Harry awoke to gentle shaking. "Mmmm…" he mumbled. "Five more minutes…" he slurred sleepily. For a moment, he thought he had earned a reprieve from the shaking, but then it continued more forcefully. Groggily, he forced his eyelids open centimeter by centimeter to the smiling face of Hermione.

"Morning, Harry. You've been out like a light; I must have been shaking you for five minutes before you finally woke up." Hermione said with an almost imperceptible curve to her lips. He was transfixed by those lips at that moment, and it was all he could to keep himself from reaching up right now and grabbing her face and - Whoah, that's Hermione you're thinking about! She's your best friend! You're not supposed to think things like that about her! But she does look very kissable this morning…another voice mouthed off inside his head. Did I just think that about Hermione? Hermione Granger? Yes, you did. Now shut up and -- Harry closed his eyes trying to fight off all the part's of his psyche and the strange urges he was having.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked with concern seeping into her voice. "Is it your scar, is it hurting again?" Her fingers gently slid up his face and touched his scar lightly. Harry coughed lightly after a minute or so and Hermione gave a start as though she had forgotten he was there. It was then that she realized how close they both were. She was leaning over him, her face mere inches from his. His emerald eyes seemed to bore into her soul and she felt her heart melt; she could stare into those eyes all day. Harry moved his head forward very slowly, almost imperceptibly.

"Harry, what are you…Hermione?" Both Harry and Hermione jumped slightly as Ginny gasped the last word from the entrance to the girl's dormitory from which she had just appeared.

"Oh, uh…good morning, Ginny." Harry offered feebly.

Panicking, Hermione blurted out "I have to go, see you later!" in one hurried breath as she jumped up, grabbing her school books and ran off saying something about getting to class.

"But classes don't start for another hour." Harry had pointed out after glancing at the clock, to which she feigned deafness as she left the room in a hurry. Harry raised his hand to the lightning bolt shaped scar that had cursed him for years and tentatively touched it, willing to feel Hermione's hand once more, and settled in to trying to explain what was going on.

"Well, you see, um…well, Hermione was walking over to me to help me with the Potions essay, when she tripped. Yeah, she tripped!" Harry explained lamely.

"Oh, and she tripped right onto your face, is that right?"

The last thing Hermione could hear before the portrait hole slammed shut was Ginny yelling.

What just happened? Hermione wondered frantically. She had dashed off to get away, to go anywhere but there, barely taking the time to gather up her books and such. Did I just try to kiss Harry Potter? He's my best friend! 'Well, so what? That's just saves you the trouble of getting to know each other' another side of her whispered in her ear. But we're just friends. Yes, I love Harry, but it's completely platonic!

Ron chose this inopportune moment to find her, as he always seemed to. It was as though he had a Hermione compass in his head…or somewhere slightly lower.

"Not now, Ron." Hermione said curtly, gathering up her things to take of once more, this time to go to class for real. She had been pondering that morning's happenings while resting up against a wall somewhere on the third floor of Hogwarts when Ron appeared. Apparently destiny had decided that she needed another bad day this week, because as she rose to leave, Ron grabbed her elbow.

"Why do you always run away from me whenever we're alone? I mean, with Harry around, we're perfectly fine. But when he's off doing something else, you always try to get away from me as soon as possible."

Hermione stifled a crude, hurtful remark as she saw the glint of confusion and pain in his eyes. She knew Ron had liked her for quite a while, but she had just never been able to reciprocate any form of romantic attraction to this read headed Weasly boy. She knew that if left together for long enough, Ron would try to make advancements on their relationship, which would only hurt their friendship in the end.

"I'm sorry, Ron." Hermione began. "It's just, I've had a bad morning and I wanted to be alone for a little bit to think about everything. Please don't take it personally." she said, lightly placing her had on Ron's arm. Oops. Probably not the right thing to do. Hermione thought as Ron seemed to light up a bit, encouraged. With a fleeting smile, she hurried off to her first class of the new school year.