Disclaimer: I've said it before and I'll say it again: I do not own any Harry Potter content, nor am I making any money off of this. I'm just vibing.

Chapter 26

For a long time, Harry and Hermione had been surrounded by their peers, answering question after question about being petrified and fighting a basilisk, but after their housemates deemed them sufficiently bombarded, they began to trickle off towards the dormitories or other parts of the common room. Eventually, Harry and Hermione were alone, listening to the sounds of chess pieces getting clobbered from across the room and the crackling of the fireplace in front of them. They were silent, but not as if they were enveloped in an awkward, unpleasant silence. It was content, as if anything that needed to be communicated was beyond words.

Harry had his feet up on the table in front of them, absent-mindedly drawing patterns on the couch cushion he was sitting on as he gazed into the fire. Next to him, Hermione was curled up with a faded book, her back against the couch's armrest so she was facing him.

After almost ten minutes of tranquil silence, Harry saw Hermione gently close her book out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to meet her eyes, her deep brown eyes that currently encompassed every happy emotion that humans were capable of. She flashed him a quick smile before scooting towards him, turning so she could place the book on the table.

"How are you feeling?" He asked once Hermione was leaning back into the couch.

"Stiff." She joked, and Harry rolled his eyes. "But happy." She smiled, leaning her head on Harry's shoulder. "Very happy."

"I know how you feel." Harry exhaled, feeling as if he were sinking into the couch cushions. Hermione let out a pleased sigh, and nestled in a tad closer to Harry. Another pleasant silence ensued, and after a few minutes, he thought Hermione had fallen asleep. Then…

"Harry?" It was a very quiet whisper, and for a moment Harry thought he imagined it. "Are you awake?"

"Mm-hmm." He hummed, gently leaning his cheek against the top of Hermione's mane. He felt a small smile pull up on his lips as her wild locks tickled his face, a feeling he hadn't felt for far too long.

"Did you mean it?" She was still whispering, even though the common room was almost empty. "Those things you said in the Hospital Wing?"

"Every word." Harry said automatically. He felt Hermione hitch her breath, but he didn't move. He waited for her to say something. Anything. Ideally something that did not involve her feeling creeped out by how much he thought about her, how much he cared about her.

Hermione didn't say anything. Instead, she gingerly lifted her head off of Harry's shoulder. Before he could turn to see her face, she leaned inwards and pressed her lips against his cheek, sending an armada of butterflies fluttering throughout his entire body.

"I was never really sure if you liked it when I did that…" She admitted in a meek voice. "But it always felt right. Then you said all those nice things…" She added as she placed her head on his shoulder once again. Harry felt his face heat up, but managed a nod.

"If you didn't run away almost every time you did it you probably would have figured it out." He smiled to himself. Hermione let out a small purr and leaned into him even more. Harry felt his smile widen at the sound, but said nothing.

Once again, the pair found themselves enjoying the best kind of silence. Harry hadn't felt this at peace in a long time, simply absorbing Hermione's company after a bizarre chain of events made it impossible to do so for so long.

Harry gradually started to doze. Between his eyelids growing heavier by the second and the warmth on his right side providing more comfort than any blanket, he let himself drift off blissfully.

The next weeks flew by way too fast for Harry Potter, even if time seemed to stand still every time he was with Hermione. Which, now that she was nowhere near the Hospital Wing, was almost all the time. They walked the Hogwarts grounds together hand in hand every time the weather was nice, and when it wasn't they sat in the library or the common room enjoying each other's presence.

Life was pleasant, not riddled with disembodied voices and petrified friends. Even Malfoy wasn't particularly vile, but Harry figured he was too humiliated – along with his father – to bring himself to be the prejudiced prat he usually was.

The last full day of school in particular, they were enjoying the sunshine, sitting side by side near the Great Lake, selecting subjects for the next year.

"Have you picked your classes yet?" Hermione asked as she scanned the list of courses in front of her.

"Honestly, none of these look that interesting. Maybe Care of Magical Creatures." Harry sighed, absent-mindedly doodling a Snitch on the edge of his paper.

"Harry, you have to take this seriously." Hermione narrowed her eyes. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures too." She sighed.

"That settles it!" Harry grinned triumphantly as he circled the class name with a flourish. "What else are you taking?"

"Harry, you can't choose a course just because I'm taking it."

"Well, I'm thinking even if I'm lousy at them I'll have you."

"Harry, I'm not doing all your homework for you." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I didn't mean I'll have Hermione Granger, homework machine." Harry put his paper down and nudged her with his elbow. "I meant I'll have Hermione Granger, my best friend. You make everything better."

Hermione didn't lift her eyes from the list of courses for a beat, and for a moment Harry thought he'd said something wrong. Then, he felt her arms around him, squeezing the life out of him.

"Hermione!" He coughed out, unable to suppress a smile.

"You make everything better for me, Harry." She whispered, pulling back to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"You are still going to help me study, right?" He asked, feeling rather dazed as Hermione beamed at him.

"Oh, hush." She blushed as she turned back to her paper, a small smile on her face.

"Anyway…" Harry said awkwardly. Hermione looked up at him expectantly. "Erm, are you taking Divination?"

Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled again. "Yes, I'll be taking Divination, Harry. Are you excited to see the future?" She wiggled her fingers in mock mysteriousness. Harry smirked and circled the course on his sheet.

"And you were worried I'd be the one copying your schedule."

"I'll have you know I picked these classes days ago." Hermione huffed, stuffing her paper into her bag. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Coming out here to pick classes was your idea." Harry leaned in close to a now blushing Hermione. "Hmm…were you finding excuses to spend time with me?"

"Honestly!" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "No, for your information, I was worried you would blow off picking your classes."

"Sure."

"Shut up."

They were silent for a beat before they both burst out laughing. Hermione threw her head back as she laughed particularly hard, inadvertently sending several bushy brown locks into Harry's face, which only made them both laugh harder.

"Blegh!" Harry gasped out sarcastically as he coughed out some strands of hair. "Your hair tastes weird."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, scooting away from Harry. "My hair tastes weird?" She asked.

"Yeah, Hermione, it's hair. I'm pretty sure all hair tastes weird." Harry sighed. "It's not a slight against you, or your hair."

"Do you like my hair?"

"Blimey, Hermione, I love your hair." Harry was surprised at the question.

"Oh!" She brightened at that, and scooted back towards him. "That's sweet of you."

"It's true." Harry grinned, making a point of twirling one of her locks with his fingers. "It feels nice. It always tickles my cheek – "

"So you've told me." Hermione waggled her eyebrows, and Harry coughed nervously.

"So you heard me say while you were petrified. I was just thinking out loud rather than actually talking to you."

"Sure."

"Shut up." Harry blushed, pulling one knee up to his chest while leaving the other extended towards the Great Lake.

"You like how it feels?" Hermione asked, scooting even closer to him. "I'm not the biggest fan of my hair, to be honest." She averted her eyes, opting to stare at the deep blue waters in front of them.

"How?" Harry asked before he could stop himself.

"Well, Pavarti's is all straight and nice, and Lavender's hair is really wavy and it always looks good – "

"Yeah, but yours is better." Harry cut her off.

"You sound so sure." She turned to Harry, surprise etched on her face.

"Because I'm right."

"Keep talking like that and I'll kiss you on the cheek again." Hermione said before immediately clapping her hand to her cheek. Harry raised his eyebrows in amusement as her cheeks turned a deep red and her eyes widened to the size of plates. "I can't believe I said that!" She gasped, slowly lowering her hand. "Sorry…" She mumbled.

"You don't have to apologize." Harry smiled, getting to his feet. "You seem to keep forgetting that I like it when you do that." He held out his hand, and her blush deepened as she took it and helped her to her feet.

Feeling rather smug, he turned his head slightly so his cheek was facing her, wordlessly asking for a peck.

Hermione just scoffed. "Now you're not getting anything." She rolled her eyes before marching away from Harry, who didn't budge. Hermione made it five steps before she noticed. "Alright fine, I suppose you deserve something." She sighed, turning around and making her way towards her best friend.

Now openly smirking, Harry raised an eyebrow as she stood in front of him. Playfully rolling her eyes, Hermione cracked a smile before punching him in the shoulder as hard as she could.

"Ow!" Harry groaned, doubling over as he clutched his shoulder. "You are evil!" He carped as he stood up, rubbing his shoulder.

"Don't tell me the great Harry Potter can't take a punch from a girl." Hermione smirked, raising her eyebrows defiantly.

"He can't if that girl carries twenty books in her arms all day." He grumbled, picking up his bag. Hermione just laughed at him, picking up her own bag and marching off, forcing him to jog to catch up.

"Are you excited for the summer?" She asked once they were walking side by side, as if she hadn't just punched him as hard as she could.

"Of course I am. I miss your parents." He smiled wistfully, then suddenly stopped walking. "Hermione, do they…"

"No." She said shyly, darting her eyes to the ground. "I'd rather not tell them. They love me being magical and all, but if they found out I was attacked by a fifty-foot snake they'd pull me out of Hogwarts for sure."

Harry nodded in understanding, trying to imagine Mr. and Mrs. Granger reacting to Hermione being petrified. It was almost as painful as seeing her frozen in her hospital bed. Carefully, he took her hand and began leading her back to the castle.

"Do you want to talk about something happier?" He offered, squeezing her hand.

"Please." Hermione cracked a smile.

"Well, for starters, that fifty-foot snake is dead." He began, and Hermione let out a genuine laugh. "Let's see, happy thoughts. Exams were cancelled – oh, sorry…" He smirked. "I know how much you love exams. Let me know if you start getting separation anxiety."

"You're a prat." She tried hard to glare at him, but was unsuccessful in subduing her smile and her laughter. "You have all your classes with me next year, that's a happy thought."

"Yeah, that is a happy thought." Harry smiled to himself as they walked towards Hogwarts, conversing exclusively about cheerful topics.

They were just shy of the steps leading into the castle when the doors were thrown open, and out marched Minerva McGonagall, dragging someone by the ear. Harry and Hermione paused, watching with amusement to see who had invoked the wrath of the Head of Gryffindor.

"Is that – " Harry started, but was too shocked to finish.

"Consider your termination effective this instant!" McGonagall hissed, practically throwing her captive down the set of limestone stairs. A jumble of pale blue robes and wavy blonde hair tumbled down the stairs, grunting and crying out all the way. After a comically long time, it came to a rest just in front of the pair of students.

"Excuse us, Gilderoy." Hermione smirked, grabbing Harry's hand and leading him around the prone professor.

'Former professor.' Harry corrected himself, staring in amazement at Lockhart's flustered expression.

"Miss Granger, thank you for bringing such a glaring issue to our attention." McGonagall nodded curtly to Hermione, who beamed as she ascended the steps.

"What is happening?" Harry asked, still dumbfounded. "Is Lockhart sacked?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart has spent the past few years traveling across the Wizarding World, allegedly to perform heroic acts against the most ghastly creatures imaginable." The Transfiguration teacher huffed. "It turns out, Mister Lockhart has been taking credit for other wizards' gallant actions and wiping their memories so he could reap the benefits of their work."

"He's a fraud?" Harry asked, barely hiding the excitement in his voice.

"To put it crudely, yes." McGonagall threw a glare down the steps at Lockhart, who was now staggering away from the castle. "Fortunately, one of the victims of his actions was an Armenian warlock who was able to publish a recount of his actions before his memories of the event were erased. Your friend Miss Granger found said journal in our own Hogwarts library."

Harry's jaw dropped. He turned, incredulous, to a blushing Hermione.

"I must go consult the Headmaster about finding a new instructor for next year. Miss Granger…" She glanced around, as if looking for witnesses. "Fifty points for Gryffindor."

Harry swore she winked before turning on her heel and marching back into the castle. He turned to Hermione, whose cheeks were doing their best impression of a tomato. "Did you really do that? You got Lockhart sacked?" He was grinning from ear to ear.

Hermione nodded slowly, and Harry wrapped her up in his arms before he could even process what he was doing. He heard Hermione squeak in surprise, but she made no effort to move away. He buried his face in her hair, feeling his smile grow impossibly wide.

"Harry!" She gasped, but she tightened her arms around him.

"You're brilliant, Hermione." He whispered into her hair, feeling her stiffen in his arms. At first he thought he'd said something wrong, until she pulled back and kissed him on the cheek for the second time that day.

"You earned that one." She smiled as she laced her fingers through his and led him back into the castle, away from the setting sun. Harry offered a dazed smile as he walked side by side with her, wishing he could bottle the feeling in his chest up and savor it for the next time he was in a bad mood.

A/N: Hello everybody! This chapter was originally very different. It took the Lockhart thing in an entirely different direction – still leading to him getting fired, mind you – and it also featured a conversation that I've decided will occur in a later chapter. I didn't like writing it, so I said screw it and wrote this instead. Both versions did feature the bit on the couch, though, because I loved that bit. The next chapter will take place in Crawley, if you're curious.

To you brilliant souls who have shown this story love, thank you all. You guys are awesome. You guys make my day every time, seriously. I love you all beyond words. Please, keep it up if you're enjoying the story, reading a positive review or seeing another follow/favorite is like an adrenaline rush for my confidence. Stay safe!