Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Harry Potter, any of the characters, spells, places etc. The only thing I own is the plot of this story!

Chapter Five

Dumbledore decided that completely stripping Harry of his Head Boy duties would be unfair, considering he was only being a protective friend towards Hermione. Then of course, banning Harry would leave Hermione to do everything on her own for a whole month, which would take up most of her time. There was no point giving the Head Boy privileges to someone else for only a month. So the Head Master finally decided that a month's detention with Snape would be a good enough punishment for Harry. This of course, cut into his Quidditch Practices and the match against Hufflepuff wasn't far off, so he wouldn't be playing as there was no chance of getting Snape to take pity on him.

Harry sat in the Heads Dorm on the sofa, watching the fire and sulking. His first night of detention was awful. Snape had made him clean every cauldron that he could find and then decided that he would use them all again to make a potion which he then decided he didn't really need. Harry looked at his wand on the table. It would have been so much easier if he was allowed to use magic.

He didn't want to go straight to bed when he came back. He was waiting for Hermione, who he guessed would still be in Gryffindor Common Room. Harry hung his head over the back of the sofa and closed his eyes.

Hermione turned round to face him and smiled.

"Isn't it a beautiful sunset?" she whispered. Harry nodded and spun Hermione round as if they were dancing. She giggled and Harry put his arms around her waist from behind and rested his head on her shoulder. They slowly swayed to silent music, all the while watching the sun disappear below the horizon. Harry spun Hermione round to face him again and smiled. His hands stayed around her waist and hers snaked round his neck. Their noses were touching and Hermione had her eyes closed, smiling.

"Harry," she whispered, although her lips didn't move. He smiled and bent down to kiss her.

"Harry," she repeated. "Harry!"

Harry's eyes snapped open and he found Hermione sitting next to him on the sofa.

"W-what? What's wrong?" he asked, sleepily.

"You didn't look very comfortable on the sofa, I thought I'd wake you up so you could go to bed," Hermione answered. Harry just stared at her and thought back through his dream. Almost. They had only been inches apart. Shame it wasn't real.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," he replied, hanging his head over the back of the sofa again.

"It was all so pointless," he suddenly said. "I hit him and all I got was a month's detention with Snape." Hermione moved closer and snuggled up against him. He put an arm around her.

"Don't be stupid," she said. "I'm grateful for what you did."

"I still didn't get that much out of beating the scumbag up." Hermione rolled over so she could see his face and smiled.

"Do you want to go up to the Astronomy tower?" she asked, suddenly. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because you can see that stars. I like looking at the stars."

"Alright then, but let me get my invisibility cloak. I don't want to get into even more trouble." Hermione nodded and Harry disappeared into his room for a few minutes, reappearing with his cloak.

"Ok, now we can go," he said. They put the cloak on as soon as they were out of the Heads Dorm and took the quickest way to the Astronomy Tower. Peeves, unfortunately, was in the same corridor. They carried on walking, hoping he wouldn't do anything to attract attention, but attention was always what Peeves wanted. The suit of armour clattered to the floor and Peeves laughed before hurrying off. Filch was coming and Harry knew Mrs Norris would probably give them away. Opening a door Harry pushed Hermione through first and then stepped in himself. As it turned out, it wasn't a classroom, but a broom closet. It wasn't really big enough for two people.

"Harry-" Hermione begun, but he put a hand over her mouth and pushed her against the wall before turning round and closing the door. Hermione could feel her heart hammering in her chest and closed her eyes, trying not to think about Harry. They heard Filch outside the door.

"Peeves! Where are you?" he shouted. Harry slowly lifted his hand from Hermione's mouth and put it on the wall beside her head. Filch was still outside and Hermione wished he would hurry up and go away so she didn't have to stand like this anymore. Harry's eyes had adjusted to the dark and he looked down to find Hermione's closed.

He whispered quietly in her ear, "Are you alright?" Not trusting her voice, Hermione nodded.

"I'm not hurting you?" he asked. She shook her head again.

"Come on, Mrs Norris, let's go find that bloody Peeves and I'll give him what's coming to him!" Filch said. The two Gryffindors listened as the sound of Filch's footsteps grew fainter and fainter and when Harry could no longer hear them he opened the closet door and pulled himself and Hermione through it. She still had her eyes closed.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She quickly opened her eyes.

"I-I'm fine," she replied. Harry looked at her but didn't say anything else.

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The Astronomy Tower was one of Hermione's favourite places at Hogwarts and Harry could see why. You could see the stars perfectly and the moon reflected in the lake.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Hermione asked, stepping out from under the cloak.

"Yeah," Harry replied, watching her. She leant on the banister and Harry walked over to join her. They stood in silence for a minute before Hermione spoke.

"Harry, w-what did you whisper in my ear when we were asleep on the sofa?" she asked. Harry's whole body went stiff and his breath caught in his throat.

"Harry?" Hermione asked.

"H-how much of it did you hear?" he stuttered.

"You said that you had a confession to make and then I couldn't make out the rest, what did you say?"

"I-I……"

"Harry, please tell me…" Hermione pleaded, a tear rolling down her cheek. She needed to hear him say it when he didn't think she was asleep. She needed to hear him say it to her face. She needed to hear him say it.

"I…I said…I…" Harry couldn't get the sentence out. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but he still couldn't say it. "I-it doesn't matter, Hermione. It was nothing." He looked away and didn't see Hermione close her eyes and try to make the tears disappear.

"It matters to me, Harry. Please tell me what you said."

"I-I can't, I'm sorry Hermione, I can't tell you." She nodded in understanding, although he wasn't looking at her so didn't see it. He would say it when he was ready. He would repeat the secret to her when he was ready. She knew he would. She hoped he would.

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Harry threw the cloak off them as they walked into the Heads Dorm. Hermione hadn't spoken to him all the way back, so it was a surprise when she turned to him and smiled.

"Goodnight, Harry," she said.

"Night, Hermione," Harry replied, smiling too. They stood looking at each other for a few minutes before Hermione stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"See you in the morning," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back before kissing her forehead. She smiled and wanted to fall asleep right there, in Harry's arms, but reluctantly pulled away and smiled one last time before walking off to her room.