A/N: Here's chapter 28. RR!

disclaimer: i do not own Harry Potter or any characters

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"Harry! Harry!" Harry heard a voice calling his name. It sounded so distant. "Harry please wake up!" He knew that voice. It was Hermione! He had to reach her, but how? Suddenly, Harry's eyes began to open and, as his vision cleared, he saw Hermione sitting above him, his head in her lap.

"Hermione?" he whispered, unable to talk very well.

"Harry!" Hermione threw her arms around him and helped him sit up. "Are you ok?"

"Am I ok?" he repeated. "I should be asking you that. What happened?"

"You did it, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "You defeated Voldemort!"

"I did?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded her head.

"Don't you remember?" she asked, concerned. Harry shook his head.

"All I remember from the end is a lot of screaming and then blackness," he replied. "But are you ok?"

"Yes Harry, I'm fine," Hermione replied. "I'm so glad you're ok! You had me scared to death. I didn't know if you were going to wake up!" She stopped talking when her voice broke.

"If I didn't wake up, it would have all been worth it anyway," Harry told her. Hermione stared him in the eyes.

"Don't say that," she said. "Why would you say that?"

"I defeated Voldemort," Harry explained. "The world is safer now, and I freed you. That's all I cared about." Hermione smiled.

"Harry-" she began, but Harry interrupted her.

"Hermione-" he had to do it now. He just had to! "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"What is it Harry? You can tell me anything," she assured him. Harry took a deep breath and looked deep into her brown eyes.

"When I first arrived here, I didn't know where you were," he began, "and it scared me to death. I knew my mind would be on you the whole time, wondering where you were and if you were ok. When Voldemort showed me that you were trapped and your life was literally in his hands, it scared the shit out of me. I had to get you out, no matter what. That was all I cared about."

"Harry," Hermione said, tears rimming her eyes, "why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Hermione," Harry continued. "If anything had happened to you, I don't know what I would have done. I'd be lost in this world without you. You've helped me through everything. And I..."

"What Harry?" Hermione asked after Harry had trailed off.

"Hermione," he said, taking a deep breath. "I love you. I know you're with Ron, and I hope we can still be friends, but I had to tell you-"

"Harry," Hermione interrupted. "Stop talking. For once, just shut up." Harry obeyed. "There was a reason I was so worried about you coming here to fight this tonight." Harry looked at her.

"What?" he asked. Hermione took a deep breath as well.

"Everything you just said, I feel the same way," Hermione admitted.

"You mean-"

"Yes," Hermione replied. "I love you too." Without another word, Hermione's lips found Harry's and the two shared their first kiss that night.

"What about Ron?" Harry asked after breaking away from the kiss. Hermione bit her lip and looked away. This could be a problem.

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A/N: So, Harry and Hermione are finally together. Although, if any of you knew anything about me, you would have already known they'd end up together. lol. Well, RR!