RETURN
Hermione appeared in the middle of an office in the German Ministry, her eyes were closed still remembering the longest ten seconds of her life, a sigh left her mouth, while a tear slipped down her cheek.
In her mind she could only think of Harry's unreadable look.
"Now what would she do? How would she deal with the consequences of that revelation? Would Harry still see her the same way? Could they still be friends?"
This and many questions began to terrify her, her eyes widened noticing for the first time the place, where a young lady looked at her between embarrassed and surprised, she was in charge of receiving her and guiding her in her first days in that country, however she never expected to meet in that scene, just silently watching a beautiful woman, but clearly broken, soaked and a mess.
Hermione wanted to compose her attitude, avoiding the tears that were fighting to come out.
"Eh, hello, I'm..." the brunette tried to say stuttering.
"Welcome, Miss Hermione Granger, if you'll excuse me, I forgot some papers, because we were waiting for you a few minutes later, I'll be back as soon as I find them... welcome and please excuse my mistake," said the woman, improvising a bit, and left the office, closing the door.
Hermione heard the lock click, took out her wand to soundproof the place, while infinitely thanking the person who had read the situation perfectly and was giving her time and space to vent and calm down.
Once alone Hermione screamed, releasing the accumulated tears, and letting her chest release the accumulated pain of what had just happened.
The crying intensified, causing the brunette to fall to the floor, hugging herself tightly, thinking that she had just ruined the greatest friendship she could have had, she felt that she had lost Harry.
It was the saddest, most painful and longest thirty-five minutes in which she could unburden herself, at least the ones she needed at that moment.
However, like any person committed to her work, she recomposed herself and with her wand she dried her clothes and her hair, putting them in a decent bun and left herself as presentable as possible, keeping the destroyed Hermione, to take out the exemplary and brilliant boss of the magical creatures law department.
She left the office calmer and more organized, she quickly noticed the woman who had received her and who seemed to be waiting in the corridor.
She smiled at her as she walked over to introduce herself again, searching for the words to justify her behavior.
"Come with me, I'll give you the tour, so that later you can begin the objectives of your work in this ministry" the girl said when she saw Hermione, without allowing her to apologize.
Hermione smiled again, grateful that she didn't have to talk about something that would cause her to collapse again.
... ...
A month later, Harry and Ron had arranged to meet for lunch, as they usually did, in the ministry cafeteria.
"Hey," Harry said, drawing the attention of his friend, who was taking a seat in front of him, "That's why you mentioned her at that Ministry Christmas party, right?" Harry asked, watching his best friend nod.
"Right," the redhead stated, "but then you said you didn't look at her romantically, so I dropped the subject," Ron explained to Harry, shrugging his shoulders.
"It is somewhat ironic and frustrating to realize that the only woman who has everything you are looking for in a relationship is your best friend. The only woman you don't want to get into that romantic relationship thing so you don't hurt her and ruin the friendship," Harry said helplessly.
As they ate and chatted, one of Harry's students appeared, approaching them to ask if she could sit at their table.
In silence both friends nodded, because after all she was only looking for a place to have lunch and all the other tables were quite full. What they didn't know was that their intentions were different, because when they sat down the girl began to try to talk with them, especially with Harry.
The two friends were fully aware that most of the female students and women in general in the ministry were obsessed with Harry because of his fame as the chosen one and pined for him at every opportunity, which Harry, of course, hated.
"You don't know how excited I was when I found out that you're giving us the training, Harry." The girl said happily.
Not giving her his full attention, Harry just continued to eat, while the girl tried twice as hard to compliment him.
"I know there is no other wizard as powerful as you to teach us," the girl insisted, getting closer to Harry and not caring about his discomfort, she continued, "No one that is as handsome."
A little flushed and uncomfortable, he directed an incredulous and uncomfortable look towards the girl, and although without success, but without wanting to be rude, he decided to answer.
"Thank you," Harry replied in a curt tone, while the only one who understood his discomfort was his red-haired friend.
"Everything I've learned I owe to you, Harry," the girl continued, daring to take his hand, while Harry, feeling uncomfortable, tried to pull his hand out of her grasp.
"Maybe we could go out one day, outside of training or you could give me private lessons". The girl coquettishly suggested.
As the girl began to speak more and more just to Harry, Ron couldn't help but laugh a little, as he found it so funny that even his female students were flirting with his best friend. The redhead kept smiling, until the woman touched on a very sensitive topic for his friend, because she dared to mention Hermione, which made Ron stop his jokes and turn to look seriously at the girl, showing that she had made a mistake by doing so and not continuing with that topic, meanwhile, the dark-haired man had begun to tense.
"I heard that this girl, friend of yours, Hermione Granger? She's on a business trip and from what I've heard, Harry is in a fight with her, is that true?" The girl said, with notable emotion in her voice as she was talking to the chosen one outside of class.
Her words made both Harry and Ron turn to look at each other in disbelief, since Harry hadn't fought with Hermione, there was only a little tension between them because of the chestnut's feelings for Harry, who had just discovered them, so that there was no reason for the girl to say something like that.
Unable to help it, Ron turned to look at the girl again, signaling her not to continue with this topic or else Harry would soon reject her in a bad way, but she decided to ignore him and continued.
"Well, now that you're in a fight and Hermione's out of the field, you and I could go out on a date without anyone bothering us, Potter. I understand that Granger is always a pest with you two" — she finished saying and then jumped scared in her seat, when Harry got up from his chair completely red with anger, hearing the nonsense she was saying and what she dared to say about Hermione.
"You're crazy if you think I'm going to put someone above my best friend! I will not date any woman who sees me only as the chosen one or the boy who lived. Here I am an auror and your trainer nothing more and for your information, at no time have I argued with Hermione and even if that had happened, it would be none of your business! And I also hope, for your own good, that you don't talk about her like that again, much less call her a jerk, because she isn't!" finished the jet trying to contain his fury, leaning towards the girl and resting his hands on the table, with his jaw clenched.
"Oh, come on Potter! Granger has always seen herself as the one who wants to grab the attention, I can always make you look like the protagonist of everything, you know that your fame presides over you" ... the girl affirmed with confidence.
"Pay attention because I'm not going to repeat it, Hermione is a great person, who never sees for her without putting others first, unlike you, she has never seen me for my fame and that makes me have her in a special place like my best friend and before her there is not and there will be no one who occupies that position if they only seek to flatter me". Harry straightened up; his eyes full of anger boring into her.
He broke Ron's grip on his arm trying to reassure him and taking out his wand, without saying goodbye to anyone, he floated his tray, dumped his trash and stalked out of the cafeteria in a fury.
4 months later
The shrill sound of the elevator almost shattered her eardrums as it climbed up the ministry, but it didn't bother her at all, more like a sound that welcomed her home.
The time she had spent away from London had been little, compared to other workers who had been gone for years, however, she missed the place, her home, her family and her friends very much.
However, she did not complain about her stay in Germany, the country had fallen like a glove for her, because apart from working there, she was able to visit many places and take time for herself and meditate on everything that was happening in her lifetime. So after four months away, she was definitely ready to get back to reality and her everyday life.
Her parents had been the first to welcome her a few hours before her arrival. They had begged her to stay to rest and take a nap at their house, but Hermione wanted to go to the ministry, work couldn't be paused and they would have the whole weekend to tell anecdotes and memories.
In fact, she had the day off, just like next week, but she didn't mind going to just leave a little report on all her work and then go home.
Nobody knew that she had come to work, at least not her friends, not even Harry and Ron.
Speaking of the two of them, that would be another reason why she was going, she thought, smiling a little.
They had written each other, mentioning Ron, that would only be about five letters in the four months, but compared to other times that was quite a lot for him.
And Harry...
They hadn't written to each other the first week, at least she didn't return an immediate response to the first letter he sent her, precisely the night of her departure, where he wanted to make sure she had arrived safely.
But, she decided to push all the awkwardness and embarrassment aside to finally write to him.
She did not have an exact count of how many letters had gone from here to there in all that time, but she was sure that they had been more than thirty and the most peculiar thing is that both acted in the most normal way, neither, ever, mentioned anything about it what happened that day. They both left that behind.
That certainly broke Hermione's heart, leaving her devastated one night, because if Harry had decided better to forget things, it meant that he clearly didn't want a romantic relationship with her. She decided to let that go, because she was grateful that at least she still considered her his best friend and didn't avoid and ignore her because he didn't want to be with her anymore.
Leaving that in the past, Hermione's smile couldn't get any bigger as she got closer and closer to her best friend's training office.
Without thinking twice, she took a deep breath before turning the handle and opening the door.
Inside, everything was chaos. Wizards training to be Aurors, they went from here to there following instructions and trying to do their job to the best of their ability.
It wasn't easy to find him among all the wave of people, but it was easy to spot a perfectly clean and wrinkle-free uniform, which stood out among the blue shirts and blouses that all the boys wore and after all those years, she knew it was him. .
"Excuse me" she began to hurry to pass among all the apprentice boys "Excuse me"
Her heart was beating fast, she just wanted to see him and hug him again.
"Sorry," she apologized as she gently pushed an apprentice girl away.
Finally making it past the sea of people in front of her, she made it to Harry, but was surprised to see that he wasn't alone.
"I'm trying, I've already told you that I can't with my group, don't you think you can come with us for a while? You won't get bored" said a girl who was with him.
She was a very pretty girl, she was standing in front of him with a rather cheeky smile on her face while she only had eyes for Harry.
"It is necessary that you come to have another tea with us. It's always very interesting chatting with you," she said coquettishly.
Still not knowing what to do, but being able to feel her smile fading, Hermione just stood there, listening, although she knew she was probably doing something even disrespectful, listening to a conversation where she had nothing to do with, much less, start to get jealous?
First of all, Harry had his own life and Hermione knew that perfectly well, but therein lay the problem. The feelings that she herself thought she had buried during those months away from him, returned so fast that all that time it had taken to hide them, now seemed absurd and even a joke.
"I'll ask Ron, I have to talk to him now." Harry's voice was a little irritated, but Hermione didn't pay attention to him, until he turned and was face to face with her.
Unfortunately Hermione was no longer in her mood as before, so her smile had faded and her eyes bored into the girl Harry was conversing with.
On the other hand, her best friend was speechless and his eyes went from being dejected to going all over her, verifying if what he saw in front of him was real and if his best friend was there.
"Well, well," the first to speak was the girl, who crossed her arms and walked closer to her, positioning herself next to Harry, "you must be nothing more and nothing less than the famous Hermione Granger," said the girl with an air of superiority.
Faking a small, polite smile, Hermione just nodded.
"Hi…" Harry muttered. "I didn't know you were coming to work today."
His eyes were still glued to her face. It seemed to Hermione that they were checking to see if it was really her or if he was hallucinating.
"Did you know she was coming today and you hadn't told me? How disrespectful of you, Harry Potter!" the girl exclaimed.
"And the reason I had to tell you was exactly...?" Confused, Harry turned to look at the student.
"Excuse us dear. My mistake for not asking. He talks a lot about you".
"A very informative fact" without being able to avoid it, the sarcasm spilled from her mouth.
The girl's smile trembled a little at the brunette's comment.
"Well, we should get back to practice, right Harry?" The girl asked, trying to pull Harry away from Hermione.
"Who by Merlin's beard was she? And why was she so conceited? Didn't she have the clothes a student wears? She shouldn't be the one ordering everyone there."
"Hey, wait," Harry gently took her arm. "Would you mind going out with me and Ron for a drink tonight? We have to catch up on a lot of things," he offered in a sweet voice.
"Harry, we need you to help us with practice," the girl insisted, shaking the boy's arm, who didn't bother to hide his irritated expression and respectfully shook his arm from her hand.
"You go. Your classmates did pay attention. They can explain to you" he settled the jet with notable anger.
Offended, the woman opened her mouth so wide, it seemed like an exaggeration.
Hermione ignored all this and thought about the offer.
With that proposal, it was difficult to maintain a serious expression and the girl thought that at any moment, Harry could hear her heart beating harder and faster, giving her away.
But on the other hand there was the jealousy that consumed her like a living flame.
"Harry... you see, I... could, but..." Hermione stammered.
She couldn't find the words even though she searched the depths of her brain. She didn't even know what decision to make.
Harry was still watching her with all the attention in the universe, realizing that she was getting nervous and confirming his words to Ron about the possible awkwardness between them. But Harry was determined not to lose his best friend.
It was impossible not to immerse yourself in his eyes, those green wells, those that welcomed her home without the need for their owner to say anything.
"I don't know... it could be..." she answered, when she was interrupted by her red-haired friend.
"So, it's true!" Ron Weasley's voice made them both jump in fright as they came out of their bubble of admiration towards the other" If it wasn't for your familiar hair, I would have counted you as another person in the crowd we have here! The redhead exclaimed.
Ron gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, while Harry's hand was still holding her, although wanting to show that she was calm, she had a hard time feeling all those butterflies inside her again.
"Why didn't you say you were coming? George and I could have thrown a party here at the ministry!" Ron protested.
Hermione was thankful that that hadn't happened.
Harry was looking at Ron seriously, although there was a hint of gratitude in his eyes.
"It would have been a good idea," he nodded absently, "so what do you say, Hermione?" Harry insisted.
"Are you already making plans without me?" Ron pretended to be offended.
"Harry wanted the three of us to have a drink tonight…" Hermione said with a shy smile.
"Perfect. See you tonight," Ron declared excitedly.
"Eh, I... I don't know," The honey eyed girl stammered, feeling her cheeks catch fire, her hand began to sweat, making her nervousness noticeable.
Ron fixed his gaze on his friend, pressuring her to accept. Harry, who was also looking at her, squeezed her hand in a sign of supplication, which ended up bringing down the chestnut.
"I, I... okay, I'll try to go," said Hermione swallowing and looking at the ground, in a clear sign of pity.
"I won't try anything, promise me! Ron argued.
"Good! I promise! The brunette exclaimed at that pressure and nodded looking at Harry, who hadn't stopped looking at her, waiting for her to confirm her attendance.
"Ehh... it was very good to see you. I'll go give my reports to the minister and see you tonight." Hermione spoke after a few seconds of silence, she smiled as much as she could, freeing herself from Harry's hand, so she could finally get out of there.
"Weasley! Potter! What are you doing standing there? We have thirty-seven witches and wizards wanting to train here!" Kingsley exclaimed, entering the place.
The brunette turned towards them waiting for a response from Harry, but he turned to look just like Ron when they were called, so in the seconds that they were distracted, Hermione managed to get out of that place, meeting Kingsley when she arrived at the door.
"What a great meeting" she thought sadly.
"Oh! Hermione! I wasn't expecting you for another week around here. And of course, I should have assumed that it would be around here to the first place you would come. Come, we need to talk about the matters of your trip". said the excited minister.
Harry, still disappointed by this troubling encounter between them, turned to the door to see his friend walk away with Kingsley.
Later that night, Harry and Ron decided to invite Luna, so that with her company, Hermione wouldn't feel so uncomfortable about what had happened with Harry earlier. The two friends, along with Luna, appeared in front of Hermione's apartment to pick her up and then the four of them together headed to the nightclub where they would hang out.
When there was a knock on the door and Hermione opened it, it didn't take her long to greet the three of them warmly, trying her best not to let any of her friends, especially Harry, notice her discomfort, as well as trying her best not to cross her path gaze with him.
While the four of them were together, they appeared in front of the nightclub where a very cheerful atmosphere was seen and they walked inside, looking for a table for the four of them and in a short time they were already chatting pleasantly, while Hermione, very excited, told them about the investigation what she had done on her trip to Germany.
So immersed was she in her emotion, that for a moment she forgot the embarrassment she felt towards Harry, not realizing that he was watching her speak with a crooked smile on his lips. He was so proud of his best friend and everything she was achieving, that he couldn't help but feel infected with her joy.
Hermione continued to talk to them about her research and then about how she would start working on centaur rights, all smiles and excitement, at least until a woman approached Harry very coquettishly.
Seeing her approach, Hermione stopped talking, losing the thread of what she was saying and for a moment her gaze connected with Harry's, who was already looking at her waiting for a reaction from her.
Hermione thought that she was being very transparent with her feelings and that Harry could easily see the bad mood caused by the presence of this woman so close to him. And she would have no way of hiding the jealousy she felt, for she wanted to look away, but she couldn't, something in the way Harry was looking at her prevented her.
For his part, the jet raised his face, still looking at her knowing how she felt at that moment and without being able to say a word, in her eyes he could only capture the sadness with which she saw him and the anger with which she watched the movements of the women. It was jealousy, maybe?
Without saying anything, they held each other's gaze for a few seconds until Hermione, once she had mustered all her Gryffindor courage, gave the best calm smile she could, deciding that she should intervene and say something to him.
"It's okay, Harry," said the honey eyed girl, keeping a smile on her face, although inside her heart ached, and instead, she turned to Ron, who was looking at her trying to let her know that if she needed him, she wouldn't hesitate to tell him.
Hermione just gave him a resigned look and got up from her place towards the bar.
"Now I'll be back, I'll go for a butter beer, do you want to come with me, Luna?" She asked, hiding her nervousness.
As soon as Luna got up and followed her friend, Harry turned to the woman next to him and quickly waved her off.
"I'm not interested, I'm sorry," the green-eyed man explained, trying to be courteous.
Listening to him, the offended woman got up looking at him angrily, not believing that he could have rejected her and without looking at him again, she left very indignant.
Luna was trying to cheer Hermione up, as she had shed a few tears that she was trying to hide from her friends, mainly Harry. They were at the bar waiting for their beers, when a rather handsome boy came up to greet Hermione.
"Hermione Granger!" The boy exclaimed, in a way that only they could hear.
Hermione turned after quickly drying her tears, to recognize Bertram Wolfgang, one of her fellow researchers in Germany, and smiled in response to his greeting.
Bertram Wolfgang was a German man, slightly taller than Harry, with large, deep blue eyes. His dark brown hair contrasted with the beard he grew. His broad back and stocky body, properly shaped, almost like an auror's. His voice was deep, deep and calm, giving the feeling that he had a lot of confidence in himself.
At a table in the back were Ron and Harry, who had just turned to look for their friends, when Harry noticed the boy talking to Hermione very animatedly.
"Oh, Luna! This is Bertram Wolfgang, he was one of my fellow researchers in Germany. Bertram, this is my friend Luna Lovegood" said the brunette, smiling, while Luna held out her hand to the man.
The blonde was the only one who had noticed that her dark-haired, green-eyed friend was looking in her direction, sizing up the boy who was talking to Hermione.
"What are you doing here, Bertram?" asked the brunette, a little confused.
"The German minister asked me to come and deliver some documents to the minister, plus Kingsley has offered me a position as an auror, so I'm here to stay. I handed in the reports this morning and some acquaintances from the ministry here invited me for a few drinks. We were sitting over there and that's when I saw you" said the boy pointing to a table in the corner of the place.
"Granger, would you give me a dance?" Bertram asked gallantly.
The brunette was about to reject the invitation, when Luna intervened.
"Go, I'll go back to Ron! It has been a pleasure Bertram" Luna said with a pleasant smile.
"Likewise, Miss Lovegood," Bertram replied, as Luna walked away towards her friends and Hermione blushed slightly, accepting her partner's dance.
When Luna reached the table, she noticed that Harry was keeping an eye on Hermione and the man she was dancing with.
"Oh Harry, don't worry, it's just a fellow researcher she met in Germany." Luna assured calmly.
The green-eyed man blushed and looked away from Hermione's direction.
"Are you jealous, friend?" Ron asked, a hint of teasing in his voice, causing Harry to let out a frustrated sigh.
"I don't know what I'm feeling, Ron. What I will not allow is someone to hurt her again. Although I don't even know how to avoid hurting her, you know I don't do it intentionally. I feel helpless, I think you could say," Harry clarified, bringing his hands to his face.
"Remember that you promised me to talk to her when she returned. It's your chance, do it when we get out of here. We'll take her home and I 'll take Luna, with some excuse so you can talk" said the redhead offering his support.
"I will," Harry stated with conviction.
A few minutes later, Hermione returned to the table with Bertram, to introduce him to her friends.
"Hey guys! I want to introduce you to Bertram Wolfgang. He is one of my fellow researchers in Germany. He has come to meet with Kingsley and join the auror corps at the London ministry. Bertram, this is Ronald Weasley and…" said Hermione happily, when she was interrupted by Bertram himself.
"Harry Potter, of course. It's nice to meet you, Potter," the man said, holding out his hand to both men. Hermione had blushed at the mention of Harry, but not at the fact that she talked about him a lot, but at the mere mention of his first and last name, knowing that Harry hated his fame.
"Only Harry is fine, it's a pleasure," the raven said as he held out his hand, noticing the apologetic look in Hermione's eyes.
But what only Bertram and Ron noticed, was that when he held out his hand to Harry, it was Hermione's proud smile as she introduced her green-eyed friend, which she was trying to contain so her emotions wouldn't be so obvious.
The redhead also noted that when Harry held out his hand to the man, the man had inadvertently looked a bit intimidating, which made the german feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Harry is the head of the auror department, Bertram. Your new boss," the brunette said, joking a bit with Bertram and making Harry and Ron laugh.
And there it was again, that smile from Harry that made her heart race, made her lose herself and feel full of happiness.
The jet stared at Hermione with great intensity, while Bertram did not take his eyes off Harry. Realizing this, Ron broke that moment by ordering another round of drinks.
Harry was the first to refuse, as he needed to be as focused as possible in order to talk to his best friend.
For her part, Hermione ordered a beer, which when she received it she drank it very quickly, because somehow so many glances between her and Harry made her mouth dry, since it was hard for her to stay on the sidelines.
Ron started chatting with Bertram, both hogging the topic of conversation, which was quidditch as they were both fanatics of the sport. Yes, Harry loved quidditch too, but at the moment his mind was on the conversation he was going to have with Hermione.
Minutes passed, in which Harry began to feel anxious, Hermione had chosen to talk to Luna about regulations in the treatment of magical creatures and for the first time in her life, Hermione let Luna ramble with her inexplicable creatures, since with it she could avoid falling completely into her best friend's gaze.
A couple of hours later they left the place, apparating outside Hermione's apartment. Once in front of the brunette's house, apologizing, Ron hurriedly took Luna with him.
"We say goodbye here," he told them, taking the blonde by the hand, "Luna and I have another commitment, see you later, Hermione."
Without saying more, Ron and Luna said goodbye hastily, disappearing from the place, leaving Harry and Hermione alone quickly, before the brunette could even react, because she still felt nervous with Harry and obviously being alone with him.
Then together they walked to the door of Hermione's apartment, plunged into an awkward silence as they found themselves completely alone. They finally stopped in front of the door and standing there, Harry mustered all his Gryffindor courage and spoke.
"Hermione…" the jet said, a little insecure at first, "I think we have a pending talk, don't you think so?" Harry finished, shoving his hands into his pockets and noticing in the process that his friend was blushing quite a bit.
"Tell me," Hermione said without a choice and without looking up, but knowing that at some point she would have to face what that conversation would imply.
"Look at me, please," Harry asked, noticing that her friend obeyed, raising her face slowly. "Since when, Hermione?" he asked short and to the point, knowing she understood, but it was Harry's turn to blush, waiting anxiously for his answer.
"Since we rode Buckbeack in third year and... I fell in love with you in fourth year," Hermione confessed, blushing more and trying by all means to avert her gaze, as she let out a sigh.
"Oh, Hermione…" Harry said, trying to bring his hands up to his face, unable to think of a good response to her confession, "sorry for all the times I've hurt you, I had no idea that you felt this way for me, please forgive me," Harry begged, now running his hands through his black hair, a clear sign of the frustration he felt.
"Harry, I have nothing to forgive you for. That's one reason why I never told you about my feelings for you... I knew you would never notice me. The bookworm, the girl with bushy hair and eats books, who doesn't practice the sport that you like so much and besides, you would end up feeling guilty for every time you hurt me unintentionally, whether it was because you had a partner and I... I didn't want you to go through that," the brunette clarified, smiling shyly at him.
The silence that followed that statement was very tense, both Harry and Hermione could hear each other's heartbeat, nerves and emotion mixed, green and brown stared at each other intensely.
"You are a beautiful woman and I am not saying that to make you feel better, I am serious and any man would be lucky to go out with you. Also, you know in advance that my intention has never been to hurt you and I know that you are well aware that the man who hurts you will have to deal with me and Ron, including me. You saw what happened with Ethan". The green-eyed clarified, noticing the palpable tension that was growing between them.
Both as a mirror, they passed saliva and combed their hair, it was such a strange feeling between them, it was such a unique moment that both did not know for sure what to do or say.
"Harry, really, I don't want us to change the treatment we have, I am a woman who is going to put you first and that includes knowing how to put limits between my feelings and my unconditional support for you..." Hermione said putting things that she longed to say, since one thing that would affect her would be losing Harry from her life.
"Hermione, you're my best friend and I don't want to lose our friendship either... but understand me, knowing that you feel something so... beautiful for me, is something I don't know how to reciprocate... And really, right now, I would like to think about this Hermione and see what will happen later. I know I don't deserve you, that's why it's so difficult..." Harry said with difficulty, when he was interrupted by his friend.
"Do what you have to do, but what I deserve or not, is something that I will decide and... I know for sure that I love you," interrupted Hermione. Harry blushed and looked down, clearly affected.
The speed at which the pulse of both increased, went to the tips of their fingers, feeling a small but intense magnetism.
"Promise me that no matter what happens between us, we'll never stop being best friends," Harry begged, "you're one of the most important people in my life and I'm not willing to lose you. I don't want to lose my best friend."
"Harry, I'm going to tell you something and make it clear to you. Nothing, absolutely nothing in this world, will make me walk away from you or stop being your friend, because first of all that's what we are, friends and I love you as my best friend too. So, I promise you," said Hermione with a smile, stroking Harry's cheek.
At that contact, Harry let out an involuntary sigh, that hot air was perceived by the brunette, which made her legs tremble, her belly felt a tickle and her mouth opened pulling air.
"Come here," Harry told her, reaching out to hug her and kiss her on the head. "Are we okay, then?" No discomfort?"
"Uh-huh. Just don't look at me like that" the brunette asked, blushing more than she could, while calming her thoughts and reactions.
After a few seconds and separating a little so that he could hear her, Hermione released her last confession.
"Your eyes are one of the things I like the most about you and when you look at me like that..." She didn't finish saying it before feeling her face redden, almost the same color as Ron's hair, luckily Harry understood and she was able to bury her head in his chest again, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Oh, Hermione! What am I going to do with you?" Asked the boy with a lopsided smile and a little blush, while they continued to hug.
... .
Several weeks later, Harry agreed with all his students that, for their class, they would have to face a boggart, as this was essential to complete their training as aurors. For this, a special room was prepared in the ministry, where, as in his time at school, Harry had a small cabinet placed, the interior of which contained a boggart.
At the same time that same day, Ron visited Hermione's office to ask her, as part of a favor, to deliver some papers to Harry for him, which had to be filled out after his training for the day and then he would have to go to another room with his own group.
Harry had had a good workout with his students and the boggart. The only problem came at the end, when he ordered one of the few remaining students in the room to close the cupboard while he went to the cellar to collect the books that would be used for the next day's training.
His young student, quite distracted, failed to realize that he had accidentally left the cupboard handle loose.
As soon as everyone left the room, leaving it empty, Hermione entered looking for her friend.
"Harry..." the brunette called, causing her best friend to peek through the cellar door and greet her, happy to see her.
"Mione, wait a second, I'll be there in a moment," Harry told her, returning to the cellar to finish his task.
Nodding, Hermione stood her ground, her back to him, as she arranged the papers in her hands to hand them to him neatly, unaware that behind her, the cupboard handle began to open and the boggart took advantage of the opportunity, escaping.
Uncomfortable when she felt an unusual cold in the room, she turned around confused to see what the hell was going on, encountering a horrible scene that made her drop the papers and let out a scream, scared by the vision that she had in front of her.
Harry, who had heard the scream, hurried out of the cellar, alerted by concern about what had happened to his best friend. As he left, he froze, Hermione was on her knees on the floor, tears running down her cheeks in a heartbroken cry and in her arms, a lifeless version of himself, with his head resting on her legs, with his eyes closed and his face pale, while she tried to bring him closer to her body, snuggling with him against her chest, while with her free hand she carefully cupped his face.
"No! Harry! Please do not leave me! No! Harry, come back!" sobbed the chestnut inconsolable, because the boggart had already trapped her with it magic and she believed that Harry was dead.
After seeing that horrible scene, the raven saw his body change shape again. Now becoming another version of himself alive, although this time, he seemed to be speaking to Hermione.
"Hermione, I don't love you; I could never love you. To me you are nobody, I don't even consider you my friend" said the boggart turned into Harry, while the brunette continued crying and her eyes were bloodshot.
"Who could love a mudblood?" Harry's boggart had sneered, causing Hermione's face to form an expression of terror, accompanied by endless tears of sadness.
Harry was still transfixed, until he heard the words mudblood come out of the boggart turned into himself, which made him react, knowing that he would never say something like that to Hermione. He then ran and got between her and the other version of himself, leading the boggart to turn into two bodies lying dead on the floor. Hermione in the foreground and a little further back was Ron. His two best friends, dead. But Harry didn't let the boggart's magic catch him and quickly with his hand, waved his wand and with a non-verbal spell, sent the boggart back to its place inside the cupboard, closing it with a padlock.
Getting rid of the boggart, he turned to Hermione, who was hugging herself and still on her knees crying inconsolably, he crouched down beside her, helping her up and when he had her in front of him, he hugged her, while trying to make her come back and at the same time tried to get rid of the fear that she still felt.
"Shh, Hermione, I'm here with you. I'm alive," Harry told her, comforting her as he hugged her, slowly caressing her back and planting a kiss on her head. "I'm here, you're my best friend and one of the most important people for me. You're one of the people I love the most, I'm not going to leave you" he told her, seeing how Hermione separated a little to connect her gaze with his and blushed, trying to articulate a word and say something that died in her lips and ended up hiding her face in his chest.
Minutes later, the brunette had made Harry promise that no one would find out about this incident.
Heyyyy, sorry for being so late with this update, but I had a pretty busy few weeks and so did my beta, but here's the update.
I appreciate your comments and favorites. I always like to know what you think.
We keep reading soon.