Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not mine. Although, I fervently wish otherwise!

A/N: Thank you to MarsPotter for all her help and advice. She's literally the one who's keeping my muse going!

The rest of the evening passed by in a haze of confusion and disorientation.

No matter how hard he tried, Harry couldn't get the damn snog out of his head. And who could blame him?! It had been the single most intense experience of his life thus far…and he was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that it'd happened with Hermione, of all people!

Blimey, he had kissed Hermione. Hermione Granger. Bookworm extraordinaire and resident know-it-all - that Hermione! His Hermione! (Well, not his in the sense that he owned her in any way; not at all. Just that she was his in all the ways that a person could belong to someone else and vice versa - without being romantically involved with each other!) And, it had been fucking amazing! The best snog of his life by far - not that he'd had too many of those in his life to boast about! He'd never been so utterly consumed, so totally electrified by anyone else before in his entire life! How that was even possible was completely beyond him! He shook his head in bewilderment. It needed repeating - this was Hermione he was talking about! Who knows what would have happened if the bell hadn't tolled when it did? Even now, in the Great Hall, surrounded by all their friends, it was taking his entire concentration to get his raging hormones under control!

Several times during dinner, he caught himself looking at Hermione's lips; wondering how she'd react if he grabbed her and kissed her again. Because surely what had happened on the Quidditch pitch had been a fluke…? Or maybe he'd just built up the experience in his mind! That must be it. There was no way that a single (rather small!) kiss could feel like that.

He caught Hermione looking at him wonderingly over the course of the meal as well but as soon as their eyes met, she would look away in a hurry. Neither of them dared to bring up the topic that was clearly on both of their minds - not in front of all their classmates, at least. (Some Gryffindors they were, huh?) But Harry realized that he had to talk to her after dinner - alone!

Just thinking about the kiss now - dear heavens, he'd almost swallowed her whole. She'd had to tell him multiple times to stop! How fucking mortifying! Oh what must she be thinking? She was probably disgusted at his behavior and his lack of control. He shouldn't have gotten carried away like that. He should've stopped the instant she'd first asked him to! Merlin, he hoped he hadn't made her feel uncomfortable in any way because that was the very last thing he'd ever want to do!

Yup, they had to find a way to discuss this…incident… before things got too uncomfortable (and he could already feel the embarrassment creeping in…) between them as they were no doubt bound to. They'd gone through too much; felt too much for each other to let one 'pretend' kiss get in the way of their friendship.

To make matters even worse, things with Ron were still off too. So all in all, there was a markedly strained silence between the three of them at the dinner table. Fortunately (Oh who was he kidding, there was nothing fortunate about it!) Lavender took it upon herself to make up for the lack of communication.

"So…? Tell us how this started!" Lavender demanded animatedly, pointing at him and Hermione and having no qualms whatsoever about being rude. "How long has it been going on? When did you realize that you were more than just friends? And who was the first one to figure it out?"

So many questions! Nope! He was out. Gossip or... discussions regarding relationships and such were definitely out of his wheelhouse!

"Err…" Harry panicked, looking at Hermione desperately for help. He was blank but surely Hermione would have this all figured out? She was the thinker…the planner! She would definitely have planned for such a scenario.

"I…I asked Harry out, actually." Hermione answered hesitantly before he could bugger everything up with his cluelessness, thank Merlin!

"Ooohh…" Lavender and Parvati squealed together. Hermione gave them a strained smile, obviously still not completely over being grilled by Lavender at his Quidditch practice earlier.

"Come on, don't be stingy…tell us everything!" Parvati urged.

By this time, they'd managed to attract quite an audience. Aside from Lavender (which naturally meant Ron was around!) and Parvati, they now had Ginny, Dean, Seamus, Neville, the Creevey brothers, Luna (who'd taken to sitting at the Gryffindor table more often than not) and Romilda Vane (Ugh! Once again, Hermione had been right, there was definitely something a bit off about that girl!) listening in.

"It all began when we found out that we both were invited to Professor Slughorn's Christmas Party…" Hermione began.

"But…didn't Harry go to that party with Luna? And I thought you went with Cormac!" Parvati interrupted, frowning slightly.

"Wait, what? Cormac? As in Maclaggen?" Ron interrupted, incredulously.

"Yes, Ronald! I went to Slughorn's party with Cormac Maclaggen!" Hermione snapped exasperatedly. Her eyes flashed with anger. Clearly she was still mad at him.

"Bloody hell! But...WHY?"

Despite Harry's current annoyance with Ron's childish behavior, he couldn't help but mirror his horrified disbelief. Honestly, what had Hermione been thinking?!

"Shhh, Ron! That's not important right now…" Lavender interrupted, clearly a bit annoyed with Ron for his outburst. "Hermione was just going to tell us how she and Harry finally got together!"

Merlin, she almost seemed like she was salivating at the thought of being the bearer of such juicy gossip.

"So, anyway, Cormac was…well, let's just say he was ghastly. Naturally I was a bit upset and left the party early. Turns out, I didn't feel like going back to the common room at the time. So I walked up to the Astronomy tower to have myself a bit of a mope. Harry, poor thing, came looking for me - just to make sure I was okay and we got to talking. One thing led to another and that's when I realized…Harry and I should've just gone to the party together in the first place."

"Uh, I told you days ago that we should go together!" Harry interrupted, unable to resist adding in his two sickles worth of opinion.

"Yes, yes, for once you were smarter than me!" Hermione rolled her eyes, giving him an indulgent smile.

"So, wait, does this mean you asked her on a date even before Slughorn's party?" Neville questioned.

Huh! "I…I guess it does!" Harry admitted stumblingly. He hadn't meant for it to be a date exactly but he couldn't blame Neville for jumping to the wrong conclusions. Technically he had asked Hermione out! Besides, no one but the two of them knew that he'd asked her, just out of convenience and that sort of worked in their favor; letting everyone believe that he'd been interested in her in a more romantic fashion than was strictly true. "But she'd already asked Maclaggen by then…" He trailed off, still feeling a bit annoyed and insulted that she'd chosen that git over him!

"Ooh! And that made you feel jealous, didn't it, Harry?" Luna piped up excitedly. "The flubbering plumperdinks fluttering around you for the past few days are a dead giveaway! They only appear in cases of extreme jealousy and possessiveness."

"Err, okaaay…?" Harry agreed, mainly for the sake of agreeing but also because he didn't want to hurt her feelings. He'd found that the best way to deal with Luna when she was in one of her moods was to just go along with whatever made-up creature she seemed to be obsessed with at the time. (Honestly, it might not seem like it most of the time, but he truly adored her. She was definitely one of a kind!)

"Ooooooohhh!" This time the exclamation was even louder. "We'll get around to the matter of Harry's jealousy later." Lavender decided animatedly. She seemed to be right in her element - in the middle of the latest and hottest piece of gossip in the school right now. "Go on, Hermione. Finish your story." she urged somewhat impatiently.

"So anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, while we were talking in the Astronomy tower after Slughorn's party, I realized that we should've just gone to the party with each other. I mean, Harry and I are best friends – we understand each other. And we love spending time together. We also never have an issue finding something to talk about. So yeah, we're pretty perfect for each other, I think…"

"Awwww!" Lavender sighed rapturously. "That is so sweet...I think you're perfect for each other too!"

Hermione sneaked in a look at him - her eyes were dancing with mirth. At the same time, he couldn't help but notice a slight tinge of shyness and anxiety in her gaze. Yup, they definitely needed to have that talk - and soon! Not that he knew what to say to her exactly! But it was something that he'd just have to figure out along the way - something that he excelled at. He was after all, a fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy, he thought, rolling his eyes at himself.

Back to the matter at hand, he couldn't help but be impressed at Hermione's ingenuity. Since when had she gotten so good at fibbing? And she thought she was bad at lying? What utter tosh! Even Harry was having trouble disbelieving her right then and he was the only person besides her that even really knew what was going on!

"So we got talking and decided to give this - us - a try."

"Best friends who finally realize that they're perfect for each other! How grand! How utterly romaaantic!" Lavender and Parvati sighed in unison, a dopey look in their eyes.

Ugh, seriously? Harry barely stopped himself from actually (and not just mentally) rolling his eyes. Those two were positively mental!

Funnily enough, Ron looked like he was going to barf as well (- which could end up being a disaster for him considering that it was his own girlfriend who was being so nauseatingly annoying about all this!) And Ginny…she looked a bit out of sorts too. What the hell was her problem?

"I always knew you two would end up together!" Lavender continued, not seeming to need much input on either of their parts. "Pav, didn't I tell you this would happen as far back as the Yule Ball?" She turned to Harry then and declared smartly. "By the way, you really should've asked Hermione to the Yule Ball too, you know!"

Huh. Well, how about that? It would've been such a simple and elegant solution to his problems at the time! Take Hermione as a friend more than as a dance partner or a date. Honestly, why hadn't this occurred to him back then? His only defense…? He'd been a total nincompoop at the time - obsessing over the likes of Cho and Fleur; totally blinded to what was right in front of him the entire time.

Parvati nodded sagely, while Ron frowned at him from where he sat next to Lavender on the other side of the table.

Harry couldn't get over the rest of Lavender's outlandish claims - she just knew from 4th Year, did she? What an utter load of rubbish! Hermione and he had always been best friends - strictly platonic best friends at that! And no one had ever thought they were anything more until the pathetic rumor-mongering of that slimy woman, Rita Skeeter! She'd made up some truly spectacular and outlandish lies - all for the sake of selling that rag...masquerading as a newspaper!

Merlin, he hated that woman, with a newfound passion. She'd really fucked up his life, not to mention Hermione's! That poor girl had gotten more Howlers and hate mail than anyone deserved that year. (Even Mrs Weasley who normally was a very discerning individual in his opinion had bought into the lies! And that's all they had been, lies! There'd never been anything even remotely romantic between him and Hermione - until now, that is. And even now, it was all just part of an elaborate scheme to make the people they were really interested in jealous.

Seriously, why did people choose to believe that drivel about him and Hermione being secretly involved with each other anyway? It had never been true - not in the past and certainly not now! So what if they had just shared the single most exciting snog of his life so far? It hadn't meant anything - at least nothing romantic. They were just very comfortable with each other, that's all. And the voice in his head telling him that he would never look at Hermione the way he had before tonight…? Yup, he was just going to ignore it and go on pretending that everything between them was exactly the way it had always been!

After dinner, Harry reluctantly made his way to the Headmaster's office for his 3rd lesson with Professor Dumbledore. He'd been a bit afraid to leave Hermione and Ron alone (he could only hope and pray that they wouldn't end up murdering each other before he got back ) – but knew that the lessons were imperative for his long term well-being.

Professor Dumbledore showed him two new memories – both of which left him with a sick, hollow feeling in his stomach. The deeper he got into these lessons, the more Harry was left with a growing sense of dread about how similar his and Tom Riddle's early life had been to each other. Both of them orphans; both of them unwanted by their extended families. The only difference was - he'd ended up with his aunt and uncle while Riddle had ended up in an orphanage. (Although, he wasn't sure at all that he'd gotten the better end of the deal - after all, the Dursley's were their own special brand of torture.) He couldn't help but wonder – what had made Riddle turn evil and cruel while he, himself, turned out relatively…normal.

By the time he clambered back through the portrait hole, he was utterly exhausted – the bleakness of Tom's childhood seemed to drain him of any and all joy as well. But at least he now finally understood why Professor Dumbledore had encouraged him to get closer to Professor Slughorn since the beginning of the year. Although – how he was ever going to get Slughorn to give him the unaltered memory was beyond him. (He'd tried asking outright and that certainly hadn't worked!)

"Harry! There you are!" Ginny called out, breaking into his train of thought.

Looking up, he noticed that Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville were all sitting at their usual table; all of them seemed to be working on their individual assignments for the day. He sighed. Knackered though he was, he had homework of his own to finish.

He sighed. Dragging his feet, he headed over to the table, slumped down in the seat beside Hermione and pulled out his parchments, quill and pot of ink. Only Hermione noticed the pinched expression in his eyes – not that he was surprised by this in any way. She seemed to have an almost preternatural awareness regarding his day to day moods and overall well-being.

"Harry?" She questioned, instantly pausing her reading and turning to him. "Are you alright? How did your...err lesson...with Professor Dumbledore go?"

"It was fine," He answered briefly, not wanting to divulge too much information around Ginny and Neville or even Ron for that matter – not when he was still being a giant prat.

Hermione as always caught on and didn't press for further details. "Okay, then, what homework do you want to work on?"

Harry smiled. Good old Hermione. Always reliable and dependable. He knew he could count on her for discretion and understanding.

Then he remembered the kiss. Holy Fuck! How could he have forgotten - even for an instant? There had been nothing reliable or dependable about her then, had there? She had reduced him to a shuddering, quivering mess – and all without much effort on her part. Bloody hell – he would never be able to see her as just good old Hermione ever again! (And wasn't it ironic that despite the sudden tension that seemed to have crept up between them, it still seemed like the most natural thing in the world to sit down next to her?)

He flushed and turned away, choosing to just focus on his work instead of answering her query. The newfound tension he felt around her made the word 'awkward' take on a whole new meaning.

What with his own nervousness and Ron and Hermione's ongoing feud – it made for a nerve-wracking study session to say the least.

To Ron's credit, he was at least trying to make amends with Hermione by doing his homework diligently. Of course what would've worked better was him just coming out and saying he was sorry for his words. But he was too proud to do that. So he did the next best thing - Ask Hermione for her help.

"Hermione, could you look over my Transfiguration essay for me, please?" he pleaded.

"Not now, I'm busy." She answered icily, not bothering to even look up from the book she was reading. She definitely wasn't going to forgive Ron easily, that was for sure. "Leave it on the table. I'll have a look at it later."

"Sure…" Ron sighed, disheartened.

Hermione turned her attention to Harry - in a move deliberately designed to snub Ron. A tiny part of Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for the bloke. And yet for the most part he felt that Ron absolutely deserved the cold shoulder treatment. He'd brought it on himself, frankly. His treatment of Hermione lately had been rather deplorable - especially since he'd led her to believe that he was going to accompany her to Professor Slughorn's party and then, instead of following through on it, he'd taken up with Lavender instead! Not to mention the fact that he seemed to imply having some sort of a prior claim on her during their argument earlier today...Long story short, Harry felt that Hermione was more than justified in her anger and disregard of Ron, at least until he made a significant effort on his part to make amends!

"Harry, do you need help with your essay as well?" She asked, giving him a soft smile. Wow – she was not giving up any chance to further their plan, was she? And why had he never noticed how cute she looked when she smiled? The crinkle in her nose was just so adorable! He sure could get used to this…these smiles that were meant solely for him. They made him feel special.

"Harry? Harry!" Ginny called sharply, shaking him out of the trance he seemed to have fallen into.

"Huh? What?"

"Hermione was asking if you needed any help!" Ginny informed him rather curtly.

Geez, guess her mood hadn't improved since dinner, huh? It seemed like she'd had a really bad day! Oh well, a good night's sleep and she'd probably be right as rain.

"Sure Mione…thanks! But only if you're not too busy!" Mione? Where the hell had that come from? (Guess whatever affliction had affected him over the last few days...he still wasn't over it. Maybe he should go see Madame Pomfrey…? Whatever Potion or Spell it was, it could be causing long lasting damage!)

"Oh Harry, I'm never too busy to help you out, you know that!" Hermione insisted, leaning over to run her fingers through his hair.

He shuddered, his whole body feeling like a live wire. Hermione's fingers were pure magic! He almost purred in pleasure, realizing in that moment that he was entirely and completely jealous of Crookshanks for all the cuddles and petting she always received from her erstwhile owner.

"That's it!" Ron sprang up from his spot on the floor, sounding disgruntled. "I'm off to bed!"

"Yeah, I'll join you!" Ginny grumbled, throwing him and Hermione a particularly disgruntled look. "I doubt we'll get much work done anyway."

What did that mean? And why was she acting so passive-aggressive all of a sudden?

"Why don't we all go and leave the two lovebirds alone then?" Neville teased, smilingly. "They're clearly in need of some…privacy!"

Hermione flushed. Harry grunted, his senses still a bit fuzzy from her touch.

One by one their friends took off; some of them (Ron and Ginny in particular) markedly reluctant to do so.

Finally, they found themselves alone by the fireplace. Harry gulped. Granted, he'd wanted to talk things over with Hermione all throughout the evening but now that the time had actually arrived, he found himself almost hyperventilating. Not to mention, he had the overwhelming urge to enact their previous interaction once again. Just for research purposes, of course! Not because he actually wanted to kiss her again, not at all! In fact, that was the last thing he wanted! (Oh, who was he kidding? He really wanted to snog her again - but mainly because he was a hundred percent convinced that he'd just blown up that entire experience in his mind until it had just taken on a life of its own! By snogging her again he just wanted to make sure that the reality actually matched up to what his mind had conjured up!)

"Harry…"

"Her…" Harry began at the same time.

They both trailed off simultaneously. Hermione looked away shyly. Harry cleared his throat loudly.

"You go first…" Harry muttered.

"No, no… you go first…" Hermione countered.

Both of them were in uncharted territory – they'd never felt this much discomfort in each other's presence before.

And yet, despite the awkwardness, Harry was barely managing to keep himself from touching her… from kissing her again. Just one more kiss…he argued with himself. That wouldn't be so bad, would it? No. No! He shouldn't do that. He couldn't do it! For once he was going to get a handle on his impulsive tendencies - even if it killed him to do so!

"I…" Harry began only to be interrupted by Hermione.

"Uh...Did you see the look on Ginny's face just now?"

Err, what? That was the last thing he'd expected her to say! He'd been terrified that she'd want to talk about their kiss and how it was a mistake that couldn't be repeated again…

"She was jealous, Harry!" Hermione continued with growing excitement, unaware that she was the source of his confusion.

She was? Huh. "Was that why she was acting so weird all of a sudden?"

She laughed delightedly. "Yes, Harry!"

Wow, he hadn't even realized! He didn't want to say it out loud but somehow Ginny and her jealousy didn't seem like such a big deal right now. Especially not in the aftermath of that kiss.

"Our plan is working, Harry! It is pretty obvious that both Ron and Ginny don't like the fact that we're 'dating' each other. This clearly means that they like us! I think it's just a matter of a few more days now…"

A few more days in which he could hold her hand and hug her and possibly even…kiss her? His whole body tingled at just the thought of it while his heart thudded with nervousness.

"We can do that, right?" Hermione questioned worriedly.

All he could do was nod mutely.

"Brilliant!" She exclaimed...although...for some reason, she couldn't seem to meet his eyes. Her cheeks, he also noted, had turned a dull, dusky rose. He swallowed. It was now or never. They had to talk about 'it' - the snog (and not just because a part of him was dying to find out if he'd scored alright on the 'secret snogging test' that all the girls around him seemed to be conducting lately!)

"Err, Hermione." He began hesitantly. "Shouldn't we talk about what happened tonight?"

The blush on her cheeks deepened. "Y...yes…" She stuttered, glancing at him briefly. "We really should."

"Okay. Err, do you want to go first?"

She shook her head emphatically.

"Right." He trailed off. "Are...are we okay?" He questioned hesitantly, not sure how to straight up ask her if he'd been decent at the whole snogging thing. "I...I mean…"

"Of course we're okay!" Hermione hastened to assure him, seeming distraught at the thought that he'd inferred otherwise. "Harry, the kiss was fine!"

Fine? Fine?! He couldn't help but feel disheartened. Wow. Guess he was the only one who'd thought that that entire experience had been something special!

"Well, at least I didn't cry!" Hermione joked awkwardly, for once completely oblivious to his insecurity and fear. (Oh Merlin, what was he going to do if it turned out that he was really really terrible at snogging?)

Thank God for small mercies though. Even if Hermione admitted to hating their kiss, he'd somehow survive. He'd be mortified and would go hide in a bog somewhere, sure. But at least he'd pull through! What he wouldn't have survived was another wet kiss, that was for sure. If Hermione had burst into tears for any reason, at any point of time during their smooch he'd have just curled up into a ball and died, right there on the Quidditch pitch!

"And didn't I tell you, you'd be brilliant at snogging?" She went on, turning even redder, but entirely oblivious to the sheer significance of her statement.

She hadn't hated it. She hadn't hated it at all! All of a sudden, he perked up, feeling a whole lot better. Brilliant at snogging, huh? That wasn't such a bad endorsement! Oh no, not bad at all. He could live with 'Brilliant at snogging'!

"So it was alright?" He questioned, trying his damndest to sound cool and collected.

"Y...yes." She stuttered in embarrassment. Then she gave him a look that was a combination of annoyed, exasperated and indulgent. "Harry, come on! I thought you knew that already. I had a very enjoyable time." She finished primly, in true Hermione fashion.

He wanted to just hug her, he was so happy! Or you know, kiss her again. Instead, he gave her a dopey but affectionate grin. "Me too."

She returned his grin, seeming very content at that moment. Then she flinched, some of the joy leaving her face. No! His heart twisted. What had gone wrong? Why did she look sad all of a sudden? He wanted her to be happy and smiling, always! (In fact, he wanted to be the reason for her happiness!) Barring that, he wanted to slay all the dragons that were responsible for making her unhappy - no matter what they were!

She turned away from him, deliberately breaking their visual connection and busied herself collating her homework into separate piles. "I think you have nothing to worry about! Any girl would be lucky to be snogged by you. In fact I can almost guarantee that Ginny will be really happy when you two finally get together. Trust me, Dean doesn't stand a chance!"

Oh right. Ginny. That's who she expected him to be snogging soon. Fuck!

"Well, Ron shouldn't have any complaints either!" He felt obligated to point out, even though the thought of Hermione kissing Ron (or anyone other than him, really) didn't sit too well with him!

Hermione gave him a strained smile. "Err, Right. Well, that's...reassuring."

He couldn't be completely sure of course, but it felt like she wasn't as thrilled to imagine Ron kissing her as he'd have imagined her to be considering the origins of their entire scheme.

"Good good." He responded. For his part, he was definitely trying a bit harder than usual to sound upbeat.

Fuck it all, he really was an unlucky bastard, wasn't he? How else could he explain the fact that he consistently found himself in the most unwanted situations ever?

First, he hadn't wanted to be in a pretend relationship. Still, for the sake of their friendship, he'd agreed.

Then, he had been opposed to the thought of kissing his best friend. And yet, he'd done that too.

And now, when he couldn't even stomach the notion, he had to convince Hermione that she was a phenomenal snog and that Ron would be an idiot not to be kissing her at every given opportunity! Blech!

Forget being the Boy who Lived. He should be called the Boy whose life routinely Sucked!

A/N: - Read and Review! Your comments give me the motivation to keep writing!