A/N: For the purpose of this story, the canonical romance between Harry and Cho Chang never happened.


Hermione Granger was perplexed. This, by itself, was rather surprising. Hermione was rarely ever confused. She was someone who usually always had the answer at the reach of her fingers. So why was she currently perplexed?

Well, as it happens, it is because of one boy: Harry Potter.

Hermione was in love with Harry Potter. He was Hermione's best friend. He was also the reason why Hermione would get perplexed so often. Hermione liked to believe she knew the boy she loved like the palm of her hand, but she couldn't. Whenever she believed she had figured him out and could read him like a book, he would go and do something that left her confused in his wake.

Now, she knew it wasn't his fault. She knew Harry did not purposefully do things to confuse her. He wasn't like that, after all. However, it happened from time to time. The most recent example of this was at the beginning of their sixth year at Hogwarts. What was confusing her currently? Well, Harry was giving completed homework to his teachers, yet she hadn't seen him work on them once since their return to school. She knew because whenever Harry had free time, he would spend it either with her or Ron – and she doubted Harry and Ron worked on their homework while she wasn't there. When they were all three together, she often pushed her friends to work on their homework. Ron would begrudgingly accept and would do it, but Harry wouldn't.

"Oh, I've already done it." he would always say. The only exception was when they had received the specific homework earlier that day, but then both he and Ron would band together to convince her they would do it later. And, somehow, out of nowhere, the next time she would ask, Harry would have completed his homework. She even asked to see when she was suspicious, and Harry would always show her his work. It was always well done too, as if he had spent many hours working on it, even thought she never saw him touch it once.

It was very frustrating. What was going on? When did Harry do his homework? Did he even do it himself? She wished she could say no for sure – and the fact it was his own handwriting pointed toward that result – but since she never saw him work on it, she couldn't decide for sure. What's more is that Harry's performance in class was also improving. Yet, once again, she didn't see him study that much. Just like his homework, she never saw him study despite his performance in class improving.

That problem perplexed the young witch for nearly a month. She did try to find the answer by asking Harry but, her friend would always dodge around the question or answer too vaguely for Hermione to take anything out of it. Unfortunately, someone like Hermione did not take well to mysteries such as this. Add to the fact that Harry appeared to be smitten with another witch and something was just bound to happen. And it did, all thanks to one Potions book.

That day, Hermione snapped. It was also the day that changed their relationship going forward.

"Honestly, Harry!" she exclaimed angrily after their latest Potions class. Ron had left earlier, not wanting to take part in that fight. "How many times did I tell you not to use that book! It's cheating!"

"It's not cheating!" answered Harry, also sounding angry. "I simply followed a different set of instructions! The objective of the class was to make a potion, and I did that potion! The instructions are simply there to help us get to that result! It doesn't matter if I followed a different set of instructions!"

"That's not the point of the class! Potions is about learning how to brew potions correctly, not experimenting with untested recipes! It could be dangerous!"

"The worse that could happen is that my potion fail. That wouldn't be so much different from our previous five years! And if it fail, then that's on me. I really don't get why it anger you so much." he said. "It's not like what I do in class affect you. Even if Slughorn decided what I was doing was cheating, it wouldn't affect you."

Hermione bristled. "Well, maybe I wouldn't be angry if I didn't believe you were cheating in all of your classes!"

Harry blinked, taken aback. "What?" he gasped, none of his anger present in his voice. "I'm not cheating in all of my classes!"

"Then how do you explain the fact your grades are skyrocketing, yet I never see you study once?"

"Hermione..." said Harry softly. Hermione ignored her and continued.

"How do you explain you always have your homework completed, yet never do it while you're awake?"

"Hermione..." attempted Harry again.

"Honestly, Harry. I thought you would have known better and would have been willing to put more efforts in your studies after what happened with Sirius!" she said. She clapped her mouth with her hand when she realized what she had just said. She immediately came to regret it when she saw the hurt in Harry's face.

"Harry..." she said softly. "I'm..." But she never could apologize. Harry turned around and stormed out, leaving Hermione alone. She put her hands on her eyes. 'What have I done...'

Harry did not speak to her for the rest of the day. In fact, he went out of his way to avoid Hermione. It hurt Hermione greatly to see him avoid her, but she knew she had deserved it. Her comment had been a low blow. Harry had been blaming himself for Sirius' death since it had happened. Despite what everyone, including her, had told him, he believed it was his fault and his fault only. It was only recently that Harry seemed to begin moving on from the tragedy of the Department of Mysteries.

And then she just had to come in and throw the incident back into his face in a way that made him think she believed he was at fault for Sirius' death – even if she knew he wasn't.

Hermione spend a few very lonely hours that evening. She had spent it in the common room, hoping she could talk to Harry to apologize for her words, but Harry never showed up. She waited and waited. Once, Ron entered the common room. Hermione, believing she would at least have company, went to join him but, when she did, Ron vaguely said he had something to do and, before she could say more, he had gone up to his dorm. Hermione had sat back down at her seat sadly. It seemed Ron was aware of what she had said to Harry, and was angry at her too.

Eventually, once it was past eleven, Hermione was forced to give up and retired to her dorm to sleep. However, sleep did not come easily. She spent two hours laying down on her bed, unable to fall asleep. She could not stop thinking about the fight she had with Harry. The guilt she felt allowed her to discard the anger she had previously felt at the situation, which allowed her to think about it more clearly. Was what Harry doing truly cheating? Now, in the confine of her bed, she could admit that no, it wasn't cheating. It was an unfair advantage, yes, but it wasn't cheating. Harry did, after all, complete his potions by himself. Just like he had said, he was simply using a different set of instructions.

Eventually, after two hours of turning around in her bed without falling asleep, Hermione gave up and decided to go to the common room. If she wasn't able to sleep, she could at least use her time to read something. She raised from her bed and grabbed a book from her things before slowly walking out of the dorm.

When she arrived to the common room, she was surprised to see some light. Usually, the house-elves extinguished the fireplace once everyone was asleep. For it to still be alight, it meant someone was still awake. Yet, she had been one of the last to leave the common room so, who was it?

Hermione received her answer when she entered the common room. She felt herself still when she saw someone with a recognizable mop of black hair sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Harry was there. She didn't know what to do. Should she talk to him now and give him her apology, hoping he wouldn't storm out before she could, or should she turn back and leave him alone?

Unfortunately, she took too long to take her decision. As if knowing he was observed, Harry turned around and spotted her. His face was emotionless. He looked very tired, as if he hadn't slept for days. Harry turned back toward the fireplace. "Hello, Hermione." he said, not looking at her. Hermione winced at the cold in his voice.

Knowing she didn't have much of a choice anymore, she took a few steps forward. When she approached the sofa, she noticed books and scrolls of parchment laying on the table in front of him. She blinked, realizing what she was seeing.

Harry was currently doing his homework.

"Shocked that the 'cheater' is actually working for his grades, aren't you?" he said with a bitter snort.

Hermione gulped. Hesitating, she sat down on the seat next to him. "Harry... I'm..." she began.

"Save it." interrupted Harry harshly. He still wasn't looking at her. In fact, he was currently writing an essay. "I don't want to hear it."

"But..."

"No." he said, shutting her up. He then chuckled coolly. "I'm the first one that will admit I was not the best student in the past. I had the brains, yes, and I did manage more than my fair share of good results by studying and practising little, but I never really put the effort and commitment to my studies. I should have, after all the things that happened to us. The Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets... Sirius, the Tournament... It wasn't until the Department of Mysteries that I truly realized the harm I was bringing myself and those close to me by not putting in the effort to learn magic. If I had, who knows how things would have changed in the past. Maybe it wouldn't have, but I believe it would have made a difference. It might have allowed me to defend myself against Pettigrew in the graveyard, leaving enough time for Cedric to escape. It might have given us enough time to escape from the Death Chamber before the Order arrived. If it was the case, then Sirius would have never fallen into that blasted veil."

"Harry..." tried Hermione, wishing she could say something – anything to comfort him. Harry ignored her.

"This summer, I felt completely and utterly depressed. I felt like Sirius' death was my fault. I couldn't get the blame out of my mind despite what you, Ron and everyone else would say. 'He would have wanted to go out that way, fighting for what was right!' they would say. It used to made me laugh. No, Sirius wouldn't have wanted to die like that. He would have wanted to die a free man and of old age, possibly with a girl or two in his arms – not fighting to save his godson from a trap. Back then, I thought Sirius would blame me for how he died. I had enough time to think about the situation to know that Sirius wouldn't have blamed me, but at the time, I didn't. It ate me from the inside. I could barely sleep that summer. During the night, I would be plagued by nightmares.

"Eventually, I decided I couldn't let this happen again. I wouldn't let anyone else die for me. I would become a better wizard that could fight his own fights. The first step toward becoming better was to be a better student at school. So, I studied, and studied hard. I hoped my new focus on my studies would push away the guilt and allow me to sleep better. Unfortunately, by the time school began once again, I still wasn't in a better position. I still couldn't sleep. I was and still am plagued by nightmares. I can't stop but seeing all the deaths I witnessed in the past. My mind is torturing me. I'm even seeing my parents' deaths, even if I couldn't do anything to stop it. So, instead of spending the nights doing nothing in my bed or dreaming about my worse memories, I come down here and study."

It seemed so obvious now. If Harry wasn't doing his work during the day, then it meant he was doing it during the night. How had she not seen it? Her heart went out for her best friend. She couldn't imagine not being able to sleep because of constant nightmares. She wanted to attempt to apologize again but, again, Harry ignored her and continued speaking.

"When I met Slughorn during the summer, he told me that Potions was one of my mother's best subjects. He told me tales about how she would top the class, always producing better potions than that of her classmates. When I learned Potions was one of my mum's best subjects, I decided I would focus on the subject more. I didn't care if my track record in the class hadn't been great so far, I wanted to be the best at the class, just like my mum had been. I wanted to make her proud. So, when I got the Half-Blood Prince book, it was as if Christmas had come true."

Hermione wanted to cry. She couldn't stop thinking about all the times she had been angry at him because he had done a good potion in class, believing it to be simply because of the Half-Blood Prince, not because Harry was actively putting the effort on it. How many times had Hermione spat on his wish to make his mother proud?

"Did you know that the Half-Blood Prince book only contain a few different sets of instructions?" he suddenly asked, looking at her for the first time. Hermione, confused, shook her head. "The book is mostly filled with tips, in reality. Tips how to better manage your time while doing a potion, what to prepare in advance and what not to, how to best use your ingredients for that specific potion, etc. Only a few potions in the book have instructions telling you to do something contrary to what the original book indicated, like for the Drought of Living Death.. Otherwise, the book only give you tips, things we would have known ourselves had Snape actually bothered to teach properly in the past."

Hermione had to admit it made sense. The majority of potions had already been improved to their maximum. It wouldn't have made much sense if most – if not all of them – could still be improved, and by an unknown sixth year too.

"Anyway – since the beginning of the year, I divided my days like this. During daylight, I would do like usual, but I would use my free time to rest instead. If I was lucky, I would spend an hour or two sleeping in my dorm. If I wasn't then I would simply do something relaxing in the common room or outside. I wouldn't do something mentally challenging like homework. If I spent nearly twenty-four hours every day working on class stuff, I would have a mental breakdown." he said. "During the night, I would attempt to sleep. Usually, if only because of sheer exhaustion, I'm able to fall asleep. Unfortunately, I almost always wake back up within an hour or two. Since I'm unable to sleep at that point, I would come here to the common room to do my homework. Once I was finished – or too tired to think clearly – I would go back to my dorm and hope for an hour or two of sleep before I had to wake back up.

"This schedule is far from perfect, but it is what allow me to do proper work while also somewhat sleeping. I'm not sure I could have done it if it wasn't for the right motivations." He then looked back to Hermione. "Three things motivated me to become a better students. I already mentioned two. I wanted to become a better wizard in the hope of protecting my loved ones, and I wanted to make my parents proud. I haven't mentioned the third yet, but it was possibly the most important in my mind." Then, looking straight in her eyes, he said "It's you."

"Me?" gasped Hermione. She hadn't expected it. Harry nodded.

"Yes, you." he said. "I've liked you since the beginning of fourth year – might even have fallen in love with you. When I decided to become a better student, I also hoped I would impress you, that I would show you I was actually brilliant, just like you are." He then laughed bitterly, looking away from her and back at the fireplace. The act made Hermione want to cry. "I was wrong, of course. From nearly day one, you've been on my case, telling me that the only reason I was doing better in potions was because of the Half-Blood Prince. I'd hoped that you would notice my increased performances in my other classes and would make you think twice about your stance. You did indeed notice it, but it instead made you double down. Then you came and told me I was cheating, that I couldn't achieve these results by myself." He shook his head. "It felt as if you were telling me you didn't believe me to be good enough to protect my loved ones, or that I wasn't bright enough to make my parents proud, or that I wasn't worth your attention. It felt like a slap in the face." Hermione was now crying. Oh, the guilt she felt upon hearing what Harry was saying. "I always thought I would have your support, but you proved me otherwise today. It's ironic. For all the times you told me I could become better, once I finally do it, you accuse me of cheating. And I thought we were friends..."

"I-I'm s-sorry!" blurted Hermione loudly. "I-I'm sorry, H-Harry! P-Please! I w-was out of l-line, an idiot! I-I was s-stupid! P-Please, I'm s-sorry!"

Harry looked at her, not that she could see it through her now blurred vision. She felt him put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you really?" he asked with a hint of skepticism.

"Y-Yes!" she exclaimed, crying even louder. "I'm s-sorry for d-doubting you! I-I'm sorry f-for acc-ccusing you of ch-cheating! I'm s-sorry, Harry... Please... I love you!" she admitted. She did not hear him answer right away. For a moment, she feared Harry did not believe her, that she was simply saying she loved him to put herself back in his good graces. She felt him remove her hand from her shoulder, and she almost began crying even harder. Then, she felt him touch her cheeks with his hands. Using his thumbs, he wiped away her tears. Hermione looked up. She saw his bright green eyes look back, almost as if questioning. Answering the unspoken question, she nodded and said "Yes... I love you, Harry. I have since third year when we rode Buckbeak together."

She saw elation and happiness in Harry's eyes. Then, shocking her, he leaned forward and kissed her. After the guilt she had felt after hearing Harry's story, the kiss full of love she gave him felt like heaven. It was soft and almost, she dare say, sensual. Despite what she would have wished, the kiss did not last long, and Harry withdrew quickly.

"Why, then?" he asked.

"I was stupid." she whispered, her eyes closed. "There is no explanation. I was simply stupid and assumed I knew all the details."

Gently, Harry put his arms around her and drew her in a hug. "I love you, Hermione, and I forgive you. Please don't do it again. If you are ever questioning something about me, just come and ask. I might not want to talk about it but I wouldn't lie to you."

With her apology accepted, Hermione let out a deep breath of relief. She would have cried of relief, had her tears not already been spent. Instead, she simply held on to Harry, just like he held on to her. They leaned toward the sofa together.

"I love you, Harry." repeated Hermione quietly. She was beginning to feel the exhaustion of the day and her eyes were beginning to close.

"I love you too." said Harry as quietly. She gave him a last look. His eyes were closed and his breathing was calming down. He was falling asleep. Hermione smiled. It honoured her she could bring comfort to Harry to allow him to sleep despite everything he was going through. When she woke up the next day, she found out Harry slept through the entire night without a nightmare.

It made her very happy.


A/N: This one-shot is a mix of two different ideas: In the first one, Hermione noticed Harry always had his homework done but never saw him do it. She never found out how until she randomly woke up one night and found Harry in the common room working on his homework. Harry would have then opened his heart, telling her how he couldn't sleep because of nightmares so he came to the common room and worked on his homework to busy himself. Hermione would have then come down every night to see Harry and spend time with him, which would have built a bond between then that would have evolved to love at the end.

In the second idea, Hermione snapped at Harry following the end of a potions class for his usage of the Half-Blood Prince book and Harry stormed off. Hermione would have then realised she shouldn't have screamed at Harry and went to talk to him to apologise. She would have found him alone in an enclove of a corridor crying, and Harry would have opened his heart to her, explaining he was putting all of his effort into becoming a better student (for the same reasons as in this story) and how it wasn't paying off, to the point where even one of his best friends was angry with him. Feeling guilty of demoralising him, Hermione would have attempted to calm him down and reassure him. It would somehow have ended with a kiss.

As you can see, this fanfiction is a mix of both ideas to build something better and more complete (in my opinion).