Degnoming the garden at the Burrow had always been fun, always been a good way to take his mind off of things no teenager should ever deal with, but even that couldn't shake the feeling of guilt and pain that Sirius' death brought. He let go of the gnome, watching it fly over the garden wall and hitting a tree in the distance, before slowly getting back up and burrowing underground. He mindlessly lifted to swipe away at the sweat on his forehead, realising too late that, as usual, Hermione was watching him closely, and, unluckily, so was Ron.

"Blimey, mate! What happened to your arm?" Harry stilled and quickly covered his wrist with the too-large sleeve of one of Dudley's old T-shirts.

"Nothing much had a gardening accident back at my relatives." He lied

Hermione narrowed her eyes, but Ron, wonderful, always trusting Ron, just nodded and went right back to pick a gnome from one of the holes under the closest tree. Harry smiled slightly and turned around to get some water from the charmed pitcher on the table near the backdoor of the Burrow.

"Harry." Of course, She had followed, She would never let it go, and He could never convincingly lie to her

"Hermione." He said, trying to appear unbothered.

"How did you get those cuts?" She moved forward, whispering so that Ron wouldn't hear them.

"I told you, gardening accident" He shrugged, She could tell He was lying, but She couldn't force him to tell the truth

"Bullshit." She said, his eyebrows disappeared under his hairline. "I know those kinds of cuts Harry. I know what caused them"

"Hermione, I-" He tried to say something, anything, but nothing came out as she got a step closer

"Harry" a warning tone that He rarely heard from her, and it never was directed at him, it was the tone she had used at the Ministry, against the Death Eaters.

The tone she used when Draco Malfoy started to grate on her nerves "Do not lie to me."

"Not here" He finally said "Please" he pleaded

"Tonight then. In the orchard, after midnight, I'll meet you outside your room."

He nodded and she let him pass to go and finish helping Ron.

Hermione busied herself the rest of day, reading and helping Mrs Weasley in the kitchen when asked.

Harry was cutting himself, she knew.

Her eyes closed as she remembered the Ministry and a throbbing in her chest reminded her of the scar Dolohov gave her. It was thin now barely visible, but it would always be there, and it would never go away, just like some of the scars she knew Harry had, both on his body and not.

She could still see the tears he had shed when visiting her at the infirmary after the battle, could still hear the hitch in his voice as he pleaded for her forgiveness. She had never really seen Harry cry before, but there he was, kneeled at the side of her bed, in the middle of the night, his face buried in the white sheets, as her hand softly threaded his hair, as she whispered comforting words, as she assured him that it wasn't his fault, not really and that he couldn't, shouldn't, shoulder all of it on his own. She kept caressing his scalp until he stopped crying

"Hermione" he had never said her name with such a pleading tone "I know that what I'm asking is... selfish and awful, but please, please never leave me"

Her eyes had softened at that, she stopped caressing him so that he would lift his head and meet her eyes.

When he did she held his gaze "Never" she had said "I will always stand by you, Harry"

The affection and hope she had seen blossom in his eyes had kept her awake at night countless times, she had wanted, at the time, nothing more than to kiss him, to show him how much she felt for him, but she had held back, it wasn't the time, she had told herself. Truth be told, she had just been terrified, she had almost died not two days before, and her best friend was pleading her forgiveness, fully believing it was his fault, his burden to carry.

She opened her eyes and checked her watch, it was an older, fully mechanical model, her father had gifted it to her when she turned eleven. She slipped off the cot, and quietly dressed, as Ginny silently slept on the bed in the room they shared. She made her way to the door and slipped through the slight opening, before closing it behind her. She strained her hearing, and knew that Harry's bedroom door had just been closed as well, she made her way downstairs, carefully avoiding the now memorized creaking steps, and stopped in front of him. Harry nodded when he saw her and moved to the rest stairs to lead the way, she followed him through the burrow kitchen, stealing a look at the Weasley family clock, unmoved from his perpetual mortal danger state.

The fresh air of the orchard made its way into their lungs, filling them and making them both breath deeply. They were far enough away from the house, she knew, but Harry kept walking, and she kept following, hurrying to be not behind him anymore, but at his side. He stopped a couple of minutes later, under a particularly full apple tree, she watched amused as he reached high for two of them and sit down at the base of the tree, waiting for her, with an apple in his open hand

"Are you always hungry?" she said with a smile, she needed him to know that she wasn't mad at him, she needed him to know that she was concerned, yes, but never angry.

"I'm a growing boy" he shrugged, and she could see the tension leaving his shoulders a bit as she accepted an apple and sat at his right, leaving no space between them

She bit into her apple, it was sweet, as always, and she waited for Harry to go first because she knew that barrelling him with questions would never get him started. She started fidgeting after a minute or so of the just quietly eating their apples. He smiled at her in amusement, he knew she was bursting at the seams with questions and she could see the distinctive, and sadly almost always absent, glint of mischievousness in his emerald eyes. She smiled and, blushing a bit, lightly hit him in the arm. His smile widened and he leaned himself on her shoulder, his head comfortably resting close to her neck.

"I'm sorry" he started saying, she wanted to tell him he had nothing to be sorry about, but he tried lying to her so she didn't.

"For lying to you".

She smiled "Trying, you mean"

"Fine" he huffed, but she could feel his smile "Trying to lie to you"

"You know, Harry..." Hermione started, Harry for his part just snuggled closer to her side.

"I know some things are difficult to talk about..." He tensed slightly but didn't put space between them which she took as a good sign.

"So, I'd like to tell you something myself first, ok? And then you can decide if you want to say something too."

"OK." he whispered.

They fell silent again, both trying to find the right way to breach the argument.

"I did it too, for a while." she broke the silence.

"What?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"During my third year" she grasped his hand and their fingers intertwined "I was stressed and never slept enough, and I was so pent up I punched the wall in the showers. It helped calm me down."

She felt his hand carefully tighten its hold on her own.

"Me too, but it was during the fourth year, after Halloween, you were great, and you supported me throughout, but not everyone did, and I didn't want to keep blowing up in my dorm mates faces, so I started punching the wall in the bathroom to keep myself under control." She laid her head down on his and sighed.

How had she not seen this before

"I understood what was happening, but it helped with the stress of everything and I started with the cuts the day after Christmas." She knew he would connect the dots, and try to blame himself again, but she would not lie to him, too many already did.

"Merlin, Hermione, it was after the firebolt wasn't it?" he moved his head from her shoulder, but never left her hand "I'm so-"

"Shut up, Harry" she snapped "It wasn't your fault, you didn't cut me, I did it myself.

Yes we had a fight, but there are other ways to handle emotional stress, I just chose an unhealthy one"

He did shut up because he knew she was right, and because he knew he was the same.

"I started after the second Umbridge detention. I know it sounds stupid, but everything was going to shit, and even my pain wasn't mine to control anymore, Umbridge wanted to take that away from me as well. It was awful, just punching the wall didn't do it unless I broke something, and believe me, I did, I learned a spell to knit broken bones so that no one would notice. I started cutting myself because it was easier to hide the scars, and every time I looked I remembered that I still had some control over myself. Even if it wasn't a good thing, even if it was small." he put his head against the tree trunk and she could feel his confession draining the pressure from his shoulders.

"I stopped that summer because I couldn't use magic to heal the scars, and it would have been impossible to hide them on the French beaches me and my parents went to, thankfully, once the stress from the time-Turner got removed, I didn't really need it anymore, it was difficult to stop like that, and that's when I truly understood that it was like a drug, the sense of release that it brought, it pushed me to do it again, and again" She sighed and used her other hand to push up Harry's sleeve and bring the scars out.

There were 5 thin lines, one looked more recent and one looked almost gone, but they were there.

She traced her fingers on each one before tuning to Harry waiting for him to speak

"I know... This summer... I just feel so... guilty... So broken and the Prophecy just made it real to me that I really don't have a choice, that I really have no control over anything... But I can still control this, these are my scars to make, my scars to leave or heal, my pain to take."

Hermione nodded and covered his scars again.

"I know how it feels but, Harry, it isn't good, it isn't healthy. I know asking you to stop out of nowhere won't work, but please, promise me we'll work on it"

"We?" he asked

"Always." she said

She could see his eyes glistening in the moonlight "You won't leave me alone?"

"I told you" she smiled "I will never leave your side".

The sixth-year had been a right mess from the beginning, Hermione, while mad with him for using the Prince book, was still by his side, and even gave his theory of Draco being a death eater a fair chance, Ron wanted to dismiss the idea, but with Hermione taking his side, he didn't really speak up. Still, none of his efforts was useful in finding out what Draco was doing. Harry knew he was using the Room of requirements every once in a while, because sometimes when He and Hermione went there to train, they found it occupied. That was the other thing they decided on doing, every time one, or both, of them felt stressed or overwhelmed, they spent the extra energy on training, and, after a while, it had become routine, they trained almost every morning, and sometimes in the evenings too. Sometimes Ron joined, or some other member of the DA, but everyone seemed to have their own schedule, and Harry and Hermione were mostly together alone.

That's how they found themselves the evening after Slughorn announced his Christmas party. Harry knew he had to go, to get in the good graces of the professor, and Hermione had to go too, if not to help him, to at least make her "debut" in the Web that was Slughorn's contacts. They were at the end of their training, duelling each other. Hermione's incredible ability to concentrate even in the most stressful of situations made her particularly adept at using transfiguration during a battle, and Harry's superior power in spells and his reflexes made them good opponents for each other.

With a silent flick of her wand, Hermione transfigured the ground under Harry's feet in quicksand, hoping to trap him and hit him with her stunner and disarming combination. But Harry had already levitated himself out of harm's way, and, with a flick of his own and no words muttered, he had conjured a set of ropes heading in her direction. She countered the incarcerous spell by transfiguring the ropes into a dozen small bees that flew towards Harry's face, both distracting him and obscuring his vision. This wasn't the first time she had used this trick, so Harry, anticipating it, had flames spew out of his wand immediately after conjuring his ropes. Hermione smiled trough the frustration of being so easily read if it was anyone other than Harry she would've felt particularly useless, but She and Harry had such an incredible synergy, that even while thinking the bees might have worked she was already transfiguring the quicksand left from Her previous attack in a sand lion and sent it to Harry's back, he didn't seem to notice first, and she thought she had hit him with a surprise attack, only to be shocked still when the lion impacted Harry and disintegrated against a shield she hadn't seen him cast.

Harry used the distraction to hit her with a stunning, disarming, and bounding combo. The fight over, Harry relaxed and walked to Hermione to free her from the ropes and give her wand back.

"What was that shield?" was the first thing she asked after waking up.

He smiled "A new spell I found in a half-forgotten book in the restricted section, its wand movements are the same ones for wingardium leviosa, you just have to extend the flick downward for a quarter more"

"Wait," she said, "You cast it while casting the levitation spell?!"

"It's surprisingly easy to do" He nodded "mostly focus on the levitation until the movements for it are complete, and during the quarter downward flick, you focus on the shield, it only guards your back, but put enough power into it and it stops physical blows as well as spells."

"Harry!" she said jumping to her feet and bear-hugging him "That is amazing! So little people can get the hand of dual casting even with the simplest spells!"

Harry blushed returning the hug "Thank you, Mia".

They were still sweaty and breathless from the training, so they opted to end their hug and go for their dormitory to get a shower and a clean change of clothes.

Once they had changed they met again in the common room, sitting on the couch in front of the fire.

"You don't have rounds tonight, right?" Harry asked settling himself on one end of the couch

"Have you memorized my schedule, Mr Potter?" Hermione joked, closing the book that was already open in her lap, to give Harry her undivided attention.

"Maybe I have, Miss Granger."

"Why, I would think you were trying to get me all alone in this big castle" she winked and scooted a bit closer to him

Harry blushed furiously, he really wasn't used to the flirty banter the had been exchanging since this summer

"Well, I am trying to get you alone tonight, so you're not that far off the mark"

Hermione raised an eyebrow and focused on his eyes, a small smile tugging at her lips

"And why pray tell, would you want me all to yourself tonight?"

"Well I hoped to ask you something if you don't mind of course"

She nodded "Of course I don't mind Harry" she reassured him, patting his knee gently and leaving her hand there as she sensed the end of the conversation and opened the book again, leaning on his side while reading.

Harry's arm unconsciously snaked his way around her middle, squeezing her even closer.

While they still hadn't openly admitted anything, and hadn't kissed yet, the physical contact between them had increased exponentially. Not only were they constantly in contact while training and mock duelling, but every time they had a moment to relax they unavoidably ended up sitting close together, one of the two leaning on the other. Harry had to admit, Hermione's shoulder was even better than the pillows of Hogwarts, and Hogwarts had some damn good pillows. That evening, after dinner, and after curfew, the two sneaked out of the common room, towards the room of requirements. They squeezed under the cloak, maybe more than strictly necessary, and moved with one eye on the map to avoid patrols.

"So," Hermione said once they reached the room "What did you want to ask me?"

The room was a small, comfortable-looking living room, with a loveseat in front of a roaring fire, on top of a warm looking carpet that covered the entire floor, a small table appeared in front of the loveseat when She wished for some tea.

"Well, first of all" He took a step in her direction and hugged her close, conveying everything he didn't know how to say "Thank you for helping me so much this year."

"Harry, you don't need to-" she reinforced his hug by locking her arms around his neck, happy that her head fit exactly under his chin.

"Please, Mia, I know you've been taking time off your studies to help me with training, and it was your idea, to begin with. I know what we're doing is important, but I also know how much you care about your education. And it is working by the way, not only am I stronger and faster but... " he drifted off, separating them enough to sneak his left arm in front of her.

She looked him in the eyes and, seeing only reassurance, lifted his sleeve. There were still 3 scars on his wrist, but they looked older and almost gone.

She smiled brilliantly at Harry.

"I know it's not completely over, and there is always a risk of me falling for it again, but having another outlet helps a lot, and..."

Hermione decided not to say anything, simply raising an eyebrow.

"And, we've been closer lately, and it makes me feel good" He blushed, they were still close, their faces less than a foot apart.

Hermione's eyes glistened, forcing back her tears she smiled even more

"Good," she said, "Because it makes me feel good too."

"It does?" He asked smiling in return

"It does" She nodded happily

"So..." he said, scrunching up his courage to ask her.

"So what?"

"Would you-" he bit his lower lip "No, that's not right" he laughed a bit.

"I'd like you to accompany me at Slughorn's Christmas party," he said after a minute

"As friends?" She knew what he meant, She always did, but she had to be sure.

"No," he answered, his heart beating wildly in his chest, threatening to claw its way out and ask her himself "More like a date" he whispered "More like my girlfriend."

Her breath hitched as his hands squeezed her to bring her a bit closer "I'd love to." she said.

"Brilliant" he answered, bringing her ever closer.

"I'm never letting go of you now."

Their lips met halfway, as they both moved into the kiss.

His lips were incredibly soft, she thought.

She tasted amazing, he thought as his tongue caressed her lower lip.

Her lips opened slightly as their tongues met and danced around each other, their breaths becoming laboured as passion took them over and they squeezed each other even closer.

There was no fight for dominance as they carefully and lovingly studied every millimetre of the other mouth, as their hand roamed their robes clad bodies.

They separated when the lightheadedness became unbearable and they sat on the loveseat only to kiss each other again.