A/N: Thank you to my alpha/beta, HeartOfAspen for her work on this piece!

Surprisingly, Halloween passed without any incidents. Well, or so Hermione thought until the post arrived during breakfast the next morning. A brown owl dropped a letter in front of her onto her eggs and toast before swooping off. She quickly picked it up and with her index finger, slid the envelope open.

Hermione,

The colony was attacked last night by Dark Creatures, but your wards kept them at bay. We believe that they were there on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's orders. Marsious asked me to pass along that no one was injured and not to be worried — he has everything under control.

Be safe.

R.J & Geoff

Hermione handed over the letter along to Harry who read it quickly. When he handed it back, she pulled out her wand and set it on fire, destroying it. The ashes fell to the table and gathered in a small pile.

Her stomach lurched and she had to push down the feeling of being sick. She pushed her toast away, no longer hungry. It was nerve wracking to know that if they had waited a moment longer to put the enchantments in place, the colony might have been completely wiped out.

In just a moment, her worst fears were realized. And in the next, relief flooded her senses. Their efforts in protecting the colony weren't for naught.

Hermione glanced toward the staff table, finding Professor Snape immediately. He was tucking into a bowl of porridge, playing the part of a boring staff member. Though, there was so much more to him past surface level. He put his life on the line day after day. The trust she and Harry had placed in the man was exponential and there was no way she could ever repay him.

As if he felt her staring, he lifted his eyes and his black eyes pierced hers. He jerked his head slightly in greeting and she gave him a brief smile before turning away. Her appetite returning, she grabbed her toast.

The colony was okay.

She was okay.

Everything would be okay.

Later that evening, Harry and Hermione snuck down to the dungeons to speak with Professor Snape. He confirmed the attack on the colony was on the Dark Lord's orders and that the creatures were unable to get past the wards. Apparently, the Dark Lord was enraged at the heightened security and was likely to do something drastic in retaliation. Professor Snape warned them to be careful and sent them back to their beds without further discussion. Hermione tossed and turned throughout the night, her nightmares waking her every few hours with scenes of Death Eaters kidnapping her from her bed at Hogwarts.

When Harry found out about her nightmares, he insisted that they spend time down in the common room late at night after everyone else retired, allowing her to fall asleep exhausted in his arms, like he had used to do the year before. With reassurances from Harry, the nightmares went away after a few days, but Hermione still couldn't help feeling anxious. For now, though, there was nothing she could do and would have to push them from her mind.

Hermione was just finishing up homework when the portrait hole opened. She had barely registered the sight of an infuriated Ron before he was stomping past her and away up the boys' dormitory staircase. The rest of the Quidditch team followed, several of them waving at her including Dean, and finally, Harry, who clambered through the portrait hole last.

"Hey," he said, plopping down on the sofa beside her. He was still in his Quidditch garb as he pressed a kiss to her cheek and threw his arms over the back of the sofa. Groaning, he let his head fall back.

"What is it?" Hermione asked. She closed her Arithmancy textbook and turned her attention to her boyfriend who seemed to be in distress.

"Ron," he said finally. "We just had the most rubbish practice and we have our match in a couple of days. He wants to resign."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Is he that bad?"

Harry grimaced. "Not that bad, but he gets inside his head and when he thinks he can't do it, he screws up. I don't know what to do. If he quits, I'll have to ask McLaggen. He's good, but will be horrible for the team."

"Maybe you can see how the game this weekend turns out and then go from there," Hermione suggested. "Maybe he will do better in front of a crowd wanting to impress those watching."

"Maybe. Dean was brilliant though. He will be a good addition while we wait for Katie to return."

"I'm glad." Hermione then stood up from the sofa and bent over to press a kiss to Harry's lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tried to pull her down to him, but she held her ground, placing a hand on his shoulder to stay steady on her feet. "I need to go to bed and catch up on my beauty sleep. Merlin knows I won't sleep on Friday night because I'll be so nervous about the match."

"You'll be nervous?"

"I'm always nervous, I don't like seeing you hurt."

Harry grinned. "Well, at least you can patch me up if I do get hurt."

Hermione playfully rolled her eyes and walked to the edge of the staircase. "Goodnight, Harry."

"Night, Hermione."

Two days later, Hermione dressed for the game, choosing an old Gryffindor Quidditch jersey with Potter embossed onto the back. Harry had gifted it to her after he had found it in a trunk of his dad's old things.

After grabbing her scarf and winter coat, she trudged down to the Great Hall, unsurprised to see that it was basically empty, too early for everyone to be stirring quite yet. She set her book down on the table and began to read, munching on toast as more and more people made their way into the Hall.

Soon, the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team was surrounding her at the Gryffindor table, being a bit more rowdy than usual. She knew it was only because they were trying to fight off the nerves for the match. Ron, however, was sitting next to her, his hands shaking and instead of scarfing down his eggs and bacon, he was staring off toward the ceiling.

"Ron?" Harry asked. "Why don't you eat something?"

"Not hungry," he grunted.

Well, that was new, Hermione surmised.

"How about some pumpkin juice?"

Ron still shook his head.

Hermione watched Ron with concern as he continued to sit there, staring off at nothing and ignoring perfectly good eggs and bacon. When she glanced over at Harry, she watched him pocket a small glass vial. A vial that she—

"Harry, what was that?"

He frowned at her and laughed, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "What was what?"

She raised her eyebrows. He was lying and she didn't care for liars. "Don't play dumb with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Harry just shook his head.

"Harry James Potter, I know that you took my Felix Felicis and that you just put it in Ron's pumpkin juice!" she whisper-yelled, trying not to draw the attention of the others.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry said, his face serious.

Ron had finally snapped out of his reverie and was looking at them both curiously. He reached for his pumpkin juice and brought it to his lips.

"Ron, don't drink it!" Hermione begged. "That's illegal."

Ron just shrugged and downed the pumpkin juice. He smiled. "I'm feeling much better. We better get down to the pitch. It's a great day for Quidditch!"

Hermione glared at Harry as he yelled at the team to head down to the pitch. "This isn't over," she said as he walked past. He didn't look back at her comment but paused as if he thought about it. She watched with narrowed eyes as he walked out of the Great Hall and out of sight.

Hermione was so angry that her heart was racing — it was beating unbelievably fast and felt like it was going to pound out of her chest. A headache was coming on and with how upset she was about the situation, she was seriously debating whether or not to attend the Quidditch match.

She sat there debating for a little while as the rest of her fellow students started to file out of the Great Hall and down to the Quidditch Pitch. Her wanting to see Harry play and make sure he wasn't injured won over her current feelings toward him. She headed down to the pitch and joined the rest of the Gryffindors to cheer on their squad.

When the match was over, Hermione found it hard to be happy for the team with her underlying anger for what Harry had done still hovering beneath the surface. With a party planned, Hermione hid out in her dorm room, the curtains pulled around her bed, not wanting to celebrate a wrongly earned victory. Several hours later, Hermione was hungry and despite the party being in full swing she ventured out into the common room.

She immediately regretted her decision. Harry was in the corner talking to Dean and Seamus, while Ron was barely visible as Padma was on his lap, devouring his face. It was out of character for them both, but a happy occasion could do that to people.

"Hey, Hermione!" Neville said, coming to stand beside her. "Where have you been?"

"Studying," she replied, though she really hadn't done any studying at all. She had been laying in her bed, writing and drawing in her journal but mainly she had been moping.

When Neville had called her name, Harry had looked over and they locked eyes. Hermione shook her head, said goodbye to Neville and made her way out of the common room. She just kept walking until she found another tower. Sitting at the bottom of the steps, she placed her head in her hands. She didn't know how long passed before her butt became numb, but still, she didn't move.

Just as she thought she best get back to the common room before curfew, she heard someone walking down the steps toward her. Cautiously, she pulled out her wand and waited.

"Harry?" she asked, as the mystery person came around the bend and took the last couple of steps.

He raised up his hands. "It's me." She lowered her wand and sat back down on the steps. "Hermione, look—"

"No, Harry," she said, looking at him, the tears finally coming after all of these hours of holding them in. "You listen to me."

He sighed and looked down at his hands and nodded.

"How could you? Not only did you give Ron a potion that is illegal during sporting events, but you stole from me! That was mine and you took it and used it without my permission." She paused for a moment. "I just want to know why."

He didn't speak right away, but instead reached into his pocket and pushed something cold into her hands. Hermione looked down and it was the vial of Felix Felicis and it was—

"Full?" she questioned. She turned it over in her hands several times and tested the cork. It had never been opened. "I am confused. And my patience is waning. Please explain."

"I wanted Ron to think that he had been given the potion so that he was more confident. I didn't actually put it in...I just pretended to and Ron thought I did."

"So he caught all of those goals on his own?"

Harry nodded. "He just needed a boost of confidence and Felix gave him that."

"But why take it from me? Why not just ask me?."

Harry rubbed his face and ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand up even more than it was before. "I don't know, I thought maybe you wouldn't let me and I couldn't think of anything else to do. We would have lost today if Ron was acting like he was at breakfast this morning."

Hermione just sat there, not sure what to say.

"Hermione, please look at me," Harry finally said, grabbing her hands. Hermione slowly lifted her head to look her boyfriend in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I shouldn't have gone behind your back and taken the Felix Felicis. That wasn't right. I'm not asking that you forgive me right away, but promise that you'll think about it? I'll do anything to make it up to you and I won't do it again, promise."

Hermione nodded as tears once more started to flow down her cheeks. She broke her gaze away from Harry's and laid her head on his shoulder.

"I forgive you, you big stupid head," she finally said. He snorted at her words. "But just don't ever think about doing that again. I trust you and something like this just breaks trust. If it happens again, I don't know if I will be able to let go so easily. Not only could it ruin our relationship, but our friendship as well."

"I understand." Harry pressed a kiss against her head and Hermione leaned into his touch. "I am sorry."

"I know," Hermione whispered.

She tilted her head upwards and Harry tentatively pressed a chaste kiss against her lips.

"We should go back to the common room," Hermione suggested as he pulled away. "But I am going to need some help standing up."

"You got it, princess," Harry said. He stood up and instead of helping her to her feet, he bent down and picked her up, bridal style.

Hermione laughed and smacked him on the back, telling him several times to put her down. He didn't listen and didn't put her back on her feet until they were in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Giving the password, the couple made their way in, where the party was slowly dying down, only the older years still up and consuming copious amounts of butterbeer. Harry led Hermione to the sofa, where he pulled her into him and she laid her head on his chest. His fingers slowly made designs into her back, comforting her.

She shut her eyes and was seriously considered drifting off to sleep when Harry spoke again. "Hermione?"

"Hmm?" she asked, lifting her head.

"You know Slughorn's Christmas Party next month?"

She nodded. "What about it?"

"Well, erm, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?"

Hermione just looked at him for a second and then grinned. "I'd love to go with you, Mister Potter."

He then swooped down and captured her lips with her own and Hermione sighed in contentment. She was grateful they could talk things over and solve their problems without them carrying on for days and days like other teenagers.

After several more kisses, Hermione bid Harry goodnight, much happier than she had been earlier, and glad that she had worn the Potter jersey that day.

Weeks passed, and Hermione didn't think there was a day that went by where she didn't hear girls talk about Slughorn's party, speculating if they could get one of the Slug Club to ask them. She heard several in the year below, including Romilda Vane, talk about slipping Harry a love potion. On top of that, Hermione had heard talk of Lavender trying to give Ron a love potion because she fancied him. He wasn't in the Slug Club and she wasn't interested in getting an invite it seemed.

One morning as the trio was sitting eating breakfast, an owl swooped in and dropped two boxes. One of them was addressed to Ron, the other to Harry.

"What's this?" Harry asked, lifting the box.

"Dunno," Hermione said. "But all mail gets screened. It can't be anything too terribly dangerous I don't think."

Hermione watched as Harry and Ron both opened their presents.

"Sweet, chocolate!" Ron said, reaching for one.

Hermione stood and hit his hand knocking the chocolate away before he could place it in his mouth. "You're just going to put random chocolate in your mouth after I have told the both of you that there are rumors of love potions going around? Don't be so daft!"

Hermione grabbed both boxes and sure enough, she knew they were love potions. "To Harry, Love Romilda," she read out loud, giving Harry a knowing look. She then picked up Ron's. "To Won-Won, From Lavender."

She threw the box down on the table and rolled her eyes. The audacity of those girls to send love potions to Harry and Ron. There had to be a way to get them to stop trying to get the boys' attention and make sure that no other girls tried the same thing.

Hermione was going to need some reinforcements.

Later that evening, Hermione slid into the seat across from a girl with long plaited hair. "Thanks for meeting me," Hermione said.

The girl looked up from her book, her brown eyes glinting with mischief. "Happy to, especially after what you told me this morning. Parvati might be friends with Lavender, but I have no such connection with her. I want revenge and I want to make sure that she doesn't come near my man again."

Hermione smiled at Padma. "I'm glad we are on the same page then. Now, let's brainstorm." Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill along with an inkwell.

"Well, both Lavender and Romilda care about their appearances. I don't think I have ever seen either of them without a full face of makeup. And from what I hear, they spend hours on beautifying charms to get there," Padma said, tapping her fingers on the table.

"What if we create a spell that prevents beauty charms from working?"

"Hmm, that could take ages though. We're better off using something that has already been created."

"You're right. What about taking a leaf out of their own book and using love potions? We could get them love potions keyed to each other. We could make them last only a day, but that should drive the point home."

"And if it doesn't?"

"We come up with other ideas. I have several. Remember Marietta Edgecomb?"

Padma nodded. "I am not opposed to doing something like that, but perhaps if they try something like this again we can get a little more extreme."

Hermione agreed. "When should we put our plan into place?"

"How about after break? That way we have time to brew and they won't be expecting retaliation so long after the initial event."

Hermione put away her parchment and quill and stood from the table. "Nice doing business with you, Miss Patil," Hermione said, laughing.

"Same to you, Miss Granger."

The two girls left the library, high on vengeance. Hermione couldn't wait to put their plan into place — the two Gryffindors wouldn't know what hit them.

The next few days of term flew by and before Hermione knew it, it was time for Slughorn's Christmas party. Luckily, she had a silver dress packed away for such an occasion. She spent the afternoon getting ready, thinking about Ginny, and how they used to get ready together on such occasions. She missed her friend and it was difficult to think about even now. The melancholy of the Christmas season sure didn't help — she vowed at that moment to make sure to spend extra time with Ron and the Weasleys over break to help with the loss. It would be the first Christmas without Ginny after all.

Pushing her friend and the Weasleys out of her mind, for now, Hermione finished getting ready, her hair somewhat manageable with the anti-frizz gel she had put in it after her shower. She opted to not use Sleekeazy's again as she had at the Yule Ball since it took ages to work it through her hair. Once she was dressed and donned matching silver jewelry and black heels, Hermione walked down to the common room stopping a few steps from the bottom.

Harry didn't see her right away and she took that time to observe him in a way she hadn't in a long time. He was handsome with his dark green dress robes and his hair falling over his forehead. It still stuck up in every direction, but it suited him. Taking the few last steps, Harry finished his conversation with Neville and turned toward her.

"You look stunning," Harry said.

When he reached her, he pressed a kiss to her lips, grabbing her hip and pulling her close. She wrapped her arms around his neck and without much force pushed her tongue into his mouth. They stood like that for several moments until there was a coughing fit on the other side of the room.

It was Ron.

"You don't have room to talk, mate!" Harry called out.

His face turned red. "Well, it's different, isn't it! You're my best friends, you guys aren't friends with Padma."

"Doesn't make it any less uncomfortable to watch you suck her face off," Hermione retorted.

Harry laughed and tried to cough to cover it up.

"Have fun, you two," Ron said, ignoring Hermione's comment. He walked over to them, his face still a bit pink. "I'll see you later. Plans with Padma," he explained.

When Ron left, Harry pulled Hermione in for one more kiss before pulling away and clasping their hands together. "Let me escort you to the dungeons, milady."

Hermione grinned and together they walked down to Slughorn's office where the party was being held. They didn't leave each other's side, though Cormac McLaggen did try to steal her away for a dance, Harry refused to allow it. Together, they danced across the dance floor ignoring almost everyone and everything in sight, until Malfoy showed up, uninvited.

Harry moved to follow as Snape pulled Malfoy from the room, but Hermione grabbed his hand.

"Harry, please, we don't need to follow."

"But—"

"Harry," Hermione begged. "There are more important things we need to deal with rather than worrying about what Malfoy and Professor Snape are up to. If it's important and it concerns us, Professor Snape will bring it up. I trust him."

Hermione held her breath as Harry continued to watch the door Professor Snape and Malfoy left through. When he finally nodded, Hermione let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss against his lips. "Let's enjoy the rest of the evening, okay?"

Harry smiled at her and once more started twirling her around the dance floor, his dance moves much better than they had been at the Yule Ball two years prior. The party continued well into the night and only when their feet were tired did they retire back to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione collapsed into her bed that night, unable to stop smiling. For the first time in a long time, she had forgotten all about the outside world and the problems that came with it.