Hermione Granger was truly terrified.
This was not natural to the brownhaired girl. Surely she had faced greater and bigger obstacles - fighting a mountain troll, being petrified and standing up to an escapee for mass murder were among them, for example. She had defied odds, stood her ground in hectic times, kept her head cool. Had she sometimes felt nervous? Obviously. Had she been worried about friends, about people she loved? Naturally. But she couldn't remember feeling this scared and flustered by any standards. Maybe because this wasn't caused by some kind of mutual enemy, or maybe because this asked for a different kind of bravery. But Hermione Jean Granger was scared out of her wits - not by a life-threatening event, but by a boy.
The moment the vial broke she had seen the effect it had on the people around her. It had made Lavender drool and pant - but that was not a big thing, as any boy caused her hormones to fire up these days. It had made Neville speak up louder than his usual mumbling, it had made Malfoy infatuated with Harry, it had driven Ron to try and kiss him, it had made Snape recite loving poetry. All things considered, the effects of this potion shouldn't have made her scared, they should have made her laugh. And it did, for the first few seconds, until she realized that she, of all people in the room, didn't feel anything differently. Why? In Merlin's name, why?
She had noticed that Harry had started to emit a very comforting glow, obviously, but that was the only thing that had changed about him. Harry still smelled the same, like Harry - it was a scent that she couldn't quite place, otherwise than knowing it was just him, and that she loved being around that scent. It was familiar, it felt warm and trusted, it reminded her of their friendship, their embraces, and yes, it possibly had smelled a bit stronger than usual, but it hadn't changed. His looks hadn't changed. He still looked like Harry, just Harry, the boy that she had always cared about, the boy that had outgrown his baggy hand-me-downs and obviously, his appetite for Quidditch hadn't hurt his frame, but it was still Harry. The same beautiful green eyes, the same endearing, almost apologetic smile, the same humble but sweet look on his face. She looked at him, puzzled at what all the others saw, and when Harry looked back, she realized that she didn't see any different than the rest, maybe they now all saw the same. And that obviously posed a problem.
She had never talked to Harry about how she felt about him. Last year she had enjoyed their time together, while she helped him prepare for his tasks for the Tournament, and she had felt they had grown closer together. Her feelings had grown inside of her, ever so slightly, and when Harry went into the maze that night, she had decided for herself that maybe, just maybe, she could talk with him after all this was over, and maybe she could tell him how happy he made her feel. That she had really appreciated being around him, that she cared for him, that she wanted to be with him. She didn't know in what way she wanted to be with him, just as a friend, or maybe... Something more? After all, she was a shy teenager. Her confidence had never been that high, to be honest, but Victor's appreciative behavior had made her... More open, about her feelings, about the idea of meaning something more to a person. The kisses she had shared with him had been nice and sweet, but they had also been... Lacking. Not because of Victor's kissing skills, but because she didn't feel them. After a moment she had realized that it probably was because she didn't care for Victor in a way that she cared about other people. She didn't truly love him. She started to wonder who could make her stomach soar during carefully and lovingly placed kisses, as she had always read in some of her novels. Harry was the first person that had popped into her mind.
So, when Harry entered the maze, she decided that afterwards, she would take him aside, and talk things through. She would try to be subtle, as to not break their friendship if Harry didn't reciprocate their feelings. But somewhere, she knew that Harry felt the connection too. He cared for her, deeply, and it was typically Harry to just accept that as a fact and not think anything else of it. He wasn't the most observant boy after all, not even when it affected his own feelings. Still, she would be gentle, as to not disturb him. She would talk to him, that night.
But obviously, she didn't talk to him, because Harry didn't just enter the maze, he went into the graveyard as well. The terror he faced that night was too much to bear for anyone, and she couldn't possibly burden him with her feelings. She hadn't dared to. Instead, she had felt very brave by kissing him on the cheek at the end of the term, and she had hoped that that would have made him think about her a bit differently. That that small kiss would have changed his feelings for her.
It hadn't. After the summer, Harry had been to occupied with The Order, his trial, Sirius, the return of You-Know-Who and the influence of the ministry. She couldn't blame him. On top of that, Harry had started showing interest in Cho Chang, which had made everything a lot more complicated. Hermione had decided to set her feelings aside as well. You-Know-Who had returned and she would take her OWL's this year. She had bigger fish to fry.
But now her feelings had hit her straight in the face again, like a bludger. It hurt. It made her confused. She had done a stellar job by hiding them for the last few months and this stupid potion accident had ruined it.
What to do? Should she act as crazy as Ron or Snape had done, as to not attract attention? Swiftly she decided against it. No. She could try to act like Romilda Vane - she had seen many examples of how to be a love-drunken airhead from her in the last months, but she doubted if she could keep up the facade. Even if she could, Harry had panicked. She could very clearly recall the look of sheer dread in his eyes and when Harry needed help, she would be there for him. He didn't need this nonsense on top of his usual struggles.
First, she needed to find out which potion had spilled all over him, so she could find out how to counter it. By the looks of the number of other potions that had dropped during the fight, that would take some time. After that, she would have to find Harry himself, who would undoubtedly be hiding somewhere right now. She just hoped that he would be able to find a safe place.