It was late, and Harry couldn't sleep. He lay in the familiar tent, listening to Hermione toss and turn in her cot across the tent. Apparently she couldn't sleep either. He let out a deep sigh, rolling over to his back, staring up at the plain canvas top of the tent. Too much had happened, too much was on his mind for him to fall asleep now. He wouldn't be surprised if he was up the entire night. He knew he needed to think things over…the Death Eater, why he had apparated to Privet Drive, and Hermione…

He shook his head violently. He really needed to STOP thinking about Hermione. Whenever he did, he felt this constricting feeling in his chest…he knew he was overprotective, but now he knew he would be just that much more. What had happened in the cemetery had scared him. That much he was sure of. He wasn't so much scared for himself, but more for his best friend. Which seemed a little odd to Harry, but with another swift shake of his head, he dispelled all thoughts of the young witch that seemed to be constantly on his mind.

"Harry?" a soft voice called out, breaking him out of his thoughts. Or, if possible, bringing him that much deeper into this thoughts, considering it was Hermione who had called out is name.

"Yeah?" he answered.

Harry heard Hermione shift her body so that she was facing him. He heard the swish of her wand, and suddenly a soft blue light was resting in the middle of the tent, giving off just enough light so that he could see Hermione's face bathed in shadows.

"Harry…I'm scared." Hermione murmured, and Harry could see her close her eyes tightly, a slight blush gracing her features.

He wasn't sure how to answer. So he decided it would be most simple to just tell the truth. "Me too."

Hermione's eyes flew open and her piercing gaze searched Harry's face for a minute. "You're serious?"

Harry nodded and burrowed even deeper under the covers.

"But…why? You were so in control. You knew exactly what to do. You…you saved my life Harry." Hermione said in a voice just above a whisper.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You would have done the same thing."

Hermione looked up towards the ceiling, seemingly in thought. "No. I wouldn't have."

Harry's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Well thanks a lot Hermione…"

Hermione blushed a deeper red this time, as her eyes connected with Harry's again. "That's not what I meant. I mean…I'm not capable enough to save your life. You saw me. I just froze. If it hadn't been for you there to grab me and roll down the hill, we would have been dead. I wouldn't be able to save your life Harry…that's what scares me the most."

Harry looked at her, compassion filling his facial features. "Don't be ridiculous. When I told you it was a Death Eater, you got the most determined look in your eyes. It was actually really cool. I knew you were going to be okay, because you had the will to escape. Don't doubt yourself Mione."

Hermione shrugged, obviously not convinced. "I know I have the will to live, but it scares me that it took me that long to react."

Harry nodded in understanding. The two were quiet for a few minutes, before Hermione spoke. "What scared you tonight?"

"Huh?" Harry asked, caught off by the question.

Hermione stared at him unflinchingly. "What scared you the most? I told you my inability to react scared me…what about you?"

Harry pursed his lips, thinking about how to answer the question. It would get a little awkward if he told the truth. But if he lied, he knew Hermione would figure it out. With a great sigh of trepidation, Harry opened his mouth and whispered, "What scared me the most was that for a split second, I thought you were going to die."

Hermione looked at him in confusion. "Harry, we were BOTH about to die…"

Harry shook his head. "I know, I know. I don't know why, but I wasn't scared that I was in danger…my whole brain was screaming to just protect you. I didn't even think about the horcruxes, or the prophecy, or even Voldemort…I just thought…about… you?" Harry finished his voice sounding incredulous as if he had just made an enormous discovery.

Hermione stared at Harry wide-eyed. She herself was astounded by this revelation of Harry's. "Harry…are you sure?"

Harry nodded, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Yeah…I am."

Hermione leaned back on her cot, still staring across the tent in disbelief. "So…that's…erm…odd?"

Harry let out a half chuckle half snort. "Tell me about it."

Hermione giggled in spite of herself. "So should we…uh…just forget you said that?"

Harry's head snapped up to meet her eyes. "How can I forget that?"

Hermione blushed as she looked everywhere around the tent except for Harry. "Um, I'm not sure."

Harry let out a short laugh. "Hermione…did you just hear what I said? There was a Death Eater swooping out of nowhere, which by the way, I still have no idea how he knew we were there…the entire horcrux search was in jeopardy and all I could think about was making sure that you were okay…does that seem just a little off to you?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes in the soft light of the tent and glared at Harry. "Well, I was going to thank you for saving my life, but if it was 'a little off' to you, then I guess I'll save it."

Harry closed his eyes briefly. "That's not what I meant Hermione."

"Then what did you mean Harry?" Hermione demanded, suddenly sitting up on her cot.

Harry sat up with her, anger beginning to rise deep in him. "Don't talk to me like that Hermione. You KNOW what I meant."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. "No. I don't."

Harry let out a frustrated sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "I consider it very strange that all I could think about was you when I was about to die. Don't you think you would feel the same way if it happened to you?"

Hermione's expression didn't soften. "Yes Harry. I understand that I was WEIRD. But did it ever occur to you that maybe it DID happen to me?"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked impatiently.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she stood up and walked halfway across the tent, her hands resting on her hips, her body language expressing confrontation to the fullest. "You know what I'm talking about."

Harry stood up to meet her eye to eye and crossed his arms. "No. I don't."

Hermione rolled her eyes again at the repetitive nature of this argument. "It never occurred to you that maybe I felt the same way as you did when we were discovered?"

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

Hermione sighed and dropped her arms in defeat. "Never mind Harry. I'm going to bed."

Harry felt his irritation rise to a new level. He reached out and grabbed her wrist pulling her closer to him, intent on getting an answer from her. "Tell me Hermione."

Hermione glared at Harry as he pulled her back, so that they were mere inches from each other. "You can't make me Harry Potter."

Harry felt his eyes narrow, and his grip on her wrist tighten. "Oh yeah?"

Hermione gave him a haughty grin. "Yeah. I'm not telling you. If you can't figure it out, then it's your own fault."

Harry wanted nothing more than to force Hermione to tell him what she had meant, but the more rational part of him told him to relax. He suddenly remembered that this was the girl who had been on his mind when he was faced with danger. And now he was the one who was providing the danger. It was time for him to save her again. From himself.

He let go of her wrist and dropped his head to his chest in defeat as he murmured, "I'm sorry."

Hermione felt her guard breaking down at the look on Harry's face. She mustered up all her pride as she stiffly said, "Quite alright. Goodnight Harry."

She turned to go back to her cot as Harry did for his. They both were troubled with what had just happened. Not a lot of information had been shared, yet both of them felt like they had just discovered treasure. There had been sparks between them. Sure they were angry sparks, and irritated sparks, but they had felt them nonetheless.

Hermione felt the sudden urge to cry. There was no reason for them to be fighting like this. If she could even call it a fight. They were all each other had, and if something was coming between them, it was only going to get harder and harder with each passing day.

Harry felt all of his muscles clench up. Nothing had been solved tonight. The only thing he had succeeded in doing, was upsetting Hermione. He never should have told her what had been on his mind. It only made things that much more confusing. He shifted on his cot and suddenly remembered the blue light was still glowing in the middle of the tent. He grabbed his wand and rolled over to extinguish the light.

"Wait."

Harry stopped as he heard the soft voice from across the tent. Hermione turned and Harry was suddenly met with red puffy eyes. She looked like she had been crying.

Hermione sucked in a deep breath before beginning to speak. "Listen Harry. The reason why the Death Eater came after us was because my leg stuck out of the cloak for a second on the hill. It was by accident…"

Harry shook his head in confusion. "But that doesn't explain why the Death Eater was that close by. They must have been watching us the whole time."

Hermione frowned. "I never thought about that…"

Harry gave her a half smile. "Well, don't worry about it. We have a lot of days to ponder the reasons why we were almost killed today."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but her mouth twitched upwards into a tiny smile. Her face became serious again within a second though and she looked as if she wanted to say something. Harry noticed.

"What is it Mione?"

Hermione looked down at the ground. "Are we having another fight Harry?"

Harry didn't know how to answer, but Hermione didn't give him time to as she began to speak again. "Because I don't know what just happened a few minutes ago…but I don't like the way we left things. I'm sorry for being so rude Harry. I'm making things more difficult than they should be. I don't even know what we were arguing about before…"

"We were arguing about what we felt like while we were being attacked." Harry answered quickly.

Hermione bit her lip. "Oh yeah…"

Harry heaved a huge sigh. "Don't worry about it Hermione. Both of us are under a lot of stress. Just forget it ever happened."

Hermione stared across the tent for a long time. Finally she whispered, "All I could think of was you Harry. When the Death Eater was coming after us, all I could do was worry about whether you would survive. That's why I froze. I didn't know what to do. It's so much more important for you to live than for me to live. I was so scared Harry. Scared for YOU. That's what I was saying before…I DO know how you felt."

Harry blinked. And blinked again. "WHAT?"

Hermione shrugged. "That's what I've been wanting to say all night. You just made me too damn angry to give in and actually say it."

Harry smiled slowly. "Thanks for finally saying it I guess. And sorry for being such an idiot…"

Hermione smiled back. "It's okay. Let's consider the argument forgotten."

Harry nodded. "Why were you so concerned about me?

Hermione groaned. "I don't KNOW Harry. Just like you. Which by the way, the next time we're attacked, I'm really flattered that all you could think about was me…but please focus on yourself next time."

Harry shook his head violently. "I would never be able to think about myself exclusively. That would be horrible."

Hermione sighed. "Fine…but at least TRY to."

Harry rolled his eyes. "We're arguing about saving each other."

Hermione laughed and shrugged again.

The duo stared across the softly lit tent at each other. The atmosphere wasn't tense anymore. They could both feel their friendship again.

Harry looked at Hermione thoughtfully from across the tent. "So…we were both preoccupied with saving each other…and didn't even think about ourselves. That's very strange…"

Hermione nodded sleepily. "Very strange indeed…"

……………………………………………………………………………………………

WELLLLLL there you go! Kind of overly dramatic, but hey…at least we're getting somewhere in the romance department.

Read and review as you like!!