Disclaimer: Yeah, I won't ever own Harry Potter.

Chapter 5: Things that should be cannot be

"Well this is a surprise," came a drawling voice. Hermione and I broke apart, blushing furiously and not looking at each other. "And here I thought you could stoop no lower, Potter," Malfoy spat out scathingly.

"Shut up, Malfoy," I said defensively. I saw Malfoy move his arm into his robe to get his wand and I instinctively did the same, never taking my eyes off of him.

"Mudbloods are good for one thing, Potter. Killing!" He grinned evilly. He pulled out his wand and shouted "furnunculus," but I was ready and countered it with "protego." Stunned by my quickness, I saw a flash of uncertainty in Malfoy's eyes. I raised my wand again, keen on cursing him into next week, but I felt Hermione grab my arm and say, "Harry, no. He's not worth it."

"Hermione, he's insulted you enough, he needs to be punished."

"Harry, who cares what Malfoy says. It's really no big deal," and she took my wand, grabbed my hand, and pulled me away from Malfoy.

"Wait until I tell everyone about-" but he never finished because Hermione said "silencio" without looking back, and we left a surprised and quiet Malfoy standing in the library.

We arrived at the common room. I noticed that we were still holding hands and I couldn't get over how right it felt.

"So there you two are," Ron said. "I was wondering where you-" he stopped when he spotted us holding hands. Seeing Ron's look, I felt Hermione let go of my hand and step away from me.

"Ron, I..." she began but apparently she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Save it. My two best friends," he said accusingly. "Harry, you knew I liked her, and you still…" He could not finish the sentence he was so angry. I saw, with regret, that he had a hurt look.

"Look Ron, we never meant to hurt you. It just happened."

"Oh c'mon Harry. You can't be that dense. Haven't you noticed that every time all three of us did something, she was always by you?"

"Well, um, not...Well, yeah I guess. But so what?" I asked confused.

"Harry, can't you tell that she-"

"Stop!" Hermione interrupted, sounding close to tears. We both looked at her, stunned by her outburst. "I'm not going to be the cause of your argument. I'm not worth it, and neither is ruining your friendship. Harry, I really like you, but I don't want our friendship to suffer." She turned to Ron. "Ron, I'm really sorry that I hurt you, and I hope that you can come to forgive me." With that she walked out of the common room. I moved to go after her, but Ron held me back.

"Let her go. At least to calm down." I was surprised by his sincere words, but I went to our room, gathered the invisibility cloak and the Mauraders Map and exited through the portrait. I knew Ron knew that I had the cloak on but I didn't care, I was set in my way.

Under the safety of the invisibility cloak, I muttered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." To my delight I found Hermione's name. She was at the lake. I ran to the lake and slowed my pace when I was close to her. She looked around, her instincts apparently picking up my presence. As I neared her, I saw that she had tears in her eyes.

"Who's there?" she asked, her voice trembling. I had planned on surprising her, but thought better of it. I took off the cloak and moved in front of her.

"Harry," Hermione simply said and I marveled over the fact that one word could affect me so much.

"Harry, I told you that I don't want to ruin our friendship or yours and Ron's. Or even Ron's and mine," she said sadly.

"Yeah, I know. But no matter what happens, our friendships will never be the same," I said, taking a step closer to her, eliminating the distance.

"You shouldn't have come, Harry." She started to back up.

"Yeah, well I probably shouldn't have kissed you either, but I did. WE did, and we can't take that back, no matter how much you might want to." She continued to back away, but I grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Harry, please," she begged, looking at me with sadness and regret. I saw the pain in her eyes and I knew that I had to let her go, no matter how much it killed me.

"I'm sorry," was all she said as she touched my cheek and then ran back to the castle.

When I arrived back at the common room, it was empty. I walked over to the couch to sit down and was surprised to find Ron lying down. As in my fourth year, I was unsure of what to say to Ron to make amends.

"Any luck?" Ron asked, which gave me hope because of his lack of anger.

"None. She barely even talked to me," I said with self-loathing. "Look Ron, I really am sorry."

"Yeah, I know mate. I'm sorry that I was a bit shirty with you. I didn't mean to mess things up between you two. At least now I know how she feels," he said, his voice sounding sad.

"Are you really ok? I-I know that you like her, and I never meant to-" I said, not really sure how to phrase what I was trying to tell him.

"I'll be ok. Look Harry, you're my best friend, I know I got jealous during our fourth year, but, I don't want this to screw up our friendship because of that jealousy.

"Now you sound like Hermione," I said flatly.

"Yeah well she was wrong, I'm not. Just let me talk to her and set things straight."

"Thanks Ron, I really appreciate it." I patted him on the shoulder and went to bed.

A/N: Same as the previous 4 chapters, reviews are luffed