A/N: Thank you for the two reviewers! I greatly appreciate you taking the time to leave me a review and I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far. Without further ado, here is the next chapter.

Hermione looked to Ron. He was holding a piece of parchment from Ginny and she knew that her secret was out. Her heart was beating through her chest and she wondered if it might actually explode. She was terrified of how Ron would react.

"Ron…" Hermione began carefully. She could sense herself falling apart. But his eyes did not leave the page in his hands. Then he started turning red and the paper began to shake in his eyes.

He turned away from the page looking disgusted. Staring up at Hermione, he looked as if he might explode.

"You…" he said quietly, barely audible. He took a few more rapid breaths in as his mind raced. "Him?" He looked at Hermione with such rage and hurt that she was sure he was going to hex her.

"Ron, please, just listen to me!" she begged. She reached for his arm but he pushed it aside and apparated – she knew he was looking for Harry.

"RON!" she yelled, but she knew it didn't do any good. Her eyes filled with tears and she knew she had to find Harry before Ron did. She racked her mind as to where he would go, but the panic welling up inside of her was keeping her from thinking straight.

Hermione began apparating to different places she hoped Harry would be. She checked his apartment. She checked his favorite pub. She checked his favorite park where he went to get away from magic. But Harry was nowhere to be found. Just as she was beginning to feel like giving up, she apparated herself one last time.

When she opened her eyes, she could see the sunlight coming through the trees. She looked down to see the red and brown leaves on the ground. Slow running water could be heard in the distance. She smiled as she took in the smell and realized it still smelled the same as it did that day.

She looked around and hoped to see some sign of Harry somewhere. Perhaps it was silly of her to come here – it was a fleeting attempt after all. She considered saying his name, but she didn't want to disturb the peacefulness of the forest. Her eyes frantically scanned the forest space but he wasn't there.

She took a few more steps forward, still scanning for any sign of Harry. She turned a corner around a tree and started walking toward the creek. Then she saw him and her whole body froze.

He was sitting on a small log, staring at the water. If he noticed Hermione, he didn't show it.

Hermione took one slow step forward, causing the leaves and twigs beneath her feet to crack slightly. Harry turned as he heard it and for the first time their eyes met, but Hermione struggled to read him.

"Harry…" she breathed, hoping he would just talk to her.

"How did you know to come here?" Harry angrily asked. His gaze was strong and angry, but Hermione sensed a tinge of something else.

"I… I…" she began. She suddenly felt like a timid child.

"Come here looking for Ron?" he asked icily.

"I've been looking for you." She responded determinedly.

Harry stared at her for a few seconds and her eyes pleaded with him to understand, to forgive her, to just take her away from all of this.

"This is… this place… you came here?" she began, tears welling up in her eyes. "You came to –"

"The place I fell in love with you." Harry finished. Hot tears began to run down her cheeks. He remembered. Her heart began to flutter.

She took one step forward and Harry cut her off again.

"Why are you here?" he asked impatiently.

"Harry… I…" Hermione stammered. Why did she suddenly feel like a small child?

"You what? Come on, Hermione! Tell me exactly what the bloody hell you want because all I've ever tried to do for the last six years is try to do what you want! But I don't know what the hell it is anymore!" Harry screamed, his chest heaving up and down as he tried to catch his breath. He suddenly felt as if a giant weight was being lifted from his chest as he told her every ounce of frustration, fear, and hurt that he felt.

"You!" Hermione screamed back. She swore she could hear her heart beating in her ears.

"All I've wanted over the last six years is you," she said more firmly this time. The anger in her voice began to subside. "It has been killing me to act like I… like I don't want to wrap my arms around you and never let go. And every time you kissed her, I felt a piece of me die because all I wanted was to feel your lips on mine like I did six years ago. And the only thing that has kept me going has been those small moments when your hand would touch mine and I could pretend that you wanted me just as badly as I want you!"

Tears were now falling down Hermione's face freely and her body seemed to loosen slightly, feeling free from the chains of pretending for so long. Her brown eyes met Harry's green ones. And for a moment she wondered if he would forgive her for making them pretend for so long.

Then in two quick strides, Harry had reached Hermione and with six years worth of longing, his lips met hers, as his hands went to the back of her neck, tangling his fingers into her hair. He needed to kiss her, to make her understand how much he loved her and how much he needed her. And she tasted exactly as he remembered… it was intoxicating and sweet with a light taste of chamomile.

She kissed him back with just as much intensity, her fingers taking fistfuls of his hair and trying to pull him closer into herself. She needed him to understand that she would never let him go again. She pushed herself closer to him and deepened the kiss, hoping he would understand. She couldn't breathe and she didn't care if she ever took another breath again - because in this moment she knew he loved her and that was all that mattered.

They began to slow down and finally broke away from one another. Gasping for breath, they kept their foreheads touching and their eyes closed.

Harry took his hands and cupped Hermione's cheeks in his hands, rubbing away her tears with his thumbs.

"Harry, I'm so…" she said breathless.

"I know. I know." He cooed back. "Me too".

She mustered a small smile of relief as she kept trying to catch her breath. With every breath, she took in his scent just like she did that night six years ago. He still smelled the same… a mixture of broomstick oil and musk.

"I love you. I love you more than anything in the world, Hermione." Harry said, looking deep in her eyes.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione said, happy tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. "I love you so much. Please don't ever leave me."

He kissed her again, but this time his lips were gentle as they touched hers. "I never will."

Before they could continue, the coupled turned around, startled at the sound of cracking twigs. It was Ron and his face was red as his body shook with rage.

"Ron… please…" Hermione began but she was cut off as Ron raised his wand at Harry.