Hermione shrugged on a dark green sweater and changed out of her sweatpants into a slim fitting pair of jeans. She grabbed her purse and stomped out of her room nearly running into Harry in the hallway.

"Whoah sorry!" she breathed quietly as he grasped her elbow to keep her steady on her feet.

"No problem." Harry whispered into her ear, his lips close to her skin. She tried to keep the goose bumps from rising on her neck, but Harry noticed them. He smiled to himself as he steadied her and regretfully let go of her elbow, while still remaining close to her body so his hips bones grazed the side of her stomach.

Hermione resisted the urge to lean her body against his and began to walk forward. "Come on Harry. Ginny is going to be screaming shortly unless we get a move on."

"Yeah you're right. Her and her bloody restaurant." Harry growled under his breath just loud enough for Hermione to hear. She smirked as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Are you sure you guys want to go?" Ginny asked reproachfully as they entered the room. "Because if I was interrupting a moment or some-"

Harry cut her off. "No it's fine."

"Yeah Gin. Don't worry about it. I'm starving. Ready to go?" Hermione added shortly.

Ginny rolled her eyes and followed the duo out the door.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The restaurant was nice. It was decorated elegantly, with low lighting, candle-lit tables, and an overall romantic vibe.

"I didn't know this was the spot for honeymooning couples. Merlin, don't you think they should all come up for air sometime soon?" Ginny whined. "Sorry guys. This is lame."

Harry's jaw tightened when he saw table after table of kissing couples, scooted close together on the same side of the table. The food looked delicious, but the atmosphere was strangely subdued. "It's like a make-out party."

Hermione stared at him. "How would you know?"

Harry gave her a boyish grin. "Remember in sixth year when Ron and I disappeared that one night? And we said we were practicing Quidditch?"

"Oh GROSS. You two were at a MAKE OUT party? Who does that?" Hermione responded her hand over her mouth.

Harry shrugged. "Only ALL the Ravenclaw girls!"

Hermione gasped. "You little perverted…"

"Can I seat you all?" A deep voice interrupted the banter between the two.

Ginny spun around quickly, "YES! I mean that would be wonderful."

Hermione pursed her lips together and followed the host to a corner table across the restaurant. How was it possible for her to be so annoyed yet so enamored with the man she had known for almost more than half her life? Those feelings were surfacing again…

Harry followed trying not to smile. He loved getting her riled up. He knew she could take it. These crazy feelings for Hermione were coming back again. And he loved it…

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ginny sat with her back straight, staring at the menu intently. She was trying to block out the ridiculous conversation Harry and Hermione were having across the table from her.

"I'm sorry Hermione that I was just so hot at Hogwarts…"

"Oh no Harry if you were so hot then why couldn't you get Cho Chang to go out on a date with you?"

"Ohhh getting personal now…" Harry smirked.

Hermione grumbled, "Well I deserve to get personal after you tell me you and Ron left me alone in the Common Room for a MAKEOUT PARTY."

"And remember…at least ten Ravenclaw girls too."

"Oh SHUT—"

"I'm going to go the bar to get us drinks. Would you two care for anything? No? Alright don't' miss me too much…" Ginny blurted out as she stood up abruptly and headed toward the bar. She reached it and ordered drinks for all three of them, knowing they would complain if she came back with only one. With a resigned sigh she began the trek back to the table.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Harry Potter you are the most ridiculous man I have EVER met in my entire life!"

"And you, Miss Granger love it."

"WHAT?"

"Oh yes. I dared to say it. You love me being ridiculous. In fact, you love it even more than my sentimental side."

Hermione snorted. "Harry you don't HAVE a sentimental side."

Harry leaned back and stretched his arms up in the air stretching. With a sly whistle he maneuvered his arm around Hermione's chair. "Now come on Hermione. How can you say I'm not sentimental?"

Hermione glanced at the arm now resting on her chair. "You actually think that's smooth." It came out more as a statement than a question.

Harry smiled and leaned in a bit closer. "You thought the broom I bought was sentimental."

Hermione frowned. "No. I thought it was a waste of money."

Harry tried to respond but he was interrupted by her again. "AND I think you putting a spell on my alarm clock was the most annoying thing in the world, and I hate it when you spill popcorn all over the place in order to bug me…and let's see what else…"

Harry smirked. "Yes, but at the same time, you love it when I spill the popcorn, because it means that I'm in a good mood, and face it, me being happy, makes you happy….no don't deny it, I can SEE it."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but Harry had beaten her to it. She dropped her eyes from his, and was at a loss of words. How had he known that? How had he known that she was elated every single time he smiled? Or that she felt happy when he felt happy just for the simple fact that he had been tortured and lonely for so long? It was all too much to handle right now and it seemed that all she could think about was just a few hours ago, when she had been THIS close to kissing Harry…

Harry smiled and grasped her chin slowly raising her eyes to meet his. "And," he continued, "I know that you like it when we fall asleep on the couch together."

Hermione glared at him. "Huh?"

"I know that you like it because I like it too."

Hermione's breath caught in her throat. "Harry…Harry that made absolutely no sense…"

He grinned. "I know. And that's why I've been trying to figure out why I couldn't get the vision of you standing in my doorframe out of my mind. It was only a few hours ago, but I feel like it's been ages. I've been wanting to be this close to your face since then…you see i've just been so confused for so long. I guess you could call it denial..."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "That sounded really creepy."

"What, that I wanted to be close to your face?" Harry asked.

"Um yeah."

"Well it's the truth."

Hermione considered this a moment. "Oh. Well I guess I want to be close to yours too…"

Harry's grin got even bigger. "Then you won't object to me finishing what we started a few hours ago?"

Hermione smirked. "I don't know. Do you think I measure up to those ten Ravenclaw girls?"

Harry's lips pursed as he pretended to think hard. "It'll be a tough comparison. If you try really hard, I think you might be able to measure up."

Hermione's jaw dropped and she glared at the man sitting across from her. "Have I mentioned that you are the biggest PRAT in the entire universe? I mean really, way to ruin a moment…"

Harry laughed and reached up to grab her face with both of his hands. He drew her to him quickly pressing his lips to hers tenderly. Hermione melted into the kiss, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair. He smiled against her lips and scooted his chair closer to hers, without breaking the wonderful contact they're mouths were in the middle of. He let go of her face and reached down to draw small circles on the top of Hermione's thigh.

"Whoah baby I wasn't gone THAT long."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ginny smirked as Hermione broke away from the embrace she was sharing with Harry with a small squeak. "Why hello Ginny. I could have sworn you just left!"

Harry grinned foolishly as he let go of Hermione's face with his right hand, but left his other hand to rest on Hermione's knee.

"Now if that wasn't a Moment, I don't know what is. I'll leave you two alone."

Hermione bit her lip, struggling between jumping on top of Harry, and being polite to her best friend. "Are you sure Gin? I mean, this WAS your idea."

Harry nodded in agreement, but Ginny didn't miss the sideways loving glance he gave Hermione. "No…no I think I better get going. Have fun you two."

Hermione shrugged and said her goodbyes, very aware of Harry sitting next to her, gazing at her unwaveringly. Ginny turned around and walked toward the door, only turning around once she reached the door. She peered into the darkness of the restaurant, just being able to make out the forms of two people already wrapped up in another heated kiss.

With a little squeal of delight, Ginny turned and skipped down the sidewalk.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

YES. I think it was ABOUT TIME.

One more chapter to go…