Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the world of Potter.

Year Seven
Chapter One

She sat on her bed brushing her long, wavy brown hair. She had been sitting there performing the same motion unconsciously for nearly twenty minutes. She always brushes her hair when deep in thought. Normally, she does this to help Harry with something, today it's for a different reason.

For the past six years they had just been friends. They were two thirds of the so-called Trio. There were always inklings that there was something more between them, but neither was ever brave enough to act upon it. He wasn't brave enough to ask her to the Yule Ball in their Fourth Year, so she went with someone else. At the beginning of what should have been their seventh year at Hogwarts, he finally confessed his feelings for her.

"Hey Hermione…" Ron said to her in the garden earlier that day.

"Do you need help with something?" She inquired without looking at him.

"No…" He nervously rubbed the back of his neck and moved next to her. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."

Startled, her eyes raced around the garden looking for a witness to what she knew he was going to tell her. She finally turned to him, a hopeful glimmer in her eyes. "What is it?" She said quietly. She shyly looked down after they stared into each other's eyes for a moment, and then she began to smooth out her skirt. Her right leg crossed over the left, she finally rested her hands on her knee.

He reached out and tilted her chin toward him and softly said, "I love you, Hermione Granger."

She exhaled in relief and smiled. "I love you too, Ronald Weasley."

He leaned in and gently pressed his lips against hers.

A thud came from behind them; they quickly turned to see Harry and Ginny on the ground in a heap. They all laughed, and as Harry helped Ginny up off the ground he said, "Well, it's about bloody time, if I say so."

As Hermione sat on her bed, she continued brushing her hair in silent contemplativeness. A small knock came to the door and Ginny stuck her scarlet head in. She plopped down on the bed next to her friend. "This year is going to be really difficult…I'm glad that you and my brother finally found each other in midst of all the horrible things going on."

Hermione continued to brush her hair in silence.

"Are you alright?" She said as she sat up. Hermione stopped brushing. She turned and reached under her pillow. She pulled out an envelope. Confused, Ginny asked what it was.

"It's a letter…from Viktor." She took the letter out of the envelope and handed the contents to her friend. "He says that he still thinks about me and all the fun we had during the Tournament. He wants to see me."

"When did you get this?" The redhead said as she read over the letter.

"About a week ago. I told him that I wanted to see him again." She sighed. "I don't know if that's the best idea anymore now that I'm with Ron. I didn't think he would tell me this soon. I'm supposed to meet Viktor tomorrow night in Hogsmeade. I don't know what I should do."

"Do you still fancy him?"

"I don't know…" She began to brush her hair again, but Ginny took the brush out of her hands. "Ron and I…we're…we're destined to be together."

"Then tell Ron that you're going to meet up with Viktor. I'm sure he'll understand seeing that you made the plans before today. He can be reasonable…sometimes."

"Let's hope so."

Much to her relief, he understood. But to make him more comfortable with the idea, she proposed that they all take a trip down to Hogsmeade. So it became the plan. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny would go to Hogsmeade a few hours before the meeting with Viktor Krum.