Chapter 3: Confessions and Girls' Day Out

Harry woke up to Ron's snoring as the sun poked through the curtains and light flooded the room, casting shadows on the objects in its path. He rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses on the bedside table. He blinked a couple times to clear his head of the thoughts of the events of the previous night. He didn't mean to almost kiss his best friend. But then again he didn't mean to fall in love with his best friend either. It just sort of happened.

He got up and got dressed in jeans and a blue shirt with thin lime green stripes on it. After putting his loafers on he made his way to the common room. He saw Ginny sitting on the coach and sat on the lounge chair by her. "Hey Ginny." She looked up and smiled, with discomfort, "Hey, Harry. What happened last night between you and Hermione?"

Harry was bewildered by the sudden change of atmosphere brought on by a simple question, "What do you mean?"

Ginny grew even more uncomfortable and that only made Harry fear her answer even more, "Well… she went straight to sleep when you two got back and she refused to wake up. She keeps saying she's tired and just wants to rest. She is dead set against not coming down. She let it slip that after last night she just needed the day to herself so… I assume something happened. Did something happen?"

Harry didn't know how to answer or rather if he should answer at all. The worst thing that could happen did. He had almost kissed his best friend, Hermione Granger, and it seemed as if she wanted to kiss him too. "Err… well, kind of…" Harry scratched the back of his neck, looking very uncomfortable.

"What do you mean sort of? Did something happen to make Hermione act strange or didn't it?" She was now completely turned his direction, leaning against her knees, and eyeing him suspiciously.

"Well, we kind of… almost… kissed…" Ginny's eyes nearly budged out of their sockets and Harry could swear she swallowed her own tongue after her sharp gasp. She didn't look like she could say anything. Harry immediately regretted telling her anything. He should have told her to mind her own business and went to confront Hermione himself.

"Y-you what!? You almost kissed Hermione!! Why didn't you!?" Harry didn't expect her to question why he hadn't followed through, although he was wondering the same thing. Then he reminded himself that it was because she was his best friend and that he couldn't risk their friendship.

"I err… I can't kiss Hermione, she's my best friend. It would ruin our entire friendship. I won't do that." That was what he believed and he was sticking by it.

"Harry, don't be absurd! You are totally in love with her. Everybody knows it. I'm surprised someone as smart as her hasn't figured it out. And she is totally head over heals in love with you. You shouldn't have gone for it. Take a chance for once that affects you and not the fate of the world. Go up there!! NOW!!" Ginny finished her rant and sat up sternly.

Harry sat wide eyed at her, bewildered, "I-I… boys aren't allowed in the girl dormitories…" he was cut off with a stern glare as she interrupted him with another rant, "Harry James Potter, you go up there right now and tell Hermione how you feel! I won't tell you twice." Harry did as he was told, slightly out of fear that Ginny would take matters into her own hands.

He made his way up the staircase leading to the girl's dorms and found Hermione's door. He knocked only to hear no answer or sign of ignorance. He knocked again and said, "Hermione? It's me Harry, are you in there?" Still no answer.

On the other side of the door, Hermione lay awake in her bed, silently waiting for Harry to give up. She held her breath, careful not to make a sound or else he might hear her. She wasn't ready to face him and the inevitable awkwardness between them, or worse talking about the subject she been trying so hard to avoid. Harry didn't wait another minute and opened the door and let it glide open into the room. He bit his lower lip as Hermione turned around in her bed to face him.

Her face grew uneasy as she sighed, "Hey…" She trailed off; she wasn't looking forward to this. He was going to say it was a mistake and that he was sorry. She was going to cry and yell at him to stay away from her and they'd never speak again. That's what you get when you fall for your best friend.

Harry was just as equally nervous, not ready for her rejection. He could barely look at her without choking, "Hey…" They stayed in the silence for what seemed like an hour but were only a minute. "Look…I-I know that what happened was awkward and… and that you probably hate me-"

"I don't hate you, Harry." Harry stopped. He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and continued, "That's g-good but that's not what I came here to say-"

"Harry" Hermione sighed, interrupting him again, "I understand."

Harry gaped at her, confused, "Understand what?" He took a step towards her as she crawled out of her bed. She was wearing baggy black shorts and a red tank top. She took a breath and responded, "I understand that what happened was a mistake to you. Don't feel guilty or anything. I know you probably just want to go to back to the way things were, foolish know-it-all bookworm doing your assignments and nagging you to do your work and I understand." Harry gaped at her even wider. She could not be more off and she was supposed to be the smartest girl he has ever met.

"I don't regret anything, Hermione. I never said it was a mistake." Hermione couldn't have been more shocked at his words. Was he saying that he felt the same way? She didn't get anytime to find out for Ginny had just walked into the room.

"Hermione, you're out of bed!" Could she have any worse timing? "C'mon, some of the girls are going to go costume shopping in Hogsmede for the Masquerade Ball. We really need to get you something nice because I'm assuming you have a date now…" She pointed at Harry with her eyes. He didn't notice but he looked at her and whispered that he hadn't quite gotten there yet. "Oh you poor boy, could you move a bit faster, geez…" Ginny moved her way out of the room chanting that Hermione needed a few minutes to get ready and Hermione took that as her cue to get dressed.

She made her way to her closet as Harry continued with their conversation, "Hermione, I sure I want to be your friend but…" How was he supposed to say this? Was he supposed to say the words 'I love you' or was he supposed to say something cheesy like 'I want to be so much more…'? He decided to go with cheesy, "I want to be more to…" Hermione was bending over her chest of doors but as he said those words she jerked up. She turned around in slow motion and stared at him with shock crossing her face.

"Wh-what? You want… to be more than just… friends?" Harry took this as somewhat of her returning his feelings and practically ran up to her, placed his hands on either sides of her face and bent down to kiss her. His lips moved with hers as if they coexisted for years. It took her a minute to process what was happening before she started to contribute. Harry was sure this must be heaven for he was kissing the love of his life and she was actually kissing him back. He pulled away and waited a few seconds before opening his eyes. Her eyes were closed for a few more seconds then they fluttered open. Her lips were still puckered up as if they were stunned and could never move again.

"Yes, Hermione, I want to be more than friends." As he said that Ginny had walked back into the room. She smiled at their standing positions for she could tell from Harry's hand on Hermione's waist and hers around his neck, what they were just doing. "So does that mean we have dates then?" Hermione merely nodded and whispered yes. Ginny squealed and before running back downstairs told Hermione she had 5 minutes. Then she ran downstairs screaming the news to everyone she passed. Hermione giggled and Harry chuckled for it seemed that Ginny had completely gotten over Harry.

"Well I better get dressed. I'll see you later…?" She bit her bottom lip and Harry smiled.

"Definitely." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and then her lips and made his way out of her room.

Before turning back to her wardrobe Hermione walked to her bed and fell back in ecstasy. She sighed a great big sigh of esteem and quickly dressed for her outing with friends. She had to get something that would knock the breath out of Harry.

"Ok, girls, we have to get sexy dresses that'll knock 'em dead." Lavender announced as they made their way to a department store. "Who are you going with, Ginny?" Everyone looked at Ginny as she blushed and said Dean Thomas. "Well then..." Lavender continued, "We'll take care of Ginny first."

The girls had the rather large store all to themselves, so they pulled up a row of chairs. Hermione looked around for the people she knew. There was Lavender, Luna, Ginny of course, Padma and Parvati, Susan Bones, and two other girls she didn't seem to recognize. They sat in chairs after picking out the top three choices for one girl. Ginny was behind a curtain, dressing. The girls decided to take the whole day going one at a time so they could help each other pick the perfect dress for their dates.

Ginny came out from behind the curtain. She was wearing a silky blue dress with white flowers trailing at the bottom on. It moved with her body as she gave a fake fashion show and twirled to give everybody a better look. Susan thought it was too impersonal and the majority agreed with her although Hermione didn't know exactly what they meant by that. The next dress was a deep purple with no straps. It flowed beautifully with her figure and showed some but not too much cleavage. The third pick was a short sparkly electric blue dress with rhinestones creating a line at the bottom of the dress. She chose to wear the purple dress and she chose a crystal necklace and pick studs to wear with it.

The day flew by quickly. Lavender chose to wear a very low-cut gray dress with many folds and it stopped just beyond her knees. The Patil chose matching dresses. They were simple sundresses with blowy skirts and polka-dots. Padma's was blue with white dots, and Parvati's was white with blue dots. Susan chose a bright pink dress that had a slit all the way up to her mid-thigh. Luna chose a white, almost see-through dress that seemed to cover everything and looked like mist covering her body. The other two girls complained that they didn't have dates so they chose simple dresses with no revealing nature.

Hermione was last and it was her turn. Her first was a simple white dress with sparkling rhinestones covering every inch almost in a floral pattern. The second one was bright yellow with red roses along the edge. She came out in her third dress. Everyone gaped at her.

"Well…?" Hermione said, uncomfortable with their silence, as she slowly twirled. Everyone nodded frantically and applauded and cheered and one of Ginny wolf whistled at her. When they all calmed down Lavender blurted out, "Forget the ball, you should wear that to school!"

Hermione smiled shyly and went to change back into her clothes before they all left back to the castle. As they made their way to the Gryffindor common room Hermione was delayed by Ron. "Hey Hermione, what's this I hear about you going out with Harry?"

Anger flushed his face as fast as confusion crossed hers, "What are you talking about?" She didn't know why that was her answer, she shouldn't be ashamed of it. "I'm talking about you dating Harry! How could you go out with my best friend weeks after we broke up?" His voice had raised and people started to turn their heads and stare at them.

"What the hell is it to you? He's my best friend too! It's none of your business. You're the one who started shagging another girl days after we broke up!!" By this time half the room had starting staring at them but no one noticed that Harry had just walked in.

"That doesn't give you the right to use Harry like this!!" Ron was starting to infuriate her and she pushed his shoulders back violently.

"Shut the hell up Ronald. I am not using Harry! I love him!! Take your head out of your arse and realize that not everything has anything to do with you!" Tears filled her eyes and she heard Ron mutter 'Harry' in horror that Harry was standing behind Hermione and had heard everything. Hermione turned around and wiped her eyes. Harry was stunned and Hermione ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door and landing on her bed, soaking her pillow with tears.

Well I think that that was interesting. Sorry if the first kiss wasn't as romantic as expected but hey it was just the first and there's many to come. Isn't Ron an arse? Well til next time!! Comment!