A/N: Fourth installment!

~*~*~

Chapter Four

From The Journal Of Hermione Granger: Entry 4

It is nighttime now. I have just returned from the first watch. I had left the tent only to have Harry follow me out. Ron had called us back in and asked Harry to try and tune in to Potterwatch on the wireless. I know, I know. Ron has returned. I haven't forgiven him though. My anger is still as irate as ever. I should probably explain now. It has been so long, weeks and weeks have passed by so quickly.

It was evening. I had just put away my last journal entry and crawled into Harry's bed (Ron's smelled of old socks and stale bread). Harry put out the light with a wave of his wand and I smiled at him.

"You mastered nonverbal magic?" I asked.

He grinned. "I figured I'd have to impress my girlfriend somehow. I've been training ever since Bill and Fleur's wedding," replied he.

"But I wasn't your girlfriend then," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but I was falling for you, just a tad," said Harry.

"Oh," said I, "but that whole thing with Ginny on your birthday—"

Harry's handsome face was marred with a slight frown. "She kissed me. I didn't kiss her back. I tried to push her away but you and Ron already opened the door,"

"Oh. So you didn't kiss her then?"

He pulled me to him and buried his nose in my hair. "No, I didn't."

I smiled and hugged him back. Then he went rigid. Pulling back, I cast him a curious glance. "Harry?"

"My scar. It hurt for a while. But he's happy. You-Know-Who's happy," said Harry sounding scared.

"Don't worry. It's nothing."

"D'you know what this means? He knows, Hermione, You-Know-Who knows about you and I. He knows about us. He's going to use you or-or—"

"So what? I don't know about you, Harry, but frankly, I think you're worth the risk,"

Harry smiled a bit. "Really?"

I snorted. "Of course. Honestly, Harry, how shallow do you think I am?"

He grinned and pulled me even closer to me.

"I love you so much," whispered he.

"I love you too,"

He grinned then closed his eyes, looking satisfied with that mere reply.

~*~*~

Harry and I woke up at four thirty the next morning. We showered and changed and finally packed our things up to leave. When we left the room, I closed the door with a tiny click from the knob. Harry grasped my hand and we ventured down the stairs in semi-darkness. We at last reached the front door but when Harry was about to turn it, there was a loud, resounding creak coming from the stairs.

We both swirled around to see Ron, looking rather gloomy but dressed and ready. Harry was the first to react.

"Ron—"

"Look, I know you guys probably don't want me with you right now, but I really do want to come back. I want to help find the Horcruxes and stuff. And—" he stole a glance at mine and Harry's joined hands before flicking his gaze back to our faces, "—I may not be ecstatic about your new relationship, but I guess if it's not me for Hermione, I'm glad it's you, mate."

Harry's face broke out into a grin. "Thanks, Ron. It's means a lot to me—"

I cleared my throat loudly and gave Harry a pointed look. "Fine then," said Harry smiling affectionately at me, "it means a lot to us."

Ron made a gagging sound. "I'm still here, you know. Don't kiss and stuff in front of me. And I don't want to see Hermione feed you or come out of your bedroom in the morning."

"RON!" I whispered frantically while blushing a fiery scarlet.

They two boys shared a laugh. I glared at them, reached over and threw the door open. With my nose in the air, I marched out, zipping my jacket up.

"Aw, come on, Hermione. It was just a joke," said Harry behind me. The humor was still evident in his voice and you could hear the grin in it.

I spun around and folded my arms across my chest. "It wasn't funny. At all."

"Jeez, even with Harry snogging the living daylights out of you, you're still the same old Hermione," Ron complained.

I scowled. "Well, if you want me to change why don't—"

Harry laughed again. "Come on, you lot. We've got somewhere to be."

He threw the cloak over us, wrapped an arm around my waist and Apparated us back to our old hiding place.

~*~*~

The next round of events went awful. The first one happened on the first night we returned. Harry was taking the first watch outside the tent. He had borrowed my wand yet again, Ron was trying to tune into Potterwatch on the wireless and I was translating the original copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard with a Runes dictionary.

After finally getting tired of Ron's constant swearing and cursing at the wireless, I closed up shop and left the tent to stay with Harry. When I found him, he was playing with my wand, lifting tiny pebbles off the ground.

"Hello," greeted I quietly.

Harry turned his head to look at me and he grinned. "Hey, you,"

I returned it gratefully and borrowed my wand back, conjuring up a chair for me to sit on and returned the wand back to him. "How are you?" I asked, sitting down and letting Harry envelop my warm hand in his cold ones.

"I'm fine," said Harry, pressing a kiss to my hand, "better than before anyways," He cracked a smile and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, bringing me closer.

"Did you get any translating done?" He asked, rubbing his hand up and down my arm.

"A bit. Ron's cussing drowned out my concentration. Horrible," said I.

Harry laughed, his eyes lighting up with glee. "Well, that's Ron for you,"

He checked his watch. "It's getting late, you should go back in and get some sleep. Tell Ron to get to bed too,"

"I'm not going to sleep without you!" I cried.

"Come on, Hermione, it's only been one night," teased Harry.

I swatted his arm. "I didn't mean it like that," said I, blushing while Harry raised his eyebrows, "well, not really anyway,"

"I'll be fine," said Harry and he pressed a kiss to my temple, "I'll wake up Ron when my shift is over, and then I'll crawl into bed with you, okay?"

I nodded and looked at our joined hands. I was holding onto Harry's with a tight grip but he didn't seem to mind.

"Off with you, then. I'll be with you real soon." Harry said, standing up and tugging on my arm.

I jumped up from the chair and hugged him fiercely. "I love you, you know," I whispered.

I could feel Harry's smile come onto his face. "I love you too. So much,"

When we pulled back, I kissed him long and hard before bidding him goodnight. I entered the tent to find Ron still on the floor but asleep, the wireless next to his ear and he was muttering under his breath.

"Ron," said I, shaking him awake, "Ron, wake up! Move onto the bed!" I pushed him to a sitting position.

He looked groggy but got to his feet fast. I pushed him in the direction of his bed but he turned the other direction.

"No!" I hissed, getting exasperated with him, "that's Harry's bed, get out! Yours is over here!" I tugged on his arm and pushed him onto the bed. With a loud snore, he finally fell asleep.

I sighed and took one last look at Harry's slouched form in front of the tent. With a slight smile, I crawled into my bed and fell asleep.

I woke up at sometime in the night to a cold sweat. I couldn't remember my dream. All I knew was that something felt wrong. There were no lights in the tent at all, even outside where Harry was and Ron was no longer snoring either.

I lay there, too afraid to move an inch. After for what seemed like an eternity, I heard shuffling steps approach the tent. I could hear slight, rapid whispering then the tent flap was opened. I threw off the covers and approached the night visitor only to find Harry and Ron, limping. Ron looked tired, as if he had fought something terrible. Harry, on the other hand, was completely wet and he was shivering.

My mouth dropped open at the sight of them. Harry reacted first.

"Her—Hermione, we c-can explain," He stuttered.

I cautiously approached them. And when I did, they burst out into explanations. Ron explained how Harry had jumped into the lake clad only in his undergarments and Harry explained how Ron destroyed the Horcrux and what came out of it.

When they finished, I was silent, staring on the ground.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

I glared at the both of them and slapped each of them on the arm. They both yelped in pain.

"What was that for?" Ron demanded, rubbing the reddening spot.

"That was for not even trying to stop Harry, you ruddy idiot!" I yelled.

"And you!" I swiveled to face Harry, whose brief smile had instantly disappeared. "YOU—ARE—A—COMPLETE—ARSE—HARRY—POTTER!" And with every word I had hit him hard on the arm.

When I finished, Harry winced bit. My lip trembled and I snatched Ron's wand and healed his blood clots.

"I'm sorry," said Harry, sounding sincere.

I finally broke out into tears and threw my arms around him even though he was wet. "Oh Harry! I was so worried! I thought something had happened and—and—oh Harry, I wish you'd woken me up!"

I continued sobbing into his neck while he soothingly stroked my back, saying things like, "it'll be fine", "we're okay", and other things. When my sobs finally resided, I pulled back and kissed his cold lips. Harry kissed back as well, placing one hand on my lower back and the other one behind my neck to pull me close to him.

When it ended, our faces were still right in front of each other. Our breathing steadied and our eyes remained locked.

"I wish you wouldn't scare me like that," whispered I.

"I'll try to stop," said Harry, grinning.

Ron had left for his and Harry's bedroom. After Harry dried up and changed into suitable sleeping clothes (a shirt and his boxers), he crawled into bed with me, took me in his arms and held me the entire night even as we slept.

~*~*~

"Just tell me, Hermione!"

"No, Harry! I can't believe you won't just drop the subject!"

"It's because you won't tell me!"

It was morning time and we were seated in the kitchen, preparing breakfast (Ron was still asleep). Harry and I were having a petty argument over something that happened in our sixth year. I had brought up the subject about the strange symbol that was on the first page of the story, the Tale Of The Three Brothers. Then Harry remembered that Viktor Krum had said that it was Grindelwald's sign because it was the sign Xenophilius Lovegood was wearing during Bill and Fleur's wedding, which led to the subject of him never liking Krum but keeping his feelings secret, which then led to me being jealous of Cho and Ginny, which somehow led to Potions class in sixth year and Amortentia.

I had mentioned the probability that Ginny using Amortentia on him was very high and Harry agreed, stating that even then what he smelled in Amortentia was treacle tart, the scent of a newly polished broom and the shampoo I used (He found out the night we got together. Who'd have thought he'd get addicted to the smell of rose petals mixed with the scent of ink and old books?), which evidently led to him asking me what I smelled when I smelled Amortentia. I had told him it was new parchment and freshly mowed grass then I cut off, quite embarrassed to say what the other scent was.

"Come on, Hermione! I told you what I smelled," whined Harry.

"It doesn't matter anyway, I'm never going to tell you. It's too embarrassing."

"Yeah, well, you don't think that shampoo bit was embarrassing for me? It was more than half of a year I was thinking it was Ginny's perfume! Imagine my relief when I found out it was your shampoo."

I felt guilty. "Fine then," his gaze snapped to my blushing face, "oh, you're going to tease me, I know it!"

"I won't! I swear on it."

I looked at his eager eyes and blushed even more.

"Whenever I smell Amortentia, I smell new parchment, freshly mowed grass and—" I looked at the intensity in Harry's eyes and they were a shade darker, "oh Harry, this is so embarrassing!"

"Hermione! Just spit it out!" He voice sounded amused and frustrated at the same time.

"Oh, fine. I smell you."

Harry looked shocked. "What?"

"Whenever I smell Amortentia, it's your smell that conquers everything else. It's smells nice and musky. It's sort of a combination between mint, your aftershave and the Quidditch pitch on a rainy afternoon."

He grinned. He knew that I loved rainy afternoons. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"That wasn't so bad was it?"

I glared at him. "Humph,"

"Oh, come on, Hermione. Build a bridge and get over it,"

I sighed. "You're right,"

Harry chuckled. "For once," He took my hand and I immediately saw the white scars he obtained during our fifth year.

"I must not tell lies," I murmured, tracing the scars with the index finger of my other hand.

"Yeah, you mustn't."

I looked at him and he had leaned over the table, his elbows resting on it. He quickly bent forward even more and kissed me. After a while, we heard Ron come in, but we were still busy at the moment.

"Oi! Get a grip, you two!"

Harry and I separated, blushing furiously. "You've got the worst timing, mate," Harry growled.

"It's not my fault my two horny best friends are snogging over the kitchen table, is it?"

We both blushed again. "Shut it, Ron," said I.

Later that day, we decided to visit Xenophilius Lovegood and ask about the sign he wore on his chest in Bill and Fleur's wedding. Harry has suggested it. When Xenophilius told me to read out The Tale Of The Three Brothers, I knew Harry would suggest that the Deathly Hallows existed. Xenophilius left us for a while, so we argued about the existence of the Deathly Hallows for a while.

"I'm telling you, Hermione, these things are real!" Harry exclaimed, annoyed.

I stamped my hand on the table. "Harry, it's ridiculous! Honestly, the existence of such things is absurd!"

"It's not! How would you explain my Cloak? I supposed it's just a Charm, right?"

I looked away from his gaze. "I-it's not a Charm, I know that! But it's just that—how could those things be real anyway? I mean, a stone that resurrects the dead? That's insane!"

"It's not! It's true, you know it is! It's true, right Ron?"

Ron looked between the two of us with a frightened look. "Er—well, there's a lot of evidence that it isn't true—"

"See?" I said, motioning to Ron.

"A-and, well, there's also a lot of evidence that it is real, so…"

"HA! See?" Harry cried triumphantly.

"He sided with both of us, Harry!"

"You know I'm right, Hermione!"

"It's not real, Harry!"

Ron finally stood up and yelled, "SHUT UP! Both of you are being idiots! Are you honestly going to fight over this forever? Aren't you guys a couple?"

Then Harry glared at me. "I honestly don't know anymore."

My eyes widened. "W-what?" There was a pang somewhere in my chest.

"Hermione," Ron said before Harry could respond, "he just said that in the heat of the moment so—"

"Look, Hermione, I didn't mean—"

Then Mr. Lovegood chose the perfect time to burst in with his meal. I had slight tears in my eyes as he put the meal down on the table. "Well, what happened?" He asked.

"Nothing did." I mumbled while glaring at the ground.

"Er—Mr. Lovegood, why did you make only three meals?" Ron asked.

"Hmm? Oh, well…" He trailed off, his bright grin disappearing. Then it hit me.

"You traitor!" I screamed, backing away from him.

"Whoa, Hermione!" Ron bellowed.

"He notified the Ministry! He sent people after us, Ron!" I replied, taking his and Harry's arms and pulling them away from him.

"W-why would you do it?" Ron asked.

"They took her! The Ministry took my Luna away from me! But I could get her back, see? If I just told them about you while you were here, they'd release her! She'd be back with me!" He explained, gaining a maniacal look in his eyes.

"You're mad! D'you honestly think they'd let you escape even if you sold us out?" Harry asked.

We heard the sound of Apparition outside of the house. "Lovegood! Where are they?" Someone asked.

"Hurry upstairs!" I said, pulling Harry and Ron with me. "Quick Ron, get under the Invisibility Cloak!" I threw the smooth cloth at him.

"What are you talking about? It should be Harry!" Ron objected, throwing the Cloak back to me.

The sounds of people rushing up the stairs became louder. When they reached us, I cast a spell that blew up the ceiling.

"I'll explain later! We have no time!" I hissed, throwing it over him and I grabbed Harry's arm and we Disapparated away.

We landed with a heavy thud back in our tent. I pulled the Cloak off of Ron.

"Why'd you put the Cloak over Ron? I could've been killed!" Harry yelled angrily while dusting his pants and standing up.

I stood up and faced him indignantly. "I had to cover Ron!" I hissed. "He's supposed to be sick in bed with Spattergroit, remember? And I had to show that we were really here so Mr. Lovegood wouldn't get into too much trouble and that he was really telling the truth!"

"Oh, brilliant idea!" Harry said, rolling his eyes, "You wanted me to be seen so Mr. Lovegood wouldn't get into too much trouble! Smart, Hermione!"

"We can't be traced anyway!" I yelled, shrilly at him. Tears were dripping down my face.

Why was he being so angry?

I wiped my eyes furiously and marched into my room, slamming and locking the door shut.

Harry and I didn't speak to each other for quite a long time after that. We only talk a little bit. Harry didn't apologize; I assume he is being too stubborn. But he isn't the only one. I have refused to make any contact with him at all. If he tried to touch my arm or anything else, I pull back and walk away. Ron stopped trying to get us to make up because we never listened to him. It's been weeks since that incident.

Then just tonight, I presume Harry wanted to apologize. I was sitting out of the tent, doing the first watch while Ron was trying to get into Potterwatch again. Harry came out after a while.

"Can I sit here?" He asked, pointing to an empty chair I had conjured up for practice earlier.

I nodded in silence. When Harry sat down, the air around was tense. We were ignoring each other a bit. Then Harry spoke, "Listen, Hermione—"

"Don't, Harry. It's fine," I interrupted. Then I checked my watch. My turn was over. So I stood up and left. Harry soon followed me, deciding to help Ron with Potterwatch.

Then I sat down and started writing.

I'm afraid I must leave. Ron finally tuned into station. I will write again soon.

Signed,
Hermione Jane Granger

~*~*~

A/N: Sorry for the really late post! I had exam week last week, so I couldn't finish typing. I'll try to be on time next week.