Ok guys … er … hides somewhere ashamed

I know I'm bad at updating but the last months had been crazy. Sorry about that! Here's an update for "Along Came Harry" and for those of you that are following and reading "And it all started", (a Lily/James story) an update will soon be made.

A huge thank you to each one of you that is reading and reviewing! You guys rock!

A special thought for London today. We're all with you guys!

After a couple of weeks, Hermione got used to her schedule and her students. She was glad she had such students and she felt lucky to be a member of the Hogwarts professor's team. Lucky and very proud. She was doing a great job and she was working with most of her friends. Well if you except Snape. She had once again seen him in the infirmary talking with Ginny and the Weasley girl had become as red as her hair. That got Hermione's attention. Surely Ginny was not involved with Snape in any way? Seeing how guilty the girl has looked like when Hermione saw her with Snape had decided Hermione on confronting Ginny about it all. She was currently looking for her and went to the infirmary. She really needed to talk to her! When she entered the infirmary, she quickly looked around to check that nobody else was there and she smiled as Ginny was greeting her.

"Hey Ginny, can I talk to you for a while?" Hermione asked sitting on one of the infirmary beds.

"Sure go ahead," answered Ginny "I'm sorting out those potions, I need to get rid of the oldest ones, I wanna make sure I'm not poisoning the students with out of date potions" she teased.

"Ok" started Hermione unsure about how to continue. "Well listen Gin, I know this is none of my business but I've been wondering what you're doing with Snape. I couldn't help but notice how uneasy you were each time I've spotted you with him. I'm worried Gin."

Ginny sighed at that but to Hermione's surprise she didn't seem angry and she was not blushing. "I needed to talk to you about it anyway. I just didn't know how to spill it in fact." The red-haired started. "First of all you have to promise not to tell anyone, because this is not my secret to share, ok? No even to Harry!" Ginny said.

"Nothing serious I hope." Hermione said. As Ginny reassured her, she promised to keep the secret so Ginny want on with her story.

"It4s not serious anymore but I still need your help. See I'm working with Snape on healing someone that had been cursed with the Imperius spell for years. Snape is working on the potion and Neville provides him most of the ingredients …" she was interrupted by Hermione's laughter.

"Sorry Gin, but I can't help laughing when I picture Neville working with Snape knowing how terrified he is by him." Said Hermione.

"Yes … poor Neville is still terrified by him but oddly enough, Snape seems to hold a new kind of respect for him now that he's working with him. Same for me by the way." Ginny mused.

"Well that must be pureblood privilege because he sure hasn't change a bit towards me. Anyway, tell me exactly what kind of help you need from me to help Draco's mother." Hermione asked

"Well all we … wait a minute, how do you know it's Draco's mother we're talking about?" Ginny asked surprised.

"Oh come on Gin 'Smartest Witch in Hogwarts' ain't a title you can get like that." Hermione teased.

"Right. So er, what I need from you is a charm to ease the potion taking. The potion works very well, it's very efficient but Narcissa goes through terrible pain while taking it and it's breaking Draco's heart to see her like that. He can't bear it anymore." Ginny stated.

"He can't bear it to the point to have to ask me for help?" Hermione asked.

"Look Hermione, I know he has not been nice to you during our Hogwarts years but he does not know it's going to be you. He's ready for anything as long as it helps his mother." Ginny said a little bit harshly.

"Don't worry Gin, I'll do research for a spell, when do you need it?" Hermione asked trying to ease the atmosphere.

"Tomorrow afternoon". Ginny answered happy that Hermione had implicitly accepted to help.

Ok so that'll leave me today to do my research that will be enough I hope."

"So you're going to resume your love story with the library then?" Ginny teased.

"Well given my current lack of love-life I guess I have no choice" Hermione joked as well.

"Come on 'Mione, you know you could if you only had the courage to speak to Harry." Ginny gently told her.

"I don't want to ruin anything with Harry Gin. He means too much to me. He's the best friend I have together with Ron. I don't know how I would cop if he would reject me. His friendship is too dear to me to lose it." Hermione simply stated.

"Mione, how do you know he'll reject you if you don't try?' proposed Ginny.

What the two girls didn't know though was that Harry was right on the other side of the door ready to enter the infirmary to ask a potion to Ginny when he heard the question Ginny asked to Hermione. Who the hell was this guy? He was dying to know so he did something he was not proud of at all but something that was the only possibility to get information. He silently cast an invisibility spell on him and stayed behind the door just to hear the end of the conversation.

"Oh come on Gin. I've stayed alone with him plenty of times and he never tried a move on me. That pretty much is clear enough to me to understand he has no romantic feelings towards me." Hermione said starting to feel angry.

"And how about you?" countered Ginny. "Have you tried something?"

"Are you bloody mad?" said a scandalized Hermione.

"Don't be old-fashioned Mione." Patronized Ginny.

"It's not being old-fashioned it's just that … it's like … arg ... ok call me old-fashioned if you want but it's up to the man to do the first move!" Hermione tried to justify.

"And what do you do if said man is thick and does not understand that you've just been waiting for him for years?" said Ginny trying to make her point.

"Well then I'm getting nuts, I over-analyze everything that said man can tell me, I over-analyze his every moves, and I end up being patronized by my best friends" Hermione conceded.

"Talk to him Mione, give him hints, that would be my only advice". Ginny said hugging Hermione.

"Thanks Gin. I'll see you tomorrow then.

Harry was still behind the door, too shocked to be moving. That certainly was worth doing something bad. He quickly moved from the door to leave enough space to let Hermione leave without being noticed and then he waited several minutes to be sure he could do the counter-spell to go back to normal. What the hell was that? Mione was in love with someone and she had not told him anything? Who the hell was the lucky guy HIS Hermione was in love with? As soon as he cast the counter-spell, he entered the infirmary to speak with Ginny.

"Hey Harry" she greeted him.

"Hi Ginny" he said thinking about a safe way to question her without acknowledging the fact that he had heard their conversation.

"Can I help you with something?" Ginny asked.

"Er, yes, I was looking for a potion against headache. I guess I've been working a little bit too hard lately." He lamely said.

"Sure" Ginny said looking at the potions she had on a shelf. "Here, have this one." She said giving him one tiny bottle full of a purple liquid. "Take one sip and in like 5 minutes it will be gone."

"Thanks Gin". Harry said desperately looking for a way to ask her questions about Hermione.

Ginny looked at him wondering why he was not leaving. "Can I help you with something else Harry?" she asked.

'Screw being tactful' Harry thought.

"Yes you can indeed. Listen Gin I've been there outside for a good five minutes and I've heard most of your conversation with Hermione." Harry said pointing his wand towards the door to lock it and protect it with a spell that provided them from being heard from outside.

Ginny paled at that scared that he might have heard the part about Draco's mother. He surely seemed irritated.

"What exactly did you hear?" she faintly asked.

"I've heard about your advices to Hermione about not being afraid of rejection and about not being old-fashioned." He simply stated.

"You did? Oh that's brilliant then! So what do you think then?" Ginny asked beaming.

Harry was lost at her reaction; it was not at all what he expected. "Er… what do you mean 'what do I think about it'?" he asked.

"Well what is your reaction about it?" Ginny tried.

"Well I want to know who this bloody guy is." He started and at Ginny's mocking reaction he tried to add other things in order to avoid her to jump to conclusions. "I want Mione to be happy and she needs the right guy. Not some guy but the perfect guy that will be able to take care of her and to protect her." He said.

At his words, Ginny burst into laughter.

"Glad you're finding this so funny" Harry sarcastically said.

I'm sorry Harry but you have to be the thickest man ever." Ginny said laughing.

"Ok You've lost me here" acknowledged a defeated Harry.

"Harry, I will not tell you who this guy is because Hermione asked me to keep it a secret and I value her trust." Ginny started. Seeing Harry's disappointment she continued "What I can tell you though is that it's a great guy, he'll be able to meet your requirements. The only problem is that he's rather thick in my opinion" she said grinning.

"Thanks Gin, this helps me so much." Harry cynically said.

"Harry just open your eyes." Ginny gently said.

"What do you mean 'open your eyes'? You mean I know this guy?" he asked suddenly feeling sick.

"Oh yeah, trust me, you know him pretty well." Ginny smiled.

Horror appeared on Harry's face. "It's not … it's not Ron right?" he asked alarmed.

"I know my brother's thickness is pretty legendary known now but our Mione found someone even thicker." Ginny laughed again.

"You won't tell me then?" Harry tried again.

"It's not my secret to tell Harry, I'm sorry". Ginny firmly but gently answered.

"Right. " he sighed. "Thanks for the potion Gin". He said before going out of the infirmary.

"You're welcome Harry". Ginny answered.

As soon as he got out of the infirmary, Harry rushed to his apartment towards a trunk in which he kept his most precious belongings. There he kept the Marauders 'Map, his invisibility cloak and the photo album Hagrid had offered him so many years ago. It always was a comfort to him to have a look at the pictures inside of it. There were pictures of his parents when they were still happy together, alive. He also had pictures of Sirius and one in particular that he deeply cherished. It had been a gift from Hermione the Christmas right after Sirius's death. It was a picture of Sirius and him at Grimmauld Place. He wished he could still have his parents and Sirius with him to talk about Hermione. Harry took the Map and his invisibility cloak and then said the spell that was giving life to the map.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good" grinned Harry pointing his wand towards the map.

He then examined the map looking for a dot labeled with Hermione's name. When he found it, he frowned as the usual green dot was now red. That was surprising. He should ask Remus about it. He then smiled when he found out about Hermione's whereabouts. He put on the invisibility cloak and left for the library. 'Honestly' he thought 'why bothering with the map, she's ALWAYS in the library.'

He waited a few minutes for a student to enter the library so that he could enter as well without being noticed. A door, opening by itself would certainly have given him.

He spotted Hermione in the restricted area and he smiled remembering that time when he came here to look for information under his cloak. He had nearly got caught by Filtch.
Hermione was sitting in front of a huge pile of big, thick and dusty books and she had a look of concentration on her face clearly stating 'Don't you dare disturbing me!'. Harry wondered what she was working on and tried to have a look at the titles of the books but he could see them as he was on the other side of the table. Coming any closer would have been too dangerous. He stayed a few minutes looking at her and he wad glad he had his invisibility cloak otherwise he would have become the new topic of Hogwarts gossips. The DADA teacher, literally drooling whiles starting at the Charms teacher, now that would be a subject! He perfectly knew this was not an adult way of handling things but since he had been denied any kind of normal teenage years then he was going to have them now. Not convinced in the least by his pathetic excuse to stare like that at his best friend without her noticing it, he then decided to move as Hermione was showing no sign whatsoever that she was going to leave any time soon. He knew from experience that when she was this concentrated, nothing would make her move unless she was finished. He then moved towards the exit of the library and once again waited for a student to pass the door. Then he carefully looked for an isolated place and took off his cloak.

When he arrived in his apartment, he immediately went to pick up his firebolt on the balcony and flew towards the Quidditch pitch from there. Flying had always helped him to sort his thoughts out. He wondered if his father had gone through this kind of situation with his mother. He definitely needed to speak to Remus. After all, Remus was now the closest thing to a parent to him.

While Harry was flying outside, Hermione had found a spell that could work on Draco's mother. She took the book with her and made her way to her apartment in order to take a well deserved and long hot bath. Then she'll be practicing the wand movements and the spell pronunciation. She hoped it was going to work, otherwise she had other "restricted areas session" in perspective. She had never been put under an Imperius curse before and she wished she could have talked about it with Harry as she knew he was strong enough to fight and refuse its effects. But then, talking about it with him would be deceiving Ginny's trust. The only thing she knew for sure was that getting someone under the Imperius curse was enabling this person to order you to do anything they wanted.

Damn it, once again she was starting to feel guilty that she could not tell that to Harry. She positively hated keeping things from him. Even when it was in order to prepare him a surprise. When they had prepared a surprised birthday party for his 17th birthday she had felt guilty all along. She knew this feeling came from Harry's reaction when they kept the all Order of the Phoenix thing secret from him before Sirius's death. She couldn't wait to be able to talk about it to Harry. In the meantime her only option was to avoid him as much as possible, that way she won't have to lie.

While she was having those thoughts, Hermione had started to run her bath and had bewitched it to get massaging bubbles and a sweet scent of cinnamon. She spent a whole hour in her bath, relaxing as she had also cast a spell to keep the water warm. When she got out of it, she put on comfy muggle clothes: her favorite pair of jeans and a green sweater that had always reminded her of Harry's eyes. Then she magically asked the house-elves to bring her dinner here. That way she won't be seeing Harry at dinner in the Great Hall and she'll be able to work on the spell.

She stayed barefoot as she was in her own apartment and when she went back in her living-room she was pleased to see that no freaking lunatic door was there. She started a fire and sat on her cozy sofa getting the book with her. This book simply was brilliant and she was amazed that she had never been able to read it before. During her 7th year she had been granted an access to the restricted area as she was doing researches for the Order. But never had she found this book. She was kind of disappointed because it was so well documented that she could have found more effective spells to protect the Order's members. While she was flipping through the pages, she noticed a piece of parchment sticking out of the book. When she took it, she noticed that it was covered in notes about the three unforgivable curses. She started to read the notes, once again amazed by the quality and accuracy of the information it held. She was going to read what was on the back of the parchment when she heard a knock on her door. She stood up to go to open the door and she found Harry slightly worried.

"Hey Mione, are you ok? The house-elves told me you were not feeling that good so I came here to check on you. Is everything ok?" He sweetly asked.

'So much for avoiding him' thought Hermione.

"Well I had a slight headache and I had to finish this lesson I'm working on so …" she started. Harry had entered her apartment and was looking at the book.

"You're preparing a lesson on Dark Arts?" he asked surprised.

"Er … well yes, I was er … making researches on the three unforgivable curses and …" she tried to explain.

"Do you need any help on it?" Harry asked excited.

"Er well why not, we could do a class together about it, what do you think?" Hermione offered.

"I think it's one other of your brilliant ideas Mione." Harry answered smiling broadly.

"Thank you Harry." said Hermione cursing herself for she felt her cheeks getting all red.

"You're more than welcome Mione" answered Harry getting closer to her and stroking her cheek without even noticing it. Hermione was on the other hand very aware of his gesture and she was starting to feel weak on her knees.

As he let go of her cheek Harry looked at her straight into her chocolate eyes and asked her "Are you doing anything tomorrow Mione?"

"I've got something planned with Ginny" Hermione answered taking deep breaths and hoping he had not noticed anything on her reaction at his touch.

"Oh." Was all he was able to answer, unable to hide his disappointment.

'I should be done in the middle of the afternoon though" offered Hermione.

"Really? So could we go somewhere?" he asked hopefully.

"My, my" started Hermione desperately scolding herself to act as the grown-up she was "is that a date Mr. Potter?" she finally asked.

Now it was Harry's turn to blush like a fourteen years old. "Er, we could say that" he lamely said. DADA teacher 1, charms teacher 1 silently scored Hermione.

"I sorry Harry, I could not resist teasing you," apologized Hermione. "Date or not I'd be delighted to go with you."

"Yeah, right, er I feel kind of stupid here" said Harry.

"Well that makes two of us then" smiled Hermione trying to ease Harry's awkwardness. She didn't know what to think about his reaction. She honestly had no idea where this idea of asking him if it was a date had come from. His reaction could be interpreted in so many different ways. He could have been uneasy that she could think he was asking her on a date. Or he could have blushed because she had made the right guess maybe? Yeah right …

"So what are you doing with Ginny then?" Harry asked to change the subject.

"Oh, girls stuff" Hermione answered not daring to look at him, too scared that he might see she was lying.

"Ok then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" he said going towards the front door of Hermione's apartment.

"Yeah see you tomorrow Harry" she just said.

As Harry closed the door, he leaned on it and smiled broadly. 'He shoots he scores!' he mentally congratulated himself. Man, getting Hermione on a date with him was as difficult and as satisfying as winning a Quidditch game against the Slytherins. Maybe more in fact. Yeah definitely more.

He came back in his apartment and could stay still one minute. He was still grinning like mad and felt the need to share this news. He tried to reach Ron through the floo network but had no chance. Then he tried with Remus and he was more successful.

"Hey Moony" he said.

"Good evening Harry," Remus answered. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Great, just great" Harry answered with his goofy grin still on his face.

Remus looked at him and laughed. "Now where have I already seen this bright goofy grin before? Oh I've got it. I remember a certain James Potter having such a grin when he finally got a date with a certain Lily Evans." Remus teased. "So I take it you've finally took a chance with Hermione and that you've been successful?" he asked.

The goofy grin disappeared. "How do you know?" asked Harry.

"Come on Harry, it is so obvious that you fancy each other that it's starting to be a little bit worrying that two intelligent grown-ups as Hermione and you never noticed before.

"Obvious? Well Hermione's certainly not making it obvious to me. Plus she's fancying another guy. I've heard her talk about him to Ginny." Harry said.

"Harry, Harry, Harry", Remus started in his best patronizing voice. "Did it occur to you that YOU might be this guy?" he asked.

That took Harry by surprise. He had not been expecting this at all. Then he remembered his own discussion with Ginny and her words came back in his head one by one.

'Open your eyes Harry" . "You know him pretty well" . "You're so thick!"

Harry then thought about Hermione's reaction when he had touched her cheek. As far as he remembered it was the first time she had blushed so much under his touch. Why was that? Could he be this lucky?

"I see the goofy grin is back so I take it you've figured it out" Remus teased.

"I …" started Harry. "Sorry Remus I must go, I've got the best of dates to get ready for tomorrow" Harry said getting his head out of the fire. He then popped it up again in the fire. "Hey Remus?" he asked.

"Yes?" Remus answered.

"Thanks!" Harry said.

"Anytime Harry, anytime." Remus laughed.

Ok that's it for today. I hope you liked this chapter! I worked extra hard on it!

Please review!