Years later they asked me how I got into the house. None of the wizards saw me, none of the traps were set off. I just laughed. No security team on earth could stop me from getting into my own house. Especially considering that I had trained every wizard that had guarded my house.

It was a piece of cake, really.

"Uh… Hermione, what are you doing here?" Harry stuttered, diving frantically for the fallen books.

Hermione gave a frustrated sigh and blocked Harry from her books. She scooped them up with one hand and turned to leave.

"What do you think I'm doing? It's a library. I read books. Or did you forget that already?"

"Yeah, but… never mind." Harry reached down and retrieved a scrap of paper that had escaped her grasp.

"You missed this." He offered it to her and flinched as she snatched it from his hand. She glared at him and sneered.

"What do you want, Wonder-boy? Come to gloat about your new 'buddy?' Or were you wanting to see how the stupid bookworm was doing without you?"

"I didn't want to see you, I mean…" Harry fumbled over the words, squirming like a fish on a spit. "I did want to see you, but not like that. I wanted to apologize for what I said."

"It's a little late for that." Her voice was cold and brittle. It pained Harry to see the anger in her eyes. The only time he had seen her that angry was when she had fought with Malfoy.

"Even if it's late, I really mean it."

"Then you should not have said it in the first place. Apology not accepted."

Hermione turned on her heel, walked into the library and headed for a secluded corner. Harry followed her, shrugging off the insult. He tried to speak with her, but she ignored his feeble attempts to talk. Finally, when she reached a table, she slammed her books down on the surface and rounded on Harry.

"What do you want!" Several heads turned their way, drawn by the sudden outburst. The librarian scowled in their direction, but neither noticed. Hermione's hands clenched into fists at her sides, but Harry did not back down.

"I want to apologize." Harry repeated, straining to stay calm. His insides were turning a mile a minute. Sheer willpower alone kept his stomach from hurling what remained of his lunch on the floor. His whole body tingled with nervous energy as he looked into her eyes, eyes that showed nothing but anger and spite.

"You've already said that. I said no."

"Then I'm asking again."

Harry staggered backwards when her fist struck him across the jaw. He had not even seen her move, it just appeared there, striking him in the blink of an eye. Blood splattered across his mouth as several teeth broke. Harry fell back a few steps and gaped at her, stunned by the punch. He started to raise a hand to his aching jaw, but dropped it quickly. Hermione stared at him with a look of such fury that Harry actually thought about running. She looked as surprised as he was though. After a few seconds of uncertainty, she spat at his shoe and picked up her books, sweeping them purposefully off the table. She started back in the direction of the door.

Harry hurried ahead of her and stepped between herself and the door. He matched her frown determinedly and crossed his arms over his chest. Hermione glanced back over her shoulder and let out an exasperated sigh.

"You aren't making this easy," he said, wincing as his aching jaw moved. He resisted the instinct to rub it, not because he wanted to look tough, but to show that he was willing to accept more to get her to listen.

"Why should I? I'm not the one who started this." Hermione tried to go around him, but he cut her off, holding his arms out to each side of the door. She glanced around desperately, seeking a way around him. "Please get out of the way. You're attracting attention."

"Not until you accept my apology."

Hermione scowled and took a step back. "I've said no already. Twice."

"And I don't believe that." Harry allowed himself a smile as Hermione raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"You don't believe that?"

"Not in the slightest." He leaned against one side of the door, grinning triumphantly. "And neither do you."

Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath, but she made no move for the door. "What makes you think that I don't believe it?"

"If you did, you wouldn't still be here talking with me. You'd belong gone, back in the common room with me still bugging you."

"If you weren't in the way, that's right where I would be."

"You could get past me easily."

"Not without punching you again."

"So?"

Hermione's eyes flashed angrily and Harry bit his tongue. He had not meant to say that so flippantly. There was no doubt as to how she had taken that.

"So what! Do you think I make a habit of punching people? Do you think I do it for fun?"

"No."

"Really? You're not showing it."

"Hermione, please, just listen to me." Hermione rolled her eyes again and took a threatening step forward, but Harry held his ground. "I was not thinking when I yelled at you. I was just… with everything that happened that day, I lost control. I didn't mean half the things I said to people that that night. I even got in a fight with Ron."

"Yeah," she scowled darkly. "But I saw that you and him are chums again. Funny how that works, isn't it."

"That was different, Hermione."

"So I noticed. You got in a fight with him later and forgave each other earlier than me. I can put two and two together, Harry."

"But you don't know why he and I got in a fight."

"I don't care. It was probably about which of you hated me more anyway." Hermione pushed against his shoulder and he allowed her to move him out of the way. He winced as she started towards the dorm.

"Hermione, it-" Harry swallowed hard and forced himself to look into her eyes. "Ron got mad at me because I stood up for you."

Hermione stopped abruptly. Harry held his breath, wondering what she was thinking. She stood there for several seconds, not moving as she digested what he had said.

"You did what?" she asked hoarsely. Harry let out a sigh of relief and moved forward to face her.

"Ron started talking bad about you while he carried me to Madame Pompfrey's. I told him to stop, and he got mad at me. Said I was picking you over him. He accused me of liking you too much. He said that I was trying to go out with you, and that you and I were dropping him."

"And you stood up for me."

"Yeah, even though it hurt." He tried to smile, but the pain of moving his jaw froze his mouth. "Walking down the hallway with a blown shoulder gives pain a new definition."

"I didn't know," she spoke quietly. "If I had known…"

"Don't worry about it. I talked with Ron and explained what had happened and he apologized. We're good as new."

"I guess I did throw you to the wolves," she admitted after a momentary pause. "That was pretty selfish of me. I should have told you about that in the library."

"It doesn't matter. That's over with. What really matters is if you can forgive me for yelling at you. You didn't deserve that. After seeing Vandermine, I can understand why you hate him. I might not agree with you… at all… but I understand your position."

"Yeah…" she mumbled, staring at the floor.

"Come on, let's go to the dorm."

"Wait, there is one thing I need to do first, before I forgive you."

"What is it?"

Hermione's hand slapped him before he even realized she had moved it. Harry grinned ruefully and rubbed the spot on his cheek where she had hit him.

"Now I forgive you."

"You should do that to Malfoy sometime. You've got quite an arm."

Hermione giggled and handed her books to him. "That's a good idea. Carry my books for me, will you?"

"Sure." Harry took the books and glanced down at them. "Say… that brings up a question I've got for you."

"What is it?"

"Ron and I need your help finding a book."

Hermione sighed and turned around towards the library. "Why am I not surprised? Really, you two need to learn to use the library maps."

Harry grabbed her arm with his free hand and pulled her to the side of the corridor before she got out of his reach. He looked up and down the hall to see if anyone was around.

"We don't know what book it is that we need."

"Oh?" Hermione's eyes lit up like candles. If Harry knew one thing about her, it was that she loved looking for hard-to-find books. "Why so secretive?"

"We need to find a book about Vandermine."

Hermione bit her lip as she thought about the options. "That is going to be a bit of a problem. The Ministry burned all books on-"

"Yes, I know. Ron already told me that. That's why we need your help. We need to find a book, any book that has information about him in it."

"Just what is it that you are looking for?"

"We need… we need to find a list of who he worked with in the past."

"That'll be quite a list, Harry. He was an Auror a long time, you know. There will be hundreds of associates."

"I know. But we are only looking for the women he worked with."

"That should narrow it by about a half. Wait a second," Hermione raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "What are you trying to find out?"

"It's complicated. I'll tell you when we're in the library."

They hurried through the library door. Hermione turned straight for the Biography Section as they cleared the welcome desk. Harry followed without a word, glancing nervously at the students sitting around the tables around them. As soon as they reached the first Biography row, they ducked into its cover. Hermione immediately started looking, scanning the names on the books.

"Let's see, V… Vacuus Vespus, Vadine the Fool, Vampires… nothing."

She stood up straight and crossed her arms, brow furrowing in concentration.

"I could have told you that, Hermione. It's pretty obvious that they wouldn't have a book on him here."

Hermione cast him a superior look and scoffed.

"Never overlook the obvious, Harry. The people that destroyed his books were bureaucrats. Chances are they missed a lot."

"Doubtful. Especially in a school."

"Still, it was worth a look."

Harry shrugged and glanced around at the rows of books surrounding them. "Any ideas where to look?"

"Lots. Help me look for McDouglass."

"McDouglass? As in Judder McDouglass?"

"Who else?"

"But why would we… oh, yeah that's right. They work together."

"So he would be a logical choice to look up."

"Right, let's find him."

They walked over to the M section and looked at it quickly. While there had been few V names, there were hundreds of M's, especially Mc-something's. Harry groaned and shook his head.

"This will take forever."

"Not if we hurry." Hermione crouched down and started scanning the bottom rows. "Start from the top and I'll meet you halfway."

"Got it." Harry rubbed his aching jaw and craned his neck upwards. He sighed inwardly and began the arduous task of looking for the right. 'Mc' name.

"Why couldn't there have been less Scottish wizards?" he asked himself.

"Scotland has had a large share of them, hasn't it. Maybe it's the weather."

"Whatever."

They spent the next ten minutes looking in silence, concentrating on the task at hand. While Hermione sped through the rows easily, Harry found it hard to focus on the names. His eyes kept drifting away towards the pictures on the covers. They showed pictures of dragons and ancient battles and weapons. He found them fascinating.

"So…" Hermione said after the area around them had cleared of students. "Do you like me?"

"What?" Harry dropped the book he was holding with a jolt. The hardened leather cover hit his foot with a loud thwack. He bit his lip to hold in a yelp of pain and took a step away from the shelf.

"You heard me. Do you like me? What did you tell Ron?"

"I, uh, um…" Harry felt his cheeks growing red and he turned away from her quickly. "What was the question?"

"I just want a simple yes or no Harry."

"It's not exactly simple."

"But you can still tell me."

"You don't need to know."

"Like heck I don't need to know! It's only me whose the target of the question."

Harry bent down to retrieve the book he had dropped, but Hermione grabbed his arm and held him still.

"Yes or no, Harry. Whatever you say, I won't hold it against you."

Harry's heart leapt to his throat when he looked her in the eye. "I… I didn't actually answer the question."

Hermione shook her head, clearly not convinced. "But what would you have said?"

An awkward silence followed the question. Harry held her gaze unflinchingly, but his mind was racing inside. A thousand thoughts were pounding against his skull, all of them screaming yes. His tongue felt suddenly dry and rough as he stumbled over the words that were fighting to come out.

"No." he finally answered, cursing himself as he said it. "I would have said no."

"Oh." Hermione's eyes dimmed a little and she looked disappointed. "Figures."

"Uh… where were we? McDouglass?" Harry tore his gaze away from hers' and looked back up at the shelf. "Ah, found it."

He pulled the book from the shelf and flipped through the pages quickly. "This should work. Thanks Hermione." He turned to face her, but she was gone. Harry bit his lip and swore.

"Figures," he muttered under his breath. "Maybe I should have told her."

A quick look at the clock on the wall told him that he had to be back at the dorm soon. With the book in tow, he rushed through the halls and back into the security of the Gryffindor main room.

Author's note: Sorry it took me so long to post this. I'm not a romantic type (as you can probably tell), so this was a hard and grueling chapter to write. If you've got comments or ideas put them in a review.