Round Seven
I left as soon as I knew she was completely asleep
I didn't want her to wake up
And see me there
Again
Conclusions would be leapt to
She must think I did not know she knew
Knew that I carried her
For the smartest witch of her age she could be rather dense
Everyone saw me
Oh, God, everyone saw me
And people talk
Always talk
I excused myself from my classes
Walked through the lesser known passages of the castle
Thinking
Of her
Of what happened
Of…
Us?

I headed to the library.
The library was the scene of most of the
Headier
Interactions between us
It just seemed to fit
I stood hidden in the shadows of the shelves
Looking at our table
It had ceased to be
Hers
From that very first day she let me stay
And stared at the familiar grain of the wood
Questions flooding my mind

I abruptly noticed her
She sat at our table
Stared into space
Contemplating something I would never fathom

I looked at her

My beautiful Hermione

What?

More questions that need answering
It seemed we would both be here for a while
I thought our game was of a purely physical nature
We talked, yes
And I looked forward to seeing her
To talking
But it was always fueled by attraction

Right?

The talking just filled the silence
Didn't it?

I knew girls

I understood the simpering whining self absorbed mind
Hidden behind the carefully molded hair and painted face
I didn't understand what could possibly lie
Behind her honey colored eyes and softly natural hair
Could we be friends?

I had never called a girl a friend
An acquaintance
A date
A toy
But never a friend

Hermione and I
We could never be just friends.

Friends

If I could figure out how

But to my knowledge friends didn't seduce each other
Daily

Why did I react
So strongly
To her distress
My damsel in distress

Wait, what?

The stuff of romances was not for us
It didn't make sense in the equation

Her friends didn't have such a strong reaction
It can't have been friendship then
Our game is simply one of attraction
And that motive doesn't make sense

So what is between friendship and lust?

What is that gray area in the middle?

No

I cannot bring myself to cough up the…
"L" word under any circumstances
That four letter word meant no going back
Extreme humiliation

No

I can't have
I haven't

Please?

The realization that I might have
Fallen
For Hermione Granger
This is the ultimate death sentence
The loss of the game
How could this have happened?

We've spent months
Playing this game
I had
Never
Worried that I might fall for her
What a fool

Round seven
And all future rounds
To one Hermione Granger