As all of the men filed out of the Room of Requirement, his mind was still reeling from how incredible this evening had been. Not only had he gotten the release that he had so desperately needed, it had been more wonderful than he could have ever expected. After that first blowjob from the mysterious woman when Neville introduced him to what went on in the room, Harry's sexual life had been consistently improving.

He was already eager to come back again. The thought of returning to the Room of Requirement to sample its pleasures was a tantalizing one, and, if they weren't shutting down for the night, Harry was sure that he'd be able to go another round right now.

Despite that, Harry was still more than satisfied with what he'd received tonight. He had sex with a second woman after Hermione, and while the experience hadn't been quite as magical, it was still completely mind blowing. The sheer amount of pleasure that he had felt was well worth the wait.

Speaking of Hermione, Harry thought as he glanced back to the closing doors of the Room of Requirement. He wondered how she had gotten on tonight. Most of the men had been as eager as he'd been, so he was sure that she had found someone to pleasure her too.

It was with that thought that niggling doubts started to form in his mind though. After having experienced someone else, he knew that no one else could compare to Hermione in his eyes. Sure, he could have a tremendous amount of fun fucking other people, but it didn't have the same emotional spark that left his mind and spirit fully satisfied. The real question was if Hermione felt the same.

Was there someone better than him in her eyes now? Was he nothing in comparison to the others in the room? Would she ever even want to-

"Damn it," Harry grimaced, coming to a stop in a corridor and pressing his forehead to the cool stone wall. Neville had been right all along; Harry really had fallen for his best friend.

How would he even bring something like this up to her? 'Hi, I know we've been best friends for years and we fucked so that we could lose our virginities together since we were the best options we each had, but I actually love you and want to be with you.'

Harry smacked his head off the wall again. It would be stupid to just come out and say that after the night they'd just had in the Room of Requirement. What if she decided that she really liked what the Room had to offer and didn't want to be in a relationship with him? What if she found someone else she liked more than him and wanted to date them instead? What if she didn't like him that way at all? He could easily ruin the best friendship he'd ever had just because of some stupid feelings.

No, they weren't stupid. What was stupid was that it took this long for him to admit to himself what had always been apparent: he loved Hermione Granger.

He couldn't just let this lie hidden away inside the recesses of his mind—it'd eat him up inside if he didn't tell her—but he needed to approach this situation intelligently. He didn't want to blow this one chance he had to tell Hermione how he felt by doing something stupid or ruining things. No matter how much he wanted to run to her and tell her right now how he felt, he knew that he shouldn't when his emotions were so heightened.

This gave him time to plan the right way to do things.

So, with a determined stride, Harry started back towards the Gryffindor Common Room. He moved quickly, taking a couple of secret passages to quickly cross the seventh floor to reach the Common Room before the other guys did. He quickly rattled off the password to the Fat Lady and all but ran straight up to his bedroom where he pulled out some parchment, a quill, and ink and got to planning.

Harry scribbled out every idea he could think of, no matter how silly. One of his first thoughts was to take Hermione for a flight on his Firebolt and to reveal it to her then. It was only after writing it down that he realized what a terrible idea it would be. Hermione might feel trapped up in the air with him, and she didn't even like flying that much in the first place. It wouldn't be a romantic place for her, so he quickly wrote that idea off. Still, it helped him to narrow down what was important in how he went about this.

Changing tacts, Harry considered the places that Hermione liked and felt comfortable in. The library, obviously, her room, the common room, the kitchens, and the Room of Requirement all made appealing choices. The common room might be too public though, unless they went down there after curfew to talk. But, if they ever did hang out after curfew, it was usually in one of their rooms instead.

Merlin, this all felt so frustrating. Harry groaned into his hands, trying to vent the depressing thoughts that were passing through his mind. If he kept questioning every little detail, he was never going to get something that felt right. And yet, if he didn't obsess over every detail, he might do something terribly wrong.

No, he knew that he had to trust that Hermione would hear him out at the very least. Even if it wasn't perfect, or he did something wrong, she'd always be sympathetic to him.

Harry took a deep breath. He could do this; he just had to pick something that would be good for the both of them and-

Wait!

Harry's eyes closed as he felt himself sink into a familiar memory. He was standing in a room inside of a tent. The wireless was playing music and Hermione was in his arms and the two of them were dancing. Hermione had been reluctant at first, but then she started having fun. By the end of it, the two of them were giggling and swinging each other around the room as they danced to the beat of the music.

That was it! That was the moment he could recreate here! He could make the Room of Requirement look exactly like that moment, and then he could tell her how he really felt.

It was perfect! It was romantic and sweet, and, hopefully, Hermione would love reliving the memory.

He just needed a good day to do it.

Harry was just about to pull out his calender when the door to his room opened and Hermione quietly entered. Harry reacted quickly and flipped over the parchment with his notes on it as he got to his feet and met Hermione halfway into his room. She was red-faced and looked quite tired but, somehow, she was positively glowing.

"Hermione-" Harry began to speak but he was cut off as Hermione threw her arms around him and squeezed him tightly.

"Thank you, Harry," Hermione told him. "For helping me go to the Room of Requirement tonight. It was absolutely amazing!"

Harry felt terribly torn. On one hand, he was ecstatic that Hermione had found the release that she needed and was feeling a lot better. On the other hand, he was worried about what this meant for his impending confession.

"I-" Harry went to speak again, only to be stopped when Hermione planted a kiss on his cheek.

"I can't wait for the next time," Hermione gushed as she let go of him.

"That's great," Harry grimaced, but tried to disguise it as a genuine smile. "I'm glad you had a wonderful time."

"So am I," Hermione replied. Then, her cheeks reddened a bit more again. "How was it for you?"

Not as good as when I was with you, Harry wanted to say. "It was great," he answered. Technically that was true; it had been a really fun and great time.

"Good," Hermione smiled. "I was talking to Hannah on the way back and she said that they'd be doing another session tomorrow night since the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Quidditch practices and the Gobstones Club's autumnal inter-house tournament would interfere with any sessions during the upcoming week. Do you think you want to go again?"

Harry couldn't say that he was particularly excited to go, not when he knew that Hermione was going to be there too.

Hermione seemed to sense his hesitance in answering her because she gave him a concerned look. "Is everything alright? I thought you had fun tonight."

"I did," Harry answered. He wanted to tell her right here and now how he felt, but he just couldn't. He didn't want to ruin her happiness from tonight or potentially ruin her from having fun tomorrow if she didn't feel the same way about him as he did towards her. So, he just lied instead. "I'm just a bit tired."

"Me too," Hermione chuckled. "Honestly, I'm just glad I'm not as tired as I was after we-"

Hermione stopped herself as she blushed a deep crimson red. They hadn't ever talked about that night since it happened. This was the first time that either of them had brought it up, but Harry was glad that she did. He felt a certain reassurance settle in him that he'd been able to please her that night, and that it had been more vigorous than whatever had gone on tonight.

"Anyway," Hermione said, trying to brush past her slightly awkward comment. "If you don't want to go, then we could just stay in instead?"

Really? She'd stay in with him just like that. Harry opened his mouth to immediately say 'yes,' but then he stopped himself as a stray plan drifted into his mind. As he followed the thought through to its logical conclusion, he reached a firm decision in his mind.

"No, let's both go tomorrow," Harry told her.

"Okay," Hermione grinned. She leaned in and gave him another hug. "Thanks again for giving me the push I needed to go."

"No problem," Harry smiled back.

Hermione quickly said goodnight and left to go to her room for bed. As soon as the door closed behind her, Harry stripped down and crawled into bed. As he doused the candles with his wand and closed his eyes, he started picturing exactly how Hermione looked from the night the two of them had been together.

He needed to remember it exactly if he wanted everything to go according to the plan he envisioned.


A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! If you are interested in reading more or supporting me, check out at p atreon .com(slash) ashox