Harry had never been so nervous to start the school year. After the Quidditch World Cup, since there were only a couple weeks until the start of term, Hermione had asked the Weasleys if she could stay with them for the remainder of the summer, and of course, they'd agreed. It didn't help Harry any, though. He hadn't been able to get their moment in the tent out of his mind, even though he also couldn't stop thinking about the chaos that had transpired outside of the tent. Every time he looked at her over the table during breakfast the next morning, he'd think about the way her cheek felt against his fingers and the way she'd looked at him. The promise they'd made of a date (which, by the way, they hadn't mentioned to Ron). The bet he'd agreed to in which after their date, Hermione would decide if she wanted to kiss him.
Kiss him.
Harry choked on his juice and Ron was quick to pat him on the back.
"You okay, mate?"
"Yeah," Harry gasped when his breathing was back to normal. Hermione looked like she was fighting a laugh. Had it been that obvious what he was thinking about?
After breakfast, since everyone was still hyped up, Fred and George started ushering them all into the garden for a game of Quidditch before they could even get dressed, even inviting Ginny along. It was a nice morning that wasn't too hot, with a little bit of cloud cover - Harry hated playing with the sun in his eyes anyway.
"Maybe Harry can show us his rendition of the Wronski Feint," Fred laughed as he unlocked the broom shed and started handing them out, "since he was so enamored with it."
"It's a good move!" Harry defended, taking his broom and throwing it over his shoulder as he waited for the rest of them. "And don't forget that it was Ron who wouldn't stop talking about Krum all night." He had to dodge out of the way of Ron's broom swinging in his direction.
Ron directed his attention at the only person without a broom. "Are you playing, Hermione?" He always asked, and she always said no.
"I'll referee, since I know the rules now," she smirked, and Ron's smile fell.
"Damn, now we have to play fair. Thanks, Hermione."
Hermione shrugged before grinning at Harry. "I won't play favorites, I promise."
"Yeah, right," George teased. "Usual positions?"
"I want to be Seeker."
Harry eyed Ginny quickly. "Yeah?"
Ginny nodded.
"Fine with me. I'll take Chaser."
George threw Harry the Quaffle and Hermione took a seat on one of the benches. They kicked off, and Harry could feel a certain pair of eyes on him from the ground. It suddenly made him nervous; she'd watched him before, so it shouldn't have. But this was different somehow. Hermione was expecting him to be good, wasn't she? Even in a position he wasn't used to. He was a decent Chaser, but probably not good enough to impress Hermione. Did he even need to impress her, though?
Harry let out an audible grunt as he was smacked in the side of the head with a volleyball they were using as makeshift Bludger that nearly knocked him off his broom.
"Watch it, Harry!"
"Come on, Potter, pay attention!"
Harry shook it off. He knew they were just kidding, but if thinking about Hermione was distracting him during a fake game, there was no telling what would happen during a real game, especially with her cheering him on. And especially after they might kiss at Diagon Alley. And there he was, thinking about kissing her again. No, he had to focus.
As it turned out, Ginny got bored waiting around for the Snitch, which was fine with Harry, considering he wasn't proving to be a good Chaser for multiple reasons, so they switched halfway through the game and Harry took his spot above the rest of the players. He thought about what Hermione had said about him just hanging out in the air, buying time until he thought it was a good idea to catch the Snitch, and saw her watching him closely with a smile.
He grinned back and flew a little lower, letting Ginny dodge Fred and George while passing to Ron and trying to score. They were having so much fun, they barely even noticed his absence.
"Hermione," he whispered, keeping his eyes on the field while inching his way over to her. "You have the Snitch, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Harry." He could tell she was smirking.
"Come on. I know it's just a table tennis ball. Think you could let it fly around a little bit?"
"Why, getting bored?"
"Maybe a little."
"I thought you were supposed to be paying attention."
"There's nothing to pay attention to when you have the ball."
"No fraternizing with the referee!" Fred yelled across the field. "No favorites, remember? Keep it up and you'll be Chaser again!"
Hermione's hair blew into her face as Harry quickly zoomed off, and she leaned back a little on the bench. The table tennis ball in her pocket was feeling a little heavy. She didn't miss Harry's eye darting over to her every few seconds, waiting for her to release it. A weird sense of power bubbled up. She'd never gotten to "play" the snitch before, and for once, Harry was expecting something of her that his fun was dependent on. She figured she couldn't be too mean to him, though, and only waited a couple more minutes before she took the ball from her pocket and levitated it, using her wand to direct it into the game, zooming around Ron's head.
Harry sped off immediately, and Ron had to duck out of the way with a laugh.
"Okay, Hermione, you're officially never allowed to control the Snitch again!" he yelled.
The game stopped as everyone watched Harry fly around and trying to stay out of the way, and Hermione was deliberately making him work for it, quickly changing direction and height, weaving through the Weasleys before finally, after what must have been ten grueling minutes, Harry finally caught onto some sort of pattern and wrapped his hand around the ball, letting out a triumphant yell. His Firebolt truly was impressive when it came to maneuvering, and it was clear, even to Hermione, why it was the best broom on the market.
He landed, panting, and walked over to Hermione to hand the ball back. "Well, that was fun. You make a pretty good Snitch."
"The kids in grade school used to say that too."
Harry's eyebrows furrowed in horror. "Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that! I just meant-"
"That was a joke, Harry."
"Oh."
"Was it not funny?"
Harry shrugged one shoulder. "Not particularly."
Hermione's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh…"
"I don't like self-deprecating jokes."
"You make them all the time," she huffed.
"Yeah, but that's me. You shouldn't say mean things about yourself." He handed the ball back to Hermione, who just rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the soft blush that came over her cheeks again.
"You don't have to spend the whole summer convincing me, you know," she grinned, intentionally letting her fingers linger against Harry's as she grabbed the table tennis ball and pocketed it.
"Convincing you about- oh." Dammit, he was thinking about kissing her again.
Hermione reached up to fix his hair and he thought his heart was about to beat out of his chest. "I like this look on you."
"Deathly nervous?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"Oi! You two stop snogging and let us play another game!" Fred yelled out, though he could barely finish his sentence before he and George started laughing. Harry blushed a little harder and Hermione grinned.
Harry managed to avoid the questioning until that night when he crawled into the extra bed set up in Ron's room to find Ron just staring at him expectantly.
"Not tired?" Harry asked softly.
"Do you like Hermione?"
Harry swallowed, trying not to give too much away with his facial expression in the dim light of the lamp. "I… of course I do. I mean, she's our friend-"
"You know that's not what I mean, Harry. Do you fancy her?"
"I… er…"
"Look, I know you do. I just wanted to hear you say it, okay?"
"Fine. Yes. I… it's sort of… complicated."
"Well, yeah. I mean, she's kind of insufferable. How do you expect to put up with it?"
"Shut up," Harry smirked. "She's not insufferable. Only you think that because she stopped agreeing to do your homework for you. She's… smart and dedicated and… her eyes… did you know they've got gold in them?"
"Definitely haven't been close enough to notice. So this has been… like a long time thing and you're just now realizing it?"
"Not… not really. Yesterday, before the game-"
"You painted her face."
Harry nodded. "She said I was the only person she was comfortable enough with to be that close."
"Bloody hell," Ron groaned. "Guess I'll have to get myself a girlfriend then, won't I? I'm not sticking around as your third wheel all year."
"We have a date," Harry blurted out.
"Okay…? That's… normally what happens."
"I just… kind of noticed everything all at once once we were close."
"That's she's a girl?"
Harry nodded. "I mean, I haven't seen her since the train, right? I… haven't seen anybody. It's been a couple months. I think it's natural to… realize…"
"Look, you don't have to justify anything to me, mate, all right? You fancy her. She fancies you, right?"
He nodded again, a weak smile coming over his face.
"Figured it was a matter of time, anyway. Just… try not to rub it in my face too much, yeah? Just thinking about walking into the common room and you two snogging on the couch is giving me nightmares already."
"Do you think she would?!"
"I just said I didn't want to talk about it!" Ron laughed before pausing. "But no. She probably wouldn't. That's nearly breaking a rule, don't you think?"
"Yeah, you're right. Can I go to sleep now?"
"Yeah," Ron answered, settling down and pulling the covers up. "Sweet dreams about snogging Hermione."
"Sod off," Harry teased as he took his glasses off and set them on the floor next to him before pulling his own blankets up and trying his hardest not to dream about exactly that.
It was frightening how a simple crush had turned Harry's life seemingly upside down.
A crush on Hermione.
A crush on his best friend.
His best friend he was now very, definitely, acutely aware of being female.
It didn't make sense - Ginny was a girl. Sure, she was younger than them, but only a year. She was also Ron's sister. That probably had something to do with why when he saw them both at breakfast the next morning, Ron had to nearly push him down the stairs to get him to keep moving.
How many times had he seen her in pajamas? A handful? Last year, mostly, when Sirius came to Hogwarts and everyone was woken up in the middle of the night to gather in the common room, or when they slept in the Great Hall. A couple other times in the morning, he was sure. But mingled with everyone else compared to… giving him a shy smile across the table as he sat down (he didn't dare sit next to her). Just a long sleeved shirt and striped pants. Why was something so casual having such an effect on him? He wasn't supposed to find her beautiful in pajamas. Cute, maybe, which of course was also true. But the way that the light was coming into the kitchen and reflecting off her eyes.
"Do I have something on my face?" she asked him softly, raising her eyebrows. You're staring was what she meant.
Harry quickly snapped himself out of it. "Sorry, just, uh… didn't get much sleep last night."
He felt something tap against his foot as Molly fussed over making sure everyone had enough food, and for a moment, he thought it might have been Hermione's foot, but once he glanced under the table, he saw that it was just Crookshanks making his rounds around everyone's ankles. He needed to get a hold of himself. Even Ginny was giving him strange looks from next to Hermione.
Harry spent most of breakfast paying much closer attention to his food than usual. He had two weeks until term started. Less than that until their date. He also made sure to not be alone with her if he could help it, because that made him nervous, and he didn't want to seem nervous. How was Hermione not nervous? She was acting like nothing was happening. Nothing was about to happen between them? Was she doing it on purpose just to make it worse on him? Honestly, he wouldn't put it past her. Ron managed to keep quiet, at least.
The morning that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had prepared for them to go to Diagon Alley, Harry didn't think he slept at all. Excitement. Nerves. All of it. What would he wear? What would he say? Would Hermione still want to kiss him? Would he be a bad kisser?
"Mate, if you don't stop pacing, I'm going to strangle you and you won't even be able to go on a date."
Harry stopped immediately, not even realizing what he'd been doing. "Sorry. I'm just-"
"Nervous. You've said. Look, it's Hermione, okay? You know her. Stop worrying. I've been watching her. She's got no plans to leave you hanging, all right?"
"You're sure."
"Absolutely. Just… make sure you don't get any weird ice cream flavors."
Harry's eyes widened. "I didn't even think about that."
"Go with chocolate. Or butterbeer."
"Chocolate. Butterbeer. Mint?"
"Sure."
"Right. Okay."
"You're pacing again."
"Sorry."
"Harry? Ron? Are you two almost ready?" Molly called from downstairs.
"Coming!"
Harry's voice cracked more than it had two years ago.
Hermione had her hair in a single braid - she'd been wearing it back a lot more recently, he'd noticed. Maybe it was because she couldn't figure out how to control it when it was loose. It still looked nice, though. So did her sweater. It must have been new. Harry had never seen it before, but it was light blue and it looked soft. He briefly wondered if he'd get to feel it. He suddenly wished he had more clothes - currently he was wearing a green shirt under the same jacket he'd been wearing for the last two years. He ran a hand through his hair. Did his look bad?
"You look fine, mate," Ron muttered next to him as Molly ushered them towards the Floo. Great. He couldn't even hide it. Hermione seemed to be making a point to avoid eye contact.
It was almost instinctive to reach up to brush some of the soot off Hermione's cheek as she stumbled out into Diagon Alley, and Harry almost didn't catch the slight blush underneath it. In the tent, they were fine, it seemed. But here, out in the open, Hermione was a little more hesitant.
Maybe it was just because she was nervous, too, and she didn't want him to know. He kept note either way. She wouldn't kiss him if there were people around.
No pressure.
She did seem to stick close to him while they were getting their books, though, as if she didn't want to let him out of her sight. He thought a couple times about reaching for her hand, but being with such a big group that didn't know what was going on, it would seem strange. Plus, it might embarrass her. No, he needed to keep it light. Easy. No holding hands. No sign that they had anything planned. Just getting their books and supplies like it was a normal day at Diagon Alley.
Until he and Hermione went to grab the same ink pot off a shelf without paying attention and it fell to the floor, glass crashing and shattering as ink splashed all over their shoes. Hermione gasped in surprise and Harry immediately pulled out his wand to start cleaning them up.
"Hermione, I'm so sorry… I didn't even realize-"
"Oh, Harry, I'm sorry-"
"No, it was my fault-"
"It wasn't, I… I wasn't even paying attention."
"It's fine! Promise! See?" It only took a couple waves of his wand to vanish away the ink and clean up the bottle like it never happened. "It's okay." His heart was beating out of his chest again - here he had a date later and he'd already spilled ink all over her. Just how he needed to start out.
To his surprise, though, Hermione started laughing, and Harry's tense shoulders dropped as he found a smile crossing his own face. Her laugh had always been incredibly infectious. "What?"
"Harry, you're so nervous… I'm sorry… I've been trying not to say anything, but…"
"Nervous? What?" His voice cracked again, and he cleared his throat, leaning against the nearest wall. "Why… why would I be nervous?"
Hermione just bit her lip to keep herself from laughing anymore. "I'm nervous, too… if it makes you feel any better."
"You are?"
"Of course! You don't go on a first date every day! Oh… did that just make it worse? I'm sorry. I'm uh… well, I'm just glad I didn't get any ink on my jumper. I think it's my favorite."
"It's nice. I mean… it looks nice. On you. Erm…" He couldn't help but notice how her eyes kept drifting down from his. Was she watching his lips?
Oh boy.
"Harry, would kissing you on the cheek make you more nervous or less?"
"More. Definitely more," he answered quickly, shifting. "But I… I noticed it this morning. Your jumper, I mean. I just didn't want to say anything…"
"Well, thank you." She tugged at her sleeve a little, picking off an invisible piece of cat hair or lint. "I'm glad you like it."
A few seconds of silence passed where they just looked at each other, exchanging nervous smiles and not exactly sure what to say, until Ron popped his head around the corner of the shelf. "Hey, Harry, can you come with me for a second? Mum wanted to ask you something."
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later then?" he asked Hermione, who just nodded and went back to browsing the other shelves. Harry could have sworn he heard her giggle once he was out of sight.
A couple aisles over, Ron grabbed his shoulders and turned Harry to face him. "What the hell was that?!" he half-whispered.
Harry's eyes widened in shock. "What was what?"
"Your jumper's nice," Ron mocked. "Honestly, it's like you've never talked to the girl before. She's your best friend, Harry. Get a grip!"
"It's different."
"No it's not! Don't think about the kiss, all right? That's what's making you bonkers. That's all you're focusing on."
"That's… that's not true…"
"It's all you've been bloody talking about the past week, Harry! If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was going to be the one kissing her too! You were the one who suggested it, right?"
"... Yes."
"Then you're not allowed to be nervous. I'm already having to stall Mum while you two go on your date, so you better make this worth it."
"Look, Ron, I told you you could have whatever you want!"
"You get a kiss and you don't owe me a thing. Deal?"
"Fine. Deal."
True to his word, once they were done getting their books, potions supplied, and Harry picked up a couple packets of treats for Hegwig, Ron had somehow convinced Mrs. Weasley to let the two of them stay behind while the rest of the family ran other errands. Based on the look on her face, Harry wasn't entirely reassured that Ron hadn't just flat out told her they had a date.
"Good luck, mate," Ron whispered, giving Harry a pat on the shoulder before heading off down the street.
Then Harry and Hermione were alone, and the butterflies were coming back.
Just like Hogwarts. Just ice cream. Just Hermione. Just a date.
No pressure.
"Well, you ready, then?"
Hermione smiled and nodded, sliding her hands in her pockets so he wouldn't have to worry about reaching out to hold it.
Yet, anyway.
How considerate.
Probably for the better; his were sweaty anyway.
He wiped them on his pants before opening the door to Florean's for her.
"Thanks," Hermione muttered softly, moving in front of him and up to the counter. Luckily, there wasn't anybody in front of them, just a couple families sitting at the tables inside, enjoying their dessert.
"Hi! Welcome in! What can I get you two today?"
He hadn't been in here since second year, probably, when Mrs. Weasley got ice cream for he and Ron to split after their run-in with Malfoy. Ice cream was like finding gold for him; he had to sneak it at the Dursleys', and there were so many other desserts at Hogwarts that usually caught his eye during the feasts. But he did enjoy it, and he knew Hermione never got sweets at home, so this was extra special for her.
She looked over the menu behind the counter for a minute. It was almost like Bertie Botts up there: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, caramel, toffee, pistachio, marshmallow, candy floss, butterbeer, mint, pumpkin, cheesecake, cherry… the list went on and on. Cherry might be good. Would cherry be safe?
"I think I'll have toffee," Hermione finally decided. "In a cone, please."
If Hermione was having something a little more sporadic, he definitely could, right? As long as nothing was bad, it shouldn't do anything to his breath.
"Cherry, please," he answered. "I'll take a cone, too."
"You got it!" The girl behind the register rang them up and Harry handed over the ten sickles. "Enjoy!"
It only took a minute for them to get their ice cream, during which time Harry and Hermione exchanged glances as they waited. Once they moved away from the counter, Harry scanned the store for an empty table, but the only ones empty we way too big for just the two of them.
"Do you… want to go take this outside?"
"Yeah, sure."
He found himself putting a hand on her back as they weaved through the stools and tables and back out onto the street, where Harry felt like he could breathe a little better. The first step was done. Around the side of the building were a couple of high-seat tables, which seemed a lot more private than the craziness of anything inside.
As they took their seats and he took Hermione's ice cream while she settled into her chair, he suddenly felt his nerves start to subside a little.
"So… excited for this year?" he asked softly, handing the cone back to her before hopping up into his own seat.
"You really want to talk to me about school, Harry?" she smirked.
"Fine… how's your summer been, then? Did you do anything fun before the World Cup?"
Hermione started talking, but Harry quickly got distracted when she took a break to lick her scoop of ice cream and a little of it stuck on the tip of nose. His eyes zeroed in on that one little drop - she didn't even notice. He had the fleeting urge to lick it off.
"Harry, are you even paying attention?"
"Huh? Oh… sorry. I'm just… you've got…" he pointed to his own nose, "ice cream. Uh, here." Harry pulled a couple napkins out of the holder in the middle of the table and handed them to her. The blush that came over her cheeks as she wiped it off was too cute to keep Harry from smiling. "Think you can run that summer by me one more time?"
"Of course. Did I get it?" Harry nodded. "Okay, good. So anyway, we usually go visit my family in France…"
Once they started talking, everything became a lot easier and it was like they were at Hogwarts, talking over dessert after dinner. Harry listened to Hermione talk about some of the extended family she only got to see in the summer. He hoped to get to meet her parents properly one day. She introduced them to him briefly a couple years ago in Flourish and Blotts, but he'd been whisked away by Lockhart before he could barely take in what they looked like. Maybe he could spend Christmas with her, though it would be weird not to be at The Burrow with Ron. Even thinking about the possibility made him nervous again, about meeting his girlfriend's parents. Would she be his girlfriend?
They had to get through this date first.
Pay attention.
Her mum, her dad, her grandparents on her mum's side who lived in France, on a small farm in Occitanie. Her dad's parents had passed away when she was little, so she couldn't remember much about them.
She liked spending summers by the ocean or sitting under trees with a book and the sheep. Her cousin Anna lived close enough to her grandparents to help them out with the animals - there were a couple of goats, too. "They used to have a whole herd when I was younger, but now, I guess as they've gotten older, they're taking it easy."
"So that's how you know French, then?"
Hermione looked at him strangely for a second, and he worried he said something wrong. "How do you know that I know French?"
"Oh, you, uh… when you're studying, you start whispering to yourself. Most of the time it's in English, but… sometimes it's in French."
"... I do?"
Harry nodded softly. "Yeah. I-I just thought that was normal for you. I like it."
Hermione's already pink cheeks darkened a little more, and she looked down at the half-eaten cone - all that was left of her ice cream. "I… yes, I grew up learning both. It got kind of confusing at first when I started grade school, because I was just so used to swapping. I guess sometimes I don't even realize."
"That's impressive," Harry said pointedly. "Honestly. I can't believe I've been friends with you for three years and I didn't even know any of this."
Hermione shrugged a little. "Most of the focus has been on you trying to avoid getting killed. The names of my grandparents' sheep doesn't really seem important in the grand scheme of things."
"What are they?"
Another laugh. A soft, genuine laugh that made her eyes crinkle on the sides and shine with happiness. Harry liked that.
"Let's see, there's Millie, Brenda, Tom, Archie, Pumpkin, and Butter. The goats are Sandra - that one's my favorite - and Brownie."
"Sandra? Really?"
"Really! And she didn't come with that name, either! They called her that!"
"Incredible," Harry laughed, eyeing Hermione's cone compared to the one bite he had left. Once they finished, the date would be over, wouldn't it? Was Hermione stalling? Did she not want it to end because she didn't want to kiss him? No, it wasn't even guaranteed. She'd just said she would decide. Though Ron had said he knew her intentions. As soon as their cones were gone…
"Do you want to take a walk while we finish these off?" Hermione asked, and Harry quickly realized he had no idea how long he'd been staring.
"Sure." Dammit, his voice cracked again. He slid out of his seat and Hermione hopped down from hers.
Her free hand wasn't in her pocket.
An invitation.
When he finally gathered up the nerve to reach for her hand as they walked, threading their fingers together, it… wasn't nearly as scary as he thought it would be. She even looked over at him and grinned, scooting a little closer to him. They'd held hands before. Hell, they held hands for an *extended* period of time in the forest trying to get away from Professor Lupin when he turned into a werewolf. He'd pressed her back against his chest, wrapped his arms around her, used his own body as a shield.
And now he'd been scared to hold her hand?
Desperate times, he supposed.
They didn't talk much as they walked, mostly due to the constant noise around them from everyone else talking, laughing, and shopping. She was leading them back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hey, where are we going?"
"Too crowded!" she said over her shoulder.
Harry's heart beat right up into his throat as she pulled him along. Too crowded. That meant she wanted somewhere private. That meant…
It's just Hermione. Just Hermione.
Through the Leaky Cauldron and outside of it. Back to the Muggle world.
"Hermione, wait!" She slowed to a stop and he moved to stand next to her again. "We can't just leave Diagon Alley!"
"Why not? We'll just go back. It'll be fine."
"But Ron-"
"He doesn't need to know we left. I just wanted to go for a walk, that's all. Somewhere you probably haven't been. It's not usually too busy during the middle of the day and I thought…"
"No, it's fine! Wherever you want. Really. I promise." Hermione's eyebrows furrowed a little bit and Harry's nerves came back. He squeezed her hand. "Honest. I'd love to see somewhere new with you. Somewhere not as busy."
After a few seconds, she nodded and kept walking, though much slower than she had been when they started. She was right - the street definitely wasn't as crowded as Diagon Alley had been. He figured most people were at work. Some kids ran by them and they had to move out of the way, but only a couple blocks later, Hermione led them to a bench in a small crossroads in a patch of green.
"Leicester Square," she explained.
Harry took a moment to look around and his eyes widened. There was so much going on. He'd rarely been into any part of the city, and when he'd first come with Hagrid, it had been very quick, as Hagrid gained a little too much attention for them to feel comfortable lingering.
Sitting here on a bench with Hermione in the Muggle world made him forget about everything else for a bit. If only Dudley could see him now. She'd finished her ice cream. He'd finished his. And here they were, holding hands, a little far off from the people bustling around them. The grass was so green behind the chain, and maybe they could have a picnic by the lake, like he'd seen some of the students doing when the weather was nice. Would she kiss him there?
Would she kiss him here?
"I, er… I assume you've been so nervous today because of the second part of our deal…" she muttered with a knowing smirk that had him blushing this time.
"Yeah, I… I didn't want to assume or anything, but-"
Her thumb brushed over the back of his hand and she scooted a little closer. Harry swore he could hear his heart in his ears. "I'd be okay with it. If you still want to."
"I do," he whispered.
This was it. She was so close and her eyes were so wide and expectant. Beautiful.
She looked at his lips.
He remembered how to breathe.
His eyes closed, probably faster and tighter than they should have.
He leaned in.
And obviously so did she, as where he expected lips ended up as a nose pushing his glasses against his face and her forehead hitting his with a soft thud.
"Ow!"
"Harry, I'm so sorry! I should have gone the other way! I didn't even-"
He tried to pull back, but a piece of her hair that had fallen into her face had managed to tangle in the screw on the edge of his glasses, pulling them with it as she moved and knocking them to the ground.
Hermione was quick to retrieve them and wipe them on her sweater, making sure they weren't broken before handing them back. And when Harry put them back on, she looked like she was trying not to tear up.
"Hey, it's fine," Harry managed to say, even though his voice was threatening to give out on him. He'd gotten so close. He'd almost kissed her. "We'll just… try again."
She blinked a couple times. "Try again?"
"Yeah. I mean, I still want to kiss you."
"You do…?"
"Of course." He squeezed her hand again, shifting a little to get a better angle. "Maybe… maybe you should just… stay still and I'll go in?"
Hermione thought about that and nodded quickly. "O-Okay. Yeah. I'll just…" Her eyes closed again.
Take two.
He waited until he was a little closer before he closed his eyes. Until he could see the slight furrow in her brow that was stemming from the nerves. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly with her breaths. If he didn't go for it, she'd think something was wrong.
Harry tilted his head just enough to avoid her nose.
He closed his eyes and leaned in, praying he'd get it right this time.
Thankfully, what his lips landed on were… lips.
Lips that hesitantly pressed back against his own.
The shock of it all made him pull away after barely more than a second.
"Harry?"
His eyes shot open and Hermione was still so close. Too close for him to focus on her properly. Somehow she was still beautiful, even blurry. He pulled back a little. "Huh?"
"What was that?" She was fighting a laugh.
"What… what do you mean?"
"You barely kissed me."
"I got nervous."
"Do you even know how to kiss anyone?"
"Yeah! I… I saw it on the telly once…"
"What were you watching, Sesame Street?!"
Harry scoffed out a laugh. "No! That's not nice to say to someone trying to kiss you, you know."
"No, it was fine! It was great! For… for a start. You just… well, usually, I'd think it would… last a little longer."
"I told you, I got nervous!"
"Then relax." Hermione's hands were on either side of Harry's face, holding him still while she leaned in and kissed him. A part of him felt stupid for him having to be shown what to do, but the larger part of him didn't care because Hermione was kissing him. Her lips were cold, and when they moved against his a little, he could have sworn he tasted toffee.
The whole of London seemed to disappear.