The moment I fell in love

By the time she stepped onto the landing her cheeks were flushed a deeper shade of pink, breath escaping parted lips in short puffs. She covered the short distance to the first door on the left in the hallway and stepped into the room. Plopping herself down on the bed face first, she groaned into the mattress, the coiling of springs drowning out her muffled noise. She inhaled a deep breath, the smell of sweat and musk - she went for a run late last night - imbedded into the bed sheet wafted into her nose. It brought a sense of comfort and she felt the tense muscles of her shoulders begin to relax as she burrowed herself deeper into the worn out fabric.

Craning her neck to the side, she opened her eyes and smiled. "Hey."

"Hey." The young man - less than half her age - returned her smile. He was laying on his side, head resting against a closed fist, eyes twinkling with mirth. "You stink."

She brought her left hand to her face and and swiped a bead of sweat trailing down her cheek with her middle finger before rotating her palm up, finger pointing to the ceiling.

His smile grew wider. "Aren't you supposed to act mature now that you're an old hag?"

"Fuck you." she muttered, reaching her hand out and grasping his.

His thumb swiped back and forth between her knuckles. "What's the matter? I haven't seen you this miserable since - well you know..."

She took a quivering breath. A thin stretch of silence filled the room. "I feel so alone." She wiped her nose against the mattress before resting her cheek on the damp spot. "I used to dread the end of holidays, hated it when we dropped them off at the train station but they always came back. But now..." her face scrunched up as she tried to hold in the waterfall.

"Hey, come on, Hermione. You can always call them."

"It's not the same, Harry!"

"But you were so happy and encouraging when they told you about the application."

She shot him a deadly glare. "And what else was I supposed to say, hmm? Of course, I will be happy and encouraging in anything they do."

"Unless, it's quidditch."

Her withering stare had him snickering.

"Shut up!"

"Listen, Mark will be back in a week - "

"A week's too long!" She huffed.

"How about you go visit him. He'll be over the moon. You guys can roam around the city, I'm sure he can take an hour or two off. Have a nice dinner, maybe surprise him with that new dress you brought last month" He wagged his eyebrows.

She shook her head, though a smile curved along her lips. "I can't, Harry. I need to finish writing my speech for the debate tomorrow."

"C'mon." he swiped his arm through the air. "Everyone knows you're going to retain your seat."

"Not everyone." A small pause. "Not everyone has the same faith in me as you do."

"Fine." he blew out a breath. "Well then, you still have me till Mark gets back. I can irritate you for another week or so."

A stray tear finally managed to roll down her cheek as a sad smile graced her features. "Why did you leave me?"

The levity vanished off his face and his eyes hardened instantly. "C'mon Hermione, don't bring that up again."

"And why not?" she spat."

"Because I never left!" he hissed, eyes blazing before they softened. "I've always been with you. Even when you pushed everyone that loved you away, even your parents - after bringing them back - I never left. I was with you when you were trying your damnedest to join me, I was with you through your addictions - when you used to wake up in an alley in the middle of nowhere or in someone's apartment who didn't give two shits about you after the night was over, I was with you through your recovery, I pushed you to give Mark a chance, to open your heart to accept love, to give love, I was with you when you held the twins in your arms - the happiest you ever looked - I was with you through it all, Herms, I never left."

She had closed her eyes and forced her mind to shut out his voice as fresh tears kept cascading down her blotched skin. She didn't open them when she heard nothing but her own ragged breathing - the sight of her empty bed far less tempting than the figure that had been occupying it a moment earlier - and instead swept her mind to a moment in time...a soulful piece of music filling the cold air in the tent as she swayed to it...holding onto him...the moment she fell in love...the moment that cemented her love...the moment that brought love back in her life.

"You're wrong, Harry." she whispered, eyes still closed, lips curled into an upward curve. "I was the happiest when I could still touch you."