"Bombarda!" The shout echoed across the forest as the spell whizzed through the air and struck a nearby tree, half of its trunk being obliterated and the massive spruce sagged to one side, although it did not fall.

Harry watched the result of his work with satisfaction, his brow slick with sweat as he looked at the devastation surrounding him. It had been two weeks since his near-death experience, and his injury had healed up surprisingly well. By now, he was able to walk without problem, and he considered himself back to 100 percent. His magic, too, was just as strong as ever, and the added time practising spells with Hermione meant his spell repertoire had grown significantly as well.

But everything wasn't perfect. First, their food supplies had run out yet again, which meant another trip to a nearby town was now a necessity. And secondly, ever since his near-death experience, Hermione had been acting… well, bizarre would be too harsh of a word to use, but she was acting weird.

Often times he would catch her staring at him while they practiced spells, and she would blush and look away as soon as he caught her. Even more weird was her sudden distance from him. She didn't hold his hand anymore, she didn't go for hugs which she usually handed out like candy, and she always made sure to sit in a way where no part of them touched. It was true that Harry had never been much of a people-reading person, but he was simply baffled as to what was happening.

The only time she seemed to get close to him at all anymore, was when they went to sleep, and Harry had a feeling that even that was mostly due to her not wanting to freeze to death. He desperately wracked his brain for anything he did wrong, anything that might have hurt her. But apart from him nearly bleeding out in her arms, he could find nothing of the sort.

Despite his earlier thoughts about the fact that she might be regretting getting into this with him, regretting leaving her life behind, he simply couldn't take that as a believable reason, not after the numerous times she'd rejected that idea in the past. Additionally, she was the one who dragged him away, not the opposite. But with that option off the table, he was well and truly stumped for the meaning of her actions.

"Harry!" Speak of the devil… He whirled around at her furious voice, coming face to face with a rather angry-looking witch, her curls bouncing behind her as she stormed towards him. She had their blanket wrapped tightly around herself to fend off the cold, seeing as she still didn't have a jacket, but that didn't make her seem any less terrifying at the moment. He was incredibly glad he had her wand, fearing she would have killed him already if she had it.

"What's up, Hermione?" He asked carefully as she stopped to stand a few inches away from him, her face not even so much as twitching as she glared at him.

"It is 7 in the morning. I woke up and you were gone… I have been searching for you for 30 minutes!" She exclaimed throwing her hands in the air, and he flinched, having completely tuned out time as he was practising. He didn't want to wake her up by blowing things up, so he'd walked a fair distance away from their cabin, but he felt a pang of regret now at the evident distress he'd caused her.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"My wand, give it back." She demanded, cutting off his apology and he weighed his options carefully.

"Are you going to kill me?" She glared hard at his question, before shaking her head in the negative.

"Maim me?"

"For God's sake Harry, give me my wand, you idiot." She stepped right up to him and tried to pull the wand right out of his hand, but he evaded her attempt.

"Okay, but I really am so-" It seemed his apology just wasn't meant to be, as Hermione interrupted him again, a shrewd look on her face.

"What, are you trying to destroy the entire forest or what?" She asked nodding at the numerous fallen trees around him, as well as the scorch marks on the large stone behind them.

"No, most of these were already on the flo-" Lady luck was really messing with him today, as he didn't even finish the sentence when the wounded large spruce behind him croaked sadly, toppling over and smashing into the floor, sending bits of snow and bark their way.

"Oops."

"Right. They were on the floor." Hermione deadpanned, rolling her eyes at Harry's sheepish chuckle. But then as if a switch had been flipped, her demeanour changed, her eyes narrowing and her face softening.

"Harry, why are you out here taking your anger out on the poor trees at 7 in the morning." There was nothing but concern on her face now, and Harry looked away, not sure how to tell her that her behaviour directed at him was the problem.

"I've been cooped up in that cabin for long enough while my blasted leg healed. I need to get back in the groove." He instead lied, despite knowing Hermione would sus him out immediately. That was yet another thing specific to the two of them. Neither was able to lie to the other, and it was sometimes almost bizarre just how well they read each other's cues. That said, he could tell by the slight scrunching of her eyebrows that she'd clocked his lie, and he waited for what she would follow with.

"You know you can talk to me, right? About anything." She said earnestly, and he let out a long breath, walking over to her and presenting her with her wand. She took it whilst never breaking eye contact, seemingly willing him to divulge his thoughts. He was still unsure what to say, so he instead stepped right up to her, taking one of her hands into his own.

But his reply of 'I know, thank you' died on his lips as she flinched at the contact, pulling away as if burned. He could spot a faint redness on her cheeks and a guilty expression on her face. The guilt was probably due to the fact that he must have looked hurt, and that would indeed have been an apt description of how he was feeling.

"Sorry, I-" She started to apologize, but Harry forestalled her with a raised hand, trying desperately not to show his hurt.

"It's fine. We better get back or you'll get a cold." He said turning on his heels and beginning to head back towards the cabin.

"Harry…" He heard her call after him, but he didn't stop, walking at a brisk pace back towards their temporary hideout. At least the snow was mostly gone, only a thin layer still remaining on the floor.

He shed his jacket as he got inside, hanging it on one of the hooks by the door, before walking over and plopping himself on one of the chairs, taking off his glasses and beginning to clean them. As he did so Hedwig hooted loudly, flapping over and landing on the table in front of him. He started petting her, putting his glasses back onto his nose at the same time as Hermione caught up to him.

There was an awkward moment as he could tell she seemed to be deciding on what to say, while he was determined not to divert his gaze from his bird friend. He knew that despite his best efforts he was wearing his heart like a sleeve, and she could certainly tell he was annoyed, no, worse, hurt by her actions.

"Harry… listen." She started unsurely, wrapping the blanket a bit tighter around herself, before sitting down in the chair opposite of his. Her eyes tracked his hand as he continued stroking Hedwig's impressive plumage, the owl clearly enjoying his ministrations. As the silence stretched out once again, he nodded once to show her he was listening, but she didn't speak immediately.

"I… I'm sorry, I…" When she at last did speak, she sounded so timid, so unsure, so un-Hermione that he would have thought her an impostor. He tore his eyes from Hedwig to look at her, taking in her bowed head, unsure expression and tense body language,

"I… I don't know what I did wrong. But clearly, there must be something considering the way you've been acting recently." He decided to forgo this stutter apologizing that she seemed intent on doing, gathering up his courage and addressing his concerns directly. Her reaction to that was immediate, her eyes widening and her hand flying to cover her mouth. She seemed mortified.

"No, no, no. No! You did absolutely nothing wrong, Harry." She hurried to explain, reaching over the table and snatching his hand mid-pet, Hedwig hooting angrily at her before flying over to perch on the deer antlers.

"Well, from where I'm sitting it sure looks like it. You're flinching when I touch you, you sit as far away as possible, and you look terribly uncomfortable when we go to bed." He listed off on his fingers, Hermione looking more and more pale the more fingers he added. When he at last finished, she palmed her head with both hands, groaning in apparent annoyance.

"I'm so sorry Harry, I've gone and mucked everything up." She said, her voice muffled by her hands that still covered her face. She dropped her hands a moment later, looking up at him with teary eyes, guilt written clearly in them. "You did nothing wrong. Nothing." She sounded dead serious this time, and he couldn't help but breathe a bit more easily knowing whatever was happening wasn't his fault.

"I… Yes, you're right, I have been acting weirdly, but I honestly thought you wouldn't notice." She continued at his flabbergasted expression, "I know, I know, stupid of me, of course you'd notice, you're you." She was making less sense the longer she spoke, and Harry was really trying to find the point she was trying to make.

"But the reason for my behaviour, well, the core issue, not that it is an issue really, it's more like an-"

"Hermione." She looked up at his interruption like a deer caught in a car's headlights, "You're rambling." She was, and Hermione rarely rambled. Strange. She nodded, before clearing her throat nervously, and then nodded again. Harry was getting scared now, worried about what she was about to tell him. All of the worst-case scenarios flooded his mind, and he prepared himself for more pain to come.

"Let me guess, you can't get the Horcrux out of me?" He forestalled her and had apparently missed completely if her confused expression was to be judged. It took her several seconds to reply to his statement.

"No, not at all. I'm in fact making very good progress with the locket." She refuted his statement, before once again freezing up. But Harry was way too curious now to let her drop the matter.

"What then?" He prodded, watching in befuddlement as Hermione Granger's brain seemed to short-circuit for the second time in the space of a minute. She went to speak, shook her head, closed her mouth, and then opened it again.

"I think I like you." She blurted out, looking horrified as soon as she finished speaking. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, her cheeks red and her hands fisting into the blanket. Harry was beyond confused.

"I like you too, but what has that got to do with how you've been acting?" He asked in pure confusion, blaming the lack of sleep for not managing to decipher her words. She swallowed hard, looking at him as if she wanted to disappear.

"I meant as in I like, like you." She continued at his questioning look, "Like you more than a friend, type, thing." His mouth dropped open as his brain finally put the pieces together, and it was now his turn to be completely speechless. To put it mildly, his brain shut down completely, and he just sat there thoughtlessly gaping at her for a good minute.

"So, uh, now you know." She said eventually, looking away and tucking an errant strand of hair away from her face. As soon as his brain kickstarted back into motion his eyes unfocused, and then he was lost in his inner thoughts.

It sounded bizarre to even say to himself, but he'd never once in their six-and-a-half years of friendship thought of her in that way. He'd always thought she was a pretty-looking girl, and he maybe let himself gawk at her on special occasions when she looked particularly good, but there were never really any deeper feelings underneath that.

On the emotional side of things, he always liked hanging out with her, and there was no question in his mind he loved her. But did he love her that way? He wasn't sure, but probably not, no. Not at the moment at least. She meant everything to him, but he'd always placed her in the strictly platonic section, and he wasn't even sure why he'd done that. Thinking on it a bit longer, he supposed it had a lot to do with his other best friend, who he knew fancied the witch sitting opposite him.

So, he chased after Cho, and later Ginny, never so much as thinking about Hermione in that way. But now, with her admission, he couldn't help but do so. Several of his unwritten mental barriers had been blown apart by her howitzer of an admission, and he simply couldn't assess all the thoughts swirling around his head fast enough.

And just to add even more uncertainty to his thoughts, there was also the fact that he was a Horcrux to consider. His continued survival was far from assured even without it, but now his entire life banked on the very person in the centre of his internal discussion. He'd promised not to drag Ginny down, was glad he didn't do so. Who was he to do the same to Hermione. He knew if he allowed whatever she wanted to develop between them, she would be hurt that much more at his most probable death.

He couldn't do that to her. On the other hand, rejecting her outright would like ways certainly hurt her greatly. Still staring lifelessly at the table in front of him, he made a split-second decision. He was going to tell her nothing but the truth, she deserved as much for everything she had done for him in the past.

"Harry?" Her voice sounded unsure and shaky, "It's okay, I understand." She sounded resigned, and that coupled with the sadness and embarrassment he could hear in her voice made him snap out of his thoughts.

"I… This is a lot to take in." He started cautiously, stalling to give himself some more time to think of exactly how to proceed.

"I'm sorry for just dropping this on you out of nowhere, you can just forget this ever happened." She gave him a way out, but Harry had never taken the coward's way before, and he wasn't going to this time either. He connected their gazes, a slight smile pulling at the corner of his lips.

"I'm not forgetting it." She had seemingly not been expecting his words, her eyes searching for any clues on what he was thinking, "Would you believe me if I told you I never really thought of you that way? You were always just Hermione to me, my best friend, and I sort of convinced myself that there would never be anything else between us." Some of her sadness seemed to disappear at that, and she nodded slowly.

"It was the same for me until two weeks ago. And then when I saw you injured, when I realized just how close to losing you I'd gotten, something just… shifted, changed. I'm sorry." The embarrassment seemed to return, and she bowed her head.

"Don't be." He said simply, enjoying the way she snapped her head up to look back at him, and he continued, "I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me. As for the feelings involved…" He trailed off, searching for the right words to use, while Hermione looked on anxiously, chewing her bottom lip.

"I can't exactly say… something more with you doesn't sound appealing, doesn't sound exciting. I care for you greatly, that much I'm certain, and I doubt much would even change between us if we decided to do this…" He was surprisingly finding the words to describe his feelings out loud, and he could see Hermione's features relaxing by the second.

"But?" She asked, correctly assuming there was a but coming. She didn't sound sad or embarrassed anymore, no, she sounded curious. He gave her a fond smile.

"But… There is this whole thing with the Horcrux still inside me, and the war… I just don't think it's fair to you to go into this with the chance of me dying so real. You'd just be setting yourself up for more heartbreak, and… If it comes down to it, and the Horcrux can't be removed, I don't think I could do the right thing if I cared about you even more than I do now." He said bittersweetly, hoping to everything that he hadn't screwed up in his speech. But judging by Hermione's teary-eyed look he hadn't.

"I understand. I have full belief that we'll get that thing out of you, but I understand your point." There was nothing but understanding in her brown eyes, and he released the breath he was holding.

"Please, don't think of this as a rejection. I can't say I love you, romantically that is, but I would like nothing more than to try. I really do think we would be good together. Just not…"

"Now." She finished for him, wiping at a tear or two that had escaped her eyes, all of her previous sadness now seeming gone, replaced by something he couldn't quite place. She reached over the table and grabbed hold of his hands with her own, and oh how he'd missed her touch in the past weeks.

"I really don't want you to act differently around me though. I-I need you." He admitted looking at the floor, but he knew that was an inescapable truth. Emotionally, she wasn't just his lighthouse in a storm, but also the coast guard and the rescue helicopter. Without her, he would have drowned faster than he could say Expelliarmus. And he loved that spell. She squeezed his hands.

"You have me Harry, now and forever, in whatever way you want." He couldn't help but be surprised by the intensity of her voice, the knowledge that she wasn't leaving him anytime soon like a balsam to his soul.

"I'm sorry for being such a basket case. You deserve better." He muttered self-consciously, not sure he was worthy of the loyalty and love of such a special person like Hermione. He felt her release his hand from her hold, and his heart sank for a brief moment before he saw her round the table and kneel in front of him. A moment later her hands were around his neck, and her head was resting in the crook of his shoulder.

"You're many things Harry, but a basket case isn't one of them." She said so confidently he almost believed her, "You've gone through so many terrible things, and yet you still keep going, still keep fighting for good, and you're still the kindest, noblest person I've ever known. You're rather remarkable, you know." The admiration and fondness in her tone made him sniffle, and he was doing everything he had not to cry.

"But I'm a mess." He managed to say through his constricted airway, feeling her grip around him tighten.

"We're all messes once in a while. Life is messy. We all just need somebody to clean us up when the mess spills out. And Harry," She leaned back and looked straight into his eyes, the burning intensity in hers blowing him away, "I fully intend to be the one to do that for you. Just as you always were for me. We'll get through this together, like always." Unwilling to let her see him cry, he pulled her back into his embrace, the few tears he didn't manage to hold back dripping onto her neck.

She didn't comment, simply holding him and rubbing circles into his back. He had no idea how her confession of feelings had descended into this, but he couldn't help admitting he felt miles better than he had in the morning. He had her friendship, or he could have more if he so desired, but most importantly they were once again of the same mind.

Albus Dumbledore strode confidently into the lobby of Gringotts bank, taking a quick look around before walking right towards the closest goblin he could see. Minerva was following closely behind him, his old friend just as determined to succeed as he was. Not only for their own survival but for the survival of their students as well.

"I need to speak with Griphook." Dumbledore cut right to the chase, but the goblin he spoke to didn't seem surprised, merely nodding and motioning for them to follow. They did so, leaving the lobby and going deeper into the bank until they reached a richly decorated wooden door. The goblin motioned for them to enter, closing the door behind them.

"Headmaster Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall. I am pleased to see you." The goblin known as Griphook said in that passive-aggressive tone the goblins all seemed to use, but Dumbledore merely returned the greeting in his own cheery way.

"Have you done as agreed?" Dumbledore asked, again not wasting any time and going directly to the deal he had Bill Weasley make with the goblins. Griphook steepled his fingers in front of him, a slight frown pulling at his lips.

"Indeed, we have." Dumbledore was starting to lose patience as the goblin didn't elaborate, sharing a quick glance with an evidently just as impatient Minerva.

"And?" The goblin again took a very long time to answer his prodding question.

"The item you seek is in the Lestrange's vault, there is no question about that." Griphook said slowly, and Dumbledore had to work very hard not to show his delight at this piece of information.

"The deal stands then?" He asked calmly, watching the goblin for any signs of what he was thinking.

"Do you have the galleons we've agreed on?"

"Of course." He responded, waving his wand and transporting the large bag from his office to his side, levitating it between them and Griphook. Griphook gave a large toothy smile as he peered into the bag.

"Very good. The object in question will be delivered to you shortly." Griphook said still grinning, before calling for the same goblin that had led them here and telling him to bring them the object in Gobbledygook.

"Do note, that we don't usually do such things, but this object is in clear violation of our policy. As such, we're in no way or shape responsible for protecting it." Griphook spoke as they waited, and Dumbledore couldn't help but smirk. The large bag of Galleons that he'd spent the last week begging Scrimgeour for, had nothing to do with their decision, surely. It was just the goodwill of the goblins.

After a few minutes of waiting in silence, the door again opened, and a pair of goblins entered, carrying a bag of their own. They looked towards Griphook, giving the bag to Dumbledore at his nod. Dumbledore immediately peeked inside, feeling the sweet ambrosia of success as he spied the cup they were after.

"If that will be all. Much riches to you." Griphook spoke, and Dumbledore returned the goodbye, leaving the goblin bank with Minerva in tow.

"Is it real?" She asked as they left the building.

"Oh, it assuredly is." He replied, his mind already on the next one they needed to find.