Sleeping Beauty by Heaven

Rating: PG
Genres: Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 4
Published: 08/01/2003
Last Updated: 08/01/2003
Status: Completed

When Hermione needs to stay awake to study, she uses drastic measures. Can Harry help her in
time? Short fluff ahead...




1. Chapter 1
------------

Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter and Co…if I did, believe me, Harry and Hermione would
already officially be together.

(A/N: Ok, here’s another little standalone fic I thought of a few days ago. I’m still going over
in my head the ideas I have for the sequel to ‘Just Kiss Me’. While you’re waiting, check out some
of my other fics! The new one should be out in a few weeks cause right now I’m about to head into
my last week of school and then I’m off to the Caribbean for a week! YAY! And once again, thanks
Ryoko Blue for helping me out with a few things!)

Plot: H/H are studying for N.E.W.T.S. in the library together, both like each other but are way
too shy to admit it. A lot of this is in Harry’s POV.

‘N.E.W.T.S.’ Harry thought, ‘Were put on this earth to make our lives miserable.’ He scratched
his quill over his parchment as he took notes from a History of Magic textbook. He sat back and
sighed, rubbing his weary eyes. He and Hermione had been studying in the library since dinner, and
it was now getting close to midnight. He peeked through his bangs at Hermione, who looked even more
tired than he was. Harry didn’t know how she was doing it- going to classes, studying, and keeping
up with her duties as Head Girl. She looked up at him in that moment and gave a small smile.

“How’s everything coming?” she asked. Harry shrugged.

“Alright I guess. I don’t think there’s too much more to do.” He replied.

She nodded and bent her head to look at her books once more. Harry decided to take a little
break, and was able to watch her for a few more moments without her knowing. He bit his lower lip
as he thought back on their years here, more importantly, their past two years. During their 6th
year, Voldemort had somehow gained entrance to the school, and reopened the Chamber of Secrets.
Knowing how important Harry’s relationship with his friends was, he had managed to kidnap Ron and
Hermione and hold them down there, baiting Harry. He of course had gone down there after them, and
the outcome had finally been completely favorable, with Harry finally defeating Voldemort with his
own Avada Kedavra curse. Hermione had thrown herself in Harry’s arms, sobbing, he had had to
practically carry her the whole way back, Ron trudging along side of them, hardly able to speak. As
the days and months passed, he’d withdrawn from Harry and Hermione, the shock and horror of what he
had seen and been through down there too much. The three of them still did things together, but
weren’t as close as they were before. Ron had become something of a rake, not a bad reputation, but
his friendships were certainly a lot shallower than they used to be. Currently, his affections were
reserved for Lavender Brown, the week before it had been Hannah Abbot in Hufflepuff. Harry in a way
had envied Ron, for his carefree attitude and limited responsibilities. But when he had his times
with Hermione, like now, when it was just the two of them, he wouldn’t give those up for the
world.

For when he had rescued Hermione, something had stirred deep inside him, and it had taken him
awhile to see what it was. He had totally fallen for his best friend after that. During those weeks
when Ron was becoming distant, Harry had only had Hermione left. Sure, he had many other friends,
and he was even more famous than he was before if that was possible. Hermione was the only one who
still treated him like he was a normal person, and he appreciated that more than anything. Right
now though, he watched as her head bowed forward as she nodded off for a moment. He smiled as he
watched her bushy hair slide over her shoulder and swing down in front of her. Another reason why
he loved her so- she had never given in to the pressure that was Parvati and Lavender to change her
appearance to attract guys. To him, she was already beautiful. Her head now snapped back as she
jerked awake.

“Harry!” she snapped when she looked up and saw him grinning.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “I’ll be right back.” She jumped up from her chair and ran around
one of the tall bookcases. Harry got up from his chair and followed her, calling it his gut
instinct. He rounded the corner just in time to see her point her wand at herself and whisper
“Ennervate!”

“HERMIONE!” Harry jumped forward and grabbed her wand away as a green light shot out of it and
flew into one of the bookcases. She glared at him with furious eyes and tried to snatch it back,
but he held it up above his head where she couldn’t reach it.

“Give me back my wand Harry!” she snapped.

“No!” he responded. “Don’t you realize just how dangerous doing that spell is on yourself when
you’re already awake?”

“I don’t care!” she said, still jumping up and down to try and retrieve her wand. “I need to
stay awake to study for the N.E.W.T.S.!”

Harry grabbed her hand and led her back to their table. He sat down across from her and looked
straight into her eyes.

“Hermione, did you bother looking into the Ennervate spell before you thought of casting it on
yourself?” She shook her head silently. “Well, Fred and George used to use it on themselves to stay
awake last summer when I stayed at the Burrow. They’d be up night and day making up jokes for their
shop. None of us knew what they were doing until one day we were playing Quidditch and they both
fell asleep in midair. They fell about 50 feet before Ron and I were able to get to them and grab
them before they smashed onto the ground.” Hermione’s eyes grew wide as Harry told her this. She
hadn’t bothered to check it out because she was so worried about getting full marks on her tests.
She looked at Harry as he continued.

“When Mrs. Weasley found out what they had done, I’ve never seen her get so mad. She then told
us what happens with the Ennervate charm if you use it like you’ve been. It doesn’t get rid of
sleep, just puts it off longer, and then all of a sudden right in the middle of something, you’ll
just fall over. It’s really dangerous Hermione.”

She leaned back in her chair and regarded Harry for a moment. How she loved his emerald eyes,
when he was worried about her, they shone even brighter like now. She had realized her feelings for
him long ago, but had never acted on them. She was too scared of losing Harry as a friend, one of
the only ones she had. Currently, he was reaching over the table to take one of her hands in
his.

“Promise me you won’t do that anymore Hermione. Even though I know how much you want to study,
risking your life isn’t worth full marks.”

“I promise Harry.” She said, not wanting to take her eyes from his. He gave her hand one last
gentle squeeze and sat back, taking up his quill and once more started to scratch some notes onto
his parchment. The pair worked steadily for another half hour, every so often sneaking glances at
one another. Finally, Hermione shut her book and stood up.

“I’m finished!” she announced. Harry smiled up at her.

“You, Hermione Granger, are finished studying? I thought I’d never see the day!” he teased her.
She flushed pink at his little flirtation. Sitting back down, she opened one of her books
again.

“Well, if you put it that way, I suppose a little extra cramming won’t hurt…” she began, but
Harry’s hand snapped the book shut and he pulled her to her feet.

“Okay, let’s pretend I never said anything!” he said, not letting go of her hand as they left
the library. Hermione was extremely pleased about this, and gave Harry’s hand a small squeeze of
her own. She noticed his smile out of the corner of her eye. They had settled down into a
comfortable saunter through the corridors when a certain hated cat came striding around the
corner.

“Mrs. Norris!” Harry cursed and tightened his hold on Hermione’s hand. The two of them flew back
the way they had come, running down corridor after corridor, after awhile not knowing where in
Hogwarts they were.

“Harry! Wait! Can’t…keep…up…” Hermione gasped. At that moment, she keeled over and fell onto the
floor. Harry swore silently and ran back to her. He turned her over on her back and shook her
gently, but she was completely still. From the looks of her, she’d been doing the Ennervate charm
on herself for a few weeks now, as she was in a very deep sleep. Harry carefully picked Hermione up
in his arms; he was rather surprised to feel how light she was. He thought wryly for a minute how
this must look to anyone just passing by, for he was carrying Hermione in a honeymoon style.

“Now all I need is a threshold to carry her over…” Harry thought ruefully, and then almost
dropped Hermione as he tried to smack himself in the head. “I shouldn’t be thinking about this now.
It’s going to be hard enough getting her back to the common room without anyone seeing us.” At that
moment, Harry wasn’t sure either by bad timing or good fortune, Ron came around the corner. He
stopped short at the sight before him and smiled in confusion.

“What’s going on Harry?” Harry sighed in relief; hopefully Ron would help him out.

“Ennervate charm.” Harry said simply. “She’s been casting it on herself for a couple weeks now
to stay awake.” Ron nodded as he remembered the events of the previous summer.

“Need some help to get her back?” Ron asked. Harry nodded gratefully, as he caught a firmer grip
on Hermione’s body. Ron went ahead of Harry, peeking around corners as they went. It was nice to
walk with Harry again, Ron felt bad that he hadn’t made much time for them since the whole episode
with Voldemort. As they quietly came along the corridors, Ron sneaked peeks at his friends every
now and again. He noticed the careful way Harry held Hermione, and the way he looked at her face.
‘He’s in love with her…’ Ron thought to himself.

“You like her don’t you.” He said aloud. Harry looked up with a startled expression on his face.
Ron almost expected him to get angry and deny it for a moment, but he was wrong.

“Is it that obvious?” Harry said, smiling.

“When did that happen?” Ron asked, peeking around another corner.

“I guess it was when I had that final showdown with You – Know – Who. All the time we’ve spent
together since then…it’s just sort of turned into these strong feelings.”

“What does she think about that?” Ron asked, knowing full well that Harry hadn’t ever acted on
those feelings.

“I haven’t said anything to her about it.” Harry said, confirming what Ron had just thought. “I
don’t want to ruin our friendship, it’s really all I’ve got.” Ron’s mouth twitched a little at this
remark, and they were silent until they finally reached the common room.

“Purple Thistle.” Ron said to the Fat Lady, and she swung open sleepily. Harry carried Hermione
over to a sofa next to the fire and set her down gently, making sure her head was on one of the
cushions so that she remained comfortable.

“Thanks Ron. I really appreciate you helping me.” Harry said sincerely, turning back to where
Ron was standing behind him. Ron nodded and turned to go to the dormitory, then spun back
around.

“Hey Harry…how about this weekend we hang out in Hogsmeade? The three of us, like we used to?”
he said tentatively.

Harry looked at Ron for a moment, then grinned and nodded. Maybe things would be all right
between them yet. Harry sat down on the couch and looked at Hermione. He brought a hand up and
gently caressed the side of her face. Her skin felt so soft under his fingers. He admired how the
firelight danced off the curves of her face, and in her hair. He smiled to himself as he took a
lock of it and twisted it between his thumb and forefinger. Her chest rose and fell steadily as she
slept, and a peaceful look stole across her face as he watched. He could tell Ron thought he should
tell Hermione about his feelings. He wasn’t so sure himself. Harry was quite shy around girls he
did like, Hermione being the exception. But he could never work up the nerve to even flirt with
her, much less tell her how much in love with her he was. He sighed heavily and sat back, never
taking his eyes off her.

Hermione hadn’t felt this comfortable in about two weeks. Her head was perfectly positioned on a
pillow, and she was warm from the fire that was still blazing cheerily. She cracked open one eye
and saw Harry sitting on the other end of the couch. She couldn’t tell if he was looking at her or
in the fire since it was reflecting off his glasses. She closed her eye again and shifted a little
onto her side. She could sense immediately that Harry’s full attention was on her.

“Herm?” he asked softly.

She didn’t reply, just tried to steady her breathing once more so he’d think she was asleep.
Harry was silent for a few moments more.

“I’m really sorry I didn’t see you doing this to yourself earlier.” Harry said quietly. “I guess
I was just really distracted myself, with studying and Quidditch. I should have paid more attention
to you and your troubles.” He reached out his hand once more and stroked her long hair. She was
having a hard time keeping her excitement at this down, but she relished the feel of his fingers
touching the side of her face.

“I feel better talking like this while you’re asleep, Herm. You’ve been my best friend for so
long now, I’m scared to do anything to jeopardize what we have. I guess I’m sort of telling you
now, but you just can’t hear me.” Harry leaned closer and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I
think I’ve completely fallen in love with you, Hermione. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever
seen. You’re my sleeping beauty.”

Small tears sprang to Hermione’s closed eyes. She hardly dared to believe what she had just
heard. She felt Harry’s weight shift off the couch and heard his footsteps fade in the direction of
the boys’ dormitory. She couldn’t let him go like this, not after what had just happened.

“Harry…” she said, loud enough for him to hear. He spun back around so fast she thought he would
hurt himself. The emerald eyes she loved so much were at the moment wide with a look of fear in
them.

“Hermione!” Harry’s voice came out as a squeak. “How…how long have you been awake?” She got up
off the couch and walked towards him.

“Long enough.” She said simply. For a few very long moments, Harry and Hermione just stared at
one another.

“You uh…awake…. heard…” Harry stammered.

“Did you really mean what you said Harry?” Hermione asked. “Do you really think I’m beautiful?”
Harry mumbled something incoherently.

“What?”

“I said yes. Yes I do.” Harry replied, his face blushing harder than before. Hermione gave a sad
sort of smile.

“No one’s ever called me that before. Never beautiful. Just bookish. Brainiac.” She said,
turning slightly.

He came up beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. She faced him again and placed her hand
on his cheek. She brought his face to hers and rested her forehead against his. His arms encircled
her and brought her body to rest against his. She turned her head and rested it on his chest and
his chin was on top of her head. She felt Harry kiss the top of her head softly, and she raised her
face up to his. Without waiting another second, he brought his lips to hers and kissed her hard.
She instantly responded, parting her lips to allow his tongue to enter and intertwine with her own.
Her hands snaked their way up into his wild raven hair, his hands traveled through her hair across
her back and up to cup her face in his hands. When they finally parted for air, they broke apart
with a gasp. Harry grinned down at her.

“Well, between what just happened and carrying you all the way from wherever we were in the
castle…” he said as Hermione slapped him in the arm playfully. “I’ve really worked up an appetite.
Pumpkin Pie?” She agreed and they headed out the portrait again.

“Oh and Harry?” she said. “Next time I feel sleepy, you’ll know how to wake me up right?” Harry
laughed and kissed her again.

(A/N: That turned out a little different, what with the Ron situation and all. I hope you’ve
enjoyed it, and please review, not flame, even if it’s just a simple ‘good job’ I appreciate it
greatly. Thanks!! :p )



