Secret of Life by gypsybaby21

Rating: PG13
Genres: Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 07/09/2012
Last Updated: 11/10/2012
Status: Completed

Harry knows. Hermione’s just lucky she was smart enough to catch on. [Series of one-shots]




1. Secret of Life
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Title: Secret of Life

Summary: Harry knows. Hermione's just lucky she was smart enough to catch on.

Note: Harry/Hermione one shot, extreme fluff and very, very short, I wrote this while listening
to Faith Hill's The Secret of Life so that song as well as the movie City Slickers inspired
this.

“Next thing I know you'll be telling me you know the secret to life,” Hermione called out to
Harry playfully, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling with mischief as she shifted her feet through
the piled snow in order to allow her body to lean forward and place a kiss on the corner of his
warm cheek.

He didn't say anything for a while, his emerald green eyes simply staring, taking in every
single detail, almost like he was memorizing every feature on her face. She cleared her throat,
wanting to coax a response from him.

“I *do* know the secret to life,” he smiled secretively, shifting on the cold Victorian
styled cement bench they'd found walking down a random snow engulfed street in London. Hermione
had refused to sit, it was snowing after all, and she had not wanted to lose the warmth she had
managed from the walk.

Harry on the other hand could have cared less about getting his trousers wet and another quick
warming spell would take care of the cold. These walks they had started a few months after the war
had ended, seemed to becoming longer, more frequent, and he was not getting any younger. Ron had
stopped joining them only a year into what became a tradition for Harry and Hermione, they'd
now been doing it for five years. The red head, now happily married to Luna Lovegood, still
couldn't figure out why the two continued to go, but Harry knew, he just wasn't so sure
Hermione's reason was the same. Sometimes Harry wondered why he never said anything to her
about his feelings.

Hermione blinked repeatedly while his words continued to register and then snorted with the
disbelief when they did. “Oh? Care to enlighten me what this secret to life is?” she chuckled
immediately after, but her skepticism was evident.

He slid his teeth into the meat of his bottom lip and got to his feet, reaching forward to loop
Hermione's arm with his. He threaded his fingers through hers and popped both of their hands
into the warmth of his robe pocket. “Well,” he paused for dramatic effect, “it's a secret.”

Hermione clucked her tongue and gently gave his hand a warning squeeze. “I don't like this,
you knowing something I don't. You have to give me a hint,” she demanded, her ruby red lips
pouting.

He couldn't help but notice the way his gaze lingered on her lips or how the yearning of
wanting to kiss had become so natural. It didn't help that the flurry of tiny snowflakes kept
landing on those supple lips wetting them, making them glisten. A kiss on a cold snowy evening
wouldn't be too bad.

Harry swallowed, realizing she was waiting for an answer, but could he tell her? Really and
truly, after all these years? After all these years of just being her best friend would a
transition to lover be possible?

He raised an eyebrow, but decided to oblige her. He nodded after thinking for a moment.
“It's one thing,” he informed and when he did not continue she frowned.

Harry wanted so desperately to run a hand through those wrinkles on her forehead as she scowled
and answered. “And that is?”

He kicked at a clump of snow that had been in his path. “That's the hint. It's just one
thing, one thing in your life that makes everything else worthwhile.”

Her breath hitched and recognition sparked in her eyes at his comment. “Oh,” was all she could
manage. A smile tugged at her lips and she turned sideways, wrapping her other arm around his
waist. “Am I your secret?”

She was serious, but playful at the same time, so he tried ignoring the rapid fluttering in his
heart and he slowly turned his head towards her to smile, while at the same time nudging her
forward so that they could start walking down the snow covered street again.

He was going to do this. He was going to tell this absolutely perfect woman that she was what he
needed to make the rest of his life, past, present, and future, all of it, worthwhile. That
he'd been in love with her for more than four and half years, possibly more since he'd been
thinking about their younger years more and more. He was going to do it; he was just so scared that
she didn't feel the same.

“Yes,” he whispered softly, his hand involuntarily tightening around hers.

She laughed happily, her response was so quick, instant in fact, that he feared she thought he
was playing. “Oh Harry, I hope you're serious, because I want to kiss you, right now.”

Pausing, he titled his head towards her, curiously watching her smiling face, looking for a sign
that this kiss she'd requested was from a friend to a friend, but there was something different
in her happy eyes. Something that made his breath catch, something he couldn't put his finger
on, but that something let him know that it wasn't a friend asking for a peck, it was a
potential lover asking to share a first moment. He knew that this moment would be forever engraved
in his mind. The moment that made his life fully start, the moment that *made* Hermione his.
She was *Harry's* secret of life.

Finished

I think I'm better at one shots than I am at longer stuff. I don't update often (as most
of the people who read my stuff know), so I'm thinking of doing more one shots. I might even do
a Hermione's point of view, to this one with the kissing scene. Who knows?

Let me know if there are any mistakes or possibly something that doesn't make sense and
I'll fix it. Please review!
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2. Never Let Me Go
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Title: Never Let Me Go

Summary: In Hermione's point of view from Secret of Life.

Author Note: I'll be sticking with song titles for the one-shots. Never Let Me Go belongs to
Florence + the Machine. Also I didn't change much, but what I did change probably isn't as
good as what I originally wrote.

Enjoy!

“Next thing I know you'll be telling me you know the secret to life,” Hermione called out to
Harry playfully, her chocolate brown eyes sparkling with mischief as she shifted her feet through
the piled snow in order to allow her body to lean forward, and place a kiss on the corner of his
warm cheek.

It was a simple touch between friends, but her lips were tingling as she pulled away. She'd
it done before, however, her patience was running low, and she was having more trouble hiding her
reactions when she touched him.

He didn't say anything for a while, his emerald green eyes simply staring, taking in every
single detail, almost like he was memorizing every feature on her face, and she felt her belly flip
as an explosion of butterflies were set free.

He was so beautiful it almost hurt.

She knew in that moment that she had to know, even if he didn't feel the same way for her.
She wanted to know what it felt like to truly kiss this man.

She cleared her throat, glad the cold covered up her pink cheeks.

“I *do* know the secret to life,” he smiled secretively, shifting on the cold Victorian
styled cement bench they'd found walking down a random snow engulfed street in London. Hermione
had refused to sit, it was snowing after all, and she had not wanted to lose the warmth she had
managed from the walk or at least that's what she'd told Harry. The truth was that her
fingers were itching to touch him, to hold him. The feeling was becoming irresistible.

Hermione blinked repeatedly while his words continued to register, and then snorted with the
disbelief, when they did. “Oh? Care to enlighten me what this secret to life is?” she chuckled
immediately after, but her skepticism was evident.

She had feelings for him starting as far back as six years ago, when she'd gone through a
post-war depression, and Harry had shown up at her flat door, with a Muggle movie, ice cream, and
popcorn. He'd been willing to be `one of the girls' for her, to make her feel better, to
make her laugh, and it had worked more than she let on. That night she couldn't sleep with the
realization that he'd been right in front of her face since year one, yet she claimed to be
somewhat of a genius.

Harry must have mentioned something to Ron about how much she'd enjoyed their time together
and it was somehow suggested that they spend time together now that school or the war wasn't
keeping them constantly with each other. Not all of them had time to spend hours together a day,
after all work and real life had started, but they agreed, that a thirty-minute walk together was a
healthy way to do it, and a good enough reason to make time for themselves, if only to say hi and
chat for awhile.

The walks continued ever since and that was five years ago, but Ron had stopped joining them
only a year into it. The emergence of Luna Lovegood, once again, into Ron's life, hadn't
been a pleasant experience for Ron, but it had been the reason he'd stopped joining them.
Hermione and Luna knew that that was the year he'd fallen for Luna, but mentioning that to him
would have been ridiculous.

Oh, how Luna had irritated him so.

The red head, was now happily married to Luna, and still couldn't figure out why the two
continued to go on these walks, claiming the reason he'd stopped because it was so tiring.
Hermione knew why she continued the walks. She just wasn't so sure Harry's reason was the
same. Sometimes, Hermione wondered why she never said anything to him about her feelings.

Hermione watched as he slid his teeth into the meat of his bottom lip and got to his feet,
reaching forward to loop Hermione's arm with his. He threaded his fingers through hers and
popped both of their hands into the warmth of his robe pocket.

She swallowed slowly, not wanting to be obvious that the contact and closeness to him affected
her in any way.

“Well,” he paused for dramatic effect, “it's a secret.”

Hermione clucked her tongue and gently gave his hand a warning squeeze. “I don't like this,
you knowing something I don't. You have to give me a hint,” she demanded, her ruby red lips
pouting.

Something had caught his attention and for a moment, it seemed to her that he was leaning
towards her, wanting to kiss her.

*That's a stretch*, she thought to herself. Even so, she wouldn't deny him if it
was what he wanted, Merlin knew she wanted that kiss too. Her eyes darted down to his peach colored
lips. She could do it, just lean in, and capture his lips. Of course, then she'd have to run,
like a little embarrassed school girl. It didn't help that the flurry of tiny snowflakes kept
landing on those supple lips, wetting them, making them glisten.

A kiss on a cold snowy evening wouldn't be too bad.

Could she do it? Really and truly, after all these years? After all these years of just being
his best friend would a transition to lover be possible?

Lover? She was jumping to conclusions, a kiss constituted nothing but an entrance into something
new, and she wanted to enter that next level.

He raised an eyebrow and nodded. “It's one thing,” he informed and when he did not continue
she frowned.

She'd been lost in her thoughts, thinking about getting up the nerve to kiss this sexy man,
but now she was curious what this one thing was. This one thing that Harry knew, but she
didn't. He couldn't possibly know the secret of life. No one knew. “And that is?”

He kicked at a clump of snow that had been in his path. “That's the hint. It's just one
thing, one thing in your life that makes everything else worthwhile.”

Her breath hitched and recognition sparked in her eyes at his comment. Did he just say that? He
had to be talking about her, right? The way he was looking at her, how could she have not seen it
sooner?

She was afraid she was just seeing what she wanted to see though. Hermione needed to be sure,
before she asked the question she really wanted to ask.

“Oh,” was all she could manage. A smile tugged at her lips and she turned sideways, wrapping her
other arm around his waist. “Am I your secret?”

She was serious, but playful at the same time. He slowly turned his head towards her to smile,
while at the same time nudging her forward, so that they could start walking down the snow covered
street again.

“Yes,” he whispered softly, his hand involuntarily tightening around hers.

She laughed happily, her response was so quick, instant in fact, that he feared she thought he
was playing. “Oh Harry, I hope you're serious, because I want to kiss you, right now.”

Pausing, he titled his head towards her, curiously watching her smiling face, like he was
looking for a sign that this kiss she'd requested was from a friend to a friend, but she let it
show that she wanted more, that she wanted it all. He must have understood the look, because he saw
something that made his breath catch, something that let him know that it wasn't a friend
asking for a peck, it was a potential lover asking to share a first moment.

As his lips subtly brushed hers, she closed her eyes, letting her emotions crash into her. It
was like a tidal wave of love, devotion, and need. It was more than she could've asked for when
his hands reached forward to hold her face, letting his thumbs brush her cheekbones tenderly, as he
continued his gentle kiss.

It was sweet and cold, but so perfect. She finally gave into her feelings and wrapped her arms
around his neck, pulling him closer.

She was *Harry's* secret of life and maybe later she would tell him that he had to be
hers.

Finished

Hold It Against Me, will be the one-shot following directly after Secret of Life/Never Let Me
Go.
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