She had sat in the common room for a good hour or so in her favorite chair by the fire. For once in her life Hermione was not nose deep in a book or studying or writing an essay or anything school related. Instead she stared into the flames of the crackling fire biting down on her bottom lip and ignoring the rest of those in the common room.

Her mind was racing and it was easy to see she was deep in thought. Really Hermione was waiting to see a certain person enter the scene and her heart was beating frantically in her chest to the point she was sure anyone within a five foot radius of her could hear it. She was nervous, and rightly so because she decided to take matter into her own hands and for better or worse she had to do it.

So when she saw Harry enter the common room finally she wasted no time in grabbing ahold of his hand and pulling him up into the boys dormitories before she could lose all of her nerve completely. The bushy haired witch had thought of nothing else since that horrid Saturday night and now she was going to take Ginny's advice.

Once she had pulled him into his dorm which as luck would have it was empty Hermione immediately pressed her lips to his. Her eyelids closed and she surrendered to her feelings for the boy hoping that his demonstration at the party had meant more than just a dare. After all he hadn't wanted to stop then and neither had she.

This year was entirely too complicated. Everything was different, and Harry was messing everything up, and on top of it, NEWT level classes were harder than any magic that Harry had ever done before. If he didn’t turn things around in Charms soon, he would be kicked out of the class or something. The dark haired boy was pretty sure they could do that once you were past the OWL level.

As a result, when he finally stumbled into the common room from the library on his one evening with no obligations this week, he was in a world all his own. His hair was even messier than normal, his tie was undone, his clothes were disheveled. It looked like he had run a race or lost a small fight. So he should have remembered Ginny’s warning when Hermione grabbed him and steered him up to his dorm, but it was honestly the last thing on his mind. The door closed behind him and he had no idea what was going on.

Then her lips were pressed against his, and he was stepping back in shock before he even really knew what was happening. He managed to stumble all the way back to his bed and sit down before he realized how bad that must look.

“Okay,” he said embarrassedly, “obviously I don’t feel the same way about you that you feel about me.” Harry really just wanted everything to go back to the way it was last year, before they had gone to the Ministry and everything had spun out of control. Too much had happened since then, and things would never be the same. Still, that didn’t mean that they had to be bad.

He patted the bed next to him. “Come sit with me. Let’s talk about this. I don’t want to do anything to hurt the amazing friendship we have.”

He was sexy. Just the thought brought a blush to the gryffindor witch's cheeks. Harry was so sexily disheveled it was intoxicating to even be in the same room with him. He was also rejecting her and his incredible appearance was not enough to take from the burning sting she felt from his words.

He hadn't even given her lips a chance to press against his for more than maybe a few seconds at the most. Hermione's first instinct was to cry and get angry. She had to remind herself that Harry wasn't just some random boy she had a crush on. He was Harry. Her best friend of six years.

It still hurt when someone you loved told you they didn't return those feelings especially when you really wanted them to. Really, really wanted them too and when you put yourself out there on a limb like she had it was also embarrassing. She hugged herself and kept from looking at him. In the back of her mind she was already asking questions that she knew she wouldn't find answers to in any books.

Harry told her to sit and Hermione nodded silently looking nearly as crushed as she actually was now that he had so easily dismissed her feelings towards him. The bushy haired witch silently wondered why this had even seemed like a good idea while she made her way to Harry's bed and sat down next to him but she was stiff and wouldn't meet his eyes.

How was she supposed to be friends with him after this and with these feelings she had for him? Hermione desperately hoped he had an answer because she really didn't think she would find it in a book. "O-ok." She said shakily and mentally willed herself to put their friendship first. That was the most important thing wasn't it? She didn't want to lose him completely. "I don't want to ruin our friendship either Harry. I really don't. I just don't know how to deal with these feelings I have for you, especially now since you don't feel the same way." Blunt was better than beating around the bush wasn't it? Perhaps the two boys she was most around we're rubbing off on her because that had been awfully forward but so had her kiss.