Love, Hermione

Part 2

Dear Harry,

It was always you. You were the first and the only. I can't believe it took me seven years to realize this, but here it is.

I love you, Harry.

I don't remember the exact time it happened (it might have been the troll for all I know), but I do know that I was drawn to you the moment I saw you on the train. I tried to keep my distance in first year because of how Ronald and I were back then, but I couldn't help but keep wanting to be near you. I wanted so badly to be your friend and was actually really thankful that the troll made that happen.

But I think I grew so comfortable with my place as your other best friend that I didn't want to risk our friendship by fostering a crush. So I stamped it down. I squashed that little notion that you and I could be more than friends and I made it my mission to be the very best friend you can have.

But this past year made me realize that I deserve to be true to myself. We almost died, for goodness sake! Life is far too short and far too unpredictable to keep my feelings bottled up. At the very least, I should be honest with myself. So here is my honest declaration that:

I, Hermione Jane Granger, am in love with Harry James Potter.

I'll probably end up burning this letter, because I don't know if I'm ready for YOU to know that I love you. But alas, I now know this and isn't that what is important?

Love,

Hermione

Hermione paused in a somewhat trance with the letter still in her hands. She could vividly remember when she wrote this.

It was after a celebratory feast held at Hogwarts after the castle had been rebuilt. After the party had died down and she had retreated to her chambers to sleep, one face plagued her mind. It was the face of her best friend, with his dark black hair tousled in disarray and intense green eyes. A lightning bolt scar was etched at the middle of his forehead and his black rimmed glasses was perched on his high nose. It was Harry Potter. And while in bed, she found herself imagining his lips curved into a smile and his head was leaning closer, and closer, until finally...

Hermione bolted straight up in bed with her eyes wide. Best friends do not imagine kissing each other. She tried to do that with Ron and grimaced at the thought. So why was she imagining kissing Harry Potter then?

Hermione spent the next hour deep in thought. And that was when a lightbulb sort of turned on in her head and she just knew the answer why. She was in love with Harry Potter. And for a long, long time in fact. And so she wrote that letter.

A ringing doorbell drew Hermione back to the present and she quickly refolded the letter and put it back into its envelope. She set the letter down on top of the growing pile on her desk and she exited her study to answer the front door.

Hermione was greeted with the bright, smiling face of her assistant Evelin when she pulled the door open. Evelin, a young girl of just eighteen years old, was fresh out of Hogwarts and as eager as can be. She was bubbly and cheerful but as proven by her schooling with the Ravenclaws, she was also as smart as a whip. Hermione took her on as her assistant because she was quick and efficient with her work but also provided some much needed laughter and light in the dark halls of the Department of Mysteries.

"Hi, Hermione!" Evelin greeted loudly. She stepped inside Hermione's home and dropped a heavy tote bag on the foyer so she could remove her cloak. "Minister Shacklebolt caught me while I was leaving work and he asked where I was going with all of these in the middle of the day!" She gestured to the bag full of paperwork and heavy books. "I had to pretend I was sick too so he wouldn't suspect I was coming to see you!"

Hermione laughed and grabbed the bag off the ground. It was as heavy as it looked and she had a hard time hoisting it onto her shoulder.

"Let me help you with that, Hermione! You're still sick!" Exclaimed Evelin after she had removed her cloak.

Hermione scoffed. "Nonsense! I have a cold; I'm not an invalid! C'mon, let's go to my office. Feel free to stop by the kitchen and grab yourself a drink." Evelin, who had been to Hermione's house before, took her up on her offer and quickly grabbed a glass of orange juice before hurriedly catching up to Hermione as she ascended the stairs.

They entered Hermione's office and Hermione set the bag of books down on the ground next to her desk. She cleared as much space as she could on her desktop and replaced the letters into the box and set it down underneath her desk. She would deal with those things later. But now, she had work to do as proven by the heavy bag Evelin brought.

For the rest of the day, the two women poured over the scrolls. Hermione felt good to be working again and the hours flew quickly as she read translation manuals and runic books. Her and Evelin worked well together; with the younger girl automatically grabbing supplementary textbooks from Hermione's bookshelves without being asked and they were the exact book Hermione needed. Their concentration was broken only when Evelin's stomach growled low and she insisted on staying even though Hermione urged it was not necessary. Since Hermione did want to work for longer and Evelin was great help, they broke for supper consisting of a pizza delivery and answered mail Hermione had received during her absence and which Evelin had brought with her (the owls knew she spent most of her time in the office, so even her personal mail was delivered there). They quickly got back to working after consuming their slices.

It was about 8:30pm when Hermione found her concentration waning. She could usually work well into the night, but she was sick after all so perhaps it was time to call it a day. She marked where she was in the book and closed it with a thud. "Ev, I think we should call it a night. I'm sorry for keeping you here but this cold is getting to my head and I can't concentrate anymore."

"No worries at all, Hermione!" Evelin chirped as she raised her head from the book she was reading. "Why don't you head to bed and I'll clean up here? I'll take these back to the Ministry since I need to grab some stuff from there anyway."

"Are you sure, Ev?" Hermione asked. The girl grinned and nodded her head. Hermione smiled gratefully. "You're an angel! Thank you so much. My head is starting to hurt and I think I do need to go to sleep. Make sure you take tomorrow off, okay? You're sick after all." Hermione said with a wink to which Evelin cheered. Hermione gave a nod goodbye and walked out of her office.