Hermione's Girl Crush

Part 26: A walk with a Friend

Hermione quickly tried to shake off any blush that had appeared on her face after that interaction. She rushed down the halls of the castle and towards the Gryffindor common room where she was going to meet her friends.

Once in the common room, she realized that all of her friends were waiting for her to return from the library. The blush still quite prominent on her face,

"Hey, Hermione ready to g-" Harry started but Hermione just ran past him up the stairs and into her dorm. She burst through the doors and rushed to her desk and threw the book down.

She looked at herself in the mirror. At first glance, she looked completely fine but the more she looked at herself the more of a mess she seemed to be. Her blush was still quite thick and her eyes slightly bloodshot with heavy bags under them. It's not like she didn't get a good night's sleep either. She's been sleeping so well, at least she thought she was.

Her hair was a bit of a mess but when was it not. She tried to quickly pull herself together before heading back downstairs with a small bag.

"there you are. What was all that about?" Ron questioned her but she just shook it off,

"let's go," She muttered. The group made their way through the castle and down the paths to Hogsmeade. Hermione walked with Harry and Neville at the back of the group while the rest of them walked ahead.

"Hey, Hermione, what made you rush up to your room when you got back earlier?" Neville Questioned softly after a few minutes down the path in silence. The rest of the group had been laughing and chatting but Hermione was staying quiet,

"I just had to put a book away." Hermione shut down the interaction quite quickly with the muttering of that one sentence. Neville just nodded in return and looked ahead.

Harry leaned over to Neville and whispered,

"could you let me just talk to Hermione alone for a second Neville?" He looked up to see Neville nodding a little too aggressively,

"Yeah, Yeah," Neville moved his way up and started chatting with the group ahead. Harry reached for Hermione's arm and pulled her to trail even further behind the group,

"Did it have something to do with a certain 'friend'?" He spoke softly and used air quotes when speaking the word 'friend'. Hermione just looked at him with feigned confusion,

"What?" She questioned like she had no idea what he was talking about when in actuality she knew exactly what he was talking about,

"You know. Did you running up to your room have to do with your little more than friend's friend?" He questioned with more clarity now and looked at Hermione. She stopped moving, took a deep breath, and barely whispered,

"Yes..." She quickly closed her eyes in a way of bracing for Harry's response,

"I knew it!" Harry exclaimed in a whisper,

"You can't tell anyone," Hermione's tone was dead serious and Harry nodded,

"Of course," Harry gave a warm and assuring smile to Hermione, "Now let's get back with the group, we can talk details later," Harry gave a little chuckle, Hermione Joined him as they walked forward catching up with their friends,

"Harry Potter, you are quite the gossip," Hermione joked as they entered Hogsmeade and joined their friends.