Harry Potter Male Reader Insert - Hermione x Male Reader

The Half-Blood Prince

By the time Hermione reached the summer after her fifth year, now entering her sixth year, she was exhausted. Keeping up with Harry and Ron and honestly keeping them from killing each other or themselves was probably the most exhausting task that any teenager could have. Let alone her, someone who was just as devoted to her friends as she was to her own future, her studies and how she knew they'd help the Wizard World and the Muggle World in the future. Besides, NEWTS were coming up, if war didn't break out first. And although she had always been fiercely academic, she knew that mere exams didn't matter so much as what might lie ahead of them.

She'd needed a summer at home. The moment she saw her parents at the train station, waiting to pick her up, she felt a weight release from her shoulders.

She'd gone home. It was nice to have someone else cooking for her, cooking Muggle food that she knew was made from human hands, rather than by house elves. It still stung a little bit, years on, that SPEW hadn't really gone anywhere. The only person who'd agreed with her had been Y/N; Harry and Ron, she could just about forgive, reminding herself that Ron had the emotional range of a teaspoon and they were both just kids then. It felt good to be hugged by people who loved her. To read books that she wanted to read and that she didn't have time to pick up during the school year.

After her first day of decompressing, she already felt worlds better. All the hugs had made her feel loved, like a kid again, but something else was missing; someone else's presence. The someone that she'd spent so much time with at school it sometimes felt like they could finish one another's sentences. The guy she'd met - out of all things! - looking for Neville's admittedly dim-witted and ugly toad. The realisation made her gasp even as she sat on the edge of her bed and laid down with a thump, sprawling across her covers in deep thought. As soon as she did, she allowed her mind to wander. The first place it landed was on Y/N.

She wanted to formalize their relationship. The thought made her bite her lip, and she both wasn't sure why she did it, and knew exactly why. With a soft groan, she scrubbed her hand across her face, feeling her cheeks heat with an unexpected warmth. Her hair was a little straighter than it had been, but it still grew mussed with the contact. She wanted it to be grabbed by him; or for him to touch her, like he always did, but in new places, or seeing her in a slightly new light.

It was difficult to have complex feelings for someone during the beginning of a war. But it also made it more urgent, like her emotions had crystallised into something as strong and bright as diamond. They didn't know what the future held, so they would have to make it themselves. They'd been friends since they were little kids and had grown into their affections for each other as they'd grown older. And with each passing year, their relationship became stronger, something she wanted to pursue more and more. Now, with danger seemingly everywhere, she wanted him to know she wanted him. For real. Without hesitation. Even now, as they went long stretches of time without really seeing each other, she found herself thinking and fantasizing only of him.

That had to mean something. As their relationship had grown, it had also grown more mature.

As she lay in bed thinking about him, her mind wandering far past where she usually allowed it to go, she began to picture him. His hair, combed back or not, perfectly suiting him either way. His eyes, curious and bright when they worked on material together or had a compelling conversation. All of this struck her to her core, inciting a physical reaction in her.