Without You

Their Beginning

Harry raced through the hallways of the castle he called home and searched everywhere for his best friend and the woman he loved. He had searched everywhere for her and she was nowhere to be found even in her usual haunts. He checked the library, the common room, and the great hall but still found no sign of her. The nagging thought that she had left the castle started to creep into his mind but he batted it away, knowing it was irrational.

He was beginning to tire out after his long sprint but he pushed his way forward, determined to canvass every bit of the castle. He was filled with a fear and resolve like no other and he ignored his aching muscles as his pace remained consistent.

"Potter? Where are you going?" Professor McGonagall asked as Harry blew past her before coming to an immediate haunt and drawing deep breaths into his lung.

"I need...to find...Hermione," Harry breathed out as he crouched over with his hands on his knees, his exhaustion nearly crippling him. "Where...is...she?" he asked with deep breaths in between, hoping against hope that McGonagall somehow knew the whereabouts of Hermione.

"She's near the Black Lake..." Professor McGonagall didn't get to finish her statement as he took off running down the stairs before blowing through the doors none too gently. The older woman watched the scene with a knowing smile as she remembered the exact same events occurring nearly twenty years prior when James Potter chased after Lily Evans to finally confess his love to her in all its entirety. "Go get her, Potter," the woman whispered to herself.

The sun had taken on an auburn glow when Harry found his way onto the castle grounds and began the long trek to the Black Lake. He ran like the devil was at his feet and nearly tripped over himself when he spotted her under his favorite tree, their favorite tree, near the shore of the lake. She was sitting with a book in her lap, her gorgeous cinnamon colored hair cascading down her head in waves, and the glow from the sun giving her an almost divine look. He mentally slapped himself for never focusing on her beauty like he should have during their time together because, in truth, she was the most wonderfully gorgeous woman in the world.

In all his haste to find her, he didn't realize that he knew not what to say to her once he did actually find her. He planned to be honest but he didn't quite know how to begin. One didn't just go up to a woman and said they loved her right? He needed some kind of preamble or something that led into it.

With measured steps, Harry made his way over to Hermione. Almost like she could sense him, she looked up from her book and met his eyes with the tiniest of smiles. He shot her one of his own but still felt his nerves rise to almost permeable levels. Gone were the days where he could just be comfortable around her and tell her everything that was in his heart.

"Herm..." he cleared his throat, "Hermione, I need to tell you something." Great going, Potter, he chastised himself. Was that really the best he could have come up with? Hermione looked at him in confusion and he felt the butterflies multiply in his stomach.

"I...have something to tell you." Merlin, he was bad at this. It should have been easy to tell her everything he felt for her. They were scarcely without each other for nearly seven years, so why was this so bloody difficult?

"Harry?" He was turning red and nearly choking on his words so it was no wonder she was looking at him in concern before rising to her feet. "You look a bit flushed, are you sick?" She placed a hand on his cheek and he automatically leaned in and let his eyes fall closed against the softness of it.

He nearly let himself be drowned in the sweet comfort she was providing but he had a mission. Regretfully, he opened his deep verdant green eyes to meet her rich chocolate brown eyes. He still had no clue on how to confess himself to her but he wasn't one to quit. He was a Gryffindor, brave and true, and also dumb enough to charge into a situation headfirst.