The Reason Why (Harmione)

Chapter 8

Harry sat down on Hermione's bed, reminded painfully of the night before. He could see the pain on Hermione's gave as she shut the door gently behind her. She turned to face Harry and he could see that her eyes were wide and her skin was pale, though she tried to hide it with a weak smile.

"It's alright, Hermione," Harry tried to reassure her.

Hermione still didn't seem entirely convinced, but nevertheless she nodded and took a shaky step forward, making her way slowly to Harry. She let out a deep breath as Harry started the speech he'd been preparing all morning.

"I should have told you this a long time ago." Wow, that sounded a lot less cheesy in his head. Was the whole speech that bad? Oh well, it was too late to prepare a new one now. So he forged ahead. "I know things would be much different now if I had told you before. But I waited too long, I let fate decide rather than take control. That's why I've gone so long without telling you; I didn't want to mess everything up. But now..." He trailed off and looked at Hermione who showed him an embarrassed smile. "...I think it's safe to tell you this."

He stopped again. This is a bad idea, said a voice in his head. It's now or never, he told himself firmly.

"Hermione, I feel the same way." The words came rushing out of his mouth. He hadn't meant to just blurt it out like that. But now he couldn't seem to stop. "I've felt that way since First Year but I never told you because I didn't think you liked me back and after a while I started to get feelings for other girls and I thought I was over you but every once in a while those thoughts would come back to me but I just shook them off but now that you've told me the truth I know for sure that those feelings never really went away and I really wish I would have told you, Hermione!" Harry breathed heavily after he finished.

Hermione was out of breath as well although she hadn't said a word. She was not quite making eyes contact with him. "Harry, I-"

"I know, I know," he sighed. "I just had to tell you."

She nodded. "Good to know," she whispered, her cheeks slightly pink. Then she looked down at her watch and her eyes got wide. "Shit! We're late!"

Both of them jumped off the bed and bolted for the door. That was one of the few moments either of them would get their minds off each other.

                                ~ooo~

It had been a week since Harry told Hermione the truth. Things were less and more awkward between them at the same time. It felt good to know how they both felt. Of course, it also made things worse.

Just like Harry had said, they could have been together in another life. But things hadn't gone that way. He was with Ginny now, and he planned to keep things that way. He would bury his feelings for Hermione once again. He could do it before, he could do it now.

Except he couldn't.

So of course, he made a new plan. Fake it till you make it.

Hermione sighed, forcing herself to look away from Harry and Ginny. They sat in the corner chatting. They were so happy together. How odd that Harry can be so happy with someone else when he claims to have feelings for me.

She stared at her book, but none of the words were sinking in. She had been on the same page for nearly twenty minutes now.

She always thought love was so simple. If you like me and I like you, what could go wrong? Many, many things, she thought sadly.

Her eyes were brimming with tears that she blinked back before they could stain the page. She looked up to realize that everyone was leaving the Common Room on to their next class. Hermione shoved her books into her bag and made her way out behind the crowd of people. She kept her eyes trained on the mess of black hair that was walking a few feet in front of her next to his beautiful girlfriend, whom he stopped to kiss goodbye before walking into his class that Hermione joined him in.

As Hermione took her seat in next to him, she decided that she was tired of moping around. She needed to deal with this once and for all.

As Harry pulled his materials out of his bag, he could see movement in the corner of his eye. When he sat up again, Hermione was turned so that all he could see was her bushy head of golden brown hair. Thinking it had been a trick of the light, Harry looked back down to his things. That's when he saw it.

Slowly, Harry unfolded the small piece of paper that Hermione had ripped out of her notebook (he could see that the corner was missing on one of the pages). The note consisted of three simple words.

Your room. Tonight.

Harry folded the note and stuck it in his pocket, not noticing the smirk on Hermione's face.