Harry pulled the half-burned letter out of robe for the sixth time that day.

Dearest Harry, There is so much I’m longing to tell you about my feelings. I yearn to say that you are the subject of my every dream. You are the one that makes my face blush and my heart flutter. No matter how close I am to you, I’m never close enough. I try my hardest to pay attention in class and to study, but my mind always wanders to your face. I love you Harry. I love you more than you can ever imagine. And all I can do is hope that one day you will love me too. Maybe one day you will realize that I……

That was all Harry could read, the rest of the letter had been burned away in the fire. He stopped in the middle of the corridor and stared at the words. The writing was familiar, but that didn’t mean a lot. Harry couldn’t understand it, from the moment he had read the letter last night, he could not get it out of his head. For some reason he felt a very strong connection with the writer, whoever she was.

Harry’s imagination ran wild every time he read the letter.

“She dreams about me? What kind of dreams?� Harry wondered. Was he being heroic in her dreams, or romantic, or… What was he doing?

“Damn it,� Harry whispered. He was getting all worked up about a stupid love letter written by some anonymous girl. But just the same, there was something about this letter that he recognized. Every time Harry read the letter a name would be on the very tip of his tongue, but before he realized who it was the letter would end, and the name would retreat again to the back of his mind.

“Hey mate,� Ron came running down the stairs from the dormitories. Harry quickly stuffed the letter into his pocket, not wanting Ron to break into another harassing barrage of jokes.

“Come on, we’re gonna be late for Care of Magical Creatures if you don’t stop staring at the floor and get your ass moving. Hurry Harry,� Ron laughed as he half drug Harry down the corridor. But Harry wasn’t paying any attention to Ron, because once again his mind had drifted to the mysterious letter and the identity of the writer. Was it possible that he was really infatuated with someone he didn’t even know? It couldn’t be love could it?

Harry smiled. Love. That’s what the letter had said-love. Every time he read that letter his heart would swell and he would yearn to know who the author was. In fact, Harry wouldn’t admit it, but he had become addicted to the words on the parchment. He knew he had become secretly infatuated with this invisible and anonymous girl, and all Harry could do was pray that he would find out who the author of the letter was. Soon.

There he was. God, didn’t he ever brush his hair? Not that it mattered. If her plan went as smoothly as she hoped he would be dead soon. Him, and anyone else who got in her way. Including that pathetic Ron Weasley and know it all Hermione Granger.

“Ugh!� she thought. There was that oaf Hagrid. Care of Magical Creatures was undoubtedly her least favorite class, and it was not made any better by the fact that they were taught by that disgusting monster.

This was something new, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had never had this class together before. Usually the Gryffindors had this class with Slytherin and History of Magic with Ravenclaws. But, Dumbledore had decided to juggle some things around this year. No matter, she could spy and watch her pray anywhere- be it outside or in a cramped and boring classroom.

“Righ’ everyone, gather ‘roun,� Hagrid called in his clumsy and poor English. She walked closer to him with the rest of the class, wondering what kind of deadly animal from the forest they would be facing again today.

“Now, today’s gonna be a bit simpler ‘en usual. I managed to lure a couple er Tree Nymphs up to me home. So terday, wer gonna be watchin ‘em and playin’ wit ‘em.�

Tree Nymphs-they looked like twigs, until you pissed one the hell off and then they all played their favorite game of “fuck you up.� The Golden Trio, of course, were the first to get within three feet of where Hagrid had placed the Nymphs. And feeling the need to protect their pet, Hagrid, proceeded to try and grab a couple from their cage.

“Now what er ya doin? That aint ‘ow ya catch a Tree Nymph! Ya gotta kinda sweet talk ‘em a little, coax ‘em outta there. Their jus’ a bit frigh’ened, thas all,� Hagrid stated bluntly, and as usual he was perfectly oblivious to the obvious danger that these tiny camouflaged creatures exhibited.

She continued to watch as that Granger girl held her hand out to the nearest Tree Nymph. She started making some strange cooing noises, obviously what she considered coaxing, but it didn’t seem to work as many of the Nymphs began hissing at her. They even began making the same cooing noise back at her. The smart ass girl stood up quickly and glanced at Hagrid, who continued to smile his dumb oblivious smile.

But within a matter of five minutes, the entire class had managed to group up with someone and acquire a Nymph. The girl glanced across at Cho Chang, Harry Potter’s previous squeeze and the girl she had gotten stuck with as a partner. Who Harry was fucking now, not even she knew-yet.

Chang kept going on and on about how cute the living twig in front of them was, to which the girl simply responded with a grunt and an occasional “Uh-huh�. There is no escaping the idiots at this school, is there. She had managed to drag Cho to a place that was a reasonable distance away from the Golden Trio, however, and with the charm she had earlier placed on herself, she had no problems listening in on their conversation.

Like usual, it was a completely worthless topic, something about Harry’s newest secret admirer. Weasley was making a big deal out of it, just as he does everything else; but Granger shockingly, was trying to be completely oblivious in the conversation.

“Not very much like the snappy, loud-mouthed, know-it-all Ms Granger to stay silent during one of Weasleys outbursts.� she thought. Interesting, maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult to figure out whom Potter’s squeeze was after all; and besides, it had been obvious that him and Granger were going to get together sometime. For some reason, Potter had never been able to keep his eyes of Granger’s ass.

Finally, class was over. The girl was the last to leave Hagrids cabin, however, she didn’t want to be seen by the Golden Trio. She walked up the hill towards Hogwarts quite alone, everyone else in the class was very far ahead of her, but then she felt a sharp poke in her left leg. She spun around, flinging a tiny Tree Nymph onto the ground in front her. The nymph stood up and immediately started jabbering at her, shaking it’s tiny fist, and readying a small blast of magic to shoot at the girl that stood before it.

“So that’s your game, huh?� she said, leaning down close so that she could look the nymph in the eye. “You are rude and stupid enough to follow me, and then you threaten me as if it was I who inconvenienced you!� she smiled when the Nymph grew quiet. Its tiny eyes began to grow, but they weren’t allowed to get as big as they could have.

“Avada Kedavra!�

Binn’s class, History of Magic. It has no competition as the most boring subject in the whole school. Harry yawned and stared with glazed eyes at the see through Professor Binns. Ron was snoring quietly beside him, but as usual, Hermione was the only one in the class paying attention and taking feverish notes.

His secret admirer flashed through his mind quickly and he smiled. To think, that somewhere in this school, possibly in this class, there was a girl who was raptly in love with him. He yawned again and decided he would attempt to pay attention.

Harry grabbed his quill and became writing a few snatches if Professor Binns’ speech down on his blank parchment. But Harry’s attempts were futile and within a minute he was once again thinking about that love letter.

“This is insane, I can’t even think.� Harry thought to himself. Harry glanced over at Hermione’s notes to see where she was. He went back to writing on his paper—

Harry’s mind went blank, and without moving his head he looked again down at Hermione’s paper; and their, in notes concerning the Second Wizard Wars of the 1000’s, was the same handwriting that filled his love letter.

Hermione glanced at Harry, wondering what he was doing. Her eyes met his and she realized what had just happened. She glanced down at her notes, and then back into Harry’s eyes which hadn’t moved. He was staring wide eyed at her, as if seeing her for the first time. Realizing that Hermione had never been just a friend, there had always been something else there. A need to be with her, and urge to protect her, and a want to make her happy. Now Harry could understand it, in fact, he understood everything.

He had felt such a strong connection with the author of the letter because he knew the author. And he wasn’t infatuated with the author, he realized it now, staring into her eyes, he had always loved Hermione. He always would.

He wanted to reach towards her, tell her he loved her. He wanted to hold her tighter than he had ever held anyone before, but just when he made a move the bell rang.

Hermione could not believe she had just zoned out for the last ten minutes of class, and in Harry’s eyes no less. But God, they were beautiful. The bell had snapped her out of her trance though, and she realized now, he knew.

She grabbed her school bag as fast as she could and ran out of the classroom. She had to get away from Harry, she had to. She didn’t know why, but she had always felt guilty for loving him. But now he knew; now it was different. How could she stay away from him? Just as Hermione stopped at the staircase, wondering where she should go now, she was grabbed by the arm from behind. She spun around to come face to face with the very boy she was trying to hide from.

Harry did nothing but look into her eyes, her big beautiful amber eyes. Why had he never noticed them before? He gently led Hermione outside the castle and down by the lake. Luckily it wasn’t too cold today. He sat her down on a bench and looked at her. Her eyes, her lips, her long curly hair that always smelled of Strawberries he now realized. She looked back at him, biting her lip. Her heart was beating fast; he knew it from her letter.

“You love me, don’t you?� Harry asked her. Hermione bowed her head and said nothing. He placed his finger beneath her chin and pushed her head back up so that her eyes could meet his. He shook his head no.

“Don’t be scared, or ashamed, or whatever,� he said, “just tell me�.

“I love you,� her voice was quiet, but strong. Her eyes showed conviction and they mirrored her words. Harry leaned down close to her ear, breathing in the scent of her hair. He had always known her hair smelled like strawberries, he must be in love. Why had it taken him this long to realize it?

“I love you too,� he whispered into her ear. then he moved his lips so that they touched hers. He placed his arm around Hermione, continuing to kiss her. She kissed him back, softly. It was the nicest thing he had ever experienced. Cho’s kiss was a slobbery dog lick compared to this.

“Holy shit!� he thought, “I’m in love with my best friend�.