After Dumbledore had left, Hermione retreated to her room. The look in Harry’s eyes, when he realized just what kind of “situation” she was in, told her that he was sorry for getting angry with her, but she knew he was going to apologize anyway and she didn’t want him to have to do it with everyone around.
Just as she suspected, a few minutes later there was a knock on the door. “Come in!”
Harry came into the room and closed the door. “Hi.”
“Hi.” They stared at each other for a while, and an awkward silence ensued before she spoke again. “Look, Harry, I’m really sorry for not telling you what Dumbledore had planned for me. It’s just that…”
Harry interrupted her. “If anyone should be apologizing, it's me.”
“But you didn’t do anything wrong,” she said somewhat taken aback.
“I yelled at you for keeping secrets when I’ve been keeping a few myself.”
“But it’s different when you keep secrets from me or Ron…”
“How?” He asked, puzzled.
Hermione moved so that they were only a foot away from each other and when she spoke she looked directly into his eyes. Her voice was soft and full of compassion. “You have things in your past and in your present that Ron and I couldn’t even pretend to understand.”
“You’ve spent the past two weeks with Voldemort never knowing if he’s going to kill you, to protect me.”
She took a step to him. “You’ve faced the greatest evil of our time, Harry, and you came out alive. And I know your battle isn’t over, but you are the strongest wizard I have ever met and I know you are going to have to deal with a lot more in your life that you might not want to share with me I’m okay with that. But I want you to know that, no matter what you say or do, I’ll always be there right by your side.” Hermione had moved so close to him that their noses were almost touching. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a close hug. She turned her head to whisper into his ear. “Harry, you’re my best friend and I love you.”
She pulled away to look into his eyes again. “I hope you already knew that.” She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, but as she pulled back, the warmth of his body had an effect on her that she had only felt once before, and without thinking she leaned in again, this time capturing his lips in a brief kiss. A chill was sent up her spine when their lips met, Hermione never wanted to stop kissing him.
Hermione pulled back and looked at the shocked expression on Harry’s face; immediately she regretted kissing him. “I’m sorry--I don’t know what came over me. I guess I just…”
Harry headed for the door, “I have to go.”
“Harry, wait!,” she called after him. “I’m sorry.”
Hermione fell face down on her bed and screamed into her pillow. ‘Why did I kiss him? Damn it, how could I have been so stupid? It was just a feeling Hermione, that doesn’t mean that it’s the same as the last time you felt it. But I’ve only felt it with Hayden, and I loved him more than a friend. Could I be falling for Harry?’
Meanwhile on the floor below her, Harry was pacing his room. ‘She kissed me, one of my best friends kissed me-- and I liked it. I wanted it to last longer; I wanted to kiss her again. But it’s Hermione I’m talking about. The same Hermione, who has helped me with my homework, who has been there for me when nobody else was - could I actually be falling for my best friend?’
Harry was in way over his head, he needed to talk to someone. He knew that Ron would make it all into a joke, so he decided Sirius was the person to go to. He made his way to the kitchen, but Sirius wasn’t there.
”Where’s Sirius?” he said.
“I think he’s in the study, dear,” Mrs. Weasley replied.
He found Sirius in the study just as Mrs. Weasley had said. “Hi, Harry, did you want to talk?” Sirius examined Harry’s troubled face.
“Yes.”
“Okay.” They sat down in the chairs in front of the fire. “I have to tell you that I’m not up to date on what’s going on with the Order but I’ll try to answer any questions you have as best I can.”
“Actually I didn’t want to talk about Order business.”
“Oh. Then what do you want to talk about?”
Harry hesitated before blurting out. “Hermione.”
“What about Hermione?” Sirius asked.
“She kissed me, and well,” he wavered for a minute before he spoke. “I liked it.”
Sirius gave Harry one of his grins. “So what’s the problem?”
“She’s one of my best friends. If we start dating and it doesn’t work out, it’ll ruin our friendship. Not to mention that she’s already in enough danger just being my friend. She’s already risked her life this summer for me. If Voldemort were to find out that I have feelings for her beyond friendship, she’d be the first one he killed.”
“So you want to be more than just friends, but you don’t want to put her in even more danger then she already is?” Sirius looked at him, his grin growing wider until he burst out laughing.
“Well, I’m glad you think this is so funny.” Harry crossed his arms and fell back into the comfortable chair.
“I’m sorry, but it’s about damn time.”
Harry’s eye’s widened in shock; he couldn’t believe Sirius said that. “What do you mean ‘it’s about time’?”
Sirius calmed himself down and explained: “When Hermione was taking care of me she was determined to keep me alive so that you’d have someone. She didn’t care if it cost her life.”
“She told you that?”
“Not exactly, but she did take an awful lot of risks to keep me healthy.” Sirius noted the worried expression that crossed Harry’s features. “I think this has been developing for a long time. I mean when things didn’t work out between Ron and her last summer, I knew…”
“Hermione and Ron… dated?”
“Sort of, they occasionally shared a quick kiss and held hands once in a while, but nothing serious.”
Harry knew that Ron and Hermione had fancied each other in fourth year but he never thought they had acted on it. “So what do I do?”
“You have to decide then, if you want Hermione as more than just a friend or if you want to remain friends."
“We can’t be both, can we?” Harry asked hopefully. They were too deep in their conversation to notice someone enter the room.
“You can't be more than friends and still be friends. Trust me, I tried with a girl in school and nearly lost her to someone else.”
“He’s lying, Harry,” a woman emerged from the shadows. “He never nearly lost her; she was simply stringing him along, enjoying the show.” She looked from Harry to Sirius. “It’s been a long time, Sirius.”
Harry saw she was beautiful, even more beautiful then the Veelas from the Quidditch World Cup. She had long, wavy, raven hair that framed her face, and she wore a red, Muggle spaghetti-strap sundress that fit her like a glove, outlining her frame perfectly.
Harry looked toward Sirius who had been motionless since the woman first spoke. “Err, I‘m sorry to break this awkward stare you two have going, but I think I should go talk to Hermione.”
He was almost out the door when the woman called out, "Hey, Harry." He turned to face her. "When you decide what to do with your friend, listen to your heart, not your head.” She nodded toward Sirius and said, “that was his biggest mistake.”
Harry left the room, bewildered, leaving Sirius alone with the woman.
Harry made his way upstairs, not sure what he was going to do. ‘She’s my friend, but I have feelings for her. If I don’t act on them, how will I ever know what would have been?’ He had made up his mind when he reached the door and opened it. She was sitting on her bed writing in her diary. A few strands of her hair had fallen from her loose bun. He looked at her and for the first time he realized that she wasn’t the bushy-haired, bossy girl he met on the train his first year. She had grown up to be a beautiful young woman. Just as he stepped in and prepared to call attention to himself a horrible image popped into his head, Voldemort using the Avada Kedavra Curse on her. ‘I can’t tell her how I feel. He’ll go after her. I can’t risk her life for my own selfish feelings.’
The scratch of Hermione’s quill drowned out the sound of Harry opening and closing the door. She was deep into writing her thoughts about the day’s events.
’I kissed Harry. I don’t know what came over me. I’ve always wanted to protect Harry, to help him, but I’ve never had romantic feelings for him until now. And I think he might feel the same way.’ She pushed a strand of hair that had fallen behind her ear when she noticed Harry standing there, staring at her.
“Harry, I was just going to find you.” She got up from her bed and darted behind him to close the door. “Look, Harry, about earlier --I’m sorry that I kissed you like that, but I want you to know that I’m not sorry I kissed you. In fact I’m glad I did because it made me realize that…”
“Hermione, before you say anymore, I just wanted you to know that I don’t think of you in that way. And when you kissed me it was like kissing my sister, if I had one.”
Hermione looked at him, hurt filling her eyes. “Oh, I see.” She turned away.
“Look Hermione, it’s just that we’ve been friends for five years and I don’t want things to change.”
Hermione turned back around, this time spitefully laughing. “You think I have feelings for you?”
“Well, yeah, I mean - I thought that you weren’t sorry for kissing me.”
“I’m not. Because you made me realize that I have unresolved feelings for someone else.”
“Krum?”
“No, not Viktor. He’s a just a guy I met at Hogwarts before we left. Actually, he wrote to ask if I’d like to meet up with him when we go to Diagon Alley.”
“What did you tell him?” Harry asked, knowing the answer.
“I was just writing him to say yes.”
“Oh. Well, good.” They stood there in silence for a while before Harry spoke again. “Do you want to go downstairs to meet the mystery woman that just arrived?”
“Ooooh, a mystery woman sounds intriguing.” She looked back at her bed and saw her diary lying open. “Erm, I’ll be right there. I have to take care of something first.”
“Okay.” With that he left the room, closing the door behind him.
Hermione went over to her bed and grabbed her diary opening it to the passage she had just written and crossed out the last line ‘And I think he might feel the same way’ replacing it with ‘he’s my friend and couldn’t possibly feel the same way about me.’ She closed her diary and made her way downstairs to the kitchen, feeling like someone had just stomped on her heart.
~*~*~*~*~
He made his way down to the kitchen, feeling horrible. He sat down at the table, next to Ron, and joined the others for dinner. Hermione came down a few minutes later and sat down on the other side of Ron.
The table remained quiet until Ginny asked, “Mum, where’s dad?”
“Your father left for the office, I think he got tired of me badgering him about Diagon Alley.”
“Why would you be badgering dad about Diagon Alley?” Ron asked confused.
“Well, Dumbledore told me your O.W.L.’s would be here tomorrow, along with your supply lists, and I want to go to Diagon Alley as soon as possible.”
“Why?” Hermione asked.
“Haven’t you been reading the Daily Prophet, dear?”
“No, I couldn’t.” She looked grimly at her stew.
Mrs. Weasley realized what she had said. “Ooh, dear, I’m sorry! How daft of me. I mean, how could you, with where you were and with whom you were with…”
“Mrs. Weasley, its okay, I know you didn’t mean any harm.” Hermione smiled at her to show she was okay.
“Well, as long as you’re fine with it, dear. Anyway, why I want to get to Diagon Alley quickly is because there have been so many disappearances of shop owners. Just yesterday Ollivander was taken from his store in broad daylight. I want to get there before there are no more shops to get your schoolbooks. Plus with the added danger...”
“What added danger?,” Harry inquired.
“Well, since Hermione helped Sirius escape, Lucius Malfoy is going to want revenge on her,” Lupin explained.
“What rubbish, it’s his wife’s own fault that she’s dead. If she hadn’t tried to impersonate Sirius, she would have never been at the Ministry that night. I don’t see why he blames Sirius for her death.” Hermione said logically.
“When a person is grief-stricken they can do just about anything,” Mrs. Weasley commented.
“He wasn’t grief-stricken, he was glad she died.” Everyone focused their attention on Hermione.
“Why would you say that?” Lupin asked.
”Because Voldemort had other plans for her, he was going to use her as a sacrifice; the only reason he didn’t use me was because I fed him all the information about Harry and the Order.” They continued to stare at her in shock. “I’m not sure who he used but I heard the screaming all the way from Sirius’s cell. That’s when I performed the false skin spell on Sirius and it’s a good thing Voldemort because when it failed, Lucius had a field-day with curses and jinxes on Sirius,” she looked around at the bewildered expressions on every one’s face. “I’ve said too much, sorry.”
“No… no it’s quite all right. You’ve been through a lot already this summer. It’s okay when you talk about it,” Mrs. Weasley sympathized.
The room grew silent until Mr. Weasley came in.
“Hello everyone,” he said happily.
“Arthur, did you talk to your supervisor about taking tomorrow off?” Mrs. Weasley questioned.
“No, but I think I’ve come up with a better idea…”
Mr. Weasley was interrupted by the arrival of Sirius and Viera, the mysterious woman Harry had seen earlier.
“Viera! Honey, it’s so good to see you!” Mrs. Weasley crossed the room and pulled her into a rib-crushing hug. “Oh dear, you look even more beautiful than the last time I saw you. I must say age agrees with you.”
“Thanks, Aunt Molly, I could say the say the same to you--you look wonderful.” Viera smiled brightly.
“Well, now that you two had your hellos, it’s my turn.” Lupin stood from the table and faced Viera.
“Remus.” Viera flew into his arms; he picked her up and spun her around. “It’s been so long since I last saw you.”
He put her down and pulled away. “Viera, you look amazing; how have you been?”
“I’ve been good, how have you been?”
“I’ve been doing fine. Not as good as I was when you were working for the Magical Law Enforcement Department, but pretty good.”
“Well, I still work for the Department but in a different way. I’m glad you’re doing fine; you look great,” She smiled up at him. She looked around the room, noticing all eyes were on her. “Hello, everyone.”
“Oh yeah. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, this is Viera Heath, an old friend from Hogwarts,” Lupin introduced her to them.
“It’s good to see you all again…”
“When exactly did you see me?” Ron interrupted her. “I think I’d remember you.” He eyed her suggestively.
Viera appreciatively smiled at him. “You were a little over a year old the last time I saw you, Ronald. At Ginny’s birth.”
“Oh, good to see you again too,” he responded a bit embarrassed.
“Thank you,” she turned to Hermione with worried eyes. “How are you doing? The last time I saw you, Lucius had the Kadiva blade awfully close to your neck.”
Hermione looked at her with the same worry. “My neck's fine, it’s my arm he cut. Other than that, I’m good; glad to see you got out okay.”
”Got out of where?” Sirius asked, breaking his silence.
“The Riddle House. Viera was the distraction the night we escaped,” Hermione explained.
“Why?” Harry inquired curiously.
“Voldemort wants me dead as much as he wants Dumbledore dead.”
“Why?” Harry asked again.
“That’s a story far too long to explain.”
Nobody spoke; everyone remained baffled as to why Voldemort would want such a tiny woman dead.
Viera was the one who decided to break the silence. “Anyway, I’m here to speak to you all about Sirius’s trial tomorrow…”
“Sirius is going to trial?” Harry asked fearfully.
“You mean to tell me that Uncle Arthur hasn’t told you yet?” She looked at him disapprovingly.
“Well, that was the suggestion l was going to make. If Viera can clear Sirius’s name, he can go to Diagon Alley instead of me.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Mrs. Weasley inquired reproachfully.
“She will,” Sirius spoke up. “Viera can get even the guiltiest of people off crimes. She has this way about her.” His eyes hadn’t left hers since he had entered the room.
“We all know how persuasive Viera can be,” Lupin said. “Hopefully she hasn’t lost her charm.”
“Viera will never lose her charm.”
She finally broke eye contact with him and looked away blushing. “Obviously neither have you, Sirius.”
“I try.” He grinned at her and she smiled back.
“Well, I better go. I have to look over a few more files before court tomorrow. I’ll see you all after the trial.” She made her way to the door but stopped and turned around, as if forgetting something. “Did I forget to mention that I’m the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts this year?”
“Viera, that’s great! But why would you work at Hogwarts now?” Lupin asked.
“Well, Dumbledore doesn’t want a repeat of last year’s events and since nobody was lining up for the job, I volunteered.”
“At least Dumbledore got it right this time,” Ron blurted out.
“Thank you, Ron.” She gave him a big smile that made him blush. “And with everything that’s going on in England, Defence Against the Dark Arts has become mandatory at least twice a week for fourth years and younger, and three times a week for fifth years and up.”
“Sounds like you have a lot on your plate,” Lupin commented.
“Actually not that much, because I’m not the only one that’s going to be teaching defence this year,” Viera explained.
“So Dumbledore is hiring two new Professors?,” Ginny asked.
“Well, Dumbledore was hoping that Remus would come back and teach first through fourth years.”
“But what about what happened last time I taught? If the students' parents find out what is teaching their children…”
“Who is teaching their children. Remus, just because you get a little cranky once a month doesn’t classify you as a ‘what.’ Besides, the Ministry doesn’t seem to have a problem with you teaching and I’ve heard that you were the students’ favourite teacher.” She looked to Harry and Ron for some help.
“Dean and Seamus are always saying that you were the best teacher we ever had,” Harry said, picking up the hint.
“See? Now you have to take the job,” Viera encouraged him.
“It seems like I’m out numbered,” Lupin agreed.
“Oh good, then I can bring Dumbledore some good news. Well, it was good seeing you all again, Hermione, take care of your arm, and Harry it was good to see you after all these years.” Viera turned and left through the door with all male eyes on her.
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Mrs. Weasley asked noticing the dazed look on the men’s faces.
“Wait, when have I ever seen her?,” Harry said, just realizing her last sentence.
“She was with Lily when you were born. Viera is your godmother.”
Sirius’s words struck Harry. When he had found his godfather, it never occurred to him that he also had a godmother.