a/n: Well you all wanted to know how it happened, so here you go.
Harry walked into the boy’s dormitory quietly, as did all the mates in his room, except Ron that is. Ron was the reason for the slight fear of walking into the room unannounced. The last few months were filled with giggles and moans coming from behind the closed curtains of his four-poster. They all knew what was going on and who was in there, but no one dare say anything.
Seeing the room empty, Harry strode across to his trunk. He grabbed his Transfiguration book, a few rolls of parchment, and his quill and ran back down the stairs. As he looked around the common room for a quiet place to work on Professor McGonagall’s most recent essay, he saw the frazzled hair of his dearest friend. He gave a slight smirk as he walked over knowing she’d help him with the assignment.
In an overstuffed chair in a far corner of the common room sat Hermione. She was slumped down in the seat, trying to hide from Ron. They had just had another row and she had decided to calls in quits yet again. When is he going to get it through that thick head of his that I won’t do his bidding just because we’re dating?
“Where’s Ron?” he asked jokingly, suddenly regretting his inquiry when she looked up.
Hermione shot daggers at him. How dare he have the nerve to ask me about that great prat? Realizing the effect of her glare on Harry she quickly apologized. After all, it wasn’t his fault Ron was a prat, and he surely didn’t know they had just split up again.
Harry accepted her apology with ease. It definitely wasn’t the first time his two best friends had gotten into a row, and it wasn’t the first time in their relationship that one of them had ended it because of a row. He held out his Transfiguration book and sat in the adjacent chair after she cleared it of her belongings.
With Hermione’s help, it hadn’t taken long to finish the essay, but it was getting late. There were very few Gryffindors in the common room now as most had already headed up to bed. Even Ron, at seeing Hermione’s scowl, had chosen to call it a night already. With homework out of the way and the silence nipping at him, Harry had become lost in his own thoughts.
Hermione had noticed Harry’s transpiring sulken expression. She touched his arm, seemingly breaking a trance he seemed to be in, “You ok Harry?”
“Just thinking…”
“Harry you know you shouldn’t bottle up your feelings like that. Know that I’m here for you when you’re ready to talk.”
Harry gave a small smirk. He knew she was right, he had been holding everything in for far too long, the death of his parents, of Sirius, and now Dumbledore, everyone that stood between him and Voldemort, and even the loss of his own true love at his own hand. Dumbledore was the only person he could confide in and now he was gone. He looked at Hermione as she gave him another reassuring look.
“Ok Hermione, you win, but not here,” he said looking around at the few Gryffindor stragglers that hadn’t gone into the dormitories yet.
Harry motioned to the portrait hole as he headed up to the dormitories to put away his parchments and book. While at his trunk he grabbed his invisibility cloak in case they ran into any prefects. Once at the portrait hole, he took Hermione’s hand in his own and led her through the opening, covering them both with the cloak on the other side.
Stepping carefully so not to trip on the hem of the cloak and reveal them both, Hermione continued to follow Harry’s grip to his unknown destination. He followed along the 7th floor corridors until he reached it, the well known tapestry of trolls. Hermione recognized at once the place of their old DA meetings, the Room of Requirement.
Harry continued to clasp Hermione’s hand as he paced three times in front of the wall that would soon become a door. We need a room to talk privately...we need a room to talk privately...we need a room to talk privately. Sure enough on the third pass, there stood the door. He grabbed to knob and followed Hermione in closing the door behind them.
The room was dimly lit with a few candles and a small fireplace. The light emitting from these sources was barely enough to illuminate the dark blue walls. In front of the fire sat the only piece of furniture, a large, overstuffed sofa, not unlike the furniture in the common room, with exception that it too was a dark blue.
They both sat, making themselves comfortable, as Harry put his thoughts together. With a deep sigh he decided to start at the beginning. As he spoke, the emotion poured out of him, and by the end he became aware that he had never opened up like that to anyone, not even Dumbledore.
Hermione fought the grief he was laying before her. She had to be strong for him. He had finally reached the end of and was limp with emotion, tears discoloring his face as they flowed more freely now. She reached up a hand and gently moved a strand of hair that had fallen in his eyes.
Harry felt her lace her fingers through his hair and lifted his eyes to meet her gaze. There was no fear in her eyes at everything he had told her. She understood him without judgment. She didn’t even speak, just lowered her hand to caress his tear stained cheek.
His cheek became warm at her soft touch. Everything he had just articulated was fading from thought as he got lost in her eyes. Why had he never noticed her eyes before? They seemed to have twinkle of pure innocence like no evil had ever met their existence. Before he knew what was happening he leaned and kissed her in a passionate embrace.
She didn’t break away. It seemed so surreal that she was with him. They had both been hurt so much in love in these years at school, particularly during the last year. Her hands met behind his neck as she laid back on the couch, pulling him with her. Her fingers entwined in his untidy hair as she moaned quietly in ecstasy.
They only broke apart briefly when Harry sat up ripping his shirt off, buttons flying everywhere. He kissed her again deeply as he undid her shirt. His lips grazed her collar bone and she moaned again, only louder. His lightly nibbled his way back up her neck, fumbling with the button on her trousers.
By the time their brains had caught up with their bodies it was too late. Harry pulled his shirt back over his shoulders as he stared at the floor in disbelief. How could he take advantage of his dearest friend after she had so gracefully allowed him to divulge his pain on her? As she too pulled her shirt back on she gently placed her hand on his shoulder. He jerked away and stood crossing to the door.
There he waited, his eyes never looking up as she finished making herself more presentable. She stood and joined him under the cloak he now held out. They walked back to the common room without saying a word to each other. Once they stepped through the portrait hole, he lifted the cloak and hastily walked to the boy’s dormitories without another word.
As Hermione lay in bed trying to fall asleep, her mind reflected back to the event that had just taken place. She knew what had happened was immoral, but she never expected Harry to respond the way that he did. She had to get him out of her mind, all of him. She vowed to herself, before finally drifting off, that in the morning she would make up with Ron. After all, nothing he had done to upset her would ever measure up to the lapse of uncontrolled passion that she committed.
a/n: Well I hope this cleared up any thoughts of Hermione’s OOC appearance in the first chapter. Things should be starting to make a little more sense right? Hehe =) Hope everyone enjoys.