| After a few minutes, they both sat up, exhausted. Harry looked at Hermione, and their eyes locked. Her hair was in a wet, messy ponytail. Her hat was lying a few feet away, and her sweater was covered with snow. Harry was also very wet, as the snow had melted on his sweatshirt. All of a sudden, while he was looking into her brown eyes, he felt the same feelings he felt the night before. He started leaning closer to her, until his face was less than half a foot from hers. She started to lean towards him too, and before Harry could stop himself, he was kissing her again. He moved even closer to her, and she put her hands around his neck. Harry was in total bliss, until he heard high-pitched giggling. He turned his head and saw a group of second year Ravenclaw girls laughing and pointing at Hermione and him. Both of their faces became red and they got up quickly. They walked swiftly away from the girls towards the school, but when they looked behind them they saw that the girls were following them. They started to walk quicker. �Let�s go back to the commons room,� Hermione suggested. �Good idea,� Harry said. They kept walking until they reached the portrait of the fat lady. �Password?� she asked. �Turtle shell,� Hermione whispered. The picture swung open and the two quickly stepped inside, closing the door behind them. They fell onto the couch, laughing. Hermione looked at Harry, then at her sweater. �I think I�m going to change� my clothes are soaking wet.� She stood up and began to walk up the stairs. �Mine too,� Harry said, and climbed the stairs to the boy�s dormitory. He opened his chest and pulled out a pair of jeans and a white tee shirt. After changing, he walked over to the mirror and looked at himself. He noticed that someone had left their gel on the table underneath the mirror. He picked it up and squeezed some gel into his palms. �Whoever owns this won�t notice any is gone,� he said, rubbing his hands together. He ran them through his hair, and shook his head a little. He grabbed someone�s cologne from the table next to him, and after checking how it smelled, sprayed a little on his neck. After checking the mirror one more time, he exited the room. Hermione was sitting on the couch when Harry got downstairs. She had changed into a black tank top and gray sweatpants. He sat down next to her, and looked at her. They sat in awkward silence, until Harry decided to make a move. He leaned in to kiss her again, but Hermione turned her face. Harry felt his stomach flip. �Something wrong?� he asked nervously. �Well, I just want to know if this is going anywhere,� she asked. �I don�t want to do this if we�re just going to stay friends.� �Well, where do you want it to go?� Harry asked. �I guess� a relationship?� she asked. Her voice sounded uneasy. �That would be great!� Harry exclaimed. He was relieved that she had said it, because he doubted that he would have had the guts to ask about a relationship with her. �Really?� Hermione asked excitedly. �Yeah, actually I was going to ask you that but I was too nervous,� Harry said sheepishly. Hermione smiled, and hugged Harry. �I�m so happy!� she said, as Harry hugged her back. �Me too,� he agreed. Wow, Harry thought, this is going to be one great school year! * * * * * * * * * * * Winter vacation went by quickly, and soon Hogwarts returned to its normal state. The first day back from winter break, the halls were echoing with voices as the students excitedly jabbered to one another about what they had done over the break. Hermione and Harry hurried off that afternoon to the Great Hall to find Ron for lunch. As expected, they saw him sitting with his siblings at the Gryffindor table. They quickly headed towards the table and sat down across from him. �Hi Ron,� Harry said cheerfully. Ron looked up at him and smiled. �How was your winter break?� Hermione asked. Ron rolled his eyes. �I think my cheeks are bruised from the amount that my grandma was pinching them,� Ron sighed, �Every five minutes she was saying, �Oh Ron, look how tall you�ve gotten! Look how handsome you are!� and pinching my cheeks. It�s enough to drive a bloke mad.� Hermione and Harry laughed. �So I guess you didn�t have much fun?� Harry concluded. �Well it was pretty bad except for the day right before we left,� Ron said. �What happened then?� Hermione inquired. Ron started to smile. �I saw a dragon�� he whispered, grinning madly. �Really?� Harry asked elatedly, his eyes wide with excitement. �That�s unbelievable! What breed was it?� �My grandpa told me it was a Hebridean Black,� Ron said proudly. �That�s great Ron! I�m glad your holiday wasn�t a total waste!� Hermione said. �Yeah, I know. Anyway, enough about what I did. What did you two do?� Ron asked. Harry suddenly became nervous. |
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| Chapter 17 Continued |