Title: Pretty Good Idea
Rating:PG
Characters:Harry, Hermione,with mentions of Ginny and Ron
Spoilers: Upto DH
Words: Approx. 958 words
Summary: What could have happened during HHr's alone time in the tent
Notes: Thanks to both xxstACEyxx & Anck-Su-Namum for being my betas, unfortunately I got to pick only one version :(
Harry was just staying up for his shift, letting Hermione get some hours of sleep. It’s been a month since they’ve been like this: on the run, with their senses on edge and alone. Ron walked out on them, breaking their hearts.
He had no idea how Hermione was going through this, and wonders why she stayed and didn’t just follow Ron, since he was supposedly the guy she was in love with. Is friendship and loyalty more important than love? Or maybe there is something else he has not considered
He was no stranger to the topic, since he left Ginny behind, choosing Hermione and Ron over her; and even though he knows he only did it to protect her, a part of him knows it’s not exactly the truth.
There is a piece of him that knows he is not that in love with Ginny. Sure he cares for her and loves her, but the more time he spends away from her the more he realizes he doesn’t miss her in the way he should.
Trying to push those thoughts out of his head, he gets up and goes for a walk, accidentally forgetting to warn Hermione or leaving a note.
Hermione keeps rolling in the bed, trying to get some sleep, but she can’t. She worries too much about what might happen next. First Ron bails out on them, betraying their trust and breaking her heart, then Harry almost dies at Bathilda’s house, she also breaks Harry’s wand, leaving them with only one wand and even more vulnerable.
Despite all, she can’t think about being anywhere else. Her place is at Harry’s side, till the end. For some odd reason he always comes first, and she puts him before anything and anyone else, even Ron.
Time has almost healed her wounds and also has made her wonder why she couldn’t bring herself to follow Ron and leave Harry.
She has asked herself more than once why she has chosen Harry and she concluded that what she feels for Harry is stronger than what she feels for her other friend.
She doesn’t want to label it ‘love’, she just knows that whatever she feels it’s strong, strong enough to make her choose her best friend over the guy she fancies.
All this thinking made her hungry, so she gets down and tries to find something to eat; once she has found a sandwich, she decides to bring Harry some too, since he must be hungry too.
She steps outside the tent but his place is empty. Panic washes over her, and she starts running in the forest, without a wand, without caring about how dangerous is. She can only think about Harry and the fact that he is missing.
Harry is still walking through the forest, trying so hard not to think, when he realizes that he hasn’t left Hermione a note or something to inform her about where he is, so he starts heading back to the tent.
After a couple of minutes he gets there, he enters in to check on Hermione but she is not in her bed. He searches for her in every inch of the tent but she seems to have vanished.
Panic is starting to kick in, he cannot even imagine what might have happened to her, she’s unarmed and it’s not like her to just leave the tent.
He goes back into the forest, hoping that nothing has happened to her, that she maybe just needed a bit fresh air. Still he keeps his eyes opened, ready to face every possible scenario.
After half an hour Hermione is desperate, she hasn’t found Harry yet and the forest is way too big to cover on her own, even with her wand to help, but she doesn’t wanna give, she can’t give, not on Harry.
She can’t stop the tears from running on her face, she is too afraid by the prospective of being alone without Harry, of losing him, after 7 years of trying to keep him alive, of failing him, not being able to protect him.
The tears are blocking her view, so she is forced to stop, she sits on a rock and lets the tears stream on her face, hoping that once they’re over she can continue her search.
Harry is still wandering without a proper direction when he hears sobs coming through the trees. He starts running toward the source of the noise, hoping and praying that is Hermione or someone who can help him find her.
He finally arrives only to watch Hermione crying like he has never seen before, his heart aches for her; she hasn’t noticed him, so he calls out her name “Hermione!” closing the distance between them.
She slowly lifts her head, squeezes her eyes, her face lights up when she recognizes him, she quickly gets up and runs right into his arms.
“Harry! Where were you? I was so worried, I thought something happened to you!” she says still holding on to him.
He doesn’t want to let her go. He embraces her even tighter and tells her “I went out for a walk and when I got back you weren’t in the tent anymore, I was going insane, I thought something bad has happened to you”.
Hermione gets herself out of Harry’s arms only to do something she has never done before: she kisses him. She hasn’t thought about it, she just knows she wants to do it.
To her surprise Harry kisses back, eagerly deepening the kiss like this is something he has wanted to do too.
Maybe neither of them has realized before how badly they wanted to kiss each other. Now they’ve a pretty good idea.