Beyond The Wildest Expectation (Harmony)

If Love Is The Treasure, Laughter Is The Key

"Harry! How could you do that?!" Hermione shrilled angrily.

She was particularly peeved about the way that he had treated Ron. For some reason, she always sided with him and this raged him thoroughly.

"I mean, what were you thinking?"

"It was his fault! He didn't wake me up" Harry argued,

"You should have been more prepared!"

"Well why couldn't he just do me this one favour?!"  

"Because it's not Ron's fault, you're an incompetent, lazy idiot!" She screeched, throwing her hands up in frustration.

Harry was hurt by this. Hermione's harsh words rang through his ears, making his head vibrate. It was as though she had just slapped him round the face. But it did suddenly make him realise how harsh he had been.

He knew she was right, not matter much he hated himself for admitting it. Ron was his best friend after all. He had just gone too far.

"I didn't mean it..." Harry grumbled finally, unable to look her in the face. He felt a mixture of embarrassment and guilt. He hadn't wanted to disappoint Hermione and he hadn't wanted to lash out at Ron, but it seemed he had both of these things.

"Well, just tell that to Ron...He was crushed!" she continued to rant, "He thinks you hate him!"

Even more guilt rushed over Harry as he knew how seriously Ron took things to heart. He allowed simple words to drill into his mind until he became so depressed, he truly believed them.

"I was just angry..." Harry said, hanging his head in shame as though he was a naughty child being told off.

Hermione let out a huge sigh "Well there was no need to take it out on Ron..."

Harry nodded, realising his mistake. But what he didn't understand is why he hadn't woken him up in the first place? Ron knew that Harry had had trouble sleeping since the war, and he'd woken him up countless times before, so now what had changed?

He fell back on the cushy sofa in defeat,

"Why do I always mess things up?" he asked glumly, "Seriously, things were just getting better. We were all getting along... starting new jobs and I had to go and screw it up as usual."

She sighed, obviously tired of being angry and flopped down next to him. Harry's heart skipped at a beat at their close proximity. He could literally feel her body heat radiating onto him.

Harry wondered why he was becoming so obsessed with her. In reality, she was the same girl he had known since he was eleven and yet he felt all giddy and weird around her, like she was someone else. He tried not to think about it too much.

"You just need to learn to control your anger" she replied calmly, giving Harry a lopsided smile.

"Yeah I know... it looks like Voldemort's emotions really did rub off on me..." he joked. He knew it was in bad taste and instantly regretted it. Memories of the war flooded back to him and he shook his head.

He expected Hermione to wince at the sound of Voldemort's name, but instead she just nodded in agreement,

"He didn't have any real emotions, Harry. He was just a fucked up git."

Harry was extremely taken aback by Hermione's strong use of explicit language. He had never heard her swear before, let alone use Voldemort's name. It was very odd. However weirdly, this attracted him to her even more.

A smirk spread across Harry's face as he gave Hermione a surprised look. Just then, she let out a small giggle and covered her mouth, thinking about what she had just said. This then turned into a fit of laughter.

Harry soon joined in with this, laughing hysterically until both of their eyes were watering with tears. Hermione held her sides as she desperately tried to stop.

The thought that they were laughing and joking about Voldemort so lightly seemed weird to Harry. After years of people fearing his name, it was strange to be sat around laughing at him as if it wasn't a big deal.

Soon their laughter died down and Harry and Hermione were left staring deeply into each other's eyes in silence. The tension between them could have been sliced with a knife.

Once again, Harry could see her natural beauty that made his insides fill with warmth. The way her nose crinkled up cutely when she smiled, how her caramel hair was placed perfectly against her rosy cheeks. He couldn't hold back any longer. He knew it was time for him to open up. It was now or never.

"Hermione..." he breathed, still gazing into her large brown eyes. For a second he felt himself stumbling over his words again. But once he had stopped his mind from screaming not to, he whispered the three words he had been dying to utter.

"I-I love you."

She giggled sweetly, giving her hair a girly flick mockingly "I know Harry, I am amazing"

But Harry's face remained solemn. Hermione gave him a confused expression as she suddenly understood that he hadn't meant it in the way she had first thought. That he was completely and utterly serious,

"No Hermione, I really mean it... I'm... I'm in love with you."