Like Father, Like Son [Harmione]

Chapter 12

"Pure love is a willingness to give without a thought of receiving anything in return. "

-Mildred Lisette Norman

Chapter 12 — True Love

The first five days of the week went surprisingly fast, her days spent with Harry and Aurora fun and eventful. She really learned a lot about Harry in those five days that cemented the fact that she was in love with him.

And then came the sixth day, which was two days before the start of school after the refreshing winter break. She, Harry, and Aurora, had gone down to Hogsmeade for the day before the two seventh years came back to the castle a bit early so Harry could go to Quidditch practice while Aurora hung out with Klaus.

So Hermione was left all alone in her room, already dressed in her pajamas for a nice night in with a good book. She opened the top drawer of her bedside table and reached down for the next book she was going to read, having finished the previous one the night before. But instead of a heavy book, her hand came into contact with a light stack of papers. That's odd, she thought to herself as she pulled the papers out, which were bound together with a rubber band. As she peeled the rubber band off and caught sight of the untidy scrawl marking the papers, she remembered what they were. They were the papers she had copied from Harry's 'Top Secret' drawer. Hermione debated with herself as she looked down at them, trying to decide whether or not she really wanted to do this. She and Harry were getting along really well, and she was pretty sure she was going to tell him her feelings the next day. But she was a very curious person and would've been grateful for any more insight she could get. 

Still, it was wrong to do, and her morals won out in the end...until she saw her name and the word 'love' right next to each other on one of the papers. Then she was reading them like a crazy woman, her eyes moving as quickly as possible across the pages as her brain absorbed the new knowledge at an incredibly fast pace.

Most of the papers looked like journal entries and letters written to her, while the rest were made up of incredibly detailed drawings of her. She never knew Harry was such a good artist. She never really took more than a cursory glance at the drawings though, and her eyes blazed a trail through the letters and journal entries. A few, though, looked important or cute enough to slow down and actually enjoy. She had two favorites, one from fourth year and one from their current year.

The first one was dated October 23, 1994, and read:

Dear Hermione,

I fell in love with you today. 

It was quite sudden, really. I had noticed how beautiful you were earlier this year but I didn't really harbour any feelings for you. Then you woke me up during my ceremonial nap in Charms and told me, "That's not such a good idea, you know. This class could affect the rest of your life. '

I guess you were right, in a sense. That class did affect my life, but in a way different than how you thought it would. It was that scene right there that made me realize I was in love with you. I had been eyeing you since third year (Why wouldn't 1? You're beautiful!) and that incident had pushed me into the realm of love. You were the first girl I had met at Hogwarts who didn't turn into a ditzy flirt when talking to me. You also weren't afraid to wake me up and tell me why I shouldn't sleep in class. You showed that you were strong and independent, which I find incredibly attractive. Then I remembered you were the smartest student in the school and the rest is history.

I've decided I'm going to make you fall in love with me no matter how long it takes. I hope it doesn't take too long, but...my life motto is, "Never Give Up. "