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Hermione's head was splitting and she really didn't want to open her eyes to let the light in - which would undoubtedly make her head hurt even more, but at the same time, she wanted to know if what had happened in the middle of the night had been real or if it was all just some alcohol-fuelled dream. It hadn't felt like a dream, but that didn't mean anything.
Eventually, she'd figured that she had to leave her bed to at least grab herself some water before a hole burned through her throat. She sighed as she forced her eyes to open, her attention going straight to her phone which lay on the opposite side of her bed. She wanted to check her call history to see if Harry had actually phoned her, but she told herself not to be so ridiculous. If it had happened then she was sure that Harry hadn't actually meant it.
She knew that she was being a little ridiculous, but she honestly couldn't help it. She was terrified of knowing either way. If it was real then she would have to deal with the fact that her best friend had feelings for her and figure out whether what she felt for him was romantic love or just familial love. If it wasn't real then she would have to deal with the fact that her brain had played a horrible trick on her.
She supposed the fact that she was reading into it all being a dream told her that she did want it to be real, that she did want Harry to be in love with her, that she did want him - if he wanted her - but she couldn't deal with the possibility of being rejected again so the best thing for her to do just then, or at least in her opinion, was avoid finding out whether it was true or not. Last night, when he had called her, she had been so sure that she loved him too, so she knew that her hesitancy now was just her attempt at guarding her heart further. Her heart had only just managed to heal after Ron had smashed it into a million pieces.
Finally, Hermione made her way into the kitchen where she shoved her head under the tap, deciding that getting a glass would just take too long and this way she could cut out the middle man so to speak. This seemed like a good idea until she realised that her wild hair was now soaked as she stood up straight. To make matters worse, the sound of someone clearing their throat told her that she wasn't actually alone.
She turned to face one of her flatmates with a rather sheepish smile on her lips. It would have to be Ginny, wouldn't it? The one person that she couldn't actually talk to about what may or may not have happened last night because she was a) her ex's little sister and b) the ex of the man who might have confessed his feelings for her.
"Thirsty?" Ginny asked with a laugh and a shake of her head before she moved to grab them both a glass out of the cupboard which she promptly filled with orange juice. Hermione wasn't completely sure that orange juice was the best idea for her slightly uneasy stomach, but she thanked Ginny for it anyway.
"I think I drank too much last night," she said as she rubbed the crease between her eyebrows. It was true; she couldn't even remember the last time she had tasted alcohol before last night either.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" Ginny asked as she leaned against the kitchen counter of their small flat, facing Hermione with a smile on her lips that the brunette just couldn't read.
"Yeah, I did. Thanks for dragging me out," no matter what, Hermione knew that she couldn't confess that the highlight of her evening hadn't occurred until she had gotten home, but what had happened didn't take away from the fact that she'd had a good time out with two of her best friends.
Ginny flashed her a grin before she downed her glass in practically one go. "Good. I'm gonna go shower now."
The redhead gave her shoulder a squeeze before she headed out of the kitchen again, leaving Hermione to wish that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Something told her that Ginny knew that Harry had called her, but that was ridiculous, right?
Hermione decided that her best bet, right then, was to head back to her bed and hopefully that would be enough to clear her head of all alcohol, headaches, and bad thoughts about how badly this thing with Harry could turn out.
**
"Mione!"
A yell of her name startled Hermione awake. She didn't know how long she had slept for, but when she glanced towards the window she saw that it was dark already so she figured that she had somehow wasted the entire day.
"Mione!" The yell came again, followed by "Harry's here to see you!"
Hermione sat up abruptly, her eyes wide as she quickly ran her fingers through her hair. She knew she looked a mess - she hadn't even bothered to take her makeup off before she had gotten into bed last night.
"I'll be there in a minute!" She called back as she grabbed a fresh pair of pyjamas to change into. She tied her hair up in an extremely messy bun and sprayed herself with deodorant. Ordinarily, she would probably have used her wand to clean herself up, but she was still half asleep so she didn't think that she had the mental capacity that she needed to be able to remember what the spell she would need was.
She forced herself to take a slow and steady breath before she opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway. She'd known he would be there, and yet she still wasn't prepared for those green eyes of his to meet hers.
"Hi," He said quietly, a small smile flickering across his lips.
Hermione tried to ignore the looks that Ginny was giving the pair of them as she clocked the bottle that was in Harry's hand. Surely, he wasn't still drunk? Could he now only talk to her when he was drunk? She swallowed thickly before she nodded towards her room.
"Coming in?" She asked quietly, figuring that the only way to get away from Ginny starting to ask questions was to get away from her in the first place.
Harry just nodded and followed her inside the room. Hermione shook her head at Ginny who had opened her mouth to say something before she shut the door, not wanting to slam the door in the girl's face no matter how tempting it was. She would answer all of Ginny's questions later - hopefully when she had the answers in the first place.
Hermione quickly straightened out her duvet so that they would have somewhere to sit. Her room was so small that there really was only room for her double bed, but generally, that suited her fine as she didn't often entertain guests.
"I thought maybe it was a dream," she said quietly as she sat down on her bed, crossing her legs underneath herself. She hadn't expected to lead whatever conversation this was meant to be, but she supposed he hadn't exactly expected to come face to face with his ex after such an emotional confession the night before.
"I - no," Harry let out a small chuckle as he sat on the edge of her bed. "Not a dream at all but a very drunk man making an utter fool of himself. I tried calling you earlier?"
Hermione frowned slightly at that. She hadn't heard her phone ring at all, but then she had been dead to the world. "Uh, sorry. I guess my phone must have run out of battery or something," she hoped that he didn't think that she was avoiding him, but at the same time, she couldn't help but be a little grateful if that had been the reason that he had turned up at her flat that evening.
Harry shook his head. "No worries." He told her with a tiny smile. "I just… I had to check on you and I… I need you to know that I meant it. Everything I said."
Hermione blinked rapidly. She wasn't sure what that meant, even though she understood the words themselves. "You… So you need me…?" She managed to ask after what could have been an eternity. She was almost sure that this was part of the dream now.
Harry gave a laugh, now swivelling on the bed so that he was sitting cross-legged opposite her. "It's more than that, Mione. I don't just need you. I love you. I think I've always loved you, I just didn't understand before."
Hermione stared at him now. It was exactly what she had wanted to hear, but the words just weren't sinking in, which she was sure had something to do with the fact that her brain was still soaked in firewhiskey and sleep.
"I… if you don't feel the same, then that's okay. I'm not saying this to pressure you into anything. I just… I wanted - no, I needed you to know that I wasn't just drunk . I mean, I was very drunk, but that wasn't why I said it," Harry continued, and Hermione found that she was glad that he was now taking the lead while she struggled to find any words that even remotely made sense inside her muddled mind. "I've been a bad friend over the last month or so. I should have been here for you when Ron dumped you, but I couldn't because I was slowly coming to the conclusion that I don't want to be friends with you. I don't mean I won't be your friend if you only see me as a friend, but it's taken me some time to get to this place where I can even try to be that person. Does… Does any of this even make sense?"
Hermione couldn't help but enjoy his rambling, and even though she didn't have the perfect words to answer him with, she did have the next best thing. Slowly she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. It was the best response that she could come up with.
She didn't think that being friends was an option either, not that that was a bad thing at all. The kiss was just going to have to say everything that she couldn't.