Chapter Text
Hermione slammed her book shut.
“You’re impossible.”
Harry looked delighted. “You say that like it’s new information.”
“You are deliberately distracting me.”
“I’m sitting here.”
“You’ve been smiling at me for twenty minutes!”
“That’s because you’re cute when you’re irritated.”
Silence.
Complete.
Utter.
Fred Weasley lowered his cards slowly.
George whispered, “Did he just say cute?”
Hermione stared at Harry like he’d spontaneously combusted.
Harry, meanwhile, realized what he’d said.
“I can explain.”
“Oh, please do,” Hermione said faintly.
His ears turned violently red.
“You know what?” Harry said suddenly, standing up far too quickly. “Actually, I think I’m going to make this worse.”
“Harry -”
Before his brain could catch up with whatever deeply questionable decision his body had already made, Harry leaned down and did something he had never done before. He kissed Hermione on the cheek.
A quick, soft, absolutely reckless kiss.
Then he froze. Hermione froze. The entire common room froze. Fred’s jaw dropped. George made a sound like he’d just witnessed divine intervention.
Harry looked utterly horrified with himself.
“I’m leaving,” he announced.
Then he turned and sprinted toward the boys’ dormitory at full speed.
For one stunned second, nobody moved. Then, wolf whistles erupted across the common room. Dean nearly fell off the sofa laughing.
Fred yelled, “HE FINALLY DID IT!”
George shouted, “TEN GALLEONS SAYS HE DOESN’T SLEEP TONIGHT!”
Ron stared after Harry for a long moment.
“I want everyone to remember,” he announced, “that I figured this out years ago.”
And Hermione?
Hermione sat completely still, pink from the tips of her ears to the edge of her collar, one hand slowly rising to press against her cheek.
It was still warm. Still tingling.
And despite the chaos exploding around her, Hermione was smiling.