"Yes, I kept a bunch of them in my satchel. Do you want to make another Return Cluster now, Harry?" Hermione was still trying to figure out what Harry was up to.
"You should get started on that, Hermione. I'll be right back." Harry jogged over to the huge basilisk corpse while Hermione removed her sandstones from her bag. She watched him, curious as to what he was doing. He heard him quietly mutter a spell, and, to her shock, he scraped his arm against one of the basilisk's fangs.
"HARRY!" She shrieked, running over to him as quickly as she could. "What are you doing? The venom in the basilisk is still potent after it's dead! What... why..."
He managed a weak smile, and answered with an apology. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I just knew you wouldn't let me go through with it if you knew what I was doing. But you did tell me this whole thing was untested, right? Well... I guess this is the first test."
Hermione ran up to him, and saw that he had cut a small gash on his own arm, and obviously dripped the venom directly into the wound. "Of course I would have stopped you, Harry! We could have found another way! We... we..."
"There wasn't any other way, was there, Hermione?" asked Harry. "I saw your diagram on the board... I've learned enough about runes this summer to at least figure out what it all meant. It only activates if I die." He was beginning to feel lethargic, and stumbled slightly. "I guess that was why it was 'untested,' wasn't it, Hermione? Well, if it doesn't work... you can just tell me right away before we go through all of this again."
Hermione knew he was right, but she didn't want to admit it. Supporting him under his arm, she helped him sit down in a more comfortable position. "That didn't mean you had to go and do this, Harry! You stupid, reckless, fool of a boy..." She began to sob. "You just had to do this... to me... right after I decided..."
"Decided? What?" Harry looked up at her. The venom was burning through his arm and making its way through his body.
"I... I decided..." Hermione began. Oh god, he's dying right in front of me and I'm hesitating? I HAVE to tell him now, or else I'll never have the courage to... she reprimanded herself. "I decided that... after the World Cup... I would tell you that... I love you, Harry. And now you just had to poison yourself just before I had the chance to admit it." She began to cry openly.
"Oh... oh, no," said Harry, weakly. "I..."
Hermione drew a sharp breath between her sobs. Oh no, is that what he says? He... really does see me as just a friend, doesn't he? All those sweet things he did all summer... was just because he's my friend, and nothing else, she thought. Oh dear Merlin, it's the same thing I told Ginny... that's just Harry... he'd do that for any of his friends, wouldn't he? I'm not that special to him... and now I might have ruined the friendship. She could barely hear Harry continue to speak.
"...I've hurt you more than I thought, didn't I?" he whispered weakly. "I didn't know you cared for me that much, Hermione... or else... I would have admitted it to you... I love you, too, Hermione."
His last few words managed to capture Hermione's attention again. "What was that?" she asked, whirling back around so her face was inches from Harry's.
"I said... I love you too, Hermione. I'm sorry... I was stupid... I didn't realize that doing this would hurt you this much..." Harry's voice was getting weaker. Hermione's eyes widened as he said the words. "Hermione... will you be... my girlfriend?"
"You have to wait until you're dying to ask me that?" she shrieked. Burying her face into his shoulders again, she whispered to him, "Of course I will, you silly prat. I can't believe you asked now. What if this doesn't work?"
Harry closed his eyes, as he felt his eyelids getting too heavy. "Don't think about that, Hermione. If it does work... I'll remember... and we'll have all summer to enjoy it." He slumped down into a more comfortable position as his breathing became laboured. Hermione watched, cradling his head in her arm. Just after his breathing stopped, the runes on his back flashed. Giving his lifeless body one last hug, she began to carve her own Return Cluster in sandstone.
Harry awoke on Hermione's lap and saw a worried, but hopeful, look on her face. "Harry?" she asked softly. "Do you remember...?"
He smiled, reaching up around Hermione's head and pulling her closer, and said, "I love you, Hermione." He pulled her down, pressing their lips together gently. Hermione didn't resist at all, in fact, she pulled him in closer so that she could enjoy the feeling of his lips pressed against her own, while he relished the sensation of Hermione's caressing his own with her soft touch. After what must have been ages, but far too soon for both of them, they broke apart. Harry broke into a wide grin, and so did Hermione, but her face suddenly turned into a scowl. She slapped Harry in the cheek.
"Don't you dare to that to me again!" she huffed.
Harry was in shock. Didn't she just tell me that she loved me? I thought she enjoyed it too! It felt so right when we were kissing...
Hermione continued. "Do you know how long it took me to carve those runes with your dead body laying in front of me? Five hours, Harry! Every time I managed to finish one rune I'd look up, and then I'd cry because I was seeing in front of me exactly what could happen if I really did lose you, and then I'd have to calm myself down all over again. I had to redo four of the runes because my hand was shaking so much! Harry, you are such a prat!" She furiously gave him another slap, and just as quickly pulled him in and gave him another kiss. This one was powerful, angry, and passionate, and Harry didn't dare try to stop her.
She pulled back, and gave him another slap, albeit a much gentler one. "And that's for making me wake up with a bloody lip three times! I can't believe it took you until your fourth try to get it right and give me a proper kiss!"
"But... we weren't a couple the first few times, Hermione," Harry said meekly.
"Oh, shut up, Harry! I'm still mad at you!" she shouted, as she pushed in onto his back.
"Okay," Harry mouthed, barely making a sound. Hermione lay down on top of him and gave him another long, passionate kiss, tilting their heads every which way and moving their lips across each other's. When they finally finished, Hermione smiled, and said, "That one was for finally giving me a proper first kiss. Thank you, Harry." She got up, and pulled Harry up with her. "Alright, we've got to move quickly if my plan's going to work."
"Plan? What plan?" asked Harry.
"Oh, in between figuring out how to get back at you and waiting for you to wake up, I realized we had to move quickly to keep all this a secret. First off, for safety's sake, we need to redo the rune cluster on your back, and I need you to do one for me, too. We're going to miss the train."
"What? But how are we supposed to get home? And won't the staff be looking for us like last time?" asked Harry.
"Oh, that's easy. We'll have to pack our trunks, and I mean right now, to make it look like we're all set to leave. We'll put them in the chamber. By the time anyone notices we're not on the train, it'll be halfway to London already. I'll just send an owl to my parents telling me that I'll miss the train and I'll wait for them at the Leaky Cauldron instead of King's Cross. After we finish the carving, we just use one of the secret passages to sneak out of school, to Hogsmeade, and then floo from Three Broomsticks or something."
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