Author's Note: Here's chapter 12! :)

Harry laughed in response, being startled out of his daze. Their conversation moved on to lighter topics until it was time for dinner, and they left for the great hall, talking all the way there and through dinner, completely absorbed in their conversation with each other.

After dinner, they returned to the common room, happily talking to each other. However, their conversation was interrupted by Ron, who had been sitting in the common room waiting for them so that he could eat dinner with them.

"Oi, Harry, Hermione, where were you? I've been waiting so long for you, I'm starving!"

"Oh, Ron, we already had dinner. We just came back from the Great Hall," Harry replied.

"You guys didn't wait for me?"

"Harry had just come back from the Wizengamot session and he was hungry so we decided to go for dinner first," Hermione told Ron.

"So both of you didn't wait for me just because Harry was hungry? Harry's always the most important right Hermione? No one else matters other than him? And you Harry, how could you forget about your best friend?" Ron replied angrily.

"Ron, I was really just hungry and we had already been waiting for you for a while but you still hadn't returned to the common room. Besides, it isn't Hermione's fault, it was me who asked her to go eat dinner."

"It wasn't your fault either Harry. It's none of our faults! Ron, stop kicking up a fuss over nothing!" Hermione huffed, annoyed at Ron.

Before Harry could say anything else, Ron had already stormed out, slamming the common room door behind him after shouting, "I get it! Only Harry matters! He gets everything! The fame! The money! The attention! Everything! Even the friends!"

Thankfully, the common room was empty as most people were in the Great Hall eating dinner at that time so no one saw the argument between the three of them.

After overcoming the shock of what had happened, Harry slumped into a chair, saying, "Oh, we should've waited for Ron to go have dinner. Why didn't we think of him? Now he feels like we don't like him anymore."

"Harry, it's not our fault. He needs to become more mature. Us not waiting for him to have dinner is not such a big deal! He can find some other people to eat dinner with. Besides, it's not as if we hadn't waited for him for a while before deciding not to wait anymore and just going ourselves. And he's gone for dinner without waiting for the both of us or pulling only you or me along saying that the other can have dinner themselves plenty of times too!" Hermione replied, sitting down gently beside Harry and holding his hand with one hand and rubbing his arm with her other hand in an attempt to comfort him.

"And doesn't Ron know that I never wanted fame or money. I never chose to have it and I would much rather have my family. And Hermione, you know that I'm not trying to keep you to myself or prevent you from being friends with Ron right?"

"Yes, I chose to be friends with the both of you. And honestly, you've been a much better friend than Ron and if I have to choose between the both of you, I'll choose you. Every single time." Hermione said, wrapping an arm around Harry, embracing them.

They both sat hugging each other, being comforted by the presence of one another. They remained in this position until Harry calmed down and they loosened their grip on each other though they remained with their hands wrapped around each other. Harry smiled at Hermione, telling her, "What would I do without you. You always manage to comfort me and calm me down."

Hermione smiled back but could not bring herself to reply, entranced by Harry's smile and glittering green eyes, simply thinking to herself, "I wish I could remain in this position, hugging him forever. It feels so comfortable. And his smile and eyes, they're so beautiful. Beautiful? No, I can't think of him like that! He's just my friend! It would ruin our friendship if he finds out I'm thinking of him this way. Oh, but I can't help it. Why have these thoughts of him been invading my mind for the past half a year? He wouldn't possibly think of me in the same way, he's smart, funny, handsome, popular and rich and I'm just a plain muggleborn know-it-all."

Meanwhile, Harry was also thinking to himself, "What would I do without Hermione? She always helps me with everything, I wouldn't be able to live without her. She's such a good friend, even better than Ron, she never abandons me or gets jealous of me. Her smile is so pretty, I wish she would always smile at me like that. And her lips, they're so lovely and pink. I wonder what it would feel like when I kiss her. No, I can't kiss her, she's just my friend. I don't love her that way do I? Even if I do I couldn't possibly tell her! She wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore. But I am a Gryffindor, where's my bravery?"

With those thoughts racing through his mind, with a sudden surge of courage, Harry decided to ignore all possible consequences and just kiss Hermione.

He leaned towards Hermione, looking at her straight in the eye. Hermione looked at him, wondering what he was doing, before realising that he seemed to want to kiss her. She leaned towards him slightly, hoping that she had not mistaken him and that he was actually trying to kiss her.

Finally their lips met and as their lips met, Harry moved his hand from where it was resting on Hermione's shoulder to her back, holding her tightly to him. After a short while, they broke the kiss, both their hearts thumping quickly, feeling lightheaded and happy. They both felt that it was such a wonderful feeling to kiss each other. Not knowing what to say after the sudden kiss, they both looked awkwardly at each other, neither wanting to say anything.

Finally, Harry decided to ask Hermione, "Uhh… Hermione, you didn't mind that did you? I'm sorry if you didn't want me to kiss you. I just…"

Before he could complete his sentence, Hermione raised her hand, motioning him to stop talking and replied, "No Harry, I've wanted to kiss you for quite a while. Since last Christmas in fact. I just never thought you would feel the same way towards me."

"You… you like me? As more than… friends?"

"Yes, I do. Do you like me?"

"I… I think so. Recently, whenever I'm around you my heart just seems to race. But I don't really know what that means. No one's ever told me."

"Oh, Harry. I like you. A lot."

"Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Do… do you want to be my girlfriend? I'm not being too forward am I? Sorry if this is not what you want."

"Yes, I want to be your girlfriend. I've been wanting to for a while but I always thought you would never have the same feelings for me. You're smart, funny, popular, handsome, and now you're even rich and have all these titles. You can have any girl at all, why would you want to be with me?"

"You've been the only one to always support me all these years Hermione. No one has cared for me the way you have, other than my parents perhaps, but I don't remember them. Honestly, you were the first one to ever hug me, and make me feel happy and safe."

Hermione smiled, before leaning forward and giving Harry a light kiss on his lips. They sat there talking quietly to each other, completely absorbed in their conversation that they did not realise that people were returning to the Gryffindor common room as most people had finished their dinner already. None of them had disturbed the two of them, believing that they were simply absorbed in their conversation with each other as they always seemed to be.

Neville walked in, spotting Harry and walked towards him and Hermione, wanting to tell Harry that he had already arranged the meeting between Susan, Daphne, Harry and himself for Wednesday night. As he approached, he realised that Harry and Hermione seemed to be talking intently about something and not wanting to disturb them, he turned, planning on walking away and simply telling Harry later on in the dormitory before bed,

However, Harry had spotted him walking away, so he called out, "Neville, what is it?"

Hearing Harry call him, Neville turned around and walked back towards Harry, taking a seat on the couch next to him.

"I asked Susan and Daphne after dinner, they agreed to meet with you and I on Wednesday night at 8pm after dinner."

"Oh okay. Where will we meet?"

"There are two rooms in Hogwarts dedicated for the children of Houses in the Wizengamot to meet with each other and their Heads of Houses and such. However, we will not be using those rooms as there is a room whose location is kept a secret and that only children of the Most Ancient and Noble Houses know about for us to meet in. It was actually built by Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin to give their children a place to meet with the other children of the Most Ancient and Noble Houses."

"Oh, that's cool! How do I get there?"

"I'll bring you there on Wednesday night. Just meet me in the common room at seven fifty after dinner alright?"

"Okay."

"Oh, and Hermione, please don't tell anyone about it."

"About the room? Don't worry I won't."

"And the meeting as well. It's better that people don't know about it yet."

"Oh okay. Don't worry about it."

Confused, Harry asked, "Why? Not that I particularly want people to know what I'm doing, but why is it necessary to keep it a secret?"

"Oh, the meeting is considered as House Business, and House Business is typically supposed to be kept private."

"Oh, I didn't know that. Is it okay that Hermione knows?"

"Normally not, but since this meeting isn't anything really official but just a casual meeting, it's fine. Besides, Hermione won't tell anyone about it."

Nodding in understanding, Harry smiled, thanking Neville who then left, allowing Harry and Hermione to continue the conversation they were having before he interrupted them alone.

Author's Note: I hope it was enjoyable!

Also, I'm pretty terrible at trying to write anything romantic and such considering I've never even hugged or held hands with anyone of the opposite gender (in that way - I've done these things in a friendly manner when I was younger). HEH. I had a really hard time writing this chapter and I probably won't write many chapters like this…