A/N: Welcome to 2016.

I'll keep this short, but if you would prefer to just read the story I shan't be offended.

I know this is said often but this is my first published story, I would greatly appreciate you taking time to provide constructive criticism, if you can spare it. That being said, the fact you are taking the time to read my work is more than I could possibly ask, I only hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

The story will be centred on the budding relationship between Hermione Granger and Lynn Potter (The Girl Who Lived), this will be a romantic relationship so if that is not your thing I would suggest moving on. The chapters will likely have relatively large jumps in time between them, as I don't intend to hash out a complicated plot to tie this all together. It will be mainly light and fun so only the barest minimum of angst that saturated JK's last few books will appear when appropriate. The first chapter will be set in their fifth year, assume that cannon events have occurred unless stated otherwise with some obvious exceptions as the main protagonist is now female.

Each chapter will likely only be 2500-6000 words in length and I'll warn you now, I tend to be very meticulous with my writing so updates may come slowly.

Anyway enough with my rambling, I hope you enjoy it.

BB

Damn it, where did she go?! Hermione turned her head, frantically looking down each corridor searching for her raven-haired friend who'd fled moments earlier. This was just like her, she had stood in front of the most feared wizard of the century and found him lacking, but the moment feelings got involved she became this meek fretful girl who knew only how to run from her problems. This time was no different. Hermione could still feel the tingling that refused to die down the moment her friend's lips had touched her own. She didn't know what to think, this wasn't something you tended to plan for. So she had stood there in shock, her hand involuntarily reaching up to touch her lips before she could stop herself, then Lynn was gone, before the ghost of her kiss had even had a chance to fade.

Her instincts told her to follow and work, whatever this was, out before her courage failed her, and they were left to awkwardly step around each other for the foreseeable future. But for the first time in years she feared that this was a puzzle she wasn't best equipped to solve. Homicidal professor? No problem, it was the new guy. Mystery Slytherin monster? It was a snake for Merlin's sake it didn't take a genius to figure that out. Triwizard tournament clues? Tricky, and against the rules, but like hell was she going to just sit there and not help a friend very probably in mortal peril, rules be damned. Mysteries of the heart however were well out of her comfort zone, something she would ordinarily write home about after hours of self-torment. Problem was she needed the answer now, not in the better part of a week.

Hermione lent her back against a wall and panted for breath, cursing the seemingly complete inability of wizards to accept change, a phone line home would have been a godsend right now. An hour had passed, she had spent much of that time running around aimlessly, asking anyone and everyone who might have seen her, but it was getting her nowhere. Not for the first time that evening she considered just returning to their shared dorm and holding Lynn's possessions hostage until she spoke to her. Before she could decide either way, Nearly Headless Nick floated casually through the wall of an unused classroom ahead of her, at the very least he could be persuaded to help her look, right? "Nick!" She yelled after him, still quite breathlessly, but he heard her. The Gryffindor ghost paused and looked over his shoulder, turning his head at an angle that should not have been possible, before gliding back toward her. When she came close he said in his usual stately tone "Good afternoon Miss Granger, how may I be of assistance?"

"Have you seen Lynn?" She asked quickly, unable to entirely hide her impatience. The ghost stroked his non-tangible beard in thought, as if it took a great deal of concentration to remember the past hour, but he seemed to catch on to her mood after a moment or two of exasperated silence on the part of Hermione, and promptly answered "Miss Potter? She ran passed me a little while ago; well I suppose through me would be more accurate-"

"But where did she go?" She asked eagerly, finally she had caught a break. The ghost frowned, though in confusion or annoyance at her rudeness she didn't know but she couldn't bring herself to care right then. "I believe she was heading for the astronomy tower, strange time to go there all things considered and she did seem rather upset come to think of it…" Hermione was already long gone by the time the ghost finished.

The beating of her feet against the stone floor echoed round the corridors loud enough to make her cringe. If the 'Toad' caught her running in the halls she would likely not escape her clutches until morning. Despite that unpleasant thought, she did not slow her pace and instead she berated herself for being such an idiot with every step toward the tower. All that time she had no idea that Lynn had those feelings for her, despite the plentiful hints, only now it seemed obvious. Those who had inadvertently witnessed it didn't seem at all surprised by Lynn's sudden weakness for geeky bookworms, had they known? Had she lead her on unintentionally? Was she the only one not to notice? How long had this gone on?

Her thoughts continued as such without respite until the moment she reached the stairs, only then did she notice how horrible she felt, like her gut had somehow fallen out through her feet. Lynn was, probably, at the top of those steps. This was the closest thing to a fight the two girls had ever had, and she felt lost. What was she going to say, what did you say to a friend who kissed you full on the lips and ran off? Hermione didn't know much about love, but she knew you couldn't always choose who you fell in love with, was this her fault then, should she apologise?

With a gargantuan effort and a shake of her head she forced the thoughts to the back of her mind to deal with later, now wasn't the time for more questions, especially as she didn't know the answer to the first one. Almost to the top now, her hands were shaking and it certainly wasn't the cold, her heart drummed hard in her chest as she climbed the last few steps. There she was, a window was thrown open letting in the crisp afternoon air, Lynn sat on the sill with her knees pulled up against her chest, midnight black hair pulled over one shoulder exposing her flawless pale neck. She was gazing out at the school grounds impassively, completely ignoring the chill in the air, like she often did.

Hermione paused in the archway watching, her thoughts now inexplicably silent, she took a deep steadying breath and walked forward into the light "Lynn? Can I join you?" she asked tentatively. Lynn jumped so violently she very nearly fell out the window in surprise, in an instant the fright faded and her face flushed with colour. For a moment she seemed unable to form a response, then she rallied, cheeks still a rosy pink, and said in an unconvincing casual tone "Um sure, if you want"

Lynn avoided eye contact and resumed her visual of the school grounds, though it was clear her attention was not in it. Hermione joined her on the window sill and couldn't help but marvel at her friend's chosen spot, you could see the Quidditch pitch and the surrounding grounds of the castle from their vantage point as well as acres and acres of lush green forest. At any other time she might have enjoyed the view, but she could almost feel the tension rolling off Lynn in waves, and knew that she had to address the problem at hand now before Lynn ran off again. She briefly entertained the thought of obliviating them both, but that would solve little and change nothing, still, it was a tempting plan B. She swallowed dryly, knowing that if she said the wrong thing now it could do a lot of harm didn't help her nervousness. Her heart felt heavy with guilt at the prospect of rejecting her, but she couldn't think of any other way of setting things right. So she steeled herself and forged onward.

"I don't feel any less of you Lynn, you know that right? As far as I'm concerned I don't care what gender you are attracted to any more than I mind blood purity." Lynn didn't look at her, instead preferring to stare blankly at her knees, but nodded indicating that Hermione should continue. "And I'm flattered you think of me like that… I truly am, but…" she searched for a way to voice her confusing emotions but Lynn beat her to it "you're not like me, I know" her voice was tinged with self-loathing and bitterness, it was the way she usually sounded when speaking of her childhood. The similarity cut the unsocial bookworm to the core, now sure that she had somehow said the wrong thing. The misery now clearly noticeable in Lynn's visage was almost physically painful for her to see, without considering the foolishness of the action she shifted closer so they were practically side by side, intending to comfort her the only way she knew how. Lynn looked surprised at the move but did not comment and only eagerly made room for her on the wide sill. Her relief was palpable when she realised she wouldn't be rejected, and quickly started combing her hands through Lynn's hair, something she had recently found helped her friend relax, while she continued the war of thoughts within oblivious of her friend's curious glances.

"Why do you always have to be so nice to me?" The question was asked so silently that Hermione wondered if she was meant to hear it at all, but she answered anyway "because you're my best friend, and I hate seeing you like this" it was the bare truth, but somehow she felt it lacked in some way, 'best friend' felt so meaningless a phrase for someone who understood, accepted and supported her more than anyone else ever had before. The problem was she didn't know what Lynn was to her, she was special, had always been special to her, but what did that really mean? Ron was a good friend but he had also proven to be sometimes arrogant and thoughtless, it wasn't necessarily a problem, everyone had flaws, besides she knew he cared for them both in his own way, but Lynn's only problem was caring too much, if that was even a thing. If there was one person in the world she always knew would listen, not judge, but strive to understand, it was Lynn.

The silence was clearly making Lynn nervous now, she opened her mouth to speak only to shut it again several times as if thinking better of it, changing tack she got Hermione's attention (as if she didn't already have it) and her thoughts fell from her lips, as if she was confessing to a crime "I know I shouldn't have kissed you. It was unfair of me, I just couldn't… I've held it all back for so long it just… kind of happened…" she looked genuinely distressed and confused, reverting to that cute nervous tick of hers, winding some hair tightly around a slender digit as if she was attempting to curl it. She really does love me, Hermione felt a comfortable warmth blossom in her chest at the confession, but it quickly receded in the wake of her friend's obvious misery. Lynn's hand took her own and pulled it away from her hair "Please, stop." It was said with little conviction and her hand lingered over Hermione's longer than was necessary before pulling away. Her skin tingled at the sudden contact, this time having to restrain an impulse to raise her hand to her lips. They were very close. She could feel the comforting heat of Lynn's body next to her in the cold tower room and could hear every hesitant breath she took.

"It doesn't matter" what doesn't matter? It made better sense in her head, of course it didn't matter. She would never turn her back on Lynn, it was silly that Lynn even considered she might lose her over a simple kiss. But it wasn't simple, not anymore. Regardless Lynn seemed to take her badly considered response the right way and finally started to relax a little, much to Hermione's relief.

An indeterminate amount of time passed as they both sat there in silence, neither of them willing to return to the reality that awaited them, both afraid of shattering this fragile feeling of closeness between them. When the sun finally began to fall behind the hills of the Scottish highlands, Hermione reluctantly gave in to her inner prefect and cited their need to return to the common room before curfew. With slow deliberation they started down the steps from the astronomy tower in an awkward silence. Though their little talk had not gone supremely badly, Hermione still felt upset with the outcome. This was not how it was meant to be, they never had these silences before and she was already missing Lynn's quirks, but fortunately for her fate had other ideas.

Peeves, in his ever mischievous mood, had taken to placing banana skins around the castle after a foolish first year muggle-born had mentioned their apparent slippy-ness. Despite that they generally weren't any slippier than the skin of any other fruit underfoot, Peeves had gotten rather good at placing them in just the right places to cause maximum mayhem. This was, of course, after filling the entire charms corridor with them and being chased off by an irritable half Goblin professor. In this particular case it seemed he had placed one in the shadow of the first step down on a short flight of stairs, a potentially dangerous trap for the unsuspecting. And as her usually observant mind was elsewhere Hermione stepped right onto it. A quick and painful tumble later she found herself at the bottom of the stairs, sitting on the cold floor with her books scattered around her. Peeves' high cackle could be heard revealing that he had undoubtedly been watching, he did not come to gloat however, clearly more interested in checking on his other traps for victims.

Lynn cursed Peeves colourfully under her breath with some of Sirius' choice swear words as she hurried down the steps two at a time. Her eyes searched Hermione's face for signs that she was hurt, but was only greeted with a slightly dazed sheepish smile, Lynn barely managed not to roll her eyes as she collected Hermione's books, slipping easily into the comforting familiarity as they both searched for the tomes in the dim light. Once Hermione's bag was once again full, Lynn swung it over her shoulder and held out her hand automatically to help her friend up. Hermione took it gratefully, but before she had a chance to orient herself properly Lynn pulled on her arm with a surprising amount of strength, lifting her with little apparent effort. When she was on her feet she found herself standing uncomfortably close to Lynn.

Too close! Hermione's mind chanted at her, she parted her lips to give voice to her feeling but the words stopped dead in her throat. She didn't want to back away, it was so cold in the hall and Lynn was so warm. She could feel Lynn's breath on her face, her hand felt hot on the exposed skin of her arm and the faint scent of pine that hung around her, usually muted, now clawed for her attention. Just when she was sure the moment would end and they would both break apart and blush, murmuring excuses for their odd behaviour, Lynn's lips closed on her own. The contact was gentle, and warm, so very warm. All thought of stepping away dissolved into blissful nothingness, her mind was silent, content to just feel her lips mashed against Lynn's as they both explored shyly but tenderly. Almost subconsciously Hermione's arms wrapped around Lynn's lean frame to pull her closer, relishing the feeling of their bodies pressed together so intimately. She was vaguely aware of Lynn pulling her out of the middle of the corridor while she ran a slender hand through Hermione's hair, the action only fuelling the fire that had long been smouldering just waiting for the spark.

Far too soon they heard the tapping sound of thick soled shoes striking the stone floor making the two entwined girls startle apart. Lynn recovered first and quickly grabbed the hand of the now truly dazed taller witch and led her through the deserted halls, taking a few short cuts to reach the Gryffindor common room. Appearing behind a tapestry down the hall from the portrait hole Lynn finally slowed and turned her beaming smile on Hermione, who instantly noticed the breath-taking change it had. Lynn had always been pretty, but now she looked so alive, gone was the tired gloom and stress the war was piling on her replaced with happiness and wilfulness that she, Hermione Jean Granger, bushy haired book worm and insufferable know-it-all had put there.

"I never would have guessed you would be so… Eager." Lynn said playfully, adjusting her uniform that had somehow become ruffled.

Hermione's face instantly flushed red with embarrassment and she stuttered like a fool, fumbling for a reason for her strange behaviour but came up empty. "I love it." Lynn said with feeling cutting off her insecure rambling "I never thought you would…" She trailed off in favour of planting a chaste kiss on still swollen lips. Hermione's embarrassment didn't last, she leaned into the kiss as if enchanted, already loosing herself again, but Lynn pulled away.

"Come on, let's get to sleep. I don't know about you but I've got a lot to think about."

She turned with a wink and radiant smile, actually skipped to the portrait of the fat lady and hastily let herself in. Hermione stood there for several minutes processing what had just transpired between them. When the significance of what had happened finally registered in her unusually sluggish mind her wistful grin dropped like a stone and she did a very un-Hermione-like thing "Shit…" she swore meekly before clumsily hurrying after Lynn. She had just kissed a girl, and liked it!?