damn.....i posted like a coupla paragraphs and it closed again....anyways, this is THE part to read if you're a H/Hr shipper.
Harry woke up abruptly, not knowing what had caused this sudden awakefulness. He had never felt more jumpy in his life; the only time to compare was in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament. It was nearly 3 AM, according to his watch.
He could feel, rather than hear, the distinct restlessness in the dormitory. "Still awake?" he asked out loud.
"You are, obviously." Dean grunted, rolling out of bed and changing.
"Yeah." Neville and Seamus said at the same time.
Only Ron remained silent.
"Hey, wake up, Ron." Dean prodded him.
"Whassamatter?" Ron muttered sleepily.
"We're under attack." Harry said.
"WHAT?" Ron said loudly, sitting bolt upright.
"Actually, we're not." Harry said bemusedly, while the others sniggered. "But I needed to get you to move, so..."
Ron sighed, and began changing too.
"See if you can rouse the others." Harry asked. "If we can get a couple of hours head start, all the better."
When he reached the common room to wait for the others, he was suprised to find that Lavender, Ginny, and Parvati were sitting and fidgeting.
"What's up?" he asked, sitting down beside them.
"Well..." Lavender began uneasily.
"It's just me and Lavender's first real fight, that's all." Parvati mumbled.
"I'll give you a bit of advice." Harry said, glancing at Ginny. She gave him a nod to confirm that she would back him up. "Just don't show fear, all right? They revel it it. Huh, they probably feed off of it too. Fight back as hard as you can. Don't give them the satisfaction of seeing that you're scared."
"Trust me," Ginny said wryly. "Once you get caught up in the heat of a fight, you'll forget your fear."
"Where's Hermione?" Harry wondered.
"She wasn't in bed....she probably went out for a bit." Lavender said.
"Right, well......see if you can wake the other girls up." Harry said. "I'm going to go find her."
But as soon as he reached the portrait hole, it opened. Hermione was there with a stack of warm waffles wrapped in a napkin, in her hand.
"Walk?" she asked.
***
Twenty minutes later, they finished the improptu breakfast.
"How'd you manage to find food so early?" Harry asked.
"Dobby." Hermione smiled faintly. "Apparently he didn't like the idea of everyone 'marching off to war on an empty stomach'. Neither did most of the house-elves. And he wants to wish you good luck, and mayhap you'll see him again."
There was an awkward silence for a moment.
"You know, Harry," Hermione asked. "Did you ever think that this was going to happen?"
"War?" Harry shook his head. "Not in this way. I've never experienced war on the Muggle side, let along the Wizarding World."
"I know!" Hermione said angrily. "It seems that there's always one moron who wants everything for himself. Doesn't Hitler remind of you of Voldemort?"
"As a matter of speaking, he does." Harry said, frowning. "Both wanted a single type of race, both weren't wholly of that race themselves, and both were pretty much terrorists."
Hermione laughed bitterly.
"Think we'll make it through this?" Harry asked quietly this time, holding her hand. It was the first time he had voiced his worries.
"Well, we'll have to try, don't we?" Hermione said. "At least we've got the castle for an advantage."
"I've seen you fight," Harry chuckled. "You're a pretty fired-up girl those times."
"Really?" Hermione said, grinning. "Well, adrenaline will do that to you."
They stopped for a moment, gazing out up at the castle. Lights were beginning to flicker on.
They stared in each other's eyes for a moment that to Harry, felt like an eternity. Right then, right there, each of them knew whom they belonged with. They didn't need to say anything, for anything that was needed to say was already there in their eyes.
And then, they kissed briefly. It lasted for no longer than a second, but to Harry it felt longer. After, there was no sense of shock, no frozen legs, or butterflies in his stomach. There was only warm, happy, contentedness.
They walked up back to the castle together, neither needing to speak.