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Hermione Granger was many things. Brilliant. Beautiful. Resourceful. Magical. The list could go on for days, but at the moment she was reveling in one item on that list in particular. Harry’s. She absently brushed her fingertips over her lips as she remembered the heated kiss that accompanied their first real fight. Sure, they had difficulties in the past, but mostly when Ron egged them on either by enraging Hermione beyond her beloved reason or dragging the Hufflepuff in a Gryffindor’s tie, Harry, into one of their fights.
She was embarrassed to admit it, but this fight was entirely her fault. Her insecurities, egged on again by Ron (“Why are we friends again?”), caused her to lash out at Harry over that book. While the thought of someone writing in a textbook was nearly blasphemous to the bibliophile, preferring a spiral-bound notebook to contain her annotations, they were not unusual in second-hand books, and while Snape was their professor at the moment, the book was old enough to have been from a prior instructor and the annotations could very well have been from their class. The truth was, she was worried that Harry would not need her anymore, and Ron’s snide quip about ‘cutting out the middleman’ fueled her fear.
Her eyes glazed over as she remembered their fight and the increasingly incredulous look on Harry’s face. When she accidentally let slip her frustrations about being replaced by a ratty old book, she barely had time to process him chucking the book on the couch and sealing their lips with a fiery kiss. Her first actual kiss, at that. Viktor certainly tried, but a deft turn of her face prevented the looming Bulgarian from ‘claiming his prize’ at the Yule Ball.
A faint humming broke her concentration and she looked around to spy Luna Lovegood rocking back on her heels, a look of mischief on her face. Nervous, Hermione cleared her throat, “Yes, Luna? Can I help you?” Blinking she looked around, “How did you even find me? I warded this classroom for privacy!”
The blonde waved airily as she continued her almost hypnotic rocking, “You did a fantastic job of it. Most people wouldn’t notice the differences, but there were… let’s say minor discrepancies that left your warding scheme vulnerable to detection.”
Hermione narrowed her eyes, “Discrepancies? What did I miss?”
Luna tilted her head, “The room numbers. There was one missing. Most people don’t look anymore after their first year, but I am used to looking for small things that don’t fit in. That and the scent. The very faint scent of strawberries.”
The bushy-haired witch sighed, “Right.” Her eyes went distant, “Perhaps a notice-me-not keyed to room numbers some distance from the room itself? Make them not invisible but unremarkable. That would shore up the vulnerability…” She blinked, “Wait, strawberries? How did you possibly connect strawberries with me?”
Luna sat on a nearby table, her feet kicking, “Your lip balm. It’s strawberry flavored.”
“Well, yes. How did you know that?” She blinked, “And how did you get through the wards without breaking them? They aren’t keyed to you!”
“Two questions with the same answer. Harry Potter. He’s keyed to your wards and he was wearing your lip balm. As he is keyed, he could bring someone through.”
Hermione looked around for any tell that Harry was present under his cloak before her eyes narrowed, “How did you know he was wearing my lip balm?”
Hopping off the desk, Luna skipped over with a grin and darted in, stealing a kiss, “Like that.” Whistling to herself, Luna skipped through the door past a startled Harry Potter. “Bye, Harry…”
Confused, he sat beside his girlfriend who came out of her daze, “So…”
“Luna kissed me!” Hermione blurted.
Harry nodded sagely, “Sneaky little thing got me too.”
The witch looked around almost everywhere but at Harry before admitting in a tiny voice, “I… kind of liked it.”
He continued nodding, “Yep.”
She looked worriedly at her boyfriend, “What does that mean?”
Harry scratched the back of his head, “Well, it depends. If you preferred her over me, then I suppose we need to discuss if you still want to date me.”
“I do!” She interjected.
He smiled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her in, “Then is it something you want to be a one-off, or do you want to chase her down and discuss this like young adults.”
She peered up through the mass of her hair, “What do you want?”
He kissed the top of her head, “I love you, Hermione. Always have done, I think. Do I bear any affection for Luna? Certainly. She got me through a tough time, and her zest for life is rather refreshing. She could never replace you in my heart, but she has managed to sneak her own little corner of it.”
Hermione idly brushed her fingertips over her lips before nodding, “Right. At the very least, we should talk it over like rational human beings. Find out her goals and why she kissed us in the first place. We can go from there.”
Harry grinned and kissed her forehead, “That’s my girl. Let’s…” He looked up to see a grinning Luna in the doorway, “Wait four seconds for her to reach the couch?”
The petite blonde skipped over to the couch and dramatically draped herself across their laps, “Hello, lovelies.” Reaching up with both hands, she gently closed the two mouths that had fallen open in surprise. “Let’s talk.”