Based off a prompt by Matt Weber from the Harmony Co (18) Facebook Groups magnificent Prompt Bank. If you are a Harmony fan, you should give it a look, it's a lot of fun.

"Hermione?"

Harry's voice pulled Hermione from her musing over the essay that Snape had set them and noted that he was looking at her with trepidation.

"What's wrong?" She replied, setting the overly long essay down on the table and turning to face him properly.

"I wanted to apologize. For that whole Felix thing. I feel really bad for using you to boost Ron's confidence. You deserve better than that."

He turned away from her as he finished speaking and Hermione was heartbroken at how closely he currently resembled a kicked puppy.

"Harry," she called softly, drawing his eye again, "it's alright. Ron is your best friend. I get that he comes first most of the time and that you feel the need to side with him."

"That's not it!" He responded, looking shocked. "You're my best friend too, Hermione. You both come first."

"That isn't how best friends work, Harry, you can't have…"

Hermione broke off at the ruckus that sounded with the opening of the portrait hole and two linked bodies tumbling through. Anger spiked through her as she watched Ron stumbling into the very public common room, filled with students as it usually was in the early evening, attached at the mouth to Lavender Brown. Hardly the image a prefect should set for the younger students, to begin with. It especially galled her given he had agreed to go to Slughorn's party with her only a few days earlier and now was fiercely snogging Lav-Lav instead.

She felt Harry's hand gently take her own and give it a light squeeze as she struggled to keep the bile from rising in her throat at the spectacle Ron was making of himself. She sighed heavily before glancing at her hand and giving Harry a forced smile in thanks for his support.

"I'm going for a walk." She announced, separating from her friend and heading for the portrait now the snog show had moved deeper into the room, something she really didn't want to see any more of.

"Want me to come with you?" Harry inquired, looking at her oddly.

Hermione shook her head and swept out of the common room before the Fat Lady could even close from Ron's showy entrance. Her feet carried her as they would, given her mind was too busy whirling over the injustice of it all. She'd finally decided this year to let Ron act on the obvious looks he had been giving her. He was the only one she'd ever noticed looking at her like she wasn't just a bushy-haired bookworm, but that he might actually want her as a female instead.

While it had taken him until the Yule Ball in their fourth year to notice her as such, ever since she had noted him looking at her in that way more and more often. At first, she was upset with him for it as she believed it was only residual jealousy that she had attended the Ball with Viktor instead of him, but it persisted long after even Ron would hold a grudge over such a thing.

She began to enjoy his attention, as remote as it was, finally feeling special enough that someone was taking notice. She had let him watch from afar during the prior year, not willing to try anything risky under the watchful eye of the Umbitch, but had enjoyed the feeling nonetheless.

And yet, this year, when she had finally given him the chance to act on his obvious attentions, he had accepted her invitation and almost immediately spat on it by latching onto her roommate's mouth and barely letting go. She sometimes wondered if they were not connected by the tongue now and physically unable to separate.

While she didn't dislike Lavender until now their interaction had been joyfully light. The other girl was interested in none of the things that Hermione enjoyed, but since she and Ron had begun smooching at every opportunity, all she wanted to discuss was her Won-Won. The very thought of the appalling nickname made her sick.

She was momentarily distracted from the frustration and anger as they were suddenly overpowered by a deep ache in her calf as she stepped off yet another set of stairs. Looking around, she realized she had no real idea where her legs had carried her in her frustration and that her legs were rebelling from the stomping manner in which she had been traversing the castle. With a frown, Hermione ducked into the nearest classroom and sequestered herself on the first wide desk she came too, settling on its dusty top.

As soon as her complaining legs were off the floor, her mind fell back into the over-analysis of Ron's behaviour. Surely she wasn't imagining things. He had clearly been interested in her for a long while now and he'd seemed very pleased when she had asked him to accompany her to the Christmas party. And yet, one mild disagreement and he was all over Lavender. Even the implied rejection of it, as he had not rescinded his acceptance of her invitation, ate at her. That the only boy she had noted seemed in any way interested in her would drop her at the first opportunity to make out with someone else.

She was not a prude. Hermione would have most likely kissed him after the party. She'd need to test the waters and see how compatible they were and what, if anything, might come of their pairing. But even then he couldn't wait. Was she truly that unappealing that he would always be looking to the horizon for the next best thing?

Hermione settled back on her hands, letting them rest on the back edge of the desk and cast her eyes over the classroom seeking something to aid her internal woes and yet found herself, instead, looking at her own face.

The reflection of her own face to be precise, as magic could often lead to other ways to meet one's own visage in person. A large ornate mirror was sitting directly in front of the desk upon which she sat and she had either completely missed its presence when she sat here or that she missed someone hauling it in and setting it down in front of her. She was fairly certain the former was the most likely.

Even more surprising was the fact that even though she could turn her head and clearly see she was sitting in the centre of the wide desk alone, in the reflection Harry and Ron were sat on either side of her.

Harry was his usual messy-haired self, looking at her with that same gentle smile he always had. Occasionally his hand would rest on her own and give it a squeeze, or settle for a moment on her shoulder, drawing the attention of her mirrored counterpart. His presence was as soothing as ever and she found herself basking in the soft attention he showered upon her.

Ron on her other side was looking at her in a much more appealing manner. His eyes would occasionally run over her figure, which even her self-conscious mind had to admit had developed quite nicely over the past few years. He'd even occasionally lick his lips at the sight and Hermione found herself blushing at the attention. Ron even momentarily glance off to the side of the mirror as though looking at her for too long was too much for him to take. The idea swelled her pride but further pressed home the fact that even when he looked at her like that, he still went off and snogged another girl.

That was when she realized where she had seen that same look on Ron's face before. And her heart sank in response. Ron looked at most girls like that, and she had been so caught up in the fact that someone had directed a lustful gaze in her direction, that she had missed that fact until right now. She'd seen him look at Lavender like that a lot recently, and Parvati even before that. In fact, the only girls she could recall him not looking at in that fashion were Ginny, Luna and any girl wearing a Slytherin uniform.

Ron was a letch.

Once that thought settled in her mind, a pair of female arms stretched into the left of frame and Ron leapt off the desk and disappeared into them and out of the mirror. Despair took hold now as she sank into herself. The desire she had thought had been unique was just a part of who Ron was, and she was the closest girl. Of course, he had looked at her like that.

Her mind spent ages reanalysing every interaction he'd had with her and the other girls in the school and each one sent her heart sinking lower. How could she have missed something so obvious? The truth was that she hadn't missed it, she had ignored it for the fantasy her mind concocted instead. A false world where one of her closest friends might actually care for her in a true and lasting fashion. Instead, she had climbed atop a tower of empty cardboard boxes of imagination and now was sailing inevitably towards the hard ground when they had collapsed out from under her.

She stared into the mirror that had highlighted her misjudgement, hating it for the truth it had revealed to her. Yet her reflection continued to look happy and cheerful in spite of the heartache she now suffered through, only accompanied by Harry in her despair.

"Hermione?"

She shrieked and jumped as the sound of Harry's voice met her ears and his gentle hand closed around her own before being yanked free by her movement. Her eyes whipped to the side to see him sitting beside her on the desk, his Cloak gathered up on his lap and the pale worn parchment peeking out from under it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He gave her that same gentle smile as she flexed her slightly numb fingers a bit.

"It's ok." She mumbled in return before clearing her throat. "How long have you been there?"

He shrugged as he glanced back at the mirror, his smiling widening as he did so. "Not long, a few minutes I think. You looked like you were miles away, but I assumed you saw me in the reflection. Didn't realize what it was at first."

Hermione nodded. "I told you I didn't want any company though."

Now that she had come to terms with her newest failure, she did not want to wallow in it with Harry nearby. He would figure out something was wrong and make her talk about it and the embarrassment of her realization was far too fresh for that.

"I know. But once one am rolled around and you still hadn't returned to the common room I got worried. So I grabbed the Map," he tapped the worn parchment, "and tracked you down. Sorry I interrupted but it can be addictive."

"Addictive?" She muttered absentmindedly, not even reacting to the fact she had been sitting here dwelling for hours.

"Oh, that's right. You never actually saw it. You were with your parents over Christmas and never made it into the last chamber." Harry leaned back and tapped his chin as he spoke.

Hermione gave him a puzzled look and he pointed to the top of the frame.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. What?"

Harry chuckled at the look on her face and pointed at the reflection in the mirror once more. Hermione looked between the words and the glass a few more times before the answer came to her.

"I show not your face but your heart's desire? This is the Mirror of Erised?"

Harry nodded as he shuffled a little closer to her now that her shock had sent her closer to the edge of the desk.

"It can be very distracting," he replied, checking his watch. "Turns out I'd been sitting here with you nearly an hour."

He showed her the time on his watch and she gasped. It was nearly three am.

Hermione focused once more on herself and Harry reflected back at her in the mirror, still shown sitting exactly as they were on the desk. Even the Map and Cloak were sitting on his lap, though they looked to be slipping further down and would soon end up on the floor. Knowing what the artefact now was, she became even more frustrated given it didn't seem to be working for her.

She narrowed her eyes at the ancient mirror and growled softly. "What do you see?"

Harry turned to look at her again, the same smile as ever on his face as his eyes flicked over her own before he returned his gaze to the mirror. His smile grew even wider as he took in whatever reflection he was seeing and he shuffled closer again and slipped his hand back into her own. He once more turned away from the mirror, looking into her eyes and for a moment Hermione felt her heart skipping as she found herself lost in the almost liquid nature his eyes had taken on.

He gave her hand another light squeeze and whispered a single word. "You."

Hermione's heart froze at the word, before hammering rapidly within her chest. She tore her eyes from his own and looked back into the mirror armed with this new piece of information. She looked at the reflected Harry and noted it had the same look he had just given her. The same simple smile that he always wore taking on a new light with one simple piece of new information. His eyes glowed with pride as he watched her sort through her revelation.

The mirror is working perfectly. Otherwise, she would have never seen Ron there when he hadn't been present. And yet throughout the entire time she had been fretting and thinking about things with Ron, Harry had been happily sat next to her, just watching. Trusting her to get the point eventually. The Mirror of Erised showed your hearts truest desire and hers had been sitting next to her for years.

She snuck a guilty glance at the boy beside her and found him happily staring into the mirror, but he didn't seem to be lost in the image, merely basking in the reflection.

Holy crap! I'm in love with Harry freaking Potter!

Hermione began to hyperventilate as the truth settled over her. She'd always been in love with him, she just never let herself realize it. She was too busy being bossy about their homework or helping with their crazed adventures. Too busy noticing the obvious looks Ron had been giving her that she'd never given a second thought to the same soft caring smile that always decorated Harry's face when he looked at her.

Not with naked desire as Ron had, but with love and care.

She turned back to face him once more, noting he was again gazing at her with that look that set a fire inside of her that she had never noticed before. He leaned forward and her breath caught in her throat as he approached. Her eyes fluttered closed and her hand tightened on his own. With a shock of pure joy throughout her entire body, she felt his lips press ever so slightly against her own and her body moved to heighten the pressure between them.

Sensations and feelings Hermione had never noticed before rocketed throughout her body, and yet they were all secondary to the sense of his lips against her own. His magnificent scent filling her nostrils. A scent she had been unable to place when she recalled the Amortentia in their first potions class of the year. It was the softest and most perfect first kiss in the history of this world, and it was hers.

A nearly inaudible groan left her throat as she felt him pull away, and her body followed him, seeking greater contact. She pushed up close until there was no space between their bodies, hip to shoulder, they were pressed together. Hermione's heart was pounding in her chest and yet her mind was frighteningly quiet, a state it didn't often find itself.

She let out a soft sigh of contentment as Harry's arm swept up her back and pulled her even tighter against him. The pair of them now lost in the presence of the other and watching happily as the Mirror of Erised reflected their every movement exactly.

"Dumbledore told me that the Mirror only shows the deepest most desperate desire of your heart. But if the happiest man on Earth were to look into it, he would see only himself, exactly as he is. I think I finally understand what he meant by that."

Hermione let out a light laugh at his comment. "Yeah, me too."

"To be truly honest, I do still see my family behind us. But you're there too. And I'm guessing that the pair standing next to mum and dad are your parents. I've never really gotten a proper look at them before."

Hermione smiled even brighter at his description. That she mattered as much to Harry as his parents whom he had never known meant the world to her. She rested her head on his shoulder and the pair allowed the magic of the mirror to show them what they wanted most. Realizing that while the mirror might be an illusion, the person they were snuggled so tightly against was very real, and so were their feelings for said person.

"Hermione?" Harry whispered, earning a positive hum in response, "I get if you still want to go with Ron, but would you like to accompany me to Slughorn's party?"

Hermione turned her head to look up at the boy she finally admitted to herself she was crazy in love with. Leaning up, she applied a second delicate peck to his lips before pulling back, a charge of energy and excitement filling her at the contact. "I'd love to go with you, Harry."

The grin he gave her in return could have lit the room, had she been paying attention to anything other than him.

It was many hours later that the pair found themselves safely ensconced beneath the Cloak as they slowly shuffled their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry stood behind Hermione with his arms wrapped about her waist. Both relishing the contact even as it made their progress ridiculously slow while Hermione navigated them around the still patrolling teachers via the Map.

She giggled softly to herself as she considered that in his own way, Ron had been responsible for her and Harry finally realizing and acting upon the feelings they had both clearly held for the other for years. And for the first time in hours, she found herself thankful for her redheaded friend.