To Be Kissed

Disclaimer: Don't own… Oh well…

Summary: I've heard that you have to love to be loved. But does that mean that you have to kiss to be kissed? Response to Megsy42's 'First Kiss' challenge on the HPCF.

Authors Note: Just a short (not really), fluffy, one shot. Enjoy!

I wanted it more than I had ever wanted anything. More than I wanted perfect grades, and more than I wanted manageable hair. Want what, you may ask? My first kiss. That's what. And yes, I know this may sound a bit stupid, childish really, coming from me, Hermione Granger, just days after my seventeenth birthday. But what's a girl to do? I was always sort of a loner before I came to Hogwarts. But I'm as big of a, for lack of a better term, girly-girl as the next witch, I just don't openly display it. I'm what you might call a 'hopeless romantic'.

"Hermione?" A voice broke through my thoughts. I looked up from the Transfiguration essay I was supposed to be writing. I hadn't made it past the introduction. Oops.

"Hermione?" The voice said again. I turned around to see Harry standing at the foot of the boys' staircase. "Did you finish your essay?"

"What? Oh. Um, no actually. I kinda lost my focus…" I said, flushing.

He feigned shock. "Oh! Say it isn't so! Hermione Jane Granger, the brightest witch of our age, lost her focus! Where is it? It has to be around here somewhere." He said, sitting down at my table. I noticed that he was wearing his Quidditch robes.

"You're funny." I smirked at him.

"Yes, I have always found my amazing sense of humor to be one of my better qualities," Harry said, acting like some big shot.

"Harry," I said, giving him a pointed look while fighting back laughter.

"Yes, Hermione?" He said, leaning in toward me.

I leaned in too. Just inches separated our faces. Looking into his eyes, I began to melt. Damn his eyes. Focus, Granger! I told myself. "Don't you have somewhere to be, Mr. Potter?"

He reciprocated in kind: "Don't you have an essay to write Miss Granger?"

He'd won. I leaned back, relenting. "Fine," I said, picking up my quill. "I'll write my essay and you'll go fly or whatever it was you were going to do before you interrupted me!"

"Oh! Is that so?" he said, standing up, shouldering his broom. "Is that how you're going to be?"

I nodded, opening my Transfiguration book.

"Well. Okay, then." Harry said, faking anger. "How about this," he leaned down putting one hand on my table, "I go practice Quidditch, fly, do what I do, for say...two hours? Then I'll come back and we'll trade."

Trade? I voiced my concern while keeping my cool: "And what do you mean by 'trade', oh-great-Quidditch-star?"

"What I mean by trade, little Miss-Know-It-All, is that if I go practice for two hours and leave you to do your essay, which I assume you'll have done when I return, that in exchange, you will go flying with me and I'll do my essay early."

"Oh, Harry! You mean it? You'll do your essay early?" I said excitedly.

"Yes, but only if you'll go flying with me."

I froze. I hadn't heard that part the first time around. "Um." I stammered. "Well. You see… I'm not too fond of heights, and…"

He cut me off. "No flying, no deal." He shrugged. "And really love, you wouldn't need to worry, seeing as I'd be right behind you."

I sighed. There was no fighting him on this. "Fine." I gave in.

He smiled. Damn smile. "I will see you in two hours, Miss Granger."

And with that, he walked out of the common room. I stared after him, flabbergasted. Even after knowing him for nearly six year and dating him for about a month, that man still managed to amaze me.

Almost an hour and a half later, I walked down to the Quidditch Pitch, dressed in sweats, a tee shirt and one of Harry's sweatshirts, my hair in a ponytail, absolutely shaking with nerves. Good thing it was a Saturday afternoon.

Harry and I together. It still frazzled me. It was such an illogical thought. Him with me. My mind drifted back to our summer at the Borrow. It had been an unusually chilly August night…

FLASHBACK

I was standing in Mrs. Weasley's garden. We had gotten our Hogwarts letters just this afternoon. Well, yesterday afternoon if you want to be technical since it was now one 'o'clock in the morning, 24th August 1996.

The moon was out and there were no clouds in the welcoming summer sky. I was just standing there in the garden in my tank top and shorts, stargazing. It was quiet, save for the owls and insects. I heard someone come up behind me. I turned. Harry was nearing my spot in the garden dressed in blue plaid boxers (very flattering, if I might add), and a gray Quidditch tee. He looked as though he had been crying.

"Hey," I said softly, turning as he came to stand beside me.

His reply was equally soft, "Hey."

looked him in the eye. His emerald green eyes were very easy to get lost in. "What brings you out here in the dead of the night?"

"I couldn't sleep," he said, his voice breaking. "I looked out the window and saw you down here. Thought I'd join you," he shrugged.

"Well, I'm very glad you did," I smiled at him. He smiled back. Such a sweet smile.

We stood there, side by side, in silence, just looking up at the stars. After a few minutes, I leaned over and put my hand on his shoulder. Pointing to the sky, I said quietly in his ear, "You see there, Harry? Just there, that constellation? That's Sirius, the Dog Star." He stiffened at this, but I continued. "Harry, even though he's gone, he loves you; he's still looking out for you. Same as your parents. He's with one of his best friends now, Harry. And it's not your fault, okay?"

I could see tears shining in his eyes. He nodded, unable to talk. I pulled him into a hug. I loved him, not only as my very best friend, but as more. Finally, after a few minutes, he spoke, pulling out of my embrace.

"You're right, Hermione." He smiled. "Thanks for giving me a way to remember him."

He grabbed my hand and led me to the back porch. We sat there, enjoying each other's company and watching the stars.

Finally, he broke the silence. "Hermione?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"May I ask you a question?"

"Yes."

He took a deep breath. "I know this may seem…rather sudden but…I mean it, honestly, I do. But, you're there for me. Always. Whenever something happens, you're there. When I need you, even though I don't say anything, you're there for me. You're more than my best friend. You're everything to me. So…I guess what I'm trying to say is… Hermione, will you be my girlfriend?"

I gasped. I was not expecting this. But, there was no denying the way I felt about the Boy Who Lived. "Yes."

He smiled. His entire face lit up. He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it. I blushed, but I wanted to know…

"Harry? May I ask you a question?"

"Anything."

"If you knew I was out here and you wanted to join me, why didn't you put any pants on?"

We both smiled. He blushed. "It honestly didn't occur to me."

We spent the next five minutes laughing.

Reliving that wonderful night had brought me to the Pitch. I could see Harry, flying around, chasing the Snitch I had gotten him for his birthday. I sat down quietly in the stands. It took him a few minute to notice me. When he did, he waved and flew over, having just caught the Snitch for the umpteenth time. Panting slightly, he said, "Hey. The two hours isn't over yet. Finish already?"

"Yep." I said, watching him wipe the sweat from his forehead. "And just to let you know, I'm not getting near you until you shower." I wrinkled my nose. "You smell."

He looked offended, "Do not."

I looked at him dubiously.

"Fine," he said exasperatedly, rolling his eyes. I knew he was kidding though, because he smiled as he turned to fly away. Looking at me over his shoulder, he winked and said, "Just give me a few minutes, okay?"

Twenty minutes later, Harry walked out of the locker room, his hair wet, dressed in a Muggle tee-shirt and jeans, broom in hand. He beckoned for me to come down to the field.

When I got there, he said, "You know, I just love that Snitch."

I smiled at him. "You're welcome, then." I had bought the Snitch in France over the summer and had given it to him for his birthday. It was more or less a timer and a Snitch in one, the clock started when you let it loose and stopped when you caught it. He used it to practice with.

"Are you ready, 'Mione?" He asked.

"Ready as I'll never be," I said with a faint smile, shifting my weight from foot to foot.

"Oh, don't be so negative." He laughed and shook his head. "Now give me your hand."

He sat down first, and then pulled me right beside the Firebolt. I took a deep breath. My stomach was full of giant butterflies. "Now swing your leg over," he said softly. I did as I was told, shaking slightly.

"Calm down, will you?" He said into my hair. "Put both hands on the handle."

I took the broom in a death grip. He put one hand near mine on the handle. I felt his other hand snake around my waist. "Ready? One.. Two.. Three." He kicked off, and began to fly the broom around the perimeter of the pitch.

"Hermione? You can open your eyes now," he said into my ear. I opened one eye, then the other and gasped. Even though we were almost 150 or so feet in the air, the scenery was breath taking.

"Harry," I said, my voice coming out as a squeak. "I think I left my stomach on the ground."

He laughed. "I think you'll be okay."

We flew for nearly an hour, over the forest and around the castle. He'd wanted to take me over the lake but I put that down. I wasn't that comfortable on a broom yet.

"Hermione? Would you mind if we flew down now?" He asked, hugging my waist tightly.

The sun was beginning to set. "Oh, that'd be fine."

He pulled us into a careful dive. When we landed he asked, "So how was it?"

"It was kind of.. Kind of fun. And it was really pretty, looking at everything from a different angle."

He laughed, looking shocked. "You had fun? Really?"

"Yes. I had fun. It's not impossible!" I stuck my tongue out at him.

He pulled me into a hug. "For being so smart, you sure can be unpredictable."

I laughed into his chest, "That doesn't even make sense."

"Whatever," he said, smoothing down my hair. It must have blown into his face.

I looked up at him. The sun was setting behind me, I felt the soft heat. Serious now, but smiling slightly, he caught my face in his hands. "You know something, Hermione?"

"What?" I whispered unintentionally, my breath caught in my chest.

"I love you," he said simply and quietly. He lowered his face to mine, catching my lips in a kiss. I melted. My knees almost buckled and I felt this incredible warmth rush through my veins. He broke the kiss after a few seconds. We both just looked at each other. He kissed me again, only with more passion. I was content to stay here forever. When the kiss broke, I said, "Harry?"

"Mmm?"

"I love you, too."