Disclaimer: I own nothing at all. All characters, which include but are not limited to (oh, I like to sound smart) Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Ginny Weasley, and Fred and George Weasley, belong to J.K. Rowling. Places such as Hogwarts and Hogsmeade also belong to J.K. Rowling. How about we just say that anything you recognize from a Harry Potter book does not belong to me? If there's anything that you think I don't own, let's say I don't! And if I owned the Harry Potter characters, would I be on fanfiction.net, writing a fanfiction? I think not.

Title: Everything Changes

Author: Sane Insanity

Rating: PG13, just to be safe!

Summary: Hermione and Harry get close while Ron's away for Christmas. How will it turn out?

Author's Note: This is my very first fanfic! I've been reading through a bunch of Harry Potter fanfics, and I'm hoping that I can make mine nearly as good as the one on here! I am only experimenting with this fic, so I might not finish it. Leave some reviews and tell me what you think of it, and I might continue. Constructive criticism is completely welcomed, but please do not flame me. If you do, I'll simply feed the flames to my flame-eating kitties! If there are any spelling mistakes, sorry! My spell check is all messed up, and I had to go over it myself.

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Chapter One:

By the Light of the Fire

She knew she should be studying, but Hermione Granger just could not pull her eyes away from the window. The fresh, wet snow falling from the sky was such a beautiful sight; as well as the first snow of the season. The moonlight seemed to make the snowfall seem beautiful, more enchanted maybe. All Hermione knew for sure was that she didn't want to stop watching the snow to work on her Potions assignments.

Harry Potter watched Hermione, who seemed transfixed watching the snow falling outside. He watched her every move, and quickly diverted his eyes every time she looked over at him. Harry simply pretended he was reading his Quidditch book, and Hermione would just turn away. Harry sighed. Hermione was just too beautiful. *Whoa. Where did that thought come from?* Harry wondered, shaking his head. *Herm is your best friend!*

Hermione felt eyes on her. She slowly pushed some stray pieces of her light brown hair - which she had somehow managed to tame into glossy ringlets that was a little past her shoulders - and turned around to look at Harry, her best friend and the only other person in the common room. He seemed very interested in reading his Quidditch book, Quidditch Through the Ages, although he'd already read it several times. Hermione shrugged it off. *Stop being paranoid! And don't be conceited! Harry's not looking at you, and if he were it wouldn't be like that!*

Hermione soon grew tired of watching the snow accumulating outside, so she stood up and stretched. She looked around the nearly empty common room. Her Potions work - work that Hermione had finally convinced Professor Snape to give her as some extra-credit Christmas work after much deliberation - was abandoned long ago in an overstuffed scarlet-colored armchair in the middle of the common room. Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, was purring loudly from the floor, curled up in a tight ball. Harry was spread out on one of the fluffy couches wearing a white wifebeater and boxers, reading his book. His houserobes were tossed on the floor beside of the couch, long forgotten. The fire in the fireplace was spreading a warmth that made the common room cozy and warm.

Harry watched Hermione stretch. He was amazed. *Her body is gorgeous...* Harry suddenly found himself caught up in watching Hermione again. When he realized that he was looking at his best friend's body, he quickly looked back at his book, hoping Hermione hadn't seen him.

But she had. Hermione walked over to the fireplace nonchalantly. She then turned and looked at Harry, who was pretending to be absorbed in his book. "Why have you been looking at me all night, but you haven't even bothered to say one word to me?" she asked, eyeing him. "And don't play dumb with me, either, Harry Potter. I'm smarter than that and you know it."

Harry quickly pushed his excuse away. "U - uh. Well, it was kind of unusual to see you not doing your work," he said, pointing to the chair where Hermione had previously sat, doing the extra-credit work. "You know, and since you practically got down on your hands and knees begging Professor Snape to give you extra-credit, I figured it would be on your top list of priorities. I found it strange to have you walking around and just staring out the window mindlessly."

Harry had come up with a more clever excuse than Hermione thought he could muster that quickly. "Oh."

Harry saw the disappointed look on Hermione's face, and silently cursed at himself. *The perfect chance to tell Hermione that you were watching her because of her amazing body and because she's the most beautiful girl you've ever seen, and you blow it. Way to go, Potter,* Harry said silently. He watched her some more. The light from the fire shined on Hermione's face, making her radiate elegance. *Why can't I just tell her that she's gorgeous, and I've liked her since the day I saw her - the day we met on the Hogwarts Express. Why is this so hard?*

Hermione was looking into the flames of the fire, feeling stupid. Of course Harry had just been wondering why a know-it-all bookworm such as herself was wondering around the room 'mindlessly' instead of working on her assignments. Of course Harry wouldn't be looking at her, or her body. It was a stupid mistake on her part, and she wanted to run up the stairs to her dorm and crawl into bed and cry her eyes out. And she could, because there was nobody else in her dorm - Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil had gone home for Christmas, and Sabrina McPherson was sulking over Ron Weasley leaving in another sixth-year girls' dorm instead of her own. Hermione had finally gotten some luck!

Hermione sighed heavily. She had been staring into the flames of the fire for a long ten minutes, and was just about to tell Harry she was going to go upstairs and go to bed, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped, and whirled around. She suddenly found herself staring into the big, glasses-less, emerald-green eyes of Harry Potter. *When did he get contacts?* she wondered. She remembered meeting him at King's Cross Station on September first, immediately noting a change about Harry that she just couldn't place. And there it was - he didn't have his glasses anymore!

Harry swallowed as he looked into the round milky brown eyes of Hermione. Of his best friend. He couldn't help but think that the way he felt toward her was wrong of him. He'd known her for six long years. Harry knew a lot about her. Would a relationship work between them? He mentally rolled his eyes at himself. *There you go again, Potter. You don't even know if Hermione wants a relationship. There's no reason to even worry about whether or not a relationship would work!* he scolded himself.

"Harry..." Hermione said at the same time that Harry said, "Hermione..." The two burst into a fit of giggles, losing eye contact. When they stopped laughing, Hermione became aware of what Harry was wearing, and how scantily dressed she herself was. Her houserobes were upstairs in the dorm, and she was wearing a pair of pajamas that she had recieved as an early Christmas gift - Winnie the Pooh, a Muggle cartoon character, was decorating the off-white pajama bottoms, while the top was merely a small, white, tight-fitting spaghetti strapped shirt with Winnie the Pooh right in the middle of her breasts. It wasn't the ideal thing to be wearing around Harry, since afterall he was a guy.

Harry had inched himself closer to Hermione, feeling emotions rush through his body. Emotions of happiness, warmth, wanting, longing, and...love?

Hermione looked up into Harry's eyes again. She realized the close proximity of their bodies - they were only about an inch or so apart from fully touching. Hermione had always thought that if she was ever that close to Ron or Harry, she would be so incredibly uncomfortable, but Hermione felt as if that's the spot she was supposed to be in - for eternity. She liked Harry so much, and she just wished she could let her feelings for him out. But no, because Hermione was far too afraid of being rejected by the one she truly had deep feelings for.

Harry put his right hand on Hermione's hip, and waiting for her to push it away. When she didn't, Harry reached up with his left hand, and began tracing Hermione's jawline. Some pieces of her hair that had fallen out of her ponytail earlier fell in her face from behind her ear, and he brushed them back. Harry felt Hermione's body shiver with pleasure, and he continued to run his hand up and down her jawline. The two never once broke eye contact.

"Harry," Hermione whispered softly, too afraid of interrupting their moment. "What are you thinking?"

Harry looked thoughtful, as if he was contemplating what he should say. After a moment, he replied, "I was thinking about kissing you, and how wonderful that would feel." Harry saw Hermione's face break out into a huge grin, so he knew that was the right thing to say. "What are you thinking, Hermione?"

Hermione looked up into Harry's eyes. "I was thinking about what it would feel like to have the most handsome boy I have ever seen kiss me," she said. "And you know who that would be, right?" Hermione smiled at Harry, and brought her arms up and put them around his neck.

"Uhm, Draco Malfoy, maybe?" Harry asked playfully.

Hermione held back a laugh. A laugh would destroy the lovely and caring moment they were having, and Hermione didn't want to risk that. "No, silly," she said, her voice still soft. "You." She pulled Harry's head down to her own, and their lips touched. Hermione felt sparks fly, and she deepened their kiss.

Harry felt her hunger for more, her hunger for him, and kissed her harder. Their passion flowed freely, finally unbottling itself from deep inside their hearts.

Hermione slowly steered Harry toward the couch he had been lying on earlier. Being careful to not break their kiss, she pushed him onto the couch and landed comfortably on top of him. Hermione felt Harry's tongue creeping in to her mouth, so she opened her mouth and allowed it in.

Harry explored Hermione's warm mouth with his tongue, and touched his tongue with hers. More sparks flew as their kisses became hungrier and more passionate, begging for more. Hermione felt Harry's hand brush up against the side of her breasts, and even though she was sure it was nothing more than an accident, she moaned in pleasure. Sensing that his hand accidentally brushing up against Hermione's breast felt good to her, he did it again and heard her moan once more through the kiss.

When the friends finally broke apart, they were gasping for air. Hermione laid her head down on Harry's chest and felt him caressing her back. Her head rose and fell with Harry's chest as he breathed. They were so caught up in their wonderful experience that they didn't hear someone step into the common room and utter a gasp at the sight of Hogwarts's two top students lying on a couch, with Hermione Granger lying on top of Harry Potter!

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Author's Note: Thanks so much for taking the time to read that! Again, if there were any spelling mistakes I'm sorry, but my spell check is messed up. Review! Review! Review! If I get one good review, I will continue with chapter 2. If not, I guess that the story is over here. I hope you guys liked my fanfic! Love, -Sane Insanity