"Happy birthday, Harry. I missed you," I smiled into his shoulder, and he tightened his arms around me. Breathing in, I inhaled his scent. He smelled clean, a sharp soap smell that I couldn't quite place. It was intoxicating.

"And I missed you too, Mione."

He was the only one allowed to use that nickname, I couldn't stand it for anyone else to use it, it just didn't sound right unless it came from his lips.

I pulled back a bit, so I could look into his eyes. "How are you?" i asked, searching his face. "How are you and Ginny?"

The smile faded from his face, as he looked into my eyes. "Let's talk about it inside," he spoke, nervously, biting his lip.

I looked at him curiously and followed him inside, into the empty kitchen.

xXx

Three Years Later
Chapter Three
The Talk

Surprisingly, being the center-of-attention at this party, no one noticed me and Harry sneaking away into the house. He pulled me around the house and through the front door, and back towards the kitchen. His hand gripped mine firmly, and I couldn't help my heart beating a mile a minute.

I assumed the loud music out back was somehow being confined to that area alone because whne we stepped into teh house, everything was completely quiet.

Harry let go of my hand and sat down at the head of the kitchen table. As I sat down to his right, he ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even more.

"How are you and Ginny?" I asked again, hoping he'd answer this time. I was genuinely curious.

He looked back up at me and sighed. "I don't know. Sometimes it's all going fine, and the next day, it seems as if we're on opposite sides of the relationship spectrum or something."

"Well you know, it can't be easy. You're working as an auror now and Ginny is still getting the hang of professional Quidditch. It's been barely two years since she got out of Hogwarts. What did you expect? After the Battle everything would be perfect and you'd finally be able to be together and get married, starting your life together? Did you really think you'd already have kids by now?"

I realized after my rant that I wasn't just talking about Harry and Ginny. I had spoken about where I had hoped Ronald and would be by now. But that didn't happen.

"I know, of course I didn't think that. It just seems as if we're not really connecting that much, you know? And when she's away, or I'm on a mission, she doesn't write or find some way to get a hold of me anymore. When we first got through with everything at Hogwarts, we couldn't go a day without seeing eachother. Now it seems as if we can go weeks without even talking. She's not even acknowedging it, Mione. I don't know what to do, what to say!"

His voice rose as he spoke, and I couldn't help but flinch as he finished, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Mrs. Weasley said that Ginny did most of the planning for this, which I don't really believe. There are people here, my friends, that Gin doesn't even know, she's never met them and I haven't ever talked about them. The only person who would know them is Ron, and that's because we all work together. I just don't know why Mrs. Weasley would lie to me like that," he looked crestfallen, the corners of his mouth turned down, and there was a worry line on his forehead.

I couldn't help it, I placed my hand over his. "Harry, look at me. Mrs. Weasley might not have lied to you. Maybe...well maybe Ginny planned the party, decorations and band and such, and Ron helped with the invitations. You know nothing for sure. Don't jump to conclusions, you need all the facts."

Harry chuckled with a smile and raised his eyes to meet my own. "And there's the Hermione Granger I know and love, the cleverest witch of her age."

I blushed, I couldn't help it. I also couldn't help the way my heart jumped when he said love. I was just glad it was dark in the kitchen. I met his eyes, and for a moment, I forgot about the party. I forgot about Ginny and everything else. At that moment, with Harry's vulnerbility, it seemed as if we connected somehow. I couldn't move my eyes from his even if I wanted to. It might have been my imagination, but we seemed to be getting closer. His eyes were burning emeralds, and I knew my chocolate eyes had to be melting from the heat of our gaze.

A slamming of a door made Harry and I jerk away from eachother. Just in time too, because Ginny walked in.

Speak of a witch and she shall appear, I thought to myself bitterly.

She looked between the two of us, but didn't seem to be worried or suspicious, we were best friends after all.

"Harry, everyone's looking for you, it's time for the cake," she smiled, walking towards him and placing her hand on his shoulder. Gone was the perky over-excited Ginny I remembered at the mention of cake. Now that Harry had mentioned it, I was seeing small changes in the red-head.

Her eyes didn't light up the way they used to whenever she looked at Harry.

Her movements were stiff, controlled.

She touched Harry's shoulder impersonally, not the way you would touch someone you were in love with.

Looking at the two, and knowing each of them as well as I did, I could tell that things weren't right. When I looked closely, the way their bodies no longer moved together, as if they were one, I could tell that they were no longer in love, at least not as they were.

There was no doubt that they still loved eachother. No one could go through what they did and not still love one another.

I still loved Ron, and I knew he still loved me. But we were no longer in love.

And neither were Harry and Ginny.

I came to this realization slowly, barely hearing Ginny ask if I was joining them back at the party. I waved her off with a mumbled reply of being only a minute.

The two left hand-in-hand, but their bodies were as far apart as could be without raising suspicion that anything was amiss.

But I already knew.

Leaning back in the wooden chair, I closed my eyes, trying to process everything.

Harry and Ginny were still together.

But they are no longer in love with eachother.

But they're too chicken to say anything to one another.

Harry and Ginny were still together.

But I had almost kissed Harry.

I had wanted to kiss Harry.

And he had wanted to kiss me.

"What the bloody hell can I do about this?" I cursed myself, slamming my hands on the table.

That's when I heard something, a creak on the stairs. I opened my eyes and turned to the sound.

Ronald Weasley was standing halfway up the stairs.

He looked at me with shock in his eyes.

He had seen everything.