A/N: This is my first fan fiction, please go easy on me with the reviews. Sorry this chapter is short, I'll try to get better at splitting the chapters evenly and make them longer. I took the premise from the fan fiction "All Because of Hermione Granger" by Seel'vor and expanded it. I came back and fixed the spacing issues.

Life was sucking major dragon balls for Harry at the moment. The way he saw it, he had just lost another reason to fight for. He had wanted to fight the darkness in the heat of the moment, but he realized that Dumbledore had oh so gently coerced him towards that train of thought.

On top of losing his parents, on top of watching Cedric die, on top of watching Sirius die, on top of living with the Dursley family, on top of Dumbledore's gentle yet firm manipulations, on top of the many, many "…for your own good, Harry", on top of the fickle wizarding world calling him their savior one moment to an lying, attention seeking brat the next, on top of only being 15 years old, people still expected so much of him.

Out of all of his friends, only one person could come close to somewhat understanding how just Harry felt, not how the "Boy Who Lived" should feel. Yes, Neville had lost his parents and his Gran put a lot of pressure on him, but the difference was that he wasn't at the center of attention at all times. Even his best male friend sometimes couldn't get past the fame.

The only person who could somewhat understands expectations and found herself in the tabloids, unwillingly and unwanted just like him. She had to plow through the mounds of discrimination; she had to live up to high expectations of being the smartest witch of their generation. Though their circumstances were different, they both understood, at least more than others did. Hermione Granger: the one who always stuck by Harry, the one who always looked out for him, the one who would do what's best for him even when he couldn't see it himself, the one that completely saw past his fame, the one that he lov- really cared for… as a friend, as a sister even. There was no way Harry could think of Hermione the other way, he wasn't even sure he knew what the other way really meant since he never was conditioned with it by the Dursleys.

Through all of their adventures and even times alone, he had never seen her look at him the way that he looked at her. He even thought she caught him looking at her, but quickly looked the other direction. But it was just a school crush, nothing more. It never could be. She had already come close to death within the last week and was already in enough danger just being friends with him. He could never live with himself if any more of his friends got hurt, much less the girl that he lov- really cared about...

On the other hand, he knew deep down that something stirred in his chest when his green eyes met those bright brown eyes. He felt something in his chest when she bit her lip, deep in thought, eyes bright and that something felt good. Now that he thought about it, it was a different feeling than with Ginny or Luna. Now that he knew that Love was the power to beat old moldyshorts and he had never felt this deep caring for any other person, let alone a girl, he had to at least do… do something. He could at least let her know about his feelings, even though he wasn't sure he could pinpoint them he could at least try.

But it was either now or never. Once he got off the train, it'd be directly back to Durzkaban, and he'd never get the courage to do it again. And seeing how Dumbledore had left Sirius and especially himself in the dark for the past year, he wasn't even sure he would be better off than Sirius was this past year. He didn't know if he could actually see the words written down much less actually sending it. His life was shitty enough as it was and he didn't know if he could handle more rejection but he's made through it before, how much different could this be? She was worth the effort, more so than Cho, and they had a good chance of staying friends afterwards.

Back in reality on the Hogwarts Express, Harry's friends were throwing him furtive glances. They were so used to seeing Harry taking whatever the world threw at him in stride, never breaking his gait unless it was to help his friends. The pain from losing Sirius and almost killing his friends still etched in his face was very concerning. They would try to include him in the conversation or in games of exploding snap, but he would only grunt in reply and keep his gaze on the passing scenery. Eventually the train slows to its stop at King's Cross and everyone started getting their trunks, saying goodbyes knowing that they'd most likely get separated on the platform.

Hermione turned to Ron and Ginny telling them, "I'll take care of Harry, you guys go ahead." With worried glances towards Harry, they both agreed saying they'd see them on the platform. Hermione turned back to Harry as both redheads left the compartment. Harry knew this was now or never, but it didn't take the edge off. He was putting everything on the line and he hoped it went well.