Harry sat fidgeting on one end of the couch, his gaze darting over to his best friend Hermione, who sat at the other end reading a book. It was late and most of the other Gryffindors had already retired to their beds. Harry himself was beginning to feel sleep-deprived, but couldn't bring himself to go to sleep just yet.

It was Ron's fault, he decided. Ron had been spending all of his time with his new girlfriend Lavender, who was admittedly ... girly. He and Hemrione had opted out of the Won-won and Lav-lav show, instead choosing to go off on their own. Harry had to admit that he loved hanging out with just Hermione. She was smart and funny, and unlike Ron, they could talk about more than Quidittch and chess.

There was only one problem with this whole spending more time with Hermione thing. He was starting to notice things... about Hermione. Her hair, for example, was driving Harry absolutely barmy. It was so curly and it looked so soft. He just wanted to run his hands through it and tug on those curls. Harry loved curly hair. Hermione easily had the curliest hair in Hogwarts and if he didn't get to run his hands through it soon, he was going to go crazy.

Harry snuck another glance at Hermione, who looked amazing in the firelight. He briefly wondered how she could read in such a dark room, but shrugged it off in favor of staring longingly at her carmel curls. Deciding that he needed to get this recect obbession out of his mind, he tried to scoot closer two her, hoping she wouldn't notice.

Hermione sat staring at her book, not reading it. Instead she was worrying over Harry's recent behavior. He was staring at her all the time now, hanging on to every word she said, but not comprending any of them. It would have been adorably amusing if she wasn't so worried. She sutbly glanced over at him, only to find him figeting uncontrollably, his eyes darting in between her and his knees.

She turned back to her book, sighing. Harry was an enigima. He was such an adorably akward friend that Hermione had no issue justiflying her feeling for him. Her feelings, which she knew where far deeper than they should have been, for her bespectacled, ansy, moody, trouble-attracting best friend. Her lovely adorable, oblivious best friend who was currently acting as if he would explode at any moment.

A soft, squishy sound woke her from her thoughts. She glanced over at Harry, only to find him sliding towards her on the couch, in a failed attempted to be sutble. Hermoine turned back to her book, biting her lip to keep from smiling in amusement.

Harry melted at the sight of her biting her lip. It was another one of her habits he had taken a notice to recently. That and the crinckling of her nose when she encountered something that puzzled her and when she... He was losing focus. Harry shifted so that he was practically brushing shoulders with her. He sat there stiffly for a moment, waiting for her to say something.

Hermione almost burst out in laughter as he stiffly sat barely a centimeter away from her. She noticed his triumphant grin out of the corner of her eye as he realized she wasn't going to respond. Her worry for him was slowly fading away as she belatedly recounted all of the symptoms Harry had been displaying and came to the conclusion that ... that.. Harry was crushing on her!

He couldn't resist it any longer. He had to smell her hair. He had to run his finger through it.

Hermione froze as she heard Harry take a deep inhale, his nose coming close to her hair. Apparently the Dursleys had never explained courting or relationships or feelings or anything with Harry. She saw him slowly lift his hand up to touch her curls.

Her hair was even softer that he'd imagined, Harry thought to himself, running her fingers along one of her curls. Hermione sighed, and Harry froze for a moment before carrying on with is ministrations. He rubbed her hair between the pad of his thumb and his index finger, before running his whole hand through her hair, tangling in the soft curls. His heat rate increased as Hermione rested her head on his shoulder.

"Harry?" Hermione inquired softly. Harry felt a lump rise in his throat. Would she say he was weird and she didn't want to be his friend anymore?

"Yes?" He responded quietly, his voice squeaking slightly as he spoke. Hermione set her book down on the coffee table and shifted her head was in his lap. Harry unconsciously shifted his hand to continue running through her hair.

"Do you like me?" She asked, smiling softly up at him. Harry felt his chest constrict as he looked down at her.

"Of course I do Hermione, you're amazing." Harry said, smiling. "You're always there for me, you're smart, you're funny. You're the best best friend I could ever ask for."

"But do you like me like me?" Hermione pushed, her smiling growing bigger. Harry's eyes widened almost comically as Hermione said this. Did he like her, like her? He certainly loved spending time with her, and he though she was beautiful. And she did have those lips, which looked really, really soft... and she did look like an angel in the firelight...

"Don't you like Ron?" He asked, remembering the crying episode.

"No. I just, I thought maybe he liked me. I'm not exactly sought after you know. It felt good to be wanted. But I wasn't really interested in him." She sighed. "It's just, until a few weeks ago, the boy I liked never paid any romantic attention towards me."

"Who's the boy?" Harry asked, his composure darkening.

"Well," Hermione started carefully, "You. At least I hope that's the reason you're always staring at me."

"It is." Harry admitted."I think I really like you Hermione. At the very least, you keep distracting me with all of your womanly wiles."

"My womanly wiles, Harry?" Hermione asked giggling. Harry blushed.

"It's not funny Hermione."

"It's a little funny, Harry." Hermione said, making the tiny gesture with her thumb and index finger. Then she sobered up. " I really like you too Harry. What do you say about going to Hogsmeade with me next weekend."

"I thought we were already going together." Harry said, confused. Hermione stared at him for a moment before it clicked. "Oh, like a date. I'd love to. Just, let's not go to Puddifoot's, alright."

"Deal." Hermione said, standing up. She pecked him on his cheek. "Now get to bed."

Harry stared at her, his face heating up. Had she just kissed him?

"Hermione?" He asked. Hermione sighed and looked at him in amusement, realizing she was probably going to have to lead him up the stairs now.

"Yes?"

"Will.. will you be my girlfriend?" He blurted out, a goofy smile on his face. Hermione blushed, looked at him in shock, and decided to use this to her advantage.

"Only if you go upstairs and go to bed right now." Hermione said, the words barely out of her mouth before Harry rushed past her and up the stairs to the boys dormitory. She watched him go in amusement before heading off to her own bed.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I heart reviews.