by DrT - Sahits

"I think so," Harry said. "You always liked Ron more than he liked you. I always thought he used
you as a safety girl friend, but was always looking for someone else, but maybe I was wrong. As for
me, Cho and I dated a bit in Fifth year, which was a disaster. Ginny and I dating in Sixth year was a
lot better, but when I broke things off, it turned out she had been leading me on with a mild
enticement potion. Ron caught her and Mrs. Weasley about to dose me with a strong love potion in
late July of 1997 and blew the whistle, mostly because he had suffered through getting a love potion
another student had designed for me, and this was his way of paying me back for helping there and
when he nearly died of poison at about the same time. You and I became lovers after Ron was
killed, just after Christmas in 1997. We were each other's first actual lover."
"That's a lot to absorb," Hermione said.
"It is," Harry agreed, standing. "We need to absorb some food, and I need to take ten minutes to set
up some Occlumency shields inside your head for you."
"Occlumency?"
"Both Snape and Dumbledore are constantly reading surface thoughts. It's a magic called
'Legilimency'. Clouding your mind is 'Occlumency'. You had a very organized mind at eighteen,
and I would imagine you're pretty close to the same now. You ended up mostly teaching me how to
do this. It will likely take me ten minutes to teach you how to recognize if someone is scanning
your mind, and to deflect them from a surface scan. Blocking an attack they don't bother disguising
took you weeks of meditation and hard mental work. It will also make you less likely to be taken
over by the Imperius."
"Alright." As Hermione sat at the table, she asked, "You do have a plan for tonight, right?"
"I do," Harry agreed.
"So you know, well, of course you know what the task is."
"Dragons," Harry answered.
That made Hermione's heart skip a beat, but she continued, "And the note to Cedric?"
Harry shrugged. "The last time, Karkaroff and Maxime found out and clued in Viktor and Fleur,
while Hagrid told me. I didn't think it was fair for Cedric not to know."
Hermione smiled and started in on her salad. "That's my Harry."
Harry pulled out a small box from his pocket and handed it to her. "I am yours, if you want me to
be."
"Harry," Hermione asked, slightly breathless and wide-eyed, "what is this?"
"It's not an engagement ring, if that's what you're worried about," Harry answered. "I was going to
wait to tell you how I felt about you until after the First Task, so we could talk some more, but I
couldn't help but tell you as soon as I saw you. I love you and I've missed you so much that it still
hurts. In this time stream, we've been friends for over three full years, and really close friends for
most of that time. Next weekend, if not sooner, we'll come here and I'll tell you about the alternate
future; about things they have never told us about the wizarding world, especially wizarding
Britain; about how abusive my life at the Dursleys really was; about almost anything you want me
to tell you. If you want to wait until then to decide about that ring, or if you want to say 'no' now,
you will still be my best friend, and my closest advisor . . . the one person I know I need to listen to,
even if I don't always do what you think I should do."
Hermione swallowed nervously and opened the box. In the magical world, promise rings were still
common, showing that the couple was serious. They were either silver or at least silver in color, and
always had a knot motif in some fashion. Hermione took the ring from the box, noted the Celtic
knot design, and then looked surprised. "This seems too heavy to be silver," she said.