This is my first attempt at a Harry Potter songfic, so please be kind. Constructive criticism is GREATLY appreciated.

Disclaimer: I'm just another member of the Harry/Hermione bandwagon. I own neither the song nor the characters and don't pretend to...often ;p

Hermione turned off her bedside lamp and leaned back against the headboard of her queen size bed. She pulled her knees under her and sighed.

"No one to say goodnight to but myself." She said, pulling her right knee up to rest her chin on. She pulled her arms about herself.

"Well, this is dreadfully lonely."

Hermione stretched her legs out in front of her and wiggled her toes.

At nineteen, Hermione was a gorgeous, full-figured, five foot six beauty. Her hair had become less bushy over the years, and her eyes had only become a deeper, more intense brown.

"I'm surprised the guys aren't lined up outside your bedroom door begging to have a little shag session with my little Hermione."

"MOTHER!" Hermione had blushed furiously at the comment while Ron and Harry laughed hysterically, practically collapsing with laughter on the kitchen floor. She stormed out, making Harry and Ron laugh all the harder.

Hermione frowned at the memory. "No mother, they're not lined up outside my door. Not the right one, anyway." She said to nothing but the crème colored walls.

But who exactly was it she wanted? That Hermione wasn't sure of. Certainly not the person who was calling her at that moment.

"Hello?" Hermione said, picking up the phone chord and twirling it
about her fingers. Hermione had requested that a phone be installed in her room for her job - she worked in a Muggle library most of the time, while at other times, she helped out at the Ministry of Magic doing whatever she could lend her hand in doing.

"Hermy?"

Hermione groaned.

"Hello Viktor."

"Hermy, why won't you talk to me? What did I do?" Four years later, and he had yet to get her name right.

Hermione sighed loudly. "For the thousandth time this week Viktor, it's not you. We were on again and off again as it was. It's time to move on."

Viktor still pursued. "But Hermy, I love you."

Hermione pursed her lips. She could imagine him sitting there with the phone in his hands in his absurdly normal Muggle hotel room, not quite sure how exactly to use it, with her number on a small, ripped sheet of paper right next to the keypad, her picture possibly on the desk behind it. His teammates practically begged her to break up with him.

"He's obsessed!" One of his closest friends had said. "Break it to him easy and then move on. This hasn't been a real relationship since the beginning. Just let him go."

But Hermione had already been considering that. And two weeks later, she had broken it off, saying it was over, that they both had to move on, grow up.

But still, he refused to give up.

"Hermy please - "

"Viktor, it wasn't steady from the beginning. We were never really together, not like we should have been. Please, for my sake, just let it go."

"But I love you."

"No you don't. You just think you do. Please Viktor, just forget about me and find someone else. Someone who can be a good girlfriend. Someone who can love you back."

Viktor sighed, defeated. "Alright. Farewell Herm-own-ninny."

"Goodbye Viktor."

Hermione hung up and pulled the phone chord out of the wall. "Just in case." She said as she yanked and the chord fell into her hands.

Instead of feeling relieved, happy it was all over, Hermione felt strangely upset. Lonely. So she did the only thing she could do. She got up out of bed and walked down the hall. She came to a mahogany door. It was closed, so she knocked.

"Come in."

Hermione walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Hello Harry."

Harry smiled and motioned for her to join him out on the terrace.

After graduation, Hermione, Ron, and Harry moved in together. They bought a three-bedroom house with a full kitchen, living room, study, dining room, and two bathrooms. Hermione, being the only girl, took the largest bedroom. Harry took the bedroom with the terrace, while Ron took the bedroom with the connecting bathroom, complete with a jacuzzi and full shower.

The three enjoyed living together, but hectic schedules prevented them from seeing much of each other. Harry was often called out late at night to deal with some sort of uprising of dark magic. Ron was in a heated relationship with one of his colleagues, Angela Patil, Parvati Patil's younger sister by a year, and often spent the night at her flat. So Hermione had been spending more and more time home alone. And she hated every second of it. It was nice to have someone to talk to for a change.

Hermione came out onto the terrace and Harry pulled her to his chest in a friendly hug. She smiled and looked at the blooming lilacs in their garden.

"What's wrong 'Mione?"

She smiled slightly, but sarcastically. "I should think that was obvious."

"So it's really true. You finally broke up with Krum." Hermione nodded. "Dare I ask why?"

Hermione sighed and pulled away, leaning crossed armed on the terrace railing. "You're going to think it's stupid."

Harry walked over to her. "Hermione, you could never be stupid." He brushed a piece of hair out if her face. "So tell me."

Hermione leaned her chin on her hand. "I didn't think he loved me anymore. He just wanted me so he could have a girlfriend. Maybe that's all I've ever really been to him. A girlfriend, and nothing else."

Harry said nothing, sensing more coming.

"I suppose I'm saving myself for someone who will never appear in my life. Someone who loves me for me and not my relationship." She stood up straight. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Harry nodded. "It makes sense. But I'll tell you, it takes a lot of strength to accomplish. A strength I'm not sure I have anymore."

"What?" Hermione stared at him. She had expected a few reactions, but nothing had prepared her for that response.

"Do you remember when I broke up with Cho?"

"How could I forget? She wouldn't stop owling you for weeks. Thank goodness I didn't have the phone installed yet because Merlin knows she would have been calling you round the clock, nonstop."

"Yeh. Do you know why I broke up with Cho?"

Hermione cocked her head. "No. Actually, you never told me."

Harry sighed. "I realized she was only with me for the fame. She could tell everyone she was dating the Boy Who Lived." He said bitterly. "The infamous Harry Potter dated Cho Chang for over three years and it only dawned on me four months ago that she was just using me for the fame, how sad is that?"

Hermione put her hands on his shoulders, facing him. "It's not sad Harry. I just can't understand why. Why did you stay with her for so long then?"

"Would you believe it's because I don't think I could have gotten anyone any other way."

Hermione gawked at him.

"Well, you see all the girls fawning all over me. And I hate it 'Mione, I really hate it. It's hard not to get into a relationship just for the sake of having one. I'm not sure I'd have the strength to so what you just did."

Harry looked at her. She wasn't sure what to say, so he continued.

"Relationships based solely on my not-so-hard-earned-fame are pretty much all I've ever gotten myself into. I've hit rock bottom, and sometimes I wonder if I've ever really climbed back up."

Hermione touched his face tenderly. "You're not hopeless Harry. I'm sure there's someone out there who loves you for who you are, not...who you are. Does that make any sense?"

Harry caught her eye and they laughed.

"It may seem like I'm saving myself for love Harry. But you don't know how tempted I was to get back together with Viktor tonight. Just for the sake of having a relationship to call my own, not for the fame or the emotions involved. Just so I have someone to call my own."

"'Mione, are you aware that in the almost four years you've known Krum, he has yet to learn to say your name correctly?"

Hermione glared. "Well, I'm sorry. We can't all have a name as easy and famous as Mr. Harry Potter." She walked back into his room and flopped down on his bed.

"I didn't mean it like that 'Mione." He said, following her in and
shutting the terrace doors.

"Sure you didn't. Look Harry, I'm pretty exhausted, and as lovely a chat this was, I want to go to bed." She got up and didn't walk three steps before Harry seized her arm.

"Don't."

"Harry let, go of me." His grip didn't loosen. "Harry, what are you - "

Harry briefly caught her eye before he pulled her to him and kissed her.

Hermione's eyes snapped open, but she shut them again. She twined her arms around his neck and pulled him as close to her as possible, so close she could barely breathe. All she wanted now was Harry. There was no one else.

Suddenly realizing what they were doing, Harry stopped abruptly. They looked into each other's eyes and pulled away awkwardly.

"Goodnight Harry." Hermione said as she walked out of his room and
into her own, slamming the door.

"'Mione?"

Hermione was lying down on her bed, her face buried in her comforter and pillows.

Ron opened the door cautiously and shut it behind him. He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her back. "'Mione, what happened?"

Hermione rolled over and sat up. "Ron, I'm so confused. I think I just made the biggest mistake of my life."

"OK, slow down. What happened? Is it Krum?"

"No."

"Is it your job?"

"No." Her voice was becoming more and more distressed.

"Is it me?" He asked, edging away from her slightly.

Hermione smiled but then frowned again. "It's Harry."

Ron smoothed her hair away from her face. "What happened?"

Hermione launched into a long, drawn-out explanation of what happened, until Ron was looking at her, smiling boyishly from ear to ear.

When she finished talking, Hermione looked up at him, not sure why he was grinning so stupidly. "Ron Weasly, what ARE you smiling about?"

He tried to no avail to wipe the grin off his face. "It's just - I've been waiting for this to happen. You and Harry, I mean. I've been expecting this for months. I made a bet with Sirius, actually, betting how long you two would live together before you realized you loved each other. Looks like Mr. Black owes me thirty galleons."

"WHAT?!"

"Oh, come off it Hermione. You two have been smitten since Fourth Year, Harry's just too thick to admit it, and you've been too busy with Mr. Krum to realize that you felt the same. I'm surprised it even took THIS long."

Hermione gaped open mouthed at him, not sure what to say. She opted for leaning her head on his shoulder. "I don't want to lose his friendship Ron."

"You won't. You're just taking things to the next level. Of all the girls Harry has ever dated, you're the only one who has ever truly loved him, for more then his fame and fortune, and you're not even dating yet. You love Harry because he's Harry James Potter, your best friend of eight years, not Harry Potter, the hero of the wizarding world. You love him for him, not his name. You cherish all the aspects of his life, not just the glorious and world-known." Ron raised Hermione's chin so he could look into her eyes. "And that's what's going to make you get up, march right back into Harry's room, and set things straight. Understand?"

Hermione threw her arms about Ron, hugging him fiercely.

"Thank you Ron."

"No problem, any time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have my own girlfriend to attend to." He got up and walked out the door, Hermione following, smiling. While Ron walked down the stairs, Hermione walked back to Harry's room.

Hermione crept into Harry's room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

"Harry?" He was lying, face up and bare chested on his bed, sleeping. The sight of him made her breath catch in her throat. For a moment, Harry was the only person besides herself in the world.

Cautiously, she walked over to the bed and lay down next to him. She leaned over and caught him in a deep kiss that not only awakened him, but took his breath away.

"Hermione - "

"Shh..." She pressed her thumb to his lips. Harry looked into her
eyes, and suddenly knew that everything was going to be ok. In her eyes, he saw a love that was rooted deeper then just names and achievements. He saw the love of a person who saw him for who he really was - Harry James Potter, a nineteen-year-old with a past that he wished was anyone's but his own, with a heart of gold, and the love for only one woman, who was lying next to him, and felt the same way.

Harry pulled Hermione to him and met her midway with a kiss that would make Aphrodite herself look like no one but Cupid's maidservant.

Two hours later, Harry and Hermione laid wrapped in each other's arms, their clothes strewn about the room, nothing but a thin, silk sheet covering their naked bodies.

Harry nuzzled Hermione's ear and she smiled and let a sigh of pure contentment escape her lips. She twined her left hand in his.

"I was saving myself, you know."

"What?" Hermione wasn't quite sure what he meant.

"All those years with Cho, we were never...intimate. I was saving myself for a love I though I was imagining, nothing but a dream. But I wasn't dreaming it. I had it all along." He kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear, "It was you."

Hermione smiled. "I know what you mean. All that time on and off with Krum, and I never once even thought of sleeping with him. The thought just wasn't logical. I was waiting for someone to come along and see me for who I really was, who I REALLY was, and who could love me for it. And, you know, being able to hear my name pronounced correctly is also a plus."

Harry laughed softly and brushed Hermione's hair out of her face.

"You are an extraordinary person Hermione Anne Granger."

"As are you Harry James Potter." She kissed him softly, but with a love only she could give.

"So Harry's finally found someone who loves him for more then just his name and his famous persona, and Hermione's found someone who truly loves her and can say her name correctly."

Angela laughed and put her arms around Ron's neck. "All I can say is that it's about time those two figured out they were in love with each other. Everyone else has had it figured it out for years. I know I have."

"But you know what?" Angela asked him.

"What?"

"They're not the only ones who have found love." Angela kissed Ron
passionately. When she pulled away, she leaned into his chest. Ron kissed the top of her head.

"I love you Angela Patil."

Angela looked up into his eyes. "And I love you Ron Weasley."

*~*~*~*~*~

"I love you Hermione Granger."

Hermione lightly stroked his face. "And I love you Harry Potter."

Cherish your name...