They'd talked extensively about this. Hermione was shocked and struggled to believe even half of it. If she dared believe the other half she was convinced her heart might explode from all its uncontrolled pounding. She'd always loved Harry, far more than a mere friend should and not in anything like the same way. She'd always known that. She'd filed it away as a rueful case of what might have been. It just hadn't happened for them, never looked like it would. For a multitude of ludicrous reasons, it was as if they'd entered into an unspoken covenant never to look the possibility in the face.