I'm Haunted By You
by Cassie Valentine

Rating: NC17
Ship: Harry & Hermione
Canon: Books 1 - 5
Genre: Angst, Romance
Status: Complete
Length: 1,253 words in 1 chapter
Published: 2 Jul 2004
Last updated: 2 Jul 2004

"I'm haunted by you," he whispered to her. "Even when you're here, but not with me, I'm haunted by your memory." A
little smutt, a little angst and a little plot.

From the Unofficial Portkey Archive: https://portkey-archive.org/story/2444/

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1. The Haunting

He watched her sleep from the other side of the room, the moonlight casting a soft glow through the small room. He found
it a little odd that it was him who was up in the middle of the night, an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach as
he considered the implications of what they had just done a few hours ago.

It had all started out simple enough, a few drinks at the pub, a little lamenting that Ron had found someone and they
were still dreadfully single. She had comment that while he may be single, at least he could get some regularly.

He had nearly choked on his drink when he heard that. She had chuckled at his reaction and they had shrugged it off as
drunken conversation.

Funny, he thought, how they had ended up in his flat, in his bed, doing unspeakable things to each other.

So, here they were her sleeping peacefully while he wrestled with, what he figured was an irrational guilt about having
slept with his best friend.

He had struggled to pick a word for their act. While he found sex to clinical for the moment, he couldn't bring him self
to say making love, simply because he was pretty sure there was little to no love involved. Slept together seemed a
rather funny term, seeing as how there had been no sleeping involved in the act at all.

How he wished that he had taken them to her place, so he could have escaped while he collected his thoughts.

***

They had been detached from each other after that night. A little distant, a little awkward and neither could say
exactly why. Oh sure, the sex thing was part of it, and they knew it, but that morning hadn't been all that bad. They'd
had a rather pleasant breakfast, talked, laughed and he'd even kissed her good bye but after that . . . things had kind
of fallen apart.

He couldn't stop thinking about her, just the little things he didn't normally remember about his past lovers. She
always ate the top half of her bagel first, stirred her coffee three time (clock wise) before drinking it and her hair
wasn't nearly as wild as he had imagined it to be in the morning. It was rather soft, actually, and shone a little red
in the early morning sun light. She'd twist a few strands around her finger as she read the paper and she always read
the comics first and scanned the classified adds to see what kind of crazy things people were trying to sell.

He also kept finding things that reminded him of her around his apartment.

"You'd think I was being haunted by her," he muttered to Hedwig one morning when his paper fell open to the comics and
he found himself stirring his coffee three times (clock wise) before drinking.

***

They were in the pub again, a few weeks after Harry had decided that Hermione was some how haunting him. He watched her
run her finger around the rim of her pint as she rattled on about her work.

"I'm sorry, you must be bored silly," she said after a moment, when she realized she was rambling.

"I don't mind," he said quietly, running his own finger around the rim of his own pint. She glanced at him with a funny
look on her face. "Come back to my place for a bit? It's getting a little too crowded in here for me," he said. She
agreed and they quickly paid and apparated to his flat. They stood in the living room for a moment before they were in
each other's arms, kissing wildly and tearing at clothing. He led them blindly towards his bedroom, pulling her sweater
over her head and groping for the clasp of her bra while she popped the snap on his pants before tugging at his shirt.
Harry was stumbling out of his pants and shoes by the time the back of her legs hit the edge of the mattress.

She grasped his member firmly, jerking her hand over him quickly a few times before she swallowed him whole, holding
firmly to his legs to keep him in place. He ran his hands through his hair and pulled a little, fighting the urge to
simply grasp the back of her head and move her faster. He pushed her back after a moment and quickly returned the
favour. He thrust two fingers into her as he ran his tongue in little circles around her clit and fought off her
attempts to pull him up to her. She came with a cry and he smiled a devilishly handsome smile as he moved slowly up her
body, placing little kisses here and there as he went. Taking special care to pay attention to her breasts that, in his
opinion, were simply aching for attention.

When he was within her grasp, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, kissing him firmly when she snaked a
hand down to find him and guide him home. He moved quickly and she moaned. Hips shifted, looking for better contact,
hands roamed and small cries were heard. They didn't hear the neighbour banging on the wall as they cried out in
completion before he collapsed on her for a moment, catching his breath and then rolling to the side, pulling her tight
against him.

***

"I'm haunted by you," he whispered to her. "Even when you're here, but not with me, I'm haunted by your memory." He
watched Hermione blink at him. Whether from the early morning light in her eyes or from his statement, he wasn't sure.

"Normally one is haunted by ghosts," she replied quietly. He smiled.

"It was the little things. The stirring of the coffee, the comics in the paper. . . it was like some force was guiding
me to do it. Like you were haunting me," he explained. She laughed and he decided that he definitely wouldn't mind being
haunted by that sound.

"You come up with the craziest things," she told him as she ran a hand softly down his jaw.

"It wasn't meant to be crazy. I thought it was sweet, maybe even romantic," he said with a shrug.

"I'm not sure about that. It was definitely sweet," she assured him. He smiled and kissed her.

"Why don't you stick around and haunt me in the flesh for a while?" he asked quietly. His eyes began to search her face
when she hesitated.

"Move in with you?" she asked, looking at him like he had three heads.

"Uh, how about I just extend a permanent invitation to come over anytime you want," he suggested. The idea of her moving
in was stored for later though, but not now. They had only slept together twice, after all, he thought with a smile.

"That I like," she said, returning the smile. "I think I can get used to haunting you."

"Good, I think I'll like it even better with you in the flesh," he said as he quickly rolled her under him.
