Hermione flipped threw the Daily Prophet as always and Ron was just finishing off his second helping of eggs as Luna walked up to the table, "Mind if I sit, Ron?"
"Of course not, Luna, grab some wood," Ron said with a playful smile.
Hermione looked over the top of her paper and gave Ron a look. Ron just flashed a mouth full of chewed eggs and laughed.
"Disgusting Ron, grow up."
He just shrugged his shoulders and turned to Luna, "So Luna, how are you today? What's the good word?"
She pushed her glasses back and straightened her shoulders before speaking, "Well the word is that Slytherin will take the Cup now with little trouble at all, seeing as Harry's laid up in the Hospital wing."
Ron sent Hermione a quick glance and replayed, "Well, I'm sure he'll be fine for the game tomorrow. Besides, we could always use Ginny as Seeker if we have too."
"Well from what I heard, Gryffindor is down by 220 points. So your going to have your work cut out for you."
"220! You mean to tell me Slytherin beat Hufflepuff by 90 points last match! Merlin, what was Randle doing? Having tea with the Queen or something? Because it doesn't sound like he was watching the goal posts!"
"Well he did get 'Stooged' by two Slytherin chasers and was out of the game until the seeker caught the snitch. By that time they had scored 60 points."
"They did!? I'm not surprised that Draco would pull that just to increase their lead on us."
Hermione looked on in curiosity, "What's 'Stooging?'"
"'Stooging' is when two Chasers enter into the scoring area at the same time. One scores as the other beats up the Keeper. It's a serious penalty now. I think they lose 20 points and the offended team gets a penalty shot," Ron replied effortlessly. Hermione was amazed at this.
"Now, why can't you remember your history of magic like that?"
"Because I don't care about the history of magic Hermione. Oh, don't give me that look. Come on, we have to go see Harry and get him out of that bed."
They quickly gathered their things and set off to the Hospital wing. Outside the Great Hall they noticed something out of the norm. Professor Dumbledore was standing outside the main entrance talking with a small group of wizards. Some were carrying backpacks, and had many packages off to the side. Three of the older wizards wore deep crimson robes, and were handing Dumbledore a few official looking scrolls.
"What's all this about?" Hermione questioned but didn't stop walking.
"Beats me, come on we only have about 15 minutes until our History of Magic N.E.W.T."
Inside the hospital wing, they were happy to see Harry sitting up in his bed flipping through a large black tome. Dobby was also there holding a leather bound journal taking notes as Harry spoke. Ron cleared the room in a flash and was at is side.
"Hey, Harry. You look much better today."
"Mornin' Ron. Yeah, I'm doing better today, but still not 100% yet." Harry said to him, but he wasn't even looking at him. His attention was totally locked on Hermione, and for a moment they locked eyes and stared at one another. Ron's coughing brought them back to the moment.
Hermione fidgeted with her robes for a second, "Hi."
"Hi, . . .um I mean ah, good morning," Harry stammered for a minute.
Hermione closed in and delicately ran her fingers over the collar of his night shirt flattening it, "You look. . .better. . .today."
Harry took her hand in his and started to gently message palm of her hand with his thumb, "Yeah . . . so do you."
The steady rhythmic movement of his fingers and the intensity in his eyes was intoxicating. Before she even realized what she was doing she grabbed the back of his hair and locked lips with him in a deep forceful kiss. He responded with equal force thrusting his tongue beyond her lips, and then she felt his fingers sliding along the top of her skirt, back and forth. With every pass the tips of his fingers inched just under the top making contact with her flesh.
"Bloody Hell! You two want to cool it? I'm right here you know!"
Harry let out a low groan and released her. She still couldn't break her eyes away from his as she pulled away licking her lips.
"Sorry, . . ." they said at the same time.
"Well, I guess that answers my first question about how last night's visit went," Ron said watching the two of them with a bit of amusement. Harry blushed deeply and finally broke eye contact with Hermione. "It's not what you think Ron. We just . . . talked last night is all."
"Yeah right . . . whatever, but you're teaching me how you just did that later."
Hermione became very red and turned to talk to Dobby who was still quietly waiting for orders from Harry.
"Well anyway, Hufflepuff went down hard to Slytherin last time and we're down 220 points now. I really need you in the game tomorrow are you gonna make it?"
Hermione leapt to her feet and stood next to Harry, "Ronald Weasley, don't you dare try and pressure him! He can't fly now. He needs to recover first."
"I'll be there don't worry mate. I won't let the team down," Harry said but didn't look at Hermione.
"You two are impossible! Honestly I can't get you to study for more then fifteen minutes straight without your complaining, but you're ready to run out to the pitch when you can't even walk!"
Harry reached over and lightly placed a hand on her hip rubbing it slowly, "Hermione . . . please this will be our last game at Hogwarts. I can't just sit here and let Gryffindor lose the cup to Slytherin without a fight."
"But you're not well. If you get hurt again you could damage something permanently."
Ron chimed in, "Listen you two. We'll talk about this later, we got a test in . . .three minutes."
Hermione franticly grabbed her bag and kissed Harry goodbye. "This conversation isn't over mister. We'll talk more after dinner tonight."
"Ok good luck . . .See you tonight," he said resting back slowly.
"Dobby?"
"Yes sir, Mr. Potter sir."
"Harry, please just call me Harry, Dobby."
"Yes Mr. Harry sir."
"Ohh . . . Please go tell Madam Pomfrey I may need another potion for the pain. My finger tips are tingling again."