Love Potion Hell
It began innocently enough at the Burrow just before their 7th year. Harry was given the twins room to stay in when he came to visit. The surprise was when Hermione joined him in the bed at 2am on the first night.
He jerked awake when she slid under the sheets beside him. She mumbled, "Need sleep," and snuggled against him. Within a minute she was out cold, her gentle breath tickling his neck.
The hall door was closed, he hoped it was locked but without his glasses on he couldn't tell. There was no way he was going to get to sleep now, not with his gorgeous best friend snuggled against him and his ex-girlfriend just down the hall. His traitorous body went through the motions though and he stared accusingly at the tenting of the sheets.
Then Hermione shifted and her knee came up to brush against his erection. He almost lost it there but after some slow breathing and thoughts of Snape in a dress the emergency slowly receded.
The next thing he knew the sun was up and someone was knocking at the door. Hermione was still draped over him and snuggled closer, muttering 'more sleep' into his chest. Then Molly Weasley's voice called out, "Time to get up and moving Harry, breakfast is ready."
He thought it best to call out but that would surely wake Hermione and though he wasn't sure what to say about it he did rather like her like this.
Hermione though acted on her thoughts and sat up in the bed and pointed his wand at the door. Her hand had been under his pillow where he kept it. The only spell he recognized her casting was a silence spell. The rest, and she cast at least three, he didn't know. She plopped back onto his chest and snuggled in to him tightly. She muttered, "Don't they understand I need sleep?"
"Hermione?"
She kept her head on his chest but said clear enough, "Do I need to silence you too?"
He thought better of making her upset and kept his mouth closed.
"My Harry is a smart man." She said then drifted off to sleep again.
Though his anxiety at the thought of them getting caught made him alert to any possible intrusion he did eventually fall asleep himself.
When Hermione finally stirred the clock said it was almost lunch time. She shoved him gently to wake him. He blinked rapidly at the sun coming in through the curtains. She said, "Yeah, forgot to darken the curtains didn't I? Well I'll do better next time, I really needed to catch up on my sleep. How did you sleep?"
In spite of his anxiety over her being here he realized he felt very refreshed. The next thing he noticed was his raging erection and need to pee. He sat up quickly and covered his erection with some wadded up sheets.
She laughed, still lying on the bed. "You're almost Weasley red." When he didn't answer just stammered she shoved him. "Oh, go, use the loo first. I know all about your problem."
With an un-manly 'eep' he jumped off of the bed and into the in-suite bathroom and closed the door.
Hoping she had left while he was relieving himself didn't work. She was sitting on the bed facing him when he finally came out. "Oh good, I need to go too," and pushed past him into the bathroom. She ignored the door so he grabbed it and closed it for her then hurried to get dressed.
Hermione apparently decided to take a shower as he heard the water start running a few minutes later. He found her wand nestled with his under his pillow. He sat on the now made bed and wondered about facing the Weasley's alone, then thought better of it and sat patiently waiting for her to finish her shower. He wasn't sure he could unseal the room without blowing up the door either.
What was she up to? Why had she come into his room and why for Merlin's sake had she sealed the room against the Weasley Matriarch? He really couldn't come up with any good reason so he continued to sit there and think. He did realize she was acting very differently than yesterday. She had been, for lack of a better term, ditzy. Ultimately a wet haired Hermione emerged from the loo, still dressed in her peach nightgown but looking fresh and awake for the first time.
She sat on the bed and took his wand, she leaned over and started running it through her wet hair. A minute later and her hair was dry and neatly styled. Again this was different behavior for her, yesterday her hair had been as uncontrolled as ever.
She looked straight into his eyes and asked. "Do you need to shower or are you awake enough for a conversation?"
"I think I'm awake enough."
"Good, first, drink this." She took a small green vial from the nightstand. He had noticed it earlier but ignored it.
He hesitated only a moment, this was Hermione, he knew that in his soul and he trusted her far beyond reason. "Um, Ok." He downed the sweet tasting potion in a single gulp.
She said, "Sorry it's going to burn but there's no other way Love."
Love? What had she given him? It was far too late for questions as he doubled over in agony. She curled around him and held on tightly while he shook in pain. It felt like ages later but was only thirty seconds when the pain stopped and his world changed.
* * *
At the end of fifth year Hermione had told him she would see him real soon. He hadn't understood what she meant at the time but the next morning when he awoke Hedwig had a note for him. She had been out hunting last night and must have returned through the side window he had left open for her.
The note was small and wrapped neatly about her leg, even the color of the paper and string tying it matched the color of her skin closely. Only the fact that his familiar was holding her leg towards him had made him notice it.
He untied and unwrapped the note. It was a simple map of Little Whining with an X on a house three streets over in the far more expensive houses in town. The time of 7:45 was written just under that house. The note was unsigned but he knew that Hermione had written this note.
He looked at Hedwig who hooted softly.
He took that to mean he needed to do this secretly. He got dresses and pocketed his father's invisibility cloak. He went down and cooked the Dursley's their breakfast. None of them was up yet but it was still too early for even Petunia to be up.
He ate his own meal and left the dishes in the sink. Then put on his invisibility cloak and headed out into the back yard, he still had nearly an hour to get to the house on the map. It would take him about that to walk it under the cloak. He spent nearly the full hour and arrived a few minutes early. Keeping the cloak on he went up and knocked on the front door of the house.
It was pulled open less than ten seconds later by a pretty girl about his age, his eyes were drawn first to her prominent breasts, barely concealed by the tight t-shirt she had on. When his eyes finally made it up to her face he realized that this was Hermione. She looked very different in tight shorts and a tighter t-shirt with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She did have her wand sticking out of the right front pocket of her shorts.
She looked around and then smiled warmly. "Excellent, come in Harry." She spoke softly and stood to the side, still holding the door. He walked in and deliberately brushed the cloak against her so she would know he was inside. She closed the door and locked it. He removed the cloak.
"Told you I would see you real soon didn't I?" Again she spoke softly and he wondered if her parents were still sleeping.
He gestured around the house, "When?"
"My parents moved here while we were at school. I just saw the place for the first time yesterday." She started walking towards the back of the house. "Have you eaten enough? My parents just left for work, only Crookshanks is here with us."
"I fed myself before I left, and why are we whispering?"
She shrugged and said, "Because you just snuck from your house to mine?" She switched directions and pointed up a wide staircase they then walked up. He followed curiously. They were soon in her bedroom where she closed and locked the door.
Crookshanks was lounging on a soft cushion by one of the large windows. All of the curtains were drawn though and only a single light illuminated the room.
He began to panic, the atmosphere in this room was charged with something he didn't understand. He looked at Hermione who was now holding her wand. It wasn't pointed at him, the ground beside her in fact but just that she was holding hers and he wasn't made him even more nervous.
"I swear on my magic I am Hermione Jane Granger, I am acting under my own free will and I only wish to help you, and myself."
Instantly he relaxed, she put her wand on the dresser. "You know me too well." He said.
"I realize that the suddenness of this could shock you and you really had no way of knowing I wasn't someone under Polyjuice or something."
"So why the secrecy about all of this?"
"Lots of reasons. First I do not trust Dumbledore any longer, nor the Ministry in general. Second we have unasked, and thus unanswered issues between us that we must resolve. Third, you need someone whom you trust, to share your burdens with. I offer myself with my solemn pledge to never abandon you." She was looking him straight in the eyes during the entire time.
She didn't trust Dumbledore, did she know the prophecy already? What issues between them? "I'm confused. What issues between us?"
"How much do you trust me?"
"I'd pretty much do anything you ask me to." He answered a second later.
"Good then trust me on this ok?"
He nodded and she pulled him over to the unmade bed and tipped him over so he fell backwards onto it. She was on top of him before he bounced. Before he realized what was happening she was straddling him and had her hands on either side of his head, then she kissed him. It took him a second to realize what was happening and then she had pulled away slightly.
"Let's try that again, kiss me." And she brought her lips to his once again.
This time he was ready and responded, it was an entirely different experience than with Cho last year. He was already connected to Hermione on many levels, this made him aware of the possibility of so much more.
She continued the kiss, deepening it, her firm breasts pushed hard against him. While their tongue's danced he felt a beast growing between his legs. He tried to shift them so she wouldn't notice but she slid down and pressed the crotch of her shorts against his bulging pants.
She pulled away, they were both panting heavily. "We're going to do it, here and now. I'm not running from that monster."
He could only stammer "But…"
She kissed him again, hard. Her body pressed tightly against him. It took him a few minutes to manage to get her off so he could breath. By then he had realized that he didn't want to stop her. "Protection?"
She grimaced, inches from his face. "Trust me, please."
He heard a note of desperation in her voice that wasn't there before and instead of answering her with words he lifted his head a few inches and kissed her.
They became a pair of half wild beasts for the next thirty minutes, clothes were flung off and bodies explored. Harry was shocked to find a large angry scar across her upper chest, Dholov's curse that nearly killed her just a few weeks ago. She was shocked to find his body covered with scars from all of the beating s he had been through while growing up. She kissed every inch of every scar on his body and he did the same for her new one.
They woke several hours later, having fallen into contented sleep after having sex for the third time. They were twined together, naked and still sweaty where their bodies had been pressed together for hours. She had awoken a fire he didn't know existed within himself, a fire that only she was able to quench but that never seemed to go out, merely smolder until the next eruption.
He was hard between them, she twisted and got him back into her. Once again they let the bestial part of themselves take over.
Later when he had recovered his senses he asked, "I take it that was the unasked and unanswered question?"
She grinned, "Part of it. We had a lot of sexual tension, whether you realized it or not. Now that we have explored this facet of our relationship we can move forward."
"What? I don't ever want to stop doing this with you."
She smiled warmly, "That's not what I meant silly. Of course we can keep having sex. I've read about all sorts of things we can try."
He grinned but didn't quite understand what she meant.
"Moving forward means continuing with your emotional development. I realize now, after having seen the physical scars, that you have been treated terribly while growing up. I didn't want to have sex with you just for it. I wanted to show you how much I love you."
"Huh?"
She gestured between their naked bodies. "This, is not love, some people call it making love but truthfully it is more animalistic. During the act though we both experienced deep personal satisfaction. Not just because our bodies enjoyed the experience but because our minds and hearts did so as well."
He still couldn't form a cohesive response.
"We are in love with one another Harry. In time, once you understand what love really is, you will know it in your heart and mind as I do. I can give you a detailed analysis of how I formed this belief but truthfully you have to feel it in there." And she placed her palm flat over his heart.
He glanced down, away from her eyes and saw again the red scar on her chest and remembered what he had felt when she got it. "When you got this," he traced the red scar over her left breast, "I nearly died. I thought you were dead and I couldn't imagine the world without you by my side. I don't know what that feeling was, but I know it hurt more than Voldemort's Curstacious curse. Is that love?"
She nodded, tears welling from her eyes. "That is the deep feeling of loss you can only experience through first loving."
"I don't ever want to feel that again, I couldn't breath."
She hugged him tightly anyway, he thought it was more for her own tears than anything. He held on until she relaxed her grip.
"Did you feel that way when Sirius died?"
"No, I wish I had known him better. He promised to let me live with him and take me away from the Dursley's but we never got a chance to connect. I think he still thought of me as my father. During the duel in the DoM, he called me James." They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, he pondered what could have been with his now deceased godfather. "You don't trust Dumbledore anymore?"
She shook her head. "The pieces do not fit into a pleasant picture. How did Hagrid get to your parents house and recover you before Sirius? Sirius would have known immediately when he remembered where they lived that something was wrong. Not even Remus knew they had switched the secret keeper. How was McGonagall watching the Dursley's house for the entire day? That's the day before your parents were attacked. Yet he abandons you on their doorstep like a lost puppy? He was not the head of the Wizengamot at the time but he has been now for ten full years. Why did he not call for a trial for Sirius? Surely three drops of Veratasium would have exonerated your godfather years ago."
"Well then what is he doing?"
She bit her lower lip, "You have received no special training or strategic knowledge?"
He shook his head, If anything he had been kept ignorant and told her so. "I understand far less of the magical world than most first year muggle-borns. I never got any orientation or whatever it is McGonagall went through with you."
She was still biting her lip, "That's what I feared." She looked pensive and then said. "He can only be setting you up to fail. Maybe so he can take the glory of being the only wizard in history to defeat two dark lords. I don't know really but there are not many other possibilities."
"What can we do? Should we run away somewhere?"
"No, we need to investigate our options. Meanwhile I will concentrate on defensive and concealing spellwork and the detection and removal of those. You should work on learning offensive methods and read up on how Voldemort acted during his first reign of terror."
They spent several weeks like this, most of July. Harry had given Hermione the engagement ring just two days before his birthday. Her parents, who had learned from their daughter about their relationship were not displeased nor over-joyed by the prospect of their only daughter being engaged.
The next day Dumbledore caught them at Hermione's. They were both stunned by the Headmaster and when they woke up had different memories of their summer. Her parents had not been home at the time but had been expecting her to leave soon, she left them a note and didn't see them until after 6th year when her mother asked about the engagement ring.
* * *
He felt light headed but the pain had vanished instantly along with his love for Weasely's and Dumbledore. He dove at Hermione and kissed her so deeply he felt like he was going to end up inside of her. A minute later and they were shagging their brains out and his brain did the only thing it could and shut off.
It was a full hour later that his brain re-engaged and he asked, "I can't believe it's been a year since we did that! How did you figure out they had obliviated us and were dosing us with potions?"
The extremely naked and luscious Hermione answered. "My mum asked me where my engagement ring was when I got home from school. I suddenly remembered the fact that I was engaged to you but I was in love with Ron. Since that made no sense at all I dashed off to my room and drank the first half of that goblin purgative. Once my feelings and memories were back where they belonged I figured out what they had been doing. I still can't find my ring though."
"Oh wait, I have it. I was going to give it to Ginny today." He hurried over to his trunk and pulled out the box with the ring in it. He knelt beside her and took it from the box. This was definitely the engagement ring she had been wearing a year ago. Without words he slid it onto her finger and kissed the back of her hand.
"You terribly sappy romantic, you were going to give her an engagement ring on the day before her brother gets married. Now I feel much better. It was terrible thinking I had lost it."
"What are we going to do now?"
She grinned maliciously at him. "Exact revenge of course."
"First, how can we prevent them from dosing us again?"
She handed him his wand and took hers from the night stand and touched the tip of hers to his forehead and motioned for him to do the same with his wand. When his wand was also touching her forehead she said. "Repeat after me." He nodded so she continued. "I bind my soul to thee from this day forth, never to be sundered. So mote it be!"
He repeated her words exactly and their magic did the rest. Large swirling bands of white light circled them and then merged into them. "We're married now?"
"No, now we're bonded. Over the next month we should begin to hear one another's thoughts and feelings. This is the only way we can be sure as the bond makes us immune to any external influences. Any! No more Tommy in your head lover."
"You're brilliant! Have I ever told you that?"
She blushed, "A time or two I think." She slid to her feet. "Winky?"
Instantly the little elf appeared. "Yes Mistress?" Harry hastily pulled the mangled sheet over to cover his nudity. Hermione stood there as if it was perfectly normal to stand naked in front of him and Winky.
"Can you get us some lunch?" Hermione asked pleasantly.
"Certainly Ma'am." And the elf was gone.
"You could have warned me?"
"And miss your reaction? Hurry dear, she will be back any moment."
He dashed into the bathroom taking the sheet with him until she stepped on it. She laughed as he ran in naked and slammed the door.
"Start the shower; I'll join you in a minute." She called through the door.
That sounded like an excellent idea to him, they were covered in sweat and oh, so exciting smells. So he started it and just as he was climbing in she came in and joined him. They slowly took their first shower together, it took some coordination but eventually they were done. Two sets of casual muggle clothes were laid out on the freshly made bed. A table with two chairs had appeared and a pair of sandwiches with crisps and pumpkin juice stood waiting for them. Fortunately as he was still naked, Winky was gone.
They got dressed and over lunch he asked her, "Why were you acting very silly yesterday."
"The obliviations and potions made me act so scattered last year, do you know my grades actually dropped?" She sighed, "Anyway, I figured I should continue the act until I could get you back to yourself.
He nodded, "Probably a good idea to keep from acting suspicious until we could work together. What do you have planned so far and how can I help?"
"All taken care of, that's why I was so tired, I spent half the night setting up our revenge. The only food safe to eat in this house is what Winky or Dobby bring us and I've had them dose the rest of it with a tonic I got from the goblins. It will make everyone loose all of their hair, when it grows back it will be jet black, like Snapes. No more Weasley red hair. Ron's penis should be about an inch long when erect and Ginny's tits should be mere bee stings. Oh, and whenever Molly trys to yell at anyone she goes mute."
Harry laughed so hard he fell out of his chair and lay on the floor laughing. She grinned at him every time he started to gain control and he lost it once again. Finally she came over and helped him up. He sat at the table and managed to say, "Merlin, that sounds awesome. It would be great to have seen their faces. How long will it all last?"
"All of them are permanent enchantments. I had to cast the enchantments on Molly, Ron, and Ginny directly, that's why I was so knackered when I finally came to bed. I don't plan on ever seeing them again love."
"What about Ron and the Horcrux hunt?"
"Took care of that before he went to bed lastnight. I obliviated him and now he thinks Horcrux's is a muggle restaurant chain that Dumbledore loved to eat at."
Harry lost it again and was back on the floor for another two minutes. She however was not smiling. He did finally recover enough to ask her. "What's wrong? It sounds like you have everything covered."
She looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. "I've done something I'm not so proud of."
Instantly he was kneeling at her side. "I have a hard time believing that. I can't imagine you doing anything I wouldn't approve of."
She sniffed and was about to cry. "I also obliviated my parents and sent them to live in Australia."
He said, "Woah," and fell back to sit on the floor looking up at her. He knew that was the wrong reaction but was honestly shocked at what she had said. She started crying, unable to look at him.
He jumped to his feet and hugged her. "Sorry, I was just surprised, didn't expect you to say that." When she had settled down again he asked, "Explain."
"Well I thought about obliviating them and making them think I had never existed. Then I figured out that was a stupid idea. I'm all over paperwork and pictures for the last 17 years. How could I get rid of all the other evidence? Much less obliviate my grandparents, cousins, and neighbors?"
He nodded, "Yeah would be kind of difficult. So what did you do?"
She was crying again but continued. "I altered an obituary in the paper and made them think I got killed in the fight with the Death Eaters at the end of school in June." She flung herself onto him and finally broke down completely.
He did the only thing he could, he held her, sitting on the floor and caressed her back telling her it would be ok once they had killed Tommy.
She looked up at him with blood shot eyes. "I'll fight the world for you Harry."
"And I for you my lovely wife." He bent down and kissed her salty lips. "At least this way they'll be safe."
She took a deep, ragged, breath. "Thank you, I needed that. I did put a safe phrase into the obliviation. If they hear it they will remember the truth." Then she laughed once.
He lifted his eyebrow in question.
In a near perfect imitation of an eleven year old Ron she recited, "Sunshine daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" She immediately started laughing and he joined in.
"Oh that was good. They'll never hear that except from one of us. I love it. Now what's the plan for the Horcrux hunt?"
She twisted to sit more comfortably beside him. "Well, I originally thought about living in a magical tent and moving every day or so to keep from being found. I even got one just like Mr. Weasley borrowed for Ginny and I to use during the World cup. It's fully stocked with food and books. I also got a bottomless, weightless, bag to keep everything in."
She pointed beside the bed where a medium sized white purse lay just under it. "I keep it with me all the time. But then I decided that the only reason we would need to do that would be to accommodate Ron who could not function in the normal world. So I've ditched that idea, though it remains an option, instead it would be best if we simply went muggle as much as possible. We can apparate to save on travel time but there is no reason we can't stay in a nice hotel room or bed and breakfast."
"That sounds much more pleasant to me. How did you get a hold of all this magical stuff? That would have cost a fortune."
She shrugged, "I stole your key from Mrs. Weasley last year and told Griphook that you had given me permission. He took a sample of my blood and then promptly gave me everything I asked for."
He looked surprised for a minute then said. "Well I did owl him that you had full access after our third year." She grinned back at him and he continued. "Now that my lovely, sexy, brilliant, wife, has gotten us truly back on track and here is how I see our next moves. We go to Grimmauld place from here and we re-cast the Fidelus then use it for our magical base. There has to be some useful clues in that library. I want to bring Remus and Tonks in on the hunt but don't dare trust anyone else really. Maybe Neville or Luna, oh and Mad-Eye, what do you think of McGonagall?"
"Personally I think Mad-Eye and McGonagall had to know what was being done to us and did nothing. Moody's eye can see aura's and tainted food, I looked it up during our fourth year when he became our teacher, well Barty Jr. using his eye anyway. McGonagall was far too close to Dumbledore not to have thought it suspicious when we started acting all wonky last year and don't forget she was the only one we told about our engagement."
He nodded, "Ok what about Neville and Luna? I've never gotten any negative feelings from either of them."
"I think they are both trustworthy but could they help us find and destroy Horcrux's then face Tom?"
He ran his fingers roughly through his hair and let out a long breath. "Not sure on either of those points."
"Well we can keep them in mind if we think of anything."
"My butt's asleep. Can we get up and use a chair?"
She laughed and climbed to her feet, then helped him up. They sat at the table again and finished their crisps.
"Why haven't the Weasley's barged in on us?"
"The room is silenced, sealed, and has notice-me-not charms on the door and window. Oh, and an illusion of an empty room if they manage to open the door."
"So they can't find the room to even look in it, excellent."
"I've been preparing for these things for years, wards and defenses are my specialty. I figured I should concentrate on defense since you're so good at offense. I do have a suggestion and am not sure how you're going to take this."
"Hermione, I swallowed an unknown potion without question from you just a bit ago."
"You need to stop stunning your opponents, shoot to kill! We have to start reducing our enemies' numbers."
He nodded in thought. "Yes I see your point. Most of Tommy's inner circle have been captured or stunned several times. We shouldn't have to worry about them anymore but we do."
She leaned over and squeezed his hand. "Me too, reducto's and cutting curses. From now on we're fighting to live."
"Live and have children to tell all of this to."
"Definitely. Well let's get going. I don't want to hang around here any longer than necessary. I doubt anyone would find us in here for several days but there's no reason for us to stay here either."
He got to his feet and used his wand to pack and shrink his belongings. The match box size trunk went into his pocket. Hermione was already waiting, white purse in hand.
She stepped close and hugged him, "Side-along me baby."
He held her tightly and concentrated on the front step of Grimmauld Place then pushed them there.