Well guys, it's almost over! Just a few more chapters left! Can you believe it!! I'm so thankful to everyone who kept on reading this fic, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! You guys are the best! Enjoy the latest chapter
Chapter 45
Over the last three months, Hermione got in the habit of taking a morning walk around the lake. It started when she had her first experience of morning sickness and needed the fresh air to settle her queasy stomach. Her morning sickness had passed, thank Merlin, but she continued with her daily walks. Sometimes, Emma would join her, but mostly it was a time for her to be alone with her baby and her thoughts of Harry. He was still alive. She knew it, could still feel him alive inside her. She had a feeling she would know the minute Harry died, for if it did her heart would surely break.
She stopped at her favorite spot on the lake, the place where everything changed between her and Harry. She could still remember the way he felt lying on top of her in the mud as his mouth moved over hers and raindrops danced over them. She closed her eyes and rubbed her tummy, waiting for it to kick. It hadn't yet, but Poppy, who now insisted she call her that since she was no longer a student, said it should be any day now. She gained a few pounds and her once flat belly had a little pooch. She would be curious to see if Harry noticed his girlfriend put on a few. She smiled to herself at the thought. "Knowing him, he probably won't."
"Hermione! Hermione!"
She turned suddenly at the sound of her name to see Colin Creevey sprinting towards her in top speed. "Colin?" she asked when he stopped and caught his breath. "What on earth?"
"We've been…looking for…you," he breathed as he bent over. "Harry…"
Alarmed she grabbed his arm. "Harry? Where is he?"
"He's back…in the hospital wing, but…"
She didn't wait for him to finish and dashed off towards the castle. Oh, god, oh, god, oh god. Please let him be all right. She pictured him lying on the bed white and pale as the sheets, unconscious and fighting for his life. She couldn't seem to get there fast enough. When she finally swung the door open she nearly ran into Lupin. "Hermione…"
"Harry?"
"Last bed on the left, but he's f…"
Again, she didn't let him finish as she ran past the row of beds, not noticing Ginny kissing and cursing Draco at the same time in one of the beds or see Luna sitting by Ron, both smiling and kissing. She saw the back of Poppy blocking her view and didn't see Harry at first, but her heart leapt to her throat when she heard him.
"Will you quit fussing over me already, I'm fine." He leaned back and shooed away her busy hands. Harry was sitting up with his feet dangling on the edge of the bed while Poppy looked over him. "I want to see Hermione."
"You're just going to have to wait until…"
"Harry." She didn't realize she said it out loud until he looked over Poppy and grinned, before gently nudging her aside and ran to her. She was sobbing by the time he reached her and clutched him tight. "Oh, Harry."
He nuzzled his face in her hair. "It's over, Hermione. He's gone."
"Let me look at you." She leaned back and cupped his face with her trembling hands. There was a cut on his left eyebrow that was patched up, but probably would leave a scar. He had a few bruises here and there, but other than that he was fine. "I imagined the worse. You lying in bed unconscious."
"You should see the other guy."
She laughed through her tears and then they met in a welcome kiss that was long overdue. "C'mon," he whispered against her lips. "I need to go find Emma, then we need to talk and then….then, I need to make love to you."
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They didn't mean for the making love to happen before the talking, but after they spoken with a very happy Emma and made it in the common room, they jumped each other. They barely made it to Harry's bed, stopping in the middle of the stairs to discard clothes, caress bodies and taste skin. They didn't waste any time, three months was a long time to be apart.
When he sank into her, he left kisses all over her face, murmuring to her, telling her how much he missed her, how much he loved her. She wrapped her limbs tight around him, holding him close as he moved within her. When they were both spent, he collapsed on top of her, pinning her deep into the mattress. He rested his cheek against her chest, closing his eyes as she strummed his hair with her fingers.
"You're going to make me fall asleep"
"You probably need it. You must be exhausted."
"A little." He rolled onto his back and she snuggled up against him. "But sleep can wait."
Hermione picked up the hippogriff that laid on his heart. "You never took it off, did you."
Harry covered her hand with his. "It saved my life."
He saw the look of confusion in her eyes. "I'm serious. I was so tired Hermione and felt so defeated. We had been throwing spells at each other for what seemed like days, but none of the spells ever over took the other. It was exactly like fourth year. It wore us both out and we would take care between spells. I was slumped behind a boulder and I was so bloody tired I wanted to quit. To walk right up to Voldemort and let him take me."
"Oh Harry."
"But I couldn't. I knew I had to try, had to keep fighting for you and for Emma. As soon as you filled my thoughts, the charm grew warm and I immediately reached in my shirt to grasp it. The more I thought about you and the more I let my love for you fill me up, I felt this strange heat filling me up. It was strange, Hermione, I knew I was getting stronger. Then a glow started to shimmer around me and my love for you and Emma just filled me up." He shook his head as he thought about it now. "It's hard to explain, but I knew I'd be invincible."
"You showed yourself to Voldemort?" she asked watching him intensely.
"I got right up and exposed myself from my cover and wondered if Voldemort could see the glow. I don't think he could, he seemed shocked that I was so bold as to walk out, but I don't think he could see the gold shimmer surrounding me."
"What happened, Harry?"
"He came out of his shelter, wary at first that I didn't even have my wand pointed at him. When he finally did realize I wasn't making any movement for my wand, he figured I just gave up, and he called me a fool and was weak. 'I've been waiting years for this, Potter,' he had said as he raised his wand at me. 'I'll enjoy killing you.' Even then, I wasn't scared. I knew it was protecting me. I just stared at him when he said the curse, didn't even flinch when the green light shot towards me and watched as Voldemorts yellow eyes widened with shock as the light shot back at him, hitting him straight in his heart."
"Wow," she whispered and stared down at the charm. "All this time, your weapon was love."
"Not just love." He cupped her face with his hands and met her eyes with his own. "It was you. My power he knows not, was you."
Her eyes filled with tears. "Oh Harry." She leaned down and kissed him softly. "I love you so much."
"I know. I don't think the charm would have protected me if you didn't."
She sighed as she rested her cheek against his heart, fully content for a while as she listened to his beating heart. He was alive. "Harry?" she asked after awhile. "What about the others? Was there any casualties?"
"A few, but no one we were close to." He looked up at the ceiling and stroked her hair. "Draco, actually will have a harder time to recover than me."
"Draco?" she asked as she looked up at him. "His father?"
He nodded sadly. "That and…Snape. Severus died protecting, Draco. He pushed him out of the way of the green light that his father had cast."
Her heart broke for her friend. "It will be hard for him. I know how much he looked up to Severus."
"It will be hard," he agreed. "But Ginny will help him get through it. He had to kill his father. Lucious had Ron by the throat, using him as a shield and pointing his wand at Ron's forehead."
She gasped, hating the fear that her best friend had to go through. "What happened?"
"Lucious basically gave Draco one last shot to join him, said if he joined him and Voldemort, he'd spare Ron's life. They both knew he'd kill Ron no matter what Draco did, so they both knew what had to be done. What Draco's father didn't know, was that he had a hidden knife that Snape had given him before the battle and apparated right behind his father and stabbed him in his heart from behind."
Hermione shut her eyes and held onto Harry. "Poor Draco."
"A lot of lives were lost and a lot of time needs to pass before everyone is healed." Harry gently rolled her onto her back and loomed over her. "But it's over and I can't wait to spend the next part of my life with you."
She smiled thinking of the child they made together. "Me either." She leaned up for his kiss and murmured his name when the kiss went on a little longer. "Harry, I have to…." She gasped out a groan when a hand cupped her one of her breasts softly, then shuddered when he captured the other one with his mouth. "Harry, I really have to…oh merlin….tell you, ahhh, okay later."
He grinned as he continued to kiss his way down. He felt her breath catch when he kissed her stomach and since he figured he hit a sensitive spot he lingered there. However, he jumped back when he felt a flutter beneath her stomach and looked wide eyed at Hermione. "Bloody hell, what was that?"
Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she placed her hand over her mouth. It moved. For the first time it moved when Harry was kissing her stomach. "Harry," she whispered as she grabbed his hand and placed it on her slight pooch. "That flutter was our baby kicking for the first time."
Harry heard the words, but couldn't seem to register. He shook his head in confusion as his throat swelled and his heart fell to the pit of his stomach and trembled there. When he finally spoke his voice cracked, barely getting out his words. "Our baby?"
She nodded as she let her tears fall. "Yes, Harry. I'm pregnant."
Harry rubbed the sharp pain in his chest with the heel of his hand as he looked down at their joined hands resting over the baby they created. "Merlin," he whispered as he shook his head. "I can't believe it." His own eyes shimmered with tears as he finally leaned down and kissed her. "We're having a baby."
They shared their tears as they kissed out of sheer joy. "I'm half scared to death, Hermione," he whispered. "But there couldn't have been a better welcome back present then this."
"I'm scared too," she said as she wiped his tears away. "We've always wanted kids, we're just going to have them a little sooner."
"How long?" he asked as he spread his fingers over her belly.
"Since you left. It happened when you made love to me in the morning. I thought I was dreaming."
His eyes widened. "Oh gods, Hermione I didn't even think, I'm so…."
"Don't," she said placing a finger over his lips before he could finish. "Don't you dare apologize, I'm glad it happened."
He grinned and then kissed her long and hard. "I love you so much. I want to marry you."
She giggled as she kept up with his frantic kisses. "Okay."
"Tomorrow."
She let out a laugh. "Tomorrow?? Are you nuts?"
"I'm nuts about you and don't want to wait another second." He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead and then her lips, then bent down and kissed her stomach. "What do you say, luv? Let's get married tomorrow, by the lake as the sun goes down."
She smiled as she framed Harry's face with his hands. "I can't think of anything else that sounds more perfect." She then brought his face down and gave him a long hard kiss of her own to seal the deal. "Let's do it."
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Well, hope you liked! And I want to apologize for those who wanted more action. Truth is, the action part isn't really my strong point. I like to leave that to JKR myself. I'm better with the fluff, so I'm sorry for the lack of action. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for more!