Chapter Four
Hermione and Harry walked into a small alleyway and holding Harry's hand in hers, Hermione apparated them into her room. Harry took in the surroundings, seeing everything Hermione had described in such detail during the last few months, and smiling to see how accurate she was. His eyes moved back to look at her standing next to him. She was smiling at him.
"I can't believe you're actually here." She said softly.
"Me either. I've been imagining being able to hug you every day for the last four months." Harry said with a wistful smile. Hermione moved closer and put her arms around his waist hugging him to her.
"I guess I only have an hour to hug you enough to get us through the next two months." She said sadly.
"Unless they disqualify me." Harry said simply.
"Do you think they will?"
"No. But right now I wish they would so I could just stay with you. It's hell not being able to answer your letters, and not being with you Sunday was just…" He trailed off, not needing to say it.
"I know… How's Ron coping?" She asked concerned.
"Immersing himself in work. But he made me promise to ask you to let Molly know he's ok." Hermione nodded, proud that Ron's first thought had been for his Mum.
"He also told me to pass on a huge hug from him, until he sees you." Harry said, picking her up in a bone crushing hug and twirling her around. She laughed and leant against him as he put her down.
"Thank him for me." She said with a grin. "I'm going to The Burrow on Friday night for dinner. Molly will be thrilled to have heard from you two, believe me." Hermione said.
She was now thinking back to that moment in the restaurant. Harry had mentioned the letter briefly, and he didn't seem at all awkward around her, in fact he was the same as always. He seemed to sense the question she was thinking of asking and sat down on the edge of her bed. Hermione sat down next to him, and crossing her legs underneath her, turned to face him.
"You got my letter then?" She asked. Harry nodded.
"I know you'd been drinking when you wrote it…but, did you mean what you wrote? Did you mean what was implied in the song?" Harry asked her quietly, watching her face closely.
Hermione now remembered which song she had included. She smiled, blushing as she nodded. Harry smiled at her, and placed his hand on the side of her face gently and pulled her closer to him. He paused and looked into the familiar brown eyes for a moment, before leaning and kissing her.
Hermione froze for a moment, her eyes searching out Harry's, but what she saw in his eyes caused her to lean forward with a smile and press her lips back to his. Harry pulled back, and looked at Hermione, hardly believing she was sitting right in front of him after so long of imagining her being near. He held out his arms and Hermione moved to sit on his lap, his arms wrapped around her. Harry buried his face in her hair and tried to think of a semi-logical plan to get Hermione back to the training compound with him. He chuckled at his own thoughts, causing Hermione to look up at him with a smile.
"What are you laughing about?" She asked shyly. He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
"I love you." He said softly. Hermione's eyes widened and she smiled as Harry leant in to kiss her properly. She had imagined kissing Harry many times, but she'd never imagined it would be so perfect. She sighed happily as they broke apart several minutes later, her hands running lightly through his unruly hair.
Harry raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed.
"You already know I love you." She said with a grin. His eyes sparkled happily, and he playfully covered her face with quick kisses as she laughed and tried to escape his attempts to tickle her. Hermione squealed as Harry tickled her and after a moment she managed to distract him by kissing him passionately.
"I'm going to miss you so much." Harry mumbled against her mouth. She looked at him sadly.
"I'm going to miss you too." She said quietly, lying down on her bed and staring at the ceiling. They both sighed.
"Well I'll be able to write again in two months if they let me back in." Harry said. Hermione didn't answer and looking at her face he saw a single tear slip down her cheek. He moved quickly and sat next to her, his back leaning against the wall, pulling her to him so her head rested against his chest. She wrapped her arms tightly around his stomach and cried softly.
"I don't think they'll make us stay for the full three months after that." He told her softly, stroking her hair.
"And then Ron and I will get a flat, I'm sure I can convince him to live in Muggle London, within a five minute walk of here so I can see you every day, unless you want to live with us that is." He said. He felt her smile against his chest.
"You wouldn't even have to put up with Ron's mess, he's become quite tidy since we've been in training. He even remembered to warn me of the consequences before I apparated here - I think he might have matured." Harry said with a grin. Hermione giggled.
"I'm sure it's an act. Ron will never grow up, and I wouldn't want him to." She said looking up at Harry. He reached down and brushed the tears from her face with the pad of his thumb.
"Hermione, I love you. That's not going to go away if we're apart for a few months. The second they let me out I'm going to be right back here."
"You promise?" She asked. Harry nodded with a smile as his eyes took in every detail of her face.
"I love you." She murmured, hugging him close again.
They stayed curled up next to one another, their legs intertwined, arms around each other and just talked as they usually did, pausing occasionally to kiss, until Hermione glanced at her watch. She sighed.
"You know how much I hate to say this, but…" She gestured to her watch and Harry sighed.
"I know… I'd better get back."
They stood and looked at each other, their eyes saying everything that needed to be said. Hermione put a hand on his arm just as he prepared to disapparate.
"How long?" She asked him quietly. He smiled, knowing what she was asking.
"Since the day you arrived at Grimmauld Place before our Seventh Year." He said. She looked shocked that Harry had loved her for so long.
"You walked in the door and everything was ok again." Harry said. Hermione hugged him impulsively.
"What about you?" He asked her curiously.
"I don't even know if you'll remember…but it was Boxing Day, our Seventh Year and we'd been drinking in the Three Broomsticks, we got back to the Common Room and you were completely hammered. Ron left the room, I can't remember why, and you were practically falling asleep, your head in my lap and you were singing 'Brown-Eyed Girl'…you were so funny." Hermione said laughing lightly at the memory.
"I just knew at that moment." She said with a smile.
Harry brushed a strand of hair back from her face and kissed her softly.
"We wasted a lot of time then…I'll see you as soon as I can." He promised. She nodded and closed her eyes not wanting to see him leave. She heard a distinctive 'pop' and after a moment she forced herself to open her eyes and look at the space where he had been a moment before.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry didn't apparate straight back to the compound, stopping briefly in Diagon Alley before apparating back to find an amused looking Ron and a rather confused looking group of Aurors in the small room he and Ron shared.
"How'd it go mate?" Ron asked, ignoring the stares of the Aurors.
Harry simply grinned in reply. Ron smiled back at him.
"So Harry, you've been able to break the apparition shields all this time." Moody interrupted them. Harry grinned sheepishly at their instructor, and saw Tonks behind Ron, hiding a smirk at Moody's indignation.
"So what other skills have you been keeping from us?"
"Ah, well…I thought I'd just use my normal powers in training, to refine them." Harry said a little awkwardly.
"So there are other powers you haven't revealed?" Kingsley asked.
Ron and Harry exchanged a glance.
"Just tell them mate." Ron said encouragingly, as he watched the proceedings with Tonks.
"Well, they're rather dark skills. I inherited part of most of them from Voldemort, and it seems they only got stronger when I killed him, I could always speak Parseltongue, and you know about my Occlumency maybe it would be easier if I just showed you the other powers in the training room." Harry admitted.