A/N: Yaaaaaah, I'm not used to such tough reviews, LOL. I'm glad Portkey's here, though, 'cause it's going a lot faster than on some of the other sites on which this story's posted.
Sorry about my little hiatus there. If you go to my high school, then you'll understand what "a grip of projects" is. To Kill a Mockingbird, the global status of Japan, science fair, reading 2000 pages every semester, normal homework… *sigh* Ah, well. I'm glad to be back writing. And thanks to all of you for reviewing!
LordAnHur: Yay! This story really doesn't get much juicier than this (unless Heaven and Ryoko start rubbing off on me too much, LOL), but I may think about changing this to R. I'll put up one more chappie and see how it goes, kk?
Clair: Haha, sorry about Mr. D there. This is what happens when you rely on Microsoft, eh? I'm glad you like it :)
Old Wolf: More passionate snogging? Does that mean more often or more passionate? LOL, I'll do both just to make us both happy :P
Heaven: You're actually keeping up with my writing! Even though you've already seen how the story goes, lol. Thanks so much for reviewing! :: Happy dance, ignores stares from family :: Lots o' love!
Hermione and Harry 4Ever: Your screen name sounds familiar somehow…Oh, nevermind, hehe…Yes, my first time writing romance. I've just spent too much time reading Heaven and Ryoko's stories and *Ahem* shaglets.
Well, thanks again! Rating 9.46 at the moment…That's quite good, considering how much I've been writing recently (er, not writing :) ) Here's chapter 3 for you all. Please enjoy!
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Harry awoke the next morning from a wonderful dream he'd been having about Hermione. The sunlight was shining through the windows, but the chilly autumn air still made Harry want to stay in the warmth of the blankets. In the adjacent bed, Ron was apparently experiencing the same thing, for he was trying to get out of bed with the blankets still wrapped around him.
Next door in the girls' dormitory, Hermione was wishing she could have had Harry's arms wrapped around her instead of the blanket as she woke up. She was an early riser, so she was up before the sun was. The cold didn't faze her; a quick warming charm had taken care of that. She went into the bathroom to shower and dress. When she was satisfied that her robes were neat and orderly, she looked in the mirror and sighed.
"And Harry thinks his hair is bad?" she asked the mirror sardonically. She did her best to straighten it, but her usual mass of frizz couldn't be tamed. After a few minutes, Hermione settled for a rubber band that she used to tie everything back into a large, puffy ponytail.
She and Harry entered the common room at almost the same time. Harry's face lit up when he saw her, as usual, and he ran over to her and threw his arms around her. Hermione stood there for a moment, just wanting to stay like that forever. Her prudence kicked in, though, and she took his hands in hers, extricating herself from his hug.
Harry didn't mind; being near her was good enough.
"You don't like hugging me?" he asked with mock sadness.
"We shouldn't be getting as far as we were last night in public, Harry," she said in a reprimanding tone of voice.
"So you don't like kissing me either?" Harry asked, sticking his lower lip out. Hermione just rolled her eyes and flung herself onto a chair in a distant corner of the room; the armchairs and sofas brought back too much emotion, and she feared she'd probably end up at home base if she sat back down in one of them.
"Good morning," George called as he walked down the stairs. Fred and Ron were close on his heels, and Seamus, Dean, and Justin weren't far behind them. "You're up early," he said casually.
"I couldn't sleep," Harry said. "Too much on my mind." On the other side of the room, Hermione rolled her eyes at him, unseen by the boys.
"Yeah. That test Professor Sprout's giving us is racking my nerves, too," Fred said. Hermione, apparently, was the only one who'd gotten Harry's comment. "Well, I'm starved!"
"You always are," Justin joked.
"So?" Fred said in his defense. Harry laughed as he got up to join them for breakfast. He looked at Hermione invitingly, and she stood up with a smile to join him. They left the common room as the first of the girls began coming down the stairs.
"You're not going to wait for them?" Hermione asked the boys.
"Girls take too long," Dean called out. Hermione was clearly about to give him a piece of her mind, but Harry pulled her back on the pretense of restraining her.
"Don't walk so fast," Harry whispered to her.
"You can keep up," she said. Harry only sighed as he drew her completely into his arms.
"Harry, not here and not now," Hermione said shortly. "There must be rules against making out in the hallway, and I really don't want to get caught-"
"Do you know of any specific rules against making out in the hallways?" Harry asked.
"Well, no, but-"
"Then there aren't any." Hermione glared at him.
"I do not know every rule here, thank you."
"Sure," Harry laughed. Sighing her usual sigh of "I'm going to regret this", Hermione finally surrendered to Harry's badgering. She stood on her tiptoes to reach Harry's lips but was rewarded as he dove right in with his tongue.
Harry was rewarded as well as he elicited a small moan from Hermione. He pulled away and began kissing her neck but stopped before he hit the spot that had made her cry out the previous night. He took her tongue back into his mouth, just to hear an, "Oh, God" from down the hallway.
Hermione looked up and jumped away from Harry quickly as though nothing had happened. Straightening her robes, she saw Ron walking over to them.
"Yes, Ron?"
"Sorry," he said, laughing, "I forgot my wand back in the dorms." He cast a glance at Harry and laughed again. "Please tell me that's your wand I see there," he said, glancing at Harry's lower body. Harry blushed and quickly glanced down to see nothing. He looked up angrily at Ron, who was doubled over in laughter.
"Who'd have thought? Hermione Granger making out in public!" Ron shouted.
"I'll hex you straight back to the common room if you don't start walking," Hermione said, pulling her wand out of her robes. "I do not find that funny. And as for you," she said, turning to Harry as Ron walked off, "that was way too close."
"Are you mad at me?" Harry asked, still miffed at Ron.
"You'll be lucky if I kiss you again this week," Hermione said. "So not angry, exactly."
"Do you think you can survive a week without kissing me?" Harry asked devilishly.
"Of course I can. I have more than a one-track mind, you know," she teased.
"Are you suggesting that making out with you is all I ever think about?" Harry grinned at her.
"Maybe," she said, walking off. Harry ran to follow her.
Breakfast was a horrible mess between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hermione kept shooting annoyed glares at Harry and Ron, which sent the both of them into hysterics.
"Boys aren't supposed to giggle," Hermione scolded. Ron and Harry only started laughing harder. They couldn't suppress anything until they got to Professor Flitwick's class.
He stood on a pile of seven tomes, to Harry's amusement. "Has he gotten shorter lately?" he thought to himself. He took his seat next to Seamus and dropped into the small, wooden chair.
Double charms with the Ravenclaws was a bit enjoyable for Harry. At least it wasn't with the Slytherins, Harry thought. He scanned the room and saw many students he'd come to know over the years at Hogwarts. He stopped, however, when he saw Cho in a daze staring at him.
He waved his hand to her to get her attention and bring her back to reality, and she jumped when she realized he'd met her gaze. She slowly looked away with an almost shameful expression on her face. Harry knew she still subconsciously blamed his for Cedric's death, even though he'd explained to her what had happened. He couldn't blame her for her feelings, though; he now knew what it was like to be wholly in love with someone. He just hoped it would never be taken away as her love had. Suddenly, he was broken from his thoughts by Seamus.
"You've got lipstick on your face, Harry," Seamus said.
"What?" Harry said. "Hermione doesn't wear lipstick." Seamus laughed uncontrollably as Harry mentally smacked himself for his slip. Harry glared at Ron, who Harry realized had told Seamus. Ron was chuckling at Harry as Seamus made his comment, but he looked away quickly as Harry turned to him.
Harry was about to hex him into their seventh year, but Professor Flitwick began class just as Harry was pointing his wand at Ron. Harry looked up at Hermione across the room; she seemed as though she'd heard the whole proceeding, for she had the same unapproving expression Harry wore. They caught each other's eyes and started smiling as Professor Flitwick began lecturing.
The lesson was a charm that would reflect spells back at your opponent. It was rather difficult to execute, but it was a powerful spell. Professor Flitwick warned that many spells, like the Avada Kedavra, couldn't be blocked or reflected in any way, but the reflecting spell worked on most charms, curses, and hexes.
The students spent the remainder of the class period casting charms on each other and reflecting them back. Seamus thought he could slip a Furnunculus past Flitwick, but Harry deftly sent the spell right back at him. Professor Flitwick was not amused at Seamus' spell and gave him detention after sending him to see Madame Pomfrey.
Harry briefly looked up, feeling bad for having reflected such a spell back at Seamus, and saw Hermione smiling at him.
"Well done," she mouthed to him. Harry smiled and blushed.
"Harry, please join Ron and Hermione. You three can work together since Seamus…left," Professor Flitwick said. Harry walked over to where Hermione and Ron were sitting. He flashed a warm smile at Hermione, and Ron tried unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter. Hermione gently slapped him on the arm as she rolled her eyes. She returned Harry's smile before casting a small hex on Ron, who was unprepared.
Slugs began pouring from his mouth once again, much to his unhappiness. Harry and Hermione laughed at Ron as Professor Flitwick dismissed class. Harry took Hermione's hand as they walked to the Great Hall for lunch. The look on Hermione's face made Harry think twice before having a repeat of that morning.
"You were right," she suddenly said out of nowhere.
"About what?" Harry asked.
She stopped and looked into his eyes. "I don't think I can go another minute without kissing you." Harry smiled as he took her into his arms and kissed her lightly. Hermione smiled into his lips as they broke apart and walked to lunch.
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Please review! I'll have chapter 4 up more quickly, I promise :) And as I said before, this story's a spin-off of Heaven's story "Just Kiss Me", so go hit Heaven with a few reviews since she's so nice to me for letting me write this! Some of the things will prolly make a bit more sense, too, lol. Thanks, m' dears! *kissy* (Ooh, that was wrong…guys don't do that…)