A/N: Many thanks to all my reviewers of the previous chapter! I appreciate it muchly, because feedback is always needed for encouragement as well as red flags for missing plot points and/or elements. So thanks to you all! Please keep reviewing!
Chapter Twenty - The Summons
Hermione sank with a contented sigh into the hot, sudsy water in the huge tub of her bathroom. Her eyes drifted closed
and her body relaxed for what felt like the first time in days, as her senses were caressed by her environment. She had
lighted almost a dozen lavender and vanilla candles and their fragrance wafted delicately to her nostrils, adding to
her enjoyment.
This was a rare moment of respite that she had for herself and she intended to make the most of it. The house was silent; an anomaly, indeed, and she knew it was only a matter of time before it would return to its hustle and bustle. Ben was at school, Luke had a play date at Ron and Luna's and Davina was down for a nap. Hopefully, the toddler would sleep for at least an hour so Hermione had that long. She had put an Indicator Alarm spell on Vina's room so she would know when her daughter woke up; the little girl tended to get upset if she awoke to find herself alone for too long.
Hermione sighed again as she settled further under the rich suds. If only the soft white foam could penetrate her brain and stop its frantic ruminations about her eldest daughter. She had been startled by the stream of owls that had arrived that morning, from Marc, Marissa and Etienne Weasley, as well as one from Brandon Wood. All their contents had been essentially the same, that Emerson had shouted at Brandon the night before in the Gryffindor common room, before storming to her dormitory in tears. That they still didn't know what was causing her to be so short-tempered.
Oh, and let's not forget the one from Snape detailing how Em had more or less attacked two other girls in his class, and when given the option to apologize or take detention had chosen the detention.
Shifting restlessly in the hot water, Hermione felt her brow furrow in worry and concentration. Maybe she should use this time to try to figure out-
Wait a second. Did you or didn't you come in here to relax?, a huffy voice chided inside her head. Don't think about that... for twenty minutes, can you not think... you deserve a break... free your mind... get recharged... give peace a chance... yada, yada...
A smile tugged at her lips on that last one. "Yeah, yeah," she murmured, before focusing on her breathing, letting her thoughts wander as her body relaxed. Not surprisingly, they drifted to Harry and she felt a tingle race down her spine.
Harry. Her unlikely best friend, unlikely if anyone had told her that at the beginning of her first Hogwarts year. Never had she dreamed that they would come so far, though eventually, she had, of course, longed for it. And now he was not only her best friend, he was her lover. He was the father of her children. He was the man who knew her so well, body and soul.
'Especially your body,' she thought and blushed. Almost of their own accord, her hands wandered to her breasts, to cup them the way Harry loved to. She closed her eyes as the jolts of electricity snaked through her being, charging her heartbeat. One hand drifted downwards and her mind skillfully transformed her fingers into his.
"Harry," she moaned, her touches light and teasing. Her senses must have been more stimulated that she'd realized, because much too soon for her liking, she was poised and tensed on the edge. But quickly deciding that delayed gratification was always so much more satisfying, she went back to caressing her breasts. She had some time, anyway; no reason not to make this last.
So absorbed was she in what she was doing that she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt something touch her down there.
Her eyes flew open and she yelled in alarm. "Harry! Oh my- you scared the living daylights out of me!"
He grinned down at her from his perch on the side of the tub. "Sorry. Just wanted to help."
Hermione felt her cheeks grow hot. "What are you-" she began innocently, but it trailed off in a moan as Harry began to skillfully manipulate her. Zeus, he was almost as good at it as she was. In a ridiculously short amount of time, she was crying out and bucking against his hand as her release washed over her.
Well, so much for delayed gratification; apparently the instant variety worked just as well sometimes. Gasping, she sank back into the water and when she opened her eyes, it was to the sight of Harry smiling smugly down at her.
"Better?"
"Much," she sighed, brushing aside a lock of hair that had gotten loose from where she'd pinned it atop her head. "What're you doing home, though? Not that I'm complaining or anything."
He shrugged. "Wasn't anything I needed to do so I thought I'd come home. Being the boss has its perks." He paused for a second. "So, where are the kids?"
Something in his voice made her look up and a tingle seared its way down her spine. "Davina's taking a nap; Ben's at school and Luke is over at Ron's."
Hermione thought she heard him say "Excellent." under his breath, but maybe she'd imagined it. She wiggled her toes under the water, feeling his gaze on her but avoiding his eyes for some reason.
"So this is what you're up to when I'm not here," he said, his voice striving for stern. But his eyes gave him away; they were hot with lust.
She colored fiercely. "Scandalous or what?"
"I love it," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her. She raised her face to his, and when his lips met hers, it was as if her every nerve ending had been plugged into an electrical outlet. His hands dipped into the suds again, this time to slowly caress her breasts with the soapy water, making her burn. The kiss seemed to go on for ages, his tongue delicious in her mouth, and Hermione wanted him.
Feeling suddenly devilish, she grabbed his shirt and yanked him forward. He fell into the tub with a loud splash and came up sputtering, his hair plastered to his head.
"Whoops," she said, grinning naughtily. "Oh dear, looks like your clothes are all wet. You're going to have to take them off, I'm afraid."
"Wench," Harry grumbled, shaking his hair out of his eyes, but he was already undoing his shirt. It seemed to be taking too long because, finally, he got impatient and just snapped his fingers. His clothes and glasses vanished and reappeared on the floor beside the tub. "That's better."
"Show-off," Hermione murmured, her fingers running up and down his back under the water.
She felt him hard against her thigh and shifted so he could settle on his knees between her legs. She gasped when he entered her and, for a moment, they were still, just savoring the feeling of being one.
The marble bathtub was enormous so they had plenty of room to maneuver. Harry floated her around so that her back was against one corner and began driving into her with slow, steady strokes. Her hands reached down through the suds to grasp his buttocks, feeling the muscles clench and unclench with his motions, while she met his every thrust. His lips found hers again and he kissed her softly and tantalizingly, in direct contrast with the faster activity occurring below water.
Floating on the heady sensations that swirled through her being, Hermione moaned and closed her eyes. Harry held her hips and raised her to a slight angle and the next time he surged into her, he nudged that sweet spot inside. An amazed cry was torn from her lips as her hands raced up his back to cling to his shoulders. He picked up the pace and she could actually feel her toes curling with every impact as he hit the spot again and again.
"Harry!" she cried, clinging helplessly to him, aware of the threshold speeding towards her.
He nuzzled her neck, his breathing harsh in her ear. "What, Hermione?"
She couldn't speak, she couldn't think, she could only moan and cry out wordlessly as he bumped the spot yet again, causing the tension within her body to reach an unbearable pinnacle and explode from within.
As if from a distance, drowning in the glorious ecstasy, she heard him groan deeply, felt him shudder in her embrace as he flooded her. The water splashed over the edges of the bathtub in waves as its occupants lost themselves in the delirious frenzy of peaked pleasure. Nothing mattered... nothing existed but him, and this, and them.
When at last she regained herself, Hermione was stunned. She couldn't move, couldn't even open her eyes. All she could do was struggle desperately for her breath, the blood resounding in her ears, her every nerve tingling. After a while, she felt Harry leave her body and only then could she muster the energy to lift her eyelids.
He was watching her, his green eyes bright and beautiful. "You all right?"
Dazed, she nodded. "What the hell did you do to me?" Her voice sounded strange to her own ears.
He just smiled, knowing that, of course, she knew what he'd just done to her. It wasn't as if this was the first time he'd pleasured her so astoundingly well. "Am I to assume you would welcome an encore?" he asked in a voice so self-satisfied, it should've been banned.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head weakly against his shoulder. "God, yes. But not for a while today, unless you want to end up as the sole caretaker of our children. Another one of those too soon might leave me with permanent and irreparable brain damage."
Harry beamed, the swelling of his ego becoming practically visible. Hermione suppressed the urge to smile and looked instead at the floor of the bathroom. It was flooded with sudsy water and only then did she realize that they were barely covered in the tub.
She giggled. "We are pathetic."
"But a good kind of pathetic, right?" He lightly nibbled at her neck.
"Definitely," she replied as she began to get up. Except- "Harry! I can't feel my legs!"
He frowned, shifting away from her slightly. "I'm not crushing them, am I?"
"No," she said, fighting a twinge of panic. She tried to move her feet again and felt her toes unclench as feeling returned to them. "Oh, there they are."
Harry's eyes were dancing and when she glanced up at him, he burst out laughing.
Hermione glared at him. "It's not funny!"
Which only made him laugh harder. In a huff, she climbed out of the bathtub and into the adjoining shower stall. She turned the water on to rinse off and didn't acknowledge him when he opened the door and slipped inside.
His arms encircled her from behind. "I'm sorry. But you are just so funny!"
Damn him, but she was now the one fighting laughter as the image of what had just transpired coursed through her mind. Imagine being so engulfed by the furies of passion that you have to consciously unclench your toes!
He turned her around to face him. His eyes were still full of humor. "You mad at me?"
She tried, but she couldn't hold out for long before she was throwing her arms around his neck. "Oh, Harry! After the heaven you just took me to, how can I ever be mad at you again?"
He chuckled. "Can I hold you to that statement?"
"Don't push your luck, Potter." She pulled away to look adoringly into his eyes. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he whispered. "Brain damage and all."
They lingered in the shower for a while, washing each other and kissing tenderly. Harry dried the bathroom floor with a twitch of his wand, before they returned to their room, got dressed and headed downstairs. Hermione was feeling refreshed and sated, but as they entered the kitchen, she felt her troubles resuming their cadence inside her head. She almost hated to disrupt Harry's post-coital good mood but he needed to know about the Weasley, Wood and Snape letters about Em.
Before she could speak, however, he had gathered her into his arms and was grinning cheekily down at her. "So, how was that for an afternoon delight?"
She couldn't resist grinning back, even as she felt her face heating up. How could he make her blush so much? She was a grown woman, for goodness' sake! "Order of Merlin-worthy, I say. But, listen, Harry-"
"Got anything to eat around here?" he interrupted. "All of a sudden, I find myself famished."
"I'm sure we can find something," she replied quickly, but was again interrupted, this time by the Indicator Charm on Davina's room.
"Mummy." There was a brief pause. Then- "MUMMY!"
Harry snorted derisively, but his eyes glowed. "Seriously, is she bossy or what? I'll go get her."
Shaking her head, Hermione strolled into the huge kitchen and began looking for something for their lunch. She had just decided that maybe a quick minestrone soup, with crusty French bread on the side, would be good, when there was a tap, tap on the paneled glass window.
"Not another one?" she muttered disbelievingly as she went to let the owl in. The bird perched on the window ledge and remained sitting after she'd removed the letter, so she knew it was expecting to deliver a response.
After giving the feathered messenger some Owl Treats and water, she turned the envelope over. The fact that the sight of the Hogwarts crest didn't startle her at all saddened Hermione. Because that surely meant she'd been expecting something like this.
Upon unsealing the envelope, she unfolded the letter:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Potter,
Your presence is kindly requested for a meeting with the Headmistress at your earliest convenience. This is to discuss the recent behavior of your daughter, Emerson, which we feel must be brought to your attention.
Please respond urgently via owl.
Sincerely,
M. McGonagall
Headmistress
Hermione's heart pounded as she scanned the letter again and again. The recent behavior of your daughter...
respond urgently... That sounded so ominous. Was this regarding what Snape had written about or had something
else happened?
She turned around as Harry came into the room, carrying a bright-eyed Davina, who was jabbering away to her father. He was smiling but it faded when he saw Hermione's anxious face.
He glanced at the letter in her hand. "What's that?"
"It's from Hogwarts," she said, holding it out to him.
He took the letter, handing Davina over to her as he did so. Hermione watched his face cloud as he read the brief missive and he closed his eyes for a second before looking up.
"This might sound terrible but, do you know, I've actually been kind of expecting this?"
She nodded uneasily. "Additionally, Etienne, the Weasley twins and Brandon all wrote this morning. Apparently, Em had some kind of meltdown last night where she yelled at Brandon and ran to her room in tears. And Snape wrote saying he had to give her a detention yesterday."
A pained look stole across his face as he looked at her from across the table. "We never should have sent her back to school, Hermione. We should have kept her here until we got to the bottom of whatever it is that's bothering her."
The guilt in his voice resonated in Hermione's head because she was feeling exactly the same way. But she shook her head against the tears that prickled at her eyelids. Now was not the time. "What do you want to do?"
Harry sat down and stared at the table. "Well, I don't have to go back to work and it's only-" he consulted his watch, "- one-thirty. I could Apparate into Hogsmeade and be there in ten, fifteen minutes."
"I'll go with you," she said, setting Davina down. The toddler wandered off into the kitchen but Hermione could still see her.
"What about Vina?"
But Hermione was already grabbing a quill and some parchment. "I'll send Fleet to Ron and Luna. I'm sure they can watch Vina as well, since Luke's already over there. They could pick up Ben at school too. We should be back before dinnertime, do you think?"
Harry nodded, his brow furrowed but she knew that, mentally, he was already at Hogwarts, trying to figure out what was happening with their daughter.
She hastily scribbled a note and tied it to Fleet, her stealth owl. Fleet had been a gift to her from St. Mungo's, since Hermione sent and received so much post from them. His full name was Fleet-of-Flight, and he was every bit as efficient as his name suggested. She carried him to the window and sent him on his way to Ron's.
"I want some food," declared Davina, coming back into the room.
"Remember to say 'please', Vina," Hermione replied, bending over to pick her up.
"I want some food, please," Davina amended and her mother, in a rush of love and pride, hugged her close and kissed her rosy cheeks.
"Okay, let's see what we have in here. D'you still want to eat, Harry?" she asked, turning back to look at him.
He raised his eyes to hers and it seemed to take him a full minute to process what she'd said. "Um... sure. If you're going to."
Putting the minestrone soup on hold, Hermione quickly slapped together some sandwiches and sat watching him absentmindedly inhale them. She felt as anxious as Harry looked, but a small part of her was also relieved. Maybe they would finally start getting some answers. Maybe they could finally get through to their daughter.
Maybe she could finally not feel so helpless anymore.
A rush of wings made her look up. Barely twenty minutes after he'd been sent out, Fleet was back. She untied the note and gave him an Owl treat, with a fond pat on his smoky head.
"Okay, Luna said she can Portkey here in ten minutes," Hermione said, scanning the note.
Harry was already scribbling a response for the school owl. "We'll probably get there before this owl does, anyway."
Their eyes met across the table and no words were needed to convey what they were both feeling. Harry reached over to squeeze her hand but she stood up and went to his arms instead. They held each other desperately, fearfully, of what they would soon be discovering, whatever that might be. Which surely had to be profound to make their beautiful, incredible daughter change so much.
"Uh-oh," Vina said, making her parents look up. She was peering over the side of her chair at the spoon she had just dropped.
Still holding each other, Hermione and Harry watched as their little girl leaned over, arm outstretched, and magically induced the spoon to leap into her hand. Her hazel eyes now wide with wonder and delight, Davina looked around at her Mum and Dad, who beamed at her through the tears in their eyes.
For the rest of that time, as they waited for Luna, they lavished attention on their youngest daughter, still so innocent and carefree, even as they steeled themselves for the troubles of their eldest one. As soon as Luna arrived, Hermione gave her some quick instructions regarding Ben, she and Harry grabbed their cloaks, kissed a bewildered Davina and were gone.
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Emerson would never know how she'd managed to get herself under control enough to go to her next class. After her crying jag in the Astronomy Tower, she had somehow been able to drag herself down to the Potions dungeon, where she'd encountered a frantic Carolyna.
Of course Lyna had heard the whole story about what had happened at lunch - the Hogwarts gossip mill was still alive and kicking - and she had hugged Em, blinking back tears.
"Didn't I ask you not to do anything, Emerson?" Lyna moaned. "You are so stubborn! You are so stubborn!"
Lyna had wanted to know what McGonagall had said, but Em didn't want to talk about it. In fact, she didn't want to do anything at all. She just wanted to sit there for infinity, and stare at the glittering beetle eyes that she was supposed to be bashing.
The sounds and smells of the Potions dungeon buffeted her from every angle and she was suddenly annoyed. Really, whose genius idea had it been to assign her class Potions two days in a row? Apparently, that would help them all "better retain their knowledge." What a load of bull. Because Em was sure she couldn't have mentioned what she'd learned the day before if her life depended on it.
There was a knock on the ugly dungeon door.
"Come in," Professor Snape called.
The door creaked open and obviously people came in, because the class went suddenly silent. Still, Em didn't look up, not until someone nudged her hard.
"What?" she hissed, turning to glare at the offender, who turned out to be Takeshi.
The bespectacled boy seemed taken aback by her hostility. "Sorry. It's just your Mum and Dad are here."
Em's head whipped around and sure enough, there standing near the door, conversing with Professors Snape and McGonagall, were her parents . Both of them looked confused and worried and Snape kept glancing over at her.
There was no doubt in Emerson's mind what they were talking about. McGonagall had apparently made good on her statement about notifying her parents, because why would they be here, otherwise?
The fact that these grown-ups were just standing there talking about her both embarrassed and infuriated Emerson. They were just discussing her in plain view, as if they didn't care how that might make her feel. Angry tears prickled at her eyelids but she blinked them away and began bashing her beetle eyes with a vengeance.
With the attention of their teacher safely diverted away from them, the formerly silent class slowly began to break into excited whispers and murmurs. Emerson caught "Harry Potter!", "scar," "Hermione Granger", "Head Girl", "green eyes", interjected with her name quite a few times, and she became increasingly irascible. What was she, what was her family - some kind of circus freaks to be stared at and whispered about?
"Miss Potter."
She looked up at her Potions teacher. "Your parents are here to take you home. Gather your things and you may leave."
She was going home. Boy, that must be some kind of record: suspended within the first week of a school term. Em stood up and began dumping things into her cauldron, aware of all the curious eyes fixed on her, darting back and forth between her famous parents.
Whom she still couldn't bear to acknowledge. Even though she'd been trying to do this for months, to push them away so they would, in turn, push her away, and thus be safe. But now that it had surely happened, she couldn't bear to see it confirmed in their eyes.
So she didn't look at them, not that they were wanting for observers. Not that they would ever want for observers.
And with that thought, her wonderful refuge of anger was back. That warm and adept blanket of heat, shielding her from the icy gusts of her fear, guilt and despair. Whatever would she do without it?
It had never yet failed her, and as she haphazardly tossed her instruments into her cauldron, she wrapped that blanket around herself, praying that it would help her hold out a little bit longer. For the sakes of her poor, innocent siblings, let her hold out.
Just a little bit longer.
Please?
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Next chapter: What y'all have been howling for since chapter four!