Harry was sitting back in the Gryffindor common room playing a game of Exploding Snap with Ron. The common room was nearly empty because it was the Christmas Holiday and almost everyone was away.
Harry had to admit to himself that he was getting pretty good at the wizarding games he has learned so far. After winning yet another hand, he looked up to see Hermione sitting nearby in a chair by the fire, reading a book while absentmindedly stroking Crookshanks.
He looked at her for a few minutes paying little attention to the game he was playing. After what must have been the fourth or fifth poor hand in a row, Ron finally said something.
"Go ahead mate. You know you want to."
Harry wasn't sure what he was talking about.
"Sorry. I want to what?"
"You know what I mean. Go on. Ask her."
However, before Harry could say anything, Fred and George bounded over to them and grabbed the cards.
As Fred sat next to Harry, he asked, "what's going on?"
Ron then started, "Harry was about to ask Hermione."
"To play cards with us," Harry quickly interjected, giving Ron a nasty look.
As Ron shook his head, George shouted, "oy, Hermione."
Hermione put down her book, and walked over to them.
"Yes?"
"Care to play with us?"
Hermione then sat down on Harry's other side, and said, "sure. What game?"
"Exploding Snap," Fred replied.
Ron then amended it, "Strip Exploding Snap."
The twins looked at each around, before looking at each other, and started to laugh a little as they said, "ok, we're in."
Ron looked over to Hermione, who looked as if she had been caught off guard by this, "how about you?"
Harry half wished that she would walk away. Say this is silly or childish, and return to her book, but she didn't do that. As Hermione looked around, it seemed as if she was considering it. He could hardly believe that she would do such a thing.
After she looked into his eyes for a moment, she swallowed, and said, "ok."
Harry's stomach did a little bit of a summersault, and he was sure his heart had skipped a beat or two. The chasers from the Gryffindor Quidditch team then walked into the room, and Fred gave a wicked little smile to George, who nodded.
"Hey girls," they shouted in unison.
When they came over, Angelina asked, "what's up?"
As George explained, what was going on, they sat down with them, and Katie said, "I'm in. Sounds like fun."
Alicia agreed, "count me in."
"Yeah, I'd love to," Angelina said.
As George started to shuffle the deck, Fred said, "first, we must set some ground rules. Shoes and socks count as one article of clothing. The only clothes that we count are your shirt, pants, or skirt and your robes, as well as your undergarments. For the sake of fairness, we shall count them as one item since we males are at somewhat of a disadvantage in that regard."
After everyone agreed to the rules, George dealt out the first hand. As Harry lost the first hand he still couldn't believe this was happening, and was grateful that Ron's sister was away with her parents for the holiday.
Harry would have removed his glasses, but without them, he might as well remove all his clothes, because he would have no chance at winning, so he removed his Robes. Fred then shuffled, and dealt the next hand.
Harry felt awkward after losing his first hand, but still wasn't able to focus, losing his second hand. This time he look off his shoes and socks too the cat calls of everyone, except Hermione. She, however, was still giving him an odd look as he disrobed.
Fred passed the deck to Harry, who shuffled them, before dealing the next hand. Harry looked at his cards, and fighting to pay attention, he managed not to lose this one. As everyone put down their hands, Harry was relieved to see it was George that had the low hand.
Fred started to hum a striptease tune as George slowly removed his robes. Everyone was having a good laugh at this. Harry took the cards and shuffled them before handing the deck to Hermione, who dealt the next hand.
Harry was starting to gain his bearing and actually had the best hand this time. He looked around and saw it was Fred's turn to take it off. When he was done removing his robes slowly, Harry saw Angelina slip a knut into his shirt pocket.
Ron grabbed the cards and dealt the next hand. Harry was relieved to see he had another good hand. When everyone put down their cards he saw that it was Angelina who had the low hand.
Angelina chose to remove her shoes first, much to the disappointment of everyone else, as they made it patently obvious with their jeers. She tossed her discarded clothes with the rest, sat back down taking the deck, and dealt the next hand.
As Angelina dealt the cards, Harry looked at his hand. It was not as good as he was hoping for, but as everyone showed what they had he realized it was good enough. More importantly, he saw that Hermione had the low hand this time.
Apparently, she didn't get that, until everyone stared at her, and she finally understood. She got up, and removed her shoes as well. When she sat back down, Harry was finally able to breathe again.
Alicia dealt the next hand as the game started picking up speed. After a moment, everyone put down their cards, and it was Ron who had the low hand. As the twins laughed, they 'helped' Ron with his Robes, showing Ron's ill-fitting hand-me-down clothes.
Katie grabbed the cards, and dealt the next hand. The next person who had to take it off was Alicia, who chose to remove her robes. Harry, Ron and the twins all stared as they saw the outfit that she had under her robes.
After Katie dealt them the next hand, they closed their mouths and finally saw the reproachful looks they were getting from the other girls. Harry was lucky he didn't lose that hand, seeing as he hadn't the slightest idea which cards he had, and was almost expecting them to explode in his hands for some reason.
It was Katie that lost the hand, and for some reason she gave Alicia a nasty look as she started to take off her robes, much to the delight of the males in the attendance. Her outfit was almost as eye-catching as Alicia's was.
As Hermione gave Harry another look of disappointment, he looked down at his hands as if he had done something wrong, but what it was, he had no idea. Harry shook it off, took the deck, and dealt the next hand.
As he looked at his hand, he smiled. He had a pretty good hand, but as he put it down he realized it wasn't good enough. He wasn't sure what to do next, so as everyone started staring at him expectantly.
After a moment, Harry took off his shirt, exposing his toned and tanned chest. All the Quidditch practice has done wonders for his physique he had to admit. When he did that Alicia gave him a whistle of appreciation, but as much as that meant, the look on Hermione's face was far more important.
Harry saw that Hermione looked at him just as he did when he stared at a new racing broom. He had to admit that he was happy that she didn't laugh. That was the last thing he needed was to take off his shirt and be laughed at, by someone other then the guys who were starting to look enviously at him.
Fred quickly dealt the next hand, which Harry did not lose. He was grateful for this because he didn't have much of a margin of error, having lost three hands already. Ron lost this hand, and he quickly removed his trainers before the twins had gotten any other ideas.
After George dealt the next hand, which his twin brother Fred lost, everyone watched as he thought for a moment before he removed his shirt. He spent a couple of moment flexing his muscles before Alicia dealt the next hand.
Angelina lost the hand, and after she took a bracing breath, she removed her robes. Harry had to suppress a smile as he saw Fred placed the knut that he had received into Angelina's shirt pocket before he returned to his cards.
With her pride still seemingly intact, Angelina took the deck and dealt the next hand, and this time it was George had the low hand, and like his brother, he took off his shirt, putting on a little show in the process. After Katie dealt the next hands things got interesting, as both Katie and Alicia had identical hands.
After a pregnant pause, where no one was sure of what should happen, they looked at each other and shrugged. After a moment, they removed their shoes, as George started to protest a little, but as Katie dealt the next hand, he quickly stopped.
Hermione lost her second hand, and Harry tried not to stare as she removed her robes, although he wasn't sure if he was successful. He wasn't sure why this should affect him, seeing as how he had seen her out of school with pretty much the same things on.
After Ron dealt the next hand, Harry saw that Angelina had lost another one. She looked around uneasily, then sighed as she removed her shirt, to woops and hollers of Fred.
After pausing for a moment to let everyone to calm down a bit, Harry reached over to hand the cards to Hermione. He saw that she seemed to be getting more uncomfortable with this and, without saying anything, gave her a look to see if she wanted to continue. As he looked into her eyes, he could feel her resolve stiffen as she grabbed the cards out of his hands.
Harry watched as Hermione's shaking hands dealt the next hand. After placing down his cards, he was more relieved that Hermione hadn't lost then he was at his own fate. After a second, he saw that Katie lost the hand, although she was a bit more enthusiastic as she removed her shirt then Angelina was.
Harry took the cards and quickly dealt them. After a moment, he saw that George had lost yet again, and after a second, he took off his trainers as well. He quickly took the cards, after discarding his shoes onto the pile, and dealt them.
Fred had lost this time, and like his brother, he too took off his shoes, discarding them with the others. He wasted no time in dealing the next hand, realizing that someone was getting close to losing this game.
Ron had lost the hand, much to the obvious disappointment of the twins. He looked embarrassed as he took off his shirt, exposing his chest. Harry had to suppress a laugh as he took the cards, and dealt the next hand.
Everyone exposed their card showing that it was Alicia that lost this time, and as she removed her shirt everyone looked over to Hermione, who was the only one that still had theirs on at this point.
Harry handed the cards over to her, and as everyone had revealed their cards, Harry was stunned to see that Hermione had lost again. He looked down at his hands, not really sure if he wanted to put the undo pressure of watching her. However, as noble as his intentions may have been the temptation was just too great, so he stole a glimpse as she removed her shirt.
He saw the way her smooth skin had blended seamlessly in with her frilly bra. He saw the way her cheeks had turned slightly pink, and he turned his attention to the cards, which Ron was dealing.
Although Alicia lost the hand, and everyone watched her as she removed her skirt, Harry couldn't turn his attention away from Hermione. He wished that they were alone now, although he thought that maybe it was a good thing that they weren't, because he didn't know what he was liable to do.
Angelina, or was it Katie, Harry could be certain at this point, lost then next hand, and once again Harry paid little attention as she also removed her skirt. He tried to close his eyes it the hope that he could somehow get the image of Hermione removing her shirt out if his mind, but it was no good. He quickly opened his eyes because what he was imagining wasn't very helpful now.
He soon realized that Katie that had lost the previous hand as he saw Angelina lose the next one. Harry kept thinking that things were getting out of hand, and that he ought to do something when he saw that Hermione lost another hand. She stood up and slowly started to unbutton her skirt, and as she pulled it down, she revealed a pair of white cotton panties. Harry didn't know how much more of this he could bare.
After the next hand, everyone put down their cards except for Hermione. As she put down her cards, and it became obvious what was going on, she had a look of resignation on her face as she realized that she would be removing the last vestiges of her clothing. She stood up and everyone stared intently at her.
Harry then, with a great deal of difficulty, got up, and said, "no. This has gone way too far."
Hermione looked into his eyes, and as if no one else was present in the room, she said, "I did lose fair and square."
George brought them back to reality as he, looking outraged, said, "what do you think you are doing Harry?"
"I won't let this happen. This is just wrong."
Hermione then looked at him as she said, "Harry, I knew what I was doing when I agreed to play this game."
"That may be, but," Harry said, pausing a moment, "I'll take her place."
"No Harry. You really don't have to."
"Yes, I do."
Fred then moaned, "will someone please take off their clothes."
After Angelina shot him a dirty look, Fred looked around the room. After a moment his and George's attention fell on Ron, who looked as if he knew what they were thinking and ran up to the boy's dormitory, quickly followed by the twins.
Angelina, Alicia and Katie then shook their heads, and grabbed their clothes from the pile as they headed up the other staircase to their dormitory leaving Harry and a barely dressed Hermione alone in the common room.
After a moment Hermione broke the awkward silence, "Harry, you would do that for me?"
"I would do anything for you."
Hermione gave Harry a kiss on the cheek, and as he looked into her sweet brown eyes he wanted to say something, anything really, but he was at a loss for words. She then gave him another kiss, and this time he was able to get out, "no, not now at least."
Hermione gathered her clothes and headed to her dormitory. After a moment Harry picked up his and headed up to the boys lavatory, where decided to take a nice, long, cold shower.