Thank you all again for your great comments on the chapters so far! You're all certainly happy that H/Hr are finally together hehehehe
I will tell you all this- one of our three couples here is gonna 'get it on' during their time on Crossways, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out though ;)
Thanks again everyone, and enjoy!!!
Harry awoke with a start, his chest heaving up and down as he gulped in fresh air. Another nightmare plagued his thoughts but this time he at least hadn't woken the house.
A quick glance at the clock on his bedside table told him it was six am. "May as well get up," Harry grumbled. He grabbed his towel and a fresh change of clothes and showered, enjoying the way the hot water woke him up.
He dried off his messy hair as best he could and pulled on a clean pair of jeans and black shirt; he tossed his towel back on the edge of his unmade bed. Something that smelled heavenly was drifting up the stairwell and Harry followed his nose down to the kitchen.
Harry stopped in the doorway, a smile growing on his face as he watched his newfound girlfriend take a pan of what looked like blueberry scones out of the oven. "Morning," he said quietly.
"Oh!" Hermione jumped as she dropped the pan on the stove. "You scared me Harry!"
"Sorry," he smiled. "What are you doing up so early?"
"I couldn't really sleep," Hermione said, blushing a bit as he came into the room. "So I decided to give Aunt Charlotte a morning off of making breakfast."
"What are you making?" Harry asked.
"Blueberry scones," Hermione replied.
"I didn't know you could cook," Harry said.
"I can't," Hermione replied, her face turning a bit redder. "I can bake. There's a big difference,"
"I see," Harry stopped next to her. "So how come you couldn't sleep?"
"I just couldn't," Hermione said. "What about you- why are you up so early?"
"Nightmare," Harry replied.
Hermione immediately went into her concern mode. "Are you all right? I didn't hear you or anything or I'd have come in and woken you up. Was it about Voldemort again?" she put her hands on his cheeks.
"I'm fine," Harry replied. "It wasn't as bad as the others have been." He covered her hands with his.
"All right," Hermione said, a bit nervous at the way he was staring at her. The next thing she knew, her mouth had been covered by his and they were kissing frantically.
He lifted her up and sat her on the countertop, never once breaking his lips away. Her hands were running through his still damp hair, her nails feeling amazing on his skin.
"Harry…" she breathed as his mouth moved its way down her throat. She pulled his head down and kissed him full on the lips again, harder than before.
"Mmmph…" Harry finally let go of her lips. "I think you should snog me after every nightmare I have."
Hermione laughed softly. "If it makes you feel that much better…" she pushed his hair out of his eyes and kissed him again quickly. "I'll be happy to be your nightmare reliever."
Harry grinned as they kissed again. Hermione wound her arms around his shoulders and held him close to her. "At the risk of sounding really ridiculously stupid right now…" he sighed into her hair. "I really don't know what I'd do without you Hermione."
Hermione felt her lips twitch. "I don't know either. I've been saving your arse since we were eleven. My life would be completely different if you no longer needed my help with anything."
Harry grinned. "Do you need a taste tester now for your scones? They smell fantastic."
Hermione reached for one- they'd cooled off in the time she and Harry had spent snogging. "Here," she held it up to his mouth and he took a bite, crumbs spilling over his chin and onto his shirt.
Harry gulped the half he'd bitten off down. "That's really good," he said, taking the scone out of her hand and taking another bite. "Have you had one yet?"
"Not yet," Hermione was pleased he was enjoying it.
"Here, you should have a taste then," Harry stuffed the rest in his mouth then swallowed and pulled her close again.
"Harry!" her cry was muffled as he covered her lips again. She tasted blueberries as they kissed once more. "Harry… if we keep doing this someone's going to walk in on us again."
"So?" Harry mumbled around her mouth.
"Sod it all," Hermione pulled him back to her, her arms completely wrapped around him, her legs going around his middle. She suddenly didn't care anymore that they had only been together for about 12 hours.
"Ahem…" a voice at the door made them pull apart and blush an extremely dark red colour.
"Morning Aunt Charlotte," Hermione pushed Harry away and got down from the countertop. Harry echoed the sentiments in a mumbling fashion.
"Good morning," Charlotte smiled at the two teenagers.
"I uh…"Hermione looked around the room. "I made some scones so you wouldn't have to make breakfast this morning." She started taking them from the tray and putting them in a basket.
Harry grabbed some plates from one of the cabinets and went into the dining room to set the table.
"I thought there was nothing going on between you and your friends?" Charlotte asked.
"Well…" Hermione was still red. "There wasn't… at least not until last night. Harry and I are very, very close and it just… sort of turned into a romantic relationship."
Charlotte smiled. "Don't be embarrassed about it love. If you're happy with Harry then I think it's wonderful."
"Thanks Aunt Charlotte." Hermione replied. "I'm sorry you had to just walk in on us like that."
"Quite all right," Charlotte said, patting her niece on the arm. "Go on in and enjoy breakfast with Harry."
"Thanks," Hermione kissed her aunt on the cheek.
*** *** ***
Since the girls had finished as much as they could with the attic, Charlotte set them to work on the rooms with the guys. They split up the second floor, two people working in a room.
Harry and Hermione had started a room together but a quarter of an hour after working they found themselves on the floor snogging quite furiously. She had traded with Ron after they had been found in a similar situation (only Ron's shirt was off and Luna's was unbuttoned, her bra also unsnapped) and now she and Luna found themselves ragging on Trelawney some more among other things while they scrubbed down walls and polished the wooden furniture.
"So what… what's going on with you and Ron?" Hermione asked, coming back into the room with a fresh pail of water.
Luna smiled. "He's really quite dreamy and sweet." She turned and looked at Hermione. "And when did you and Harry get together?"
Hermione hid a smile with her sleeve. "Last night," she replied. She began to scrub down the wall she'd been previously working on. "I guess… it just really came down to both of us realising that we need one another." she felt slightly odd telling this to Luna Lovegood, but in the past couple of weeks since they'd arrived the girl had proved to be a rather good friend.
"I think that's nice. Perhaps we can double date," Luna said dreamily.
"That does sound like fun," Hermione grinned as she scrubbed harder. "You know I realised something this morning."
"Hmm?" Luna asked, her mind already back on the redhead a few rooms down.
"We don't really have much of the journal left to read," Hermione said a bit sadly. "After that I'm sure Aunt Charlotte would like it."
Luna nodded. "I think so too. She mentioned something a few days ago when I was bringing in one of the boxes of pictures."
"She did?" Hermione asked.
"Well she was talking to herself," Luna dipped her sponge into the water. "She was saying something about Richard. I didn't get close enough to hear and as soon as she saw me she stopped."
"Oh," Hermione said softly. "Maybe she'll talk when we bring her the journal."
"Maybe," Luna agreed.
*** *** ***
The girls gathered that evening around Hermione's bed once more. "We only have a little bit left," Hermione told Ginny.
"That's a shame," Ginny said. "I was really getting into this." She hugged a pillow, resting her chin on top of it.
Luna sat back against the headboard, braiding several strands of hair together as Hermione opened the journal and began to read.
'Tonight will be the night! I apologise that I have not written in a week but so many things have happened!
That same night Charlotte agreed to marry me we made love for the first time. It was in that same spot over by the forest. It was amazing, truly one of the best experiences of my life. I shall not be able to include such details as they are only meant for the two of us to know. She is as dear to me as anyone could ever be. I love her so much and I cannot wait until she's my wife!
There was one minor setback to our plans- Charlotte tried to tell her father about us, tried to tell him she wanted to break up with Charles and he blew up at her. He said he spent far too much time arranging things and whatnot and that if she tried to leave Charles he would send her to live in France with her relatives.
So we have arranged something else - we are going to sneak away into the neighbouring county and we will be married there. I have promised Charlotte that I will make a good home for her, and she already loves Crossways and wants to be a part of the life here.
She is on her way here now- at midnight we will sneak out of here and be married! My next entry will detail the wedding and what it's like to be a married man!'
"Go on!" Ginny said impatiently as Hermione turned the page slowly.
"That's… it…." Hermione flipped through the rest of the journal. "The rest of it's blank."
"What?" Ginny snatched it away. "That can't be it!"
"Maybe he didn't feel like writing in it anymore after they didn't get married," Luna said, her hair now half braided.
"That's probably why," Hermione pulled the journal back while shooting Ginny a dirty look. "You didn't tear it did you?"
"No," Ginny rolled her eyes. "You'd hex me into next year if I did," Hermione shook her head and placed the journal back under her pillow. "I thought we were going to go ask Aunt Charlotte about the journal."
"We will," Hermione replied. "I just… I worry about her. If she's never talked about this before, what makes us think she'll just sit down and spill it all out over a cup of tea? We need to think of a good way to bring it up to her." The three girls sat in silence for a few minutes as they thought about what they had just read.
Luna smiled suddenly. "I wonder what Ron is doing right now," she said.
Hermione and Ginny exchanged a look. "Wanking off, most likely," Ginny snorted. Hermione covered her laughter with her hand as Luna gazed at them absently.
"Should I go help him you think?" she asked dreamily.
That did it- Hermione and Ginny fell over, their laughter echoing off the ceiling.
"What?" Luna seemed to snap out of her daydream. "What did I say that was so funny?"
*** *** ***
"Aunt Charlotte are you all right?" Hermione cried. Her aunt looked positively pasty, her eyes red rimmed.
"I'll be fine dear. Just caught a nasty bout of the flu is all it seems," Charlotte said. "No, no… don't come near me I don't want any of you catching it." She said as her niece came forwards.
"Is there anything I can do?" Hermione asked. "Can I bring you some tea and toast? You should go back and lie down!"
"I just came in to see if you all had enough to do today," Charlotte replied. "Still working on the rooms?"
Harry nodded. "We've managed to get loads of them on the second floor done in the past couple of days."
"Lovely," Charlotte nodded.
"Aunt Charlotte- did you want me to run those sheets we found in the attic through the laundry?" Ginny asked. "That way if they're still nice you don't have to spend all sorts of money on new ones."
"Thank you dear," Charlotte smiled at her. "I'll be back off to bed now. Just let me know if you need me for anything." The older woman headed back out for her bedroom.
Hermione immediately rushed into the kitchen to set a kettle on for tea. Harry followed her in to help and Ron and Luna began clearing up the breakfast dishes.
"Hey Neville?" the brown haired boy turned to her. "Do you… would you mind helping me? There are so many sheets…"
"Sure I'd love to," Neville agreed instantly.
"Great," Ginny smiled at him in relief as she grabbed her own dishes and carried them into the kitchen.
Neville grinned to himself, thinking he'd have a perfect opportunity to talk with her now.
*** *** ***
Ginny pulled her shirt up over her nose as she lifted the dusty sheets from the pile in front of her. Neville was doing much of the same as she tossed them into the large washing machine.
"You sure you know how to work this thing?" she asked. "I wish we could just charm the sheets clean."
"That would be easy, but the Ministry would come in on us faster than a moth to a flame," Neville said ruefully. "Besides, this is easy compared to cleaning out those rooms."
"That's very true," Ginny pulled her face out of the shirt as Neville pushed a few of the buttons. "Very impressive," she clapped a few times as the machine began to whir smoothly.
"Well, don't give me too much credit," Neville grinned. "I asked Hermione how to work it after you asked me for help."
"I knew there was something fishy about you Neville," Ginny joked as they sat down. "What'll we do now?"
"Wait, I suppose." He pulled a pack of cards from his pocket. "We can play Exploding Snap if you want."
"Sure," Ginny replied and they played a few rounds, each winning one of them until the first load was finished and in the dryer.
"Merlin you just beat the hell out of these," Neville said ruefully.
"I guess I forgot to mention I'm rather good at Exploding Snap?" Ginny replied smugly.
"I guess," Neville shoved the pack back in his pocket.
"I wish these sheets weren't so dirty," Ginny said. "They'd be a lot nicer to sit on than the hard floor."
"They're not that bad," Neville picked one up and shook it out, sending dust particles everywhere. They spent the next few minutes coughing until the air finally settled.
"What was that?" Ginny sneezed. "Not that bad?"
"They're worse than they look," Neville kicked the pile aside. "Guess we'll have to make do with sitting here on the floor."
Ginny opened the high window. "Let some fresh air in here," she sneezed again.
"I'm really sorry," Neville apologised. "I'm not as accident prone as I used to be but I have my moments."
"It's all right," Ginny smiled at him. "You didn't know."
Neville smiled back at her as his heartbeat sped up. She was always pretty, but especially so when she was happy. "So what do you want to do? We could always go find a room to scrub down."
"No thanks," Ginny laughed. "You're fun to be around Neville. I wish we could have spent more time together when we were both in school. Now we'll all probably break apart that you, Ron, Harry and Hermione are out of school." She shook her head. "Especially now that it seems they've all coupled up."
Neville looked at her a moment. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, knowing she'd know what he was talking about.
Ginny stared at her knees for a minute before drawing them up, hugging them to her chest. "I don't know," she finally answered. "I mean… it's a pretty long story. Do you really want to know?"
"Sure," Neville replied. "But only if you want to tell me."
Ginny thought for a few seconds. She did want to talk… she already felt as if she'd talked Hermione and Luna's ears off about it. "I suppose I could use a fresh perspective on things," she tried to smile. "I suppose it started when…"