Birds and Bees
3. Part III
Merry Christmas everyone! ;-D this is the last chapter of the Birds and the Bees, so I hope you enjoy! Please review(or you can always recommend it, or if you’re really feeling nice nominate it…though I don’t even know if it’s eligible, cause I’m posting this so late)
Anyways, Read on!
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Birds and Bees
Romance/Humor
Part III
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Hermione couldn’t believe she was doing this. Even for Harry. There really was a point where this had all gone too far, but there was no turning back now.
Her footsteps echoed heavily down the seemingly empty corridor as she hurriedly slipped in and out of the shadows. She hadn’t been careless; she had at least borrowed Harry’s invisibility cloak (without his knowledge of course.) Ron was supposed to keep him distracted for the night until she got back. Of course, since he seemed in quite an internal battle as whether to completely steer clear of his best friend or night, she had told Ginny to be there just in case back-up was needed. And maybe a bit of an ulterior motive to make sure Ginny never found out what she was about to do.
Her one problem was that she couldn’t find that blasted Map. He must have hidden it much more carefully than she anticipated.
She had to be very careful if she was going to go through this. If? No, she had to go through with this.
“It’s for Harry, it’s for Harry,” she whispered just under her breath. Her footsteps quickened as she approached her destination.
Looking around furtively, she made absolutely sure that Madam Pince wasn’t around and let out a slow breath she had forgotten she was holding. She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out her wand, quickly whispering the unlocking spell she knew worked for the doors.
With another glance she stole into the vast library with barely a sound. The ancient door creaked slightly on its hinges as it closed shut behind her making her wince at the sound.
Immediately the musty smell of the hundreds of books in the room filled her nose and drew a small sneeze from her. She shook herself and re-grasped her wand as if to assure herself of its presence.
“Lumos,” she murmured at her wand hopefully. She was rewarded with a small, but radiant burst of sharp light that threw the gigantic library into full relief.
Her eyes briefly roamed the increasingly familiar shapes of the towering bookshelves that were stuffed to bursting with volumes that were centuries old. After a few moments, they finally came to rest on what she needed to find. The Restricted Section.
She headed towards it with a gulp and broke the few charms guarding it with the ease of someone who has done this many times before. Which, of course, she had.
Once it was opened, she shut her eyes for a moment to gather her racing thoughts and before proceeding inside the darker portion of the library muttered the little mantra that had been running like a marathon in her brain for the past two hours: “It’s for Harry.”
Her brow creased once she stepped into the one part of the library that she didn’t know like the back of her hand, she only knew certain parts. Those certain parts that she did know wouldn’t exactly help her now. Did wizards keep books that explained this kind of thing in their libraries? At least she knew enough that Madam Pince, prude that she was, would never keep it where it was open for all the students in the school to read.
But as to where it might be hidden in this Section, she didn’t know. She needed to know, she needed to hurry. Her index finger curled impatiently around her wand, scarping at the weathered wood.
“Where are you?” she asked herself in a hushed tone. Her eyes squinted carefully as she scanned the identical shelves full of unknown books. Giving up she headed towards the furthest shelf to the left, resigning herself to the fact she would have to look through every shelf to find what she needed.
“Medieval Black Magic and How to Use It, No….The Key to Discovering Your Inner Animagus, No… Dangerous Curses in the Royal Families, No, no, no….” she muttered. “This isn’t going to be easy, is it?” she asked the silent books in frustration. Their solemn immunity to her plight was answer enough for her. No, it wasn’t.
She flitted from bookcase to bookcase until she came to a particularly grimy one with what looked to be encyclopedias piled in its space; all of them black with simple gold bars and no titles. All except one.
Her skimming eyes rested squarely on a faded maroon cover with no trimming or title that looked rather hastily shoved in between the black tomes. Her hand quickly plucked it from the stack to examine it more closely. It had no marking or identification, just the plain burgundy cover that looked like it had seen far too many years.
Her hand shook slightly as she opened it with a slight cringe, half expecting something horrible to happen; but the tome simply fell open in her hands with a silent crack revealing its contents.
“Finally,” she breathed in triumph and shut the book with a small smile. She tucked it gently into her book bag that she had brought a long just for the book and lifted her wand a little to find her way out of the Restricted Section. She scrambled from the Section as soon as she could, having the strange sensation of someone watching her.
Making sure to replace the charms on the rusty iron gates, she hurried to the main doors of the library.
She closed the door behind her with a small laugh; she had done it.
Her feet once again pounded in her ears in time with her racing heart as she hastened down the empty corridors.
Just a few staircases away from the Gryffindor Common Room, she paused, out of breath. The stupid Invisibility Cloak was hard to breathe under after so long. She had to take it off, if only for a moment.
Hermione slid from under it with a thankful sigh, and shoved it momentarily into her book bag along with that troublesome book.
She leaned against the wall, pushing her hair behind her ears and closing her eyes for a second. She was home free. She had done it and soon it would all be over. Hopefully.
“Ms. Granger?” said a startled voice. “What are you doing up at this hour?”
Hermione jumped and her eyes darted open to stare at a very surprised looking Professor McGonagall.
“P-Professor McGonagall.” To her horror, her voice shook as she spoke. “I-I was just finishing…”
“Your rounds, I suppose?” the older woman questioned with a raised eyebrow and a small quirked smile.
Hermione let out an internal sigh, she didn’t sound angry. That was a good sign.
“E-exactly, Professor.” Hermione nodded, hoping her voice wasn’t nearly as shaky as it sounded to her ears.
“Well, get on to sleep now, Ms. Granger. It’s well past when you should have been out.” The Professor shooed her along with her hands and Hermione gladly took the hint and scurried off.
She found herself at the painting of the fat Lady with almost no recollection of the time that had passed in between. Her heart pounded louder than it had at any another time that night as she reached it.
“Hippogryff,” She stated and stepped inside the haven of the common room quickly when it opened for her.
She was immediately bombarded by a very eager Ginny and a haggard looking Ron.
“Well?” inquired Ginny with an energy that should have drained from her very long ago.
“ accomplished,” Hermione said proudly patting her book bag. When Ginny tried to reach inside the bag, Hermione swerved out of the way with a wan smile and warning finger. “I told you that I wasn’t going to tell you what I’m going to do, Gin.”
“You have the cloak, Hermione?” Ron yawned, making up in tiredness for what his little sister lacked in it.
“Yeah.” Hermione smiled thankfully at Ron, taking the cloak from her bag and handing it to him. “You think he noticed it was gone?”
“No, he was much too worried as to where you might have gone,” Ron teased in a quiet voice. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to bed. Night, you two. Good luck with whatever you have up your sleeve, Hermione.”
He nodded at the two of them and headed off to his dormitory, cloak in hand.
“Well,” Ginny said after a moment, “Will you at least tell me if it works out all right?”
“That I will,” Hermione agreed and the two girls headed up the stairs and to their respected beds for the night.
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“The room is empty except for him. I told him to wait ‘cause you wanted to talk to him in private and I’ll make sure all the boys stay clear until you come down,” Ron told her in the morning when he finally appeared from the boys’ room.
Hermione sighed in relief, everything was going to plan. Now came the hard part…getting him to read the book.
“Right…thanks, Ron, for everything,” Hermione responded after a minute and then set herself towards the stairs, climbing them with deliberation.
She reached the seventh year boys dormitory door much faster than she would have liked and anxiously fingered the strap of her book bag as she knocked on the door.
“Hermione, what’s going on?” Harry asked as he answered the door.
Hermione brushed passed him with nervousness and went straight to his desk, slamming the book down on the surface.
“Read,” she told him firmly. “Then when you’re finished, come get me. I’ll be in the common room.”
With that, she turned on her heel, took a deep breath, and walked out the open door; leaving a gaping Harry behind her.
She waited down in the common room for what seemed like an eternity, pretending to read her Arithmancy text, all the while fidgeting the pages in anxious anticipation for what was coming next.
After watching many, many Gryffindors go in and out, and then in and out again; she finally spotted Harry coming down the staircase. His eyes locked with her across the room and didn’t break the eye contact until he was very near to where she was sitting, her usual secluded corner of the room with a few squishy armchairs that were great to read in.
He chose to sit in one very close to her and leaned forward with a concerned look on his face; like he needed to ask her a very important question.
“Hermione,” he said after a moment, breaking the tense silence. “You mean to imply that…my aunt and uncle did this…” he swallowed, “together?”
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The End.
I slightly tweaked what he was supposed to say at the end but it was as best I could remember cause I can’t get on the forums right now, but tell me: good, bad, totally completely laughable?
Should I give up writing forever on H/Hr fics or should I go through with writing a serious one perhaps (with everyone fully educated on the birds and the bees?
Let me know and REVIEW!
Text from the Wayback Machine's capture of the site, 14 May 2008.