Torn

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter does not belong to me. The End.

A/N: Wow, I'm actually getting the hang of updating sooner than I used to. It's hurting my much needed time that should be spent on school, but hey. Fun first, right? Oh, I'm so gonna die come mid-terms. Oh, wow the reviews you all gave me for that last chapter made me smile. I love them all, the detailed ones (especially) and even the short and simple “plz continue” ones. They all just let me know how I'm doing and give me a boost to have the chapters up sooner so I thank you. You guys are awesome.

And on a side note, if I've misspelled anything wrong, you have to forgive me. I've gone through this chap myself but I've yet to get my hands on a beta.

******

Harry opened his eyes. He didn't need to see in order to know that he wasn't alone, but perfect vision wouldn't hurt. He automatically leaned over to fumble around his bedside table for his glasses. Nothing. Harry's brow furrowed in confusion. They were always on his bedside table. Where could they be? He sat up and blinked at the curtains. Hermione continued to slumber away; completely unconscious of his predicament, and Harry dared not wake her. He wanted to see her first. But sight came with glasses, which were not where they were supposed to be. Where did he put them? He guessed that they must have accidentally dropped from Hermione's fingers. Suddenly overcome with giddiness Harry whispered with a big grin on his face, “Hermione's fingers…”

The sheet fell to his waist as he leaned over the bed and felt around the floor. His hair fell over his eyes, and his fingers brushed against a long and stiff object. Success! He grasped the glasses, sat up and put them on. Immediately his world, but more importantly the woman in his bed, came into focus. She lay on her back with her cheek pressed to the pillow. One arm lay on the spot where he had lain and the other rested along her stomach. Her chest rose and fell as she slumbered away. Her eyelashes created half moon shadows and her tangled hair spilled over the pillow. She was lovely.

Harry gently lifted her arm so he could lie at her side once again and he brushed his lips against her knuckles. He watched her sleep, amazed that this moment had finally come. He was held spellbound by her sleeping form and reveled in the quiet moment where he wondered what he had possibly done to deserve this. To deserve her. Harry watched her awaken.

Hermione's eyes slowly fluttered open and he found himself lost in their dark depths flecked with gold. She smiled at him and he raised a hand to brush away strands of hair from her face. He ran his knuckles gently along the curve of her cheek and she blinked sleepily at him. A bright smile began to light her features.

“Morning, beautiful,” he said with a grin, and a sudden searing pain tore through his head.

He cried out in blind agony, his body thrashing and he was mildly aware of Hermione shouting his name in alarm with her hands on his shoulders. He couldn't see her. Harry screwed his eyes shut, screamed himself hoarse and clawed at his scar. The pain was excruciating.

It was a knife tearing through his head and twisting with a savage thrust.

It was a hard, blunt object, endlessly beating and bashing.

Claws tearing at his insides.

Fingers wrenching, and splitting his head in two.

He felt sudden moisture on his forehead and wondered if his scar was bleeding, but that thought was drowned as another wave of pain surfaced, threatening to rip his head apart. Then a voice; a cold, familiar voice dripping with anger, and bubbling with hate, filled his senses.

“I'LL KILL YOU!” it screamed. “I'LL KILL YOU!”

Another voice managed to rise from the raging tumult, shrieking desperately, “Stop it! Please! Leave him alone! STOP IT!!”

And suddenly it was over. Harry fell against the bed, his body shaking with slight tremors. Hermione's face swam before his eyes as his vision cleared. She was crying, washing his face with her tears.

“I'm sorry. Oh, god, Harry, forgive me. I'm so sorry,” she sobbed into his trembling, gasping form

Harry's chest heaved with each struggling intake of breath. His body ached, and skin gleamed with perspiration. She brushed trembling fingers across his forehead and she sat up, pulled him onto her lap and clutched him to her as if invisible hands would suddenly snatch him from her grasp.

Her name escaped from his lips, but she shushed him and held him tighter rocking back and forth. Her fingers brushed over his glistening scar, wiping away the tears that had purged it. She pressed her lips to his forehead and smoothed away his hair with trembling hands.

Harry feebly raised his arm bed to place a comforting hand on her arm. He managed to graze her skin with his fingers before dropping his hand back onto the bed in exhaustion. His eyes shut for a few moments then opened and he trained his gaze to the ceiling.

****

“Are you alright?” she whispered hesitantly.

“Yeah,” he answered.

They now lay on the bed, Hermione's arms wrapped protectively around him. Her head rested on his chest, listening to his heart now beating steadily. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes and she reached up to capture his lips in a desperate kiss. Coming up for air she said breathlessly, “I thought he was going to kill you.”

Harry looked down at her. “You heard him too?”

Hermione's lip trembled as she stroked his cheek. “Oh, Harry,” she said. “I've been hearing him for a long time now.”

Harry sat up to look at her properly.

“What?” he said.

“It's me,” she croaked, “It's always been me and it's all my fault,” her voice broke and her words tumbled in between sobs. “I-I've been trying to find a cure. I didn't want you know. I couldn't. And he-he stopped me. He-”

Harry brought her up to him and she collapsed against his chest. He brought a hand to her head and held her as he looked down at her in worry and confusion.

“What? What're you talking about?”

“It's me,” she cried. “Voldemort is using me to get to you.”

Harry's eyes widened.

No.

He grasped her shoulders and pulled her away from him gently so he could look her in the eye.

“He's taken me, Harry,” she said, wiping her tears away. “He's using Somnium Gradior. It's not you. It's me. He's taken me.”

Harry shook his head in denial and his jaw clenched as his eyes spit green fire. “How long has it-”

“Since the end of Christmas break.”

“I'll kill him,” he said viciously.

“Harry-”

“We'll find a way out of this, Hermione,” he said, kissing her forehead. “I'll make him go away. I'll protect you.”

She looked up at him with eyes wet with tears.

“But who will protect you?” she said.

Harry's eyes softened as he looked down at her and he pulled her to his chest saying, “It's my fault. He's hurt you and it's my fault.”

“No. No it's not, don't say that.”

“I'm sorry, Hermione. It's my fault.”

“Stop it.”

She grasped his head in her hands, tears poured down her face and she kissed him.

“God, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,” he murmured against her lips and she clung to him and pressed herself against him, never letting go.

Hermione wanted to drown herself in him. She wanted to stay in his arms and have him kiss her. She wanted to slip inside of him, wrap herself around him and drown in his blood. Their kisses grew more urgent, his whispers of apology, more frantic. They clawed at each other and she scrambled onto his lap, as if she wanted to climb into him. Harry lifted her waist and fitted himself against her. She wrapped her arms around him, one arm rising to tangle her hand in his hair, and the other securely around his back.

Harry whispered his apology fervently as he filled her. He moaned his apology when she moved frantically against him. And when she called his name, he cried out his apology, burying his head in her shoulder.

****

“We should go to Madame Pomfrey,” Hermione said long after as they lay with him holding her back against his chest. She held onto his arms and felt his lips on her shoulder.

“And say what? After waking from hours of great vigorous sex, Voldemort decided to rip my head in two?”

Hermione swatted his arm. “This isn't funny, Harry.”

“But if we can't laugh about our troubles, life would be no fun,” he said burying his nose in her hair, shutting his eyes and inhaling her scent.

Hermione gave a half smile. “Since when have you become so clever?”

“Since I met you,” he answered simply.

Hermione swallowed as she looked at a spot in the curtains. After a moment of silence she said, “Maybe we should stop. If you don't touch me, he won't hurt you,” she said.

Harry raised his head to look at her. Then in a swift movement, he rose over her, pinned her to the bed, and braced his arms on either side of her, “Oh, no you don't,” he said. “You're not making a martyr of yourself. That's my job.”

“Harry, I'm not-”

He silenced her with a kiss. Then upon discovering that oxygen was in fact needed to live he reluctantly broke away, looked down at her flushed features, and pressed himself against her.

“None of that. You'll have me, and I'm not letting you go. We're going to figure a way out of this, let Ron out of the dark and maybe, if we have time, tell Dumbledore.”

She opened her mouth to retort, but her words were lost in the sharp gasp she took when Harry began to move his hips tantalizingly against her. She shut her eyes as he traced kisses along her neck, whispering, “But first,” His hand traveled down the length of her body, and he smiled against her skin at the sound of another gasp escaping her lips. “But first,” he repeated in a heated whisper, “Breakfast.”

Her hands froze in its task of disheveling his hair.

“Breakfast?”

“Mmm,” he answered as he ravished her neck, eliciting shivers from her.

She ignored, with much effort, the effects that his fingers, his lips, and the teasing motions of his body had on her.

“Is that all I am to you, Mr. Potter? Breakfast?”

“Among other things,” he murmured.

Her lips parted slightly as she looked at him, then without so much as a by your leave, she pushed him off of her with her hips and had him flat on the bed. Hermione moved over him and a curtain of hair fell around him as she leaned down and looked at him with a wicked gleam in her eye. Her hands trapped his, and held them spread over the bed. She moved suggestively against him and this time it was Harry's turn to shut his eyes briefly as he uttered a guttural moan.

Oh, he had taught her well.

Her lips grazed against his own parted ones as she spoke, “Well, then I guess a considerable serving is in order.”

He raised his head up off the pillow to kiss her, but she pulled away ever so slightly. With a breathless moan, her name rolled off his tongue in protest but she only smiled and at a slow deliberate motion, he shut his eyes and sucked in a breath.

Bloody hell.

Yes. His Hermione had always been a fast learner.

“Will there be seconds?” she purred against his lips.

“Yes,” he breathed before claiming his prize and kissing her.

When his tongue slid along her bottom lip, she released him and his hands immediately rose to cup her face as he deepened the kiss.

They were far too busy with each other to hear the muffled footsteps pounding up the stairs. So naturally it came as a surprise to not only Harry and Hermione but also to Seamus as he barged into the room, walked up to Harry's bed, and threw open the curtains.

“Oy!, Harry! We're going for a drink at-” the words died in Seamus' throat and he blinked.

Harry and Hermione had no time to react. The three of them froze and stared at each other for a few seconds. Seamus' eyes bulged out of their sockets as he got an eyeful of a Hermione he had never dreamed of seeing.

Instantly, Hermione let out a fearful squeak as she attempted to bury herself in the sheets, and the moment was gone. Seamus' face flamed as Harry scrambled to get a sheet around her. Seamus jumped away, turned his head in the other direction and held an arm up between him and the bed.

“Oh! Oh Christ! Sorry!”

Hermione held the sheet around herself tightly, her cheeks burning.

“H-Hello, Seamus,” she said crouching behind Harry's broad shoulders.

“Goodbye, Seamus,” Harry said firmly.

“Er, Hermione,” Seamus stammered, his eyes looking at anything but the familiar female wrapped in only a sheet sitting timidly before him, “I-I never wanted to see- I mean, I didn't mean to- that is, I never knew that-” Seamus turned back at the sound of his name and someone strode into the room.

“What's taking so long, Seamus? It's not that hard to get the bloke u-oh… er…hello.”

Dean looked as if he wished he was anywhere but in the boys' dorm.

Seamus looked as if he could kiss Dean for appearing.

“Dean! Harry, Dean wanted to go for a couple of Butterbeers. Er, right Dean?”

Hermione dared not look at the two boys she had grown up with and befriended. She pulled the sheet tight around her. Dean shifted form one foot to the other. His eyes widened at the sight of a nearly naked Hermione, but the deadly look Harry shot at him sent his gaze to the window.

“W-Well, yeah. We, er, just wanted to-”

“Well I don't think I'll be joining you guys today,” Harry said.

Hermione shrank behind him, but it was all in vain.

“Oh, yeah, well, of course, Harry.”

The sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs echoed through the open door.

“What, in the name of God, is taking you all so bleeding long?” Ron's voice rang clearly, and Seamus visibly winced as Ron continued, “Neville and I've been waiting for-”

“Hermione?” Neville's quiet voice sounded from behind Ron's towering figure filling the doorway and soon the room was crowded.

All six of them froze in their place.

Hermione was mortified and the sheet threatened to cut off her circulation. “Hello, Ron,” she said in a quiet voice.

Well, they did want to tell him everything. She just didn't imagine that `everything' entitled to Ron seeing them half naked, wrapped in a sheet in Harry's bed. She also didn't think that `everything' needed an audience, but Ginny always said that they all needed more spice in their lives. And this situation added definite spice.

Ginny would be proud.

Hermione wanted to spontaneously combust.

And not in the good way.

Not a word was said. The silence was deafening. No one moved. Neville cringed, expecting an explosion to come from the startled red head any minute now.

“I've got to admit,” Ron said, breaking the heavy silence that hung over them all. “It is a bit unsettling to see the two of you like this.”

“Ron-” Harry began.

Ron cut him off, “But I reckon, that it's for the best and about bloody time too. I mean, its taken ages for you two to go at it like crazed weasels.”

Hermione let out a breath she never knew she held, and her face lit up.

Disregarding the rather uncouth way he had given them his blessing, she tossed caution to the wind, got up and threw herself at him in a warm hug. Ron's arms immediately went around her, partially for the sake of happiness and also partially for the sake of keeping her modesty from tumbling to the floor in her haste. But Hermione, ever the perfectionist had been careful to knot the sheet around herself. She clung to her best friend and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you,” she whispered, teary eyed and Ron nodded in answer and let her down, smiling.

Harry wrapped his blanket around his waist and got up, clapping Ron on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Ron.”

Ron shrugged. “Just happy to help. And, oy! You three!” he said to Seamus, Dean and Neville as he stepped in front of Hermione, attempting to hide her from view. “Wait outside. This isn't a show; we'll be out in a bit.”

With the door closed behind them, Ron turned back to his best friends with a bright smile. “Get dressed, the two of you. As much as you'd love to shag each other until the wee hours of the morning, I for one am thirsty and Filch is off chasing an invisible cat.”

Ron walked to the door, opened it and stepped outside. Hermione began gathering her articles of clothing strewn by the bed.

“Oh, and Harry, Hermione? Five minutes.”

And he shut the door.

Harry turned to Hermione and pointed at the closed door.

“Did he just..?” he asked.

The sheet dropped to the floor.

She was feeling especially daring today.

“You heard the man. Five minutes.”

****

Five minutes turned out to be two hours.

After the surprise at the boy's dormitory Seamus, Dean and Neville had climbed out of the portrait hole just moments before Ron, looking slightly shaken and amused.

“Where's Harry and Hermione?” Ginny had asked pushing herself up off the ground beside Luna.

Ron had only grinned at her and took Luna's hand. “They'll be a few hours.”

Ginny had looked incredulously at her brother and shouted, “A few hou- oh.” Her eyes brightened and she looked like she was going to laugh aloud. “Oh!”

“Yeah, they know where we'll be. C'mon.”

****

And so two hours later, hand in hand Harry and Hermione entered the Three Broomsticks with much catcalling and whistles from a certain group of people at a single table.

“I want details later,” Ginny managed to whisper as Hermione took a seat beside her.

Harry passed her a Butterbeer and he gave Ron a look that said he wanted to talk to him.

“Here?” Ron muttered while the others' attentions were settled elsewhere.

“No. Room of Requirement. We'll meet Hermione there later.”

Ron nodded and Madame Rosemeta approached their table with two platters of food. Harry and Hermione had missed both breakfast and lunch after all, and so it was safe to say that after the events of this morning they were practically famished.

Soon they were all laughing and talking without a care in the world. Seamus and Hermione managed to get over the slight awkwardness that hung between them. Harry ordered them a round of firewhiskeys, and much later, with her eyes trained to a distant corner of the room Ginny said, “I'll see you all later.” She got up and headed to the door.

Hermione watched Ginny's lips move as she uttered a scathing remark at Draco Malfoy who held the door open for her with a sneer. Her attention was pulled back to the group when Dean offered her a glass of firewhiskey, saying that she hadn't touched one yet.

Before Hermione could utter a refusal Harry said with a twinkle in his eye, “She doesn't drink firewhiskey, Dean.” his eyes never left hers as he continued with a knowing smile, “Not after breakfast.”

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