DISCLAIMER: Like what I said in the first chapter, I don't own anything and everything in the HP universe.
Author notes: This story actually was already posted as completed, but in some way, I got this nagging feeling that it needs a few more moments.
As mentioned in the first chapter, these are just but moments - like when a door was left ajar for us to have a quick peak into their private lives.
Actually, after finishing Points of View I felt I could use a doze of Pepper-Up Potion, and so here it is…
Read and review.
Title : Interludes
Chapter 5 - Touch
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It had been days since that lovely night they shared beneath the beech tree by the lake. Days which were only spent with stolen glances and knowing smiles; of a slight brush of their arms in Advance Potions; Harry holding Hermione by her elbow and leading her back towards the castle; Hermione rumpling Harry's already messed up hair before dinner; and of Harry's hand holding Hermione's under their desk one time during a class in History of Magic. The small confession and declarations were set aside to face more grave matters.
"All right, stop it!" Ron blurted putting down his quill. The three of them were again the only ones left late at night in the Gryffindor common room working on their homework.
Harry looked up from his parchment and eyed Hermione quizzically.
"What's the matter, Ron?" she asked.
"Enough of those lingering glances!" he exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Hermione further asked looking back at Harry.
"Stop playing coy with me," Ron huffed. "I know something's going on. I'm not some daft git! A couple of weeks ago, I read that little article in the Daily Prophet…"
"You know damn well that was rubbish!" she interjected. Harry on the other hand, kept to himself and looked forward to how Hermione would deal with this matter.
"Who said I believed that story?" Ron retorted. "I was with you that morning, remember? I know you two were not dating then - "
"And now - what?"
"You're together now, aren't you - Harry?" Ron looked his way and Harry was surprised when the burden was suddenly thrown at him.
"Um…"
"We're not," Hermione piped in.
"We're not?" Harry asked looking at her intensely.
Hermione leaned back and crossed her arms on her chest, raising an eyebrow and said to Harry, "You haven't kissed me yet."
"I haven't?" he asked again in shock.
Ron chuckled heartily and stood up. "I'll leave you two lovebirds to settle this little matter first. For now, I guess I know the answer to the question that's been bugging the whole school."
As Ron's sniggers went with him up to the boys' dormitory, all that was left was a deafening silence. Harry was staring at Hermione deeply while she gazed back with an equal amount of intensity.
"I can't believe that… that I haven't kissed you… for real," Harry said softly. He lowered his eyes and said with a slight smile, "I must have done it a thousand times in my dreams."
Hermione loosened up and motioned for him to come over to her side of the table. "Why don't you come here and sit with me?" she invited him.
He complied and walked over slowly and sat at her side.
"So you've dreamt of kissing me?" she asked slyly. "A hundred times, oh no - you said a thousand…"
"At least a thousand," he corrected.
She scooted a little more to cut their distance. "Then why didn't you try to do it for real - when you got the chance?" she asked smiling mischievously.
Harry swallowed a large lump lodged in his throat and admitted, "In case you didn't know, I - I haven't actually kissed a girl before."
Hermione rolled her eyes knowing it wasn't all true. Harry corrected himself, "I've been kissed, yes. But… you know, I… I haven't initiated one."
"So why don't you try it this time?" she said sighing.
"You mean here?"
"Why not? No one's around - just you and me," she replied, turning her face towards him, waiting.
Harry exhaled and nodded, "All right, let's… let's try it this time."
He gazed into her eyes and for what seemed like an eternity, he hadn't moved at all. Hermione slightly moved her head, which woke Harry up from his trance and started to lean in closer to her, slowly. His lips brushed softly to hers, lips nipping, exploring. Harry placed a hand at the back of her neck, gently tangling his fingers in her hair, pulling Hermione closer. Their kiss further deepened that she moaned into his mouth, her hands running up and down his back. They were both breathless when their lips parted.
"That was… that was…" Hermione stuttered. "How was it compared to your dreams?"
"Just about the same," Harry said mischievously.
"What?" she said looking all perplexed.
"Only sweeter," he added. "And something that I can't get enough of." He captured her again for another kiss.
*********
"Just as I thought," Hermione sighed after seeing Harry all alone at the top of the Astronomy tower after her nightly rounds.
Harry didn't move an inch so Hermione wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheeks on his back. "Waiting for someone?" she asked softly.
He did not answer but instead turned and leaned in closer to brush his lips to hers. Hermione swooned in the tenderness of the deep kiss.
"I miss you," he whispered when their lips unlocked.
Hermione's brows furrowed and she said, "Where you expecting someone else?"
Harry pulled back a bit and studied her face by the moonlight. "Oh, you're the Head Girl… I'm sorry… must have," he said stammering with a slight devious glint in his eyes.
"Harry James Potter!" she exclaimed. "You're not… you wouldn't… were you?" She then pinched his left arm, which made Harry squirmed in pain.
"Ouch! Ouch! That hurt!"
"So, were you?" she asked heatedly.
"Of course not!" he snapped back. "Would you be true to your word that you'll send anyone you caught kissing me up here to detention?" he asked teasingly.
"You knew me well enough that I do keep my word," she replied. "More so, if you did it here in our secret place," she added.
"Even if it was you?" Harry snickered.
"Uh-huh… even with me," she quipped, taking his arms and wrapped them around her small waist. "I'll send you to detention for three straight nights because you don't kiss me often enough," she said.
"And what kind of detention would that be, pray tell?" he asked.
"Oh, just three nights of you and me in some secluded place," she shrugged.
A silly grin spread across Harry's face and he said, "So when do we start?"
Hermione untangled herself from him and tugged him towards the stairs. "That's not going to happen soon, Potter," she said. "You still have more pressing matters to face - like someone who fashioned himself a name called Voldemort. Doesn't that sound familiar?"
"Oh bugger!" he growled and followed her lead back to the Gryffindor tower.
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A/N : I was thinking of adding more H/Hr moments, what do you think? Give me ideas and if anything catches my fancy, you might see a new chapter in here and you'll get to see your name on it.
I do suck at writing kissing scenes, don't I?
Thanks to my ever accommodating beta AustenLover and Raven.