FOUR
Hours later, Hermione woke up feeling the happiest woman alive. She was lying down in the lab's couch encircled by Harry's arms. Their warm, naked bodies pressed against each other. They were warmly covered with the soft blankets. Harry was still sleeping.
They were lying on their sides, facing each other. Hermione wished she could freeze time and remain like that, on his arms, forever. She started to recall what had just happened.
Harry had made love to her. She had been his for a few hours. She had felt him deep inside of her. That feeling had been the most exciting experience she had ever felt. For a while, they had been a single being. Their bodies fitted perfectly well together.
Harry took Hermione to a place she didn't know existed, making her feel things she never thought possible. Just remembering Harry's hands on her body made her blush with pleasure.
Now that she was thinking about it, she didn't care what happened next. It didn't matter. All of her life seemed to have stopped at the moment Harry penetrated her. Everything before and after that moment was forgotten.
She then looked at her wristwatch. It was five thirty. Her shift would be over at six o'clock. The student who was to take over after her would be arriving soon. She quickly got up and woke Harry up.
"Harry! You have to go!" she said while searching for her clothes and putting them on.
"What?" he asked, still a little sleepy.
Hermione quickly explained to Harry that he had to leave. Harry got up and quickly got dressed. Hermione instructed him to apparate to her apartment and wait for her there.
--- * --- * --- * ---
Half an hour later, Hermione apparated home. Harry was waiting for Hermione in her bedroom. When she walked in, Harry looked her in the eyes and remained silent for a while.
Hermione looked into his green eyes. She didn't like what she saw. Not even a trace of the happiness or the excitement she was feeling could be seen in his expression. Instead, she found shock, guilt, regret.
"Hermione, I…"
"Don't Harry, please." The last thing she wanted was to hear him say that he was sorry or that he regretted what had just happened between them. She sure wasn't sorry.
"Just forget about it, okay."
She was trying to make it sound as a tiny, worthless thing, but her voice revealed her feelings. Harry walked up to her and tried to take her hand, but she stood back.
"I need to take a shower," she simply said.
She walked around him, grabbed some clean clothes out of the dresser, and walked out of the bedroom to the bathroom on the hallway, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
After Hermione left the room, Harry remained in the same spot for a few minutes, not knowing what to do. Tons of things were twirling in his head. He felt bad about what had happened.
He was ashamed of himself. He had used Hermione and she didn't deserve that. She wasn't a one-night thing that could easily be forgotten the next morning. She was his friend, his best friend, and he had taken advantage of that.
"What's gonna happen now?" he wondered. "Is she gonna walk away from me? I don't want that! I don't want to lose her."
He was angry with himself. He had probably ruined one of the best things he ever had in his life, Hermione's friendship. "How could I've been so stupid? Throw away years of friendship just for a night of pleasure?"
He needed to fix this. He needed to make sure that she wasn't going to walk out of his life. "But how?"
--- * --- * --- * ---
Hermione was enjoying the soothing sensation of the water hitting her body. Similar thought to the ones in Harry's head were flying through hers. She also wanted to make sure that the previous night wouldn't mark the end of their friendship, even when she had enjoyed it so much. The difference between her thoughts and Harry's was that she didn't regret anything. She'd save that moment in her memory forever.
She had been in the shower for more than twenty minutes. If the building's water weren't headed by magic, she would have already run out of hot water. Finally, she turned it off and started to dry her body.
She could still feel Harry's touch on her body. That thought alone, sent a wave of sensations through her body. Trying to get that out of her head, even when she knew she'd never be able to, she started to get dressed.
She needed to calm down and look as normal as possible before talking to Harry in order to settle things down. If he could see how much their encounter had affected her, she wasn't going to convince him it didn't matter.
Then a knock on the door took her out of her thoughts.
"Herms? Are you done?" Damara had been waiting for her to leave the bathroom. She had to work Sunday mornings, and needed to get ready. Hermione opened the door to let her in.
"Sorry Damara, I forgot you have to go."
"It's okay," said Damara closing the door behind her. Without waiting for Hermione to leave, she took her pajamas off and stepped inside the shower. "Did you just get in?"
"Yeah," answer Hermione taking her toothbrush out of her mouth.
Damara started telling Hermione about a rude customer she had dealt with the day before. Damara worked as a waitress in a restaurant. Hermione, however, didn't pay much attention to Damara's words. She was lost in her own thoughts.
--- * --- * --- * ---
Half an hour later, Damara was gone and Harry and Hermione were having breakfast in the apartment's kitchen. Neither of them was eating much. They were sitting down at the table, coffee and toast placed before them.
They had been very quiet not knowing how to start the conversation they both needed to get out. Hermione had thought of different ways to make him see their night together didn't have to change things between them, but now that he was sitting across the table from her, none of them seemed to make sense. Finally she spoke.
"Harry, I…" She stopped. Hermione opened her mouth to continue, but closed it again. She was having trouble finding the right words.
"I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I don't do things like that, you know…" said Hermione without looking up at him.
"Hermione, I…" interrupted Harry.
"Please Harry, let me finish."
He felt quiet again. Taking a deep breath, Hermione continued. "I don't want any of this to affect our friendship, Harry. I don't want things to change between us just because I… You know I'm not like that, chasing a guy down, I… I don't know what took over me (She was lying of course). I just don't want you to have a bad impression."
Harry looked at her, not sure of what her little speech made him feel.
"Hermione I know you're not like that. Besides I had a lot to do with it, too. I kind of feel like you, I don't want this to take us apart. I… I want you to know that I've never seen you as a one-night thing. Our friendship matters to me too." He placed his hand on top of hers and added, "And I would never have a bad impression of you, never."
Hermione let a sigh out. She was having mixed feelings. Seeing that Harry was taking things this way felt good. It meant their friendship would continue as always. But his regret also made her feel sad. It showed that what had happened between them didn't matter to him. He was just worried about their friendship, but that was all. Obviously, he didn't care about her in that way. To him, their night had just been about pleasure, nothing more.
--- * --- * --- * ---
Once they had that talk, they were able to somehow go back to normal, or as normal as possible. They decided to make use of the few hours they had left together. They went to the city and wondered through the streets of Athens.
They had lunch at a nice little restaurant. After that they headed back to the apartment. Hermione was due back at the lab at two. Harry decided he'd go to the airport and see if he could get an early flight home. They said good-bye at her apartment, she didn't have enough time to take him to the airport and be back at the Academy on time.
"Would you be coming home for Easter?" Harry asked before getting in the taxi that was to take him to the airport.
"I'm not sure Harry. This is my last term, you know. I'll be done with my courses in June so I don't know how things will get by then."
He decided not to insist. He rubbed her arm gently and smiled at her. "I understand." Then placing a soft kiss on her forehead, he added, "I'll see you."
He got in the taxi. Hermione stood there watching the taxi go, until it made a turn a couple of blocks ahead and disappeared from view. Hermione felt that a part of her was also gone.