Unofficial Portkey Archive

Harry Potter and the Triptych

By Vickles

Disclaimer: Harry has requested that all of the girls fall madly in love with him. I fear that I may have offended him when I began laughing hysterically. This will not look good in court.

~*~

Chapter 25: Presents

~*~

Hermione exhaled heavily as she sat down at the kitchen table, smiling gratefully at Dobby, who was setting out some chicken and vegetables. Taking her iced tea, Hermione had to resist the urge of swallowing it all at once. Nonetheless, she finished half of it in seconds.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco eying her curiously. She waited for his usual snide remark, but clearly he was far too exhausted even for that. He only nodded and did the same with his own tea, finishing his entire glass and setting it out for Dobby. Show off, Hermione thought to herself. The house elf refilled it, appearing to have finally gotten over his fear of Draco, though he continued to stay away when possible. Draco did not seem to mind.

Across the table, Ron was inhaling his second chicken leg, barely taking time to chew between bites. Instinctively, Hermione reached across the table and gave him a light slap on his arm, her meaning not lost. Chew, she admonished him mentally, I do not fancy having to take you to St. Mungo's because you could not remember your table manners.

The look on Ron's face, coupled with the mental growl emitted from his mind, forced Hermione to restrain herself from smiling. She supposed she could not blame him for his eating habits at this moment, as she was currently resisting the urge to stuff half of a baked potato in her mouth. Her body was burning up her energy, as it had been all day today, and she desperately needed to refuel.

Oh, Lord, she thought to herself, I have been living in a house full of boys for far too long.

It had been two weeks since Harry and Ron had been "tested" by Mr. Jokin's lackeys, as they had taken to calling them. Despite one of the men's words, they had not been contacted by the old man since. That said, they had been kept plenty busy.

Tonks continued to come in the mornings, working with them on stretching their Triptych-related powers. Draco did not come. Harry and Ron had won that argument, and Hermione saw their point. Much as she wanted to trust Draco, she admitted that she had been a little hasty to include him.

Hermione was surprised by how far they had been able to take their powers in so little time. She had been staying in contact with Gretta, valuing her knowledge on the Triptych, and according to the woman the harnessing of powers was not normally so…easy. It worried Hermione that so far, nothing had gone too wrong, but she tried to put these thoughts out of her mind. She should be grateful for any sort of break they got.

Harry had shown perhaps the most progress, controlling objects all over the house with his sheer will. Just the other night they had been lying in bed when Hermione had realized she had left her book in the living room. She had gotten up to go downstairs and get it when Harry, with a grin, stopped her and held up his hand. Within seconds, the book was in his grasp as he handed it to her. Needless to say, Hermione was no longer interested in reading anymore. Later as Harry was softly kissing her neck, she began to wonder if that had been his intent all along.

Ron was doing very well, too, of course, though his powers seemed to have less day-to-day use. In dueling practice however, he had managed to make Harry cry - or make his eyes very bloodshot, Hermione revised - allowing Ron to take him down with ease. As soon as the emotional override had been released, however, a semi-joking fistfight had ensued before Kingsley stepped in the break it up.

As for Hermione, she seemed to have reached a plateau with her powers, and she did not like it. She continued to communicate mentally with the boys, and even somehow managed to rebound their thoughts to one another with little effort at all, allowing them to communicate with each other as well whenever she was in the room or nearby. Of course, she also had not been able to practice as much as the boys, do to her ever-present episodes.

The thing that Hermione hated most about the episodes was that she never knew when they were coming or how bad they would be. According to Madam Pomfrey, who came by to check up on her once a week, she was healing well, but the episodes could continue for up to four to six months. The nurse had also said that they might be over in as few as two months, but that was still very little comfort to Hermione, who had only been suffering for two weeks and already had enough.

Today was a good day, since she had not had any episodes at all, and that made Hermione happy. Her worst day had five episodes, a thought that made her shudder. Normally they only happened when she was conscious, but there had been two exceptions so far. Hermione felt guilty waking Harry in the middle of the night but she could hardly help herself, and he never mentioned any anger about it. He simply held her and talked to her and wiped at her tears as they streamed down her face until eventually it was over and they could both go back to sleep. Hermione knew that Harry continued to blame himself, so she was thankful for days like today when they could pretend everything was normal.

Speaking of Harry, Hermione thought to herself, Where on Earth is he?

Ron looked up. Oops. She had not been thinking to herself after all. Ron shrugged, too tired to do more, and went back to his chicken. Today had been especially grueling. It included a morning-long battle simulation in which they were only allowed to use their Triptych powers. Harry did quite well, summoning various objects this way and that, but Hermione and Ron were not as good with controlling objects, since it was not a natural affinity for their powers. That said, they had done very well as a team, and after what she considered to be a far-too-short lunch break, they had gone straight to dueling practice.

Draco came along to this, which made Hermione happy since Kingsley was a much better teacher than she could be. They had been working on physical strength and battle abilities lately, and today had been the hardest yet. After a two-mile run through the woods (they were still working their way up), several sprints, some basic combat exercises, and some muscle extension (Hermione was almost able to do the splits), they had spent an hour on hand-to-hand combat. Even with safety charms, which were designed to heal immediately, the initial hits always hurt. Every twenty minutes they had switched partners, so they could compare themselves to each other.

Hermione looked up as Harry walked into the kitchen, sitting down at the table and digging into his own potato, slathered in sour cream. "Where have you been?" she asked curiously.

Harry chewed and swallowed before answering, knowing her pet peeves, "I had something to take care of."

Hermione sighed. In the past two weeks, she had lost count of how many times she had asked him the same question, only to receive the same answer. It bugged her not to know what he was doing, and even tried to read his mind with the hope of getting an actual answer out of him, but he had not taken the bait, and was very successful in hiding whatever "something" was. She soon gave up, though, thinking it was unfair of her to use her powers in their relationship.

Ron let out a loud belch as he stood up, grabbing a chocolate muffin from the centerpiece basket, ignoring the disgusted expressions worn by everyone in the room except Dobby, who was looking at Ron in awe. "I'm going to go shower and tidy up the guest room. I'll see you lot in the morning. Maybe not you Malfoy, if there's any luck."

Draco scoffed as Harry and Hermione bid Ron goodbye, who then stood up shortly after, leaving the two of them at the table, still picking at their dinners. In honor of Hermione's birthday the next day, Ginny and Luna were visiting for the weekend. Though they all were excited - excluding Draco who did not care one way or the other - Ron was positively beside himself. Hermione had never seen him resemble Mrs. Weasley more than he had lately in the entire time she'd known him.

"I can't believe he's cleaning for her," Hermione commented later that night as she lay cuddled up against Harry in bed, "He certainly never did that for me."

She felt Harry grin against the top of her head, "Hermione Granger, are you jealous of Luna? Surely you aren't still fostering feelings for a certain red-headed best friend of ours?" His tone was joking, but she could sense an underlying truthfulness to his question.

Hermione laughed, "Don't be silly, Harry. I have not fancied Ginny in ages."

Harry stiffed for a moment before replying, "Well, if we're talking about Ginny I'm sure that some sort of arrangement can be made…"

"In your dreams, darling. No, I am not jealous of Luna. I am simply surprised that anyone aside from Mrs. Weasley can persuade Ron to clean up after himself."

"Ron? But he's the cleanest bloke I know!" Harry laughed, the sobered, "I am happy to hear that you are not jealous, though, because Luna Lovegood has nothing on you."

Hermione patted his chest, smiling up at him and giving him a peck on his chin, "You may be a bit biased."

"Nonsense," he replied, yawning.

With a smile, Hermione stroked the arm he had around her. "Goodnight, Harry."

"'Night."

It was not long before he was snoring softly, but Hermione, despite her utter exhaustion, found herself wide awake. Careful not to jostle the sleeping form next to her, she slipped out of bed, snatching Mrs. Potter's diary and heading down the stairs.

Quietly she crept onto her favorite chair in the corner of the living room, looking at the still-blank pages. Though she had been dedicating every spare moment - there were not many - over the past two weeks to cracking whatever was blocking Lily's words, she had not gotten any further. It drove her crazy to hold such a critical piece of information and not have access to any of its contents. It was worse than being locked out of the library.

Hermione was not sure how long she sat there, curled up in a tight ball as she racked her brain for a new idea, something that she had not yet tried, but the sudden sound of the wooden floor creaking was enough to snap her out of her reverie. Covering her mouth to silence herself, she looked up to find Malfoy. He appeared just as shocked to see her.

"What are you doing here?" they asked in hushed tones at the same time. Both of them waited stubbornly for a response. As Draco finally gave in and slumped into the nearby couch, Hermione discreetly slid the diary into the drawer of a small table.

"I was just coming down for a drink and I saw a light on, so I was going to turn it off," he replied, leaning his head against the back of the couch and shutting his eyes.

Hermione nodded. "Having trouble sleeping?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Draco's head snapped up at this. "No," he answered, though it was obviously a lie, "Why would you say that?"

Hermione smacked herself inwardly. Why had she brought it up? Should she pretend she did not know anything? The image of him curled up beneath his sheets as he whimpered and moaned in pain was still thoroughly engraved in her head. It was there constantly; every time she saw him. How could she say it, though? "I noticed…er…I saw…" Hermione sighed, "I know that you've been having nightmares."

One of Draco's eyebrows shot up, "What are you talking about?"

Suddenly incredibly embarrassed for some unknown reason, Hermione stuttered, "A few weeks ago, before the attack. I had come in to ask why you never came downstairs and you were asleep, and…"

"Oh." Draco seemed as uncomfortable as she was for a moment, but it passed quickly. He stood, heading to the kitchen, his manner very stoic, "It was a one time thing, Granger. I hardly even remember what the dream was about." He laughed condescendingly, "I can't believe you were actually worried about me."

Hermione blushed furiously, angry at his tone. She knew what she'd seen, and it was no ordinary nightmare. She also hated that he'd gone back to referring to her by her last name, something she'd though they had gotten past recently. Abruptly she stood, tired, and grabbed the diary. "Well, excuse me if some of us are capable of human emotions such as compassion, Malfoy."

Once in bed again, she slid back beneath the sheets and Harry stirred for a moment, "'Mione? Whazgoinon? You `mkay?"

Hermione smiled, giving him a soft kiss on the lips, "Everything is fine sweetie. Go on back to sleep."

Harry nodded, drifting off again, and Hermione smiled. Without his glasses, a certain innocent quality about him made Hermione want to protect Harry. Though she was always protective of him, she usually played the role of the one protected, as much as it sometimes infuriated her. Curling up against his sleeping form, Hermione was soon lulled to sleep by the rising and falling of his chest.

~*~

Hermione smiled as she woke up, the feel of Harry's kisses placed along her jaw line already making her toes curl. One of his hands was currently running up and down her thigh as the other stroked her cheek. Though her telltale grin alerted him that she was conscious, Hermione kept her eyes closed and her mouth shut, desperate to hold on to this feeling for a moment longer. His warm breath trailed up her neck, his lips steadily creeping closer and closer to her own. Hermione resisted the urge to reach out at grab him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, his lips met her own, but only for a moment. She could feel his smile against her lips. "Happy Birthday, love," he uttered quietly.

Hermione opened her eyes, immediately greeted with a sparkling green. "Today's my birthday," she answered, realizing it for the first time that morning.

Harry laughed, leaning back and helping her up into a sitting position, "How does it feel to be old and haggard?"

This earned a chuckle, "Harry, I would hardly call eighteen old and haggard."

He sobered for a moment, "I don't feel eighteen."

Another laugh, "That's because you are seventeen, dear."

Harry stared at her, ending all mirth, "I definitely don't feel seventeen."

Hermione nodded, scooting onto his lap and lacing her arms around his neck, "I know what you mean. Sometimes with the war and everything going…"

"All the people dying…" Harry added.

"Yes. I forget sometimes what we are."

"What are we?"

Hermione nestled her head in his neck, "Two teenagers lost in the shuffle, just looking for a way to make it out alive."

Harry kissed the top of her head, "Being the `Chosen One' adds a few years."

"Being the Chosen One's girlfriend comes with a couple of its own."

They sat there for a few minutes, holding each other. Harry laughed, "Look at me. I wanted to make this a happy day for you, and already you are sad."

Hermione smiled up at him, "It was a nice way to wake up. A girl could get used to it."

Harry kissed her, "I bet you could. Now what do you want to do first?"

Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but her stomach growled, "I guess there's your answer."

A grin flashed across Harry's face as he hooked an arm under her knees and lifted her up, carrying her across the room and down the stairs, "Breakfast it is, then. I had Dobby make something special."

~*~

"Thank you, Ginny, it's perfect!" Hermione reached over and hugged her friend, smiling down at her new book illuminator from Wringer's Brew. She'd wanted one for ages, since she loved the way they evenly lit the entire page and stored important notes, but they were hard to find and a bit expensive. It meant a lot that Ginny had clearly saved up for one just for her birthday.

Ginny smiled, "I'm glad you like it."

"I do. Thank you." Hermione looked at her other two gifts. Ron had surprised her with a soothing quill, designed to relieve cramps in the hand, arm, and shoulder when one was writing extensively. Luna had given Hermione a press pass, with would enable her to get into the archives of many newspapers in the area. It would also give her access to any press conferences held by the ministry. Hermione was not quite sure how she would use that gift yet, but it was lovely nonetheless, even if it would only end up helping with some offhand research for her own purposes. Her parents had not sent anything because Harry had arranged to go to their house for dinner.

Overall, it had been a very pleasant day so far. Luna and Ginny had shown up during breakfast, and the group was able to catch up. The girls wanted to come to dueling practice, and the trio had conceded. It made sense, after all. They had only had a bit of light training with Kingsley, and it ended up being more of a game than anything else. The group had then had a break for lunch, and from there, they went to the living room for presents.

"That is really great, Hermione," Luna commented, pointing at the book light from where she sat at Ron's side, "I absolutely love Wringer's Brew. My father took me there a few weeks ago to check out a story about their employment of reindeer for transporting goods. They have some of the most amazing products."

Hermione nodded, "I've never been to the actual store, only glanced at their catalog. I'm surprised you remembered that I had wanted one of these," she added, turning to Ginny.

Harry cleared his throat before Ginny could reply, "Aren't you missing something?"

Hermione played dumb, scanning the room with a furrowed brow, "I don't think so…oh! Do you mean your present? I assumed you were it!" The group laughed. The truth was that Hermione was itching to know what he had gotten her, for he'd had the strangest grin plastered on his face all day.

"Do you want to find out what it is?" Harry asked.

"Yes, please," she replied, all jokes gone.

Harry stood, holding out his hand, "Then if you'll please come with me, ma'am."

Curious, Hermione took his hand and followed him into the hall, noticing that the others did not follow. "Why aren't they coming?" Hermione asked.

Harry smiled, "They've already seen it. I showed it to them while you were in the shower this morning."

"Oh." Hermione tried to remain calm, but on the inside she was very nearly bouncing up and down with anticipation. They ascended the stairs, reaching the third floor, just down the hall from their bedroom. Hermione suddenly grew nervous. She was about to speak again when Harry stopped her. They were standing in front of a door leading to one of the storage rooms that they were yet to clean out.

"Harry, what's going on?" She asked, confused.

He smiled, clearly very proud of himself, nodding to the door, "Look inside and you'll see."

Not able to wait any longer, Hermione did as he told her to. Placing her hand on the doorknob, she turned it and pushed the door open, entering the room.

It was…Hermione was not sure if she had a word for it, exactly. The room expanded straight out and to the right of the door in a fairly large square. Straight ahead of her was a table, followed by three rows of low bookshelves, filled to the max, with a fourth pushed up against the back wall. To the right of that, in the back right corner of the room, was a cozy fireplace, in front of which sat a large, comfortable looking chair, with a small round table beside it. The corner was separated from the rest of the room by foldable partitions. In the front right hand corner of the room, next to where Hermione was standing, was a large corner desk, extending almost two meters from the corner in each direction, with four chairs - two on each side. On the wall hung what looked like small cupboards. Last, directly next to Hermione, against the front wall, was a small couch.

Hermione turned to Harry, who had walked in behind her, a million questions running through her mind. "What is it?"

Harry looked ready to burst, "Well, after what you gave me for my birthday I had a tough act to follow." Hermione bit her lip, recalling the look on his face when she'd given him the invincibility potion. "Anyway, I know that you like to do research and projects and experiments, so I decided to give you a room to do all of those things."

Hermione's jaw dropped, "You're giving me a room?"

Suddenly nervous, Harry replied, "Yes. Is that okay?"

This earned a laugh as Hermione threw her arms around him. "Are you kidding? Of course it is okay! You got me a room! I thought maybe some flowers and a book or two and maybe something random that I would not think of, but a room? I don't even know where to begin!"

Harry laughed, "Do you want me to show you everything?"

Hermione nodded enthusiastically, "Yes. I do."

Harry held out his arm and Hermione hooked her hand through it, "Okay, well, starting on the right, we have a couch here. I figured that if you ever pull any all-nighters you can crash here for a couple of hours. It folds out into a bed also incase for whatever reason you decide to stop sleeping with me."

He pointed to the large desk in the corner, "This is your workspace. I know how much you like to keep different tasks separate, so this is really more like four desks pushed together. You can always combine projects as well, if you desire. On the walls are temperature-controlled storage units. There are four of those as well. If you do not reset them they will stay at room temperature, but can be heated or cooled for different potions ingredients.

"Back here," Harry went on, turning towards the fire place and chair and table, "Is your sanctuary. The fireplace had a one-way hook-up to the Floo Network, but otherwise you can mostly just curl up here with a good book. The chair is really comfortable, I tested it. It also reclines. You can move or remove these partitions; I just thought you might like a little bit of an escape once in awhile."

Harry smiled, turning her towards the bookshelves, "This is my favorite part. These shelves aren't very tall, as you may have noticed, but completely full. If you want to add to the collection, tell Dobby and he will take care of it. You can add onto the bookshelves to make them taller if necessary.

"The front three rows are nonfiction. The back row is fiction. That mostly consists of a little bit of everything. Comedy, drama, tragedy, etcetera. The nonfiction is the good part. I got all of our trainers to give me a list of books that might be useful, then I got all of the seventh year teachers to give me books used and suggested for this year's curriculum, so you don't fall too far behind. From there I bought new copies of your most worn-in books, and then I pretty much got every one of the top Defense Against the Dark Arts books ever published. You have two complete encyclopedias, one magical, one muggle. Lastly I got the owner of Flourish & Blotts to give me a book about almost every subject. My hope is that if you need to find it, you will. The books are organized completely and I got you a Search and Scan to help you find topics quickly."

By now Harry was positively beaming at her, "So what do you think?"

Hermione took a few deep breaths, "Oh. My. God."

Harry laughed, "Is that good?"

Unable to formulate a verbal response, Hermione simply turned and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him into a fierce kiss. She felt him stiffen for a moment, surprised, and then relax into it, kissing her back with just as much force. "I," she muttered between kisses, "love…you…so…much."

He smiled against her lips, "Ditto."

They had just collapsed on the couch in a fit of giggles when suddenly Hermione gasped in pain.

No, she thought desperately, No, no no! Not right now. But she knew it was no use. Hermione supposed she should have seen it coming. It would have been too good for her to have two good days in a row.

Without saying anything, Harry turned and laid against the back of the couch, pulling her close to him, her back against his chest, with his arms around her. He whispered comforting words in her ear as the tears began to fall. They simply had to ride the wave.

Hermione clenched her teeth as her abdomen caught fire, if only in her head. Harry gently wiped her cheeks, placing soft kisses on the top of her head. It was enough to keep her conscious, and enough to get her through it.

Very soon, the pain began to ebb away. It was surprisingly soon, actually, Hermione thought to herself. The entire ordeal could not have lasted longer than five minutes. Sometimes the pain continued for over half an hour, so Hermione took this small reprieve as a blessing.

"Are you okay now?" Harry asked as she began to sit up.

Hermione nodded, taking his hand in hers as she leaned her head against his shoulder, "Yes. For now."

Harry said nothing in reply, but she knew what he was thinking. Not because she could read his thoughts - she chose not to do that more than necessary - but because she knew him so well. And also because he had spoken the same thoughts several times over the past few weeks. Every time the pain came he was overcome with guilt. He thought it was his fault, she knew, and he blamed himself for letting the orb hit her. It was only after she demanded it of him that he stopped apologizing, but he still felt it.

"Are you ready for an evening with your parents?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

With a smile, Hermione turned and look at him, "Yes. As much as I love the company, I think it will be nice to see them, just the two of us. I really want the three of you to get to know each other and get along."

"We get along."

"You are polite and nice to each other."

"And that's not enough?"

"It most certainly is not enough," Hermione replied with a smile, though she was clearly serious, "I fully intend to marry you one day, Harry Potter, and that means that when the time comes, the four of us will be family in a very real, binding way. Besides, it is not as if you have any hostilities toward each other."

"They blame me for what happened to you."

"They also know how sorry you are and how much you love me."

Harry kissed her forehead, "Indeed. I am and I do."

Hermione jumped up, pulling him with their still-clasped hands and snaking her other arm around his back, looking up at him with a twinkle in her eye, "That is exactly why they will grow to treat you like a son. Though you may want to hold off in the `I do' part. I am not entirely sure my father's heart can handle it." She waited for him to chuckle at her feeble joke, but he was staring off into space. "Harry what is it?" she asked.

"So…" he struggled with the words as he continued to look away, "One day. After I've proposed and we are happily married," the corner of his lip twitched at this, "Will I be expected to call them Mum and Dad?"

Hermione paused, choosing her words carefully, "It would be nice, and I'm sure they would love it, but you would not have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable."

She pulled his chin until his was looking her in the eye and he blinked, returning to the present. Harry chuckled, shaking his head, "We are getting ahead of ourselves. I think perhaps we should have dinner with them first."

Hermione smiled, "Let's go."

~*~

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see soon, I promise."

"Ronald, I can't see anything with this cloth secured over my eyes."

Ron paused, stopping Luna in the process, with his hands on her waist, "That is the point, you realize."

"You don't say?" Luna replied in an airy tone, "I thought perhaps you had enchanted it to get rid of those dark circles under my eyes. You know I was reading about that the other day and…"

"Luna?" Ron interrupted as he began steering her again.

"Yes?"

"You've gone into Ravenclaw mode."

"Is there a problem with acting intelligent?"

"No, I love it. Smart witches are the best. Every girl I've ever liked was intelligent." He chose to omit Lavender from this statement.

"Oh? And how many girls might that be?" Luna inquired.

"What? Oh, bugger. You know what, never mind. I think I will just stop talking now, since my mouth has led us in the wrong direction yet again, creating the entirely wrong mood for this."

"And `this' would be…" Luna prodded impatiently, though a smile played at her lips.

Ron removed the cloth napkin, "This."

Luna took a moment to look around at the dimply lit room, and then her eyes brightened. She turned to Ron, her smile lighting up her entire face. "Ronald Weasley, did you do this for me?"

Reaching down and kissing her hand, Ron smiled, "Dobby might have helped a bit."

Luna responded by grabbing his head and pulling him into a fierce kiss. Ron had discovered that Luna had a way of kissing where she threw her entire self into it, and the result always made him a bit light-headed. With his added sensitivity to the emotions of everyone around him - he could not read them clearly like he could with Harry and Hermione, it was simply more of a tingling sensation - it was all his could do not to collapse on the spot.

Letting him go, Luna gave him a moment to pull himself back together. Feeling his ears turn bright red, he shrugged his shoulders, "It's only dinner."

Taking his hand, Luna looked him square in the eye, "It is the nicest thing anyone has done for me ever, Ronald, and I love you for it."

Ron froze, startled at her complete honesty, "You…you love me?"

Reading his expression, Luna tensed up, her eyes growing wider than normal, if that were possible. "I…I mean, yes! Yes, I do, but you…if you don't…why is this funny?"

Ron was grinning, for in his entire life he never thought we would describe Luna as tongue-tied, but that is exactly what she was. Not wanting her to suffer long, he removed his hand from her own, framing her face with it and his other hand. Ducking his head, he looked her in the eye and spoke softly, but clearly, "I love you, too."

Luna stared back at him, a bit dazed. "You do," she stated cautiously.

"I really do."

"And you are not freaked out."

"I am a bit freaked out, but only because I've never really said that and meant it and suddenly I feel a bit like I'm free-falling and hoping you'll catch me which makes no sense since you are such a tiny thing and I'm a bloody beanpole and…"

"Ron?" Luna looked up at him.

"Yes?"

"Let's eat."

~*~

"I can't believe you won!" Hermione exclaimed as she climbed into bed later that evening.

Harry laughed as he waved his hand, turning out the lights, "You know, if you keep saying that it will start to injure what little ego I have."

"Nonsense, you have plenty of ego to work with. I'm just surprised, that's all. No one has ever beaten my father at Scrabble before. And then that stunt you pulled with the word `knifed!' I could not believe that was actually a verb!"

Harry rubbed her side as she snuggled up to him, "Me either. But only the `d' and `s' were open and my other letter was `x,' so naturally the only other word I could think to use was `sex' and I refused to pull a stunt like that with your parents there."

Hermione snickered, high on happiness from a wonderful day and a lovely evening, "Honestly, I think it might have made my father less mad than you beating him. Though winning might have earned you a bit more respect."

"Considering I am a teenage boy sharing a bed with his teenage daughter, I would say it earned me a lot more respect."

She smiled up at him in the dark, "You realize I love you, right?"

"You might have mentioned it once or twice," Harry replied, cocky.

"I may love my new work room more, though. You might never see me again."

"The room is an extension of myself, so I am perfectly fine with that." Harry grinned, waiting for Hermione to reply. When she did not, he looked down, seeing her biting her lip as her eyes watered. Knowing that he saw her, she could not repress a small sob that escaped from her lips. Harry turned, immediately wrapping his arms around her and rubbing her back, as he always did. Knots from in his stomach and he began to feel like he might be sick from the guilt, but he ignored it, whispering words in her ear and occasionally asking questions so she would stay alert and focused.

This one was longer than most of the others, lasting for nearly forty gut-wrenching minutes. When it finally passed, Hermione's body all-but collapsed from the exhaustion of fighting the dark magic inside her. Knowing she was unconscious and therefore could not hear him, he whispered softly in her ear, "I am so sorry." He then gently detangled himself and grabbed his robe, heading down to the kitchen for a cup of tea to calm his nerves.

He was surprised to find Ron at the table. What was it with this house, he wondered. It seemed like every time someone came down to the kitchen in the middle of the night, there was another person there waiting for them.

"What are you doing up?" Ron asked, as it was past midnight.

Harry took a sip of his tea before answering, "Hermione just had a very bad episode."

Ron frowned, "Poor thing. I can't imagine how bad it must be, and she seems to be hiding the brunt of it from us."

Harry nodded, "I agree. Anyway, they just always shake me up, so I thought I'd come calm myself down a bit before heading upstairs. What are you doing up?"

His companion shifted slightly, "Luna talks in her sleep."

A grin formed itself on Harry's lips, "Ah, and is Miss Lovegood not in her own room this evening?"

Ron rolled his eyes with discomfort, "I told her I loved her earlier.

"Congratulations," Harry replied, "Welcome to the club." He extended his hand across the table.

Ron looked at it dubiously, "And what club might that me?"

Harry shrugged, "The Wanting-to-Hate-But-Can't-Help-But-Love-Our-Girlfriends Club. Otherwise known as Whipped."

Ron shook his hand, but frowned, "That acronym does not work."

This earned a laugh as Harry finished the rest of his tea, "It's not an acronym, mate, it's the truth."

"It is not the truth," Ron replied indignantly.

Harry laughed as he stood, "Of course, and that is exactly why you are down here drinking tea instead of upstairs putting a good Silencio on Luna. Goodnight, Ron. Happy Beating."

As Harry headed out into the hall, he crossed paths with Draco Malfoy, who was headed the way he came. Ignoring him, Harry continued up the stairs, mumbling to himself, "What is it with this house?"

Ron was about to go upstairs as well when his enemy/annoyance walked in. After debating the idea internally for a moment, Ron turned to Malfoy, who had sat down at the table heavily, completely ignoring him. "Malfoy, would you say that I'm whipped?"

The other boy looked up at him tiredly, his tone aggressive as he spoke, "Why are you talking to me?"

"Just answer and I'll leave you alone. I don't exactly enjoy your company either, but I need a neutral opinion."

"My opinion is not neutral." Ron was about to argue, but Malfoy held up a hand, "Yes, Weasley, you are whipped. Now will you leave me alone?"

Ron stomped out of the kitchen and up to his room, where Luna, beautiful as ever, lie on the bed, softly mumbling to herself. He could only make out a few words here and there, but he distinctly heard his name as a smile graced her pink lips. Reaching for his wand, Ron held for a moment and then set it back down. He could not bring himself to simply silence her. Sitting on the bed, he took her small hand in his own, rubbing it gently. "Luna…Luna, honey, wake up."

Luna stirred, blinking as she sat up, "What is it? Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Ron shook his head, suddenly a bit nervous, "You were just talking in your sleep, that's all."

Luna flushed, staring down at their joined hands, "I do that sometimes. Does it bother you?"

"It just surprised me, that's all," Ron reassured her.

"All you have to do is roll me over and I'll stop."

"Okay. I'll remember that. You can go back to sleep now." He waited, but Luna simply sat there, a calculating look in her eye. "Is there something bothering you?"

Luna looked up at him, "I'm not very tired anymore."

Ron tried to process what she was saying, positive that he was missing something obvious, "Okay. Well, you don't have to go back to sleep if you don't want to, obviously. I'm sorry I woke you like that."

"I'm not." Luna's eyes were probing, trying to send him a message.

Ron sighed after a moment, shaking his head, "I'm very sorry, Luna, but whatever you are trying to say you are going to have to spell out for me."

Luna bit her lip in a moment of hesitation before scooting closer and placing a hand on his shirt, kissing his jaw before looking him in the eye, a tentative smile forming at her lips, "Ron, I'm ready."

And just like that, he understood.

~*~

Author's Note: A huge thanks to Lady Starlight, as well as to all of you that continue to read this. It never ceases to amaze me that anything I write is remotely enjoyable for other people. Thank you.

P.S. If you want to see a drawing of Hermione's workroom, I will be trying to get it up on my LJ some time this weekend.

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