A/N: Here we go, one more chapter after this. Thanks to Lady Starlight for her usual splendiferous work on this chapter.
Chapter 60: Waking from a Nightmare
***********************Potter Estates, Caribbean**************************
July 25, 1998
3:20 pm
Hermione Potter settled a round-lensed pair of dark sunglasses on her face and stretched her arms over her head, squirming to get comfortable on her blanket spread on top of the white sand beach. Her head flopped over to look at the book lying next to her on the blanket, and then at the chilled glass next to that, and let them lay, not finding the energy at this moment to bother. Her eyes slipped closed behind the dark glasses as she fought, once again, to keep the tears from flowing as thoughts of those she had lost came once more.
Hermione rolled over on her side, curling in a ball and shaking as silent sobs wracked her, her chest heaving. Eyes looked unseeing towards the crystal-clear, blue waters of the Caribbean, towards a schooner passing near the coast with sails unfurled. She watched as memories of her laughing with Ron at some joke the Twins played on Charlie the morning of Bill's wedding, slipped past. A fleeting image of an eleven-year-old with a scraggly rat and a dirty face replaced that and she moaned. She took a shuddering breath as a glimpse of her and Luna curled together on the couch at Grimmauld, sharing a bottle of some nearly noxious drink they had found in the pantry and talking about the foolishness of their boyfriends, slightly cattily cutting on a few of the girls their ages, and after a few more hits from the bottle, sharing more intimate details of their lives with the other.
Just like the sister that she had not had.
A choked sob escaped from her lips as others, friends and family, passed her mind's eye, Lavender as she patiently helped Hermione with the Sleekeazy for her hair before the Yule Ball, Dean as he was drawing a portrait of her and Harry for his scrap book, making faces at her so she would laugh. Of Sirius as he laughed with Harry and her, reaching across to hug her at the table and muttered a comment in her ear causing her to blush. Harry had been oblivious, of course. Of Hagrid and an image of the sheer joy he had had on the start of that first day teaching class.
The rest, Ernie, Hannah, Susan...shot by in a blur and let her hand come up into her face, her fist half fitting into her mouth as she rocked herself, not even noticing as Harry vanished from the house to reappear next to her, already falling to his knees next to her and pulling her into his lap. Hermione let out a soft squeak and twisted in his lap, burying her face in his t-shirt, even as Harry reached up to support her, moving to situate her more comfortably on his lap.
A mental hand slipped toward her mind slowly, even as his real fingers started to trace small circles on the small of her back. Harry frowned as his thoughts hit a wall. Let me in, Mione, he whispered, kissing the crown of her head. Hermione shook her head violently, knocking his head aside, and flinging her hair into his face. Please, Love.
"No," Hermione whispered, "It's my fault."
No, it's not, Harry demurred softly, his fingers threading through her hair, pulling loose a tangle with the ease of long practice.
"I killed them, Harry, it's my fault...I should have known," she whispered darkly, "You should leave...I'll get you killed someday, I'll bollix it up..."
What, Hermione? Who?
"Ron and Luna...it's my fault," she sobbed, and tried to pull away from him, but was stymied by Harry refusing to let go. "I should have known that there were more Death Eaters, I lost count, I-"
Oh, Mione, Harry breathed, Love... He pushed his thoughts at her, more forcefully, and slid past the defenses that she tried to erect, feeling them collapse utterly as she burrowed her face more fully in his neck, and gave up on trying to keep him away. You couldn't have known, Hermione. No one did, baby, you did your best..
My best wasn't good enough, was it? she snapped back, with the accompaniment of a snorted sob, I'm supposed to be the smart one, I...
Our best wasn't good enough, Harry muttered, as his mind slowly ran over the surface of hers, mimicking the motion of his fingers in her hair. It was my fault as much as yours...more really, I should have sent them all away at the start of the fight...shouldn't have let them get trapped...
No, Harry, you couldn't have known, you were fighting Voldemort, you did what you had to do. Hermione looked up at him with huge, broken eyes, her lower lip quivering in her teeth, and Harry slowly thumbed tracks of tears from her face.
Then how would you have known, Hermione, you were with me the whole time... Harry licked his lips and took a breath as the sound of gulls filled the air, the greater world going on without them, even though it almost had not. Hermione held his eyes for a long moment, before she snapped forward, her hands coming up to grab his hair as she pressed her lips to his, riding him back until his back hit the blanket. Green light kaleidoscoped in her eyes, split into a million fragments by the tears filling them. She moved against him, small hands reaching down to tug at the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it halfway off his body, before he lifted himself enough for her to pull it the rest of the way free.
Hermione reached back, untying her black top and tossing it to the side, Please, Harry, I just wanna... She looked town and started to play with the drawstring clinching his shorts up, and watched as the knot untied itself. I just want to know-
I love you, Hermione Jane, Harry breathed, holding her eyes, as she sat back on his thighs, and slowly traced one nail up and down the centerline of his stomach. She dropped her eyes from his, fingers now tracing a new, faint scar outlining his shoulder; she traced it for a moment; then looked up again. And no one and nothing will ever change that.
Hermione took a breath, trying to calm herself and failing, before she reached to each side of her hips and untied a knot, lifting herself up enough to toss a black pair of bottoms somewhere on the beach. I want to not think for a while, Harry...not remember.
He reached up and played with her hair for a moment. We can't court oblivion forever, love, Harry said, twisting a small braid around his finger.
She dropped her eyes from his but not her thoughts, biting her lip slightly. She looked back up as he gently took her chin in one hand and raised her eyes to his, Not oblivion, Harry...just...just...please, Harry, no more talking.
Alright, Hermione, Harry smiled softly, and let the hand playing with her hair, slip upward, cradling the back of her head and pulling her lips down to his. She sighed quietly, her hips moving against his still-covered erection. She rolled off him to her side, and tugged impatiently on his shorts, giving up after only one tug and vanishing them along with his boxers. I suppose I am going to have to go back to the house naked, then, he said wryly, looking up the beach towards the house, several dozens of meters away.
A smile blossomed on Hermione's face, her eyes fully lighting from happiness as much as magic in the first time in days and Harry grinned, and rolled on top of her, kissing her and causing her to groan from deep in her throat as she felt him hot against her hip. She looked up, nibbling absently with her teeth as Harry reached between them, spreading his fingers out along her belly. Hermione felt the magic gather in his fingers an instant before he released it, and she shook her head, reaching between them before pulling his hand from her belly and intertwining her fingers with his. Hermione grabbed the pulse of magic in insubstantial fingers and intertwined it with her own, sending it out in a burst of uncontrolled telekinesis.
Her glass picked itself up and flew out of sight into the surf, and Harry asked a question in a glance. No, Harry...I think we can afford to take the chance...I think we paid enough for it, don't you? she asked as she reached up and plucked his glasses from his face, tossing them over on top of her beach blanket.
He nodded, smiling faintly, and kissed her, raising slightly and slipping into her slowly. She sighed quietly, her eyes partially shuttered as she looked up at him. A soft sense of contentment filled them, as she lifted one hand to run her fingers along his ear, moving dark locks as if they were the key to some combination. She let her legs come up, wrapping around his as he rocked slowly and dropped his head to her neck.
She gasped, as her thoughts and emotions swirled, falling forward and wrapping around his. Harry groaned, as his perceptions blurred, intermingling with hers, and saw, for an instant his own face through her eyes. Soft eddies of sand stirred, lifted up into tiny cyclones as Hermione moaned quietly, her lower lip was in her teeth as she arched up into him.
Soft mewling sounds slipped from her throat, as his hands slipped down, supporting her bum and changing the angle of his movement, just enough. She groaned quietly, "Oh...God...Harrryyy," she moaned, reaching up to pull his lips down to hers. Her stomach began to tighten, as she felt Harry begin to speed up.
She growled into his mouth, "F...faster...f...fuck me, Harry." Harry redoubled his pace, and she screamed quietly into his lips...He moved once more and she bucked up against him, clenching around him as she crashed unexpectedly. He closed his eyes, breathing hard as he fought his own release, not being helped by the feeling of her nerves firing along his pathways.
Hermione panted, looking up at him, as he leaned up slightly, and started to move again slowly, and she bit her lip her chest heaving as she felt herself already starting to crest again. She pulled on the back of his head, pulling him back down for a kiss and rolled them over, not breaking contact in either way. She rolled upright, and looked down at him with heavily-lidded eyes. "My turn," she purred, sending a rumble straight to Harry's loins.
Hermione let her hands slip back to Harry's legs, balancing on them as she started to move, bouncing up and down, rocking side-to-side slightly. Harry's hands came up to cup her breasts in his hands; she arched forward, the light from her almost closed eyes almost outshining the sun above.
"Merlin...Miioonnne," Harry whispered, looking upwards at her, as the sun shone down through her hair, casting a halo of gold around her head, his heart hammering in his chest as much at the sight as from any of their exertions. She smiled down at him, and moved her hands to in front of her hips flattening them out along Harry's abs, and moved faster, rolling her hips into his.
The eddies of sand from before returned, spinning in a rolling circle around them. Harry moved his hands to support her hips, letting his thumb trail along her center, touching her center as she moved, causing a soft, strangled mew to slip from her throat.
I l...love you, Harry, Hermione whispered breathlessly as she felt him tightening beneath her, rocking his hips to meet hers as they moved ever faster together. Fire danced along joined nerves, crescendoing as she felt her heart race, beating almost out of her chest. Harry lasted a moment longer, and he groaned something, probably her name as he bucked upwards, nearly tossing her to the sand. Hermione took a breath, moved twice more and followed along, arching backwards until she almost rested her head on his shins as she quivered around him, milking him even further and causing a long, moan of almost-pain to come from his throat.
She collapsed to his chest, panting, as their paired heartbeats slowed, falling in unison together, until they could breathe again. She rolled to her side, off him, and waited as he rolled to meet her, smiling at her softly. He watched as her eyes faded back to brown, their magic mingling together even more tightly, as a faint cocoon, of sparkling blue light, almost invisible in the bright sun, shimmered around them and vanished unnoticed.
A dusting of white sand was over them and their clothes, tossed there by the sudden collapse of the sandspouts. Hermione leaned her head up, kissing him leisurely as she pressed into him, molding her body to his. She shivered slightly as a breeze from the ocean danced along sweat dotted skin, and Harry tightened his arms around her, pulling her into his warmth. "Thank you, Harry," she breathed against his neck and he nodded, understanding her with only those words.
*********************************Caribbean******************************
August 5, 1998
Harry stood with his hands in his pockets on top of a pristine white dune and looked out over the warm waters of the Caribbean. He smiled slightly as he watched a lithe form dive into the crystal blue waves breaking on the shore. She surfaced, standing and wringing water from her hair. She waved and motioned towards the water, and he nodded, Just a minute, Mione. She nodded and dove back into the water.
Harry turned at the soft scrunch of feet on sand, and grinned as he watched a mismatched pair walking up the private beach towards him. He shook his head laughingly as he took in bright, bubble gum pink hair, the exact same shade as the bikini top the shortest of the pair wore above a pair of unbuttoned denim shorts. She held the hand of a taller man with shaggy brown hair, liberally spotted with gray. Tonks dropped Remus' hand and sprinted towards Harry, with little puffs of sand flying from her footsteps. She threw her arms around Harry, almost causing him to tumble backwards into the sand and crushing him in a hug. "Oi, Tonks," Harry muttered against her hair before she let go and stepped back enough to allow Remus, who had approached at a more sedate pace, to gather him in.
Lupin let go and took Tonks' hand again; she leaned into him and played with the ring on his hand idly, "You look good, Harry," Lupin said quietly, looking down at the slightly shorter young man, and examining him closely. Little visible damage remained on Harry or on Hermione as she ran up out of the surf and threw her arms around Lupin, dampening his bright red, flowered shirt, before she hugged Tonks and leaned against Harry, unconsciously mirroring Remus and Tonks' pose. Her emerald green bikini dripped water onto the sand as she exchanged a knowing look with Tonks.
"You too, Moony," Harry mirrored, he grinned and touched his left ear with his and Hermione's joined hands, "What's with the...a bit risqué for the new Chief Auror."
Lupin reached up and touched the small diamond stud in his ear, before glancing down at Tonks who was smirking, "Seems my--wife, thought it added a touch of--rakishness."
"I thought that you two were on your Honeymoon?" Hermione grinned, swinging slightly on Harry's arm. She shrugged up at Harry and rolled into his arms, leaning back against him. "Shouldn't you two be shacked up somewhere shagging each other into unconsciousness?"
Tonks glanced up at Remus, her eyes twinkled, as she held his, "We were, but we were in the neighborhood, and we thought we would stop by, I'm just glad that you two weren't going at it on the beach, since I happen to know that this whole property was part of the Potter holdings." Remus looked up at the large, light blue beach house, "Sirius and I never were sure if you were conceived here or at the Hollow, we had bets."
Harry laughed, more or less convincingly, and glanced back towards the house, "I was about to make lunch, would you like to join us?" He started towards the house, pausing as Hermione waved her fingers and cast a drying charm on herself, before pulling on a pair of khaki shorts she retrieved from a spread beach towel over her bottoms. She took his hand, giving him a quick, not-so chaste kiss before walking up to the house at his side, and leaving behind the older two on the beach for a moment.
Lupin watched them walk up onto the porch, he returned Harry's wave, holding up one finger as he turned back to Tonks, grabbing her, and kissing her. Tonks purred softly, molding herself to his front, "They've gone inside, Wolfie," she muttered against his lips, unconsciously grinding against him for moment.
Lupin moaned, his reactions not at all faked, "Their eyes, Nymph, they're so..." He frowned, looking down at her, "I don't think I've ever seen...they're not as dead as Harry's were right after Sirius or Dumbledore, the light is back a bit, but they are so-haunted."
"They lost too much, more than anyone should have had to," Tonks whispered in return, "I'm rather amazed that they are holding up this well." She buried her head in his chest, burrowing until she worked her way past his half-open shirt, "I don't want to ask them back, Remus."
"I don't either, luv, but we have no choice," Lupin shrugged and pulled her up the wooden steps from the sand onto a whitewashed deck. He sat down on a padded, wrap-around bench in the corner of the deck, spread his legs slightly and wrapped his arms around Tonks as she curled up in his lap. He looked up, as Harry stepped out of the house with three beers held by their necks in one hand. A plate with several raw steaks hovered behind him and set itself down on a wooden table, set in the v of the corner made by the bench and overshadowed by a large blue sun umbrella, with a gesture.
"How do you like your steak, Tonks?" Harry asked as he drew his wand from somewhere and flicked it at a large, built-in grill. Flames roared to life and Harry closed the lid, "I know that Moony just wants it warmed a touch."
Remus pretended to laugh, but nodded as Tonks shrugged, "Medium's fine, Harry." Harry waited a few more moments before tossing the meat on the flames, and flicked his wand at the grill.
"So," Harry said after a few minutes of small talk as he watched the steaks occasionally flip themselves. A shaker of spices floated out of a rack and sprinkled on the meat, causing the flames to flare up around the cuts. He glanced back at Hermione as she came out the open door, a large tossed salad and several plates floating behind her. She gestured towards the table and the makings of lunch deposited themselves, before she walked up to Harry, and leaned back against him.
"Why are you two really here, honestly?" Hermione finished for him. She took Harry's beer from his hand and took a drink, before handing the bottle back. She wormed her way more securely against him, relaxing slightly as his arm wrapped around her bare belly.
Tonks shrugged, opened her mouth a few times, "We were worried," she admitted after a moment, glancing back at Lupin. Hermione crooked an eyebrow, not quite believing her; at least not that she was giving the total truth. "And the Ministry needs you."
"Better," Hermione replied wryly, and wove the fingers of her left hand with those of Harry's where it rested low on her belly. "And what would happen if Harry and I decided to stay here and start to rebuild the Potter clan? Told the world to fix its own damn problems for a bit?"
Lupin snorted, "You aren't already working on that?" Hermione just shrugged, her expression Cheshire-like for an instant. Behind her, Crookshanks padded out of the house, jumped up to sniff the salad and sauntered off, disappointed. Remus took a breath and looked both of them in the eye, "Then I would ask when I would get to hold them, Hermione," he said simply. "You would be the last I would blame if you told the Ministry to go shag themselves, and vanished into the ether."
Harry let go of Hermione and walked back to the grill, checking the meat with a finger. Nodding to himself he pulled the steaks off and floated them over to each assigned plate. "It's done," he said softly; sitting down opposite Remus and Tonks as they remained in their seat, conveniently close enough to the table to eat off of it. Harry cut into his meat with and took a bite, he glanced over at Hermione, "Are you really sure that you want us, Remus?" He set down his knife and fork and laid his hands on the table. Hermione reached over to place hers on top of his, as he took a breath and continued, "Do you really want to take that chance? Really?" he asked plaintively. "When we got here, right after that award ceremony, which neither Mione nor I even remember, mind you, we were so far gone, I damn near killed some poor kid who was jogging on the beach in a black sweatshirt because he had his hood up and I thought he was a Death Eater."
"Harry, Hermione, I..."
Hermione leaned over and pulled Harry into her side, "Remus, I don't think that anyone really knew..." She closed her eyes, sighing, without opening them again, "In many ways, Ron was the best of us, he wasn't as powerful as Harry or I, he wasn't always that bright, or brave...but when it counted, he was. I don't think that anyone really understands what we were, the infamous 'Trio' of Hogwarts, the vanquishers of Death Eaters, rogue Slytherins and large, three-headed dogs." Lupin and Tonks glanced at each other oddly with the last as Harry and Hermione shared a short, bitter laugh.
"For six years, Remus," Hermione went on, quietly, "we were closer than family, we laughed together, fought with each other, got in trouble together, slipped out of I don't know how many impossible situations together, and if you listened to some of the rumors since fourth year, we shagged together." Tonks raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment. Hermione caught her gaze and snorted. She started to speak, but closed her mouth and took a breath before going on, "We added Luna to the trio that last year, and in many ways, as odd as it would have seemed to me even a year ago, I gained another sister, or maybe more. We should have died together, Remus. Voldemort killed our soul as sure as we killed his."
Lupin looked over at the pink-haired woman next to him, she gave him a small, half-smile and took a drink of her beer. "No he didn't, Hermione," Tonks replied quietly, "If he had, Harry would have killed that poor kid, you wouldn't be feeling like this, you would have been laughing and dancing in the streets along with the rest of those fools in the Wizengamot and in the Prophet who were saying how they had done so much to fight 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named', even as they are still to afraid to say the wanker's made-up name." Tonks leaned forward across the table slightly towards them, "And you both know it, that's why it hurts so much."
"And that's the ones you want us to come back to, to make sure nothing else threatens their sedate existence?" Hermione growled back lowly, she took a breath as Harry patted her leg under the table, and went on more calmly, "So they can blissfully ignore it, the next time a would-be Dark Lord pops up?" She looked up at Harry and gave him a small smile.
Harry leaned over and kissed her cheek, "We'll come home; we just need a bit more time."
Well there you go, next time a slight, birthday surprise.