That Time of the Month. Period. - Part One

Title: That Time of the Month. Period.

Author: a muggle named Caity

Ships: H/Hr

Rating: PG-13

Words: 3,356

Summary: Part One of four. PWP. This fanfic is one part of a series of one-shots, ranging from Hermione to Ginny to Luna and going back twenty years to Lily and seeing just what happens during each of their ‘time of the months’.

Disclaimer: You know the drill: Harry Potter is not mine, it is not yours, it is not Portkey.org’s. It all belongs to the wonderful and talented J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Each part is its own little one-shot, so the POV will be changing, but it will always be the POV of the girl and guy the part is based on.

A/N 2: The idea for this plot bunny came into my mind while I was on my own ‘time of the month’ several months ago. And I thought, since some of this stuff happens to me, I might as well write it down and make a good story out of it. I wrote this story months ago, so spare me if it’s terrible, or doesn’t follow HBP that well (Snape‘s not evil, well not ‘Voldemort‘ evil). I hope you all enjoy!! Remember, R & R!!

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Part 1: Hermione

“… and so, he dived into the Wronski Feint and caught the snitch two inches above the ground, it was bloody fantastic!” Ron Weasley muttered happily to one of his best friends, Harry Potter. The trio was in the Great Hall having breakfast. Ron wanted to rely all the finer points from the Quidditch match that could be heard over the WWN from the previous night.

‘Is that all he ever talks about?’ Hermione Granger thought irritably to herself as her best friends droned on and on about the latest Quidditch happenings and another jolt of pain ran through her abdomen.

Hermione had not been having the best of mornings. She had awoken to find that her little monthly “friend” had graced her with her presence, and brought along her friends, moody and cramps. The whole period part she could deal with, and the mood swings weren’t that bad, but the cramps… they were a nightmare.

As long as Hermione could remember, she had always gotten cramps with her period and nothing could ever revive them. She tried muggle medicine, potions from Madame Pomfrey, her mother had even taken her to a gynecologist during one of her breaks from school, but nothing ever worked. The gynecologist had simply come to the conclusion that she just had very tight muscles and that they got the best of her during that most vulnerable time during the month and that she should just try and relax.

Little did that gynecologist know that Hermione could not relax. She had N.E.W.T.s in five days, her homework was piling up, Malfoy was being as insufferable as ever, and Ron was starting to get on her last nerve.

“Is that all you can bloody well talk about?” Hermione snapped at her redheaded friend, a very sharp expression appearing on her face.

Ron gaped at her, while Harry stared at her like an idiot, a very confused expression quite evident on both of the boy’s faces. Before they had a chance to react or defend themselves, Hermione spoke again, her face turning soft and apologetic.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m not having the best of mornings, and this constant Quidditch talk finally got to me.” she apologized meekly, letting out a groan of discomfort shortly thereafter.

“It’s ok Hermione. I do talk about it a bit much, don’t I?” Ron smiled apologetically at her.

Hermione let a slight smile cross over her face, as she winced with pain again.

“Hermione,” Harry started, concern traced in his voice, “are you all right?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” she lied, as her cramps grew more intense. Another wince crossed over her thin face that she hoped Harry wouldn’t catch.

But, as it turned out, he did catch it and concern and worry immediately washed over him. “Hermione, I know you better then anyone, and you’ve never exactly been a good liar. Please, tell me what’s wrong, I want to help if I can,” he added, his eyes clouded with worry.

Hermione smiled generously at him and thought, ‘he is such a sweet boy, Merlin no wonder I love him so much.’ Before answering, but lying yet again, “I’m fine Harry, I promise. Don’t worry about me, but I do appreciate your concern.”

Hermione knew that Harry was suspicious when he narrowed his eyes deep in thought at her, but was grateful when he let the subject drop and he returned to his breakfast.

A few minutes later found the trio of Gryffindors walking down to the dungeons for their Advanced Potions class. Hermione was somewhat happier, as her cramps seemed to start dying down. She really didn’t want to be hurting during Snape’s class. Suddenly, she was aware that Ron’s large hands were waving swiftly in front of her dazed face.

“Hermione? Hermione, hello?” Ron tried tremendously to get the attention of his bushy-headed friend.

“What?” Hermione absently asked, coming back from ‘fantasy land‘.

“I asked you if that ‘Moon Rock’ essay was due today?” Ron and Harry studied her over before she briskly answered, returning to her normal self, “No.”

Ron wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead in relief before saying, “oh, good, because man, I haven’t even started it yet.”

Agitated, Hermione asked him sternly, “Ron, when are you going to actually do your homework on time?”

Harry chuckled; he was happy that Hermione was back to her old self, although, he was still unconvinced with her answer from this morning, but eventually decided to let it go, as she wasn’t wincing anymore.

“Uh… um, yeah,” Ron answered stupidly.

Hermione rolled her eyes as they walked through the large door into the dark, gloomy classroom. “Ron, we have N.E.W.T.s in five days, you have to start doing your homework.”

“Ok, ok, I’ll do the essay tonight after dinner,” he mumbled annoying, sitting down in his usual seat in the back, next to Harry.

Hermione smirked, “You’d better, I mean, after all, it’s due tomorrow.”

“What?!” Ron nearly jumped out of his seat. Neither Harry nor Hermione could contain their laughter. But, it died away soon after, seeing as Snape had just joined them.

“Settle down, settle down,” he said coldly, as he slammed the heavy wooden door behind him.

At this, the class grew quiet almost instantly. As this being their seventh year and all, they knew what Snape’s wrath held if they didn’t meet his every order.

“As all of you should know, but little do, your ‘Moon Rock’ essays are due first thing tomorrow. You will get the grade you would have gotten having these been your N.E.W.T.s, which I expect all of you have been studying very hard for.” He eyed the class glaringly, then landing on a certain raven-haired boy, were it turned from a glare to pure loathing.

Hermione knew that Harry was used to this, but it particularly annoyed her that Snape could be so unfair to him.

Snape started up again, “Now, as I said mere moments ago, the ‘Moon Rock’ essays are due tomorrow, so I expect your ‘Moon Rock’ potion to be done by the end of the lesson.” He pointed to the blackboard with his wand, tapping it briskly, where several sentences suddenly appeared - “The instructions are on the black board,” - He waved his wand at the cabinet off to the side of the room - “the remaining ingredients are in the supply cupboard, you have ninety minutes. Begin!!” At that, he swiftly walked behind his desk, sat down gracefully into his chair and watched menacingly as the students scurried around to finish their potions.

Forty-five minutes into the class, Hermione deeply started to regret coming; her cramps were back. All she knew was that one second she was working hard, almost finished with her difficult potion, when out of the blue, her cramps suddenly flared up again. They hurt too much to really do anything, so she just plainly sat there for a few moments; clutching her stomach, hoping the pain would subside.

Harry noticed his best friend’s sudden stop and asked her, concern very evident in his voice, “Hermione… are you ok?”

“I’m fine!” she hissed.

“Ok, just checking.” Harry looked away, obviously very hurt at her snapping. Hermione instantly felt disgusted with herself, all he was doing was seeing if she was alright.

‘I hate these periods!! They are turning me into a total bitch!! First, the cramps, then the mood swings, what else could possibly go wrong?!’ she thought angrily to herself. Her cramps steadily became more and more severe with each passing moment and if she sat there for one more minute, she thought she’d die.

Getting up on shaky legs, she slowly walked up toward Professor Snape’s desk, ignoring the murmurs and questions a rising from her two best friends. As she approached the teacher’s desk, Severus Snape momentarily looked up from his work before irritably addressing her, “What is it Granger?”

Hermione pondered that thought for a moment. What did she come up here for?

“Well?” Snape questioned her, his full attention was now completely on the seventh year before him.

“Um…” Hermione said the first thing that came to her mind. “Can I go to the Hospital Wing?”

Snape gave her a suspicious glare before drawling, “Why?”

“I… um….” Hermione didn’t what to say. Sure this would have been easy had it been McGonagall, or Sprout, or Vector, but Snape? Surely she wasn’t going to tell him she had cramps from her ‘time of the month’.

“Can I just go?” she desperately asked him, hoping he’d get the point and just let her.

However, Snape seemed to notice her discomfort and decided to have a little fun with this. “Miss Granger, you may not go unless you give me a full explanation as to why.” He gave her a sickly smirk.

By now, the whole class was watching her struggle. Some were snickering, others quietly chatting amongst themselves. “Um… I um… it’s just girl stuff, professor,” she whispered, really hoping he’d say ‘yes’ this time.

Snape gave her a sickening smile. “Miss Granger, your petty “girl problems” can wait until after the lesson. Next time I suggest that you rethink coming to class during your time of the month.”

Hermione couldn’t even begin to express how embarrassed she felt at that moment. She could hear the snickering and whispers from behind her as she just stood there in front of the professor’s desk, staring wide-eyed at him.

Snape gave her an annoyed look, “I would suggest that you return to your seat.”

Hermione couldn’t help the tears that started to build up from her eyes. She was in pain, upset, and now completely embarrassed. So, she did the one thing she could think of at the moment: she bolted.

Harry and Ron watched wide-eyed as their best female friend left the room, sobbing in their wake. Harry knew Snape was a bastard and treated many of his students in ways similar to this, but he felt that this time, he had got way too far.

Before he knew what he was doing, he stood up and angrily faced Snape. “What in the bloody hell did you do that for?!”

“Sit down Potter!” Snape ordered menacingly. “Ten points from Gryffindor!”

Harry wasn’t afraid of Snape, he stood his ground and in a low, dangerous voice asked the 37-year-old man again, “What did you do that for?”

Snape’s face filled with loathing as he once again shouted, “Sit down! Or that will be fifty points!”

Harry really didn’t give a damn how many points the potions master took from him, all he cared about was Hermione and if she was ok. “I don’t give a damn shit how many points you take away from me!” With that, Harry turned and swiftly left the cold, dark room.

“Come back here Potter!” Harry heard his professor call to him.

“Make me!” Harry screamed in return. He really didn’t care how much trouble he would be in later, all he cared about was finding Hermione.

***

Several minutes later, Harry was out of breath from running up, two stairs at a time, from the dungeons all the way up to Gryffindor Tower. He stated the password and entered the large common room through the portrait hole. There, sitting in a curled up ball on one of the many maroon and gold couches, crying quietly was Hermione. Harry silently made his way towards his bushy-haired female friend. “Hermione?”

Hermione jumped at the sudden mention of her name. “Oh, Harry it’s you.”

Harry sat down on the comfortable couch next to her and turned her around so she faced him. “Hermione, I know you’re sick of me asking you this, but I want an honest answer. Now, what’s wrong?”

Hermione winced as her abdominal muscles clenched. “Ok ok, I’m having the most horrible cramps and I can’t get them to stop.”

A look of dawning comprehension spread over Harry’s face as he watched her wince, yet again, and tightly grab a hold of her stomach as lone tears ran down her flushed face. Harry felt a deep pity for Hermione at these actions; he wasn’t a woman, so he couldn’t possibly imagine what some of these “girl problems” were like.

“Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want me to take you to the hospital wing?” he asked his aching friend.

Hermione smiled lovingly at him, he was just a sweet and good friend. “I’ve already been to Madame Pomfrey before and she can’t do a thing about it. The closest thing I can get to comfort would be muggle medicine, but I’m completely out.”

Harry watched her sadly as she cried out from another vicious cramp. He didn’t know if what he was about to do was the right thing to do, but he followed his gut instinct anyway and got on with it. The raven-haired 17-year-old gently took a hold of her shoulders and softly turned her around.

“Harry, what are you doing?” Hermione asked in surprise.

“Shh, you’ll see.” Harry slowly laid back on the warm, soft couch and gingerly pulled Hermione in-between his legs, laying her back comfortably against his Quidditch toned chest.

“Harry?” Hermione asked uncertainly.

“Shh….” Harry removed his hands from her shoulders and smoothly slid them under her school shirt.

Hermione gasped at the sudden contact.

“It’s alright, just relax.” Harry cooed this in her ear several times as he began to gently massage her lower stomach.

Hermione’s gasps slowly turned into long, soft moans of pleasure. She felt as if she was silly putty under Harry’s warm hands. They eventually worked their magic on her abdomen and began to trail downward until they reached her aching thighs. She squirmed a bit as he ran over many of her tickle spots. Harry smiled at the way he was able to make her react to his movements and caresses. As he finished on her thighs, he maneuvered her in a way where she was still seated comfortably in his lap, but it gave him easier access to her back.

“Oh Harry… that feels so good….” Hermione moaned.

When Harry completed his workings on her back, Hermione slowly turned around and faced him. “Harry….”

“Hermione….” Before either of them knew what they were doing, they claimed each other’s lips in soft kiss. As the moments ticked by, the kiss grew more passionate and became more and more aggressive. Hands roamed and skin-on-skin contact became quite evident. When they finally pulled away from each other, they found that his shirt had been removed and he was positioned directly above her.

“Harry, what are we doing?” Hermione ragged out.

Harry only stared down at her. His in and out takes of breath coming quite frequently.

“I should go.” Hermione slipped out from under him and quickly walked towards the stone staircase leading towards the girls’ dormitories.

“Hermione wait!” Harry called out to her. She stopped at the first step on the staircase and turned to face him.

“Look Harry, I know that was a spur of the moment thing and probably only lust on your part, but-” Hermione was interrupted mid-sentence.

“I love you.”

“It wasn’t that way for me and I’d… what?” Hermione trailed off confusedly.

“I love you.” Harry repeated, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to him.

Hermione gaped at him; losing all ability to speak.

Harry took this as being rejected and instantly looked hurt. “I know you don’t feel the same, but I just wanted you to know.”

Hermione found her voice. “Harry, I love you too.”

“Really?” Harry asked her perking up.

Hermione smiled as she walked back over to him by the couch before the fire. “I have for a long time.”

“But, what about all those times? Like, when I kissed Cho you didn’t seem hurt, or when I kissed Ginny last year, you smiled.” Harry was utterly confused.

“Harry,” Hermione began, “you have been very unfortunate in your life; your parents dying, the Dursley’s, then finding out you had to save the world from Voldemort…. Harry I wanted you to have some complete and utter happiness in your life, and I knew you were getting it from Cho and Ginny, so why on earth would I stop you or ruin your joy?”

“Hermione, they were nothing but crushes and hints of lust. I’ve always been pawning for you, but you were interested in Ron and vice versa. I couldn’t do that to you guys, plus I had that utter fear of rejection. Now Ginny and Cho I could take, but you… you I’d be heartbroken and I wouldn’t be able to go on if you weren’t always going to be there with me.” Harry gently wiped tears from Hermione’s face as she lightly sobbed from his little speech.

“Harry, I had no idea.” Harry pulled her into his arms as her sobs grew more intense. “And then I thought you were going to die when you faced Voldemort at the beginning of the year. I wouldn’t be able to go on if anything happened to you.”

“Shh… Hermione, it’s alright. I’m fine and we’re together now.” Harry whispered soothingly in her ear.

“Are we?” Hermione sniffled into his hard chest.

“God, I hope so,” Harry replied. Harry continued to hold Hermione in his warm embrace as she settled down. When she eased herself from his now soaked-through chest, she began to laugh.

Harry looked puzzled. “What’s so funny?”

“I just can’t believe how this day turned out. I thought it was going to be one of the worst days of my life and it turned out to be one of the best. I thank you for that Harry.” Hermione replied when her laughter subsided.

Harry smiled. “It is all kind of odd isn’t it?”

Hermione nodded.

Harry continued. “Especially with these freak mood swings of yours.”

Hermione playfully smacked him on the arm. “Look who’s talking.”

“Hey!” Harry said defensively. Hermione only chuckled.

“I love you Harry,” Hermione told the bespectacled man sitting next to her after several moments of silence.

Harry gazed at her lovingly. “I love you too Hermione.” He softly took a hold of her face and claimed her lips in a soft, sweet kiss.

When they pulled away, Hermione positioned herself back in Harry’s arms on the sofa and relaxed. “And to think, this all happened during that time of the month.”

***

*Finite*

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A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed! That was for your entertainment pleasure, so for mine, please return the favor and review! I love receiving them.

Remember people, this was only part one of four, but I won’t be continuing the other parts on this particular story. Look for ‘That Time of the Month. Period. - Part 2’ for D/G. Look for it soon, but to all my ‘Nine Long Months’ readers: as you, I’m still busy, and that includes getting the 6^th chapter of NLM out to you, so the next part of this fanfic could take some time.