A/N: I'm sorry it took me sooo long to update, but I promise it won't happen again. Anyways, here comes the reason why this fic is rated NC-17. So… you've been warned! If you don't want to read that part, skip to the second scene.
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8. In His Arms
The streets of London were quite. At that late hour of the night, very few people walked around the city. Most of the residents were sound asleep, but the two inhabitants of Number 12 Grimmauld Place were not.
Harry and Hermione were standing in the middle of his room, kissing desperately. Somehow, neither one of them seemed to know exactly how, they had moved from the kitchen to his bedroom. All logic forgotten, they had surrendered to their bodies' sudden and unexpected need for the other.
Harry's hands were openly exploring her body, as his mouth took in the sweetness of her mouth. He had nothing else in his mind, but her. He needed her. He needed her touch and her taste as he had never needed anything else before.
At first, he asked himself where this sudden urge to have her was coming from, but quickly forgot all about it. He didn't even want to analyze the situation. He just wanted to enjoy the moment to the fullest extent.
As for Hermione, her mind had gone into shock at the first kiss, denying what was happening. "It's just my dream," she thought. "The same dream I've been having lately. It's just getting a little more… intense, but… it's just a dream. I'll be waking up soon."
But as the seconds passed, as she felt Harry's hands wondering around her curves, as she felt a wave of sensations invading her senses, she finally accepted it was no dream.
Harry was kissing her. He was eagerly devouring her!
But what amazed her the most was her own reaction. Her body had responded to him without asking her for permission. Her lips had opened up to him and even kissed him back. Her hands were as anxious to touch every inch of his body as his hands were. Her heart was beating in her throat and her knees had forgotten they were supposed to hold her weight. If Harry wasn't holding her tightly, she'd be on the floor.
The situation was beyond her understanding, and her mind refused to process it just as Harry's did.
The need for each other was getting so intense, their clothes seemed to be in the way. Without ceremony, Harry pulled up her, or I should say "his", shirt off and tossed it aside to find a couple of modest, but exquisite bare breasts. Not wasting time, he got to his knees and pulled the boxers down.
He couldn't but gasp when he found out that underneath those boxers Hermione was wearing a delicate black lacy thong. The sight of her in that delicious piece of clothing made his blood boil. Her soft curves where accentuated by the black fabric of her thong, which contrasted perfectly with the soft cream color of her skin.
"Merlin!" he said. "You're perfect." He could've never guessed that under her regular sweaters and blue jeans Hermione hid such a seductive figure.
He grabbed hold of her waist and buried his face on her flat stomach, breathing in her scent.
Hermione started breathing in short gasps as she felt his hands touching her bare skin. The sensation of his calloused fingers on her was electrifying, her knees finally gave up. She ended up kneeling next to him.
Looking deeply into the brown of her eyes, Harry saw she was experiencing the same intense feelings, the same desire, the same need, the same passion that he felt.
Having his gaze upon her, Hermione got rid of the last bit of reasoning she had left and decided she was not going to let anything ruin this moment. She had allowed him to get this far and she was not going to back off.
Feeling bold, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth passionately. Then, her hands came down and started tagging at his pants. He was surprised, but glad to see she was ready for it. He pulled away, getting to his feet. Gently, he took her hand and pulled her up as well.
His pants were already undone and fell freely to the floor. Without taking her eyes off of her, Harry stepped out of his pants, still holding her hands. Then, he pulled Hermione to him and encircled her in an embrace.
As he was kissing her, Hermione felt how his strong arms raised her from the floor. Slowly, he made his way to the big bed behind them and gently placed her body on the bed.
Crawling next to her, he lay silent and still for a few minutes, allowing her time to stop if she wanted to. But stopping was way out of her mind. Missing the warmth of his body, she raised her upper body and slowly placed herself on top of him.
Harry was still amazed by the unsuspected beauty he had found in his best friend. With Hermione resting on top of him, her breast softly brushed his chest. He could perfectly feel her harden nipples burning his skin.
He couldn't take it anymore and eagerly took one of her breast in his mouth. Hermione groaned in pleasure, burying her fingernails in his shoulders. Harry, however, didn't seem to notice as he went from one breast to the other sucking and biting gently.
Soon after, the few remaining garments left were thrown to the floor. Hermione's mind went into overdrive as she felt his fingers touching her most intimate corner. He wanted to touch and kiss every inch of her body to memorize her every angle and store it in his mind forever.
Hermione followed his lead and explored his body as well. She was surprised to see how eagerly her body responded to his touch. She had never felt this way before, and was sure she'd never feel the same way with any other man.
Wanting to be as close to her as humanly possible, Harry settled on top of her and parted her tights with his legs. She was more than wiling to let him in. She needed it.
But he was taking his time, wanting to delay that moment as further as possible. That, however, was driving Hermione crazy. He smiled as she groaned in frustration when instead of penetrating her, he kissed and caressed her flat stomach.
He was also dying to be inside of her, but he wanted her to enjoy it just as much as he. Knowing perfectly well what part of her body needed to be stimulated, he focused his attention to that little, hidden muscle. First his fingers caressed it. Then, his mouth softly sucked it, taking in her natural flavors.
Spasms of pleasure, made Hermione tremble under him. Seeing the effect he was having on her made him feel even more aroused. He had to be inside her or he was going to drive himself insane. Reluctantly, he raised his face away from her and placed his groin where his mouth had been.
To make sure he wouldn't trick her again, Hermione encircled her legs around his waist. The warmth of her sex against his hardening made him gasp. Finally, they both experienced the feeling of being deeply connected with each other.
They seemed to fit perfectly, as if they had been made especially for the other, as if one was the complement of the other. Between kisses and moans, they touched the sky as their bodies reached their satisfaction. Hermione's cry of pleasure could be heard throughout the house.
Minutes later, they were able to breath normally again. Lying on their sides, facing each other, they looked into each other's eyes. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione quickly placed her fingers on his lips to keep him from talking.
She didn't want the moment to get ruined by a few words. He smiled at her and remained silent, taking in the soft features of her face while tracing with his fingers her soft curves from her neck to her tights. They stayed there content to be next to the other. Slowly, their tired bodies drifted into a restful sleep.
Just before closing her eyes, Hermione took one last look at the man beside her. She knew that nothing else in the world would ever matter to her anymore, but him. She'd never be the same. She had felt what it was to be fully complemented by someone else and she knew nobody will ever make her feel like that.
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Hours later, Harry woke up. His eyes remained closed for a while as he was trying to drift back into sleep. He felt very comfortable in his warm bed, with its soft sheets and its fluffy pillows and "…what the…"
He quickly opened his eyes to find out a beautiful, naked girl sleeping next to him. For a second, he had forgotten Hermione was there, in his bed!
He quickly became quite aware of the position of their bodies. He was lying flat on his back. Hermione rested on his side, nicely cuddled next to him. Part of her upper body rested on top of his chest as one of her slender legs had found its way on top of his thigh. Her left hand rested on top of his chest.
Harry's arm was protectively brining her close to him. His hand rested in the small of her back. He could very well feel how her soft curves accommodated perfectly next to his body. Now that he was aware of her presence, he realized the warmth he felt was actually coming out of her nude body.
She was gorgeous; he couldn't deny it. And he had indeed enjoyed their encounter. As a matter of fact, now that his senses were very much awake, something else, just below his waist, was also waking up just by the knowledge of her being right next to him.
Suddenly Harry realized what had just happened. He had taken Hermione to bed! Of course, he didn't force her - she seemed quite willing to go for it - but he could have stopped things from getting this far.
A swirl of ides came to his mind as a stampede of wild animals. Trying his best not to wake her, she looked to be sleeping quite peacefully, he slowly moved her arm aside. Now all he had to go was take her off of him. Easier said than done…
He placed his one free hand on her shoulder and tried to push her off, but it wasn't quite working. He had to raise his upper body to slowly roll her off. Fortunately for Harry, she simply moaned and turned away, giving him her back and quite a nice sight as well.
Trying to ignore such… thing, he quickly got out of bed, sighing in relief. He stood there for a while, looking at her sleep. He would've never even dreamed to have her, his childhood friend, in this situation.
"What the hell did I do?" he asked himself, closing his eyes and passing a hand through his messy hair.
Without giving it more thought, he took some clean clothes out of his wardrobe and exited the room. He needed to get out of there. He needed to order the thoughts in his mind.
It was still very early in the morning and the streets were quiet. Slowly, he started walking away from the house, not paying much attention to the direction his feet were taking him to.
He could not get out of his mind the image of Hermione and him making love, as if he'd be seeing it from an outside point.
"How did this happen? How did we let it go this far?"
But he wasn't able to respond his own questions. He was out of words. "Okay, think Potter! Well… she came into the kitchen, realized I was injured and offered to help me out," he thought as he was walking across an empty park.
"Then how did we go from there to my bed?"
And then he remembered. He had kissed her! He took her face in his hands and he kissed her. "But why did I… how could I…" His mind was once again blocked. The idea of kissing Hermione had never, not even once, crossed his mind before.
That was, of course, until the day they had no other choice but to kiss, at their wedding that is. He had been obligated to meet a certain expectation before the people witnessing the ceremony. It had just been a requirement he was supposed to do.
But he had enjoyed it. He even had wanted it to be longer than it had.
If Aunt Betty's fake cough hadn't interrupted them, they could've had a real good make out session right there. Why, she didn't seem to put up any resistance either. She had in fact responded to the kiss, just as she did the night before.
But why?
In a way, his reaction was somewhat understandable. Almost any red-blooded man who had not been with a woman for a few weeks would get a little excited when a lovely young lady comes before him and acts all seductive.
"Seductive?" he asked himself. "He was only taking care of your wounds, you pervert!" a little voice in his head reminded him.
His mind was just not processing things. He had been walking for more than an hour and he needed some help to sort this out. Before Harry realized it, his feet had taken him to Lupin's flat.
He knocked at the door and waited. He had to knock a couple of times more before the door was finally opened. A puffy-eyed Lupin looked at him in surprise.
"Harry! What's wrong?" he quickly asked after looking Harry's troubled expression.
Without answering Lupin's question, Harry walked in and went straight to the kitchen. "You want some coffee?" he yelled out to Lupin, who was just closing the door.
"Sure…" responded Lupin in a barely audible voice while rubbing his eyes, hoping to rid the sleep off. Tightening his night robe around his pajamas, Lupin slowly made his way into the kitchen and dropped his body tiredly on a chair.
He had barely sat down when Harry placed a steaming mug before him. Hoping the coffee would help him to wake up, he raised his mug and brought it up to his lips. If the caffeine didn't wake his senses, the burning sensation he felt when the boiling liquid touched his tongue surely did.
"Merlin's beard! Harry, are you trying to kill me?"
"Sorry," said an embarrassed Harry. "I didn't notice it was too hot."
"Yeah, I can see that!" Lupin replied looking at Harry's untouched cup. Then, his eyes traveled up to the young wizard's troubled expression and his tone changed. "I reckon after being woken up in the worst of ways, I deserve to know what it's going on."
Harry looked up at him. Sure, that's why he had come here, to get some advice from a wiser man, but somehow the words seemed tied in Harry's throat. He swallowed hard, but it didn't help much.
Harry let out a sigh, and opened his mouth to talk. "It's just that... I, uh..."
"Will you just tell me!" said Lupin. "If you came knocking at my door at 7:30 in the morning, on Sunday! I'm sure it's because something important is troubling you. Now, go on... I'm listening."
"Well... it's Hermione," he finally said. Harry kept quiet for a few seconds thinking that perhaps Lupin was going to throw some questions at him. But Lupin was not making thing easy for Harry, he remained silent waiting for him to continue.
"We, Hermione and me, uh... we consumed... our marriage." Harry expected a look of surprise in Lupin's face, but it never came. Thinking that perhaps Lupin didn't understand him, he rephrased himself.
"We slept together... last night!"
Calmly, as if they were talking about the weather, Lupin grabbed his mug and, before making sure it wasn't boiling anymore, brought it up to his lips.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" pressed Harry.
"Well, it doesn't surprise me," he simply said after placing his mug back down on the table.
"It doesn't? It doesn't... I just told you that Hermione and I slept together, and I don't mean sleeping as in you know... sleeping, but actually... well, you know what I mean. And you tell me you're not surprised?" asked a bewildered Harry.
"Harry," said Lupin as he leaned back in his chair. "You are two young people that... you know, happen to be married. It's only natural."
Harry stood up no longer being able to sit still. "But this is not a normal thing! Hermione and I don't have a normal marriage!" He started pacing around the kitchen, making exaggerated movements with his hands as he talked.
"I don't even know where the bloody hell all that came from? I mean... Hermione is supposed to be in love with this other bloke." He then turned to face Lupin. "You know Hermione... She's not the kind of woman who likes to… sleep around..."
Harry focused his eyes on the floor as he passed a shaky hand through his hair. "But last night... she was so... I mean, where did that come from?" he said more talking to himself rather than to Lupin.
"I'm afraid I can't help you there Harry." He said standing up as well. "You see," he added looking at Harry's questioning stare. "I'm afraid to say that I do not have as much experience dealing with the opposite sex as I'd like. I'm sorry to say it, but... that's definitely not my area of expertise."
Harry smiled at that.
"And as far as I've heard, few men, if there's actually any at all, can consider themselves as experts," said Lupin as he started to prepare some toast. "The female mind is not easy to understand."
Then, looking more intently at Harry he asked him. "Why did you do it? Besides... you know, lust."
Harry's face seemed to gain a little color, but he held Lupin's strong gaze. After a while, he replied. "I, uh… I don't think it was just… that." Then looking at Lupin's expression, he quickly added. "Don't ask me how I know that, because I haven't the slightest idea. I… I am so confused!"
"And… Sally?"
"That's why I'm confused," he replied turning away. "But I do know one thing, never, in all the times I was with Sally, I felt this… this way, the way I felt last night. It was so… different!"
"You know Harry," said Lupin as he was resuming his seat at the table. "I knew you and Sally wouldn't get married."
Harry turned quickly to face him. "Did you know about…?"
"No, of course not! I had no idea of the secrets she was keeping." He took a sip of his coffee and continued. "I just knew the two of you weren't meant to be together." By the puzzled look in Harry, Lupin explained himself.
"Think about it, Harry. As far I remember from what you told me about your relationship with her, most of the time you two spent together, well… you were… in bed. But Harry, did she ever tell you about her dreams and hopes? Did she tell you about her childhood days? Do you know what frightens her the most? Did she ever make you laugh?"
Harry pondered Lupin's words for a while. "And why didn't you say anything to me?" Harry quickly asked.
"Because I was almost sure that Sally wouldn't say yes to your proposal," replied Lupin. "Besides, would you have paid any attention to me if I were to tell you that?"
Harry remained silent for a few minutes. Lupin was right, but that made him feel even more confused. Had he been kidding to himself this whole time thinking he was in love with Sally? But he wasn't able to answer his own question, Lupin's voice interrupted him.
"What did Hermione say to you this morning?" Harry quickly looked up at the man before him, but said nothing.
"You did talk to her before coming to see me, right?" asked Lupin in a soft voice, but looking at Harry's expression he could tell he hadn't. "You didn't? You left without talking to her!?
Harry simply nodded his head.
"Well, I'm surely no expert, but I reckon that wasn't the smartest thing to do." Harry closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. "Leaving her like that, after you two… She's going to be as confused as you are. And what's worse," Harry quickly opened his eyes at this. "She's going to think exactly what you don't want her to think."