Chapter 13 - Pillow Talk
Disclaimer The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling. No infringement intended, just borrowing.
Hermione went upstairs and stood outside Harry's door; she wondered if he was awake. There was no light coming from the room, so she turned and went into her room to change for bed.
After she had put on her nightgown, she went into the bathroom and examined her appearance. She looked especially tired, with dark circles under her eyes and her bushy hair looked wilder than ever. She grabbed a brush to smooth through her waves. When she thought she looked presentable, Hermione left the bathroom to go to Harry's room.
She knocked but heard no answer. She then gingerly opened the door - the room was dark except for a glow from an outside street lamp. She looked towards the bed and was relieved to see that it was not empty. Harry was lying on his side facing the window, curled up against his pillow. Careful not to wake him, Hermione crept into the bed beside him, settling into its warmth. Exhaustion filled her body and she soon fell asleep.
She was back in the Room of Love, except this time her kiss did not revive Harry. Suddenly out of nowhere, Voldemort appeared.
"Your beloved Harry is gone. Why don't you join him?" he sneered.
Before Hermione could even plead for her life, she heard him shout "Avada Kedavra!"
Hermione screamed, "Nooooo!"
Hermione woke up sweating and panting. She then felt a pair of familiar arms come around her and pull her close.
"Shhh, it's okay, it was just a bad dream."
Isn't that supposed to be my line?
"Oh Harry," she cried. "I had the most awful nightmare. I was back in that room today and I couldn't revive you and Voldemort was trying to kill me with the AK curse."
"It's all right. Voldemort's dead. He can't harm you."
Hermione pulled away a bit from Harry to look at him, she could now make out his features in the darkened room. "What? How do you know he's dead?"
"I got a visit from Remus and Tonks earlier tonight - they wanted to check on me to make sure I was okay. They told me that they found Voldemort's cloak at the Department of Mysteries. The Order is in the process of rounding up Death Eaters so they can be put on trial."
"So they never found a body?" Hermione asked, thinking about Ginny's vision.
"No." Harry replied.
"So, he could still be out there, Harry. Maybe he wants us to think he's dead, so he can catch us off guard."
"Don't you think it's possible that when you revived me, you also could've killed Voldemort?"
"How?" Hermione asked.
"The prophecy." Harry said simply. "Neither of us can live while the other survives. When your kiss brought me back to life, the power from the Room of Love was so strong, it killed him."
"But I thought you were supposed to be the one to have that final battle with him."
"The prophecy never explicitly stated that, but I guess that's what we all assumed."
Hermione was quiet for a moment as she lay back on the pillow. Was it possible that it was she who had the power to destroy such a powerful force of evil?
"But Harry, you weren't a passive participant in this," she argued. "In order for you to get rid of the horcrux, you had to have fallen in love. That was the transformative experience that saved you."
Harry nodded at her. "True. But falling in love was the easy part."
Upon hearing this, her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Harry!" she cried, flinging her arms around him. "I love you so much."
Harry returned her embrace but instead of saying I love you, too, he was quiet and Hermione wondered if she had come on a bit too strong.
"Are you all right, Harry?"
"I'm fine," he said in a choked voice. "It's just that….I've never heard anyone say that to me before."
Hermione's heart ached at his admission. It made sense; his parents had loved him but Harry was just a baby when they were murdered. But surely others had told him before?
"You've never heard that before? What about Ginny?"
"Ginny doesn't count. She never really loved me, she didn't mean it," he said bitterly.
"She's really sorry, you know. Ron and I saw her at the hospital wing. She's full of remorse for what she did to you. Mrs. Weasley, too."
"Well, they ought to be."
"Harry, do you think you'll be able to forgive them?"
Harry shook his head. "I dunno, maybe some day…."
It grew quiet again. Hermione felt safe lying in Harry's arms and she felt like she was at home at last. Feeling secure, she decided to confide in him about what she had heard in the Room of Love.
"You know, I can't take all the credit for saving you."
"Hmmm? You mean Remus, Tonks and Ron helped, too?"
"No, I mean they helped me find you, but there was someone else - somebody who is no longer with us." She paused. "Harry, I'm almost certain I heard Dumbledore's voice in that room."
"Dumbledore?" Harry didn't sound too surprised. "What did he say?"
"He told me that I could save you, that I needed to use the power that was in my heart."
"Did he say anything else?"
"No, the voice disappeared. I was beginning to question if I had imagined it all. I was under a lot of stress at that moment, so maybe I did?"
"I don't think you imagined it, Hermione, because I saw Dumbledore."
"You did? Where?"
"When I was passed out or dead or whatever, I had a dream or it maybe it was more like a vision. I was walking in a dark tunnel and at the end I saw a light. There were some figures in the light. As I got closer, I recognized four of them. Two were my parents, one was Sirius and the other was Dumbledore."
Hermione nodded against his shoulder. "Go on."
"My parents and Sirius told me that they missed me, but it wasn't time to join them yet. My mum told me to go back, and that someone who loved me was waiting for me. She asked me if I knew who that was. I told her it was you, Hermione." He paused. "So the next thing I knew, I felt you kissing me and I woke up."
Hermione was moved to tears again. "You know, Harry, I've heard of stories like that. Near death experiences, they're called. People who have clinically died and then revived often report seeing loved ones who have passed on."
"You think that's what happened to me?" Harry asked.
"It's possible. After today, anything is possible." Hermione replied.
"I love you, Hermione." Harry said quietly.
Hermione's heart leapt upon hearing these words. "I love you, too…Harry, when did you realize that you loved me?"
"When did you realize you loved me?" he shot back, grinning.
"I asked you first." Hermione said, not missing a beat.
"I've always loved you Hermione, but I thought only as a friend. But I think it started to dawn on me over the past couple of weeks-it was when I had that nightmare where Voldemort killed you…it was so real. I remember feeling so empty and lost, like my heart had been ripped out of my body or something. And then you woke me up and you were there and I was able to hold you - I felt like I was complete again. But I don't think I recognized it as being 'in love' until I saw my mum today and she told me you were waiting for me. I wanted to go back and be with you so badly."
"And you did." Hermione said, tears threatening again.
Harry reached over and cupped her face with his right hand, his thumb gently wiping a few tears that had fallen. Hermione closed the distance between them and kissed him softly and chastely. She took her time, savoring this moment of intimacy, feeling his lips brushing against hers. Soon, she felt Harry's tongue part her lips and she opened her mouth to give him full access. She ran her fingers through his unruly hair as she felt his fingers get tangled in her waves.
They continued to touch and caress each other a bit tentatively, but as their passion grew, Harry's touch became bolder. As his tongue explored her mouth, Hermione felt his hand cupping her left breast, teasing her nipple with his thumb through the thick cotton of her nightgown. He then moved to nibble on the sensitive skin of her neck as his right hand unbuttoned the top button of her nightgown.
Suddenly, Hermione was reminded of something Ron had said downstairs.
He's a seventeen-year-old bloke with needs.
She certainly felt his need growing against her hips.
"Harry?" she said, breathlessly.
"Hmm?" came his muffled reply.
"Can we stop, please?" she said plaintively.
Harry's head jerked up. "What is it? Am I not doing this right?"
No, he's doing everything right, why in Merlin's name are you stopping him?
"You're doing fine," she assured him. "It's just, I think we should discuss our, um, expectations."
"What do you mean, expectations?" Harry asked, confusion evident in his voice.
"Our physical expectations." Hermione clarified.
Harry let go of her and flopped onto his back.
Hermione took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling. "Harry, it's just that we've been sharing a bed for a while now and I think you assumed that now that we're together, that we'd go straight to shagging."
"How do you know that's what I assumed?" Harry replied, sounding cross. "I haven't assumed anything!"
"You mean to tell me that you didn't think that we were going to have sex tonight? After all you are, as Ron put it, a seventeen-year-old bloke with needs."
"That does sound like something he would say, doesn't it? But just because that's what Ron thinks, it's not necessarily what I think."
"So you don't have needs?" Hermione said skeptically.
"Of course I have needs, Hermione. I'm not dead!" He exclaimed. "It's just that I don't want to do anything with you that you're uncomfortable with or not ready for. And in case you didn't realize, I'm new at this and I'm not really sure what I'm doing."
Hermione was surprised at this news; he certainly seemed to know what he was doing. "You mean, you've never, not even with Ginny and her lust potions?"
"Well, Ginny and I did some stuff, but we never, um you know. I think Mrs. Weasley might've put a chastity charm on her."
Well at least she did something right.
"Well, what about you and Ron?" he continued. "I'm assuming you satisfied some of his needs."
Hermione was half amused and half disgusted by the image. "No, Harry! I never did. That's one of the main reasons it didn't work between us, no physical chemistry," she paused. "So, I guess neither one of us really knows what we're doing."
"And how can we have expectations if neither one really knows what to expect?" Harry concurred.
"Maybe there's a book we can consult?" Hermione said, thoughtfully. Her mother had told her about the birds and the bees, but she never discussed any, um, techniques.
"As long as there are no love potions or spells in it, that's a book I'd be happy to read." Harry chuckled. "I wonder if Flourish & Blotts carries such a book? Or perhaps we could visit a Muggle bookshop?"
"Harry Potter, I've never seen you so interested in books before. Am I finally rubbing off on you?" Hermione teased as she leaned into Harry for another kiss.
Bad choice of words, Granger...oh never mind.
"So, we're okay now?" Harry asked, planting a light kiss on the top of her head.
"We're good." Hermione yawned.
"You still must be exhausted. Why don't we sleep in tomorrow? I'll make us breakfast in bed and maybe we'll go into London, and perhaps hit some bookshops?"
"Sounds like a date to me." Hermione smiled sleepily as she felt him snuggle next to her, feeling satisfied that it was Harry and nobody else.
She soon fell asleep and had a dream that she was walking down the aisle at her wedding. Her eyes were focused, through her veil, on Harry as he stood waiting for her. Ron was smiling beside him as best man. When she finally reached Harry, he lifted her veil and gazed lovingly back at her as they exchanged vows and kissed.
FIN
A/N: Thanks for all of the kind reviews, sorry I couldn't reply to every single one, but I appreciate all of the feedback. As for the apparating thing, I took a few liberties to move the story along, but I hope it wasn't too distracting.
I hope that some of the ideas raised in this story will be featured in book 7 (especially the Room of Love) - why would Dumbledore have mentioned it in Book 5 if it weren't going to be reintroduced at some point? And I really believe that Harry's scar is the unknown horcrux. I'm not really sure if Ginny did use a love potion on Harry, but I thought it worked well for this story and it is plausible.
Of course I'm not JKR and have no idea how her mind works. But if she knows what's good for her (ahem), she should recognize the powerful bond that H/Hr have and have it play a prominent role in this book. I really think she has downplayed their bond in recent interviews (the IOD) b/c it should be a major plot point in the last book. She's not about to reveal her secrets, is she?
For the purposes of this story, Voldemort is really dead, Ginny will be punished appropriately (you can figure out for yourselves what that is), the Weasleys will make up although I think Arthur is going to keep a closer eye on his wife and daughter from now on. Ron and Luna are going to date, and as for H/Hr - hopefully Hermione's wedding dream will come true someday. The trio will probably go back to Hogwarts to finish their education and start living their lives.
I'm not sure if I'll write a sequel to this story, but I plan to continue writing H/Hr stories as the muse strikes.