His hand was gripping hers tightly, his palm a little sweaty against hers. He pulled her down the hall at a run, glancing over his shoulder every few steps. They weren't supposed to be out at this time of night. They would be in so much trouble if they were caught.
He skidded to a stop just outside the Room of Requirement and shut his eyes tight. She watched as he went through the routine, her eyes darting around, her heart thudding loudly in her chest.
A faint pop announced the appearance of the door and he practically threw himself at it, grabbing her hand to drag her in after him. As soon as he had shut the door behind him, his lips came down on hers. He pushed her back against the door, pinning her there, and she felt his hands working to unfasten her robes. He was in such a hurry that she wondered if they were even going to make it to the bed in the corner. She wasn't thrilled at the thought of her first time happening while standing up against a door, but she wasn't going to complain.
Especially not when his hand came up to cup her breast, and he moaned against her lips.
It's finally happening, she thought, almost unable to comprehend it. I'm finally getting him, after all these years.
It suddenly didn't matter that he was her best friend, or that they were two of three, and that the third was not going to be happy about this. She'd wanted him too long to care about that anymore.
Her robe was unfastened and she leaned forward just enough to let it fall to the floor. His hands were already tugging up her jumper and she heard it tear as he pulled it over her head.
"Sorry," he muttered.
He didn't seem very sorry though, since he also managed to rip three buttons off her shirt as he pulled it open. He wasted little time unfastening her bra, and as soon as her breasts were bared, he bent to suck a nipple into his mouth.
"Oh!" she cried and he glanced up at her, pulling his wand out of his robes. He put a Silencing charm on the room and a lock on the door, then grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the bed, nearly pulling her off her feet.
She gasped at the force with which he pushed her onto the thick mattress, and with the speed with which his hands were on her again, unfastening her skirt.
"Can we-slow this down? Maybe just a little bit?"
He hesitated for a second, then groaned. "I'll try. I can't promise anything, though." He leaned over her, his lips brushing hers. "I need you so much."
It was a good thing he hadn't promised anything. He turned his attention immediately back to her breasts, licking and sucking and kissing as though he couldn't breathe without having his mouth on her.
She moaned as his teeth caught hold of one of her nipples and she tangled her hands in his hair, holding his mouth against her. He slid one of his hands down her side and over her leg, slipping his fingers under the elastic leg band of her underwear. She arched her back as the knuckles brushed against her and before she could think at all about what she was doing, she was reaching down and pulling her knickers off, tossing them to the floor. She was now completely naked under him, while he hadn't even taken off his tie yet.
"Get-OH! God!" His fingers had slid inside of her and started pumping away at a frantic pace. "GOD!" she screamed again. There had been a little bit of pain as his fingers penetrated her, but it had faded quickly. "Get undressed. Please, God, get undressed," she moaned. "Hurry."
He rushed to comply, yanking his tie off and shedding his robes as quickly as he could. She sat up, helping him with his shirt, scratching his chest with her nails when it was finally bared. They were both on their knees now, and he pulled her in for another kiss, leaving it to her to unfasten his pants. She did so gladly, pulling his belt lose, unbuttoning them, jerking them down without a thought to the zipper. "I-need you-now," she panted against his lips. "Right now."
He pulled his boxers off and tossed them to the side, pushing her back onto the bed and lowering himself onto her in a movement so quick she wasn't sure it wasn't all done by magic.
She reached down and ran her hand over him, loving the way he moaned when she touched him. "God, Hermione, I can't-I have to be in you."
"What are you waiting for then?"
She was only halfway through the sentence when he shoved into her, harshly, without any hesitation. A jolt of pain ripped through her and she cried out. "Sorry," he said, nestling his face into her neck. "Better to get that over with quickly. All right?"
She pursed her lips, forcing herself to nod. "Move, please?" she croaked.
He thrust against her, hard but not brutal, and she felt the pain die off, as before, very quickly. She clutched at his back, loving the feel of him inside of her. He must have taken it as a sign that she wanted it harder, faster, something, because he increased his pace, and his force, until he was pounding into her.
He slid his hand between them and pressed his fingers against her clit, rubbing furiously. She couldn't stop herself. It was all too much. She screamed, her body jerking as her orgasm hit her. He didn't last much longer and came with a shout of his own, his body freezing up, then going limp.
And after the complete and frenzied passion of the last half hour, the quiet and calm afterward was like being dunked in cold water. She realized truly for the first time what had just happened, and apparently he did too. He lifted his head to look at her, his eyes wide, almost frightened. He rolled off of her a minute later, and sat on the side of the bed, naked, staring at the floor.
She was the first to get up, and he followed as though in a trance. Neither spoke a word as they dressed. They walked back to Gryffindor tower in silence, not looking at each other.
It wasn't until they had reached the stairs to their respective dorms that he looked up at her. "Hermione?"
"Yeah?"
"Good night."
There was more to it than was said, and she heard all of it. "Good night."
With a last tiny smile, they climbed the stairs to go to bed.
Harry was leaning casually against the far wall, chatting up some girl that Hermione had never seen before, although Harry obviously knew her pretty well. The way he was acting, he probably knew her better than Hermione even wanted to imagine. He caught Hermione watching them and gave her a small nod, then turned back to his friend. He said something that made the girl laugh loudly, then leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She watched him all the way back to the table, giving Hermione a not-so-friendly look as he sat down with her.
"Sorry about that," he said, settling into the chair and popping the cap off of his beer.
"Old friend?" Hermione asked, and if Harry noticed the slight edge to her voice, he didn't show it.
"Sort of. Bill Weasley introduced me to her a few years ago. Haven't seen her in a while though."
"Mmmm. How's work?"
Harry shrugged, his eyes moving around the bar. "Fine. Same as always, you know. Yours?"
She nodded. "Same. I've been thinking of taking some time off. Maybe going to see Ron. I need a break."
Harry raised his eyebrows a bit. "Really? I thought you loved your job."
"I do," she said, frowning slightly. "It's not that I don't like it. I just-want a little vacation."
Harry studied her for a second, then leaned forward in his seat. "That's why you wanted me to come here, isn't it? You want me to go with you?"
Hermione sighed heavily, rolling her eyes. "You know, it's impolite to use Legilimens on someone like that. It's an invasion of privacy, at the very least."
Harry was still leaning forward in his chair, watching her closely. "Actually, I didn't. But thanks for the public service announcement."
"What do you mean, you didn't?"
"I mean I didn't. I didn't use Legilimens on you."
"Oh come on, Harry. You expect me to believe-"
"How long have we known each other, Hermione? I don't need to read your mind to know what you were thinking. And the answer is no."
Hermione groaned in frustration. "Harry, please. Just hear me out."
"Why? That's what you want, right? You want me to go see him? Well, forget it." He dropped a galleon onto the table and grabbed his coat off the back of the chair.
"Harry, wait, please?" Hermione started, but he was already halfway across the bar. She watched him walk out, and dropped her head into her hands, sighing. Stubborn git, she thought, wishing she had taken more time to plan what she was going to say before she'd asked him to meet her.
Well, she wasn't going to let him get away without hearing her out. Not a chance of that. She grabbed her coat and purse and darted off after him.
She caught up with him at the corner. "Harry, stop."
He glanced at her, raising his hand to flag down a cab. "Forget it, Hermione. I've said all I have to say on the matter."
"Good," she snapped, watching as a car pulled up in front of them. Harry climbed in and before he could reach out and pull the door shut, she forced her way in next to him. He glowered at her as she shut the door.
"Where to?" the driver asked, eyeing them in the rearview mirror.
"West Burton, down by Holland Avenue," Hermione said before Harry could answer. Then, she turned her attention back to Harry. "Now, since you've said all you have to say on the matter, you won't have reason to interrupt me."
Hermione thought she heard the cab driver chuckle as he pulled out into traffic again. Harry slouched slightly in his seat, turning his head to look out his window.
"Pout all you like, Harry, just so you listen to me. I think you and Ron have carried on just about long enough. It was years ago. It's just plain silly to continue this grudge."
Harry grunted, but didn't say anything.
"You two used to be best friends," Hermione said, reaching out to touch his hand. "Don't you think that's worth something?"
He turned to look at her, then glanced down at her hand on his. "In case you've forgotten, Hermione, I wasn't the one who started it."
"Oh, who cares who started it!" she snapped, shaking her head. "That doesn't matter. You're carrying it on. If you take the first step, you two could be friends again."
"I suppose you've told him that too?"
She rolled her eyes. "Does that matter?"
"What'd he tell you?"
She sighed. "He said he wasn't interested in ending it."
"There you go then. Will you give it up now, please?"
"No," she said, and he groaned, thumping his head back against the seat. "I'm sorry, Harry, but the two of you have been through too much together to just sit back and let your stubborn streak get in the way. Can't you forgive him?"
He raised his head to glare at her. "Why should I? I didn't do anything! He jumped all over me for something that didn't even concern him. It's you he should have been mad at, truth be told, and yet he takes it out on me."
She gasped, affronted, but managed not to snap at him. "That's what you have to forgive him for! He was stupid about the whole thing, I admit, but then again, so were you."
"I was-I was stupid?" he shouted, sitting up and staring at her. "What did I do?"
"Well you could have handled it better, couldn't you? He was hurt and you just-well, you were a bit cruel to him."
"How was I cruel?" Harry demanded.
"Well I don't remember exactly what you said, but you knew full well that he had a crush on me. Of course he was going to be upset that we'd-," she threw a glance at the cab driver, then lowered her voice to a whisper, "slept together."
"Yeah, well, it still doesn't make it okay for him to say what he did to me."
"But he didn't mean it, Harry. You have to know that. He was just angry."
"So was I after what he said to me," Harry said. His voice held a definite edge now, and Hermione didn't really want to push him much further at the moment.
Instead, she leaned back and looked at her window, watching the passing buildings fly by. Finally, when she could stand the tension no longer, she muttered, "I just can't stand watching you two do this to yourselves anymore, knowing that it was just a stupid mistake that started the whole thing."
She knew Harry had turned to look at her, but she didn't face him. It would undoubtedly irritate him further, that comment, and she was pretty sure she wouldn't get another word out of him for a while because of it. That was fine. She'd made her point. That was enough.
She directed the driver to her apartment building and handed him a couple of bills. "That ought to be enough to get him where he needs to go," she told the driver, then got out and shut the door without ever looking back at Harry.