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Harry & Hermione
Hermione Granger glowered at the group of giggling girls surrounding the table she, Ron and Harry were occupying in the library. They were supposed to be finishing their essays for Potions and History of Magic. Just as they'd sat down and taken out their texts, quills and parchment the table had been descended upon by a bunch of Harry and Ron's groupies. Hermione was as pleased as everyone else about her best friends' brilliant performance in last Saturday's Quidittch match in which they had utterly annihilated Slytherin, but enough was enough. Honestly, was she expected to endure this nonsense the entire season; they had their NEWTS to prepare for, for goodness sakes!
Actually Hermione had been enduring this nonsense since the trio had returned for their seventh and final year at Hogwarts. The summer holidays had wrought quite a change in her two best friends and it seemed that all of Hogwarts had noticed it, particularly, the female population.
Ron was no longer the gangly and awkward best friend of the boy-who-lived, this year he had come into his own. He was still tall (he'd grown several more inches over the summer) and freckled with flaming red hair but three years, as the Gryffindor keeper had added a well-defined bulk to his heretofore-lanky body, making him look like a taller version of Charlie and Bill. The boyishness of his facial features had been replaced with those of a handsome chiseled young man. All of this along with his quick wit, bawdy sense of humor and his lively, sparkling blue eyes had made Ron a much sought after companion by a large preponderance of the female inhabitants of Hogwarts. A fact that Ron had taken note of and was more than happy to oblige by regaling them with stories of his adventures on and off the Quidittch pitch and telling them tasteless jokes he'd picked up from Fred and George no doubt. At this very moment he was captivating his audience with his version of how he had flawlessly executed the starfish and stick defense during Saturday's match, which had set up Harry's rather inspired dive to catch the snitch. The giggling idiots turned their simpering smiles to Harry who mumbled something unintelligible before Ron again picked up the story giving a play by play of Harry's dive in his best Ludo Bagman/Lee Jordan announcer's voice.
Much like Ron, Harry had undergone a rather startling change over the summer. He was still nearly everyone's favorite tragic boy-hero but there were some changes that were hard to miss. Harry had grown nearly a foot and a half, making him just a few inches shorter than Ron. His skinny body had become all taunt lean muscle and he'd developed a rather broad set of shoulders that had most of the girls in the castle positively gushing. He'd let his rumpled black hair grow out a bit longer than usual making it look perpetually wind swept as if he'd just stepped off his broom. The strong angular planes of his handsome face perfectly framed those gorgeous almond shaped emerald eyes of his that reflected his every emotion, which many an unsuspecting Hogwarts female found herself lost in should she be favored with one of his glances. Adding to his Hogwarts celebrity was Harry's rather reserved nature. Unlike Ron, Harry was rather reluctant to discuss his battles with You-Know-Who or much of anything else about himself for that matter, with his adoring fans. The twits took his reserve to be some sort of man of action's sullen brooding; they thought it was sexy. Honestly! It never occurred to the daft lot that he simply had nothing to say to them. Thus on the occasion when they were afforded the opportunity to hear his rich baritone or Merlin forbid he flashed one of those devastating smiles of his, the idiotic twits would go off blabbering about how bloody gorgeous he was and how they'd just love to be on the receiving end of a kiss from those soft sculpted lips of his. It was absolutely revolting!
Their dashing good looks and their thrilling antics on the Quidittch pitch had made them the kings of the castle. Wherever they went they were sure to draw attention. All the other boys, with the exception of the Slytherins, wanted to be thought of as their mates while all the girls, some Slytherins included, wanted to get the chance to snog them in some broom closet. It was truly exasperating.
Not that she was jealous of all the attention they got; Hermione had quite enough to occupy her own time and thoughts. With her duties as Head Girl her studies and other school clubs she had more than enough to do. Nor had Ron and Harry deserted her, as always the three were inseparable. Where you found one you usually found the others albeit with a few hangers on nowadays. And despite their newfound popularity Ron and Harry were the same Ron and Harry they'd been since she'd met them. Leaving off their homework till the very last minute, cracking silly jokes, gamboling about the castle after hours barely escaping Filch and getting detentions from Snape for merely breathing.
Hermione sighed in exasperation, Madame Pince the librarian, was looking over at them every few seconds shooting them hateful glances. Ron and his fan club were laughing loudly at some crude remark of his. They were on the verge of getting thrown out of the library before they even got the chance to start on their essays, so much for getting a jump on this week's assignments. Resigning herself to this inescapable conclusion Hermione began packing away her things all the while shooting daggers at Ron, Harry and their band of blabbering twits.
If looks could kill, Ron, the six girls sitting around him, and Harry himself would all be dead. Harry smiled to himself as he watched Hermione shove the stack of books on the table in front of her into the already over stuffed school bag beside her chair. He was certain that she had charmed the bag to make it big enough to hold all of the extra books she carried and there still didn't seem to be enough room. Her brows were furrowed in frustration and her warm cinnamon brown eyes were narrowed to near slits. Harry surveyed his friend of seven years and marveled at the change she had undergone over the summer holidays. The bossy know-it-all, bushy brown haired, skinny girl with big front teeth was no more. Oh, she still made he and Ron study schedules and told them off for not having read some book that only she and whoever wrote it had ever read, and she was without question the cleverest witch in the entire castle with the exception of the professors perhaps, but the little girl he'd first met on the train to Hogwarts had grown into a stunning young woman. Her once untamable mass of brown hair now hung just beyond her shoulders in silky waves, the skinny body had been replaced with slender voluptuous curves. Long, thick curling lashes covered her warm cinnamon brown eyes, eyes that shimmered when she laughed. She had a dainty waist that he could encircle with one arm and the cutest little upturned nose, but Harry thought that her best feature was her mouth. He could literally spend days staring at her full pouty lips. She had a habit of chewing on her bottom lip when she was annoyed, she was doing it now. Harry stared at her wondering; what those gorgeous lips tasted like wishing; that right now he was doing that very thing to that very lip, though his ministrations would have nothing to do with frustration. He watched as she pushed an errant strand of hair behind her ear and let the delicate fingers slide down her graceful neck.
Hermione looked up to find Harry staring at her intently. Of late this had become a peculiar habit of his. Hermione shook her head and stuffed the last of her belongings in her bag and called his name.
"Harry"
Nothing she waited a moment before calling his name again.
"Harry…Harry"
Harry blinked but didn't move he had yet to realize that the word that Hermione's beautiful mouth was giving birth to was in fact his name. Hermione was becoming more and more annoyed. Harry was staring at her but pretending not to hear a word she was saying.
"Harry"
Nothing.
"Harry Potter what on earth is wrong with you. This is not at all funny"
Harry continued to sit there gazing at her but not saying a word. Frustrated beyond all belief Hermione began gnawing on her bottom lip.
She was doing it again. She'd been ranting about something a moment before, he'd been watching the mesmerizing undulations of her lips, but now she was biting her lip again driving him mad. Harry stood up and in two strides Hermione was in his arms. He took his thumb and lightly traced it over those beautiful lips; they were slightly parted in her surprise. Harry lowered his head and nibbled her bottom lip before taking her mouth completely, feeling the soft fullness of her lips and tasting their sweetness. He ran his fingers through her thick wavy hair angling her head back Harry deepened the kiss, exploring the sweet depths of her mouth as he intertwined his tongue with hers. Finding herself caught up in the overwhelming passion of Harry's kisses Hermione gave herself over to the moment she wrapped her arms around his neck and slipped her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck fervently returning his kisses. Harry slipped his arms around her tiny waist, molding her body to his, moaning softly into her mouth reveling in the scent, feel and taste of her. After what seemed to be an eternity their mouths slowly broke apart. Breathless and flushed they stared into each other's eyes; Harry began tracing her bottom lip with his thumb, he felt her smile and the feather-light kisses she placed on his fingertips. He tilted her head upwards and lovingly kissed her lips once more and clasped her hand in his. Fingers intertwined they walked out of the library, blissfully unaware of Ron's wide-eyed shock, the open-mouthed stares of their classmates or the angry recriminations shouted at them by Madame Pince.
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