Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I hope this chapter can top the last one. :D
------------------------------------
Without You
Chapter 5: (They Long to Be) Close To You
The Carpenters
Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you.
Why do stars fall down from the sky
Every time you walk by?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you.
On the day that you were born
The angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold
And starlight in your eyes of blue.
That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around.
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you.
On the day that you were born
The angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold
And starlight in your eyes of blue.
That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around.
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you.
Just like me (Just like me)
They long to be
Close to you.
---------------------------------------------------------
"It's good that they've calmed him a bit," Harry said before biting into a muffin. "At least he doesn't look at us like we're dinner every time we enter the room"
Hermione sighed. "Harry can you please not…"
"Talk with my mouth full," Harry grinned at her and swallowed his breakfast as she sat across from him at the table. "Now that Ron's not here for you to berate, I suppose you have to have-what?"
She was sitting there, her chin resting in one of her hands. The look in her eye was almost too hopeful to him. Her face held the loveliest gaze; her sideways grin and her heavy-lidded eyes put him in mind of someone who had just woken up from a night of enthusiastic shagging. It looked wonderful on her.
She sat up, shaking her head and focused her eyes on the cereal she had placed in front of herself. "Oh, it's nothing. I-I was just thinking about where we could possibly find that cup."
"Oh, you mean the Hufflepuff cup?" Harry asked, noticing how jumpy she seemed. "Yeah, I wondered if we're ever going to figure out where that bastard put it."
"Or if it's been moved since Voldemort put it wherever he did," she said matter-of-factly. "Don't forget, Harry. Lucius Malfoy had no idea the diary was a Horcrux. He only knew that it held some dark magic, and it had the possibility of getting Mr. Weasley framed. And the locket."
"Yeah, I know. Thank God Kreacher was good for something and kept the damned thing when we tried to throw it out."
"I'm surprised we didn't see the markings on it earlier." She ate a spoonful of cereal. "I mean, the carvings on it clearly identified it as Slytherin's. We should have know-what?"
Harry was laughing. "I just find it funny that you yell at me for eating with my mouth full, and here you are doing the same thing." Hermione turned scarlet as Harry continued to laugh. "Oh don't worry about it, I'm just teasing you. You're drooling, though."
Before he could even think of what he was doing, he reached across the table and wiped the drop of milk off the corner of Hermione's lip with his thumb. Her eyes widened and he froze, not being able to move his hand from her. His hand was cupping her chin and his thumb briefly brushed across her lip, sending a fleet of blood south in Harry's body. They stared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time, until Harry finally got the motor functions back in his hand, jerking it back and standing up, trying to adjust his pants.
"I-uh, I'm going to go take my morning shower," he said shakily as he threw the rest of his muffin in the garbage. "I'll see you in a bit." Before Hermione could get a word in, Harry hurried through the kitchen door and up the stairs to the second story bathroom where he locked the door, discarded his clothes quickly, and turned the shower on as fast as he could.
"Agh, bloody hell!" Harry shouted as he stepped into the scalding hot shower. He adjusted the temperature and his hand gripped his cock before he could even remember why he was doing this.
Harry let out a guttural moan as he leaned back against the wall of the shower, his hand pumping away.
Images of Hermione came to mind as rough noises emitted from his throat. He closed his eyes and imagined her here, in the shower, with him. She smiled cheekily at him and took his aching member softly into her hand. He couldn't imagine Hermione was one to be rough at first.
Pulling and twisting, he envisioned her stepping close to him, running her tongue along his throat, nipping and breathing hotly into his ear, "I want you to come for me."
Two more tugs were all it took for him to growl as a surge blew over him, pushing him back against the wall and making him unstable. Panting, he slid to the floor of the shower and put his head in his hands, not caring that the water was still pounding from above him.
"Oh bloody hell," he moaned. "I'm in fucking trouble."
---------------------------------------------------
Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the day in the library, looking up possible places the cup could be hidden. Harry was having trouble concentrating on the book he was reading as he kept sneaking glances over at Hermione.
She was sitting with books piled up on either side of her, and chewing on her bottom lip as she skimmed pages. It left him bewildered as to why he had never looked at her this way before. Why had this little habit of biting her bottom lip never affected him before? Before it had been Ginny he would notice these things about and visions of Ginny during masturbation sessions had never brought him to the orgasm he had experienced earlier. Nothing could compare to that. Damn, he was a bloody wanker.
"Have you found anything?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book.
"I-uh, no. I haven't."
Hermione cocked an eyebrow at him, reached across the table and took his book, flipping it upside down. "It might help if you're reading it the right way."
Fuck. He was a mess.
"Are you all right, Hary?" She asked. There was no way in hell he could tell her what exactly he had been thinking moments ago, so he nodded and forced himself to be interested in the book he was looking through. The antidote to the Swelling Solution is the Deflating Draught which causes anything swollen by magical means to shrink back to normal size. No, no.
Harry flipped to the next page. The Invigoration Draught: fortifies and increases the user's constitution.
Harry slammed the book shut. Why the hell he was looking through a potions book was beyond him.
Hermione looked up from her book with an inquisitive gaze. Harry laughed sheepishly. "I'm done with this one; off to get another."
"You know, Harry," she said closing her own book. "I'm tired of looking through these books for the answer. For all that we know, the whereabouts of the cup are most likely not even in a book."
Harry had to grin. "Does this mean Hermione Granger is doubting the reliability of books?"
Hermione blushed. "No, of course not! I-I just think the answer to our problem isn't in some book. I mean, even if we did find some clue to where it was, these books were published far too long ago for it not to have been moved several times."
"What we should be doing is going to Knockturn Alley, see if it pops up there…"
"Oh Harry, be reasonable about this."
"I am."
"Oh, honestly! Do you think Voldemort would allow his soul to be displayed in public where it could have the potential of being bought, sold or roughly handled?"
Her last comment made him shiver slightly, but he regained his composure. "Hermione, I think it's perfect."
He gave her a knowing glance as a grin spread across her face.
"Harry Potter, you are a genius!"
--------------------------------------------
Just as Harry had anticipated, Diagon Alley was empty. With the recent threats of Voldemort, and all the children in school, it was rare to see the streets packed anymore. What did surprise Harry, however, was how busy Knockturn Alley was.
Hideous wizards and some old hags filled the streets and made the atmosphere seem like one big funeral. Unpleasant odors filled the air, and Harry tried to walk as quickly as he could.
"I don't know if this is a good idea," Hermione said next to him, wrapped in a black cloak that covered her head and body. Every once in a while she would trip over it because it was too long for her. Harry's was a tad short. Ironically, they found them in the Sirius' parents closet.
"As long as we don't talk too much, no one will know a difference," Harry whispered to her. "And no names, I don't want people to know who we are."
"R-right."
"Here it is," Harry said as he turned into a shop with strange and repulsive objects loitering the window.
"Borgin and Burkes?" Hermione asked quietly. Harry didn't answer her, though, as he tugged Hermione over to a shelf full of whizzing gadgets. The store owner eyed them suspiciously from his chair.
"Pretend like you're interested in that-thing. Whatever it is," Harry whispered. He could hear the chair scrape along the floor as the owner stood up and made his way over to Harry and Hermione.
"What the hell are you two looking for?" he asked.
"Oh, well my wife and I are looking for something to display in our kitchen," Harry said, disguising his voice as much as possible. "We both went to Hogwarts and are looking for a memento to remember our time there."
"Hmmm," the man's voice was gruff. "Is there something specific?" He began walking toward the back of the store.
"Well, we were looking for something related to the house of Hufflepuff," Hermione added, disguising her voice as well.
The man stopped, and it seemed to take him forever to turn around.
"What the hell are you two doing here?"
"W-we were in that house, w-when we went to school at Hogwarts," Hermione stuttered.
The man glared at the two. "Don't lie to me! Get the fuck out of my store, Potter. The cup's not
here."
Harry jumped; bewildered as to how the man could tell it was him, and what he was looking for.
The owner scoffed. "Don't think just anyone can be a legilimens, eh? Where do you think Riddle learned it from, books? Now get the fuck out of my store!" They didn't have to be told twice. Harry and Hermione apparated out of the store, and back to Grimmauld Place.
"Harry! We have to be more careful about this! He could have killed us!" Hermione shouted, pulling the robe off of her and throwing it to the ground. "I can't believe we just did that, and we learned nothing!"
Harry had to grin. "That's a lie, Hermione."
"What?"
"You have to promise you won't tell anyone Hermione." He couldn't believe he was telling her this. He took in a deep breath. "I can do legilimancy too, Hermione."
Her jaw dropped, and he thought he saw her cheeks turn a bit red. "But, what, how-"
"I'm not very good at it, and I can only get it right when I'm desperate to find out information, but I can do it, Hermione, and I feel sick about it."
"But-but why would you keep it a secret? Shouldn't we tell Lupin or-"
"No, no, I don't want anyone to know," he said quickly, sitting down on the drawing room couch
"But, why?"
Harry sighed. "Because if everyone knew that I had some capability of looking into their minds, don't you think they'd act differently around me?" Hermione looked confused. "I don't want people thinking that I'd go snooping around their minds just for fun…and I certainly don't want you to think that I've-"
"Harry, I would never think that," Hermione said softly. "I don't think Lupin would, either. I think it's important that you tell him, and learn how to better control your mind through Occlumency."
"The only skilled Occlumens around is Snape," Harry said with a huff. "And we all know how great he is, the git."
"No, you don't understand, Harry. Occlumancy is something I can research and teach you to do, even if I can't do it that well myself. We might have to make a trip to Hogwarts and ask Madam Pince if we can take a look around the restricted section for a book on the subject."
Harry smirked. "Good, and while we're there, we can pick up Hufflepuff's cup."
---------------------------------------------
Muahaha. I know I'm evil for cutting it off there, but I had to. :D
Love! *Author spreads love out to her readers.*
-->