Unofficial Portkey Archive

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You guys are amazing! I owe you a long one for having waited so long to post…I hope it's worth the wait! :)

Enjoy!

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Without You

Chapter 8: My Beautiful Life

Lindsay Lohan

God wont talk to me
I guess she's pretty busy lately
I'd like to believe
She's listening

My beautiful life
The only thing certain is everything changes
Lows and the highs
And all those goodbyes
As hard as it gets I know it's still is amazing
To be alive
It's a beautiful life [4x]

"Did you find anything?" Harry asked as he curled in against her on the couch, placing a kiss in her hair.

"No, absolutely nothing," Hermione said shaking her head. "I think the only thing we can do at this point is to go to Hogwarts and ask…well, you know."

"You mean, go to see Dumbledore's portrait."

"Yes…"

Harry smiled poignantly. "Hermione, you can just say it, I'm not going to jump you up for talking about him."

"Oh, I know, Harry. It's just, well, I don't know."

"You think it might bring back bad memories?"

"Well, yeah."

"Hermione," Harry looked at her pointedly. "I do have some pretty fucked-up memories from that night having been strapped to the wall as I watched Snape kill Dumbledore." He could feel Hermione shudder against him. "But I have other memories of him you know. Memories from better times."

"Oh, Harry, I know. It's just that you were so depressed the summer after he was murdered, that I-well, I guess I don't know when it's right to bring him up anymore."

Harry chuckled. "That surprises me. Someone as brilliant as you doesn't know when to bring certain things up?"

"Well you can't deny I've had a problem with it, Harry." He knew she was right. While she could spew facts at any given moment, but when it came to dealing with the emotions of the opposite sex, she had trouble. She wasn't clueless by any means, but he didn't blame her for having a hard time reading his mind. It was hard enough to read her mind, not to mention all the other women he had ever fancied…all two of them.

"It's all right, Hermione." He hugged her to him and she shut the book and kissed him briefly. She had a blush on her face. "Are you all right?"

Her blush deepened. "I'm fine, it's just, well-I hope you're not disappointed that we haven't done much."

"Done much?"

"Well you know, fooled around, had sex…"

"Hermione, I'm not expecting you to jump my bones right away. We've only been going out for two weeks…"

"I know, I just-with how we talked to each other at your parents' grave, I just don't want you getting the wrong impression."

"I'm not."

"I was just caught up in the heat of the moment."

"So was I."

"I just don't want you to think this isn't going anywhere, because it is."

"I know."

"Oh good," she exhaled loudly and laughed quietly as she looked at her hands. "I've been worrying about it. I didn't know how to tell you."

"You can tell me anything, Hermione."

She grinned. "I know."

He leaned into her again and kissed her chastely before standing up and helping her to her feet.

"I think it's time we go get things sorted out with Dumbledore."

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"Blimey! I haven't seen yeh three in years!" Hagrid greeted the trio at the gate, picking all three of them up in a hug as they struggled for air. "I though' yeh might be hidin' with everything that's goin' on."

"Actually," Hermione started. "We're here to ask you some questions, Hagrid."

"Me?" Hagrid looked as though he didn't believe them.

"Yeah, but only if you're okay with them…they might be a bit tough to get through.," Harry added.

Hagrid grinned widely. "As long as they're goin' help you, `arry, I'd be more'n happy ter help."

"Wonderful!" Hermione smiled. "You know, I would love a cup of tea, Hagrid."

The half-giant looked as though he would cry at any moment. "I'd love ter make yeh one, Hermione." Hermione grinned at the two boys as they followed Hagrid to his hut, listening to him sniffing and muttering, "It's a miracle the lot of `em are alive" and "Wanted ter talk to me firs', bless `em."

When they got to the little cottage, Hagrid put on a pot of water as the trio sat down at the table, Hermione on Harry's knee because there weren't enough seats. Hagrid turned around and almost dropped the chipped cup that was in his hand when he saw Harry and Hermione like this.

"So, yeh two are-"

Harry grinned. "Yeah."

"And Ron, are yeh-"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine with it," Ron grinned. "As long as they're not getting off* in front of me," Harry and Hermione turned bright red. "I'm happy for them."

"Well I can't say I didn't think the two of yeh would end up together," Hagrid was smiling widely again. "Professor Sprout owes me a few sickles."

"You'd have to give it back, Hagrid, because Ron and I went out for two weeks a couple of years ago," Hermione said.

"Yeah, she decided she's going around making her mark."

"Ronald!"

"I was just kidding, Hermione."

"I am not making my mark!"

"We wanted to ask you about your early days here, Hagrid," Harry changed the subject as he tightened his arms around Hermione's waist, silently telling her to let alone the little argument with Ron.

"Oh," Hagrid's face fell suddenly. He was clearly trying to distract himself with the hot water, pouring four cups full. "Wha' do yeh want ter know?"

"Well-basically, we want to know-well…" Ron grimaced a little when he saw the muddy-looking tea Hagrid was putting in the "tea" cups. "Well-I guess you could say we were wondering…"

"Do you know if Tom Riddle had any special hiding places when you were at school?"

CRASH

The tray Hagrid had been carrying slipped from his hands, the cups shattering on the floor. He looked to the ground as a tear formed in his eye and bent down to pick up the shards of ceramic that had broken into very small pieces.

"Oh, Hagrid, let me. Reparo." Hagrid did not move from his knees, just continued to stare at the newly-repaired mugs. "Oh, Hagrid, we didn't mean to-"

"No, it's-uh-it's okay. I'm jus' a bit jumpy when it comes to tha' bloke I guess yeh could say."

"Here, let me fix some tea, Hagrid," Hermione said standing up from Harry's knee. "You come sit down."

Hagrid nodded idly and sat down across from Harry and next to Ron. "So, wha' do yeh want ter know about T-Tom Riddle?"

"We…well we," Harry started. Hermione was heating up the water with her wand and he could see it was already steaming. "We just wanted to know if you knew of any secret places Voldemort used to hide out in."

"Why would yeh wan' ter know tha'?" Harry caught Hermione pouring a little brandy into one of the cups, and grinned internally.

"We're looking for clues," Ron jumped in. "You know, about Voldemort."

"Oh, yeah. Well, I don' know if I can be a lot of help to yeh cause after he got me kicked out a Hogwarts, I didn' spend a lo' a time in Hogwarts. And before then, I didn' pay much attention to the bastard enough ter know if he-thank yeh Hermione-if he would have a hidin' spot like tha'. I'm sorry."

"No, its fine, Hagrid," Harry said, sipping his tea carefully. To his surprise it tasted like normal tea and he and Ron looked at Hermione who made a gesture to stay quiet.

Hagrid didn't seem to notice her gesture, or the fact that she had slipped some brandy into his tea. Harry figured he must be used to the taste by now. "Yeh lot should go talk to Dumbledore. He might know wha' yer lookin for."

"We were going to go talk to his portrait, but later on," Hermione commented. Harry suddenly froze. He hadn't realized that the last time he had seen Dumbledore was in a portrait, but the portrait had been sleeping then. Harry felt an unexpected wave of panic wash over him at the thought that he would talk to Dumbledore again. It had never occurred to him before how strange this would be…

"Harry, mate, are you all right?" Ron was leaning over the table and waving his hand in front of Harry's face.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Harry lied, taking a sip of his tea.

"So are yeh three close?" Hagrid gave a pointed look, and Harry realized that he had never seen Hagrid with a more pointed look in his life. He knew the three of them were up to something.

Harry only smiled. "Yes, we are."

"We're getting there," Ron added as Hagrid nodded.

"Yeh three bes' be getting' up to the castle. McGonagall is expectin' the three of yeh."

"Thank you, Hagrid," Hermione jumped off of Harry's lap and gave Hagrid a warm embrace.

The half-giant wrapped his arms around her back before letting go. "God bless yeh three."

And then they left.

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"I'll allow you in this section only if you put everything back, BUT-" Madam Pince went on and on about rules of the restricted section. Hermione listened quite intently, but the two boys were sitting down and fighting hard to stay awake. Finally Madam Pince left, and they could hear Hermione sifting through books on shelves which took their numb minds back to the task at hand.

"I knew I'd find it here," Hermione mumbled as she pulled a dusty book off the shelf. It was quite a large book and took some effort to manoeuvre it to the table.

Ron moved to read the cover. "Principles of Numbers? Hermione, what do we need this for?"

"I had an epiphany when Madame Pince was talking about the rows of numbers and their corresponding books and…"

"Hermione, get to the point please! What's this all about?"

"Right," she scanned the table of contents and flipped to a page about half-way in. "I'm looking for number significances and patterns in these horcruxes and trying to find out what order Voldemort may have created them in."

Both boys stared at her blankly. Ron spoke: "Come again?"

"What I mean, Ronald," Hermione said with a huff. "Is that there seems to be a number pattern here. Dumbledore was the first person to touch the Gaunt ring, and it scarred him. Harry was the third person to have touched Tom Riddle's diary. Malfoy, Ginny, and then you, Harry. Ron was most likely the fourth person after Voldemort to have touched the Gryffindor ruby. James or Lily first held it-and I'm sure they knew its significance-then Harry, me and then Ron, and it didn't trigger a curse until the fourth person. Do you see my pattern here?"

"Hermione, that's brilliant!"

"Right, but…" Ron didn't seem as convinced as Harry. "The problem is, Hermione. Hasn't Voldemort killed more people than just the seven for the seven horcruxes? How do we know that he hasn't created more of them?"

"Because, seven is the cardinal number."

"But…"

"Seven days of the week, seven planets visible from earth by the naked eye, it took God seven days to build earth, Voldemort chose this number for a reason. It has a lot of significance to it."

"Hermione, I still don't see…"

"God created the earth in seven days. That symbolizes birth."

"Okay…"

"Seven planets visible from earth…seven people sacrificed to keep him alive."

"Well…"

"Seven deadly sins…the sin of greed, or murder for killing those people."

"Right, but…"

"And, Harry was born as the seventh month died…and that represents death."

"So you're saying…"

"Whether I believe in superstition or not, Voldemort is very superstitious, and we have to pay attention to these patterns."

"Oh," Ron whispered flabbergasted.

"Not only does Voldemort do things in sevens, but he also assigned curses to each of the horcruxes in orders. We need to figure out these orders so when we find them, we can dispose of them properly."

"So what does our order seem to be so far?" Harry asked leaning over her shoulder. He was distracted momentarily by the flowery smell in her hair, but shook his head and focused on the page laid before him.

"Well, if we go in order, the ring was first, number two is still up in the air, three was the journal, four was the ruby, five is still out there, and six was the locket."

"Regulus, Sirius, Kreacher, Mundungs, that man we bought it off of, and then…me," Harry counted off, subconsciously rubbing at the other scar on his neck that still felt fresh.

"Brilliant," Ron awed.

"Exactly." Hermione thumbed through the book. "We just have to figure out who has touched that cup, Rowena's pendant and Nagini to figure out what order we need to deal with these in."

"Well, what are you…"

"Shhh," Hermione held out her hand at Harry's question. "I'm trying to figure out if there's a correlation between the curses and their numbers."

"Well, what do you expect the two of us to do, then?" Ron shouted.

"Why don't you two go figure out where we're going to sleep tonight, and one of you can come back and tell me." Harry felt his heart drop a little. He knew how important this research was for his own well-being, but it still pained him to think that Hermione might stay in here all night with her books and he'd be stuck without a warm body for the night.

They had been sleeping in the same bed for the last two weeks, but hadn't "slept together" yet. It wasn't that Harry was disappointed, but he was having to "take care of himself" so often that he was starting to feel like a dirty old man.

He loved Hermione; he loved her with every morsel of his heart, and he wasn't about to throw that away by pouncing on her which could only devastate their friendship. Harry had to accept that the only action he was going to see for a while would be with his hand.

"Where do you think McGonagall will keep us?" Ron's statement snapped Harry out of his train of thought.

"I dunno."

"What if she puts us in the dungeon?"

"Ron, you're making it sound like she's going to tie us up and have her way."

Ron shuddered. "I can't believe you just put that image in my head you wanker." Harry laughed. "Speaking of wanker, I'm hoping Hermione's not as much of a prude as I'm expecting she is."

"Ron…"

"I don't want to know details, I'm just curious how far the prim Hermione Granger has gone." Harry cocked an eyebrow. "Well, I mean, that last nobbheaded boyfriend that she had, from what I heard, only gone so far as to neck with her. No wonder that oaf was sleeping with other women."

"Ron, you're as bad as a girl with the way you gossip."

The red-head grinned. "I did date Lavender Brown for a significant amount of time."

"Yes you did, Won-Won."

"Hey!" Harry had to hold himself up along the wall as he laughed and walked to McGonagall's office simultaneously. "I'll have you know that I learned a thing or two from her."

"Oh yeah? Well I learned a thing or two from…"

"Don't say it." Ron's face paled and Harry was turning blue from how hard he was laughing. "I don't even want to know what you did with my sister."

Harry wiped a tear that had formed from laughing so hard. "Don't worry, Ron. Ginny and I did about as much as Hermione and I have."

"Which I'm hoping isn't much."

Harry looked to the ground as they continued on to McGonagall's office. "Nope."

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"This is our most prized bargain and I am selling it for about £100 000, and no less. I had a couple yesterday try to talk me down on the price. I've had it for so long that I almost gave into them."

"Why is it so expensive?" Harry asked, reaching for it. The man retracted the gold necklace before Harry could touch it.

"If you look carefully at the carvings, they date back at least a thousand years." Hermione bent forward to look closer at it. "My best conjecture is that it was worn by someone higher up in class, and then passed down through generations. We had a grungy man sell it to us a few years back and I suspected he was the rejected ancestor of a noble Lord who would do anything for some money. I'm sure it will please you to hear that I think such a valuable artefact would be in better hands with someone like you, sir."

"I'll take it," Harry said, pulling the muggle credit card out of his wallet. Mundungs had told them that he had sold it to a muggle pawn shop after their fifth year when they were all cleaning out Grimmauld Place. Of course, Kreacher had nipped it from their pile of rubbish, and Mundungs had stolen it from him, and here it was, right in front of them.

"Wonderful choice, sir. Let me put it around your neck; see how it looks on you." Before Harry could stop the man, he had placed the metal chains around Harry's head and rested the locket on his chest. Harry felt a terrible clenching in his chest, and the metal of the necklace close around his throat like a noose. He couldn't breath, and the pain in his chest was hindering him from pulling at the chain. He could hear Hermione screaming, and could faintly hear Ron petrify the sales man before they both ran over to pull at the metal.

Time was running out. Harry could feel his face swell up from the lack of oxygen, and among the roar, one sound became prevalent: Hermione's cries of despair. Something hit his neck as the metal released from its grip, the pain in his chest subsided, and everything around him went dark…

Harry woke up gasping for air. The memory, the dream had seemed so real that he was clutching at his neck as he awoke, still feeling like the metal were constricted around his throat as tears coursed down his face.

Looking around, Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Ron had gone to tell her that they would all be sleeping in the Room of Requirements (in separate "rooms" by order of McGonagall) and she had promised to sneak into Harry's room when she was done researching for the night. One look at the clock that appeared at Harry's side told him that she would be up all night if he didn't go get her right now.

Harry didn't have to worry about waking Ron, for his friend was snoring loudly through the makeshift wall that separated their rooms from a central common room. Running down the stairs (and trying to remember which ones switched at what times while evading the invisible step), Harry made his way to the Library and back to the restricted section. He pushed through the doors and saw Hermione hunched over a book.

She looked up, tired, but nonetheless inquisitive. "Harry, what are you doin-" He cut off her last words and kissed her hard; very hard. Hermione seemed frozen in place, and the fact that she wasn't moving made Harry pry himself away from her. "I-Harry, I…"

"I'm sorry, Hermione."

"N-no, it's fine." She still looked shocked, and turned red when he cupped her cheek lightly. She looked at him for a moment, seemingly studying him, and then pressing her lips back to his, rekindling the same frenzied manner he had been in only seconds ago.

He pushed his tongue against her lips, and she sucked it into her mouth. He was a bit shocked at first, but soon got lost in the fabulous way she was kissing him.

Her hands were everywhere, and in the last two weeks that they had been together, she had never been so frantic. She clutched at his shirt and he helped her in pulling it over his head. He could feel himself growing hard in his pants and the memory of their first kiss grazed through his mind, followed by their conversation the other night…

"Hermione, we have to slow down." She was sucking on his neck but paused to shake her head. "Yes, we do."

She pulled back and looked up at him. They were so close he could feel her breath on his cheek. "I heard Ron calling me a prude."

Harry furrowed his brow in recollection as his earlier conversation with Ron came into mind. "Oh, Hermione."

"You defended me," she said, kissing his jaw.

"W-well, not really…"

"You didn't agree with him, though."

A horrible thought shot through Harry's brain. "You didn't sleep with your last boyfriend, did you?"

Hermione smirked. "No, but that doesn't mean he and I didn't do other stuff." A growl made its way from the back of Harry's throat as he attacked her lips again.

"Hermione, if we," he kissed her "-if we," and again. "-I can't stop."

"I know, Harry." A glaze came over her eyes as his pants made a violent twitch.

"Oh, fuck," Harry groaned and she giggled against his neck. He spun her around and pushed her against the table, hiking her up onto a spot that wasn't covered in books.

"Harry," Hermione breathed heavily as he opened the buttons of her blouse. His breath hitched when he felt her creamy skin beneath his fingers, and deftly pushed the fabric off her shoulders. She discarded her bra before he pulled her flush against him and took her mouth again.

Moaning and grappling at one another they kissed for a bit, and Hermione would groan every once in a while as Harry brushed his hands against her breast. She reached for the buckle of his pants and he surprised the both of them by pushing her hand away. They stopped kissing, and he gave her a very pointed look before kissing down her body, taking his time in torturing her breasts. He didn't care that it felt like she was pulling chunks of his hair out, it only encouraged him to move lower until he had the access to push her skirt aside and see for the first time what Hermione Granger's knickers looked like.

They were wet.

"Bloody hell," he moaned before biting at her netherlips that were still covered by the flimsy white fabric. She tried to conceal a scream, but wasn't quite successful. He took his head from between her legs for a moment to place a silencing spell around the room.

"Just in case you're a little loud," he smirked at her and could swear she moaned at his words. Her cheeks were dark red, and her hair was all tousled, and it took all of Harry's self-control not to make a mess of his own pants. He distracted himself again with her crotch as he motioned for her to sit up a bit as he slid her knickers down.

He almost died.

Never in his life had he imagined what this would look like. He and Ron had some fun one summer looking through Fred and George's stash, but none of the women in those magazines could even compare to Hermione.

And she was all his.

Harry lunged forward, tracing his tongue teasingly at the top and slowly slid down. He could hear a hiss emancipate itself from above and assumed he was doing it right. Pushing her legs further apart, he pulled her bum to the front of the table so he would have access to more of her. Experimentally he slid his tongue inside of her and she grappled at his head, throwing her own head back. He was enjoying the responses she was giving him and so he did it harder, and a little bit faster. She was panting now, and he took pride in the fact that he had broken the reserve of Hermione Granger, one of the most stubborn people he knew. He could see the headlines now: Best Student to Ever Go to Hogwarts is Also the First Girl to Orgasm in the Restricted Section.

He reached up to touch her and she not only gasped for air, but moaned uncontrollably. Finding that magical nub he heard about, she bucked up against his face and cried out.

"Harry!" With a new confidence he'd never felt before, he repeated everything, each time going a little harder, and then a little faster. Swirling his tongue around, rubbing her nub, he moved his thumb to bite her softly and before he knew it, she grabbed his free hand that had been holding her thigh open and laced her fingers with his, squeezing painfully tight as she let out a loud scream. Wave after wave after wave rolled over her body, seeming to go on forever until suddenly he felt her grip loosen and had the pleasure to see her breasts bouncing lazily in time with her still quickened breath. Harry stood up and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him.

She kissed his throat, his jaw, and then lazily stuck her tongue through his lips. She moaned at the taste of herself on his tongue. He was still hard against his pants, and had to break away from the kiss before it all went to hell.

"Harry, you're still…"

"It's fine."

"No, I-"

"If you come to bed with me, I'll let you fix the problem," he said with a grin. She nodded, still looking entirely inebriated as he helped her hop down from the table and gather all of their clothing. She dressed herself as he put her notes in her pack and piled the books neatly on the table.

When he turned around, he saw a tear in her eye. He walked quickly to her and enveloped her in a hug. "What's the matter, love?"

"Oh, Harry. That was so wonderful. I-I…"

"Shhh, you don't have to say anything else."

Hermione sighed. "It was nothing like that with…"

"We don't need to talk about him." She nodded and pulled back, lingering a kiss on his forehead. "I knew you'd be loud."

She gasped and slapped his arm gently. "Harry Potter! I can't believe you would say something like that to ruin such a wonderful moment."

Harry chuckled. "Come on, love. Let's go to bed." Hermione nodded and walked at his side out of the library.

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*Getting off in Britain means the same thing as snogging…get your American minds out of the gutter. :P

Thanks Rylee for that one! :)

Hope it was worth the wait! :)

Oh, and before I forget, I got all those statistics about the number seven from Wikipedia. What a handy site. :)

And if you're bored, go read my other story Missing Harry or Rylee's story The Good, The Bad and the Drunk.

Cheers!

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