*Suddenly the lookout for HMS Harmony, who is miraculously the same person as the author of this story yells `Awkward and disturbing scenes involving bathrooms ahead!'*
BTW~ I'm not JK Rowling (I wish) I don't own anything relating to Harry Potter except for some poorly made movie merchandise.
The next morning when Harry woke up warmer and more comfortable than he could ever remember being. He didn't want to move and it took him a moment to realise that he was actually sleeping curled around another person. It took another couple of seconds for him to realise that it was Hermione. He opened his eyes and looked at her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful that he was loath to move her but he suddenly realised that he had woken because he was desperately in need of the bathroom. Panic overtook him as he remembered that he and Hermione were joined at the hand. If they were going to decide not to go through with this marriage then it would need to be decided quickly before Harry exploded.
With that in mind Harry set about trying to wake Hermione as gently as possible. Stroking her hair softly back from her face he whispered,
`Hermione, wake up. It's morning. We really need to talk.'
Nothing happened.
`Please Hermione I'm busting. Please wake up.'
Still nothing happened. Harry decided it was time for drastic measures. He leaned over her sleeping form and gently blew in her ear. Her eyes popped open in alarm.
`Oh god Harry, Don't scare me like that!'
`Sorry Hermione,' Harry said grinning slightly, `but you've got to wake up, we need to decide what were going to do, and quickly cause I really need to pee!'
Hermione giggled and sat up. Harry sat up as well and looked at her.
`So now that you've had a chance to sleep on it what are your thoughts do we go through with this or not?' Harry asked eager to sort this out quickly so that they could get on with life. Hermione bit her lip her forehead creasing. She looked down at her floral comforter and smoothed out a wrinkle.
`I'm sorry Harry but I still don't know what to do.' She said in a small voice.
`Look the last thing I want to do is pressure you but I just don't see the point of subjecting either of us to shared bath rooming if we're not going to go through with this.'
Hermione sighed, `Well what do you think Harry? I'm not the only one who's going to be a part of this.'
`You're right I'm sorry, I just, I want it to be your choice. I mean it'll mean loosing our virginity if we go through with it. I know that kind of thing generally means a lot to girls. I'd hate to feel like I'd talked you into something and have you regret it later.'
`So you think we should then?' Hermione asked looking up at him and meeting his eyes.
Harry swallowed before answering, he was about to put it all on the line, but he supposed that it was the chivalrous thing to do.
`We don't know that there is another way, and if there is we don't know how long it will take us to find it. Also I,' Harry paused and ran a hand through his hair, `On a personal note, I don't like the idea of not ever being able to marry you again, I mean you never know what'll happen in the future, I just don't like the idea of that not ever being an option. Another thing of course, is that we'll if I'm going to be in a situation like this I can't think of anyone I'd rather be here with. You're my best friend, we should be able to handle this.'
Harry laughed and scratched the back of his head.
`Ok so now I've bared my soul, what do you think.'
`I think you're right.' Hermione said simply. `I agree with everything you just said, but I didn't have the courage to actually say it. Also we can make it special if we want. You are my best friend, I trust you completely, if you don't mind we can still try and make it special. You know get more comfortable with each other physically before we jump straight to it.'
Harry smiled, `That sounds like a great idea and I think we should start with the bathroom, cause I'm busting!'
`Alright but your using a silencing charm and I'm going to close my eyes AND face the other direction.'
`I should hope so!' Harry said laughingly half running down the hall to the bathroom and practically dragging Hermione along behind him.
With the silencing charm cast and Hermione facing in the other direction Harry was amazed at how much the bizarre situation didn't bother him. He would've thought it would be really awkward, but it really wasn't that bad. That was until it was Hermione's turn. Standing there with his back to her knowing what was going on behind him was truly bizarre.
Finally it was over and they moved on to brushing their teeth. This proved to be more difficult than Harry would've thought. It turned out that brushing one's teeth was a two handed operation and again they were forced to take turns. Brushing their teeth was probably the least awkward of all the bathroom activities they would have to do together. It actually turned out to be quite fun, Hermione told him he wasn't doing it properly and showed him the correct way to brush his teeth and he had to admit that when he was finished they did feel cleaner than normal. He supposed that since her parents were dentists they'd probably taught her from an early age how it was supposed to be done.
When they were done with brushing their teeth they moved to the most awkward part of shared bath rooming yet, showering. They couldn't use silencing charms this time because they would need to be able to ask each other for help. Harry closed his eyes and heard the rustle of clothing that told him Hermione was getting undressed, he heard her mutter Diffindo and knew that she wasn't wearing a top and finally he heard the water from the shower turn on and felt the tug on his arm that told him she was stepping into the shower.
That is how Harry came to be standing outside the shower cubicle with his hand getting wet while Hermione showered, his eyes firmly closed. As much as he tried he couldn't get the image of her standing naked under the shower water pouring over her head and down between her breasts. The image was so realistic that Harry almost didn't hear Hermione speak.
`Harry can you help me with the shampoo please? I can't get it open with one hand.'
`Oh sure.' Harry replied startled out of his very vivid imaginings.
He heard the shower door slide open a little further and he reached towards where he assumed the opening would be. He felt the warm water splashing on his hand and knew he it was inside the shower with naked Hermione, he prayed she couldn't see his reaction to all of this but he daren't open his eyes to check if it was visible or not.
`Pass me the bottle.' He said his voice sounding choked and croaky.
He felt the bottle pushed into his hand and grasped it firmly.
`Ok now open the lid,' a second later he heard the lid click open.
`Alright now I'm just going to turn this upside down and squeeze and you just get your hand under it, tell me when you've got enough.'
He did as he said he would and a second later he heard Hermione's voice, sounding shaky and fluttery, `Ok that's enough.'
They repeated the same process for the conditioner and Hermione's body wash and finally Harry heard the water turn of and the door slid open again. He could just picture her stepping from the shower, her skin pink and wet from the hot shower, her hair slicked back against her head, nipples shrinking with the cold. Harry shut of that thought immediately as he once again prayed that Hermione couldn't see his reaction to this situation. He didn't think she could though because she seemed wholly occupied in drying herself one handed, if the movements of their joined hands were any indication this was another of those things that was a lot harder one handed than it would have seemed.
After a few more minutes and a few more mumbled spells from Hermione, to rip and then fix her clothes, she finally broke the silence again.
`Ok Harry I'm dressed, you can open your eyes'
Harry opened his eyes and smiled at the site before him. He had been right about her hair being slicked back and even though she was now fully dressed in jeans and a cute purple sweater he could see that her skin was still pink from the warm shower. Her eyes were firmly closed and Harry took this as a sign that he was now to get undressed and shower. After a few minutes of struggling with his clothes Harry was painfully aware of why this was strictly a wizzarding custom, if he didn't have a wand it would be impossible. When he'd finally gotten his last sock off he realised how odd this must have felt for Hermione and a wave of guilt for fantasizing about her washed over him.
He hurriedly turned on the taps for the shower and stepped in awkwardly, everything made even more difficult because he only had his left had free. Finally getting the water temperature right Harry stepped under the hot water being careful to keep his right hand outstretched. He made a decision that he would just use soap to wash not wanting to prolong this feeling of being utterly exposed for any longer than he had to.
`You made this seem so easy,' He grumbled to Hermione as he juggled with the soap.
`Did I? Because it wasn't' Hermione replied a grin evident in her voice, `Did you need me to help with the shampoo?' she asked.
`No I'm just going to use soap, thought it would be easier.' He replied finally getting hold of the soap properly.
`Soap? On your hair?' Hermione asked sounding scandalized.
`Yeah what's wrong with that?' Harry asked now scrubbing the soap through his hair.
`Well it's not very good for your hair.'
`Oh well, it's never hurt in the past.'
Harry rinsed himself off and turned off the taps and hurriedly tried to wrap a towel around himself one handed. He had been right earlier when he'd thought that towelling yourself dry must be difficult one handed and again he resorted to using his wand to help things along. Once he was dry enough he then struggled into his clean clothes nearly falling over and dragging Hermione with him as he stood on one foot and tried to pull his sock on one handed.
Eventually it was all finished and they headed downstairs for breakfast. It was easier the second time around to prepare food together. Though Harry supposed it didn't hurt that they'd decided to stick to cereal. It was only after breakfast that the decision they'd made together that morning came back to them. They sat in the lounge room on the squashy sofa and faced each other properly for the first time since their conversation that morning. Harry marvelled at the realisation that it was still possible to avoid someone even when you were attached to them.
`So Hermione,' Harry said clearing his throat and hoping to Merlin he sounded casual, `When you said this morning we could take it slowly, what did you mean exactly.'
`Well I meant there was no reason we had to jump straight into having sex, we can work up to it.' She said in a matter of fact tone. She'd used this tone on him several times over the years but this was the first time that Harry had been close enough to her when she'd used it to notice that it was actually a cover for feeling really insecure.
`Right, work up to it, so you mean starting by just kissing and stuff?' Harry asked his mouth suddenly dry.
`Yes exactly,' Hermione said sounding slightly breathless.
`So should I kiss you then?' Harry asked feeling slightly breathless himself.
`I suppose so.' Hermione said.
Harry looked into her eyes and found that he didn't need to remind himself of why he was doing this. He scooted closer to her and slipped his free hand around her tiny waist. Here he was with a beautiful woman in his arms, and it was his duty to kiss her. Harry thought fleetingly that as duty's went kissing Hermione wasn't bad at all. Her eyes fluttered closed as he drew closer to her. He raised his hand from her waist and stroked the soft skin of her cheek with his thumb. His own eyes closed and he kissed Hermione for the first time.
As soon as his lips touched her warm and soft mouth he knew it wasn't going to be their last kiss by any stretch of the imagination. Their kiss was gentle and slow and sweet like an ideal first kiss should be and Harry knew he could easily become addicted to kissing Hermione. They pulled back and looked at each other their eyes wide as though they were both surprised at just how good it was to kiss each other. Without thinking Harry lent in for another kiss and just as his eyes closed and their lips met for the second time a thought flittered through his mind. A man is supposed to enjoy kissing his wife, and that's all he was doing, enjoying kissing his wife.
-->