What I Always Wanted
Chapter 1: Here and Now
"Mmhmm…Ha…Harry…mmmm…pl…please…oooooh…don't…ahh…st…stop...mmmm…oooooh!"
Words fell from Hermione's lips in breathless stuttering moans. She could hardly compose a coherent thought with what all Harry was doing to her. A violent tremor shook her body as Harry's tongue circled her clit before he greedily sucked it between his lips. Her back arched of its own accord as she hastily tangled her left hand in Harry's hair as his mouth and tongue skillfully licked, sucked and caressed her. She could feel Harry's mouth smile against her nether lips as she used her hand to hold his head in place in an effort to encourage him to continue on with his exquisite torture of her. Again Hermione moaned.
"Unnnh…mmmm…Haaarrrry!!"
Harry's smile broadened while he sucked her throbbing clit into his mouth again assiduously stroking it around and around with his tongue. As he sucked her Hermione began to thrash about above him. Her voice trembled as she cried out to him alternately begging him to stop and not to stop. Harry continued on with his attentions until her hips began to buck wildly. He then swiftly pulled his mouth away from her and buried his throbbing erect penis inside the smoldering, wetness of her folds. Hermione gasped as she felt Harry sheath himself inside her. He filled her completely and she moaned in pleasure each time he plunged the hardness of his member inside her. Harry moaned as he gripped Hermione's hips and thrust himself frantically inside her. He could feel her moving beneath him, matching his movements and drawing him into her body more deeply. The rhythmic sound of their bodies merging together permeated the room, as did the echoes of their moans and grunts of pleasure. Hermione's cries of "Yes Harry", "Don't Stop" and "Harder" were met by Harry's rejoining calls of "Feels sooo good", "So lovely and wet" and "Oh yes Hermione yes", until they both finally exploded in cataclysmically, mind-numbing orgasms. Panting and sweat soaked Harry rolled over onto his back pulling an equally out of breath and perspiring Hermione to his side. Leaning down he kissed her lingeringly before panting out.
"Brilliant! Bloody fucking brilliant!"
Hermione smiled tiredly and said.
"Brilliant doesn't even begin to describe what that was."
Harry grinned.
"I take it you enjoyed that then."
Hermione nodded.
"Mmhmm…I enjoyed it very much indeed! You were truly inspired Mr. Potter!"
Harry chuckled as he threaded his fingers through Hermione's hair and said.
"Well that'd be down to you thanks."
Shifting so she could get a better look at Harry's face Hermione asked.
"And what did I do that was so inspiring?"
Harry smiled in reply and answered.
"Well its not everyday one finds the prim and proper Hermione Granger sans the appropriate support in her office now is it?"
Hermione laughed as she trailed a line of kisses up Harry's leanly muscled chest to his lips and whispered cheekily.
"Considering the fact that we've only just taken up this glorious new habit of shagging how would you know how often that occurs."
Harry responded by thoroughly kissing her lips until they were once again breathless. Once they broke apart Harry said.
"If that is a regular occurrence I'm going to be spending loads more time in the Department of Mysteries."
Hermione smiled as she wound her arms around Harry's neck and lovingly kissed his lips. Harry draped his arms about Hermione's waist and returned her kiss. Their kisses were leisurely and heady as they reacquainted themselves with the feel of each other's touch, taste and feel. Hermione pressed her body against the full length of Harry's while his hands began to trail across the familiar curves of her body. They pulled apart breathlessly. Sighing contentedly Hermione snuggled into the warmth of Harry's arms and closed her eyes. Harry wrapped his arms more closely around her and let his thoughts wander to how he and Hermione had come to be in this particular moment.
Harry Potter and Hermione Granger had been friends for nearly fifteen years. And in those fifteen years they had seen each other through more than the prerequisite ups and downs of the average friendship. Over the years that they had known each other Harry and Hermione had survived trolls, basilisks, Dementors, dragons, Death Eaters, reanimated Dark Lords and exploding bits of reanimated Dark Lords souls. And those were the easy parts. They had also seen each other through death, broken friendships, fractured egos, failed relationships, and one or two broken hearts. Yet, despite all their differences and through everything the world had thrown at them the two had always remained staunchly supportive of each other. When he'd had no one else Harry always knew that he could count on Hermione. Even by wizarding standards that was saying something. They had been such close friends for so long that it had come as quite a shock when he had realized that the feelings he was harboring for his friend of fifteen years went beyond friendly.
The how and why of Harry and Hermione becoming a couple had actually began eight years prior. Following their successful hunt for and destruction of Voldemort and his horcruxes the trio had returned home to much fanfare and celebration. They were heroes of the highest order. Their faces were plastered across every publication known to wizard kind. Parades, balls and all manner of ceremonies were held in their honor. A ward was named in tribute to them at St. Mungos. And though the day of Voldemort's demise had been formally christened as `Harry Potter Day' by the Ministry, both Ron and Hermione's birthdays had been made official wizarding holidays. After the initial week of celebrating (it took a full two months for things to properly settle down) the trio had stepped out of the piercing spotlight and settled down to spend time with those closest to them and to decide how to get on with living their lives.
As usual it had been Hermione who figured out the proper course of action. Once they had all somewhat adjusted to a normal everyday existence she had contacted Hogwarts' Headmistress Minerva McGonagall and inquired about NEWTS of all things. Ron had reiterated his long held believe that Hermione was mental but Hermione had reasoned that if they wanted to pursue wizarding careers it would help that they were fully qualified wizards. Ron had said that defeating You-Know-Who and his cronies should have been qualification enough. He added that considering all they'd been through they should be paid for merely surviving. Hermione had called Ron daft and after a minute or two of back and forth chat Ron and Harry had agreed to Hermione's plan. And so armed with Hermione's notes from six years at Hogwarts and a timetable from McGonagall the trio began preparing for their NEWTS. Not surprisingly they all did quite well.
And so that fall as was expected Harry and Ron had entered Auror training together. Considering their rather advanced knowledge of defensive magic the pair had soared to the tops of their class and completed the three-year course of study quite handily. Upon entering the ranks of the Ministry's aurors they distinguished themselves immediately and were placed in the dark arts defense squadron headed by Kingsley Schaklebolt. After only two years of service Harry had been given his own team to captain. Quite naturally Ron joined him. Known surreptitiously throughout the auror department as the Horntails, Harry's team of aurors were the most elite of all the others. In those early days there were still a great many Death Eaters roaming about. Taking into account his history of dealing with their kind Harry, Ron and the rest of the Horntails job became that of sussing out and apprehending those Death Eaters who had managed to elude capture. As a result of their skill and prowess at their jobs Ron's and Harry's faces were constantly gracing the cover of The Daily Prophet following some epic capture of a Death Eater or some otherwise miraculous escapade. The number of awards and citations of state they had received from every corner of the wizarding world grew too numerable to list. They were undeniably the best at what they did. After all they were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley two thirds of the famed trio that had ended Voldemort's reign of terror. They were living breathing legends. Their squadron joked that just the thought that Harry Potter was after you was enough to make the average bloke surrender.
Hermione's life had followed a somewhat surprising path following the sweeping detour of the horcrux hunt and the final battle. She had quite naturally she scored the highest possible levels in all areas on the NEWTS with the exception of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry had bested her by several percentage points. And while that came as no surprise what Hermione chose as a career shocked everyone who knew her with one exception. When Hermione announced that she would be taking a job at the Ministry of Magic as an unspeakable at Ron and Harry's going away dinner everyone present at the Weasley's dinner table had been thunderstruck. It seemed that everyone had expected Hermione to do something conventional…become a teacher or perhaps an advocate for lost causes like SPEW. No one had guessed she would become an unspeakable. As everyone else sat flabbergasted Harry had merely looked her in the eye and nodded his understanding. Harry was aware that Hermione's foray into the Department of Mysteries during their fifth year and the hunt for Voldemort's horcruxes had peaked her interests appreciably in the realm of those forms of antediluvian magic that many had set aside out of lack of understanding and the presumption of their having no practical use in the modern magical world. She had always said she wanted her magical career to make a difference. Harry was certain that Hermione becoming an unspeakable would do just that.
Thus while Harry and Ron were off in auror training Hermione was tucked away in the bowels of the Ministry of Magic's research department studying advanced magical forms of Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration and Astronomy. She also studied Languages of Magical Beasts, Beings and Creatures, Advanced Sorcery, Evocation, Mysticism and Mystification, Divination, Temporal and Terrestrial Magic and Ancient Celtic and Druid Wizardry. Her vast studies lead Hermione to become the wizarding world's most celebrated and sought after authority on Ancient Magic. She amassed such a personal library of knowledge in the discipline that both Beauxbaxtons and Durmstrang had courted her to teach the subject to their young charges. She had of course declined saying if she was going to teach anywhere it would be at Hoggy Warty Hogwarts. Although she had written a few articles for the wizarding journal Ancient Magic Today and had given several lectures on Celtic and Druid Magic Hermione had no desire to teach. She was devoted to her work and most days she could be found at the place where her love of the discipline had been born; the Department of Mysteries, where she devoted her time to attempting to unravel the perplexities of such vast topics as life, death, time and love. It was not uncommon to find her working closely with aurors either, usually Harry's squad as he frequently called on her to suss out some heretofore-unknown text, spell, or charm that had him stumped.
It was during one of these consultations eight months earlier that Harry and inadvertently stumbled onto the fact that his friendly feelings for Hermione were of a more amorous sort. Harry had just returned from Romania where he and his team had been looking into some curious dark activity. In the course of the investigation Harry had come across a journal of spells, several of which he recognized as variations of some very dark magic. However the last pages of the journal had been filled with a series of bizarre symbols that vaguely reminded him of the sort of ciphers he'd seen Hermione pouring over in her studies of Celtic and Druid runes and the like. Harry suspected that something was very odd about the journal and thought it was a good idea to have Hermione take a look at it. But knowing how his boss, the Deputy Chief of Magical Law Enforcement Agamenous Melbourne was libel to react to his suggestion that they look further into a diary (Melbourne was still fuming over Harry's having gone over his head to the Chief Minister of Magical Law Enforcement, Caiaphas Artaxerxes about the Yugoslavia matter) he'd pocketed it and decided to show it to Hermione himself once he was back in London.
Upon arriving in London two days later (a Saturday to be exact) Harry headed straight to Hermione's where he produced the diary and explained his theory. After receiving a through lecture on the impropriety of having taken the journal without following proper procedure the pair spent the remainder of the afternoon and half of the night working out the origin of the symbols. Having been sent home and ordered to get some rest by Hermione Harry had apparated home intent on sleeping for a few hours then returning to Hermione's flat to see what progress she'd made. However, that plan failed to materialize once he arrived at his flat to find his then girlfriend Ginny Weasley pacing the floor with an angry grimace contorting her otherwise lovely countenance. Before he could ask what was wrong Ginny rounded on him and asked where he'd been. Harry had stared at her before replying that he'd just gotten back from a mission. Ginny retorted by telling him that she knew that he'd been back for hours. She went on to recite the exact time that he and his team had arrived that morning, when he entered and exited his debriefing, the exact hour that his report containing his findings was filed, as well as the precise moment that he had left the Ministry of Magic.
Harry made a mental note to kill Percy the next time he saw him. Since returning to the Weasley fold the dunderhead had been doing any and everything he could think of to stay in the good graces of his siblings. Thus he'd taken to Harry watching. Every step that Harry made within the walls of the Ministry of Magic were reported back to Ginny with unnerving accuracy. Harry barely had time to complete the thought of how exactly he was going to dispense with Percy though because Ginny had raced off into a full flowing tirade about being sick of being the last priority in his life. She then proceeded to angrily demand to know where he had been and with whom. Harry had merely stared at her resolutely keeping his mouth tightly shut. After several minutes of tense silence Ginny informed Harry that she was through with him and that she no longer wanted anything to do with him romantically. That said she disapparated with a crackle and Harry to angry to sleep went to the one person he knew would understand. It was a testament to the strength and closeness of their friendship that Harry wasn't hexed to death when he apparated into Hermione's study at nearly midnight ranting and raving about Ginny and her absurd behavior. Hermione who had been in the middle of decoding a particularly interesting portion of the diary that Harry had nicked sat up and listened to Harry rage as he wore a rut into the floor. Once he'd settled down and stopped storming about she imparted what wisdom she had to offer on the subject of dating a Weasley.
Hermione and Ron had given dating a try following the end of their self-imposed quest with Harry. The relationship had lasted for three months. It didn't take the pair very long to figure out that beyond their close friendship and the remarkable ability to drive each other mad there was naught else to the relationship. The endlessly gratuitous bickering that everyone had taken to be repressed sexual tension was in fact just gratuitous bickering. Though they'd tried valiantly to make things work between them the last straw had been Hermione's decision to become an unspeakable. Ron had tried to talk her out of taking on the job saying it was too dangerous and not the sort of thing that she should get into alone. The ensuing row caused quite a bit of damage to Ron's ego, several pieces of furniture and half of Great Britain's eardrums. After a two week cooling off period the two had mutually agreed to end the amorous bit of their relationship and go back to being best friends only. At the time that Ron and Hermione had ended things Harry had been strangely happy over the breakup. He told himself that it had been his fear of the two breaking up and asking him to choose between them when in all actuality the thought of Ron being intimate with Hermione had left him with a feeling that he equated with vomiting up slugs.
Unlike his two best friends Harry had avoided any romantic entanglements upon returning from his quest. He felt that he needed time to process everything he'd been through and get some sense of stability before he started mooning over some witch. He knew that everyone who knew of his past relationship with Ginny was waiting for the moment that they'd get back together. No one was more obvious about this than Molly Weasley. She took great pains to pair the two up whenever possible. Seating them beside each other at family dinners, having Ginny stop by Harry and Ron's flat with a hamper of Harry's favorite foods or asking Harry to stop by Ginny's flat to replenish a lapsing ward or some other such trivial nonsense. Things had gone on like that for the entire duration of his auror's training but he'd simply ignored the anvil sized hints Molly dropped and focused on doing something he hadn't done much of before…living.
While Molly Weasley and every other mother of a single of age witch were plotting ways to marry their daughters off to the much sought after Victorious One, Harry was making a name for himself as a successful auror and enjoying the relative normalcy and peace of his existence now that he was no longer the target of a psychotic dark lord. Between his inheritances from his parents and Sirius as well as the sizable amount of galleons he brought in as an auror (aurors were paid very well for constantly risking their lives) Harry and Ron were able to afford a very large and comfortable flat. The London flat had been ideal. As they both worked at the ministry, getting to work was never a problem. Both Ron and Harry had a tendency to oversleep. As it was London they never at a lost for things to do when they weren't working; hanging out with the twins, double dates, weekend Quidditch matches, parties and concerts, Thursday nights at the Leaky Cauldron with Hermione, it was the perfect life for a young bachelor leaving the nest and testing his new wings for the first time. Yes, things had been great for four years. Harry had been having the time of his life. And he may well have gone on that way indefinitely if Ron hadn't started dating Luna Lovegood. Not that anything was wrong with Luna mind you, true she was a bit batty but she was a wonderful person otherwise and she seemed to make Ron tremendously happy which Harry was truly pleased about as he thought no one was more deserving of that kind of happiness than Ron but it had definitely thrown a wrench in things.
It became apparent soon after the two began seeing each other that this was not one of Ron's typical relationships. Every spare moment Ron had he spent with Luna. Her quirky eccentrism played well against Ron's snarky sense of humor. She was always appropriately impressed by his exploits. And unlike all his previous girlfriends (excepting Hermione) Luna was unfazed by Molly's overprotective sometimes overbearing manner. Therefore it hardly came as a shock when five months after he and Luna began dating Ron moved out of the flat that he shared with Harry and set up house with Luna in a quaint little cottage he'd bought in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Seeing Ron settling down took some of the fun out of his social life. He still hung out with the twins, had dinner with Hermione on Thursdays, and went to Quidditch matches with Ron but his nights out with witches became fewer and farther between as did the parties and the concerts. As he spent more time alone he began rethinking his priorities. He began to wonder whether his carefree bachelor lifestyle was truly what he wanted.
It was around this time that Ron had been severely injured during a mission in Belarus. His injuries while not fatal were severe enough that they had forced him out of his more active auror duties, i.e. no field work. Following his recovery Ron stayed on with the Horntails as a strategist and investigator much to the chagrin of his then fiancée Luna Lovegood. Luna had never liked the fact that Ron was an auror but as he generally came home in one piece she'd taken his dangerous occupation in her stride. The moment that was no longer the case the future Mrs. Ronald Weasley had made it known that she'd not have the man she loved risking life and limb to protect Minister Stanley and his lackeys from Vamparic Spirivas and Hellfire Banshees. Despite her objections Ron had held firm and remained an integral part of the team for another year before deciding he'd had enough and hanging up his aurors robes for good. Ron had said it was simply time to make a change but Harry knew it was because he hated being left behind a desk while everyone else was off facing Merlin knew what. Harry also suspected that Ron's impending marriage to Luna Lovegood had also been a factor. After leaving the auror division Ron had taken a position with Fred and George at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It seemed that Ron was rather adept at commerce and promotion. Since Ron had joined his brothers' enterprise the number of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes stores had grown from three to ten and their already thriving mail order business had expanded across the pond to the States. Although Luna was pleased that Ron was no longer an auror she stilled fretted over his safety being that he spent untold hours with Fred and George.
By the time Ron and Luna were married Harry's social life consisted mainly of dinners with the couple and Hermione and Ginny's weekly visits with a hamper of food from Molly. With his new more sedentary routine Harry often found himself having long conversations with Ginny on her visits about whatever came to mind. Before long they fell back into the comfort of their old friendship and by the end of that year their friendship had blossomed into a comfortable romance. Molly had of course been ecstatic as had been the rest of the family. Ginny was over the moon and within four months of their officially becoming a couple had began dropping hints about marriage. It seemed that Ginny believed that Harry's entering into a relationship meant he was of a mind to get married. So Ginny had tried to be the perfect girlfriend as she waited patiently for Harry to ask her to marry him. But as the relationship wore on and the two got no closer to being married Ginny began to become belligerent and suspicious. She convinced herself that Harry was seeing someone else and began keeping a close eye on his comings and goings. This started a cycle of bickering that rivaled Ron and Hermione's legendary rows. Harry tried as best he could to allay Ginny's worries but the only remedy for it seemed to be a proposal and an engagement ring and Harry knew that he was just not ready for marriage.
Harry found out later that the night of Ginny's tirade had been their sixteen month anniversary. Ginny had had Percy checking when he got in so that they could celebrate. It was a lucky chance that his arrival home had coincided with the exact anniversary date but Ginny had seen it as a sign from the fates that something significant was going to happen between them that night. Unfortunately for her the significant thing had been their breaking up for good. That night Harry and Hermione had stayed up into the early morning talking about their lives. What they wanted to accomplish in the present as well as in the future. Hermione had listened and offered advice and helped him to see how he had unwittingly lead Ginny to believe that he was ready for more than he truly was out of a relationship. It was that bit of understanding that had ultimately gotten them to the point where they now stood.
As one would expect things were quite tense between Harry and Ginny following their disastrous break up. And though none of the Weasleys blamed Harry unduly (it was the family's consensus that both Harry and Ginny were equally to blame) he thought it only right to give Ginny time to adjust. As such Harry went into a sort of self imposed Weasley isolation. He still saw the twins and Ron quite often but he opted to stay away from any and all family gatherings. Hermione opted out as well to keep him company on those days when they would otherwise have been ensconced in the Burrow. This meant that Harry and Hermione were spending even more time together than usual as they were still working together to sort out the meaning of the journal Harry had found in Romania. Over the course of the next two months spending so much time with Hermione Harry began to really get to know her. In all honesty there wasn't much that he didn't already know about her but he got to see her in ways he never had before. He found out that she loved to eat crispy duck and spring rolls along with doners and curry. He learned that her sides and the bottoms of her feet were the most ticklish spots on her body, he learned that her eyes sparkled like stars when she was truly excited, that she smelled delicious…like citrus and vanilla and whenever she smiled at him he melted. Without even realizing it Harry had fallen for Hermione. It took Ron a chat with Ron to prod him into action.
During one of their Thursday nights at the Leaky Cauldron Ron had noticed Harry's preoccupation with Hermione. When she and Luna excused themselves from the table to go to the ladies Ron had questioned Harry about his odd behavior. With a little prodding Harry had told Ron of his sudden attraction to their mutual best friend. Of all the reactions Harry had expected the one he never would have imagined was the one he received. Ron had laughed. After getting over his initial shock at Ron's reaction Harry was informed that Luna had told Ron ages ago that Hermione was far better suited to his temperament than Ginny was. And quite recently she had told him that she suspected the two were finally at a point to accept their feelings for one another and that according to the alignment of the stars and the upcoming hatching of the Slimbledinger Humbat such an invitation by one to the other would be most favorably received. Needless to say Ron had spent the remainder of the evening snickering every time Harry and Hermione so much as glanced in each other's direction.
Whether it was the absurdity of the situation or a secret wish that Luna was indeed onto something later on that evening when Hermione had asked Harry about Ron's odd behavior he had told her everything. He told her about his conversation with Ron and Ron's conversation with Luna. He told her about the feelings he'd been having and asked if she would or could consider such a thing. Hermione had begun gnawing her bottom lip in that way she had when she was contemplating something. Slowly she'd raised her eyes to his and just as slowly she'd nodded her head. Naturally they'd done a great deal of talking that night about how they'd both been feeling this way about each other and if they could really make it work without ruining the friendship. In the end they'd decided to just be honest and take things slow.
That had been six months ago. As he lay there with Hermione curled up next to him sleeping peacefully he wondered how he'd managed to go from one relationship that had been all wrong to one that felt just right. The sensation of someone watching him drew Harry from his thoughts. He looked down and found Hermione staring up at him quizzically. In a delicate voice she asked.
"What are you thinking about?"
Harry smiled in reply and said.
"You."
Arching her brow playfully she inquired.
"And would this thinking you've been doing concerning me be nearly as inspiring as your earlier contemplations?"
She smiled up at him invitingly. Catching her meaning Harry smiled back and pulling her into his arms nodded and murmured "Mmhmm" as he kissed her passionately and proceeded to show her exactly how much she had indeed inspired him.
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