Territory

Amethyst

Rating: R
Genres: Angst, Romance
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 04/08/2006
Last Updated: 04/08/2006
Status: completed

Hard R. When Ron proposes marriage, Hermione faces a difficult choice. Features snarky disclaimer, wall!sex, and a relatively happy ending.

Chapters

1. untitled

1. untitled

Title: Territory

Category: Drama/Romance/Angst

Pairing: H/Hr

Rating: Hard R

Summary: When Ron proposes marriage, Hermione faces a difficult choice.

Word Count: 887

Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine. Ought to be public property, if you ask me, or at least in the hands of someone with a soul, but as it is…not mine.

A/N: I wrote this awhile ago. I take forever to upload things sometimes….

~

“Ron asked you to marry him.”

It wasn’t a question; Harry already knew the answer. Hermione nodded anyway.

“What did you say?”

What could she say? How could she agree to marry him when she was living a lie…when she knew it wasn’t right…when she knew she loved someone else more, in such a different way that it could never be the same with Ron? But how could she refuse him after so many long years?

“I told him I needed time to think about it.”

Harry stood across the room, as though afraid of what would happen if they came any closer to one another…and he was probably right. She wanted to go to him and take refuge in his arms once more; Harry had a way of helping her forget anything she didn’t want to remember.

“And have you thought about it?”

“Of course I have,” Hermione said, looking down at her hands. They were shaking. “I can’t say it’s gotten me anywhere, though.”

With one look at Harry, she could see everything he was feeling about this, so similar to her own inner turmoil – fear that she’d say yes and close the door on them forever, fear that she’d say no and break Ron’s heart, the unending guilt at what they’d been doing, and the desperate, unshakable desire that they’d discovered this years ago and never gotten into such a mess.

“What do you think I should do?”

“Don’t ask me to choose for you, Hermione,” he said, his voice tight. “This has to be your decision.”

“I don’t want it to be,” she said, some of her growing hysteria leaking out in her voice. “Please…tell me what I should do.”

“You should do what will make you happiest in the end. I…that’s the best I can give you, Hermione. I can’t be the reason you make the wrong choice, whatever that is.”

She sighed, wishing he would make it easy for her by begging her to stay or…something. “Harry…do you love me?”

He hesitated. “Hermione, I –“

“I know we’ve never discussed that,” she cut in. “But I need to know, Harry…I have a right to know. Please, tell me. Are you in love with me?”

His eyes finally reached hers. “Yes, I am.” He turned away again. “But so is Ron.”

Her heart thudded against her chest. There it was, out in the open, no more room for doubt. What she had found with Harry was real, was more than lust, was more than some desperate escape from reality. The terror of losing that left her cold.

“Are you going to fight for me? Or are you just going to let go of me as though nothing ever happened?”

Harry’s shoulders tensed in anger and he turned fully this time, eyes narrowed. “What would you have me do, Hermione? Claim you as my property and mark my territory like some caveman? We both know that’s not what you want.”

“And just what is it that I want, Harry?” she asked indignantly.

Harry shook his head. “You want me to make it easy for you to say yes to him. You want me to break this off, send you back to him, and let you marry him guilt-free. That’s what you really came here for – you came to say goodbye. But I can’t,” he said, his voice breaking in a way that suggested the hysteria he was trying to hide. “I can’t say that, I can’t promise to let you go.”

Hermione practically launched herself to his side.

“Oh, Harry, no – that’s not what I want, it isn’t,” she said, burrowing into his arms. “Please, just make it easy for me to say no to him, please.”

She sought out his lips, which she found seeking hers. He quickly scooped her up and turned them around, pressing her into the wall. In a matter of moments, she’d unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and shoved them down, along with his boxers, to his knees. All the while, he’d been tugging her knickers down until they were tangled around her ankles. Still kissing her desperately, he hiked up her skirt and thrust into her in one quick motion.

Hermione cried out as he filled and stretched her, sending a burst of sensation to override every thought flying through her head. It was only him and her and the overwhelming heat between their bodies; nobody could break into this reverie.

Harry grunted as he moved almost frantically in and out of her. She could only cling to him as he pounded into her, suckling at her neck and gripping her hips with bruising force.

At his intense pace, it wasn’t long before the heat pooling in Hermione’s stomach reached its peak and she came, arching her back and hitting her head against the wall as she did so, but it didn’t matter. When Harry brought her to this point, all else was irrelevant.

He came shortly after, slumping against her. His heavy breath fell upon her neck as he slipped out of her and his seed trickled down her thighs.

“I don’t think I can watch you marry him,” he whispered, still holding her against the wall. “Don’t leave me, please, don’t leave me.”

Hermione kissed him reassuringly, knowing she never could. Unwittingly, he had marked his territory, and for better or worse, she was his.