A/N ~ Well for me this is being posted very quickly after my last post, which is a little unusual, but I had this idea and nothing else to do so… what the heck. It's short and silly but I hope you enjoy it anyway and I'm sure you'll all let me know what you think.
Disclaimer ~ Still not mine.
3rd Kiss - Addicted to you.
I don't know precisely when it was that I became addicted to Hermione's touch, but I think it started with her hugs. After Hogwarts and Voldemort were finished I went on a holiday with Ron. Hermione didn't come with us because she wanted to spend one last summer with her parents before she started working. Ron and I were gone for about two months, we went all over Europe and we had a great time. Of course we wrote to Hermione all the time but it wasn't the same and it was the longest I'd been without seeing her since we'd first met when we were eleven years old.
When we got back she gave us both big hugs to welcome us home and when she did I realised how much I had missed her in the two months we'd been away. After that Ron and I got an apartment together in London just off from Diagon Alley and Hermione stayed living with her parents. We couldn't always get to see each other because she was often busy and Ron and I were both working full time. So when we did see her it was a big deal, and I got into the habit of giving her a big hug hello every time I saw her.
By the time she started working for the ministry of magic and found an apartment nearby it was a well established ritual to give a hug hello. Even though we now saw each other several times a week it never occurred to me to question that when I saw her I gave her a hug hello. I didn't even think about it until my (now ex) girlfriend pointed it out.
`Why do you and Hermione hug so much?' She had asked, a nasty note of suspicion in her voice.
`I don't know, it's just our way of saying hello I guess. There's nothing in it we've just been friends forever that's all.' I said trying to explain.
`Ron doesn't hug her every time he see's her.' She pointed out.
I had to think about that for a second, but she was right. Somehow it was just something that Hermione and I did. I'd never even noticed that she and Ron didn't hug hello as well. I started paying a bit more attention after that, the next time I saw her I didn't offer the hello hug.
Hermione looked at me with a funny smile on her face, `What's the matter? Aren't you going to say hello?' she asked like she was waiting for something.
`I did say hello,' I replied pretending I didn't understand.
`Harry' she said playfully hitting my arm, `you know what I mean!'
I couldn't resist after that, `Sorry,' I said pulling her into a hug, `I wasn't thinking'.
Unfortunately for me this started a whole new addiction but this was one that I was very aware of and desperate to try and break. Because I was talking while I hugged her my lips brushed her hair, her unbelievably soft and silky hair. Just once it happened by accident and I was hooked. Every time we hugged after that I would say something to her, usually just `hey how are you?' or something equally mundane, but it gave me an excuse to accidentally brush my lips against her hair. It was horrible, I was a horrible best friend, possibly the worst best friend that ever existed. Still I don't think she knew what I was doing, but I couldn't decide if that made it better or worse.
As hard as it is to believe things got even worse. Hermione was going to Australia for a few months and we had a farewell committee to see her off before she left, this when the new addiction of goodbye hugs started. After that it was a slippery slope. We gave each other hugs hello and goodbye, I put my arm around her in crowds, we gave each other a hug when giving a birthday or Christmas present and another to say thankyou for the present. I knew it had gotten out of hand when even Ron noticed that Hermione and I were spending a lot of our time hugging each other.
We were just having a quiet drink together at The Leaky Cauldron one night when Ron said to me, `So what's going on with you and Hermione?'
I tried not to choke on my beer, `What do you mean?' the plan was to deny, deny, deny and if that didn't work, deny some more.
`You always seem to be hugging or touching each other, what's going on?'
`Nothing, we're just friends.' I said in the first phase of my plan.
Ron gave me a look but refrained from pointing out that he had been Hermione's friend just as long as I had.
`Ok, whatever.' He said and thankfully let the subject drop.
I tried to pull back a bit from the constant flow of hugs after that, but it was hard. I started thinking about it all the time, wondering when I would safely be able to hug or touch Hermione again without suspicion being aroused. I was getting distracted at work and unable to sleep at night. It got to the point where I wasn't functioning properly and everyone started asking me what was wrong. That's when I knew I was addicted, but there was nothing I could do about it.
It all came to a head on the night of my 21st birthday. We'd been out drinking and generally making a public nuisance of ourselves and we came back to my place. Hermione had left a cardigan there that she wanted to retrieve before heading home but everyone else had already left. It was late, my apartment was dark and we'd both had too much to drink. I was planning on heading straight for bed and so I only turned on one lamp to find her top. I picked it up of the sofa and handed it to her my fingers tingling as they brushed hers.
`Thanks Harry,' she said, `well I better get going.' There was a hint of hesitancy in her voice.
I smiled, I was going to get a goodbye hug, `Bye Hermione,' I said pulling her in for a hug.
She came in for the hug willingly but seconds before I got close enough to her to do my usual talk and accidentally brush my lips against her hair routine, she shook her head slightly her hair fell down her back and her neck was exposed. So when I said, `Thanks for coming out tonight.' Instead of my lips "accidentally" brushing against her hair they brushed against the soft skin of her neck instead. My lips tingled and burned and I felt Hermione shiver in my arms.
`Are you ok?' I asked leaning back from the hug but without letting go.
Hermione giggled slightly, `Your stubbled just tickled my neck that's all'
She said blushing slightly in a slightly guilty sort of way. In that moment I realised that maybe I wasn't the only person who enjoyed these hugs just a little (okay a lot) more than I should. That thought is what emboldened me to do what I did next.
I lent down and rubbed the stubble on my cheek ever so softly against the soft skin of her neck, `like this?' I asked trying to sound innocent but failing miserably. She shivered again and squirmed against me. I thought of how easy it would be to become equally addicted to her squirming against me.
`Harry!' she said, she was trying to scold me but only succeeding in sounding delighted.
I smiled at her suddenly aware that I'd been holding her pressed up against me for at least a few minutes. Her squirming and her smell and the feel of her soft skin against my lips was starting to have an effect and I knew that if I held her too much longer she would defiantly know about it. At the same time I really didn't want to let her go. So I did what any sensible, red-blooded man would do. I kissed her and when she didn't push me away I kissed her some more. Now I kiss her whenever I get the chance and I think we might both be addicted to it.
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