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The Bad Assumption
Chapter: 5 Friendly Persuasion
Harry just sat quietly with the look of intense concentration on his face. He appeared to be trying to make a decision about something, but was having a hard time doing it. Finally, after several moments, his face relaxed and he reached over and gently took her hands in his again. He took a deep breath, slowly let it out, then finally spoke.
"Hermione, move in now. I know you have your flat, but you can move out. There's more than enough room here, you could just about have a different room for each day of the week. I know I haven't said anything to you, but I never have liked where your flat is. I never thought it looked like a very safe neighborhood," said Harry very nervously.
She was caught quite by surprise at Harry's offer, but as she listened to what he said, she had to admit he had a convincing argument. However, there were a few details she didn't think she could get around, that would let her move in before they got married.
"I don't know, Harry. I can't move out of my flat yet. I have a year's lease on it and the time is nowhere near close yet where I could give it up," said Hermione.
"That's not a problem, love. I'll pay off whatever the remainder of your lease is. I would just feel more at ease if you were here, it's much safer here than where your flat is. Plus, it's closer to St. Mungos from here. I know that doesn't mean anything since you can apparate or use the floo, but it sounded like a good excuse anyway," said Harry grinning.
"I don't know, people might start saying things if we just started living together," she said nervously.
He hadn't thought about that aspect of her moving in. He had sincerely been thinking about her safety and having her there so he wouldn't be alone. It hadn't been for any ulterior motive or for taking advantage of her. He again sat quietly for a few moments thinking how he could address her concerns. She saw he was concentrating on something again, but he seemed to have worked it out quicker this time.
"Hermione, we shouldn't live our lives based on the opinions of others. What we choose to do is our business and our decision, no one else can dictate to us how we live our lives. I truly would feel better if you were here. This house is so huge and lonely with just me here. Well, Dobby is here too, but he doesn't count. Don't look at me like that. I pay Dobby for his work, besides, you know what I mean. But, if you are truly concerned about what other people think or what they would say if you moved in before we are married, I guess you can stay at your flat. But Hermione, there's something you need to realize, I'm not asking you to move in so we can, uhm, well, you know, be intimate with each other. I love you Hermione. You are the most beautiful woman in the world to me, and Merlin knows I'm sure being with you in that way would be bloody amazing. But, I have too much respect for you to have our first time be so trivial, so casual. I want our first time to be as special as possible, that's why I'm perfectly happy to wait until we are properly married, because I can't think of a more special time than our wedding night. I just enjoy your company so much. My problem is when we are apart. That's when huge waves of loneliness and depression come over me. There are plenty of rooms here, I have my own room, and there would be nothing for you to worry about. You can rest assured that I never would force myself on you, I could never do anything to hurt you."
He was quite successfully breaking down her resolve not to move in until they were married. She hated to think her absence from him caused the results she had witnessed that very day.
"Merlin Harry, you do put up a bloody convincing argument," she said grinning.
Suddenly an idea popped into his head, and the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced this would be the thing that would persuade Hermione to move in. Knowing her as well as he did it wouldn't even be a question anymore.
"I tell you what, love, you think about what I have said and I will take you on a tour of the house. It's nothing like what it had been when we first saw it during our fifth year at Hogwarts. Shall we, my lady?" said Harry offering her his arm.
All she could do was smile at him and intertwine her arm with his. As they began touring the house, she couldn't believe the extent to which the house had been renovated. Harry had been absolutely right, there was no way this was the same house they had stayed in during their fifth year. It was so bright and clean with a beautiful grand staircase, huge crystal chandeliers, and a marble foyer. It was simply amazing.
One of the first places he showed her was a huge family entertainment room. It had a rather large flat screen television, satellite system, surround sound, and one of the largest stereo systems she had ever seen. It could play anything from a cassette tape to an MP3 and anything in between. To go along with it was quite an extensive CD collection. She took a moment to browse through the collection to see what was there. Some titles were familiar, The Weird Sisters, Avril Lavigne, Evanescence, but there were others she wasn't familiar with, Coheed and Cambria, Linkin Park, and Good Charlotte.
After going through what felt like every single room in the house, they found themselves on the main floor in the spacious living room. She thought it bore an uncanny resemblance to the Gryffindor common room, even down to an exact copy of their favorite couch by the fireplace.
"Harry, it is truly miraculous what they have done to this house. It is absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to start our future together in this wonderful home. I have no doubt we can be truly happy here and it looks like an exceptional place to raise a family," said Hermione beaming at him.
"Oh Hermione, a family would be the answer to what I have wished for my entire life, to be part of a real, loving family. Also, I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have as the mother of my children except you. You will make such a wonderful mother," said Harry lovingly.
Hermione smiled at him as she turned a bright shade of pink.
"I'm sorry 'Mione, I didn't mean to embarrass you. Uhm, Hermione, I almost forgot, there's one more room I need to show you," said Harry.
"You mean there's actually space for another one?" she said with a smirk on her face.
"Yes, and something tells me, uh, you will probably like this one over all the ones you have seen thus far," said Harry mysteriously.
Again he offered his lady an arm which she accepted. He led her from the large living room to the huge main entrance hall in front of the grand staircase. He guided her to the left of the staircase down a very narrow, dimly lit corridor. It was curious that she didn't remember coming down this way earlier on the tour of the house.
They eventually arrived at a very beautiful, ornately carved oak door. On the door was an equally ornate rectangular golden plaque. Deeply engraved on the plaque were two words.
'HERMIONE'S ROOM'
"Harry, what is this?" she asked looking quite puzzled.
"Well Hermione, you're going to think me quite the hypocrite when I explain this, but please don't hold it against me too badly. You already heard me say that I thought there was no way you could have feelings for me of the romantic type. I was absolutely convinced of this. However, deep down in my heart I held on to the smallest sliver of hope that maybe you did have some romantic type feelings for me. If it turned out you did, and we could finally be together, I had this room built for you, just in case. Why don't you open the door? Everything behind the door is all yours," said Hermione solemnly.
Hermione's curiosity was reaching its limits as she wondered what was behind the door. She slowly reached out with a shaking hand and grabbed the doorknob, which she noticed was also made of gold. She turned the knob until it would move no more, then pushing firmly she opened the door, and was immediately greeted by a room full of complete darkness.
"Ooops! Sorry love, allow me," said Harry a bit embarrassed.
He took Hermione by the hand and they both stepped inside the doorway into total blackness. Even though she couldn't see, her sense of smell registered familiar odors of parchment, leather, wood, and ink. They were the familiar, comforting odors of the Hogwart's library, she thought. But it couldn't possibly be. Those smells could only be re-created in one way. Harry raised his hand to the darkened room and stated firmly,
"Illuminate!"
Instantly the room was bathed in a wonderful soft light from what appeared to be thousands of floating candles, and what a room it was. Hermione was utterly awestruck at what lay before her. With this being one of those rare occasions, she was absolutely speechless. It was the largest room she had ever seen anywhere. It resembled a small warehouse more than a room, but a warehouse that held nothing but shelves and shelves of books. She had never seen such a collection of books in her life. Hogwart's library couldn't even boast a collection of books this large. The room had to be every bit twice the size of the Hogwart's library, the library she had come to love so much while she was at school. She turned to look at Harry who was smiling at her brightly.
"Welcome to the Hermione Granger library of Number 12 Grimmauld Place," he said with a flourish.
She was still too overwhelmed for words. She threw her arms around him and gave him a hug with everything she had, the she buried her face into his shoulder sobbing quietly. He held her gently in his arms until she was able to compose herself. After a few moments, she eased up on the intensity of her embrace, and leaned back to look in his eyes.
"Harry, thank you. This is wonderful, but it must have cost a small fortune. I'm not worth all this," she said barely above a whisper.
"Hermione, you are worth everything to me. This was nothing, love. If it makes you happy it's worth every galleon. I would spend my entire inheritance to make you happy. I love you Hermione," said Harry softly. She leaned up and kissed him quickly, then untangled herself from him. She walked over to one of the shelves to inspect some of the books.
"Harry, this room is amazing. It's got to be twice the size of the Hogwart's library," said Hermione incredulously.
"Uhm, actually, love, it's three times the size of the library at Hogwarts. Plus, it has a much larger Restricted Section of sorts, quite a few books on dark magic. But, you don't have to worry about the books screaming when you try to read them. Also, you don't have to get my permission if you want to check them out," said Harry.
"You did quite a good job setting things up, Harry. You even have a nice collection of some rare books in here that explain how to develop and create your own spells. I couldn't have arranged this any better," she said, as she looked back at him smiling brightly.
"As much as I would love to be worthy of your praise, I must confess that I had loads of help from who I consider to be the best in the business. Madam Pince helped set all this up, she deserves all the credit. All this time I thought she was so mean to us during school, that she was such a grumpy witch really wasn't fair to her. When I discussed this project with her, I thought she was going to cry from sheer happiness. I never thought I would ever find someone else that loves books more than you, but I think I have. I'd never seen her smile before. It was quite extraordinary. When I told her who all this effort was for, she told me she would be honored to do it for such a brilliant witch," said Harry smiling.
Hermione replaced the book she had been looking at back in the correct spot and walked back over to harry. She gently put her arms around his neck and fixed his eyes with a loving gaze. They remained silent for a moment or two, then Hermione finally spoke.
"You know, Harry, my flat is a bit cramped, and it isn't in a very nice part of the city either. Grimmauld Place is closer to St. Mungos, and it's more spacious, clean, and safe. But more importantly, it has the two things I love more than anything in the world," said Hermione with a smirk.
Harry now looked back at Hermione with a puzzled look on his face.
"The two things you love? What are they?" he inquired.
"Well, you know how I feel about reading, so I really love the library that you had built for me. The other thing I love more than anything in the world, well, that's you Harry. You should have known that," she said smiling at him brightly.
He just stood there and rolled his eyes but couldn't help smiling at her. He leaned in and kissed her gently, her lips so soft and warm. She returned his kiss but only for a few brief moments. They broke the kiss before the need for oxygen would have forced them to.
"So, Miss Granger, does that mean you will move in?" he asked with hint of hope in his voice.
"Yes, Harry. I will move in. I know I can trust you, I've trusted you with my life as long as I've known you. I know you respect me enough that I can now trust you with my heart, my body, and my soul," said Hermione.
"Of course I respect you, Hermione. I love you and I would never do anything that would cause me to lose you. If you are still concerned about what people think, remember there are loads of rooms you can stay in. Think of it as your own home, which it actually will be very soon, and all of its benefits are at your disposal," he said firmly.
He noticed a mischievous look appear in her eyes after his last statement.
"Really? So all the features of this house are at my disposal to do with as I please?" she inquired with an evil smirk.
"Of course, Hermione. Everything I own is at your disposal," he said innocently.
"I guess that includes you too, doesn't it?" she said with a wicked gleam in her eye.
Harry was quite confused by Hermione's questions, but before he could say anything she pulled them together into an intensely passionate kiss. At that point Harry ceased the ability to think, all he knew was that he was completely lost in Hermione as she assaulted his senses in ways he never knew she could.
The feeling of every square inch of her wonderful body being pressed against his, the feel and smell of her bushy brown hair on his face, and was that her tongue? Where in Merlin's name did she learn how to kiss like that, he thought. She was awakening feelings and urges in him he had never experienced before. He knew she hadn't dated anyone before other than going with Krum to the Yule Ball back in fourth year. She had told him that Krum had been a complete gentleman, that he had only kissed her hand and her cheek during the whole night. Was it possible for her to learn all of this from reading a book? He didn't know if it was possible or not, all he knew at that moment was Hermione Granger was driving him absolutely insane.
Only when the dire need to breathe became critical did they finally separate. Both of them were gasping for air and they were quite flushed from their intense snogging experience. Hermione, still with that evil look in her eyes, glanced up at Harry.
"You didn't answer my question."
"Yes Hermione, everything in the house is at your disposal. It was just quite difficult trying to answer you when you were trying to suck my tonsils out," said Harry playfully.
"Oh, so you don't like the way I kiss?" said Hermione pretending to be put out.
"Hermione, love, I absolutely bloody adore how you kiss. It has a rather amazing affect on me. I actually lose the ability to think properly, it's as if my brain shuts down. By the way, how did you learn to kiss like that? I know you have never dated anyone," said Harry.
"Harry, how long have we known each other, over ten years now? What do I do when I want to learn something? I read, Harry. You should know that by now," said Hermione a bit put out.
"Yes, I know, but how can you learn something like that from a book without, uhm, practice?" inquired Harry.
"I'm a quick learner, you should know that too. Otherwise, I guess you just bring out my best efforts," she said with a wicked smile on her face.
He looked at the love of his life, gave her a quick kiss, then gently separated from their embrace.
Hermione, as much as I would love to continue this forever, it's getting a bit on in the evening, and we both have training to go to in the morning. I, uh, have an idea, but if you don't want to do it, that's fine. But, at least hear me out before you say no. Neither one of us has had supper. Let me get Dobby to fix us a little something to eat and while he's doing that you go back to your flat and, er, pick up a few things so you could, uh, maybe spend the night here. That is if you want to. You probably don't. I'm sorry Hermione that was much too forward of me. I shouldn't…"
Harry was stopped from rambling by Hermione placing a finger gently against his lips. He looked at her curiously as she removed her finger, leaned in, and kissed him softly.
"Harry, you get Dobby busy in the kitchen and I'll be back in a few minutes," said Hermione sweetly.
She looked at him for a moment with her beautiful brown eyes, then winked at him. Before Harry could say or do anything she disapparated with a muffled pop.