Author Note:- Sorry for the long wait yet again, thanks to everyone who's sticking with me. And more thanks to my betas for getting this back to me and their corrections. Got another little NC-17 scene before they get to the Death eater camp, there isn't any horrible cliff hangers this time some of you will be glad to know. Well except the obvious one of how long before I post the next chapter.
Anyways, Enjoy!
"So … ribs feeling better then?" she asked.
"Okay, I'm half naked, lying not-so-innocently above Hermione. She's asked me a question and I'm not responding only talking to myself which isn't really helping. Why does she have to look so damn sexy. Err, think of a response you idiot!" Harry's mind was racing to think of a good response when Hermione interrupted his train of thought by stretching up and kissing him.
All rational though suddenly evaporated from Harry mind as he leaned in and kissed her back, hard and passionately. Any hesitation that might linger from her was also quickly gone as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. They frantically kissed like it would be the last thing they would ever do.
Harry eyes opened in shock as the reality of the situation broke upon him. He ended the kiss and sat up immediately, breathing hard still. He opened his mouth to apologise but again Hermione beat him to it.
"Oh my god Harry, I'm so sorry!"
"Err, wait a minute, shouldn't I be saying that?" Harry thought.
"It was just … you looked … I didn't mean … shit shit shit!" Hermione exclaimed.
Harry jumped off her and back onto his stool, letting her sit up as he tried to gather his thoughts. He wanted to tell her that it was okay, but it wasn't really. He had wanted to do that for days now but he was still engaged to Ginny. Harry tried to talk a few times but nothing would come out. He growled in frustration causing Hermione to panic just a little more.
"I'm so sorry Harry," she pleaded, "I just couldn't stop myself, please say you'll forgive me, it will never happen again!"
"But I want it to happen again, but still engaged, but sooo good, bloody hell SAY SOMETHING!" Harry screamed at himself within the confines of his own head.
"Uh, bloody hell Mione, did you stupefy me during the kiss or something? I can't get my head straight," Harry commented as he tried to lighten the situation, "Its okay, forget about it, I'm sorry I got carried away, I got caught up in the moment as well."
"But, I'm the one who started it, it was just that…"
"Enough Mione, I didn't exactly pull away instantly like I should have, I understand how you felt, we just got
carried away." Harry smiled softly, mentally cursing himself into oblivion, "We should try and behave for now
though, we've got more than enough to deal with."
"Right, of course, we should get to bed." Hermione replied, that unknown look still dancing in her eyes.
Harry knew he had to leave or he'd end up kissing her again so he climbed to his feet and fled to the bathroom. He quickly stripped off and turned the shower on cold, throwing himself into the icy water. He gasped as the freezing water rained down upon him but the distraction was worth it. What the heck had just happened between him and Hermione?
He knew he had a crush on her, he had for years but he'd managed to suppress it. He believed she would never return his affection. But she initiated the kiss didn't she? He just rejected her advance didn't he? She apologised for it, but why had she done it then? This was turning out to be one hell of a week.
******************
Meanwhile back in the main room Hermione had changed to sleep. She too was letting her thoughts dwell over a few moments ago. Unknown to Harry, like him she also had harboured feelings for him since Hogwarts. She had carefully shielded her feelings from him.
Too many things had prevented her from revealing her feelings to him, first there was Cho, then Ginny and Voldemort was always lurking in the background. Every time something faded away something else would come up and she'd put it off. After Voldemort was gone he got back together with Ginny and she just gave up. Ginny was her friend after all, she couldn't bring herself to do anything that might split them up for so long and she might have ruined all of that work in an instant.
It was so stupid, she never liked hearing all the stories about Harry and his life risking missions. But it was a completely different matter to be with him when he was doing it. Every curse that was shot at him made her wince. It was only through her strict training and discipline that she was able to concentrate on the battle.
When he went off alone to get Yaxley she started pacing and hadn't stopped until he arrived. She spent nearly an hour worried sick that he was captured, tortured or even worse, dead. Then he suddenly appeared with that cocky smirk that she so often loved but at that moment it enraged her. How could he leave her to worry like that and then smirk about it?!
Before she was aware her fist made contact with his head and he dropped like a ton of bricks. She promptly pounced upon him and vented her frustration and anger. After that she felt incredibly guilty for hurting him when she discovered how badly he was injured. She wanted to make him feel better so she offered to apply the cream which resulted in his shirt coming off. Her breath caught for a moment as he stripped to the waist but she hid it well.
She tried to remain passive as her hands got to work over his muscles, but her old crush burning once again and driving her insane with lust. As her fingers caught his ribs and he giggled she found a distraction. She started to tickle him, a game designed to stop her thinking from about how nice he looked. It had worked for a short time then he caught her and pounced. He now hovered over her as they both fought for breath, time seemed to freeze as the moment continued.
"Oh my god, how did I let myself get into this position, what is he doing? He's just holding me here helpless, is he going to kiss me? Please merlin let him do it, just one little kiss. Why did Shacklebolt have to put us into this position, why did he have to open this old wound." She thought, "How long have we been lying here? It's lasting forever, or does it just feel that way to me? Why isn't he moving away?"
"He's just frozen there, bare inches away, his lips are so close … I could just lean forward and mmmm" Suddenly her lips were on his, "Oh my god I'm kissing Harry, what am I doing! Why aren't I stopping?"
The kiss lasted for less than twenty seconds in total, but both of them swore it felt like hours. Both of them unleashed their pent up feelings upon the other. The arousal and sexual tension in the room could be cut with a knife.
"My god I'm kissing my best friend and loving it, my best friend is who engaged to one of my best friends … what in merlin's name am I doing! Stop girl!" she screamed at herself to stop but could do nothing to convince her body to obey.
Just then Harry pulled away from the passionate kiss with an expression of utmost shock. Guilt flooded into Hermione mind as she realised she had kissed an engaged man. Apologies shot out of her mouth as she thought about what she had done and how Ginny would react.
He had said enough and fled to the bathroom leaving her alone with her thoughts and guilt. She had kissed him and she didn't have the willpower to stop. He had to do it. But it took him quite a while, and he kissed me back. Does that mean that he enjoyed it as well? Didn't he? Or, had she been seducing him the whole time?
**********************
In the bathroom Harry was drying himself off from his cold shower and slipping into the bodysuit. He leaned against the mirror and looked into his bright green eyes, trying to find for some evidence that he was still sane. He couldn't get his mind off the kiss, even the cold shower hadn't helped chill his libido.
The front of his suit was tented from his mind lingering on the woman in the other room. She had kissed him, what did that mean? Was it just the situation, was his lust infecting her or did she desire him as well? This was all just so confusing and now he had to go back and sleep a few feet away from her. He reached down to his crotch and tried to reposition himself to hide the bulge.
He silently opened the door and looked around the room. He could make out Hermione's form on the bed. She was under the covers and facing the other way as he crept over to the sofa. He could hear her slow breathing and wondered if she was already asleep. He settled down and wondered if he would even be able to get to sleep, but he was certain that if he drifted off it would be a dream filled night.
"That was a really close call," he thought, "I barely had the willpower to stop, I could have so easily given in and seen how far we'd go. I still want to just go jump into her bed and ravage her until we're both spent. What would happen if I did? How would it effect our friendship? And what about Ginny? Ugh, this is going to be a long night."
On the bed Hermione wasn't quite asleep yet, but she didn't want Harry to know that, she couldn't face him just yet. She heard him climb onto the sofa as she just laid there in the darkness. She could hear him tossing and turning on the couch trying to get comfortable then he went silent. She ran through a dozen scenarios in her mind, to be prepared for the morning. She wanted to know what she was going to say and have a reply for anything Harry might say back.
She was running through a scenario where Harry would be extremely angry at her when she thought she heard something. She strained her hearing to the limit and thought she heard footsteps. Harry was probably trying to sneak to the bathroom without waking her she decided. She tried to control her breathing to make sure he didn't realise she was awake. She remained perfectly still as she listened for the sounds of his movement. Then the bed creaked and moved very slightly.
"Oh shit, oh shit! Is he getting on the bed with me? What is he doing?" her eyes opened wide.
The bed creaked again and she was rocked slightly as a hand pressed behind her. She felt the covers being pulled slowly down. She panicked and froze in response. What was Harry doing? What should she do? Pretend to be asleep and see what he does or react?
She shivered slightly as the cover was pulled away leaving her in only a long nightshirt and her panties. She knew she was still covered by the long nightshirt but she suddenly felt very naked. She knew it was wrong but she wanted him to continue, to do more. Guilt wracked through her body as a hand was placed on her thigh, just below the hem of the shirt, on her bare flesh.
She tried to contain herself as if pretending she was asleep would make it all okay. She bit her lower lip gently as the hand started to work its way higher, very softly, he didn't want to "wake" her up. She wondered what he wanted to do to her? How far was he willing to go? How far would she let him go? She no longer had the willpower to stop him even if she wanted to.
The hand was roaming over her hips now, she could feel her crotch heating up, a damp spot forming on her panties. The hand slid higher still until it brushed up against her arm. Her left hand was under her head supporting her as she slept but her right arm was wrapped around herself just under her breasts, blocking his access. She almost groaned in frustration when hand left slowly, moving over her clothes and gently taking her right wrist.
He was taking forever. She knew that he just didn't want to risk waking her, she almost told him to get a move on but couldn't make herself say anything. Her arm was gently placed down next to her left, this time he would have clear access. She held her breath as the hand slid back under her shirt, skimming her flesh as it snuck up her body. She had to quickly remind herself to breath before he noticed.
His hand brushes softly against the underside of her bare breast. She bit her lip in an effort to keep from gasping as his fingertips moved over her sensitive skin. Her nipples responded eagerly, hardening as his searching fingers moved ever closer. She almost jumped as one finger grazed against her hardened nipple.
He was driving her insane from his teasing without even knowing it. She started to chant at herself "calm down" over and over, she tried to bring unsexy thoughts to her mind. It was all hopeless as his fingers continued their work. Now they had found a nipple and he was feeling and caressing it slowly. She wanted more than just light touches now and her underwear was beginning to soak through.
She knew that he wouldn't do enough to bring her to climax as that would definitely wake her up and both of her hands were up near her head so she couldn't do it herself. She started to writhe as his fingers pleasured her, then he seemed to relent, his hand leaving her flesh. Hermione wondered if he was done, if he would leave now back to his own bed.
Her eyes shot open as his fingers returned, brushing over the fabric of her underwear and she was glad she was facing away from him. She struggled to keep silent but couldn't stop the moan from escaping her lips.
"Hermione? Are you awake?" he asked in a soft whisper.
"Yes" she replied in a whisper, biting her lip.
"You're very wet," he teased.
"I know, I'm … what?" she started to reply, then blinks in confusion, she had been expecting a torrent of apologies like she had given earlier.
"Your panties are soaked," he commented as his fingers ran down between her legs, which drew a gasp from Hermione.
"I thought we were going to behave?" she hissed as his fingers rubbed against her.
"Do you want me to stop?" he breathed in her ear.
"Dear Merlin no!"
"Good."
Harry leaned over and pulled her hair aside, now unafraid to awaken her he kissed and licked her neck softly. His fingers rubbed over her panties slowly but harder now, she openly writhed, not holding back any of her moans or gasps. Harry grinned as she reacted openly to his ministrations, he let his teeth scratch over her skin before he bit her flesh softly.
Hermione's hand moved behind her, reaching until she grasped his erection, she could feel he only wore his boxer shorts and she gave him a few quick jerks playfully. Harry groaned softly and he pulled aside her panties, letting his fingers rub over bare, slick flesh. His fingers probed and slid inside easily, her hips gladly welcomed the intruders, thrusting forward to drive them deeper.
With care he pulled her closer until she was pressed against his body. Her hand was forced to slip away but she held her complaint as his erection pressed into her ass. The hand moved to hold his hair as his fingers delved faster and deeper, thrusting into her tight opening. His mouth still pressed to her neck continued it's affection, sucking and licking her flesh while she moaned and writhed. She felt herself grow warmer by the moment, her moans grew louder and sharper as her impending release grew closer.
She needed little encouragement but Harry's thumb found her clit and her release was sealed. She bucked against his hips and hand and moaned loud as she climaxed hard, her muscles contracting around his fingers.
"Oh Harry," she breathed, "You shouldn't have done that."
"You didn't enjoy it?"
"Mmm, I did, very much, but we're supposed to behave, you're engaged for Merlin's sake." She complained half heartedly, not feeling all too guilty about the engaged part.
Rather than a verbal response Harry simply started to move his fingers again, his thumb brushed over her sensitive nub and derailed her thoughts. He slowly rolled her onto her front and kneeled up, keeping his fingers inside her as she moved. His spare hand ripped off the rather useless panties and forced her shirt up. She gasped at his rough attitude but lifted her arms and raised herself so he could strip her completely. He lifted her hips into the air until she shifted to rest on her knees, her legs spread. This position revealed her enough to bring a deep blush to her cheeks.
His fingers departed and she bit her bottom lip as she realised what was about to happen. It seemed like hours passed from when his fingers left till she felt his cock rub against her lower lips and she moaned lustily. It all seemed so unreal, it was almost as if he was forcing himself upon her, but he had made no efforts to restrain her nor her to stop him. Brief thoughts of being tied up flickered through her mind and she felt herself get a little wetter at the though to her surprise.
All thoughts were suddenly stripped from her mind as he ceased his tease and pushed his hips forward. He easily slid inside her wet and lubricated opening and they both groaned as he thrust until their bodies met.
With a firm hold of her hips he started to thrust into her, his shaft slid almost completely out before it plunged in deep again. Hermione's eyes closed as she let the feeling engulf her senses, all regret or guilt washed away as she felt him fill her so completely.
Harry increased the tempo and his hips moved faster and harder, Hermione joined in and started to push her hips back to meet his thrusts. No words were needed between them, the pace and strength building to what they both desired. Harry leaned over and kissed any flesh he could reach with his lips. His hands shifted from her hips to grasps her breasts firmly.
Hermione's vision was beginning to turn white from the sheer pleasure. She moaned loudly as his hands caught her breasts and her nipples were pinched between his fingers. She reached down between her legs and flicked her clit to achieve her release. Her orgasm hit so hard she had to fight to maintain consciousness. Wave upon wave of pleasure rode over her body until she lost the fight and passed out.
**************************
The break of morning light woke her as the sun rose and shone through the window. She glanced at her clock and saw it was only just past six am. She rolled over to find the bed empty and sitting up she saw Harry sleeping on the couch.
"Was it all just a dream?" she asked herself, reaching under the covers and finding her panties soaked, but intact.
Had Harry repaired them before he slipped back to the couch or had it all just been another fantastic dream? She'd had some before, her school years had been full of lusty nights and awkward mornings. They had thinned over time and she had begun to forget about them but since she was assigned to be Harry's partner they returned in full strength, sometimes even stronger. The kiss in the pub and last night certainly must have been the cause. If it really was a dream after all…
It was all so possible, maybe he had just wanted her to think it was a dream so when she passed out he tidied her up. She couldn't think of any way to decide it was a dream or not, but she decided if it had been real then Harry didn't want her to remember.
"If he wants to pretend it didn't happy, so will I." she thought to herself.
The logic wasn't flawless and that bugged her, but it was the best she could come up with. With their impending mission about to start she couldn't risk dwelling on it for too long. She got herself out of bed and scourgified the sheets before she entered the bathroom to shower.
Using the drying charm she got dressed up in the protective suit and some of Suzette's robes. She also decided that Suze would feel threatened by Bellatrix's interest in her "boyfriend" and started working on her makeup again.
*********************
Meanwhile back in the room Harry had woken and noticed Hermione missing from her bed. A moment of panic took him and he grabbed his wand before noticing the light on the bathroom. He took his polyjuice potion and ordered some breakfast to be sent up for the both of them.
He geared up in his suit and pulled on his potion belt, ensuring he had enough polyjuice to last the rest of the day and some replenishing potions. He slid his wand into the device on his wrist before pulling on some robes. Opening the case of equipment he grabbed a handful of the twin's toys and stuffed them in his pockets. When the bathroom door opened he looked over and smiled at Hermione as she stepped out and gave him a strange look.
"Worried about the mission?" he asked as he puzzled over her expression.
"No, I'm fine, well maybe a little I suppose. We are just blindly walking into the training camp for Death Eaters after all. Not exactly the smartest thing for us to do considering how badly they want us dead." she replied, the look gone for now.
"Well if we're lucky it's the main site, I suppose it would have been smart to bring some explosives, but maybe we'll find the secret keeper then we can raid it tomorrow."
"I hate relying on luck," she grumbled.
"Well you know what they say, you start with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill up the second before the first runs out." Harry smiled.
"Well that's part of the problem isn't it? We've already used a lot of luck so far and I'm certain my 'experience bag' isn't nearly full enough."
"I'd say it's quite full already. You can certainly handle yourself in spell fights and I rarely see anything that I would qualify as luck saving you." Harry commented.
"Oh I agree, half the times I get saved it's by you, which would only qualify as luck because I'm lucky I met you and Ron in Hogwarts."
"Nah, that little incident definitely drained my luck bag and Ron's. We'd have never survived Hogwarts without you."
"True," she commented with a grin,
"And you say I've got an ego," he countered with a smirk.
"Oh, no this is entirely different, I'm stating an obvious fact, whereas you are obviously a big headed egomaniac." She explained.
"Oh, well I'm glad you cleared that up!" he grinned and rolled his eyes.
There was a gentle knock at the door and Harry had his wand pointed at the door within a moment. He nodded to Hermione who opened the door slowly to reveal a waiter with his breakfast order. Harry sighed and returned his wand to the holster before he was spotted. Hermione took the breakfast and closed the door with a smile, setting the food down.
"I hate being undercover, always puts me on edge" Harry grumbled, "It's so much easier just to dash in, stun a few people and done"
"Well we still have to try and get the location so we can raid it properly, if there is a chance to ensure we take all of them rather than a few we have to try."
"At least Yaxley is handled now, they'll be panicking with any luck."
"But will that put them on edge enough to make more mistakes or just put them on high guard, they'll know they have a traitor after all."
"But since we're brand new and were only shown how to get to one complex we should be relatively clear of being traitors, of course if they have any sense they'll distrust us because we're new." Harry commented.
"Well we'll have to make sure our occlumency is flawless, they still have a few Legilimens in their ranks don't they?" she asked.
"There's a few that I know of still, and of course they now have you."
"I think that's something we'll definitely be keeping behind the occlumency shields." She replied.
During their seventh year the trio had started learning Occlumency and Legilimency in their attempts to level the playing field against Voldemort. Hermione had taken to both quickly and excelled at the mental skills, she had become so adept that she could slip into most minds without them even noticing. Her mental shields were impressive as well but she found herself with rather bad headaches after strong attacks.
She had helped Harry and Ron form their shields until she could penetrate neither when they were up. Neither of the boys could actually tell when she was probing their minds unless she focused too hard. On the opposite end of the scale neither Ron nor Hermione had any doubts when Harry tried to enter their minds.
If Hermione's skills were akin to a feather floating through the mind, Harry's were akin to a battering ram. He lacked the control to hold back and probe a mind for weakness he would instead just try and smash through. Against weak Occlumens Hermione could sneak through the gaps, if they had any skill then Harry would just smash through and grab the information.
Ron lacked any ability to look into others minds but he could protect himself well enough, his shield was strongest of the trio and Harry's mental attacks apparently weren't able to break through. Ron was happy with the final conclusion as he didn't want anyone reading his mind and had no issues with being unable to view others. Hermione however believed that the only reason Harry couldn't read her mind or Ron's was because he held back against them.
She knew her shield was weaker than some he penetrated but he never pressed the attack. She had explained it that he knew it caused her pain and she had reached her maximum strength. She had heard rumours that he had once brain damaged a suspect by pressing his attack too hard and wondered if it was true. She wasn't sure she had the courage to hear the answer so she never asked.
Legilimency had aided their movements against Voldemort prior to his downfall, remarkably for such a strong Legilimens he had remarkably little defence. Most likely due to lack of practice, during sixth year he had deployed limited defences to prevent Harry's unfocused intrusions but he never set up iron clad barriers.
Since his downfall the skills had become very useful as well, from gathering information to preventing enemy spies from reading their minds. As Harry had commented, Death Eaters had begun employing Legilimens since the loss of their Dark Lord. Harry always wondered what would happen to them should they discover a means to resurrect him. Voldemort was always wary of those with strong mental disciplines, if not afraid.
Those two facts always played on Harry's mind, that he could employ such weak defences and still be wary of Occlumens and Legilimens. Hermione had theorized that he simply didn't think anyone would dare try and enter his mind or that he could destroy theirs before they could cause any trouble. Harry simply decided that he would never figure out the Dark Lord completely and didn't actually care.
Harry sat and ate while Hermione sorted out her supplies, slipping a few hours of polyjuice into her belt. Before putting the last vial into her belt she looked at Harry.
"What do we do if they check for Polyjuice?"
"We pray that we're together, stun a few people, drop some darkness powder and apparate before they know what hit them." He replied as he checked his wand released smoothly.
"And if we get separated?" she asked.
"Well if you have to escape try and contact me on the watch, else I'll be walking into a trap. If you are discovered make sure you get out of there."
"I'm not going to leave you alone in the middle of the enemy camp with Bellatrix and god knows how many death eaters." She scowled at him.
"Sod that, if we're exposed I want to escape as fast as possible, but last I checked I run faster and my defence against unforgivables is better," He countered, "Unless you got a better excuse why you should be the last to leave?"
"Didn't think so," Harry added as he smiled softly as her only response was to bite her lower lip, "Call it playing the hero if you like, I just think its using logic. A bad habit I seem to be developing from my new partner. Ready?"
She nodded and with a final check of their potion supply and a glance at the clock they apparated to the Death Eater's location with a loud crack.