Chapter 16: Smile in the Rain
A/N: Thank you for your wonderful reviews. I am sorry about Virginia. For some reason, I thought that was her name, so sorry about that. From now on, I will refer to her only as "Ginny." This fic will be close to 30 chapters, so it might take a while to finish. We will continue to see Harry's and Hermione's mindsets as they get through their conflicting feelings. Thanks for your patience. Hope you enjoy this one. Don't forget to review!
"Come in."
Fleur entered Oliver's room and found him seated on his writing table, a quill on his hand. Whatever he was writing was almost at its finishing point however. He turned his head to look at her and his lips turned
into a broad smile.
"I could come back later. I did not know you were-" The last thing that Fleur had wanted was to interrupt.
"I am finished." Oliver closed the parchment and stood up, taking Fleur into his embrace and brushing
her lips with his.
"To whom were you writing to?" Fleur asked curiously.
"Just to my parents. My mother goes crazy if I do not write her at least once a week. I cannot blame her though, I am next in line for the Ithacan throne. So, to what do I owe this surprise?"
"I am not sure. Let me think about it," Fleur teased as Oliver pulled her into another kiss.
"Harry, damn you, show yourself!"
The couple broke away as they heard the queen's screeches.
"Is she always like that?" Fleur asked, annoyed that her quality time with the Ithacan prince was being unpleasantly interrupted. .
"Oh, she is just getting started. Where is Harry anyway?"
*****
"Harry pull over, give your horse a rest," Hermione said.
They had already been riding for the better part of an hour and she was not sure if Harry was doing it on purpose to avoid the subject of their night together, or if she was just wishing that because she was currently lacking the nerve to address it.
"All right." Harry followed Hermione's request and stationed his horse in a deep green field.
She would find out soon enough, it seemed.
He dismounted and assisted her in getting off. The horse neighed and went off to get his share of green food.
Harry took hold of Hermione's arm, pulling her closer to him and leaned his head to meet her lips, but she avoided him, his lips grazing her cheek softly instead. She sighed as he looked at her questioningly.
As far as he was concerned, they were finally alone; therefore he could kiss her.
Hermione however, got away from his embrace as soon as his arm loosened its hold on her and sat down in front of a lake, sighing. Without hesitation, Harry took a seat at her side.
"What is the matter Hermione?" he asked in a whisper. Had he done something to make her upset?
The princess passed a hand through her face and shifted her eyes at him as he hesitantly draped an arm around her and attempted to pull her closer to his chest.
"You know, you are not as cold as you look." Hermione let out a hollow chuckle. Her impression of him had obviously changed dramatically after last night.
"I can be. With you however, is another matter. Well it should be anyway, after last night-"
"What is going on with you and Ginny?" Hermione snapped.
He could not expect to talk about last night without clearing that first. If there was something between Ginny and the man she had made love with, they might as well not even bother to address what had happened between them, must to her dismay, she hated to admit.
"There is nothing between me and her," Harry admitted a little too fast for his liking.
However, even if he did not want to admit his feelings for Hermione (after last night, he thought they would be fairly obvious), that still would not make him like Ginny.
"There is no engagement, nor there will be. Cassandra just wants me to be with her because it is a good marriage in terms of a good blood line. I reckon she just does not want me to end up like Paris, falling for a random girl. Too late though," he admitted.
At this statement, Harry felt Hermione tense up in his arms, for she had slowly, but surely, let him pull her against his chest.
"What do you mean?" she sputtered.
Truth be told, she had expected last night to mean nothing to him. She was not even sure of what it meant to her, or maybe she would not admit it, although the fact that it had been completely inappropriate might have had something to do with it.
But instead of answering her, Harry let his lips give her the answer she sought, giving her mouth a
passionate brush, which Hermione did not hesitate to return.
So much for inappropriate.
"Harry, about last night-" Hermione tried to tear her mouth away, to talk about the real consequences of their actions, politically, but Harry kept her lips under his.
"It will not have been as marvellous as tonight," Harry whispered against her mouth.
"Harry…" This time, Hermione managed to get little distance between them, as they were both now
gasping for air. "About this morning.-"
"Hermione-"
"I do not want to be an obstacle to your decisions and I do not want you to think-" Hermione wanted to tell him that despite her inappropriate behaviour, she had not been with him in order to convince him to take the throne. However, she lost track of her words when she felt Harry's lips against the skin of her throat.
"Do not let Cassandra's words get to you. She just gets crazier as each day passes. I am with you because I want to and if Cassandra does not like it, it matters little to me. Nobody tells me what to do, not even her, so do not pay her more attention than she deserves."
"Fine, but I stand by my word. I do not want to just meddle in your life and-" Hermione did not know where this was going, but she did know that she did not want to get in his way, especially when she still wanted him to take the throne and because by the way her task was designed, she could leave any day once her task was done.
And that is exactly what she intended to do.
Or at least that was what her head told her to do.
Unfortunately, the rational part of her mind was a little clouded at the moment.
"It is too late for that and you are not meddling, I want you there," Harry admitted. He did not know where he was going with this, but of one thing he was sure: this was more than just lust.
"And I want to be there," Hermione confessed, much to her horror, before she could stop herself. "But…" She attempted, unsuccessfully, to rectify her earlier response.
"But nothing. What is it that bothers you?"
"The possibility that you might get hurt on my account."
"Why would I get hurt?"
"Oh, maybe because Spartans and Trojans do not mix well within our family tress, therefore, our rendezvous last night was a political disaster, and besides, it is kind of like a family curse-"
"Hermione, we will be fine. We can make this work, if you want to that is. I am willing to try. I do not want last night to turn to nothing. It meant something to me."
Harry realized that his words had just given Hermione an enormous amount of power over him, something that he had not given to any woman before. But he could not stop himself. He had thought it was just an infatuation, but if it had been, it would have been over the minute he had gotten her into bed.
Needless to say, if that had happened, his heart would not be beating as madly as it was right now and he would not be looking longingly at Hermione's swollen lips.
"Harry-"Hermione was flattered, but although her heart was beating faster than her horse could gallop, her rationalized mind could not help but point out that an affair, for she was sure nobody in the castle could know, therefore it could not be called a relationship, would be ridiculously inappropriate, not to mention it would come with political consequences if anybody found out.
"Look, I promise you, if something does come up, I will tell you, but-"
Harry did not seem to want to let go, and her heart was begging her to stop complaining. She would be lying if did not admit that she wanted nothing more but to be in Harry's arms right now.
"So no secrets?" Hermione asked.
"No, no secrets."
Harry cupped her face and kissed her once more. This time, Hermione did not hold back. She put her arms around his neck and intensified their mouths' entwinement. Harry circled his arms around her waist, pulling her tightly against him.
Suddenly, he felt Hermione's cheeks get cold with water drops. Harry thought with horror, that she was crying once again, before discovering that his own cheeks were tingling with water as well. He broke lip contact just as rain started to pour over their bodies.
"Talk about ruining the moment," Harry cursed, but Hermione shut his lips with her index finger.
"Why does it have to be ruined? I will have you to keep me warm."
Hermione resumed their kissing and Harry, suffice to say, was powerless to complain.
Hermione did not know what had possessed her, but at this point, her rationalizations were not going to tell her to stop. She was not sure where this might lead, but at the moment, she did not care. She wanted nothing more than to be in Harry's arms. She did not know exactly when and why she had started to like him like this, but now, it was too late to turn back.
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