Unofficial Portkey Archive

Story by: Silver Dragon
E-Mail: darkheart8one@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Here it is, the next chapter of Locked, Shocked, and Flat on the Floor. Thank you for the positive reviews so far! As for the one reviewer who said I copied this fic, it is a copy in the sense that I originally wrote this fic two years ago and, seeing as that my account was hacked and fics deleted, I decided to make a few changes here and there to clean it up and fix mistakes and repost it.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter, characters, and all related names and phrases are either copyright and/or registered trademarks of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. and/or their respective owners. This is a fanfiction, no copyright infringement is intended.

"Does the bracelet really mean that much to you?"

The words echoed in her ears. Why did he keep asking that? Didn't he want it to have more meaning than that of just a gift from a friend? It wasn't the flashiest or expensive piece of jewelry she had seen, but the sapphires and rubies set in the thin interwoven strands of silver was more significant to her then any diamond and gold trinket could be. Our birthstones, thought Hermione while wondering if Harry had known that when he had picked it out. She kind of doubted that he had. But then again Harry always seemed to be able to surprise her in the most amazing ways.

Hermione nodded her head, not trusting her voice at the moment, and gazed at the bracelet in question. She loved how the gemstones seemed to change color depending on the light. Sometimes they are the brightest most brilliant shades of red and blue while at others they are a rich velvety red and the deep blue of early dawn. More then once since she had gotten it she had drawn the curtains around her bed and just stared at it in the light from her wand.

Those butterflies from before returned as Harry watched his best friend and secret crush. He watched her stare at the bracelet, her fingers gently caressing it, feeling the many facets on the stones and woven strands of silver. He watched as she reached down and picked up her handkerchief and used it to wipe away the sweat on her forehead. He watched as she used the handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her neck. When had she unbuttoned her shirt? he wondered, breath suddenly caught in his throat, as Hermione's hand dipped below the neckline of her shirt to wipe at a few rivulets sweat he couldn't see. Harry silently wished that he was that handkerchief, or at least for her to undue more then just the top button, but neither was going to happen he knew.

Hermione scrunched her nose up in disgust at the heat. She was uncomfortable when it was hot. And if it was hot and humid, like it was in the greenhouse at this very moment, then she was truly miserable. "Harry, are you ok?" she asked upon seeing him. His face was flushed and his eyes seemed to be glazed over. "Harry?"

"Yes . . . " whispered Harry before seeming to snap out of whatever it was that had ensnared his thoughts. "Huh? What?"

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," replied Harry. If fine is wishing that I was a damn handkerchief! "Just don't like the heat is all," he added quickly, almost as an afterthought. Hermione seemed to accept his answer.

"You wouldn't happen to have any food would you?" Hermione asked a few seconds later as she kicked off her shoes and socks. She always felt cooler when her feet were bare.

"Sorry, nope." Harry knew that Hermione hadn't eaten much at breakfast this morning and was probably quite famished. "But if you had been eating instead of reading then you wouldn't be so hungry right now."

"So you're not hungry then?" Harry blushed as his stomach growled in response, making Hermione smile, which in turn made Harry's pulse quicken and another flock of butterflies to take flight. "That's what I thought."

What's wrong with me? wondered Harry. I've been acting weird since we ran into each other at the Leakey Cauldron. Somehow something had changed over the summer. But as to whether it was himself, Hermione, or something else entirely he didn't know. And Hermione has been acting weird since I gave her that bracelet. I don't even think she's taken it off . . . The thought struck him rather oddly for he hadn't realized it until now. Hmm . . . I wonder if she realizes that the gems on it are our birthstones. He smiled knowingly. It would truly surprise him if she didn't know.

"Mmmm . . . " So good . . . thought Hermione, her eyes closed, as a cold breeze washed over her. "Cold?" Her eyes snapped open and she looked around. Cold air meant that there was an open window someplace. "Harry!" she practically screamed, jolting Harry from his thoughts, when she spotted the open skylight high overhead. "There's an open skylight!"

"Where?" asked Harry as he followed Hermione's eyes up to the ceiling. "It's too high up. We can't reach that unless we stand on a table and you get on my shoulders."

"Yea," replied Hermione. But as she was about to climb up onto a table with Harry she froze and turned red.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry upon seeing the uncertainty and embarrassment on Hermione's face.

"I umm . . . I'm wearing a skirt . . . "

"Yea? So wha- Ohhh . . . " Harry's face slowly turned red as he realized the implications. Hermione in a skirt plus her standing on his shoulders meant that if he looked up he'd be able to see . . . "I promise not to look."

Hermione chewed on her lip, at this rate she wouldn't have one by the time they got out of here, and gave him a skeptical look. "How do I know you'll keep your promise?"

"You don't trust me?"

Hermione sighed. Harry just had to ask the one thing that she couldn't say no to. "Yes," she climbed up onto the table with him, "I trust you." Harry nodded and knelt down so Hermione could climb onto his shoulders.

If someone had walked in at that moment it probably would have looked pretty comical since it's not every day that you see the brightest witch of her age trying to balance on the shoulders of The Boy Who Lived. After a few failed attempts on the part of Harry and a couple of slips by Hermione they managed to form their human totem pole.

Harry's shoulders were hurting after only a few seconds and he was thankful that Hermione didn't have her shoes on. "Can you reach it?" he asked, having to rely on Hermione for guidance since if he looked up he'd be seeing a side of her that he'd never seen before.

"A little to the left. There!" Several pots of slightly muddy dirt spilled onto the table as Harry struggled to maintain their balance. "No . . . Back to the right just a bit. Crap!"

"What?" asked Harry, forgetting his promise for an instant and looking up. Instantly his eyes grew big as saucers and his face burned. "Pink knickers?"

"Harry!" screeched Hermione, clamping her skirt against her legs and throwing their already poor balance completely out of whack, and sent them crashing down on the dirt covered table in one fell swoop. "You said you wouldn't look!"

"Sor-" Harry took a few deep breaths to get the wind back in his lungs. "Sorry." I could have sworn I hadn't said that out loud?

"You're sorry? Harry, I . . . Harry?" Hermione suddenly realized that she was straddling his chest, making it very easy for Harry to see up her skirt. And judging by his face he was taking advantage of their position. "Eep!" In a flash she smacked him and jumped off of the table.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?" complained Harry while rubbing his stinging cheek. He thought it a rather rude way to rouse him from his thoughts of how soft and smooth those satiny light pink knickers must feel.

"For being such a . . . a . . . a boy!" Definitely not her best or most brilliant insult. But then she had never had her best friend staring up her skirt before. And the knowledge that Harry had been staring at her knickers made her head swim and every drop of blood rush to her face.

Harry stared at her as a thunderous awkward silence settled over them for several extremely long seconds before he spoke. "I'm sorry. Really I am. It's just . . . "

"Just what Potter?"

Uh oh, thought Harry. She only calls me by my last name when she's mad at me or when she's being playful. And she's definitely not being playful. "I umm . . . never thought you'd wear pink knickers." Harry could have slapped himself. Why had he said that? It's not like he'd given any thought to what color knickers Hermione wears. Though he had dreamt about it a few times.

Hermione stared at him, dumbfounded at what Harry had just said. "You- Why wouldn't you think I'd wear pink knickers?"

"I just thought that you'd wear whi . . . Err . . . I mean not that pink doesn't look good on you . . . It's just that blue, or black, or . . . umm..." Harry's face was beat red. Of all the times he had to stumble for words and talk himself into a corner why did it have to be this conversation? "I think I'll try to find something to eat!" he said rather quickly as he hurriedly moved away from Hermione.

Not for the first time in recent weeks her brain had shut down and Hermione could only nod. Harry had thought about what color knickers she wears? The thought made her blush. I wonder what color boxers he wears . . . a smile on her lips and her cheeks tinged with pink as she joined Harry in the search for something edible.

The heat, somehow forgotten in the rather embarrassing fiasco that was their attempt to reach the skylight, made the fifteen minutes it took to search most of the greenhouse seem like hours. Neither teen could wait to get out of here and their sweat dampened clothes and into a nice cool shower.

Hermione spotted some plants growing in pots under a table and knelt to get a better look when Harry suddenly called her name, causing her to jump and hit her head on the underside of the table.

"You ok?" asked Harry as he handed half of what appeared to be some type of fruit to Hermione.

"What's this?" asked Hermione as she examined the juicy reddish orange piece of fruit. Her mouth was watering at the site of how moist and juicy it was. And judging by the smell of it its taste would be exquisite.

Harry shrugged as he popped a piece of it into his mouth. "I don't know. It's good though. Kind of tastes like a really sweet apple."

The smell of the fruit and hunger pains in her stomach were too much to resist for longer then she already had. "Mmmm..." Hermione practically moaned as she took a sizable bite from the fruit. It was very good and had the texture of an orange. She quickly polished what remained of her half and asked Harry where he had gotten it. Upon seeing the plant he pointed to she paled noticeably. "Am-amarellia . . . not good . . . "

"I think it's very good," said Harry as he walked over and plucked another fruit from the small tree.

"No Harry. It's not good that we ate from the same piece of fruit." Harry raised an eyebrow at her and handed her half of the second piece of fruit. "Amarellia is, or rather was, eaten on one's wedding night to . . . err . . . " Hermione's cheeks reddened, "get things started." Despite the voice in her head telling her not to, Hermione greedily ate the half of fruit Harry gave her.

"So?" asked Harry his pulse quickening as his eyes ran up and down Hermione's form. Was it just him or was Hermione's shirt slightly transparent now? And when did her legs look so enticing?

Hermione's eyes focused on a rivulet of juice on Harry's chin as a strong desire to lick the sweet nectar off of him surged through her. "It . . . when two people . . . " she pulled at the collar of her shirt, suddenly feeling warmer. "When a . . . m-man and woman eat from the same piece of fruit they . . . " Hermione licked her lips while wishing Harry would notice the drop of juice on his chin and wipe it away before she did something embarrassing. "Feel a strong desire to . . . ravish each other."

"That," Harry licked his lips and untucked his shirt, "would explain what I'm feeling right now."

"Harry?" Hermione found herself drifting closer to him.

"Yes Hermione?" Harry's voice, deep and husky with sudden desire, sent a shiver down Hermione's spine as one of his hands gently cupped her cheek.

"We . . . " They leaned closer, their lips only a few small inches apart. "We need to..." Closer . . . "We should . . . " Almost . . .

"AH!!!" Harry and Hermione yelled in surprise, suddenly drenched in ice cold water from the overhead sprinklers.

The cold water cooled the burning desires within them enough to let them have some semblance of self control. And with that control came the realization that they were standing toe to toe, their lips nearly touching. Quickly, as though they were suddenly burned by the other's proximity, they jumped apart.

"I'll uh . . . just go over here," muttered Hermione as she moved towards the far corner of the greenhouse. "You," she added when Harry started to follow her, "stay here."

"But-"

"No buts Harry. I don't know about you but I'd rather like to be in complete control of myself when we kiss for the first time."

"Ok but . . . Wait, what do you mean when we kiss?" Hermione blushed and turned away.

"I mean that . . . uh . . . it's the amarellia talking," Hermione replied before scurrying off to the other side of the greenhouse and taking shelter under a table from the cold water pouring down from the ceiling.

Harry stared at her for several minutes before ducking under a table. It'd probably be a while before the artificial rain stopped.

A sigh whispered past Harry's lips as he stared up at the underside of the table. Every nerve in his body felt like it was on fire. He wanted to go over to Hermione but didn't since he wasn't entirely sure what would happen if they were together at the moment. Not that some of the things that came to mind sounded bad, far from it. It was just that he agreed with Hermione about wanting to be in total control of himself when it came to such things as kissing. Why didn't I read the little tag stuck in the planter? wondered Harry when something on the underside of the table caught his attention and brought a tearful smile to his features. He just couldn't keep this to himself. "Hermione?"

Breathe . . . Count back from ten . . . Snape in a tutu . . . Snape and Filch kissing while in tutus . . . Hermione groaned slightly. It was no use. No matter what she tried she couldn't get her mind off of Harry for more then a few seconds. With a sigh she closed her eyes, resigning herself to thoughts about Harry that were anything but friend like. "Great, now I'm imagining him calling to me . . . " muttered Hermione before realizing that it wasn't a hallucination. "What is it Harry?"

"Come here! There's something you got to see!" Harry replied excitedly.

For a brief moment as Hermione crawled out from under the table and into the rain, which was no longer cold, her mind filled with a very naughty image of what he wanted to show her, causing her face to turn red. But she quickly pushed it aside and scurried over to Harry.

"What is it?" she asked, standing far enough away so as to see him without having to kneel or bend over.

Harry patted the floor beside him. "I promise I won't try anything. And if I do then you can do whatever you want to me." They both blushed at his words. Oh how Hermione was hating the part of herself that the amarellia seemed to have awakened.

With a determined look on her face, she'd try her best to put a stop to anything that may happen between them, Hermione crawled under the table with Harry. "What is it you wanted to show me?"

Harry smiled and pulled her down so she was lying beside him, causing Hermione's stomach to do a summersault, which she attributed it to the magical fruit she had eaten. "This," he said as Harry pointed at the underside of the table.

"Oh Harry," she whispered while gazing up at the underside of the table. There, carved into the wood, was a heart with "J.P. & L.E. Forever" carved neatly within its lines.

She craned her neck around and looked at him with watery eyes and small sweet smile that made Harry's heart pound faster then it already was. "Your parents where here," whispered Hermione before turning back to the initials of Harry's parents.

Neither teen noticed that their bodies were no longer trying to force them to do something that they weren't ready for. And if Hermione had been in her right mind she would have remembered that the effects of amarellia fruit were very short lived.

"What do you think they were doing under here?" asked Harry a while later as he stared up at the words his father had carved into the table. Or at least he was sure that his father had carved them since he doubted his mother would approve of such a thing.

"Probably snogging their brains out. Or . . . " she trailed off, as a light blush tinted her cheeks.

Harry stared at her, not comprehending, for several seconds before his eyes went wide and he screwed up his face in disgust. "Eww . . . thanks for the scaring image Hermione."

An amused laugh wafted from her lips and into his ears. "You're the one who asked."

"How would you like it if I talked about your parents sh-" he was cut off by Hermione's hand clamping over his mouth.

"The same way you feel about me talking about your parents," she assured him before looking out from under the table. "How much longer do you think it'll rain?" Just as she said the word rain the water stopped falling from the ceiling, answering her question.

"As much as I'm enjoying your company," said Harry. "I think we should perhaps get out from under here in case someone comes in."

Hermione nodded as she got out from under the table. "Feels like it's a little cooler now."

"Yea," said Harry as he crawled out after her. Harry straightened up and looked over at Hermione. "Maybe we should . . . uh . . . I . . . uh . . . m-matching . . . pink . . . "

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. Why was he staring at her with that glazed over look in his eyes again? "Harry?"

"W-white . . . water . . . " stuttered Harry as he pointed a shaking finger at her. " . . . b-bra..."

Shock and horror covered Hermione's face and filled her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself and turned away from her best friend. How had she not remembered that a white shirt, when wet, conceals about as much as the air around her? For that matter, how hadn't Harry noticed before now? Looking behind her she could see Harry still staring at her, his mouth hanging open.

"Harry James Potter! Quit staring at me right now!"

Harry reacted as though struck and looked at her with fear in his eyes before quickly pushing it aside and smiling at her. "Hey Hermione, think you could help me with my transfiguration homework?"

Okay . . . Now it was Hermione's turn to stare, mouth agape, at Harry. What the hell had just happened and why had Harry suddenly asked for help with homework they didn't even have?

"And Ron calls me a nutter . . . " muttered Hermione before casting drying charms on her clothes and hair.

Harry blinked in confusion and looked around. "Oh . . . uhh . . . sorry for staring at you. I just . . . umm . . . " What could he say? Everything that was coming to mind sounded so perverse.

"It's ok Harry," replied Hermione as she straightened her clothes. "I'd rather have you ogling me then anyone else."

A smirk pulled at the corner of Harry's mouth and twinkled in his eyes, "So you like me staring at you?"

"Yes. I mean NO! It's just that . . . well . . . " Harry was sure that Hermione's face had never been as red as it was now. "I'm not comfortable with other girls seeing me when I'm not decent let alone guys."

"Really?" asked Harry, disbelief clear in his voice.

"Yes really!" snapped Hermione, causing Harry to take a step back. "I'm not some exhibitionist who gets off on other people seeing them in their knickers!"

"I'm not implying that you are." Hermione gave him a sheepish smile and apologized. "Though you don't have anything to be ashamed of. You have a great body." Harry added the last part without so much as a thought or realization about its meaning.

"You don't have to say that," Hermione blushed again and looked away from him. "I know I'm nothing special."

"Don't say that."

"Why shouldn't I? I've barely changed at all! Every other girl in our year is prettier and sexier then I am! I still look like I did my first year here!" Hermione wiped away a tear. "I haven't even had a boyfriend since Victor and all he ever did was watch me study! Most of the first years seem to have more experience with boys then me!"

"Hermione . . . " Harry moved in front of her and wiped away a tear. "You are not the same as when I first met you. Sure you may not have . . . filled out as much as some of the other girls. But some guys prefer a more petite and slender figure. And I'm sure there's plenty of guys here that'd go out with you. And I know for a fact that there's at least one." Hermione huffed and turned away.

"Please don't say those things Harry. I know you're just trying to cheer me up but it hurts when you lie like that."

Harry spun her around and pulled her gently into his arms, forgetting his still soaked clothing. "I'm not lying Hermione," he whispered as his pulse quickened. "You're a wonderful person." With the utmost tenderness he brushed a lock of hair from in front of her eyes. "And a guy would have to be blind not to see that you are incredibly beautiful."

Their eyes met and locked as time seemed to slow. They could feel each others breath on their skin and with each exhalation they could smell the sweetness of the fruit they had eaten.

"Harry . . . " Oh did being held in his arms feel good. No, better then good. It was heaven! And hearing him say those things . . . It was almost like they were his own thoughts and that was almost too much for her to take. Real or fantasy, truth or lies, she didn't care. All she knew was that if she died right now she would die happy. And if she was asleep and this merely a dream and someone or something were to wake her then they'd have one angry Hermione on their hands. "Harry . . . " Hermione whispered again as their bodies seemed to move of their own accord, bringing their lips closer with each passing beat of their hearts.

"Hermione . . . " whispered Harry, their lips a hairs breadth apart.

It was finally going to happen. They were going to kiss. They were going to shatter the barrier of friendship and leap into the realm of something more.

"Ahhhh!!!" yelled Hermione as she jumped away from Harry, her face a mask of pain as she crumpled to the floor.

Uh oh. Another nasty cliffhanger. You gotta love them. J

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