Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish it were so we would have had HHr, but alas it's JK Rowling's.
A/N: My reply to the challenge issued by PJ, you can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26635 . This story will start right after fifth year, and it will involve sex, some blood, and such, so this is why it is rated NC17. I hope you'll enjoy it, I think this is the most complex challenge I've ever dared to reply to, so I sincerely hope I'll be able to pull it off well.
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
Harry Potter and His True Sixth Year
Chapter Two: Summer at Grimmauld Place
Harry barely had the time to see who had called him before he was hit by a mass of brown, curly hair, and held tight by a pair of arms wrapped around his midsection.
He hugged his best friend back, grinning.
"I missed you, Hermione" he said, and she finally pulled back, showing a grin to rival his own, and a couple of tears shining in her eyes.
"I missed you too, Harry"
Her parents had by now entered the hallway too, and upon seeing the two teens wrapped up in each other, they shared a knowing glance with Dumbledore, who was still standing behind Harry, and a sly grin. Both went unnoticed, as Hermione was already leading Harry away chatting with him.
"Well, I guess this is it for today, Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger" Dumbledore excused himself. "I'd like to stay for dinner but sadly I have some business to attend" he said, before calling Fawkes and disappearing in a flash of flame with the phoenix.
In the living room, Hermione was excitedly telling Harry about her vacation to Sydney with her parents, and he was glad to listen to her.
He hadn't realized it till that moment, but he had truly missed her, much more than he missed Ron. Speaking of which, he wondered where the redhead and his family were.
But that thought was easily forgotten when he turned, and looked once more at Hermione.
He had always known she was a girl, well, at least since he saw her at the Yule Ball in their fourth year, and he never thought her to be ugly, as he told her last year after the Cho fiasco, but now…he didn't know if it was the tan she had developed in Australia, or her way of dressing, with a snug white top, and a pair of tight jeans, which both exalted her body, or maybe she had just developed quickly while they were apart, but he knew he had never guessed her to be so pretty. Of course, school robes didn't do anything to show off her assets, so she might have developed through the year, and he wouldn't have had the slightest hint.
He lost himself in that train of thought, so he stopped listening to her. Suddenly, he blurted out what was on his mind.
"Australia did lots of good for you, you know"
She stopped mid-sentence, blushing. "Thanks" she whispered shyly, looking down.
The two of them resumed their chat till Madeleine Granger called them.
"Dinner's ready!" she said, peeking her head inside the living room.
"We're coming, Mum" Hermione said, nodding, and a few minutes later the pair entered the kitchen, Hermione first, naturally holding Harry's hand, like they had never walked in a different way. He wasn't embarrassed, either. It just felt good to hold her hand in his own.
"Mum, Dad, this is Harry. Harry, these are my parents. Sorry for earlier, I got a bit sidetracked and forgot to introduce you" she admitted with a blush. Harry chuckled, and nodded.
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger" Harry said, shaking their hands. "I think we saw each other at Diagon Alley once, but we were never properly introduced"
"Oh, Harry, please call us Madeleine, or Maddie, and Michael; we feel we've known you for a long time" her dad said. "With the amount of time Hermione has been talking us about you in the past years…" he added, and Hermione blushed furiously.
"Dad!" she called, and everyone at the table laughed.
"Your cooking is wonderful, Mrs. Gra…Maddie" Harry said, correcting himself as he was the object of her mother's stern look.
"I'm glad you like it, Harry" she smiled warmly at him, and with that the four of them set to wash the dishes and then retreated to the living room for some more chatting.
Hermione chose to pass her time reading a book, while now and then involving herself in the conversation between her parents and Harry. Both adults noticed with how much ease the two teens settled on the same couch, Hermione leaning on him as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, both with contented smiles on their faces.
--
As days passed slowly in the house, Hermione convinced Harry to get some of his homework done. It would be the first time for him to get it done before the last possible day, and he was glad when he finished it in a week. At least, he would have the rest of the summer free, and he planned to enjoy it to its fullest with Hermione, and when they arrived, with the Weasleys.
The brunette had told him that Dumbledore had thought it wise to place them there for safety, and that she was surprised when he and the headmaster had popped in.
"So this is what he meant when he said he had a better idea then me visiting you at your relative's house" she mused, with a pretty smile. suddenly realizing what the old man had meant when he said he had a better idea for their summer upon her mentioning the possibility to visit the raven haired boy at Privet Drive.
"Well, I'm extremely happy about his decision, this time" Harry joked, remembering how the previous summer he had been left in the dark while Hermione and Ron were together at the Headquarters.
The two teens were growing closer and closer, not that they weren't already, with being best friends and all, but now you could spot one of them glancing at the other then blushing when he/she got caught, walking hand in hand when they would go for a stroll in the gardens or walking inside the house, and missing that warmth when they were forced to let the other's hand go.
Michael and Madeleine were glad to see their relationship progress, and they were pretty sure the two of them would be an item before the summer ended.
However, it wasn't all happiness, for Harry. More than once, he would wake up at night with a nightmare, involving Sirius, Cedric, his parents, or Hermione.
That night, he had a particularly nasty one, in which he was bound to a tree, watching Voldemort and his cronies taking their turns in torturing Hermione with the Cruciatus Curse, before killing her slowly and painfully.
They would cut off her fingers one by one, then her hands and feet, followed by her arms and legs, leaving her to bleed to death, a barely recognizable mockery of the beautiful witch she had become.
"Noooo! Not Hermione, please! Not her! God, not her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he shouted into the darkness.
The brunette was roughly roused from her sleep by his inhuman shouts, and quickly ran to his room, opening it and kneeling beside his bed.
She took his hands in her own, and with soothing voice she woke him up. "Harry, I'm here. Wake up, Harry"
He finally opened his eyes, and blinked twice. "Hermione? You're here? Alive?" he asked, and she nodded.
"Yes, Harry. I'm alive. We are at Grimmauld, we are safe here" she soothed him pulling him close and feeling his sweat make her own nightgown sticky.
"Thank Merlin" he whispered, holding onto her as if his life depended on it. And maybe it did.
--
Next day, Harry gathered his courage, and while they were reading in the living room, he asked her one thing he had been mulling over for a couple weeks now.
"Hermione, how are you?"
"Fine" she said, looking at him strangely.
"No, I mean, really" he stubbornly said, giving her a mild glare. She sighed, and nodded.
"I'm quite well, Harry. Not perfect, though. I still get some pain in the scar now and then, I can't really see a pattern to determine if it is some movement or anything else that provokes it. It becomes more and more rare, though, thanks to Poppy's potions" she explained.
Harry nodded, gulping.
"Can…can I see it? The scar, I mean?" he asked, blushing furiously. He knew she had been hit in the chest so he had a pretty good idea of where her scar might be, and he knew he shouldn't have asked, it wasn't his right to, but he was shocked when an equally blushing Hermione nodded.
She locked the door with her wand, rolling her eyes at Harry with a smile as he gaped at her.
"Seriously, Harry. The Ministry can't track magic here, in a magical household" she said, and he breathed his relief. He really wouldn't like her to go through a trial like the one he had had to attend the previous year.
Then, she nervously lifted her shirt up, until she discarded it completely. Harry was amazed, and not only by the pinkish scar running through her chest, right between her breasts, but by the previously mentioned parts of Hermione's body too.
True, they were still held in place by her white bra, but he could see they weren't exactly small. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Willing himself not to stare, he traced her scar lightly with his fingers, making her shiver. When he retreated, Hermione put her shirt on again.
"God, Hermione, I'm so sorry" he said, looking sad. "It's all my fault…" he started, but she stopped him, and made him look up at her.
"Harry, if I didn't want to come, I wouldn't have, and I wouldn't have gotten this scar. I wanted to be there, on your side, so don't blame yourself for it. All of us in the DA know the risks we are going to face in the upcoming war, and I can't speak for the others, but I'm more than willing to stand on the first line with you"
He was moved by her words, and let some tears spill, as he pulled her into a bear hug.
"Thanks. You can't imagine how much that means to me" he whispered into her hair. "You're welcome, Harry" she whispered back, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms.
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