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 Four: Finding Each Other
"I think Sirius is still alive, Harry"
The raven haired wizard stared at her like she had sprouted a second head. Then, he suddenly felt anger boiling inside him.
"What do you mean, alive? He fell behind the veil!" Harry shouted, glaring at her.
Hermione had rarely seen him this angry, especially at her, but swallowing hard, she willed herself to continue.
"Right. Behind the veil. The spell that hit him, was it green?" Hermione asked, trying to reason with him. She might be wrong, of course. But she had a hunch she wasn't.
"No" he begrudgingly admitted, without even thinking. He had relived that scene so often in his dreams in the last weeks, he remembered perfectly well the light of the spell was red.
Red…
"It was red" he whispered, tears pooling in his eyes as once more he thought about the night his godfather died. Or vanished, if Hermione was right.
"So we know it wasn't the killing curse" She said, with an hint of a smile. "And, the stunner is red, Harry" she reminded him.
He nodded, mulling it over. "He wasn't killed by the spell" he said then. "At least, we can think he wasn't" he cried.
Hermione nodded, happy that she was making progresses in leading him to see her point. "Then he fell through the veil" she continued. "Harry, you and Luna were the only ones who could hear voices coming from behind it, and dead men don't have voices" she told him.
Harry was almost transfixed. She was opening a whole new possibility in front of his eyes, and he had nothing to counter her logic with. Till now, it had worked perfectly.
"You're suggesting behind the veil there might be some kind of other world, and he's only trapped in there?" he said, to confirm his understanding of her idea.
"Exactly, Harry. A world only you and Luna, having seen death before, could sense. Just like the Thestrals. A midway step between life and death, if you will, one the alive people trapped there can't take back to the living without some kind of aid from us" Hermione continued her explanation.
Harry nodded, a small smile forming on his lips. "He might not be dead" he whispered, as an huge weight lifted from his heart.
"Now, Harry, don't get your hopes up too high. I might be mistaken" she cautiously said. She would hate for her idea to be proven false and his hopes be smashed. The blow would probably be even harder on him.
He nodded. "It's just a possibility, right?" he said, and she smiled, nodding, as she took his hand in her own, rubbing her thumb over its back.
He noticed, and gazed at their entwined hands, then back at her face. She was truly pretty, and the way her hair was glowing in the light of the room made her look almost angelic.
"Also" she said, breaking the awkward silence that had descended in the room, "There's another thing to consider. Harry, have you received anything from Gringott's regarding Sirius' will?"
He shook his head, and Hermione almost squealed with joy.
"Do you know what it means, that you still haven't got a letter from them, considering how long it has been since his supposed death already?" she continued, and he shrugged. She rolled her eyes at him and huffed.
"Honestly, Harry! Goblins send out letters for a will reading at most two weeks after the death of the person"
"I might not be in his will" Harry reasoned.
"Yeah, and I'm Voldemort" Hermione scoffed. "Harry, he was your godfather, there's no way he wouldn't give you something in his will. I bet you're the one who would get the most, if anything"
"I don't care" he said, shrugging again. Hermione moved closer to him, smiling warmly.
"I know" she whispered. "But Harry, if you're in his will, and you haven't received a letter for the will reading yet, what do you think this means?"
"That some Goblin forgot to owl me?" he asked, knowing very well what she wanted him to say, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.
She poked him on his chest with her finger. "Goblins are really precise beings, Harry. There's no way they would forget something like that"
He nodded. "So he's alive, somewhere in another world, but alive" he finally said, and Hermione beamed at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and snuggling close to him. He knew he should feel awkward, but it felt absolutely right, so he held her , and for a few minutes neither of them spoke.
Finally, she pushed herself away from his chest, and looked him straight in his green orbs. "I'll do whatever I can to help you find him, Harry" she promised, and he smiled at her.
"I know" he said. "You've never left my side" he added then, before boldly claiming her lips with his own. He didn't know what possessed him to do that, but her face so near to his own was just too inviting, her rosy, soft-looking lips so inviting, and so he did.
He wasn't disappointed, they were really soft as they seemed, and he knew he'd love to kiss them all day. He also knew he had messed up enough already, so he moved to pull away, but Hermione's right hand buried herself in his unruly locks of hair, keeping him there, as she started kissing him back.
Soon, he felt her tongue run on his lower lip, and he let her in, his own tongue meeting hers, as both started to explore the other's mouth, tongues clashing, dancing, touching, as the two teens snogged each other silly.
Harry had only had a single kiss before, the one with Cho, and he could easily tell that this one was on a whole other level. He was also amazed at how well her body fit against his own, and as they kept kissing furiously, he caressed her back, and dared cup her buttocks, pulling her on his lap.
It took them fifteen minutes before they were the tiniest bit sated, so that they could pull apart, both blushing but sporting equally stupid grins and swollen lips.
Neither of them had noticed the four pairs of eyes witnessing their snog fest, and quickly retreating to the kitchen to celebrate the good result of their matchmaking.
--
When they were called to the kitchen for dinner, Hermione reluctantly pulled herself up from Harry's chest, where she was quietly lying, his arms wrapped around her. He stood up too, and automatically grabbed her hand in his own. She noticed, and blushed the tiniest bit.
"Do you think we should tell them?" she asked, and he grinned.
"I'm sure they would guess it even if we didn't tell them, sweetheart" he said. She raised her eyebrows at him.
"Er…am I not allowed a nickname?" he flushed, and she giggled.
"Of course you are. That is, if you're going to be my boyfriend" she retorted, shyly looking at him through her eyelashes.
"I'd like to" he said softly, pulling her to him and pecking her on the lips just before entering the kitchen.
As dinner went by, the new couple admitted to the others they were together now, and both her parents and Neville and Luna congratulated them.
"It was about time, Harry" Neville joked, and the raven haired boy nodded.
"Definitely about time" he admitted, looking lovingly at Hermione on his right side. She squeezed his hand, before all of them tucked in. Madeleine had outdone herself once again with the food.
--
After dinner, the six of them reunited in the living room. Neville was amiably explaining Michael about some magical herbs, the boy had always had a fascination with Herbology, with his arm around Luna's shoulders. The blonde was serenely listening to what her boyfriend was saying, now and then interjecting with a strange creature they had never head of that supposedly lived near or on the plants Neville was talking about.
Harry and Hermione were listening too, her sitting on his lap, her arms around his neck, her head on his shoulder.
They would now and then say something to Madeleine, but mostly listened to Neville. Hermione joined him in his explanations at times, to make things clearer for her parents. She was, after all, at the top of their classes, and for good reason, so who better than her to explain things?
It was for this reason that they headed to bed way after midnight, knackered, but overall happy. Luna and Neville went to their rooms, but Hermione had a feeling they might modify their sleeping arrangements later in the night, or in a few days time at last.
She shrugged, and followed Harry inside his room, which had by now become hers to.
Her parents hadn't exactly been thrilled about it, now that the two teens were officially a couple, but the brunette had been adamant. Harry might need her, and no one would stop her from sleeping in his room, not even her parents, even if now they were together.
--
That night, Harry had a particularly nasty nightmare. One would wonder at how he got them, considering the happy evening he had just had, but anyway, he dreamed once more of the graveyard where Voldemort regained his body after the Triwizard Tournament. Only, this time, it was Hermione there with him, not Cedric. He saw a horde of Death Eaters chaining her to a rock, and torturing her.
"You've failed to protect your little Mudblood whore, Potter, and now I'll make her my slave. I'm sure her wits will be entertaining for a while, before I decide to get rid of her" the Dark lord taunted him.
"Noooo!" he screamed into the night, and the brunette was ready to soothe him with her touch. However, she felt him tense once she left. She bit her lip. The prospect of climbing into bed with him was alluring, but she feared it would be improper. Would he think of her as a scarlet woman in the morning?
Hearing his ragged breath, she decided his mental sanity was more important, so she slithered under his covers, and spooned with him. Immediately, his breath relaxed, and she felt his strong arms wrap around her body.
Grinning happily, she let sleep take her again, as she rested her head on his chest, his regular breath lulling both of them into the best sleep they had ever had in their lives.
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