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.
Special thanks to my beta Gingercat!
Harry Potter and His True Sixth Year
Chapter Eight: Researches and Alliances
Next day, Ginny sent Draco a note to meet her at midnight, in the Room of Requirements. He knew how to get there, since he was with Umbridge when the DA was discovered the previous year.
The Slytherin sneered, glancing at her neat calligraphy once more. "Who knows, it might be easier than I thought" he smirked to himself as he walked through the deserted corridors of the castle, finally finding himself in front of the door to the Room of Requirements.
He entered, and scoffed as he saw it was mimicking the Gryffindor common room.
"Don't like what you see?" a voice surprised him from his left. He turned to see Ginny advancing toward him, a seductive smile on her lips, and swaying her hips just a bit more than normal.
He had to restrain himself from laughing.
"Planning to seduce me, Weaslette?" he drawled, looking at her. She was pretty, if you were able to look past her blood-traitor heritage. Maybe he could have some fun with her.
"I dunno" she purred. "What do you think?" she added then, running her hand on his chest.
Draco was startled to see a cozy love chair appear out of thin air, and let her drag him there, hand in hand. She pushed him down, and then sat on his lap.
"You know, you're quite handsome when you're not insulting people" she whispered in his ear, and he had to restrain himself from groaning. She sure knew what she was doing, and he had to be careful to not let her get the upper hand.
Retaliation was what he needed at the moment, and so he suddenly kissed her hard, making her eyes widen in surprise and then moan in pleasure as his right hand tweaked her hardened nipple through the fabric of her shirt.
He didn't stop his assault on her mouth, his tongue forcibly plunging inside, and exploring, as she kept herself stead with arms looped around his neck.
Another moan escaped her throat as he started kissing her neck, finding a particularly sensitive spot. He knew she would soon feel his own state of arousal, and he didn't want her to realize she had even the smallest amount of power over him, so he suddenly stood up, pulling her up with him as he did so, and a bed appeared, just as he had wished.
Laying her there, he resumed his ministrations, and soon the redheaded girl was putty in his hands. He ripped her shirt open, and soon the bra followed. He took her nipples in his mouth, first one and then the other, just as his hands wandered down and slipped under her skirt.
An hour later, a glassy eyes Ginny lay spent on that bed, completely naked, after having been brought to orgasm three times. Draco smirked at her, as he Scourgified his hands.
"I guess this means you accept my offer to help you get revenge on Pot-head and the filthy bookworm" he sneered, and she nodded lazily.
"Then, let's get you back to Gryffindor Tower, shall we?" he said. Since most of her clothes were ripped, he offered her his Slytherin robes.
"Silver and green looks good on you" he smirked, and she grinned. However, she knew she could not go in her dorm with Slytherin colours on herself, so she Transfigured them to look like her house ones by the time she was in front of the Fat Lady.
"Meet me again tomorrow night. I have an idea to start getting back at the bitch" Ginny said, and Draco nodded, before quickly making his way to his own dorm. A night encounter with Filch was not what he wanted to experience at the moment.
--
It was a week after the start of the term, and Hermione was reading the Prophet while sipping her coffee, as she and Harry were having breakfast, when the owls with the mail swooped in.
The brunette recognized her own owl, Apollo, and was eager to read what her parents had to tell her. She had sent them a letter the previous day.
Her smile, however, vanished as she read it. Harry sensed her change in mood, and looked up from his plate to see what troubling her.
Reading over her shoulder, he frowned too.
Hermione,
We are appalled at you. We let you sleep
in Harry's room this summer because we thought
we could trust you, but it seems you failed to meet
our expectations, young girl. Honestly, having sex
with him so soon after you two got together!
Mum and Dad
"Someone must have wrote them some lies" Harry said, and Hermione snorted.
"I could have guessed than on my own, Harry" she snarled, and the raven haired boy moved away from her, hurt by her snappish attitude.
She realized what she had done, and turned to him.
"I'm sorry, Harry" she said softly. "It's just, I can't believe someone would write them such blatant lies! They know I want to wait till my wedding for that!"
He rubbed her shoulders soothingly. "Don't worry, sweetheart. We will write them back and explain everything. Plus, I have a good idea of who might be behind this" Harry said, his gaze shifting toward the end of the table, where Ginny was doing her best to hide her smug smile at Hermione's distress, but failing miserably.
It was then with a happy bounce in her step that she walked to her next class, Charms, unaware of the angry Harry Potter stalking after her.
Suddenly, she felt someone grab her arm roughly, and she turned. Her anger at her attacker vanished instantly when she found herself looking inside the green orbs of Harry.
"Oh, hi Harry. Where is Hermione?" she asked with fake innocence in her voice. "Has she locked herself up in the library again? I can keep you company" she purred, but he just glared at her.
"Don't fool yourself into thinking I don't know it was you, Ginny. Pull another stunt like this one and you'll have to face my anger" he icily hissed, before releasing her and walking the other way.
"I'm going to get you, Harry, mark my words!" she shouted after him. Harry just raised his middle finger at her, not even bothering to stop walking.
--
Neville and Luna had just entered the library. They were late, Hermione and Harry had asked for their help to speed up the research process, but they had been, er…sidetracked…right after dinner, which caused them to be twenty minutes late.
As they sat down in front of the other pair, they were greeted with a curt nod.
"You know, Luna, you should take care which side you put your skirt on, in the morning. Right now, it is backwards" Hermione remarked, hiding a smile, as she never looked up from the book she was reading.
Harry snickered, while Neville blushed crimson red, suddenly finding the book he had just grabbed from the pile on the table extremely interesting.
"Actually, I got it right this morning" Luna said, unfazed. "It was while I dressed in a hurry to come here after the quickie I just had with Neville that I got it wrong"
By now, Harry was almost howling with laughter, and doing a bad job of keeping it in, and Neville wanted to disappear. Hermione blushed too at the blonde's directness.
"Never mind" the brunette said, effectively ending the discussion.
That night wasn't much more enlightening than the few previous ones, as they only found vague references to worlds which were a mid-step toward death. They did, however, find some information on the Veil.
The Veil in the Department of Mysteries had been created around 1080 by Barnaby the Brilliant, but few know its true nature, which is why it is still being studied by Unspeakables. Some people claim they could hear voices from behind it, but this is thought to be part of the legend about the Undead Limbo, a place where supposedly some people were stuck, not dead, but not alive too either here, as they weren't in this world anymore.
"A legend" Harry growled. "There's nothing more than a legend about it" he said, slamming his head on the table.
"Maybe we could ask Dumbledore if he knows anything" Luna suggested.
"No!" Hermione and Harry both whispered furiously. "Dumbledore will just tell me that he is in peace now" Harry said. "Maybe he is right" he added then, shrugging.
"Harry…" Hermione pleaded with him, and he nodded. "I know, I know. I guess I'm just tired"
"We better call it a night then" Neville said.
The four friends agreed, and Neville accompanied Luna to her tower, claiming he wanted to be sure she got there ok.
"And get your good night kiss" Harry piped in, making him blush.
"You should be careful, Mr. Potter, or you might not get your own" Hermione mock threatened him, and Harry immediately asked for Neville's forgiveness.
The other Gryffindor accepted, but as he walked away, he muttered something resembling "Whipped", glancing back at the other pair who was hastily making its way to Gryffindor Tower.
--
As soon as they were inside the common room, Harry immediately pulled Hermione to him, kissing her fiercely, their tongues immediately meeting and clashing together in a fight for dominance.
It had been several hours since he had been able to do that, and he could feel she was impatient too, by the way her hands frantically opened his shirt and slid over his chest, before she unbuckled his trousers, and slid her hand in there too, over his growing erection, her lips never leaving his own in the process.
His hands weren't much less active, as they wandered under her skirt, to caress her perfectly round bum over her panties, before moving to the front, where he could feel a damp spot.
"Eager much?" he whispered huskily to her. They knew they were alone, as no one was going to be up at such an hour, and so they were a bit bolder than usual.
"You can't imagine how much" she said, pulling him down with her on the couch, where they continued their heated rendezvous, unaware of Neville entering the common room.
The other Gryffindor boy covered his eyes as he slipped unnoticed up to the boys dorm, shaking his head with a smile at their friskiness.
Not that he was much better when he was with Luna, so he couldn't really complain.
--
As Hermione's birthday drew nearer, Harry took some time to plan a surprise for her. It was her first birthday since they had become a couple, and he sincerely hoped it would be the first in a long series of eventful celebrations.
He had already gotten her a present while in Diagon Alley, now he snuck to Hogsmeade, his cloak and the Marauder's Map trusted companions to avoid Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris. Emerging from the trapdoor in Honeydukes, Harry reached a well know Wizarding jewellery, and placed his order with the clerk.
Once assured that the shipping would not be delayed and would fall exactly on September the 19th , he paid the required amount of Galleons before making the trip back to the castle.
He met with Hermione in the library, but told her he would be back soon, he just had a thing to check.
She looked at him amusedly, but then let him go. The raven haired boy really hoped she wouldn't get mad, but he needed Dobby's help with this.
--
On her birthday, Hermione woke up, went through her usual morning routine, and walked down to the common room. She expected Harry to be there to wish her an happy birthday, but he wasn't.
Frowning, she walked to the Great Hall, where she found him, engrossed in conversation with Neville and Luna. He barely acknowledged her before resuming his conversation, and kept ignoring her for most of the day.
She couldn't believe he could have forgotten her birthday, not when they were finally dating! So, it was an extremely grumpy Hermione who plopped down on the couch in the common room that afternoon, hoping to forget about her anger doing some assignments due in a couple weeks.
As she opened her Transfiguration book, she found a single white rose with a Protection and a Freshening Charm that kept the scent strong and the flower intact even if it had been inside the book, and a short note,
Meet me in the Room of Requirements for dinner
Harry
A smile immediately graced her features as she took in the wonderful scent of the rose, and she wondered if he had done the same on all of her books. She found he hadn't, which told her just how well he knew her if he could guess what book she would open first after being so upset.
"He didn't forget, he just wanted to let me think he did and then surprise me" she thought fondly as she walked to the Room of Requirements.
As he heard the door opening, Harry turned, and his mouth dropped open. There she was, in a simple black dress which exalted her natural beauty, a nice V-neck which showed part of her cleavage, her hair elegantly cascading in soft curls on her shoulders.
She had never looked more beautiful to him.
"You're gorgeous" he told her as he chivalrously kissed her hand, and led her to the candle-lit table for two he had just finished setting.
They ate quietly, a meal made of all her favourites, finishing with a Sacher cake that they shared.
Once she unwrapped her gift, a rare first edition of Charms from the Ancient Times by Griselda Fawnerbanks, a book she had wanted for ages, and a beautiful locket with an heart pendant with their initials engraved on the back, she felt tears of joy welling up in her eyes.
"Harry, really, you shouldn't have…" she started, but he interrupted her, clasping her hand in his own.
"Hermione, I wanted to. You mean the world to me, and this is just a small gesture for me to show you" he said, kissing her softly.
As if on cue, slow music started playing, and he grinned at her, then bowed.
"Would you concede me this dance, Milady?" he asked, and she chuckled, wiping away the last tears.
"I would be honoured, my lord" she replied, taking his offered hand.
They danced together for a long time, and Hermione knew she had never been happier in her life as she was right at the moment.
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