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 Nine: The School Year Progresses
Harry woke up, as usual by now, alone in bed. Light was permeating into the room from the window, and he knew he had to get up, but he really didn't want to.
His dream had been really pleasant, involving him, Hermione and a white sand beach.
Hearing the other Gryffindors stirring and starting to get dressed, he sighed, and finally got out of bed himself.
Trudging to the bathroom, he took a long shower, before putting on his school uniform and Gryffindor robes.
He walked down to the common room with Neville, who made no mention of Harry and Hermione's activities of the previous night, as they chatted amiably. Seeing that his girlfriend wasn't there, Harry guessed she had already gone to the Great Hall for breakfast, so the two boys continued their way out of the portrait hole, and down the moving stairs.
Finally, they joined Hermione at the Gryffindor table.
"Good morning luv" Harry greeted her with a peck on the lips. That had become an habit for them, even if at first Harry had wanted to keep it a secret that they were dating. Voldemort was already powerful enough without supplying him with another weapon to use against them in the coming war.
However, the Weasleys' coldness toward them and the fact the two of them spent most of the time together quickly made the other students whisper, and so it was useless to keep hiding it.
As they finally walked away from the Great Hall and toward their first lesson of the day, Transfiguration, Neville excused himself to go and spend some time with Luna. Hermione and Harry nodded with a smile then continued walking toward the classroom.
Harry, chivalrously, took her bag with the books, and she playfully rolled her eyes at him.
"I'm not a china doll, Harry" she said, and he grinned back.
"I know, but I like to spoil you" he retorted.
That day, McGonagall had them start on Human Transfiguration, assigning them four chapters to read, and then she randomly asked questions to see if they had understood what the text said.
Hermione, as usual, replied correctly to all questions, and earned Gryffindor fifteen points. Harry couldn't be more proud of her.
--
As the week progressed, a notice appeared on the board in the common room that Hogsmeade weekends would start that week. Harry knew with whom he wanted to go, and he was pretty sure she would agree, but you can never be so sure, so that night as they were in the common room, writing a five feet long essay on the proprieties of Vampire Blood in potions for Professor Snape, he cleared his throat, then spoke.
"Hermione, this week there's a weekend at the village, and I was thinking…well, if you wanted to…"
The brunette had to smile at his shyness. "Of course, Harry. I'd love to go with you. We are, after all, dating, aren't we?" she asked with a small smile, and he flushed.
"Well, I didn't want to assume…" he started rambling again, and she couldn't help thinking how cute he was at the moment. Putting her quill down, she turned toward her boyfriend and planted a light kiss on his lips.
"Don't ever change, Harry" she said, looking lovingly at him, and he grinned.
No other words were exchanged that night, as they finished the assigned essay, but the silence wasn't awkward. Most of the time, they could communicate without words, with a simple glance, and even when they weren't doing that, Harry always felt the silence to be comfortable, with her.
So, when the weekend finally arrived, the four teenagers, Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville, were making their way down to the village, glad for a chance to relax a bit, as they had kept meeting at night in the library to do some research on the midway worlds between life and death and were understandably a bit tired.
Lately, Luna had brought them some old issues of the Quibbler in which her father had addressed the matter, but Hermione wasn't sure they could trust that, as much as she thought of the blonde as a dear friend.
Right now, though, they only wanted to relax and enjoy the still warm weather, strolling trough the small village.
As they made their way to the Three Broomsticks for lunch, though, Harry noticed Ginny with someone. He wasn't jealous, of course, however he was curious to see who had raised her interest now. Maybe, if she started being friendly toward them again, Ron would soon follow…
He almost tripped, though, as the mane of blonde hair accompanying her was revealed to be Malfoy.
Nudging Hermione, he pointed to the far away couple, raising his eyebrows.
"Ginny and Malfoy?" he said, sceptical.
Hermione shrugged. "I just hope she doesn't do anything stupid. I wish we could tell Ron, but considering how our relationship with him is now, I doubt he would listen" the brunette frowned, still staring at the odd pair. Neville and Luna were interested too.
However, the group agreed that it wasn't their business, and that there were already enough hard feelings as it was between them and the redhead siblings, so they quickly entered the pub, engrossed in some other topic of conversation.
--
The stares of the other couple, however, hadn't gone unnoticed. "See, I told you this would surely catch Scarhead's attention" Draco whispered in her ear, and she shivered, moving closer to him. The Slytherin boy inwardly smirked.
"It did" Ginny admitted. But if she was honest with herself, she was starting to lose interest in Harry's reaction to her. Draco's touch always set her on fire, and she couldn't get enough of him. His friends had been hostile, at first, but he had such an authority over them that even Parkinson now didn't insult her anymore, albeit she could see the other girl glaring daggers at her quite often.
She could understand her. After all, the Slytherin prefect had always thought she and Draco would be together, and now Ginny was in the way. But Draco loved her, right? And she was going to enjoy the attention.
The fact he was downright hot and quite skilled in bed was a plus.
Smirking smugly at the fact the four were still watching them, she turned and snuggled closer to Draco, kissing him softly, just as the little group entered the pub, which meant they didn't notice the display of affection.
Ginny frowned for a moment, but then shrugged.
"Want to go to the Shrieking Shack?" she seductively suggested. Draco wanted to laugh. The redhead still thought she had some kind of power over him.
Sure, she was hot, and a good shag. Much better than Parkinson and Bulstrode, that was sure, but after all, it wasn't exactly difficult to be better than those two trolls. But if she thought she had some control in their relationship, she was sorely mistaken.
However, he let her think that. Till she was sure of having that control, she wouldn't be scared and wouldn't leave his side. He could keep manipulating her, and use her for his scopes.
--
The whole school from third year upwards was enjoying the day at the village, but Ron wasn't as giddy as most of his companions. He wandered through the streets, glancing at the shop windows, occasionally kicking a pebble that was in his way.
Zonko's managed to keep his attention for some minutes, but he had seen better pranks from his twin brothers.
Honeydukes was full of squealing little kids, and he just bought some Liquorice Wands, Sugar Quills and few other candies, and then walked away, munching on them.
All in all, he was lonely.
At the school, he had started hanging out with Dean and Seamus, and they were fun, but now…well, both were with their girlfriends, Parvati and Lavender, and he was left alone.
Sighing, he made his way back to the castle, and that was when he spotted his sister with Malfoy, heading toward the Shack. Narrowing his eyes, he quietly followed them, wanting to wring the Slytherin's neck for touching his sister. When she kissed him hungrily as they stepped inside the ruined building, however, Ron froze.
She was with Malfoy out of her free will, and she seemed quite content with it.
Careful to not be seen, Ron walked back to the village, and then to the castle. What he had seen had left him thinking. Sure, Malfoy wasn't exactly the boyfriend he would have chosen for his little sister. But if he made her happy, something he couldn't say of Harry, who would have been the redhead's choice, then who was he to protest?
At least, she seemed to have found someone who could distract her from the pain of seeing Harry and Hermione together.
He couldn't say he had been so lucky. Seeing his former best friends kissing, holding hands, being all lovey dovey with each other still made his stomach burn with anger. He knew he was being irrational, but he couldn't help it. Which was why he still kept his distance from them.
--
The Quidditch season had started. Harry had been appointed captain, another thing that disgruntled Ron, who however was still on the team as Keeper.
Harry hoped playing together on the team could reconcile them a bit, but as the first practice came, he realized he had been mistaken.
Ron barely talked to him, and when it was Harry who spoke to the redhead, the other boy merely nodded when needed.
In two hours of training, they hadn't exchanged a single word. Of course, the fact that Harry was busy trying out new Beaters and Chasers due to the twins, Angelina and Alicia being out of school now, didn't help.
That night, Harry barely reached the common room before crashing on a couch. He was completely knackered, and fell asleep in five minutes time.
Hermione, noticing his absence from dinner, was thoughtful enough to bring him a plate with some food, and she gently shook him awake.
After a moment or two regaining his bearings, Harry smiled thankfully at her.
"You're an angel" he said, as he tasted the delicious food she had brought him. "My angel" he added then pulling her close for a quick kiss, and she blushed, but smiled, pleased.
Once he was finished eating, he went to change his clothes and have a quick shower, before meeting her in the library, where they were examining some old tomes she had discovered that afternoon.
As they read, Hermione glanced sideways at him, biting her lip. He looked up in that precise moment, and grinned at her. He loved when she did that.
She blushed as he took her hand in his own, entwining their fingers.
"Harry, I was thinking…" she started, unsure of how he would take her suggestion.
"Yes, honey?" he said, now giving her his full attention.
"Maybe we should start learning Legilimency and Occlumency"
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