Disclaimer: Since I'm not a RHr shipper, I'm not JK Rowling. Thus, HP is not mine, unfortunately.
A/N: Well, I got an email proposing me a challenge, and I found the idea fun to do, so here I am. Beware, though, this will involve lots of smut, and when I say lots, I mean it, lol. So, without further useless chatter, here it is!
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
Depressed? No, Aroused!
Chapter Nine: Under the Stars
In a couple of minutes, they were in the hotel ballroom, where her parents were already waiting for them. Cathleen was eager to see how Hermione looked in that outfit they had chosen together, and especially how Harry would react to it. The look in his eyes as they descended the last steps was all she needed to know, and beamed at the young pair as the two made their way to them.
Tom was a bit less enthusiastic than his wife about the outfit, but he could see it made Hermione look very beautiful, and that he liked. Anyone should realize just how gorgeous his little princess had become, and he was glad to see a look of pure adoration in Harry's eyes. The boy was clearly appreciating how lucky he was to be dating her.
"You look lovely, sweetheart" Cathleen said, pulling Hermione into a hug.
"Couldn't agree more" Harry said, smiling. Just then, music started to play, and he bowed to Hermione.
"Will you allow me this dance, miss?" he said, grinning. His girlfriend made a show of thinking about it, then finally nodded with a large smile.
"Let's go then" he said, offering her his arm.
As they started moving to the music, she looked at him amused. "You always said you hate to dance"
"Not when it is with you. I'm sure if I had asked you to the Ball, it wouldn't have been such a disaster, for either of us" he said, wistfully.
"Well, it would have been nice" Hermione admitted, with a touch of longing. Harry felt even worse, but she immediately brightened. "Doesn't matter, we are together now, and that's what counts. Plus, we are dancing together now, aren't we?" she said, winking at him, as she gently moved his hands to rest them on her waist and moved closer to him, her arms laced around his neck.
They followed the slow rhythm of the song, and Hermione rested her head on his chest, her eyes closed. She was in heaven right now, and couldn't imagine feeling happier. Harry was just as elated. He had the young woman he loved in his arms, and her family liked him, or so he thought considering how Cathleen and Tom acted toward him. A bit of fatherly worry was understandable.
Feeling her shift, he looked down and found her beautiful brown eyes looking up at him. Their gazes locked, and nothing else existed. Slowly, Harry leaned down, and met her lips in a chaste kiss.
They weren't even aware of having an audience until they heard the roaring applause from around them. Embarrassed, they shyly smiled at the crowd, and quickly made their way out of the room, and went to the nearby beach, for a walk under the stars. Hermione removed her high heels, which would have made walking difficult, and held them in her hand, as they strolled on the soft sand. Harry had removed his shoes too, and with his free hand he grasped hers, entwining their fingers.
"Sorry about that" he finally said.
"It's not your fault" she said, the blush still lingering on her cheeks as she thought back to what had happened. "I wanted that kiss as much as you so we are both at fault" she said, giving him a pretty smile.
After a while, they became a bit tired of walking, so they found a rock, and Harry sat near it, leaning his back there, and making space for Hermione to sit between his legs and lean on him. She did, and then sighed contentedly as she looked up at the starry sky.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said, and felt Harry nod, running his fingers through her curls. "Not as much as when you can see it from the Astronomy Tower though. It's closer there" he said.
"That's true. Still, it is pretty romantic, don't you think?" she said.
"Yeah, it is" he agreed. "I feel I could stay here with you looking at them forever"
"Aw, Harry, that's really sweet" she cooed, turning to look at him. He smirked at her. "Are you teasing me, Granger?" he asked, and she laughed.
"Maybe" she said mysteriously, resuming her previous position. A few moments of silence passed, not an uncomfortable or awkward one though.
"You know, I've always wondered how my parents were with each other. From that memory I saw from Snape, I'd have never guessed they would fall in love, but here I am, and that has to prove something. I wonder if they ever spent a night under the stars, or if the war was already too advanced to allow them that once they left Hogwarts" he seriously said, breaking the silence.
"I'm sure they had a wonderful relationship. For a while, I even thought me and Ron were destined to be together because of that, you know. Everyone was always telling you, and us too as we were there most of the time, how they couldn't stand each other in school, but then they fell in love and married. But I realize now, probably your father only wanted to catch her attention with the pranks and everything, because once he realized he wasn't going to win her over with that or acting silly, he changed quite a bit. Or at least, that is what Professor Lupin says"
"I didn't know you had such an interest in my parents" he said, surprised. He could see her blush under the moonlight.
"I've always been interested in anything regarding you" she confessed. "But anyway, Ron and I don't fight for the sake of it. We truly see things differently, and he's not going to change. He will never understand why I see the House Elves' condition as slavery, for example. You do, and that's why you freed Dobby. Then S.P.E.W. might not accomplish anything, I may never be able to change their living conditions, but at least you understand why I do it and don't ridicule me, even if you don't think I should try"
"I never said that" Harry objected, and Hermione snorted.
"Harry, didn't I just tell you I have always been interested in anything about you? I can see when you don't want to do something, and when you helped me with the hats, I knew you didn't want to because you thought it was a wasted effort. But I appreciated that you never told me so, respecting my desire to try"
After that, they remained silent for a while, enjoying the breeze and the soothing sound of the sea waves crashing on the shore.
Harry realized he might spoil the night, but he felt that was a good moment to tell her about the Prophecy.
"Hermione…there's a thing about me you don't know, and if you don't want to have anything to do with me after I tell you, I'll understand, but I just have to tell you. You know Voldemort was after a prophecy in the Department of Mysteries, right?"
"Yeah, but it was destroyed…"
"There's someone who heard it, and made a Pensieve memory of it, before that"
"Dumbledore?" Hermione immediately guessed. Harry smiled a bit sadly, nodding. "He told me about it once we were back from the Ministry. Basically, I have to kill Voldemort or he has to kill me. It won't end till one of these two things happen. So I'll be murdered, or a murderer" he dejectedly said.
"Harry, you'll never be a murderer. Even if you kill Voldemort, he's almost not even a person anyway, plus you would do so only to save the world, not because you like it" she reasoned.
"But that's the point, Hermione. I want to kill him, for everything he has done, for killing my parents, because his actions had Sirius spend thirteen years in Azkaban and then led him to his death, and for many, many more reasons…"
Hermione cradled his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. "Harry, you're not a bad person for feeling this way. Hell, I want to kill him too for the mess he made of your life, and of so many others! Does that make me a bad person?"
"You could never be a bad person, Hermione" Harry said, hugging her close, a couple tears falling down his cheeks, wondering what he did to deserve her in his life.
"Neither can you" she murmured against his shoulder, crying too, for the unfair destiny looming over Harry.
When they calmed down a bit, Harry told her about how it could have been Neville, but how Voldemort chose him because he reminded him of his past, being an half-blood. Hermione consoled him the best she could, and eventually they returned to silently watching the stars, Harry feeling extremely happy that she was still on his side, and Hermione wanting even more to help him get rid of Tom Riddle so that he could have some peace, at last. Before they knew it, they had fallen asleep there on the beach, and were woken up by Cathleen and Tom two hours later.
Groggily, they walked back to the hotel and once in front of their room, bid her parents goodnight and crashed on the bed.
--
The next morning, Harry woke up first, and realized they had gone to bed barely discarding their clothes. As a result of that, Hermione's silky dress was neatly hung, but the rest was a mess. Their shoes were dispersed across the room, Harry's clothes were thrown on a nearby chair, and the two of them had been sleeping in only their underwear. Not even all of that for Hermione, considering how she didn't wear a bra under the dress the night before, and sure enough she didn't bother putting one on for sleeping.
Taking a glance at the clock, he noticed they should hurry, or they would miss breakfast.
"Hermione" he gently whispered in her ear. "Come on, love, wake up. We are going to miss breakfast otherwise" he said, nudging her softly on the shoulder.
"'nother five minutes" she mumbled, and Harry grinned.
"Ok, I'm going to take a shower, if you aren't ready in time to get breakfast is not my fault" he said, and she looked up from her cushion to glare at him. Yawning, she slowly got up.
"Let's go take a shower then" she said, sliding her panties down her legs and tossing them away.
"What? Together?"
"You said we are running tight on time, right?" she said, shrugging. "It's not like we will see anything we didn't see before anyway" she gave him a impish smile and disappeared into the bathroom. Harry was quick to follow, and stepped into the shower, the water already running.
"You know, you are really sexy all sleepy" he said, grabbing the soap. He almost jumped when he felt her hand close around his shaft.
"Would this be a result of that, maybe?" she huskily whispered inside his ear, pressing herself against his back. He could definitely feel the softness of her breasts against his skin.
"Not yet, but if you keep this up surely will be" he said, turning and kissing her hard as she kept stroking him, smearing the pre-cum over his head.
"Sounds exciting" she murmured between kisses.
"Couldn't agree more" he said, nipping on her earlobe, and slipping a couple fingers inside her already wet, both from the water and her love juices, hole.
"Oh, God, that feels good" Hermione said, increasing the speed of her stroking his member. He inserted another finger, and she cried out in pleasure.
"Merlin, Harry, fuck me now!" she cried out, before kissing him almost savagely. He eagerly returned the fiery kiss, moving her between his legs, and lifting her with his hands under her ass, so that he could lower her on his member. Slowly, he penetrated her, and Hermione moaned her approval.
"Fuck me hard, Harry!" she cried out, and he did, the sound of her body slamming on his every time he lifted her and then let her come down filling the shower, the water running over them, but they only cared about the other, unable to think about anything else around them.
Harry leaned Hermione on the shower wall for support, and she wrapped her legs around him, her arms around his neck, as she met all his thrusts with the same intensity, an orgasm quickly building inside them both, until Hermione, who came merely instants before, cried out his name with all her might, Harry grunting as he controlled himself long enough not to spill himself inside her womb.
The two of them, then exhausted, slid down the shower walls, sitting on the floor, chuckling as they realized they were sure to miss breakfast now, but boy that had definitely been worth it.
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