Ruby Reds

I do not own these characters; they are the property of JK Rowling.

Authors Note: For this story I need to thank a few people, my wife who offered ideas whenever I got stuck, and my two betas’ on this one, Digitallace, who helped me early, and Viopathartic, who helped me late. They fixed my mistakes and offered helpful suggestions. Thank you all. Just as a side note, Harry is a bit OOC in this story, and others are as well. To anyone who read my first story, trust me, this one is very different. Hope you enjoy it.

Ruby Reds

Harry sat in his Defense against the Dark Arts class and all he could think about were Hermione lips.

It had all started at lunch. Hermione was just eating a plum, nothing out of the ordinary, she favors fruit, she’s a dentist’s kid. She was actually eating a very juicy plum and she was having a hard time controlling the juice. It was a drippy mess but it made her lips shine.

Their eyes met and he smiled at her and pointed to his chin and then at her. She got the message. She gave him a slightly embarrassed smile and found a napkin to clean herself up. She mouthed a soundless ‘thank you’.

In her embarrassment Hermione bit her bottom lip. Which made her lip very plump and red and it was still so shiny from the juicy plum that he couldn’t look away.

“Oh my God….look at those lips,” he thought as his mouth dropped open slightly. “Man I’d love to kiss and nibble on those for the rest of the afternoon,” he daydreamed as he stared.

Hermione noticed him staring at her and became very self-conscious. “Harry….Stop staring at me, I know I’m a mess but it’s not polite to stare!”

“No…you’re not a mess, you look amazing!” he blurted out, and instantly regretted.

She froze, right where she was, mid bite, and her eyes bulged slightly.

Ron’s attention immediately snapped to Harry’s direction.

Ron for years had been on constant watch for even the slightest hint of an attraction between Harry and Hermione. So far there really hadn’t been any, today there was, and he was on full alert.

“What I meant was,” Harry stalled, thinking as quickly as he could to get out of I present predicament. “You looked like this cute little kid all drippy and smiley is all.”

Hermione looked annoyed, but Ron had lowered his guard a bit, and that was a good thing.

“Better to have Hermione a little annoyed at me, than to have Ron on 24 hour keep Harry away from Hermione duty,” he reasoned.

“Especially if I’m looking to get me some of that,” he thought as an evil grin spread across his face.

He wiped away his smile quickly and shrugged towards Hermione offering a quick, ‘Sorry’ as she cleaned herself up. She frowned at him in reply. The slightly annoyed look on her face caused Harry to chuckle softly.

“I’ll make it up to her,” he assured himself as he studied the fullness of her lips, “yeah, by mauling those bad boys.”

“Shit…Ron’s watching me again.”

“Hey….how about them, Cannons?” he asked the redhead.

Happily, as if he hadn’t just been staring daggers at Harry, Ron shifted gears and began a nonstop droning on about his favorite teams’ chances of winning their upcoming Quidditch match.

“Whew…that was close,” he thought as he ventured a quick peek and those succulent ruby reds of Hermione’s, which were quickly becoming an obsession. “Oh yeah….this isn’t going to be easy.”

Harry’s attitude toward life had changed recently. While his buddy Ron had a family, and a life expectancy, Harry didn’t really have either so he had decided to live his life to the fullest.

At the moment, ‘to the fullest’ meant the girl sitting across from him.

Hermione could feel his eyes on her, again, as they sat in their second class of the afternoon. She couldn’t see him, but she knew he was staring at her.

“Third time since lunch,” she reminded herself. She accidentally dropped her quill in the aisle on her left and snuck a peek at Harry through the strands of her hair as she picked it up.

“Yup….emerald green eyes boring right into me,” Hermione confirmed as she noticed Harry lean forward in his seat to stare even more intently at her as she picked up her quill.

Where exactly, his eyes were focused, she wasn’t sure.

“I can’t believe this! He’s never done this before, Ron sure, quite often actually, the bloody pervert, but Harry, nope, first time. For Merlin’s sake, he wasn’t even being subtle about it, he didn’t have his books open and he wasn’t even pretending to pay attention. Luckily, he was sitting in the very back of the class or everyone would have noticed what he was doing, and what he wasn’t.” she thought.

“Man I love springtime classes.” Harry was thinking as he sat in the last row of seats, staring at Hermione again. “Ahh, no stuffy robes….it doesn’t get any better than this.”

Harry leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. He interlaced his fingers behind his head, looking completely content. “Short plaid skirt, little white cotton blouse….all was right with the world.”

He suddenly leaned forward. “Oh man…Yeah, like I didn’t see you push the quill off your desk, Hermione, just like I’m not seeing your skirt ride up when you put your leg in the aisle to pick it up.”

“Does she know what she’s doing to me? Okay, she’s back in her chair now….good.” Harry was defiantly enjoying that he could see the outline of her bra right through her white cotton blouse.

“Damn I’m horny today….for her!”

“Shit, class is ending, won’t get as good a seat in Transfiguration.”

All around him, students began packing up their belongings as they prepared to head to their next class.

“I think she knows,” he thought. “She has always known what I was thinking, and if she does now, she’ll be blushing when we get up to leave.”

She was out of her seat now.

“Are you coming?” she asked.

“Not yet, but I guarantee you’ll be the first to know,” he said to himself as he leered at her. “Yup…those cheeks are pink,” he noticed. “I wonder what color they would be if she knew exactly what I was thinking?”

“No, you go ahead, I’ll catch up, I just have a question for Professor,” he said.

“Yeah I’ll bet! Like what was that entire lesson about as I missed the whole bloody thing because I was too busy staring at my best friend!” Hermione wanted to say, but she replied instead, “Okay, I’ll see you in Transfiguration then.”

He nodded.

As she went through the door she took a chance and glanced back at him. Harry’s eyes quickly darted from her ass up to her face, and he just smiled quite innocently at her.

She smiled back…. uneasily.

Harry arrived in their next class just as the lesson was beginning. He walked into the classroom like he didn’t have a care in the world. His eyes found her immediately.

“Hey,” he greeted as he flopped into the seat on her right. He then leaned far over and whispered into her ear.

“Can I borrow your Dark Arts notes?”

His lips actually brushed her ear as he said it. She leaned her head away so she could see his face straight on. Her eyes were as big as saucers, and her mouth hung open in shock.

“I can’t believe he just did that! He practically nibbled on my ear,” she thought as she examined his face. In answer to his question, all she could manage was a very weak, “Sure.”

He smiled--she was staring right at him. “Look at those gorgeous lips,” he marveled again as his eyes were riveted to her mouth.

“Oh my God!” Hermione thought. “Ron just stared at me.

I’ve always known Harry was more aggressive than Ron, but….”

“WOW!”

“What do I do now?” After all this time, this was not an issue she had expected to have.

“I shouldn’t really be surprised, I mean…. it’s only natural, we’ve been so close for so long but….”

“Harry is after me, and he’s being very aggressive about it.”

“Am I reading this wrong?” she wondered. “I don’t think I am, but…. I guess I could be. Maybe I’ll just see how the rest of the day goes,” she concluded.

Harry’s lips on her ear had definitely gotten her attention.

“Damn, Ron’s watching again,” Harry noticed. “I knew that ear thing was risky, but it was worth it. I’ve definitely given her something to think about.”

“Man she’s hot!” he thought, unable to help himself.

“I’d better back off a smidge and let Ron relax again.”

But he didn’t.

“See how the rest of the day goes.” That was what she had said to herself just a few hours before.

“How did it go? I’ll tell you how it went! During the afternoon, he rubbed my shoulders twice, rested his hand on my back, and I know he was sizing up the clasp on my bra while he was back there. If my skirt was made of a flammable material his eyes would have set the damn thing on fire. Then there was his ultimate horn dog moment of the day in Herbology. As he went around me to get to his seat, he slid past my bum so slowly and so close that when he was finally passed I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, I hope that was a wand in his pocket’ and then I checked the back of my skirt just to make sure he hadn’t left anything behind. That’s how the rest of my day went!”

“I wonder if he’s under some kind of spell?” she thought to herself as her afternoon came to a close. “Is there such a thing as a horny spell?”

“I don’t think so, but if there is, he must have been hit with the damn thing twice! I’ve been pursued before, but never like this!”

“Okay….so maybe, I leaned into him ever so slightly in Herbology.” she admitted. “But, other than that, I didn’t instigate any of this.”

Harry was pretty happy; he’d had a decent day. He hadn’t gotten a damn thing done since lunch time of course, except for hitting on Hermione.

“Hermione,” he though dreamily, as he closed his eyes and reviewed his afternoon in his head. This thing for her had intensified as the day had gone on. Just a look or a smile from her, and his blood raced in all directions.

Okay, well…. mainly south.

It took all his will to stop himself from walking up to her and attacking those ruby red lips and running his hands over her whole body.

She was making him nuts! He’d wanted girls before but never, ever, like this.

There had been at least one encouraging sign so far.

“She definitely leaned into me in Herbology, no doubt about it, it was subtle, but she did it.”

After dinner, which was fairly uneventful by the day’s standards, the three friends sat in the common room together. Well actually, Harry and Hermione sat on couches opposite each other while Ron sat on the floor between them.

Ron sitting between his two friends was not a coincidence. He was suspicious that something was up with them and sitting on the floor would allow him to keep an eye on the both of them.

There was definitely a tension there; it was thick and it was entirely sexual, from what Ron perceived. That kind of tension between his two best friends was the one thing in the world that he did not want to exist.

Hermione sat on one couch reading, Hogwarts a History: The Revised Edition, while sucking on a lollipop.

Where she got the pop, both Harry and Ron had no idea, but Harry was enjoying watching her with it very much.

Hell, at this point in the day, he would have found it sexually arousing if she was eating a tuna fish sandwich. It didn’t really matter, if her mouth was moving, he was horny.

If she new what she was doing she didn’t show it. She was just reading, like a hundred nights before, nothing out of the ordinary. She wasn’t pulling the lollipop out of her mouth and running her tongue over it or anything like that, she was just enjoying a lollipop.

Harry was mesmerized.

He was in a lollipop trance; he watched as the lollipop stick moved from one side of her mouth to the other, obviously, all the movement being caused by her tongue.

The though or her tongue wrapped around anything was….making him decidedly uncomfortable. Hermione would occasionally take the pop out of her mouth and hold it in the air for a second or two while she read or flipped a page. She’d twirl it a few times, and then right back into her mouth it would go.

She seemed completely unaware of what was happening around her until she looked up, and noticed Harry staring at her and then she looked over at Ron, who was also staring.

She looked from one to the other then removed the lollipop from her mouth and said.

“What?”

Neither of them said a word.

“What?” she said more forcefully, before adding, “Its sugar free!”

Both Harry and Ron looked at her like they had no idea what she was talking about. Then, Harry went back to his magazine and Ron decided to play chess with Dean.

She watched them for a second, confused; she wondered what their problem was, and then she went back to her book….and lollipop.

And then she started with the leg.

She was sitting with her legs crossed—right over left and she started bouncing her extended leg up and down slightly as she read. Every time she did that, Harry saw way too much of her thighs.

After about ten minutes of torture, he collapsed face down onto his couch.

“Harry….are you okay?” Hermione asked worriedly after she sucked the juice off her lollipop so she could speak.

“I’ll be fine,” he replied, voice muffled, with his face buried in a couch pillow.

She was quickly off her couch and kneeling next to him. “Are you alright? Is there anything I can do to help?”

He turned his head slowly, and his eyes captured her concerned but beautiful face.

“Damn….ruby red lips….Again!” he groaned. “Stupid lollipop!”

He took a deep breath.

“Hermione,” he began. “I’d like nothing more, than for you to be able to help me with what’s wrong.”

“What is wrong Harry?” she asked cautiously.

He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper, and asked, an eyebrow raised, “Do you really want to know?”

His green eyes burned into hers and she felt a blush rising.

“Because if you do…. I’ll show you,” Harry finished, shifting slightly on the couch.

Hermione was startled by his reply. She didn’t doubt for a second that he would do exactly what he said, but…. she broke his gaze. Her nerves had faltered.

After staring at her for a very long moment, he let out a disappointed sigh, and then said to her. “I think I just need to spend some quality time in the bathroom.”

“Oh, so…. your stomachs upset?” she asked halfheartedly, deep down knowing that was not what he was saying.

He gave her a slight smile and snickered, “Yeah….something like that.”

As Harry started to stir, Hermione backed up to give him room to get off the couch, but he did something she hadn’t expected. He put his right arm up on the back of the couch and hoisted himself up and over so that he landed behind it.

“I’ll see you later,” he bid her, as he hurried towards the stairs.

“Harry?” she called after him nervously.

He stopped and looked back over his shoulder at her.

“Yeah?”

“Why did you….?” she asked pointing towards the couch he had just climbed over.

He looked down for a second, as if choosing his words carefully, and then he met her gaze, and for the second time in the last minute Harry repeated, “Do you really want to know?”

She just looked at him, confused as ever. When she didn’t answer, he took off up the stairs two at a time.

Hermione stood glued to the spot. She had no idea what to do next. Harry had been aggressively pursuing her all day, and when he finally offered to, ‘Put his cards on the table’-- so to speak-- she had backed down, twice.

“I’m such an idiot,” she groaned. “I’ve been waiting for years for him to notice me and now that he finally has, I lose my nerve.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

She had just left the common room, and she was now wandering the corridors of the castle, thinking things through.

Harry hit the top of the stairs, and veered toward the bathroom, reached for the knob, and stopped dead.

“No, damn it! This is not how this day is going to end!” he concluded as he looked at the bathroom door.

“I need to be more aggressive. I will kiss those gorgeous lips of hers before this day is through.” He nodded his head in approval of his new strategy.

With that, Harry turned and went right back down the stairs.

“Where is she?” he wondered as he looked around the common room. Ron and Dean were in the corner playing chess and a few other students were hanging around, but Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

Hermione wandered around the castle for a while, lost in thought. She came to the end of long hallway and had two choices: left or right. At the moment, though, she had no idea what to do, about anything it seemed.

She heard footsteps in the corridor behind her, she turned and she saw Harry coming straight for her.

He was walking at a very determined pace and as he reached her he didn’t stop. He slammed into her and wrapping his arms around her, drove them both backwards until they hit the wall.

She was absolutely stunned, first by the force with which he had hit her and then by the force with which they had hit the stone wall.

In the two second from his impact with her to their impact with the wall his tongue was in her mouth and hard at work. He was also caressing and fondling her as he pinned her against the wall with his body.

“I have to touch her skin, I need to feel her body, caress her,” Harry thought as he raged with desire.

He un-tucked Hermione’s shirt and ran his hands across her flat stomach and over her sides and around to her back.

She was totally blown away by what was happening.

“Oh my God, this is unbelievable,” she thought dizzily as Harry’s tongue roamed freely in her mouth, and as his hands roamed freely everywhere else.

“Okay, if this is where we’re going with this Potter, then let’s go!” she decided as her pent up feeling for him burst forth.

She threw herself into her present situation completely. Her hands where in his hair and she pulled him close. She attacked his mouth just as aggressively as he was attacking hers.

He worked his hands back around to her stomach and then up to her breasts, which, after pushing her bra up, he fondled and caressed. She moaned into his mouth at the feel of his hands on her, and then gasped when he broke their kiss to capture her breast with his mouth.

She hadn’t even realized that he had unbuttoned her blouse. He lingered over each breast lovingly, running his tongue over her nipples and sucking gently.

He was driving her absolutely insane. She had never felt anything so wonderful. She threw her head back, closed her eyes, and just enjoyed.

When he had finally finished with her breasts, she pushed him back a step so she could look at him.

Hermione stared directly into Harry’s eyes with a look that could only be described as ‘mischievous’. Then she grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked it open, tearing every single button off. She smiled at him as they listened to the sound of buttons rolling around the deserted corridor.

Hermione leaned in and began planting soft kisses on his chest.

Slowly, she worked her way up to his neck, while her hand found its way down to his crotch.

Harry couldn’t help but let out a low growl when she slid her hand down the front of his pants and held him, and began stroking him.

He wouldn’t have thought he could get any harder, but he was wrong, under her touch it was possible.

After she had pushed him right to the brink, she stopped, stepped back, and smiled at him.

Now it was his turn to be surprised.

All Harry could do was stand there and stare at her. Her breathing quickened, her eyes turned dark, and her hands were clenched into fists. She couldn’t control herself either.

“Good!” he thought.

Harry glanced down at his ruined shirt, he didn’t care one bit, and at the bulge in his pants. That, he was hoping to do something about! Then he gave her a fairly evil smile and pounced, attacking her again.

Harry leaned into her and captured her tongue with his. He then reached around behind her and slid his hands down the back of her skirt.

Her skirt was now riding low, about half way down her bottom, and he began kneading and caressing the gorgeous ass he’d been staring at all day.

While groping her, Harry actually reached down far enough to lightly brush the wetness between her legs. He heard her gasp and then sigh ever so softly. Hermione then began to gently glide up and down against his hand in the hope that it would be left right where it was.

She whimpered slightly when he removed it, but when he tried to break their kiss, Hermione bit his lower lip so he couldn’t get away.

He finally pulled loose and ran his finger over his lip. Harry stared in amazement when his finger came away bloody. His surprise was not lost on Hermione.

She bit her own lip in an ‘I’m sorry’ kind of way and gave him a shy smile. “Shy my ass!” he thought. He returned her smile with a sly, mischievous smirk of his own. With that, he lifted her up and as if on cue, she wrapped her legs around his waist.

He then began biting and nipping and sucking on the delicious spot just below her left ear. Hermione’s breathing was becoming ragged as she leaned into every attack that he made on her neck.

She began whispering his name over and over again very softly, imploring him to keep going, to never stop.

Then, they heard a noise in the hallway and froze.

Hermione had her arms over Harry’s shoulders and her legs fastened around his waist. Her blouse was open, except for the top button, and her bra was pushed up over her breasts. She could only imagine the state her hair was in.

Harry had her pinned against the wall, and his hands on her ass as he held her in place. His shirt was hanging completely open, and his lip was bleeding.

Simply put, this was not a position they wanted to be caught in.

Harry put her down very slowly as they both waited and listened.

Hermione fixed her bra and was attempting to button her blouse as she hid behind his taller frame. He stared down the hallway in the direction of the noise.

They both listened intently for the noise to repeat. When it did not, Harry turned back to face her. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, looked her up and down, and nodded slightly.

Hermione met his gaze. She brushed a few stray hairs away from her eyes and smiled sheepishly at him.

He then reached down, took her hand, and pulled her after him down the hallway. Harry’s ruined shirt billowed in the breeze created by his aggressive pace.

“You and I are not finished, not by a long shot.”

“You don’t here me complaining, do you?” Hermione answered as she trailed behind him still trying to fix her outfit.

“I’m not backing down Harry, not anymore,” she said.

Authors note: As always, I need to thank my wife, who is the first one to read my stories, and gives me her honest opinion, which I truly value. Then there is my beta, Viopathartic, who continues to help me get my stories into postable shape. Thank you ladies, I couldn’t do it without you!

Chapter 2

Harry was determined to resume what he and Hermione had started in the hallway--and as quickly as possible. He walked down the corridor at an exceedingly rapid pace with Hermione in tow. Hermione was occasionally forced to run for a step or two to keep up with him, but he was pleased to note when he looked back at her that… she was smiling.

Even as they were walking away, the noises in the hallway, now sounding like footsteps, had resumed, and they were getting closer. Neither Harry nor Hermione had any clue as to who was following them, but they did not want to be found.

They had business to finish.

Trailing behind Harry as he led her down the hallway, Hermione struggled to button up her blouse with only one hand.

“HARRY?” called a voice that echoed down the hallway towards them.

The couple stopped. Hermione put her hand on Harry’s arm. “That sounded like Neville.”

They stood in the deserted hallway looking at each other. She could see the longing in his eyes and the growing sense of impending disappointment. She knew that’s what it was because she was positive that her own eyes were reflecting the same sentiment.

“Harry,” she said in a slightly pleading tone, her hand still holding his arm. “I think we need to see what he wants. He wouldn’t have come looking for you if it wasn’t important.”

“No,” Harry answered as he pulled away from her and dejectedly kicked the floor. He angrily walked in a small circle around the tiled hallway, his open shirt billowing around him. “He’s probably found some stupid new plant he wants to tell me about.”

“Harry,” she repeated a bit more sternly this time.

“Why?” he whined at her from a spot a few feet away.

He took a deep exasperated breath and shook his head. He knew he was screwed. There was no way he was going to win this argument. He stood with his hands on his hips and stared at the ground.

“Son of a bitch!”

Hermione smiled at the look of displeasure on Harry’s face. She then closed the gap between them and Harry leaned into her so that their foreheads were touching.

“Patience is a virtue Harry,” she whispered as she raised his chin so that they made eye contact.

An exhausted Neville rounded the corner into the hallway and he was about to yell in triumph—he had finally found Harry---but he stopped dead.

Harry and Hermione stood before him with there eyes locked on one another. The two of them were standing less than a foot apart. They weren’t touching or talking but Neville was enthralled.

There was something in the way they were gazing at each other; it was so....so passionate. He instantly felt guilty, as if he had intruded on a very private moment.

Neville was unsure of what to do. Neither of them had even glanced in his direction since he’d appeared. They were obviously aware of his presence but they hadn’t said a word or acknowledged him in any way.

“I’m gonna just stand right here and wait,” he thought, “When they are ready, they’ll let me know. I will not ruin their moment by speaking.”

Harry knew Neville was close, but he didn’t care. He was totally lost in Hermione. His encounter with her earlier, was the most alive he had ever felt in his whole life. The feel of her skin, the softness of her lips, and the passion in her eyes, made his blood boil. He had never wanted anything or anyone more than he wanted her.

If bloody Neville hadn’t interrupted, he would have rocked the world of the little brown eyed witch before him. He smiled at that thought and leered at her, and as if she had read his mind, she smiled and leered right back at him.

A wordless promise passed between them as they gazed at each other.

We will finish what we started.

Harry finally spoke. He hadn’t broken eye contact with Hermione, but he did ask Neville.

“You need me, Nev?”

Neville had been staring down at his feet trying to make himself as invisible as possible. He was slightly startled by the sound of Harry’s voice as it echoed through the predominantly empty hallway.

“Umm…uh, well uh, yeah, Professor McGonagall sent me to find you,” the boy stammered.

“Any idea what about?” Harry inquired as he turned to face his friend.

“No, sorry Harry, I have no idea. She just asked me to find you,” Neville replied apologetically.

Hermione had turned her back towards them and walked a few steps down the hall. She had realized that her blouse was not buttoned correctly and she wanted to fix it, hopefully before Neville noticed. There would be no way for Neville not to notice Harry’s shirt. She chuckled quietly to herself as she remembered the look on Harry’s face when she had torn it open.

“I have to go,” Harry said to her after she joined him and Neville. His voice dripped with resentment.

“Do you want me to come with you? Hermione asked as she smoothed out her blouse, which was now buttoned properly and brushed a few stray hairs from her face.

“Neville, can you give me a sec?” Harry asked their friend as he nodded ever so slightly in Hermione’s direction.

Neville got the hint. “Yeah….yeah sure Harry. I’ll uh, wait right around the corner, umm….over there.” He said as he walked backwards in the direction he had pointed. He gave a nervous little wave towards Hermione, who leaned around Harry so she could see him better, and then smiled and waved back.

Harry and Hermione watched him go.

The second Neville was out of sight Hermione leapt off the ground and wrapped herself around Harry.

“What the--” he muttered in shock as Hermione rained down kisses upon him. Harry, caught off guard by her attack, staggered backwards into the wall. He regained his balance quickly and swung Hermione around so that she was now the one with her back to the wall.

Their tongues were furiously exploring, and there hands were everywhere. She was running her fingers through his already disheveled hair while he gave her a vigorous chest massage as he pinned her up against the wall. When they finally broke their kiss they both took a much needed deep breath and simultaneously said, “Wow.”

He put her down. She re-smoothed out her outfit and he did what he could with his hair. She then drew her want and pointed to his shirt with a quick, Reparo.

“Thank you,” Harry said as he looked down at his shirt which was once again whole.

“You’re welcome,” Hermione smiled at him.

“God you’re gorgeous,” he said as he placed his hand behind her neck and drew her in for a gentle kiss. She stepped to him and placed her hands on his hips as she kissed him back.

“Gotta go,” he said when they broke apart.

“Where should I meet you?” Harry asked as he raised an eyebrow and winked at her.

“I need to head back to the dorm for a minute but I’ll meet you in the common room, and we can go from there,” Hermione purred at him as she placed her hands on his chest.

Harry walked backwards towards the corner where Neville was waiting as Hermione’s hands unhurriedly dropped away. His eyes drank in every detail about her, and he smiled the whole time until he finally disappeared from sight.

Hermione watched Harry turn the corner. She hugged herself tight and leaned her head back as she hopped in place squealing with delight. She had never been so happy in her life. After years of waiting for Harry to come around, it had finally happened. She walked back to her common room grinning from ear-to-ear the whole way.

Neville fell into step with Harry as they walked quickly down the corridor towards McGonagall’s office. For most of the trip Neville said nothing because Harry seemed lost in thought, but he, unable to stop himself, finally asked, “Are you and Hermione….together?”

“Kind of looks that way, Nev, but can you keep it quiet? There are other peoples feelings involved here, and Hermione and I are not really ready to deal with those just yet.”

“Sure, Harry, I promise; I won’t say anything to anyone,” Neville assured him.

“Harry, can I ask you another question?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” Harry replied as they walked.

“Well…what happened to your shirt? You know…before?” the nervous Gryffindor asked sheepishly, as he avoided looking directly at Harry. Harry smiled and chuckled to himself as he thought about what had happened to his shirt and how to reply.

“Actually Neville, that’s something I’d rather not get into at the moment,” Harry told him as they continued walking. Neville looked somewhat embarrassed at having asked that question, and he nodded in understanding at Harry’s answer.

Harry and Neville arrived at McGonagall’s office. Neville stopped and stared at Harry as they reached the office door unsure of what to do next.

Neville, finally backed up a step before stammering, “Harry, I really am sorry about….” and he trailed off, too embarrassed to finish.

Harry reassured him, “Its okay Neville. Really.” His friend smiled gratefully and turned to leave, but Harry called after him. “Neville”

The tall boy turned back towards his friend to see Harry with a finger to his lips. Neville nodded, smiled and set off as Harry closed the office door.

_______________________________________________

Hermione slowly drifted through the castle heading in the general direction of her common room. She was completely lost in the happiness she felt. Twenty-four hours ago, Harry had been just her best friend; now he was so much more. She got chills just thinking about him--his hands touching and caressing her, and his mouth, the things he had done with his mouth! Every nerve ending in her entire body was alive at the mere thought of what he had done to her and the prospect of them both doing so much more together. She smiled and picked up her pace; she had something special for him to see, and when her excitement overwhelmed her, she actually started to run.

“Come in Harry, have a seat,” the Headmistress greeted him.

“Thank you Professor,” he replied politely as he settled into the comfortable overstuffed chair in front of her desk.

“I have something most unsettling to speak to you about,” McGonagall began as she paced slowly behind her heavy oak desk. “This….sort of behavior is severely frowned upon at Hogwarts.”

Harry nervously adjusted his position in the chair, wondering if a rat fink in one of the paintings had turned him in. As McGonagall continued speaking, Harry started to drift away. He began to smile as he thought about a half naked Hermione backed up against the wall while he fondled her and…..

“What did you just say, Professor?” he asked quizzically as he snapped out of his lust--filled haze and actually caught some of what she was saying.

“I said that it appears as though a love potion may have been placed into your drink at lunch today.”

His mind was humming; all he could think about was his entire afternoon and evening spent lusting after Hermione.

“Young Miss Weasley” she continued, “was overheard confessing to a group of her fellow students. Do you have any reason to believe that the information given to me could be true?

“Ginny?” he repeated, “Why would Ginny--” His thoughts were flying around in his head at lightning speed. Then, Hermione’s smiling face appeared and filled his consciousness, and he asked, “Are you going to let Hermione know?”

“I’m sorry Harry; I don’t understand your question. Why would I let Miss Granger know? Do you believe Miss Granger may have been affected as well? Did you share your drink with her at lunch?” McGonagall asked as she stared at him and waited for an answer.

The ramifications of what McGonagall had told him had just crystallized in his head. He began to worry that irreparable damage to his relationship with Hermione was now a very real possibility.

If what he had done to Hermione was the result of a potion that only he had been given, then that would mean that what she had done, or allowed him to do, she had done out of true affection. If she even suspected that he didn’t truly return her feelings after what had happened between them, then even their friendship would be over. Hermione, no longer in his life! The anger in him began to build until he finally exploded.

“THAT FUCKIN BITCH,” Harry screamed with murder in his eyes as every old lady doodad and thingamabob on McGonagall’s desk shattered into a million pieces.

“She just ruined my life!” he wailed in anger as he headed for the door. “Where is she, oh…I’m gonna kill her.”

“STOP!” McGonagall shouted forcefully as she blasted Harry with an Immobulus. “Mr. Potter you will refrain from using that type of language in my presence and your behavior at the moment is totally unacceptable.” She looked over the shattered remains of her treasures scattered across her desktop. “From your response I take it that you believe this rumor to be true. However, when you are released you will come back, sit down and restrain yourself or I will be forced to do it for you. Then we will discuss this further.”

Harry seethed with anger--mostly at Ginny, but at the Headmistress as well. He took a deep breath and attempted to calm himself. When he felt his composure starting to return he inquired through gritted teeth, “Will you please release me from this spell, Professor?”

To which McGonagall replied, “If you are quite finished.”

________________________________________________

Hermione reached the common room and climbed through the portrait. Dean and Ron had just finished their game of chess. “Hey, Hermione,” Ron called to her. “Where’s Harry?”

He glanced around for his other best friend. Before she had the chance to answer his question he blurted out, “Bloody hell Hermione, what happened to your hair?”

She had started to smile as she remembered the tussle with Harry that had led to the present state of her hair, but instead she found herself scowling at the redhead and replying defensively, “It’s windy!”

Ron jerked his head back in surprise at her answer and asked, “In the castle?”

She furrowed her brow once more and snapped at him, “What is this, the Inquisition? Go bother someone else.”

She then ran up the stairs to her dorm leaving a startled Ron mumbling to himself. “Must be that time of the month…..snapping at me for no reason.” He then grumpily shuffled away.

Hermione heard what Ron had said but she smiled as she bit her lip. “No, it’s NOT and thank goodness.” She opened her door, threw herself onto her bed and lay there with her arms spread wide. She stared at her canopy and thought about Harry.

“Oh,” she said as she scrambled off the bed and over to her dresser as she remembered why she was in her room in the first place. She yanked open her top drawer and began rifling through it, desperately searching for what she knew was in there somewhere.

She emitted a slight, “Yes,” when her fingers touched the soft silky black fabric. Hermione looked around before pulling out the black bra and panties trimmed with lace.

She had been shopping in Diagon Alley over the summer, preparing for the start of the school year when she saw it. Lingerie wasn’t really her thing; she was definitely more a book kind of a girl, but it was a very pretty set. As far as some of the sets available in the shop went, it was modest by comparison. So naturally, she adored it instantly.

She checked the door to her bedroom and then tucked the underwear under the front of her shirt and sprinted to the bathroom smiling. The silky underwear against the flat of her stomach felt wonderful, and she couldn’t wait to finally be wearing them.

She started to strip out of her present outfit before she had even closed the bathroom door. Two seconds later she was down to her everyday bra and panties and then down to nothing.

Hermione looked at herself closely as she stood in front of the mirror. “Not too bad,” she observed, although a wisp of insecurity did flash through her thoughts. She pinched her waist from the sides, and then she ran her hands down over her hips. “Not overly hippy,” she thought as she hit her hips with the heels of her hands. Then she focused on her breasts, turning sideways while she sucked in her stomach. “Not very large, but I’m not built like a boy either,” she critiqued while staring at her profile. She put her hands over her stomach.

“Pretty flat,” she nodded. “Though a little softer than I would like it to be,” was her opinion as she scrunched up her face. But, all in all, she was fairly pleased with her assessment.

Now it was back to business.

Hermione picked up the lingerie and smiled. She then stepped into the panties. She felt the smoothness of the silk as it glided up her calves, across her thighs, and wrapped itself snugly around her bottom. She got a slight chill as the cool soft fabric of the bra caressed her as she slid it on. It almost felt as if fingers were very gently brushing along the sides of her breasts and she imagined that it was Harry teasing her. She closed her eyes for a second and expelled a long breath.

Now that she had finished putting the lingerie on, she felt transformed. Something about the feel of the material and the sleekness of the lines it created made her feel sexy, and pretty.

She smiled broadly.

She turned to the side again to check her profile in the lingerie and she thought, “He’s gonna go nuts when he sees me in this,” and she got a little giddy.

Hermione pulled herself together and put on her skirt and blouse and headed down stairs to look for Harry.

________________________________________________

Harry sat quietly in the chair across from McGonagall’s desk. Once the headmistress felt he had calmed sufficiently, she released him from her spell and ordered him to sit. She then explained to him that some of his fellow classmates had alerted her to a conversation they had overheard regarding Miss Weasley and a love potion. Unfortunately, Ginny had left for a weekend of shopping with her mother and Miss Delacour, so she was unavailable to be questioned until Monday.

Harry numbly absorbed everything he was told. He shook his head and all he thought was, “Why?” He had known forever that Ginny had a crush on him, but he couldn’t believe that she had resorted to a love potion to try to get him.

Had Ginny’s stupid potion caused the uncontrollable horniness he felt towards Hermione? He didn’t really know, but he knew he had never felt that way about anyone before. Had felt? Yeah right, that was a joke; he still couldn’t control his ‘blood flow’ where Hermione was concerned and judging by the growing bulge in his pants, which was being caused this very second, by the mere thought of her, the feeling wasn’t dissipating at all. For Merlin’s sake, he hadn’t even seen her in nearly an hour and he was still in ‘go’ mode--big time.

“Professor, how long does a love potion last?’ Harry was finally able to ask after discreetly adjusting his problem.

The headmistress quickly replied, “I don’t know Harry. Without speaking directly to Miss Weasley to find out what she may have used I won’t be able to give you a true answer. Normally, though, these types of potions last from mere minutes to a few hours. Only a truly gifted witch could make one that could last as long as a day.”

Harry listened to her then fidgeted in his seat as he tried to figure out a way to say what he really wanted to ask her. “Professor, are there….other types of maybe similar potions that would, well….affect a person strongly but in a little different way?”

He finally managed to sputter out his question while avoiding her gaze at all costs. He had also just that second come to the conclusion that he probably should not have asked that question.

McGonagall folded her arms in front of her and then stared at him for a very long time. She had a quizzical, yet somewhat disapproving look on her face. McGonagall had definitely gotten the gist of what he had asked and didn’t seem too happy about it, but apparently she wanted clarification. “What exactly are you tying to ask me Mr. Potter?”

Damnit.

“Oh great …I just went from Harry to Mr. Potter,” he thought. “That’s not good….and sure, like I’m really just gonna come right out and ask my ‘grandmotherly type figure’ if there is a spell that would make me so damn horny for my best friend of six plus years that I was all set to fuck her standing up in a very public hallway of this very fine school not an hour ago? And…if I could, that’s exactly what I’d be doing right now!”

“Go ahead, ask her that!” his thoughts dared him to say. He dropped his head into his hands and then ran his fingers through his hair as he contemplated his reply.

“Actually, Professor, I think I’m good answer-wise.” He then stood up to leave her office. He needed some time to think. She let him go this time saying as he left, “All right,” but she was watching him very closely.

Harry just mumbled a quick “Thanks” as he went out the door.

He was screwed and he knew it; he was left, right, and sideways screwed, as far as he could see. There was just no way around it. What was he supposed to do? He didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

He knew that there was no way that Hermione wasn’t going to ask him about his meeting with McGonagall the second she saw him. So, that ruled out not telling Hermione about the potion.

“Well, I know I couldn’t do that anyway.” He actually felt like a bastard for even letting such an idea run through his head. He had to think more clearly, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Yeah, no kidding!” It’s just that he desperately wanted Hermione, and he was sure that she was waiting for him to meet her at that very moment. He was also pretty damn certain that any chance they had of picking things up where they had left off was totally gone. “Thanks, Ginny,” he venomously spit.

“So…Okay, I have to tell Hermione about the potion,”

Once I do, there will be no way to convince her that what had happened between them was real, and he knew that. He also couldn’t be completely certain that his feelings weren’t in some way chemically enhanced.

“What the hell was in that damn potion anyway….Viagra?” I’ve been perpetually hard for like hours. That’s not normal, right?” he wondered.

“I know I’ve never felt this way before. Could it have been a coincidence that today was the day I finally noticed Hermione that way? Damn right it could,” he thought. “But her logical mind is never in a million years gonna buy that. So it looks like I’m going to have to convince her.”

“It was real, I believe that, and there’s no way I’m gonna let that bitch Ginny take that from me, or Hermione. No way!”

“I’m gonna find her, tell her, and hang on tight,” he decided and that was the plan for the rest of the night.

Authors note: Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed chapter 2. I appreciate it. Here’s chapter 3. It’s called ‘Cause and Effect’ and that basically sums it all up. I hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think when you’re done.

Chapter 3

Ginny gathered up her books as her boring last period class had finally come to an end. “Well it’s about damn time! I can’t wait to get out of here,” she thought. A broad smile appeared on her face as she headed for the door. She stopped in the doorway and looked both ways as a river of students flowed past the open door. She entered the flow and skillfully managed to weave her way through the throng of students bustling through, or milling about in the hallways of Hogwarts.

She was extremely excited, a long weekend of shopping with Fleur in Paris. What could be better? Sure her mother was going also, but she wasn’t going to let that ruin things. She was happily lost in thought as she strolled down the hallway. She hadn’t noticed that Lavender and Pavarti stepped away from the wall as she passed and fell into step behind her.

“Isn’t it sad?” Lavender said to Pavarti in a mischievous way as the two friends’ huddled close together. She had made sure she spoke loud enough to be overheard.

“Oh yes it is, poor thing, she obviously doesn’t have a clue,” replied Pavarti.

“I know, all the years of pining for him up in smoke in a single afternoon, the poor dear.” Lavender replied.

Ginny stopped, so did the two older Gryffindors behind her. The hallway had miraculously emptied out, a normal Friday afternoon phenomenon at Hogwarts as the students scattered to the wind. There were very few people within earshot when Ginny said to the pair without turning around.

“What are you two prattling on about?” making no effort to hide her annoyance.

“Isn’t she being brave?” Lavender asked Pavarti in an extremely sympathetic tone.

“Yes, I don’t know how she’s doing it? I wouldn’t be holding up so well if it was me. I’m sure of that.” Pavarti dripped with sympathy.

Ginny turned to face the two girls. She dropped her backpack on the ground and crossed her arms in front of her and angrily confronted the pair.

“Enough! Spill it you two, what’s all this nonsense about?”

Although they may have been momentarily startled by Ginny’s anger they both recovered quickly and there expressions changed back to masks of sympathy once again. Lavender reached forward and placed her hand on the younger girls shoulder and began, “Gin, it’s okay; you don’t have to be brave around us. We feel your pain. Let it out. You’ll feel much better if you share.”

Ginny looked at Lavender, confused by what she had said. Then she looked at the hand on her shoulder with a raised eyebrow, and then back at Lavender. Lavender understood the implication, remove that hand or get bat bogied. She quickly removed her hand but her expression never waivered.

Pavarti was eager to get in on the fun and she stepped forward.

“Ginny I’m so sorry things between you and Harry are over. We all know that you’ve been crushing on him for years. It must be devastating to realize that he’s moved on.”

“What the hell are you two cackling about? Harry and I are fine!”

Ginny was starting to get annoyed. The two of them looked so smug and condescending. Whatever it was they knew that she didn’t they weren’t really being sympathetic at all, they were deliberately trying to make her upset.

“Bitches,” the young redhead thought to herself. “I won’t give them the satisfaction.”

“I don’t have time for this,” she said dismissively as she turned away from the girls. Her red hair went flying as she bent over, picked up her bag, and slung it over her shoulder, and then started to walk away.

Lavender waited until Ginny was a good ten feet away before she said, loud enough to be sure the youngest Weasley heard her, “If the guy I was in love with was eyefucking a certain bookworm buddy of his in every class this afternoon, I know I’d be interested.”

Bull’s-eye!

Ginny stopped dead at Lavenders words and she contemplated what she had heard for a second.

“Hermione,” she thought and closed her eyes. “Of course, who else?” Hermione was the one person she feared she could actually lose Harry to, and her heart sank.

Lavender smiled with satisfaction toward Pavarti as the two girls exchanged a quiet high five, “I just thought you might be interested Gin.”

Ginny’s mind was racing, she was angry, and she was hurt, which was just what they had wanted from the start. “I can’t give them the satisfaction of knowing they got to me. How do I turn this on them? Think of something!”

An idea clicked in to her head, and after composing herself Ginny smiled sweetly and turned towards the pair.

“Girls, I appreciate your concern. I’m truly touched by your heartfelt sympathy, but it’s not necessary. I know what Harry’s been up to all afternoon, but unlike you two, I know why he was behaving that way. Have a nice weekend girls, I’m off to Paris to shop.”

The matching smug looks on Lavender and Pavarti’s faces were instantly wiped away. Neither girl had expected this turn of events, or foreseen it as even a remote possibility. With wide eyes they looked at each other and then bolted towards Ginny who was smiling as she turned and walked away.

“Wait Gin, what do you mean you know why?” they both blurted out as they pushed and jostled each to get close to Ginny to hear her answer.

Ginny smiled to herself as she thought, “If the two fashionistas in front of her just totally ignored that she had said she was going to Paris for the weekend to shop, then they were hooked and ready to be reeled in.”

“Ginny, please tell us,” they begged in unison.

“Well, since you two were so obviously concerned about my wellbeing,” her voice dripped with mock appreciation. “I guess I could let you in on my little secret.” Ginny’s confidence had returned, and the two gossips before her were ready to gobble up whatever she threw their way, and she knew it.

Ginny motioned for the girls to follow her into a secluded alcove just around the corner from where they had been standing, which they did enthusiastically. Once they were somewhat secluded Ginny looked around and then leaned in close to them and began.

“Obviously you two are aware of my feelings for Harry,” to which the girls nodded in unison. “I know he has feelings for me too, he’s just a bit, shy, or ahh awkward around…, oh for Merlin’s sake, he’s bloody dense when it comes to women, right? You should know all about that,” she said as she gestured towards Pavarti who was in complete agreement as she remembered the Yule Ball fiasco. “I decided he needed a little, shall we say…. encouragement, so to speak. So, I put a dab or two of love potion is his drink at lunchtime, to give him a little…..romantic aggressiveness.”

The girls gasped in shock at the deceitfulness of the redheaded witches plan. They actually were beginning to see the youngest Weasley in a new and positive light. To use a love potion on ‘the boy who lived,’ was way out there guts wise.

“Ginny, I’m impressed,” Lavender said with shock and surprise still evident on her face. “Hey, wait a minute,” Pavarti chimed in with a confused expression. “Then why has he been drooling over the bookw…I mean, Hermione all day and not you?”

Ginny frowned at the accusation, “Because… she stepped in front of me to ask him some bloody question, so…..”

“Oh, that sucks,” Lavender replied as she shook her head with displeasure at the situation. “I’d be pissed if she got in the way of my hard work.”

Ginny looked at her, “Nah, it’s done,” she waved dismissively, “he’ll be over it soon enough.”

“That must have been one really strong love potion Gin, because he was on her like white on rice the whole afternoon,” Lavender finished.

“Yeah, you better be careful with that stuff, he looked ready to shag her brains out every time I saw him.” Pavarti added.

Ginny frowned a bit, but tried to hide it as she stepped back and prepared to leave. “Girls it’s been a little slice of heaven spending this time with you both but, I’ve gotta go and you’re holding me up so, have a nice weekend.”

“No! Wait!” they both cried as they gripped her arms to keep her from leaving. “You can’t leave now! Where did you get the love potion? Did you make it yourself? Was it hard to make? What do you do now? Do you take another shot at Harry? We have to know!”

“Sorry, but as I said earlier, I’m off to Paris so, gotta go,” and she pulled herself loose and headed down the corridor leaving Lavender and Pavarti in her wake in stunned silence. The youngest Weasley took a deep breath and then smiled to herself as she rounded the corner.

Lavender and Pavarti stood dumfounded as they stared at the spot where Ginny had just been.

Pavarti finally turned to Lavender and asked, “Did she say she was going to Paris?”

“Huh? What, Paris? Uhh, I think so” Lavender replied with a puzzled expression on her face as she stared at the empty hallway in front of her. “Damn….she did say Paris didn’t she?” She looked annoyed at first, but then she just shrugged her shoulders and said, “Oh well, too late to ask about it now.”

“I still can’t believe she gave Harry a love potion,” Lavender gossiped as she and Pavarti linked arms and headed down the corridor together. “Neither can I,” Pavarti answered wide eyed as she shook her head in disbelief. “She’s finished if Harry finds out.” Both girls stopped dead. They looked at each other and smiled truly evil smiles. “Should we?” Pavarti asked. “Hell yeah, why not? She did it, not us,” her best friend replied and they ran down the hallway laughing.

On the long quiet walk to Hogsmead village to meet her mother, Ginny had time to think.

There was only one person she truly felt was a threat to her fairytale ending with Harry Potter and that, was Hermione Granger. Cho had meant nothing, she knew that, but Hermione was different. First off, they had both been raised as muggles, so they had that in common. From the very beginning, Hermione was always at Harry’s side. She had been with him through every major challenge in his life. They were also way too in tuned with one another. They didn’t even have to speak; they could communicate with only a look. The bond between them was extremely strong, stronger then either of their bonds to her brother. Wasn’t it only a matter of time before they both realized they had something special, and their relationship became more than friends? “Merlin, I hope not!”

“Now I’m depressed,” she mumbled grumpily. “Why the hell couldn’t she bond with my brother for Merlin’s sake?” She then angrily kicked a rock that rocketed down the road bouncing and tumbling. When she had calmed down some, she thought about how, what she had just said sounded and she chuckled. “Bond with my brother,” and she continued to chuckle until, “Ewww,” she then shuttered in disgust. “There’s a mental picture I really didn’t need.” “You know what, I’m not gonna worry about Hermione right now, I’ll deal with her, when I get back.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry headed for his common room, relieved to be out from under McGonagall’s questioning gaze, but deeply concerned about what was to come. While he was furious with Ginny, he needed to stay focused on Hermione.

“I’ll deal with Ginny later,” he muttered angrily. As he continued walking, he was trying to plan out in his head what he wanted to say to Hermione when he saw her.

“That is, if I can control myself long enough to not shag her brains out the second I see her!” “Oh crap,” he muttered dejectedly as he rolled his eyes, he then adjusted himself for what seemed like the thousandth time since lunch.

“I should just let the son of a bitch swing free for Merlin’s sake, and save myself the trouble,” he said out loud as he headed down the dark and deserted hallway. He allowed himself a momentary chuckle as he thought of the scene that would create. “I can see it all now, ‘The Daily Prophet’ headline, ‘The Boy who Lived’ is now the ‘Boy who’s Hung’, right on the front cover. Probably sell them a shipload of papers!” His momentary silliness was quickly replaced with anxiety as his thoughts turned back to Hermione.

“Okay…. Relax….you can do this,” he tried to reassure himself as he took a few deep breaths. He ascended the last staircase that lead to the ‘Fat Lady’s’ portrait and the common room behind it. Hermione would be waiting for him inside, happy, and beautiful, and completely clueless concerning the news to come.

Harry stood before the Fat Lady for at least a minute, agonizing over what was about to happen. He stared at the ground as he stood there running his hands through his perpetually disheveled hair. Finally, he circled away from the portrait. “Fuck,” he shouted, louder than he had actually intended as he leaned his head back in anguish.” I really don’t want to do this,” he said to no one in particular as he tried to think of a way out of the mess that Ginny had dumped him into. He continued to pace back and forth in the corridor for a few moments as he worked up the nerve to do what he so desperately didn’t want to do.

Hermione was fidgeting with the hem of her skirt as she sat on the couch by the fireplace. She was anxiously waiting for Harry, and she was getting worried. Harry had been gone quite a while, far longer than she had expected. The brightest witch of her age hoped everything was okay. She brushed a stay hair from her eyes as she looked up at the clock. She hadn’t bothered to fix her hair at all. Harry had been the cause of her messy hair, and fixing it would be, kind of be like erasing what had caused it, and she wanted as many reminders as possible of what had happened between her and Harry. She smiled at the memory, but reality soon set back in, and she looked back up at the clock.

“Two more minutes, and then I’m going to go look for him,” she determined.

Just then, the portrait swung open, and in stepped the man she’d been waiting for.

Hermione was instantly elated at seeing him, and she leapt off the couch and bounded in his direction, hair flying and eyes sparkling. But…Halfway to him, she stopped, and her good mood was instantly dispelled. The look on his face was not good, not at all. He looked very worried, and her heart began to race. They slowly closed the distance to each other, and she took his hand in hers as she reached him. He was staring down at the floor, and had not yet met her worried gaze. She tilted her head to the side to try to see into his eyes as she said, “Harry? “Harry, please look at me.”

He took a deep breath and raised his head and looked into her beautiful, but concerned face. She was gorgeous, and he put his hand to his chest as he felt his heart skip a beat.

.

He steadied himself, and began, “Hermione, I need to tell you something. I don’t think it’s a really big deal, but…”

In her opinion, the look in his eyes completely contradicted what he had just said.

“What? What is it?” she added, almost pleading.

“Here, come sit,” he said in as normal a voice as he could manage. He then led her to the couch and they sat down. “I’ve got something to tell you, that will sound worse than it actually is, I hope. Because I don’t believe it, I mean, I don’t think it matters, or mattered at all, but, you need to know.”

“Harry, what are you talking about? Please tell me, whatever it is, just say it.”

“Alright…Hermione…what happened between us,” he began.

Hermione was instantly struck with terror. If he had said that, Voldemort was on his way up the stair, it would have been less scary to her than having him begin a sentence with, ‘what happened between us’. Her mind went into panic mode and she pulled away from him as all the color drained from her face and her eyes showed insecurity, and fear.

Harry, realizing that Hermione was about to lose it, reached up and took her hand and then blurted out, “No, no, wait it’s not what you think. I don’t regret what happened, not for a second. What happened between us, being with you, like that, is the most alive I have ever felt in my whole life. You are the most…amazing, sexy, smart, wonderful girl, I could….,” and he trailed off.

She had relaxed a bit and she allowed him to pull her back down to the couch, her total panic had been downgraded to only extreme worry, but for Harry, now came the truly scary part.

“Okay, here it is….today…. at lunch….it seems that Ginny,” and he paused.

Hermione furrowed her brow; panic had been replaced by confusion.

“Ginny…. may have put,” and he took a deep resigned breath, “a love potion in my drink,” he finished as quickly as he could. He then, very sheepishly, braced for her response, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t melt down.

Hermione understood what Harry had said, and what it actually meant, to them both, and her expression changed dramatically. Harry watched as her face transformed before him. It took on a mixture of sadness, embarrassment, and then, abject humiliation, and he watched as her heart broke right in front of him. She got up from the couch, and tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes, and then, they suddenly exploded.

Harry was mesmerized. He knew, and fully expected that she would get upset, but he had expected anger. He had never seen Hermione cry like that, a deep wracking cry that involved her whole body. He felt sadness like he never had before. The girl, who was his rock, had just totally broken down. When he had regained his composure he took a step toward her.

“NO….DON’T,” she shouted through the tears, as she brought her hands up to her face and very slowly, backed away from him. She stopped her retreat, and trying to be brave, she wiped away the flood of tears that were cascading down her cheeks and looked at him. He stared back at her, unsure of what to say, or do. So….he just stood there, staring at her. She tried her best, but her pain was too great, she just couldn’t hold her tears in, and her crying resumed, full force. And in a flash, Hermione was gone, up the stairs to her dorm, before he could react.

“HERMIONE, WAIT!” he screamed, and he finally took off after her. Unfortunately for him, she had gone up to the girls’ dorm, where no male could follow, but he wasn’t gonna let that stop him. He was halfway up the stairs, and thought he might actually make it to the top when the stairs suddenly transformed into a slide. He dropped like a rock, and he slammed into the cold hard stone chin first, which split open instantly and gushed blood. His glasses had flown through the air and shattered when they landed. He was then unceremoniously depositing in a bloody heap on the common room floor.

He got up and stared at the staircase. His now blinding rage at Ginny, for causing all this, coupled with his absolute need to get to Hermione made him more determined then ever to get up those stairs.

The boys’ tower was slowly emptying into the common room. The Gryffindor boys were curious as to what all the commotion was about. What they saw surprised them. A furious and bleeding Harry took run after run up the stairs to the girls’ dorm. Each time he got about half way up, then the stairs would change, and down he’d go. As he slid down he would wail for Hermione. His screams got more desperate with each attempt.

On attempt number five, Dean turned to Neville as the two boys stood in their pajamas watching Harry, and remarked, “I saw the Coyote do this once in a Road Runner cartoon, I’m telling you, if Harry straps an Acme rocket to his back, I’m gonna totally lose it.” Neville looked at Dean with zero comprehension, “What?” he replied looking completely bewildered. Dean waved him away, “Never mind, Muggle cartoon, guess you wouldn’t understand.”

The entire population of the girls’ dormitory was now huddled around the top of their staircase watching Harry’s attempts, all except one. Hermione was laying face down on her bed crying uncontrollable. She had a pillow wrapped around her head to drown out the sound of her name filling the tower with every attempt Harry made to get to her.

On his seventh try, as he was sliding backwards down the stairs; Harry wedged himself sideways to stop from sliding any further. He then preceded, hands on one wall and feet on the other, to slowly inch his way up. This captured the attention of all the guys gathered at the foot of the stairs and they began cheering him on.

“GO, GO, GO, GO,” they chanted louder and louder as they pumped their fists in encouragement. But, it was not to be, two feet from the top, the stone walls widened outward on Harry, and down he went, again.

As he hit the bottom, Harry was furious, he had never been so angry. He raged at the castle for denying him access to Hermione, and at Ginny for causing their pain. Everyone, girl and boy alike, stood back and stared in dumbstruck silence as he got to his feet and stormed from the room.

Authors Note: I have finally finished chapter 4. This took longer to write than I would have liked, but sometimes real life gets in the way. Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 3 for me. The response was a pleasant surprise, and I certainly appreciate it. As always, a special thanks goes out to my wife, she is my idea sounding board, and I value her opinion. Well here’s chapter 4, I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think.

Chapter 4

Hermione sat on the couch by the fireplace with Harry, listening to him try to tell her something, but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it so far. She was being very patient. All she really wanted to do was snog his brains out. She also wanted to show him her special underwear. Actually, she was willing to let him find out about them on his own, she was also eager to pick up where they left off earlier in the evening.

And then, he said it. “What happened between us,” and he stopped.

Her heart skipped a beat, her eyes got big, and she had trouble breathing as she brought a hand up to her chest and rose from her seat.

“Oh my God…..Oh my God, he is going to say that what happened between us was all a big mistake! He doesn’t think of me like that, he just had a momentary lapse in judgment, and he’s sorry! Why else would he begin a sentence that way? Oh God….please, don’t let this be happening,”

Harry quickly clarified what he had meant to say, and Hermione was able to breathe again.

Hermione let him pull her back down onto the couch, but only because he was saying such wonderful thing to her. Harry said that he didn’t regret what had happened at all, it made him very happy. He told her she was amazing, and sexy, and wonderful, and she started to relax, but he hadn’t finished yet.

He then told her that he feared that Ginny had done something.

Hermione greeted that statement with quizzical indifference. “Who cares about Ginny?”

Whatever she had done couldn’t possible compare to what Hermione thought Harry had been trying to tell her.

She waited for him to finish.

He took a deep breath, held onto her hand and told her about Ginny and the potion, and everything she had feared became reality.

Hermione thought the worst instantly. “He didn’t love her! It was just the potion. It wasn’t her he wanted, he was just a horny, lust filled robot, and she happened to be handy…….and she had let him!”

She didn’t even remember standing up, but she was on her feet, hugging herself tight. She looked at him, and felt utterly humiliated. He, to his credit, looked upset as well, but he couldn’t even begin to visit the place she was in now. Seventeen years of insecurities all came crashing to the forefront. She was unattractive, and bossy. She was an outcast as far as the other girls were concerned. Nobody could possibly desire a bushy haired, formerly buck toothed, bookworm like her. Then the tears began. Her heart had broken. She had guarded her feeling for Harry for so many years. She had locked them deep inside, and had come to grips with the fact that they would always be ‘just friend’. She had accepted her role, and then, today happened, and everything changed.

Harry had wanted her, he had vigorously pursued her. She had not given in because of her insecurities, and then in the hallway….. She could control herself no longer, and she let her feelings for him out, all at once, but it was a lie, from his side anyway.

She cried like she never had before, and he just stood there, saying nothing! Hermione had to get away from him, so she fled up the stairs. She could hear him on the stairs behind her, chasing her, but she never looked back, she just kept going. She flew through her bedroom door, and dove onto her bed crying harder than ever.

Harry was screaming her name, over and over on the staircase. She had to block it out, she could not think about Harry, or she would die of a broken heart. “Stop, please stop,” was all she could think as she wrapped her pillow around her head to block out the sound of his voice.

All Harry could think about as he followed her up the stairs was that he needed to reassure her that it was all real. Tell her a thousand times if he had to. But the fuckin stairs had stopped him. He called out to her, pleadingly; he needed to explain, to help ease her pain. He had never seen Hermione so hurt, and it was absolutely killing him. He had finally realized, as he sat bloody and battered on the common room floor, how much he loved her and not just as a friend. He hadn’t truly known what love was until he saw the hurt in her eyes and felt the physical pain her being hurt had caused him. It was the most powerful feeling he had ever felt. It had rocked him to his core. And now…now that he understood what it was that he felt for her, he was more desperate than ever to get to Hermione, and tell her.

And the bloody castle would have none of it!

Mercifully, Harry had finally stopped yelling her name. Hermione lay on her bed still sobbing uncontrollably, but her bad night had the potential to get much worse. All the girls who had been standing around watching Harry lose his battle with the stairs flooded back into the dorm and headed straight for her, to find out what had gone on between them.

Incredibly, Lavender shooed them all away. Maybe she sensed that she might have contributed to the bizarre situation, and she may have felt a touch of guilt. Whatever the case, she did not want anyone bothering Hermione at the moment, and she was adamant about it.

Hermione never even looked up as the crowd around her dispersed. She continued to cry as she lay facedown on the bed with her arm tucked under her. Her wild hair provided ample cover to obscure her face from prying eyes.

An eerie calm permeated the girl’s dormitory. Most of the Gryffindor ladies were dying to speculate as to what might have happened between Harry and Hermione. They were curious to know what could have caused the extreme behavior they had witnessed from Harry, and were seeing now from Hermione. It was potentially so juicy, yet out of a grudging respect for Hermione, most refrained, there were just slight whispers here and there.

After a while Hermione was finally able to bring her emotions under control. She continued to lie in bed, but her tears, for the moment, had been spent. The unbearable weight of the emotions of the day had worn her out, and she drifted off into an uneasy, restless sleep.

Harry exploded out of the common room leaving behind dozens of his fellow Gryffindors totally stunned by what they had witnessed.

His anger toward Ginny grew with each and every step he took down the corridor. He wore no glasses, as he had lost them when he fell the first time. His chin was bleeding, his elbows were bloody, and the knees of his pants were torn out. Harry walked down the hallway clenching and unclenching his hands into fists. As he powered down the hall the wallpaper on either side of him was being sliced to shreds as if sharp claws were opening the walls up. Harry didn’t even notice.

A though went through his head.

“ACCIO GINNY,” he roared with all the power he could muster as he reared back and then fired forward with his wand out the window in front of him. The window exploded out, and the wand began to pull hard in his hand. He was forced to grab it with both hands to keep it from pulling away from him. He began pulling back on the wand with all his might.

Ginny Weasley stood in front of a mirror in a small wizard’s boutique in Paris twirling to admire the gorgeous blue muggle dress she was trying on, when suddenly she was spun around and lifted off her feet. She was being sucked through the air feet first towards a small vortex that had opened in the ceiling at the front of the shop. She screamed, and then called out for her mother.

“MOM, Help me! What’s happening?”

Molly Weasley bolted out of her seat so quickly that her chair was knocked backwards into the clothing rack behind it. The sight of her youngest, and only daughter, being sucked toward a vortex to ‘who knew where’ had spurred her to quick action and she leapt off the ground and grabbed both of Ginny’s hands with hers. Her weight had been enough to momentarily slow Ginny’s ascent as Molly’s feet once again made contact with the ground. She was immediately joined by Fleur who also grabbed a hold of Ginny and began pulling her back down as well.

Harry nearly lost his grip as he was jerked forward about three feet toward the window by the extreme force exerted against his wand. As his front foot made contact with the stones below the window he braced himself with both feet. Harry then bent his knees and pulled back as hard as he could, letting out a guttural roar as he did so. The muscles in his arm and legs quivered from the strain as he fought with all his might to regain control of his wand.

Ginny, Fleur, and Molly were suddenly and unexpectedly pulled forward as Ginny headed for the vortex once again, kicking and screaming. Molly screamed for the three salesgirls from the shop to help them. The combined pull of the five women began to slowly bring Ginny back down. Molly took a second and fumbled around in her pocket and drew her wand. She pointed at the vortex and muttered something the five other women could not make out. Then, as if a knife had sliced through the center of a game of tug-or-war, the connection was broken. The five women pulling Ginny were propelled backwards into a rack of women’s blouses. They came to rest piled on top of each other, and the cloths, all of them aching and disoriented.

The head salesgirl was the first one to find her voice as the other women moaned and groaned and checked themselves for the bruises they knew where there, or at the very least were coming.

“So ladies, you are taking the blue dress, right?” she asked as she nodded her head for emphasis. Her question was delivered in a tone that left Molly Weasley with little doubt that it was not actually a question at all, but more a statement of fact. Molly, relieved that their ordeal was over, grudgingly nodded in agreement.

Harry was pulling as hard as he possible could when suddenly the connection broke. He flew backwards, his arms flailing in an attempt to help him regain his balance, but to no avail. He crashed to the floor hard and his wand flew backward over his shoulder. It landed on the ground ten feet behind him and eventually rolled to a stop. He laid there on the castle floor in stunned silence staring at the stone ceiling above him for a long time, resigned to defeat. Eventually, he sat up. He was aggravated and annoyed and he shook his head in disbelief.

“Why me?” he asked no one in particular as he stood up and brushed the dirt from the castle floor off his hands. “I don’t deserve to lose my best friend like this! It’s not fair!” he roared, as the happiest day of his live had been turned into his worst day ever.

Harry could not face the prospect of spending the night in the dorms, not with all of the questions that it would undoubtedly entail. He knew he couldn’t face that at the moment. Not now, no way! He headed off down the corridor hoping that the room of requirement would appear so he could bed down for the night. It did, and in he went. He dropped onto the bed fully clothed, still bloody, but too damn worn out to do anything about it, and in minutes, he was asleep.

Neville Longbottom lay in his bed wide awake. He was very troubled by what he had witnessed in the common room just a short while ago concerning Harry. Earlier in the evening he had come upon Harry and Hermione in the hallway and there was zero doubt in his mind that they were together, and in love. What he saw in the common room defied logic. How could things between them have fallen apart so fast? Whether it was proper or not for him to peek around the corner at them back in the hallway earlier, he had done it, and was blown away by what he had seen. Harry and Hermione were all over one another. He’d seen them together, only like a thousand times in the last six years, but not like that! It was impossible to tell where Harry ended and Hermione began. He truly believed if they hadn’t known that he was standing ten feet away, they would have shagged, right there, in the hallway, no question.

He took a deep breath as he lay in bed remembering.

“Whew!” he exhaled, as the vision of what his two friends had been doing began to fade from his mind.

“So, what happened?” he wondered. “Must have been McGonagall, whatever she said to Harry must have upset him. But then, why was he pleading with Hermione? Was she the one who was upset?” Hermione hadn’t talked to McGonagall as far as he knew. “I don’t understand. This whole thing makes no sense.” He shook his head, rolled over onto his side, and lay there wondering as he tried to fall asleep.

Ron Weasley was in his bed, which was two down from Neville’s, wide awake as well. Harry’s bed sat empty between them. Where his best friend was, Ron had no idea. Although, to Ron, it was obvious that Hermione was the cause of whatever was upsetting Harry.

“What the hell did she do to him?” he wondered. Ron was extremely unnerved by that, whatever it was, that had taken place in the common room. He was totally at a loss to explain it. He had never seen Harry behave that way before, ever! He knew he should probably go look for his friend, but he also knew that when Harry was angry like that, it was just best to leave him alone until he calmed down.

“Hermione better tell me what the hell she did to him,” he growled, still more than a little annoyed about her ‘inquisition’ crack from earlier in the night. Ron had somehow managed to forget that it was his remark about her hair that had prompted her response. He was convinced that Hermione had upset Harry, like she had upset him when she snapped at him, and he wasn’t going to let her get away with it. He would confront her, first thing tomorrow, about what she had done to upset Harry.

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Minerva McGonagall sat behind her desk, slowly sipping a southing cup of tea. She had more or less finished up her work for the day and was just relaxing before heading off to bed. The Headmistress still felt a nagging uneasiness about her conversation with Harry. The boy was obviously upset, which was no surprise, but he was also just as obviously hiding something from her. Something had happened between Harry and Miss Granger, of that she had no doubt, and if that question he had attempted to ask her was any indication, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what it was.

“Teenagers…..they are so clueless, I’m amazed they take so long to figure things out.” She’d suspected for years that Harry and Miss Granger, would eventually end up together, but they continued to muddle along, clueless as ever.

“But today was different,” she said to herself. “He was very upset. I thing it might be prudent if I made some inquires.”

She looked across the room at the portrait of Albus Dumbledore that hung on the wall between two former headmasters. His beautifully ornate frame was empty at the moment; he was not in his painting.

“I wonder where he could be so late,” she wondered as she looked at the old grandfather clock to her right and spied the time. “Albus, are you there?” McGonagall called as she got up from her desk, tea cup still in hand, and heading across the room towards the empty frame. As she did so, she watched for any signs of movement from within the painting.

Finally, the former Headmaster appeared, jutting his head back into view.

“I’m sorry Minerva, where you looking for me?” Dumbledore asked. “I was unavoidable drawn into a deep philosophical discussion that was raging among my fellow portraits about the pros and cons of earwax as a flavor of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.” He smiled a playful smile, and winked at her in his whimsical way.

When his lighthearted attempt at humor failed to elicit the response he was hoping for from his successor, his tone changed, and he asked her with all seriousness.

“What is it that’s troubling you Minerva?”

McGonagall pondered his question for a moment as she set down her tea cup. She was slightly apprehensive about bringing up a student’s private affairs with Dumbledore. But, considering the student was Harry Potter, she thought it might be best to seek his advice.

“Albus, I had a somewhat disturbing conversation with Mister Potter early this evening, and I’m hoping that maybe you could offer a fresh perspective on the situation.”

She then relayed to the former headmaster all that had transpired in her office concerning Harry.

Dumbledore listened, nodded in understanding when it was appropriate to do so, and let her tell the whole tale before he spoke.

“Minerva, Harry is no longer the young boy he was when he came to us. He has grown into a fine young man. But, if as you suspect, something may have taken place between he and Miss Granger that could have been potion induced, then it is our duty to investigate the matter. We both know that such an occurrence could have a great affect on the well being of two of our most gifted students.”

McGonagall nodded in agreement. “What do you suggest, Albus?”

The wily old Headmaster thought for a moment. “I shall make some discreet inquiries among my fellow portraits as to whether or not any of them has seen anything out of the ordinary in regard to Mister Potter or Miss Granger today. The castle and the ground are large, but with a little luck, someone may have seen something that could shed some light on the situation.”

Both Dumbledore and McGonagall agreed that it was a bit too late to be rousing some of the painting occupants. So it was decided that Dumbledore would begin to make inquires first thing in the morning.

“Thank you Dumbledore, I truly appreciate your help in this matter,” the Headmistress relayed to her former headmaster with a nod of appreciation.

“Minerva, as you know, I will always assist you in any way that I can.” And with that he bowed his head and disappeared from the painting.

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Bright and early the next morning, before the students were up and about, McGonagall was back at her desk preparing for the day ahead. Despite the fact that it was a Saturday, school business still needed to be addressed. The Hogwarts Headmistress could very often be found at her desk before sun up, and this day was no exception. As she was rustling through the papers on her desk she was startled when a gentle cough from the row of portraits broke the predawn silence.

“Forgive me Minerva, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Dumbledore apologized.

“That is quite alright, Albus.” She replied as she raised and hand to her chest to try to coax her heartbeat back to normal. “Are you preparing to make inquires so early?” she asked the gray haired old wizard.

“Actually, that will not be necessary as I have already acquired all the information that is needed.”

McGonagall looked at the former headmaster with a slightly startled expression. She had not expected such an answer.

“Tell me Albus, is it as bad as I have feared?” she whispered to him in a low tone. “Your expression is not hopeful.”

“While some of the portraits were more reserved in what they were willing to divulge, others were far more forthcoming about what they had seen,” he answered.

“What I can tell you Minerva is this. That yes, there was indeed an ‘encounter’ between Harry and Miss Granger, which was most definitely romantic in nature. But, as I’m sure you will understand, it would be the height of impropriety for me to elaborate on the specific details of their encounter. Unfortunately for me, said details were relayed to me most graphically, but also of course, in the strictest of confidence. I will add though, that while their liaison may have indeed been instigated by Mister Potter, it would seem that our Miss Granger was, shall we say, at the very least a most active participant. And.” A sly smile reached the old Headmasters lips before he finished. “It would appear that she was in fact, at times, the aggressor.”

McGonagall’s face instantly registered the incredible shock she felt at the last of Dumbledore’s words.

“Oh my,” was all she could manage as she stared at Dumbledore’s smirking face. “Our Miss Granger? Good heavens, I never would have guessed it.” She shook her head and brought a hand up to her cheek

“Oh my indeed,” she remarked again.

Dumbledore wasn’t sure, but it seemed to him that the slightest hint of a blush appeared on the aged Headmistresses face just before she chuckled softly to herself and smiled.

When she had recovered from Dumbledore’s somewhat surprising news, her expression turned more serious once again as she posed the following question to her predecessor.

“So Albus, what do you suggest we do now?”

“Minerva, while I defer to your judgment, of course,” he said as he nodded to her. “I believe that this may ultimately be a situation that would be best left to the parties involved to sort out. However, a friendly word of advice, gently offered, could be helpful if needed. Now, Miss Weasely, on the other hand,” Dumbledore grumbled as his demeanor changed completely. “It is my opinion that she should be sternly spoken to upon her return to the castle. Her offence is quite serious, and her fate in regards to this matter will need to be decided.”

Authors’ note: To all the helpful souls who made me aware of the fact that I had indeed spelled Seamus wrong repeatedly, this fix is for you. I’ll be more careful next time, I can guarantee you that!

Chapter 5

Hermione was lying in her bed wide awake as the early morning sun began to rise above the horizon and push its way through the castles windows. She had been awake now for over an hour crying softly and thinking about all that had happened to her in the past twenty four hours. As devastating as the events of last night were to her, she could think of nothing else. Her pain was tremendous, but it was also strengthening her resolve.

“I won’t let this destroy me, no way! I’m stronger then that,” she whispered fiercely to herself as she wiped away what she vowed would be the last tears she would shed about yesterday.

An annoyed look crossed her face as she fidgeted in her bed trying to find a comfortable spot. She wasn’t having much luck. She had been lying awake in the bed for too long. Her beautiful lingerie set, which was sexy and provocative last night, was now just a nuisance as she tried to get comfortable.

“Damn underwear, I need to get these off,” she hissed. While the underwear was really not the reason for her discomfort, the lingerie was definitely a reminder of what almost was, and she now found them completely distasteful. She rolled over and looked around the room. Not a soul was stirring. “Good,” she thought. Hermione quietly slipped out of bed, and forgoing her slippers, headed straight for her dresser. With a fresh set of clothes now in hand, she ran as quietly as she could across the cold stone floor to the bathroom. Once inside, she locked the door and leaned with her back against it for a few moments, all the while hugging her clothes tight.

Hermione nodded to herself. She had made up her mind. She now knew how she would handle her ‘Harry’ situation. She pushed herself away from the bathroom door and set about her business. “What happened between us was private,” she mumbled under her breath as she padded around the bathroom. “Its nobodies business but ours,” she told herself. “God, I really hope nobody else finds out about this. But either way, Harry and I will need to calmly sit down and discuss what happened between us,” she rationalized before continuing. “Okay, I know, it’s going to be extremely difficult, but we need to do this, and as soon as possible. We can’t let this linger. We’ll need to deal with what happened,”

She put her toothbrush down on the counter and slowly leaned in towards the mirror. She locked eyes with the girl that stood before her. “You can do this,” she tried to convince the bushy haired girl reflecting back at her. Her eyes welled up slightly as she momentarily thought of the damage Ginny’s stupidity had caused. “No,” she hissed angrily as she slammed the cup of water in her hand down on the counter more forcefully that she had intended. Through sheer force of will she did not let her tears fall, as she had vowed she wouldn’t. The young witch took a deep breath and composed herself once again. “You can do this!” she repeated as she continued to stare at her reflection.

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Molly Weasley stood with her hands on her hips glaring at Ginny. “What did you do?” she demanded to know from her only daughter.

“Me? Nothing Mom, I swear. I have no idea what that was about,” Ginny assured her mother gesturing in the direction of the vortex.

Fluer, who was standing nearby, watched intently as mother and daughter argued back and forth.

“Ginny, someone doesn’t just ‘accio’ you without a reason. Whoever it was certainly thinks you did something. ‘Accio’ is an excessive way to try to get in touch with someone young lady. So it doesn’t sound like nothing to me.”

Molly waited for an explanation.

Ginny said nothing; she just stood staring at her mother.

“That’s it.” She dismissed Ginny with a wave and headed for the door. “I’m going to contact your father. He’ll know if someone was looking for you, then we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Mom honestly, I haven’t done anything, to anyone. It has to be some kind of mistake.”

In the very back of Ginny’s mind her conversation with Lavander and Pavarti flickered by for a brief second. She quickly dismissed it as a possibility, and followed her mother across the store pleading her innocence.

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Hermione, dressed in jeans and a simple pullover with her hair pulled back into a very bushy ponytail sat all alone in a fairly remote corner of the great hall. She was pushing the sausage and eggs on her plate around with little enthusiasm. She was not actually eating anything, she wasn’t very hungry. She had decided to sit off by herself rather than sit at her usual table this morning. Even though she was sure that the dozen or so students who were at breakfast that early, were constantly glancing her way and whispering. At least she was far enough away as to not actually be able to hear what they were saying to each other. Sitting at the Gryffindor table, after last night, would have been too much to bear, even as empty as it was. She was planning to pretty much steer clear of just about everyone today. Maybe she’d spend her time in the library. On a beautiful Saturday like this, the library was not the in place to be, she could expect to be left alone for the most part, she hoped.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash at her table that startled Hermione so much that the fork she was using flew right out of her hand.

Ron Weasley stood before her with both of his hands tightly gripping the corner of her table as he leaned over her menacingly. She looked up and seeing who the insensitive clod was, she snapped at him.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You scared me half to death.” She then glowered at him before she leaned back on the bench she was sitting on and looked from side to side for the fork she had lost. She hadn’t really paid any attention to him once she saw who it was. If she had, she would have seen the angry flush rising above Ron’s ridiculous orange sweater with the big giant ‘R’ on it.

“You’re mad at me?” he bellowed. “What right do you have to be mad at me? What the hell did you do to Harry yesterday? I saw how upset he was, and I’m sure YOU had something to do with it.”

Hermione froze where she was, halfway back up to a sitting position. Her mouth dropped open it shock. She could not believe what her ears had just heard. Ron was accusing her of upsetting Harry. That accusation, coming from a Weasley, pushed her over the edge. Hermione clenched her hands into fists, her right hand still holding the fork she had retrieved from the floor beside her. She then slowly rose up off the bench, shaking with anger.

“What? What did you just say to me?” Hermione nearly shrieked as she poked him hard in the chest with the fork.

The fifteen or twenty students who were eating their breakfast began watching carefully.

This was getting interesting!

The hall got very quiet. All the student chatter instantly stopped. They all wanted to be sure they would be able to hear every word that Ron and Hermione were saying. They were, and they were not disappointed.

“Hey, watch it,” Ron cried as he brought a hand up to his chest and began rubbing the spot where she had poked him while he backed away from her.

Hermione had no intention of letting Ron get away. She followed him, still brandishing the fork and boiling with rage as she advanced.

“My fault, you’re accusing ME of upsetting Harry! You are the most mindless, clueless, unknowing, insensitive git I have ever met!” she shouted. And each adjective she shouted was punctuated with a poke of the fork for emphasis, each poke harder than the one before it.

Ron was confused. He was the one who was supposed to be angry! The insane Hermione advancing on him was actually hurting him with that damn fork. He tried to still show his anger by accusing her again, but most of the fight had gone out of him, all he really wanted to do was run.

Ron’s attempt at a comeback came out as a very lame, “Whatever you did, you better not do it again,” as he continued to back peddle while pointing a finger at her.

But she was still following him and screaming at him. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Why don’t you go ask your SISTER! She caused all THIS! So help me Ronald Weasley, if you don’t get away from me this instant, today will be the saddest day of your life!”

Ron rebounded and returned fire. “Don’t give me that, Ginny’s not even here, so don’t go blaming this on her, Hermione!”

That was it, Hermione shrieked as tears of anger ran down her face, and she ran at him.

“Oh crap!” he muttered as she closed the distance between them. He turned to run but he collided with the corner of one of the tables. Luckily for him, it spun him in the direction he needed to go, which was away from the advancing Hermione. As he reached the Great Hall door, she flung the fork at him as hard as she could. The fork imbedded in the huge oak door, right where Ron had been just seconds before, as the door slammed shut behind him. Emotionally distraught, Hermione fell to her knees, brought her hand up to cover her face, and cried.

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Harry woke with a start. He was momentarily disoriented at finding himself not in his own room. He threw his legs off the bed and sat up. His heart was racing, about what he couldn’t quite remember. There was just a vague remnant of a dream finishing its escape from his consciousness. He covered his face with his hands, and then raked them up through his hair as he tried to chase the last vestiges of sleep away. He stood up too quickly, and his whole body creaked. He winced. His elbows and knees were sore and his chin was throbbing. He said Hermione’s name out loud as he crossed the room and headed for the sink. He needed to speak to her, and soon. He needed to tell her everything he didn’t get to tell her last night.

Harry stopped dead. “Wait! I need to think this through.” He circled back towards the bed. “I can’t just go rushing up to her, and blurting out a million things. That’s not gonna work. I need to think about this a little bit. Okay, what am I gonna say? I have no freakin clue. What if Hermione won’t listen to me? What do I do then? Why would she even think that everything that happened between us was just the potion?”

He stood still and thought for a moment, and then shook his head in disgust.

“I can’t believe I’m such an idiot. There she was,” and he gestured with his hands at the ground in front of him as if she was actually standing there. “The whole time, and I didn’t even notice. Well at least I’ve noticed now, and I’m not going back to being just friends. I can’t, I want more.” With his mind made up he headed off to find Hermione, forgetting that he had intended to clean himself up a bit by at least washing away the dried blood.

The first place Harry headed was back to the common room to look for her. He was in no mood to answer a shitload of dumb questions from his house mates about yesterday, so they better not ask. He reached the Fat Lady, and instead of going in, he asked her if Hermione had come out.

“Yes she did, about a half an hour ago.” Before he had a chance to get away she remarked. “My goodness you are a mess. What on earth happened to you?”

Harry just grumbled at her and ignored the question before asking if she could point him in the direction Hermione had gone. The Fat Lady waited for a moment for a reply to her question, but realizing that one was not forthcoming, her unenthusiastically gestured in the general direction of the great hall. He never even said thank you as he ran off in the direction that she had pointed.

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Ron mumbled to himself as he walked through the hallways back to the common room.

He grabbed the neck of his sweater and pulled it out so he could see the damage Hermione had done with her damn fork. “She’s a total loon! I can’t believe she stabbed me. She upsets Harry, blames it on my sister, and then attacks me. She must have a damn chemical imbalance. I can’t believe I actually liked her!”

Ron was so busy grumbling as he rounded the corner that he never saw Harry until it was too late. Harry had been running with his head down and he caught Ron right on the left cheekbone with the top of his head. Harry brought his hands up and held his head as he bent over in pain and circled away. Ron fell backwards into the wall. He saw stars, an entire galaxy of stars actually, full of pretty colors. He slowly slid down the wall until he came to rest in a sitting position.

“You okay?” Harry asked when the pain had subsided enough that he could open his eyes.

“Bloody hell Harry that really hurt,” bemoaned Ron as the stars started to fade from his field of vision. “What the hell is your hurry? Hey wait, what was all that crap about in the common room last night?”

Harry whole body tensed up, and he gritted his teeth. This was not something he felt like sharing, especially with a Weasley. Although this mess was not Ron’s fault, it was difficult for Harry to keep from feeling that there was some guilt by association, fair or not. He was not angry with Ron; he was more distrustful of another Weasley, but he had no intention of going over the whole ‘yesterday thing’ with him anyway.

Seamus Finnegan appeared, seemingly from out of nowhere. “Bloody hell guys that was a wicked collision. You both okay?” he said as he placed a hand on Ron shoulder, and then looked towards Harry. “Where were you guys heading in such a hurry?”

“Down to the great hall,” Harry replied as he winced after touching the now growing lump on his head.

Ron struggled to his feet and his eyes lit up. “Trust me Harry, you do NOT want to go down there, crazy witch tried to kill me. Look,” he said, as he lifted up his shirt revealing a great number of red spots on his chest. Do you have any idea what these are?” Ron said as he pointed to his chest. Both Harry and Seamus looked at Ron, then at each other before Harry guessed, “Uhh, freckles?”

“Freckles?” Ron screeched at the pair. “The hell you say. They are NOT freckles. That crazy bitch Hermione stabbed me like ten times with a fork.”

At the mention of Hermione’s name, and crazy bitch in the same sentence, Harry’s green eyes went black, and he lunged at Ron with his hands outstretched intending to choke the life out of his soon to be former best friend. Luckily for Ron, Seamus was close enough to blunt some of the force of Harry’s charge by getting his body partially between them. The three boys swayed back and forth in what would have appeared to be a very bizarre dance to anyone happening upon the scene. Seamus tried to stay between Harry and Ron. Ron tried to get Harry’s hands off his neck, and Harry did his best to strangle Ron for what he had called Hermione.

Seamus shouted at Harry. “Harry let go, have you lost your mind, it’s Ron. Let him go Harry, will you let him go for Merlin’s sake, let him go!” All the while Harry demanded of Ron, “Don’t you EVER call her that again, EVER. You hear me? EVER!” Ron was only able to manage a few strained gurgling sounds due to Harry’s hands being securely wrapped around his neck.

When Ron was finally able to get Harry’s hands lose. Seamus pushed them apart, and held on to Harry as Ron collapsed backwards against the hallway wall.

“What is wrong with you?” Ron whimpered as he slid to the ground a few feet from the still angry Harry. “I stuck up for you. I told her I was pissed that she upset you, and then she tried to kill me. Then I warn you to stay away from her because she’s loony, and you try to kill me. What the hell is going on around here? Has everybody gone insane?

Ron struggled to his feet. “You know what, the hell with you Harry, and the hell with Hermione too, I’m done with the both of you.” And with that said he trotted off down the corridor, looking back occasionally to make sure Harry wasn’t following him.

As Ron turned a corner and disappeared from sight Seamus let go of Harry and took two steps away from him. “Harry, have you gone mad?” he asked in a low tone. “That was RON you were strangling, you know, your best mate. Why the bloody hell would you do that?”

Harry was now pacing around in a circle in the corridor. He looked at Seamus “You heard him!” he growled as he pointed vaguely in the direction that Ron had gone. “Didn’t you? You heard what he called Hermione! What was I supposed to do, just let that GO?”

Seamus slowly backed away. “But Harry, he’s your best mate; you don’t do that to your best mate.”

“And friends don’t say that about other friend either.” Harry retorted as his pacing slowed down. He seemed to be calming down a bit, and he stopped and leaned against the wall.

“Okay …..Fine.” Harry threw his hands up into the air in disgust. “So maybe he caught me at a bad moment, but still, friend or not, I’m not gonna just stand there and let someone say that about Hermione, that’s never gonna happen.” Harry’s angry eyes challenged Seamus to say something more.

Seamus just stood and stared at the determined look on Harry’s face, he said nothing.

With seemingly nothing left to say Harry tore off down the hallway towards the great hall to find Hermione as a still shocked Seamus stood and watched him go.

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Ron could not believe the day he was having. He would have bet anyone a million galleons that what just happened to him, could not have happened. Hermione, the girl of his dreams, had stabbed him repeatedly with a fork. And not ten minutes later, Harry, his best friend, had choked him. Something was really wrong. His two best friends, “former best friends,” he muttered angrily to himself, were absolutely bonkers. There was no other explanation, they had both gone mental. “But why?” he wondered as he rubbed his neck and then slowly lowered his hand to his still sore chest.

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Harry had slowed his pace some as he was now out of Seamus’ sight, but he was still in a hurry to find Hermione. He turned the last corner leading to the great hall and he bumped right into the person he was looking for.

Hermione was looking back over her shoulder at the doors of the great hall to see if anyone had come out behind her. No one had, but she was sure that the show she and Ron had put on would reach full blown tall tale status by lunch. She lowered her head in despair, and that’s when she collided with someone. She looked up startled. Then she saw who she had bumped into and her eyes grew to the size of saucers and her breath hitched in her throat. Harry stood before her. He had no glasses on, which made his amazing green eyes stand out even more. His chin was caked with dried blood. His shirt, which for a fleeting second she recognized as the one she had torn open last night, was badly stained, no doubt from his dripping chin. His hair, which was always a mess, was far worse than normal. Despite it all, she couldn’t help thinking that he was the sexiest man she had ever seen and she blushed slightly for thinking it. Then she turned to run but he was too fast, a seekers reflexes in action, he grabbed her left arm as she turned to go. She froze, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened her eyes and turned to face him.

“We need to talk,” Harry began. She nodded her head.

“I know,” she replied almost breathlessly as her eyes glazed over. He thought she might cry, but then she seemed to pull herself together. He drank her in, stared into her beautiful brown eyes, red rimmed and puffy, but none the less, beautiful, warm, inviting. “God, look at her,” he thought. He stared, hypnotized by her. Hermione was caught as well. She did not want him staring at her like that. I did things to her that, at the moment, she was trying hard not to think about. He was still holding her wrist. She broke his gaze, and looked down at her feet as she began to speak.

“Harry, I think tha….” There was movement in front of her. As she raised her eyes to see what it was, Harry’s lips crashed hard into hers.

Stunned….again! That was twice in the last twelve hours.

They back peddled slowly until they hit the cold stone wall. Harry’s tongue was once again in her mouth. The sweet caress of his tongue dancing with hers was beyond erotic. All rational thought was instantly gone. She was completely at his mercy. Harry released his grip on her wrist and slid his hand down to hers and interlaced their fingers. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and drew her close. Her free hand rested softly on his chest. He was aroused, full of desire. It was coming off him in waves that crashed over her, burying her beneath them, she was drowning in him.

Somehow, incredibly, a tiny spark of reason flared up. Her mind, inexplicably, found the strength to work again. She fought every impulse she had, that screamed at her to let go, be his, which was what she wanted so badly. But, she opened her eyes. She hadn’t even realized that they had been closed from the second he had started kissing her. She then began to push him away. He was backing up. His neck was now stretching to keep his lips on hers, but she was gaining ground. And then her lips were free. She took a deep breath. Pushing Harry away took more courage that she had thought she possessed. It was probably the hardest thing she had ever done because he was what she wanted more than anything, but not from a potion, not like that.

Harry looked up, startled. Then he stared at her. His green eyes were mesmerizing. He licked his lips slightly as he held her gaze.

She shivered.

“He shouldn’t do that. It’s way to hard to resist him when he smolders like that,” she thought. He leaned in again, but she turned her head as he did. He ended up kissing just the corner of her mouth. He had missed her lips by just enough that she could still focus.

“No Harry, not like this, not from a potion.”

Those words, said out loud, got his attention.

“No Hermione, never, it was never a potion, I believe that. I can feel it.” He was still very close. Her hair gently brushed his face as he leaned into her shoulder and inhaled her smell. He closed his eyes as the sweetness of her scent overpowered him. He gently nuzzled her neck with his nose and his warm breath sent shivers up her spine as he whispered gently to her, “Never! Never, Hermione, it wasn’t a potion, it was just you.

She felt herself falling again, he was incredibly hard to resist. But she did it. She slid to her right, and he nearly fell into the wall head first as his head lost contact with her shoulder and neck. He was surprised by her movement, but now, now she was two feet away and retreating. He had been so intoxicated by her that his mind had drifted a bit and now she was getting away from him when he needed her to stay. He needed to convince her that his feelings were all real.

She stopped her retreat, and then she hit him right between the eyes with the one argument he couldn’t win.

“I’m sorry Harry, but not once,” she began as she held up one finger for emphasis. “Not once in six years did you ever show me even a hint that you were attracted to me. Not one time, and I looked for it Harry. I hoped and I looked, but it wasn’t there. No, it had to be the potion. All those years, and nothing, until yesterday. There’s no way Harry, you can’t explain that away.” Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. He didn’t know what to say. She was backing away faster and faster now, holding up one finger and repeating, “Not one time,” as she shook her head

“Wait,” Harry held up his hands up in a stop sign trying to coax her to remain where she was. “Just wait Hermione. If that’s true, and it was all just a potion, then why do I still feel it then huh, explain that!” He was trying to appeal to her sense of reason. “It was yesterday at lunch Hermione, and I still can’t think of anything but YOU!” he said, pointing at her. “No God damn potion lasts that long and you know it!” His anger got the best of him for a second as he realized that his argument was not getting through.

She had never stopped backing away, or shaking her head no. “I’m sorry Harry, I….I don’t believe you.” He watched as she continued to shake her tear streaked face from side to side. She finally brought her hands up to her face and ran down the hallway.

Authors Note: Hey everyone, I’m back! I realize that this chapter took me forever to write but it’s finally done! I’ve only written one other story, so I’d never hit any kind of writers block before, but I sure as hell hit one on this chapter. I had a thousand words of this written in like, early November, and then nothing, not one stinking word for months. So, because of that, I need to send out a very special thank you to my wife for her help. She gave me some really good suggestions a week or so ago, and they actually got me writing again. I hope you all like this chapter, and please will let me know what you think when you’re done. Also, S-E-A-M-U-S….... it’s burned into my subconscious! lol

Chapter 6

Hermione made her way back to her room and sat on her bed for a moment to think. She went over and over in her mind what Harry had said to her in the hallway, after he kissed her, AGAIN! She wanted desperately to believe him, but logic made her skeptical.

“Okay, let’s look at this rationally. Either Harry, my best friend of six years, now fancies me as he said, to the point where…” She paused as images filled her head. “Oh my God, I can’t believe that we almost shagged in the hallway.” She covered her mouth as the shock of what had almost happened between them yesterday really hit her. She shook her head to dispel the memory, but once it was gone she exhaled very deeply to.....settle herself. Okay, now that she was back in the real world, the one where she and Harry weren’t about to shag each other senseless, she could think straight.

“Or…. he’s under a very powerful love potion. So… how do I prove which it is?” Hermione pondered. “Well….I guess I’m going to have to do a little research to find out for sure. I should have thought of this sooner!” She mentally kicked herself for not thinking more clearly over the last twelve hours.

She grabbed a quill and some parchment off her desk and bounded out of her room, and headed for the library. Hermione felt lighter and more at ease than she had felt at any moment since last night. She had a purpose. There was problem to solve and she was going to find the answer. That’s what she was good at, very good at. As Hermione walked to the library she couldn’t help but think that for the first time in her life she truly wanted to be wrong. She smiled with hope that she might be, and quickened her pace. Just the prospect that Harry could actually want her for real as badly as he had wanted her yesterday made her body tingle with excitement. “Wait, don’t think about that right now,” she told herself. “It’s way too distracting!” A small shutter shook her anyway.

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As the day progressed the buzz around the school reached a fever pitch. All anyone could talk about were Harry and Hermione. The day began with a retelling of the events that took place in the common room the night before for anyone who hadn’t witnessed them. This was quickly overshadowed by Hermione and Ron’s blowup at breakfast. But by lunch Harry’s attack on Ron had trumped even the breakfast gossip. At the Gryffindor table Seamus had just finished relaying to his fellow classmates, Neville, Dean, Lavender and Parvati, how he had singlehandedly saved Ron’s life. They looked at him skeptically about the saving Ron’s life part, but seemed to believe the bulk of what he had told them. It was all just too weird.

Dean had been the only one at the table who had witnessed Hermione’s battle with Ron as he sat eating his breakfast that morning.

“No really, she said that,” Dean relayed to Lavender, almost pleading to be believed. “I swear.”

“You’re telling me, that Hermione said that Ron should go ask his sister. That Ginny was the one who had caused all this craziness?” Dean just looked at her and nodded his head. Lavenders mind was turning. She looked over at Parvati who had a somewhat guilty look on her face. They were both thinking the exact same thing. Lavender leaned towards Parvati and said to her in a low voice, “Do you think?” Parvati shrugged her shoulders and replied, “I don’t know….maybe?”

Seamus and Dean both said “What? Tell us!” Lavender looked back at Parvati once more but she saw that she wasn’t going to get any help from her; all she got was another shrug of the shoulders.

Lavender scanned the room to see if anyone could overhear what she was about to say. This caused the other four students at the table to also look around. They peered in all directions, and once they were all satisfied that the coast was clear, they leaned in as Lavender began her tale.

“Okay, so yesterday, in like all our afternoon classes. Right?” she nodded towards Parvati who enthusiastically agreed. “Harry was majorly hitting on Hermione. He was practically drooling on his desk every time she moved. But no one seemed to notice,” she said with some indignation. “Just me, Parvati, and uhh, obviously Hermione, but she seemed pretty flustered by the whole thing. It was really weird. It started in Defense class and got worse all afternoon. I actually saw him nibble on her ear in Transfiguration. You should have seen the look on her face…”

“What! No way….Harry bit Hermione’s ear….in class?” Dean interrupted. “No, I don’t think so!”

“Listen you git, I was there, I saw him do it, and so did she,” the blond girl replied angrily as she gestured towards Parvati. “I swear to God, Hermione looked like she was gonna have a stroke or something. There was no way she saw that coming.”

During Lavenders story Neville sat on the edge of the conversation. He didn’t add anything, or seem overly surprised by what he was hearing. None of the other students really noticed. Parvati did look over at him once while Lavender spoke but she assumed the slight frown on his face was due to embarrassment and nothing more.

Lavender put her hands up for emphasis, “Okay, so here’s the rest. When we left our last class of the day, Parvati and I happened to run into Ginny.” Both Dean and Seamus began to look at her with a weary eye. She noticed the looks on their faces and responded with a quizzical, “What…we did? It wasn’t like we were waiting for her or anything.”

Parvati, at that moment seemed to find everything in the room more interesting to look at than the group she was sitting with. They all noticed.

“Well….do you want to hear this or not!” Lavender asked the boys who were looking at her through narrow, suspicious eyes.

Both Dean and Seamus squeaked out slightly frustrated, “Yes’s”

“Good, well all Parvati and I did was, well we just mentioned to Ginny that Harry, most of the afternoon seemed somewhat interested in Hermione is all.”

Both boys pulled their heads out of the tight circle they had been leaning into and once again cast a very skeptical eye at Lavender.

“Fine…if you don’t want to hear, I’ll stop.” She turned away from them and looked up toward the ceiling and then around the room as though she was admiring the rooms’ architecture.

Seamus, in a somewhat defeated tone spoke up. “No, go ahead, we want to hear.”

A bubbly Lavender quickly turned back to them and leaned in to get even closer than before.

“Okay, so here’s where it gets good. Ginny said, that she knew Harry was drooling over Hermione because she had given him a love potion”

“Bullshit!” Dean snapped at Lavender, startling the whole group. “Hermione wouldn’t do that to Harry!”

“Will you please pay attention? Hermione didn’t give Harry the love potion you idiot, Ginny did!”

Seamus spoke up. “I’m confused….If Ginny gave the potion to Harry, then why was he so into Hermione?”

Lavender rolled her eyes as if she was dealing with complete morons. Because……Hermione was the first person he saw, duhh!”

Dean and Seamus furrowed their brows as they tried to wrap their brains around what they had just been told. Very slowly the light of recognition went on and they nodded their heads as it all started to make sense. Or so it seemed, until Dean’s face grew perplexed once again.

“So how does this all figure in to what’s going on with them. It only makes sense if they were together. Something did happen between them in the common room after dinner while I was playing chess with Ron. They were talking, it didn’t make much sense, the part I heard anyway, but then again, I wasn’t really paying attention. Harry did go up stairs and then like, less than a minute later, he came back down and left through the portrait.”

“Was Hermione there when he left?” Parvati asked.

“I don’t think so, but like I said, I wasn’t really paying attention,” Dean answered.

“Did anyone see them anywhere it the castle together?” Seamus asked the group.

Dean, Lavender, Parvati, and Seamus all shook their heads, but Neville slid slowly down the bench away from them. They all turned and looked at him, then at the empty space between him and them, and then back at him.

“Neville,” Lavender said in a honey sweet voice. “Do you know something?”

“Umm, ahh, no, not really,” he stammered.

“Neville,” she said more ominously this time. “You do know something don’t you?”

“Uhh, no, not much, I mean, no I don’t.”

“Yes you do! Spill it Neville,” Lavender ordered.

“Well….it’s nothing really.” Neville replied.

“Well if it’s nothing, then you can tell us, right?”

Neville looked from face to face as they all stared at him.

He let out an exasperated breath and dropped his head.

“Okay, I did see them together in the hallway last night after dinner,” he informed them.

“And,” Parvati coaxed. “What were they doing?”

Neville replied, “Nothing, just standing.”

Lavender chimed in, “Standing? How? Where? Just standing? No, you’re not telling it all, come on, give.”

“They were just standing, alright! They weren’t doing anything. McGonagall sent me to find Harry and I found them together. I told Harry that McGonagall wanted to see him. Then he and I left, and Hermione said she was going back to the common room. And that’s all.” Neville blurted out. He then refused to say another word as he folded his arms across his chest.

“McGonagall huh?” Lavender asked. “I…I mean we,” she began as she pointed at herself and then Parvati. “We told McGonagall about Ginny and the potion,” Lavender admitted as both she and Parvati lowered their eyes in shame.

Neville was still sitting at the table with them, but he was lost in his own little world. There was no way he would, or even could have described the heated way that Harry and Hermione were looking at each other when he had found them. Yeah, they were just standing, but that was by no means all they were doing. He had also neglected to mention what he had seen them do to each other when he had left them alone for a moment so they could ‘talk’.

At present, he was more than a bit annoyed about being interrogated by Lavender, and he grumbled under his breath. “No way….. I admitted to having seen them, but I definitely wasn’t gonna say anything about all the buttons!”

Then Neville froze as if he were petrified, which he was, but with fear. He had mumbled that last part a great deal louder than he had intended. He looked up and saw Dean, Seamus, Parvati, and Lavender, and all four of them were now staring at him.

“What buttons?” Lavender growled at Neville as she slowly rose to her feet.

Neville rose also. “I didn’t say anything!”

Parvati spoke up. “Yes you did! I heard you, we all heard you say something about buttons.”

“No I didn’t,” a very worried looking Neville spat back.

Lavender pointed an accusing finger at him. “I knew you knew more than you were saying Neville, now spill it! What about buttons? All the buttons on what Neville, someone’s shirt?”

Now, both Dean and Seamus were paying attention! The prospect that shirts may have been unbuttoned made this thing a whole lot more interesting, especially if one of the shirts was Hermione’s. They smiled at each other because they knew they where both thinking the same thing.

Neville on the other hand, slowly started backing away from the table as he watched Lavender closely, and then, he bolted for the door.

A surprised Lavender glanced at Parvati; they smiled at each other, and then they both took off after him.

Dean and Seamus watched as the girls ran off after Neville. Both were disappointed that they wouldn’t be getting to the bottom of this button thing. It was too bad, but they shrugged it off, and then they began to look over what was left on the lunch platters for something else to eat.

Hermione was proud of herself. She had found a good strong love potion very quickly as she searched through the rows of books on such spells in the library. The ingredients for the spell she liked had been easier to obtain than she had expected. A few of them were in the advanced potions kit she owned, and she had managed to scrounge up the rest, mostly with Dobby’s help. Hermione then took all of the ingredients, the book, and her cauldron to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom to brew it up. It had taken Hermione over two hours to get the potion right, but it was done! She poured the proper amount of the love potion into a half a glass of pumpkin juice that she had also brought with her. She held up the clear glass and stared at its contents as she thought to herself.

“I hope this stuff works. I better go find Harry and tell him what I’m doing so he can keep an eye on me after I drink this mess.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s kind of like letting the fox guard the henhouse, but…. He is the one person I trust more than anyone else.”

She knew that drinking the love potion herself was not the proper way to run an experiment, but she couldn’t just give it to someone. Hermione was certain that she would get in huge trouble if she used it on anybody else. “Hopefully by the end of the day I’ll have my answers.”

Hermione stepped out of Myrtle’s bathroom with the glass in hand, being very careful not to spill in. She peered down into the glass as she walked, checking to see if the potion and the juice were separating at all.

An exhausted and sweaty Neville rounded the corner at the far end of the hallway and began running in her direction. A confused Hermione stopped walking and just stood watching as Neville approached her, panting. Then she had an idea.

“Wait…. Neville! He knows about Harry and me. He can keep an eye on me!” The thought of letting Harry watch over her, while exciting as hell, scared her to death. If she couldn’t control herself around Harry when she was not being influenced by a love potion, what would happen when she was?

Neville pulled up to a stop in front of her.

“Hey Neville,” she said as she furrowed her brow in confusion as to what he was up to.

Before Hermione realized what was happening, Neville had reached out and taken the glass from her hand. After quickly muttering “Thanks, Hermione,” he turned to see if Lavender and Parvati were gaining on him and he raised the glass to his lips.

A panicked stricken Hermione screamed for him to stop, and reached for the glass, but she was too late.

Neville swallowed a mouthful of the very sweet tasting pumpkin juice, and just as he did, Parvati Patil came into view.

Neville’s face instantly morphed into that of a lovesick puppy, and he was staring intently at Parvati. Without taking his eyes off her, Neville held out the glass which Hermione quickly took from him.

“No!” Hermione moaned in a whimpered tone. “This can’t be happening.”

But it was.

On seeing the look on Neville’s face Parvati had stopped dead a good fifteen feet from him. She was immediately run into from behind by Lavender.

“Sorry,” her friend muttered, and then she too noticed the moony look on Neville’s face.

“What the…..? What’s the hells wrong with him?” Lavender asked the dumbstruck Hermione as she gestured towards Neville. Hermione could do nothing but stand there staring at the half empty glass in her hand.

“He drank it!” she finally said in disbelief, and then she looked up at Lavender. “He wasn’t supposed to. It was for me, not him.”

A somewhat annoyed Lavender walked towards Hermione and chastised her, “Come on Hermione, get over it, what’s the big deal, it’s just pumpkin juice.”

“No it wasn’t! It had a love potion in it!” she confessed.

“WHAT!”

Parvati’s eyes snapped from the love struck Neville, who was now smoothing out his hair and grinning at her like a lecherous used car salesmen, and bore down on Hermione.

“What do you mean there was a love potion in it?” Parvati shrieked in disbelief.

“Just what I said. I was going to do an experiment to see if the potion Harry…”

Hermione stopped, and quickly shifted her eyes back and forth between the two girls to see if they had caught what she had started to say.

Of course, Lavender pounced immediately, “What, what was that about Harry?” Before Hermione could answer, they were interrupted by Neville, who finally spoke.

“I love you!” he crooned towards Parvati.

“What?” she said, totally aghast.

“Oh great,” Hermione muttered.

“I need you. We belong together my raven haired beauty.”

Neville continued spouting declarations of love as he advanced slowly towards her.

Parvati pointed at him, “Neville!” she harshly said as a warning, hoping that the tone of her voice would get him to stop. It didn’t, so she slowly began to back away.

“Somebody help me,” Parvati pleaded, as she looked over at the girls. “Guys, please! Fix him. You can’t do this to me,” she begged.

“We don’t need them my love. All we need is…. each other,” Neville spoke in a breathy voice as he stared into Parvati’s eyes, which resembled those of a deer caught in the headlights.

Lavender began to giggle, but Parvati was horrified. She looked to the girls once more hoping desperately that they were going to help her, but both Lavender and Hermione just stood there staring. Unsure of what else to do, a panicked Parvati decided to run; she turned, and took off down the hallway. As she did, a very amorous Neville sprinted after her, spewing poetry as he ran.

“Darling, my love for you is like a red rose……Wait, come back my sweet ….Come back!”

Lavender turned to Hermione. “Can I have that a second?”

“What this?” Hermione replied as she held up the half empty glass, which Lavender quickly took from her hand.

“What do you want it for?” Hermione asked suspiciously.

Lavender smiled, “I want to give the rest of it to Parvati. It’d be too damn funny, don’t you think?” And the silly blond burst out laughing.

“Give me that!”

Hermione angrily snatched the glass back. “I don’t have time for this now, I’ve got to go and rescue Parvati. You know, you could try being helpful, after all she is your best friend!”

“Yeah, well whatever, but because of you and your potion, I think I’m gonna have an entertaining afternoon. So, thanks!” Lavender turned and headed down the hallway in the direction that Parvati and Romeo had gone, laughing as she went.

An annoyed Hermione was watching Lavender go when she felt a hand gently touch her arm.

She turned to see Harry standing beside her, and her breath hitched in surprise. “He needs to stop doing that!” she thought, “Well….At least he didn’t kiss me this time.”

Deep down, she actually felt a twinge of disappointment; she had enjoyed kissing him very much. But…..That aside, she was very grateful to see him.

“Oh my God, Harry, I’m gonna be in so much trouble,” she cried as she engulfed him in one of her patented killer hugs.

Harry accepted the hug gratefully; he enjoyed the feel of her body pressed tightly against his. But, she was upset, so he decided he wouldn’t act on any of the ideas that were flooding his head at the moment; he would stay focused on what she needed.

“It’ll be okay Hermione, whatever you need, I’m here for you.” At hearing his pledge to help her, Hermione tightened her grip.

After releasing him from the hug Hermione stood up on her toes and kissed him quickly.

“Thank you Harry,” she whispered as she stared into his eyes. He was startled, before he had time to react to her kiss it was over.

“We have to find Neville, but first I need to get rid of this!” she said as she held up the glass. Hermione darted quickly into Myrtle’s bathroom, and was back out in a flash.

“What was that?” Harry inquired.

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain, but we have to go,” she told him.

She reached out and took Harry’s hand, and pulled him down the hallway after her. As they ran, Hermione began talking very quickly; something about catching Neville to save Parvati. She really wasn’t making a whole lot of sense so far, but he wasn’t worried about it. He’d sort it all out eventually. He was actually just glad she wasn’t crying. So, he willingly went with her, as he always did.

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Authors note: As always, thanks to everyone who left me a review on chapter six. I really enjoy hearing what you think of a chapter. I especially like the reviews where you comment on specific things, and make guesses, or suggestions as to where you think or hope the next chapter will go. It shows you’re really into the story, and what writer doesn’t love that!

Of course, I also need to thank my wife for all her help. She’s a great sounding board as I’m writing, and she gives me her honest opinion, whether I like it or not. But, to be fair, she’s is usually right, so I grumble, but I listen. Well, that’s about it for now, so …. here you go, chapter seven. Enjoy!

PS I thought I’d be able to end this story with chapter seven, didn’t happen, so there will be a chapter eight.

Chapter 7

Ginny Weasley sat on the couch in Fluer’s living room, pouting. After the incident last night her mother had suspended all shopping privileges until she could get to the bottom of it. Molly had spoken to Arthur, who was shocked by what had happened to his daughter. He said he would speak to Ron to see if he knew anything, and to be sure that he was alright.

Arthur had just contacted Molly back with news from Ron. Molly finished her conversation with Arthur and turned to her daughter.

“Ginny! What on earth did you do to Hermione Granger?”

“Hermione? I haven’t even spoken to Hermione, since like, lunch time Thursday. I haven’t done anything to Hermione. Why?”

“Well, it appears that Hermione stabbed you brother with a fork over something she said that you had done to her!” Molly barked, hands on hips.

“Mom I swear, I haven’t done ANYTHING to Hermione!”

“Ron seems to think that she was the one looking for you last night.”

“Mom, if it was Hermione, I have no idea why.”

That’s you last word then?”

Ginny nodded.

“That’s it, we’re going home!” Molly turned and headed for the bedroom to pack.

“NO, there’s no reason to go, nothings happened today, I’m fine.”

Molly turned on her. “You’re fine, you’re fine, what about your brother, huh missy? What about your brother being hurt because of you. You need to get your priorities straight young lady, and right this minute! We’re going home!”

Ginny was speechless. Her mother had never spoken to her like that before. She was the baby; she’d always gotten her way. She began to seethe, and then she grumbled under her breath, “Granger….you’re dead when I get back!”

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Ron sat on his bed stunned. He had just finished speaking with his father. It seemed obvious to Ron that Hermione had gone totally mental. From what his mom had told his dad, someone had tried to ‘accio’ Ginny from Paris. After what Hermione had screamed at him at breakfast about all her troubles having been caused by Ginny, Ron had no doubt he knew exactly who that someone was.

“But what about Harry?” he thought. “Had she infected him somehow? What if she had Harry under some kind of spell? God knew she was smart enough to come up with something like that,” he assured himself. Then he speculated, “The real Harry would never have attacked me, but maybe, a Hermione puppet Harry would. She’s always forcing her way in between us. Yeah, that had to be it.” Ron reasoned. “How am I gonna fix him? I’m no good with spells. Wait; there was that muggle movie I watched that time on vacation, about getting rid of evil and junk? They did it; maybe I can do it the muggle way too.” He sat on his bed with his head in his hands, racking his brain to remember the name of the movie.

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Neville chased his new true love all over the castle, with Lavender trotting behind him smiling from ear to ear. He actually managed to catch Parvati once, and tried to kiss her, but she turned her head just in time, and ended up with his tongue in her ear. Parvati screamed bloody murder! Lavender had saved her that time by putting a body bind on Neville, but once Parvati had run off, she let Neville go.

“What a great day!” Lavender smiled as she skipped after the retreating form of Neville. She had no doubts that he’d find Parvati again, and she’d be there to watch. “Damn that Hermione, she should have given me the rest of that potion for Parvati,” she grumbled. Then she stopped and thought about it for a second, “Actually……….this might just be more fun!” she decided and continued on her way.

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A running Harry and Hermione raced through the corridors looking for Neville. They heard a blood curdling scream from somewhere up ahead of them. They stopped running for a second and looked at each other.

“Could have been Parvati?” Harry said.

“Definitely female!” Hermione replied.

“Unless she kicked him!” Harry winced.

“Huh?”

“Never mind,” and he grabbed her hand and took off again.

Dean and Seamus were in the hallway up ahead.

“Hey buttons,” Dean smirked as they ran by. Harry stopped and turned back towards Dean with a testy look on his face. Dean nodded past him, but Hermione pulled Harry after her.

They continued in the direction of the scream. “Why did he call you ‘buttons’?” she asked as they ran.

“I don’t know, but…….he wasn’t calling me buttons….. he was calling you buttons!”

Hermione stopped dead.

“What? What do you mean ME?” she said horror struck.

She started to go back. Harry stopped her, and made eye contact, “Fixing your little love potion problem?”

She growled and went with him, glaring over her shoulder.

“That’s just great,” an indignant Hermione began. “I’m never speaking to Neville again!”

“Come on Hermione, Neville? He wouldn’t do that to us.”

“Then where the hell did ‘buttons’ come from?” she asked, gesturing back towards where Dean had been.

Harry smiled and shrugged, but Hermione was just ramping up.

“Oh sure, It’s no big deal, what do you care, you’re ‘The Boy who Lived’, ‘The Chosen One’, but me, I’m gonna be stuck with ‘Buttons Granger’ for the rest of my life!”

Harry turned his head away from her and swallowed a laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, very funny, ‘Buttons Granger’ ha-ha, go ahead and laugh you plonker!”

With that, Harry lost it. She angrily pulled her hand from his.

Then he offered, with as straight a face as he could manage.

“Well…..maybe he meant you’re as cute as a button?”

“You shut up!”

Harry lost it again.

Hermione began to stalk off back the way they had come.

Harry ran around her and cut her off. “Wait, wait Hermione, I’m sorry. How bout I hit them both with a really strong memory charm, huh?” he said as he lifted her chin.

She looked skeptical, “yeah?”

“Yeah, for you, sure…..when I’m done with them, they won’t even remember what the hell a button is, okay?”

She still wasn’t too sure, but she managed a low, “okay,” and she let him take her hand again.

“Please Harry,” she begged as they ran. “I don’t want to be known as ‘Buttons Granger’. Do you have any idea what it would be like if Ron ever heard that? It would never stop,” she finished sounding totally defeated.

“Don’t worry….. I promise you, I’ll take care of it.”

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Molly dropped Ginny off in Hogsmeade and shooed her off to the castle. Ginny was very put out; she had not had a very good weekend. It had started to suck Friday afternoon, and went straight down hill from there. First there was Lavender and Parvati, and all that Harry drooling over Hermione crap. Then there was that nearly being sucked through a vortex thing. Now, her mom was pissed at her, for like the first time ever, and worst of all, she hadn’t really gotten to shop, in Paris!

“Son of a bitch!” she groused.

And……

Ginny thought, “Who had caused all her troubles? Why Hermione Grangers, that’s who! She’d undoubtedly done something to bewitch Harry, that was obvious. She had tried to ‘accio’ me for no reason at all, she stabbed my brother, which pissed off my mom, and all of that lead to me not getting to shop!”

She grumbled and seethed as she walked.

“I’m gonna ‘bat bogey’ the bloody hell out of her the second I see that frizzy haired, man stealer!” she venomously spit. “I don’t know why she’s chosen to ruin my life, but payback’s gonna be a bitch.”

And she smiled.

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Ron was busy rummaging through his trunk looking for things he could use. Then he looked around quickly. “Shit! If I’m saving Harry…. then I’m going through his stuff too!” He had remembered the name of the movie he had seen about destroying evil, and was attempting to gather up supplies, but….he wasn’t having the kind of luck he had hoped for. The guy in the movie had cool stuff; Ron was not going to have anything as good to work with.

“How am I gonna make a………?” he trailed off as he dug deeper through Harry’s trunk looking for something he could use to fashion what he needed. He rose out of Harry’s trunk empty handed. He scratched his head and looked around the room. “Guess I’ll have to go with that then?” He frowned slightly and then shrugged as if to say, oh well, and then set about making what he needed from what he had.

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Parvati Patil was horrified. If she hadn’t turned her head Neville’s tongue would have gone halfway down her throat. It was bad enough that it had gone into her ear, which was totally disgusting. The inside of her ear was still wet, and she made a face as she wiped at her ear with her hand. “Thank God for Lavender! If she hadn’t come along and stopped Neville,” she shuttered at the thought. “I need to get as far away from him as possible. I need to find someplace where I’ll be safe. Damn it, I knew we shouldn’t have ratted out Ginny, this is some kind of sick payback,” she thought as she hurried down the hallway. She turned and her eyes went wide as she saw Neville heading in her direction. “NO!” she screamed, and she took off. “How? How did he get loose? Lavender had him!” she whimpered as she ran.

“Wait my darling. Come back! I love you…..Your ear tastes like chocolate!”

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Ron had finished crafting what he needed. He stepped back to assess his handiwork, “Well……could be worse….. I guess.” Then he shrugged. “Don’t really have much choice now do I, so it’s just gonna have to do,” he decided.

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Parvati reached the first floor. She spied the early dinner crowd heading into the great hall, so she decided to head that way. “Safety in numbers,” she reasoned as she ran past a confused looking group of first years. “Move it,” she hissed at them and the scared group instantly scattered.

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Ginny Weasley violently kicked open the front door of the castle. It flew open so hard and fast that when the metal door handle hit the ancient stone wall, it caused a spark to fly up. “I’m back,” she said under her breath ominously. “Where are you Granger, its payback time,” she growled. “You started this, and I’m gonna finish it!”

Just then the object of her ire came into view. She spied Hermione as she jumped down the last three steps of the lower staircase, and then took off towards the great hall behind Neville, who had just gone in. And…. adding insult to injury, the frizzy headed witch, was holding hands with Harry! Ginny pulled out her wand, readied herself, and marched off towards a great hall showdown.

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Harry and Hermione burst through the doors of the great hall. They stopped just inside and surveyed the room before them. There were no professors yet as it was only 4:45, and dinner didn’t even begin to be served until 5:05 at the earliest. There were about thirty students or so, but it was loud already. Then they saw why. Neville was standing on one side of the Gryffindor table, and Parvati was around the other side. She was pointing at him.

“You stay away from me Neville, I’m warning you!” As she said this she reached up, and making a face of pure disgust, wiped what she hoped was the last of his saliva from her ear. She ran to her left, and Neville ran right, trying to get to her, all the while he pleaded with her.

“My love, you are the light of my life, I dwell in darkness without you. Please my love, run away with me, and be mine forever!”

Harry and Hermione were momentarily frozen by the absurdity of the scene before them. They were quickly startled out of their stupor when Parvati screamed, “YOU,” and pointed at Hermione with fury in her eyes as she jockeyed back and forth to make sure the table stayed between herself and Neville.. “This is all your fault!”

“It is not! I was just trying to fix things. Ginny started it all.” Hermione yelled back.

“Hello stupid! You want to fix something, fix him!” Parvati shrieked while gesturing toward Neville.

Hermione turned to Harry, “Did she just call me stupid!”

Before Harry could answer, a reply came from behind him.

“Yes she did you stupid cow, and now you’re mine, frizz ball!”

Hermione and Harry turned.

“YOU!” they bellowed in unison as they both stared daggers at Ginny and snarled.

The first hex from Ginny’s wand flew high and wide of Hermione.

Harry wasn’t worrying about hexes, he ran right at Ginny. She saw him coming, screeched in panic at the look on his face, and ran around the Gryffindor table, ending up at Parvati’s side.

“Harry?” Ginny pleaded, “What did I do?”

“Does a LOVE POTION ring a bell, Gin?” He snarled at her. “You totally ruined what happened between Hermione and me, and so help me, if I can’t fix it….!”

“Just what the hell did happen between you and her, Harry, huh? I leave here for one weekend and what; you’re cheating on me with my brothers’ girlfriend?”

Both Harry and Hermione were stunned by what Ginny had said, and everyone in the great hall had their eyes trained on Harry, waiting for his reply. Even Neville had momentarily stopped his lustful pursuit of Parvati.

They were all startled when Hermione screamed, “I am NOT your brothers GIRLFRIEND!”

Ginny spat back at Hermione. “You shut up, SLAG; I’m talking to my boyfriend!”

Hermione flinched as if she’d been slapped.

Harry’s eyes went wide. “What did you just call Hermione? And…. I am not now, and never have been your boyfriend!”

Hermione looked around at the stunned faces near her.

“Did she…Did she just called me….. a slag?”

They nodded.

Hermione angrily headed for the redhead, drawing her wand as she advanced, and warning all. “So help me, if one more person calls me names….”

Ron Weasley burst into the great hall loudly, and drew the immediate attention of most of the students present.

“Hermione,” he bellowed. Ron was holding something in his hand. It looked to be a cross like thing. On closer inspection, it actually appeared to be his wand and a bread stick tied together to make a ‘T’ shape. All who saw it were confused, and then he bellowed as he held it up facing Hermione. “You… EVIL TEMPTRESS.” But before he was able to finish his sentence, his words were frozen, as was the rest of him, by the ‘patrificus totalus’ spell whipped from Hermione’s wand that hit him right between the eyes. Ron dropped like an anvil.

“Bloody IDIOT,” Hermione angrily hissed.

Ginny, looking to take advantage while Hermione was distracted, fired a ‘bat bogey’ at her, but unfortunately for Ginny, it was blocked by Harry.

Both Hermione and Ginny looked over at Harry.

Then a dumbstruck Hermione turned back toward Ginny, mouth agape, disbelieving what the young redhead had just done.

“You tried to bat bogey me?”

“You froze my brother!” Ginny accused.

“Fine!” Hermione nodded. “It’s now open season on Weasley’s.” With that, Hermione fired a spell at the cups of pumpkin juice on the table right in front of Ginny. The cups exploded, and pumpkin juice flew everywhere, but mainly, it flew all over Ginny.

Ginny stared down at her outfit, which was now freckled with a billion tiny orange spots, to go along with the three or four huge stains now decorating it.

Hermione smiled with satisfaction.

“Oh, now you’re dead Granger!”

Harry and Hermione’s eyes met, and then Harry raised his wand toward Ginny, but Hermione put up her hand, “Its okay Harry, I’ve got this,” and she smiled.

A furious Ginny growled, and began firing ‘bat bogeys’ hexes in every direction hoping to hit Hermione with at least one.

Hermione on the other hand, kept exploding cup after cup of pumpkin juice all over an increasingly angry Ginny.

Neville Longbottom had used the Ginny distraction to ease his way towards Parvati, who had momentarily stopped paying attention to him. That is of course until it was too late. He grabbed her and Parvati shrieked in surprise. “Kiss me, my love.” Then Neville silenced her scream by slipping his tongue deep into her mouth.

From behind everyone, back near the doors of the hall, a strangled cry rang out.

Luna Lovegood stepped over the prone and petrified Ron Weasley and in a sniffled sob wailed, “How could you Neville. You said I was your true love in the broom cupboard just yesterday,” as tears streamed down her face.

That, little bit of news got everyone’s attention, as mouths throughout the hall dropped open in shock.

Nobody…..saw that coming.

Right after Luna, a skipping Lavender entered the hall. On seeing the predicament Parvati was currently tangled in, she covered her mouth with both hands to stifle her laughter.

Luna’s outburst had momentarily gotten Neville’s attention. This gave Parvati an opportunity to push him far enough away so that Harry was able to hit Neville with a body bind.

Parvati angrily turned toward Lavender. “You think that’s funny? Huh? I’ve been running for my life from Neville, who somehow managed to get loose from you, and now you’re laughing about it!”

“Don’t blame me. Hermione started all this,” Lavender shouted back.

Hermione, who’s patronus was now flying around the room deflecting Ginny’s hexes as the students in the area ducked and cowered under the tables, looked over at Lavender seriously affronted at the accusation. She climbed up onto the table and shouted at Lavender.

“I didn’t start this, SHE did.” And she pointed at Ginny.

“Hey, I wasn’t even here, so don’t go blaming this on me!” Ginny bellowed back at Hermione.

“You did too cause this mess.” Harry snapped.

Ginny, startled by Harry, threw at ‘bat bogey’ in his direction before she realized who had spoken.

Harry deflected the hex easily, and then stared at Ginny in shock. Ginny’s eyes went wide.

“Harry, I’m SO SORRY, I didn’t realize it was you,” she pleaded, and then screaming her head off she ran toward the main door as Harry ran after her.

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Minerva McGonagall entered the great hall and was struck speechless by the chaos she saw before her. A petrified Ron Weasley lay at her feet holding what looked like a breadstick cross. A wailing, crying, Luna Lovegood stood ten feet in, saying over and over again through her tears, “You said you loved me!” Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil stood hands on hips, and nose to nose, screaming at each other. Miss Granger was standing on top of a table, wand at the ready. Neville Longbottom seemed to be in some kind of a body bind and he kept shouting over the din, “Parvati, I love you,” as he hopped in her direction. The remaining thirty or so students could be seen cowering under the orange spotted dinner tables. And…… Ginny Weasley, covered, from head to toe, in what looked to be pumpkin juice, was running toward the head mistress repeatedly screaming, “I’m sorry,” over her shoulder as a very angry looking Harry Potter chased after her.

“SILENCE!” The head mistress shouted, and then she waved her wand and froze every person in the room. They could all hear her, but they could not move a muscle.

“This is UNACCEPTABLE behavior!” she shouted. “When I release you, I will see, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, Mr. Longbottom, Misses Patil, Lovegood, Brown and Weasley, in my office!”

She then turned to leave, and semi tripped over the still petrified Ron. “Whoever did this to Mr. Weasley will please UNDO it immediately? Do I make myself clear?” As she reached the great hall doors, she flourished her wand over her shoulder and everyone was released.

Hermione climbed down off of the table she was on. The students that McGonagall had called began making their way to the doors to follow the head mistress to her office. Ginny stayed very close to McGonagall, and kept peaking over her shoulder to see where Harry was. Harry glared at Ginny for a moment, and then stopped to wait for Hermione, who had just un-petrified Ron. Hermione then also released Neville with an “I’m sorry about all this.” Neville, who was no longer showing the affects of the love potion, nodded to her. Either the head mistress had released him from the potions grip, or, it had finally worn off. Luna slowly sobbed her way from the hall, and Parvati and Lavender bickered quietly and elbowed each other as they walked.

Hermione whispered to Harry, “I’m so dead. I made the love potion Neville drank. I’m gonna get in so much trouble.”

Harry reached out and took her hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Maybe you won’t, but…. if you do, I’m pretty sure you’re not gonna be the only one.”

Authors note: My intention was to end this story with chapter 8. To that end I have written over 7000 words, but I am STILL not done. So….. I have decided to break what I have written so far into chapters and post them. Whenever there was a natural break in the action I made that a chapter. That means chapter 9 is done as well. With 9 I still have some editing to do while I continue writing what will be chapter 10. I want to send a special thank you to those of you who have encouraged me to finish this, and have also waited patiently for me to do so. And as always, thank you to my wife for basically being my beta. And to those who left me a review on the previous chapter. I received a lot of really great reviews for chapter seven and they were much appreciated. Well, that’s about it, I hope you like this chapter and the next one will follow soon.

Chapter 8

Professor McGonagall, eyes straight ahead and jaw clenched, led her little band of miscreants back to her office.

“Not a Slytheryn in the bunch,” she fumed internally, “Those were Gryffindor students behaving like wild animals!”

Harry and Hermione, along with Ron, Luna, Parvati, and the others all trudged off to what they expected would be, certain doom, at the hands of their pissed off headmistress.

Harry tightened his grip on Hermione’s hand, attempting to reassure her. She gave him a slight smile, but it never reached her eyes.

The rest of the group walked like condemned zombies towards McGonagall’s office, all except Ginny. She was staring daggers at Harry and Hermione’s linked hands.

Harry, as if sensing her gaze, shifted his focus and made eye contact with the redhead. She met his stare for a moment, and then averted her eyes.

‘Damn. He’s still pissed? For Pete’s sake it was just one tiny little hex. He blocked it anyway. You’d think he’d be over it by now for Merlin’s sake!’

She peeked back at him, but Harry had turned his attention back to Hermione.

Ginny shook her head. “That’s not right. He’s supposed to end up with me, not her! Bushy hair know-it-all causes this whole freaking nightmare, and then she gets Harry anyway! No way, that’s not happening. ” Ginny groused.

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McGonagall reached her office, opened the door, and shook her head as the group filed in. Lavender, Parvati, Ron and Ginny all moved to the left, while Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna all went right. Luna made sure she kept Harry and Hermione between herself and Neville. Once they were all in McGonagall slammed the door closed.

“In all my years here at Hogwarts, I have never witnessed such abhorrent behavior from a group of students, let alone students from my former house. You should all be ashamed of yourselves, and to that end I am taking one hundred points from Gryffindor.”

There was considerable amount of feet shuffling and bowed heads from the group at this.

McGonagall continued, “I have no idea what mischief sparked such riotous behavior, but I can guarantee each and every one of you, that I will, most assuredly, get to the bottom of this!”

The Headmistress looked over the students before her. “Miss Lovegood, what is you issue in this ridiculousness?

Luna, who had just downgraded from tears to sniffles, pointed at Neville as she ramped back up again and wailed, “He told me he loved me, and then he kissed Parvati.”

McGonagall rolled her eyes.

A contrite Neville then pleaded, ““I’m sorry Luna, I didn’t mean to.”

Parvati spoke up, “Don’t you apologize Neville, it wasn’t your fault.” She then turned an accusing finger towards Hermione, “It’s was hers.”

Hermione retorted, “Mine? That’s not fair! What happened with Neville was an accident.”

“Oh…. And was it an accident that his tongue ended up in my EAR!” Parvati shouted back, causing Neville to blush.

Harry then leapt to Hermione’s defense. “If it wasn’t for Ginny, none of this would have happened!”

“ME? I wasn’t even HERE.” Ginny screeched.

Ron, who had been eating his breadstick cross, leaned around Ginny and pointed at Harry, “He tried to choke me!”

Harry returned fire, “You called Hermione a bitch.”

Hermione squeaked in surprise as her mouth dropped open.

Ginny jumped forward.

“Well, she is a bitch! She tried to accio me back from FRANCE!”

“I did not you little liar! Everyone knows that that spell wouldn’t work from a CONTINENT AWAY!”

“Yeah, well tell that to the FIVE people it took to keep me from going.”

Harry startled out of watching the back and forth by the mention of it taking five people to stop Ginny from coming when he summoned her.

“Five people, really?” He nodded his head slightly, impressed with himself.

Ron blurted out, “Yeah, well Hermione stabbed me with a fork,” and he lifted his shirt to show everyone his chest before finishing, “Numerous times, and I have witnesses!”

Most of the occupants of the office averted their eyes at the sight of Ron’s pail, freckled torso, but Hermione fired back.

“You accused me of upsetting Harry you git!” still hurt from having been called a bitch twice in the last minute.

Parvati then rounded on Lavender, “and you….you thought it was funny letting Neville go, I thought you were my friend, you Judas. So, what I went through was all just a big joke to you?”

“Well…YES!” Lavender replied with a straight face.

Hermione then interjected quickly, “Lavender asked me for the rest of the love potion Parvati, so she could give it to YOU when Neville was around.”

“That’s just evil Lavender. Why would you mess with people like that?” Neville commented, shaking his head.

“Oh what do you care? At least you were actually getting some.” She replied as she looked Luna up and down.

“And who is your boyfriend these days Lavender?” Luna asked sweetly, knowing full well that at Lavender was single. Most of the group tried to hide their smirks at the startled look that appeared on Lavenders face.

“That will be quite enough, all of you!” McGonagall demanded. “So help me, I am getting tired of this nonsense. If another word is uttered by ANYONE, that person will most assuredly regret it. Am I understood?”

Each and every one of the students nodded in understanding.

McGonagall continued. “Now I want this whole sorted tale from one person, and one person only!” she said as she looked at all of them threateningly. “Is that possible?”

Harry spoke up. “I think I can do it professor.”

“Go on then, as for the rest of you, if there are any, and I mean any interruptions, punishment will be swift, do I make myself clear?

“Okay well, during the course of the day yesterday, I kinda got umm,” he stammered, running his hand through his hair. “You see, well… I started to have feelings for…..for Hermione.” This was not how Harry wanted to introduce this topic to his friends. He scanned the room looking at the group around him before his eyes settled on Hermione who had blushed slightly at his words. What he didn’t notice was the exact same tinge of pink on his headmistress’s cheeks as well, seeing as how she knew exactly what had taken place yesterday between the two of them.

“Well… when I couldn’t take it anymore, I kissed her,” he finished.

“YOU WHAT,” shouted both Ron and Ginny in unison.

McGonagall successfully silenced both Weasley’s by swiftly raising her wand and pointing it in their direction while glaring at them. Once she was sure the Weasley’s would remain silent McGonagall nodded to Harry, who continued.

“Well…then Neville showed up, and told me that you,” he glanced at his headmistress, “wanted to see me, and it all went down hill from there. You said that students had told you that Ginny had put a love potion in my drink at lunch.”

Ron, Luna and Neville all gasped at what Harry had revealed, but Ginny reacted quickly.

“WHAT?” Ginny shrieked as she rounded on Parvati and Lavender. “You went to McGonagall? Ginny was outraged. “How could you? For your information, I NEVER EVEN HAD A LOVE POTION,” she screamed at them.

You could have heard a pin drop in McGonagall’s office. Both Harry and Hermione, along with everyone else in the room, stared at Ginny startled by what they had just heard. Nobody said a word; they just stood looking at the young redhead who glared at them all defiantly.

“Fine, I lied, I made it all up, there was no love potion okay, so what! What the hell’s the big deal anyway?”

Harry tore his eyes away from Ginny and looked toward Hermione.

“I told you. I told you it was real!”

Harry glanced back at Ginny, torn between choking the life out of the youngest Weasley, and going to Hermione. But…..As she always would, Hermione won out, and he headed towards her.

“Harry I….How could I know? Or believe?” she sputtered.

“You never….”

Before she could finish that thought, Harry had wrapped his arms around her, and drawn her into an incredibly steamy kiss that lasted for what seemed like minutes, too long, as far as those standing around and watching were concerned.

“Wow,” Harry uttered breathlessly as their kiss finally came to and end. “As good as I remember,” and he smirked at the kisses visibly overwhelmed recipient.

“Now…. I’m gonna kill Ginny,” he said as he turned away from Hermione and started to head toward the young redhead, who quickly ducked behind her big brother.

Harry hadn’t gone two steps when Hermione reached out and grabbed his hand and spun him around.

“Oh no you don’t.” She flung her arm around his neck and proceeded to snog him senseless.

After what was surely an inappropriate amount of time to snog someone in front of classmates and their headmistress, McGonagall cleared her throat.

“Excuse me.”

When neither Harry nor Hermione responded, she tried again, this time a bit more forcefully.

“Excuse me.”

The two broke apart. Hermione, still with her arms around Harry neck shrugged, “Sorry couldn’t be helped,” smiling the whole time.

“Can we go now professor,” Harry asked.

“Well, no Mr. Potter. Just because you seemed to have worked out….” She coughed into her hand and then gestured toward Hermione, “your issues with Miss Granger here. That does not excuse the chaos I witnessed in the Great Hall, so no, you are not excused.”

“Now to business, Miss Lovegood, you are free to go.”

Luna nodded, looked toward Neville, sniffled, and then headed toward the door.

“Mr. Longbottom, do you have anything to say about the situation you found yourself in.”

Neville made eye contact with Hermione for a moment before turning back to his Headmistress.

“No professor. What happened to me was my own fault. I took the glass from Hermione’s hand without even asking her what was in it, and then I drank it. She’s not to blame.”

Hermione piped up, “No Professor, it is my fault; I made the potion he drank.”

McGonagall held her hand up toward Hermione. “Relax Miss Granger, I will get to you later. Neville, you are free to go. Good luck with Miss Lovegood.”

Neville nodded, blushed slightly, glanced quickly toward Hermione, and then headed out to find Luna.

“Miss Patil, you may go.” Parvati nodded to acknowledge her Headmistress, and then glared daggers at her former best friend as she turned and left the office.

“Now to you Miss Brown, I am very disappointed in your behavior in all of this; it is unworthy of a Gryffindor. But, I believe your betrayal of Miss Patil’s trust will end up costing you more than any punishment I would impose on you. I expect restoring that trust will take significant time and effort on your part. Now move along Miss Brown before I decide something more is warranted.”

The remaining student left in the office seemed to find their feet very interesting at that moment.

“Mister Weasley.”

Ron tentatively raised his head and looked at McGonagall.

“Yes Professor?”

“I’m not sure I can even begin to comprehend your thought process in all of this, and I am not even going to try. Quickly, explain yourself.”

“Ahh, well I…uh, well….I thought Hermione had upset Harry and uh, I may have said a thing or two that might have upset her a little bit.”

He looked over at his bushy haired friend and seemed to wilt slightly at the death glare she was sending his way.

“I may have…. slightly provoked her, somewhat, a little, maybe,” and then he shut up.

“Do you care to explain,” she gestured toward his half eaten cross he was holding.

Ron looked down at the object in his hand, and then quickly put his hand behind his back.

“Umm, No professor, I’d really rather not,” he said as he shook his head.

“Very well, you are excused Mister Weasley.”

“Now, as for the three of you, first, Mister Potter, what you did in regard to the summoning of Miss Weasley was extremely dangerous and reckless. While I understand the details of the situation that caused you to behave in such a matter, better that you may think actually.”

Both Harry and Hermione looked at each other, and then back at their Headmistress. There was no mistaking what she was implying.

She continued, “You would do well to show a greater level of restraint when it comes to letting your emotions get the best of you. Over the last two days you have made it abundantly clear that you are severely lacking in this area. Heed my words Mister Potter, unchecked anger can be very dangerous to you, and those around you. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes Professor, I understand.”

“Good, I don’t expect to see you behaving in such a manner ever again.”

Harry nodded.

“You may go.”

“I’d prefer to stay,” he said as he gave Hermione’s hand a good squeeze of reassurance.

McGonagall glared in his direction.

“You may wait outside for Miss Granger.”

Harry squeezed Hermione’s hand again, and she thanked him for his support with the look in her eyes, despite not saying a word.

Then to her surprise he leaned in quickly and stole a kiss.

“I’ll be right outside,” He assured her, and then he turned and headed for the door. Ginny caught his eye as he was leaving the room and received an angry glare for her troubles.

As Harry closed the door behind him McGonagall turned to face the two remaining students.

“Now as for you two, I am most disappointed in you both. That display you put on in the Great Hall alone was….” McGonagall shook her head, flustered. “I can’t even begin to find the right words to describe it.”

Hermione and Ginny lowered their heads in remorse.

“Well, Miss Granger.”

Hermione looks up at her Headmistress to accept her fate.

“You knowingly broke a school rule by making a love potion. While I am sympathetic to your reasons for doing so, that does not change the fact that you did indeed break the rules. You have caused great distress to poor Neville and Miss Lovegood. Normally an infraction such as the one you have committed would guarantee you no less than five days detention.”

At McGonagall’s pronouncement Hermione visible slumped.

“However………..due to the circumstances which compelled you to do what you did, I think one day will be a sufficient punishment for your offence. You will do your detention with me on Monday after your classes.”

Hermione bowed her head in disappointment. She had never received a detention in all her years at Hogwarts, despite the many transgressions of school rules that she, Harry, and Ron had committed.

She swallowed hard and replied, “Yes Professor.”

McGonagall turned to Ginny, “Now, as for you Miss Weasley. Of all the offenders in this entire sorted affair,” McGonagall waved her arm in wide sweeping arc as she spoke. “It is with you that I am most displeased. Your actions caused nearly two days of rule breaking and general lawlessness the likes of which I have never seen here at Hogwarts!”

Ginny began to defend herself

“But Profes…”

Before she could finish her plea she was abruptly cut off by McGonagall.

“I don’t want to hear it. If not for you, none of this takes place. Unfortunately, telling a lie to a classmate in not a punishable offense. I shall most assuredly notify your parents as to what took place here this weekend. Aside from that, and my sternest of warnings to watch what you choose to say in the future, and to whom you choose to say it, you are regrettably, free to go.

Ginny was stunned, Hermione dumbfounded.

Hermione stood with her mouth open staring at her Headmistress.

“That’s it... She walks away!”

“Excuse me Miss Granger?” The Headmistress, taking exception to Hermione’s tone of voice, stared her down.

“While I am sorry that in this instance Miss Weasley’s punishment does not truly fit her crime. Miss Weasley lied to a classmate, which is all she is actually guilty of. Her lie may have become much more, but she could not have foreseen that. So yes, she is free to go.”

Ginny, having been dismissed, bolted for the door before McGonagall could change her mind. As she entered the hallway she spied Harry leaning against the wall on the opposite side, waiting for Hermione. They made eye contact briefly before Ginny dropped her gaze and scurried away as fast as she could.

Harry crossed the hall just as a stunned looking Hermione appeared in the doorway.

“What? What happened?”

No reply.

He usher Hermione into the hallway.

“Hermione, what happened?” Harry asked a second time.

Hermione looked up at him, “I got detention.”

Harry pulled her into a hug. She did not hug him back; her arms remaining at her sides.

He stepped back, “It’s okay. It’s not that bad, it’s only detention. Could have been worse, you could have gotten whatever McGonagall gave Ginny. You should have seen her, she ran out of that room like someone was chasing her.”

“Harry…..Ginny got nothing, no detention, nothing,” Hermione finally managed.

“WHAT? She didn’t get anything? You mean, just you! ” He was flabbergasted.

Hermione nodded.

“She causes this whole damn thing and walks away unpunished? You gotta be kidding me. How is that fair?” He was livid.

Hermione just shrugged her shoulders.

Harry began pacing around the hallway. “We can’t let her get away with this. She has to pay, and I’m gonna make sure that she does.”

“No Harry don’t, I don’t want to get in any more trouble. I just want to forget about the whole stupid thing, okay? We’re together; let’s just forget about Ginny, please…Harry, for me, please?” she pleaded.

Harry stared at her for a long time. He wanted to do as she asked, but his anger was still boiling way to close to the surface for him to let it go.

Hermione stepped to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest and in as soothing a voice as she could manage, said to him,

“Harry, please.”

She looked up at him.

He stood stock still, but eventually replied, “I’ll try, but no promises, I’m not ready to let this go yet.”

“But you’ll try?”

“I’ll try, for you.”

“Thank you.”

He grunted in reply, and then emitted a gruff, “Lets get out of here.”

A.N: If you were not prepared for this to end the way it did trust me, it is a long way from over. I promise! Please don’t forget to leave me a review. Thanks.

Authors Note: Hello everyone, here it is, chapter 9. It took longer than I though it would to edit this. As always, thanks to all who reviewed chapter 8 for me, it is much appreciated. Finally, our hero and heroine get down to business. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please leave me a review to let me know what you thought. We’re in the home stretch people. There is only one more chapter to go. Well, enjoy this one, and I’ll be back again soon.

Chapter 9

Hermione trudged her way over to the table where Harry was sitting in the library. She flung her book bag onto the table with a resounding thud.

“I don’t ever want to have to do detention again,” she hissed with annoyance.

Harry looked up at her and nodded sympathetically as he closed the book he was reading.

With furrowed brow Hermione asked, “What is that you’re reading?”

“What this?”

He picked up the book and tossed it away from him onto the table.

“I don’t know, just something someone left here.” He stood up and gave her a quick kiss.

Hermione looked over his shoulder at the book, “‘Obscure Spells and Enchantments’,” Hermione read aloud. “I wonder who was reading that. Is it interesting? ” She picked it up and began flipping through the pages with curiosity.

“No, not really, I was just looking it over while I waited for you. So detention was bad huh?”

Hermione frowned at him. “McGonagall made me write lines.”

Harry rolled his eyes, and knew it was a mistake instantly by the look on her face.

Harry put his hands up as Hermione folded her arms in front of her chest and stared at him with raised eyebrows.

“Now wait. I don’t mean to be unsympathetic, but you, more than anyone else know the levels of detention I’ve had to endure over the years. I’m sorry, but there are a hell of a lot worse things than having to write lines.”

He made his point and her demeanor softened instantly. She closed the gap between them and wound her arms around his neck as his encircled her waist.

“You’re right, and at least it’s over, and that whole nightmare is behind us.”

He smiled at her and then leaned in and kissed her passionately, to which she enthusiastically responded.

When Madam Prince began clearing her throat in their direction they packed up their stuff and headed back to the common room, only stopping occasionally for a quick snog along the way.

The next afternoon as they were about to separate to head to their respective classes, Harry to Divination, and Hermione to Ancient Runes, he grabbed her hand before she could get away and pinned her against the wall and began furiously snogging her. He put his left hand on her waist before sliding it up her side and stealing a quick squeeze of her breast. This caused her to gasp in surprise, and push him back a few inches as she looked around.

“Harry, someone could have seen that. We’re in a hallway for goodness sake.”

He chose to remind her with an evil glint in his eye that he had been far bolder with her in a hallway before, or had she forgotten?

“No, I have not forgotten! But in case you haven’t noticed we are not alone in this hallway!”

“Well then maybe I need to get you alone,” he said raising one eyebrow.

She retorted, “Well then maybe you do.”

“Good, something to look forward to.”

Hermione smiled, and as she started walking away he quickly shot his left hand under her little plaid skirt and grabbed her bum.

She jumped and squeaked, “Harry,” and gave him a reproachful look as she continued on her way, but as she looked back at him, the smirk on his face told her he was not the least bit sorry. He was also staring intently at her with a look that made her heart beat faster. It was the same look he had given her the other night in the hallway, just before he’d kissed her. Knowing what that look meant, an excited chill ran up her spine and she hurried off to class.

Harry watched her go with a lustful grin plastered all over his face, and then he turned and headed to the nightmare that was Divination.

Harry sat on the couch in the common room waiting rather impatiently for Hermione to return from, he’d be damned if he could remember exactly where she had said she had needed to go. All he cared about at the moment was that she wasn’t back yet.

“That’s it! Where the hell is she?” He stood up and hurried through the portrait. He didn’t know which direction to head in, so he stood in the hallway in front of the portrait talking to himself.

“Okay, she’s probably gonna come from…..” and he looked thoughtfully in both directions trying to decide which way he thought she might come from.

“That way!” he said as he pointed to his right and started off in that direction.

He headed straight and then turned left. By the time he had turned his second corner Harry spotted her, she was walking quickly back toward the common room. Hermione looked up, saw him, and stopped dead. They now stood about fifteen feet apart staring at one another.

He licked his lips. Hermione saw that look in his eyes again, the look she really liked. It made her blood boil.

He finally spoke to her, “I’ve been waiting for you.” His voice implying far more that the fifteen minutes he had sat in the common room.

Hermione stared deeply into his eyes, and then she let the satchel she had slung over her right shoulder and the books in her left hand crash to the ground all at once. The echo of her things hitting the floor thundered through the deserted hallway.

“I know you have,” was all she said.

They practically ran at each other, each of them instantly as hot and bothered as they could possible be.

They exploded onto each other in a frenzy of hands and lips. They tore at each others cloths, untucking each others shirts as they both had a burning desire to feel the hot skin beneath. Hermione ran both her hands up the back of Harry’s shirt as she kissed him and she slowly let them glide over the smooth expanse of his back.

Harry went for what he really wanted immediately and slid his hands up from her stomach towards her breasts but was foiled by the buttons of her shirt at his wrists. He broke their kiss, made eye contact with her, smirked, and then did exactly what he had wanted to do.

He tore her blouse open, and he did so with such force that buttons were bouncing around the hallway a good twenty feet from them.

Hermione gasped in surprise and shock and then looked down at herself, glad that she had worn a sexier bra than normal that morning. She raised her head back up and growled at him just before she threw herself at him as hard and as fast as she possible could, wrapping her legs around him in the process.

Harry staggered backwards at the force of her attack and he struggled to get a good hold of her as she rained kisses on his face and lips before burying her tongue deep into his waiting mouth.

Harry pulled his lips free and leaned down and began biting and nipping and sucking on the delicious spot just below her left ear. Hermione leaned into every attack that he made on her neck.

She began whispering his name over and over again very softly, imploring him to keep going, to never stop.

Harry, for his part, had absolutely no intention of stopping, not now, not ever. He was drunk with the sound of her voice huskily whispering his name as she allowed him to devour her. But, he pulled away from her for a second and put her down. Ravishing her neck was not even close to what he really wanted to do to her.

Hermione’s eyes betrayed the bewilderment she momentarily felt when he stepped back. Then she saw the raging lust still burning in his eyes, and she relaxed again.

Harry locked eyes with her, and then he reached up under Hermione’s skirt, and hooked his fingers into the elastic waistband of her panties and began slowly lowering them down her long gorgeous legs. As he brought them down, he dropped to his knees in front of her to help her step out of them, which she did. She tangled her fingers in the unruliness of his hair as he kneeled before her. He held her gaze, and slowly began moved toward her.

Hermione Granger gasped loudly, and her mouth dropped open in complete and utter shock when she felt the wetness of Harry’s tongue delicately caress her most private spot.

“OH MY GOD,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

She looked down in amazement at the top of Harry’s head, which had disappeared under her skirt. She could not believe what he was doing to her, but she was by no means going to ask him to stop.

Once he got started Harry gently pushed her thighs apart for better access. Hermione adjusted her feet slightly to give him the room he was looking for. She leaned back against the wall for support, and placed her hands on Harry’s head to steady herself. As he worked hard to please her she closed her eyes and reveled in the pleasure he was giving.

As it turns out, Harry was very good at what he was doing. His amazingly active tongue glided over and then sucked gently on the spot she wanted him to hit almost from the second he started. It didn’t take very long at all for the moans coming from Hermione to grow increasingly louder. When he felt her thighs started to quiver, he worried she was getting close so he slowed his pace down and began roaming around with his tongue instead of just concentration on her most sensitive spot.

“Hell no Granger! When you do finally come, it’s gonna be with me buried deep inside you,” he thought as he worked.

Finally, with one long slow sweeping pass of his tongue, he pulled back.

Hermione opened her eyes, and looked down at Harry’s face.

“You are…..gifted, Mr. Potter!” She placed her hand over her heart hoping to calm its frantic beating down a bit as she struggled to catch her breath.

“More likely, lucky,” he smirked back at her.

She reached down and cupped his face in her hands and pulled him up to her, and furiously kissed him again. When she was done, she let go of his face and grabbed him around the waist. She spun him around so that now he was the one backed up against the wall, and then she turned the tables on him.

She groped for his belt and began frantically undoing it. He tried to help her, but she smacked his hands away, and then kissed him quickly as she worked. As he had done with her, she sunk to the ground before him as she lowered his pants and boxers. She stared, wide eyed, admiring his nakedness before tucking a stray hair behind her ear. Then she reached up and grasped him firmly and lowering her head she took the very tip of him into her mouth.

“Holy Shit Hermione! I can’t believe you’re….you’re actually…..Holy shit! Oh my god that feels good.”

Harry stared in disbelief as his best friend worked her way up and down slowly, letting him slide deeper and deeper into her warm waiting mouth.

If what he had done to her made her feel half as good as what she was presently doing to him, he swore to himself that he’d do that for her whenever she wanted. What she was doing, which was beyond amazing, all the slow drawn out ins, followed by the slower than slow outs, caused him to shutter, and his knees damn near buckled. The fact that Hermione was the one doing it was almost more than he could stand.

While she was…. busy, Hermione reached around him and held his butt cheeks firmly in her hands. Harry was started to clench and unclench them and being the clever witch she was, she assumed if she didn’t stop soon, it would all be over. Harry had plastered his back against the wall and was in fact just about ready to come when she stopped.

“Holy shit, that was amazing! You’re amazing!” he breathlessly uttered to her.

She smiled at him. “It was good?”

“GOOD! Good doesn’t even come close!”

With that Harry pulled her to her feet and spun her so her back was once again against the wall. He then reached behind her right knee and lifted her leg as he leaned in and kissed her passionately. She could feel his hardness pressing right up against her. Hermione broke their kiss momentarily, and looked down. Then she reached between them and took him in her hands and guided him slowly to her entrance. She kissed him again, and then hugged him tightly around his neck as he eased his way into her.

“Oh God Harry,” she moaned into his ear.

“You okay? He whispered in return.

“Uh huh,” she nodded in reply as she felt him bury himself completely within her.

Once Harry was inside her all the way, he reached around and hoisted her up. She wrapped her legs around him as he pinned her to the wall.

“Oh my god Harry…please….oh please don’t stop,” she implored him as he eased in and out of her.

“I won’t….I swear I won’t, I don’t ever want to stop doing you, I-I mean this…I mean….”

She chuckled slightly by his ear at his befuddlement, and rested her head on his shoulder.

But then…. she whispered, ever so softly, next to his ear.

“I love you.”

Harry was intensely concentrating on what he was doing, and he was breathing hard. It was actually getting rather noisy in the hallway, between the moans and groans they were each making, but he heard her. Damn right he heard her.

He moved his head from beside hers and looked her in the eyes. She kissed him quickly and pulled back. He stared at her, and saw the love, and the passion, and the desire etched on her beautiful face and he uttered a nearly breathless: “I love you too,” back to her. Through it all Harry continuing on with what he was doing, which was pumping in and out of Hermione as fast as he could.

Harry loved her, he had said it, and she could see it. Hermione hugged him more fiercely than she ever had before.

Now that the declarations of love were over, Harry concentrated on finishing what they had started. He wanted Hermione to come and he wanted to look at her face as she did. He slid in and out of her in long steady strokes. He wanted her to feel him slide all the way in and then all the way out. It was also stimulating as hell for him.

As he kept it up Hermione began getting louder and louder.

“Oh god Harry…. Please…..oh Harry…… oh I’m gonna…….oh god, oh god, Harrrryyy!”

She came, load and hard, and he stared at her beautiful face as she did.

She had gripped him tighter and tighter and screamed his name as she came. When it had passed, her death grip around his neck loosed as she exhaustedly leaned on him. Watching her was the last straw, just as she relaxed and slumped forward he groaned out her name and came as well. He came in a tidal wave that exploded deep inside her, his best friend, and the love of his life.

When he finally stopped repeating her name, the two slumped forward against the wall and just held each other, they were both totally spent.

Harry slowly eased out of her, and Hermione put her feet back on the ground but she continued to hold on to him as her legs were still shaky from her orgasm.

Hermione’s head rested flat on Harry’s chest. She listened to his heartbeat as it began to slow down. Harry held her close and rubbed her back.

“Harry?”

“Hmm?”

“I can’t believe we just did that.”

“Do you regret it?”

“No….but I still can’t believe you and I just had sex in a hallway.”

“I’ve been dying to do that since Friday.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely!”

“How come? Why? What brought all this on?”

He chuckled at her questions. With Hermione there were always questions.

“You know what it was?”

“No, I don’t.”

“It was your lips, from that plum you ate the other day at lunch.”

“Really?” she said surprised.

“Yeah really, they were so red, first from the plum, and then from that damn lollipop you had that night. You drove me insane.”

She chuckled to herself and burrowed into his chest hugging him tightly.

“I’m glad. I’m glad this happened.”

“Yeah? Good, me too,” Harry said as he pulled himself together.

“Come on, let’s go,” and he began leading her down the hall.

“Go? Go where?”

“To find someplace a little move private that a hallway.”

“Why? Do you….? Again?” she sputtered at him in surprise as she fixed her blouse.

While Harry nodded his head to show her that yes ‘again’ was exactly what he had in mind Hermione muttered under her breath in a barely audible whisper, “So, the lollipop did work.”

Harry stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her in disbelief, “WHAT? What did you just say?”

Hermione just kept walking, and then spun to face him as she continued to walk backwards away from him.

She gave him her best innocent face.

“Who me? I don’t know what you’re talking about, I didn’t say anything.” And then she turned and ran, hair flying as she did so, down the empty corridor, laughing.

Harry was momentarily startled when she ran, but then he took off after her. He chased the brunette down the hallway and as he did so he could not remember ever feeling happier.

But…..way in the back of his mind there was that one stray thought that wasn’t about Hermione, and that thought was about getting even with Ginny Weasley.