Forbidden Love
Chapter 9
Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room in front of a blazing fire, awaiting Harry's return. He had gone to talk
to Dumbledore about his dream shortly after dinner, which had been, she looked at her watch, almost two hours ago.
Standing up off of the couch, she began to pace like she had been doing sporadically throughout the night, casting a
glance at the couch she noticed Ginny snoring lightly. Ron had gone to bed almost thirty minutes ago and even though
she had appeared to be dead on her feet, the smallest Weasley had stoutly refused to follow his lead. Heaving a small
sigh, Hermione approached the younger girl, giving her arm a light shake.
"Ginny," she said softly.
Dark red lashes fluttered before light brown eyes fixed unfocusedly on her face. After a moment, Ginny focused fully and sat up on the couch. Looking around, she rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times.
"Is he here yet?" she asked sleepily.
"No, not yet," Hermione said with a sigh, sitting on the edge of the couch in front of the other girl. "Perhaps you should go and get some sleep."
"No, I'm going to wait for him... I'm his girlfriend; I should be here if he needs to talk."
Hermione suppressed the strange feeling of hurt at the red-haired girls' declaration of her relationship with Harry. Giving Ginny a small smile and a pat on back, she shook her head.
"You're exhausted. I'm sure that Harry would understand if you went to bed," At the younger girls stubborn look, she continued, "besides, you know how he is. If he knows that he kept you up, he won't feel better. He'll feel guilty."
Ginny sighed, knowing in her heart that Hermione was right. "Well, what about you?"
"I'm about to go to bed myself, that's why I woke you up," she said quickly, ignoring the little voice in the back of her head that was, once again, calling her a liar. "I need to pick up a bit and finish one last chapter in 'An Anthology of Eighteenth Century Charms' to prepare for class, then I'm turning in myself."
When Ginny gave her a somewhat skeptical look, Hermione shrugged and got up from the couch. Then, picking the heavy volume up off of the table, she took a seat in one of the plush chairs.
"Fine. Stay here if you want, even though we have a whole free day tomorrow..." she looked at her watch, "I mean, later today, in which Harry can tell us what happened."
Ginny gave a longing glance to the staircase leading to the girls' dorm before giving a small sigh.
"If he comes before you leave, will you tell him I waited up for him?" she asked slowly standing from the couch and stretching.
"Sure," Hermione said, opening her book and flipping to chapter five.
Giving one last look at the portrait door, Ginny grabbed the light cover that she had been using and made her way up the stairs of the girls' dorm. Hermione continued to stare at the text, not reading a word, until she was sure that the other girl was gone. Then, closing her book with a sigh, she allowed her head to fall against the back of the plush chair.
'Where in the world is he?' she thought, as her eyes closed, of their own accord, moments later.
"Mmm," she moaned, biting her lip.
"Hey, sleeping beauty," a deep voice whispered as a gentle hand caressed her face and warm breath tickled her neck and ear, sending shudders through her body.
Hermione's eyes slowly fluttered open and Harry's grinning face came in to focus... a face, she immediately noticed, that was mere inches from her own. It seemed that she wasn't the only one to notice their location as Harry expelled a quick breath; his eyes clouding... his breath caressed her lips, smelling faintly like lemon drops. As she licked her lips, Harry flew back from her, practically throwing himself onto the table in front of her, knocking down several books in the process.
"Sorry," he mumbled, bending to retrieve the texts.
"So, how did it go?" She asked, sitting up all the way in the chair.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she gave a long stretch, her arms rising over her head and her shirt lifting slightly to expose her midriff. Rolling her neck to relive the stiffness, Hermione opened her eyes, noticing Harry's were transfixed on her stomach, his gaze slowly lifted to hers but it took the scenic route. Hermione felt herself flush as his darkened emerald eyes, scanned her body.
"Harry?"
He visibly jumped; scratching the back of his head, he gave her a sheepish smile.
"Sorry... what was that?"
She gave a small smile in response, her heart beating madly in her chest. She could not believe that he was just checking her out... wow... Harry... checking her out! Shaking her head, she repeated her question.
"How did it go?"
"Where?"
"What do you mean 'where'?" She gave an incredulous look, "With Dumbledore, how did it go?"
Harry blushed, running his hand through his hair. "Right... sorry..." she gave him a smile. "Well, I told him about the dream. He had me go though the details and the names. He said that there was a Surpsus Malderdom who worked for the Ministry that had failed to report in today. He then told me that he would update Moody on my vision so that the Order could check into it. We talked a bit about the Horcruxes and what their locations may be," he rubbed his brow, "let's see... you were right, he wants to up my Occlumency lessons this year, but, luckily they will continue to be with him instead of Snape, though he did say that if he had to leave, I would have to work with that other guy."
Hermione gave an amused smile, "You mean Professor Snape?"
"Yeah, him," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "After that, for some reason, he then completely switched track and, while offering me lemon drops, asked how my summer was."
"Really? That's it?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"And it took over two hours to talk about that?" she asked with an incredulous look.
"Well... I may have run off at the mouth a bit when I started talking about my time at your place... It's just... I got to do so many new and interesting things and Dumbledore seemed so interested, he kept asking questions and for more details so..." Harry trailed off, blushing.
Hermione placed a hand on his knee and his bright green eyes swung to her dark brown ones.
"I understand, Harry," she said with a small smile, he didn't respond but instead gave her a grateful smile in return.
"I can't believe that you waited up for me," he said with a teasing grin.
"I wanted to know how things went with Dumbledore... and... well, there was something... we..." she cleared her throat "well, there's something we need to discuss."
Harry's grin slowly fell from his face, being replaced by the same guilty expression he had worn earlier that day on the train. Hermione felt her cheeks grow warm as he once again avoided eye contact with her. Taking a deep breath, she moved to sit on the edge of the chair, purposefully invading his personal space. When she adjusted to her new position, Harry's eyes swung to hers, they wavered for a moment, but in the end held steady.
"I'm sorry," he said softy "I... didn't mean to..."
"Didn't mean to what, wha..." she nervously licked her lips "what did you see, Harry?"
He hesitated, once again breaking eye contact. "Well... I saw..." he tugged at his tie. "There… well... I saw you... in bed... uh..." he flushed a deep red, "holding a picture frame..." he trailed off, grimacing and looking at the fire.
Hermione took a deep breath. Biting her lip, she looked down, then back at Harry.
"Did- did you see who..." she found herself unable to finish the question, so she trailed off.
They remained in an awkward silence for several tense seconds before Harry once again spoke.
"Yeah..." he looked at her again, just as her head popped up, "don't worry I won't tell him, though."
Hermione's brows furrowed in confusion... what did he mean, he wouldn't tell him? Noticing her look, Harry hastily continued.
"Look -that first night I was there I saw the picture on your nightstand... I promise I won't say anything. Please, just don't be mad at me, Hermione."
'On my nightstand…he thinks it was Ron,' she thought to herself, snapping out of her stupor when she heard his last statement.
"Why would I be mad at you, Harry..." she tilted her head, a confused expression on her face "if anything, it was my fault. I should have closed the door if I was... well, not that I knew that I was... not that I do that all the time... or ever really, I just..." she flushed and sighed; he laughed.
When Hermione looked at him and glared. Harry pressed his lips together in an attempt to wipe the smile off of his face. This method only provided him with an expression that was somewhat serious, and his eyes still danced with a fair amount of amusement, Hermione rolled her eyes.
"So... are we okay?" He asked hesitantly after a moment, raising a single brow in question.
"We are... on one condition" he went from looking relived to worried again "you cannot tell anyone what you saw... it's going to be hard enough having you know about... my...er... moment of hormonal instability."
Harry once again suppressed a smile; Hermione once again glared at him.
"This isn't easy for me, Harry. Do you know how mortifying it is to have to talk to you about this? I mean, really." she sighed and ran and agitated hand though her hair, before setting it back into her lap to fidget with her other one.
She froze as Harry's warm hands encircled her own.
"I would never tell anyone, Hermione. You should know that I would never do that to you." he gave her a soft smile, all signs of teasing gone from his face.
"I know, it's just that..." she trailed off, once again looking down.
"That what? That you're human," he tugged at her hands and she looked up at him. "Hermione, everyone does it, and there are worse things to be, than normal."
She nodded, looking down at their hands. She wasn't sure how long that sat there holding hands with one another, but after an undetermined amount of time, Harry spoke.
"Well... it's pretty late, we should head to bed," he said, standing and pulling her up with him.
Hermione flushed as their bodies brushed against one another. Looking up, she noticed that Harry was looking down at her. Unwittingly, she rose to her tippy toes and placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth like he had done to her at the skating rink.
"Thank you, Harry." she said softly, suddenly feeling very shy... and warm.
"No problem," he responded after a moment, sounding slightly winded.
She looked up at him, her eyes lingering on his lips for a moment before stepping back. Bumping into the chair, she was surprised when Harry's hands came out to steady her. Avoiding eye contact, she mumbled 'thanks' and slid from between him and the chair. Making her way to the small staircase in-between the girls and boys dorms that lead to her private room, Hermione gave Harry a look over her shoulder. He was standing in the spot she had left him in, silently watching her leave. She shivered a bit at the emotion that she saw in his eyes, but before she could really examine it he dipped his head and ran a hand through his hair. When he looked up again, his teasing grin was back in place and he began to make his way to the boys' dorm.
"Goodnight, Hermione," he said softly.
"Goodnight, Harry-" she paused, "Harry?"
He turned and looked at her, his foot frozen on the first step leading to the boys' dorm.
"Yeah?"
"That thing you said earlier about my... well -about what I -about how everyone does it, is that true?"
He gave a look of mock horror, "What is this? Hermione Granger asking me a question," he put his hand to his chest and fluttered his eye lashes, "why, I do believe I'm about to faint! I didn't realize that there was something that you didn't know."
She glared at him. "For your information, the types of books I read don't really cover those sorts of things."
He grinned. "Yes, Hermione, it was true."
"So, does that mean you do it?"
His grin faded to be replaced by a deep flush, once again fidgeting with his tie he looked around the room.
"Gettin' pretty late, huh?" he paused nervously, "I think I'm going to head up to bed." With that he turned and bounded up the stairs, her laugher echoed behind him.
It wasn't until later when she was laying in bed, that she realized that she forgot to tell Harry that Ginny had waited up for him too... and it wasn't until she was almost asleep that she admitted to herself that she didn't care.
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About an hour, later Harry was just about to drift into dreamland when he felt a slight shift in weight on his bed. Opening his eyes, he was startled to see her sitting on the edge of his bed by his knees, a small frown on her face and her hair falling around her shoulders.
"Hermione?" he asked in a sleepy tone, "wha-"
He was cut off as she placed a finger upon his lips to silence him; she then motioned with her head towards Ron's bed. Removing her finger, after she was sure he had gotten the point, Hermione then climbed the rest of the way onto the bed, getting onto her knees, she proceeded to move around the bed pulling the curtains shut so that they had a type of semi-privacy. A moment later, the curtains were closed, the faint moonlight that peeked in from the window by the head of his bed, their only source of light, was dim, yet, still allowed him to still be able to see her. When she was once again stationary, he gave her a curious look and spoke once more, this time in hushed tones.
"What's going on... is everything okay?" he asked sitting up, his voice laced with worry.
"Yes, everything's fine," she responded quietly, "well, at least I think everything's fine, that's what I came to check with you about."
He gave her a confused look, "What are you talking about?"
"Well, it just that, I was teasing you about..." she flushed, "well, I was teasing you a bit before you left and I wanted to make sure you weren't upset with me."
"Wait," he gave her an incredulous look, "you snuck into the boys' dorm and climbed into my bed in the middle of the night... to make sure I wasn't upset with you?"
Her flush deepened and she fidgeted a bit, before looking at him though her lashes and answering.
"Well... yeah, I mean it can be a pretty sensitive subject and I was a bit worried I had overstepped my bounds."
He expelled a breath and plopped back. Looking at the ceiling, he shook his head in wonder.
"I am not having this conversation..." he mumbled to himself, "this is just a dream and I'm going to wake up at any moment." at that, he closed his eyes.
Opening them again a moment later, he was surprised to find Hermione's face directly in front of his own, a frown marring her features as she gave him an annoyed look.
"It is not a dream; it's a perfectly reasonable conclusion. Besides, after everyone wakes, it's not like we're going to have much time alone for me to ask you. So, I came up tonight, is that so wrong?"
'Yes!' his mind screamed as it registered that she was close enough to him that her breath tickled his lips and her long hair that had fallen forward, was brushing either side of his face. His eyes flicked to her lips, which he found that they had been doing much too often of their own accord. A second later his hands, also of their own accord, reached out, pushing her hair back out of her face. He then rested them on the base of her neck, her soft locks still intertwined within his fingers.
"No," he whispered aloud in response to her question.
Her eyes flew to his, looking startled as if she had just realized how close they were, her small tongue darted out and lightly licked her lips. Finding himself unable to resist, he tilted his head back, bringing his mouth close enough for his lips to lightly brush hers. He felt her softly sigh against his mouth before she lowered her head and applied more pressure to his lips.
'I'm kissing Hermione!' his mind screamed, but it didn't sound as weird or as wrong as he thought it would.
Harry felt her hands lightly caress his chest as his tongue slipped into her mouth, tasting her like he had wanted to from the moment she licked her lips earlier… if not sooner. Delving into her warm mouth, he found that she tasted like chocolate and mint and quickly realized that the flavor was swiftly becoming a new favorite for him.
She pulled away from him, panting, her eyes hazy.
"Harry?" she said in a breathy tone.
"Hum?" he asked in a similar one.
"You know what you said earlier... about how everyone does it?"
Unable to form words, he just nodded.
"Well..." he felt a warm hand sliding down his chest to his stomach, her cool fingers brushed his abs just under his shirt and just above his waistband. "Can I watch you?... I mean, it's only fair..."
A wicked gleam entered her eyes, as her fingers brushed back and forth over his abs making them -and other things, jump in response to the teasing gesture.
"I...I...I..."
She grinned, placing a light kiss on the base of his chin, her hand slowly made its way back up his chest, finally resting on his shoulder.
"It's only fair..." she said again.
"W-well..." he stuttered.
"It's only fair, Harry." she said again, this time appearing to get angry. "It's only fair. It's only fair! It's only fair!!" she then began to shake him violently.
"What the hell are you doing?!" he yelled.
"Trying to wake you up you git!" a male voice responded.
Harry's eyes snapped open to find Ron standing over him, an annoyed expression on his face.
"I was wondering if you were still in there," he said, standing away from the bed. "I know you had a late night, but that's no reason to miss breakfast." Ron finished before giving a loud yawn and a large stretch.
Harry blinked a few times before closing his eyes. "A bloody dream," he mumbled, "I knew it was a bloody dream."
"Yeah, it was a dream," Ron said, overhearing him, "and from the looks of it, a bloody good one at that." he then gave a pointed look, grinning like a loon.
Harry flushed. Sitting up, he readjusted the covers. "Just go to breakfast. I'll be down in a few minutes."
Ron grinned, "Fine, I'm hungry anyway." He turned and made his way towards the door "By the way, you may want to take a shower first," Harry glared at him, "a cold one."
He laughed and slipped out of the room just as the plastic cup Harry had grabbed off his nightstand, hit the wall where his head had been. Groaning, the black-haired boy plopped back down onto his bed, taking a moment to get his body under control before he got out of bed.
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Harry walked into the Great Hall about twenty minutes later and, making his way over to the Gryffindor table, he saw that everyone else had already arrived. Noticing him first, Ginny gave a happy wave and motioned him over. Reaching the table, he took his usual seat with his back facing the other tables and next to either Ron or Hermione, who ever happened to be sitting with the free seat to their left. Today, it was Hermione. She turned and gave him a small smile as he took a seat. Fighting the urge to run to sit next to Ginny he gave her a slightly strangled smile back, before leaning over the table to give Ginny a light peck on the lips and taking his seat.
"So, how'd it go last night with Dumbledore?" Ron asked, while reaching for more kippers.
"Hush, Ronald. Not now. This is neither the time nor the place." Hermione hissed to him, before turning back to her plate and buttering her toast.
"Sorry, sheesh," Ron mumbled, before resuming eating.
Harry suppressed a grin as Hermione and Ginny shared a look and simultaneously rolled their eyes.
"So, what time did you get in last night?" Ginny asked, while cutting her pancake.
"I'm not sure, pretty late," he said reaching for some jam for his toast.
"Ah, well, I figured that... did Hermione tell you I waited up for you?"
He looked up at Ginny, taking note of the expectant look on her face, giving Hermione a sidelong glance he noticed a light flush creeping up her neck.
"Uh... yeah, yeah she told me as soon as I got in." He said. She smiled, "I really appreciate your concern Ginny, it means a lot to me." He reached out and took her hand, lightly caressing it for a moment before pulling back.
"No problem; if you need to talk, you know who to come to." She responded with a soft smile, lightly blushing.
Harry smiled back and nodded before once again starting on his breakfast. He paused mid-bite of his eggs when he felt a leg brush his own. Giving a quick glance to his girlfriend and noticing that she was discussing something with Neville, he gave the brunette next to him a discreet look.
When his eyes first fixed upon Hermione, he noticed that she, too, was looking at Neville and Ginny before turning her head slightly towards him. She gave him a small smile and mouthed the words 'thank you' before picking up her orange juice and taking a drink. Using his leg, Harry nudged her back, when she looked at him he grinned and mouth the words 'you're welcome' she smiled in response, but just as she turned her attention back to her food, he nudged her again. Hermione once again looked at him, this time with a confused expression, when he knew he had her attention he spoke again, this time mouthing the words 'you owe me' before giving a grin and a wink, then going back to his food.
"And what exactly do I owe you," he heard in his ear a few minutes later.
Warm breath tickled his neck causing the hairs to stand on end. Turning slightly, Harry saw Hermione giving him an expectant look.
"Well?" She asked raising a brow, "I'm waiting."
Harry opened his mouth but no words came out. Turning his head, he looked towards Ginny only to find her chair vacant.
"She went to talk to Luna at the Ravenclaw table," Hermione said, reading his mind, "I swear Harry; you don't pay attention to half the things she says."
Harry glared at her before looking past her at Ron, following his gaze she spoke again.
"He's talking wizard's chess with Seamus," she said smirking. "So, now that you've checked all the possible escape routes, answer me. What do I owe you?"
"Well -I -you see..." he stuttered, a bit unsure of how to respond, before noticing the teasing glint in her eyes. Catching on that she was just joking, he relaxed a bit and played along. "Well... let's see, I could make you do all my homework for the first six months of school."
She scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"No? Well, how about I make you address me as Harry Potter, my Lord and Master."
She smirked and rolled her eyes.
"Still no? Well, how about I make you my slave for a week."
"Your slave?" she gave him a disbelieving look.
He nodded, "Yep, my slave, you'll be at my beck and call." She opened her mouth to respond but he cut her off, by placing a finger over her lips. "You'll bring me what I want, when I want it, and you'll give me whatever I want... whenever I want it."
He watched as her eyes widened, the brown color in them deepening to a darker hue. Harry slowly pulled his finger down and away from her mouth, brushing her lips as he did so. Her eyes fluttered for a moment before she looked back at him.
"And what type of things would you want?" she asked, her voice coming out in a low husky tone that he wasn't even sure she recognized.
"I, well… I would want-"
"So, are you guys done?" Ron asked from the other side of Hermione.
Harry felt his heart jump in his chest from the interruption. He then gave Ron a quick nod yes before looking guiltily around the crowded hall and wondering if anyone had noticed.
'Noticed what?' his mind asked 'That you were flirting with one of your best friends, and your best mate's girl?'
He frowned. Is that what they had been doing? Standing up on auto pilot, he followed Ron and Hermione out of the Great Hall, while simultaneously replaying the discussion in his head. Wow... that is what they had been doing... they had been flirting... he didn't even know he knew how to flirt, he had been so horrible at it before that he had just stopped trying. But that was definitely what they had been doing.
"Harry?" He looked up to find Ron and Hermione both giving him curious looks, the latter looking more than a bit worried. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah... just..." he trailed off, letting it hang like that and settling for a shrug.
Understanding how he could get at times, both his friends dropped the subject and resumed their walk towards Hagrid's hut, casting him small glances every now and again. As they neared the small home, Harry noticed Hermione pop something into her mouth.
"Whatcha got there?" he asked in an attempt to break the silence that had descended after his response earlier.
"Oh, this?" she held up the small baggie and he nodded. "Just this new candy that I found. They're great, do you want one?" she asked, holding them out for him.
"Uh, sure -what are they?"
"They're a type of Muggle candy called 'Andes'. It's a layer of mint sandwiched between two layers of chocolate, they're delicious," she said with a grin as he took one.
"So, basically they taste like chocolate and mint?" he asked, feeling his heart speed up.
She gave him an amused look "Of course."
He felt like he was going to pass out.
A.N. Well that's it for this chapter; please stick around for the next one. For those of you who don't
get the reference at the end. Just check out the dream sequence and you will, I hope you liked it and PLEASE REVIEW!
Thanks and Ja ne!
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