Forbidden Love
Chapter 32
Harry walked into his girlfriends' dorm and plopped down heavily onto the couch next to her, emitting a loud groan.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked with an amused look.
"Ugh, no more questions please," he moaned, placing his hand over his face.
"Oh, stop being such a baby," Hermione laughed; he groaned. Still smiling, she moved over and placed a light kiss on his chin before moving to his neck, "Did you need me to make you feel better?"
Harry removed his hand from his face and looked at her, "Uh, ye-yeah, that would be great," he whispered.
Hermione gave him a wide smile before coming forward once more and capturing his lips in a gentle kiss.
"Oh Merlin," a voice whined, "just when my headache started to disappear I walk in on this."
Harry pulled back and glared at Ron, "Then maybe next time you should knock."
The redhead gave a light shrug, "Next time I will, but are you guys done this time?"
When Hermione adjusted and laid her head on his chest, Harry sighed, "I guess."
"Good," the other boy said, flopping unceremoniously into one of the chairs. "I've already been traumatized enough by that bloody test, I don't need to add watching Harry and Hermione snog to the list of issues for my therapist."
"Who said you had to watch? -Perv," the dark haired boy retorted.
"I wouldn't be able to help it, it's like a broom crash or something, you know it'll be disgusting but you just can't turn away," Ron responded with a shrug.
"Could we please change the subject," Hermione said, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Please," Harry muttered.
Ron clapped his hands together, "Ok then! On to less nauseating things. So, we did it! We're done, N.E.W.T.s are officially behind us!"
Harry grinned, "I know, it's surreal isn't it? I mean the hardest test of our wizarding lives and we make it out virtually unscathed."
Ron grimaced, "Speak for yourself mate, though I do believe that I did just well enough that my mum won't kill me. What about you?"
"I think I did pretty well, with Hermione's help studying I feel somewhat confident that I passed," the other boy stated with a smile. "What about you Luv, how do you think you did?" he inquired looking down at dark haired witch.
"I aced it," she responded, turning and giving him a wide grin, "I just know it, I went in, cool, confident and prepared and I aced it."
"Congratulations," Harry replied giving her a light peck.
"Wow, normally you would be freaking out right about now," Ron responded with an incredulous look.
"Yeah, well with all the extra studying that we were able to get in I actually feel a tad more confident this time around."
"Oh… well that's good, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Yeah, I just hope that you don't get overconfident," Ron stated nonchalantly while reaching forward and plucking a chocolate frog out of the dish on her table.
"Why shouldn't I get overconfident?" Hermione asked with a frown, "Did you hear something?" She threw Harry an anxious look, "Did you? Did you hear something? Oh no, I failed, didn't I? I bombed, completely blew it!" she exclaimed abruptly standing. "The biggest and most important test in my wizarding career and I blew it! I don't know what happened! I don't know how I could have blanked, maybe I studied too much, maybe I didn't study enough, maybe-"
"-Ron's an idiot," Harry finished, catching his girlfriend mid-pace and pulling her into a hug. "I'm sure that you did fantastic, Luv. Don't let Ron get you all worked up, you knew those questions backwards and forwards and if I was able to recognize most of them with no problem, then I know that you were more than prepared."
"That's what I thought, but-" Hermione gave Harry a wide-eyed look when he placed a finger over her lips to silence her.
"But nothing, Hermione you did great as always. I'm sure that you got a perfect score and will have your pick of every job out there so stop worrying," he stated sternly.
"Harry…" she started; he kissed her.
"Just relax and breathe -I hear that that's important you know," he joked, pulling away. Harry led her over to the couch and drew her back into his arms as he took a seat.
"Ok, you're right," she said releasing a breath.
"I know," Harry answered with a grin. She threw him an annoyed look and he laughed.
"Er… sorry about that Hermione, Harry's right I can be a bit of an idiot sometimes," Ron commented with a sheepish look. "Forgive me?"
"Of course I forgive you." "Of course I'm right." Hermione and Harry stated at the same time.
Ron threw the dark haired boy a disgruntled look, "You said that like it's happened more than once."
"It has," Harry replied cheekily, "it's just that usually you were too obtuse to catch on."
At that answer the redhead threw a pillow, which the other boy easily swatted away.
"You know you just finished a test that indicates that you're ready for the real world, so don't you think it's time you two started acting like adults?" Hermione reprimanded with a frown.
Harry and Ron shared a look, "Yes dear," they quipped in unison, laughing when the brunette stuck her tongue out at them in response.
As their laughter died down, Harry gave a light shake of the head, "I can't believe that we're finally done."
"Yeah, party in the common room tonight to celebrate! It's over -finally it's over!" Ron exclaimed, grabbing another chocolate frog to commemorate the occasion and throwing one to Harry so that he could join in.
Harry grinned, "No more potions, no more Snape!" he called out catching his frog mid-jump and taking a bite.
"No more having to watch slimy Slytherin's snog my baby sister!" Ron added, doing a cheers motion with the one leg that he had left from his.
"No more curfews!"
"No more detentions!"
"No more Filch!"
"More importantly, no more Ms. Norris!"
"I can't believe you guys!" Hermione exclaimed standing and frowning down at them. "Do you even realize what's going on?!"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked reaching for her hand.
She pulled it away, "You keep going on about "no more this" and "no more that", well what about the other stuff there will be no more of, huh?! No more breakfasts together in the Great Hall! No more visiting Hagrid at his hut whenever we want! No more school Quidditch games! No more group trips to Hogsmeade or group study sessions! No more joking around at the end of each day or just hanging out together on weekends!"
"Hermione, we'll have time for some of that stuff," Ron offered with a weak smile.
"And if we don't then we'll make time for it," Harry added with a determined look.
"You still don't get it!" she cried looking frantic, her boyfriend and mate exchanged worried looks. "No more inseparable trio! No more running! No more protection during the fall! No more Dumbledore to watch out for you! No more delays!" tears began to stream unchecked down her face, "No more, Harry! No more safety! No more avoidance! Now you will have to fight Voldemort! No more peace…. No more…" she crumpled onto the couch and wept into her hands.
Harry quickly gathered her into his arms, "I… I never thought of it that way - I'm sorry. But it'll be okay Hermione, you'll see."
"Yeah," Ron chimed, "as for the inseparable trio thing… I don't know about you but I'm sure as hell not letting Harry leave me here to go gallivanting the countryside for the Horcruxes alone."
Hermione laid her head against Harry's chest and turned to look at Ron. "Gallivanting?" she inquired with a sniffle and a watery smile.
The boy gave a shrug, "Hey I hung around you for seven years, something was bound to rub off sooner or later."
She gave a wry grin, "I guess…"
Harry rubbed her back, "Please don't worry Luv. Hey look at it this way, at least now I'm officially a full fledged wizard. Honestly I'm a bit surprised that Voldemort has waited this long, but now that he has I feel a lot more equipped to handle whatever it is he's going to throw at me," he pulled back and gave her a smile. "Especially with you by my side."
"Oi! What am I -chopped liver?!" Ron exclaimed with an affronted look.
Harry rolled his eyes, "No, you're a bloody drama queen. Now could you shut your bleedin' cakehole, I'm trying to do something here."
The redhead glared and muttered under his breath.
"You don't know that Harry," Hermione whispered brokenly as her tears began anew. "What if all we've done is still not enough?"
"Hermione," Harry stated, studying his girlfriend, "I may not know what the future holds, but I didn't know what the future held when I got accepted to Hogwarts and look where it lead me. I have friends; I have…" he looked at Ron, "family. I have love, things I was taught I would never have, that I was unworthy of, are now mine. I know that we have a long battle ahead of us and things may get a little difficult at times, but we'll pull through -together, same as always." He gave a sad smile, "When I first learned of the prophecy I was terrified, I didn't want to die but I didn't see how I could live. Yet here I am, just two years later and though I'm still a bit afraid, I would have to be nuts not to be, I'm a lot more confident about my chances. You see then, I had just lost Sirius and I was terrified of losing the few people that I still had, I was terrified of losing myself. But now I have gained so much that I refuse to lose any of it and I won't. I can't die when I have so much to live for," he said wiping a tear from her face.
Hermione released a shaky breath, "But-"
"But nothing. We've done enough and we'll still do more during whatever time we have left before the battle. Look, I'm under no delusions that I'm some incredibly powerful wizard that'll just blow the git away. However I'm no longer the little baby that he once tried to murder either. Besides, he couldn't kill me then and I'll be damned if I let him kill me now. So just trust in me Luv, believe in me - I need you to."
"I do," she whispered.
"Good, don't worry Hermione, I'll be ok -we'll," he threw a glance to Ron before looking at her once more, "-be ok. And I promise you this; you and I will always be inseparable."
She gave him a watery smile and he moved forward and placed a light kiss on her lips. After he pulled back, they stared into each others eyes with love and adoration until Harry heard a noise to his left. Looking over he saw Ron with his head down.
"Are you alright? Hermione asked before he could.
The redhead nodded, a scant second before they heard a small sniff.
"Ron?" Harry asked giving his mate a worried look.
The other boy was quiet for a minute before finally speaking, "That was just so bloody beautiful Harry!" he blubbered with another large sniffle.
Harry couldn't help it, he laughed.
********************
The Great Hall was abuzz with loud boisterous conversation as each of the houses rejoiced over the end of exams. Several seventh years recapped the horrors of the N.E.W.T.'s to an audience of captive fifth and sixth years, while other people pigged out on the elaborate feast.
"So then," Ron said to a wide-eyed sixth year named Anthony Balford, "they make you take off all of your clothes and they throw stones at you. You know to see if you can get your protective shields up soon enough. If you can't then they soak you down with a hose, give you thirty lashes and do it all over again."
Hermione shook her head and threw her boyfriend an annoyed look, "Do you believe him?"
Harry laughed, "The question is, does he?"
"Well if he does then he deserves the terror, I can't believe anyone would be basic enough to listen to a word Ron says anyway," she responded while selecting a piece of chicken.
"I heard that," Ron said looking at the dark haired girl and giving a distracted wave to Anthony who then rushed off to tell his fellow classmates about the new exam procedure.
"I know," she retorted with a smug look.
Ron rolled his eyes before making a face, "Ugh, they're at it again," he grunted tearing into a roll with added vigor.
"Who?" Harry asked.
The redhead made a jabbing motion behind him with his thumb. Turning Harry saw Ginny sitting at the Slytherin table, practically draped on Draco Malfoy like a second robe.
"Gross," Hermione commented with a disdainful look, "there is such a thing as class you know."
"Yeah well there's also such a thing as tact," Neville stated, speaking for the first time since they got to the Great Hall.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Harry asked with a frown.
"It means this is all your fault, that's what it means. If you had been truthful with her instead of leading her on while you ran around with some dodgy backstabber who was supposed to be her friend, she would have never gotten involved with someone like him," the other boy responded angrily.
The people around the two stared at him in shock for a minute before turning to Harry with expectant looks.
"See here Neville, say what you want to about me but leave Hermione out of this. Besides how does saying, "I only want to be friends" and "I don't feel the same way about you anymore" constitute leading her on?" Harry replied hotly.
"You say that, but then you still act all friendly with her-"
"That's because I wanted to be friends!" the other boy cried, Hermione placed a hand lightly on his forearm as a signal to keep it down. "Sorry…" he muttered before glaring at Neville. "I wasn't leading her on."
Neville scoffed "You know what you did," he threw Hermione a contemptuous look, "and so does she."
"I told you to leave her out of this," Harry ground out.
"Look you guys," Dean interrupted, "this is supposed to be a celebration, it's no time to kick off."
"Yeah," chimed Seamus, "we're done with N.E.W.T.'s, you're supposed to be happy Neville."
"How can I be happy when Ginny's so miserable, all because of what they did to her," he replied giving the other boy a frown. He looked back at Harry, "Look just because you're Harry Potter doesn't mean you can treat people like crap. It also doesn't mean you can bloody well dictate what I say and what I don't. Regardless of your restrictions, she knows what she is as well as I do, whether I say it or not -I just choose to say it. You know, though there may be some people in this school who are scared of you -I'm not one of them," he stated with a fierce glower.
Hermione, Ron, Dean and Seamus shared anxious looks as Harry sat quietly, intently watching the other boy.
"Look Neville," he said a few minutes later in a tone that he usually reserved for Malfoy. "Just because you were too much of a bloody nancy boy to have been man enough to tell Ginny what you felt for her before she started dating Malfoy doesn't mean that that gives you free reign to run around here like some bleedin' saint. Don't be mad at me because you wanted what I had, but it didn't want you. Oh, and as for what you think that Hermione may or may not be…" he leaned forward on the table, "it would be best if you kept that to yourself. You know, I never wanted or deserved anyone's fear -until now." He raised his wand and placed it discreetly at the other boys' neck, looking him directly in the eyes he finished in a steely tone. "So what I want you to do is give it a go. Tell me what you think she is… show me how brave you are, and I'll show you how misplaced that bravery was."
"Harry," Hermione stated anxiously looking around the hall. Luckily, people were so wrapped up in celebrating that everyone short of the few people at their section of table remained oblivious to the dangerous situation brewing between the two older boys. "Please Harry," she whispered touching his arm.
"Come on mate," Ron hissed, "we have less than a week. Getting expelled and sent to Azkaban less than a week before you graduate is just bloody stupid. Hell if you were going to do that you could have done it first year… or at least last week and saved yourself the headache of taking the N.E.W.T."
"Yeah, besides… Neville was just kidding," nervously added Seamus, "right Neville?"
The two boys continued to stare at one another seemingly ignoring the comments around them, until Neville's gaze wavered.
"Right," he muttered, looking down at the table.
Giving a nod, Harry lowered his wand and took a seat; as soon as he did Neville stood from the table and stormed out of the hall. Harry watched the retreating back of a bloke that he use to call his mate, before running an agitated hand thorough his hair.
"You didn't need to do that you know," Hermione said from next to him. He shook his head but didn't respond. "He was just venting Harry, he didn't mean it. Just give him a little while."
He rolled his eyes, "That's what you said about Ginny," he commented throwing his girlfriend a look. "So does this mean for graduation we should be on to look out for a Neville, Pansy match?"
Dean snorted into his potatoes, Hermione rolled her eyes and Ron and Seamus groaned.
"Blimey, mate!" the red haired boy exclaimed, "I was trying to eat! Now not only do I have to put up with seeing my sister snog Malfoy, but I get to add an image of Neville snogging Pansy to it too!"
"Ok, that's a mental image I did not need," Hermione commented dryly, giving a small shudder.
"Could we please talk about something else," added Seamus.
"Anything else," chimed a pale looking Ron.
For the first time since his exchange with Neville, Harry cracked a smile. "And here I thought Ron was the only drama queen in our mist."
"Hey! I am not a queen!" the redheaded boy exclaimed, blushing when several students turned and looked at him.
"Of course you're not Ronald," Hermione stated giving him a light pat on the arm. "You're a Plumperdink," she finished with an impish grin.
He threw Harry an arrested look, "You told her!"
His mate blushed and turned back to his food.
"Don't blame Harry," Hermione stated over the laughter of the people who had overheard the nickname. "I had to force it out of him."
"I don't care -I can't believe you told her. I would have never let Luna force anything out of me about you," Ron responded still frowning.
"I couldn't help it," Harry gave Ron a roughish grin, "you'd be surprised what she can force out of me mate."
Hermione punched him in the arm while the boys at the table chortled at the implications.
"Right'o mate," Ron said with a wide grin, "then you're forgiven."
Hermione threw a roll at him, "You pig."
"What? I-" he was cut off as Dumbledore called all attention to the front of the hall.
The five of them shared confused looks before turning to watch the Headmaster.
"Now I know that I usually reserve these long talks for the beginning of the year, however we can all do with a bit of spontaneity now and again," he gave Harry an amused look and the younger wizard blushed. "As you all know, this years N.E.W.T.'s are over," applause and whistles rang out. "To my dear seventh years you have less than one more week in our hallowed halls before you are released into the wizarding world. The usual routine is that the students enjoy their last moments as students, uninterrupted by classes or lectures. Spending four free days together completely unencumbered, to have some last -and hopefully profound- moments with your friends before moving into adult life." He gave a small smile. "However this year there will be a slight -change in plans. In three days hence your parents will arrive," a ripple of groans and exclamations of dismay rang out from the seventh years. "I realize that this may be inconvenient for you, but I do hope that my reason for doing so will get at least," he threw and amused glance to the Slytherin table, "some of you, to forgive me. Earlier this month we had a bit of a disturbance which caused several things to be moved, cancelled or postponed."
Harry and Ron threw Hermione curious looks but she responded with a baffled expression and a small hitch of her shoulders.
"Since that small disruption is no longer a factor I have decided that the things that were postponed shall now be rescheduled," At this statement the students began to whisper excitedly. "So in order to avoid having such a glorious cup go to waste, I am pleased to announce that this year and for the first time in Hogwarts history we will be having a Quidditch match after exams. Ravenclaw, Gryffindor," Dumbledore gave small smile to both tables, "I truly hope that you're ready. I'd hate for you to embarrass yourselves -in front of your families."
The Great Hall was in an uproar. Harry looked at Hermione with a shocked expression. The Quidditch game between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor was back on! And the families were going to be there to watch!
"Wow…" Hermione said with a light shake of the head, "my dad's going to have a conniption."
Harry and Ron both nodded, still too stunned to actually form words.
As people began to come over to congratulate them, the two boys slowly came out of their stupor.
"Isn't it just wonderful Ronald," Luna said from the spot she had taken next to her boyfriend. "Your parents are going to get to watch you play a real game," she frowned, "I just hope that the Faltrust leaves Ginny before your mum and dad get here or things won't be pretty."
Hermione frowned, "What in the world is a Faltrust?"
"Oh, it's a type of leech that creeps into you're ear while you're sleeping and takes over your mind. It makes you do the strangest things, once my dad did an interview with a woman who was possessed by one and she just got up and jumped out of the window right in the middle of it," she replied in a musical tone.
"What! Wh-w- was she hurt!" the brunette exclaimed with a worried look.
"Oh not at all," the blond replied with a serene smile, "in fact right after she landed she just walked away."
"Without a scratch?" Harry inquired; Luna nodded her head.
"She didn't have to see a healer or anything?" asked Ron taken aback.
"Nope," the other girl replied.
"Luna?" Hermione asked arching a brow, "Just what floor was this interview on?"
The blond gave her a curious look "Why the first floor of course."
Hermione smirked, "Of course."
Harry and Ron both smacked themselves on the head before laughing. How could they not have thought of that? Grinning and now feeling more like his old self since before his run in with Neville, Harry stood and called his team over. They needed to discuss practice and strategy.
A.N. Well that's it for this chapter. Next chapter the families arrive. Hope you check it out! PLEASE REVIEW and Ja ne!!!
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