Ace of Hearts

Ace of Hearts
Chapter 1


Hermione closed her book on ancient healing techniques and rubbed her eyes.

'I never thought I'd be tired of looking at books,' she thought to herself smiling wryly.

She had been pouring over the text for over four hours looking for a remedy for the accidental poisoning of one of the animals in her care. The Lylith Harth was a magical type of horse; it was in close relation to the unicorn, though more often a soft lilac color instead of white. The species had become endangered after the war, due to their relation to unicorns and their subsequent healing powers; Voldemort and his followers had often killed them and used their blood to heal their injured and those who were weak after being freed from Azkaban, leaving only two or three hundred alive. Hermione had been in her offices yesterday working with Eliza Grunald on a revision to `The Magical Creature Book of Laws and Standard Practices' when they relieved the urgent floo from Priscilla Pundance; the head of the Magical Creature Law and Medicine Department that Hermione works for in the Ministry of Magic about the Lylith Harth. According to Priscilla the animal who lived in the Enchanted Forest had (for unknown reasons) wondered out of it's grassy home and up the road about two to three miles where it somehow was able to get itself into a local potions factory. While in the factory the Lylith drank from one of the large cooling cauldrons of 'Wiley Wonders Witch and Wizards Prudent Pain Prevention Potion', which despite it's overly long-winded name was one of the top selling pain relievers in the wizarding world. One of the workers noticed the animal drinking from the cauldron and intervened but it was already too late, by the time Hermione and Eliza arrived the creature was already down.

Hermione leaned back in her chair looking at the ceiling and taking a long-suffering sigh.

"Ok, I have to relax, clear my head and refocus I can do this and that poor animal is depending on me," she said to herself before reopening the book and diving back in.

It had been four years since the defeat of Voldemort, three and a half since she, Harry and Ron had officially completed their education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and a little over two since she had gotten her job with the Magical Creature Law and Medicine Department within the Ministry of Magic. Ron had interned at the Ministry for a short time (an opportunity provided by Mr. Weasley) before getting a job with the Razin Wizardz semi pro Quidditch team as a chaser, though he was hoping to get a chance at a pro team soon (preferably the Chutney Cannons). Harry meanwhile had, after passing up the post of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts (finding it to hard to stay after Dumbledore's death) eagerly taken the position he had always wanted as an Auror in the Ministry of Magic. Though he found it was harder than he thought it would be he also loved it; he said there was "nothing more satisfying than being able to catch of evil wizards and witches."

After another two hours of intense scrutiny Hermione finished combing through the book, she had looked at it backwards and forwards and was no closer to the answers that she needed than when she started.

'I'll go to the departments library tomorrow,' she thought to herself. 'I'm sure that they should have something that can help, but unfortunately just I can't to anything else tonight,' she closed the book for a final time and stood up stretching. Casting a glance to the clock on the wall and noticing that it was already almost midnight she headed into the kitchen. Hermione had just put a kettle on the burner for tea when she heard a throat clear.

"Hello, Mione are you there?" Ron's voice spoke from the fireplace. She smiled to herself before heading over to stand within his view.

"Hey, I'm here. I was wondering where you were today," she said to him.

"Had a game, then some of the guys and I decided to head over to the Bubbling Cauldron for a few drinks. How was your day?" he asked smiling.

Ron had grown into an attractive and well built man, his red hair had (finally) been cut as part of dress code for the Wizardz and it helped to bring a sense of maturity and added masculinity to his appearance. He was no longer skinny thanks to his rigorous workout schedule and had developed a nicely muscular form, his new money from working meant that hand-me-downs were a thing of the past and he had developed a very nice fashion sense, though Quidditch team t-shirts and jeans were still his favorite clothes of choice.

"Very long," Hermione responded casting an annoyed glance to the six-thousand five-hundred and fifty-seven page long book on her dining room table.

"How about I come over and you can tell me all about it?" he asked causing her to smile.

She knew very well that “work talk” was not something he liked to hear, actually any talk of work that was not his own usually had him bored out of his mind, especially hers.

"That's ok," she said, taking note of the relieved expression of his face before he hid it. "I was actually just going to have some tea and turn in for the night, I have a long day of work ahead of me tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" he said in the characteristic whine that he's had since she meet him in on the train all those years ago. "But tomorrow's Saturday, don't they ever give you a day off?!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, physically he had changed a lot, but underneath he was still the same old Ron.

"We had an emergency today and I'm not done working on it," she told him taking her most patient but stern tone. "I'm going in tomorrow to do some research, hopefully solve this problem and in turn save a life, is that ok with you Ronald?"

Ron winced at the use of his full name, knowing she usually only did that when she was annoyed or getting annoyed.

"Of course sweetie," he responded with his best innocent face "it's just that I miss you and want us to spend some time together. So, you know, since you don't have time tomorrow, is it ok if I come over tonight?"

"Ron I told you I'm just going to have some tea and go to bed."

"Maybe I can join you-"

"For tea or for bed?" she quizzed no longer looking annoyed but amused instead.

"How about both?" he wagged his eyebrows.

"Well tha- hey, where's Harry?" Hermione inquired frowning.

"Wha.." Ron first looked confused, and then agitated. "What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Nothing," she responded looking towards the kitchen "the kettles whistling, I have to take it off of the fire."

"Hey!" He exclaimed before she could walk away. "Wadda ya say? Can I come over or not?"

Hermione looked at him for a second like she was seriously debating the answer before smiling.

"Of course, Ron, stop being such a ninny and come on," she then pointed a finger at him "but we're just having tea, then it's straight to bed."

"What ever you like," he responded smiling, just before he disappeared from sight.

Less than a second later there was a 'pop' and his tall form was standing before her. Ron leaned forward and gave her a light kiss on the lips, before walking past her to the kitchen. It was a nice place with brightly colored yellow walls and wood cabinets, there was a modern muggle electric stove that had a kettle whistling upon it which he removed with a flick of the wand. The room was a good size and had an open flow; there was a muggle fridge with double doors and an ice maker/water dispenser on the front. The counter tops were granted cream with brown specs that matched the cabinets, there was a microwave mounted just right of the stove and below it was a nice set of double sinks with swan necked faucets and a water filter attached. Hermione was surprised and happy to have located the well priced flat and Ron was surprised to find that she used a lot of the muggle made items located there, but after she and Harry showed him how everything worked he could see why (though he still preferred magic himself).

Hermione walked in just behind him grabbing a couple of tea cups from the cabinet and sitting them down before opening the ceramic jar in front of her and taking out a couple of tea bags. She placed them in the cups as Ron came up behind her, his warm chest pressed against her back an his strong arm came in front of her to pour the water into the tea kettle she could smell the cologne that she had brought him for Christmas mixing in with the smell of the tea that was wafting up from the steaming cups before her. She then felt a soft kiss pressed to the base of her neck just below her earlobe; Ron placed one arm around her waist softly hugging her from behind while he placed the kettle onto the counter top with his other hand. Once that was done, he fully encompassed her in his arms and placed another kiss, this time on her earlobe. Hermione smiled.

"Tea then bed Ron," she said in a mock stern tone.

"I know," he responded nuzzling her neck "tea then bed," he repeated studiously.

"Okay, let me rephrase that. Tea then sleep Ronald."

He sighed and then pulled back from her, moving to stand at her side he picked up his tea cup and turned to face her.

"Tea then sleep," he repeated studiously once more. "Boy we're such an adventurous couple Mione. Some people have to be together until they're... oh, I don't know... eighty before they get to have tea then sleep, but us, we're front runners." He was nodding his head with a serious expression upon it.

Hermione smiled, she loved him. Leaning over she placed a kiss on his lips before pulling back and picking up her own tea cup. They just stared at each other smiling and sipping tea for a while before Ron broke the silence.

"Still at work," he commented reaching past her to grab kettle and make himself another cup of tea.

"What's still at work?" she questioned giving him a confused look.

"Who, who's still at work, and who's Harry," Ron was now using his wand to warm the water in his cup, since it had cooled from being off of the fire for a few minutes.

"I thought he had the day off?"

"He did, but they had an emergency too and he got called in... he left in a hurry."

"What happened?"

"Dunno, he sent an owl later saying that he won't make it back until sometime tomorrow probably. They seem to have a lot of those lately."

"Is he ok- wait, who's they and a lot of what?" she asked once again looking perplexed.

"They -you know they -them... the Ministry," he was looking at her like she was a little daft. "The ministry and emergencies, you know, first Harry and then you... you did say you guys had an emergency right, and that's why you're going in tomorrow?"

"Oh, yeah right..." she frowned, watching him shake his head. "You know you don't have to talk to me like I'm mental Ronald, you just have to speak coherently," he rolled his eyes. "And you never answered my other question, is he ok?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah he's fine," Ron downed the rest of his tea "well, looks like we're both done with tea, how about that bed now?" Without waiting for an answer he took the cup from her hand, set it on the counter, then grabbed Hermione and threw her over his shoulder.

"Ron," she laughed, "I'm not a sack of potatoes you know!"

"Are you sure, because I'd love the opportunity to peel you, or at least peel off your clothes!"

"Ronald!" she screamed laughing as he carried her into her bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them.

AN: Well that's it for chapter one, don't worry Harry's in the next one, I'm a total Harry/Hermione shipper and this is an H/Hr fic, I just prefer to build a little story before jumping right into the relationship. I also don't want to be one of those people who forget how important Ron is... well anyway, Stay Tuned! Chapter two should be posted soon Please Review! Ja ne!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 2

Hermione was sitting alone at a table in the Ministry cafeteria. Try as she might she just could not find anything to help that poor Lilith Harth, she was exhausted and frustrated. Mentally reviewing the information that she had located in the extensive library and then the subsequent failed attempts to make any of the antidote potions that she had created work, only served to make her more upset. Still feeling frustrated she took an angry bite of her sandwich.

"Whoa, Hermione," a deep voice chuckled "I think they killed it before they put it on your sandwich, you don't have to kill it again."

She looked up to see a very amused, and tired, looking Harry standing before her. Hermione's body temperature rose causing a flush to rise up her neck and cheeks. Lucky for her though Harry seemed to take her reaction as a response to his teasing, when instead it was a response to... well she didn't want to think about what it was a response to.

Harry, now at a little over six feet, had grown into a spectacular looking man. His build was just as muscular and toned as Ron's, however unlike Ron, Harry was a bit more on the lean side. And though Ron is still very handsome, Harry just looked more natural with that type of physique. He carried the appearance with a type of ease and confidence that just made it seem more alluring on him. His face had matured some, but still had a boyish quality to it that intensified his appeal. Along with his glasses and messy black hair, as always, that just barley hid a small lightning bolt shaped scar he just exuded masculinity. Harry stood before her dressed from head to toe in the black clothes that were required for all Aurors. He wore a form fitting shirt that hugged his torso and loose black cargo pants. Black boots laced to mid-calf and black robes completed his outfit.

Though he still sometimes wore other colors, Harry had taken to wearing black even on his days off after getting his job as an Auror. In truth, most often when you saw him he had on just black. He said it made it easier so that when he got called into work on emergencies he didn't have to change clothes. Ginny had joked that he looked like a character from the muggle movie 'The Matrix', which the Weasley family had seen when Mr. Weasley came home with a muggle TV/DVD combo that had been enchanted to only played Keanu Reeves movies -for odd some reason. Everyone had laughed heartily at the joke especially when Harry proceeded to lean far back and imitate the scene where the main character Neo had dodged the bullets. Later that night when they were alone in the kitchen Hermione joked with him that he only wore black to try to maintain his mysterious persona that women liked and The Daily Prophet always talked about. Harry gave a thoughtful look before turning his gaze to her, laughing and winking. Before Hermione could comment further he walked out of the kitchen to join Ron, Ginny, Seamus, and the twins for an impromptu game of Quidditch.

She was pulled back to the present as Harry took the seat opposite of her.

"So what are you doing here on a Saturday?" He asked, while taking a few of her chips. Since she was pretty much done Hermione slid her tray, containing the remaining chips and half a sandwich over to Harry, who after giving her a grateful smile, began eating.

"Oh, well not unlike yourself we had a bit of an emergency yesterday."

"Yeah, what happened?" He asked in between bites unlike Ron, Harry enjoyed hearing about other people's jobs, especially hers. He said it "gave him a real sense for the world".

Even though Harry had now been a part of the magical world for over ten years, he still was boyishly enthusiastic to learn new things about it. Happy to have someone to talk to about her problem Hermione leaned forward and eagerly told him about her last couple of days at work.

"So you see, I'm sure it's nowhere near as exciting or important yours, but it just has me so frustrated. This whole thing is driving me absolutely mental! I'm running out of ideas and time."

Harry smiled; he knew just how much she hated running out of ideas.

"First of all, don't ever say that something that you're doing isn't important. I know you very well Hermione Granger, and that includes well enough to know that you would never put so much time, effort and heart into something that's not important." He looked at her with a stern expression but his green eyes were twinkling. "Second, maybe instead of books you should try people..."

Hermione gave him a confounded look, but it only lasted for a second. A genuine smile graced Harry's lips as he looked into her eyes. He could almost see her mind working, first there was confusion, then comprehension, followed by understanding and finally triumph.

"So you mean instead of consulting their books, I should consult the experts themselves!" She was glowing with pleasure "Harry you're genius!" Hermione hopped up from the table and flew around to his side pulling him into an impromptu hug. "Just brilliant! Now I know why the Auror department snatched you up," she pulled away and looked at him for a second before her face became serious. "You look horrible."

"Gee, I just love the way you stroke my ego," he smirked; blushing Hermione pulled away.

"Off to bed with you," she stated, reminding him of Mrs. Weasley. "I know you were out all night for work, you really need to get some rest you look dead on your feet."

"How did you know I was out all night?"

"Ron told me."

"When?"

When she turned even redder he knew.

"Never mind, Hermione," Harry responded giving a small fake smile and ignoring the clench in his stomach.

"Well..." she said after a moment "you go get some rest and I'll come by the flat later to check on you. At that time you can tell me all about your emergency. Does that sound like a plan?" After receiving his nod she gave him a smile, turned away and walked briskly out of the lunchroom.

Harry sat for a second longer staring at the place where Hermione had just been, before stifling a yawn. He then emptied the tray and headed to the designated location in the ministry where he Apparated home.

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A few hours later Harry was abruptly awaken by what sounded like someone choking a pigeon. Wiping his bleary eyes, he rolled out of bed placing on his glasses and grabbing his wand. Harry stumbled towards the kitchen trying to locate the source of the horrendous sound and upon entering the location he found his flat-mate singing a Weird Sisters song -very poorly he might add- and making grilled cheese sandwiches... or at least he thought they were grilled cheese sandwiches. Harry squinted moving closer to the cook top.

"Bloody Hell!!" Ron screamed as Harry came up behind him. "Sorry mate did I wake you?" He quizzed smiling. "You looked bloody exhausted when you came in so I decided that I would make dinner tonight."

The dark haired man look incredulously at the pan on the stove with the burnt sandwich.

"I thought you might like some grilled cheese sandwiches and kitchen soup."

"Kitchen soup?"

"Yeah," Ron motioned to a pot on the burner opposite of the grilled cheese pan. A mass of brown bubbling stuff gurgled back at him, reminding Harry of something that they had accidentally made during Snape's potions class.

"Uhhhh, actually I was thinking more along the lines of pizza."

Ron, looking disappointed, finally took the smoking sandwich off of the burner.

"Sorry mate," Harry offered taking note of his expression "it's just that... I uhh, had grilled cheese and soup for lunch today and I'm all souped out. But hey if you want you can have pizza too, it'll be my treat."

Ron looked at mate for a second then looked at the still bubbling soup. As if on cue it let out a long farting noise with a puff of smoke, though Harry would swear it was no normal puff but one that looked suspiciously like a skull and crossbones. He saw Ron cringe before looking at him and nodding enthusiastically.

"While you order the pizza, I think I'm going to go get cleaned up," Ron said looking down at his shirt which was now covered in random colored stains.

"You do that," Harry responded laughing. "By the by, what is Kitchen soup?"
he asked Ron who was almost out of the room.

Without turning the redhead shrugged and answered. "Soup made from what ever I could find in the kitchen," he then turned the corner and headed down the hall to his room.

Harry glanced back at the murky substance on the stove and deciding it was too dangerous to get close to, used his wand to turn on warm water and empty the pot into the sink. He smiled in amusement noticing the random ingredient packages that Ron had used. He saw every thing from lizard egg shells to sliced pumpkin; Wiley Wonders Witch and Wizards Prudent Pain Prevention Potion, which he was sure they would have needed, to left over Sheppard's pie; Elf Jam to Oreo's... Harry shook his head, Ron had been attempting to learn to cook like a muggle since seeing him and Hermione do it. In all honesty though he was still learning he really wasn't half bad -well usually. Smiling at his mates, quite possibly deadly attempt at cooking Harry began to clean the counters. He had just tossed an empty package of Berttie Botts into the bin when he heard a `pop' signaling that someone had just Apparated.

"Hello?" he heard a melodious voice call from the living room. "Harry? Ron?"

"In here!" he replied, a second later a smiling Hermione entered. She had taken a single step into the kitchen before her face went red and her wide eyes fixated on his chest. Giving her a curious look, Harry looked down and noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Oh sorry," he commented, unsure of why it seemed to bother her. She had seen him without a shirt on before, just a few months ago in fact when he played an impromptu Quidditch game at the Weasley's. His team -consisting of him, George and Ron had been the skins while the other team -Fred, Seamus and Ginny had been the shirts.

When Hermione began to examine the counter Harry let out a low chuckle.

"Okay, okay," he held up his hands in mock surrender "I'll put on a shirt. I wasn't aware that the seeing me without one disgusted you so much." He then laughed harder at the frown that came across her flushed face as she made eye contact with him. "Just kidding, geez," still chuckling Harry left the kitchen to retrieve a shirt.

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Hermione did her best to ignore the heat from his body as he passed her on his way out the kitchen laughing.

'Disgust me,' she thought 'if he only knew.'

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Her day had been finally looking up. Taking Harry upon his idea, Hermione had flooed and owled the few famous magical creature doctors and healers who's addresses she could locate. She had gotten great ideas and input almost immediately and she and Eliza, whom she had called in to help with all the responses, had concocted a potion with various herbs, newt toes and dragon scales that seemed promising. After receiving the brew about an hour latter the Lylith had actually even eaten for the first time since the incident.

Hermione had gone home to change and then Apparated directly over to the flat to tell Harry how his plan had worked out. However upon arriving in the living room she noticed it was deserted.

"Hello?" she called "Harry? Ron?"

"In here," she heard Harry's distinctive voice reply from the kitchen. Excited to tell him the new developments with the Lylith Hermione hurried smiling into the other room, and that's when her world flipped.

He was standing by the counter to her left holding a crumpled Oreo cookie wrapper and yet somehow still managing to look like a golden Adonis. She first noticed his hair. It looked even messier than usual, like he just rolled out of bed, which started a train of thought that could get her into serious trouble. So wishing to avoid said trouble, Hermione looked down -and her legs almost gave out. Harry's smooth chest was bronze colored and very defined. His pecks were a very nice size, not too big but not to small. He was so well toned that she could count the abs on his stomach -eight if your curious- and his navel, which was an innie, had a light sprinkle of hair from it leading to the waist band of his sleep pants down to his...

"Sorry," Hermione heard Harry comment pulling her out of her musings.

She flushed even more and quickly redirected her attention to the kitchen counter. Obviously Harry had noticed her notice of his lack of shirt.

"Okay, okay," she heard Harry say a second later. Looking up Hermione noticed he held up his hands in surrender. "I'll put on a shirt, I wasn't aware that the seeing me without one disgusted you so much."

She frowned at him for making fun of her and that frown deepened when he laughed at about it. Using all her strength Hermione maintained eye-contact with Harry determined not to show how much his incredible body continued to fluster her. A moment later still laughing he sauntered past her stating that he was "just kidding" and went to the back to get a shirt.

'Disgust me,' she thought 'if he only knew... no, I can't think like that. This is Harry -my best mate... Ron's best mate...' closing her eyes in an attempt to relax a very sexy, smooth chest appeared in front of her. When her hand unconsciously twitched with the need to stroke it, Hermione's eyes snapped open.

The minute she heard his bedroom door close, Hermione leaned against the counter and proceeded to bang her head against the hanging cabinets.

'Stop it! Ron is your boyfriend, not Harry! You shouldn't even notice him in that way!' She stopped hitting her head against the cupboard and took a deep breath. 'Ron, Ron, Ron!' Hermione did a slow mental mantra, focusing on a small chip in the paint on the wall opposite her. She then did her best to conjure up a picture of Ron from last night, feeling as though she had it, she closed her eyes one more and once again -she saw a shirtless Harry. Hermione began to bang her head against the cabinet yet again.

A throat cleared on her third pound and Hermione's eyes flew open.



AN: Well that's it for chapter two, chapter three coming soon. please review THX!!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 3


'Stop it! Ron is your boyfriend, not Harry! You shouldn't even notice him in that way!' She stopped hitting her head against the cupboard and took a deep breath. 'Ron, Ron, Ron!' Hermione did a slow mental mantra, focusing on a small chip in the paint on the wall opposite her. She then did her best to conjure up a picture of Ron from last night, feeling as though she had it, she closed her eyes one more and once again -she saw a shirtless Harry. Hermione began to bang her head against the cabinet yet again.

A throat cleared on her third pound and Hermione's eyes flew open.



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Ron was standing at the entrance to the kitchen looking at her as though she were daft and just behind him was a smiling Harry.

"You know Hermione," Harry laughed, "if you felt the cupboards were loose you could have just used your wand to tighten them. You didn't have to use your head."

Between his laugher and Ron, who was still looking at her strangely, she was so embarrassed her coloring went from flesh tone to tomato in zero point three seconds flat. Throwing Harry a glare, Hermione turned around and proceeded to pick up some lizard egg shells off of the counter.

"When was the last time you two cleaned this place?" She asked not turning around. A moment later she heard their hearty laughter at her obvious change of subject. Once they were done sniggering the two of them joined her in the kitchen. Harry had just picked up another empty box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans when she heard Ron groan.

"Come on you guys," he sighed "I know you grew up in muggle homes, but get with the times here. You don't have to do everything the hard way," with a flick of his wand Ron deposited everything in its proper place -he even had the pots that he had used to cook washing themselves.

Harry and Hermione shared and amused glance, quickly realizing that Ron was right. The redhead gave a satisfied smile and then, rubbing his hands together, he turned to Harry with and expectant look.

"Well?... Where's the pizza?"

The dark haired man shrugged and ran his hand through his hair "Sorry, I was just starting to pick up this place when Hermione showed. Then I had” he threw her a pointed look “to go to the bedroom to put on some clothes. By the time I got back you were already here and Hermione was using her head to play bongo's with the cabinet, so... I sorta forgot."

"Awww, come on Harry I'm starving," Ron wined, his stomach grumbled in agreement.

"Sorry, like I said some things came up and it slipped my mind..."

"Harry we agreed, I would go change and you would order pizza."

"Well I would have, but it turned out that I had to go change too."

"Well couldn't you have ord-"

"Really boys," Hermione interrupted "two seconds, that's what it takes to order a pizza. I mean really," she grumbled. Making her way to the fireplace she then threw in some floo powder and stated the name of the pizzeria.

"Madam Minerva's Magical Pizza," a floating head of a tattooed teenaged witch appeared with an annoyed look. "Better than muggle's and thrice as quick, get you pizza in a lizard's lick," she finished rolling her eyes and popping her color-changing gum.

"Yes," said Hermione sitting in front of the fire. "Can we have one lily weed, sprout and beef pizza -extra large. And one..." she turned slightly, "Harry did you want to split a pizza or did you want one of your own?"

Harry was sitting on the couch just to her right, he had leaned back into a relaxed position with both of his leg braced apart and his left arm across the back of the couch. He had changed into a black t-shirt and blue jeans with white socks. Shrugging, rubbing his eyes and then once again running a hand through his hair, he replied.

"I'm willing to share, I don't think I could eat a whole pizza tonight," then, an amused look crossing his face continued. "Heck, after seeing Ron's kitchen soup it's a wonder I'd be able to eat anything at all." Less than a second later he was hit in the side of the head with a pillow that Ron, who was sitting on the couch behind Hermione, had thrown causing the three of them to laugh.

"Hel-lo," remarked young witch impatiently from the fireplace, regaining Hermione's attention "Will there be anything else?"

"Oh, of course, sorry about that," when the girl rolled her eyes once more Hermione frowned at her rudeness. "May I have get one more extra large pizza this one with pepperoni, extra cheese and firesnaps -oh! And can we finish that off with three-" she noticed Ron motioning in her peripheral visions "no, four bottles of butterbeer and some spicy flying buffalo wings?"

The witch disappeared from sight for a second before returning with a small piece of parchment.

"That'll be two galleons, seven sickles, and three knuts please," her hand extended from the fireplace holding the receipt. Harry came forward taking the parchment from the floating hand and placing the money into it. One moment later two hands appeared balancing two extra large pizza boxes, one smaller box containing the wings and four butterbeers.

"Thank you and have a magical evening," she said once the items were taken from her hand and disappeared from sight. With all communication done the fire quickly burnt down.

"Great!" exclaimed Ron "Let's tuck in, I positively starved here!"

He rubbed his hands together before taking the boxes from Harry and placing them on the table, the three friends then sat down to eat and chat. Harry told Hermione about kitchen soup and Ron told them both what he put in it... or at least what he could remember.

About twenty minutes later they were all gloriously full and sitting on the couches watching Harry's tellie. Ron and Hermione were on the long sofa across from the fireplace, while Harry was sitting on the love seat just to the right. They were watching a rerun of a muggle show called `Beverly Hills 90210', which for reasons unknown to Harry; Ron had taken a liking to.

Hermione was trying to pay attention to the show but found her gaze wondering back to Harry again and again. For his part the dark haired man wasn't paying attention at all to what was going on. Since in his words he “Found most of the characters bratty and annoying”. Even though she agreed Hermione still liked the show. Harry had instead opted to catch up on some much needed rest and was stretched out on the loveseat. His long body was facing towards her and Ron. He had one foot on the couch with his leg bent and the other placed firmly on the floor. She couldn't see his face because his head was leaning back, but she could see his long graceful neck. His Adams apple was sticking out slightly, in a masculine sexy way and every time he would swallow it would jump a little. Hermione quickly became entranced with the sight. Her eyes fixated on that point of his neck and she unconsciously licked her lips as she watched him. She was abruptly taken from her fantasy when the credits started to roll and Ron, whose head was in her lap, started kissing her stomach.

"Ron," she whispered, "stop it, Harry's less than a foot away."

"So," he replied casting a glance at his sleeping best friend. "He's had a long day and a full meal -he's out like a light trust me." Ron then began placing light kisses on her stomach once more and began making his way up her torso towards her chest. She slapped his hand when it cupped her breast.

"Sleep or not I'm not comfortable doing this with him being so close."

Ron sighed and let his head fall to her chest.

"Okay, then lets go," he stood, taking her hand and pulling her up with him "we'll go to my room." He led her out of the living room, past the kitchen, through the hall to his bedroom, which was the first door on the left in the flat.

They entered the room, softly closing the door behind them; Ron then used his wand to turn on the low light lamp and to start the radio, which was set to a romantic tune. Turning to face her he placed his hands in her hair and leaning down he began a long lingering kiss on her lips before moving to her neck. Hermione wrapped her arms around Ron's neck and ran her fingers through his hair, a soft moan escaped from between her lips when he kissed just below her ear, hearing this he captured her mouth with is own. She broke the kiss and placed her mouth on his neck causing him to be the one to groan this time. As her mouth reached his Adams apple she flicked her tough across it, hearing more sounds of pleasure from her partner she began to kiss it and while doing so she closed her eyes... and saw Harry.


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As soon as he heard the door close and the soft romantic music playing Harry opened his eyes and expelled the breath that he had been holding. He did not want to think about what Ron and Hermione were doing in that bedroom. All he knew is that he was grateful that Hermione stopped Ron from doing it out here.

Harry stood up and stretched, he was still tired, but didn't want to risk walking past Ron's room to get to his. After all he wasn't just out of the schoolroom and understood well how things worked and the last thing that he wanted was to go to his room, lie down, and hear them "working". He rubbed his shoulders feeling weary, and then with a flick of the wand he summoned the blanket off of his bed and lay on the couch Ron and Hermione had just vacated to get some rest.

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He awoke a while later upon hearing some noise, once again, from the kitchen. Harry sat up on the couch taking a minute to focus and grab his glasses off of the end table.

"Oh!" he heard. Turning his head he saw Hermione standing there with a mug of steaming tea. "I didn't know you were in here."

'Wow,' he thought 'she looks beautiful.'

Hermione was standing before him wearing one of Ron's oversized Quidditch t-shirts. It was a maroon coloring and fell to about mid-thigh on her. She didn't seem to be wearing shorts so the shirt and some socks that were pulled up mid-calf, were the only things covering her long shapely legs. Her hair hung loose and fell just past her shoulders framing her lovely oval shaped face. Though her it was not as bushy as when they were kids it was still by no means considered tame -especially now when it had a slightly rumpled appearance to it. The light from the kitchen glowed from behind her giving her an almost ethereal look... she had changed a lot since their Hogwarts years. Though her face looked the same it now held a look certain of maturity that, of course, she didn't have in her youth. Her body was toned and well proportioned, her breasts weren't small but also weren't overly large, she had a small waist, he could span the width of it with one hand, medium sized hips and a round firm behind. Her eye's, Harry's favorite part of her -well next to her behind, were still a warm cocoa color, but held a large amount of intelligence and a mature type of understanding. Shaking his head to clear his wayward thoughts of his best mates' girl, Harry stood up and stretched. Making sure to turn away so Hermione wouldn't see her effect on him and therefore failing to noticing her gaze scan his form and linger on his backside before he faced her.

"Can I have one of those?" He asked motioning towards her mug of tea.

"Of course," she replied looking around. After a moment she seemed to realize that she didn't have her wand so she sat her mug on the table and went into the kitchen to get the tea manually. While she was gone Harry walked over to the kitchen table to have a seat.

"Do you have your wand?" Hermione called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure," not feeling like getting up Harry made a motion with his hand summoning his wand to him.

He had just gotten hold of it when Hermione walked back in with a mug of water in one hand and a tea bag in the other. She sat the mug before Harry who used his wand to heat the water. Once he was done she dropped the bag in, while he simultaneously lent forward and used his wand to reheat her tea. Hermione smiled at his thoughtfulness.

"Thanks," she said taking a seat across from him still smiling "it's always better piping hot."

Harry laughed softly and after a moment of comfortable silence she spoke again.

"So what was your emergency yesterday that had you out all night?"

Harry sighed "Well our intelligence has gotten word that Bellatrix Lestrange has resurfaced-"

"Wait -I thought that she had disappeared after you defeated Voldemort?"

"She did, so we all just assumed that she was dead you know? I mean since Bellatrix fancied herself in love with Voldemort it would have been no surprise if she had killed herself after his death. After all she was always a bit of a kook," he shrugged, taking a long sip of his tea before continuing. "But from what we've gathered she resurfaced last week showing up in Transylvania-"

"Fitting," Hermione interrupted; Harry smiled. He had thought the same thing upon hearing her location.

"Well our source says that she went to Transylvania to try to recruit the head of a vampire legion called the Sociopathic Satanists."

"Charming," she remarked with a smirk, causing him to give another grin at her wit.

"Anyway, she supposedly had a meeting with their leader Gideon Blackheart. It seems that she has taken into her head that, had he not been killed, Voldemort would have made her his queen. So therefore believes it's her duty to rebuild forces needed to take over once more and make the world pure."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Did that dingbat ever quit? "So what did you have to go in for yesterday?"

"Well, myself and Aurora Centauri -a fellow Auror whose brother is a vampire, had to head to Transylvania to check things out. Upon arriving we met with her brother and a few of the members of his tribe. They recalled hearing about Bellatrix's presence but none of them had seen her themselves and since they aren't a part of Gideon's tribe they really didn't have much info," he finished with a sigh.

"Did you contact... is it Gideon?" she continued when he nodded in affirmation. "Did you contact someone in Gideon's tribe?"

"No unfortunately, though we're working on it we haven't been able to find someone on the inside of his group yet. I mean this group of vampires..." he shook his head. "Let me put it this way, they are the meaning of the term 'blood thirsty,'" he finished, rubbing his neck.

Hermione sighed watching him as he tried to rub some of the tension out of his shoulder 'I wish I could help, but it's better for both of us if I just don't touch him,' she thought.

As if he heard her thoughts Harry stopped rubbing his shoulder and looked at with a small smile.

"So, how did it go with the Lilith Hearth? Were you able to find anything that helped?"

Hermione's face lit up and she leaned forward grabbing Harry's hand in excitement.

"That's why I Apparated directly over, you'll never believe what happened..." she launched into her days events with exuberance and cheerfully told him of the potion they made that might actually work. As the two continued to chat happily, they didn't even seem to realize that they were still holding hands.



AN: End chapter 3.... Stay tuned for chapter four, which will hopefully be up soon. Oh and don't kill me. I promise that is the ONE and ONLY intimate scene between Ron and Hermione, however I felt it had to be there just for the last part of it -so don't run away screaming. Please remember to Please Review!! THX and Ja ne!!!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 4


It had been about a week since the night that he and Hermione stayed up late. The two of them had talked for hours before finally going to bed just before sunrise. It was about halfway though the conversation about her work that Harry realized that they were holding hands. He remembered glancing down at their intertwined fingers as she talked about the incredible information that she had received for some witch named Featherbottom, or something, he couldn't really remember. He was startled at first, but then after looking back up into her chocolate colored eyes, he made the conscious decision not to pull his hand away instead choosing to feign ignorance of the contact. Harry could still feel the intense heat that travel up his arm and throughout his body after realizing they were touching. Hermione, for her part, had continued to chat happily so he was never sure if she even realized just what they were doing. Or realized it when she started to slowly stroke the side of his hand with her thumb. It took all of his will power not to pull her close and...

'You git,' he thought pulling himself back to reality. 'What's wrong with you? How could you have these feelings about Hermione, she's Ron's girl!'

At that thought Harry looked at his best mate, who was sitting in front of the tellie still in his pajamas eating a big bowl of 'Gnome Nuggets' cereal, while watching an episode of Charlie and Lola. Shaking his head Harry went to the kitchen and placed his plate into the sink, then joined Ron in the living room to watch the show.

`This is actually a really good cartoon,' he thought taking a seat on the couch. `When I have children, I wouldn't have any problem with them watching this type of programming....' he sighed, looking at the ceiling `if I have children.'

He wanted them so bad, but he just couldn't seem to find that right girl. He closed his eyes trying to envision what they would look like. He saw a little boy with messy dark hair and a beautiful little girl with chocolate colored eyes and bushy brown locks…

"Hey what'cha up to today?" Ron asked breaking Harry's reverie and turning around to look at him.

"Don't know, so far I was just planning on enjoying my day off. Maybe do a little reading-"

"Aww, come on, you've been bustin you arse all week! And on your first day off all you want to do is sit around like some old woman and read?” he made a face. “Read Harry? Geez I need to keep you away from Hermione she seems to be contagious."

Harry raised a single brow as his mind processed the irony in Ron's comment.

'Yeah,' he thought 'I think it is better for all three of us if you keep me away from Hermione.'

As a matter of fact for the last week Harry had been doing just that, though not on purpose. He had been extremely busy at work this week and was barley able to sleep, let alone socialize. He and Aurora had made two additional trips to Transylvania to organize more contacts that they, thankfully, were starting to develop. And when he wasn't doing that he was constantly following up on leads that involved locating and capturing the many Death Eaters that had gotten away after the final battle. Harry sighed, and he didn't even want to think about the almost ceiling high mound of paperwork on his desk waiting for him on Monday.

"Well," he quizzed, "what do you suppose I do today?"

Ron smiled getting up to put his bowl away, "Well here's the plan, Hermione-"

"Yes."

Surprised Ron quickly turned his head, while Harry leant to the side to look around him. They both saw the floating head of Hermione staring back at them from the fireplace.

"You said my name."

"Yeah," Ron said facing her. "I was just about to tell Harry about the plan for today-"

"Oh, good I'll be right over," she disappeared from sight only to appear a moment later next to Ron.

She was dressed in a pair of white shorts and a pink tank top, Harry could see what looked to be bathing suit straps' sticking from under the shirt. Hermione's hair was pulled into a loose ponytail with a pair of shades sitting on the top of her head and flip flops on her feet. She was also holding a large summer bag with a big fluffy white and orange tabby cat on the side that `meowed' when you looked at it.

"Well Ron, go on," she declared making a small brushing motion with one hand while using the other to remove the sunglasses from her head and place them inside of the cat bag, who purred in response.

"Oookay, as I was saying, Herm-"

"Ron, Luna, Neville, Ginny, Dean and I are going to go to the lake,” she interrupted in typical Hermione fashion. “For a sun filled day of swimming, picnicking and all around general merriment. I even brought a new book for the occasion," at this point she reached into her bag and withdrew a book about as thick as Harry's head. "Of course it's just a light read," she finished with a smile.

Harry and Ron shared a look.

"A book Hermione? Come on, you're as bad as Harry," Ron griped, the dark haired witch glared at him.

Harry took this moment to interrupt the impending fight.

"I think I'll pass," he stated standing.

"Oh come on Harry she was just kidding -we're not really going to make you read. It should be fun."

"No, thanks... look I had a long week at work, and with everything going on it's probably best if I just catch up on my rest... Besides, this seems to be a couples thing and I...." he trailed off with a shrug.

Ron and Hermione looked guiltily at each other before Ron spoke.

"Well what about that woman that you're always talking about?" noting Harry's confused expression he continued. "You know the Auror bird, the one you told me that you thought was hot. Why don't you invite her?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Harry answered, noticing Hermione for some reason seemed to relax at this statement.

"Why not?"

"Leave him alone Ronald, if he doesn't want to invite the girl you shouldn't try to force it."

"I'm not forcing anything. He thinks the chick is hot and what else did he say… uhhh, he said she was hot, funny, smart,” Ron looked at the ceiling while ticking off the things that Harry had told him about the girl on his fingers. “Interesting, cool, witty… oh yeah, and hot,” he finished with a triumphant look.

Hermione glared at him. “Regardless he doesn't want to invite her and you shouldn't try to make him. Harry's a big boy and can make up his own mind. -Oh and by the way, you said hot twice,” she finished in a know-it-all tone.

Ron shrugged “Well so did Harry. I mean, he totally fancies her and is just being a ponce. Come on Harry grow a pair and ask the lady bird out.”

"It's not that simple Ron," Harry said sitting back down. "I have to work with this woman, sometimes very closely. Don't you think it would be a little awkward if things didn't work out between us?"

"I guess your right," Ron conceded, not noticing Hermione release the breath she had been holding. He then gave his best mate serious look. “It's just…you know Harry, you'll never get a family if you don't date, and I know how badly you want one… I just want you to be happy.”

A slightly awkward silence descended upon the room after Ron's heartfelt admission. A moment later Hermione clapped her hands together to break the tension.

"Well, I guess that's settled then," she said smiling.

"Not quite," Harry chimed.

When he stood a smiling Ron along with a surprised Hermione watched as he grabbed a piece of parchment and a quick drying quill off of the counter. Scribbling something down on a piece of paper he tied it to Hedwig's leg and whispered a name to her. Harry stepped back and watched as the snow white owl flew out of the window.

"What was that about?" Hermione quizzed frowning.

Biting his lip Harry shrugged and took seat at the table, before either Ron or Hermione could question him again Hedwig returned.

"Wow that was quick," he muttered more to himself than anyone before removing a small piece of parchment attached to the birds' leg. Noticing that it smelled faintly of roses, he unrolled the scroll and as he read it a huge smile slowly formed on his face. Harry turned still grinning and looked at Ron and Hermione.

"I guess I'm going with you guys after all,” he said re-rolling the note. “But this time not as the odd man out."

Ron's face broke into a huge grin and he came forward giving his mate a hearty clip on the back. Harry then turned and quickly wrote another note, this time containing the time and place they would meet and after giving her a small treat, tied it to Hedwig's leg. Once the owl took flight both blokes talking and laughing, headed to the back to change -neither of them noticing the intense frown on the face of the room's third occupant.


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About an hour later Harry, Ron and Hermione had finally left the flat after much debate, of course between Ron and Hermione, about how to get to their designated location. Hermione had finally won out, as usual, and they agreed to take the scenic route -which meant walking instead of just Apparating. The trio entered the Leakey Cauldron less than ten minutes later. The plan was to meet Ginny, Dean, Neville, Luna and Aurora in Diagon Alley where they would then Apparate to the lake as a group.

Passing through the pub the three of them gave small waves to Tom the barkeep as a smiling Harry told him that they were just passing through. Upon reaching the small walled courtyard Hermione used her wand to tap the designated bricks and they opened up to reveal Diagon Ally. The street was heavily populated with both consumers and vendors as everyone took advantage of the great weather. Ignoring a brightly dressed wizard who was doing his best to sell them some slightly rancid looking dragon meat, the group made their way to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, where everyone had decided to meet. As they neared the location Hermione noticed Harry suddenly smile.

"Aurora! Over here!" he called waving.

A beautiful young witch turned towards them, she was about five-ten with a slim muscular build. Her hair was black with maroon streaks and hung to about her waist, she had most of it in a low ponytail at the base of her neck except for the front, which she had left undone to frame her face. Aurora wore a black, baby-t that had the word 'Wicked' scrawled across the front with a pair of small maroon shorts, a small black wrist band and some black flip flops. Hermione raised her eyebrows as she noticed that the also girl had several noticeable tattoos, including a tribal band around both her arm and ankle and a Henna style tattoo on her hand that looked to be permanent. Aurora smiled when she saw Harry and began to walk towards them.

'Perfect teeth too, I'm soooo surprised,' Hermione thought sarcastically. Shaking her head to get rid of her inappropriately bitter deductions, she focused on the young witch approaching them, however she wasn't too focused to hear Ron's remark to Harry.

"Bloody brilliant mate, wanna trade?" he whispered jokingly. Hermione had turned to give him a piece of her mind but instead caught Harry giving her a weird look, his eyes were so intense that her pulse speed up and her face became flushed.

They broke eye contact just as Aurora arrived to where the group was standing.

"I'm glad you could make it," Harry said, stepping forward to give her a small hug, Hermione frowned and emitted and inaudible growl.

"Aurora Centauri, I'd like you to meet my two best mates, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."

Hermione quickly changed her face to a happy expression, when startlingly observant silver eyes fixed upon her as Aurora turned to face her extending a hand. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with just how observant those eyes seemed to be, Hermione hesitated for a second before grasping the woman's hand and giving it a firm shake. Aurora looked at her for a second and then, as though she had gauged Hermione's handshake and found it sufficient, gave a small nod before turning slightly and shaking Ron's hand.

Harry, with the occasional interjection from Ron, had just finished telling Aurora the full plan for the day when they heard a loud bang. The group immediately turned in the direction of the noise with wands in hand and noticed smoke coming out of the Weasleys' shop. After a moment Neville came backing out of the store his face covered in soot, his clothes slightly smoking and blathering apologies. He was followed few seconds later by a laughing Ginny and a smiling Dean, and a moment after that a thoughtful looking Luna, carrying a large paper bag with handles, exited the shop. Walking straight up to Neville she used her wand clean the soot off of his face before placing a light kiss on his cheek. Still laughing, Ginny finally noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione then telling the others in an overly loud voice that “They were finally here!” the foursome made their way over to join them. Once they arrived Harry introduced Aurora to the final members of the group and they all took turns shaking hands.

"Well, what do you say we head on over to the lake?" Ginny asked once introductions were complete. She then turned and looked back at the store, which still had a small thin black cloud streaming from the door. "And let's do it before the twins come out and hex Neville to kingdom come." She and Dean then laughed while, for his part, Neville looked incredibly embarrassed and seemed to be doing his best to sink into the ground.

"What in the world happened anyway," Ron asked grinning as he waved the smoke from Neville's slightly singed clothing away from him.

"Oh nothing really," answered Luna in her normal melodious voice. "Neville was just admiring one of the twins exploding ink wells when a Gauller Fairy hopped on the stopper and caused it to explode." She then turned towards Aurora with a serious expression "You should really be careful of them you know, they cause mischief at the most inappropriate times."

Aurora gave Luna a straight-faced nod, but when the other girls' back was turned, she looked at Harry incredulous. Smiling and shrugging to her, Harry then looked at Hermione and they both rolled their eyes, being more that used to Luna's interesting explanations for things.

"We'll be sure to remember that Luna," Ginny stated patting the girl on the back, while turning and making a face where she couldn't see. "Anyway, like I said earlier, let's be off!"

The group nodded in agreement, grabbed hands and Apparated to designated location right by the lake.




AN: Sorry if this seemed short, it just seemed like the right place to stop. Stay tuned for chapter five and the fun at the lake. Remember please review! Feedback makes the world go round; let me know what you think so far, love it... hate it?

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 5

A second later the group arrived at the lake, the location was beautiful. The lake itself had light blue water that naturally sparkled and was surrounded by a brilliantly green grassy bank. There were large trees that made the location seem secluded and a pale blue sky with puffy clouds sporadically peeking out from overhead. Everyone paused taking a moment to look around and admire the enchanting scenery before breaking apart to set up camp. Harry grinned; the whole place really reminded him of the lake at Hogwarts though, of course, without the mermaids.

Looking around for something he could do to help, he noticed that Ron and Dean had gone over to a couple of large trees that were side by side and were using their wands to hang a couple of tire swings. Luna was busy helping Neville magically remove all signs of smoke from his hair and nails, while Ginny had accosted Aurora into helping her lay out large blankets next to the lake. Looking over to his right Harry noticed Hermione pulling what looked to be a picnic table out of her cat shaped bag.

'I bet that things really purring now,' he thought with a chuckle referring to the bags' tendency to purr when things were being placed in or removed from it.

Still smiling at his private joke Harry walked over to his friend to give her a hand. Hermione was now busy pulling a long bench out of the bag while simultaneously glaring at Ron, who was now jerkin around with Dean, testing out the tire swings they had set up. As Harry got closer he could hear her grumbling about 'men that act like boys, but were supposed to be men, not boys...' or something like that, he really wasn't sure. The brown haired woman stopped abruptly when she noticed his presence, and smiled gratefully when he began to help her with the remainder of the bench and unpacking the other things from the bag.

"Can I help?" Aurora asked walking silently up behind him with arms wrapped around her waist.

"No thanks, we're almost done," Harry stated, turning to give her a quick smile "why don't you go have some fun, and I'll be over in a minute." He then turned to finish helping Hermione unpack.

Aurora nodded even though he was no longer looking at her; she watched them working for a moment longer and had just turned to walk away, when she was intercepted by Ginny.

"Hi, Aurora right?" She asked, and when the other girl nodded continued. "What do you say the two of us go and change into our swimsuits and while we're doing that we can get to know each other a little?"

Giving a quick look back at Harry, who was still busy helping unpack, Aurora consented to go with the younger woman. The two of them walked to the small tent that had been set up by Ginny a few feet away. The tent; round with a pointed top, looked similar to the one that the Weasley family used when they went to the Quidditch world cup except it was only equipped with a fitting room and a small unisex restroom, taking note of the nice accommodations Aurora smiled at Ginny as they entered.

"She seems…. interesting…" Hermione said to Harry after watching the two women disappear into the tent. He remained silent; blushing he reached into the bag and pulled out a cooler containing butterbeer and gillywater.

"I don't think that I've ever seen anyone quite like her," she continued while setting up the sandwiches. "With all those tattoos, not to mention those eyes…" she trailed off when, looking up, she noticed Harry giving her a sideways glance.

"I like her eyes," he commented shrugging "and as for the tattoos I think that they give her character. I don't know on her they just fit…"

"It's just that… I don't know… she just doesn't seem like your type that's all…" Hermione finished awkwardly, trailing off once more as she noticed his frown.

"Really, well you tell me what my type is?" he asked in an annoyed tone, looking her directly in the eyes. "Since you seem to know me so well."

"I was just saying that she doesn't look-"

"That's just it Hermione, it's not all about looks," he retorted harshly, effectively cutting her off. "Though even if it were, I think that she's gorgeous... but it's not. It's also about personality, sense of humor and other things that you don't know about her yet because you haven't given her a chance."

Hermione looked down for a second chastised, before looking back into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, you're right I don't know her -I just don't want you to get hurt… I… I care about you Harry and I don't want her to break your heart." She reached out and touched his cheek with her hand; Harry instinctively turned his head towards her touch.

"I know you're just looking out for me Hermione and I don't mean to sound so rude. It's just that… I need…" she stroked his face "I need a…"

"You need a certain type of girl Harry, someone special…" she moved closer to him "you need…"

"Hey you guys!" Neville yelled while jogging over, now in his swim trunks. Startled Hermione jerked her hand away from Harry's face and took a step back. "Are you okay?" Neville asked noticing that both of them looked flushed.

"Of course Neville, were fine." Hermione stated in a priggish tone, he looked uncomfortable for a second, then shrugged before continuing.

"I was just wondering if you guys wanted to join us, we're going to try to organize some type of game."

Looking past Neville, Harry noticed that everyone else seemed to be in the lake or near it. Ginny and Dean were swinging upside down from the hanging tires, while a laughing Ron was splashing water at a his sister trying to get her to fall. And Luna... well, she seemed to be attempting to... talk to the fish? Harry shook his head smiling, she was a bit weird but he could honestly say things were never boring when she was around.

Noticing that someone was missing, Harry scanned for Aurora and located her sitting on a log by the lake. She had changed into a navy blue two-piece with a bikini top and bottoms that looked like boy-shorts. He smiled as he noticed that the once maroon streaks in her hair were now a deep navy blue.

"I'm not ready to go in just yet," he heard Hermione say, "I have a few more things to put out and I wanted to catch up on some light reading."

Neville gave her a queer look before nodding and looking expectantly at Harry.

"Well, we did come here to have fun." Harry said smiling. "So I'm going to do just that."

At that, he took off his shirt, and having worn his trunks as shorts, he only needed to kick off his shoes before sprinting past him and diving gracefully into the water. Neville laughed and then running behind Harry proceeded to do a cannon ball into the lake, effectively scaring away the fish that Luna had been chatting with. The golden haired woman looked up surprised, but noticing her boyfriend waving happily at her she shook her head in amusement and slowly walked the rest of the way into the water to join him.

Harry, after helping Ginny-- who had fallen off her tire-- sufficiently splash Ron to get even, swam over to the log were Aurora was sitting.

"Hi," he said once his feet touched the ground. He then walked towards her until the water came up to his waist. "I'm sorry it took so long to set up, I hope that you weren't uncomfortable."

"No, of course not," she responded smiling and tilting her head to the side "I have actually been pretty well welcomed, your friends seem very nice and..." she leaned a little to the side to look past Harry before finishing "...interesting."

He turned just in time to see Luna, who seemed to be making some strange type of fish face sink below the surface of the water. Looking back at Aurora they stared at each other for a second and then laughed.

"Yeah, they're a interesting bunch… but I'll tell you," he walked up to the log and took a seat next to her "a guy couldn't ask for better, trust me. If you ever get into trouble you couldn't find a more loyal group than them to watch your back." He finished smiling while his eyes scanned over everyone, after a moment they rested on a petite brown-haired woman who was reading a thick book.

As if she felt his gaze, Hermione looked over the top of the heavy volume and their eyes clashed. Harry felt a tingling flow though him, a type of connection that he always seemed to get when looking into her eyes, however a moment later it was broken when Ginny ran up the slope towards her. He abruptly looked down, then after composing himself turned his attention to the beautiful witch next to him. Aurora was gazing at Harry with her perceptive silver eyes and after a moment she turned and stared back towards the lake.

"You like her don't you?" He started at the quiet question posed by the woman next to him.

"Who?"

Aurora turned to him with a smirk on her face and one perfectly sculpted, and pierced eyebrow raised.

"Oh, her..." Harry looked in Hermione's direction for a second before looking back at Aurora and faking a smile "No, of course not."

She gave him an incredulous expression.

"No really," Harry held up his hands. "We've been friends forever, she's like a sister to me... and on top of that, she's dating Ron."

Aurora stared at him strangely for a second longer before turning and looking at Hermione who--finally persuaded by Ginny-- was just putting down the heavy library book she had brought with her. And then Ron, who was having a contest with Dean on who could flip the farthest off of the tire swings, loser had to eat a random candy for the Skiving Snackbox that Dean and Ginny picked up earlier from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Really?" She asked in a disbelieving tone, once again looking at Harry.

"Really," he said smiling, knowing what an odd mismatched couple the two were...seemed to be. "Look, I'm sorry if I haven't been paying you much attention today. It's just that I'm not used to... well I don't really da... go out very often."

"I know," she said looking amused.

"You know? How do you know?"

Aurora smiled, gently kicking her feet back and forth in the water.

"Ginny told me," she looked at him, eyes twinkling.

"Really," he asked raising a brow "and what else has Ginny told you?"

She shrugged "Nothing much, just that you don't date very often and the few times you have dated, none of the girls have ever been around to long enough for her or anyone else to meet... Well, with the exception of Ron, who's met one or two..."

Harry frowned; he didn't know if he liked the idea of Ginny talking to Aurora about him. `I wonder if she told her about us,' he thought, and then shook his head. `No, she may like to talk but she also knows how to keep certain things personal.' He focused once again on Aurora who seemed to be watching him closely and gauging his reaction.

"Was there anything else?" He asked after a moment, just to make sure.

"Just that she thought you might really like me -to invite me to come along today." She answered smiling, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

He smiled too, that was one of the things he liked about Aurora. She was an upfront, bold type of person but without being too pushy. It was one of the things that made her such a great Auror, her forward questions coupled with her tactful approach got her a lot of answers and respect when working. Next to him and two others, both male, she was one of the top Aurors' in the office.

They had been staring into each other's eyes for a while when Harry's eyes dipped down to her soft looking lips. Lips, that in turn, curved into a small smile.

'I wonder what it would be like to kiss her...' he thought, looking back into her eyes to find her gaze fixed upon his lips. Licking them he leaned in towards her slightly, noticing his movement she looked back into his eyes and after a small hesitation did the same. Their lips were about to touch... when they were suddenly covered in cold water.

"What in the name of Merlin!" Harry yelled as he and Aurora shook water off of their arms. Looking up he saw Hermione and Ginny laughing. Glaring at them both, while pushing his soggy hair out of his face he cast Aurora an apologetic look before hopping off of the log and tearing off after the laughing women.


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"That's just it Hermione, it's not all about looks," Harry said effectively cutting off her comments about Aurora. "Though even if it were, I think that she's gorgeous...but it's not, it's also about personality, sense of humor and other things that you don't know about her yet because you haven't given her a chance."

She looked down for a second feeling petty and a bit humiliated, before forcing herself to look back into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, you're right I don't know her. I just don't want you to get hurt… I… I care about you Harry and I don't want her to break your heart." Hermione reached out and touched his cheek with her hand, her body temperature rose when Harry instinctively turned his head towards her touch rubbing his smooth chin against the base of her palm.

"I know you're just looking out for me Hermione and I don't mean to sound so rude," he said apologetically. "It's just that… I need…" he looked at her with hunger in his eyes, feeling her pulse quicken she slowly stroked his face "I need a…"

"You need a certain type of girl Harry, someone special…" she moved closer to him "you need…"

"Hey you guys!" Neville screamed jogging over, now in his swim trunks. Startled Hermione jerked her hand away from Harry's face and took a step back. "Are you okay?" Neville asked noticing that both of them looked flushed.

"Of course Neville, were fine." She stated using a snotty tone so that he wouldn't ask any more questions. He looked uncomfortable for a second and then shrugged before continuing.

"I was just wondering if you guys wanted to join us, we're going to try to organize some type of game."

Hermione looked at Harry for a second and noticed that he didn't seem to be paying attention anymore, so after a moment of silence she answered Neville.

"I'm not ready to go in just yet," she said shrugging and motioning to the bag at her feet. "I have a few more things to put out and I wanted to catch up on some light reading."

Neville gave her a bizarre look and then turned a questioning gaze to Harry.

"Well, we did come here to have fun." Harry said smiling. "So I'm going to do just that."

She then watched as he pulled his shirt over his head and flushed right up to her roots as he once again exposed his well tanned, muscular chest. Harry kicked off his shoes and barely sparing her or Neville a glance ran and dived gracefully into the lake, he was followed quickly by a jovial Neville who then did a huge cannonball into the water.

Smiling and rolling her eyes at their childlike exuberance Hermione pulled the final food item (a chicken and ham pie) from her bag and placed it on the table. Then grabbing her book she headed towards the blankets that Ginny had lay out earlier. She was just sitting down when she noticed that Harry seemed to be wading towards Aurora, ignoring the clench in her stomach Hermione conjured a big pillow with her wand and sat down to continue her book, which she had started last night and blocked all unwanted thoughts from her mind.

It was a few minutes later, when she was reading chapter twenty-eight of 'Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions' that she felt someone's gaze upon her. A feeling that was similar to getting a rush or a chill flowed threw her body. Pulling the book down some to peek over the top she immediately noticed Harry watching her. His intense green eyes had locked upon her and she felt as though she had been hit with a Petrificus Totalus spell and no matter how she tried she was unable to turn away from him… that is until he suddenly looked away.

"And just what do you think your doing?!" Ginny demanded walking up and effectively blocking her view of Harry. Having been caught staring, 'By Ron's sister no less!' a deep flush covered Hermione's face, and it wasn't until Ginny began to laugh that Hermione realized that she hadn't noticed her interaction with Harry.

"We're supposed to be having fun you know," the other woman commented smiling. She then took the book from her grasp and tossed it onto the ground.

"Hey!" exclaimed Hermione, retrieving the text and glaring at Ginny.

"Come on...fun... fun, Hermione -do you remember that?" she motioned towards the lake. "Everyone else remembers fun... you know the thing that most people find outside of books... After all, it is the whole reason that we're here," she finished crossing her arms and giving the other witch a smug expression.

"Fine, you're right that is what we came out here for." Hermione relented. Marking her chapter she set the book gently next to the pillow, then, while giving a glare to the grinning Ginny, she then removed her shirt to reveal her pink bikini top, kicked off her flip flops and began to walk towards the water.

"Uhh, Hermione... I think you forgot something," Ginny stated motioning towards the shorts that the older witch still had on.

"I prefer to keep them on, okay?" She responded stiffly, looking a little uncomfortable. Taking pity on her friend, who was obviously uneasy without her shorts on, Ginny nodded before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the lake.

The two women ran to the edge before jumping in and swimming over to join everyone else. Once they got a little ways out into the water Dean swam up to join them giving Ginny a peck on the lips.

"Where's Ron?" She asked, evoking laugher from Dean, who then motioned to a large tree near the bank.

Ron was doubled over and seemed to be heaving. The two women looked at Dean questioningly who, smiling, held up half of a soggy piece of candy. Both women immediately rolled their eyes at how childish their boyfriends were.

"Dean, go give him the antidote so that we can play the game."

"What game?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, it's this game that Dean and I saw on-line at his mum's house. It's called chicken," noticing her mates doubtful glance, she decided to explain more. "You play it in the water, the girls -you, Luna, Aurora and I will get on the guys -Ron, Neville, Harry and Dean's shoulders. Then we'll then get in a large circle and try to knock each other down and who ever is the last standing is the winner," she finished with a triumphant expression.

"I…don't...know about that…"

"Come on, you'll love it," Ginny interrupted her, as she turned to give Dean a 'what are you still doing here' look. Grinning he began to make his way merrily to where Ron was still heaving, with the antidote half of the candy. "Okay, now that, that's taken care of where are Harry and Aurora?"

Hermione and Ginny looked around for a second and then turning to their right and left respectively, they noticed the couple sitting on a log having what looked to be a serious conversation.

"Maybe we should leave them alone..." Ginny said, taking note of the intimate vibe between the two, but failing to notice Hermione's glower.

"Not a chance," Hermione replied, upon noticing the other girls' surprised expression she quickly recovered and continued in a snotty tone. "If I have to play this silly game, then so do they. Besides they'll have plenty of time alone later, now's for having fun."

"They look like they're having fun to me." Ginny retorted noticing the couple seemed to be getting closer to each other. Not hearing a response she turned her head and noticed that the other woman was gone.

Looking at the water she could see Hermione swimming just below the surface towards Harry and Aurora. Never one to miss a good time, Ginny quickly swam after her friend and broke the surface a scant second after Hermione did.

Hermione looked at Ginny as she appeared next to her "I don't know, maybe you're right we shouldn't-” before she could complete her statement she noticed Harry and Aurora move towards each other out of the corner of her eye `Are they about to kiss?'

Without even thinking about it, Hermione used all her strength to splash the couple drenching them in the cool lake water. Harry and Aurora shook their arms in an attempt to dry themselves (probably more as a result of instinct, than effectiveness) as the two women started to laugh. Harry glared at them from beneath long lashes running a hand through his hair and after giving a quick look to the girl next to him he slid off of the log into the water and began to chase them.

Hermione and Ginny, still laughing, decided the safer course was to split up and make Harry decided whom to go after. Without hesitation he set off after his brown haired best mate. Hermione squealed in delight as his strong arm wrapped around her lifting her slightly, then causing them both to tumble into the water. They had been wrestling and laughing together for several minutes when Harry suddenly froze. Looking over her shoulder Hermione gave him a questioning glance.

"Harry what-" she stopped as she felt a hardness pressed against her backside, his arms loosened around her and he started to pull away.

Hermione quickly placed her hands on his forearms before he could withdraw and arched her hips, pressing herself intimately against him. She could feel Harry's warm breath on her neck as his arms once again tightened around her waist, closing her eyes she let her head fall back.

"Hermione..." he whispered hoarsely in her ear, making her shiver all over and she instinctively moved against him.

"Harry!!" Someone called; the couple abruptly released each other and Hermione being shorter than Harry immediately fell below the surface. Reaching out to grab her Harry pulled her up again and she began treading water.

"Sorry..." he said blushing, though she wasn't sure just what he was apologizing for.

"That's okay," she replied giving a shaky smile. "I didn't mind..."

Their eyes once again connected and as Hermione looked at him she was overcome with attraction. The top of Harry's broad chest that was above the surface had glistening water droplets rolling down it; his dark hair was pushed out of his face, though still adorably sticking up in places. His full lips were slightly parted and her weak spot; his emerald green eyes were fixed upon her, silently observing her appraisal of him.

"Hey! Are you guys ready to play chicken?" Ron asked happily as he swam up, but after reaching them he paused for a moment, the smile that he had been wearing slowly disappearing as he looked between the two. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Harry answered, "we were just kidding around and I accidentally dunked her too hard," he finished smoothly.

Hermione discreetly arched an eyebrow at him, before looking at Ron and nodding in affirmation.

He looked between them for a second, but when they both continued to hold his gaze he smiled, seemingly satisfied with Harry's explanation.

"Come on Harry, you know not to be to rough with her, or she'll never travel outside of the world of books," he teased pushing his best mate lightly on the shoulder.

Hermione glared at him, "Hey! I travel outside of the literary world constantly and do interesting things all the time!"

Seeing both Harry and Ron give her disbelieving expressions caused her to become even more upset and her glare became even more intense.

"Humph... I'll show you," Hermione muttered in angry tone before disappearing into the water, about ten seconds later she appeared a few feet away. "Are you boys coming... or are you chicken?" She finished arching a brow and then proceeding to backstroke the rest of the way toward the remaining members of the group.

Ron and Harry looked at each other grinning before diving into the water and swimming over to join their friends.




AN: Wow... that was longer than I thought it would be, I didn't plan on having two chapters about the lake but *shrugs* sometimes that's how a story works out. They likes to do what they likes to do. Stay tuned for Chapter 6 'Continued fun at the lake' oh, and of course a there will be a friendly game of chicken... or will there...

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 6

Once Hermione had reached the other members of the group, they chatted happily as they waited the few minutes for Ron and Harry to make their way over. After everyone had arrived Ginny and Dean proceeded to enthusiastically explain the game to their friends who, it turns out, didn't have the response that they had hoped.

"I don't know about this, it sounds very dangerous," Neville said "what if someone gets hurt?"

"How are you going to get hurt?" Ginny asked. "It's just a pushing match, and if anyone falls the waters deep enough to cushion their landing."

"Well, what if it gets serious?" Luna inquired with wide eyes. "We came to have a good time, not to fight... I think if it gets too rough it may not stay a game."

Ginny looked exasperated "Luna, no one's going to get serious. We all know that it's just a friendly game and I don't think anyone here is going to get all huffy just because they lost. We're all more mature than that..." she then cast a glance towards Ron "well, most of us are."

"Ha, Ha," he commented sarcastically "I personally don't want to play because I don't think that it'll be a fair game..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean come on, Neville has Luna -who, for as nice as she is will probably see some invisible creature and get distracted. Dean has you, who hasn't played any regular sports since Quidditch at Hogwarts," he sighed, motioning to his left. "I have Hermione, who hasn't played any sports since... well... ever. While Harry has Aurora, an Auror who is constantly working out and looks to be in top physical condition... I mean, come on, now does that sound like a competition to you?"

A blond, a brunette and a redhead all glared at him in response while Neville, Harry, Aurora and Dean got as far away from Ron as possible. They had just reached a safe distance when he as attacked by water from all angles.

"OKAY! OKAY!" Ron screamed after a minute or two, while doing his best to shield himself. "I'm sorry!! Come on, you guys are going to drown me here!"

"Good!" A chorus of voices responded and then splashed him one last time for good measure. Once they saw that it was safe, the other four made their way back over.

"So what do you say we get this game started?" Ginny asked once again smiling; Hermione and Luna nodded in agreement, while Aurora gave a shrug of indifference.

Hermione waded over to Ron who was still clearing water from his face. Once he was done he looked nervously at her.

"Hey Mione... you know I was just kidding, right?"

"Whatever Ronald," she said in an icy tone that caused him to cringe "are we playing or not?"

Ron looked at her guiltily for a moment longer before sinking down into the water so that she could climb onto his shoulders. Hermione held onto Ron's hair (none to gently) to maintain her balance as he once again stood to full height. Once she was sitting comfortably she took a moment to observe everyone else. Ginny and Aurora were talking while sitting on Dean and Harry's shoulders and Luna and Neville were just getting situated, after three previous tries and three previous falls. Seeing that everyone was ready Ron slowly walked over to the other couples and since there weren't enough of them to form a circle, they formed a square instead.

"Is everyone one ready?!" Ginny yelled grinning, receiving nods from everyone in response. "OKAY! On your mark... get set... GO!"

Once the words were spoken everyone surged forward, there was pushing and laughing from everyone as no one wanted to be the first to fall. Hermione laughed as Ginny nearly lost her balance when Ron sidestepped her as she tried to knock down Hermione. Quickly recovering the younger woman turned her attention to Luna, who was merrily giving small shoves back and forth with a laughing Aurora. Seeing the opening she needed, Ginny caught Luna's arm and pulled her back, she was able to achieve knocking the blond witch down with one small problem... as Luna and Neville fell backwards they fell right into her and Dean. Both couples tumbled down and were knocked ceremoniously out of the competition in one shot. Hermione, Ron, Harry and Aurora looked on laughing merrily as they broke surface sputtering for a second before joining in on the merriment.

"Bloody Hell," Ginny griped sounding like her brother. "I can't believe I took myself out... oh well, I guess it's between you four now," she finished smiling broadly.

Ginny, Neville, Dean and Luna watched as Hermione and Ron squared off with Harry and Aurora. The couples had been circling each other for a moment looking for the best place to attack when Hermione saw it, she slightly tightened her legs around Ron's neck let him know to move in. As Ron stepped forward Hermione noticed Harry do the same, after a second she and Aurora were pushing back in forth on each others shoulders with their friends cheering them on.

"Come on Hermione!! You've got her!!" Ginny yelled.

"Go Hermione, you can take her!!" screamed Dean.

"Good job Aurora, just a little bit more!" Luna sang out while jumping up and down in the water.

"You're both doing splendidly!! Good Job!!" Neville added, not wanting to pick sides.

Hermione and Aurora were leaning forward, putting all of their weight on each other and Hermione could feel herself giving out.

'Come on... you can do this... Do...Not...Prove...Ron...Right." She looked down focusing her energy; her head was right next to Aurora's as the other woman continued to push.

Opening her eyes for a second Hermione caught sight of Harry's long fingers gripping Aurora's bare thigh. Out of nowhere she felt anger course though her from seeing him hold Aurora so tightly and that anger caused a sudden burst of adrenaline. Abruptly pulling back from Aurora, she caused the dark haired witch to fall forward a bit and before she could regain her balance, Hermione placed a hand on the back of the womans' neck and shoved her down. Aurora was thrown face first into the water and because she was on his shoulders Harry was knocked forward and went under with her.

"Whoa!! That was brilliant!!" Ginny exclaimed as she hurriedly made her way over.

"Merlin's Beard Hermione! I didn't know you had it in you!" Dean called looking at her in wonder.

"That was bloody spectacular!" Ron added excitedly, patting her on the thigh. "Remind me never to underestimate you again!"

Neville and Luna also came forward to give their congratulations. Hermione smiled, nodded and distractedly thanked them for the compliments while looking over their heads at Harry and Aurora. He had just placed his glasses back on and after taking a second to readjust them he then turned to whisper something in Aurora's ear, as he pulled back she smiled and nodded. Then abruptly turning Harry faced Hermione and seeing her watching them, he gave her a broad smile and mouthed the word 'congratulations'. She grinned back at him, giving the thumbs up a muscle man pose and he responded with a laugh. Looking past Harry she noticed Aurora watching her with those strange silver eyes of hers, Hermione's smile slowly disappeared as the other woman gave her a curious look, before proceeding to look between her and Harry a few times. Feeling as though she knew where the other woman's thoughts were headed, Hermione suddenly felt exposed on Ron's shoulders. Using her hand to plug her nose she let herself fall backwards into the water.

After coming up from the cool liquid and regaining her footing she could still feel Aurora's gaze on her. In an attempt to erase some of the guilt she was feeling at just what the other girl may have seen, Hermione wrapped her arms around Ron's neck and gave his a short kiss on the lips.

"What was that for?" He asked as she pulled back, "I thought you were mad at me."

"I was... but, since you were such a good partner I have decided to once again be the bigger person and forgive you," she teased with a sweet smile.

Ron smirked "Well I must have had some Felix Felicis because this is my lucky day."

She smiled at his humor and gave him another quick peck before they made their way out of the water to join the others who had already begun to make plates to eat. Using her wand to dry her and Ron off, Hermione took a seat on one of the benches at the picnic table and grabbed an empty plate. Ron was already piling his plate full of fried sausages, chicken and ham sandwiches and a huge handful of chips, he then grabbed two butterbeers before finally sitting down. Rolling her eyes at her boyfriend, the only one who wasn't making a plate for his date instead of himself, she grabbed a fried sausage, a butterbeer and a spoon of the delicious chicken and ham pie that Mrs. Weasley had made, and immediately tucked in.

Twenty minutes later everyone was pretty much full and they were all sitting around the fire that Harry had created in the middle of one of the large blankets roasting marshmallows and crumpets. Hermione looked across the fire where Harry was and noticed that he had his arm around Aurora, watching them for a second she noticed the other woman place her head on Harry's shoulder and quickly stamped down the small surge of jealousy.

"This was great, we'll have to do it again some time," said Dean who was lying with his head in Ginny's lap as she stroked his hair.

"Yeah," threw in Neville "maybe we can do it once a month or something."

"I don't know," replied Harry running a hand through his hair "things have been pretty hectic at the ministry. Right now we have a lot going on," Aurora nodded in agreement before speaking.

"Yeah, we were lucky to get today off, but who knows when the next day of uninterrupted freedom will be."

"I agree... sorry guys, but we don't have time, at least right now," Ron added.

"And what are you doing?" Ginny asked giving him a skeptical look.

"For your information, sister dear, your big brother secured himself a try-out next weekend with none other than the Chudley Cannons!" he exclaimed happily.

Everyone looked at him in surprise for a moment before shouting out congratulations and well wishes. Hermione turned and gave him a huge hug.

"Good luck mate!" Harry called out cheerfully.

"Great job! I always knew you were better than the Razin Wizardz, I'm just sure that you'll get it!" Hermione said, her arms still wrapped around his neck.

"Care to give me a kiss for luck?" he asked smiling.

She hesitated for a second well aware that the others, or more specifically Harry, may be watching, but she couldn't bring herself to disappoint Ron after his big announcement.

"Of course," she said smiling and then proceeded to give him a long kiss.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Harry felt content as he and Aurora sat around the fire with all of his friends roasting marshmallows and crumpets. He looked at the beautiful woman next to him just as she turned to do the same. When their eyes connected and adorable flush covered her face before she looked back at the fire. He cautiously placed an arm around her shoulder and a moment later she leant her head to the side and rested it in the crook of his arm.

"This was great, we'll have to do it again some time," he heard Dean say from his place on the blanket.

"Yeah," replied Neville "maybe we can do it once a month or something." Luna who was sitting between his legs nodded in affirmation.

"I don't know," said Harry running a hand through his hair "things have been pretty hectic at the ministry, right now we have a lot going on."

"Yeah, we were lucky to get today off, but who knows when the next day of uninterrupted freedom will be," Aurora responded, voicing the rest of his thoughts.

"I agree... sorry guys, but we don't have time, at least right now" Ron added.

Ginny stopped playing in Dean's hair and gave her brother an dubious look. "And what are you doing?"

"For your information, sister dear, your big brother secured himself a try-out next weekend with none other than the Chudley Cannons!" he answered grinning like there was no tomorrow.

Harry's brows rose in surprise, he knew that Ron had wanted this, but the Cannons had not been looking for a new chaser for a while. 'Though everyone knew that they needed one... I mean do they ever win?' he though shaking his head in wonder. He never knew why Ron was so into the Cannons instead of going for Puddlemere United, but hey if his friend was happy so was he.

"Good luck mate!" he called out cheerfully.

"Great job! I always knew you were better than the Razin Wizardz, I'm just sure that you'll get it!" Hermione said giving him one of her infamously enthusiastic hugs.

"Care to give me a kiss for luck?" Harry heard Ron say, Hermione seemed to hesitate for a second, before saying 'of course' and proceeding to snogg Ron right there in front of everyone.

Harry turned away, pulling his marshmallow out of the fire and blowing it to cool if off.

"So, did you have fun today?" He asked Aurora, turning to face her and deliberately ignoring the couple snogging across the fire.

"Yeah," she said smiling "it was a lot of fun, a lot of good food, and nice people. You have great friends Harry, you're lucky."

"Thanks, I know," Harry said with a small smile as he was squishing his marshmallow between the crumpets.

"You all seem really close... especially you, Ron... and Hermione, how long have you been mates?"

Harry froze mid bite and turned to look at Aurora, after a moment of silence he responded.

"Well, we meet our first year at Hogwarts, I met Ron at platform nine and three-quarters and Hermione on the train shortly thereafter."

"So you guys were fast friends?" she inquired looking genuinely interested.

"Well...Ron and I were, but Hermione... well, she took a little getting used to. But we were all mates within the first month or so of school and have been close ever since... well, with the exception of the occasional fight or two," he shrugged.

"Yeah, she does seem like she may take a little getting used to..."

"No, wasn't like that... it's just that... well, she's really smart and I think that being muggle born, she felt as though... as though she had to prove something to everyone, you know? Show them how smart she was, that she belonged," he turned to find Aurora staring intently at him.

"Well, I know how that feels... not being from your typical wizarding family myself," she gave him a smile laced with irony.

From what he had learned about her working together, Aurora's dad had been a vampire, but somehow the gene that controlled most of the 'vampire-esk' attributes had skipped her. Unlike her brother she was not a full blooded vampire and had very few tendencies, and though Harry knew that she had a certain soft spot for the blood-flavored lollipops they sold at Honeydukes, she didn't suck blood herself. Also that she is more comfortable at night, which is one of the main reasons why she took the career path of Auror, who do a lot of work at night.

"Have they always been so... close," she asked after a moment of quiet, motioning her head to the couple who had, thankfully, stopped snogging and were eating marshmallows by the fire.

Harry chuckled "Not quite... as a matter of fact, I don't think they ever went a year at school without going through phases where they weren't talking to one another."

"Then how did they end up together?"

"I don't know," Harry answered softly while looking reflectively towards the lake. "I guess some things are meant to be..."

"Did you two ever?..."

His gaze snapped back to her "Who... me and Hermione?" she nodded "No, never, ever... I told you earlier, it's not like that."

"I know... it's just that," she fidgeted with the black sweat band around her wrist “there seems to be this vibe... and earlier when we were playing chicken..."

"I'm sure it's nothing like that," he interrupted knowing where she was headed. "Hermione's just extremely competitive and when she being competitive her aggressive nature comes out."

"Okay, if that's how you want to describe it..."

"How would you describe it?"

"Honestly?" He nodded. "I'd say that she was being more than competitive, I'd say she was jealous..."

"Of what?" he asked incredulously.

Aurora did a small motion with her hand that indicated her and Harry.

"No... No, definitely not. She doesn't even see me in that way -trust me you don't know Hermione like I do. She was just being competitive that's all, she's used to being the best at everything and absolutely hates to fail."

Aurora still looked like she didn't believe him, but she nodded in consent.

"I suppose that you're right I don't know her as well as you, so if you say that's what happened..." she shrugged "I defer to your judgment."

Harry smiled, lightly stroking her arm "Trust me."

"Okay you guys, time to pack up and get out of here," he heard Neville say. "I promised Gran I'd go to church with her in the morning so I need to get some sleep."

Everyone agreed that it was getting late, and after a moment of stretching and with quiet chatting they all chipped in and returned the lakeside back to the way it looked when they arrived. Once done hugging and waving goodbye to each other, everyone Disapparated to their selected locations.

Harry and Aurora did a side-along Apparation and appeared a second later in a dark ally about a block from her flat. Still holing hands the couple walked the rest of the way to her home. When they reached the door they turned to face each other and an awkward silence ensued, after a minute Harry broke it.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at work," he gave her a small half smile.

"We could wait until then I suppose, or..." she responded, her eyes twinkling

"Or..."

"OR, we can meet for dinner tomorrow..."

Harry smiled "Dinner it is... I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Eight," she replied smirking. "It's darker."

His smile deepened. "Then eight it is."

They stared at each other a moment longer before Aurora leaned forward and placed a light kiss on his lips. Harry felt a small amount of tingling where their lips met as she pulled away.

"Till, tomorrow then," she gave a seductive smile and went into her flat.

Harry touched his lips with a finger, giving them a couple of light taps before smiling.

"Till tomorrow then," he repeated to himself, before looking around to make sure the coast was clear and Apparating home.


AN: Ok, I know that this chapter was shorter but like I said earlier, I hadn't even planned on having a second part to the lake so this chapter was mainly to wrap things up but I thought it still had some good parts and hope you enjoyed it anyway. Stay tuned the next chapter will be out soon!! Thanks to the nine or so of you that took the time out to let me know what you thought, it's because of you and your thoughts on how the chapter still wasn't long enough that I'm posting the second part so early! So once again thanks for checking it out and PLEASE REVIEW, it's the only form of payment us lowly authors get.

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 7

It had been about a week and a half since that wonderfully fun and peaceful day at the lake. Yep, a whole week and a half...

"...of pure hell," Hermione finished aloud while rubbing her temples.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It all started on Sunday evening, when she and Ron were walking back from a lovely quiet dinner at The Blue Mermaid. They were heading down the street holding hands and quietly chatting about Bill and Fleur's daughter Abigail when she saw them through a window.

Harry and Aurora were sitting in The Dragon's Lair, a small romantic restaurant with dim lighting and a distinctly intimate feel. Though the couple wasn't sitting side by side, but across from each other, their hands were intertwined over the table and Harry was lightly stroking the side of Aurora's hand with his thumb. It looked as though they were done eating because the plates in front of them sat untouched, and they were leaning forward having what seemed to be a titillating conversation.

"Well, I'll be…" she looked at Ron who had a huge smile on his face, also noticing the couple through the window. He then turned and gave her a triumphant look. "What did I tell you huh? He's crazy about the beautiful lady bird and it's about time too," he looked back at the couple. "I was just beginning to worry about him."

"Well I still do." she retorted in a disapproving tone "I mean look at her -there's something about her I just don't trust, and that's not to mention the fact that she's totally not Harry's type."

"Are you mental?!" He exclaimed looking at her as though she were. "She's perfect for him. She's smart, funny, laidback, they work together so she understands his job and what he goes through, she's bloody hot and on top of that she's not at all impressed with his celebrity status."

"Really Ronald and how do you know? Do you really think she would walk up to you or Harry and go -Hi I'm Aurora and I've always wanted to be with the famous Harry Potter, fancy a date?” She rolled her eyes "Of course she wouldn't, she's too smart to be that stupid. Besides, if you think she's so hot then why don't you date her?!"

Ron gave her a strange look "If I dated her, then who would Harry date?"

Hermione gaped at him, she hadn't thought of it like that. "I...I don't kno-"

"What do you care anyway? And why are you acting so jealous?!" He looked angry now.

"I'm not acting jealous... if it were you I'd feel that same way! Like I said I'm not opposed to him dating, there's just something about her that doesn't seem right -that's all."

Ron gave her a skeptical look and then glancing back towards the window he gave a short nod and turned continuing the walk towards Hermione's flat. Still shaken up by his question, and feeling a little more than guilty from her hearts answer, Hermione followed him in silence.

Five minutes later they reached her flat and one minute after that Ron gave a stiff kiss on the cheek and Apparated home. Hermione sighed and ran a hand through her hair, she was just about to go into the kitchen and make some tea when she received an urgent floo from Margery Dingille, the young witch who was interning in her department. Margery had been given the task of keeping a regular watch over the Lilith Harth on weekends, since the animal was in such a delicate condition. After seeing the worry etched on the girls face Hermione knew something was seriously wrong.

"What is it?" she asked urgently.

"I can't wake it up!"

"What?"

"The Lilith, I can't wake it up. I went into the stall to feed it dinner but when I patted it on the back of the neck it didn't wake up like it normally does. Then I tried shaking it... and nothing -I don't know what to do..." she looked near tears.

"Okay, I'm on my way over," Hermione went over to the closet by her front door and grabbed her Ministry cloak, gripping her wand she Apparated to the alley way right next to the Ministry and hurried inside.

After that, things just went from bad to worse. Upon arriving in the Magical Creature Law and Medicine Department she was instantly met by Margery and Eliza, who had arrived a few moment earlier and the three of them then rushed into the Lilith's stall and immediately began to work. After seven straight hours of nonstop spell casting and potion making the animal had finally regained and maintained consciousness. Hermione was barely able to Apparate herself home and catch about four hours sleep, before returning to work later that morning.

On late Thursday evening she had just sat down, after sending an owl to Ron, whom she hadn't talked to since Sunday night. She was gripping a steaming mug of tea when she noticed the lease renewal packet that she had received a couple of weeks ago sitting on her counter. Standing up slightly, Hermione reached over to grab it and taking a big gulp of warm tea, she proceeded to open the packet... and then began to choke.

"What?!" she exclaimed aloud, while hurriedly flipping through the pages of the lease. "She's raising my rent..." then focusing on the first page that listed the new price she became enraged. "Ha! Raising the cost? That's the understatement of the year... gouging is more like it!"

Once she had taken a few deep breaths to calm down, Hermione picked up the phone and dialed her muggle landlady. After five rings the answering machine picked up.

"Hello, you've reached Agnes Weatherby. I am not in right now so therefore I am unable to take your call, please leave your name, number and a brief message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you and have a nice day," Beep.

"A nice day indeed," Hermione grumbled before talking louder to leave her message. "Hello Ms. Weatherby, this is Hermione Granger in flat 9C, I was wondering if it was possible for us to meet to talk about the new lease?... You can phone me back at the number on file or I'll call you back later today. Thanks for you time."

She slammed the phone down and stormed to the living room, throwing herself on the couch Hermione used her wand to turn off the lights... she could feel a headache coming on...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It was now Wednesday and she still had that blasted headache.

"Uhhh, Hermione," Eliza said looking nervous as Hermione lifted her head to stare at her. "Mrs. Pundance would like to see you in her office..."

She looked at Eliza for a minute longer before pushing up from her desk and trudging to her boss's office.

'This cannot be good,' she thought... and it wasn't.

Two hours later a very tired and emotionally drained Hermione Granger Apparated into her flat, wanting noting more than to have some tea, go to bed and curl up in a ball and cry until she passed out. She trudged into the kitchen and put some water in the kettle, using her wand to heat it. The kettle had just begun to whistle when she heard the doorbell.

"What now," Hermione mumbled making her way to the door. She opened it to find her landlady Ms. Weatherby giving her a wary look.

"Hello," she said, looking cautiously around. "I was waiting for you Ms. Granger,” she pointed to the spot she was standing on "I was waiting right here... I didn't see you come in, but when I heard the tea kettle I thought that you may have been in there, so I rang... Ummm, how did you get in there?"

Hermione gave a nervous laugh. "Well... you see I needed some fresh air so -so I took the fire escape."

The woman gave her a dubious look "Really?"

"Yeah, it's something I've been doing since I was little... my brother taught me," more nervous laugher.

"I thought that you were an only child?" the older woman quizzed frowning.

"Who me?... No, no, I have brothers -looots of brothers, loads of them! They taught me how to scale trees, roofs... and of course fire escapes, we...uhh, would you like to come in?" she finished awkwardly.

Still looking a bit unconvinced the older woman nodded and Hermione stepped back to allow her entrance, closing the door softly behind her.

"So what can I do for you?"

"I thought that it was time that we stopped playing phone tag and talked in person about your lease." Ms. Weatherby responded, admiring a painting Hermione had on the wall and never noticing as she used her wand to store her cloak and open the window.

"I agree," Hermione responded smiling and motioning towards the couch. "Would you like to have a seat?"

"Yes, thank you," the older woman answered sitting on the plush sofa.

"How about some tea? I just finished a pot... though I'm sure you knew that."

The woman smiled and shook her head no. "Actually Ms. Granger I would prefer to get down to the issue at hand."

"Okay," Hermione sat on the love seat adjacent to the couch. "I noticed upon opening up my new lease packet there was an... significant increase in rent."

Ms. Weatherby nodded.

"I was just wondering… doesn't that seem a bit much? I mean it's almost twice as much as what I'm paying now."

"I am aware of that however, unfortunately that is the way it needs to be..."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked trying to sound calm, though her right hand had the couch in a death grip.

"Look Ms. Granger, I have been very generous in allowing you to maintain the price on this flat for so long. However real estate is going up and so are taxes and value, the fact is that flats like yours are renting for triple the price that you're paying. I'm not going to raise the cost for you that much, but I think the new price is more than reasonable."

"You can't just spring something like this on someone! There has to be laws against this type of thing... I mean you can't just decide one day to double the rent and if the person can't pay their out!" Hermione said loudly, starting to loose her cool.

The woman gave her a cold smile. "Well actually I didn't spring this on you. I gave you the new lease paper weeks ago and therefore gave you plenty of notice."

Hermione sighed running a frustrated hand through her hair, yeah she had gotten the papers weeks ago, but between her hectic work schedule and fighting with Ron she hadn't had time to read it.

"As for laws on raising rent, they do exist, however it is only illegal to raise the rent during the lifespan of a lease agreement -it is not illegal to raise it on a new lease."

She was quiet for a moment, watching as Hermione got up and walked over to stare out of the window.

"Look, Ms. Granger, you've been a good tenant and I'll be sorry to loose you if that's what it comes to, but the fact remains that if you do not sign the new agreement and stipulate to the afore mentioned rent you will have to find a new place to live... I'll give you a while to think about it, but I do need either your signed lease or your notice by the end of the week. Goodnight Ms. Granger."

She stood and left, softly closing the door behind her, never seeing the tears that coursed down Hermione's face and not hearing the loud 'pop' as the younger woman disappeared from sight.

***************************************************

Harry's heart almost stopped when Hermione just appeared in the middle of the living room where he and Ron were watching T.V. and it did stop for and instant when she collapsed to the floor in tears.

He rushed over and gathered her into his arms, holding her as she sobbed he looked over her head at a bewildered Ron who seemed to be glued to the couch. After shaking his head, seemingly to clear his thoughts Ron jumped up from the couch and joined them on the ground where he stroked her hair.

"Mione... are you alright?" he asked hesitantly.

The girl in Harry's arm hiccupped and shook her head `no' as Harry leaned back into a sitting position, pulling her up against him.

"What happened?" Harry asked quietly, "Is there someone that we need to kill?"

Instead of laughing like he hoped she would she just continued to sob and once again shook her head `no'.

"Mione," tried Ron looking extremely worried "we can't help if you won't tell us what's wrong... talk to us."

After sniffling a few more times Hermione turned her head facing Harry's neck. Feeling her snuggle into him a bit Harry tightened his arms around her to hold her as close as possible. He couldn't see her face, but he could feel wetness on his shirt from where her tears fell. Ron was sitting on his hunches with his hands on his thighs and biting his bottom lip, his gaze was fixated on his girlfriend.

"Hermione...talk to us... You know that you can..." Harry tried again. "What happened? Come on you're scaring the crap out of us here..." he finished in a light tone.

This time he heard a small chuckle from the woman in his arms that caused both he and Ron to relax a bit, he stroked her arm.

"Well... what's up?"

She was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Lilith...kill...rent...homeless..." was all he was able to make out as she had begun to cry again. Harry looked to Ron for help but all he did was shrug and shake his head.

"I think I'll go make her some tea." Ron said after a minute of her crying; sounding quite uncomfortable with seeing Hermione lose it like this. Harry, knowing how much he hated crying women, took pity on him and nodded in agreement. The other man hopped up and quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

Sitting there alone with her, holding her as she cried, he felt worry course through him and in an attempt to calm his own frazzled nerves Harry placed a light kiss on Hermione's forehead, followed by a light kiss on her cheek. He felt her shift in his arms and then felt a soft brush on his neck as her lips lightly grazed him. Pulling back at the same time as she did, he looked into her eyes and was surprised to see an expression of wanting reflected in them. Without really thinking Harry lent forward and placed a light kiss upon her lips, pulling back slightly he could feel her soft breath against his mouth for a second before she tilted her head up, this time kissing him. They pulled away and stared into each others eyes, only breaking contact when they heard Ron call from the kitchen.

"Harry! Did you want some tea too, while I'm in here making it?!"

"Yeah!" Harry called back, noticing that his voice sounded a little rough he cleared his throat. He tried to look at Hermione again, but she had gone back to laying her head in the crook of his neck.

Harry could feel her running her fingers lightly over his back and her warm breath on his neck. He had just begun to caress her arm when Ron returned carrying a small tray with three steaming tea cups.

"So Mione," he asked cautiously "are you ready to talk about it now?"

She nodded and pulled away from Harry, who found that he immediately missed the feel of her in his arms. Sitting up on her own she wiped her eyes, and with trembling hands accepted the cup of tea from Ron, giving him a shaky smile in return. Taking a deep breath and not looking up from her cup she told them what had her so upset.

"Oh, Harry..." she started, gripping her teacup tightly. "I tried -I tried everything but I just couldn't save it."

"What happened?" "Save what?" Harry and Ron asked simultaneously.

"The Lilith Hearth..." before Ron could ask Harry shook his head `no' and mouthed that he would tell him later, Ron nodded in agreement.

"It was sick, but it had been doing well for about two weeks. We were even considering releasing it back into the wild."

She took a small sip of tea before continuing "Then out of the blue it just started vomiting and passing out. We contacted any and everyone that we could think of to help but it was useless. The Lilith was loosing weight and it was loosing spirit... then today, today that old battle axe Priscilla Pundance, the head of my department called me into her office. She said that we could 'no longer deplete the Ministry's resources on one animal' and that the funding for a cure had been cut off. Cut off!! How could she! It may have been one animal but it deserved a shot didn't it?!"

Harry and Ron remained quiet; deciding the best course of action was just to listen.

"Once she told me that, I asked her what we were supposed to do then, and do you know what she told me?! Do you?!" silence. "She told me there were only two options, we could either let the animal die naturally or we could take the more merciful course and kill it." she began to sob in earnest.

Harry and Ron wide eyed looked at each other before Harry reached out to lightly rub dark haired woman on the shoulder.

Hermione looked up at him with tear-filled eyes "I didn't have a choice..." she whispered "it was my responsibility. It was my job to look after it... it was my job...t-to-to...kill it," Harry hugged her again and Ron came over and rubbed her back.

"I couldn't just allow it to suffer, slowly starving to death because it couldn't keep food down, could I?" she asked with a note of urgency.

"No," they replied in unison.

"Of course not," Ron added.

"You did the right thing Hermione," joined Harry, they both felt her relax.

"Oh and it gets better," she continued pulling back a cynical smile on her face.

"Really? Gets, better you say?" Ron quizzed with an anxious look on his face.

"And just...how does it get better?" Harry inquired, sharing the look with Ron.

"Well," she breathed sounding depressed "in less than a month I'll be officially homeless."

They looked at her in surprise. "What?!"

Hermione then told them about her landlady raising the rent, and just how much she was raising it to.

"She can't do that can she?" Harry asked surprised, looking even more so when Hermione nodded that she could.

"Why that miserable old bat!" Ron exclaimed furiously. "She can't just treat you like that! I ought to go over there and make her eat slugs."

Hermione laughed while Harry gave him a skeptical look.

"I appreciate your concern Ron, but I think it's better for everyone if you stay away from slug spewing spells," she finished smiling. "And as sweet as it is, it doesn't change the fact that I'm going to be homeless... I don't know," she continued sighing, "maybe I can go and stay with my parents."

"OR," Ron said with a huge grin "you can stay here!"

Harry and Hermione shared a quick look before turning back to Ron.

"I don't think…"

"Maybe we should..."

Ron interrupted them, still smiling like a loon. "Come on you guys this'll be great! Remember in Hogwarts we use to talk about being roomies all the time -well now we can! It used to be our dream. I don't know why you guys wouldn't want to try it?"

"Well..." Hermione said "I need my own space. Ron you know I love you, but the two of us sharing a room... come on, we'd drive each other completely mental within a week."

Harry nodded in agreement.

"We don't have to share a room," the redhead stated rolling his eyes. "You can have the spare room that Harry and I've set aside as an office. Heck, we never use it anyway."

"I don't know, are you sure about this?" Harry posed still looking skeptical.

"It's perfect. We can put the stuff you don't need in storage and you can bring your bedroom set and the things you do need here. We can put the desk and Harry's computer out here against the window -we do our owl posts there anyway. Crookshanks is used to Pig and Hedwick so there shouldn't be any problem there, and best of all we can split rent three ways which will mean a little more pocket money for us all."

Seeing no flaw in his logic short of telling his best friend, 'Hey I totally fancy your girlfriend and can't stop thinking about shagging her!' Harry had no choice but to agree. Looking at Hermione he saw her hesitate for a moment before she too nodded in consent.

Ron smiled and sipped his tea, leaning back on the couch he flipped on the television.

"This is going to be great," he said to himself, totally oblivious to the guilty looks on the faces of both his girlfriend and his best friend.

AN: Uh, oh... Hermione's moving in, now what? Will her and Harry be able to keep their hands off each other? Will Ron notice the tension? And what will the ever perceptive Aurora think of this new development? Stay tuned to find out! *LOL* (Sorry, I've been watching episodes of The Tick.) Please Review!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 8

It had been three days since Hermione moved in with Ron and Harry and about two weeks since the day she arrived emotionally depleted to her boyfriends house and then, when he wasn't looking… kissed his best friend.

"Ugh," *thump* her head hit the desk.

Remembering that kiss kept her awake at night and when she did finally fall asleep all she did was dream about what would have come if they hadn't stopped. The feel of Harry's warm breath against her lips haunted her and left her filled with a need, a need to know what it would be like to taste him…

*thump* *thump*

"Focus Hermione, focus... you're supposed to be working not having lewd thoughts about your best mate," she mumbled to herself dipping her quill in ink.

She was home alone tonight. Ron had gone to an urgent meeting with his coach at the Wizardz training facility, and Harry had been at work when she got back, so she wasn't sure where he was and she didn't dare to ask Ron.

Sure, they had talked about their fight outside the restaurant that night and had both apologized. He had even said that he trusted them--she wasn't even going to go into the amount of guilt that statement had caused--. But, she still knew that for all his pretenses of understanding Ron had a jealous streak, and it was huge when it came to Harry.

Even though she had been there for three days already, she had yet to see Harry in more than just passing and was nervous about what she would do when that moment came. How she would act -how he would act, would they talk about what happened? It sounded cowardly, but she hoped not. She wasn't sure if she was ready to handle that just yet, but she knew they would have to talk eventually if this place was ever going to become a home. She just wasn't sure that she was ready just yet. Giving a small sigh and picking up her wand, Hermione said a minor spell and the time flashed on her wall.

`Nine thirty,' she thought rubbing her temples `I haven't eaten since lunch. I should stop being ridiculous and go grab a snack, after all I can't avoid him forever and he's probably not here anyway.'

With that she got up and slid on her slippers, giving Crookshanks a small scratch behind the ears and grabbing her wand Hermione headed out of her bedroom. She had just walked into the kitchen when she saw Harry leaning slightly against the counters sipping a butterbeer. He paused briefly when she entered looking at her, then averting his gaze he continued to sip his drink in silence.

"Hello," she said walking in and opening the fridge.

"Hello," his deep voice responded.

She was silently looking through the fridge for something to snack on when he spoke again.

"So, how are you getting settled?" he asked, in his usual friendly manner.

Hermione relaxed. She could tell by the tone in his voice that he was striving for normal and trying to revert back to the relaxed vibe that they had before. Just like their kiss hadn't happened. She felt relief pour though her, choosing to ignore the small tinge of disappointment in her heart. This was what she had wanted. She just wouldn't have been able to bare hurting Ron like that.

"So far so good," Hermione responded giving him a small smile as she pulled a plate of strawberry jam doughnuts and a pitcher of pumpkin juice out of the fridge and placed them on the counter. "You look nice are you heading out?"

Harry nodded taking a final gulp of his butterbeer. He was dressed in black shoes and slacks and a white button-up shirt that had the first two buttons undone, exposing his long throat and bronzed collarbone. His hair looked as though he had attempted to get it to stay down, but as always it didn't obey and was sticking straight up at the usual odd angles.

"Yeah," he responded throwing his empty bottle in the bin. "Aurora and I are going to the Lion's Den tonight -it's supposed to be fun."

She frowned for a second before quickly changing back to an attentive expression, however she could tell by the look in his eyes that he had noticed her irritation. Pretending to be ignorant of his perception, and against her better judgment, she pressed on.

"Wow," she commented pouring herself a glass of cold pumpkin juice "so you two are still seeing each other huh?” She took a small sip from her glass. “What has it been about... two, three months now?"

"One," he answered smirking.

"Oh," she took a bite of a jam doughnut and giving him an innocent expression. "Funny, it feels like longer."

He quirked a brow then, grabbing a napkin off of the holder he walked towards her coming to a stop directly in front of her. Lifting his right hand to her face Harry wiped a bit of strawberry jam off of the corner of her mouth. Hermione looked up at him with big brown eyes, her breath quickening.

"Hermione... I... I should go," he pulled away from her, expelling a breath, then giving her a weak smile he walked past her and out of the kitchen.

She turned to face the counter feeling confused and once again guilty, though this time they hadn't done anything. Sighing Hermione poked at her jam doughnut, pushing it around on the plate and no longer feeling very hungry. She had just picked up the pitcher with the pumpkin juice to place it back into the fridge when she heard an audible `pop'.

"Great you're dressed!" she heard Ron exclaim from the living room. “Mione! Mione, where are you?!"

Hermione walked out of the kitchen to see a confused looking Harry and a very excited looking Ron.

"Oh good there you are!" He ran up to her, giving her a huge kiss on the lips and a gigantic hug swinging her around twice. When he pulled back there was a colossal grin on his face.

"Get dressed, no time to waste, get ready, come on let's go." He then ran over to the fireplace, threw in some floo powder and jammed his head in.

Hermione looked at her boyfriends bum sticking in the air out of the fireplace. Then, making a face, turned her questioning gaze to Harry who was standing to her right with his hands in his pockets watching Ron also. Feeling her gaze on him, Harry looked at her and gave a shrug, looking as confounded as she did. After a few minutes Ron removed his head from the fireplace.

"Okay, it's all set Dean and Ginny will meet us there and they're passing the word to Neville, Luna and everyone else," he looked at Hermione. "You're not dressed, come on Mione, lets get going."

"Uh, Ron," interrupted Harry "going where? You still haven't told us what's going on."

He looked at Harry like he was Fluffy for a minute before realizing that the other man was right and having the grace to look embarrassed.

"Sorry Harry, sorry Mione, I was just so excited," his embarrassed expression turned back to pure happiness. "I did it! You are looking at the new official Chaser for the Chudley Cannons!"

Harry and Hermione immediately shouted out their congratulations and gave Ron huge hugs. They knew how much he had wanted this. He had gone to one tryout and two callbacks and hadn't heard anything. Ironically enough, he had just told Hermione last week in a dejected tone, that since the season was getting ready to start he must not have made it or they would have told him already.

"Ron, I told you that you could do it!" she exclaimed happily.

"Way to go, hey now that you're on the team, I might actually bet on them!" Harry ribbed laughing and receiving a playful punch from Ron.

"So, come on let's go! Everyone's meeting up at The Phoenix Talon for beer, food, dancing and fun!" Ron said again pushing Hermione towards her room.

"Crap. Sorry mate but I already made plans with Aurora," Harry said apologetically.

"Bring her along, most of the gang has met her and she gets along with everyone. Besides Fred and George have been hounding me about when they would get to see your girlfriend," he leaned forward before finishing in a loud whisper. "I told them how bloody hot she was, now they can't wait to see for themselves."

He gave Harry a broad smile that was replaced by a cringe when Hermione whacked him on the back of the head.

"I heard that," she said in a clipped tone.

Harry gave him an amused look.

"Okay, I'll do that. I'm sure she won't mind the change in plans to celebrate such an important occasion. We'll meet you guys there," he gave a jovial smile and then Disapparated.

Ron turned back to her, "Come on Hermione everyone's waiting," he said in a slightly whiney tone.

She gave him a mocking smile. "You know Ron, big tough Quidditch players don't whine."

His head fell back and he stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before giving her a pleading look.

"Fine," she went and gave him a kiss on the cheek "I'll be out in a moment."

With that said she walked the rest of the way into her room, which wasn't far thanks to Ron's “gentle” nudging earlier, and entered. Closing the door once she got in, Hermione opened her wardrobe and scanned its contents.

'Hum,' she thought tapping her chin with her finger, and still smarting a bit from Ron's comment to Harry earlier. `I need something that makes me look incredible and I need it now, since I'm sure I don't have much time,' as if on cue Ron knocked on the door impatiently asking if she was ready yet.

"Ten minutes," hearing him groan and a small bang as his head hit the door, she frowned. "Did you want to go for twenty?" Hearing no response she gave a small smile and turned back to her wardrobe, pushing her pink sweater to the side she saw something.

"She's hot you say…” Hermione murmured a small smile playing on her lips. “No, I'll show you hot.”

******************************************************************

Harry Apparated to the alleyway one block down from Aurora's flat. After running a hand through his hair and taking a quick look around he walked the short distance to her place. Making it there in less than five minutes he took the stairs two flights up to her door, then reaching her flat he rung the buzzer twice and waited.

"One moment," he heard her say in her usual husky tone -boy did he love that tone.

At what Harry would have guessed, was exactly one moment later Aurora opened the door. She was wearing a slim black dress that came down to about mid-calf and had a nice cut that showed some cleavage, but didn't have her falling out of the dress. She was also wearing black pumps and carrying a small black purse. In fact she was pretty much in black from head to toe with two small exceptions. Her long hair, which she had left hanging, flowed down her back in a waterfall of soft curls that were peppered with small steaks of silver and on her right wrist where she normally wore her black wristband, there was a small silvery metallic bracelet instead, both colors were an exact match for her eyes. Aurora smiled upon seeing Harry and motioned for him to come in.

"Hi, you're a little early. Just what I like in a man," She grinned giving him a short but sensual kiss on the lips.

Harry looked at her with a broad smile, "Well I'm glad that you're in a good mood, because there has been a small change in plans."

She gave his a suspicious look, running her hands through the curls at the bottom of her hair.

"Really, and what change is this?"

"Well, you see,” he replied placing her cloak over her shoulders “Ron found out that he made the Cannons. So everyone's going out tonight to celebrate his incredibly good fortune."

She gave his a quick cynical look, and then turned back around, "And making the Cannons is good fortune?"

"Hey, it's what he wanted and he got it, so it's good fortune." He stated smiling, mainly because he had initially thought the same thing.

"If you say so," she laughed "so where to?"

"The Phoenix Talon, it's a small intimate night club not far from here, with lots of drinks, music, fun and..." he paused causing her to look back at him "very dim lighting." He finished with a boyish smile that caused her to chuckle.

"Sounds like fun."

"Oh, it will be." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, before taking her hand and Apparating them to the club.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


They arrived in the cloak room less than a second later. Harry quietly removed Aurora's cloak from her shoulders as she silently observed their surroundings.

"Nice," she commented taking note of the dark colors and bold accents.

"Trust me, you haven't seen anything yet," at this Harry swept back the curtain to reveal a well, but not overly, populated dance floor. The music was loudly playing a muggle pop song and more people were going back and forth talking to each other than actually dancing. The ceiling was covered in thick streams of chocolate colored satin that made you feel like you were inside of a sweets factory, and the walls had huge posters of beautiful women and gorgeous men that seemed to dance in sync with the music. There were small circular tables place periodically throughout the perimeter surrounding the dance floor with candles floating in the middle of them to give the illusion of a romantic atmosphere while also providing a source of dim light.

"Hey Harry! What's up?!" Dean exclaimed over the music, squeezing past a couple snogging against one of the elegant tables. Upon reaching them he gave Harry a huge slap on the back and a jovial smile.

"And of course the beautiful Aurora," he added taking note of the enchanting dark haired woman to Harry's left. Lifting her hand he placed a light kiss on the back.

"Alright, watch it." Harry warned playfully, a smile gracing his handsome face.

"Don't get you knickers in a knot Harry I was just kidding around," Dean said grinning in return and winking at Aurora.

"Oh, it's not my knickers you should be worrying about," Harry retorted making a motion with his head. Dean turned to see Ginny waiving them over to the large booth that they had reserved, and turned back around looking at Harry nervously.

"You're not going to say anything are you? She'd box my ears for sure!" He yelled over the music.

Harry smiled, "Of course not," then a twinkle entered his eyes "but then again, I can only speak for myself..."

Dean quickly looked to Aurora, who quirked and eyebrow giving him a serious expression, but before he could go completely mental, she smiled. Realizing he was out of harm's way, Dean visibly relaxed and turned to once again look over his shoulder at Ginny giving her a thumb up.

"Let's head over," he said motioning to Harry and Aurora. They silently followed him over to the booth.

After going though the crowd and up a short flight of stairs they reached the booth, which was placed so that it overlooked the dance floor. Looking around the table Harry's face lit up at all of the familiar faces. Of course there was Luna, Neville, Ginny and Dean, but now there was the added addition of both Fred and George Weasley, Seamus Finnegan, Lee Jordan and Oliver Wood, who all waived happily at him. He gave a huge grin and turned slightly. Grabbing Aurora's hand and pulled her so that she stood next to him. Upon seeing the beautiful dark haired witch, all of the single guys tried to simultaneously clamor out of the booth to be the first for personal introductions.

"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Ginny asked, shoving Fred when he bumped into her while trying to shake Aurora's hand.

"Don't know,” Harry responded shrugging, then laughing as George tripped Oliver who was just sliding out of the booth in an attempt to introduce himself to Harry's date. “Hermione was just about to get dressed when I left. I suppose that they'll be here in a few."

Ginny nodded, rolling her eyes at the boys vying for Aurora's attention.

"What is she anyway, part Veela?" She asked staring incredulously at the idiots before her.

"Nope," replied Harry smiling and leaning towards her a little "-part vampire." Ginny looked up at him in surprise and he winked.

"So how did you guys get a great booth like this so quickly?" Aurora asked the group of gaggling blokes. "Harry said that this was a last minute thing."

They all laughed in response before George said loudly, "There isn't a place in town that wouldn't reserve a space for the famous Harry Potter-"

"-and of course his lowly friends," Fred finished with his best puppy dog face, before breaking into a grin.

"To Harry!" The twins yelled, holding up shots of Firewiskey and making Harry blush.

"STOP!!" Ginny screamed causing everyone in the group, and a few people not in the group, to freeze with their glasses halfway to their mouths and look at her. "This is Ron's celebration and there will be no drinking until he gets here."

"Here! Here!" They heard a voice say from behind Harry and Aurora, everyone turned to see Ron jogging up the stairs. "Sorry it took so long, Mione had to get ready."

At that point Hermione walked up to stand beside Ron and all the commotion at the table stopped as all eyes fixated on her.

There was the one universal thought…'WOW!'

AN: Well that's it for this chapter, I know I suck but it seemed like the right place to stop, stay tuned for the next part. I finish things off at the club and things heat up between Harry and Hermione. Pleeeeease Review!! Until then See ya!

AN: Thanks for checking out my story and for those you who have and will leave reviews (which is hopfully most of you *wink*) Thanks!!!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 9


'WOW!'... `WOw!'... `Wow!'... `wow!'… Harry wanted to think more, but that was all that his brain could articulate.

Hermione stood before them looking magnificent in a blood red dress. The top had spaghetti straps and a sweetheart cut, and the material clung to her like a second skin. At her petite waist the skirt flared out into soft ripples that stopped mid thigh and made Harry wish for one, just one, really good breeze. Her long legs were tanned and smooth and she was wearing red heeled sandals that laced up to about mid calf. Her hair had been de-frizzed, probably with some type of spell, and now fell in soft waves to mid-back. Long full lashes framed her warm cocoa colored eyes and her soft lips were colored a deep ruby red.

She gave them all a small smile, looking around nervously as all attention focused on her. Hermione slightly pulled on the hem of her dress with one hand, pushing a few stray strands of hair behind her ear with the other. The silence that had descended upon the group for the last few minutes was finally broken when Fred spoke.

"Wow, Hermione," he breathed voicing Harry's thoughts "if we had known that you could look like that,"

"Ronniekins wouldn't have had a chance," George finished using a nickname that Mrs. Weasley had given Ron when he was little. Everyone immediately began to laugh especially when Ron flushed a deep red.

“Keep it up and see if I get you two any free tickets to my games with the Cannons,” Ron grumbled with a frown.

The twins looked at Ron, then at each other, then back at Ron again.

“Wait, you have to give us free tickets?” Fred asked with a look of mock horror.

“Funny,” added George looking thoughtful “I thought they were already giving those away.”

Harry started to chuckle, but it was quickly replaced with a cough when he noticed Ron's scowl. However, he seemed to be the only one to notice Ron's displeasure as laugher rang out.

“Come on you guys stop teasing him,” Hermione said with (almost) a straight face. “Today's his big day, you should be nice.”

“She's right,” said George, turning to look at Fred.

“You're right, she's right,” agreed Fred with a very serious expression.

“You're right, I'm right, she's right,” George consented, his face now solemn, before they both turned to face Hermione.

“George is right, I'm right, he's right, you're right,” Fred finished, as both of them nodded, giving her grave expressions.

Hermione rolled her eyes, while everyone else looked at the twins baffled. After a moment of silence the twins broke into huge grins and went over to their brother giving him huge claps on the back.

“We're just kidding you Ron,” smiled George.

“Yeah,” threw in Fred “we're really proud of you mate!”

The rest of the group surged forward and proceeded to offer their congratulations and well wishes. There was a lot of hugging, back patting and all around merriment.

“Alright!” yelled Seamus. “Let's drink!”

Cheers rang out, mainly from the guys, and they did just that. Lee passed Ron and Harry a Firewiskey apiece, while Ginny passed Hermione and Aurora butterbeers.

“To Ron!” the twins said in unison raising their glasses.

“To Ron!!” Everyone coursed raising their glasses also.

Ron blush a deep red and downed his drink along with everyone else, they then all began chatting at once as the official celebration began.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

It was about two hours later when Harry finally got a chance to speak with Hermione. Aurora had been pulled onto the dance floor by the twins who accused her of not being sociable, at which point she gave them a sardonic look, since she had been talking to everyone since she arrived. After a few minutes of good-natured ribbing, Aurora finally relented and allowed herself to be lead to the dance floor by the laughing duo.

Harry was coming from the bar with a coke when he noticed Hermione sitting alone at the booth. After hesitating for an instant, he walked up and slid in next to her.

“Hey,” he said looking over at her “where's our Quidditch hero?”

Hermione gave him an amused look then with a small flick of the wrist pointed towards a table a little ways down. Harry looked to see Ron, Lee, Seamus and Oliver knocking back shots with some blokes that he didn't know. He turned to Hermione and gave her a questioning look, to which she responded with a dainty shrug.

“I guess drinking just pulls people together,” she commented dryly, her eyes twinkling.

“I guess…” Harry responded, looking back for a moment at the group who were now listening as Ron and Oliver boastfully told exaggerated tales of their Quidditch games, before looking back at the woman next to him.

“So…” he said.

“So…” was the amused response.

“You -you look really nice tonight.”

“Thanks.”

“No,” Harry pressed, causing her to look at him. “I mean really nice, actually it would be closer to incredible than nice.”

Hermione turned a deep crimson color and looked down at the table, fiddling with her napkin for a second before looking back at him and giving a radiant smile.

“Thank you,” she said looking back at him “you look very handsome.”

“Thanks…I…”

“Hey, why aren't you guys dancing?” Ginny asked, bounding over and sliding in next to Harry.

Hermione smiled “Look at your brother…” the three of them redirected their attention to the group at the table. They were once again knocking back shots, this time cheering each other on. Ron's face was a deep red as he slapped Dean on the back and then wobbled dangerously for a moment before regaining his balance by gripping the table.

“Now does that look like a man who's capable of dancing with anyone?” she finished giving the Ginny an incredulous look.

Ginny and Harry continued watching as Ron finally gave in to gravity and toppled to the ground. Oliver and Lee who were laughing, but still slightly less drunk, helped him to stand back up which he did with some difficulty. Ginny looked back at Hermione grimacing.

“Okay, so you have a point,” then she smiled “but who said you had to dance with Ron? Harry's sitting right next to you, you could dance with him.”

Harry and Hermione looked at each other for a moment before Hermione replied.

“I don't think so, I'm having fun relaxing and watching everyone else-”

“Watching everyone else do what Hermione?” the younger woman interrupted in an exasperated tone. “Have fun?… Come on, we're supposed to be celebrating! You like to dance and you look incredible. You cannot sit here like some wall flower reject at the Yule Ball.”

Hermione opened her mouth to respond but was once again interrupted by Ginny.

“Harry, what do you think? Doesn't she look too hot to just be sitting here alone?”

“Well actually she isn't alone, I've been sitting here with her-”

“You know what I mean,” she snapped in an annoyed tone.

Harry gave Ginny a confused look just to get under her skin, for which he received a very hard punch in the arm.

“Ow,” he said laughing. “Yes, yes, she looks too hot to be sitting here alone.” He then looked at Hermione with a solemn expression. “Ms. Granger, would you do me the honor of a dance, so that we can both escape the pestering of Madam Weasley and join the more dignified class of the people on the dance floor?” Ginny rolled her eyes.

“Why yes Mr. Potter, I would be delighted to join you on the dance floor where we can find more distinguished companionship,” she replied with a small giggle.

`I didn't know she giggled,' Harry thought to himself smiling while following Hermione as she slid out of the booth. Once they were both standing he took her hand and led her to the dance floor where a slow tune by the Weird Sisters was starting to play.

They got a little farther into the crowd that had formed on the floor and then looked at each other unsure of how to proceed. After a few moments on uncertainty Harry placed his arm around Hermione's waist and pulled her close to him, while she circled his neck with her arms. Harry felt her nuzzle his neck a bit as she settled comfortably into the embrace and they swayed slowly and fluidly to the music. He closed his eyes and pulling her a little closer inhaled her scent, she smelled like lilies with a hint of new parchment, he smiled.

'She feels so nice,' he thought to himself while unintentionally stroking her back with long graceful fingers, 'she smells so nice,' he could feel her feather light caress as she innocently fondled the hair at the nape of his neck. `I love holding her, I love the feel of her, I love …' he stopped his dangerous thoughts settling for placing a feather light kiss upon her forehead.

"Harry," Neville said squeezing in behind the dancing couple, Harry and Hermione slowly pulled away from each other looking at him expectantly.

"Is everything alright?" Harry asked with a trace of worry in his tone.

"Well... that depends on how you define alright," Neville replied smiling a bit.

"What do you mean?"

His small smile turned into a bigger one. "Follow me," he said turning and making his way off of the dance floor.

Harry and Hermione gave one another confused looks, before he shrugged and they headed off in the direction Neville had just gone. Once the reached the top of the stairs by the booth, Neville turned, gave a grin and stepped aside. There, at the booth, with a huge smile and extremely messy hair sat Ron -and he was totally and completely sotted. Harry heard Hermione expel a breath before stepping forward to talk to her boyfriend.

"Ron," she said in a patient tone "I think it's time to go home, are you ready?"

"Nope!!" Ron responded with a gigantic grin, shaking his head to reiterate the point.

She rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling for a second before looking back at Ron. Who, though he was pretty much quiet, kept sporadically shaking his head no with an extremely dopey smile on his face and his eyes closed.

Laughing Harry noticed that Ron wasn't the only one out of sorts. Lee and Oliver seemed to have fallen asleep on each other. Harry grimaced as a long tendril of spit oozed out of Lee's mouth and slid into Oliver's hair. Turning away from the disgusting scene in front of him, he saw Aurora sitting at a table right next to the booth, chatting quietly with Luna and to Harry's surprise the two seemed to be having a good time together. He decided to investigate.

"Hey," he commented with a smile, approaching the duo. "Hi Luna, how's it going?"

She gave him a secretive smile and looked at him in silence for a few seconds before responding in her normal melodious voice.

"Hullo Harry, it's going just fine thank you..." she then lent forward and whispered in a conspiratorial tone. "Of course that's because I didn't fall for the tricks of the Zormontrats. They like to dress up as your friend and lead you into precarious situations..." she then looked over his shoulder "poor Ron, yet another victim."

Harry nodded seriously before backing away from Luna and giving her a small smile.

"Are you ready to head out?" he asked Aurora who was sitting quietly next to the blond haired girl with a tickled expression on her face from listening to their conversation.

"Sure, I just have to grab my cloak."

"I should get that for you."

"That's okay. I'm a big girl Harry I can get it myself."

“No, let me-”

“I said I got it.”

Harry frowned for a minute before responding, "I'll tell you what, why don't I just say my goodbyes and we can both walk over to the cloak room together? After all that is where we Apparate from anyway.”

"Fine," Aurora conceded smiling "since two trips would be pointless."

"Okay, I'll just let everyone know that we're leaving." With that finally decided he turned and walked the few steps back to the booth.

Upon reaching the table he realized that he, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Aurora seemed to be the only ones that had not had a bit much too drink. The twins, who were a bit on the tipsy side but not completely sotted had woken up Lee and Oliver. The latter of which was now touching the back of his head with a frown, unable in his drunken stupor to suss out just how his head had gotten wet. While Oliver pondered this mind-boggling question, the twins had struck up a rousing chorus of 'Weasley Is Our King' with Lee and... Harry bent down, squinting. Wait...was that Seamus? The dark haired man was sitting Indian style under the table, his head rocking right to left in time with the singing. Though he did seem to be joining in, it was only for about every other word or so.

Ginny, who was herself a bit wobbly, was trying to balance Dean against her so that he wouldn't fall to the floor. However, after a moment got tired of her boyfriends added weight and let him slide down. Harry cringed as he hit the floor with a ceremonious 'thump'. Hermione was in a similar state to the one Ginny had been in just a second ago as she tried to keep Ron standing, while he kept continuously trying to sit. Yet, once the twins started their second, louder, version of `Weasley Is Our King', Ron finally allowed Hermione to stand him up at which point he turned to face his brothers. With the same dopey smile that he had been wearing earlier, he then proceeded to attempt to conduct their singing like a choir master however, the second time he swished his hand Harry heard something crash. He looked at Hermione and they both quickly realized that Ron was conducting his "choir" with his wand.

"Ron give me the wand." Hermione said in a tone that was much calmer than Harry thought it would be.

"Nope!" he responded shaking his head again, while giving a huge flourish of his wand. A woman on the dance floor screamed when her dress flew up for no reason, exposing her knickers.

"Ronald," she demanded in a tone that implied that she was loosing her patience "give me the wand, now."

"No, I can't Myknee... I neeeeed the wand to aps...abp...asperrate us home," he wined.

"Ron you are in no condition to Apparate us anywhere." She replied in a stern voice while reaching for his wand, he evaded her grasp, holding the wand over his head.

"Come on Herbineee, stop being suchs a farty foofer," he continued in a slurred voice while still holding the wand out of reach.

Frowning deeply Hermione turned and gave Harry a pleading look. Without hesitation he stepped forward and removed the wand form his sotted friends care.

Ron looked at him with a hurt expression "Harry... why, Harry, why? I need my rond, I can't get home wifout it," his expression turned from hurt to pleading.

Harry gave him a reassuring smile "Don't worry mate, I'll get you home okay? Just give me one moment." He pocketed the wand and gave a smile to Hermione who mouthed 'thank you' to him. He then turned around and grabbed the remaining few sober people he could find, so that they could figure out how to get everyone safely home.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Twenty-five minutes, three Apparations, two muggle cab rides and one floo later Harry, Ron and Hermione Apparated into their flat. Ron who was stationed between his two best mates kept letting his head lull from side to side giving them both drunken smiles.

"Wasn't tonight fun..." he asked leaning over so close to Harry that Hermione stumbled a bit from being pulled and Harry cringed from the smell of his liquored breath.

"I looooooooovvvvv you guys," he said looking forward as he was maneuvered past the coffee table. He looked at Harry "I llllloooooooovvvveee you Arry, you're my mest bate!" he gave a drunken smile before letting his head fall the other direction toward Hermione "I llllllllloooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeee yyyooooooouuuuuuu Myknee," he conitnued in a singsong, slurred voice "but diffent from Harry," he finished with a resolute nod.

"Gee thanks Ronald, I love you too," Hermione replied in a slightly sarcastic tone, struggling a bit under his weight due to the constant stumbling.

Harry, noticing her difficulty leant a little to his left, shifting more of the weight upon him. They finally reached Ron's room and, with a little extra effort on Harry's part were able to get the door opened. Stumbling into the dark room, they hurried forward and deposited Ron onto his bed.

"Can you believe it?" he asked in a wonder laced voice. "I Roonil Wazlib am a Chootney Cannon."

With that said, and one last huge grin he flopped back onto his bed and began to snore loudly.

"Thanks Harry," Hermione said giving him a small smile. She then proceeded to put a waste bin by the side of the bed, whispering a small spell to make it bottomless. When she began to remove Ron's shoes Harry decided it was time to make his exit and slipped out of the room.

He was in the kitchen pouring tea when Hermione walked in rubbing her neck. She had taken off her shoes and pulled her hair back into a pony tail, but other than those minor changes she looked the same as when she was at the club... including the red dress. Harry looked away when she came in looking adorably disheveled, turning automatically to pour her a cup of tea.

"Thank you," she smiled had he handed her the warm cup.

"How is he?" Harry asked taking a sip of his tea.

Hermione lifted a brow, "Completely pissed."

Harry smiled, once he finished the remainder of his tea he sat the cup on the counter and leant against it to watch her finish her drink.

"I was a bit surprised you didn't join in the drunken reindeer games," she added with a smile, after a few moments of silence.

"Can't," he grinned "Auror's are on call at all times, so unless I change careers some time soon, getting pissed is not in my immediate future."

"Good, there's nothing more unattractive then a guy getting completely soused and drooling all over you." Hermione cringed making a face.

Harry smiled before giving a small yawn, leaning his head back he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Harry?" he heard Hermione say in a questioning tone, when he opened her eyes she was standing directly in front of him.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for pulling you away from your date with Aurora to help with Ron."

He looked down at the floor for an instant before looking back up at her and giving a small smile.

"That's okay, I was tired anyway," he replied with a shrug.

"Harry?" she questioned again.

"Yes," Harry responded in an amused tone, causing her to smile a bit.

"About, Aurora," she hesitated "...are you two getting serious?"

He paused for a second, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. Looking down at the floor he answered her.

"Well, it has only been a month, so the answer to that is no. We talked about it and have decided to take it slow," he looked up at her "day by day, you know?"

"So do you like her? You know, like her, like her?"

"Well, yeah I suppose, we're still getting to know each other. I mean there's a lot I don't know about her, and a whole lot that I haven't told her about me, so..." he shrugged. "We're starting from the ground up trying to build this thing," he looked her in the eyes. "Where we stand now I do like her, and I think she has potential..." he trailed off.

"Potential for what," Hermione asked giving him a suspicious look.

Harry shrugged "I don't know, potential... you know, for me and her to one day have what you and Ron already have."

She flushed red and gave a derisive laugh causing him to frown.

"What?"

"You don't want what we have," she stated quietly, a mocking smile settling upon her pretty face.

"Why not?" he quizzed looking confused, though internally his heart speed up.

After all he wasn't an idiot, he knew what had happened between him and her a couple of weeks ago. That kiss haunted not only his dreams, but also his waking moments and it was just considered innocent -hell it was almost virginal by today's standards. However every time he closed his eyes there she was looking at him with desire in her eyes and sometimes, even when he was at work, he could still feel the feather light caress of her fingers on his back.

But surely that wasn't what she was talking about, after the kiss she had pretty much avoided him --not that he went out of his way to see her-- and earlier in the kitchen when he pretended nothing had happened she looked extremely relieved. Seeing her relax made him feel even more like a wanker, because he felt that he had taken advantage of her when she was upset. And only wanker's took advantage of emotionally distraught women. Plus, only a HUGE wanker took advantage of an emotionally distraught woman who was also their best mate's girlfriend.

'His girlfriend for now,' he thought, surprised at the selfishness of what had just popped into his head. Hermione was Ron's girl, she had always been Ron's girl. They loved each other and he had learned a long time ago to put his feelings aside for their happiness. When did that lid that he had screwed so tightly over his emotions start to come undone? Forcing himself back to the present, to get away from his dangerous thoughts, he realized that she had never answered him.

"Why not?" He asked again, not noticing the hint of desperation that had crept into his voice.

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Just Because."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"This is ridiculous, what is wrong with wanting a relationship like you have with Ron."

"Oh, you mean a relationship where your girlfriend kisses your best mate," she said in an angry tone, but when she looked up into his eyes she finished in a whisper "and then proceeds to dream about that kiss every night."

Harry stared at her in shock for a moment, after receiving no response from him Hermione's head fell. Instinctively Harry reached his hand out, using two fingers he lifted her chin so that she was looking at him once again and whispered two words that he wasn't sure ever he meant to say aloud.

"You too?"

*************************************************************

"So do you like her, you know, like her, like her?" Hermione asked before she could stop the words from leaving her big mouth.

"Well, yeah I suppose, we're still getting to know each other. I mean there's a lot I don't know about her and a whole lot that I haven't told her about me, so..." Harry shrugged. "We're starting from the ground up trying to build this thing," he looked her in the eyes and she felt a chill. "Where we stand now I do like her, and I think she has potential..." he trailed off.

"Potential for what," she asked anxiously.

He shrugged, "I don't know, potential... you know, for me and her to one day have what you and Ron already have."

She felt herself flush, he wanted what she had with Ron, but he wanted it with Aurora, while more and more she wanted it with him. Hermione gave a sardonic laugh.

"What?"

"You don't want what we have," she said quietly, a mocking smile lingering on her face.

"Why not?" he asked looking totally clueless to her inner turmoil.

How could he ask her that after what had happened between them, sure it was a very chaste kiss by most accounts but the way it had made her feel... the way it still makes her feel when she thinks about it. 'I guess it wasn't as important to him,' she thought to herself, suddenly feeling a bit depressed.

"Why not?" Harry asked again interrupting her thoughts.

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Just Because."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"This is ridiculous, what is wrong with wanting a relationship like you have with Ron."

"Oh, you mean a relationship where your girlfriend kisses your best mate," Hermione said in an angrily, but when she looked up into his warm green eyes she lost all of her steam, and her train of thought, ending in a whisper with words she never meant to say, "and then proceeds to dream about that kiss every night."

Harry stared at her with a look of complete shock, her head fell 'Hermione you silly bat, why would he want you when he has such a beautiful girlfriend,' she thought to herself. She was in the middle of a very intense self-hating, pity party when she felt his warm fingers on her chin, using two of them Harry lifted her head so that she was looking at him once again and whispered two words that made her heart stop.

"You too?"

Hermione didn't know what to say, she could barely breathe. Harry, Harry had dreams about their kiss? How could this be?

She stared into his eyes and could see her very own silent questions reflected back at her. Breathing slowly Hermione took a step forward, leaning in a bit father and lifting her arm she placed her half empty tea cup on the counter just next to him. However instead of returning her hand to her side she placed it softly on Harry's back, he tilted his head down slightly, biting the corner of his bottom lip in a nervous fashion.

Displaying more courage than she actually felt, Hermione closed the remaining distance between them. Getting on her tip toes she caught his bottom lip between her teeth, pulling a bit, and then slowly suckling it. Harry groaned against her lips before deepening the kiss, she felt his arms close around her and her body being pressed against the full length of him. His tongue dipped into her mouth slowly as if he were attempting to torture her with lingering kisses.

Hermione responded whole heartedly, deepening the kiss and increasing the pace, she felt Harry stiffen for a moment before readjusting his hands. In one fluid motion he had picked her up and placed her on the counter behind him, her dress bunched up around her thighs as Harry settled between her legs. She moaned into his mouth as his hands roamed her body, touching it thoroughly. Wanting equal exploration she trailed her hands down his broad back, before bringing them around to his front and running them over his chest.

Her head fell back as he began to kiss her ear and his warm mouth left a searing path as he kissed her all the way down to the base of her neck. Hermione gripped at Harry's shirt pulling it up some and sensing what she wanted, he pulled away for a second then returned before she could whimper in protest. This time when she placed her hands on his shoulders she felt the warm velvety smoothness of his skin, her nails lightly scratched his back as she felt him peel down the straps and the top of her dress. Then rougher as he placed his lips at the valley between her breasts begin gently kissing and caressing her with is warm mouth. Practically panting with need she gripped his shoulders painfully for a moment, before grabbing his hair and forcefully pulling his head back.

Once she had him how she wanted him she tilted her head forward and did what she had wanted to do for a very long time. Her small tongue came out and languidly traced his Adams apple. As she felt him tremble under her touch and a huge burst of adrenaline shot through her, Hermione began to deepen her kisses moaning in rapture. He tasted like chocolate with just a hint of salt. After a few minutes of neck play, Harry maneuvered so that they were once again kissing deeply. Placing his hands at the base of her back, he pulled her forward so that he was resting fully between her legs, their bodies touching intimately. The feel of him against her was so good that Hermione let out a small moan in pleasure, their mouths met again and their tongues clashed as they rocked mindlessly against each other. Their breathing sounded more like panting as their desire rose and they hungrily explored each others bodies with their hands. Hermione's hand was touching his rippled stomach, feeling him quiver beneath her touch she allowed her hand to start to proceed lower. Harry's body froze as he tensely waited for her to reach her destination.

"Harry, Harry are you there?!" They froze against each other, eyes wide they both looked towards the door.

"Harry, hello..." the voice said again.

"Crap," said Harry pulling away from her "that's Aurora."

Hermione suddenly felt exposed, like a huge bucket of ice water had been dumped upon her. She grabbed the straps on her dress hastily pulling them and raising the top to cover her bare chest. She then slid off of the counter onto wobbly legs, but before she could fall Harry reached out to steady her.

"I'm sorry," he said looking extremely apologetic. "I have to see what she wants or else she may just Apparate over. Just wait here and I'll be right back."

He leaned forward and gave her a quick searing kiss before pulling away. Grabbing his shirt off of the floor, he threw it on and rushed into the living room still buttoning up.

A few minutes later he came back into the kitchen with a serious expression.

"Bellatrix," he said solemnly "I have to go... I'm sorry."

Hermione nodded and watched as he headed down the hall to his bedroom to put on the rest of his Auror uniform. When he left she fell back against the counter still shaking, looking with unfocused eyes, she watched the tea from her cup earlier drip onto the floor. She couldn't believe what had just happened, what they done... what had they done...

A.N. I know Harry's part was a bit long in this, but I just kept writing for him until the story told me it was a good time to switch POV. Did you know that when I first started writing this story I thought the whole thing would only be about 10 chapters... well you see how that worked out, so I'm not even going to guess on how many more there are, I'll just keep doing what I've been doing and let the story tell me when it's done. S That's it for chapter 9, stay tuned for chapter 10!!! Ja ne!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 10

Harry released a large sigh; falling heavily onto the couch behind him he allowed himself to sink into the soft cushions. It had been almost a week and a half since he had been home, and he was absolutely exhausted.

"Ugh," he groaned as he leant down to untie his boots, kicking them off he stretched out on the sofa.

Letting out another soft groan, he adjusted himself to a position more comfortable for his aching muscles. Once he was comfortable he stared at the ceiling and unwillingly thought back over the past week and a half.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

After he received the urgent floo from Aurora, Harry quickly dressed and did his best to put the incident with Hermione out of his mind. This task was made even more difficult when he looked in on her in the kitchen and saw her staring blankly at a tea puddle on the floor. Guilt rushed through him, and he wanted nothing more than to go and hold her, but he was an Auror and had been summoned to work. Though he didn't know the details, he did know that it was urgent, so against the strong pulling of his heart, he did what he vowed to do when he took is job, and put it first. Giving one last sorrowful look to the beautiful woman in the kitchen, and gripping his wand painfully in his hand he proceeded to the living room and Apparated to the Ministry.

Upon arriving, he rushed past security and headed one floor down, making and immediate left through a doorway that would be considered almost invisible if you weren't looking for it. After passing through a long darkened corridor, he took the third door to the right, walking into a small waiting room and cast a questioning glance to the witch at the front desk.

"They're waiting," she said with a flirtatious smile.

Harry gave her a brief nod and preceded though the door to her right; walking past several desks he entered the office in the back of the room to be briefed by the head of the Auror department. When he walked in he noticed that the others were already there, receiving a small smile from Aurora, and ignoring the guilt that surged through him, he took his place at the end of the line and waited to be briefed on the situation. Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody paced back and forth in front of Harry, Aurora, Devon and Marcello, the top four members of the Auror's department, his magical eye zooming wildly around the room.

"We have intercepted a letter meant for one, Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban," he said in a loud booming voice. "It is believed that Bellatrix Lestrange is the one who as sent the document to him, its content was a single poem we believe to contain hidden meanings."

He then scanned the small piece of parchment with his wand, copying the image. Pointing the wand at a blank wall opposite them he projected the words for all to read.

Red as Blood, Black as Heart
Come to where we'll get our start
Upon release from mortal chains
Fly across, most vast of plains
Once you reach the chosen space
Our rise will then fall into place

"We are not sure of the complete meaning, but we are sure that the first line 'Red as Blood, Black as Heart,' apply to Gidieon Blackheart, the head vampire of the Sociopathic Satanists." he said, removing the image from the wall and coming to a halt dead center in front of them. "We are unsure if Lucius ever received the letter, Halothorne and Masterdon are… questioning him now. They are also keeping a close eye on the Dementors, since the letter had to make its way into Azkaban somehow." His magical eye stopped spinning, and focused on Harry. "Potter, you and Centauri will take Bloomberg and Aguirre with you," he motioned with his head to the other two Aurors in the office "you will return to Transylvania and find a way into that tribe, and you will not return without information. Do I make myself clear?" Moody comanded in a strong clear tone, his normal eye focused on Harry, but the magical one scanning the other three people.

"Yes sir!" they said in unison.

"What's our motto?!" Mad Eye said stepping back to have a clear view of them all.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

"Gather what you need, you leave now." With that said, he then turned and limped back to his desk.

Harry, Aurora, Devon and Marcello all quietly left the office, careful not to pass any covert glances or motions since Moody was probably still watching them with his magical eye. Once they were outside of the office and had closed the door, the four walked silently to Harry's office a few doors down, entering a moment later.

"Leave now..." Devon muttered rolling his eyes. "I mean come on, how about tomorrow morning, I'm exhausted." He plopped down on the chair sighing dramatically.

"It's our job Devon," Aurora said, pulling several silver steaks out of her interior cape pocket, one by one and placing them on Harry's desk. Turning one of them carefully in her hand she examined it thoroughly before scratching, what appeared to be dried blood off of the tip.

"But, I mean come on," Devon replied giving Aurora and annoyed expression. "I understand if there was an attack or something but a few hours for rest doesn't make a difference. Especially if he wants us to leave the country, if we have to apparate all the way there we need proper rest so that we don't to get ourselves splinched."

"If you can't handle it, then maybe you should stay here," Aurora retorted with a smirk.

"Ok," Harry interrupted, before Devon could respond. "We got called here because it's our job, we showed up because it's our duty and we are going to complete it because it's our responsibility." He scanned the room with turbulent green eyes. "We are leaving tonight as ordered and we're not wasting anymore time bickering between ourselves like a bunch of first years... do I make myself clear?"

He pinned Devon with fierce gaze and after receiving a nod, turned to Aurora. She stood just a bit taller before giving him a slight bow of the head, realizing that this was not her boyfriend talking but her leader.

"As for transportation, Devon," he looked back at the blond haired man "you're correct, I don't believe any of us are in a condition to do intercontinental apparation. This is exactly why we are going to use a port key." Devon nodded, "Aurora, contact your brothers tribe and let them know we are coming, also find the best location for us to arrive at. Be sure to get exact directions so that we don't have any mix-ups." She gave a small bow of the head in consent before gathering her steaks and sweeping out of the office, her all jet black hair fluttering slightly from the movement. "Marcello," he said turning to the tall dark haired man, who was leaning quietly against the file cabinet, his arms crossed over his broad chest. "You gather the proper weapons, we may need them if we have to take someone from Gideon's tribe and make them talk." Marcello gave a curt nod and walked wordlessly from the office. Finally turning to the blond who was had earlier been lounging in the chair behind Harry's desk, but was now looking at him seriously and expectantly. "Devon," Harry went to a small file cabinet and pulled out an empty crushed garlic container and a garlic bread bag. "You take these items, down to the magical transportation department and tell them we need two port keys, one to get us to Transylvania and one to get us back." He handed the items over, but when Devon tried to take them, he held fast, looking him directly in the eyes. "Do not get these mixed up, make sure that they clearly mark which is which. Get the exact location from Aurora before you go." With that he released the items to Devon's care, watching as he headed out of the office to complete the task given to him.

Harry walked around his desk, falling heavily into his chair. Suddenly feeling weary, he closed his eyes, rubbing them and trying to gather his thoughts. Taking a deep breath he attempted to focus his mind on a plan, but every time he closed his them he saw chocolate brown eyes, smooth pale skin, full red lips and firm, pert breasts.

"Damn it," he said to himself, giving his head a slight shake and taking a few deep breaths. "I have to focus, my team is depending on me and where we're headed it could mean life or death."

Using every ounce of will power within him, Harry forced thoughts of Hermione out of his mind, while simultaneously pulling out a piece of parchment. He began to work on his battle plan, his mind coming up with several scenarios, and alternates for each incase something went wrong.

Thirty minutes later they were ready to go, dressed all in black with their hoods pulled up on their robes, completely concealing their faces; they made a powerful and intimidating sight. Each placing a finger on the crumpled garlic bread package, they watched the clock as it counted down the seconds. Once the big hand reached the twelve, Harry felt a distinct pulling at his navel and a second later, they were gone.

Almost instantly they arrived in the hall of a small castle, looking around at the dim setting, they paused for a moment allowing their eyes to adjust and gaining their bearings.

"Hello sister," a tall silver haired man said, his hair flowed freely behind him as he approached, his long graceful strides making it seem as though he were floating instead of walking towards them.

Aurora smiled and went forward meeting him half way and engulfing him in a hug. Pulling back she placed a small kiss upon his cheek.

"Hello brother," she said before turning around to face them once more. "I would like you to meet my fellow Aurors'. This is Devon" she pointed to the blond, who then gave small wave. "This is Marcello," she said, redirecting the attention to the tall Spaniard next to the blond, who gave a slight head nod in acknowledgement. "And I believe that you already know Harry," at this statement Harry stepped forward, giving a strong handshake and a small smile.

"It's good to see you again Helios, and thanks once more for your assistance."

"Oh, it is nothing," the silver haired man responded smiling slightly, his long fangs glinting in the dim firelight. "Anything for my baby sister," he and Aurora shared a smile.

"Even though I am willing to do what I can to help, you do realize that this is just your arrival location, it is not safe for my tribe for you to remain here." he said, his silver eyes piercing Harry's green ones, and reminding him strongly of Aurora.

"Of course," Harry said, unblinkingly. "I am aware, and we have brought the necessary provisions." He held up a medium sized bag that had been enchanted to hold their supplies.

The older man nodded, then motioning for them to follow, led them out of the hall and into a small private room to give them an update of the information that he had collected. Once they were brought up to date, they remained in the room eating some of what they had brought in their provisions for a small breakfast, and then retired to their temporary rooms to sleep the day through. At dusk they gathered their belongings and along with Helios as their guide, they left the small village and journeyed into the Transylvanian Alps towards the Sociopaths lair. As they set out into the rocky terrain, Harry looked at the darkening sky, feeling the world come to life around him and also feeling a small bit of dread.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Nine days, eight hours, thirty-seven minutes, two fights and one intense questioning later, he was finally home and attempting to get the rest that he had been deprived, of on a soft surface which, coincidentally, he had also been deprived of. Adjusting himself one last time, Harry's eyelids began to droop and he dozed off.

An undetermined amount of time later he was awoken by someone tentatively touching his face, heat and small electric tingles surged through his body and he immediately knew who it was. Opening his eyes her face slowly came into focus, she was leaning over him with a worried expression, causing her brows to draw together. He could instantly tell when she noticed that he was awake, because the worried expression dissipated to be replaced with relief.

"Hey," he said his voice rough with sleep.

"Hey," she said quietly, tracing his face with her eyes.

They just stared for a while, looking at one another.

"So," she said, once again looking worried "it's been almost two weeks, where have you been?" She pushed some of his hair out of his face, peering closely at him "You look like crap," she finished in a matter-of-fact tone.

Harry smiled "Gee thanks Hermione; I can always count on you to stroke my ego."

She smiled before standing up from the couch, looking around a bit she seemed unsure of what to do next. He was confused about her nervousness until her face began to turn a dull red, it was at that point he knew that she was thinking about what had happened last time they were alone together.

"So," he said after a moment of silence, propping himself up on his elbow and stifling a groan as his aching muscles protested. "Where's Ron?"

At this she began to look even more nervous, fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist.

"He's training," she said, giving him a small smile. "Hey, you seem like you're tired, hungry," she then sniffed the air "and in need of a shower." She smiled, motioning towards the bathroom "Why don't you go take a warm one and I conjure us up something to eat."

Harry gave a lazy smile, but before he could answer his stomach did for him, letting out a loud grumble. Scratching the back of his head and looking slightly embarrassed, he nodded in consent and slowly got up from the couch. Heading into his room he grabbed some clothes and walked into the restroom shutting the door behind him.

************************************************************

Hermione watched him enter the bathroom, when the door closed securely behind him she released the breath that she had been holding. Just as she had begun to relax, the sound of the shower starting up could be heard through the door and her body once again tensed as her mind pictured him getting in. His large, muscular body covered in water, the droplets glistening down his broad chest like they had at the lake. His abs...

She shook her head almost violently, forcing the thoughts away.

'You told yourself you weren't going to do this,' she thought to herself, walking around the couch and going into the kitchen. 'What happened that night was a mistake,' her mind said as she began to prepare the food.

She removed a small chicken from the fridge, using her wand she brought the seasonings over to herself and had them start seasoning the chicken. Taking the potatoes from the pantry, and then saying a small spell she had them began to prepare themselves.

'Ok Hermione,' she said to herself, while looking around to make sure everything was going fine. 'You can do this, you have to tell Harry that what happened that night was a mistake, that we were both a little drunk... wait, no, we weren't drunk, Ron was. Ok, but that doesn't have anything to do with it...ok, well, we were just a little confused, caught up in the moment, overwhelmed with the intense desi-'

Her thoughts were interrupted as one of the seasoning bottles tapped her on the shoulder to let her know they were done. Giving it a nod she used her wand to place the chicken in a pan, and then she slid it into the magical cook-top oven that Mrs. Weasley had gotten for her last Christmas. Turning, she did the proper spell so that the potatoes would began grilling themselves, and a pot on the stove was filled with the ingredients and began to simmer so that the chicken would have the proper glaze when completed.

"Alright," she said to herself, while taking a couple of plates out of the cabinet "now where was I. I'll just say... Harry, what happened between us is perfectly natural; after all we are both young adults in the primes of our lives. Our sexual drives are at the optimum capacity to..." she shook her head. "No, too textbook... ok," she tapped her face with her wand, thinking. "Alright, how about... Harry, I am dreadfully attracted to you and as much as I loved snogging you, and would love even more the opportunity to shag..." she cringed. "Very lady like Hermione," she mumbled to herself. "Ok, I know... Harry I just wanted to say..."

"What?" a voice said from behind her.

Hermione snapped around, un-purposefully jerking her wand and causing several paper napkins to fly into the air. Harry chucked in amusement as one landed softly on his head, obscuring one of his eyes. Taking the napkin off of his head, he looked at it ruefully, before returning his attention back to her, his emerald green eyes dancing in merriment.

"Redecorating?" he quipped, bending down to pick up the few napkins that had landed on the floor.

"No, celebrating your return, sorry I didn't have the time to shred it into proper confetti." She replied with a cheeky smile.

Harry laughed, tossing the paper into the bin; he then walked over to the pot simmering on the stove.

"Umm, smells good," he said taking a deep sniff "what is it?"

"It's a glaze for the chicken," she said walking up next to him, as if on cue the magical oven let out a soft ding to signify that the meat was ready.

Hermione used her wand to remove the chicken and place it gently on the counter and then floated a bowl over to herself for the potatoes, which were about done roasting.

"You should go have a seat; I'll be there in a moment with dinner."

He stepped away from the pot, putting his hands in his pockets and looking around the kitchen.

"Maybe I can help," he said, walking towards the cabinet with the dishes in it.

Hermione cast an amused glance at him. "No thanks, you look exhausted, go and have a seat I'll be right in."

He gave her a glance, and then moved towards the plates she had lain out earlier, reaching to grab them off the counter.

"Harry," she reprimanded in her sternest tone.

He looked over is shoulder at her, rolling his eyes, then giving one last longing glance at the plates he sighed. Putting one hand back in his pocket and then burying the other in his unruly locks, he walked slowly out of the kitchen.

Hermione chuckled at his stubborn behavior before getting the food ready to eat.

Ten minutes later she placed the chicken, the last item, on the table giving Harry a thumb up to let him know that they were ready to go.

"Tuck in," she said with a big smile.

He gave her a one in return before spooning a large amount of roasted potatoes onto his plate. Hermione cut into the meat, leaning over she placed a couple of juicy slices on Harry's plate. Looking down at him with a smile, she had opened her mouth to ask if he wanted some glaze when she noticed his heated gaze. His eyes flicked from her eyes to her breasts and back again. Hermione immediately straightened, pushing some hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture.

"So, what was your emergency at work that had you out for so long," she said in a shaky voice, silently cursing herself for betraying her feelings.

Harry looked down at his plate for a second, before returning his gaze to her, all traces of desire that had been evident in his eyes earlier gone from view, once again hiding behind a facade of friendly cheer.

"Well," he said, while reaching over and getting a couple of spoonfuls of glaze. "I had to return to Transylvania again."

"Why?"

He smirked, "Let's see, where do I begin…"

"At the beginning," she said reasonably, Harry looked at her smiling, and then proceeded to tell her about his week, while eating the delicious dinner she had prepared.

"...so there we were, in the middle of a darkened terrain when we came across Senthos and Malific, two of Gideon's clan members. They were roaming around looking for a victim to snack on and not being the types to pass up an opportunity, we struck," he chuckled. "You know those bastards are pretty strong." He rubbed his neck.

"Well, what happened?" she asked, cutting into a roasted potato.

"Well, it came down to a lot of hand to hand combat, I mean, sure, we could have stunned them," he gave a sardonic smile "but what's the fun in that?"

Hermione shook her head in amusement as Harry ate some chicken, patiently waiting for him to continue.

"So," he said wiping glaze from the corner of his mouth, "Devon and I went for Malific while Aurora and Marcello went for Senthos. I gave Helios my invisibility cloak to hide under, we couldn't risk having him spotted or his tribe would have been targeted if they got away. So anyway, I had Malific in a pretty serious head lock when Senthos came up behind me after managing, somehow, to get away from Aurora and Marcello. He grabbed me by my neck and was trying to bit into me, when I heard a loud scream in my ear." He smirked. "Aurora had dusted him with one of her steaks," Harry chuckled and Hermione's surprised expression. "She's a pretty tough witch," he said grinning "especially when you cross her, by attacking her friends or family."

"Well, I'm sure you being her boyfriend, caused an extra amount of gusto to be included in that attack." She said with a small smile.

Harry blushed, putting his fork down on his now empty plate.

"That was delicious Hermione, when did you learn to cook so well?"

"Smooth," she said with a smirk, causing his blush to deepen.

Deciding to let him of the hook, she didn't press the issue, instead standing to gather the dishes and answering his question.

"I've known how to cook for a while, but after living alone and away from your parents, you find that you miss a home cooked meal so -don't even think about it," she slapped Harry's hand as he attempted to help her clear the table. "You go have a seat; I'll bring in the tea and some dessert." Realizing that she was doing things, in what Ron would call "the hard way," Hermione used her wand to levitate the dishes in front of her and into the kitchen.

After getting them to begin cleaning themselves, she rinsed her hands, drying them brusquely on a towel. While the kettle for the tea and was warming, Hermione grabbed a knife and cut two large slices of lemon cake. She had just deposited the cakes on the coffee table in the living room, when the kettle whistled; she rushed back into the kitchen and returned a moment later carrying two steaming cups of tea.

Out of habit Hermione took the seat right next to Harry; when she realized just where she had sat, she blushed a little but remained where she was; not wanting to look suspicious by moving.

"So, what did you guys find out about the Satanists' plan?" She asked taking a bite of her cake.

Harry swallowed his big bite of cake and gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry Hermione, I can't tell you… I'd love to I just cant, we're still working the lead and-"

"Don't worry about it," she said smiling "I know how your job works and I wouldn't want you to get in any trouble." She patted his hand soothingly.

Harry caught her hand on his with his thumb, looking her in the eyes.

"Thanks, I knew you would understand."

Hermione took a shuddering breath to try to compensate for her loss of oxygen at his simple touch.

"I…I should put these away," she said, grabbing the plates of barley eaten cake off of the table and rushing into the kitchen.

Once she was alone, she took a towel and ran a bit of cold water on it, then she patted her face and neck to get her body temperature down.

'You can do this,' she thought to herself 'come on Hermione; you're a grown woman, an adult. You're not some third year hitting puberty; you can control your hormones.'

Taking this to heart she squared her shoulders and returned to the living room, Harry was still sitting on the couch and seemed to be doing his best to work a knot out of his back. She watched him struggle to reach a particular spot right below his shoulder blades, and his subsequent wince in pain from straining the other side of his back and bit her lip.

'I should help him,' she thought 'no, no I should stay away.' As this thought crossed her mind Harry had picked up his wand and was attempting to use the tip, to massage the spot that he couldn't reach.

Feeling bad for her friend, and knowing that he would never reach the spot and any attempt at magic without a proper magical masseuse license would end up with him being even more hurt than he is now. Hermione gave a resigned sigh, and stepped forward to help out.

'I can do this, I'm an adult and I can control my hormones… this WILL NOT lead to anything' she thought as she approached the couch.

A.N. Well that's it for Ch 10… will it lead to anything, stay tuned and find out. Oh and the poem at the beginning was just a little ditty I wrote, I don't think it turned out too bad, right? Please Review!!! I only get about 10 or so for each chappy and I know more people are reading than that, right?

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 11

Harry watched Hermione practically run into the kitchen carrying the delicious lemon cake that he had barley had a chance to touch. He knew why she had rushed out and he couldn't blame her, he had felt it too, it was just that there was one real problem with her leaving so abruptly... he hand really wanted that cake!

'Oh well, at least she left the tea,' he thought with a sigh.

He had reached forward to retrieve his cup off of the table, when he felt a sharp pain shoot through his back just below his right shoulder blade.

"Damn it!" he said between gritted teeth, taking a deep breath to relax himself.

Using his left hand, Harry did best to reach the spot where the pain had come from; attempting to locate the knot that he knew to be there. After a minute or two of fruitless efforts, he winced as soreness settled upon the left side of his back, from trying to work the knot out of the right side. Giving a frustrated sigh, Harry grabbed his wand off of the table and attempted once again to reach the pesky knot in the middle of his back, hoping that the added length of the wand would help. He was just considering making up a spell, even though he knew that it was dangerous; because at this point he really didn't care. Just as he had the beginnings of the random incantation in his mind, he felt a pair of warm firm hands clasp his back.

Harry quickly looked over his shoulder to see Hermione standing behind him and giving him a small smile. She then began to knead his upper shoulders, and worked her way down allowing her fingers to apply a firm pressure as they slid along the outlines of his shoulder blades. Reaching the knot that he had been unable to, she applied extra pressure in slow circular motions, effectively breaking the ball of tension and easing his discomfort.

"Relax," she said, in what Harry immediately noticed to be a voice more husky than her normal tone.

He instantly felt his body tense up... though not in any place that she was touching. Closing his eyes in an attempt to do what she said and relax, he allowed his head to fall forward as she worked her way down his back and then back up again. He was just beginning to fully unwind when he felt something bump him, looking over his shoulder once more; he noticed that it was Hermione's leg. She had readjusted her position and was now sitting on the back of the couch, her legs braced on either side of him, her kaki pants hugging her slender thighs. Quickly closing his eyes, Harry once again faced forward, hoping that she didn't notice that her effect on him, or that her hands were working their magic on him in more ways than one.

'Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron,' was the slow steady mental mantra that he chanted to discourage his thoughts from going in a direction, the direction that they soooo desperately wanted to go.

"Harry, could you move up just a bit?" She asked a few minutes later, breaking into his thoughts. And way too close to his ear for comfort; her warm breath caressed his neck, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand and making it almost impossible to suppress the shudder that passed through his body.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he said quietly, his voice shaking slightly as he moved forward to the edge of the couch cushion.

Thinking that she wanted nothing more than a bit more room to work, Harry was surprised to feel a large amount of movement behind him. As her legs settled on either side of him he realized that she had slid down so that she was sitting on the directly behind him. Her warmth immediately enveloped him, causing a sensation that strangely enough, caused him to tense up and relax at the same time. Her small hands were doing their best to work the tension out of his lower back, and he was doing his best not to groan in pleasure from the gentle insistent pressure.

Harry tried to get his mantra going again, he really did, but he was having the hardest time thinking straight. It was like he was right before N.E.W.T.'s again and all of the things that he thought he knew, that he knew he knew just went flying right out of his head. After a few minutes of her ministrations, he did something that he never would have done... had he been thinking clearly...

"One sec, ok?" He asked, looking at her again.

She gave him a small nod; looking into her eyes, he noticed that they now seemed to be a dark chocolate color instead of her normal cocoa tint. Harry turned around after getting her acceptance, and a moment later heard her sharp intake of breath as he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor by his feet.

He turned, giving her a small smile and acting completely oblivious to not only the deep crimson color that now covered her face and neck, but also to the fact that he knew the reason that the color was there.

"It's alright isn't it? The material from the shirt was irritating my back," Harry said, rubbing his neck again and giving her a slightly embarrassed look. 'Well it's not completely untrue,' he thought, mentally justifying his actions to himself.

When she nodded that it was ok, he turned back around to face the front. Harry took a deep breath to compose himself and hoped that she wouldn't notice the fact that he was shaking slightly, as a result of his ongoing tumultuous inner thoughts.

'You git!' his mind screamed 'What the bloody hell are you doing? Get your shirt and get out of here! You're walking into very dangerous territory, you could hurt a lot of people... including her.'

He frowned as his common sense began to regain control, but just when it was about to steer him away from disaster, he felt her tentatively touch his bare skin. Her contact was no where near as deep as it had been moments earlier, as a matter of fact it was feather light. He shuddered again as her small, warm fingers slowly caressed his back. Allowing his head to fall forward, Harry closed his eyes and relaxed against her gentle onslaught, loving the feel of her being so close to him. After giving him a much softer massage for a several minutes, he felt her stop; stiffening he waited with baited breath for her next move.

A moment later he felt it -a soft butterfly kiss upon the base of his neck near his spine, followed by a small tongue tracing a path from there to his shoulder. Once she had reached the edge of his shoulder Hermione took a small nip and unable to stop himself, he let out a minuscule groan. Petite hands went from the base of his back, around to the base of his stomach; Harry took a shuddering breath as she lightly scratched his abs with her fingernails, causing an involuntary jerk to go through him.

Pulling him back against her, he was able to feel her soft breasts against his back, and the full warmth of her body. He was barley holding on to his sanity when she began to lick and nibble at his ear letting her hands roam freely over his chest, neck and thighs.

"Hermione," he moaned, as he felt her lightly grind against him, causing his will power to slip down to one single lonely thread.

His rational mind screamed for him to stop it, but the rest of him… his irrational mind, his body and his heart, they wouldn't listen.

'You can't do this to Ron, Harry,' the rational part said.

'You can and you will, why does he deserve her instead of you?' the irrational part responded.

'Because he was with her first and he loves her,'

'So do I, I always have but just backed off because he's so sensitive about me having anything or anyone,'

'She loves him,' the rational part said reasonably.

'Yeah, when was the last time you heard her say it?' The irrational part retorted.

Silence.

'I thought so, besides if she really loved him she wouldn't want this as much as I do.'

'It's just want, it's not love.'

'If she wants me as much as I want her; enough to risk hurting Ron, don't you think that it's possible for her to love me as much as I love her also?'

Silence.

'Just as I thought.'

'How could you do this to Ron, he'd never do it to you,' it said in an attempt to appeal to his intense sense of loyalty.

'Of course he would, Ron's always jumped at the chance to have what I didn't have, not to mention the opportunity to beat me out at something.' His irrational side scoffed, taking a kick at loyalty; who was gagged and tied up in the back of Harry's mind.

'And what if Ron apparates in right now, then what...' rationality said cheekily.

With that question looming over his head, his rational side finally won out, and Harry forced himself to pull away from her warm embrace. Prying her arms from around his midsection, he turned to look at her when she gave a small whimper in protest.

"Hermione, we shouldn't, I mean, what if Ron comes back?" He asked desperately trying to hold on to his last bit of sanity and loyalty towards his best friend.

She gave his a confused look, the passion filled haze still burning intensely in her eyes.

"But, he's at training..."

"Yeah, but he could get back any minute,"

She frowned, "No... he's at training camp for the Cannons, he'll be gone until Thursday."

Harry stared at her a moment, surprise etched into his features, when it finally wore off his rational side let out a groan, as his irrational side did a jig.

Reaching out to her almost immediately, he placed his hand at the base of her neck and pulled her forward and into a passionate kiss. Running his fingers though her soft, bushy hair, he allowed his tongue to dip into her mouth, relishing the feel of her responding in kind. Harry slid off of the couch readjusting so that they were in a position similar to the one in the kitchen that night, except this time she was sitting on a couch instead of a counter. He felt her hands tangle in his hair as she pulled him roughly against her, he was so close to her that their bodies almost melted together, and he felt hot enough that it seemed likely to happen.

Breaking away from her mouth he began to trail kisses down her neck, his hands cupping and kneading her breasts as gently as she had been massaging his back just moments ago. Placing his hands at her waist just under her shirt, he lifted it high enough to expose her belly button before pulling back a little. He looked into her eyes, giving her a chance to say no, to be the sane reasonable person that she normally is and that he was in no condition to be, to save them... from themselves...

****************************************************************

Hermione's gaze immediately swung to Harry's as he pulled away from her, she could see the question lingering in his emerald green eyes... 'Do you want me to stop?' Her mind, or at least part of it, knew that this was wrong, that she should says yes, but she try as she might she just couldn't get the rest of herself to agree.

Feeling bolder than she ever had before, feeling a confidence and a adrenaline rush that only Harry was able to give her, Hermione place her hands at the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, tossing it to the side and watching out of the corner of her eye as it landed a few feet from the couch. Her pulse quickened and her breathing deepened as his eyes went form surprise, to hungry as they traveled appreciatively over her body; their color going form a sparkling emerald green to a darker more passionate hue. His gaze rested on her breasts for a second; before lowering and beginning to trace a scar a couple of inches form her belly-button that she had received during the war. Looking her in her eyes once again and without breaking eye contact, Harry leant down and placed a gentle kiss on her wound. Giving her a small smile, he declared it officially "all better," lifting his hand to caress the side of her face. Smiling in return Hermione ran her hands over his chest, then leaning forward proceeded to kiss the two scars on his chest he had received during the war, before pulling him forward and placing a small kiss on his forehead. Giving him an impish smile, she then declared him also, "all better".

His laughing green eyes slowly turned serious again as her hands began to freely roam his body once more. Leaning forward she flicked her tongue over his nipple, smiling in satisfaction at the deep moan that rumbled though his chest; she then did the same to the one on the other side. Feeling him shudder and then shift a bit, she lifted her head just in time to receive a warm passionate kiss. They continued to kiss deeply, candidly touching one another for a period of time. Hermione was startled to realize that they had gone from Harry sitting between her legs to him being on top of her on the couch, without her remembering how. Quickly deciding that the position was much more pleasurable, Hermione gripped his lower back and they began to grind up against each other. She arched, allowing him to kiss her neck and breathing heavily, as her hands slid over the light sheen of sweat that had formed on his back.

"We should stop," Harry said, ripping away from her in an attempt to allow them to gain control once again. He pulled himself into a sitting position and ran a hand thorough his extremely disheveled hair.

"Do you really want to?" she asked, feeling a bit ashamed at the anxious tone that she could hear in her voice, and the fact that not only was she acting like a harlot but she was attempting to persuade him continue something that she knew they should stop.

Harry gave her a pained expression in response then, without removing his heated gaze from her own, shook his head no. Pausing to take in her fill of his strong muscular form, still covered in with a light luster of sweat, she noticed the rapid rise and fall of his chest. Hermione felt her confidence soar as she watched him struggle to regain his composure, composure that he had lost because of her. Allowing her gaze to travel over him as he had done to her earlier, she also noticed that his breathing wasn't the only thing he couldn't control; Hermione stared wantonly at the obvious sign of his attraction to her. His hand was gripping the back of the couch almost painfully and his body strained against, the normally loose fitting, sleep pants.

Giving a seductive smile and with the help of years of practice, she was able to put her hand behind her back, and easily unhook her bra. Allowing it to fall forward a bit, she removed her arms from the straps, she purposefully gave him a small peek of her bare flesh as she held the bra up with one hand, covering herself for a moment to tease him. When he looked as though he were ready to rip it away from her, she gingerly slid it down her stomach before tossing it to the side so that it joined the growing pile of clothing on the floor. Watching Harry's eyes widen in surprise, and then darken in arousal made her feel more powerful than she ever had in her life. Hermione leant forward and with an unexpectedly clear head and train of thought slowly, while maintaining eye contact, untied the knot on the front of his pants.

She was proud to see that her hands only seemed to tremble a bit, and not nearly as bad as she thought they would have, considering how she felt. After getting them undone, she slowly reached her hand into his waistband, making sure that her fingers grazed the base of his stomach and smiling in satisfaction as his body gave another involuntary jerk. Though she was expecting it, she was slightly startled at the warmth she felt when her hand reached its destination and she touched him, but she was more astonished at the way that warmth seemed to spread throughout her body.

Looking up at him she noticed that he had closed his eyes in bliss and had allowed his head had fall back, seemingly relaxing under her touch. Still caressing him, Hermione readjusted her position so that she was now on her knees, leaning in she began to kiss his neck, feeling him surrender to her. Her moment of complete control, however, was short-lived as Harry suddenly seemed to come to life. Removing her hands from him, he laid her back on the couch, briefly devouring her with his gaze before he unbuttoned her kaki pants, gripping them from the cuffs, he then gave a few sharp tugs and they slid easily off of her creamy thighs, exposing more of her for his viewing pleasure. Next Harry began to lightly massage her, as she had done him earlier, first her feet, then her calves, next her knees, followed by her thighs, she closed her eyes anticipating his next move, only to open them abruptly a moment later as he skipped the area that she most wanted his touch and went straight to her stomach instead.

Harry gave her an amused look, quirking a dark brow and silently daring her to say where she wanted his hands to be. Hermione gave him a frown, she may have been acting like a bit of a libertine but she was not that confident; unwilling to ask, but also unwilling to give up she decided to take a different approach. Taking his hands in her own she intertwined their fingers then, using him as a counter for her weight she pulled herself back up to a sitting position. Leaning forward she applied pressure to his hands, which were still intertwined with hers and effectively forced him back in a way similar to what he had done to her. However, instead of staying where she was she decided that there was a better option; and that was to sit where he was.

With a slightly wicked gleam in her eyes, and clad only in a pair of lacy black knickers, Hermione straddled him, reviling greatly in the feel of his hardness pressed thoroughly against her and his warm breath tickling her bare chest. Harry once again gave her a surprised, 'I didn't know you had it in you look,' before regaining his composure and giving her a sexy smile. Feeling a mix of excitement and dread Hermione waited for him to make his move, which he did by flicking his tongue over her nipple as she had done to him earlier. She gave a small squeal and began to wiggle in his arms in a pointless and halfhearted attempt to get away from his sensual onslaught.

"Turnabout is fair play," he murmured in a rough passionate voice, causing her to give a throaty laugh, as he moved on to the other breast.

She continued to laugh, squeal and struggle in his arms; pleading over and over for him to release her. However, after a few minutes the laugher became more husky, the squealing began to sound more like deep moaning, the struggling, would no longer be considered struggling, and the pleading... let's just say it was for a different kind of release...

A.N. Well that's chapter 11, I know, it took me long enough to have them hook up. But what now... I guess we'll see stay tuned chapter 12 will be out soon. Ja ne!! And Please Review...

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 12

Hermione slowly opened her eyes; blinking a few times she took a moment get over her disorientation and to remember where she was. As she shifted slightly she felt a hand lightly caress her back and shivers go down her spine, looking down she realized that her head was resting on a broad, strong chest. Lifting herself up a bit, she slowly swung her head around to look at the person she was with. Harry lay sleeping peacefully his beautiful green eyes hidden as his soft lashes lightly brushed his cheeks. She smiled to herself, he looked so adorable lying there, and she could feel the warmth from his body enveloping her. Looking down at her hand splayed across his chest she caressed him lightly, replaying what had just happened between them.

'Wow,' she thought 'I can't believe it…'

She ran a hand through her tussled locks, looking around the empty living room that she had been in countless times but after such an incredible experience, she found that she was seeing it in a new light.

'Now what?' her mind asked, to which she gave a mental shrug.

She really didn't know; would they be together, see each other in secret…. what about Ron, or Aurora… well, maybe not so much Aurora. She laid her head back on Harry's chest listening to his strong steady heartbeat, and allowing her eyes to close once more as her mind continued to attempt to process their next step. What would happen, how would they tell Ron, how would they tell anyone? Would anyone support their relationship? Accept it? Everyone always thought of her with Ron and not Harry, how would they react? This question immediately triggered another, causing Hermione to pop up and once again look at the sleeping Harry.

'What about the Weasley's?' She asked herself in a panicked voice. 'If I leave Ron for Harry, then what… they're the only family he has ever known. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have been his surrogate mum and dad since his first year at Hogwarts, would they still treat him like family?' She lifted her hand and lightly traced Harry's sleeping face, smiling to herself when he turned into her touch, just as he had at the lake.

'You can't do this to him Hermione,' the little nagging voice in the back of her head said, causing her smile to slowly fade. 'The Weasley's are his family, the only family that he as ever known.' She moved closer placing a small kiss on his chin.

'I can be his family; I'll always be there for him…' her heart responded.

'But is that fair?' the voice said again. 'He went from being a lonely orphan, to a son with six brothers, one sister and numerous cousins, aunts and uncles; you can't take that away and leave him with only you.'

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'You know what you have to do…' it continued. 'You have to walk away, it doesn't matter how you feel about him, how you've always felt about him, it doesn't matter that you need him, you have to walk away because, because…you love him.'

With that finial thought she hardened her resolve and slowly slipped from under the blanket that he had summoned from his room to cover them after they had finished making love. Sliding on her shirt and jeans, grabbing her bra, panties and wand she then cast one last longing glance at him sleeping peacefully on the couch, before making her way quietly to her room.

Hermione leaned heavily against the door for a moment attempting to gather her thoughts and plan her next move, letting her head fall forward she was suddenly assaulted with his scent as her hair fell into her face. She pulled a few strands to her nose, inhaling deeply and relishing in the masculine fragrance, before giving herself a mental shake.

'If you want to think clear the first thing you need is a long shower,' she told herself, pushing away from the door and going to her wardrobe.

She grabbed a pair of sleep pants and a shirt, along with a bra and some panties from her drawer, before slipping quietly back out of the room. Her heart thundered in her chest as she got onto her tip toes to check if Harry was still sleeping. His sparkling green eyes did not stare back at her, for they were still closed off to the world as he slumbered peacefully, completely un-aware of her inner turmoil. Placing her hand on the bathroom door knob just behind her back, she gave it a turn and slipped quietly in shutting the door as softly as possible behind herself.

After locking it, Hermione went forward and turned the shower on to a medium temperature. As she took off her pants, she found that her legs were a lot less steady than usual, she immediately placed her hand on the wall to hold herself as her legs struggled to support her. Looking up she found herself face to face with the mirror, Hermione stared at her reflection for a moment, her tussled hair, flushed skin and bruised lips. Her fingers lightly traced a small love bite just above her breast that Harry had given her during their love making. Picking up her wand off of the counter where she had set it; she took aim for the mark, getting mad at herself when the words for the spell to remove it wouldn't come out of her mouth.

'Come on you have to do this, Ron may be a little slow at times, but he's not daft, he knows what a hickey looks like,' taking a deep breath, she deepened her resolve, however this time it did nothing.

Feeling confused and frustrated at her inability to let go of the sentiment attached, and get rid of the mark that Harry had made on her, she slammed her wand back onto the counter. Turning abruptly back to the tub, Hermione roughly turned off the hot tap on the tub leaving only the cold running; this was going to be very frigid shower.

'This should be just what I need to think clearly,' she thought stepping into the tub.

As the icy water contacted her flushed, warm skin she almost yelled out in shock, but was able to suppress it to a small yelp by placing her hand over her mouth. Hermione took a few deep breaths while her body adjusted to the frosty temperature, and then stepping fully into the water; she began washing automatically while her brain went over just want to say to Harry.

"Ok, I'll just say… Harry I love you but only as a friend…" she frowned, "no, I think we're well past that point… no, I'll say Harry… what happened tonight was something normal that can occur between a man and woman who have known each other for as long as we have." She shook her head at how stupid that sounded; they both had plenty of male and female friends and she was quite sure that nothing like this was ever going to happen with any of them.

"I'll say, Harry James Potter I have always seen you as a close friend but… I don't ha-Damn it!" Hermione put her face under the cool shower water to wash out the soap that had entered her eye.

Giving an irritated sigh at her inability to complete even a mundane task with him on her mind, she finished washing her hair completely before once again embarking on her quest for the perfect thing to tell Harry.

"Hum, alright, how about this… Harry I love you, but I'm not supposed to -no, there's no way that he would ever take that for an answer, besides he never said anything about loving me anyway." She sighed, maybe even thinking of this was pointless, he probably doesn't want to be with her anyway, why should he when he has Aurora.

Stepping fully under the water and tilting her head back as it cascaded upon her, Hermione attempted to wash away the depression she felt at that thought.

'No the safer course is to have something prepared anyway, just in case,' her studious side said, to which she gave a perfunctory nod, and once again began to search her brain for something to say in case he did (though she doubted it) want something to happen between them.

"Ok, lets see… Harry, I don't love you, I never have I just wanted to see what it would be like to have sex with you… no, never I could never say that to him, besides he's an Auror he'd see through a lie like that in a second. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hurt him more than I already have to. Crap!' She rubbed her temples, feeling a headache fast approaching along with wretched feeling in her chest that indicated that tears would soon follow.

'Pull yourself together… think about this logically, what is the best thing to say to him so that he won't delve to deep into my feelings towards him, what is the best thing to get him to walk away.' She closed her eyes with both relief and dread as, what she felt was the answer came to her.

Turning off the water and stepping out of the shower Hermione quickly toweled herself off and hopped hastily into her clothes. She was in a hurry to get out of the restroom; hoping to make her way back to her room and safely lock herself in while she built up the courage to say what she had to say to Harry in a plausible way.

Slowly opening the door and seeing nothing she gave a sigh of relief, then closing it almost inaudibly behind her Hermione tiptoed to her room. Opening the door softly she slipped in backwards so that she could see behind herself, to make sure that Harry wasn't awake. Closing the bedroom door softly she turned around and leant heavily against it, but her small reprieve was short lived as she caught sight of Harry watching her from her bed, a bemused expression on his handsome face.

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Harry awoke from a very peaceful and dreamless sleep, feeling warm and cozy; he stretched languidly before snuggling deeper into the covers. Opening his eyes he habitually reached for his glasses next to him, sitting up when he didn't feel them on the table as usual. As he did this, the covers fell to his waist and he belatedly noticed his nudity, his brows furrowed for a moment before it all came back to him in one gloriously vivid and detailed rush. Harry plopped back down onto the couch forcing his mind to slow as it drifted over exactly why he was in such a state. A small smile lingered on his face as he thought about what had just occurred and the way that Hermione had called out to him.

'Wait,' he sat up again 'where is Hermione?'

Looking around he saw no immediate sign of her, but before he could work himself into a panic he heard the muffled sound of the shower coming from the bathroom. Looking at the bathroom door, he smiled to himself, rolling his eyes.

'Of course…'

Harry sat all the way up on the couch, turning to a sitting position so that his feet touched the soft carpeted floor. Pulling the blanket so that it covered his lower anatomy, he looked around for his glasses, locating them a moment later under the coffee table. Chuckling to himself, Harry retrieved his wayward spectacles and put them on then, wrapping the blanket around his waist he proceeded to gather the rest of his clothing and make his way to his bedroom to get dressed.

Entering the room, he decided to leave his door open so he could hear when Hermione was done with her shower. As he was putting his shirt on, a smattering of small stinging pains echoed across his back. Wincing and turning so his back was facing the mirror, Harry looked over his shoulder and noticed several scratch marks that Hermione had made on him. Shaking his head and grinning he pulled his shirt the rest of the way down his back.

'Boy, she's a bit of a lioness when she gets going,' he said to himself remembering how passionate and playful she was. 'I can't believe I didn't know that she had it in her. Ron is one lucky bastard,' he frowned '...was, was one lucky bastard. It is was... isn't it?'

As this question crossed his mind, he heard the shower stop in the background, grabbing his wand and slipping quietly out of his room; Harry decided to surprise Hermione by waiting for her in her own. Soundlessly opening the door to her room he slipped in, noticing that a low lamp light was already on.

'Perfect,' he thought closing the door and taking a seat on her bed to await her arrival.

A moment later, he watched curiously as she slipped into her own bedroom like a thief in the night, sliding in backwards she seemed to be doing her best not to make any noise and to keep a watch on the living room at the same time. He grinned in amusement at her antics, before wiping the look off and settling for a bemused expression as she finally turned to face him.

Harry watched as her eyes widened in surprise, before changing to a slightly panicked look; he frowned, his brows furrowing.

"Are you ok, what's wrong?" he asked, feeling himself grow anxious.

"Nothing," she said in a slightly shaky voice "I just wasn't expecting you to be in here, that's all." She finished looking down at the floor.

Harry's frown deepened.

"Hermione," he said standing and walking towards her.

As he reached for her arm, she jerked back it, bumping it up against the door before slipping around him and walking to her desk. Harry watched her fiddle idly with a quill, his hand clenched into a fist as an intense pain flowed through his heart at her small rejection. Taking a shaky breath he leant against the door, a strong feeling of dread building up in his stomach.

"Hermione?" He asked, his voice coming out in no more than a cracked whisper.

She turned in faced him, still not making eye contact.

"We can't Harry," she said softly.

"Why?" he asked, even though he knew why... he just had to hear her say it.

"Because we can't, I have Ron, you have Aurora…"

"But, but…" he searched for the right words, before just speaking from the heart. "I love you... we love each other, we should be together, right?"

She shook her head, staring at some unseen point on the carpet.

"I don't love you, I just, I was jealous of the time you spent with Aurora and of how attractive Ron and everyone else were always saying that she was and I, I…I just wanted to show myself that I could have you, take you from her if I really wanted to. That I could be as attractive as her, if not more so. What happened between us was no more than me being a jealous git… I'm, I'm sorry Harry."

He closed his eyes, his heart beating painfully in his chest at her cutting words, silence reigned for a moment before he shook his head. This didn't sound like her, he knew her better than anyone, and he knew her better than to believe something like that. Pushing away from the door he walked quickly towards her, roughly grabbing her arm with one hand, he used the other to lift her chin so that he could see her face.

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not," she said still avoiding his gaze.

"Do you really think you can lie to me? That I wouldn't know? I'm an Auror I sniff out liars for a living. Besides, even if I weren't I know you Hermione Granger, I know you inside and out. You are not the type of person to hurt two people that you care about in some jealous tizzy. You are not the type of person to use people for your own pleasure and regardless of how you felt about Aurora you would NEVER do this to me or to Ron. Tell me why you're doing this?!"

She remained quiet and he watched helplessly as tears escaped from beneath her lowered lashes.

"Look at me Damn it!"

Her eyes flew to his looking shocked at his use of such strong language. Her brown eyes were watery and hollow looking, and her breathing was as shallow. Harry took another unstable breath, knowing that his appearance was similar to hers as he probed her eyes with his own.

"Tell. Me. The. Truth." He said punctuating each word.

Tears flowed freely from her eyes now as she watched him, one shaky hand rose to wipe away a tear from his face that he had not even realized had fallen.

"Harry," she whispered "we can't… I can't…"

"Why," he asked, now holding her face with both hands.

"Because, Ron… he's your-our best mate, it would break his heart, he's like your family, his family is like your family, they are your family. We just got caught up in our feelings for one another and we let, what we never should have let happen, happen. I mean, what will our friends say, our family, Ginny is my best girl friend and Ron is your best friend what will happen then, how will they feel how wi…"

"I don't care! I don't give a damn about what anyone has to say but you. Hermione, listen to me I don't care! I love Ron, I do, but I, I love you more, I… I can't pretend anymore, I've pretended for years, but I'm done now, I can't do it, not anymore…" he said, watching in disbelief as she shook her head.

"I can't… as much as I care about you,"

"Care about me?" he asked appalled, "Is that it, do you only care about me?"

Her eyes closed again and she whispered an almost inaudible "yes".

Harry shook his head. "You're lying to me again, why Hermione you know I can tell."

"Harry, I there's just no way that we can be together it's better for everyone if we just, umph," she was cut off has he mouth came down roughly upon hers in a searing kiss.

Her hands came up automatically, clutching his broad shoulders. He felt her melt into him and the kiss, her tongue silently sparing with his own. As he pulled away, her eyes stayed closed for a moment, her hands still clutching him so tightly that her knuckles were white. When her eyes finally did open, they did so very slowly, a smoky haze settled within their depths.

"Tell me! Tell me that you didn't feel that!" he said passionately still holding her to him. "I know what's between us and you do too, how could you say that we can't be together!"

"Like this," she said, snapping out of her passion educed stupor. Hermione then looked him directly in the eyes and for the first time since their conversation began her gaze was unwavering. "Harry we can not and will not be together."

He started at her a moment longer, shock and hurt mingling in his intense green orbs, before he abruptly released her. After looking down for a second, Harry took a large step away from her, betrayal now the only emotion left in his gaze, before turning and storming out of the room. Slamming the door behind himself, he never saw her collapse to the floor in tears at his departure, and she never saw him do the same when he reached his own room.

A.N. Well that's Chapter 12, what'll happen in thirteen... who knows. Will Harry tell Ron, or will he try to work things out with Aurora? What about Hermione and Ron? I guess you'll have to keep reading to see... and I'll have to keep writing...

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Warning Angst Ahead… if you are not a fan of angst I suggest that you skip this chapter and the next one. Waiting until the chapter after that comes out for all of it to be resolved (somewhat). For all of you who have stated your displeasure for angst, I'm sorry this is an emotionally charged story and lots of feelings are involved. I DO NOT skip over what everyone feels and rush to the happy ending, I prefer to have a complete story. If you cannot handle emotion then walk away, I don't mind my feelings won't be hurt it's not your cup of tea ^.^ However if you proceed then please don't go on some long winded rant about how the story is too angsty. Also it is my belief that if something happened between Hermione and Harry while she was still with Ron she would in fact push them both away in an attempt to stop the hurt from either of them, that is my opinion and the story will reflect it. She won't do it forever, after all true love cannot be fought but she will do it -if you cannot stand the concept please refer to my earlier suggestion. You may also want to try Forbidden Love or Snogging Chronicles which are both possessors of minimal angst. That's it for my long winded Authors note/rant. Hehe, thanks

Ace of Heart
Chapter 13

Hermione lay in her bed staring blankly at the wall; it had been three days since she had last seen Harry, three days since he stormed out of the flat, three days since that horrible heartbreaking morning. She closed her aching eyes.

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Ron had arrived home the very next day, tired but excited about his time his training camp. After flooing into the flat, he instantly began to look around for someone to tell about his great week, finding no one in the living room or kitchen he rushed into to Hermione's room hoping that she was home from work.

Bursting through the door, he used his wand to turn on her lamp; seeing her lying in the bed he immediately started to relay his tale, using the most descriptions humanly possible to try to get her to feel like she was there. He was halfway though his recounting of meeting his famous Quidditch bunk-mates on his first day when he noticed that she wasn't looking at him; nor did she seem to be moving at all.

"Mione, are you okay?" he asked, coming forward and hesitantly touching her arm.

When she didn't respond he softly squeezed her shoulder and gave it a small shake, after receiving still no answer he began to feel concerned. Leaning over her so that his elbow was resting on the bed in front of her, he craned his neck so that he could see her face. Or, at least see part of her face, the small bit that wasn't hidden by either a bushel of brown hair or by her hound's-tooth flannel pillow casing.

"Mione... come on, talk to me, what's wrong?"

He hesitated for a moment, before pushing her hair softly out of her face, there was a sharp intake of breath as he finally got a clear view of her. Hermione's skin was a blotchy red, her eyes were swollen, her cheeks were puffy and her lips looked bruised, though he could see why, when she self-consciously bit them while he was watching her.

"What the hell happened?" He demanded shocked, instantly cringing at his own stupidity, perhaps he had not used the most tactful words. She looked at him with a frown and he could almost make out a glare from beneath her puffy eyelids.

"I, er, mean... what happened sweetie, are you sick?" he asked in much gentler voice, lightly stroking her cheek.

She closed her eyes mentally giving herself a mocking smile. 'Well, should you tell him? `what happened sweetie, are you sick?' her mind said, mimicking Ron's question. 'Why yes dear, yesterday I had a huge fight with Harry over why we couldn't be together even though making love to him was the most amazing and passionate experience I've ever had in my life. Well, since then I haven't been able to hold a thing down and my head and my heart have been killing me.' She rolled her eyes, 'yeah, that'll go over real well.'

Ron was still watching her anxiously and she felt herself getting annoyed, he just did not know how to deal with feelings. She could never have a moment of misery, just a chance to release angry, sad or frustrated tears around him without him getting all fidgety or uneasy. Come to think of it, in moments where she just needed someone to hold her while she cried or listen while she screamed she had always gone to Har-

Hermione closed her eyes, feeling the heaviness press deeper upon her heart. Where is he now? Is he alright? Is he with Aurora? Feeling that tears were once again coming on, she gave Ron a small nod to indicate that she was sick. Then, putting her arm over her eyes like she always did when she got a bad headache, she asked him to turn off the light so she could catch some rest, making sure to say it in a low voice so that he wouldn't notice the tremor in her tone.

Taking the hint, Ron slowly got off the bed and tiptoed out of the room, using his wand to turn the lamp light back off and shutting the door quietly behind him. Once he had left, she removed her arm from over her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling once again thinking about Harry.

She had done the right thing, hadn't she? She sighed, unsure of what she was supposed to do now. Was she supposed to stay with Ron even though her feelings for him weren't the same? She had always had feelings for both Harry and Ron; how could she not when she had two such attractive, brave and loyal best mates. A girl would have to be daft not to fall for at least one of them and a martyr not to at least have those types of thoughts about both occasionally.

Even though the one she always had the strongest feelings for was Harry, she had always thought it just made more sense for her to be with Ron, especially when he started seeing Ginny. Besides, Harry had beautiful girls after him all the time, particularly after the defeat of Voldemort. So why would he want her, with her bushy hair, homely face and dull brown eyes? She had never even considered that he would ever be interested in her so she had suppressed those feelings and put everything she had into her relationship with Ron. Sure, there were times when Harry would give her certain looks that would make her heart race, but she just attributed that to her own feelings never allowing herself to hope that they might be his.

She turned and faced the wall again, pulling herself into a ball, tears coursing down her face. He looked so angry, so... hurt, she had never wanted to be one of the people who hurt him, she only hoped that he realized in the long run, that she had done what was best. Yeah; she had done what was best. What was best...

A painful hiccup ripped through her chest as she began to cry in earnest, turning her head into her pillow to muffle the sound so that Ron wouldn't overhear. Just as her cries started to subside she heard a small 'click' and saw a stream of light as her door quietly opened. She froze completely waiting for the person to address themselves, she already knew who it was, but that didn't stop her heart from hoping her head was wrong.

"Mione," Ron said slipping back into the dark room, Hermione closed her eyes against the pain and disappointment that flowed through her.

She had done what was for the best.

"Mione," he said again, when she didn't respond.

Hermione felt the bed dip a bit from his weight as he took a seat behind her.

"Come on, sit up... this'll make you feel better..." as he trailed off, she finally turned to face him, curious as to what he was talking about.

Ron used his wand to turn on the low desk lamp; it provided enough light to see, but not too much so that her headache wouldn't get worse. Upon facing him Hermione was surprised to see that he had a small T.V. tray over his lap, sitting on top of the tray was what looked like steaming soup and a glass of juice. She gave him a dubious look.

"Ron... this isn't, kitchen soup is it?"

He grinned. "No, I want you to get better not worse," he tapped her shoulder so that she would sit up a bit. Once she had, he fluffed a few pillows, leaning her softly against them and then placing the tray over her lap.

"I flooed mum and told her how sick you were, she whipped this up herself, says it's guaranteed to make you feel loads better." He said with a half-smile, stirring the soup for her.

Hermione couldn't help but give a small smile; he could be so sweet sometimes. She looked down at the bowl so he couldn't see her fighting back tears, he didn't deserve what she had done to him, what she was still doing to him by remaining here. She had ruined everything, everything between him and her, everything between her and Harry, and quite possibly everything between him and Harry by acting like a... a... a harlot.

"Here sweetie," Ron said, holding the spoon before her face, totally unaware to her mental struggle.

Avoiding direct eye contact she accepted the spoonful of hearty soup, physically forcing herself to swallow the warm liquid. Ron continued to feed her like that for the rest of the bowl, making idol chat about his trip and the interesting witches and wizards he had met. Try as she might Hermione just could not listen to what he said, not since she had to concentrate on keeping the soup down.

Once he had finished feeding her, Ron had given her a light kiss on the forehead and then for the most, part left her alone. He came in sporadically to make sure she didn't need anything over the rest of the day and all day Friday and to bring her food. After noticing that every conversation he attempted to start ended with her staring solemnly at the wall and not contributing in the least, he finally heaved a frustrated sigh and gave up trying; she was glad of it. Now he usually just asked if she was ok, left and brought her food in silence, staring somberly at her but not saying anything.

Mrs. Weasley was confounded as to why her soup wasn't working but then, contributing it to Hermione's muggle heritage; she then began to send over more soup, full of what she said was `extra nutrients'. On Friday night, it was that nutrient packed, blasted soup that almost gave her away. She sitting on the bed against some pillows wordlessly eating and as Ron usual was sitting on the bed by her knees flipping though a Quidditch magazine when he stopped abruptly, looking around then at her.

"Hey, where's Harry?" he asked, like it had just come to mind.

Hearing Harry's name and so unexpectedly, her eyes widened and she promptly began to choke on her soup. Hermione began to cough violently, sputtering as tears gathered in the corners of her eyes due to the lack of oxygen; Ron came forward quickly patting her heavily on the back a worried look on his face.

"Here take this," he handed her the orange juice from the tray on her lap and she took a small sip. "Is that better?" He asked while rubbing her back.

She gave a small nod `yes' before setting the cup down back onto the tray, as she did this Hermione noticed that her hands were trembling. Seeing Ron's eyes flick to her hands and then back to her face, she quickly placed them under the covers.

"Are you sure?" he inquired, looking doubtful.

When she nodded again, he asked the question she was hoping that he wouldn't.

"So, what was that about?"

"What?" she asked, leaning back against the pillows and averting her gaze.

"That, the choking thing..."

She gave him an annoyed look, "Are you suggesting that I choked myself for fun Ronald?"

He frowned, "No, I'm suggesting that you choked yourself on accident... after I said Harry's name for some reason.” He gave her a suspicious look “Do you know where he is?"

She rolled her eyes and looked away, hiding behind a mask of annoyance.

"I choked because my food went down the wrong tube and that's all... look, don't start this again Ron, I'm tired and sick and really don't feel like it."

"Fine, but where is Harry."

"Well since I don't keep him in my pocket I wouldn't bloody well know, now would I?! Harry is a big boy, and he's wherever big boys go! I don't know I'm not his bloody freakin keeper Ronald, perhaps you can create a Marauders Map for the whole damn world, that way you can always know where he is and leave me the hell alone about it!"

Ron stared at her in shock, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish. Hermione knew that she would feel guilty about blowing up at him later, but at this point she really didn't care. The fact that she didn't know where Harry was, happened to be an extremely painful subject for her... she just kept imaging him in Aurora's arms, playfully kissing her and then making love to Aurora as he had to her.

Hermione turned her head to face the wall, ignoring it when Ron stood abruptly from the bed and walked out of the room; she didn't even flinch when he slammed the door behind himself on the way out, because she didn't care.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The next morning at around nine Hermione pulled herself out of bed looking drearily around the room; she had decided last night after a lot of cursing and a lot of crying that the best thing for her to do was to just get out of this flat. Since she had missed work, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, she decided that today was the perfect day to go and catch up on the mountains of paperwork that she knew were waiting for her. Since most of the others would be off today so she wouldn't have to deal with annoying questions about where she had been and her health, not to mention she could also use this opportunity to get away from Ron.

Taking a much needed shower and dressing in a pair of black slacks and a modest pink blouse, she pulled her hair into a ponytail and made her way out of the restroom to the kitchen. Walking out of the kitchen a few minutes later with juice in hand, she noticed Ron sitting on the floor watching Charlie and Lola. She sighed as the guilt that she knew would come, surged to life within her. She had no right to get mad a Ron because he wanted to know where Harry was, and she really had no right to blow up because he suspected what had happened between them. Taking a small sip from her cup she placed it on the dining room table and walked quietly into the living room stopping directly behind her boyfriend, fidgeting with her bracelet.

"Ron," she said quietly; he turned to look at her, a blank expression on his face. "I'm sorry about last night; I just wasn't feeling well and… I don't know, I felt like you were trying to start a row or something and I just got hacked off and overreacted... I'm -I'm sorry."

He remained silent for a second before nodding, turning around he faced the T.V. for a moment before standing up and turning to her.

"That's okay Mione," he made a face "perhaps I was being a bit of a jealous git, I don't know I just thought it seemed odd that Harry wasn't around and you seemed so... well, not just sick, you seemed, sorta depressed." He chuckled, scratching his neck "I guess I just put two and two together and thought something had happened between you... I was just being stupid."

Hermione gave a strangled smile, mentally kicking herself for underestimating Ron's sense of perception.

"That's alright, I guess were both sorry huh?" she said looking down at the floor then back at him again.

"I'll tell you what, I'll promise not to put two and two together and get nine again. And you promise to stop hanging around with those sailors."

She furrowed her brows "What sailors?"

"The ones who are teaching you all that vulgar language," he said with a grin.

She gave a genuine smile, "Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you're the only sailor I hang around."

He laughed; stepping forward he enveloped her in a warm hug, kissing her lightly on the lips. Just as the kiss ended, they heard a tiny pop. Still wrapped in one another's arms and turning their heads, Ron and Hermione saw Harry and Aurora standing before them. Hermione realized just where she was and how it must look when Harry's perceptive gazed scanned quickly over them, they flashed with something that was gone before she could read or understand it.

'Perfect, just bloody perfect,' she thought closing her eyes.

*********************************************************

Harry opened his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling above, he was tired... hell, he was exhausted, but try as he might he just could not fall asleep. Every time he closed his eyes he just saw her, her laughing, her moaning, her smiling… her crying. He sighed, readjusting himself for the hundredth time so that he was lying on his side instead of his back; he began to stare at some random object. If you were to ask him what it was, he wouldn't be able to tell you, he wasn't paying any attention; his mind was too busy working overtime.

'You should have known,' it said 'I tried to tell you that she doesn't feel that way about you and why should she.'

'She does love me, I know it... she just doesn't want to hurt Ron.' his heart responded

'So she hurts you instead?'

Silence.

'Well, that should let you know where you are on her list of priorities. Besides, Ron is a big time Quidditch player now, he'll be just as famous as you are soon so what does she need you for?' his brain asked, scoffing.

'You know that she's not like that... regardless of what you think right now, you know that fame means absolutely nothing to her. Heck, the only famous person she ever had a crush on was Lockhart back in second year and that was because he was an author.' his heart responded indignant.

'What about Krum?'

'What about him? He pursued her not the other way around... don't get mad at her because he had the balls to do something that you didn't.'

Harry turned back onto his back, closing his eyes and releasing a heavy sigh; now he was even fighting with himself... he just needed sleep.

'Why would she want me anyway?' his mind asked refusing to shut down. `She can have it all with Ron, not only would they be set with two really great careers, but when they have children the kids with have plenty of aunts, uncles and cousins. Not to mention grandparents who dote on them; a grandmother to fuss over their weight and offer them homemade sweets and a grandfather to teach them how to really appreciate the muggle culture and encourage them when they want to try new things.' Harry gave a shaky sigh as tears rolled silently down his face.

'What could I offer her... me? What's that worth…' he scoffed. `But that's all I have, the only other family I have isn't mine, and if Hermione and I were to get together they probably wouldn't want to be even considered my family anymore. So after that, I would only have Lupin, Tonks and McGonagall really, and that's not much at all especially considering the only time I really see them is on Christmas... at the Weasley's.'

He roughly rubbed the wetness from his face scowling; he had no right to be upset, over what? He couldn't make her want him; he couldn't make the Weasleys his real family and he couldn't make any of them love him. The only thing he could do was get some rest so that he was ready for work tomorrow. He had to go on as if nothing had happened, move on with his life... he tired for happiness and in the end; he was just unworthy of it.

Sitting up, Harry retrieved his wand off the table, then lying back down he pointed it at his chest and said a small incantation. His hand immediately fell to his chest, still clutching his wand, as he was shut off from the world now entrapped in a deep dreamless sleep.

A.N. Well that's it for now. Where had Harry been the last couple of days? What happened after he arrived at the flat and saw Ron and Hermione in an embrace? Those questions were originally answered in this chapter, but by the time I was done it was almost twenty pages long so I decided to cut it in half. Don't worry they'll be answered and soon…. PLEASE REVIEW!!! Feedback inspires us lowly authors to write more, as a matter of fact it's the only from of payment we get for all our hard work. So please review the story. Thanks!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 14

Harry roughly rubbed the wetness from his face scowling; he had no right to be upset; over what? He couldn't make her want him; he couldn't make the Weasleys his real family and he couldn't make any of them love him. The only thing he could do was get some rest so that he was ready for work tomorrow. He had to go on as if nothing had happened, move on with his life... he tired for happiness and in the end; he was just unworthy of it.

Sitting up, Harry retrieved his wand off the table, then lying back down he pointed it at his chest and said a small incantation. His hand immediately fell to his chest, still clutching his wand, as he was shut off from the world now entrapped in a deep dreamless sleep.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


"Harry! Harry!" he felt himself being shaken "Come on Harry, wake up!"

Harry groggily opened his eyes, rubbing them in an attempt to help adjust to the light that was now flooding the living room. Then, reaching above his head to the end table placed next to the couch, he retrieved his glasses and put them on. Once he could see clearly again the relieved face of Neville standing over him came into sharp focus.

"Geez, it's about time, I was getting worried," he said, holding out a glass of juice for Harry to take. "What did you do, knock yourself out?" Neville asked as Harry took the glass from his care. Then, without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked back into the kitchen.

"You have to be to work in about thirty minutes," he called out "I tried to wake you up sooner, but you were like the dead… in fact you had me a little worried for a moment." This comment was followed by a nervous laugh.

"Sorry, and thanks for waking me," Harry said, getting slowly up from the couch. After taking a moment to stretch, he then picked up the blanket that he had used and folded it neatly, placing it on the foot of the couch. Just like he had done every morning for the last three days…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

After the fight with Hermione he had stormed out of his flat his emotions in a jumbled mixture of hurt and rage. Once he reached the street he just started walking, his thoughts were so hectic that he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going. After walking the deserted streets for over an hour Harry finally took note of how late it was, casting a look around he tried to figure out where he was and where he could go… because he knew he couldn't go back.

Harry briefly considered checking into a hotel, but he knew that it just wasn't possible, not with his status. Sure, he did a pretty good job of staying under the media radar (probably because he never did anything good) but some things would not be able to stay hidden. Harry sighed; no one would ever know how much he hated being “The Famous Harry Potter", the earning of the title alone had cost him almost everything he cared about. It cost his family, it cost his childhood, it cost several of his friends in the war, and even with Voldemort finally defeated it continued to cost him, this time it was his privacy. He groaned briefly closing his eyes; he could just envision the Daily Prophet's article now:

'Harry Potter Checks In, and His Heart Checks Out!'

The famous hero to the wizarding world Harry Potter was seen checking into a hotel last night in the early morning hours. Leaving everyone puzzled as to just why he would spend money on a hotel, when he has a flat right in town?

"Yes, he came in at around two or three in the morning looking extremely disheveled," the night clerk Penelope Merryweather said shaking her head sympathetically. "Poor dear, he looked a dreadful mess... it must have been something horrible that happened at home."

Harry Potter's home is a flat that he shares with his two best mates from his Hogwarts years; Mr. Ronald Weasley and Ms. Hermione Granger. Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger fought at his side during the final battle and were actually present at the defeat of he-who-must-not-be-named. Though Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger have been a couple since just before that fateful battle in which our hero single handedly defeated the most powerful dark wizard of our time. You may recall that Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter (before her unfortunate mental breakdown) had dutifully informed everyone about a secret relationship between our savior Harry and the muggle born Ms. Granger. Though the two have always denied any romantic connection, this reporter has learned that Mr. Ronald Weasley was gone last night to training camp for the Chudley Cannons and the two were in fact alone in the flat when Harry left disheveled and heartbroken in the wee morning hours. Could it be that Ms. Granger's insatiable need for Quidditch players has broken our hero's heart once again; just as it had when she tossed him aside during the Tri-wizard tournament for Bulgarian seeker Viktor Krum?

Harry shuddered at the thought; breaking out of his reverie he looked around, trying to figure out just where he was at. It was at that point that he realized that he was down the street from Neville's, jogging up the few blocks he reached the landing of Neville's flat. Locating his friends name on the list Harry then pressed the button to ring up. Sure he felt bad for waking his friend up three o'clock in the morning to ask to crash at his place at such a horrible hour, but the alternative was unthinkable. He groaned at the thought of an article being written about tonight, as if he needed that added to his misery. Not to mention the questions from his friends that would follow about why he had chosen to stay in the hotel in the first place. He let out the breath that he had been holding, when he heard the click of Neville picking up after his third ring.

"Hullo?" Harry heard him say sleepily over the intercom.

"Hey Neville, it's Harry... umm, sorry to ring so late, but can I come up?"

"Harry?... Uh, yeah, sure," he said sounding a bit more awake, and a lot more surprised.

A moment later, Harry heard the buzz and opened the door to the building; he then headed up the two flights of stairs to Neville's flat on the third floor. Reaching the landing he saw the other boy peaking through the door, that he had opened a crack, looking a bit suspicious. Upon seeing that it really was Harry, the he opened the door all the way, giving a sleepy wave and allowing him entrance.

"Thanks," Harry said walking past him into the foyer.

"So..." he said once the door was closed "what's up? Is everything ok?"

"Uh, yeah," Harry replied, looking around the living room and avoiding Neville's gaze. "I just, well, it's just...Is it ok if I crash here for a couple of nights?" He looked at his friend with a small smile, "It's just that, Aurora's a little uncomfortable with me being in the flat alone with Hermione and, well, Ron's gone for a few at training camp... so..."

Neville gave him a confused look, "Why would Aurora be uncomfortable with you being with Hermione, she's like a sister to you?"

Harry suppressed the bitter laugh that welled up in his chest, settling for a shrug.

"Who knows, with women." he said running a hand thorough his hair in a telling nervous gesture.

Neville looked at his skeptically for a moment, before giving a slow nod.

"Sure, well you know where everything is, food's in the fridge, blankets are in the linen closet and bathrooms down the hall. I'm going to head back to bed, well, er, goodnight." he gave a small wave and shuffled back to his room closing the door behind him.

Once Neville left, Harry went to the linen closet, grabbed a blanket and settled in for the night. It was a good thing that work wasn't in the cards for morning due to them just getting back from Transylvania, because sleep wasn't in the cards either.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It had been a couple of days since then, and with the exception of last night, Harry had yet to get any sleep. Every night he tossed and turned, relieving the good and bad of what had happened between him and is best friend and wondering where they would go from here. After putting the pillows back in their proper places he went to the bathroom and took a quick shower, hoping that it would help him look more refreshed. He looked in the mirror after he was done noticing that his eyes were a faint red and a bit puffy.

'Well I guess that hope isn't enough,' he thought studying himself a bit more in the mirror before turning away.

He then grabbed his sleep wear off the floor and stuffed them into his new duffle bag, zipping it up he exited the bathroom and placed the bag in the corner of the living room next to Neville's owl post desk. He had arrived at Neville's that night with only the clothes on his back, so when his friend had inquired about his wardrobe later Wednesday morning Harry had told him that he just wanted to know that it was ok before bringing things over. He then told the other boy that he would be going home that afternoon to grab his clothing. However, unbeknownst to Neville, Harry couldn't return to the flat and risk seeing Hermione, so when he left under the pretense of going home he had actually gone out and brought clothes and underclothes for his stay.

"So what are you doing today?" Harry asked, entering the kitchen to place the cup he had left on the table into the sink. "It's still pretty early for a Saturday are you gonna head back to sleep then?”

Neville shook his head, holding up a finger to Harry to signal that he would have more of an answer when he finished chewing his toast. Swallowing and then taking a large sip of pumpkin juice, he wiped his mouth with a napkin before answering fully.

"No, I'm pretty much up now, besides today's Luna and mine's three year anniversary. We've got big plans for today, were gonna go on an expedition for the Horned Snorfblat and then have a romantic dinner, followed by..." he blushed, turning away after realizing that he had said a bit more than he meant to. "What about you?"

"Oh nothing much, we have an eight o'clock meeting with Moody to discuss our progress on our latest case. I also think that Aurora and I are supposed to do something tonight..." he trailed off, waving Neville away when he held up the plate of toast.

"Not eatin much nowaday's are you Harry?" He asked, rhetorically, while buttering up another piece of toast for himself and giving his friend a side ways glance. "So, Ron should be home by now, actually according to Ginny he got home Thursday."

Harry gave a small smile, "Don't worry Neville, last night was my last, I'll be sleeping at home tonight."

The other boy blushed. "Sorry I don't mean to sound so pushy, and I really don't mind having you here, it's just tonight is sorta special, so..."

"That's ok, don't worry," Harry gave him a pat on the back and then looked at his watch. "Five minutes till, look I've gotta go, I'll see you later alright... oh, and thanks again."

Heading out of the kitchen and back into the living room, Harry grabbed his duffle bag from the corner along with his new black cloak and Apparated to the Ministry. Walking in the large building he habitually made the trip to the Aurors office; past security, one floor down, immediate left through invisible doorway, down the long darkened corridor, third door to the right, past the empty reception desk. He quickly deposited his duffle into his office before walking past several desks to the back of the long room entering Moody's office. Opening the door he saw that he was once again the last to arrive, but he didn't care... at least he was on time.

A little over an hour later they emerged from the room mulling over the vast amount of information that they had just received. Halothorne and Masterdon were finally able to discover, that the note for Lucis Malfoy had gotten into Azkaban by the hands of a newly convicted wizard. However that created more questions than answers, since; when questioned, the wizard claimed not only to not remember how he had come to be possession of the mysterious message, but also to not even remembering committing the crime that got him sent away in the first place.

The Unspeakables in the department were currently trying their new techniques out on him to see if they could find out if what he said was true. Harry didn't know what they did to decipher such a thing, but he was also sure that he didn't want to know. He knew what he needed to know, that if they found something of importance out then his team would be updated.

"Well what do you think?" Aurora asked, following him to his office.

He shrugged, "I don't know, it's possible and I wouldn't put anything past Bellatrix. But, it's also the same excuse that a lot of guilty death eaters used to get away with their crimes."

She nodded, closing the door softly behind her, once again silently watching her boyfriend. Harry was currently rummaging through his drawer, looking for a quill to jot down a few thoughts when she spoke again.

"Moving?" she asked in an amused tone.

He quickly looked up at her a confused expression on his handsome features, until she gave a small kick at the duffel bag on the floor.

"Er, no, just some dirty laundry," he said with a shrug, and resuming his search for the illusive quill.

She quirked a brow, taking a seat in the chair opposite his desk. "Really... dirty laundry... at work... don't you have a washer and dryer at home?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I'm going to take them there now." He replied cheekily.

Giving a small sigh, he gave up on his search for a quill, instead opting to get out of the office before her questioning became more intense. Standing to his full height he once again looked at Aurora, giving a smile at her amused look. Walking past her towards the door he grabbed the duffel and then opened the door.

"After you, my lady" he said, looking at her and giving an overly dramatic bow.

Aurora laughed and walked out of the office, giving him a small curtsy as she passed.

He grinned as the two of them laughed and joked all the way out of the Ministry and to the alleyway; it was the first time that Harry had felt good in days.

A moment later they Apparated into his flat and Harry's good mood immediately Disapparated. Ron and Hermione were standing before them wrapped in each other's arms, looking like they had just finished kissing. Hurt flared in his eyes for a moment before he shuttered his gaze and placed a mask of indifference on.

"Well, hey Harry!" Ron said happily, removing one arm from around Hermione but leaving the other over her shoulder. Harry clutched the handle of his duffle bag and suppressed the desire to hit his mate for touching her. "I was wondering where you were, how's it going mate? Oh, and of course how's it going Aurora," looking between them and then at Harry's bag he continued with a wide grin. "Spending some quality time huh?" Ron said with a wink.

"A bit," Harry said, giving a small smile and placing his arm around Aurora, lightly stroking her arm.

Aurora gave him a sidelong glance and he felt a small squeeze around his waist as she placed her arm there; he knew that it meant he had some serious explaining to do but he didn't care. There was nothing that could stop the rush from, the sadistic bit of satisfaction he got when saw the hurt expression that flashed on Hermione's face before she turned her head away.

"Well," she said in a shaky voice "I have to head off to work, so I guess I'll see you guys later."

Without saying another word or getting a kiss goodbye from Ron like she normally does, she disapparated.

"Is she ok?" Harry heard Aurora ask from next to him.

Ron shrugged and gave a small smile, "Yeah, I guess... she's been sick the last couple of days. As a matter of fact this is her first day out of bed since I got back on Thursday." He said bending down to pick up his bowl off the floor. "Leave it to Hermione to spend two or three days in bed sick and then have the first thing she does when she's feeling better be go to work," he chuckled, shaking his head he walked into the kitchen.

"Sick you say?" Aurora asked, and then looked Harry in the eyes. "Do you know what she was sick with?"

Harry used all of his strength to maintain his eye contact with the dark haired girl, even going so far as to rise and eyebrow in challenge at her.

"No, not really," Ron said walking back into the room. "My mum thinks it may have been some type of muggle illness."

"So, Ron," Harry said, finally breaking eye contact with Aurora to look at his friend and change the subject. "How was your training camp?"

Hearing this question Ron's face lit up like it did on his first trip to Honeydukes. Then pulling them over to have a seat, he proceeded to go through a detailed two hour recounting of everything and everyone at the Quidditch training camp. Once they were done with hearing all of Ron's stories (some twice) they watched several muggle movies and then played a game of exploding snaps for old time's sake. All of this was done while Harry artfully avoided each and every one of Ron's questions about what he and Aurora done the last couple of days.

Much, much later Ron received a floo from one of his new teammates that included an invitation to the Bubbling Cauldron for drinks. Harry and Aurora declined to come along, since they really couldn't drink anyway and waved him off, with Harry making him promised not to get completely sotted again. Once he disappeared into the green flames of the fireplace, Aurora immediately turned on the couch to face Harry.

"So, where did you spend the last couple of nights?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

Harry sighed; and to think he had admired her straight forward ways, fiddling with his teacup for a moment he gathered his thoughts before responding.

"I just hung out with a friend."

"Which friend?" she asked, looking doubtful.

"Neville, you remember him don't you? From the lake and Ron's party at the club," he looked at her, knowing that if he didn't she would never believe him, besides it wasn't like he was lying anyway.

"How long were you at Neville's?"

"I don't know... a couple of days..."

"So since Thursday or since Wednesday?"

"I don't know one of the two, look quit it with the third degree ok? I am allowed to hang out with my friends without you breathing down my neck about it. I am not some death eater that you're questioning at work, so stop with the rapid fire," he roughly sat down his cup as he spoke, giving her an annoyed look.

She stared at him a moment longer before turning an picking up her teacup, taking a small sip she continued to hold it, silently staring at the contents. After a few minutes of silence Harry ran a hand through his hair before scooting over a bit and hesitantly putting his arm around her; placing his hand on her chin he turned her face to him.

"Aurora, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to sound like such a tosser. Please forgive me for being harsh," he said searching her eyes.

She stared at him for a moment, silent before setting her cup down on the table and facing him completely, making sure his arm stayed around her.

"I also apologize; being inquisitive is in my nature, that's why I became an Auror. I guess... I don't know, sometimes I feel like you're hiding something from me." She reached up to caress his face. "I just feel like I don't know you...like you won't let me... I just want to know you Harry; I just want you to give me a chance... let me in..." she placed her hand over his heart "here..."

Harry placed his free hand over hers on his chest, looking silently into to her silvery eyes and thinking about what she had said.

'pop'

Turning their heads, they were surprised to see Hermione less than a foot away carrying several rolls of parchment, staring silently at their hands.

"Sorry..." she mumbled after a second, her face turning red and blotchy as she then rushed out of the room.

Closing his eyes for an instant to gather himself, Harry then looked back at Aurora. She was once again scrutinizing his reaction, her gaze sweeping over his face and lingering on his eyes. Giving her a small smile he removed his arm from her shoulder, opting to lightly caressed her arm with his hand instead.

"So where were we?" he asked, followed by a nervous chuckle.

"I was just asking you to let me in."

"Let you in to where?" He asked with a teasing smile.

"Here," she placed the hand, which had fallen when Hermione rushed out, back over his heart "and here," she removed her hand and placed two fingers to his temple.

He sighed, his head falling a bit. "I understand what you're saying Aurora, and I want to open up more to you." He tilted his head up a bit, looking at her through his lashes. "But I need you to understand that with everything that I've been through in my life... it just takes time for me to do that. I need you to be patient."

"I can be a very patient person Harry, as long as I know that the person that I'm waiting for," she turned and looked in the direction that Hermione went, then back at him "that he isn't spending his time waiting for someone else."

He looked away for a second at the wall opposite them to compose himself before looking back, and answering her. "He isn't," he said confidently.

She rubbed her thighs, looking thoughtful for a moment and then taking a deep breath she spoke again.

"Harry I know that you have feelings for her," she placed a finger over his mouth to silence his interruption. "Look I understand, she's always been around, always been there for you. It's only natural that you develop some type of emotion; I don't need to know what has happened in the past I only need to know what's happening now. Harry is there something going on between you and Hermione?"

He remained quiet, pulling back he looked at the fireplace for a moment before shaking his head.

"No," he said verbally, turning to face her again.

After all it was true, as of now there was nothing between them. She didn't want it... she didn't want him.

"Do you feel there is anything... between us?" she asked a bit hesitantly.

The tone of her voice surprised Harry, she was usually always so confident with all of her questions, but he could clearly hear her doubt. He looked into her eyes for a moment, reaching up to caress her face. She was beautiful and smart and funny, not to mention she actually wanted him... he could have a family with her.

"Yes," he whispered quietly, leaning in and placing a soft kiss on her lips, her hand came up to lightly caress his face.

Aurora went from stroking his face with her fingers to tangling them in his hair as their kisses became deeper and deeper. His breath quickened as he heard her make little purrs like a kitten when he began to deeply kiss her neck; just behind her ear. As he moved to kiss her lower, his hands went to the buttons on her blouse, pausing for a moment he looked up at her for a sign that it was ok. At her small nod and under her heated gaze his hands stealthy unbuttoned her blouse, he was surprised to see that his hands didn't tremble like they did when he touched Hermione.

'Not now,' he told himself 'do not think about her now, you have a beautiful woman in your arms, who tastes like caramel and wants you... only you, don't screw this up by thinking about her.' At this thought Harry refocused his attentions, a determined gleam entering his dark eyes.

Having undone all of the buttons, he slowly slid the light fabric off of her creamy arms, placing butterfly kisses on her shoulders. As she pulled him down on top of her and her hands grazing his chest, he decided to remove his shirt. Smiling against his lips that had just reconnected with hers, Aurora marveled at her new amount of access and the powerful muscles that she felt under her fingertips. She had been running her hands searchingly over Harry's back when she stilled.

Pulling away from his intoxicating kisses she looked him in the eyes.

"Are you ok?" she asked looking worried.

"What do you mean?" he asked, mind still a bit hazy from loss of blood.

"Your back, it feels all scratched up."

Harry closed his eyes, 'Damn it.' he thought 'Hermione...' he had forgotten about the marks that she had made on his back a couple of days ago.

Since he had left that morning, he had been feeling so numb that he didn't notice the pain from them anymore, so he had just forgot that they were there. Pushing out the incredibly vivid memories of just how he had come in possession such deep marks on his back, he forced his brain into action.

"Yeah," he said with a small smile. "Just... a few mementos from my vampire fight, that's all."

Then before she could ask anymore questions he began to kiss her again, his tongue dipping into her warm mouth as his hand softly caressed her exposed bosom. Concentrating on not only making her feel good, but also on forcing thoughts of Hermione out of his mind was no easy task, but he knew it was what he had to do for both Aurora and himself. He hand been nibbling softly on her bottom lip when she once again pulled back.

"Maybe we should go to your room," she said in a panting, husky voice.

Harry hesitated for a second before nodding in agreement. Standing he extended a hand to help her off of the plush couch, then holding her hand he lead her toward his room. As they passed Hermione's room, he noticed the low light from underneath the door and suppressed the guilt that flowed through him. He wasn't betraying her; she wasn't his to betray... he wasn't doing anything wrong so he didn't need to feel guilty... not about her. Giving an imperceptible nod he opened the bedroom door for Aurora as she stepped in he gave one last quick glance at the room down the hall before following her, the door closed with a small click behind them.

*********************************************************

It had been two hours since Hermione had arrived home, apparating in on a private moment between Harry and Aurora, she could still see their intertwined hands resting on Harry's chest as she interrupted their seemingly intimate conversation. It was all she could do to gather the strength to get out of there, she didn't even know what she had said to them, all she knew was that she needed to hurry to her room, which she successfully did; allowing herself to cry in privacy.

She put her quill down, rubbing her aching eyes, they were so painfully sore from all of the weeping that had recently become a part of her daily routine. Hermione sighed looking at her door, it had been about one hour and fifteen minutes since she heard the light click of Harry's door closing, once again forcing her to fight tears. She wasn't stupid, she knew that there was a pretty good chance that Aurora hadn't gone home, but was currently in his room with him.

She wiped the newly streaming ones from her face that she hadn't even realize had begun to fall. Well at least she knew now, at least she knew where he had been the past couple of nights. How else would they have gotten so much closer, she had never seen them like that before, it was like their relationship was deeper now. Her stomach tossed at the thought, knowing that if that was true, then it was probably also true that she was the one who helped to bring them together. Grabbing her quill again she did her best to push the depressing thoughts out of her head and resume the work on her proposal for new elfin laws, but her mind just wouldn't let the subject go.

She couldn't believe that he had left her arms and gone straight to Aurora. Her mind kept replaying images of him telling her that he loved her, then running to Aurora and saying the same thing. How could he?!

'This is what you wanted, isn't it?' Her brain asked. 'Now Harry can have a family with both the Weasley's and Aurora... hey if you're lucky maybe they'll let you baby-sit,' it finished snidely.

She then envisioned a glowing Aurora pregnant with Harry's child as he hugged her from behind and placed his hands on her swollen womb; the ever doting father. A moment later her morbid imaginings were broken when she heard a loud snap. Looking down she saw the feather part of he quill lying on the desk, while the remainder was still in her hand. Picking up the broken pieces she gave a frustrated groan and tossed them in the bin next to her desk. Just as she was reaching for a new quill she heard a whistle from the kitchen. Someone was making a pot of tea.

'Harry,' she thought quickly standing.

Without taking the time to put on her robe or her house shoes, or even to think about what exactly she was going to say to him, Hermione rushed out of her room to the kitchen. Entering quickly she came to a dead halt almost crashing into the corner of the counter, frozen and unconsciously gaping like a fish.

Silver eyes connected with hers for a moment, silently scanning over her body and observing her face. Hermione closed her mouth, a frown settling upon her features as she looked at Aurora standing before her, in her kitchen holding one of her t-cups and clad in nothing but a white, long sleeve button up shirt. Or to be more specific, nothing but Harry's white, long sleeve button up shirt; she growled.

A.N. Well that's it for fourteen/thirteen (wipes brow) whew, finally. That was a loooooong one, which is why I broke it down into two chapters. I just didn't realize that it would take this long to end. Special thanks to Lycus for the ideas on the Harry/Aurora moment in the living room and the fun chapter ending, I told you I liked them and would put them in!! But anyway on to the usual PLEASE REVIEW!!! Feedback inspires us lowly authors to write more, as a matter of fact it's the only form of payment we get for all our hard work. So please review the story. Thanks!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 15

Without taking the time to put on her robe or her house shoes, or even to think about what exactly she was going to say to him, Hermione rushed out of her room to the kitchen. Entering quickly she came to a dead halt almost crashing into the corner of the counter; frozen and unconsciously gaping like a fish.

Silver eyes connected with hers for a moment, silently scanning over her body and observing her face. Hermione closed her mouth, a frown settling upon her features as she looked at Aurora standing before her, in her kitchen holding one of her t-cups and clad in nothing but a white, long sleeve button up shirt. Or to be more specific, nothing but Harry's white, long sleeve button up shirt; she growled

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

She and Aurora stared at one another for a moment longer before Aurora motioned to the pot on the stove.

"Tea?" she asked, giving what, in Hermione's opinion, was a smug look.

She glared, "No... thanks."

"Were you expecting someone else?" The other woman asked taking a small sip from her cup.

"No," Hermione ground out. "I was thirsty, so I just came out for some juice."

"Well," Aurora said with a derisive smile. "Don't' let me stop you, I know how badly you must need your juice," she took another sip of tea. "Especially after seeing how you almost broke your neck to get in here... I think you'll find it in the fridge."

"I know where the ruddy juice is, this is my house after all," she ground out between clinched teeth, but still not moving to retrieve the juice.

Seeing the other woman raise a brow at her, then look between her and the fridge several times infuriated her. She was not going to let this tart come in here and treat her like a guest in her own home! Hermione took a deep breath, composing herself before speaking again.

"I think I'll wait to get my juice," she commented in a sugary tone, composing her face into a look of boredom "it would just spoil if I got it now."

The offending brow went down as Aurora expression went form amused to annoyed.

"Are you implying that I would spoil your juice?" she inquired in a low tone.

Hermione shrugged, grabbing an apple out of the basket on the counter and tossing it back and forth a few times.

"Well you know what they say," she paused, peering closely at the apple then looking over it at Aurora. "One bad apple spoils the bunch," she finished cheekily, cleaning the piece of fruit on her shirt before placing it back in the basket on the counter.

Aurora glared at her for a second before responding.

"You know, green is not your colour, it's so unattractive on bushy haired brunettes." she smirked.

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked, taking a step towards the dark haired woman.

Aurora watched her movement curiously before allowing another smug look to cross her face. "It means; I know that you're jealous, that's what it means."

"Me... jealous of you!" Hermione scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"No, you... jealous of me and Harry."

"I'll have you know that I have no reason to be jealous of you and Harry. Sure, it's quite true that I don't like you. I'll say it straight out, but that has nothing to do with your relationship with Harry."

"Suuuuure it doesn't," Aurora replied still looking haughty.

"It doesn't," Hermione ground out "you are not the first girlfriend that Harry has had you know, and I never disliked any of them. But then again they were never as disagreeable, obnoxious or overbearing as you are."

Aurora snorted, "Ha! Like you have ever met any of Harry's other girlfriends."

"I have!"

The other woman rolled her eyes.

"How would you know if I have or not?" Hermione asked, incensed at her audacity.

"Ginny told me," she stated, sipping her tea again.

"Oh... so discovered her little secret have you?" Hermione said, relaxing and cocking her head to the side; smirking as an unsure expression came across Aurora's face. "You know... that when she's not busy being a Healer at St. Mungo's, she spends her free time as God." She smiled fully when Aurora frowned at her. "Oh, yeah, that's how she knows everything and is never wrong... yep," she took a relaxed stance leaning against the counter. "I understand why you would trust what she says completely, I mean after all, she's always had a way with..." she leant forward, looking around before finishing in a whisper "the daft ones." She pulled back, giving a wink. Her smirk returned. "They just love her to death... trust her completely."

Aurora placed her cup down slowly onto the counter and Hermione could see the slight tremble in her hand from where she seemed to be attempting to control her anger. The other woman then glared at her through long lashes, her silver eyes glinting like knives and her wavy locks that were all black just moments ago, now with blood read streaks running through them. Hermione, unwilling to be cowed by that -that, cow, took a step forward glaring back at her. She wasn't just going to let Aurora just come in here and walk around like she owned the ruddy place. Drinking her tea, out of her cup, telling her where her juice was and most importantly prancing about in her Harry's shirt like some teenage jezebel. Her scowl deepened and an intense frown settled upon her face as they continued to glower at one another for an undetermined amount of time.

"Hey ladies, how's it going?" Ron asked, striding into the room sometime later.

At his unexpected entrance, Hermione and Aurora finally broke their intense stand off with Hermione opting to retrieve the apple she had placed back into the basket earlier and Aurora taking her tea cup over to the sink and emptying out the contents. Though they had stopped scowling at one another, the tension in the room was palpable. Ron froze halfway into the kitchen, looking around uncomfortably unsure of what to do next, after a several moments of a chilly silence he decided to risk breaking it.

"Hey, Aurora, nice shirt, but it's a little big on you isn't it?" he asked, playfully tugging at the collar and oblivious of the death glare he was getting from his girlfriend.

Hermione scowled and Aurora smiled.

"Now Ron," she said looking past him and directly at Hermione "you know this is Harry's shirt. He let me borrow it when I left mine in the living room."

The only thing that kept Hermione in the kitchen instead of doing what she really wanted to do -which was stomping back to her room and casting a silencing charm so that no one could hear her scream and break random objects against her wall. Was her worry that Aurora would tell Ron her suspicions about her being jealous over her and Harry. She took another calming breath before responding to what she knew was a verbal jab from the dark haired woman.

"You know it's amazing that, even tough the shirt is so big on you, it still somehow manages to barely cover anything," she chimed in a sweet voice, taking a bite of her apple.

Aurora gave her a silky smile in return. "I know, but it can't be helped, when your legs are as long as mine..." she looked down at her legs for a second before looking back at Hermione and giving a shrug.

Hermione was miffed at her quick response, and it only deepened when she looked at Ron who was now taking the time to stare appreciatively at the legs in question.

"Actually I wasn't referring to the length, I was referring to the width. Tell me, how is that a shirt that can cover a chest as broad as Harry's, can barley cover your bosom?" she gave a small smile, her brows rose in expectancy.

Ron's head snapped in her direction as he gave her a shocked look.

Aurora glared for and instant before reverting to another smug expression, "Well, I could explain -but then again I wouldn't expect you to understand." her gaze settled on Hermione's less than ample bosom.

Hermione huffed indignant, "Why you two bit-"

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed out of nowhere. "There you are… the girls were just discussing wardrobe! Glad to see you were able to find another shirt, right Mione?" he gave a nervous laugh.

Hermione turned to see Harry standing in the doorway, wearing a pair of drawstring pants and a t-shirt. He looked at her for about a second, before looking past her and staring at Aurora desire evident in his eyes. Feeling horribly ugly, inadequate and invisible, she pushed past him. Ignoring the tingle from the contact that flowed through her, she stormed to her room shutting the door loudly behind herself, and casting the afore mentioned silencing charm.

**************************************

"I'm sorry," Harry said to Aurora pulling away.

"That's alright," she ran a hand though her dark locks and gave him a small smile.

Harry sat back on his hunches looking at the beauty before him feeling lost and confused. He studied Aurora's face which was turned towards the window, the only light in the room being the moonlight lightly caressing her soft features.

"Aurora..." she looked at him "I want to, I really do... it's just," he searched for words. "I'm just not ready for our relationship to go that far yet. Maybe soon... but... just not yet..." he trailed off as she once again looked out at the window.

"I understand..." she said softly still not looking at him.

"Do you?" he asked, reaching out to touch her hand.

She pulled away from his grasp, wrapping her arms around her bare chest, turning her head she looked him directly in the eyes.

"I do. Perfectly." She placed her hands on the mattress, pushing up and lifting herself off of the bed.

"What does that mean?" he quizzed with a frown.

She looked back at him running a hand through her hair. "Nothing..." she sighed.

"No, Aurora, what does it mean?" he asked again, standing from the bed.

"You know what it means Harry."

"No, no I don't. Perhaps you'd like to clarify."

Aurora sighed "Look I can't do this right now -not like this," she made a motion to indicate her body, which was absent every stitch of clothing except her lacy panties.

"Well, we're going to have to... I don't want you to walk around confused about what happened tonight."

"I'm not confused about anything,” she sighed. “Look, I left my shirt in the living room and I really need some tea to relax, if we're going to do this now."

“We are.”

She glared at him for a moment before looking around the room, picking up a shirt off of the floor she held it up. "Is it okay if I borrow this then?"

Sighing and running an agitated hand through his hair, he gave a sharp nod yes before looking out of the window. Aurora placed the shirt on her slender shoulders, covering her exposed chest when she buttoned it up almost all the way. Then, giving him one last glance she headed towards the door. As her hand touched the handle Harry called out to her.

"Aurora," she turned to find herself pinned with his steely gaze. "Don't leave. We still have to talk about this."

She gave him a small glare before responding, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Yes sir."

With that she turned and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind herself.

As soon as the door closed Harry fell back onto the bed and look up at the darkened ceiling, his mind once again working overtime. This was exactly why he shouldn't have gotten involved with a member of his team.

He let out a long sigh, what had he almost done? Up until tonight he had easily prevented himself from taking his relationship with Aurora this far because he didn't want to lead her on considering how he felt about Hermione. Then after everything that had happened earlier this week and then their talk by the fireplace, he had somehow convinced himself that he could have deep feelings for her if he tried. He rubbed his eyes feeling weary. Well, that plan did not seem to be working out. Even though the sex probably would have been incredible... he had found that he was unable to do it. Why?... Why couldn't he have great sex with the gorgeous Aurora?... Because he stupidly still kept wishing that he were with Hermione instead.

'What a wank,' he thought to himself, about himself.

He had to get over Hermione -he just had to. Aurora was everything that he could ever want in a woman. She was funny, sexy, smart, strong, witty, alluring, nice, intuitive and the list went on, the only thing that she wasn't... was Hermione. And for some reason, that one thing was the deal breaker. He groaned, planting his hand in his hair and expelling a long breath, how could he continue with this relationship if he didn't think it was going to go anywhere?

Before he and Hermione had made love, he had done his best to just get to know Aurora, to develop a friendship with her. The plan was to keep it at that pace until it eventually transitioned into something deeper then friendship, then perhaps after that he would be comfortable with it being physical. He just knew that once it reached that point, it wouldn't take long before he would be in love with her and finally be able to push the thoughts of his best mate out of his mind.

Harry shook his head at how incredibly naive he had been. He just needed to talk to Aurora and figure out where to go from here. He abruptly sat up, looking around the room -wait, where was Aurora?

Looked over at the clock on his nightstand and noting the time, he realized that she had been gone for almost twenty minutes. Getting a bit concerned that she had left, Harry rose from the bed. Grabbing a pair of pants to put on over his boxers and a shirt from the wardrobe he hastily dressed and quietly slipped out of the bedroom.

As he neared the kitchen he heard the distinct voices of Aurora and... Hermione? He cringed at the tone of the latter's voice as he got close enough to hear what was being said.

"Actually I wasn't referring to the length, I was referring to the width. Tell me, how is that a shirt that can cover a chest as broad as Harry, can barley cover you bosom?" Hermione said.

Harry's eyes opened wide in shock, he had never heard her talk like that to anyone. Obviously he wasn't the only one unused to her malicious turn of phrase, he watched Ron turn and give her a look probably quite similar to his own.

Aurora glared at Hermione for a second and still not noticing his appearance a smug expression descended upon her pretty features. "Well, I could explain, but then again I wouldn't expect you to understand." her gaze lowered and Harry suppressed a groan, he knew exactly where she had chosen to look.

He heard Hermione give an indignant huff and in his opinion she was right to be upset, Aurora had no reason to look there. Hermione's breasts were perfect, just the right size to fit in your hand and in your mouth...

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed out of nowhere, making him jump as he was brought out of his thoughts. "There you are the girls were just discussing wardrobe. Glad to see you were able to find another shirt, right Mione?" he gave a nervous laugh.

Hermione turned to look at him her beautiful cocoa colored eyes connecting with his for a moment, before he looked away from her and at Aurora instead. He didn't want to take the chance of anyone realizing that the lust that was evident in his gaze wasn't for his girlfriend, but for Ron's. Harry felt her eyes leave his face and a moment later she pushed past him and rushed to her bedroom.

He turned his head away, biting his lip and clinching his hand at his side to keep himself for reaching out and grabbing her wrist as she passed him. The smell of roses and new parchment wafted up to his nose, and his body tightened in response as he struggled to mentally regain control of it. When she slammed her door he, Ron and Aurora all jumped a bit and looked at one another unsure of what to do next.

Harry wanted more than anything to go into that room after her and hold her, comfort her. He knew that she was upset and he knew it not just from her actions, but also because he... felt it. Running a hand though his hair he leant wearily against the wall, looking at the floor for a minute to compose himself before he finally looked up. When he did, he noticed that Aurora was looking back and forth between him and Ron as if waiting to see just who would go after Hermione.

"Ron..." Harry said, cocking a brow when his friend looked at him. After a moment of Ron still not moving, he rolled his eyes and motioned towards the door. "Well... go after her!"

Ron made a pained expression before walking past him to Hermione's door, hesitating and giving Harry another look before raising his hand to knock. Harry felt Aurora come to stand beside him barley brushing his arm as they both watch Ron try, unsuccessfully, to open her bedroom door after receiving no response from his knock.

"Mione," he said knocking on the door again. "Come on... open the door," he knocked harder, quickly loosing his patience. "This is ridiculous," he grumbled giving the door a kick. "Hermione Jean Granger!! Open this door right now!"

They all waited expectantly, Ron looking angrier by the minute, Aurora looking more amused by moment and Harry looking more worried by the second. After a while the door still didn't open, but you could hear Hermione's distinct voice respond from within.

"Go away Ronald!" she yelled, slightly muffled through the door.

"Fine!" Ron yelled back, giving the door one last swift kick. He stormed into the living room with Harry and Aurora following him. They continued to watch him as he stomped around the area for a moment grumbling under his breath his hands clenched into fists.

"Ron," Harry said, "maybe, you.." he trailed off as his friends furious eyes locked on him.

"Maybe I can do what Harry?! Huh, maybe I can turn into you? Is that it!" he yelled, taking a step forward.

"No of course not!" Harry yelled back, "I was just going to say maybe you should calm down!"

"Maybe I should calm down! HA! I'll calm down when I'm good and bloody damn well ready to calm down and not a moment sooner!"

"Why the hell are you so angry with me! What did I do?!"

Ron opened his mouth to respond then closed it, running an agitated hand through his hair and leaning against the back of the couch he looked grimly at Harry.

"Nothing," he said quietly "you didn't do anything..." he trailed off looking at the wall and dangerously close to tears.

Even more guilt consumed Harry as he watched his best mate struggle to hold a breakdown at bay. Taking a few steps forward, he took a place leaning against the couch next to Ron, giving him a pat on the back.

"Don't worry mate, she's just moody, you know how she can be sometimes."

Ron scoffed. "That's just it Harry," he looked at his friend. "I know how she can be, but in all the times I've known her I have never seen her act so... so... jealous before."

Harry looked away, avoiding eye contact with both Ron and Aurora.

"I'm sure that it wasn't jealously," he said quietly "trust me, Hermione does not want me."

Ron stood giving a sardonic laugh, before turning and giving Harry a small mocking smile.

"Whatever you say mate," he said pushing away from the couch and walking to front closet to grab his cloak. "I'm going to head out, I need... some time to think," he looked at Harry who had opened his mouth to comment. "Alone," he finished in a final voice, before Disapparating from the room.

Harry let his head fall back, looking at the ceiling he expelled a breath.

'Now what?' He asked himself. Hearing a throat clear he turned his head and saw Aurora standing a few feet away with her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face. 'Well I guess that answers that,' he thought sarcastically, pushing away from the couch and walking towards his girlfriend.

A.N. Well that's it for this chapter 15, you know the routine PLEASE REVIEW!! It is what inspires me to keep writing for you lovely people, and it also helped me to make a few required changes to this chapter. Thanks for your input!!!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 16

Ron scoffed. "That's just it Harry," he looked at his friend "I know how she can be, but in all the time that I've known her I have never seen her act so... so... jealous before."

Harry looked away, avoiding eye contact with both Ron and Aurora.

"I'm sure that it wasn't jealously," he said quietly "trust me, Hermione does not want me."

Ron stood giving a sardonic laugh, before turning and giving Harry a small mocking smile.

"Whatever you say mate," he said pushing away from the couch and walking to front closet to grab his cloak. "I'm going to head out, I need... some time to think," he looked at Harry who had opened his mouth to comment. "Alone," he finished in a final voice, before disapparating from the room.

Harry let his head fall back; looking at the ceiling he expelled a breath.

'Now what?' He asked himself. Hearing a throat clear he turned his head and saw Aurora standing a few feet away with her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face. 'Well I guess that answers that,' he thought sarcastically, pushing away from the couch and walking towards his girlfriend.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Feeling very near his emotional limit, Harry silently followed Aurora as she walked past the kitchen, through the hall and back to his bedroom. He entered behind her a moment later and waited patiently to hear what she wanted to say. She stood by the foot of the bed, with her back to him and her arms wrapped around her waist, even though he had an idea where this was going to go, he remained quiet hoping that he was wrong and he could avoid that particular conversation.

"Tell me," she said quietly after a several minutes of silence.

Harry, who had been tensely waiting for her to begin, was startled to hear her speak after such a long amount of time. He looked at her back, which was facing him, her long hair brushing the base of it. She had spoken so softly he wasn't a hundred percent sure of what she had said, 'Tell her'... tell her what?

"Tell me," she said again, this time a bit louder and a lot more forcefully.

Her head dropped for a second before she turned to face him, her eyes partially obscured by the long locks that had fallen into her face and her hand clutching the post of the bed. After he continued to remain silent, unsure of just what she was asking, she pushed her hair behind her ears so that he could once again see her piercing silver gaze.

"Harry," she said taking a small step forward. "Tell me... I know I said I didn't want to know, that it didn't matter. But that's no longer true... not since you lied."

He frowned "When did I lie?"

"When you told me there was nothing between you," she continued to watch him with cold, assessing eyes. "What happened between you and her?"

He turned his head releasing a frustrated sigh -he could not deal with this right now.

"Nothing." He said returning his eyes to hers, his expression stony.

"Liar."

His expression turned harder as he cocked a mocking eyebrow, going on the defensive. "Well, since you know everything why don't you tell me what happened?"

She glowered at him for a moment before the expression abruptly fell from her face and she looked at him sadly.

"I don't know," she said softly "but I do know that it was something. With what happened between us tonight and... Harry, a girl doesn't act the way that she was acting tonight without something more than friendship invested."

His expression softened but he remained quiet, unsure of what to say in response. All that he knew was that the part of the conversation he walked in on between her and Hermione must have been the end of a very tense exchange. Aurora ran a hand through her hair looking around the room for a second before bending and picking up her pants off the floor. Putting them back on she stood up straight, and then looking around the room she slowly gathered the remainder of her things, holding them in her hand she looked back at Harry.

"Just tell me this -what is it between you two?" she walked closer to him so that she could see his eyes clearly. "I mean, is it a crush..." she peered closely "is it just lust?" She continued to probe his eyes with her gaze, as he did his best to keep himself looking as neutral as possible. "No?" she said after a moment "Harry, is it... do you love her?"

Harry wasn't sure what she had seen, but he quietly cursed himself none the less when she seemed to recoil from him after asking the question.

"Oh, Harry," she looked at him sadly, her eyes shimmering with tears.

She stared at him for a moment her gaze reflecting a mixture of hurt and... pity? As he began to probe her eyes in an attempt to decipher her emotions she closed them. When she opened them again a moment later the emotions were once more hidden behind her defensive icy armor.

Aurora stepped away and walking past him, still clutching her belongings she went into the living room. Grabbing her shirt and cloak she added them to her pile, and then walking over by the door, she slipped on her shoes. Once she was done she turned to face him, watching as he leant back against the dining room chair with his hands braced on the top of it study her. She gave him a serious look.

"Harry... I hope that you're sure about what you're doing," she shook her head. "Ron seems like a nice bloke and he deserves better than what you two are doing to him. And Harry, you're a nice guy too..." she scoffed "hell, you're and incredible guy and you deserve better than what she's doing to you, a lot better... I hope for your sake, that you find the strength to walk away." She gave him one last watery smile before disapparating.

Harry started at the empty spot that Aurora had been in only moments ago. What the hell was wrong with him? He had just ruined everything with Aurora, not to mention the fact that his relationships with both Hermione and Ron were under a considerable amount of strain.

"At this rate it looks like I'm going to end up alone before the week is out," he mumbled to himself. However, when he said it aloud the truth in that statement rang in his ears, and he felt his heart constrict painfully in his chest.

Fighting tears Harry let his head fall, his chin hitting his chest. "I don't think I can handle being alone again." He whispered to himself quietly as depression quickly began to settle into his heart.

As the silent tears rolled down his face Harry strained to keep his emotions in check, unwilling to allow himself to break down like he so desperately wanted to. Just when he felt the last thread of his sanity about to break, a pair of warm hands cupped his cheeks. Opening his eyes he saw Hermione staring at him with a worried expression.

"You're not going to be alone ever again," she said quietly wiping the tears from his face with her thumbs.

Then tilting her head, she got onto her tippy toes and placed a feathery light kiss upon his cheek. He stared into her beautiful caring eyes, knowing in his heart that he could tell her anything.

"Yes I will," he whispered "Aurora already left, next Ron will leave and he'll take his family and..." he hesitated licking his lips "and you, with him."

She gave him a startled look.

Harry reached up and cupped her face like she was cupping his. "You're not mine Hermione you're his. Everything is his." He pulled roughly away, taking a step to the side and placing distance between them. "Everything that I have ever wanted is his and was his first -this place that I call home is his and was his first. Our mutual friends are his and were his first, the people that I call family are his and will always be his first and foremost." He gave her a tortured look "The woman I love is his, was his first... and you'll always be his Hermione, you made that perfectly clear last week."

He ran an agitated hand through his hair, turning briefly before facing her again.

"I don't know," he said sounding tired but angry "maybe if I go to Aurora now and beg her to forgive me I can one day have a place to call home, friends, a family and a girlfriend who are mine and mine alone and were only ever mine."

Hermione closed her eyes seemingly fighting tears and taking deep shallow breaths. Harry abruptly turned and walked towards the couch, grabbing his cloak.

"So that's it!" she yelled "I'm tainted goods so you don't want me anymore! Because I was with Ron first I'm not good enough to you, just a big pale of sloppy seconds. So, you have to run to that two bit hussy to make yourself feel better!" she stomped towards him, ripping the cloak from his hands and throwing it on the floor.

"She is not a two bit hussy! You don't know anything about her!"

"Yeah and you do? Tell me, did you tell her about us or did you just leave here and run to her bed after you left mine with no explanation at all?!"

"What do you care, you have a boyfriend remember, we can't be together remember, you don't love me remember! So what does it matter if I did or didn't sleep with her tonight!"

"I'm not talking about tonight! I'm talking about Wednesday morning!" she went up to him, grabbing his shirt with her hands and yanking him forward. "Tell me! Is that where you went just hours after we finished making love? Did you run to her, find comfort in her bed and her arms," she glared at him looking him deeply in the eyes. "Did you?! Did you screw her Harry, did you find what you were looking for between her slutty legs?!"

Harry ripped away from her storming towards his room, just as he reached the area by her bedroom she grabbed his shoulder and with strength he didn't know she possessed, forced him against the wall.

*************************************************

"I don't know," he said in an angry voice "maybe if I go to Aurora now and beg her to forgive me I can one day have a place to call home, friends, a family and a girlfriend who are mine and mine alone and were only ever mine."

Hermione closed her eyes fighting tears, as what felt like a well aimed dagger pierced her heart, taking deep shallow breaths she did her best to combat the emotions that welled up inside of her. Opening her eyes she saw Harry make an abrupt turn and walk towards the couch, she became incensed when he grabbed his cloak and she realized what he was about to do.

"So that's it!" she yelled "I'm tainted goods so you don't want me anymore! Because I was with Ron first I'm not good enough to you, just a big pale of sloppy seconds. So, you had to run to that two bit hussy to make yourself feel better!" she stomped towards him, ripping the cloak from his hands and throwing it on the floor.

"She is not a two bit hussy! You don't know anything about her!"

"Yeah and you do? Tell me did you tell her about us, or did you just leave here and run to her bed after you left mine?!" she yelled angrily, all of the questions that she had been agonizing over the last few days spilling from her lips.

"What do you care, you have a boyfriend remember, we can't be together remember, you don't love me remember! So what does it matter if I did or didn't sleep with her tonight!"

"I'm not talking about tonight! I'm talking about Wednesday morning!" She went up to him, grabbing his shirt with her hands and yanking him forward. "Tell me! Is that where you went, just hours after we finished making love? Did you run to her, find comfort in her bed and her arms," she glared at him, searching his eyes for her answers. "Did you?! Did you screw her Harry, did you find what you were looking for between her slutty legs?!"

Without answering he ripped away from her and storm towards his room, just as he reached the area by her bedroom she grabbed his shoulder and using ever ounce of strength she owned she whirled him around and knocked him against the wall just next to her door.

"Answer me damn it!" she yelled as frustrated tears escaped her eyes. She held him to the wall, unwilling to move until he said something, anything, just as long as he ended her torture of not knowing.

"Where were you Harry!" she demanded, "Where did you spend your nights when you left here!"

He glared at her, placing his hands over his wrist, he began to push her away from him.

"Why?!" he said harshly.

"Because I want to know!"

"What does it matter?!"

"IT MATTERS!" she screamed, her voice cracking as her reign on her emotions fell loose tears ran freely down her face.

Harry studied her for a moment, reaching out a hand he tentatively touched her face wiping away one of her tears only to have it replaced by another a moment later. His head fell back and hit the wall with a small thump and she watched as he released a long breath before looking down at her again all signs of anger dissipated form his gaze. After a moment of silently studying her, he finally answered her question.

"Neville," he said quietly, his gaze searching her own. "I was at Neville's."

She gave him a confused look. "But you arrived with Aurora, I thought..."

He gave a small sardonic smile. "I know what you thought... honestly, I was glad that thought it and that you seemed to be upset by it." At her hurt expression, he lifted his other hand cupping her face completely. "I know it was wrong, I just -I just wanted you to hurt as much as I was, that's all. I mean, even though I could see you were upset I had no idea... Hermione, I'm sorry I never wanted to make you feel like," he quirked a half smile "sloppy seconds. If anything that was what I felt like."

She gazed at him thoughtfully, staring into his gentle eyes for a moment before tracing his face with her eyes and her hands, memorizing every detail of his appearance. After a moment his hands went from just cupping her face to pulling her towards him. Their lips met in a soft gentle kiss, that quickly turned hard and rough as they each applied the hurt and frustration that they had felt over the last several days into it. Each of them vying for a place in the others warm mouth. Harry's hands tangled in her hair as he deepened the kiss even more and she felt her knees buckle as he his fingers lightly fluttered down her spine.

He caught her in his arms before she could fall and flipped himself around so that she was pinned between the hard wall and his hard body. She wrapped her arms desperately around his neck as he placed his hands on her thighs and lifted her up. Hermione pinned him between her firm legs, hooking them together by her ankles, her night shirt bunched up around her waist and her hands tangled in his hair as he deeply kissed her neck. She let out small mewls of pleasure when he hit the spot just behind her ear and he let out a low earthy moan as she returned the favor a minute later. Hermione mindlessly moved against Harry moaning in ecstasy. Moans that intensified when she realized minutes later that she was no longer just moving against him, she was now one with him and they were actually making love in the hallway against the wall.

Feeling, wanton but empowered at the realization she clawed at his shirt wanting to once again caress the velvety skin over his hard muscles. Harry somehow managed to fluidly remove the shirt while barely taking his lips from her. Once the cumbersome item was gone she leant forward latching her lips to his collar bone, intent upon branding him with her mark so that any girl who saw him without his shirt would know that he belonged to someone.

'That he belongs to me,' her mind said possessively. She felt her already impossibly hot body become warmer at the thought.

"Harry," she whimpered his name aloud, giving a small nip at his shoulder.

He moaned in response, a moan that deepened when she moved her soft tongue from his shoulder, up his neck and to his ear. Taking the lobe between her teeth she gave a small tug before suckling it and then blowing.

"You're mine Harry... always," she said into his ear, in the heat of passion voicing thoughts that she would normally only allow him to hear in her dreams.

Before he could respond she switched ears, repeating the action with this side as one of her hands lightly scrapped his back and the other trailed back and forth against the nape of his neck in time with his thrusts.

"Say it," she said, tangling her hand in his hair and pulling his head back, simultaneously placing her lips upon his neck and began to devour it. She suckled his neck in a way in which she knew she was guaranteed a mark, and relished in the shudder that racked his body. "Say you're mine Harry," she licked the red bruise that had already formed on his long neck, taking another nip at his ear. "Say it." She demanded scratching his back harshly.

"I'm yours," he said, his voice coming out as though it were ripped from the recesses of his throat. "I'm yours always."

Hermione smiled in pleasure, before returning her mouth to his and languidly kissing him. The kiss deepened as his hand softly squeezed and fondled her breast. Harry pulled back from her a bit, raising her shirt and lifting a dark brow at her lack of bra, he then began trailing soft kisses down her neck and to the valley between her chest. She shivered in anticipation and expectation of what was to come. He nuzzled her before taking one into his mouth and slowly sucking. Her hand tangled in his hair.

"Say you're mine," he said pulling away and looking at her through long dark lashes.

Through the dense haze of passion she did her best to focus on what he wanted her to say, but the cool air hitting her flushed skin and the soothing rhythm of their joined bodies prevented her from forming coherent thought.

"Say it," he said, dipping back down to her chest and licking her thoroughly.

When she still didn't respond he looked back at her with glittering eyes and a small smile playing on his lips.

"Come on Hermione," he said her name in such a husky tone she felt her whole body quiver. "I said it for you... if you do it I have a special treat." The wicked gleam in his eyes promised that the treat would be special indeed.

"I...I'm yours," she said in a panting and breathy voice.

He held her gaze "For how long?" he said in a commanding voice.

Her eyes widened at his tone and their color deepened considerably as she felt her body react to the power that was radiating from him.

"Forever."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth Harry's dark head dipped back down and she felt the most amazing sensation on her breast, her eyes rolled to the back of her head as her mind tried to fathom just what Harry was doing to her. She could faintly hear a light hissing noise in the background but in her passion clouded state was in no shape to decipher what it was. The only thought she was capable of forming was 'When in the bloody hell had he learned this, and why didn't he do it last time'.

As Harry switched to the other breast, the pace of the sensation increased, as did the speed of their love making until it reached a fevered pitch as they both neared their release. Bodies moved fluidly against each other as though they were made to perfectly fit together and when the tempo reached its climax, so did she. Hermione knew that she couldn't hold on longer. She tangled her fingers deeply in Harry's hair throwing back her head and yelling out his name. Less than a minute later, Harry joined her in blissful ecstasy though his cry was swallowed by her as her mouth claimed his in another passionate kiss.

Damp, winded and exhausted they remained as they were for a moment longer, but as Hermione felt Harry's legs tremble beneath her, she tapped him on the shoulder asking softly that he let her down. She slowly slid down the length of his long muscular body until her feet touch the ground and her legs wobbled dangerously beneath her for a moment before strong arms once again encircled her, holding her up.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled laying her head against his chest and listening to his rapid heartbeat. "I'm feeling a bit clumsily right now."

"That's okay," he replied stroking her hair "I didn't want to let you go anyway."

She was quiet for a few more moments, with her hand softly caressing his chest right next to her face. His strong arms were wrapped lovingly around her and his scent filled her senses.

"Harry," she said looking up at him "I love you."

He gave her only a small smile though his eyes were practically aglow with happiness. "I love you too."

"But I'm supposed to trust you right?!" a furious voice yelled.

Harry and Hermione's gaze snapped towards the living room where Ron was standing his face flushed with anger, his eyes glistening and his hand painfully gripping his wand.

A.N. Ok That's it for this chapter, we're getting closer to the end. There is a light at the end of the tunnel folks so stay tuned and PLEASE REVIEW. Oh and for those of you who were wondering, Harry and Hermione aren't starkers, he's wearing the night pants and she has on her sleep shirt... just incase you were wondering...

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 17

She was quiet for a few more moments, with her hand softly caressing his chest right next to her face, his strong arms wrapped lovingly around her and his scent filling her senses.

"Harry," she said looking up at him "I love you."

He gave her only a small smile though his eyes were practically aglow with happiness. "I love you too."

"But I'm supposed to trust you, right?!" a furious voice yelled.

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Harry and Hermione's gaze snapped towards the living room where Ron was standing his face flushed with anger, his eyes glistening and his hand painfully gripping his wand.

Harry's grip on the woman in his arms tightened at the look of pure rage on his mates face. How long had he been there? He didn't know, nor did he care, all that he knew is that he had to and would protect Hermione from anything that may come and at any cost.

"Answer me!" Ron yelled, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Harry remained silent, his gaze, unblinking and unwavering, holding Ron's.

"It's not jealousy Ron, Hermione doesn't want me, trust me..." he mimicked before scoffing "trust you..." his scowl deepened and he gave Harry a contemptuous look. "I did that and all it got me was a knife in the back!"

His eyes scanned them, before his heated gaze switched to the witch in Harry's arms.

"Gee, Hermione, if I would have realized that you were such a slut I would have let Fred and George toss you that night at the club," his look turned mocking. "But, then again, Aurora was there, so they only noticed you for a second. It seems that unlike some people, my brothers know what a real woman looks like."

Harry scowled "Watch it, Ron," he ground out between gritted teeth.

"Or what," he responded in a low voice, lifting his wand.

Harry's eyes flicked to Ron's wand and he hesitated for a second sighing, he didn't really want to hurt him... well, at least not physically. Ron was his first friend, his best mate; maybe, if he just stayed calm then they could work this out.

"Ron, maybe we shoul-"

"Maybe we should what?!"

His reservations about hurting Ron dissipated some when the other boy made a slight flick with his wrist and Harry heard Hermione whimper as her grip on him tightened. Swiftly loosing her arms and pushing her behind him, so that she was completely shielded by his body, he faced off with is ex-best friend.

"I don't want to hurt you, Ron," he said in a low voice.

"You don't want to hurt me... you don't want to hurt me..." his look was incredulous. "What the bloody hell did you think shagging my girlfriend would do you smarmy prat, make me happy!?"

"No, I-"

"You what!?" he yelled, taking a few steps forward, wand still raised "Let me guess, you didn't mean to, oh, I know... you were just walking to your room when you tripped and fell inside of Hermione! Is that it, boy wonder? Is that what happened? Is that how you want to justify throwing over ten years of friendship down the crapper?!"

"No, Ron, it's not what I was going to say! Look, I'm sorry okay... but, I love her, we didn't mean fo-"

"Don't you even say it!" Ron said heatedly, once again advancing towards Harry, pointing his wand.

Harry's eyes didn't leave Ron's, he could hear his blood rushing in his ears and feel Hermione's warm fingers trembling slightly as they pressed into the flesh on his back.

"Tell me how long you've been doing this... both of you! How long have you been screwing behind my back and smiling in my face, huh!?"

"It's not like that! Look, if you calm down then maybe we can talk."

"If I calm down..." he gave Harry and incredulous look "If I calm down! Didn't I tell you earlier that I would CALM DOWN WHEN I WAS GOOD AND BLOODY DAMN WELL READY TO!"

Ron's nostrils flared and his chest heaved from restrained anger, lifting his wand the rest of the way he yelled.

"Tarantallegra!" Harry dodged the spell, pushing Hermione into the kitchen. Then reaching a hand out of the open doorway he summoned his wand from the living room.

Stepping from behind the shield of the kitchen wall, Harry noticed the look of surprise on Ron's face at what he had just done. He had been able to do wandless magic since he defeated Voldemort, he didn't know the reasons and he didn't try to figure out why. He only knew he could do it, and was glad of it when he saw that it succeeded in distracting Ron.

"Ron, please, I don't want to," he hesitated when the fire returned to the other man's eyes "...harm you."

"Well, don't," Ron said with a twisted smile "However, personally, I would love to do nothing more. Stupefy!"

"Protego!" Harry yelled out, creating a magical barrier around himself.

The red beam from Ron's wand hit the shield and bounced off, hurling into a vase that was on the table and exploding it into tiny pieces that seemed to freeze in mid-air momentarily before hurtling towards the ground and scattering everywhere.

"Diffindo!" Ron called out quickly.

Harry barely has time to regain his bearings; throwing himself against the wall he felt a small sting as the spell grazed his shoulder. Warm blood fell in a light trickle down his wand arm as he once again raised it and shouted out at his friend.

"Petrificus Totalus!" He yelled out, in an attempt stop the fight.

He knew that if he wanted to, he could take Ron out in moments, but he didn't want to hurt him. He suppressed a frustrated groan as Ron ducked the spell that could have ended this whole mess and prepared himself for the counter attack.

"Obliviate!" Ron yelled, sending a magical beam directly at him.

"Protego!" Harry called out again, once more deflecting the spell, however, as Ron became distracted by dodging the spell, he called out again. "Incarcerous!" Several small thick ropes came out of the tip of his wand and wrapped around Ron's. Giving a yank the wand flew to him and Harry caught it with one hand, effectively disarming his ex-friend.

Ron stood in shock for a moment before letting out a bellow of rage, racing across the room he tackled Harry to the floor. His fists came down hard, connecting with his ribs and Harry barely had time to move his head before he felt the cool air rushing by it as Ron's fist slammed into the floor next to it. Grabbing the wrist by his head with one hand, and Ron's shirt with the other, Harry shoved him off using a large amount of his strength and sent the other man flying back. Then, swiftly getting up, he grabbed Ron and quickly turning him around he pinned his arms behind his back.

"Look, Ron. I know you're upset and you have every right to be, but this isn't going to solve anything."

"Gee, Harry, I'm glad to know that you have declared it okay for me to be upset that you shagged my girlfriend," he said between gritted teeth, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Harry replied tightening his grip as Ron began to struggle more forcefully.

"Oh, so now you're telling me what I know."

"No... Ron, you're my best mate," he winced and let out a yell as Ron stomped on his toes.

"Was, I was your best mate," he said, once again facing Harry "fat lot of good it did me."

He glared for a moment before Harry noticed his eyes flick to the left. Brows furrowing, he tried to figure out just what Ron kept glancing at. He knew that he couldn't turn around and look without the strong possibility of being attacked so he continued to stand off with his friend while he searched his mind for the answer. It came to him just a moment later.

'The wands!' He thought, but as soon as the thought entered his mind, Ron shot around him and headed to recover the weapons.

Harry turned and grabbed his shirt pulling him back, while he swung at Harry's face, attempting to get him to let go. Harry tackled him to the ground but Ron pressed on at a crawl attempting to reach his, and presumably, Harry's wand.

"Stop it!" they heard a yell, freezing they looked up and noticed Hermione standing there, face flushed her chest rapidly rising and falling. She had Harry's wand in one hand while pointing Ron's wand at them with the other.

**********************************************************

Hermione was breathing heavily; her heart felt as though it were ready to burst out of her chest and her head was pounding. She couldn't believe this was happening and it was all her fault. Tears streamed silently down her face as she watched them fight first with magic and then fists. She had almost jumped out of her skin when Ron tackled Harry to the floor and began hitting him. Several times she moved to help but stopped herself, she knew that Harry was more than capable of handling Ron and she would probably only get in the way. A minute later, she breathed a sigh of relief when he was finally able to restrain Ron in some type of arm hold.

Hermione was just about to come out of the kitchen when Harry shouted in surprise, her eyes snapped back to the two men as they once again faced off.

"Was, I was your best mate," Ron said, once again facing Harry "fat lot of good it did me." He finished in a scathing tone.

Hermione watched with bated breath as the two stared at one another, every once and a while Ron's gaze would flick in her direction, but not at her. Her brows furrowed, what was he looking at? Trailing her gaze down she noticed two wands lying inches from her feet, just then, she heard the sounds of a scuffle and her gaze snapped back to the two guys, seeing that they were once again wrestling.

Harry had Ron on the floor but the other man continued to lash out at him, pulling his body forward by his elbows is seemed that he was trying his hardest to reach the wands. Rushing out of her hiding place almost immediately, Hermione hastily grabbed both wands, lifting one towards the fighting duo.

"Stop it!" She called out; she wasn't sure that she had said it loud enough until the two froze in their tracks and looked up at her.

Hermione immediately noticed the anger flare in Ron's gaze as his eyes locked on the wand that she was pointing at him. Barely sparing a glance down, she belatedly realized that she was threatening him with his own wand. For his part, Harry gave her a relieved look and disentangled himself from Ron, standing to his full height he ran a hand through his hair.

"You've got to be bloody fucking kidding me," Ron said slowly, standing and continuing to glare at her. "Are you really threatening me with my own ruddy wand?" he asked with a skeptical expression.

"It looks that way, doesn't it," she replied in a voice that sounded more confident than she felt.

"Give me my wand, Hermione." Ron stated quietly, taking a step towards her.

"No, Ronald," she replied, fighting the urge to take a step back.

"I'm not kidding with you, give me my wand. Now," he took another step.

"No, and if you take one more step, I will hex you," he gave her a disbelieving look. "If I can do it to Neville first year, I can do it to you now."

He froze glaring at her and they began a silent stand off; Hermione almost jumped out of her skin when a warm hand encircled her own. She looked over to see Harry standing next to her, and breathed a sigh of relief as he removed both wands from her trembling fingers.

"I got it, Hermione," he said softly not removing his gaze from Ron; she gave him a grateful smile.

"Unbloody fucking believable," Ron said to himself "give me my wand, Harry."

"No, Ron, I don't think you're ready to have it back yet," Ron scoffed at that statement and took a step forward. Harry raised his own wand at Ron, "Petrificus..." he let it hang in the air to make sure the other man knew he was serious.

Ron scowled at them both, turning and running an agitated hand through his hair.

"This isn't over Potter," he glowered at Hermione "for you or your Mudblood." he spat before disapparating.

Hermione felt tears course down her face; did he... did he really just call her that? She leant against the wall and sunk to the floor as her legs finally gave out, her breathing became pained as her body shook with tears. Felling a soft touch against her arm she sniffled and looked up at Harry from beneath watery lashes. He reached out a strong hand and softly caressed her face, a grim expression on his features.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he said softly "I never wanted that to happen."

She shook her head "It was my fault," she said in a shaky voice "I was the one who initiated it tonight."

Harry sighed, taking a seat in front of her, his long legs on either side of her small form and her toes touching the underside of his thigh. He reached forward and took her hands, giving them a light tug. Hermione looked up at him.

"Hey," he said when he caught her eyes "I don't regret what happened between us tonight, I don't regret anything that we've done." He sighed, looking at the floor for an instant before looking back at her. "I hate the way that Ron had to find out but... I love you and I..." she watched him struggle for words and felt her heart melt at the sight. "I don't regret anything that I've ever done with you, except, perhaps, the time I spent with you fighting what I felt. We -we can…no, we will make this work, Hermione, and we will be happy." He let go of one of her hands and ran his fingers through his hair. "I know that it may not feel like it now, but it'll be okay... It will be." he gave her hand a light squeeze.

Harry said the last part with such assurance that she actually began to feel a bit better, the corners of her mouth even pulled into a small smile. He smiled back at her before leaning forward, his lips touched hers and electricity flowed through her body, curling her toes. He pulled back and caressed her face.

"I love you, Hermione."

"I love you, too, Harry."

The End.

A.N. Just kidding! I would never leave things unresolved like that *grins* stay tuned for the next chapter at the usual update time. I would like to give a special thanks to ToManyLetters for agreeing to beta my fics and the quick turnaround and great suggestions. Thanks again! PLEASE REVIEW and Ja ne!!

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Ace of Hearts

Chapter 18

They hadn't seen Ron since that night; he had even waited until they were both at work to come by and collect his things. She still remembered the sadness that passed though her when she noticed that his room was empty of everything that was...Ron. Harry had come up behind her and then, without a sound, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and they had both stared at the desolate space for over an hour with not a word exchanged between them.

The next day, Hermione returned home from work feeling weary, it had been an extremely long day and she was still feeling guilty and upset over everything that had occurred. Apparating into the flat, she immediately noticed a low soft glowing light. Looking around the living room, she saw about twenty jars containing bluebell flames. Her eyes scanned the beautifully glowing room, her mouth open in wonder as everything seemed to twinkle around her.

“Hello beautiful,” a warm voice whispered from behind her.

Turning, she came in contact with Harry's warm green eyes, a sensual smile graced his face as he reached out a hand to caress her chin.

“What's all this?” she asked, smiling in return.

“All what?” he gave her an innocent look.

She rolled her eyes and gave him a teasing smile.

“Oh, I don't know, Harry…” she looked around the room “something just seems different.”

His eyes twinkled with amusement as he shrugged and looked around the room. “I have no idea what you mean.”

She laughed.

“Oh, look… where did that come from?” He asked looking past her, a mock surprised expression on his handsome face. Giving a suspicious look, Hermione turned to see that the table that had been bare just moments before was now covered with delicious food. Two china plates sat with garden salads upon them, covered dishes were assembled on the table also, with delicious smells wafting up from them. A soft cream-colored table cloth covered the once bare table-top and candles held by sterling silver holders, added their twinkling light to that of the bluebell flames.

Taking a few steps forward, Hermione stood before the table with an awestruck expression. Turning, she looked a Harry and blinked a few times before a smile pulled at her lips.

“Harry… I…it…” she took a breath, looking around once more “wow….”

He smiled.

“What's this for?” she asked in a breathy tone.

“For you,” he replied, stroking her chin.

“But…why?”

“Because… I love you and I wanted to.”

“When did…” she motioned to the table “how did...”

He placed a finger softly against her lips, silencing her.

“Don't worry about that, just have a seat and enjoy your favorite meal.” Harry said, reaching around her and pulling out the chair.

She hesitantly took a seat, blushing as she noticed a single red next to her plate. Picking it up she put it to her nose inhaling the sweet fragrance, a smile settled on her lips.

“Harry… this is so sweet, I just wish I had done something for you.”

“You have done something for me.” He responded, taking a seat next to her.

Her brows furrowed. “What did I do?”

He looked at her, a soft smile on his face. “That's easy.”

She gave him a curious look and he took her hand before finishing.

“You smiled.”


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


That night had been wonderfully romantic as Harry bestowed upon her more flowers and special treats and then, after making love, he surprised her with a special bedtime reading of her favorite book. She had blushed profusely when he pulled the book from his top drawer; she hadn't even remembered telling him her favorite book. When she told him so, he laughed and reminded her of a time she had mentioned it in passing during breakfast in the Great Hall sixth year.

Hermione sat at the table holding a steaming cup of tea; she took a sip as she thought over what had happened over the past two and a half weeks. Giving a small smile at that memory before worries once again invaded her mind. Since the breakup, they hadn't really seen anyone. No one had contacted them about going to hang out, though that wasn't particularly unusual. But what she did find surprising is they hadn't heard from even one Weasley. For the first week, she had been expecting every package she got to be some type of trick from the twins, every owl post to deliver a howler from Mrs. Weasley or, at the very least, an intense argument with Ginny, but nothing had happened.

She rubbed her eyes, sighing. Maybe they were just pretending that she and Harry didn't exist anymore... she hoped not. Speaking of Harry, she glanced at the clock and frowned; he should have been home by now.

The last couple of days, the activity had been picking up in the Auror's office and he had been staying out later and later. It did not help Hermione's insecurities to know that when he was working late, it was almost always with Aurora. The beautiful dark haired witch was still a bit of a sore spot with her, she just couldn't help remembering what the woman had, had with Harry. She gave a small smile in remembrance of his response when she voiced her fears to him.


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After his third day of coming home around three o'clock in the morning, she finally got sick of not knowing what was going on, building her Gryffindor courage (and womanly anger) Hermione finally decided to confront Harry with what she was feeling.

"Where were you?" she demanded, walking into the living room, her arms crossed over her chest and a disapproving frown on her face.

Harry gave her a confused look. "What do you mean? I was at work."

"With Aurora?"

He rose a brow "Uh... yeah, she works there, too."

She pressed her lips, looking at the wall "You know, if you've changed your mind about us you don't have to pretend or anything... I've… I've lived on my own before and I can do it again."

"What in the world are you talking about?" he asked, his brows furrowing.

"I'm just saying, if you would like to be with Aurora instead of…well… instead...th-then," she took a deep breath, fighting tears "just say so. I'm a big girl, Harry, I can handle it."

He frowned and walked over to her, taking her arms he removed them from across her chest and placed them around his waist.

"I was afraid that this would happen,” he said softly. Her eyes shot to his. “I knew if you kept up those hours at the Ministry you would eventually go mental.” The corners of his mouth pulled into a smile.

She bit her lip, glaring at him, though relief was apparent in her eyes.

“I don't want Aurora. I only want you, I've only ever wanted you, Hermione," he gave a small smile; cupping her face he lightly caressed her cheek. "I couldn't even be with her because I was too busy thinking about you, trust me, you have nothing to worry about."

Hermione gave him a watery smile, just moments before he leant forward and awarded her with a soft kiss. The feather light touch quickly intensified, getting harder and more passionate, and leading to... other things.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Hermione, who was sitting at the table still holding her cup with a smile lingering on her face, was broken out of her reverie when she heard a 'pop'. Looking up, she saw Ginny Weasley standing before her a stoic expression on her face.

"Hello, Ginny," she said hesitantly.

"I just came for Ron's wand," she said her expression not changing.

The older woman sighed and ran a hand though her hair.

"Did you want some tea?" she tried again.

"I want the wand," was the clipped response.

"Ginny, please, talk to me."

"We have nothing to talk about, Ms. Granger. Where is my brothers wand?"

Hermione sighed again "I don't have it," the red haired woman gave her a disbelieving look. "Really, I don't have it, Harry has it," she looked at the clock "he should be home soon, if you would like to wait."

Ginny gave her a glare, but sat down on the couch nonetheless. Hermione quietly sipped her tea, occasionally glancing at the other witch. She noticed that the Ginny was looking at the picture of the mantel, the one of the three of them at their Hogwarts graduation.

"Why?" Ginny asked after a moment, turning her heated gaze to Hermione. "Why would you do that to him? How could you do that to him?"

Hermione sat down her tea cup, fingering the handle and gave her a sad smile. "It wasn't something we planned..." she sighed and looked at the picture on the mantel "even then I was in love with him. I loved Ron too, but I was mainly in love with Harry," she looked back at Ginny "but Ron had me and at the time Harry had you, so...” she shrugged “I just figured that it was for the best to put those feelings away. I didn't think that he would feel the same way... I didn't know that he already did." Ginny continued to stare intently at her, raising a brow and silently telling her to finish.

"Well," she sighed again "I was okay to ignore what I felt, and after a while it was so far back in my mind and pushed so deep down in my heart that I was able to convince my self that Ron was the one that I would be with forever." she stood and walked to the fireplace, picking up the picture. "It was great, and besides the occasional niggling in my heart, I was able to completely suppress my feelings for Harry and be pretty happy in the process. But then... she happened..."

"Aurora..." Ginny said softly, Hermione looked at her and nodded, placing the picture back on the mantel when Ginny made a motion with her hand to signal that she should go on.

"Well... she was so beautiful, she was smart, funny, witty, strong..." she sighed "all of the things that I wasn't. She was also an Auror, just like him, and he seemed to be always going out with her and going on about her... not to mention taking her to the get-togethers, which he had never done with any of his girlfriends before." she gave Ginny a mocking look. "I mean, how in the world could I think that I would compare? She had this aura about her, this quality that led men to her as though she were some type of Veela or something. All of the guys, including your brother were constantly talking about how beautiful she was, how sexy... and then, the next thing I knew, I started trying to compete with her. I told myself I was doing it for me, but I knew that it was mainly for Harry's attention."

“That night at the party, the red dress..." Ginny looked thoughtful "that was to compete with Aurora?"

Hermione nodded, "And the game of chicken at the lake. I wanted to show myself that she wasn't better than me, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't want to show Harry, too."

"How long were you shagging each other behind Ron's back," the other woman asked bluntly.

Hermione looked her in the eyes, "We weren't constantly shagging one another, but I know what you mean," she looked at the wall then back at Ginny. "The first night we kissed was that night at the party," she looked at her hands "we both felt horribly guilty and tried to put it behind us... pretend it never happened, you know?" she gave Ginny a look. "Do what we had always done, and ignore our feelings for one another. But it became so much harder for me to do after realizing that my feelings for Harry weren't one-sided. I mean, it became harder to deny when I realized that I wasn't the only one denying myself. I became more aware of him, everything about him, his smile, his smell, his moods, everything stuck out like a sore thumb."

She took a deep breath, leaning back against the side of the fireplace "Then, the Tuesday night that Ron was gone to training camp, Harry came back from his latest mission. He was tired and sore, his back hurt horribly from a fight that he had had with a brutal vampire. As I watched him struggle to massage his own back... all I wanted to do was help," Hermione gave shaky sigh, fidgeting with her sleeve. "I should have known that touching him without feeling anything was not something I was capable of... not anymore. But I did it anyway..." she turned looking into the fire "then... then it happened, it was incredible... I don't regret it," she gave Ginny a defiant look "I won't regret it, not anymore. Though, after it happened I told Harry that we couldn't be together, we had a huge fight and he left." She ran a hand through her hair "I couldn't stop crying, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I couldn't think about anything except him. Where he was, who he was with, if he was okay, I felt guilty when Ron returned and tried to make me feel better, I felt like troll scum for how I was making him feel." She ignored Ginny's scoff and walked back over to the table, picking up her tea cup, and then sitting it back down without taking a sip.

"We stayed away from one another until that night. After arguing with Aurora, I had locked myself in my room when I heard her and Harry fighting. I opened my door just in time to hear her say something like 'you deserve better than her, Harry,' just before leaving, and when I came out of the room, he looked so lost, just like that little boy first year," she fingered the rim of her cup staring blankly at its contents. "I tried to comfort him, but we fought instead, the situation got out of hand and he stormed away. I grabbed him and pushed him against the wall, demanding he tell me where he had been when he was gone, because it had been eating me alive, when out of nowhere he calmed down." she gave a small smile "I guess I was crying again; anyway, he finally told me he had been at Neville's and I was so happy I kissed him and we just didn't stop. Not too long after that, Ron came home... and you know the rest, I'm sure."

Ginny sat quietly for a while, processing the information.

"So, that's how you justify stabbing my brother in the back after over a decade of loyal friendship... you were jealous of Aurora?" she asked, once again glaring.

"No, that's not it. I..." Hermione started at Ginny for a second, with a helpless look in her eyes "I love Harry, Ginny... we didn't just decide to hurt Ron, we didn't mean for it to happen." she sighed before giving the other woman a pleading look "Please Ginny -just... don't be mad at Harry, I'll take all the blame, all the fault. He -he needs you guys, you're his only family. He hasn't said anything to me but I can tell that he's hurting and he just doesn't want to say anything because he thinks it'll hurt me."

"Look, Hermione, Harry did this to himself when he betrayed Ron." she said in a cold voice, standing.

"No! I betrayed Ron! Me!" she hit her hand against her chest to emphasize her point and took a few steps forward so that she was almost directly in front of the other witch. "Please, Ginny; he's lost so much in his life. It would break him if he lost you all too... I mean your mum and dad are the closest things to parents he's ever had and you and your brothers are like his siblings. I don't want to have to sit across from him this holiday at an empty table trying to ignore the haunted look in his eyes that I know will be there. I don't even have to come, just invite Harry I'll make up an excuse, I'll -I'll tell him I have to work, something, anything..."

Before Ginny could respond, they heard a 'pop', and Harry appeared; looking disheveled and weary he ran a hand though his tousled hair. Then, looking up he froze and blinked a few times before a wide grin took over his features.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed, rushing forward and grabbing the younger woman in a huge bear hug, whirling her around. "How are you? -How's Ron -is everything okay, how are your parents, Fred, George, Bill, Charley, Fleur... heck, how's Percy?"

He pulled back, rambling off questions without giving her time to answer, looking as excited as he did in school whenever someone said the word Quidditch. Ginny looked back at Hermione with a bewildered expression and the older woman sighed for the hundredth time that night.

"Harry," she said softly; emerald orbs locked on her "Ginny's only here to get Ron's wand."

He stared at her for a second before his face fell; abruptly releasing the red haired woman and taking a step back he looked at the floor. They watched Harry silently to see what he would do next and after a minute he looked back up, though he focused on the wall instead of on either of them.

"Oh," he said quietly "well, here, then," he reached in his robes and took out Ron's wand, handing it to Ginny, but still not looking at her. "Well, I guess you're off then..."

"Yeah..." Ginny responded quietly, looking sadly at Harry.

"Okay, well I... tell your family I said hi and that I..." he trailed off his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.

Without saying another, word he walked stiffly past both of them to the kitchen, silent tears streaming down his face. Ginny looked at Hermione with watery eyes, clutching Ron's wand tightly in her hand, she opened her mouth to say something but then, closing it again, she disapparated.

Fighting to control her own swirling emotions, Hermione walked into the kitchen where Harry, with shaky hands, was attempting to pour himself some tea. Walking up behind him, she carefully took the tea pot from him and poured him a cup, discreetly watching him as she did so. The tears from earlier were gone from his face, though the sad expression remained; catching her staring he gave a hollow smile, his eyes completely lacking emotion. Then, taking his tea cup from her, he turned and returned to the living room, removing his robe; he sat heavily upon the couch.

"It was what I expected," Harry said quietly, a moment after she sat down next to him. Hermione reached out and took his hand. "It was stupid of me, to think that I would matter, even if Ron and I weren't friends anymore." He gave a mocking laugh, looking at the fire. "That they would still care..."

"I care, Harry, and I'm sure they do, too… just give it time, everything's still fresh and new, the situation, the pain, everything -it'll all work out, you'll see." She said, squeezing his hand and laying her head on his shoulder.

Harry took his hand from hers and readjusted their positions. Settling his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her close and they held one another. Staring sadly into the fire, they each became lost in thought. Just as Hermione was about to doze off, she heard a throat clear. Opening her eyes, she was surprised to see the floating head of Molly Weasley in the fire.

"Well... hello, there," Mrs. Weasley said with a somewhat uncomfortable look.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry said quietly, sitting up on the couch, once Hermione removed her head from his chest.

"I was just... well, I just was checking in on you kids..." she trailed off, ending with a soft smile.

"We-we're okay... how are you? How is everyone?" Harry asked, practically sitting on the edge of the couch.

"Well... Bill and Fleur are doing well; Abigail is taking quickly to her studies and making us all proud. Bill often jokes with her that she's going to give her aunt Hermione a run for her money in her N.E.W.T. scores." Mrs. Weasley said, giving Hermione a small smile. "The twins are up to mischief as usual, but their stores are doing great, they finally opened one in Hogsmeade next to Honeydukes, it's working out pretty well, the two shops promote one another. Honeydukes has the treats, while Weasley Wizard Wheezes has the tricks," she gave a chuckle. "Charlie's still happy in Romania and he's met a nice girl... her name's Sherry, Mary, Carry or something like that. Who knows? Ron..." Harry sat a bit straighter "well he's doing...alright, he did very well at his last game for the Cannons; they even did a replay of a great save he made. As for us, Mr. Weasley and I are doing well, things are a bit hectic with our anniversary in just over week..." she trailed off, licking her lips before continuing. "I know that you kids aren't getting along right now... but, don't think that it gets you out of showing up for our anniversary dinner. I expect you to be there just like the rest of my children. Do I make myself clear?" she asked with a stern expression.

Hermione and Harry looked at one another and grinned before Harry nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Oh, one moment," at that she disappeared from the fire, returning a second later. "Here, Harry, dear, you look as thin as an Inferi," her hands then came out of the fire and placed a pot on the floor. "A nice hearty stew should put some meat on your bones."

Harry's grin got impossibly larger as he went around the table and took a seat in front of the fire placing a hand on the still warm pot.

"Oops, almost forgot," she disappeared again for a second before returning, this time handing a bread basket to Harry.

He caught her hand before it could disappear back into the fire, her startled gaze swung to his face.

"You don't know how much this means to me... mum," he said softly, tears shimmering in his eyes.

"Oh, stop now or you'll have me blubbering, too," Molly said good-naturedly, her voice cracking.

A moment later her whole torso came through the flames and she enveloped Harry in a warm hug. They held each other for over a minute before she pulled back.

"Whatever happens between you and Ron, I promised myself a long time ago when I found out who you were and remembered seeing you look for that platform alone on your first day of school," she trailed off for a moment a small smile of remembrance on her face. “I promised myself that I would do my best to take care of you the way that I'm sure Lily would have taken care of my children. Wither you like it or not, you're stuck with us Harry Potter-Weasley so you might as well get used to it."

With that said, she returned to the flames wiping her tears.

"Well, I guess I'll be off. See you both next Thursday, right." she said more as an order than a question.

"Right," Harry and Hermione replied in unison.

As she disappeared into the flames, Hermione came up behind her boyfriend, enveloping him in a hug. He sighed and leant back against her, a small smile lingering on his face.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hermione looked at her watch for the fourth time that night.

'Seven-fifteen,' she said to herself 'where in the world is Harry?'

It was Thursday night and they were supposed to be having dinner with the Weasleys to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's thirtieth wedding anniversary. But just as they were getting dressed for dinner, Harry received an urgent Floo from an Auror named Devon. Changing into his uniform, giving her an apologetic look and a quick kiss on the lips he promised that he would be over to the Burrow as soon as he was done, then apparated to the Ministry. Hermione had finished dressing and waited an extra ten minutes before relenting and apparating to the yard outside the Burrow alone. Lifting one shaky hand to knock, she sorely wished that she had Harry standing next to her. George opened the door a moment later, a surprised expression crossing his face; he hesitated for an instant, opening and closing his mouth, before stepping aside to let her enter.

Once she walked into the brightly lit home, the warm atmosphere quickly took a chilly turn as the conversations halted and everyone just stared at her. She was just about to turn and walk right back out of the house when Mrs. Weasley bustled over to her and pulled her into a warm hug; she was followed closely by Ginny and Luna.

"Why, there you are dear! I was just starting to worry," she looked behind Hermione "where's Harry at?"

"He got called to work, Auror business..." she trailed off, giving Molly a grateful smile.

"Oh, yes sticky business that," Lupin said, joining the conversation "they called Nymphadora in too, it must be big." After saying that, he came forward and also gave her a hug, "Well, I'm glad you can make it and hopefully Harry and Tonks will join us soon," he gave a gentle smile and ushered her farther into the room.

Over the next twenty minutes, the atmosphere warmed considerably as almost everyone did their best to include her in the conversation. The only people still not talking to her were; of course Ron; and Fred who had decided to show brotherly support by sticking with Ron, or so George said.

"Okay, everyone! Take your seats, dinner is served!" Mrs. Weasley called out while placing a beautiful and impossibly large turkey on the already overflowing table.

Looking out the window and then at her watch one last time, Hermione took the seat offered to her by Luna. As she distractedly put potatoes onto her plate at Mrs. Weasley's insistence, she found herself once again wondering where in the world Harry was.

AN: Well that's it for Chapter 18, I realize that it was completely from Hermione's P.O.V. as 19 will be almost completely Harry's. I realize that the chapter was a bit long, I hope that you don't mind…Stay tuned and PLEASE REVIEW!!

Ja ne!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 19


Harry arrived in the Aurors office to find it abuzz with activity and paused to take a moment and look around. A tingle went down his spine as he saw how many people from the department were present.

`Something serious must be going on for there to be this many Aurors there at once' he thought `especially at this time of the evening.'

"Harry!" he heard a voice call from behind him.

Turning, he saw a slender woman approaching him, her mouth curving into a smile and her dark brown and bright orange hair ruffling slightly because of the fast pace at which she was walking. Just as she was almost to him, she bumped into someone Harry didn't know, and then, mumbling an apology, she tripped slightly over her own feet. Managing to catch herself at the last moment, she gave Harry an easy going grin when she saw him cringe at her mishap.

"Hey, Tonks," Harry said when she got close enough to hear him.

He took the last few steps to reach her and, giving a grin, captured her in a warm hug.

"Hey, there," she said, pulling back "I didn't know you'd be here." She grinned and looked around for a moment. "So, do you know what this is about?"

He shrugged, before looking around also, "I don't... I was actually going to ask you," he said with a sheepish smile.

She gave him a broad one in return "Well, I guess that's out of the question. Are you still going to the Burrow after you leave here?"

Harry chuckled, "Don't you mean if I leave here?"

"Wotcher, Harry, what's that supposed to mean?" Tonks said, rolling her eyes, "Of course you're leaving here. I'll tell you what, you can wait for me or I'll wait for you and we'll apparate over to the Burrow together," she said with a smile.

He grinned and nodded in agreement, "Sounds like a plan."

"Okay, so now back to the original subject. What in the wo-"

"Potter! Centauri! Bloomberg! Aguirre! My office, now!" Moody called out, hitting his cane against the floor to accentuate his point, effectively silencing the noisy room.

Harry gave Tonks a quick nod goodbye and headed through the parting crowd towards Moody's office. He happened to reach the door at the same time as Aurora, who barely spared him a glance as he stood aside to let her through. He followed her into the office and, when they were all there, Moody updated them on just why they had been summoned that night.

"The Unspeakables have completed their task, and in completing it they have found that our little Death Eater, who claimed to not remember how he received the letter, was lying." He said the last work in a booming voice that echoed off the walls. Still pacing the room in front of them, he continued. "I don't know what they did and I don't want to know, because I don't care. What I do care about is that they were able to get very important information, information that we need."

He came to a halt directly in front of Aurora, "Tonight, they will lodge their first attack; that attack will be against your brother's tribe." Harry cast a glance at her to see if she was okay, but her expression remained stony.

"They are looking to fortify their armies, replenish their supplies, and rid themselves of enemies," he began to pace again. "After defeating the other tribes, they will recruit those who wish to serve and kill those who do not. They have, once again, been in contact with the giants, the trolls, and the werewolves." He stopped in front of Harry "You will take your team and return to Transylvania and you will go now. We don't have time to waste, so, when you arrive, do what you can and contact us as soon as you get a chance to notify us of your status. I will brief the remaining Aurors on the situation at hand, the information I've just received and the enemy we are facing. When I am sure that they are ready, I will send them to back you up." He stepped back so that he could see them all. "I have faith that you will all return to me victorious and unharmed. What's our motto?!"

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!"

"You are dismissed." They walked out of Moody's office, through the curious crowd of Aurors, and headed towards Harry's office as usual. However, instead of entering with the team, Aurora continued to walk straight, heading to her desk.

"Centauri," Harry said; she turned to look at him. "My office, now. That's an order."

She gave him a defiant expression but backtracked and walked into the office anyway. Upon entering, she leant against the wall farthest from him with her arms crossed over her chest and a bored expression on her face. Harry looked at her sadly for a moment before shaking it off and addressing his team.

"We don't have a lot of time, so we need to act fast." He walked over to his desk and pulled out three rolls of parchment, handing one to each of his team members. "These are your security questions and answers, study them, memorize them, know them," he looked them each in the eyes. "Make sure that you know your own, as well as those of your team members. We don't know if they know that we're coming and we need to be prepared, you will each have five minutes to learn everything off of those sheets." He went into his closet, pulling out four small knapsacks. "In these, you will find provisions; everything that you can require from weapons, to food, to first aid supplies." he tossed one to each person, his expression grim. "If we're lucky, we won't need these. If we're damned lucky we won't need these and we'll all make it back in time for dinner. Let's hope that we're damned lucky."

"We don't have time for the Department of Transportation to make us Portkeys, so we will do what we must. If you feel that you are unable to Apparate, let me know now, and I will take you with me," his turbulent eyes scanned the room waiting to see if any would need his assistance. After a moment of silence, he continued, "We will be leaving momentarily. If there is anything you need to do, then do it now. You have eight minutes. No more. Go."

The Aurors briefly looked at one another, then Aurora took a resigned breath and began to look through the knapsack at her materials. Marcello took the time to check and memorize the information from the parchment rolls. While Devon, who was sitting at Harry's desk, as usual, also looked over his parchment, fiddling with random things on the surface of the desk.

"Harry, do you have an extra quill I can use, it helps me memorize stuff when I can write it a few times," he said, looking at his leader.

Harry, who had been silently watching them and waiting for them to be ready, gave a small nod, allowing his mind to wonder to the anniversary dinner he was missing. Damn Bellatrix, he had had huge plans for tonight. He had been hoping to take steps on fixing his relationship with Ron, not to mention the plans he had for after dinner with Hermione. Harry unconsciously frowned; he couldn't help but worry about Hermione being alone at the dinner without him and about how everyone was treating her. Giving his head a small shake, he tried to push those thoughts away, otherwise he would never be able to focus on what he needed to do tonight.

"Big plans?" he heard Devon ask. Looking up curiously, Harry was surprised to see Devon holding a single solitaire diamond ring between his fingers.

Frowning, he strode forward to where the young blond was sitting.

"I believe you were looking for this," Harry said between gritted teeth, snatching the ring from the Devon's hand as he grabbed a quill out of the drawer and held it up to the younger guy.

Harry then spared a glance at Aurora, who was looking at the ring with an undistinguishable expression on her face. She glanced up at him for a moment before looking back down at her parchment and pretending he wasn't there.

"Do you have everything memorized?" He asked the blond in a steely tone.

"Uhhh, just about..."

"You have one minute, and 'just about' isn't good enough, so, may I suggest, instead of rifling through my personal belongings, that you take this time to learn your information." he rose a single brow.

Devon blushed slightly and mumbled an apology before looking back down at his parchment and copying the words. Exactly one minute later, Harry called time.

"Grab your cloaks, your provisions and your brooms. Meet me outside in the alleyway. We apparate from there in two minutes," he grabbed his items, opening the door before turning to give them one last look over his shoulder. "If you are not there in two minutes do not bother coming at all." With that, he walked out.

Harry didn't fail to notice that he had barely passed the reception desk before he was joined by all three members of his team. Realizing that he was still holding it, Harry slipped the ring into the pocket of his cloak, giving it a small pat. Throwing their hoods over their heads, they made their way out of the Ministry and to the designated apparition point. They had barely reached the assigned location before simultaneously disappearing.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

A moment later, they arrived in the forest not far from the location of Helios's tribal village. Harry held up his hand, signaling to his team that they were not to move. Concentrating, he closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest around him. Just as he was about to give the okay, he heard something that sounded somewhat human in nature. Snapping his eyes open, they fixated on an area of darkened forest to his left. He made a small motion with his hand, behind his back, to let his team know that he had heard something. On his exact mental count of three, they all whispered the word 'Lumos', lifted their wands, and let go of their brooms. There, in the cover of the forest, were at least ten vampires. Hidden slightly behind the trees, their long, fanged teeth glinted in the wand light.

The creatures were startled at their discovery, having no indication that they had been detected due to the teams' silent signals. Since they were expecting their prey to have not noticed them yet, Harry and his team were granted one small advantage.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry called out; a bright silver stag burst forth from his wand.

The vampires scattered like insects, hastily removing themselves from the path of the blazing light. They were all able to make it out of the way of the stag with the exception of one; his mouth opened and a horrendous scream ripped through the air as the Patronus tore thorough him, impaling him with its horns and ripping him apart with his light before disappearing as quickly as it had come. All was quiet for a moment, but only a moment before all hell broke loose.

Several vampire war cries were heard as the remaining creatures came rushing from the trees and flying down from the branches. Harry, Aurora, Marcello and Devon formed a square, protecting one another at the backs and calling out spells and hexes. Just as it seemed that the vampire forces were weakening, a green light whizzed by Harry's head. He turned slightly while still calling out a spell at an approaching vampire; momentarily redirecting his gaze, he noticed several death eaters emerge from the dark forest, their wands raised as they called out hexes and curses.

"Split up!" he called to his team.

They immediately dispersed into their own directions, avoiding vampires and curses alike with a skill that had been honed into them and was the reason that their team was considered the best. Just as he had taken out yet another vampire Harry heard a yell, he turned just in time to see Devon fly back frozen, having been hit with a 'Stupefy' spell. He pointed his wand at the fallen man, relived that somehow he had managed to get hit with only a small attack.

"Rennervate!" he yelled, breathing a quick sigh of relief as Devon sat up and looked around.

It only took the blond man a moment to regain his bearings and re-enter the fray.

"Protego Totalum!" Harry called out as he noticed a spell headed for Aurora's back. The dark haired witch turned and gave him a quick look. "Relashio! Incarcerous!" he called out again knocking the wand out of the wizard's hand that had aimed at her, and then sending out several ropes to catch it. Yanking it over to him, Harry quickly broke the wand and tossed it to the ground before turning and resuming his own fight.

"Protego Totalum!" he heard just behind him, he turned just in time to see a spell bounce off of a shield at his back. "Blimey, Harry, you should be more careful," he heard a voice call out.

Turning slightly, he noticed Tonks give him wink before shooting off several spells, he grinned in response, and the tension in his body abated some as he noticed that their backup had arrived from the Ministry. Harry took a quick moment to look around and locate his team, immediately seeing Devon and Marcello fighting a couple of Death Eaters to his right. However, looking around some more, he became worried after a minute when he didn't see Aurora. Fighting past several vampires and one Death Eater, he looked just in time to see her silver hair flash as she raced through the trees, chasing someone.

'What the hell does she think she's doing?!' He thought to himself, breaking into a sprint and following her into the dense forest.

"Aurora! Aurora, stop!" he called out, she gave a quick glance over her shoulder, and then ignoring him, she continued to run.

Harry quickly sped up, catching her around the waist just before she headed into the opening of a cave, he overpowered her and pinned her arms down to her sides.

"How long does a Blast-Ended Skrewt grow after ten months?" He demanded holding her still.

"Ten feet," she said through gritted teeth; Harry immediately let her go.

"Don't you ever do that again," he said fiercely, his eyes piercing. "When I tell you to stop, you stop, do you understand that?"

"Bellatrix was in front of me, I had to catch her," she said, glaring at him.

"Oh, so you think she just took a merry jog thorough the forest to a darkened cave, where she would then turn and say, "Oh, bugger! Dead end! I give up," and come willingly?" He gave her a hard frown. "Let me answer that for you. No. You were probably chasing her blindly into a trap; I can't believe that you would be so bloody impulsive."

Aurora looked down for a moment, before looking back at him "So, what are we just going to let her go then? I know you don't think she's just going to wait there while we run to get help. It's the perfect chance and you know it."

"And you should know that it's a little too perfect..." he responded, frowning.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him "So, now what, then?"

Harry sighed, looking at the cave and then back at her. "I'm going in because she needs to be caught. You," he pointed at her to accentuate his point "stay out here. If I'm not back in five minutes, send up a flare with your wand to signal our location to the rest of the Aurors."

"I want to go with you, I'll be-"

"A distraction," he finished in a hard tone. "You seem to be unable to separate your feelings about what happened between us from the mission and what needs to happen between us now. You're being impertinent, headstrong, impulsive and not listening to orders," he shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, Aurora. I really am, but now is neither the time nor the place for these issues." He walked past her to the mouth of the cave before turning to give her one more disappointed look.

"When we get back, I will talk to Moody about having you placed on another team. Until then, I am your leader and you will follow my orders," he gave a small sigh, looking at the darkened cave then back at her. "Five minutes, Aurora, no more," with that, he entered the musty area.

A.N. Well that's it for this chapter, only about two or three to go and then the story is done. What do you think will happen? I already know and soon you will too, I will update on the usual schedule and I hope you enjoy. Please Review.

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 20

Harry entered the darkened musty cave, his senses alert and on end. While taking a moment for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light, his hand instinctively went to his robe pocket where he fondled the diamond ring. He then assured himself that he would make it out to present it to the girl he loved in the proper fashion before beginning to move forward.

Now that he could make out the contours of the cave walls, Harry made his way stealthy through the passage, barely making a sound and refraining from lighting his wand's tip. As he came to a split in the tunnel he noticed, that to the right there seemed to be a dim light flickering in the distance. Taking a deep breath, he silently made his way towards the area, sparing a quick glance at his lightly glowing watch; he had four minutes until Aurora sent the warning flair.

Upon reaching the opening, he saw Bellatix Lestrange standing at the opposite end of the room with her back to him, her body swaying slightly to an eerie tune that was playing on an old phonograph. She stopped mid-sway as he entered the room, her head falling back as she sensed his presence. Slowly turning to face him, her head came forward and fell a bit to the side, her dark scraggly hair falling into her face. As a twisted grin settled upon her pale, gaunt face and her eyes danced with a morbid type of laughter.

"Why, if it isn't Harry Potter," she said in a rough, slightly husky voice. "I was expecting your pretty little girlfriend first, but I knew it wouldn't be long before you showed up. You have this knack for trying to play the...hero," she swished her wand in time with the music. "You're like a tiny little Albus, just as loyal and pathetic as he was."

She gave another slow grin "It was a pleasure to see him die," a mock frown twisted her lips, "but it was a shame I couldn't make the funeral."

Harry clenched his jaw, controlling his anger because he knew that, that was what she was hoping for. He silently thanked Merlin for the rough Auror training that helped him to control the impulsive behavior he was so famous for in his youth. Moving from the darkness of the cave opening, he placed himself in position so that his back was against the wall, then he addressed her.

"That's okay," he said with a smirk "I would have been unable to make it to Voldemort's," he gave a mocking grin "that is, if there had been anything left to bury."

Just as he suspected it would, the comment sent Bellatrix into a rage. Her face contorted into a look of pure hatred as she raised her wand and shouted out at him.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry jumped out of the way and the curse collided with the wall behind him, cracking the rock and sending a small hail of stones down in his direction. Ignoring the falling debris that connected with his back and shoulders, he sent a counter spell of his own.

"Sectumsempra!" he shouted, Bellatrix let out a yell of pain as the spell connected with her, slashing her face.

"Crucio!"

He quickly dodged the curse.

“Defodio!” she shouted again.

"Protego Totalum!"

"Confringo!" she shouted and Harry ducked as several rocks exploded behind his head.

"Conjunctivitis!" he called out, Bellatrix froze, momentarily blinded.

"Avada Kedavra!" she yelled a moment later.

However, because she was having trouble seeing, the spell was far off target and Harry didn't even have to move to avoid it.

"Imperio!" she called out immediately after the last.

"Sectumsempra!" he called out again, aiming at her wrist.

When the spell connected with its target area, Bellatrix immediately dropped her wand. As it rolled across the dirt floor, she fell to her knees and began searching frantically for it. Harry quickly approached the fallen weapon and stepped on it before she could retrieve it.

"Go ahead, Potter," she spat his name out, "kill me. Or don't you have the guts?"

Harry smirked at her "Oh, I have the guts... and as much as you deserve to die, you don't deserve to die as easily as this." he shook his head, "No, I think several years in Azkaban followed by a Dementor's kiss is the way you deserve to go."

Bellatrix stared at him, horrified. Her gaze searching and still somewhat unfocused. Then, to Harry's great surprise, she began to laugh, an insane type of laugher that made his hairs stand on end. Before he could really process what was going on he felt a horrible pain in his stomach.

Automatically releasing his wand, Harry looked down to see what the cause of his mind numbing hurt was. His eyes connected with what seemed to be the end of a stake sticking out of his abdomen. Touching the bloody tip with trembling fingers, he fell to his knees as a searing pain enveloped him. Before he could cushion himself, Harry felt his body being roughly turned and he landed next to Bellatrix on his back, the landing impaling him on the stake, driving it even further into his body. A scream was torn from his throat echoing off of the cavern walls as a spasm ripped though him, heightening his agony.

Opening his eyes with great difficulty, he saw a tall powerful vampire leaning over him, his fangs longer than any Harry had ever seen. The stubble on his face gave him an animalistic look and his wild hair practicality stood on end, he leant over Harry, peering at his face.

"So, this is the famous Harry Potter?" he said in a rumbling hissing tone that reminded Harry of Voldemort. "Funny,” he gave a mocking grin, licking his fangs with his tongue “he doesn't seem too unbeatable to me."

He then gave Harry a sharp shove in the chest causing another scream to erupt from his lips. Harry's hand slowly stretched out to his side and using a large amount of his remaining strength, he attempted to summon his wand to him.

"Hmmm, I wonder how the blood of 'The Chosen One' tastes," Gideon asked, running a long yellow nail against the tip of the spike; scooping some of Harry's blood into the tip, he placed it into his mouth. His eyes closed in ecstasy as he sampled the tangy liquid. "Mmm," he said with a grotesque smile "it is probably the some of best I've tasted," he licked his lips "almost as good as a child's… I can't wait for more."

As he said this he turned Harry's head, exposing his long neck and leaned forward. Gideon's extensive fangs were bared and glinting in the candlelight as he slanted over Harry's body intent upon an extended taste of his prey. Just as he was about to sink his teeth into the dark haired man's smooth neck, Gideon felt a small poke in his chest. He froze, his eyes widening as he recognized it as a wand.

"Avada... Kedavra," Harry whispered weakly.

The last thing he saw was a flash of green light before everything faded to black and numbness took over his body. As he slipped into blissful oblivion, one last thought grazed his consciousness.

'Hermione...'

Eerie music played on in the distance, twisted laughter cackled in the background and a single, solitaire diamond ring hit the bloodied floor.

**************************************************

Hermione was sitting at the Weasley's table watching with a detached sort of interest as the dinner progressed. Several times Ginny, Luna, Mrs. Weasley, and Remus had tried to pull her into the conversation, but each time they had failed. She just could not hold onto a train of thought or stop worrying about Harry, and no matter what she did, she could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. She pushed the mashed potatoes around on her plate, once again staring at them with unseeing eyes.

"-what do you think Hermione?"

She looked up when she heard her name, blushing as she realized that she had missed not only the question, but the conversation attached.

"I said that we should do this again so that Harry and Tonks can be here for the celebration," Mrs. Weasley said with a smile, ignoring the snort from Fred and the scowl from Ron.

"That would be lovely, Mrs. Weasley. I'm sure Harry woul..." she trailed off as her eyes closed and a feeling of intense despair came over her.

Feeling the immediate need for air, Hermione pushed violently away from the table and ran outside, followed closely by the adults and several of the children from the dinner table.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ginny asked hesitantly, reaching out to touch her arm.

Hermione jerked away from her, looking frantically around the darkened yard and at the sky. She didn't know what it was, but, suddenly, she just had to see Harry. Where was he? She needed to see him! She need to see him now!

"Harry!" she called out.

Everyone looked at each other in surprise before looking at Hermione as though she were daft.

"Hermione, dear, please just come into the house," Mrs. Weasley said softly, walking towards the frantic witch.

"No! Not until I know!"

She vaguely heard a couple of people murmur 'know what' but choose to ignore them, still looking desperately around for any sign of Harry. She didn't know what this feeling in her stomach was, and in her heart, she only knew that the only way to make it go away was to make sure that he was okay.

"I'm sure he's alright," Remus said quickly "if it'll make you feel better, I'll contact, Tonks, okay? She's at the Auror's office too and I'm sure she can assure us that he's okay."

Hermione turned her attention away from the sky and stared at him a moment before taking a shaky breath and giving a small nod. Casting another look at the darkened skies overhead, she suppressed her feelings of dread and slowly walked back to rejoin the group. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as she finally returned to normal, but just as Remus was about to summon his Patronus to deliver the message, Tonks appeared a few feet away.

"Tonks!" Ginny called out.

Everyone looked at the witch as she rushed towards them in a weary jog; all greetings became frozen on their lips as they noticed her blood-soaked clothing. Hermione felt her knees give out and she fell to a sitting position on the ground, knowing what the woman would say before she could even form the words. Tonk's dark eyes fixed on Hermione with a haunted look, her mouth opened but no words escaped.

"Is he dead?" The brown haired woman asked softly, her voice cracking.

Tonks shook her head no, "St. Mungos."

Giving her a stiff nod and without another word, Hermione disappeared with a pop.

A.N. Well, that's it for 20! Wow, almost done! There only exactly three more chapters to go, sorry if it seemed a bit short but hey the story stops where the story stops. I will update as usual, stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel. PLEASE REVIEW and Ja ne!!

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 21

They were sitting in a private waiting room at St. Mungo's Hospital and had been for the past three hours. Hermione was staring blankly at the wall, her tears, having dried up about an hour ago, left her eyes puffy and her whole body feeling numb. A couple of seats over to her right, Mrs. Weasley sat, still crying softly with her head against her husband's shoulder as he attempted to comfort her, his own eyes red from tears. Fred and George Weasley sat across from their parents, strangely quiet; their expressions stoic and their minds seemingly lost in thought. Luna, who had fallen into a fitful sleep leaning against Neville, kept mumbling about Gindygoats and Ginny was laying with her head on Dean's lap, staring at an empty chair with silent tears streaming from her eyes. Hermione was startled out of her thoughts when someone put their arm around her. Shifting her gaze slightly, she saw Ron giving her a worried look.

"Don't worry, 'Mione," he said softly "Harry'll be okay. I mean, he didn't beat Voldemort to be done in by some mangy Vampire with a superiority complex," he gave her a half smile.

She tried to smile back; she really did because she appreciated what he was trying to do, but try as she might, her lips would no longer turn that way, not until she knew that Harry would be okay. Ron didn't seem to take offense to her lack of response, instead, he pulled her close and allowed her to rest her head on his shoulder.

Hermione relaxed a bit under his touch, it would be okay, it had to be. Ron was here with her and soon Harry would be too - it would be the three of them, just like old times... always and forever. She shifted her eyes as Remus and Tonks walked into the room, not failing to notice that the latter had on a fresh change of clothes.

"Well, we've managed to get several Aurors and Magical Law Enforcement officers to secure the floor so that no media can make it up," Remus said with a sigh, taking a seat next to the tired looking Nymphadora and softly rubbing her neck. "They're practically camped outside, waiting for news and more than one has already tried to sneak up, but don't worry, we've secured the floors and delegated a discrete place for any of you to apparate from, if you have to leave."

He received no response to his comments, though Hermione doubted that he really had been expecting one. Everyone continued to sit in silence for the next several minutes, the only sound being that of people breathing and the occasional sniffle or two. The quiet was disrupted when three people walked into the room, Hermione recognized two by appearance, but knew all three by name. Devon, Aurora, and Marcello, Harry's Auror team entered the room their faces somber. They looked around for a moment, as if unsure how to proceed, before the one that Hermione assumed was Marcello finally spoke.

"Hello," he said in a strong Spanish accent. His voice was quiet, but powerful. "For those of you who do not know us, we are the members of the Elite Auror Task Force, I am Marcello," he motioned towards the other two, "and they are Devon and Aurora." he paused for a moment taking a breath. "As members of Harry's team we feel it is our duty to tell you what we know about what has happened tonight."

Hermione pulled away from Ron, sitting up straight in her seat. She was so fixated on what the tall Spaniard had to say, she didn't notice when everyone else in the room seemed to do the same. Marcello told them about the information that they had received about Bellatrix and how they had gone back to Transylvania to try to stop her and the Satanists from rebuilding forces and attacking otherwise peaceful vampires, some of whom were Aurora's family. He told them how Harry had detected trouble and given them the proper signal so that they were able to take the vampires by surprise and how he had probably saved both Devon and Aurora's lives.

"Unfortunately, I'm not sure of everything that happened. All I know is that one minute he was fighting beside me and the next he was gone," he finished with a frown.

"So, you don't know what happened?" Ron asked with an angry expression. "You're all suppose to be a team! When you needed him, he saved your arses, but when he needed you... you didn't know where he went?"

Marcello opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted.

"It was my fault," Aurora said softly, all eyes swung to her, including those of her fellow Aurors. "I was fighting and had just taken down three vampires when I saw her... Bellatrix," she ran an agitated hand though her hair. “I don't know what I was thinking; it's just, when she ran... I immediately ran after her. I was just beginning to gain on her when I heard Harry calling out and ordering me to stop…. But, I -I ignored him and kept running. Then, I saw her run into a cave, but, before I could reach it, I was grabbed from behind with my arms pent to my side. I didn't even have a chance to yell out before Harry shouted the security question at me," she looked at the floor.

"I answered him and he let me go. He then began to yell at me for being irresponsible and impulsive; I told him I had seen Bellatrix and he pointed out that I probably only saw her because she wanted me to and that I was more than likely running blindly into a trap. I knew he was right, but instead of feeling chastised, I felt angry," she took a shaky breath, "angry at myself for being so stupid, angry at him for yelling at me, and angry at myself again for making it so that he had to. Harry told me that he was going into the cave and if he wasn't back in five minutes to send up a flare," tears began to stream down her face. "He said that he would talk to Moody when we got back, since I couldn't seem to get passed my anger about...about what happened between us... but, until then, I was to follow his orders, stay were he told me, and to be sure to shoot the flare at the required time."

Aurora began to cry in earnest, as her legs gave out and she fell heavily to the ground. The blond Auror Devon reached out to help, but she pushed his hand away.

"It was my fault," she whispered, shaking her head and crying.

"What was your fault, Aurora, what happened?!" Hermione demanded, surprising everyone, since it was the first thing she had said since asking if Harry was dead.

Aurora looked at her for a moment, her expression bleak and her eyes empty.

"I was just so mad," she whispered, "I was mad and humiliated; I didn't think that it was fair that he felt he could control my life. He could date me then dump me when he got tired of me or got the girl he really wanted, then he could force me off of the team I loved just because I didn't bounce back as quickly as he would have liked." she dropped her head, staring at the floor as she continued. "When he left, I stood there for a minute, but then I thought I saw flames. I got worried about my family and I figured that Harry was more than capable of taking care of himself so...so...so, I left."

"What?!" Devon and Marcello exclaimed.

The blond pulled away from her, an appalled expression on his handsome features.

"Why would you leave?!" he demanded.

"Harry gave you an order," Marcello added angrily. "You never disobey an order, it can cost lives."

"Don't you think I know that?!" she yelled, looking up at the dark-haired man with a tear-stained face. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking, okay! I know that this is my fault - I'm well aware of it and I don't need you to tell me!"

"Okay, everyone calm down," Lupin said, standing and placing himself between the two; he then looked down at Aurora. "What happened next?"

She dropped her head again. "I apparated to the village... it was on fire. I looked for my brother and my nieces and nephews, but I couldn't find them." she ran her hand through her hair again "I was frantic... I lost track of time. After I don't know how long, I found my sister-in-law nursing one of the wounded and she told me that my brother was helping to put out the fires. When she assured me that everyone was safe, I remembered that I should have checked for Harry by now..." she took a shuddering breath. "I apparated back to the mouth of the cave and looked around. I wasn't sure how long he had been gone, so I didn't know if he was still in there or if he had left... until...until I heard..." she began to cry and Devon put his arm around her, this time she didn't push him away. "I heard him scream..." she closed her eyes, her body falling forward so far that she would have hit the ground had Devon not been holding her up.

"It's the worst sound I've ever heard... it was -he -it, it just sounded as though it had been ripped from his very soul." she shuddered " I sent out the flare and rushed into the passageway. Just as I noticed a faint candlelight ahead, I saw a flash of green. Rushing into the cavern, I saw Gideon... the head vampire of the Satanists, he was lying limply on the floor. As I neared, I noticed Bellatrix laughing hysterically. She was gloating about how they 'had succeeded where even the Dark Lord failed,' I hit her with a stunner. I wanted so badly to just kill her but Harry told us to only do that if we needed to."

She paused, taking a deep breath. "I looked around the room for Harry, but didn't see him... until I looked at Gideon. It was then I noticed the edge of black robes under him. I... I pushed his dead body over and there was Harry...he..." she began to cry quietly, struggling through the last of her story. "He was lying on the floor, his eyes closed his face pale and...there -there -he -he had been stabbed by a stake." she looked at the floor blindly reaching as though the scene were in front of her once more. "There was so much blood..." she began to cry again and at this point Marcello took over.

"We rushed to the cave following the 'X' that had been left in the air by Aurora's flare. When we got inside, we found her staring at Harry's body, I froze for a moment, but only a moment before rushing over to check his pulse. It was there, but it was weak... he had lost a lot of blood, at that time some of the other Aurors had arrived. Tonks rushed in, after noticing what had happened, she ran forward to hug Harry, almost impaling herself on the stake in the process," he cast a glance at Tonks who was staring at her hands. "Devon and another Auror pulled her away and I picked him up and Apparated us here to St. Mungos, and that's pretty much all that we know."

Hermione had just opened her mouth to ask a question when she was interrupted.

"Is everyone here for Harry Potter?" They looked to see a short round woman with rosy cheeks looking at them, her clipboard and white uniform identified her as a healer.

"Yes," Fred said, "we all are... we're -we're his family."

The woman gave a small nod, her expressionless face telling nothing. "Okay, well, let me update you on what is going on."

Hermione stood anxiously from her seat at those words, but she wasn't alone. Almost everyone stood from their locations with the exceptions of Fleur, who was holding a sleeping Abigail and Aurora who was sitting on the floor still looking upset and drained.

"Well," Mrs. Weasley asked anxiously, "what is it? What news do you have?"

"Well," the healer said, looking down at her clipboard. "As I'm sure you're already aware," she gave a pointed look to the several Aurors in the room. "Harry was stabbed in the abdomen with a stake. Now, we were able to repair most of the damage to his internal organs magically, however he lost a fair amount of blood..."

"So?" Hermione interrupted anxiously. "You guys should be able to do something about that, right?"

"Well, you see," the healer frowned a bit, "blood is something that we cannot magically create, so a loss of it cannot be easily fixed. Before Mr. Potter got here, there were a rash of injured Vampires and other Aurors brought here from the battle and unfortunately his blood type is not a very common one."

"What does that mean?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Well, we are running a low on his blood type, so unless someone here can give him blood, it's going to be touch and go while his body attempts to create what it needs to sustain his life."

"What type? What type is he?" Hermione asked.

"Mr. Potter is type O, so..."

"I'll do it." Hermione interrupted, before giving a type of nervous laughter, "I'm O, I can do it."

"Well... that's great, but," everyone looked at the healer who had spoken. "I think we're going to need a bit more than what we can safely remove from you."

"But-"

"Ron."

Everyone turned to Mrs. Weasley, who had called out her son's name. Turning her head, the older woman looked at her youngest son.

"Ron is... I had always thought it a bit odd since all of my other children are A positive but for some reason he..." she trailed off.

Everyone looked at Ron, but he just stood there in silence, staring at an unseen point on the wall.

"Well," Lupin said after a moment, "I am, but I don't think that my blood would really be much help."

"I am," Devon said stepping forward "I'd be happy to he-"

"No."

Everyone turned to look at the redhead who had made this declaration. Ron pulled his eyes from the wall and looked at the stout healer.

"I'm doing it. Where do I go?"

Giving one last quick glance at the blond Auror, the healer nodded and turned walking out of the room, followed closely behind by Ron and Hermione. She led them down a softly but brightly lit corridor to a set of mahogany double doors. Pushing on the doors, she led them into a room that Hermione realized was quite similar to one of those in a Muggle hospital.

“Just have a seat,” the healer said, motioning to two reclining chairs that were side by side to one another.

Hermione took a seat in the one closest to the door, knowing what would happen, she rolled up her sleeve so that the woman could get to one of her veins. After giving a weary glance to the chair and the metallic pole next to it, Ron took his seat in the chair next to her. Mimicking Hermione's action, he hesitantly rolled up his sleeve as he sat, giving a worried look and wincing as the healer inserted the needle into Hermione's arm to take the blood.

“That looks like it's going to hurt,” Ron said in a shaky voice, looking a bit queasy.

“I'm sure that if I can handle it, it should be no problem for a big strong Quidditch player like you,” Hermione said with a soft teasing smile.

He winced before placing a wobbly smile on his face. “Of course it's not a problem, I was just… you know, saying… that it looked to be painful, not that I was scared or anything.”

“Don't worry, Ron. I had no doubt in your manly countenance,” she said, smiling a bit wider. “I knew that it wouldn't be a problem for you.”

He watched the healer with wary eyes as she got the needle from the small basket next to his chair, giving a small jerk as she used her wand to clean the area of his arm that she would be taking the blood from.

“Ron,” Hermione said softy, momentarily distracting him from his intense perusal of the needle that would be used on him.

“Yeah,” he glanced over at her.

“Thank you,” she replied, receiving his full attention in response.

“For what?” He gave her a curious look.

“You know for what…” she said; he flushed a bit, “look, I think…”

“All done,” the healer said, causing Ron to give a started look to the needle he hadn't even know had been placed in his arm. “Now, squeeze this ball and I will be back in a few moments to check on you two.”

She then gathered her things and made her way quietly out of the room. Hermione and Ron watched her go in silence.

“Ron,” Hermione said, regaining his attention.

“Yeah.”

“We need to talk.”

A.N. Okay, that's it for this chapter, until next time. Please, please review! For those of you who are aware, I just wanted to let you know that I am also aware that there is a way to magically reproduce blood, however it didn't fit for what I wanted for the story, that's one of the perks of being the author you can do things like that *wink*

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Ace of Hearts

Chapter 22

“All done,” the healer said, causing Ron to give a startled look to the needle he hadn't even known had been placed in his arm. “Now, squeeze this ball and I will be back in a few moments to check on you two.”

She then gathered her things and made her way quietly out of the room. Hermione and Ron watched her go in silence.

“Ron,” Hermione said, regaining his attention.

“Yeah?”

“We need to talk.”

***************************************

Though he didn't respond, Hermione knew that Ron had heard her from the shuttered look that came over his eyes. He stared at the wall for a few moments as he had done earlier before looking at her.

“I know.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it, realizing that she didn't know where to begin… what to say. Biting her lip, Hermione looked at Ron's hard profile before turning herself to look at the wall. What should she say? Should she tell him what she told Ginny… would he want to hear that, would she even be able to say it? She sighed, rubbing her temples and trying to get her turbulent thoughts in order.

“When?” Ron asked softly.

Hermione's eyes snapped to him. “Well… I guess right now, we shou-”

“No,” he turned his gaze from the white walls of the room and pinned her with hard eyes. “When?”

She took a deep breath, understanding his meaning. “Well…” she sighed and ran her free hand through her hair. “When… what? When did I start having feelings for Harry, or… when did we….” She trailed off, averting her gaze.

“Either, both, I don't care, I just want to know when.”

She looked back at him and sighed. “I… well, I started having feelings for Harry…” she hesitated softly biting the inside of her cheek before building the courage to continue truthfully. “I started having feelings for him, while -while we were still in Hogwarts…” she paused, looking at Ron to gauge his reaction.

Ron's brows furrowed for a moment, before a frown pulled at his lips.

“So, when we were dating you had feelings for Harry?” he asked, still frowning.

“Before…” she exhaled, “before we were dating. I suppose I had always been a bit attracted to him; he was one of my first friends and had he always stuck by me…”

“And I didn't!?” Ron exclaimed, interrupting.

She frowned. “Not the way he did.”

“What the hell does that mean!? When you needed me, I was there for you!” He scoffed. “What, because I wasn't Harry, I wasn't good enough!?”

“It wasn't anything like that and you know it, we-”

“Oh, I know it, do I!? Wow, you and Harry sure love to tell me what I know and what I don't. From the looks of things, I don't seem to know much, so perhaps you should enlighten me.” Ron said sarcastically.

“Gladly,” Hermione responded barely suppressing a glare of her own, “throughout our time at Hogwarts, you and I hardly…heck, we never went a week without fighting about something, and we couldn't even get though a year without periods where we didn't speak to one another at all.” She shook her head in disappointment. “Through all of those times Harry was there for me, as a friend, as a shoulder to cry on, as support from not only the hurt inflicted upon me by people like Malfoy but from the hurt inflicted upon me… by you, Ron.”

He gave her a surprised look.

“All the times you called me annoying - when you called be bossy, a know it all, stuck-up - the comments about me not having any friends or needing to get more, comments about my looks…” she looked down at her lap then back at him. “Those really hurt, Ron, and they hurt even more because I thought that they were true, but Harry… he was always the one to tell me things like…that I wasn't bossy, just motherly, or that people who knew it all, were allowed to be know-it-alls…” she smiled softly at the memory, then looked Ron in the eyes. “Do you know that he was the first person to tell me that I wasn't ugly? A girl never forgets things like that.”

“I never called you ugly Hermione, you know that.” Ron softly said frowning.

“I know that you never came flat out and said it, but the comments about my hair; being privy to several of your opinions on how beautiful other girls were or the ever famous night that you finally had to realize that I was a girl…” she chuckled a bit and gave him a soft smile. “A girl never forgets things like that, either.”

“So because Harry complimented you more than me, you wanted to be with him? Does that mean - does that mean that you settled for me?”

“No, I didn't. It wasn't just that he complimented me, Ron. It - it was the way he was… just his presence, how humble his was and still is. I mean - he was the most well-known wizard at the school, heck - in the world, but the way he acted you'd think he was as invisible to everyone as we were… or, at least, as we were before it became known that we hung out with Harry regularly,” she sighed. “Either way, it started off as a crush… and developed into more over time. But, with the way things happened… including his sudden interest in, and subsequent relationship with Ginny, I just figured that he didn't notice me in that way. ” She sighed again “And since, even though you were quite stubborn and pig headed at times, I had always had a bit of a crush on you also, I began to look at you in a new light. The next thing I knew, I liked you, too, then that like began to change and develop and I found myself in love with you.”

“So, if you were so bloody in love with me, then how did this happen?” he said harshly. “When did it change? When did you stop?” He finished in a hurt whisper.

Hermione looked at him guiltily for a moment before once again fidgeting. “Ron, I still love you, I do. I just think… well,” she sighed, “the thing with Harry... the feelings I had, they... well, they never really stopped - I was just able to suppress them, push them away into the back of my mind,” she shook her head. “I even felt guilty when you left while we were searching for the Horcruxes, I thought that you had been able to see through my façade, into my heart and what was there,” she gave a harsh laugh. “Merlin knows that I didn't want it to be there Ron, because it was useless, pointless to feel what I felt for someone who did not and would never want me - at least not in a way that didn't pertain to looking up information, solving riddles and puzzles, or as a sister who needed comforting instead of a girl turning into a woman who needed love and to be seen as a desirable.”

Hermione paused, taking a shuddering breath; she couldn't believe that she had said that, that she had voiced her feelings for the first time and that she had done so with Ron instead of Harry. She looked hesitantly at him, but his gaze was once again averted. She took a deep breath and continued.

“I love you Ron, I did… I still do,” she said softly. He scoffed.

Hermione sighed. “After you came back, I concentrated on showing you - and myself - how great we would be together. The next thing I knew, I was sure that I was pretty much over Harry and totally and completely in love with you.”

“Which was, of course, a lie,” Ron muttered, opening and closing his fist and glaring at the wall.

“It wasn't a lie. I loved you Ron, I still love you. It's just not as strong as what it needs to be to make this… to make us work - and it's not in the way that you... that you love me.” She leant forward and touched his arm, pulling away when he jerked back.

“Look, enough of the history lesson, Hermione. When did you and Harry start screwing around?” He asked point blank, turning to look her in the eyes; his own devoid of emotion.

“We weren't…” she trailed off when he glared and then, rolling her eyes, she continued. “The first time that we really made out was the night of your party for making the Cannons,” she looked down and blushed, “we… kissed a bit in the kitchen… the first ti-”

“Where the hell was I?” Ron demanded, glowering.

Hermione winced and looked at him. “Well, you were totally and completely sotted, passed out in your bed, snoring.”

He pursed his lips but didn't say anything, instead settling for a short nod of his head, indicating that she should continue.

She took a deep breath and spoke again. “The first time that we made love,” she hesitated when he cringed, but quickly recovered “was while you were away at training camp for the Cannons, Harry came home from a mission and his back hurt, I gave him a massage and… well…. you can pretty much fill in the rest.”

“So, every time I had a happy event with the Cannons, you and Harry decided that it was a good time to celebrate by shagging? Is that it? You decided to ruin the moments that were supposed to be the happiest in my life!” He gave her and fierce look.

“No, it wasn't like that… look, I know that it may mean a lot less than what it used to but, I promise that we were in no way trying to ruin your happiest moments. We weren't trying to and didn't want to hurt you,” he glared at her and she sighed again. “I realize that there is nothing I can do or say to change what happened and I know that I can't stop you from hurting,” she finished softly.

Hermione reached out and took his hand, holding fast when he tried to pull away.

“I love you, Ron. We love you.” She held on tighter. “I know it's going to be hard, so all I can do is hope that one day you will to be able to forgive me. I don't expect that day to be today, but I pray that that day will come.”

She gave a watery smile as tears slipped from her eyes.

“You are my very best friend next to Harry, and I value your friendship as much as his… if not more because of what we've shared. I miss you Ron, I miss us. Heck, I even miss our arguments, I had never realized how much a part of me they had become.” She sniffled; starting as Ron pulled out of her grasp and reached up to wipe the tears from her face.

He took a deep breath and held it for a moment before speaking. “I… I love you, too… 'Mion…er, Her-mione,” he sighed, “as much as it hurts me to say it after all that has happened.” He shook his head. “I still love both you and Harry… but I, I don't know if I can forgive you - either of you for what you've done. I trusted both of you so much, probably more then you even realize and you betrayed me.”

“I know, Ron and I'm so, so, so very sorry… I didn't and don't want to hurt you and if I could change the way I feel I would….” Hermione ran a hand through her hair, “look… how about if, if I walk away,” she took a shuddering breath. “Harry needs you, he needs and your family… and, and if you'll just forgive him then I'll leave, walk away an-”

“What would that help, Hermione? What's done is done. The pain and betrayal can't be erased. It's too deep and too fresh for me to be able to move on that easily.” Ron put a finger upon her mouth to silence her response. “You've already hurt me by leaving me to be with Harry; all leaving him would mean is that you're hurting him, too, and that you hurt me for nothing. Look, we both know that as much as I wish they hadn't, my family has already forgiven Harry and anyway you would never be able to walk away from him that easily... besides, would he let you?”

He shook his head in answer to his own question and laid back in the seat to look up at the ceiling.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but… you and Harry should stay together,” he turned his head and looked at her, sadness still prominently displayed in his eyes. “I never wanted to loose you, Hermione, but if I did then Harry….” Ron shook his head and left the comment hanging.

Unsure of how to respond, she leaned back in her seat also and stared at him. After about a minute of silence, the healer re-entered the room. Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that she had just waiting for them to finish talking to come back in.

“Well,” the older lady said with a smile, “let me just get one more bag from each of you and we'll be done.”

She used her wand to remove and replace the bags, bustling around the room gathering materials and putting them into her apron as the containers filled with blood. When they were done a minute or so later she removed them and gave another smile.

“All done,” she said while softly pulling out the needles and using her wand to close up the opening that they created. “You both did a great job; we'll make sure to get these over to Mr. Potter right now, so you should be able to see him within the next few minutes.” She said, then turned to leave, as she reached the door she looked over her shoulder and called out, “you two can stay in here as long as you wish, after taking blood it's good to stay stationary for a bit,” she paused before continuing. “Mr. Potter is very lucky to have family like you to rush to his aid, it just may have saved his life,” the healer gave a small smile and walked out, shutting the door softly behind herself.

Hermione looked over at Ron, who was still sitting next to her; his gaze transfixed on his fingers as they fidgeted with one another.

“Ron,” she said softly; he froze still looking at his hands, “I'm truly sorry… I…we, never meant to hurt you.”

Ron continued to stare at his fingers, his only movement being the soft rise and fall of his chest as he breathed and the occasional blinking of his eyes. After a few minutes of silence, he finally responded, giving Hermione the small amount of hope that she had been wishing for.

“I know.”


A.N. Okay people the last chapter is completed and will be posted next week. For those of you who felt this chapter was short do not fret, the last chapter is a whopping twenty-four pages long, I am thinking I should just leave it as one big chapter so that you guys can have an nice long read but let me know what you think. Only one more chapter to go (possibly) so stay tuned. Ja ne!

**Also for the delay I apologized, as you know I like to update every Friday but my beta has not gotten back to me on my latest story Redemption (D/G) and I hate to only update part of my stories… For the few of you who have given my other story a shot, I thank you and I'll update before the week is out. With or without my beta'd chappy.

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Ace of Hearts
Chapter 23

It smelled clean. To most others, this would not be a big deal, but, to Harry, it meant the world; it meant he was safe. Though the smell of dirt and decay lingered a bit in his nostrils, the much bolder scents of asphodel, dittany, and daisies were more apparent in the air. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the odor and letting his body relax; slowly focusing his energy, he attempted to open his eyes.

After rapidly blinking a few times, he was able to keep them open, and as his gaze focused, the soft cream-colored walls of a hospital room came into contrast. Relaxing a bit more, Harry allowed his head to lull to the other side, the light from a nearby window pulling at his attention. A soft blue sky with thin wispy white clouds peeked from between the beige curtains, offering him a glimpse at the beauty that was beyond. Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, Harry shifted his gaze away from the window and refocused on the small form of a woman, sleeping in the chair next to his bed.

`Hermione,' his mind whispered. He could feel himself smiling.

As if she sensed his thoughts, the young witch shifted slightly in the chair, snuggling deeper into the overly large jacket that was covering her small form. Harry took a shuddering breath as emotions that had left him in his blissful darkness returned full force. He had almost lost her, he had almost left her alone… he had almost…

He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. There wasn't any sense in thinking about it; he was safe now. His brows furrowed. How did he get safe anyway? The last thing that he remembered was the heavy force of Gideon's body upon his and an intense, blinding pain in his abdomen. Harry reached a shaky hand upward and hesitantly touched his torso, running it slowly over the area where the wound should be. He felt a small abrasion, but nothing as large or gaping as he thought would be there from the way that it had felt while the stake was in him. Then again, he also knew that he had been stabbed in the back so that's probably where most of the damage had been done. His hand stilled against his wound and he looked back at the bright morning sky, wondering how long he had been unconscious.

“It's about seven-thirty,” a voice whispered beside him.

Harry's gaze snapped to his right where a worn-out and sleepy-looking Ron was wiping his eyes. The red-haired man then gave an enormous, silent yawn before once again looking at him and giving a weak half-smile.

“Hey, Harry! It's about time you woke up!” he motioned toward Hermione. “You had her in a right state all night. Just about drove me nutters, that one.”

Harry gave a weak smile to his best mate - his former best mate.

Seeing the confusion on Harry's face, Ron looked away for a minute, blushing before looking back at the dark-haired man.

"Look," he took a deep breath pausing for a moment before continuing. "No matter how much of a tosser you were," he gave a pointed look, "and still are, for going behind my back with my girl. I... I still... well... you know, ca-care about you, Harry. I'm not going to not be there if you're in a hospital somewhere, dying," he quirked a half grin. "Well, that is unless I was the one to put you there."

Harry chuckled a bit. Closing his eyes for a moment, he gave another quick glance to Hermione. Finding that she was still sleeping, he looked back at Ron.

"Ron, we need to talk," he said, his voice coming out weaker than he would have liked.

"Yeah," the other man said, "I know."

Ron then shifted, his hand slipped into his pant pocket before he pulled out a small, single solitaire diamond ring, holding it up before Harry's face.

"That Spanish guy on your team gave me this. He said that they found it in the cave." He hesitated before licking his lips and continuing, "he said it was yours. Is it?... Is it yours, Harry?"

Harry looked guiltily at the wall for a moment before turning his head back to Ron and looked him in the eyes. Giving a solemn nod, he awaited the wrath that he knew would soon follow.

"Is it for her?" Ron asked quietly, his gaze going past Harry and focusing on the girl in the chair.

"Yes."

"When were you..."

"Later that night was the plan... but, then... well."

Ron looked back at Harry. "Are you sure?"

This time the dark-haired man's focused on the woman in the chair. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life," he said without removing his gaze from her. "I love her."

He looked back at Ron. The redhead nodded and passed him the ring. As Harry's fingers closed around the small object, he reveled in the feeling of it in his palm, but he was also nervous about what it implied. Though, more importantly, nervous about her answer.

"When?"

Harry's attention snapped back to Ron who had asked the softly spoken question. His friend gazed back at him steadily for a moment before speaking again.

"Last night, while we were waiting to find out about you, 'Mion.." he sighed, "Hermione and I, we had a talk and I asked her the same thing. Now I need to know from you Harry... when? When did you start to have feelings for Hermione and why didn't you ever say anything to me?"

Harry took a deep breath, then, after casting a quick glance at Hermione to make sure that she was still sleeping, he replied to Ron.

"Well... I noticed her in that way while we were still in Hogwarts," he gave a soft smile. "I want to say that I had, in fact, noticed her as a girl for sometime, but the first time that I noticed her, noticed her would have to have been when we went back in time to save Sirius." He made a face as he recalled the memory, "when she threw that time turner around my neck and pulled me close, honestly I kinda," he blushed "well for a moment I kinda thought she was going to kiss me or something. At first, I was nervous, but when I realized that that wasn't what she was going to do... I suddenly became, well, disappointed." Harry shook his head to himself and looked at Ron. "Luckily for me we had so much to do in such a small amount of time - I mean, between saving Buckbeak and Sirius and fighting off the massive horde of Dementors. I didn't really have time to analyze the feeling. Then, there was the night at the Yule Ball." He and Ron shared a look. "When she came down those stairs, mate... wow."

Ron nodded. "I felt the same way."

“But, by that time it was so obvious that you had feelings for her - and with the way that she acted sometimes, it just seemed that she had the same feelings for you.” He shrugged. “So, I just backed off. I mean, if you liked her and she liked you… who was I to try to get in between that?”

“If only you knew,” Ron mumbled, shrugging and motioning for Harry to continue when the other young man looked at him.

“Well…” He scratched the back of his head, readjusting in his bed. “When you two would fight, or when you and I would fight...” he trailed off, giving Ron a pointed look before continuing, “Hermione and I would spend a lot of time together studying or just talking. I realized that we had more things in common than I had originally thought. We connected so well that I did consider making a move a time or two but, since my "moves" were sorely lacking and I knew that you liked her, I didn't want to upset you, or her, for that matter, since I knew that you were the one she wanted.” Ron snorted. Harry ignored him. “We shared stories about our Muggle childhoods, our lack of friends and other things. She helped me out with problems I had in terms of school and stuff and I helped her out with problems she had in terms of self-esteem, or when she was feeling particularly down about fighting with you.”

“I don't think that we fought that bad,” the redhead grumbled, before grimacing a bit at the face that his friend made, then conceded with a shrug that he might be wrong. “Okay, well maybe we did disagree a bit sometimes…”

“Try 'a lot' or 'all the time',” Harry responded, raising a brow. “I mean you guys didn't get through a term without me having to play mediator at least once. The closest you came were those weeks during fourth year that roles between Hermione and I got reversed because you weren't talking to me instead.”

“Yeah, well,” Ron commented, leaving the last part hanging. He blushed a bit.

“She was always so upset about it, asking me why you acted like that, wondering if it was her fault, even crying over it sometimes… She was crying over you Ron. So, naturally I assumed she had really strong feelings for you. I mean, why else would she be so upset, why else would it matter so much and, to be honest, why else would she put up with the way you would often treat her?”

“Hey!” Ron exclaimed a little loudly. “What does that mean!? I was never horrible to her.”

“Yeah,” Harry admitted, “but you weren't great to her, either, and if anyone deserves great, it's Hermione,” Harry shook his head in wonder. “I just couldn't understand how you could have such a wonderful, smart, beautiful witch be so totally mental over you and act like such a complete git. How could you not see how completely crazy she was about you?” He sat up in bed and gave Ron a serious look. “If I had had her - I mean, if she acted that way over me, then I would have never acted the way you did, Ron.”

“If she acted that way over you?” Ron gave him an incredulous look “Are you bloody serious? She acted that way over you every day, always checking up on you, always wanting to know: Where is Harry? Is Harry okay? Who's Harry with? I mean, all she ever talked about was you, and Merlin forbid you leave her sight for a moment, next thing you know, we all have to scout out and look for Harry.”

“That's totally untrue. Sure, she looked out for me, but I think it was more in a motherly sort of way - the same as she looked out for everyone else. She was just being my friend; she didn't care for me the way that she cared for you.”

“Really? So, why is it that during second year after she'd been revived from being petrified - or, for that matter, if we ever got split up for any reason anytime after that, you were always the first person that she ran to, hmm? Why do you think she was so protective of you during the Triwizard Tournament?” He interrupted before Harry could respond, reading his thoughts. “What, because she wanted to be your mum?” Ron rolled his eyes. “Why would she need to do that when my mum is perfectly capable of smothering all three of us with that affection? Harry, listen to yourself. You say that I acted like a git because I couldn't see how she felt about me… did you ever stop to think that I acted that way because I could see how she felt about you?”

Harry stared at Ron for a moment in silence, before looking down at the hand that was still clutching the diamond ring. Shaking his head he looked back up at his friend.

“I don't….” he exhaled “I don't think that it was like that, that she felt like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really?”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then I have one question for you.”

Harry gave an inquiring look.

“Who is she with?”

“What?” Harry's dark brows furrowed together.

“Now,” Ron said, smirking, “who is she with, now? Who is she in love with? Which of us,” he motioned between them, “did she leave the other for?”

The other man's mouth opened and closed with no response.

“Look, Harry, I've already told you I had this conversation with Hermione last night and, trust me, even back then she saw you as way more than a friend.” Ron sighed and ran a hand through his hair before sitting back and shaking his head. “So, now that we have that out of the way, when did you decide to finally make a move? I'm curious as to what changed after all these years that made it okay to hurt me?”

Harry frowned. "I didn't decide it was okay to hurt you Ron. Actually, I don't think that I decided anything, aside from the fact that I could no longer deny that I loved Hermione." He gave Ron an exasperated look. "Throughout our friendship, I have denied myself some of the things that I wanted to either do, or to tell you about, because you always get jealous. I love you to death, mate, but it really sucked having a best friend who you couldn't tell everything to because you were worried that they'd go all unhinged on you."

"That's bollocks and you know it! I didn't get upset every time you got something!" Ron whispered loudly, leaning forward in his chair.

"You know, you're right. You only got upset if it were something that you wanted also, if it were something that you wanted nothing to do with then you would gladly help me celebrate." Harry added with a chuckle that turned into a laugh as Ron griped under his breath. "Come on, Ron. Be honest."

"I am being honest," was the grumbled response.

"Oh, get off it. What would you have done back in Hogwarts if I had come up to you and said: 'Hey mate, I know that you like Hermione, but guess what? I like her too'." Ron opened his mouth to respond but Harry cut him off. "You would have responded with some smart-arse remark like: 'You always get everything anyway Harry, so why not Hermione.' Then you would have accused us of messing around already and then proceeded to ignore both of us for at least the next several months. Leaving me to explain to her exactly why you're not talking to her, which, of course, would have made things even more awkward because if she didn't like me that way she would be extremely uncomfortable,” he continued when Ron made a face. “Think about it: imagine having lost one best mate who is angry with the other because he admitted to fancying you and the other who's upset because he thinks you fancy the best mate that won't talk to him, and you probably don't. With all that madness, she wouldn't have been able to be with either of us for fear of hurting the other. Our friendship would have become strained and then eventually fizzled out. I would have lost both of the people who meant the most to me," Harry finished, taking deep breaths, looking expectantly at a wide-eyed Ron.

"Well, er, I guess it could have happened something like that... possibly," the redhead admitted after a minute of silence. "But that still doesn't answer my question, what changed? Why now?"

"Well, I guess it changed several months ago. The day that I first introduced you guys to Aurora," Harry said looking down at his hand again, "you had just seen Aurora and made a joke about switching girlfriends. I had looked over at Hermione to gage her reaction, because we both know that you can't bloody well whisper to save your arse, and she was looking back at me." He looked up at Ron with a confused expression. "There was a look in her eyes... I can't really explain it, it just... it made me feel. It took me back to when she put the time turner around my neck in third year. It was that same windless feeling. After that, I just started paying more attention and noticed that she would give me that look a lot, and then, between Aurora's insistence that there was something between Hermione and I and my new found perception of her," he looked back at Ron and shrugged, "I finally realized that the look that she was giving me seemed more..." he blushed and winced, "sexual than anything. Then, there were little things here and there that made me really wonder if she was feeling what I was."

"Like what?" Ron asked, looking bothered but oddly fascinated by the conversation.

"Well... just... the looks and well, sometimes we'd accidentally brush up against one another and when I'd catch a glimpse of her, it was as though she'd seem to like it, or , she would let it linger longer than what was necessary.” Harry said; his mind flashed to the time at the lake when they had been wrestling and Hermione had seemed to press harder against his reaction to their proximity. He flushed and looked at Ron, deciding that perhaps it was best to keep that particular example to himself. “It was just little things like that,” he finished awkwardly, averting his gaze.

Ron gave him a look that said he knew that it wasn't all, but didn't comment any further.

“I guess it just got to the point where neither of us could deny what we felt.” He looked Ron in the eyes. “I'm so sorry Ron, I am. I never wanted to hurt you and I never meant to betray you. I do want to make sure that you know that I love Hermione, I have for a long time and she is the only person that I would ever risk us and our friendship for. I know that I can't expect you to just forgive me right now, or to act like this never happened. All I can do is ask for your forgiveness and wait patiently, as long as it may take, for you to either give it... or die.” He finished with a weak smile.

Ron chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before looking at Harry to respond.

“All I can tell you is what I told Hermione. I can't say that I forgive you, Harry. You were my best mate the one person in the world that I trusted so completely that…” he trailed off, taking a deep breath. “What I can say is that almost losing you did help me to put things into perspective a bit. I realized that… as angry as I am at you… at both of you, I don't want to lose you permanently. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that she's not mine anymore. I loved her for so long and I still do. You know, I could tell that she was pulling away from me a bit, but I choose to ignore it and perhaps - perhaps that's my fault. I shouldn't have ignored my intuition and, honestly, I wouldn't have ignored it had it been pointing me in any other direction than you.” He gave a self-decrypting smile. “I guess that'll show me to listen to my heart instead of my head, huh?”

“Ron, don't…”

“Don't what? Say that, why not? It's true. My head told me something was up, my head told me that she was acting way too jealous over you and Aurora and that you seemed a bit too uncomfortable around me and Hermione at times. It told me that you seemed upset when we kissed and that she was less affectionate when you were in the room, I mean, what did you two think; I was daft? Did you really think I wouldn't notice these things? I may be a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but I'd have to be downright certifiable not to notice what was there. I just didn't want to believe it.” Ron took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Look, Harry, I can't say that I forgive you, but I can say - I can say that I will try.”

“That's all I can ask or hope for, thanks Ron.” Harry said with a weak smile, extending his empty hand for Ron to shake

After hesitating for a moment, the other man took the offered hand in a less than gentle grip, smiling to himself when Harry winced.

“Now, I can't say that there won't be days where I won't want to pummel you for touching her, but I can say that I'll try to refrain from doing so… as long as you keep your hands off my wand. Which, by the way, I wanted to apologize for…well, er… you know, trying to kill you and all.” He flushed a bit. “It's just - apparating in and seeing you two half-naked, kissing and whispering that you loved one another got me seeing red. I had just finished convincing myself that I was wrong and that she wasn't acting all jealous with Aurora over you and then, bam!, there you were right in front of my face.”

“That's okay, Ron. If I were you, I would have tried to kill me, too.”

“I, er, also really, really want to say that I'm sorry to you,” he bit his lip and looked past Harry.

Harry turned to see a Hermione awake and watching them a bewildered expression on her face.

“'Mion… Hermio… 'Mione, I never ever meant to call you a…. well, you know. I don't think of you that way, and I never have. I was just so upset - I wanted you to hurt like I was. It would mean - it would mean so much to me if you would forgive me."

She looked at Ron with glassy eyes for a moment before a brilliant grin overcame her features. She skirted the parameter of Harry's bed and barreled full force into Ron, who almost toppled back out of the chair and onto the floor upon contact.

“OfcourseIforgiveyouRon,” was the hurried and muffled response.

Despite most of his features being loss in a mass of frizzy brown curls, Harry could make out a smile on Ron's face.

“Thanks, Hermione,” he said as she pulled back.

They smiled at one another for a moment. She disentangled herself from him and came to stand in front of Harry's bed.

“Hi,” was all Harry could manage to get out before he, too, was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug.

“Well,” he heard Ron say from beside the bed. “I suppose I'll head outside and let everyone know that you're up. I think that perhaps you two would like a moment to talk. If I remember correctly, I believe, Harry, that there was something that you had wanted to ask Hermione.” The witch in question pulled back from Harry and cast Ron a curious look, failing to notice the momentarily panicked look that came over Harry's face from the comment.

“Question?” she asked, looking back at Harry.

By the time she turned, Harry had erased the look from his face and replaced it with a blank one that he had learned from years of Auror service. He gave her an innocent shrug, commenting that he had no idea what Ron was talking about. Ron smirked, rolling his eyes as he turned to walk out of the room without another word.

"So..." Harry said once Ron was gone.

"So..." Hermione replied. They looked at one another for a moment before she leant forward and hugged him once again.

As she pulled back, she stopped about two inches from Harry's face, her eyes shimmering with tears.

"I thought I had lost you," she whispered.

"You could never lose me," he responded before giving a small smile. "Even if you wanted to."

"I'd never want to," Hermione replied before closing the small distance between them and capturing his mouth in a soft, sensual kiss.

Passions that had bubbled gently beneath the surface quickly began to simmer again as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. Their tongues dueled for a moment, their fingers became tangled in one another's hair. After a far too short minute, Hermione pulled back. Still panting, they stared at one another for a second, eyes reflecting love and attraction. After a while of just gazing at each other in silence, Harry chuckled.

"What?" Hermione asked, idly running her fingers through his dark hair.

"I was just thinking that my breath must reek by now," he said with a grin, his emerald eyes containing the mirthful twinkle that she had been so worried she would never see again.

Hermione wrinkled her nose, and then pretended to sniff the air. "I thought something was a bit rank," she said with a straight face. Harry rolled his eyes and playfully poked her in the side with his finger.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," he said, smirking.

Hermione grinned. "What's the matter? I was just being agreeable."

"Since when are you agreeable?" Harry asked raising a brow.

She laughed "Touché, I shall endeavor never to do it again."

"Good," he said, joining her laughter, "because I love you the way you are: disagreeable, messy, neurotic, jealous, obsessive and everything else that makes you Hermione."

She gave him a good natured slap on the arm and a peck on the lips before leaning forward and resting her head on his chest. As his laughter subsided, Harry discreetly slipped the ring under his pillow before putting his arms around her shoulders, and holding her close. When he did loosen his arms, it was only slightly for a moment, to allow her to adjust herself so that she was lying next to him on the bed.

"Hermione?" he asked quietly, only to be shushed by the brown-haired woman.

"Be quiet, I just want to listen to your heart beat for a moment," she said in a soft voice.

Harry didn't respond, but, instead, rested his chin on her head. Closing his eyes, he rubbed his chin back in forth in her soft hair. She smelled just he remembered: of roses and parchment. They continued to hold one another for sometime; he drifted off as he slowly and hypnotically rubbed the bare skin at her waist, just under the large jacket she wore, while she did the same, listening to the song of the steady beat of his heart.

***********

“Why aren't they adorable,” Harry heard a female voice whisper dimly.

“Shh. Molly, you'll wake them up. Merlin knows they both need the rest,” he heard a male voice respond.

“I told you guys that we should give them more time to talk,” Ron commented.

“Doesn't look like they're talking to me,” said Fred… or was it George?

“That is unless they've mastered the art of telepathy," added George... or was it Fred?

"You know what I mean," Ron grumbled.

"Of course we do, dear," Mrs. Weasley said soothingly.

Harry heard the twins snigger.

"Wotcher, Remus! They must be out like candles to sleep through all this ruckus," Tonks commented in a loud whisper from somewhere to his left.

"Well, love, you know that they both had a very trying night," Lupin replied in his normal, calm tone.

"Yeah, but with as much noise as Crabbe and Goyle are making over there," Ginny chimed in, "I don't know how anyone can sleep."

"Oi!" The twins exclaimed in unison "We were not making a lot of noise!"

"Yeah, well you weren't making a little noise either," Ron added.

"Just because you have your knickers in a knot over the fact that everyone didn't listen to your commands - " one of the twins replied, but was cut off when his mum shushed him.

"Be quiet I think Harry's coming around," Mrs. Weasley said in a loud whisper.

"Wait, let me get this straight..." said twin number one, "you want us to be quiet now that he's waking up?"

"Shouldn't you have shushed us when he was still sleeping?" Twin number two asked, mirroring Harry's thoughts.

Unable to resist, Harry gave a small smile as his eyes fluttered open.

"Well, either way," he said sleepily, "Hermione's still asleep, so perhaps everyone can still keep it down a bit."

"No need," he heard Hermione say from her spot on his chest. "I'm up."

"Of course you're up," Ginny threw in. "How could you not be with my brothers talking like a bunch of excited first years."

Harry chuckled. "I do recall hearing you too, Ginny," he threw out, giving a wink to the smirking Fred and George.

"Well, I was only trying to quiet them down," Ginny added, blushing a bit. Dean gave her a smile and rubbed her back, though Harry didn't miss the eyebrow wag he gave to Fred and George when Ginny turned her attention away from him.

Looking around his bed, Harry had to admit he was more than a bit surprised. It seemed that everyone he cared about was there. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were to his left, Fred and George were at the foot of the bed, Ginny and Ron were to his right, and Dean just behind Ginny; McGonagall was just behind Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Tonks and Lupin were just behind the twins, while Luna and Neville were closer to the window. Heck, even Hagrid had squeezed into the tiny hospital room, though he did look decidedly uncomfortable compressed between the potted plant in the corner and Luna who was standing just in front of him.

"Hiya, 'Arry!" Hagrid called out, seeing Harry looking at him; he then gave a small wave that succeeded in knocking a vase containing a bouquet of flowers off of the small dresser to his right. "Oh...er...sorry," he said, going red.

"That's okay, Hagrid. I'm so glad to see you," Harry said with a huge grin. "Sorry we didn't get a chance to make it out to visit you after dinner last night like I promised."

"Tha's okay, 'Arry, I understand... I'm jes... well... I'm jes glad you're alright," he responded, sniffling a bit at the end. "You gave us quite a scare there, 'Arry."

Harry blushed a bit despite himself. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," said another voice. He looked to his right to find Aurora standing next to Devon. Marcello was standing just behind them. They seemed to have squeezed their way in front of Ginny and Ron. "It was mine, I'm... I'm so sorry Harry. I should have been there, I lost track of time and I didn't get back fast enough. I let my anger take away from my focus and my duties and that - that is completely my fault.” She sighed. “I've spoken with Moody and we've decided that it may be best that I take a bit of time away from the Auror team."

Harry's eyes went wide. "Aurora, that's not neces- "

"Yes, it is, Harry," she said, cutting him off. She then gave a small smile. "I made a huge mistake - one that almost cost you your life, and I made that mistake because I wasn't able to separate work from personal."

"That was my fault too, I shouldn't have-"

"No, it was my fault," Aurora said, cutting him off again. "I should have been able to turn it off. Like you said, there's a time and a place for everything. I should have admitted to myself just how much your rejection hurt me and confronted you about it earlier."

"I'm sorry, Aurora , I really am. I didn't mean to hurt you and I know that I was wrong for the way that things happened between us," Harry said, giving her a serious look. He reached out and lightly touched her arm. "I really don't think that it's necessary for you to go, perhaps if you just spend time with another team for a while, then..."

"Harry, it's a moot point. It's been decided and it's done. I'm on leave for the next three to six months and that's that," she interrupted when he opened his mouth to object again. "Trust me, it's okay I don't mind, really. As a matter of fact, it was my suggestion. Well, perhaps not the leave, but the amount of time was my idea. Moody just wanted to give me thirty days. Besides, it really does work out. Now I can go back to Transylvania and help my brother and his tribe rebuild from the ashes. I haven't been able to spend much time with him or my nieces and nephews since I became an Auror." She gave Harry a weak smile. "Just feel better, okay? That's what's most important. And, when I come back... well, I'll talk to Moody and you… and see if rejoining your team is an option or not. After all, who knows how either of us will feel after that much time has passed?"

"I'm sure that no matter how much time passes I'll still want you back on my team," Harry said with a small smile.

"Thanks," Aurora replied, smiling back. He could see the hint of the woman he had once told himself he was in love with in her eyes. He really did hope the best for her.

"So, can someone tell me what happened?" Harry asked, looking at Devon and Marcello expectantly.

"Well, how about you, first?" Lupin chimed in before either of them could respond. "What happened while you were in the cave?"

Harry looked around the room at the sea of expectant faces. Hermione had sat up with her chin was resting on her hands so she could see him. Giving a small sigh Harry relayed his tale of what had happened in the cave, once he was done Marcello and Aurora supplied the missing pieces of the night, including why she didn't signal after five minutes and what happened after they arrived.

Then, Mrs. Weasley, who seemed to take great pride in it, told Harry about the blood that had been given to him by his two best mates. As Hagrid finished relaying how he made it through the rash of reporters, along with a few funny ad-libs from the twins, Harry could not suppress his fatigue any longer. When he let out a loud yawn, Mrs. Weasley and, surprisingly, Headmistress McGonagall both clucked over him like mother hens, demanding that the Healers come in and check that everything was healing as it should and that he was properly recuperating with no residual effects.

When they were assured that all he needed was rest, they then proceeded to shoo everyone out of the room so that he could get it, with, of course, the exception of Hermione.

"Well," Harry said, giving her a weary smile. "Alone at last."

She smirked and rolled her eyes. "True, but the only thing you're in any shape to do, Harry James Potter, is sleep."

Harry gave an overly dramatic sigh, pulling her back into his arms from the sitting position she had taken halfway through the barrage of stories that morning.

"I could possibly do other things," he responded giving a grin, however, before he could complete his amateur Casanova moves, a loud yawn escaped from between his lips.

Hermione smirked again and quirked a brow "So I see."

He chuckled and relented, adjusting his bed so that he was once again lying flat and making sure to bring Hermione with him.

"Perhaps I should take the chair and give you more room. You need a proper night's sleep, Harry," he heard her say softly, moving to get up.

"Don't you dare," he said, tightening his grip. She settled back down against him. "The only way I'm going to have a proper night's sleep is if I can hold you while I do it."

Harry felt her smile against his chest before responding. "Fine, but only for a little while and if I sense you're even the least bit uncomfortable then I'm getting up, okay?"

"Aye, aye, captain," he responded with a cheeky grin that turned into a small laugh when she slapped his arm.

"Goodnight, Hermione," he whispered after a minute just as he was dozing off. "I love you."

"Goodnight, Harry," he heard faintly whispered back. "I love you, too." He was then, once again, lost to the world of dreams.

******************************************************


The Burrow was filled with chaos. It had been weeks since Harry had gotten out of the hospital and all was going well. The Christmas holidays had descended, bringing with it all of the joys and feelings of the season and, in return, everyone had gathered for a huge Christmas Eve celebration.

Harry looked across the expansive table at the smiling faces of his friends and… well his family. The massive table had been bewitched to fit twice as many people (and as much food) as it normally could. As she so often did, Hermione caught his eye and gave him a sweet smile from her place across from him.

Conversation was loud and boisterous as those who hadn't been around in so long recounted their year and, those who had, updated them on what they had missed. Smells of delicious foods wafted up from the table that was almost breaking under the weight of various dishes like turkey, honey cured ham, chicken and ham pie, boiled potatoes, and much more. Yet, even with all that food there was still more: the counters were overflowing with various desserts prepared by Mrs. Weasley, Fleur, and Hagrid - though Harry suspected Hagrid's would remain untouched.

As people became more and more full, the conversation waned and everyone began to spread out.

“Oi! Harry!” called Dean. “We're about to play a quick game of Quidditch! You wanna join in?”

“Er… no thanks, I actually think I had a bit too much to eat, I don't think I should be on a broom at this particular moment,” Harry replied with a grimace.

“Well bloody hell, then that leaves us uneven. Someone's going to have to sit out,” George said. He looked around the group for a moment before his eyes rested on Ron.

“No way! Don't even think about it,” Ron said glaring. “I was the one who came up with the bloody idea to play Quidditch in the first place.”

“Ronald Bilius Weasley! Watch your language in this house! Do I make myself clear?” Mrs. Weasley shouted, sticking her head out of the kitchen door, brandishing a wooden spoon at him.

“Yes mum,” Ron replied, flushing a dark red and shooting a glower to the twins who had begun to snigger.

“Actually, Ron, I was hoping I could speak to you for a moment,” Harry said, shaking his head at Hermione who gave him a curious look. “Guy stuff,” he supplied when she raised a brow in response.

“Well, I-” Ron started, but was cut off by Fred.

“Great, that solves that, then. Ron, you talk to Harry and when you get back you can replace the worst player on the losing team in the next game,” Fred said quickly, clapping Ron on the back and heading for the door. “Or, who knows, by then, maybe Harry'll wanna play and then everyone can,” he threw over his shoulder as he cleared the doorway and headed into the yard.

“Well, maybe I won't want to play, then!” Ron yelled as he followed Harry upstairs. “Bloody gits,” he grumbled under his breath so that only Harry could hear him, “always think they're so ruddy smart. I'm the one who's a professional Quidditch player but they don't want to let me play, probably because they're scared I'll beat the bloody crap out of them. Yeah,” he smirked, though no one could see, “that's why…”

Harry chuckled a bit to himself, but wisely kept his mouth shut as they made their way up the stairs.

***************************************************

Hermione watched Harry and Ron go up the stairs and had to admit she was quite curious. Guy stuff? What in Merlin's beard did that mean? She rolled her eyes before shrugging and heading into the kitchen to see if Mrs. Weasley needed any help with the clean-up from dinner. Less than two minutes later, she was shooed out of that room and told to relax and join the other kids. She gave a small sigh, then headed outside to see if Harry and Ron had returned.

Hermione went out to the yard and, walking over to the field, took a seat between Tonks, who was watching the game with a clapping, excited Teddy and Neville who also watched the Quidditch game with great interest. Beside him sat Luna, who was thoroughly fixated at a bare patch of ground below her feet; she chattered animatedly with something Hermione could not see, and was certain was not even really there. Shaking her head in amusement at the other woman's eccentricity, she leaned back on her hands and searched the sky for either Harry or Ron.

After a few minutes of watching, she found neither and readily admitted to herself that without Harry playing, Quidditch was nowhere near as interesting as she remembered it to be from her days at Hogwarts.

Getting up, she dusted off her hands and looked around to see what else she could do until Harry returned and she could grill him about his conversation with Ron. As she scanned the yard, she saw Percy and Lupin involved in what looked to be a deep discussion over by the window. It only took a moment of consideration before she decided that, as much as she loved intellectual stimulation, she didn't love it enough to openly walk into a conversation with Percy.

Even though the older Weasley had changed a few of his views and was a bit more amicable since his departure from the Ministry, she had grown weary of hearing how much better things were in "the old days" or "Fudge would have done this" which was usually followed by "Fudge would have done that" or her personal favorite "Fudge would have never, blah, blah, blah,..." Okay, so that wasn't an exact quote, but that was usually what she heard. The conversation would usually end with him in a tizzy because she didn't readily agree with everything he had to say, and her own emotions so full of frustration that she'd be on the verge of becoming bald from the intense desire to pull her hair out.

Scanning the yard again, her eyes rested on Mr. Weasley and Hagrid over by the shed. Mr. Weasley seemed to be trying to explain away some sort of Muggle device. Hermione squinted her eyes. What was that? It looked uncannily like some type of transmitter or wireless communicator. Either way, she could easily discern from his random nodding and glazed expression that Hagrid had no idea what Mr. Weasley was talking about. She smiled to herself. In fact, she was pretty sure that Mr. Weasley himself had no idea what he was talking about. Chuckling, she shook her head and headed back into the house. There was no way she was going over there to be assaulted with a barrage of questions about what it was and how it worked.

'Besides,' Hermione thought to herself, 'it's getting pretty cold out here.'

She rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm up and cast one last glance at the Quidditch game before retreating to the warmth of the Burrow. As she made her way inside, Hermione slipped into the living room where Mrs. Weasley, who seemed to have finished in the kitchen already, was involved in a discussion with Headmistress McGonagall over Abigail's eventual entry into Hogwarts. Both women blatantly ignored Fleur's comments about her daughter going to Beauxbatons like she had, and after a moment, the blonde woman gave up, settling for grumbling loudly in French instead.

Hermione gave her a sympathetic smile and took a seat on the floor next to the toddler in question. Abigail was currently busy painting what looked to be some type of animal with one hand and eating a cookie with the other. When Hermione sat down next to her, she paused, giving Hermione a curious look with luminous blue eyes, reminding her so very much of Fleur. After realizing that the older witch wanted to join her, Abigail passed her a piece of parchment and a brush before turning back to her own work.

Just as she began on her second picture, a princess that she decided would look just like Abigail, Harry and Ron came into view as they made their way down the stairs. She looked up from her painting and gave them both a smile that faltered a bit when Ron gave her a strange and slightly sad look. Frowning fully now, she stood up from her spot and approached the two of them.

"What's going on? Is everything okay?" She asked her eyes flicking between the two, when Harry responded with 'nothing' and a high pitch laugh her eyes stilled on him.

"Well how 'bout some Quidditch," Harry said after a moment of scrutiny, then grabbed Ron's arm and quickly pulled him out the door.

Not one to be deterred, Hermione followed closely behind them as they headed out back out to the field.

'Oh, no you don't, Harry Potter,' she thought. 'I'm not letting this go that easily.'

Luck, however, was not on her side at the moment. Just as they arrived to the pitch Fred and Dean were touching down.

"Bloody good timing there," Fred called out "we just brutally beat these poor sods."

"Hey," Dean threw in "you only beat us by a couple of points. Besides, you know there's a half moon out tonight and Bill's not feeling that well."

"Blah, blah, blah, excuses, excuses," Ginny said as she too joined everyone on the ground. "So are you two playing or what?"

Hermione's frown turned to a glower as both gave a quick glance in her direction, then hurriedly volunteered for the next game.

Just as Harry was running past with his broom she grabbed his arm. "We will talk about this Harry Potter," she said, frowning.

"I know, Hermione Granger," he responded with a cheeky grin. He then gave her a quick kiss on the lips, hopped on his broom and shot up into the sky.

Hermione shook her head and smiled despite herself. She really wished she could just stay angry with him sometimes. Giving a sigh and a shrug, she went further into the field and once again joined those camped out on the on the grass to watch them play. This time however, she seemed to have no problem finding the Quidditch game interesting.

*****************************************

Harry took a nervous breath. They were in the living room preparing to open presents as was tradition at the Burrow; he was in the loo. He peered around the frame of the bathroom door, promptly locating Hermione in a discussion with McGonagall over on the couch by the fireplace. Quickly ducking back in before she could see him, he allowed his head to fall against the wall and took several deep calming breaths. Tonight was the night. He was going to ask her and she was either going to say 'yes' and make him the happiest man in the universe or say 'no' and make him want to jump off the nearest bridge.

'I can't do this,' he thought, looking at himself in the mirror and frowning at his reflection. He looked frighteningly like a scarred rabbit. 'Okay, pull yourself together man, you're Harry Potter. You beat the most powerful dark wizard of our time, you should be afraid to go outside and face a slip of a witch.' Harry grimaced. 'But she not just a slip of a witch,' he reminded himself, 'she's Hermione Granger, she's my best mate, my most constant support system and somehow after all these years, still the brightest witch of her age.'

He gave a frustrated groan and splashed some water on his face, looking back up he noticed that his refection was not the only one in the mirror.

"Hey," he mumbled.

"You look like you're going to spew," Ron commented, handing him a towel to dry his face.

Harry gave a shrug and wiped the water off his face. “I feel like I'm going to spew.”

Ron shook his head. “Are you sure you want to do this.”

**************

When he had pulled Ron aside earlier to let him know what he was planning to do, he was almost certain that the red-headed guy was going to belt him one. After taking a few deep breaths the red color receded from Ron's face some and his fists stop clenching and unclenching, though he did continue to glare.

“Why today?” Ron asked somewhat calmly. “Why on Christmas Eve?”

“Ron, please believe me when I say that this is in no way meant to ruin your holiday,” Harry answered quickly.

“Then why today?” Ron asked. “Why now, why not at the hospital?”

Harry gave a small sigh. “Because Hermione deserves better than some quick proposal at a hospital - I was to weak to get on one knee and ask her properly; not to mention we were both drained, her perhaps more so with all the emotions and all...” he responded. “She deserves to have a special proposal, one where she's surrounded by friends and family where she knows that it's okay to say yes because everyone will still support her.”

“So, now I'm meant to stand there, looking like a complete git while you get on one knee and propose to my ex-girlfriend?” Ron questioned, giving him an incredulous look. “Are you bloody mental? Do you know how much it's going to suck having to deal with all the sympathetic looks all night and everyone saying 'don't worry, Ron, you'll find someone else some day.' No! You bloody well don't, do you!?”

“No, Ron. I don't - and that's why I'm asking you first,” Harry said, giving a sigh as he ran an agitated hand through his hair. “I don't want to put you in a position that you can't handle,” he quickly reworded his statement, noticing the glower that descended upon the other boy's face. “I mean, that you shouldn't have to handle. That's why, if you say that it's not okay, I won't do it. I'll just find some other time - perhaps a private romantic dinner - I just,” Harry cleared his throat and looked directly in Ron's eyes. “I just wanted her to have a bit more than that, you know?”

“So then you're asking my permission to propose to her tonight?” Ron asked slowly.

“Well, yes. I guess I am. I'm asking for your permission and, whatever the answer may be, it's between us. If it's not okay, you don't have to worry about me telling anyone that you nixed the idea. I want you to know that I respect your decision, whatever it might be, and that I totally and completely plan to honor it.” Harry said firmly, taking a seat on the extra bed while Ron took one on his.

They sat in silence for several agonizing minutes before Ron finally spoke.

“So, what happens if I say yes but she says no? Did you think of that?” Ron inquired, speaking again before Harry could respond. “I suppose you did and that might also be the reason for such a grand proposal.”

“Well,” Harry bit his lip, “I did think of that, but that's not why I want to do this. I told you why already,” he sighed. “Look, I'm not trying to pressure her… perhaps you're right. This wasn't a good idea. Just forget that I asked, okay?” Harry stated blandly, getting up from the bed to make his way to the door; he hung is head glumly, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Just as he reached for the handle, Ron placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Merlin, Harry. Stop being such a twitchy little ferret,” Ron said, giving Harry a small smile when he looked over his shoulder at him. “If you want to marry her, then there shouldn't be anyone who can tell you that you can't.”

“There isn't,” Harry responded, facing him fully. “I'm going to ask her to be my wife Ron. I wasn't saying to forget that part. I was just saying forget the part where I ask her tonight.”

Ron quietly stared, looking Harry in the eyes. "Well, I say don't forget it,” he responded after a few minutes with a small frown.

They continued to stare at one another for a moment, each gauging the other before giving each other what were, in Harry's opinion, very manly hugs, complete with several claps on the back.

“Thanks, Ron,” Harry said while they were still hugging.

“No problem,” Ron said as they pulled apart, “but if you hurt her, I'll kill you.”

Harry gave a small smile and nodded his head in consent. “Fair enough.”

“Oh,” Ron said, “and you have to promise to help me filter all the stupid sympathy looks and comments, deal?”

“Deal,” Harry responded, turning toward the door again. “Though you're on your own with your mum.”

“No bloody way! That's part of the deal,” Ron shouted playfully, chasing after him. “By the way, did you want me to lock all the doors, you know, just in case she tries to run?”

“Please,” Harry chuckled, “you'd probably apparate her out of here yourself.”

“You've got a point, there, mate,” Ron replied, giving a cheeky grin as he followed Harry out the door.

*************

Ron shook his head. “Are you… sure you want to do this.”

Harry turned to look him in the eyes. “Yes.”

“Then suck it up and get out there. They're ready to open presents,” Ron said, making a face. “That's why I'm here. Mum sent me to get you.”

“Okay, I'll be right out,” Harry mumbled, looking at the mirror once more.

“Fine,” Ron threw out, “but, if I were you, I'd hurry up or she's likely to send Hermione next,” he added; Harry quickly joined him before he could make it into the hall.

As they entered the living room, they found everyone had taken various seats around the tree with Mrs. and Mr. Weasley standing beside it.

“Ah, Harry! There you are, dear,” Mrs. Weasley said, taking note of their entrance. “I was just about to send the twins in after you two. What took you so long?”

“Oh…er…” Harry and Ron said in unison, both blushing a blotchy red.

Mrs. Weasley tilted her head a concerned expression crossing her face she opened her mouth to comment but was cut off.

“Now that they're here, let's get some gifts,” Ginny declared, holding out her hands towards her mum and dad.

“Hear, hear!” the twins called out, followed by clapping from most of their peers.

Giving a laugh at his offspring's exuberance and a shrug to his wife, Mr. Weasley reached under the tree and grabbed a big gift with small sparks shooting from it and handed it to his only daughter. From there, the gift mayhem began.

Half an hour later, wrapping paper littered the floor of the living room. The noise level was close to deafening from the exclamations of surprise, happiness and a few of disappointment, not to mention the occasional `ding', `ping', and `moo' from the various presents.

“Aw, is that all?” Fred asked as the last present was handed to Teddy.

“Decent haul, I suppose, but we've done better,” said George, fiddling with the new magical chemistry set Hermione had given him to inspire new and amazing Weasley products.

“Well, that's not quite all,” Harry said, getting up. He went to the area beneath the stairs. “You guys haven't opened my presents yet,” he then emerged with a large bag, walking around the room he place a wrapped gift in everyone's hands… well, almost everyone.

“Uh, Harry,” Hermione said after he sat down from handing out presents “aren't you forgetting someone?”

“What?” He gave her a curious look. “I don't think so.”

She made a small scoffing noise. “Well, perhaps you should think harder.”

Harry looked around the room for a moment before sighing. “Of course!” He exclaimed, hitting himself on the head, “how could I have forgotten!?”

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled. “It's okay, I suppose, just don't make it a habit, okay?”

“Of course I won't,” he responded, digging through the bag once more, pulling out a medium sized box and a larger box. “After all, after the year we've had I think we deserve these presents more than anyone.” He finished, grinning at her before opening his box.

Hermione grinned back before eagerly tearing into her own. “Harry, wha…” she uttered, her mouth opening and closing a few times.

He paused while digging in the box and looked up at her. “What's wrong?”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out after a moment she reached into the box and pulled out a pair of white tube socks and some broom polish.

“Harry, you git! What kind of a presents are those?” Ginny hissed.

“Oh,” he responded, looking from her to Hermione. “Whoops! It's just a mix up, looks like you have mine.” He laughed and held the other box out to her; she gave him a playful glare.

“You did that on purpose, Harry! The presents are completely different sizes and the boxes are even decorated differently. I can't believe that you would be so childish,” she said in a reproachful tone. “It's our first Christmas together and instead of being romantic you want to play games. Heck, even Ron was never that juvenile,” she said in an affronted tone, doing her best to hold back a smile at Ron's indignant exclamation.

“Hermione, I said it was an accident. Geez, your dramatics are worthy of Malfoy,” Harry countered with a smirk.

She gave an indignant `humph' at being compared to the blond Slytherin before taking the present from his outstretched hands. “I was not being dramatic, I was being adorably playful,” she said with a frown, he grinned at her. In their flirting, both missed Ron and Ginny rolling their eyes at each other. “Who gets themselves a gift anyway?”

“Yeah, especially one as lame as tube socks and broom polish,” Ron chimed in, making a face.

“Who asked you?” Harry responded with a glower.

Hermione opted to ignore the childish conversations she assumed would follow and took that time to rummage through the layers of tissue paper to locate her gift. After a moment, her hand brushed up against something hard, yet soft; her pulse quickened as her fingers closed around a small velvet box.

Hearing her sharp intake of breath from his spot across from her, Harry decided that it was now time. Leaning forward, he reached into the large box, removing the smaller one from her shaky fingers. He took the big box off of her lap and placed it on the floor, as he slowly dropped down to one knee in front of his astonished girlfriend. Hermione froze upon actually seeing the small velvet box in her boyfriend's hand and looked ready to faint when he dropped to one knee in front of her.

“Hermione Jean Granger,” he said softly, ignoring the surprised exclamations from their audience. “I tried for years to forget you and forget what I felt for you, but it never worked. You are always in my thoughts, and in my dreams. So this year I did decided to be a bit selfish get myself a present, but it wasn't a crappy pair of tube socks or a small tin of broom polish,” he opened the box and a small gasp escaped from her lips at the gentle sparkle of beautiful diamond ring inside. “Though this ring would not rest on my finger, but yours, I am under no delusions that it is a gift for you. I know that if you say 'yes'… if you... agree to marry me, then the person who really gets rewarded is me, because having you as my wife would be the best gift that I could ever receive, and I can only hope that I'm worthy enough for it.” he said softly. His throat tightened as he said the words he'd been longing to say for so very long. “I guess that leaves it up to you, am I?” he asked, looking questioningly into her eyes, “Hermione will you please make me the happiest man in both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds and agree to be my wife?”

He held his breath as she stared at him, wide-eyed. The room remained silent, save for the distant crackling of the fire. His heart raced as her eyes left him and went to his left, where he knew Ron was standing. Harry hesitantly looked at his red-headed friend knowing that it all stood in his hands. Though Ron had agreed earlier, being witness to the actual proposal may have caused him to change his mind.

Harry could feel the sweat gathering at his brow as the seconds dragged on, feeling like hours, and then an eternity while Ron stood there stoically. Then, he saw it - the almost imperceptible nod of consent and the bittersweet half smile that graced the other young man's face. Harry looked back at Hermione just as she looked back at him, as he took note of the tears streaming down her face his heart dropped to his stomach.

`She's gong to say 'no'. She's going to say 'no',” his mind repeated; he could feel tears gathering in his eyes. Before they could fall, however, she slowly nodded her head.

“Yes,” she whispered aloud. “Yes,” she said once more, in a stronger voice.

Harry quickly stood and gathered her in his arms, swinging her around. They kissed amid a clamor of hoots and whistles. He had time to pull back and place the ring shakily on her finger before they were both assaulted with hugs and well wishes. Everyone quieted down as Ron came forward, but said nothing. He simply stood for a moment before giving each of them a hug.

“You're not going to try to make me the best man, are you?” he asked as he pulled away from Harry. “I think that would be too bloody weird for me.”

Harry chuckled and Hermione grinned.

“Sorry, mate, but you're going to have to deal with it. She'll kill me if you're not in the wedding,” Harry commented, grinning, “but don't worry, it's not like we're getting married tomorrow or anything.”

“Yeah,” Hermione added, “we're perfectly willing to wait until you're ready.”

Harry looked at her. “We are?”

“Yes, Harry, we are,” she replied, giving him a serious look before giving Ron another hug.

Ron raised a brow and gave him a smug expression over her shoulder, before changing to a sweeter one for Hermione when she pulled back.

“Thanks, Hermione. I don't think it'll be much more than a year or two,” he said softly with a puppy dog expression that made Harry barely hold back a snort.

“Don't worry, Ron. We know how hard this is for you, and are willing to wait,” Hermione said kindly. “Take your time.” She gave him a sympathetic smile and rubbed his arm.

“Well, I don't think you two will be getting married in our life time,” commented Fred.

“Yeah,” said George, looking at Harry. “You better hope he keels over soon, mate.”

Harry just nodded his head while Hermione rolled her eyes.

“You two are being overly dramatic,” she said with a disapproving smile. “It won't be anywhere near that long.”

Before either could retort, Ginny and Luna showed up at her side and pulled her from the group with exclamations of how beautiful the ring was and various questions about wedding plans. A moment later, Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Remus came and began to talk excitedly to Harry about 'joining their ranks', as well as the best ways to handle mood swings. Harry caught a glimpse of Mrs. Weasley pulling Ron toward the kitchen.

“Don't worry, dear. You'll find someone soon,” she was saying. Harry suppressed a grin as Ron threw him a look. “As a matter of fact, I just saw Marion Weatherby in Diagon Alley the other day and she was telling me she had the loveliest daughter. What was her name?… Matilda… Minerva…”

“Er, Harry,” Ron said desperately, looking back at him. “Harry, come on! You promised! Harry!”

Harry laughed.

THE END

Author's Note: Finally!! Whew! That was long! So, what did you think? I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed Ace of Hearts and who has stuck with me throughout this long process. Please check out my other multi chapter fics called `Redemption' which is Draco/Ginny with a hint of H/Hr and `Forbidden Love' and `Snogging Chronicles' which are both Harry/ Hermione, Hogwarts Era fics and I hope you come back to check them out. I want to thank my beta for not only keeping me on the ball but forgiving me when I accidentally called him a girl… Er, sorry about that again. Also, thanks to everyone for sticking through me with my large amount of betaless chapters. All I can say is that I hope the story lived up to you expectations. Please review and let me know!

Thanks again and Ja ne!

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