A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay! I've got various writing projects I'm working on. Thanks for your patience and I'll try and update faster this time. Thanks to those of you who reviewed, and please don't forget to leave feedback for this one. Short, but hopefully worth the wait!
Chapter 3: Surrender
Hermione could not concentrate. Why would he do it? Why would he kiss her and tell her all those things and then go back to Ginny?
She sighed, closing Hogwarts: A History with a thud and putting it on the bedside table. She should not have kissed him. He had a girlfriend and, whether he cared about her or not was not her concern. They were together and that meant, as much as she despised the idea, that Harry was taken and she had no right to do what she had done with another woman's man.
She was just getting into bed when her door burst open.
"Expelliarmus!" she screamed without a second thought, her wand at the ready while she turned around. If she was not in the defensive, she should have realized that in Hogwarts, she was safe, but a night without sleep and her wound at the Department of Mysteries had taught her to better be safe than sorry. Whoever it was, would get either apologies or a binding spell after she was through.
She had been elected Head Girl, half a year early. The previous Head Girl had to transfer. because her father had been assigned to the Russian Ministry of Magic. Professor McGonagall had known how badly she had wanted the badge, and according to Professor McGonagall, because Hermione would never believe it herself, she was the choice for Head Girl once she reached her final year. Therefore, the faculty agreed that she might as well start early instead of training a new girl for only half a year. Of course, Hermione had been more than thrilled to accept. Her room had been a welcomed bonus away from the gossipy voices of Parvati and Lavender. She had no roommates and people who wanted to see her usually knocked, although she would have frowned if someone had knocked at this late hour. Midnight was not usually time for a social call, all the more reason to utter the spell as soon as she heard her door open, not to mention she did not remember mentioning her password to anyone.
Harry didn't even blink. With a wave of his hand, Hermione's spell got deflected.
Hermione gasped, both for the unexpected visitor and for the type of advanced magic Harry had just performed. She was just learning how to do that!
"Ha-"
She did not have even time to react.
Before she knew it, she was pinned to a wall and Harry's lips were on hers.
Thank Merlin the door was closed, the fact that it was after curfew and the compromising position that Harry had her in at the moment would not have made for a very happy faculty. She was not going to complain about it, however.
She could not help but moan as her arms went around his neck. She knew she should not be doing this, but that did not mean she did not want it.
"Do you honestly think anyone could kiss you just for the hell of it, Hermione?" he whispered, but his lips were on hers again before she had a chance to answer.
"Harry." She tried to get his attention in-between kisses, but her call ended up sounding more like a moan. She could not help the feelings that were taking over her body at that moment. His touch was sending wonderful jolts through her body, which were intensifying as he got closer to her frame.
"You are so beautiful," he whispered, moving on to the skin of her neck, which made her let out a louder moan. "How could I not want to kiss you?"
"Ginny?" It took all of Hermione's mental strength to muster that single thought. Truthfully, she did not want the touching to end and she was well aware that the red head's name could ruin the moment, but what she had said that afternoon still stood; she did not want to be Harry's plaything.
"Over." Harry reassured her, pulling her more tightly against him, if that was even possible at this point, as his lips wandered deeper down her throat.
"And…you?" Hermione muttered once more, cursing the fact that her concentration and focus were nowhere to be found right now.
"I'm right where I want to be," he whispered once again.
"Harry." Hermione sighed. As much as she wanted to do this, her rationalization was kicking in.
He had just broken up with his girlfriend. His state of mind was not the most stable and she was not sure if he was doing this because he genuinely wanted to be with her or because he was seeking comfort.
And her mind chose to believe the latter.
" `Mione, please, you're all I've ever wanted," he whispered against her skin.
"What?" Hermione practically screamed; the effects that his lips were having on her temporarily forgotten. What was the catch?
Suddenly she was hearing what she wanted to hear practically since first year, although she did have "different" reasons for admiring him then. She just thought it was just a thrill that came with knowing and being able to hang out with "The Boy Who Lived." Over the years though, Hermione had found out that such a "thrill" had never truly existed. Harry was just the boy she wanted.
Pity she would never have him. How could he love someone like her, a plain Jane that spent her life literally surrounded by books?
Yet, that seemed to be changing right now, as it became all too apparent that Harry had no intention of letting her go at the moment.
However, her best friend distanced himself from her, although he never let go of her hips, still having her effectively pinned to the wall shortly after her scream.
"Did…did I do anything to upset you?" Harry whispered carefully.
The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Did she not want him as much as he wanted her?
This afternoon, it had seemed like she did.
But what if she did not? What if she just wanted to comfort him? He didn't want that. He would rather hear her tell him the truth, and if she did not…
Better for him. Less of a reason for Voldemort to hurt her. But that did not mean it would cease to hurt him.
"Harry, did you mean what you said just now?" her voice was a mere tense whisper, which did not give him much hope. But he would give her an answer. She deserved it, especially because he had planned to give it to her that afternoon before his girlfriend, now his ex, had walked into the library. He realized he had been a coward, but Ginny deserved a clean breakup and breaking up with her in front of Hermione would have embarrassed both of them. Therefore, he would give his answer to Hermione now.
"Of course I did. I would never lie to you Hermione. It's true, you were right. I was with Ginny because I wanted you so bad it scared me, and it still does. It does because I cannot protect you if I am this close to you. And you mean so much to me; I just cannot lose you," Harry whispered, kissing her forehead.
"You won't," Hermione whispered back.
"He knows. I know he does-"
"Then we will fight together."
"Hermione." Harry sighed, but she interrupted him before he could say what she knew he was going to say.
"Promise me you will never push me away again Harry."
"Hermione." He knew he could not promise that, as much as he wanted to make her happy.
"Please Harry, let me help you. I love you. I cannot bear it when you push me away."
Harry's palm came to rest at her cheek.
"I love you too Hermione. That's why I cannot afford to lose you."
"You won't, but you will if you push me away," Hermione warned.
"Hermione-" Harry sighed.
"Don't Harry. If that is your intent, let me just say I will not make it easy for you."
"You never have," Harry chuckled.
Hermione sighed, hugging him.
She could not believe this was happening. Harry loved her, finally! It had taken him long enough.
Harry held on to her for dear life. This was what he had wanted ever since Third Year. He could not believe he was so daft that he had not realized it before; he had only dismissed her as gratefulness and admiration for everything she had done for him, and what she had done for Sirius that night. If he had not been so daft, he could have had her in his arms long before this.
But better late than never.
Hermione kissed his cheek and he could not help but plunge his mouth into hers in a fiery kiss, one that would express all his love for her.
Hermione moaned as his tongue dueled with hers.
"Will you stay?" Hermione whispered against his forehead.
"Do you want me to?" Harry whispered back, looking into her chocolate eyes.
Hermione smiled, kissing him once more.
"Do you think you can figure that out on your own Harry?" Hermione whispered between kisses.
"I'll try," Harry whispered, his voiced ragged with desire at this point.
"Good boy."
Harry smiled as he took Hermione's lips in his once again, pressing harder against her.
He should have stopped. He was doing, after all, what he had vowed not to do. He knew it was best for her to be as far away as possible, at least until Voldemort was no longer a threat, and not even Divination, not that he ever had much respect for it, it was just an easy class after all, not even that could help him figure out when that would be.
The power of his mind over what his heart and body truly desired at this point however, waned the minute Hermione's legs tangled around his waist, as she pressed back against his hardness.
Before he knew it, they had gone from the wall to the bed, where he laid Hermione effortlessly, falling on top of her seconds after as she held on to his shirt.
And after many months of fighting the war between his heart and mind, his heart finally won, although he was sure, Hermione had a lot to do with that.
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