Chapter Four - A Moment for Truth
A/N - I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. At the suggestion of that very prolific reviewer Anon, who has read this story on another site, I realized that there was a dearth of actual Harmony in this story. All of the really good parts occurred offstage, so to speak.
Hopefully, I've corrected that.
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Stepping back out into the hallway, Harry turned his head as a flash of light caught his attention from down the hallway towards the stairs where Luna had been headed moments before. Blinking in surprise, Harry could see a very annoyed Mrs. Norris, who was glaring at the end of the hall. Shaking his head, Harry warily watched the disgruntled feline for a second as Mrs. Norris continued to intently stare at the spot on the floor where the flash presumably occurred.
"You keep an eye on that, I'm just going to go." Chuckling as the cat gave him a spiteful glare; Harry turned and made his way back to the Gryffindor portrait entrance. Nodding to Viola, Harry gave the password and the portrait obediently began to open.
Clambering through the entrance and back into the Gryffindor common room, Harry closed his eyes and tried to center himself. Concentrating on Hermione, Harry got a brief flash of the entrance to the Heads quarters on the third floor, just down from the entrance to the Hospital Wing.
Shaking his head, Harry opened his eyes, crossed the common room to the small alcove that held the entrance to the stairs leading to the Head's quarters and whispered "Harmonices Mundi". As the back wall of the alcove slid into the wall, Harry stepped through the portal and began descending the flight of stairs to the apartments that he and Hermione shared.
Hearing the entrance seal itself behind him, he began to concentrate on what was about to happen, what he quite frankly hoped would happen. Still a bit in shock over the revelations that Luna had shared with him, Harry began to worry; despite the assurances Luna had given him regarding this entirely bewildering mess of dueling potions, a conniving witch whom he had considered a friend, and the apparent folly of two best friends who had been fooling themselves for several years about how they really felt about each other.
As his feet carried him down the winding stairs towards the entrance to the commons the two of them shared, Harry stopped dead as he came around the last turn towards the small entrance area that was the nexus for the various entrances to the Head's apartments. Standing there, still dressed in the jeans and jumper she had been wearing earlier when he had stormed out of the Great Hall, was Hermione.
Her wavy chestnut hair was caught back in a simple plait behind her neck, reaching down to the middle of her back. Harry could see the look of concentration on her face as she was standing there, her hand on the door to their apartment, but studying the door as if she had never seen it before.
As Harry halted his descent at the sight of her, she looked up towards the stairs coming down from Gryffindor Tower. Harry held his breath as his gaze met hers, and he could see a thousand emotions and questions in her chocolate brown eyes. Feeling himself being drawn into her gaze, Harry could see all of the emotions and thoughts that had always been there, her concern for him, her caring nature, that wry sense of humor that she was very careful to keep hidden from all but a select few, the part of her that compelled her to succeed because she needed to know not because she relished being the brightest or first. And other things, things that had long either been masked or he had been too thick to see.
"Hey there." Blushing, as both of them began to speak at once, the pair was still lost in each other's gaze. Feeling a profound sense of déjà-vu, Harry flashed back to that fateful September first when a much younger Hermione Granger had come into a train compartment looking for a lost toad, and had ended up coming into his life forever.
Shaking his head, Harry grinned at the thought, and he could see in her eyes and by the silly grin on her face that she was remembering that moment also.
"God bless Trevor," Harry began, relishing the look on Hermione's face as he could see he had preempted her train of thought, "I really do need to ask Neville how he's doing and see if there's anything I can do for him."
"We would have met, eventually." Blushing, Hermione glanced down at the floor for a second before looking back up and smiling at him. "And I wouldn't have made that horrible first impression on you. Hopefully."
"What horrible first impression? I was the one who didn't know anything, and I let Ron be rude to you, to boot." Shaking his head, Harry looked down in dismay. "I'm so sorry."
Crossing the space between them and taking two steps up the stairs, Hermione hesitantly put out her hand and touched Harry on the forearm. Shaking her head when he didn't look up at her, she put her fingers beneath his chin and slowly raised his head until she was staring up into his emerald green eyes. "For?" she asked very softly.
Swallowing, Harry tried to tear his gaze from hers, but found he couldn't. Although her fingers were very lightly cupping his chin, the connection between the two of them made it impossible for him to look down or away while she was standing there, peering into his very soul.
Realizing that much more than he had ever guessed was riding on what he was about to say, and what her response would be, Harry's mind began to flash back to what that damned Horcrux had whispered into his mind, how he would never be worthy of anyone, much less the witch standing in front of him. How the Dursleys had been correct, that he was a freak, never deserving to be loved.
"Don't," she whispered as she looked up into his eyes, "don't you dare start to blame yourself for things that have happened in the past. For whatever reason we've both finally woke up to the fact that we've been living a lie for the past few years, so I'm not about to let you retreat back into the hell your relatives tried to put you."
Tears rolling down her cheeks, Hermione subtly shook her head as she kept her eyes locked on Harry's. "I can read you like a book, Harry James Potter, and I've spent infinitely more time reading you than I have Hogwarts: A History over the past seven plus years. Voldemort was wrong, Dumbledore was wrong, the Dursleys were wrong, most of the wizarding world was wrong about you for the past seven years."
"You deserve…" Seeing the dangerous glint in her eyes, Harry stopped in mid-sentence, closed his mouth and tried again. "I don't want to lose you."
"Silly, how could you possibly lose me?" Keeping her gaze focused on his, Hermione slowly smiled as she came up one more step, until she was standing on the same step as Harry. Still shorter than he was, she was closer to his height. "Over the past seven years, we've shared almost everything two people can share. If you haven't `lost' me by now, I can't think of anything we're about to do that would drive us apart." Slowly raising her hand, she placed a single finger over his lips, more effectively silencing him with that simple gesture than with any spell she could think of.
"We've both seen each other at our best and at our worst. We haven't gotten everything right, Merlin knows. But we've gotten more of it right than wrong. Rather than standing out here in this drafty stairwell, why don't we go home so we can relax and talk about the things I think we both want to talk about?"
Sliding her hand down from Harry's chin, Hermione allowed her fingers to lightly graze Harry's check before she slowly allowed her fingertips to trail down Harry's arm. Teasing his palm with her fingertips, she slid her hand over his, letting her fingers slide between his as their hands slowly wrapped around each other.
Harry tried to prevent a smile breaking out on his face, as he started to glance down at their hands. Gently squeezing her hand, he could feel the connection between the two of them grow as they both began to grin. Looking up, his eyes met hers again, resisting the urge to lean towards her, Harry nodded down the steps.
"Hermione, going home with you sounds very good right about now." Seeing the sly smile on her face, Harry chuckled. "Considering how our morning started, I'm a bit surprised I was able to even get you to talk to me."
Walking down the steps, hand in hand, Hermione chuckled and shook her head. "Honestly, I was going to try to find you. You bolted out of there like a scalded kneazel, though I imagine the only person who was more shocked than I was, was Ginny."
Seeing the scowl on Harry's face, and feeling the spike in negative emotion from him, Hermione watched him carefully as they approached their door. Placing her hand against the door, Hermione felt the magic of the castle recognize her and she heard the latching mechanism of the door disengage.
As they stepped into their common area, Hermione squeezed his hand and led Harry over to the two-seater by their fireplace. Smiling wryly as she remembered the blush on Harry's face when her mum informed them that the American name for that particular piece of furniture was a loveseat when her parents had visited earlier in the term, she ushered Harry over to the loveseat and settled herself in beside him.
"Harry, we've been friends for seven years now, but I'm going to insist on one ground rule before we go any further." Seeing the wary look on his face, she smiled reassuringly. "It's nothing too onerous, but I think it will serve us well as we move forward with things."
"At this point, I'd be willing to agree to almost anything you want, considering how much of a hash I've made of things over the years." Seeing the surprised look on Hermione's face, Harry nodded. "As has been pointed out to me, rather forcefully, this morning is that I've been a right berk to you a great deal of the time, and if nothing else happens, that's come to a halt, right now."
"Harry, who have you been talking to, and exactly what have they been saying?" Looking a bit disturbed, Hermione started to frown. "If someone has been trying to guilt you…"
Shaking his head, Harry took Hermione's hand between his and gently squeezed. "Luna was concerned after I made a spectacle of myself at breakfast this morning, she tracked me down up in Gryffindor Tower and `persuaded' me to talk to her about what a prat I'd become." Smiling ruefully, Harry chuckled at the look on her face. "Trust me, I'm not certain which was more surprising Luna insisting that I had to talk to her about this, or the fact that she seemed to know more about things between you and I than I realized."
"How did Luna get involved with all of this?" Looking a bit exasperated, Hermione shook her head. "If you're just doing this…" Stopped by the look in Harry's eyes, she blushed. "Harry, I'm sorry. I should know better."
"Let's face facts, I don't exactly have a very good track record when it comes to witches in general, and you in particular." Looking up at her, Harry held her gaze for several seconds. "I've been horrible to you at times, I allowed Ron to be horrible to you. If nothing else comes out of this, that has ended."
"Harry, none of that matters anymore. Everything that has happened up until now has brought us to this point." Smiling earnestly, Hermione reached down and placed her free hand on top of Harry's. "I'm certain we'll end up discussing the moments we could have done better eventually, but I have faith in you. Faith that we're both ready to quit fooling ourselves about what we feel for each other." Blushing a bit, she shrugged. "Of course, this means we have to admit to everyone that we've both been wrong for at least four years."
"Even Rita?" Smirking at the disgusted look on Hermione's face, Harry leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Face it; she had us pegged during our fourth year. I'm not certain why we weren't ready to believe it then, but I do now."
"None of this makes any sense, really." Closing her eyes, Hermione leaned against Harry as she toed off her trainers and tucked her feet up underneath her. Settling in, she exhaled and let her head rest against Harry's chest. "I know how I feel, I know I've been working towards this for a long time, but it's as if something just clicked into place today and everything became clearer."
Draping his arm around her, Harry leaned over and kissed her gently on the top of her head. Smiling at the contented noise she made, he chuckled as she snuggled closer to him. "Comfortable?"
"Getting there." Closing her eyes, Hermione allowed the sounds of their common room to fade into the background as she listened to Harry's heartbeat. "Any clues as to why today we both figured things out?"
"Would you believe that it's mostly my fault?" Sensing, rather than seeing, her arch her eyebrow, Harry smiled. "There were things going on with me that kept me from reaching out to you, from accepting that I cared about you and you weren't like a sister to me, but something infinitely more."
"And Luna helped with that?"
"If you consider not taking `no' for an answer and keeping me from running off until we'd actually had quite the heart to heart helping, then yes she did." Watching Hermione carefully, Harry gently caressed her hair as she sat there, thinking.
Sounding very thoughtful, Hermione began to speak. "Harry, would you say that there's been adequate reason people have referred to me as `the brightest witch of the age'?"
"I'd say that's a fair understatement." Rolling his eyes, Harry leaned down and kissed her hair. "Not that I've ever doubted it."
"And, since I have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of potions and their effects, you'd be reasonably certain that I'd eventually recognize the effects of a potion on myself, at least after it had ceased to function, no?"
Sighing, Harry nodded before answering aloud. "Hermione, I have no doubt in my mind that of the two of us, you'd be the one to recognize the fact that one or both of us had been under the effects of a potion." Reaching down, Harry stroked the side of her neck with his thumb.
"Mmmm, that feels nice." Chuckling, Hermione waited for almost a minute before continuing as she simply basked in the attention from Harry. "And I'd certainly remember a conversation I had with Molly and Ginny regarding Molly's use of a love potion while she was a student here, a conversation which I'm relatively certain you overheard but we've never directly discussed, true?"
"Almost certainly." Smiling ruefully, Harry slowly exhaled as he could feel amusement and concern from the brown-haired witch nestled in beside him.
"How long?"
"Beg pardon?" Blinking in surprise, Harry shifted a bit so he had a better view of her face.
"How long am I supposed to pretend I haven't noticed that someone meddled in our lives and stole what could have been two years of us being together?" Shaking her head, Hermione raised her hand up and slid it behind Harry's neck, pulling his face down to hers. Kissing him gently on the corner of his mouth, she nodded once before concluding. "A pair of someones unless I miss my guess."
"Two days." Nuzzling her ear, Harry waited while she processed the information they had just shared with each other. "Annoyed with me?"
"Harry, unless I'm mistaken…" Breaking off at the snort of disbelief from Harry, she snuggled against him for a second and then restarted. "Harry, unless I'm mistaken, Luna acted to resolve the interference in our lives less than an hour ago. While I haven't puzzled out all of the specifics yet, my first thought is that she provided you with a potion to counteract the potion that Ginny gave you two years ago." Pausing a moment, Hermione looked up and nodded. "At the Headmaster's suggestion most likely, but with his blessings at least."
"If I were to corroborate that, in two days, how long will it take to get you to forgive me?" Trying to keep himself calm, Harry focused on the heartbeat of the witch whom he had wrapped his arms around, earlier. While it had sped up briefly, it had settled back into a fairly steady rhythm that was just a tad scary, considering.
"Silly man." Shaking her head, she nuzzled closer to him. "I think the question is how long before I forgive Ron's sister." Smiling as she could feel his surprise, she closed her eyes. "Am I to take it that one of you two has a plan to deal with her?"
"Hermione, I'm getting perilously close to crossing a line I told Luna I wouldn't, just yet. Would it be enough to say that as long as no one interferes, Ginny will, most likely, teach herself a very pointed lesson at lunch today?"
Seeing that Hermione was considering what he had said with a very thoughtful look on her face, he nodded. "Ground rules?"
"Ironically enough, it was regarding secrets that we needed to keep for someone else." Sighing, she squeezed his hand and traced her thumb over the faint scars that proclaimed `I must not tell lies'.
Looking a bit worried, Harry nodded. "I was wrong those times I didn't trust you to understand things, but sometimes it wasn't my story to tell."
"I know, and there have been times when it hasn't been my tale to tell, either." Seeing the surprised look on his face, she smiled. "Harry, all I'm asking is that we acknowledge that there's something we can't explain or go into with the other, and that we remember that we do trust each other."
"I think I can live with that, seeing as I really want to be open with you about things." Seeing a knowing look in her eyes, Harry smiled nervously and swallowed once before continuing. "It's not easy for me, the things that happened when I was growing up have caused me to be a bit less than forthcoming regarding how I feel about things on occasion."
Pretending to ignore the indelicate snort from Hermione, Harry chuckled a bit. "All right, I imagine I'm a lot less than forthcoming, from time to time."
"Harry, I want to leave your relatives and your childhood for another day." Seeing the look in his eyes, she gently placed her hand against his cheek and nodded. "I know there are things there that you've never told anyone, and you're probably worried about what I'll say or think if you tell me, but we'll work through all of that and we'll take as long as it takes." Smiling reassuringly, Hermione reached back down and took Harry's hand in hers.
"Earlier, I said that we'd shared almost everything two people could share."
Looking down at their clasped hands, fingers intertwined, Harry smiled. "I take it we can cross one of those things off your list?" Raising their hands to his lips, he placed a gentle kiss on her fingers.
"I think that's fair to say." Blushing a bit, Hermione rolled her eyes. "We've done this before, just not when both of us were awake." Seeing Harry's look of surprise, she shrugged. "Some of those nights we spent sleeping on the sofa at the Burrow this past summer before we went to find my parents, we ended up like this in our sleep."
"And you know this how if we were `asleep'?"
"One of us has to wake up first, silly." Gently squeezing his hand, she smiled. "Apparently, that's my job."
Raising his hand, Harry gently cupped her cheek and caressed her face with his thumb. "Is there something else we can mark off that list of yours?" Leaning towards her, Harry kept his eyes focused on hers as he moved, very slowly, towards her.
"Possibly," she whispered as she gently brushed her lips against his.
Moving until their lips were touching, Harry gently began to kiss her. As she raised her arm to pull him closer, he was a touch surprised when he felt her tongue brush against his lips.
Letting her tongue slide past his, they deepened the kiss as he brought his other hand up to cradle her face. Feeling her wrap her arms around him, the kiss became more impassioned as their bodies began to react to the other.
Breaking the kiss, Hermione stared at Harry for several seconds, a very intense look that was beyond questions, beyond rational thought almost. Taking her hands and placing them on his shoulders, she gently pushed him into the back of the love seat and moved so she was straddling his lap, facing him.
Seeing he was about to say something, she shook her head and placed her finger on his lips. "Hush; there will be more than enough time to discuss this and us, later. I'm certain that sometime in the near future we'll sit down and talk out how we got here. We both know I'll overanalyze everything and drive you totally mental in the process. But for right now…"
Breaking off, Hermione leaned forward quickly and kissed Harry, hard. Moving herself against him on his lap, she began to express everything she'd been feeling and wanting to do for the longest time.
Harry, after the initial surprise, began to respond to her with equal enthusiasm. Feeling her thighs clamp tightly outside his, he began to rise up and press against her as she was moving back and forth on his lap. As she pressed herself more tightly against him, he slid his hands beneath her jumper and began to run his hands over her smooth skin.
As his hands found the lace that formed her brassiere, he could feel her whimper as he was kissing her. Following the fabric forward, he slid his fingers over her breasts as she ground herself against him. Lightly caressing her, the kisses intensified as they both began to explore the body of the other.
Finally breaking for air, Hermione began to kiss her way down Harry's throat as her hands began to untuck his shirttails from his jeans.
"Harry, if you even consider stopping what you're doing…" she gasped as his hands unhooked the brassiere and let it fall away from her.
Feeling her pressed against him, her hands beginning to slid underneath the shirt he was wearing as he gently teased her with his hands, brushing his thumbs across her sensitive nipples as he gently squeezed her breasts, Harry placed a kiss on her forehead as they both began to move against the other. Seeing her look up into his eyes, he leaned down and roughly captured her lips with his, kissing her deeply as the sensations in their bodies began to grow.
Hermione pulled away from the kiss and stared at Harry for several seconds as they both allowed their hands to roam over the body of the other. Grinning mischievously, she slowly winked at Harry and then brought her left hand out from under Harry's shirt, where it had been playing suggestively with the buckle to his belt and made a strange circular motion with it.
Suddenly, their outer clothes, including footwear and socks, were gone. Dressed in just his boxers, Harry was suddenly staring a nearly nude Hermione, dressed in black lace knickers and a lace bra that was hanging open, it's front clasp undone earlier. Stunned, Harry watched as she began to move against him, the two of them separated by two very thin pieces of cloth as she smiled seductively.
"See anything you like, Head Boy?" Taking a finger and drawing it down his chest, she kept her eyes fastened on his as she began playing with the elastic band of his boxers. "Think I'll find anything worthwhile if I continue?"
Just as Harry was about to answer, their common room was illuminated by a bright flash of silver light. Suddenly, a glowing silver mare was standing between them and the fireplace, snorting and pawing the carpet.
"Stars and stones, I'm going to throttle that little witch!" Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head, missing the smirk on Harry's face as she almost echoed his earlier sentiment regarding Ginevra Molly Weasley. Before he could say anything, though, the mare patronus looked up and began to speak.
"Harry, I'm not certain what you thought to accomplish by running off like that, if you were trying to ditch Hermione so we could go into Hogsmeade together, you really need to let me know where you're going to be. I've been waiting for you up in the Room of Requirement, since that would be the easiest place for us to be alone and then slip into the village without someone interfering."
Staring at Harry in disbelief, Hermione began reaching for her wand. Harry reached across her and grabbed her wrist, causing some very interesting sensations for both of them considering their state of undress and physical states at the moment. Staring into her eyes, Harry shook his head and gently kissed her on the lips. "Even you can't hex someone through their patronus."
Looking down at their lack of clothing, he chuckled. "Although, five minutes ago I wouldn't have said you could have done what you did wandlessly and nonverbally, so you just might."
Ginny's mare starting to speak again forestalled Hermione's response. "I'll be waiting down in the Great Hall for you. Lunch starts in seven minutes; I'll be expecting you down there so we can make plans for the rest of our weekend." The mare then suggestively winked and began to fade from view.
"She's out of what passes for her mind." Staring at Harry, Hermione went from furious to stunned to giggling in the span of five seconds. Shaking her head, she looked down at the two of them and their near nudity and shook her head. "Suddenly I'm very thankful that it's very difficult to see through the eyes of one's patronus."
"Hermione…" Harry began tentatively, watching her carefully as she tried to compose herself. "Honestly, I tried my best this morning; all term actually, to convince her that we weren't going to Hogsmeade or anywhere else together. I'm so …." Harry's apology was broken off by Hermione leaning forward and kissing him passionately.
When the kiss finally broke, both of them were breathing heavily, trying to compose themselves. Shaking her head, Hermione kissed him on the tip of his nose and smiled. "Silly, of course I know you had nothing to do with that."
Leaning back, Harry stared at the ceiling for a second, trying to come up with something, anything, that he could say to express how he felt about the witch that was currently sitting on his lap. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and let it out, noisily. "I love you."
"I should hope so. I don't go around banishing the clothes of just any Tom, Dick, or Harry around this castle." Chuckling at the look on his face when his head snapped forward and his eyes popped open, she nodded. "Unfortunately, she's going to keep it up until she sees you."
"Can you ward against a patronus?" Smiling ruefully, Harry suddenly shook his head as he remembered his promise to Luna. "We might as well get dressed and go down to the Great Hall." Seeing the look on her face, he involuntarily flinched a bit. "That bloody horse showing up every three minutes or so until she gets her arse up here and starts pounding on the door is going to be pretty much of a mood kill."
"Well, when she does if I go to the door and answer it dressed like this; think she'll get the hint?" Smirking at the look on Harry's face, Hermione set back and shook her head. Seeing, and feeling, Harry's reaction to what a headshake did to certain portions of her anatomy; she leaned forward and placed her hands on his shoulders. "She'll go to the Headmistress if we ignore her, she'll say that something must be wrong if you're ignoring her."
Looking thoughtful, Hermione bit her lower lip for a second. "What do I have to ignore to allow her to start learning her lesson?"
"If Ginny offers me something to drink, it would be best if you didn't hex her or knock it out of my hand." Seeing the shocked look on Hermione's face, he nodded. "And, I'd stand well away from her after I take a drink."
"Amortentia!?" Staring at Harry in disbelief, Hermione shook her head for a second before closing her eyes again and taking a deep breath. "I can't believe she's going to try again."
"Subtlety isn't really her forte." Shrugging, Harry smiled. "She really doesn't have a chance, she never did."
"Are you certain Luna's plan will work?"
"Can you get us dressed just as easily as you got us undressed?" Smiling at the puzzled look on her face, Harry reached up and after a couple of fumbles that sent shivers through Hermione, rehooked the catch for her black lace brassiere.
Biting her lower lip, Hermione sat back and thought for a second. "Yes, but why?"
"Because if we stand up in our current states and move anywhere in the direction of either of our bedrooms, we won't be going anywhere for a good long while." Nodding seriously, Harry leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.
Pushing Harry back against the cushions of the loveseat, Hermione reversed the motion she had made earlier and suddenly they were both clothed. Seeing he was about to say something, she shook her head. "You'll just have to tie you own trainers back."
Rolling off his lap, she turned so she was facing forward, sitting beside him. Leaning over, she started tying her trainers up, trying to keep from laughing at the look on his face.
Standing up, she waited for him to do up his trainers before putting out her hand and helping him up. Wrapping her arms around him, she pressed herself against him and kissed him. Feeling his arms on her back, she smiled as she kissed him and then pulled away. "Questions?"
Taking her hand in his, Harry rolled his eyes as they walked towards the door. Opening the door for her, they stepped out into the entranceway in front of their commons and started heading for the passage that would take them down to the main floor and the Great Hall. Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, he could see the self-satisfied smirk on her face as they started down the steps.
As they fell into a rhythm of walking together, Harry sighed. "Regimental?"
"It will save ever so much time after we get back to my room after lunch."
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The translation of the password to the entrance to the Heads stairwell in the Gryffindor Commons is `Harmony of the Worlds'.
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