Unofficial Portkey Archive

Life and Times

Rating: R

Ship: HHr (main emphasis)

The (unlovely) procedure: all rights go to JKR for previous plot and characters, Scholastic, Warner, and whoever else has their hands in HP.

Author Note: Haven't you wondered in stories (and even in real life) what another character is thinking? I decided to take a different direction, to take a different point of view to settle some things from the other side of the fence. Hermione's my favorite character, anyway; so, I wanted to go through her perspective at least one time in the fic. Hope you enjoy seeing the world through Hermione's eyes for a change!

***

Season Two - Hermione's Journey

Chapter Fifteen ~ Jane

***

He woke from a nightmare last night…

I felt him kick me. He did it unknowingly, and then I heard him scream. This wasn't the first time he'd done this. He didn't do it on purpose, within whatever horrific plane of being in his mind. He shouted things I couldn't make out or understand, my eyes blinking open and my ears perking up. I lifted from the mattress, the sheets slipping off and away. His arm tightened around me, but I don't think he had wakened at all. His action was more jostling than an embrace.

He had me around my waist and close to him. I felt a glaze of sweat on his bare body, the layer he gave off cooling me in the places he touched. I slipped my hands in his hair and stroked, trying to coax him out of his terrifying moans of despair. He jerked and kicked me again with his knee. I started to say his name, but he stopped me in a yell:

"No! No! NO!!"

His legs shifted as if he were trying to run.

"God! Please!! NO!!!"

I felt his muscles tense and relax, tense and relax, and then remain tight. He let out this groan of agony, and my heart hurt, seeing him in his psychological torment. I had to wake him.

He started panting when I called out his name, lowering to his ear, "Harry…"

I ran my cool hand along his forehead, feeling of his scar and how his eyebrows scrunched together above his nose.

"Why did you kill them?!" He shouted into the quiet atmosphere. "Why did you have to murder my parents!!"

"Harry…," I caressed his forehead gently. My lips stayed near his hair, "Harry…it'll be okay…"

I shook his shoulder to rouse him and he shuffled quickly, rapidly coming to. He breathed heavily and moaned the question, "Why?"

"It'll be okay…" I heard him crying. Pieces of me shattered by his enormously painful reliving of his past. I slid back down on the mattress and persuaded him to me with my light embrace. He slowly slid to me, his head going to my chest. He lay there and quietly sobbed on me, asking questions I didn't have the answer for as much as I wanted to help him. I didn't understand why he had had such a life. Why he had been thrust into something so hate-driven with death and destruction around every corner.

His hair was wet with sweat. His face was moist and his chest was slick with his perspiration. I combed through his hair with my fingers softly and held him, pausing to say the only thing I could, "Shh…it was just a dream…it was just a dream…"

"Why did he have to kill my parents?" Harry gripped my body and buried his face into my breast. He kept asking questions breathlessly, his voice in a murmur at my skin, "Why me? Why did he have to destroy my life?"

I couldn't reply. Hermione Granger, the know-it-all, didn't have the solution to this. Anything I would have come up with would have been fruitless and unfair. I couldn't feel what he felt and only knew how to soothe. I couldn't handle the thought of life without my parents. I couldn't empathize because I never was in his shoes. I only wished I could take his pain away somehow. Take it all away and toss it all in some black hole to have it forever be diminished from sight and sound. He didn't deserve how life treated him at all.

I kept telling him that it would be all right. I tried to take the nightmare away from him by carefully directing his thoughts elsewhere. I told him that I loved him and I wished nothing like this every happened to him. He shook on me as he settled, my fingers continuing to sift through his soaked, messy curls. I felt him breathe in and let the pent air subside across me. He kissed me where he lay and I found him asleep in my arms.

I cried whenever he did this. I cried because I couldn't help him. There wasn't a book that could fix this. There wasn't a way to wave my wand and make everything disappear. I couldn't re-write history as much as I wanted to, just to have him happy and carefree. Life isn't meant to be this way, or at least I didn't think so. Harry carried such a heavy burden throughout his life. That wasn't fair to him. His friends and loved ones died around him. He faced true terror that none of us had ever seen. We witnessed Voldemort, but Harry witnessed death itself. I shivered at the thought of him dying and Hagrid carrying him back to Hogwarts in his arms.

Want to talk about feeling swept off my feet? I fell to my knees the moment I saw him dead. Everything in my life that exact moment became lost. I lost myself. I lost it all. I remember my wand dropping and the very breath I breathed cease to exist. If I could have died, I would have, and I don't know why I didn't. That feeling of loss and helplessness was Harry's life for nearly a full decade. I don't know how he survived, but as I watched him sleep soundlessly on me, I thanked whomever for giving me a chance to love him. I was beyond thankful to love him and cherished every moment I had with him like it was my last.

I took up some of the loose sheet and wiped the sweat off his face. I heard him snoring and I smiled.

I had nightmares of my own, too, and Harry would comfort and hold me as I did with him. I'd curl in his arms as I cried, my past coming to haunt me. I watched myself again and again in the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange. The Cruciatus curse was something one would never forget. The gut-wrenching pain coursing through your body is a feeling that will never leave you. How your body shook inside flashes of white-hot flames. I was tortured by her, nearly to death. I wanted to die in my dreams. I couldn't take it. I heard her shrill laugh, her wand pulsing blue streaks right into my chest. My body would react without my will, contorting to the suffering she gave me with glee.

My mind would allow Harry to save me sometimes. Sometimes, my mind wouldn't, and those would be…awful. I'd scream out and Harry would pull me to him and hug me tight. He'd scratch my head, run his hands down my back, and kiss wherever he could. I'd eventually settle, like he had on me, and fall asleep. I guess, in a twisted sense of connection, we had this layer of similarity in our relationship. We definitely shared heart-ache.

Other nightmares involved Ronald. Looking back, I don't really understand myself for staying with him as long as I did. Actually, I don't remember loving him compared to the strength in bond I have with Harry.

Ronald, one time, raised his hand to me. It was one time, but one time too many. I never really understood why he was so angry all the time and why he took it out on me. I thought he was jealous. Jealous of me or jealous of Harry. He'd make outrageous claims as he did the night I ran out into the rain and he'd scold me for opening my mouth whenever I'd contradict his view. I think there was a time when I thought this "bantering" was cute. But, after a while, the "bantering" became downright offensive and violent. Even I fell into the verbal conflict, cursing him back which was very unlike my character. He raised his hand to me and went to hit me, but he didn't. He didn't hit me, but the fact that he thought about it…

I remember lying there that night with him behind me. We spooned and I cried silently, thinking about everything that could have been. Secretly, or maybe it wasn't that much of a secret, and maybe that's why Ronald hated me so, I fell in love with Harry a long time ago. In the beginning, I thought they were both out of control little boys. I'd get so angry with them and be done with them in mere seconds. I couldn't tolerate them at all. I remember screaming at how absurd they were in the Gryffindor Commons, especially Harry. But, I didn't understand Harry until my life intertwined with his and his life opened intimately in front of me. That's when my eyes widened farther and I could see what he had to trudge through, and it wasn't easy nor was it blessed in any sense of the word.

The first moment I remember setting my eyes on him in a different, caring way was in our second year. I'd become a statue, to say the least, thanks to the basilisk roaming freely without consequence from the faculty. While in the hospital wing, I couldn't see or move, but I could feel. I could feel the presence of people. My mind still ran and my sense of touch still worked. I could feel Harry there with me. He'd show up in the morning before breakfast, around lunch, after Quidditch practice, and before he went to bed. He'd tell me stories about his day hoping I would reply. He'd try to make me laugh and smile. I wanted to tell him I could hear him in any way.

He held my hand. He fixed parts of my clothing. He brushed my hair. He would come every day with a fresh bouquet of flowers and set it on my nightstand. The very moment I stepped into the Great Hall after being turned back to normal, thanks to the mandragora root serum, and saw Harry's shining, bright face, I felt my knobby little knees wobble for the first time ever. My youthful heart beat for my first crush. I ran to him as if my very life depended on it and leapt into his arms. I hugged him so tight that he couldn't breathe for a moment. I didn't care if everyone saw me. I didn't care if the Slytherins mocked me from afar. All I wanted to do was to show him the emotion he so willingly gave to me.

I had a dream while I was with Ronald one night at the Burrow a few months into our relationship after Hogwarts. I couldn't stop thinking about Harry. It drove me insane that I couldn't see him all the time like I had in Hogwarts, or sometimes in our summer holiday if the Dursley's let him off his leash. The letters we wrote back and forth didn't help either. I don't know how many ways I dropped hints expressing my feelings toward him. I felt his fearful exterior through the stationary. He had feelings for me but didn't know how to rightfully show them with the looming fact I was "with Ron". He was sincere and would backtrack whenever he became too open to me, truly hoping me and Ronald's relationship cultivated and bloomed.

The dream began innocently. I was walking one of the various halls of Hogwarts in my uniform with a book in my nose. Suddenly, from behind me, I felt an arm go around me. It startled me and frightened me. I jumped clear out of my buckled shoes. When I went to look to see who had wrapped an arm around me I noticed the Weasley-red hair and freckles. Ron. He tightened around me, nearly suffocating me. He had a goofy grin on his face which…disturbed me. But, for some reason, I wouldn't run away. As much as the scene scared me, not once did I get away from him. I actually leaned into his body until…until I felt warmth in my hand.

The warmth shot right up my arm, bleeding into my skin. Right to my heart the warm rollercoaster went, colliding with my heart at the finish line. I turned away from Ronald's silly face and saw Harry holding my hand. He was at a distance, but he remained clasped around my fingers firm. I squeezed his hand and he smiled. Then, I woke up.

I wanted him. I wanted Harry. I'm forever glad I waited for Harry. If I lost my virginity to Ron…I'm just happy I hadn't. My virginity was too special for me to waste. The more I felt our relationship grow, the more I realized how much I settled for with my ex-boyfriend. Even before Harry came when he did that night in the rain, we talked through the Owl Network and…yeah, I found out then how much I cared for Harry Potter. The words I wrote expressed how I longed for him, and he responded back just the same. Thinking about the flirtatious, sweet messages even now gives me butterflies, as if my body told me: "That's the one".

I fell for him year after year. Why did I settle? That's a complex question. Ironically, a part of why I did was because of my best girlfriend, Ginerva Weasley. She absolutely chased Harry whenever possible at the end of our fifth year to our seventh. They broke up shortly after the War and during all the prodding media and paparazzi. She wanted him, and I fell into the shadows. I thought compared to Ginny I was a nobody and that's how it was going to be for the rest of my life. My books were the only thing that kept me company as stale and dusty as they were. I became…envious of her? Possibly…I mean, no guy really paid attention to me. The first guy that ever paid attention to me as a "girl" was Viktor Krum, and he's still a sweetheart to me even after I let him down. He writes me nearly every week. The thing is, though, I don't believe I would have been stimulated…intellectually. Sure, Viktor had the muscle mass and he was fun to look at, but when it came down to it, I'd rather have a guy who can test my knowledge than a guy who can toss me around in bed.

Does that sound weird?

I'm weird.

Fortunately, Harry had both qualities. Harry's…fun in so many ways. He keeps my brain working and challenges me intellectually. He did that back at Hogwarts, and that actually got me hotter under the collar than watching him from afar. Then when that piece of him fell into place, the biological parts of me, my hormones, kicked on when he'd take off his shirt. He wasn't sporting a six-pack like Viktor, but Merlin, I swear the first time he took his shirt off after a Quidditch game when I became infatuated my jaw fell to the floor. I nurtured the lassoing of my emotions and hid them well. Ginerva was the one who took the chance that I was…afraid…of doing. I don't know why, but if Harry rejected me…that would have hurt more than any other guy.

Ginerva is universally attractive and so many guys wanted her. She played with them, too, knowing confidently how hot she was. I guess I didn't know, or maybe I didn't like to look at myself naked in the mirror. I was a rather late bloomer. Ginny had boobs before I did! I was just "another guy" in Hogwarts. Not even Harry, nor Ron, thought of taking me to the Yule Ball. Parts of me believed Harry as superficial; that, Harry Potter was just like every other guy who wanked off to Witch Parfait because the nude girls in the magazine had humongous breasts. I kept to the shadows, keeping a jumper on and never really exposing my skin to the world. I didn't think I was good enough for any guy.

Harry isn't superficial, by the way. He proved it when he discussed with me about his break up voluntarily one afternoon. He didn't feel the chemical spark because Ginny didn't get him. He thought there was a possibility that she wanted him because of his "status" in the wizarding world. I made a joke about Gin being "well-endowed" and he rolled his eyes at me.

"I want a girl who can get me here," he patted his chest.

"And here," he pointed to his noggin.

His words were genuine and heart-felt…and he had me in the palm of his hand. I remember sitting in the Three Broomsticks and listening to him go on about what made him tick, and I ate every, single word. I wanted him, and I wanted him to want me. Serendipity? He smiled at me a lot that day. My cheeks hurt from smiling back. I remember I couldn't sit still for a second and would twist on my bum or wiggle my torso and giggle stupidly at any and every joke he made. When I couldn't see him anymore clinched my feelings, and by mail, I found my lover. He wanted me and my smaller breasts and how they are. He wanted me for my smarts and outsider-style. He didn't want me to force a laugh at his corny jokes, but he did want me to laugh and he wanted me to laugh forever. Harry had fallen in love with me as much as I did for him.

Harry calls me perfect-no, the person who is perfect is Harry. He's sensitive to my wants and needs, he listens, he acts, and he's passive and aggressive when he should be. He's not over-protective, but when I seek his arms he's right there waiting. I do seek his arms more often than not. His arms feel so, so good. I want to be within them every second of every day.

Harry's strong, too. I love seeing those lean muscles appear when he flexes or after a bit of exercise, or even when he's just wandering the flat. I especially love to see the muscles pop out during and after sex. I've been caught mesmerized, tracing my finger along a vein in his arm with my fingernail or a vein in his neck with my tongue. There's just something sexy about seeing that result from the passion he puts out toward me; that Hermione, the know-it-all, the book worm, the loner girl, the late bloomer, can make his body change.

I love Harry Potter so much.

I love everything he does to me and how he makes me feel.

I love when he cuddles with me anywhere and everywhere.

I love when he slaps my ass when we're intimately alone.

I love when he kisses me for the sake of kissing me.

I love when he throws me on the bed with a bounce before a fuck.

I love how we can make the simplest of eye contact or make a certain language with our body and we instantly know what each other is thinking without words.

I am one happy, lucky young woman, and I'm glad that I was given a chance to love and be loved by such a wonderful young man.

***

My man lay on my body.

I could be his own personal mattress, and I wanted to be his own personal mattress. The rain splattered the window panes outside. The storms hadn't died down for a couple weeks with one shower beginning when the other left. The environment was dismal. Only inside Number Twelve felt of comfort and safety from the world splashing behind the glass panels. The raindrops pounded so hard on the ceiling that the sound it made became one single rushing noise. Not one individual drop was ever heard.

Harry made me breakfast. I wanted to make breakfast this morning, but he once again pushed me away. I wish he allowed me to do more things around the house. I gave in a little easier than the first few times, that's for sure, and I'd sigh when I knew he'd tell me to leave for a task simpler than this or that. He loves me, and I feel his love and will never toss any of it in the rubbish bin-ever-but, I just wish he'd allow me to give more. It's not like he treated me like a child, he just didn't want me baking over a hot stove or doing something "menial" as he'd call it, mundane.

I'm quite the strong female and would do things anyway. I started dinner one night while he was in the shower upstairs. He came down and kissed me, getting my way on both ends. I love that Harry would go far and beyond to treat me well. I'm so used to having to do everything that I sometimes forget that people give and not just take.

He fixed pancakes and bacon this morning. I helped him set the table and get the glasses. I asked him what he wanted to drink as he stood there looking so exhausted. He hadn't gotten much sleep which made me feel worse as he stared sleepily at the range with a spatula. He had bags under his pretty green eyes. I finally pushed him away. I plated the food and carefully put one stack of pancakes and crispy bacon in front of him, and then sat down with the other. He leaned a few inches to kiss me. I tilted into him and relaxed the entire time on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around me.

Now Harry, succumbing to tiredness, drifted to dreamland. His body paralleled mine horizontally between my legs. His head rested upon my chest. His arms circled my slender waist. I smiled as he slept with my hand in his hair. His hair was so soft, so clean, and so messy. I loved the messiness. God, I loved his messiness. It was so incredibly sexy, and this was normal. He didn't need to put on some act or bunch up his hair with gel-this was naturally handsome-like the rest of his beautiful body.

I watched him breathe. I was fixated on his breathing. I'd watch him breathe just to know he was alive and with me. Something so simple and yet his breathing satisfied something within me. As if there was a hole in my heart and his breathing massaged that hole. I was more than glad, joyful, ecstatic that Harry was alive and that I was alive with him as well. My heart scared me. The times when I'd feel my chest tickle, I knew there was a bit of me wrong inside, but I didn't want to express my pain. I didn't want to worry Harry. He'd been through enough already.

Then, the tickling caught up and I passed out. I was in horrific blackness, the kind described as Purgatory. But, I heard Harry. I heard his voice, and then I began to feel his warmth. He led me out of the blackness and I called for him. I felt myself draw nearer and nearer until his voice cleared. Even though I was drugged, I heard him when I became aware and I saw him when the blurring lessened.

A tear trickled down my cheek.

I could have lost everything.

Harry calls me his angel. Indeed, it's the other way around. He's my guardian angel. He heard me sniffle and he kissed me through my black-and-gray, wide-striped t-shirt. The long sleeves stretched when I rubbed down his neck, my fingers gradually moving back into his hair. I don't think he woke up, and I didn't want to wake him up. In sleep he was affectionate. I think he could read my mind at times without even having to look at me.

I wiped my tears off on my sleeve. My right hand carefully felt of his cheek through a light stroke. My left hand followed a line in his muscle alongside his upper back from his hair. I felt of his smooth skin and the fibrous strands underneath. I slid my knee up, rubbing my leg, my thigh, against the side of his body. I watched my knee peek out from a cut slit in my dark blue jeans when I reached the peak and slowly let my leg fall back out-stretched, making sure to slide against him.

I don't think this will ever be said aloud-ever-but in the summer holiday of our third year, I wrote my name with the surnames of the guys I knew.

Hermione Jane Finnigan?

No…not quite. Though, I miss him dearly.

Hermione Jane Thomas?

Not at all.

Hermione Jane Longbottom?

Next. Though, Gin would get a kick out of that nowadays.

Hermione Jane Weasley.

I think I thought that fit at the time.

Then I wrote: Hermione Jane Potter.

I melted in my seat. I saw myself, dreamed of walking an aisle like the girls I saw on TV. In a gorgeous, trim wedding gown and a long tail, with my daddy walking arm-and-arm with me. He gave me away to the grinning, messy locks squirming at the front of the church with excitement. I saw myself saying, "I do" and Harry taking me and kissing me. He whisked me away to some secluded countryside or maybe a private island for just the two of us. I saw our little boy or little girl running around at our feet and the white-picket fence. We lived happily, ever after.

I'd become a giddy school girl when he'd look at me that way. He'd look at me as if to say, "You're special and I'm going to treat you special". He'd look at me as if to say, "You're in my heart always". He'd look at me as if to say, "You're mine, and someday, you'll be my wife". A young girl's dreams coming to life. Sometimes I'd think about just going ahead and asking him to marry me. But, I wanted to be knelt in front of in some special moment in time. That was part of my dream: Harry, getting down on one knee, and asking me for my hand.

I'd be his bride.

I'd be Hermione Jane Potter.

The rain pounded harder against the roof of Number Twelve, shaking me from my hypnotic state. I didn't know how long I zoned out, but I noticed Harry and had switched positions with his head turned towards the sofa rather than towards the fireplace. He had nuzzled into the cotton of my t-shirt, his hand slightly under the edge to feel of my stomach and my side. My hand followed his arm, gently squeezing the slight hill of every muscle before his shoulder. I squeezed his shoulder, and then pet the top of his head.

I grinned, a thought flooding my mind. I'd grown a little tired, too, and knew what would happen next. I wanted to go upstairs. I prodded his exposed upper body, nudging tenderly with my hand. He didn't wake at the first few pokes, but lifted when I paired a small shake with his name.

"Harry…," I whispered. I didn't think he heard me because of the rain, but he lifted nonetheless.

His cheek was pink from his relaxation and an indent was evident after laying on a part of my bunched up shirt. He blinked his eyes at me and smiled when I smiled, "…Hm?"

"I think it would be more comfortable to go upstairs, don't you?"

Harry lowered his face down to my chest and kissed me there. His voice was a little raspy when he replied, "Let's go."

He scooted to his knees and helped me off the sofa. He got around back of me and didn't take his hands off my hips the entire way. Stair after stair, I felt of his grip. I loved how he wanted me. I also loved how we'd take naps together in the afternoon. There was something so innocent about it that made my heart leap. Putting it into a mathematical equation: naps plus Harry equaled sublimity. We'd slip in the sheets, clothed or not, and just lay with each other. Just being with each other in the silence. He'd put his arms around me and hold me. I'd move right to his body and let him do his wrap-around. I felt his affectionate aura, the bond of our love, and would stroll blissfully to sleep.

I kicked off my Converse shoes at the door. He waited for me and watched my movements. He stuck his hand in my back pocket when I couldn't quite get my left foot out. There was something sexy behind our comfort level. How he'd touch me made me feel wonderful, like a woman. He slid his hand out when I planted my sock-clad foot down on the floor. I kissed him softly and he followed me to the bed.

I began to crawl to my side and I felt his hands. He pulled me into him and I smiled. He automatically wrapped himself around me and took up the sheets. He put his leg around both of mine and I sighed. I picked up the hand from the arm he slipped across my midsection and used it as my pillow, my head in the mold of his soft palm. His other arm slid underneath me and I fit into the niche his body created perfectly. I smelled of his pumpkin spice scent, the soothing aroma and the stroking of his hand on my cheek making it difficult to not fall asleep. I wanted to bask in our moment, but my eyes settled and closed.

I sighed into a smile and wandered easily into sleep.

***

Crookshanks dodged away from me. He leapt right from the rounded shape of the end of the staircase banister at the bottom level. I chased him with my eye secured to a handheld camera. Crookshanks would stop and stretch. I'd get on my knees and would play with the buttons, getting a close-up of his face and then an extreme wide shot of the room with my furry feline in the centre. He'd just look at me like I was a moron and I'd giggle; then, he'd take off again around Number Twelve, hiding from my chase.

The orange-and-brown fur ball jumped straight on the sofa and curled up in the corner. I slid over the armrest and bounced on the cushions. My tummy glided skillfully on the plush of the den's furniture. The purple-and-black plaid scarf along my neck tightened and I had to adjust or become choked, the cloth catching between the cushions. The camera shook in my hands in that instance, but I settled the shakiness and pressed the button to zoom into my Kneazle.

"Crookshaaaaanks…" I giggled when Crookshanks tilted his head at me when I elongated the vowel in his name, my voice singing in a high pitch.

Crookshanks looked on at me with beady little black eyes and yawned.

"Where is Harry at?"

I shifted my focus closer into Crookshanks's face, his head tilting to the other side. He licked his paw and fought with something on his ear before glancing around him at the noise that happened. Harry had come down the stairs and his feet padding the floor made my Kneazle's attention go to him. I heard Harry flip on the water faucet in the kitchen and a plate submerge. We'd just got done eating and were about to leave for my date with Ginny.

Crookshanks gazed back at me and blinked, yawning again.

"Is he in the kitchen?" Crookshanks's sight shifted back in Harry's direction behind the sofa. Harry had set the plate to dry on a rack, the ceramic hitting against another ceramic plate causing it to make a hard tapping noise. Crookshanks glanced back at me when I said in a cutesy voice, "He's too busy for us, isn't he? Just so wrapped up in those darn dishes to be with us, hm?"

I heard Harry in the kitchen laugh. He could hear me. I smiled, the camera continuing to film Crookshanks's every move. I went to take strands of my dark brunette hair from my face only to have them fall perfectly poised to hide my left eye. "You'll hang out with me, won't you?"

Crookshanks stared at me and looked bored. He yawned.

"I mean, I have some downtime," I talked as if I had a riveting conversation going with my cat. Crookshanks looked away from me and off to the side. Yeah… "So, I thought we could hang out. Maybe catch a movie? Eat some popcorn?"

Crookshanks licked his paw and swished his tail.

"I don't really have anything to do at the moment and thought we could maybe…go to the mall? Drive around or something? Dinner?"

Crookshanks looked at me and meowed.

"Yeah, I really like hanging out with you because you're such a good listener," Crookshanks turned away from the camera and meowed, his eyes going towards something in the window. "A really good listener."

Crookshanks rolled over on his back and stared up at me, purring. He scratched his backside on the armrest.

"You're lovable…," I paused and flicked my eyes around the room, relieving myself a bit from the camera in thought. "Um…and you have a nice furry coat…?"

Crookshanks flipped over completely and landed on his feet, startled by himself. He meowed at me.

"Umm…and," My eyes were back on the fur ball staring back at me. I gulped, not really knowing what else to say. "…Yeah…"

I sighed, and then jumped when I felt something tug on my dark gray skirt from behind. The something flipped me over, and I watched in brief my Kneazle leap from the sofa and take off. Completely turned over with my back on the sofa cushions, I gazed in my handheld to see Harry on the other side. He placed his hand on the soft of my tummy, through my plunged, obsidian crew-neck shirt. He pulled the purple-and-black plaid scarf from between me and the sofa.

I smiled at him as I filmed his expressions, trying to capture his smirk. He'd look away from the lens and finally, he pushed the camera away to get at my lips. I felt their warmth, Harry having to lower across the back of the sofa to get to me. I peered up at him through my right, exposed eye. My pink lips curled into a smirk when he released from them, my black eyelashes batting at him. I bit my bottom lip and turned the camera back on him, making sure not to ruin my eyeliner in my haste.

"Is that your new toy of choice?" he laughed. "You've been carrying that thing around since you bought it."

"I want to record all of my life," I sighed when he gazed at me with those jade green, smoldering eyes. "Starting with the most important part."

I felt him stroke my tummy softly as he asked, "Are you ready to head on over?"

I nodded my head, my camera shaking in the process, "Mhmm…"

He went to move from the back of the sofa, his elbows shifting from pushed into the plush, when I stopped him in question, "What about that little, teensy, itty-bitty thing we talked about at lunch?"

He turned back into my camera focus and I stayed on him, "I'll miss you. I want you around me always."

I panned the camera across the fit of his salt-and-pepper turtle-neck sweater. Right to his muscle, the sweater was snug on him. Some of the chaos of his hair moved as he'd try and break from my view in play. I tried to stay on him as he moved in-and-out of frame.

"Maybe not right away," I stated gently. "But, sometime, I'll need to work."

"But, a waitress?" he asked me, raising his brow.

"That was one suggestion," I exclaimed. "I could be a library assistant, or a tutor; I could always ask Professor McGonagall about getting a part-time job at Hogwarts."

Harry bowed to me. I had to pull back the lens when he blurred to re-focus. "I have us both covered financially for years, Hermione," he said very coaxingly, trying to persuade me out of my thoughts.

"I'm going to pull half my weight here. It's a two-way street," I kept still on him to see him puff out his chest and sigh in a pout. He raked his fingers through his hair as he looked on at me. "Besides, you'll eventually get tired of me."

Harry laughed loudly, "You'll tire of me before that happens."

"Ha!" I smiled. "Liar."

Harry lowered again and pushed the camera from my sight. He kissed me hard and patted my tummy, "Let's go before the snow gets heavier."

He took me by the hand and helped me off the sofa. As I walked around him, turning the camera off as I went, I patted his rear. He gasped, and I gasped, pivoting on my heel to hear him growl. He chased me as I giggled, high-tailing it out the front door.

***

"Muggle-stores are so boring…" Ginny fidgeted uncomfortably in her stance. We had stopped in front of the rice section in the local grocery market. Neville reached for a box on the top shelf and threw it in his buggy. Ginny made a sigh of annoyance, letting out this big breath of air and filed on ahead as if she were pissed.

The grocery market played elevator music amongst the atmosphere. Other shoppers dragged their buggies between us, pulling and pushing boxes and bags from the shelves. They'd examine some, put some back, and sometimes toss whatever contents they had into their buggy and move on. Shopping for food wasn't supposed to be fun. I mean, it was a purpose, not really a luxury. Grocery shopping wasn't recess.

"Ugh!" Ginny sifted her hands through her flaming hair. She shot around at us and began stepping backward. "Why couldn't we have gone to Hogsmeade and shopped?"

I had my arms folded in front of my chest and stopped when Harry did. Harry was checking out something he found interesting; some juice product with the fruits of kiwi and dragonfruit combined together. I didn't even know there was such a thing as dragonfruit, so it was news to me too.

"Gin," Harry's voice was subtle, his eyes on the product in his hands. He read the back where the nutrition facts were printed. "Chill out."

"This was the closest to your house," I stated, trying to get my face around to read with Harry the nutrition facts. "It's time-efficient."

"It's boring is what it is," Ginny sighed and skipped around the corner to the next aisle. She dashed right to the chocolate chip cookies and chips and began throwing one after the other in the cart Neville pushed along.

Ginny's tie-dyed t-shirt flittered at its edges as she turned quickly toward me. She held up two jars and asked, "Onion or jalapeno for tonight?"

"I didn't think Katie liked onions?"

Ginny exaggerated a nod and swiftly shot around to put the onion dip back, "Right."

Ginny planned this girls-night at their house a few days ago. We hadn't really done anything together since the time I spent in the hospital. Other than phone call after phone call, we hadn't been paired. She felt lonely without me, she said over the phone, and wanted us to do something. I suggested in brief a get-together and she took off with the idea which led to a slumber party.

We were food shopping for two reasons: Neville wanted to make us dinner and for the party. So, when Ginny shuffled over to the buggy with an arm full of Hershey and Kit-Kat bars, no one was surprised. She pried about six two-liter bottles of soda from the shelves and when we got to the alcohol section, she went crazy. Nothing in the shopping cart, except for the food Neville had specifically chosen for his meal, was healthy and I snickered at the dozen or so bags of chips piled high.

Suddenly, between the meat and the cheese section, Ginny tumbled over in the shopping cart. We all sort of just stood there for a moment, her weight making Neville's arms move around without their will.

"Um," Neville started, looking at Ginny as if she lost her mind. "Gin?"

Ginny slipped around on her feet. She had to squat in the front of the buggy due to the packages around her figure, "Hermione, get in Harry's!"

"Ginny!" I whispered to her. I glanced around at people starting to stare and smiled at them a bit embarrassed. "What are you doing?"

"Has she been drinking, Neville?" Harry asked casual, sarcastically.

Ginny threw a bag of Doritos at Harry, "We're going to the check-out, right? Well, let's do it in style!"

"Get in!" she shouted at me.

I shot glances between Harry, Neville, and Ginny. Then, I lowered to her level, "People are staring! Come on, Gin!"

"So what?" Ginny shuffled in her spot, her back relaxing on one of the wall of the buggy. "We're only young once in our life. Let's have a little fun before we get old!"

I hesitated. Thoughts ran through my mind and the eyes of the stares hit me. I felt my heart flutter, and before I could even think my black Ugg boots started to move under me. I fell into the buggy Harry pushed and held on to the front of the metal cage, my skirt covering nearly all of my legs and feet.

Ginny squealed and said loudly, "And we're off!"

She pointed off towards the other side of the store where the check-out lines were sitting and waiting for us. Harry and Neville exchanged glances and shrugged. I felt Harry push the buggy, and before long, we were racing Ginny and Neville through the aisles. We lost them when Harry took a turn down an opposite aisle, sliding in-and-out of other people who stared at us as we flashed on by. I could hear Ginny's squeaky laughter on the aisle beyond the shelves to my left, and I laughed right along with her, my hands gripping the cart with strands of my hair flittering behind me.

"Faster, Neville! Faster!" screamed Ginny.

When we broke from the aisle Ginny and I saw each other. Harry had gotten the best of Neville, a full cart length in front of him. I waved at Ginny from behind and, as I turned back around saw a stock boy drop the merchandise he held onto the floor. He twisted his head one hundred eighty degrees to follow us in sight, flying by as I let out a giggle.

Ginny had her arms out like a bird in flight. She had her eyes closed and her head tilted back as the wind they created tossed her hair around. I started dancing while I squatted in the buggy to the pattern the wheels squeaked out in protest to Harry's flowing push. I heard Harry laugh behind me and say something to Neville. Neville screamed out something back and we were all laughing. I wasn't entirely sure what we were laughing at, but we were laughing nevertheless.

By the time we made it to the check-out we had the entire grocery store flipped around. Every head in building watched us being kids. The young girl at the cash register, as well as the families in front of us, stood wide-eyed. I felt springy, and when I leapt from the buggy, I did a little bounce on the soles of my feet.

I turned amidst a snicker, finding it hard to breathe and watching Ginny almost fall out of her cart didn't help. As I turned, I saw what I thought was the manager with his hands on his hips. I flipped back around, my hair lifting in the sharp twist.

I didn't care.

We were having fun.

We're only young once in our lifetime.

***

Neville stood out by the grill for the longest time talking over a bottle of butterbeer with Harry. He fixed us trout filets that had this beautiful, black-line texture on top the slight pink of the meat from the grill tray. He boiled brown rice and added a mixture of virgin olive oil and spices for a gravy-like composition. Ginny had quite a time playing with the small corn and carrots. The corn cob was finger-length and absolutely adorable. I had a tough time wanting to eat them cause they were just so gosh darn cute.

When we were finished, Ginny and I cleared the table set for four and took the plates and silverware to the men. I blew out the candlesticks atop the black satiny table covering, smoke curving in a line from the unlit wicks. I passed by various moving photographs of Neville and Ginny framed on their walls leading into the kitchen. All of them looped continually with something intimate like an embrace or a kiss. The scenery of Hogsmeade displayed in the background of one. They took a picture of them together during our beach trip with one of their enchanted cameras, making the wind sway the umbrella and the waves wash ashore behind them.

I handed Neville the dish that the cooked trout sat on and patted his shoulder, "Thank you, Neville. That was a lovely meal."

"You're more than welcome, Hermione," smiled Neville. He was looking down at the dish that just went into the water. His other hand scrubbed away at its surface.

Harry was on Neville's right side. Neville would wash, hand him the dish, and Harry would dry and place the dish in its proper spot in the cabinet. Usually, all of this was done with a wave of the wand, but I guess Harry and I began rubbing off on Ginny and Neville. There was a loss of intimacy when things were done with magic.

When I passed behind Harry, he bumped me with his hip. I smirked and pushed back on him with my shoulder, making him nudge Neville. I laughed when they both grinned, and I leaned in to snatch a quick kiss from Harry. He much obliged my forward, hasty kiss, grabbing me back around the waist when I began to walk from him to snatch another.

With the dishes done, Neville wiped his hands off on a paper towel. We were all mingling in the kitchen with Ginny and Neville on one side and me and Harry on the other. I held my glass of wine in my hand with an arm under my elbow. Ginny got done discussing their introductory wedding plans, having only begun their initial planning, when she pushed on Neville.

"Okay, enough chit-chat!"

Neville grabbed her by wrapping an arm around her neck and pulling her to him, "I'm glad I like the violent-type."

Harry laughed a little and I smiled, taking a sip as I watched Ginny struggle out of Neville's grasp.

Ginny blew some of her Weasley-red hair out of her face from the struggle and eyed Neville with her intense golden brown irises, "It's almost girl-time! No boys allowed on the premise!"

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to me after setting his own glass of wine down on the counter. He placed his hand gently to cradle the back of my head and kissed my lips. He rubbed the back of my head as he released and I purred by his touch.

"We're going into the parlor to play pool," I lingered on his gaze. "I'll be in there if you need me, and then we'll get out of your hair for the night."

I smirked and leaned closer to whisper in his ear. He turned so I could and said, "I love you."

He leaned back erect and smiled. He kissed me once more and took up his glass of wine in hand, petting my head before leaving towards their parlor and game area.

I heard a smacking noise and swiveled my head to see Neville laughing and Ginny rubbing her butt. "We'll just see about that…," she said, her eyes narrowed toward Neville as he left behind Harry.

"Show Hermione our new snake, Gin," Neville added as he waltzed from the kitchen.

"That's vulgar!" Ginny shouted at him. "No one wants to see that!"

Harry, from the other room, called aloud, "Ha-Ha-Ha" after Ginny's yell.

I placed my hand over my mouth to stifle a snicker. Ginny flicked her gaze at me and kept her eyes narrowed. I couldn't help but burst with laughter, doubling over as I held my stomach.

"Okay," she said flatly. "It wasn't that funny."

"No, no," I said, trying to breathe. "It was your face. How you looked!"

"There's nothing wrong with my face!" she stuck her tongue out at me and skipped out of the room.

I watched Ginny through the opening along their bar area go back around to a glass container and reach inside. She said something inaudible to my ears, and traipsed on back into the kitchen with this tiny boa constrictor wrapped the width of her wrist. The snake intertwined with her fingers and sort of bobbed its head as she walked in with it. My brow rose, and the hair on me did as well.

"Isn't she just the cutest thing?"

"Um…," I wasn't exactly afraid of it, as it wasn't anything compared to what I've seen before in snakes, but the thing could still bite. "Sure?"

Ginny came right up to me and held out her hand. She rotated her wrist, the boa maybe a foot in length at the most. "Her name is Isabelle. We just got her a few days ago."

"She's pretty in a…snakey…sort of way."

Ginny looked at my body language and how I withdrew from her, my arm hugging tighter against my chest after she came in with it, "Mi-Mi, it's not like it's going to bite!"

"Can you read its mind?"

"No, but Harry can," she grinned a bit evilly. "Should I bring him in here so we can get an update?"

"Of course not," I sighed.

"Here!" she prodded Isabelle at me. "Take her!"

"I don't really want to touch her, Gin."

"Mi-Mi…" Ginny pried my arm away from my chest and had me set my glass down. "When haven't you been able to trust me?"

"Do you have a pencil and paper?"

"Yeah…," She held out my hand and gently pulled the snake from her wrist and had it wrap around mine. The boa slithered along my hand, its tongue flicking out every now and then to taste me, I supposed. I wasn't researched on the fundamentals of amphibians and reptiles to know what exactly it was doing, but it was creepy…and sort of cute. "Don't answer that question. It'll probably bite my ass."

"This will probably bite you, too," I pointed at the snake, its cold scales rubbing against my skin.

"You're a funny one, Granger," Ginny mimicked her best Severus Snape. "Thirty points from Gryffindor for insolence."

My eyes rolled and I smirked. I gently ran my finger along the side of Isabelle to have her move between my spread index and middle fingers, "So, how big is she supposed to get?"

"Around five or six feet."

"Six feet?!" I exclaimed. "Holy-"

"I know, right?" Ginny suddenly found herself giddy. "Six feet of love, hm?"

"I guess so," I simply gazed at this snake that didn't look harmful at all once you got to know it. But, seeing it grow six feet in length…now the picture became morbid in my mind. "If you like that sort of thing."

"Who doesn't like six feet of fun?"

I sighed and glanced up at Ginny, my left eye covered completely with my brunette hair, "You haven't even drank yet and your mind's already in the gutter."

"My mind's always in the gutter," smiled Ginny. She looked so innocent, so sweet, but she…wasn't, and I laughed. Ginny leaned back on the countertop and pulled herself up to sit on it. She watched me pet Isabelle. "So, Granger, tell me what you've been up to since we haven't been together in weeks."

I adjusted the scarf around my neck and glanced at her from Isabelle, "Artsy stuff, eating, sleeping, my guitar…"

"Boring!" Ginny slapped the countertop. She scooted into me and wiggled her eyebrows. "How is it?"

I knew exactly what she was talking about, but I roped her away from my personal, intimate life. She already knew a bunch of it already, anyway. "What do you mean, `how is it'? I'm happy to be out of the hospital, but you knew that already."

"I know he's shagged you rotten at least once since you guys started living together," Ginny winked and I just rolled my eyes. My attention went back to Isabelle. "So, how is it? Six inches?"

"What?" I glanced back to her. She just smiled.

"Seven?"

"Gin…," I shook my head and relaxed against the ledge of the countertop.

Ginny slapped the countertop again, "I knew it! From Harry's Quidditch uniform, I knew he was at least ei-!"

My eyesight flicked instantly to her, interrupting her before she could continue on more, "Ginerva! Do you know how extremely awkward I am right now?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and hopped from the countertop, "Past is past," she waved me off and took up her glass of wine. "The only thing I care about is if he's treating you right, what with the hospital and all done."

"We're more in love now then we've ever been," I watched Ginny move about her kitchen wiping down things with the cloth rag. "You've always been perceptive, shouldn't you have know that by our kiss?"

Ginny pivoted on her heel and slipped back against their stove, "I like seeing and hearing you at the same time. Don't want another Ronald debacle on my hands."

I peeked back down when I felt Isabelle graze the skin between my middle and ring finger. She had climbed up the middle finger completely with her head in the air.

"Hoes over bros!" shouted Ginny, the sound of her voice shaking their flat. Neville must have heard it, and Harry too. I lightly laughed through my nose and kept my eyes on Isabelle.

"And besides…," Ginny whispered, talking to me from across the kitchen. "He's good, right?"

I think I flushed. I knew I grew a little hot, tilting my head from side-to-side with my hair falling to and fro. I finally just nodded to shut her up and Ginny giggled, her hand clapping over her mouth. She said through her palm, "I knew it!"

Pirouetting on her toes, Ginny pounced in front of me and laid out her arm beside Isabelle. She snuck her finger in-between the snake and my wrist and gently pried the creature off, Isabelle slipping to her own wrist. My eyes blinked between the reptile and its master when I heard Gin, still in whisper, "On a serious note, have you talked to him about…you know?"

"Oxford?" I held onto the edge of the countertop with both my hands after Isabelle wound around Ginny. I shook my head in response, "Anytime I bring up leaving his side he becomes distraught. I told him about the possibility of working and he told me he had enough money to satisfy us both."

"He needs to get it through his mind that you're a strong, independent woman first, and then his toy second," Ginny went from Isabelle as she stroked her pet and back to me. "I mean, you still want to go, right?"

I nodded, adding, "Yeah, but-"

The doorbell rang out, making both our heads turn towards the hallway where the front entrance lay. Ginny skipped through the kitchen and turned back quick, her hand catching the frame of the archway with a smile as she leaned into the kitchen, "That must be Katie! So excited!"

I stayed where my feet were planted for a moment. I thought about Harry and I thought about how he wanted me by his side, forever. I smiled at the thought, but I wanted to do something, anything. Having been made aware of my time in the hospital, I felt I needed to expand, go to my horizon where my goals were and grab them. Not that I didn't want to lay with Harry, or eat with Harry, or go out wherever with Harry, but there were needs deep down that didn't involve him one-on-one. I wanted to take my dreams and make them live, and there's only one way-

My train of thought broke when I heard Katie squeak and Ginny squeal from the hallway.

"Oh my goodness!!! The Katester!" Ginny's shriek muffled.

Katie let out in a scream, "This is going to be the best night ever!"

***

"Turn it back! Turn it back!" Katie was jumping in her seat on the floor. Within her lap a bowl overflowed with buttery popcorn, some of the popped kernels falling on her legs. She was beside me and Ginny on the sofa, my knees to my chest, having changed into a gray pajama set. Dark and light graying striped across my chest while gray lounge pants tied to my waist.

Ginny crawled over and fell on the armrest to grab the remote. Like me, Ginny changed into a navy blue pajama slip with pink frills. We'd been watching Grease until our feature presentation came on. "I'm hurrying!" Ginny pounded the buttons, the television flipping channels hastily.

"We're going to miss the beginning of Shade's concert thanks to you, Gin!" shouted Cho from the other sofa. She held an entire bag of Snickers miniatures in her arms, stuffing one after another in her mouth. She slipped to her side, the button-up, crimson and gold pajama top shifting from her movement.

"That's not unlike, Ginerva," laughed Katie, reaching on her knees in a white pajama slip like Ginny for a butterbeer on the table.

"You all need to SHUT UP…," we all chuckled when Ginny whipped around and hissed.

"There it is, Gin!" I got to my knees on the sofa and pointed when I said the statement. Shade Epsilon was the new rising pop star in the wizarding world. She was only our age, twenty, with two albums already at gold status. She would wear what the Daily Prophet considered "depressingly lethargic clothes" of black, and black, and black with black hair and black lipstick and black everything. Her songs, however, were upbeat and, well, popish. She was having a special concert to raise funds for her breast cancer prevention charity.

Ginny flipped around off her stomach when Epsilon's voice trembled the walls and windows of their flat, shaking the pictures with the music's base. The singer was jumping up and down on stage, mingling with the crowd on the edge of the platform. The fans in the audience, mostly girls, leaped and outstretched to grab at her hand, her other holding the silver microphone. Her number one hit, "Hot and Cold" rang out with all us girls beginning to dance and wiggle in our spot.

That's what I wanted to do, right there on television, but preferably a different style of music. Not that I didn't look up to Shade Epsilon as a mentor of sorts as I thought her performances were spot on, and she was our age and had done what others couldn't. She also crossed over, like many new artists in the wizarding world, into the Muggle world to reach out to more demographic. The lit lights of Big Ben sparkled behind her manmade ground and across the waterfront where the stage sat on its own peninsula-like inlet. She couldn't do heavy magic, like the times she'd performed in Violet Hill Landing and Silverpond Crossing, or her first performance at Hogsmeade's Central Plaza out in front of Gringotts this past Christmas. But, she'd slip magic in her performances anyway with the Muggles believing the acts were really, really good special effects.

"Get your camera, Mi-Mi!" Ginny yelled over the pulsating beat of the tube. She rolled on over to me, hopping to my side as I found my handheld on the coffee table. We'd been documenting our night, singing-along and having a brilliant time to Grease. We probably had some blackmail material on here, especially when Ginny and Cho completely mucked up Sandy's "Hopelessly Devoted to You" by sounding nowhere near Olivia Newton John, and more like dying cats.

I hit the `On' button with the lens wide. By the time I'd turned my camera on, all the girls were around me. Ginny sat on my right and Katie hopped to my left. Cho gather on behind us and leaned her head down between the pocket created by me and Ginny's shoulders.

"Even though she's almost done with the song!" huffed Katie.

Ginny pushed Katie face and we all giggled, seeing Katie scrunch up and try and knock Ginny back. She fell over my lap when Ginny skillfully dodged the in-coming attack.

"Everyone shh!" Cho covered Ginny's mouth when Ginny went to say something. Cho started us off, epsilon's pause in song happening. She mouthed as Epsilon began without the band, getting close to the camera. "We used to be just like twins, so in-sync!"

Katie tilted up from my lap and placed her head beside my smiling face, "The same energy now's a dead battery!"

"Used to laugh," Ginny got on the other side of my face and I felt Cho's chin atop my head. "About nothing, and now you're plain boring!"

"I should know," I clenched my fist and closed my eyes, being well-overdramatic. "That you're not gonna chaa-aa-aange!"

"'Cause you're hot, then you're cold!" Katie pushed on me and I fell into a giggling Ginny.

"You're yes, then you're no!" I heard Cho from above me sing out. "You're in and you're out!"

"You're up and you're down!" Katie bobbed her head from side-to-side to the rhythm, her dark curls jerking to each shake.

"You're wrong when it's right!" Ginny's hair tickled the side of my cheek as she fought to get in the entire camera lens. "It's black when it's white!"

"We fight, we break up!" I clinched my jaw and made it seem like I was angry and waiting to pounce towards the camera when I sang the lyric. "We kiss, we make up!"

I saw Harry come out with Neville from the parlor. It was late in the night, and he was going to go home to leave us to our little party. He walked right behind the sofa Cho had sat on and made a wave to me, and then slipped his hand back in his black khaki pants. He didn't want to interrupt and merely was slipping out the door quietly. Neville rolled his eyes at us; he, of course, was staying. But, he was going to bed after Harry left.

I motioned to Harry as he took his beautiful jade irises from me to laugh at something Neville said to him. I couldn't hear from the blaring music from the booming speakers. Harry caught my hand signals and stopped. He glanced from Neville, to me and back at something Neville had stated again. He was probably warning Harry to watch his back when he came over to us.

Harry had almost made it to the hallway, and out the door, when he stepped down into the living area with us and shot around to the back of the sofa. He stood beside Cho and leaned down to me. I pulled at his turtle neck, making him get into the camera he tried to stay out of while the other girls copied Epsilon's chorus. He knew who Shade Epsilon was and knew the song, whether he wanted to admit that or not.

I yanked on him and said into his ear, "Sing with us!"

Harry laughed and scratched the back of his head. He shook his head quickly and I pulled him back down with us when he tried to get away. Ginny helped in holding him down, and then Cho and Katie held him down too.

"Someone call the doctor!" Katie belted the lyrics. "Got a case of a love bipolar!"

"Stuck on a rollercoaster!" sang Cho right alongside Shade.

Katie pushed up against Harry who now had his face between her and me, "Can't get off this riiiiide!"

"You, change your mind," we all turned our focus to Harry, and he looked as if he were a scared woodland creature caught in the bright headlights of a car.

Harry mouthed Epsilon as she sang, "…Like a girl changes clothes?" but added the question mark.

I heard Neville roar with laughter from the other side of the opposite sofa. Harry glared at him from his trapped containment in a sea of estrogen. "The Boy Who Sang?! Hahahaha…!!"

Ginny threw a pillow at Neville and screamed over the chorus again, "You're just jealous!"

"You're hot then you're cold!" Cho pulled on my hand to get the camera to her level.

"You're yes then you're no!" Katie yanked on my arm to have the camera go her way. "You're in and you're out!"

"You're up and you're down!" Ginny's whole body jostled against me as she wriggled on her bum to the music. "You're wrong when it's right!"

I held the camera on Harry and he turned red, "It's black and it's white?"

I smiled and sang with that overdramatic tone, "We fight, we break up!" I poked his lovable cheek. He looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "We kiss, we make up!"

I gave him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled. We broke him in, his head nodding to the lyric.

"You!" Ginny pointed at me.

"You don't really want to stay, no!" I sang with enthusiasm.

"You!" Ginny pointed at Harry.

"You don't really want to go-ooo!" Harry sang with sarcastic passion, making us all double over with laughter when his eyes closed like he really felt the words.

"You're hot, then you're cold!" Katie hopped on her feet.

Cho slid down between us, her hands on me and Ginny's legs, "You're yes, then you're no!"

"You're in and you're out!" Ginny pointed over at Neville as Neville made funny faces at us all.

"You're up and you're doooowwwnnn…" I followed Epsilon's tone as it dragged at the end, the band behind her slowing down the beat until it dropped off all together.

Harry chuckled and took off after we let him go. He high-tailed it, not looking back, towards the hallway with Neville right behind him. We scared Neville when all our eyes went to him. All four of us laughed as we watched my man and Ginny's rush for the door. I leapt off the sofa while Ginny bent to grab her butterbeer from the coffee table. Cho ran back to her Snickers bag and Katie picked up her popcorn bowl and sat back against the armrest.

I shot down the hallway, seeing Harry over Neville's shoulder. Neville glanced back at me as I raced to catch Harry before he left. He stood back along the wall and shuffled when I came on by him. Harry just looked at me and smirked, saying firmly, "You're not making me go back in there for a billion Galleons."

I giggled, sliding my fingers in his front pockets, "Are you going now?"

"Yeah," he nodded at something behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Neville wave at him and waltz on back through the hallway from us. I flipped back around and slid my hands further into Harry's khaki pants. He kept his smirk, placing his hand to cradle the side of my head and kissed my forehead, "Yeah, thought I'd get out of your girl's hair."

"This is like," I stared down at his chest in thought, and then moved back to his vision. "The first time we won't sleep together. I'll miss you…"

"Aww…," Harry leaned in again and kissed my mouth. He stroked the side of my face with his thumb, "I'll certainly miss your warmth tonight, but you're going to have fun, remember?"

After a pause of just staring into his green eyes, he said, "You deserve to get out and have a little fun once in a while with your girlfriends."

My smile went goofy as I slipped from his pockets and wrapped my arms around his neck. I kissed him hard, his hands going and holding onto my hips. I felt him squeeze me and I made a gasp, relieving of his mouth a bit to see his eyes set on mine. He smiled, and I grinned, lowering my lips back onto his.

"Get a room!"

Our focus changed from each other and back down the hallway. I still had my arms around his neck and he still had his hands on my waist when we saw Ginny, Katie, and Cho staring at us around the corner. They all laughed, giggled, and Ginny heaved a pillow that didn't quite make it to us at the door. I tilted my head back and laughed, and Harry said clearly, "I can take her back to our room, if that's what you want?"

He pulled me closer to him. Our fronts touched when I stepped to meet him.

Ginny huffed and ran right down the stairs. She got up behind me and pried me off Harry, wrapping her arms above Harry's grip and pulling me backward with her. "Noooo… MINE! She's mine for the night!"

Harry laughed and waved at me being yanked back through the hallway. I tickled Ginny, having her let me go, and I went right back to Harry. He had his hand on the doorknob when he turned around and I kissed him.

"I love you," I gazed into his emeralds. I smirked, "I'll make up for my absence…later…"

Ginny had gone back around me by this time.

Harry quickly kissed my mouth, "I love you."

He tapped the tip of my nose as I was being dragged by Ginny again, "Have fun."

He waved at me and exited with his smile. I heard his popping noise. He'd apparated back to Number Twelve as we had apparated here. My heart broke some, what with this truly being the first night I wouldn't have his arms around me when I slept. I frowned a little, and sighed; Ginny grabbed my hand and led me back into the living room. I smiled in response to their grinning faces when I plopped down on the sofa with Ginny. She held me in an embrace as we watched and sang along to Shade Epsilon on the television. I told myself positive things in the beginning:

It'll be fun!

You're going to have a wonderful time with the girls!

You're smiling, come on!

I did have fun.

We danced on the sofas to Shade Epsilon's concert, sang along to her other hits like "Self Inflicted" and "I Kissed a Girl" where Ginny decided to plant a big one on me, paraded for my camera that was shared between all our hands which probably resembled drunken morons in retrospect, ate too much candy and junk, and did our thing all the way until the sun rose. Ginny became fixated with my hair and brushed it constantly while we all talked about our lives. We discussed Ginny's wedding plans. We discussed Katie's interview with the British Quidditch Team. We gave occupational advice to Cho, who was thinking about applying to the Ministry's International Board of Trustees, and I told them about my plans for Oxford and how Harry may or may not feel about it. We played a silly game of Truth or Dare that reminded me of the days at Hogwarts when we'd sit up late during the weekends talking about the boys in the other room.

Let's just say, too, that Neville wasn't happy when we sprayed shaving cream in his hand and tickled him. We ran out of their bedroom when we heard him grunt to life, the shaving cream smeared all over his face.

But, when I went to sleep that night curled up with Ginny on an inflatable mattress on the floor, a large part of me missed the scent and aura of my man, and how he held me in his arms and caressed my lips gently before he told me, "Sweet dreams."

{Inspirations for the Chapter: I thought about it, and thought about it, trying to find a singer who embodied the modern teenage/ young women demographic. I drove one morning and Katy Perry came on the radio. I knew immediately that she was who I was looking for. She has a bit of an edge and sexuality, but she's playful, and that's what I wanted. Also, I found this Taylor Swift video on YouTube while listening to Perry that became an inspiration for Hermione's handheld scenes}

-->