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: I wanted to get back to the internal thoughts of Hermione. I wrote a lot like this with Harry while in his point of view, probably moreso. Reviews during that time liked the thinking and digesting aspect, so here we go.

Disclaimer - They love each other madly. They're young. They have relatively no responsibilities and they're alone. It's a perfect time to play chess, right? Checkmate. They're all over each other.

***

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Passion

***

Smelling so sweet, my nose grazed the right side of his bare back. He had somehow turned over and pulled the sheets clear off, leaving his subtly tanned skin to contrast the white of the bed. The bandage around his waist camouflaged, complementing with the decor. He lay on his stomach, his arms around his pillow. When I left him for the lavatory I'd come back to see him like this. He had to have been healthier. If not, he'd have wakened by the induced pain caused by putting weight on his ribs.

I smiled upon seeing this.

I peck-kissed a line from his shoulder across to the other, leaning into his own indentation less obvious than my own. His was more or less a curve where mine was a symmetrical separation of feminine muscle. I smushed my nose into his back and wrapped my left arm around him, having side-sat with my feet off the ledge of the bed. Caressing his neck, moving the chaos of black not impeding my adventure amongst Harry, I heard him stir.

I leaned down on my side, the cool of the sheet arousing the exposed skin of my abdomen, and watched him come to however slight. He didn't so much as lift an appendage, just twisting a bit to blinking, adjusting to the soft light of morning. I kissed his jaw when it came into view, and then his cheek, his chin, the tip of his nose, and ending with a kiss on his lips. I stayed in the same position after our release, covering Harry with my warmth as I stroked my fingers within his messy nest.

"…What did I do to deserve this treatment?" He asked with his eyes closed. He had on a sleepy smile.

With my nose near his, I replied quietly, "Everything."

"That's a lot," he laughed a little through his nose and I couldn't help but grin. "I should do more of `everything'."

I kissed him, giggling lightly as I did. "Mm… You're terrible."

I smelled the newly revealed skin of his throat as I added in question, "How's your eye this morning?"

He yawned and I slowed down the combing of his hair while he stretched himself before speaking, "It doesn't hurt at all. So, that's good."

"I agree," I smiled, caressing his throat. "I see it hasn't closed back."

The eye was still blood-red, the bruise still there, but the eyelid functioned normally while he looked at me.

"It's chilly, baby," He put his hands on me. There weren't any goosebumps before, but at this touch my backside became covered in them. I shivered. "Come back to bed."

"It gets better once you're about," I said, kissing him one more time before lifting onto my rear. My eyes gazed down at him, his head squished into the pillow, his eyes shut. He yawned again and I knew he was better off remaining in sleep. I guessed it was the last dose of medicine.

I traced the muscular lines of Harry's back leisurely as I watched him depart to silence.

I thought he'd left me for sleep, not perturbed at any rate for he needed it. When I scooted to leave by bedside he spoke up to my surprise.

"What are you up to?" He cleared his throat halfway.

"I was thinking about wandering down to the beach. Have a jog just down there," I pointed beyond our window at the crashing waves and white sand, but Harry didn't move. He was quite comfortable where he was in the bed. "I'll only be but a few. Get some rest. I'll be right back."

"Do you want me to come with you…?" His voice faltered at the end.

I replied with a short, "No, Love. It'll be a light, quick jog."

I waited for something from him, but he remained stationary. I sat there for a few minutes and asked after the time passed, "Harry?"

I whispered.

I thought he'd went back to sleep.

And, my feeling was right when he didn't respond in that next minute.

Tiptoeing out of the bedroom, I left him with a delicate shut of the door. He left me with a snore, something that made my lip curl in a smirk as I watched myself quietly unwind my fingers from the doorknob. One flight of stairs down, I went into the kitchen to fetch the piece of bread I wanted toasted. I put a pad of peanut butter on top and ate whilst drinking cranberry juice and taking that lovable pill for my heart. My black and pink-rubber sole tennis shoes tapped the carpet with an absence of sound, a route to a sliding glass door to the outside balcony.

I had to make my way across the white-wooden pool deck built alongside the villa. They had chairs set out for us and a table with a parasol propped in the center for shade. Though, if used today, we wouldn't have needed it; at least, not right now. The sky hadn't turned that vibrant blue, morning cirrus clouds in wisps. The sun rose, but was blocked out besides some breaks in overcast. It made the beach that more surreal, the colour of the sand absorbing that grayish saturation of the sky. It also gave my eyes a wonderful break for if it were light the shine from the beach sand would be blinding.

Starting when my feet hit the yielding earth from pebblestone, a fenced pathway from the home ensuring I'd arrive without fall, I began to run. With my arms bent at the elbow and close to the hourglass curve of my sides, the toes of my tennis shoes pushed gusts of sand in my wake.

I started to think, and as I realized my thoughts I was reminded of Harry and how he told me about his running routine. We'd grown so similar. He'd taken on parts of my personality and parts of me for his own, and I took parts of his personality and parts of him for me. I wondered if this was what being together for the rest of our lives was all about. Not that I hadn't thought of any of this before, but as time grew closer to the exchanging of my engagement ring for the wedded-type I realized more and more on just how close we had gotten.

We were close at Hogwarts. Some people might have thought we were scary-close. Harry was my best friend. That sounds like playing favorite with another character apart of our trio, and Ginny too, but Harry was unlike anyone I ever knew in my life. He could match me on any level. I think that's what truly set me off on the route up until now. We were so alike in many ways, and whichever part of ourselves we lacked the other assisted in making up for it.

We might have butted heads, but it was never anything like those others. Mostly, I'd be the one getting onto him much like I'd been getting onto him recently. He always had a knack for over-doing. His body could only take so much before it gave out and he was psychologically and physically thinned from the start. I saw this year after year, and it was all I could do to watch his back.

The night Ron left us in a huff and we danced together in the tent really threw me in a loop. I mean, he'd been so tied up with Ginny that I thought he had no interest in me. I feigned disapproval, or however he took it, when I stopped. Believe me, I wanted it to go on. I wanted him to take me in his arms like he does now with me every night. But, I also over-thought, a ruse of my personality and fought the very nerve that wanted him to take me. With all our emotions on high, I thought he wasn't honest…or something. I wanted to know, genuinely know, he wanted me like I wanted him. It was all very much a blur.

The letters he began to send me after all had settled down proved to me he wanted more. He wanted me more than just the girl next door, plain Jane Granger. He wanted me as his best friend for life, his partner in crime, forever. I don't know why I was so hesitant for him to make love with me. Well, as I'm certain, I'm sure it had to do with Ron-but, in retrospect, Harry was Harry. He wasn't Ron. He'll never be Ronald.

My name will never be Hermione Jane Weasley.

I thumbed at the engagement ring on my finger.

I smiled as I breathed in the salty-sweet air.

My name will be Hermione Jane Potter.

Misses Hermione Jane Potter.

Misses Potter.

If it wasn't enough how close we'd been linked in Life, being sewn practically to the hip, our initials were going to be the same:

HJP and HJP.

I'd love to see those carved into a tree…if it didn't actually hurt the tree.

I'd made my way running to where I wanted to stop. I didn't want to get out of view of the villa in case Harry wanted to see me. I halted my feet, swirled around and took off in the opposite direction. My shoes made prints backwards atop the ones already there. I could feel my lungs grow, the air fresh with just a hint of dew. I could feel the tiny bit of humidity as it brushed the unclothed parts of me, namely the breadth of my tummy. I had an equal number of square and rectangular pockets on my pants, going down one leg and up its twin. The weight of the military-green bottoms shook on my thin figure, a black leather belt holding the brim secure on my hips. Parts of the pants, laces and small belt buckles, clinked on the metal rivets placed sporadically upon the pockets as my legs moved at their steady rate. I'd put a black scrunchie in my hair, the ponytail bouncing as my body did on the evened sands.

I'm happy that my parents were so approving of Harry. They'd met him before, at times, but never as anything but "a friend". They never really met him for a length of time, either. I think the longest they chatted was when we all got together at Lockhart's book signing-if you consider a two minute meet-and-greet "chatting".

Although, my loving father did give me a heart attack when he put on that…exciting…show for me, Harry and mum. I guess it was better than him finding a gun and announcing he'd have none of this. They trust my judgment…beyond Ronald, who my father would like to have a nice man-to-boy chat with, and saw Harry as I see Harry. They saw that invisible string, the inescapable attachment of ours when people saw us together. I believe we intimidate many of our friends, and even strangers, by how we move as one.

When I read all this rhetoric in the papers I know it's just that: nonsense. It's frightening for people, for some reason or another, when they sense this sixth sense of those who have grown so close it's like a single entity with four feet. Rita scathingly hated Harry before this, scared I reckoned of how humble he was about his presence in society. Now, she had a larger force to deal with and she wanted us to be torn down.

Sad for her efforts, it's just not going to happen.

I smiled when I heard Harry's voice in my head repeat the words, "Pathetic woman".

I swiveled, turning my body back towards the other way and jogged back the line when I thought I'd gotten from the villa's glass wall-windows.

I want a child. I want to give Harry a child. I want that purest of things only two people can share with the world in light of love. Harry knew I wanted one: a little raven-haired boy with green eyes.

Yes, a little boy who resembles so much of my Harry.

I didn't commonly bring the subject up. I did like to tease Harry, for I knew Harry didn't want a child anytime soon. I didn't want one until for at least five years, maybe ten. I liked our lifestyle now. We were two smart, intelligent young people…with a ton of hormones to work out. I didn't want anything to change that because, and I'm not at all ashamed to say it, fucking Harry is…

I closed my eyes, the wind I created while running tossing strands that tickled my ears.

I grinned so wickedly I knew if Harry were around he would know my thoughts were headed for the gutter.

He is a man that knows what to do. Grab me, and pull me, and push me in such a way… So prim and so proper, with a tie on, and "Yes Sir" and "No Sir"…so incredibly gifted with brains and common sense…so devishly sexy with a nicely toned, tanned body…

I could taste him in my mouth.

I had to shake my head from side-to-side to keep my attention on jogging and not falling flat on my face.

He knows me.

He knows me, and that's crazily sexy.

If I'm in one mood or the next, or if I want him animalistic and rough, or tender and romantic…

I let some pent-up laughter out at myself and how my body began to respond to all these…thoughts.

I cleared my mind and took up a clean slate.

Five or ten years down the road, sure. Harry in a secure job, me in one too, even though Harry always says for me to never worry about money… Then, we'd have one. A family to call our own. Seeing little Harry Jr. off to Hogwarts with his little carrying case and robes, an owl of course, maybe a cat, with a bright, shining face peeking out of the window, waving at us in dimpled smiles. Harry wrapped around me as we stand watching the Hogwarts Express take our own on his Life's adventure… Maybe he'd meet some know-it-all on the way there?

I couldn't escape the ear-to-ear grin, seeing myself twenty years my age read a letter stating, "I met this bossy, bushy-haired girl on the train-"

"Hermione!"

I heard that.

Or, did I?

I slowed down the pace of my jog and looked back at the villa. Closing in on the other end of the path I chose, I wasn't near the pebblestone walkway. I turned around and started back.

"Hermione!"

I heard my name echo, and as I came closer to where I started I saw Harry. He stood at the balcony of the pool deck. He had something across himself, but I couldn't quite make it out even through squinting. He needn't call my name again as I heard the concern in the sound of my name.

"Harry!" I cried out, waving my hand to motion where I was.

He saw me at the beginnings of the beach between the fence and the sparse shrubbery lining bordering the sand. He instantly came down the steps of pebblestone in a hurry. My face quizzical, I stood planted with a hand on my hip, steadying my breath from the run. He hustled, the object across him billowing in the wind that picked up. It blew hair in my face to which I flicked away, my hand over my eyes to see him, the sun breeching a hole in the clouds.

"You scared me half to death," he said in haste when he was on the final steps. One of our Gryffindor quilts hung about his neck, covering a bare chest which would peek out beneath when the wind would blow again. He was at me when he stated, "I woke up and you weren't beside me."

He embraced me as if he hadn't embraced me in years.

With the quilt now surrounding me, like his arms, I breathed in the warmth of his skin as I said back, gazing at him, "I told you where I was going when you asked. I wasn't going far, just down here."

"You could have drowned in the ocean!"

"Would I be dumb enough to swim in the ocean right now when it's frigid? And, why would I be swimming without you, anyway? Come now…"

"That doesn't matter," He sighed, his heightened emotions turning a hundred eighty degrees along with the worry in his voice. "Was I half asleep when you asked?"

"I thought you were conscious enough to understand me."

"You know how I sometimes talk in my sleep," he laughed a little, shaking against me in the process. He kissed me and continued gazing at me after release. "I woke up and all I knew was that you weren't beside me in bed, and when I started checking the rooms of the house you weren't anywhere to be found."

"I'm sorry," I kissed him briefly with my apology. "I'll make doubly sure to check if you're awake next time or write a note."

"Knock me over my head if you have to-anything."

I made a face. "Or not. I'm not going to hit you."

"You know what I mean," he said, eyes rolling.

I giggled. "I know."

He took me by the hand and walked me with him just beyond the pebbled path, drawing nearer to the ocean and the horizon. "You were running?" he asked.

"Mhmm," I traipsed happily behind him, beside him. "Doctor's orders…unlike some people who shall not be named…"

I heard him chuckle from in front of me before having me step forward, switching places. Tucking strands of loose, blowing hair from tickling my cheek, I observed him bend down and softly sit on the white sand below. He opened the quilt, stretching his arms its length, and ushered me with a nod to follow him in sitting. I lowered, leaning towards him and twisting into a fall gently between his legs. With my back against his front he pulled the Gryffindor quilt, the embroidered lion roaring ferociously as it always had, around me to block out the bursts of wind.

I leaned back into his arms, his beautiful, strong, safe arms. I scooted until I felt his body aligned with mine and sighed within our constructed igloo. I looked beyond the water, at the orange sun appearing every-so-often between cracks in the clouds. I smelled the immediate cling of pumpkin scent on me and smiled comfortably. Lying in the crook of his body, I was the happiest girl in world.

My head parallel with his an inch in front of him, my hair flailing on his shoulder, he smiled and kissed me. I closed my eyes and met his tongue, savoring the taste that was my fiance. We gently left each other, to stare, only to restart the kiss. My head fell to the side, and Harry's did too. I licked him from within his mouth. I felt his lips curl and I knew he was grinning.

I felt his hands on the small width of my naked abdomen.

I felt his knees through the cotton fabric of his sleep pants.

I felt his hands slide easily north, merely brushing my skin so sensitive now to his lightest of touch.

My hands slid to his thighs, squeezing them in a repeating rhythm only my body knew.

Both hands curved at the band between his thumb and index fingers, mimicking the rounded curve of my breast. He let his hands rest, teasing me, and he knew it. He knew it from the way my body responded, arching when he held me just below. A stirring rose, a pulsating wash of heat transferring to the place between my thighs. I'm sure he was ready, and in thinking of Harry hardening from me and my actions made it that more difficult to contain myself.

These were the hormones I didn't want spoiled. I'd become addicted to this feeling of Harry. I didn't think we'd lose it, but I just wanted all of him now.

After painful, playful seconds of his teases I finally removed my grip of his thighs and pushed his hands from beneath my breasts. I placed them where they needed to be. Harry left our kiss for a moment, to smile as I did, giving my breasts the well-deserved squeeze they wanted before swooping back into another warm kiss. My back lessened the arch, having him hold me as if the two objects in his hands were the most fragile artefacts in the world. He squeezed me that one time, my hands following them on top, and held me thereafter. His thumbs would gently graze the points left without imagination, my nipples hardened from excitement.

He squeezed me again, and I would have had him peel off my sports bra hadn't he confused the process of my thought. He'd taken his hands from my breasts and began sliding them back down, leaving my hands to his command.

I felt my hands descending by him. His tongue tickled the underside of mine. I let out a moan of pleasure between breaths. I felt Harry slow down to a stop on my tummy, but didn't realize he'd done so, electric charges running lengths to the ends of everything inside me. He slid his hands up, but proceeded back down only to stop again. This time he released his kiss and laughed. I scrunched my nose at his expression, bewildered by this new…approach on things. I didn't like it and wanted his mouth back.

"What's wrong?" I asked when he just continued to smile into my eyes.

"Your stomach," he kissed me cheek and left me to look me back in my eyes.

I cocked a brow. "…I'm not follow-"

I heard my tummy rumble.

Err…

Harry quirked his face into that snaky smirk and caressed the side of my forehead. "Did you eat anything?"

"Some toast and peanut butter," I replied. I tried to hide the fact that I was hungry, to go back to the previous, but Harry's questioned spurred the growth of another rumble from inside.

From somewhere within me I sighed.

"Come on…," Harry started up off the beach, dragging the quilt along with him.

I didn't move, exposed back to the atmosphere.

I stared up at him as if I were a child about to throw a tantrum.

My toy was being taken away.

I pouted my bottom lip.

Harry reached out to me. "Time to feed `Mione."

"What if I said I wasn't really hungry?" I huffed, taking his hand which led to being pulled up from the ground.

"Mm…," He shuffled around so I led the way and wrapped us back in the quilt as we walked off toward the pebblestone. "Then I'd have to ask what you wanted to eat."

Darting my hand out to his side, I lightly tickled him.

He jumped alongside me.

I smiled, his body tight to mine.

"I have to feed you," he caressed the top of my head. "To keep you energized for our…playtime."

I smirked.

"Playtime," I said back softly.

"Playtime…" he said back just as soft, wrapping his arms around me in a way that crisscrossed my breasts.

I was sure he'd done it on purpose.

"So," he began innocently. "What's on the menu for this morning?"

An evil thought ran through my head, and I laughed aloud, my eyes glancing at the steps we walked towards the pool and the villa.

"What?" he asked, obviously unaware at my scheme.

I laughed again, smiling all the way through the word, "Eggs."

He didn't have to think but a second to connect the pun.

He rolled his eyes and I bumped my ass against his groin.

He bumped me back from behind, having me gasp within the smile.

"Eggs it is!"

***

I found myself doing the very same thing I had chided Harry for yesterday.

I just couldn't stand not being around him. I loved him with the very being of my existence, however cliche that might sound. I mean, everything that he'd been through. He could have been easily in a wheel chair, hospitalized, laying somewhere in a coma or worse… Seeing him standing in the kitchen, the wrappings still about his chest, his left eye's bruise not fading how I wanted it to be, and that eye which I feared would forever be that red colour. All I wanted to do was help, and I guessed in helping… I didn't know. I thought I was a good person. Harry is a good person, too, and all that ever seems to happen surrounding us is horrible.

All we wanted to do was live and bring something wonderful into this shaded journey.

The sun had broken through the overcast. I had broken my own "rule" and harassed my dear lover while he stubbornly fixed breakfast. Inside the joke, he delivered the eggs-scrambled with toast and jam, and some leftover sausage. I had my arms around him, standing behind him, walking with him when he served the two plates at the table. He shifted his chair over when I sat down, closing in on me to keep ourselves connected at the hip.

I lightly lay on his side as we ate, talking small talk about nothing in particular. No Prophet, no Hogwarts, no people-just us. I watched him eat, and breathe, and swallow, the small things people take for granted. I kissed his shoulder while he discussed something about a newly designed broomstick. I let my mouth linger the caress, loving how casual the kiss was and how he smiled whilst talking in acceptance. I let the bridge of my nose, the philtrum and my upper lip push into his taut, smooth skin. I kissed him there again and lifted, taking in another bite of toast as I listened to his story attentively.

I made him get back to bed. Another spot of role-reversal from yesterday. He groaned in dislike, but all the medicine continued to work from its two day period. I could see it in the dark bags beneath his eyes that he was deprived. I cleaned up, removing our plates, silverware and glasses to the sink where I washed and placed them in their proper cabinet regions.

With a light step, I traveled, ascending to the second floor and into the opened door of our master bedroom. I found Harry where I knew I would in a pile of sheets. He faced where I would be sleeping, turned away from the door. Noiselessly the pads of my feet went first to the closet, the dresser, combining apparel before heading to the lavatory to redress out of my workout wear. A shirt I thought was cute, and ravishingly sexy, I slipped on. Its neckline draped, cut into a V-shape and was a bit on the revealing side if I were to be in public. Sheer and sleeveless, it still gave way to leaving parts without needed imagination as one could see an open cleavage by a plunging neckline.

I slipped on signature dark blue jeans bought torn at the knees and thigh. Gazing into the mirror, I ruffled the strands of my hair after removing the scrunchie. I'd take my hands and comb from the inside of my hair, near my neck, and out, trying to make the shape fuller. Locks curled and fell above and behind my shoulders, falling into the opened portion of my shirt and all over. From the pale of my skin, and the white shirt, my hair which was cinnamon-mahogany really looked black in comparison. I dropped the clothes in the clothes bin and stepped out from the lavatory.

Harry hadn't changed, his arms holding the pillow he slept on. I could faintly see the curved lines his back muscles made beneath his skin whilst he lay on his abdomen. He looked rather peaceful with a hint of a smirk on his face, and as I drew towards the bed I stopped. I thought a moment, about how I'd wake his peaceful slumber, and decided to side-step from the master bedroom.

I left the door open, but moved it a smidgen so he'd know I'd been in there if he'd come for me.

I wasn't going outside.

I quietly came back into the den and fell onto the leather sofa. Stretching myself out, I laid in silence a beat before scrounging for the remote control behind my head. I used my sense of touch, my fingers bumping the lamp on a table before I took hold of the television control and turned it on. I didn't have to search long, my geek-sense reading, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. My thumb hit the enter button before my brain hadn't even a chance to take in the stimuli.

If an individual didn't know I was, well, a complete nerd, then they really didn't know much about me.

I'm pretty much Queen Nerd of the universe.

And if watching Star Wars for a bazillionth time wasn't enough evidence to bring that to fact, I found my portable Gameboy system and put in Zelda.

Yep… Pretty much.

I didn't care what anyone says-I love it.

I had the volume low, Luke's voice barely audible, not wanting to wake up Harry a floor above. I kept the volume off my handheld, lounging in bliss with my many different loves around me.

I'd been utterly caught up with my full attention to the tiny screen and getting Link to push a block here, and push a block there, trying to get around this annoying puzzle to get to the boss of the dungeon that I didn't hear footsteps. I saw Harry wander down the final steps to the ground floor and peered from the game. Sitting straight up, the Gameboy in my lap, I asked him as I watched him rub sleep from his eyes, "Did I wake you?"

He didn't make a sound, squinting at me through mid-day's light surrounding the villa.

He came right up to me, glancing at the television screen to see what I had on. I glanced to, from him to the tube and back, before realizing he'd gotten the control.

"You've seen this before I assume?" he questioned, peeking at me from R2-D2's beeping.

"Yes…," my answer came out slow for I couldn't quite grasp any obvious concept. It wasn't like Harry to just barge his way in and interrupt like he owned the place, so I waited for him like a move in chess.

He paused the film, Luke's face stopped in mid-discussion with Han, and dropped the remote on the sofa.

"Hey!" I'd been thrown into confusion. My eyes were lit and flicked from him stretching, to the halted shot on television, and then Harry picking me up. He didn't do it carefully, throwing me over his shoulder. He held me on my bum as he started back towards the staircase.

"I was watching that!" Although, I didn't intend to care after he tossed me over his shoulder. I did note he must be feeling much better if he could jerk me around like that.

He smacked my buttocks.

"Shh," he hushed me. "It's intermission."

I smirked.

"You're tired," he stated, maneuvering us upward.

"Am not." I retorted playfully defiant.

"Well, I am," he slapped my bum again making this sharp sound reverberate on the walls. I let out a tiny, `Eep!' "So, I need my security blanket or I'll never get to sleep."

We were inside the bedroom, at the door where he took his bare foot and shut it behind. I'd closed up the system still in my hands and dropped it on a side-table as he strolled over to the bed. Zelda could wait to be rescued.

He patted my rear before he set me on the bed with a bounce and slid on in behind me. I giggled as he chased me to my usual side of the mattress, a quirky, yet maddening grin on his face. He mimicked like he was out to get me, and grabbed me, pulling me to him as I wound myself around him wanting to be taken. He laughed and he kissed me, watching one another as those lights frolicked in our eyes.

His strong arms held me to him, burying his face into my chest, my hair in a mess on the pillow.

I smiled, closed my eyes, and held Harry, my teddy bear.

His blanket.

***

I'm the one that fidgets in bed.

Harry is the one who keeps up with me.

I don't do it on purpose, especially when I'll accidentally kick him.

Harry, on the other hand, thinks it's adorable…even when I kick him.

Men.

I don't know how I ended up on my front against the bed. I remembered lying on my side with Harry cradled in my arms. Now, as his movement woke me slightly, Harry was wrapped around me.

I didn't really look over to see what he was doing. Maybe he had to use the toilet. Maybe he had to go get a drink of water. He wasn't leaving me, I assured myself, for he was the one who dragged me back in here. I felt him, though; rather, I felt the bed rise and fall to his weight. I think I blinked once, seeing him covered in brilliant daylight, but resumed my snooze.

I hadn't made it anywhere back into twilight before feeling his hand on me, rubbing me, massaging my backside as it pointed toward the ceiling. Snug in the sheets, he pried them from me, shifting and arousing me further. I yawned, an eye opening to observe his naked torso fully exposed. He was on his side, his hand having gone up onto my shoulder where he firmly pushed his digits. I made a sigh, smiled, and lay happily watching him on the pillow.

All of this happened in minutes. It was a short, quick rub into slipping away. He left my line of sight, even in my peripherals I couldn't see him until I felt him again. But, this time, he had straddled close to my rear, having pulled the sheets off.

I felt Harry use both of his hands, gathering them at my lower back and ascending the arch to the upper reaches. He circled, sliding opposite directions when he got to my shoulders and down he went again. With just enough grip he repeated the same heart-shaped figure north and south, nerves tingling beneath the parts he touched.

His hands would slowly push the fabric of my white cotton shirt up. The shirt rose until it couldn't any longer, laying on it. I could tell he needed some help. I thought I heard him chuckle, proving evidence of the struggle to continue the reveal. I sighed in smiles, rising just enough for him to slip his hands on my bare, rounded waist and push, mostly with his fingers, over my breasts. I felt the rush of air hit the unclad blades of my shoulders, setting myself back down on the cool mattress and feeling the acquired sensation of Harry's warm hands now tracing those blades.

Gently, he fell away and back where I first found him, He tugged me in that direction, making me turn with him on my side. He laid his hand just below my belly button and held me to him. I wasn't entirely awake, but very aware of the growing urges so needing to be sated from the beach. My hand sliding under his arm, I squeezed his hip and the elastic band of his sleep pants on his hip. Our bodies spooned, slightly bent, our heads positioned at equal heights. He had me turn my head, grazing a line with his palm towards my neck and making everything along the way hurry to excitement. He cradled underneath my jaw, his fingers in my hair as we kissed.

His hand fell back below my navel, relaxing on my breast along its familiar path. His hand this time, however, continued downward. Carefully, he wiggled his fingers into the tight brim of my jeans. My tummy, retracting at every act clinched when he teased the trimmed hair. I smiled into our kiss, lightly gasping and hearing him silently laugh to how my body reacted. It was an awful tease, too. He slipped out, just wanting to touch me once.

My legs danced with anxiousness, colliding with his from behind. I didn't have to wait much long as I felt him remove from the brim and slide down the stitching of the jeans. He relieved the snap and slowly moved the silvery metallic zipper down.

Stopping a moment to breathe, he caught me off guard when he pushed me back over and into the spot I originally laid in. His hands inside the edges of my jeans, he sat back beside my buttocks and shimmied them off. He laughed, as well as I, when he had a time prying them off.

I heard the sound of a subtle flop of those jeans hitting the carpeted floor. I peeked around to view Harry above me, tucking in pieces of hair behind my ear and smirked when I saw him gazing back at me. Crawling, he met my turned head and laid himself on me. He kissed me with a fevered want, but with fragility and kindness. His hands pushed into the bed beneath my arms and gently he rocked into my rear through his sleepwear.

He nipped my ear and nuzzled my neck. My eyes closed, I inhaled audibly with a grin. I laid my head down on the pillow, Harry sifting through those locks to get at my neck. I felt him nibble, and then lightly bite at the crook of my neck before biting with the same strength my shoulder. I felt the bed jerk by Harry, unbeknownst to what he was doing, ravished in the pleasure I received above.

I moaned when he touched me through my boy shorts. He put the flat of his hand between my thighs and held me there, rubbing a finger along the one line so readily created. I quickly gasped once when I felt him push lightly into me with his middle finger. He stifled that moan with an eager kiss, twisting to him to lick his tongue.

He removed his warm mouth too soon. With my eyes still closed, and the haste he'd done, he left me kissing the air. My eyes lazily opened only to be shut again the second after. He slid into me, his erection forcing the crotch of my panties aside.

I arched my back and felt his chest beside me. His arms, his hands open, his fingers rigidly balanced himself on the bed. I could feel his forearms, the bicep muscles. He had me inside the pocket his body composed. I tried to mimic him, pushing myself off the bed and balancing like he did, but succumbed to buckling the moment he picked a hastier pace.

I wanted to moan, but couldn't. My mouth formed the O-shape, but nothing came out. He smacked against me, the distance he traveled small as he laid atop. I felt him pressing my spot, his hips gyrating, his thighs together with mine. I tried to get up again and succeeded where I had failed. I braced the bed on my elbows.

I felt his warm chest on my back, heard his sighing, the short breaths he made as he fucked me. I tilted my head back on his shoulder, the side of it brushing the underside of his jaw and bit my bottom lip. My eyes were shut, mouth gaping with sounds unlike a normal Hermione coming out. I said something. It could have been the word, "Yeah!" when I felt him nail where my core melted. My fingers crushed the bed sheets. My nails punctured the material. I felt it coming and smiled, groaning when I climaxed, my body shaking alongside the heated skin of my lover.

He felt me, too. How I constricted around him while he thrust deep. He kissed me where he could, the side of my forehead, my shoulder. I heard him grunt, having to adjust from toppling back on the bed when he eased the pace, but delivered harder blows. I'd sigh when he'd thrust and pull out. Thrust and pull out. Goosebumps swarmed, the environment and us on vastly different temperatures.

I lowered my head, my curls covering much of my face like curtains. I whimpered when he pulled out on purposed, flicking around to see him with that deviled smirk before pushed back inside. I dipped my head back and moaned, feeling him spread my walls.

My elbows finally buckled and I fell face-first into the pillow. I cried out his name, my nails back digging into the bed as I felt another rush of pleasure strike at my core. I felt the spasms and rode the wave of bliss. Harry slid evenly on top, his knees pushing my knees under the sheet to spread. He wrapped his arms around me, one holding my lower abdomen while the other held secure to my breast. He made my ass rise by his rhythmic hips, my back arching to meet him. His head was above mine, even though I couldn't see it, hearing him grit his teeth and thrust those last pumps.

He grunted, kept his entire length inside me after the final push and released.

I heard myself moan, becoming aware of reality from the surreal place I had settled in. I heard my elongated, "Yes…," my whimper, and another "Fuck…!" as Harry quickly pumped me to empty.

Tranquilized, unwinding from the sense of sexual high, I laid still and felt Harry stroke my side. He fingered those niches of my ribcage, tickling me under my arm. I controlled my shake this time, breathing in smile. I let him work me over, kneading the muscle to relaxation from their tensed state of being. Curious, I hid my hand into the tied up sheet around us and slipped between my legs. I felt my wetness, the satiate of my loins and that of my sex until I grazed his hardness with the tip of my fingers.

I knew Harry still sat inside me, but I wanted to feel him inside me. With my sense of sight gone, I needed to feel him. My cheek on the pillow, my left arm above my head cradling the pillow, I grasped lightly the inch or so of Harry outside. Like a rock, the underside of his member swelled straight, rounded lines of an engorged urethra, his sack soft as it hung. He humped when he found me feeling him, pushing my body further into the mattress. I had to hold onto his abdomen to brace myself, turning slightly to peek at him when my eyes opened from closing. I was met with his grin, grinning as well being thoroughly gratified.

Sleep settled back within my frame after our romp.

With a languid stare, a blink of the eyes, I felt Harry close in to kiss me. His left arm kept him from falling completely on me, lifting him to rest on me while his right arm paralleled my body. His right hand scooped and cupped my breast. He caressed me gently. Removing my hand from between us I laid it upon Harry's cheek whilst he lured my tongue to lap with his.

A groan settled in my throat, reveling in the increased awareness and sensitivity. I laid my head back against the pillow, eyelids shut, basking in the smell of aftersex and Harry. He pulled away the hair crowding my neck and caressed a course of faint kisses. I heard him smell me, his nose traveling the threads of my curls, kissing my head, the top, and beside my ear.

He imitated how I bent at my elbows, but slid his arms around me from underneath my pillow. When I felt something propped beside me I took a glimpse briefly to see Harry's jades peering into mine. He kissed my lips, and I snuggled securely against him.

He kept atop me while I fell back into slumber, my ever-so-perfect puzzle piece.

***

Harry initiated the munchies later on when he woke me. He'd gotten off me, lying on his side with my form curving to meet his from behind. He whispered in my ear after a little playful petting if I was hungry, what I would like. I'd grown hungry with all eager effort expressed and Harry was right on it. He fixed me some tomato soup with a chicken, lettuce, and tomato on wheat. He let me sleep while he went about the kitchen after I watched him, from the corner of my drowsy eyes, snip away the bandages on his chest. He smiled at me when they were off and deposited them in a rubbish bin on the way out.

My bare legs roamed the king-sized bed, loving how I had it all to myself. I easily fell back to sleep, hearing the faint sounds of Harry downstairs as he hadn't shut the bedroom door. He was down there for quite a while preparing, lazily waking to the sounds of his footsteps retracing upwards and into our room. I lay still on my stomach, my shirt still crowded under my arms from his massage. Slightly turning my head, following Harry when he went around to the far side of the room, I saw him pick my ripped jeans off the floor and offer them to me. I shook my head as I yawned into a grin. He tossed the jeans over his shoulder and they landed with the others in the dirty clothes bin.

He reached for me and I took his hand, lifting from the bed. He had me sit on the edge by a kiss, taking my face in his hands to do so. He smiled. I smiled, and we were off downstairs by the lead of his hand. I pulled at my panties, Harry creating a wedgie in our tussle. He looked at me askance, carrying my sandwiched plate, a bowl set beside for the soup, and chuckled a little at my adjustments. My cheeks grew hot, but I shrugged and said quietly, "Que sera, sera."

I met him on the sofa, the television already plugged in with our favorite Nintendo cartridge ready. My pink-and-black controller sat beside where he put my plate on his left. He'd made himself a sandwich and plopped down near the right end of the sofa. I sat down alongside him on my knees, gathering a sliced half of the sandwich and observing Harry yank the coffee table closer as I munched the combination of whole wheat, chicken and veggies. I peck-kissed his cheek, making sure to wipe my mouth of any mayonnaise, and saw him smile in profile. He gathered me up as much as I'd gathered my sandwich, his left arm tightly clutching me to his bare chest. We ate together before picking up our controllers to play.

With my legs over his lap, my butt against his left thigh, I took and put a pillow under my back and relaxed, selecting Princess Peach as my driver. Harry had his forearms on my thighs, my shirt having fallen to my hips in my restful incline. He chose Mario, of course, and the game began.

It was like only yesterday when we had played this game the first time together. I'd glance at him, and he'd glance at me, and I thought about all the things that had happened since. Mind-boggling, it was, to go back through time and see those glimpses of life and death, strange occurrences, grudges, fights, the unexpected, hate, and love. He hadn't proposed to me at the time, the engagement ring band tapping lightly against the plastic of the controller. We hadn't made love or fooled around, our relationship taking off. I hadn't known about my heart and the consequences of past judgments. I hadn't known how my best girlfriend really felt about me, and the tangles that made in our lives. I hadn't worked at Hogwarts, didn't meet Xavier, Harry wasn't scarred… But, we were here through the thick and the thin. That was the light of our tunnel.

I loved him unconditionally.

He loved me to no end.

I stared at him, placing my controller in my lap, and grinned.

His eyes were on the tube, and he laughed when he drove on by me. He turned when Peach hadn't moved for I'd gone lost in him. I grabbed him, sliding my fingers in the hair coming down his neck and led him to my mouth and into a kiss. He dropped his controller, and led me backward by the weight of his lowering body. I giggled when he swatted the controller from my lap, the controller rattling when it hit the floor. He got to his knees and separated mine to lie in.

My head fell back on the pillow, my dark locks strewn everywhere, cascading from the white leather sofa.

My arms were around his neck.

His arms were around me, holding me tight to him.

I breathed a happy, satisfied sigh between our twined lips, my legs fixing themselves about Harry's waist.

***

Leading Harry out onto the pool deck, our fingers loosely intertwined, I reached out with my free hand and grasped the wooden balcony. The wind blew straight through my airy, delicate Canterbury slip. The lacey trim tickled me at mid-thigh, the satin ribbon near my bosom waving in the bit of zephyr. The cool atmosphere was met with warmth, Harry wrapping his arms around me snug while I peered out over the water towards a setting sun. The overcast of the morning faded, letting this magnificent sunset appear at the end of our day. The ocean carried the falling rays of oranges, red, and purples along its shimmering surface.

Harry's prickly five o'clock shadow roused me upon my shoulder, my shoulder and my figure shifting to the sensation with a tingle and a grin. I turned to see him looking at me as he kissed my cheek, the wind blowing those strands of hair across my face. I tucked them quickly behind my ear and placed my arms, my hands upon his on my waist. I kissed him lightly and snuggled into him while we stood.

I gazed back over the water.

"So pretty…" I sighed against him.

"You are," he replied, kissing my neck and making me giggle.

"Harry… I meant-" He tickled the crook of my neck, purposely brushing his stubble along the extra-sensitive skin. I giggled again, his fingers clutching the cotton white fabric of my slip. I quietly added in whisper when he let me, "…You're simply incorrigible."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said in a grin, kissing me as I gazed upon him.

Bare-footed, I stayed still as I watched the sun decline further over the horizon. The purples ran deep, changing the sky darker as the orange glowing ball slowly disappeared under the ocean's horizon.

Harry said beside my ear so softly that it made a shiver run down my spine, "…Ready for bed?"

We had stood there for moments.

I could have stood there longer.

"We just woke up a few hours ago…" I rubbed his arms about me. I'd be lying if I said they didn't feel really, really good.

"…Who said we had to sleep?"

I cocked my eyebrow, my lips curling in a quirky smirk.

I had my eyes on him like he had on me.

He took his arms away from me, but I continued to stand where I was completely still.

"You have three seconds to run," he growled.

"What?" I sort of stared at him, fixed, unable to do anything.

"One." He began counting aloud, his eyes bright, his lips in a snarl.

I started to back away, moving towards the opened glass door.

"Two." His voice grew louder.

My eyes grew wider, and I turned and ran.

"THREE!"

I screamed, swishing my head around to see Harry running helter-skelter behind me. I picked up my speed and laughed, jogging up the stairs, hearing Harry smack against the railing. His footsteps drew nearer, and when I got to the second level, I turned around, walking backwards to see Harry slinking on towards me like a madman.

I was quick, but he was quicker.

Before I could outrun him again he had me, picking me straight up off the floor.

I struggled without actually struggling, giggling and chuckling as he play-bit me, nibbling, gnawing at me.

He left the door open, tossed me on the bed and crawled ever-so-slowly towards my feet from the bottom.

Eyes wide, lips curled in that smirk, I watched him graze the tip of his nose along my foot, along my calf, and up along my thigh. I could feel the pattern of his breath as he traveled so casually, building up to my thigh where sparks intensified. It brought me to close my eyes, but I fought to keep them open. I had to see Harry. He blinked while he rose between me, growled within his grin and kissed me hard.

He started tickling me halfway and I had to release, laughing hysterically, trying to fight to get away.

He pulled me back under him, grabbed the sheets around us, threw it over our heads and plundered his found spoils in darkness.

{Inspirations for the chapter: Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing? Hahaha… I'm so clever ;)}

-->