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: Their final night on holiday. Lots of Hermione and Harry, lots of fluff, and lots of thinking. Hermione contemplates her status with Ginevra and her friend's status with Neville. Will they be or will they not be wed? Lies over truths or truths over lies? And, if truths, what will happen to the nerve of their friendship? Harry contemplates his own marriage on the horizon and all that may entail in Hermione's choice. He expresses the very real problems arising in their life because of him, finding faults in being `The Chosen One'. Or, so he thinks.

***

Chapter Thirty-Five - Future

***

"…Marry me?"

"What…?"

"…Marry me, Harry…"

Harry stifled a laugh in a grin and replied, "I am you goof."

"Mm…?"

"Mm," Harry chuckled again and this time it bestirred me. I wriggled and tossed about, my legs hitting his beneath the sheets, wrapping and re-wrapping them around them. I think I went to blink, above and exposed to the sunlight. The moment my eyes went to adjust to the bright saturation, I fled. I fled straight back into the crevice Harry's arm produced while he held me to him.

With my nose and face squished into the far reaches of his chest, I tugged and yanked the sheets over my head. The blackness became soothing. "Mmmn…"

Harry patted the top of my head, or the sheets now covering the top of my head. His slight laughter shook the parts of me touching him.

"Whaaaattt…?" I whined, my head instantly hurting from the painful one-eighty, from dark to light. My voice was muffled beside him and aside the mattress. "What's so funny?"

"You were talking in your sleep again."

I breathed, and in doing so smelled the natural pumpkin of my man. Essence of anti-lethargy, his scent provoked my next action. I peek outside the cave. The sheet in a U-shape surrounding my head, I took a chance and glanced at him. He peered at me when I did.

"…What secrets did I divulge this time?"

"Oh, nothing that really mattered…" A fairly large tome was propped alongside his bare chest. He had his glasses on and looked to have been awake for a while. I, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less to wake up. A perfect end to our conclusion from the previous night's dance: relaxed and wound around Harry.

Although, I hated the smile he showed and the nonchalant away he said "nothing".

"Tell me what I said exactly…," I exclaimed with extreme passion…passion to kill if didn't tell me. I'd been known to be quite frank when speaking in my sleep. Not that Harry didn't know whatever was said before it was said. But, the fact that I was unconscious and hadn't known what was said didn't set well with me. I hoped it wasn't unkind.

"Hm… I don't know. I could hang it over your head for awhile…especially the rather juicy parts."

Lifting, the sheets pulled away with my curls cascading like curtains around my neck, shoulders, and down my exposed back. The sleepwear I wore, a white lace night slip, had left much of the material of the backside off. Curving circular at my lower back, a strap with an overly-large button for decoration purposes kept the piece together. A solid black silk bow clung at the seam at the top with two smaller versions on each of its shoulders.

"Harry James…" My eyes formed to slits. I had my right hand on the bed while my other held to his chest.

"I'm finding it terribly difficult to find words after feeling your stocking-clad leg slide up mine…" He looked over his glasses, some of his black hair slipping from the fringe.

My mouth gaped and I pushed on him, "I was leaning up-that wasn't done intentionally!"

I took my left leg from him, swiftly gathering it with its twin.

Harry pouted, but asserted himself. He stuck his arm under the sheet and firmly grabbed the escaped prisoner of his affection. He dragged it back to its original position. I gasped when he slid his hand along my leg, our eyes locked together. When he felt flesh from tights he gave my lace knickers a smack, the stockings thigh-high with the remainder my arse.

I smacked his chest and he grinned triumphantly.

"Now, tell me-" I pushed him at his shoulder making him shift away and towards me. My focus went from his to the tome he had in his hands. I realized it was something from my own collection: the Oxford Catalog, a thick, novel-like text of a thousand pages depicting the various schedules and lectures given as options to their student base. I'd gone through and tabbed, highlighting pages of curious lectures for pleasure and of those I would need to take in autumn.

"Well, that looks familiar…"

"Hm…?" Casually he looked over at me and just as casually went back to reading.

"What's this?" I gestured toward the course catalog.

"What?" He asked almost offensively. He gazed at me from the side. "It's not like this is the first time I've cracked this horrendously large book open. You know I'm curious like a Kneazle."

"I'd think it would be dreadfully dull for you," I had my hand flat on his pectoral, my elbow outward across him while I lowered my chin to rest atop the hand. I watched him as he turned carefully to the next page of a series I'd labeled with a yellow sticker. Yellow were those that I will be taking, or at least registered in my first semester. I could always re-arrange those electives if I somehow came to dislike them; though, that would be rather far-fetched. I wished to take them all if I had the time and money.

"You're not bored out of your mind?"

"Are you boring?" He replied with sarcastic intent.

However, I explained with a short, "Yes."

"No." He retorted.

I felt his hand on that exposed portion of back, his fingers along the carved indent and arch.

"Your talent will not be unnoticed. I'm your number one fan, remember?"

"Even if I don't get into precisely what I want, I still want to gain knowledge beyond x, y, and z."

"And that enthusiasm is like a breath a fresh air," Harry turned to a following page. "But, it's not like there's Charms and Potions. Mathematics, anatomy, history, government-and none will teach the likes of the Ministry's Decree of 1631-"

"You remember the Decree of 1631?" My brow and the corner of my mouth rose.

Harry huffed, but didn't take his sight from the pages of the catalog. "You make it seem like I was completely deaf all seven years."

"I suddenly feel like quizzing you."

Slowly, Harry turned his head towards mine and said plainly, "'The prevention of any beings carrying wands other than licensed witches and warlocks.'"

"Wow…" My eyes were lit. He always had a knack for surprises.

"Well, don't act so surprised. Christ!" He flipped his head back to the catalog as if he were offended.

"Aw…," Rising, I raised the hand I rested from his chest and kissed the spot. I collapsed back in the same position and grinned at the smile he now sported.

"English, and English, and English. I'll never understand why people have to sit in an English lecture and be taught English," He sighed and glanced at me. "Are we not speaking English? Can we not understand and communicate effectively right now?"

I shrugged and continued my grin at his debate.

He smiled at me, "You're an inspiration. You know that, Love?"

"How so?"

"You've pretty much all the smarts you'll ever need in that sexy cranium of yours and you voluntarily seek more."

"Call me `civilised'."

"What does that make me?" He winked.

"I didn't mean it like that… And besides," I watched him read, slipping my free hand around and upon him to stroke his other pectoral muscle. "You're my lion-an animal."

He growled, took his eyes from the pages and nipped at me.

I giggled.

I sighed contently, taking my hand away and laid down on my cheek. I could hear Harry's heartbeat through his chest and the rhythm lulled relaxation, my eyes closing. His hand was doing wondrous things, too. He massaged my back by fingertip. Nearly, he tickled me, but the feeling felt conflicted, like an entirely new sensation all over. He wasn't overcome by bra-strap, the sleek skin a pathway from top to its lower reaches.

I grabbed the sheets and tugged them over my face again.

Harry laughed at me, his mountain and valley of fabric.

"Love."

"Hm?" My eyes closed, I must have dozed.

"What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"This." I said this quick for it didn't take but a nanosecond for the synapses to calculate the response.

"Our holiday is coming to an end and you want to stay in bed?"

"Yes." I really was quite happy where I was, and warm thanks to my future groom.

"You'll have our entire king-sized bed to yourself when we get back home. Let's doooo something…"

He lightly pushed on my shoulder.

I whined.

Somehow I knew I wouldn't win this, but I'd try to strike a deal.

Maybe I didn't want to win this, but I didn't entirely want to leave the downy feel of the pillow and comfortable sheets.

"Give me five more minutes…"

"Five minutes," he said back.

"A half hour," I yawned.

"Half an hour."

I peeked out of that cave, "…An hour?"

He smiled and chuckled at my attempt to linger.

"Take all the time you need, my Love. I'll be right here when you're ready to get up."

I smiled and settled into Harry within my created darkness.

His lucrative pumpkin aroma I reaped with its beneficial therapeutic profit. I rubbed my cheek against his firm muscle and sighed with happiness into blissful sleep.

The last sound I heard was the noise of a crisp page being turned.

***

I rather enjoy falling asleep one way and waking up another, especially when the waking up way brought more of Harry. When I drifted I'd laid on his chest from the side. My head was all but covered. Withdrawing from slumber in a stretch, I slowly realized I had turned over with Harry in spoon. He had an arm, his right arm, paralleled with my body. Straight his arm was I could feel the caring strength as he held me to him. The underside of his forearm pressed into my chest; his hand, his palm lay on the smooth skin of my clavicle just below my throat.

I had held him, his arm, while he held me. He was, after all, my Harry-bear. Any bits of him he'd give I'd take. If that meant simple things like an arm or leg, maybe a finger, a smile, I'd cherish it. And, he was warm. Gods, was he warm. The moment I started to move I wished I had not for in moving began the process of waking him.

I stretched my arms out and above my head, feeling the board our pillows were against and hoped to quit. I halted when my brain turned onto my actions, and then his actions. I felt him moving and quickly I slipped back into the sheet-shell. Alas, though, I had wakened him.

He ran his hand down the centre of my chest and ended with his palm over my heart. Habitual from the second I'd left the hospital months ago, he'd doubly check my status albeit in civilian methods. With my locks of brown my palette against the white decor, I rolled to him the centimetre between us. My back touched his and stopped, but I tilted my head to meet Harry. Eyes closed, our lips met with a gentle caress. He lightly squeezed the breast he cradled so carefully in his hand whilst we mingled, participating in the first conscious play of…whatever time it was. The afternoon, I guessed, or late afternoon from less light by the angle of the sun on the flat.

I fell back to the pillow after our brevity. The coolness of the pillowcase coerced a tingle from the flush that filled my cheek. Harry had me in an embrace, bringing his other arm to surround. In doing so, I followed him, holding those arms which gave me a hug from behind. He kissed the back of my head, the top, breathing into my hair as he strolled down with leisure to the nape of my neck. He wasn't fast, and I didn't want this to be fast.

In grins, I twisted and turned when needed to allow him full access wherever he wanted to go.

I had my eyes closed and relaxed without care when he roused me, and roused me indeed. Slowly, I felt a hand slide into my night slip from the front. He came from my knickers, his fingertips tracing the lace stitching which clasped to my thigh and hip. My legs still, at once I shook. With a jolt, and with a graze of his cold hand on my stomach, I jumped. I tossed around and he laughed, an unfair play in the books that led to a tickle onslaught.

Here I was in Wonderland with nothing particular in mind except Harry and he ruined it!

I couldn't stop giggling and he wouldn't stop tickling.

Living and being together every day one would begin to pick up and remember where certain things were placed, where certain things shouldn't be placed, and where things were always meant to be. Well, Harry knew exactly those hotspots and he struck them with exact force.

I finally flipped up and over, his hands still trying their best to attack. I swatted them, and then him, his chest and he chuckled heartily. I smacked his hand again when he went to tickle another spot and he smiled so smugly.

"I was having a rather enjoyable time…" My eyes narrowed as I looked from above him at his side. "…Emphasis on was."

He put his right arm between his pillow and head, his left arm, his left hand running along my right thigh beneath the covers. "Take me in for insanity for I'm crazy about you."

"Christ, that was awful…," I scrunched my brow.

He made a little laugh, "It was, wasn't it?"

I nodded with a smirk, "Yeah, it was. Really."

I laughed.

I first saw his arm dislodge and then felt him drag me down to him. Jostled, I fell and our lips met in a kiss. He laughed when I scrambled for removal. He was met with a light slap on the cheek.

"You're so mean to me…," I breathed, my left leg sliding up against his underneath.

"Am I?"

I shook my head, those darkly brown tassels swaying, "You are."

I went to sit, twisting around and straddled his leg.

"Hm…," He watched me take my hair and flick it back from falling over my shoulders. I smiled at him from my perch.

"Am I really?"

I sighed and shook my head, "No." I said this whilst lowering back to him and gathering his warm mouth with my own.

Slipping my arms into the crooks created, I held tight Harry. I clutched his shoulders and hugged him with all my might, lazily letting ourselves explore within. I gave him a greater squeeze in embrace after release, smiling and kissing the cheek I had lightly tapped like I'd kissed a boo-boo. I nudged my nose against his, laughed quietly with him and rose back on my perch.

"You certainly like being on top," he said with an air of contemptuous sophistication.

I rolled my eyes, my lips in smirk. I sighed into, "…Shut up."

He laughed and loudly, too.

He picked me up by my hips and led me, with my help, in completely straddling him. Sitting me down, he gave my hips a squeeze.

"Mmmmuuccchh better…"

"Oh yeah?" I raised a brow.

"Oh yeah…," He smiled and winked at me. He rubbed my sides.

Subtly lurching forward, I rocked easily into him.

He closed his eyes for a second and came to in haste.

He had stopped rubbing me and I thought he had lost the ability to breathe.

He went statuesque, as if I'd given him a full-body binding curse.

"You…" He growled low.

"Me…" I imitated him in growl and tone.

He breathed in and exhaled audibly.

"You've woken… The beast…"

My eyes widened, but it was too late. Harry had grabbed, jerked, and rolled me over so I was stuck on the bottom. I giggled and tried, without really trying, to get away. He laughed menacingly with a, "Muahahaa!" for which I laughed at, getting caught in darkness.

He'd thrown the sheet around us.

I stopped when he stopped.

I could hear my breathing, his breathing.

I couldn't see him, but he was very close, almost face-to-face.

He growled lowly once more, stating in growl and threateningly, "You're going to get it…"

I shrieked when he pounced and screamed out his name in a fit of high-pitched giggles, the sheets being kicked into a mess.

***

Eyes closed, head tilted back into the plush of the pillow, mouth carved into a smile.

I lay there, lingering, basking in the warmth of the rays of sunlight cascading yellowed-orange streaks abstractly across the bed. One of those ray appeared on us, between us, through the slight distance of our bodies. When I re-opened my eyes, a breath escaping of satisfaction, I was met again by the sunlight along Harry's handsome features. The sheets over his shoulders, and him over me, I ran my hands over his arms which I had grasped for balance. Tight skin to his bicep muscles, I could feel the rounded hill and felt of his sturdy shoulders as I moved up and along his back.

He rocked into me, connected as one, my toes curling to clinch tiredly still. My legs were around him.

I softly gasped, the last picture a smile from Harry as he rocked before I went to close my eyes again.

I let my eyes open gradually, taking every sensation in and wanting to devour the sweetness of our scene. I took my hands, slid my fingers in his unruly dark hair, and brought him down to me. His arms, which helped him for support, slipped further between my form and the mattress to embrace me.

My head to one side, his head matching in opposite, I kissed him. Our lips met, but merely relaxed on the supple partner's. Without haste, we simply enjoyed the aromas, the breaths, the tastes of each other while our bodies rested after such a rigorous recess.

***

Walking along the beach, hand-in-hand, whilst in the dimming lights of a beautiful setting sun. The colours mixed layering oranges, blues, and purples. The wind would blow my hair as I'd look to my right at Harry, smiling. We chatted about frivolous things, nothing really more important than the next. We joked and enjoyed the remaining time of our holiday. We didn't want to leave, and I really didn't want to leave. What came next, when we'd step back in London and into our world, was vaguely unknown. I knew the rungs of the ladder, but I didn't know which one could break in my grasp. I didn't want another mishap. We just wanted to live our lives.

When Harry saw and heard the dismay, whenever dismay would wash over me, he'd fight it. This time, a simple frown set him off. I'd flicked my eyes from him to take a lock of hair from tickling my nose blowing furiously in the wind, when suddenly my feet swiftly left the sands. Harry picked me up with a swoop and tossed me over his shoulder. He held onto where my frayed jean shorts fit to my thighs to keep my legs from flailing. A variety of light and dark blues, my plaid shirt unbuttoned wanted badly to come from my shoulders in the breeze as it lay fairly open to the environment. If it weren't for a brown string belt about my waist I was sure the strong zephyr Harry twirled me into would have exposed my left shoulder.

Clutching his short-sleeved shirt, I stated while laughing a bit, "Don't you dare!"

For he was closing in on the ocean.

"What?" He replied innocently, walking farther into the waves. The water hit his unclad calves, his shorts being blown in disarray in the breezes.

"You know-"

He started to make a run for it, right into a crashing wave and went to throw me into the sea.

"Harry!!" I yelled aloud, eyes wide at the crest of the in-coming wave. My fingers poised and gripped, I held onto his vest for dear life.

He halted his mimicking throw and laughed at this so-called joke.

I swatted his back, the upper part I held onto.

"That wasn't funny!"

"I sure thought it was."

"Your humour is appalling."

"Oh, really?" He had turned from the bashing waves, but swiveled and began walking back into the ocean. I could feel the crashing swells.

"Harry James… I swear to Mer-"

"Swearing is bad," He gave my rear a pat. "Girls shouldn't swear."

"Ass." I grinned.

"Oh, I see. I see…"

"No, no, no!! Ah! Harry! Stop!" Infinitely more times stronger than me, he began to dislodge my grip. "I don't want to get wet!"

He laughed and gave my rear another pat. "No more frowning?"

"I swea-"

He swatted my bum again. "Now you're just doing it on purpose."

I giggled into my hand, my world turning one hundred eighty, my hair flowing in sway back to the beach. "Guess I'm not as clever as I used to be."

"O' masochistic one."

I gasped. "I take offense to that! Just because I like a little arse-play every once in a while doesn't make me-"

He set my feet on the sands.

"You're awful," I ended, peering at him through wind.

"You have three seconds."

"What?"

"One."

Monstrously, he went to tower over me, his hands like claws out at his sides.

My eyes grew wide and I shrilly laughed in a smile.

I turned and ran.

"Two!" He was closer now, the cheater, for when I turned to see where he was he was right at me.

"But, you didn't say three!"

I screamed out in a yelp, giggling, feeling his arms catch me.

He scooped me up, one arm at the bend of my leg, the other at my back. He playfully snapped at me with a bite of his teeth. "So I'm a pathological liar."

"I should have known it all along. I'll remember that the next time we play a game."

He kissed me and left me in my grin.

He fell into the shore. I jostled when landing with him, landing beside him in the sands. I lay back a moment while he adjusted, twisting and turning himself to meet with my form. At a slight height, he lowered to kiss my temple, my forehead, before pushing off with his elbow in propping himself. I climbed onto both of my own, shrugging my shoulders with relaxation whilst I gazed out over the sparkling waters, the great orange sphere dazzling the darkening surface with white-orange glitter.

I sighed.

This was perfect, but when glancing at Harry who watched me so contently, I could help but to predict something awful on our horizon. Every time things seemed so very right, they became so very wrong. I sensed Harry saw the worry, and quickly smiled to divert questioning my thoughts. I couldn't upset him. He needed my love and care, not to be retold problems. Voldemort was gone. These thoughts should be over, so why did I always feel this inkling of menacing nostalgia?

I turned to face the setting sun when Harry once again saw a flicker of negative emotion. "The colours are always so beautiful at dusk; the day's grand finale."

He was at my ear, caressing behind the lobe and tickling strands of hair that fell behind it when he asked me, a hand on my abdomen, "May I ask you a question?"

"You may."

He took himself away and to my sight aside me. "It might put a damper on the mood, but I'm curious on your answer."

Letting my elbows slip, I fell back against the evened sands. My bushy brown puffed out like a miniature shrub. My eyes were on him, and how the bluest sky changed purple around his face like a picture frame. I breathed in and said, "Well, now I'm curious about your curiosity. Go on."

He sniggered into a smile, his hand rubbing the breadth of my cloth-clad belly. He slid a leg between mine and lay gently on my side. I had to rearrange my legs to fit to his, but fit they did with my left knee bent around to grasp. He slid further on his elbow with his face mere inches towards mine.

"Do you think if I weren't…'The Chosen One'… Do you think we'd-"

"Yes, absolutely," I broke into his sentence having him stop his question to look at me, my lips as I answered. I knew where he was going and wanted to present myself with earnest because I knew what I replied with was true.

"Dumbledore wouldn't have dropped me off at the Dursley's and they would've been out of the picture. I would have lived with my real mum and dad and everything would be different…"

"But, I still would have peeked into your compartment on the train in search for Neville's toad. Just because you were meant one way this life doesn't mean you wouldn't have sat with Ronald. You chose to sit with Ronald, did you not?"

"I did. He seemed friendly and I needed a friend."

"So, we would have met regardless."

"But, would you have had any interest in me at Hogwarts? I mean, there wouldn't have been basilisks wanting my life nor would there have been a portkey to Riddle's grave. You wouldn't have had to scour books for me and would have led a completely different life, one that may or may not have been with me."

"Do you honestly believe that I took to you strictly because you were `Harry Potter'…? Do you honestly believe I'm that petty and shallow? Do you-"

"Okay, all right. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Harry sighed and looked away from me. He peered of into the sunset. "I'm sorry."

Pushing off the ground and back on my elbows, I got to his height and intently kept my eyes on Harry without blinking. Some of the wind came between us and skirted isolated black tassels at the bottom fringe of his hair on his neck.

"…Why are you suddenly asking me these questions?"

He kept quiet for awhile, the whistling breeze the lone noise to break the silence.

I kept my eyes fixed on him, only taking them away once to pull a strand from my brow blowing annoyingly against my nose.

"Because," He started, but didn't bother looking at me. He sighed. "I can't read your mind. I don't want this to be a passing phase. Gin loved `The Chosen One'. Other women so eager to want me want the pizzazz of some famous rock star, not because of…"

He sighed, but put anger towards the end.

"And, now I'm babbling like a buffoon and I'm supposed to be the strong, unemotional man full of unabated testosterone. The perfect man. Your perfect husband. But, all I can think of is our wedding and how I want to be, and how you'd like to be and how I can't fix every fucking thing that is thrown at us."

He sighed again with that forceful anger and fell onto the beach. He put a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes, a bit of snarl lingering. "I feel like a failure, and I don't want to fail you."

"Firstly," I rolled onto my side to meet him and placed my hand on his chest. "You are not a failure. You are a brilliant success. Anyone else in your shoes would have been driven mad with all the shit that is thrown at you. Look at all that you've accomplished. Secondly, my Love, we are a team. We're always going to be a team no matter what consequence. Have the entire world take us on and I'll still be by your side-always-helping you with books and cleverness."

"But, I'm supposed to be-"

"You're supposed to be Harry, yourself, and nothing else," I interjected with steam. "Don't think you're supposed to be something else. We're flesh and blood, remember? No one's perfect. I'm sure as Hell not perfect even though people portray me as Saint Granger, the flawless protege that knows all. Fact is I'm not. I have my problems and I stumble a ton trying to fix them like everyone else."

I paused to breathe and then continued, "Just because I'll be Hermione Potter doesn't mean you need to be this…Puritanical husband. I want you to stay just the way you are, mistakes and all."

"Mistakes and all, eh?"

"Mistakes and all, and everything else in-between. Thus is why I love you."

Moving his head towards my side, Harry held to a squint, he said with a pinch of sarcasm, "You love me because of the mistakes."

"I love you because you're real. I love you because you're not some fake person who says one thing and does another; that you're genuine, and unique, and caring, and nurturing, and-"

I sighed and began again. "Do you remember the instance that captured me so to your side?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, there were just so many instances and my mind is a blur."

I smiled in my thoughts. "You saved me from that troll in the girls' toilet."

"Oh, yeah… That's right. After that I couldn't get rid of you."

I sniggered. "See? Did you do that because you were `Harry Potter'? Or, did you do that because you chose to, because you found it the right thing to do down deep in your heart?"

Harry smiled and inched forward. In doing so, he planted his lips upon mine and snatched a quick kiss before falling back to the sandy terra.

I laughed a little in his hastiness, as if he needed to be that way.

"But, would that have been enough to keep your interest?"

"Hm…," I made it so he thought I pondered intensely, but it was all theatrics. I looked up at the sky, put a finger to my chin and bunched my lips together. "Well… The lack of attractive boys would have made it quite-"

I felt him give the hand on his chest a tap and I sniggered again. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding… It was a joke. Though, I did find you handsome. It may have taken me a bit longer to see how special you were, for I was in my own little universe during those early years, but I believe my heart would still have been yours. I think we were written in the stars to meet and fall in love."

"Do you think the Headmaster gave us a push in the right direction? I think he was rooting for our team albeit secretly because sometimes it just felt, well…right."

I grinned from ear to ear. "It did feel like he had grand plans for each of us and maybe one held to believe our pairing. I mean, he did sort us to be together into the wee hours of the morning or give late night dates. Hint, hint, hint-Hermione study this with Harry, Harry go here with Hermione, you two should track this oddity down… Ronald would tell me that he'd sit up until he heard you come to bed whenever we were out."

Harry shook his head and sighed in a chuckle. He looked over at me, "You know, I wish I could have been with you years ago. So much time wasted. So many hearts broken."

I sniggered. "What would we have done that we didn't already do? Besides the occasional snog or two."

"Or, three or four, or sixteen, or I wouldn't have allowed you to study because I'd always want a taste."

I laughed lightly and shook my head. "Maybe it's good we didn't court. What would I have done if I'd gotten a failing grade? I'd hate myself."

"I'd make up for it. You wouldn't have hated yourself at all." He winked and I lost myself in a laugh.

"You're horrible. You're really horrible-really and truly."

"Do you…," He paused a moment to smile and started again, a twinkle in his eyes. "Do you think you could have gotten me up those stairs?"

"Stairs…?"

"Dormitory…"

My eyes grew like my smile. "Heavens, why would you have wanted to go up there?"

He smiled, too, but then became very serious. "Oh, oh, study. Of course, yes, study is of utmost importance, especially Potions. Absolutely. Ab-so-lute-ly!"

I threw my hand over my mouth to keep from bursting with laughter. I pushed on him and pushed on him hard, "Gods, is that all you men think about? Merlin's name…"

"Hermione," He snatched another quick kiss. "Between your mind, body, and heart, I wouldn't put it passed me to do some fairly…uncivilised notions. Horrendously naughty bits of the imagination."

I pushed on him again and shook my head, "Come off it."

"I think you would have rather enjoyed it."

I laughed a little too loud and caught myself.

He knew me.

I bit my bottom lip, my eyes flicking from his and his mouth while he spoke. "…I would have," I exclaimed with honesty.

"Oh really?" He responded, pushing forth from the sand to meet my lips.

"Yes really," I said just before caressing his waiting mouth.

"But, of course," I breathed afterwards, watching Harry settle back beside me. "If tattled, we wouldn't hear the end of it from the Professor. She would have easily taken our heads, not to mention separate lethal and lengthy detentions."

"Even if I purely wanted to sleep with you? Literally sleep with the one I most adored?"

"You really would have wanted to sleep with me without-"

Harry gasped, "Hermione! Where is your head?!"

I rolled my eyes. "Be serious…"

He nodded. "Yes, if we took our courtship to the following level I would have liked to have slept with you…and not just with intercourse. I'd have sought, like I do now, to be with you and I don't believe we would have the privacy anywhere else, especially not in the Commons. Gads, I could just see Fred and George walking in on us curled on the sofa. I would have gladly taken the Professor's chastising before theirs. Think about all the material they'd have at their disposal…"

My smile hadn't ceased, the smile only grew. I leaned in and kissed him this time. "How are you feeling? Better?"

He found pleasure within my caress; so joyous a pleasure he wouldn't let me go.

I laughed with him when he held me there upon his lips.

I didn't want to let go.

***

The aroma of grilled steak, the spices and peppery scent, drifted above the pool. Harry cooked the meal. He had the steak and vegetables. I just had the vegetables. I wouldn't consider myself despondent while we ate, more contemplative. So many things had happened before we went on holiday. So many things are waiting to occur when we get back. Namely, and something I dreaded for I hadn't a clue what to exactly expect, was my best friend's wedding. Or, not wedding. Or, wedding. Or…enter the unknown of infinite conclusions.

I think I figured out several different matrixes floating atop an inflatable pool lounge. My left arm away from the water, I let my right arm, my right hand skim the surface creating subtle ripples by the tip of my index finger. Black rubber bracelets had dropped about my wrist, touching the water, too. The water itself was lit and extremely cerulean, and clear.

I watched Harry swim from one end to the next, his body as vivid as if he were standing up. When he'd push off from the edge to go again he'd produce rhythmic waves keeping the floating chair slowly mobile.

I didn't necessarily want to get wet, even though I had on a swim costume. Actually, I took caution when getting into the lounge not to tumble into the pool. The chair's length was long enough to keep my feet out, my legs straight. I had my hair wrapped about with a scrunchie to keep those strands down from the breeze which stirred the atmosphere, but I could still very much feel it. Wearing a black bikini, one of the few new pieces bought with Cho for the trip, the wind would hit my exposed belly and goose pimples would procreate like rabbits.

I thought the piece was adorable. There were these cute white loops where the cloth attached, at the hips and between my breasts. I even bought a grey little sleeveless top to go over the bra, it cut diagonally with contemporary fashion, but I had too much on my mind to care anymore. Whilst keeping an eye on Harry going back and forth through the water my sight would blur; but, only because I was such in thought, staring blankly.

I hadn't realized Harry stopped swimming until I felt something wet on my feet. I blinked away from my stare and down between my legs at my future husband bobbing in place. His hair, obviously soaked, dripped down his face from thickened, pointy clumps. He had my foot, or rather my toes, wiggling them around with his fingers to get my attention.

"What's wrong?"

That was my cue.

I smiled, but I guessed that excuse began to wear after conditioning. It was a sorry excuse anyway.

"Nothing."

"Mhmm…," Of course he didn't buy it. He started to massage the bottoms of my feet by lightly pressing his thumbs into the centre and rotating clockwise. "Now, tell me what's wrong. You've been silent and that's a signal from the Big Book of Hermione that you're thinking about something, and I'm sure it doesn't involve lemondrops."

"It's nothing."

"Hermione…"

"Trust me."

He had his head tilted in a way and he was looking at me in a way that told me he knew better.

"You're not going to let me off the hook are you?"

He shook his head, "Nope. Not until you tell me what's in that beautiful mind of yours."

Inhaling, I let out a sigh. "…It's Ginny."

"What about Ginny?"

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"Shouldn't we let them figure it out?"

"I don't think it will be that concrete," I sighed again, tapping the water with those fingers already at the surface. "It's unbelievably fucked up."

"It is, but we can't make them decide. They have to decide on their own how they want to continue with their lives. Maybe it's for the best all this happened? Who would want to go about their life in lies?"

"I don't want Neville to hurt. He's too much of a good friend, and Ginny…"

"So, you'd rather have them marry?"

"Why can't everything go back to the way it was?" I asked with exhaustion. It knew it was feeble to say it. If we all could time-travel without endangering other lives we'd all fix the problems we have now.

Harry wobbled towards my right side, some of the water splashing onto my arm and armrest. "Hey!"

I jerked my arm away.

He sniggered and smiled, the nightfall and luminescence having his skin hue seem darker than it actually was. "Come into the water."

"No." I folded my arms.

"I could always make you…"

"What's going to happen when we get back and she insists on having me continue to plan their wedding? What if I tell her no?"

"Then you'll have told her no."

"What if I can't say no and I say yes instead?"

"Then…you've said yes instead."

"Harry…" I watched him put his arms and elbows on the now vacant armrest.

"I see two large scenarios, right. One being they've worked it out and, if she continues to want you planning she'll ask. The second is she's lying to cover herself, but that's her fault."

"Harry, that's awful."

"Well, how are you going to know if she's telling the truth? Unless she strolls out and says it, and I don't think that will happen. She sure didn't come out and say she fancied you while she was with me or the rest of the guys she was with in school."

"Ugh!" Dropping my head back, I closed my eyes and grunted low from my throat.

"Tomorrow will be tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…," I quoted, sighing as sighs became the general theme of the conversation.

I felt the pool lounge tilt to the right and I caught the sides in reflex.

I should have known it was Harry who had done it.

My eyes were wide on him. "Harry James! You gave me a fright!"

"Come in with me," he laughed.

"I honestly don't want to get-"

He pushed on the side again making me fall to the right.

I hung on.

"I swear to Merlin if you drop me in the pool you'll regret it." I said this in one breath.

"Oh, now I'm just dying to get you in. You shouldn't tease me." He pushed on the float again and I fell further towards the blue.

"Harry!!"

"What?" He asked innocently.

Innocent my arse.

"I swear I'll-"

"Whoops!" His full weight on the float, I plunged into the pool with a splash. I tried to hang onto him, but slipped.

I shot straight up when I found my equilibrium. Dagger-eyed, I leapt on Harry and pushed him under the water. He caught me, my arm, and then my leg. He gave me a tug and I fell as he dragged me with him. We tossed, our bodies like a revolving sphere beneath.

He actually tried to get away from me, surfacing and fleeing. I grinned, surfaced too and a stroke away. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pounced from behind, hearing his and my laughter before going back under. I told him he'd get it, and get it he shall. I latched onto his back and thought to pull him under again when we came up, but he checkmated, pulling a fast one and dropping so he put me under. I unwound, pushing off to see him twist underwater to grab me. I twisted around too, to run, but he caught my foot and I was pulled backward.

I thought two could play this game and met him on his act. I placed my arms around him, around his neck. He gathered me by my behind and led me to wrap my legs around him. We both shot from the water together with a smile, and a laugh. I wiped the water from my eyes and slicked back my hair, and then his hair from his eyes, holding onto his broad shoulders. He walked us backwards, smugness carved on his face.

"Ah, my plan all along…" He put himself against the ledge of the pool and made sure my knees didn't scrape.

"Would it be such a plan if I really wanted this to happen?"

He held my bum and stood with an incline as he watched me watch him. "Lies…"

"Truths…," I smiled and gave him a kiss. I could feel the elastic waistband of his swim shorts along the inside of my thighs.

"Mm…" Harry leaned forward and kissed me after my release.

"Mm…," I mimicked, re-wrapping my arms around his neck to embrace and to kiss him after his release.

I relaxed in my embrace, stroking his back, my cheek to his shoulder. I think I even closed my eyes and just kept in the private moment. Moving back to the original position, holding onto his shoulders, I said without hesitation, "I love you."

"Christ, do I love you."

We both smiled, my arms slipping, winding behind his neck as I closed in. I nudged my nose against his. I felt my body flatten against him. I tilted my head to the side and kissed him. I felt his hold of me tighten, and I grinned further whilst hugging him.

{Inspirations for the Chapter: Talking in Your Sleep by the Romantics (am I the only one who hears this song when people reference sleep-talking?); Something About You by Level 42 for the specially fluffy bits (one of my personal favorite 80s songs); When I See You Smile by Bad English for the extra-extra fluffy bits; Faithfully by Journey (when Harry thinks about the future, his marriage with Hermione and everything he's going/ been through)}

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