Chapter Seventeen
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Harry opened his eyes sleepily, his whole body ached. It didn't even take him a moment to realize where he was. The scent of Hermione filled his brain before he even had time to think. He was overcome with happiness, but also a bit of worry. Worry about what would happen, of what she would feel. He looked down at the bushy hair that was covering his view. Hermione was sleeping on his chest but he couldn't see her because of all the hair. That fact made him smile ever larger.
He buried his nose in her hair again and sniffed her. He felt her naked breast against the side of his body and had to distract himself for a moment, the feel of it made him a bit too excited again.
He gently tried to push some of her hair away; he just wanted to see a small bit of her face. Her nose would be enough.
As he did, he felt her move and he froze. She shifted and then he knew she was awake because she acted like he had. First waking, then realizing…
Slowly she reached up and pushed her hair away and peered up at him. He should have said something appropriate, polite but she just looked so cute peering through all that hair that all he could do was grin.
Too late he realized that it made her feel uncomfortable and when he saw her looking around their room somewhat frantically, he took her face in his hand and kissed her. It wasn't a good morning kiss, it was a passionate loving kiss and she returned it. He could feel her whole bode relax and she eased into the kiss. As they kissed she threw her leg over him and he tried to count to ten, it was impossible. She had awoken the monster.
She must have realized that because she pulled from him and looked into his eyes.
"Well good morning to you too," she grinned and looked like she would laugh.
"Oh shut up," he hissed and rolled on top of her.
-
Hermione hurried as she rinsed her hair. One of the chamber maids had told them that Viktor was serving breakfast in thirty minutes if they cared to join.
Hermione grabbed the conditioner as she saw the glass door open.
"What are you doing?" she giggled as she felt a hand lovingly caress her stomach and a body standing close behind her. Even though the water was very hot, somehow he felt hotter. She tensed, prepared for what would come, almost leaning forward a bit.
"I wish," he answered in reply to her small shift in position and she relaxed, a bit disappointed.
"Oh."
"He wants us to hurry up." Harry said and she couldn't help but notice the hungry look he threw her naked
body, it made her want him so much more.
-
"Viktor," Harry said firmly as he and Hermione entered the dining room side by side, almost in a march. Viktor looked at them, side by side, but he didn't say anything. There wasn't really anything to say.
Hermione noted that one of his fists was clenched tightly.
"Nothing yet, would you like some salmon?" he asked casually and gestured to the overstocked table. Hermione glanced up at Harry and saw his jaw clenching, she knew he felt the way she did.
Harry walked over to the table and reached for a cracker, he put a healthy spread of cheese one it. He sat down next to Viktor and started to slowly sip his tea. Hermione took her time at the large table. She read the signs over each dish. They were all translated into English; boiled egg, fried egg, garlic fried egg, scrambled egg, eggs Benedict, omelet (your choice), this continued… every kind of meat had so many choices, the same for juices and jams. She looked at the mountains of bread and grabbed the first piece.
She walked back and sat down at their table.
"Viktor, you need to tell us," Harry implored to Viktor and Hermione looked between them. Viktor looked like he wasn't really sure what to do. Something had happened, it was for sure.
"Nothing is determined," Viktor stammered and the hesitation was obvious. Hermione immediately looked at Harry, he had been on these kinds of missions before and she hoped he would give her hope. In her world, words like these meant the worst kind of situation. Her stomach felt so much worse when she saw that he looked just as stressed at her,
"For fuck sake Viktor, what is it?" he demanded and slammed his fist down.
"Jorg, my man on the mission…" Viktor looked down for a moment but when he looked up he looked between Hermione and Harry. Hermione knew what his next words would be…"He was found in his room, his throat was slit!" he finished.
Harry took her hand under the table before she could speak, he must have known she would have a million questions at once.
"So no one knows the truth about his mission?" Hermione asked still not able to stop herself.
"No, his partner Henrik is missing. We are hoping he will turn up."
"Partner?" Hermione asked.
"Yes I, like Dumbledore, never send anyone on a mission alone. If one is captured or killed the other must tell me what has happened."
Hermione and Harry turned and looked at each other.
Captured or killed? Hermione thought
"And until we hear something?" Hermione asked.
"We wait," Harry answered knowingly.
-
Harry felt so uncomfortable; he had never felt anything like it. He had been close to death so many times before, but he had always welcomed it. His mind had screamed: finally, I get to fight for my parents, for justice, for liberty! But now, here he was with Hermione. Now he understood… Well of course he had always understood why you would want to protect someone… he had always wanted to protect those he cared for. But know he understood. Now he knew!
Sirius had once told him "You can't be afraid of death, it will make you afraid of life." He had always thought these words of wisdom were something to live by, but what happened when the death of someone else was what you were afraid of? He'd have to ask Sirius what his thoughts were on that matter…
He groaned in frustration, it had been three hours since the news and he had no idea what was happening. All he knew was that he had to wait, and he had left Hermione with Viktor in the dining room. He knew that Henrik was a very close friend to Viktor and Ron's face popped into his mind.
But he didn't have time to think about that, he needed to know the truth. He kept pacing. His own feet slamming into the ground.
I should have left Bulgaria, I should have brought her back to Britain. We should have left… he kept on thinking
He knew she was approaching by the soft pounding of her heels. It wasn't the typical klick klack of heels; it was the soft sound of a woman's heels.
"Is he here?" he asked and spun around.
"No," she whispered and he noted that she looked smaller than he had ever seen her. He knew why, it had nothing to do what was happening. It had to do with him, and he hated himself for it.
"So what are you up to, playing with the kids?" he tried to sound casual but she just tilted her head unbelievingly.
"Harry…" she spoke softly and her voice literally broke him. He took a step forwards and grabbed her face in his hands. He looked into her brown eyes, trying to read them. That she was reading nothing but worry and concern almost made him angry. He traced down her small little nose down to her lips with his thumb.
They looked too perfect and pink. They looked too enticing. He didn't want to consider them anymore… he just wanted to... kiss, lick, touch, feel… He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.
"Harry!" she demanded again and reluctantly he opened his eyes. He knew what was waiting, it was reality. He didn't care. All he knew was that when he looked into those deep pools of brown, he was lost. Reality didn't matter to him.
He clutched her face with both his large palms; he almost covered her whole face. It looked like she wanted to say something but she remained quiet.
"Hermione," he started but hesitated. He honestly didn't know what he wanted to say.
Both his thumbs now gently made small circles over her cheeks and she closed her eyes.
"Sorry," they heard a woman's voice and they turned to look who had spoken. Darina stood there, her hands folded over her chest. She didn't seem surprised to see a "brother and sister" in such a loving touch, she must have been told - or maybe she had known from the start.
"Yes," Harry said and dropped Hermione's face.
"Henrik is here," she said and quickly turned and hurried back to the dining room where Viktor was.
Hermione and Harry ran after her.
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The dining room was filling with the important men in Viktor's company. This must have been his own "Order of the phoenix". Viktor was pacing impatiently at the head of the table, his hands behind his back.
"Where is he?" Harry turned to Darina.
"We got word when he was approaching the city, he will be here shortly;" she whispered and leaned a bit too close to Harry. Hermione pretended like she hadn't noticed.
Hermione sat down at the table, she couldn't bare pacing like most of the men were doing. She looked around and tried to read their faces but they just all looked so worried and anxious.
Finally the large oak doors swung open and a small man entered, accompanied by two guards. Harry sunk down in the seat next to her; this was it, now they would know the truth.
"Henrik!" Viktor exclaimed and the room went deadly silent. "What news is there? What happened?" Henrik held a hand over his heart, he had obviously been in a haste to reach them, and he looked half dead.
"They found us, they knew, they killed him, I ran…" he stopped and panted.
"And news?" Viktor demanded.
"It is much worse than we ever thought," Henrik shrieked and Hermione gasped, what could it mean?
"Worse how?" Viktor demanded and leaned forward in the seat he had now taken.
"They have large armies, they are invading many parts of Europe, and this will be a full war within weeks. They have tens of thousands of men in their armies. We have seen them take over a muggle city in France and make it their camp already, every muggle was killed…" he finished silently. Hermione's heart beat fast.
"A war?" Viktor repeated.
"We have always known this might happen!" the grey haired man exclaimed.
"But so soon," and elderly woman yelled out.
"We have no say in the timing," Viktor said, "this is the time."
"But no one knows!" Darina added.
"We must send word immediately to every council in ever country, everyone needs to be prepared. We should all fight together, gather at the most important points," Viktor said hurriedly and everyone started talking at once.
Hermione tried to follow but they switched back and forwards from English to Bulgarian so fast that she felt completely lost.
"We have to return," she turned to Harry and whispered.
"Yes, and we must leave at once," he agreed. "Viktor!" he called out and Viktor looked at them. He just nodded and answered:
"I will come to your room shortly!"
-
Hermione threw her clothes back into her duffle bag in a hurry. She couldn't even think about what she was doing, she just wanted to leave. Harry had already managed to shove his things into his bag and he was standing at the window, looking out.
"Harry?" Hermione asked when she was finished, he turned and their eyes met. She didn't know what she wanted to say, but she felt truly scared for the first time since her parents died. She had felt afraid many times, but now she felt really scared. The war was certain and she knew that everyone would join.
He smiled adorably at her, it was a half smile and half a grimace. It calmed her down.
"Kiss me," she whispered and in a moment he was. His warm lips covered hers and he forced them open roughly. His fingers were in her hair and she shivered.
She wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could.
There was a loud knock on the door and they pulled apart, Harry still held her hands in his.
"Always, someone is interrupting," he muttered and she grinned.
The door opened and Viktor entered.
"I have arranged for your departure, a private plane will take you to Calais, but you will have to take the ferry from there. We can not fly over Britain, we will be shot down."
Harry grabbed his bag, ready to leave at once.
"May I say something," Viktor said and both Harry and Hermione turned to him, Viktor had never asked for permission to speak and Hermione would have guessed it probably was the first time in his life he asked.
"What?" Harry asked, impatient.
"Hermione," Viktor said and walked over to Hermione. He took her hand in his.
She couldn't help but turn to look at Harry who now looked in disbelief.
"Please, let's sit," Viktor said and Hermione followed him to the sofa. Harry remained standing at the spot, his eyes narrowing.
"I want you to know that you can stay here." Viktor started and when Hermione opened her mouth to object he interrupted her, "I know you are muggle born Hermione, I know what kind of life you have back in Britain."
Hermione's eyes darted to Harry and he was looking at his feet now. She hated reality coming back to haunt them, but it was the truth after all.
"I want to extend my invitation, you are more than welcome to stay here for however long this war takes. You could do so much here, the children love you…"
Her heart did ache when he spoke of the children. "You are wonderful with them. And here, in Bulgaria a muggle born is worth just as much as anyone else. We believe in equal rights…"
"So do we!" Harry intruded, feeling a personal blow.
"I am sorry Harry, I know you do. But I mean in general. I just want you," he turned back to Hermione," to know that you could have a very different life here. No one would ever take your wand away here! You could be free!"
Hermione had to admit to herself that the things he talked about were very appealing, she would never give up her cause of course, but being able to fight it from this end was appealing. She looked at Harry, he seemed determined not to look at her.
It didn't matter what he said. She knew what she had to do.
She took Viktor's hand in hers and squeezed it.
"Thank you Viktor, you are very generous. But my place is back in Britain, with my friends and the people I love."
Viktor nodded.
"I figured as much, but if you ever change your mind…"
"Thank you!" she added. "Truly!"
"Now, you have a plane waiting for you," Viktor said and they all got up.
-
The small private plane was parked on a field next to the castle.
"This is quite the risk," Hermione whispered to Harry. He knew it was true, but they had no choice, they had to get back to Britain quickly. They couldn't risk a war breaking out without anyone's knowledge.
"You can always stay in Bulgaria," he said half joking but she just frowned.
Viktor walked over to them.
"Goodbye my friends, we will meet soon I hope!"
He hugged Harry quickly and then turned to Hermione. He took her into a tight hug and she almost felt lost in his strong embrace.
"I hope to meet you soon," he whispered in her ear.
"We will," she answered. "Kiss the children from me!"
He let her go and looked hesitantly at the plane. They waved again and Harry took Hermione's hand and hurried them onboard. As they sat down in their seats Hermione looked out of the small window at Viktor. He was watching the plane as it started its engine and then slowly started rolling away.
"He believes he'll never see us again," she thought aloud.
"No," Harry said sadly, "he knows he'll see me in the war, he just believes he'll never see you." Hermione turned and looked at Harry, his eyes looked sad.
"Why, who does he think will die?" she said, almost joking.
"All of us," Harry answered and leaned his forehead against hers.
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