Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter Thirty-Two

-

Hermione was wiping the counter a couple of hours later, she kept glancing up at Harry's table. The drinks were flowing at their table and most waitresses and strippers were like flies around their stall. They all wanted tips, attention.

"I wonder who'll be going home with them?" a voice snickered in her ear.

She turned and looked at Christina. "Is it true you danced for one of them?" she cooed in Hermione's ear. The strippers had just changed routines and Christina was supposed to mingle around the bar for the next thirty minutes.

"I didn't dance," Hermione answered.

"No I bet you wouldn't know how," Christina sniggered. "Get me a drink!"

Hermione handed Christina her favorite drink: a triple firewhiskey. Hermione noted Christina gazing over at the table again.

"That one is mine!" she said and licked her lips. "The dark one!"

Hermione felt very cold and turned to look over at the table.

"With the glasses?" she asked, her voice almost breaking.

"God no, who wants a geek like that?" she laughed and Hermione's first reaction was to be annoyed by the insult, but quickly she was relieved that Christina would keep her blood red nails away from Harry. "No the other dark one; Marcus Flint. He's the one I talked about in the dressing room, if you heard."

"Oh…" Hermione's mind wandered back. It felt like weeks ago. "Do you want me to bring some drinks over so you can…"

"No!" Christina gasped. "Girl, you have no idea how to catch a man. You have to play hard to get! No I'll dance for a while longer, let him see me, and long for the meat!" she snickered. Hermione nodded.

"Customer," she mumbled and hurried over to the man who had just waved at her.

-

"Those two went to school with me," Eloise whispered and Hermione looked up. Harry and Ron were walking towards the bar.

"Eloise right?" Ron said to Eloise and closed the reminding steps between the counter and him.

Eloise beamed happily at him, no one ever talked to her. It was pretty much the same with Hermione.

"W-what can I get you?" Hermione said and looked into Harry's handsome face. He must have lost weight, his features felt more prominent. He was clean shaven, but his hair was longer and it had a small outward turn at his neck.

"Champagne please, five" Harry answered and Hermione felt shivers along her neck. She hadn't heard his voice in such a long time. "Do you have anything Bulgarian?" he leaned forward and whispered. Hermione bit her lip, she was about to break out into a grin.

"Sorry, I don't think so."

"Shame," he sighed.

She saw Blaise hurrying towards them from the corner of her eye and rolled her eyes. He was always like this when someone "important" was at the bar. It was obvious that Harry had been absent form this world for a while and needed a proper welcome back.

"Hermione," Blaise called out and Harry broke his eye contact with Hermione and looked away.

"Yes Mr. Zabini," Hermione said.

"Bring their drinks to the table." He snapped his fingers at her.

"That's okay, I was just about to get them," Harry assured and contained the urge to beat every single tooth from Blaise's mouth. He could almost hear the crunching sound against his fist.

"I have a surprise for you guys!" Blaise yanked Harry by the elbow and mumbled:

"Do you think Miles Bletchley is having a good time?"

They sat back at the table and Harry glanced down at his arm watch. How long would this night go on?

"This is Nanni, Ava and Christina!" Blaise said as three girls approached. Ava was a dark girl with long braids down her back, Christina was a curvaceous blonde and Nanni was a petite Asian girl.

Harry nodded politely at them and turned to Miles to speak but his focus was on the girls. Harry glanced over at Angelina on the other side of the table; she looked very bored and annoyed by these new arrivals.

He looked for Ron who was still at the bar, he caught his attention and Ron hurried back to his side.

Just behind him Hermione arrived with the tray of glasses and Harry could tell by her look that' she was miserable and the newly arrived girls didn't help.

"Champagne," she said and started setting the glasses down.

"I hate champagne, you know what I drink!" Christina complained.

"Of course," Hermione smiled kindly, "Already brought one for you!" she set a triple firewhiskey before her. Christina winked at her. "You're a pearl Hemmy!"

Hermione's eyes darted over at Nanni who was moving closer to Harry. Hermione trusted Harry but it still bothered her immensely. She knew he had been in love, attracted and quite infatuated with Cho Chang, Nanni kind of reminded her of Cho. Men usually threw themselves at Nanni, she was a vulture.

Ava moved closer at Angelina.

"How are you tonight?" she purred. Angelina sighed and reached for the glass Hermione had just put before her.

"Fucking bored," Angelina said honestly.

"Can I help you with that?" Ava said bit her lip enticingly.

"I doubt it," Angelina answered and threw down her glass. "Can you get me another one?" she asked Hermione.

"Of course."

Angelina had been in the club a few times before and just because she played Quidditch many girls thought she would be like the male players on the team… but how wrong they were. Hermione hurried over the floor as fast as her high boots would allow.

When she sat the next glass down in front of Angelina, Nanni had moved closer to Harry and now had her hand on his shoulder as she joked playfully with him. Hermione's eyes darted to Harry and their eyes met for just a moment.

"Ron, how was your dance?" Blaise boomed out and grabbed Hermione's elbow so hard she was sure she would bruise. "Did I miss anything there?"

Hermione had never felt this uncomfortable in her life, Harry's glare was unavoidable and she was surprised Blaise didn't fall over from the gaze. Hermione guessed the dark covered it up to anyone who didn't know what to look for.

"Yeah Weasley," Marcus Flint taunted. Slytherins hated all Gryffindors, except those like Harry who had a lot of money. "Are your fingers dirty now? Or your pecker?" he laughed and the whole table joined in sneering.

"Show you fingers Weasley," Miles Bletchley jeered. Hermione's cheeks burned. "Do mudbloods look the same naked? And do they smell worse?"

Hermione looked at the floor as Blaise's laugh echoed in her ears.

A glass fell to the floor and Hermione looked over startled by the sound. A thousand broken shards of crystal were sprayed over the floor.

"Oh no," Angelina complained. Blaise tight grip on Hermione's elbow shoved her hard forward and she lost her balance, stumbling forwards her knees landed in the broken glass and she hissed as she felt the skin break.

"I'll get that for you miss," she assured and met Angelina's eyes. Hermione knew that Angelina had no idea they were on the same side, she had only smashed the glass to help Hermione out of the situation.

"I didn't mean to break your pretty glass," Angelina said to Blaise who waved her words away.

-

Hermione threw the broken shards of glass in the sink and her face felt purple with anger.

"Granger!" Blaise hissed arriving behind her. "Look at you!" he yelled out and pointed is wand at her knee. She couldn't help the instincts that made her jump away from the aim of his wand. He reached for her arm and yanked her back. He shot a spell at her and her knee healed.

"That glass is going from you pay!" he hissed as he walked away. That glass was more than she made in a couple of weeks, luckily she wasn't working at this Merlin's forsaken place for the pay.

-

The strip club was fully lit now. All the customers had left and Hermione and the other waitresses were cleaning. The strippers had all left, except those still in a private room with a customer.

When she finally left the bar it was close to six o'clock in the morning. She hurried away from Eloise, away from the club. Her eyes darted from side to side, she wondered if Harry was out there waiting for her somewhere.

She ran hurriedly down the street and felt a wave of disappointment as she got closer to the small room she was renting.

When she locked the door behind her she noticed a small owl at her window and she hurried over. In her haste she smashed her knee on the bed and swore loudly - her poor knee had been through enough for one evening. She took the small packet he was holding and yanked it open quickly. She knew exactly what she was looking at, it was a portkey. She touched the small match inside and the world spun around her.

-

With a thump she landed face down on a soft rug. She opened her eyes and saw red carpet as she pushed herself up.

"Are you okay?" she heard Harry's voice and saw him hurrying towards her as she sat up. He took her hands and pulled her up.

"I'm fine," she said a bit embarrassed. She wasn't all that used to portkeys, muggleborns weren't allowed to travel by portkey and somehow she seemed to always manage to land on her face.

Harry yanked her into his arms and crushed her against him. She pushed him away, somewhat reluctantly and looked around.

"Where am I?"

"A muggle hotel," he answered and stepped forward towards her again. She took a step back and frowned slightly. She felt confused as she looked around. The room was a small hotel room from what she could gather, but she had no idea where.

"Who knows we are here?" she asked. She didn't like feeling this lost. Harry smiled kindly at her.

"Don't worry, I am officially staying at one of the most luxurious hotels in London, but I didn't want to be there… in case. So I got us this little dodgy room instead. I promise, we are perfectly safe Hermione."

She released the breath she had been holding. Safe? Could they be?

Harry tilted his head and tried to read her expression.

"What's wrong?" She spun around and looked at him.

"Oh Harry," she breathed and hurried back to his arms. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in the warm skin at his neck. Her fingers immediately gently touched the hair that curved out at his neck, she had wanted to touch it all night.

"Shhss…" he said and patted her hair comfortingly. "What is it? What's wrong?"

He pulled her away and looked at her. She looked exhausted, and she looked skinnier than last time. Anger filled him again, he hated Blaise Zabini, and he hated her working there. How could Dumbledore have let her? But then again, Hermione usually did what she felt like…

"I-I need to shower," she mumbled silently.

"You look exhausted," he said.

"You don't look like you've been on a holiday yourself," she smiled.

"Why don't you take that shower, and I'll get us some food alright?"

She nodded and he took her cheeks in both his hands and tilted her face to him again.

"Hey, it's okay," he promised and she looked like she couldn't quite believe him.

"I can't believe you are really here," she whispered and closed her eyes. Harry leaned in and kissed her lips very gently. He just barely grazed his tongue against her top lip before he started pulling away.

"No," she mumbled slightly panicked and locked her hands behind his head. She kissed him ferociously, desperate for him to stay near.

She started kissing the side of his neck violently. Harry reached behind his neck and gently tugged at her hands, but they wouldn't move.

"We have time," he whispered promisingly. But she just answered by tugging at his shirt. Harry looked down and met her eyes and her large dark pupils made him feel things he couldn't quite control. Hermione let out a soft moan as Harry's hand traveled up her thigh. He pulled of her over coat and saw Hermione in her ordinary clothes and he was glad that she was out of that awful working suit.

She moaned again as his hand graced her crotch over her jeans, and when he started unbuttoning her pants she ran a hand through his hair. He looked into her eyes again and felt like comforting her, she looked so sad.

"Hermione," he started but she silenced him with a kiss.

"Make love to me Harry," she whispered in his ear. He gave in and lifted her off her feet. He gently placed her on the bed and she pulled him down with her. He pulled back and stood on his knees between her spread thighs. He yanked his shirt off him and Hermione reached up and caressed his naked skin. He felt her trace the new scars he had there. She didn't mention them but sat herself up and started kissing his chest. He caressed the back of her head as she did before he lowered them both down. She clutched his waist with her leg and looked into his eyes.

Harry bent down and started kissing her collarbone but quickly felt her hands steer his face back up to her. She looked into his eyes again, saying nothing.

He entered her and she closed her eyes looking slightly drunk. She tilted her head back against the pillow and arched against him.

Her breathing became more hurried and she bit his shoulder as he kept moving within her. Soon he was just as spent and exhausted as she was and he collapsed on top of her. It took all he had to hold himself up on his elbows and not crush her. He felt her gently caress his back with her fingernails and he slid off her and breathed quickly.

Hermione immediately changed her position and put her head against his chest and he held his arm around her.

"I need to shower," she said again, repeating a conversation which felt hours ago.

"Alright," Harry said unsure as she got out of bed. He sat up. "Should I order us some food?"

He looked at her naked curves as she walked towards the bathroom, she turned and smiled at him.

"I am starving," she said before she rounded the corner and was out of sight.

-

Hermione felt warm and soft as she came back into the room. The luxury of a hot shower had been sorely missed since she had last been in Bulgaria.

"They only had breakfast food `cause of the time!" Harry excused and nodded at the clock on the wall.

Hermione hurried down next to him on the bed, she had to pace herself, she didn't want to scare Harry by her hunger.

The fried eggs and bacon looked absolutely mouthwatering, she was used to some toast in the morning, beans in the evening and that was usually it.

"Come here," Harry smiled goofily at her as she finished her tea.

"What?" she grinned.

"Lay down with me, let's sleep. You must be exhausting.

She laid down against his shoulder but neither of them could fall asleep. They had so much to talk about, so much to tell the other, time just flew by.

-

She glanced at the time again, it was nearing ten o'clock and she heard the busy street below. "What?" he asked when he saw the look on her face.

"I have to be back at the club in a few hours," she confessed sadly. They both went quiet.

"We have to talk about this," he said and Hermione sat up, moving out of his loving embrace.

"What?" she answered defiantly and turned to face him, she yanked the covers to cover herself.

"You working here, with Blaise," he sighed.

"What of it? You can't tell me what to do, so don't even try it," she declared rebelliously.

Harry sighed and looked seriously at her.

"I would never tell you what to do, but can't you understand Hermione. How much I want you safe. And of course I hate you being with all those…. Those fucking nasty men drawling all over you," he said through clenched teeth.

"I can handle the sleazy men Harry, look I have heard so many things useful there, we can't honestly miss the chance to have someone in the pub. When those ministers of magic come to the club, get a bit naked, a bit drunk… they spill their guts..." she trailed off at the sight of Harry's stare. She quickly added: "And when they have seen the strippers naked bodies I always get to hear about it!"

Harry reached out and grabbed her elbow and was about to tug her back to him when she hissed. He released her at once.

"What?" he asked and looked down. He could see the bruise from where Blaise had yanked her the day before.

His insides felt black with anger and he slammed his fist hard on the mattress.

Hermione turned to him and looked worried. She placed her hand on his chest and caressed his scars.

"We all get a bit hurt right?"

Harry looked down and sighed frustrated. "Will I see you tonight?" she whispered. He nodded. "When do you have to leave?"

"We don't know yet, two days I'd guess. Maybe three…"

Hermione swallowed hard. She leaned down and kissed him again. His fingered clutched her hair and she couldn't pull away. She let him pull her back down, and she smiled as he steered her underneath him again, gently opening her thighs.

~~~

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