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Astoria rushed into the Slytherin Common Room just as the prefect lifted the house register from its place on the wall. “I’m here, Yatin, I’m here,” she exclaimed breathlessly. Her flushed face might have been attributed to a jog through the corridors if not for the darkening patches on her neck.
She knew a check appeared beside her name to indicate that she was in the Slytherin dorms, but the prefect made a show of verifying it. “Barely made it this time, Greengrass. Be more careful with your study time tomorrow night. We can’t afford to lose points on your account.” He left the room without another word, heading for the nightly prefects’ meeting in their common room.
She glared at the door as it closed behind him. “Come on Stori,” Draco drawled from the sofa beside the fireplace. “You know looks rarely kill.” He gave the empty cushion beside him an inviting pat. “You wouldn’t have this problem if you’d find another Slytherin to snog, you know.”
She rolled her eyes and settled onto the sofa beside him. “You know I’m a big believer in cultivating inter-house relationships,” she told him with a teasing smile.
He chuckled and draped his arm around her shoulders. “Well, I just hope she knows how to treat you properly,” he told his unlikely friend.
She cuddled into the crook of his arm. “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell, but I would hardly be complaining about the lack of chances for more if she was a bad snog, now would I?”
“So that leaves us with only Luna Lovegood, Michael Corner and Dennis Creevey out of their common rooms at this time,” Hermione summed up the prefect reports from her position to the right of the fireplace. The house prefects nodded and glanced over at Padma.
The Ravenclaw prefect sighed, “Michael has been determined to find a way around the charmed rosters. I heard him bragging that he was certain he had it this time.” She stepped over to the castle map posted on the wall. “There’s an alcove by Ravenclaw tower that he usually hides in because it gives him a good vantage point. If he’s not there, we’ll do a full patrol.”
Anthony, her fellow Eighth Year prefect, frowned. “That’ll add another 30 minutes to our patrol tonight. I’m going to have a word with him tomorrow. He’s cutting into my study time, and I’ve got stiff competition for Professor Flitwick’s second Charms Mastery slot.” He cut a glance to Hermione that made it clear he felt she was the natural choice for the first apprenticeship.
Straightening her yellow and black tie, Laura Madley looked to their two leaders. “Surely we don’t need to go bother Luna and Dennis? After all they’ve been through, maybe they deserve a little happiness?”
Harry frowned mildly. “Everyone deserves some happiness, but we don’t know that they’re together. And we shouldn’t speculate about it.” His mild rebuke served to remind them all that their Head Boy had no patience for gossip. “We need to get them safely to their commons rooms, just like we would anyone else.”
“So,” Hermione pulled the meeting back to task. “Padma and Anthony, check for Michael in the alcove, and alert us when you have him back to his common room.” The two Ravenclaws nodded. “Yatin, you and Nigel take patrol route Orange. Hannah, if you and Neville will take patrol route Green? Harry and I will take blue.”
The assigned prefects all nodded and tapped their route maps to update their selection of alcoves and broom closets to check for their two missing students. Harry smiled at their collection of young leaders all cooperating. “The rest of you, take purple, mauve and taupe to secure the castle entrances. Alert us when you have Luna and Dennis, then we can finish out our standard patrol. We’ll meet back here in an hour to verify that all houses are present in their dorms.”
Efficiently, the students all broke into their assigned teams and strode out the door. Hermione glanced over at Harry with a smile. “Don’t suppose we could just use the map and get done on time tonight?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Come on now, do you want the Maruaders to haunt us? Sirius would be horrified by the idea of their invention being used to enforce castle rules.”
She shook her head but didn’t argue. Instead she fell into step beside him. “I wish we could get Headmistress McGonagall to agree to a later curfew for the upper years. It seems silly to enforce it like this for people that are legally of age or nearly there.”
“Well, if anyone can convince her, it will be you. I have heard a few people argue that you’ve got things running so smoothly she’ll never see a point in changing things.”
She knocked her shoulder into his deliberately. “As if you’ve had nothing to do with how well things are working these days?”
A regal silver tiger strode towards them. Padma’s distinct patronus spoke with her voice, “Corner is back in the common room, but I doubt we convinced him to stop his little experiments. We’ll pick up with navy and hit meeting time after.”
Hermione sighed, “Well, at least he’ll force me to find any issues before we finish the rest of our NEWTs and have to turn this process over to the next Head Boy & Girl.”
They walked in companionable silence past one of the unrepaired passaged in the castle. The sight reminded her of another question. “Have you thought more about Gringotts offer of a curse breaker position?”
Harry sighed heavily, “I have, but I’m not sure… They just want me for my fame.”
“And that’s different from the offer from the Aurors? Or the dragon preserve?” She stopped to face him. “Honestly, Harry, there’s no one out there that isn’t considering our Order of Merlins when they offer us a job or an apprenticeship.” She looped her arm through his, and they walked on. “At least this way, you know you’ll be doing something that can really make a difference.”
“Curse breaking for hire?” he asked sceptically.
“How about improving wizarding/goblin relations?”
“Hmm” he made a considering noise, and she held her breath in hopes that he was really listening. The twinkle in his eyes dashed her hopes, and he grinned. “Maybe you just want me to learn all that curse breaking so that we can salvage the rest of the Black library?”
She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Oh, yes, Harry. I’m determined that you should choose your lifelong career so that I can have more books to read.”
Despite her sarcasm, he nodded vigorously. “I knew it! It’s all a conspiracy!”
She elbowed him sharply in the ribs, but their teasing ended as they rounded the corner to the landing overlooking the second floor stairs. Sitting just above the vanishing step, Dennis and Luna bent over a notebook. After all his grief, Hermione’s eyes stung with sudden tears to see the half smile on his face.
“What do you suppose they’re talking about?” she whispered to keep herself focused.
“It’s Luna,” Harry reminded her. “It could be anything, but it’s probably a crumple horned snorkle.”
“Snorkack,” Hermione corrected absently. “I hate to disturb them.”
“We could take the long way around? Give them a few more minutes and make a little noise to warn them?”
She nodded in agreement, and they quietly turned left instead of heading down the stairs. It would add another five minutes to their route, but neither friend minded too much. In a few minutes, they would deliberately kick over a short stack of bricks to make some noise. It would fool no one, but Dennis would have a little extra time with their gentle friend.
With less than a week to the Yule break, Ginny scanned around at her Quidditch team. “Alright, you lot, we’ve got a good practice plan for next term. For now, we just need to enjoy the days we’ve got left before we all go home.”
Instead of accepting the signal of the end to the meeting, Jimmy Peakes grumbled, “Easy for you to say. My girlfriend’s in Hufflepuff, and I’ve barely gotten to see her this past month.”
“Well, practice is over until we come back,” she pointed out. “Use the time how you like.”
“What time?” he scoffed. “I’ve already gotten a detention for skiving off classes to see her. The prefects caught us the last time we managed to sneak into a cupboard, and we lost house points for being out past curfew. It’s bloody impossible to get away with anything right now.”
She cast a side eyed glance to their seeker, then she sighed, “You’re not the only with that problem. I thought things would be easier without any brother to defend my supposed virtue, but even with Ron off playing for the Cannons I can’t get a moment alone with my boyfriend.”
A few other uncomfortable looks went around the group, but the promise of a gripe fest felt too good to pass up. “Got to admit, I had higher hopes for this year at Hogwarts,” Ritchie piped up. “My parents wanted me to take my NEWTs at the Ministry and just finish up, but I wanted a real time at school. Despite all the repairs still to go around here, I really thought it would work out. I even got me a girlfriend, but I can’t get any private time with her. The broom closets are full until curfew, and it’s bloody cold outside!”
Ginny stared thoughtfully at her feet. “Maybe, if we’re going to have some sort of fun this year, we’ll have to make it ourselves. That’s what my brothers would have done. Even when Umbitch was here, they made their own fun and dragged the rest of us along.”
The mention of the revered Weasley twins inspired a moment of silence. When it broke, it was with a cunning little suggestion. “If you’re thinking about a prank initiative, maybe you can plan it to help show McGonagall that strict curfews don’t create peace.”
Ginny raised her brows, “What do you mean?”
“Just thinking that, whatever you come up with, it should be public and hit everyone. Keep it in daytime… Make it a big spectacle like those fireworks or the swamp.”
Anyone that knew Fred and George would have recognized the smile that spread across their little sister’s face. “Spectacle? Yeah, I think that could really work. If nothing else, we could finally have some fun around here.”
Savory aromas of eggs, toast and bacon filled the hall. Other, healthier foods, were also on offer, but the dreary cold weather had most of Hogwarts’s residents gravitating toward comfort foods. Each house table held less than half of the normal number of students, but Minerva knew it would have been worse had she not persuaded Mr. Potter and Miss Granger to return for their last year.
She spotted her cluster of prefects chatting with their respective housemates. With the effective leadership in their head boy and girl, the year was running so smoothly she had had time to focus on plans for the upcoming year already. Though the older students constantly expressed frustration with their strict curfew, she had no intention of changing something that worked so well.
The owl post interrupted her thoughts. Her eyes widened at the numbers of birds swooping into the hall. It was easily double the number they normally had, and over half of them had some pastel pink parchment. She pulled her wand beneath the table even as she called herself foolish for expecting a threat.
Instead of some nefarious plot, the birds all swirled around the staff table and the prefects with their housemates. She reached toward one, and it offered her its pink burden. When she moved to unfold it, it levitated before her and folded itself into the shape of a heart with parchment corners bent upward like lips.
I used to give kisses at midnight.
The glow of love’s joy was our only light.
Now we must sneak off in the day.
If we’re doomed to get caught, then devil take it!
I’ll snog my love in the hallway!
She cringed at the terrible poem as the fake howler shredded itself into confetti that formed another heart before it fell. Around the room, the odd valentines recited dreadful limericks of thwarted love and tore themselves to pieces. By the time the last owl had swooped out, the stone floor looked like it had gotten a light dusting of pink paper snow.
Heading to lunch with Hermione beside him, Harry listened with half an ear to her complaints about Binns refusal to update the curriculum. “I just think any history class that doesn’t include Centaurs, House Elves, and Veela is ignoring major contributors to our world,” she stridently informed him.
“You know I agree with you,” he reminded her as he had last night when they had the same conversation.
“Well, he certainly didn’t!” she announced with a toss of her hair across one shoulder. “Ask Hagrid, indeed!”
He stopped and caught her hand to stop her too. “That’s actually a good idea, Hermione,” he smiled brightly with inspiration.
“They aren’t creatures, Harry! They are magical beings with just as much intelligence and bravery…”
His finger on her lips stopped her. “I know, but Binns would class Hagrid as a creature too. You know every attempt to exorcise him thus far has failed. Why not suggest that the Headmistress start a new History of Magic class in another room of the castle?”
She frowned in thought. “I think Headmistress McGonagall said they tried that about 50 years ago… He just showed up and droned out the new instructor.”
Another student rushed past them toward the Great Hall and lunch, but they only stepped to one side to let them around. “I remember she said that, but did they ever try a different part of the castle? Maybe if they put the new class in the dungeons where the Bloody Baron can keep him away? Or the Room of Requirement?”
She nodded reluctantly. “I suppose, but…” She stepped closer to him as another group of students rushed past. Quietly, she asked, “Do you really think another classroom is really the best use of the Room of Requirement? It’s part of the mystery and magic that makes Hogwarts special afterall.”
He smiled softly, “We’ll think more about it. I’m sure there’s an answer in here somewhere.” He lightly tapped her forehead.
She shook her head ruefully, “Maybe.” She looped her arm though his and started walking.
Forced to either walk or be dragged, Harry fell into step beside her again. Changing the subject, he asked, “What do you think Kreacher and the other House Elves did with all that pink confetti?”
“Hopefully, they used it to stuff some pillows or line the owlry. I know he’ll never admit it, but I smell George’s influence all over those rhyming things,” she pointed out.
“I certainly hope he admits to it,” Harry said emphatically. “With a little better poetry, those things will perfect for Valentines! They’ll sell brilliantly.”
“Oh,” she laughed a little at herself for forgetting the business of pranking. “Of course they would. I just hope they get Fleur to write the verses for the commercial ones!”
As they finally entered the Hall, lunch was underway. Students of all four houses chatted and laughed with the excitement that comes from being days from a holiday. Harry noticed a few odd looks as they stepped toward the Gryffindor table, but he ignored them.
“Ginny,” Hermione called as she sat. “Is that a new lipstick? I like the effect.”
As Harry settled down beside his Hermione, he realized the all the Gryffindors had gold top lips and burgundy bottom ones. He gamely poured two glasses of pumpkin juice. “I think it must be a trend,” he said, gesturing to all their housemates that sported the same look.
She frowned down that glass of juice he offered her. “Kreacher wouldn’t let anyone poison us, right?”
“Probably not,” he agreed as he thirstily drank half his juice in one go.
“Oh, Harry! Don’t be gross!” she chided as she sipped her juice daintily.
As he expected, they both took on the same house themed lip colour as the rest of their table. At the staff table, their instructors also sported the colours of their old houses from their student years with two notable exceptions.
“Harry,” Hermione caught his attention, not that it was ever far. “I thought Professor Sinestra was in Slytherin?”
He topped off her pumpkin juice. “I think so, otherwise, she couldn’t fill in for Professor Slughorn, right?”
“Then why are her lips blue and bronze?”
Giggles from across the table had them look to Ginny with matching raised brows. “Professor Flitwick’s are green and silver… whatever could it mean?”
“Ginny Weasley, what did you do?” Hermione asked with laughter in her voice.
“Me? I wouldn’t do anything to smear my good Weasley name! My family has a reputation to maintain you know!” She burst into happy laughter at her own joke.
A tap on his shoulder pulled Harry from that discussion. He turned toward Luna. “Harry, would you mind helping me with a test?” she asked in her half dreamy lilt.
“Sure Luna,” he agreed readily.
She smacked her lips to his in a sudden and comic kiss. Instantly, her lips turned from blue and bronze to gold and red. “Well, that explains a lot,” she asserted even as he gaped at her in shock. “Hermione, would you mind helping me with a test?”
Hermione looked at her sceptically, but, when Harry nudged her ankle with his foot, she nodded. “Alright.”
She smacked a kiss to her lips and laughed with delight when they also turned blue and bronze. “I could turn you all into Ravenclaws!” she declared happily.
Harry frowned protectively when two Gryffindor boys seemed too eager for their own kiss from their pretty friend. Hermione rested a hand on his forearm. “Luna can take care of herself. Afterall, none of them were duelling Death Eaters as a 4th year.”
By dinner that night, colour change kisses had become a popular greeting across the castle. Luna was the only one brave enough to try it on their Head boy and girl, and that lead to eager speculation about their return to red and gold lips by mid-afternoon. On their way to the hall, Harry paused and pulled Hermione into an alcove.
“What’s the matter?” she asked with sincere confusion.
“The past two meals have had some sort of prank. What do you say to grabbing a meal in the kitchen and giving the hall a miss?”
Her sense of duty tried to raise a protest, but the thought of a quieter meal appealed to her. “Alright, just tonight though.”
The house elves were, as always, eager to see them. Whispers trailed down the line of elves until Kreacher stepped forward. “Master Harry is back to see Kreacher? What does Master need from us?”
“Just a bit of supper and company,” he told the wizened old elf.
“Master has good company beside him,” Kreacher protested but quickly snapped a table and two chairs into place before the fire. Two plates appeared with a beautiful green salad topped with orange segments. An earthenware bottle of wine poured itself into two glasses before settling in the middle of the table.
“Thank you, Kreacher,” Hermione said hesitantly. As ever, the old elf eyed her from a distance. She tried again after sipping the wine. “This is lovely. Is it from the Black cellars?”
That earned her a smile. “Yes, mistress. House Blacks has always had excellent wines.” He turned away from her and began ordering around an elf that stared at them in awe. “What you gawk at, wide eyes? My Master has no time for slack-mouthed elves what never saw a famous wizard before. If you want to be use, yous get mistress a few more orangies.”
She frowned a bit at his harshness but knew better than to correct him before the rest of the elves. Instead, she made a mental note to talk to him later. Finally, she focused on the vibrant green salad that nearly matched Harry’s eyes. The fresh crunch reminded her of spring, and she smiled happily as they dug in to their simple but delicious meal.
There had been no prank in the hall at dinner, and the prefects wondered if the Amourers and Kissing Houses were the start and end of the fun. They found out otherwise when they approached the prefects’ common room. At the door, a mad sprig of mistletoe sprawled across the way. Beneath it, their head girl stood tangled. Green tendrils twisted and twined in the curls of her wildly loosened hair.
Yatin drew his wand and cast at the parasite, “Finite Incantum!”
Instead of withdrawing, another strand of green snared the wild eyed girl it had caught. “Honestly! You think I didn’t try that?” she shouted in frustration.
Neville, ever the Herbology genius, stepped forward to study the charmed parasite. “Odd thing, Hermione, it’s got blue berries instead of white or red.” He made no effort to free her but kept studying the oddly variegated leaves.
Hannah bumped him aside. “I might could cut it free, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to avoid your hair.”
“Thank you, Hannah, but lets not chop off my hair right this moment?”
Nigel stood to one side wringing his hands at the sight of his heroine ensnared by a holiday ornament. Anthony and Padma were even less help as they debated the merits of using charmed mistletoe in potions. Hermione was nearly ready to take Hannah up on her offer to cut the offending plant when Harry showed up.
Their head boy looked around in bemused disappointment at their prefects. “Really? This is what has you all stymied?” He marched forward and pressed a tender kiss to Hermione’s lips.
For a moment, the mistletoe threatened to ensnare him too, but he deepened the kiss. When they broke apart breathlessly a moment later, the mistletoe had withdrawn back into its original palm size.
Hermione eyed it briefly before suggesting, “What say we all meet out here tonight?”
Stunned and confused, their prefects clustered in the hallway around them. Harry smiled casually and draped an arm around Hermione’s shoulders. “Anyone missing from their common rooms tonight?”
The next morning, Hermione and Harry entered the Headmistress’s office with cautious optimism. They had a number of changes they had suggested during the term. Progress on any one of them would be a victory.
“Mr Potter, Ms Granger, please come in and sit down.” They politely set side by side on matching armchairs across from her desk. When neither of them attempted to start the conversation, Headmistress McGonagall stiffened her spine. “I hope you’ll understand that I asked you here with the best of intentions. Given your age and experiences, I would not intend to pry were it not for the position you hold in the castle.”
Harry frowned in confusion. This was not the way he expected this conversation to go. “I don’t think I understand,” he admitted.
Gathering her own Gryffindor bravery, Professor McGonagall looked at her two favorite students. “It has come to my attention that the two of you may be seeing each other romantically. Do you have anything to say about that?”
Harry and Hermione looked at each other with open bewilderment. “We’ve been seeing each other romantically, as you put it, for over a year.”
Brown curls bounced as Hermione nodded in agreement. “We thought you knew that when you asked us to come back when the school reopened.”
Minerva felt her mouth gape in surprise before she pressed her lips together. “I certainly didn’t.” She scanned her memories for anything that might have clued her in to the change in their relationship. “To be honest, I’m not certain why you think I would have known.”
Hermione tried again, “We’re together all the time.”
“As you have been since your third year.”
“I walk her to all her classes,” Harry pointed out.
“They are your classes, too, Mr. Potter.”
“We,” Hermione stopped herself. “Nevermind.” She took a deep breath and sat very straight in her chair. “Headmistress, we thought it was obvious to anyone that knew us that we were together.”
Harry snorted a laugh, “Ron figured it out immediately.”
A look from his girlfriend sobered him, and she smiled softly as she continued. “We had no intention of deceiving anyone. Harry and I are just private people. Now, please explain your concerns so that we can try to address them.”
Looking at her two favorite students, she realized that her worries were not relevant to them. Instead, she told them, “Typically, if a Head Boy and Girl start seeing one another, the concern is that they would be unable to continue to work together if they have a falling out. While it certainly has happened, we’ve found that discussing the possibility and having a plan before anything occurs helps to… mitigate any conflict. I can see that in this case it won’t be necessary. I apologize for interrupting your day.”
Hermione leaned forward, “Headmistress, since we are already here, could we discuss Harry and I’s proposal for relaxing curfew for our of-age students?”
Their headmistress sighed, “I am sorry. I understand the reasons for your request, but I gave assurances when we opened before the repairs were complete that there would be no incidents. Even though it’s been nearly 2 years, there were a number of people hesitant to see students return here. Hogwarts cannot afford even minor mishaps. Especially since a perfect school record is a provision of release for several of our students that found themselves on the wrong side of the war.”
Finally understanding her point of view, Hermione sighed and nodded. She was about to give in when Harry smiled with a gleam in his that suggested an idea. “Headmistress,” he started, eagerly leaning forward. “What if we found some compromise? It seems to me that the problem you have with our original proposal is a concern for student safety. We can certainly respect that, probably more than most.” He and his girlfriend shared a smile. “What if we could find a way to give the older students more privileges in a controlled manner?”
“I’d be willing to consider it,” she replied. “What do you have in mind?”
Harry and Hermione stood in the Gryffindor Common Room looking around for their house quidditch captain. Ginny sat across from Romilda Vane, and Harry shifted uncomfortably at the sight.
Hermione chuckled as she realized that he had put her between himself and the other two girls. “Really? The big brave Harry Potter is hiding behind his girlfriend?”
“Dark lords, acromantulas and basilisks I can handle,” he replied. “My ex-girlfriend gossiping with the girl that tried to slip me a love potion? I may be a Gryffindor, but even I have my limits!”
She rolled her eyes and slipped her hand in to the crook of his elbow. She tried to be subtle about steering him, but it was obvious that she dragged him along. “Hello, Romilda,” she greeted the younger girl politely. “Do you mind if we borrow Ginny for a moment?”
Clearly over her stalkerish crush, the 6th year girl grinned happily. “Of course, we were just talking about the new upper year common room.” She stood to leave. “We’re hoping we’ll get a say in decorating it. Do you think we might, Hermione?”
She shrugged, “We’ve not really talked about that part with the Headmistress, but we can certainly ask.”
She flounced away, and the two of them focused on Ginny as she asked, “Do you really think they’ll be able to get the new common room open by next term?”
Harry nodded, “Bill said it was actually perfect timing. If the repair crews had gotten much further with stabilizing the castle’s magic it would have been much harder to create the different house dorm passages.”
When she only smiled happily, Hermione broached the important topic. “I know you and a few of the quidditch team were using the pranks to make a point.”
The redhead looked sharply at her seeker, but he only shrugged. “With a Weasley in the castle, you think she wouldn’t guess?”
“Are we… are any of the pranksters going to get in trouble?”
Harry shook his head, “There was nothing malicious, though the charmed mistletoe you got from George could use a little work before he puts it in the shop.”
She flushed and nodded, “He’ll probably want to talk to you about that one. He said he thought it wasn’t ready which is why he only sent one.”
“The only one that the Headmistress was tempted to dole out punishment for was the House coloured lips, but once Professor Slughorn realized it was a charm on the glasses instead of a potion she relented,” Hermione shrugged. “Not sure how much broad appeal that one will have, but maybe George can market them directly to the Hogwarts students.”
Ginny shook her head in confusion. “We didn’t do that one,” she insisted. Realizing that she confessed, she laughed and flipped her hair back over her shoulder. “Jimmy, Ritchie and I got the Amourers from George. It’s a product he’s planning to release for Valentine’s day. And I did hang the mistletoe above the prefect’s common room, but that was all.”
Harry and Hermione shared a look. “Well, then… who would have charmed the goblets at lunch?”
She shrugged, “Goldstein and Padma are both really good at Charms. Maybe it was one of them?” She skewered them both with a look. “Or maybe it was you? Afterall, that sort of charms work would take a lot of skill… And with Kreacher in the kitchen, you would certainly have access to the goblets!”
“I can see your point on that,” Hermione admitted. “But it wasn’t us.”
Taking them at their word, she folded her hands in thought. “Who could that one have been?”
That night, after all the students were safely in their dormitories, Harry and Hermione chatted about the mystery as they made their way up to the seventh floor. “Sure, Astoria Greengrass is capable in charms, but I’ve not seen any evidence that she’s that advanced. I examined one of the goblets, and it was outstanding NEWT level work.”
Her boyfriend grinned as a thought occurred to him. “What if it was Professor Flitwick?”
She stopped and stared incredulously at him. “Honestly, Harry? That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it though? Everyone keeps talking about how advanced the work was, and any professor can instruct the house elves.”
She bit on her bottom lip, and he followed that gesture with his eyes. Ignoring his suddenly smoldering stare at her mouth, she thought back to the day before. “Come to think of it, when did anyone kiss Professor Sinestra or Flitwick? They were each sporting each other’s House colours by the time we got to the hall.”
Harry grinned at this new evidence, “It would have been the talk of the school if they’d done it at the staff table, even a friendly peck like Luna gave us.”
“One more mystery solved,” she said with a laugh. “They must have drank from the charmed glasses in the kitchen and shared a kiss.”
As they stopped in front of the Barnabas the Barmy tapestry, she smiled and waited for Harry to call them a room. “Do you think they’re together or just affectionate friends?”
The door appeared, and her boyfriend opened it for her. “I think it’s no ones business but theirs,” he pointed out gently. “Just like with us.”
“Very true,” she agreed. She pressed a kiss to his cheek as she passed him, then stopped at the familiar sight of their old tent.
Nervously, Harry stepped behind her and closed the door. “I can ask for something else, if you like. I just thought that…”
She turned back at the serious tone in his voice. “You thought what, Harry?”
He brushed a curl back behind her ear. “I just thought about how much I wish we’d been open with each other then… How much I wish I’d told you how grateful I was that you stuck by me.”
She tilted her head back and smiled into his eyes. “You’ve told me since, a million times, I think,” she brushed a kiss across his lips. “We may have taken our time to get together, Harry, but I wouldn’t trade our journey for anything.”
She drew her wand and queued up a song on the little wireless she spotted in the corner. “Dance with me.” She wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and sighed happily when he pulled her close.
They swayed slowly to the music, and she tucked her head close to his. She felt the vibrations of a laugh through his chest. “Hmm?”
“Just thinking that the dance they taught us for the Yule Ball seemed designed to eliminate the best parts of dancing.”
She chuckled at that. “Perhaps, but I think a few witches might have ended up drawing their wands at the ball had we all been dancing this closely.”
He held her a little tighter, and she shivered as his hand wandered down to cup her bum. His hands felt warm even through her full uniform. “Are you going to curse me, Miss Granger?” he whispered teasingly into her ear.
She drew one fingertip along the back of his neck as warm arousal grew between them. “Maybe if you don’t kiss me, Mr. Potter.”
“A kiss?” He grinned and kissed her lightly on the jaw. “Does that please, my lady?”
She rocked her hips against his, and he rewarded her with a groan. Desire, languid before, flared, and they abandoned the pretense of dancing. He pressed his lips to hers and flicked his tongue against the tip of hers. She slid her arms down from his neck to open his school robe and reached inside it to grasp his firm bum.
Harry gasped when he felt his girlfriend press deliberately against his cock. Mentally, he promised himself to stop for a moment, but he promptly broke it when she stood on her toes to suck his earlobe in between her teeth. It destroyed his control, and he leaned into her when she pulled away.
Instead of catching their breath like they always had before, she caught both her hands in his and stepped backward toward the camp bed to one side of the room. He started to say something, anything, to distract himself from his body’s demands when she turned back toward the little bed.
She kissed the back of both of his hands before dropping them. “This won’t do at all,” she announced as she drew her wand. A quick transfiguration turned the folding metal camp bed into a sturdy wood frame bed like they had in their dorms. “Better,” she declared.
“Hermione?”
She turned back to him and saw his confused longing. “I told you I would let you know when I was ready, Harry,” she reminded him. “I’m ready to make love with you…” Suddenly nervous, she blushed and looked down at her shoes. “At least, I’m ready if you are. We don’t have to do anything more tonight than we have…”
She trailed off as he tilted her chin up so that she could meet his eyes. “I love you,” he told gently. “I’m ready to make love with you.” He kissed her tenderly.
Her nerves dissolved in that kiss, and she shoved his robe the rest of the way off his shoulders. It fell to the floor as he backed her up to the edge of the bed. He broke the kiss as she sat and, to her surprise, he knelt on the rug at her feet. She looked down, bemused, as he slid her shoes off and set them aside. Love emanated from his green eyes as he looked up at her.
“You’re so beautiful,” she told him.
“I think that’s supposed to be my line,” he teased as he leaned forward to unfasten her school robe.
She laughed lightly and slid out of the voluminous black garment. Beneath it, her uniform shirt was buttoned primly up to the top. She loosened her Gryffindor tie as her boyfriend carefully unfastened the small buttons. Idly, she remarked, “It’s probably easier for you to do that than for me. Ladies shirts have the buttons on the wrong side for dressing yourself.”
He smiled up at her with loving humor, “And why would they be that way?” He spread the fabric apart and admired her creamy skin.
“I read that it’s because of women having -” She gasped and moaned when he pressed an open mouth kiss to her rib cage. He grinned up at her mischievously, and she grabbed his tie to drag him up for a deep kiss.
Trivia forgotten, she pulled him down on top of her on the bed. He slid a leg between hers and she ground down on it eagerly. She moaned and reached for the sides of his shirt to tug it from his trousers. He caught both of her hands to stop her and slid off her to lay at her side.
“Harry?” she blinked in confusion as her lust charged brain tried to catch up to the change in pace.
He kissed her hands and pulled her into his arms. “Bill took me and Ron aside a while back to give us a bit of a Talk.”
“Talk?” Realizing what he meant, she laughed. “He does realize that you both got the Little Wizard’s talk from Madame Pomfrey in fourth year, right?”
He groaned at the unwelcome memory. “Not that cursed talk!” he exclaimed with a laugh. “That was just… ugh… the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever been through, but, actually not big on helpful specifics.”
As her passion ebbed, she cuddled a little closer. “I remember the Little Witches Talk, as she insisted on calling it, being very medical but accurate.”
“Sure,” he shrugged. “It worked for teaching us how not to end up with Wizards Warts or a baby, but it was useless for actually-” He blushed a little and bashfully met her eyes though his thick lashes. “I want our first time to be good for both of us…”
“It will be beautiful, Harry,” she reassured him. “We love each other, how could making love together be anything else?”
He kissed her tenderly, and they lay quietly enjoying each other for a moment. Finally, curiosity piqued, she asked, “So what did Bill have to say?”
He laughed lightly, “So, he gave us the same talk that he had given Fred and George the year they met up in Egypt. Apparently, he meant to give it to Ron and I over summer holidays at Grimmauld, but, well…” He shrugged off the unhappy memories. “He called it the How Not to be an Absolute Clod with a Woman Talk, if that gives you any sort of clue.”
She laughed at the idea of her eighteen year old boyfriend and friend getting an instructional talk about how to make love. “Well? Any particularly good tricks?”
“A few,” he grinned flirtatiously. “You know that thing you like me to do to your collar bone?”
She gasped in mock outrage, “And here I thought you were just naturally gifted!” While he laughed, she ran her hand down his shirt and enjoyed the feel of his muscles through the cloth. “Maybe I should get Fleur to give me a chat on how to please my wizard?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t found a book on it,” he admitted.
She rolled her eyes, “Do you have any idea what absolute nonsense gets written down about sex? Its either highly medical, like Madame Pomfrey’s talk, or it’s flowery absurdities.” She scoffed, “and the muggle world is little better. You can find erotica, but it’s…”
He broke and started laughing. “I love you, Hermione!”
“Oh! You!” Realizing what he got her to reveal, she dig her fingertips into his ribs. He choked and squirmed to escape her tickling. His flailing revealed a flaw in her transfiguration as he fell off the edge of the too small bed. She leaned over the side to see him laying on the rug still laughing. “Serves you right for teasing me!”
Rather than get up, he crossed his arms behind his head and grinned up at her. She lay looking down at his green eyes and admired the gleam that happiness put there. As his laughter faded into a wide smile, he met her eyes. “The main thing Bill told us to remember is that we need to be patient and communicate. He said that if we couldn’t talk about what we like and don’t like, then we weren’t really ready to take that step with someone.”
She nodded at the sense in that, “Well, I’ve never had any issues with telling you that I didn’t like something.”
“True, but next time I do something you don’t enjoy, please don’t kick me in the face.”
She snorted in laughter, “You’ll never try to suck my toes again though so I say it worked!”
He shook his head at her. “Well, the other thing he mentioned about our first time is that we need to ignore a lot of the myths.”
“What sort of myths? Do you mean about the not getting pregnant thing?”
“That’s one of them, but the one he really talked about was… well, he said it shouldn’t hurt your first time. And that usually what happens is that,” he blushed. “He said that usually both parties get impatient for the main event, and um…”
She flushed a bit, “I think I get what you’re saying. We should take our time.”
“Yeah,” he still looked embarrassed. “He also said that um… I’ll be more patient if I cum once before we really get too far. And that we should make sure you do because it will relax you.”
“So, really, we should do the same things we know we like, and not get too eager for the… main event?” She laughed, “Harry, please tell me he didn’t call it the ‘Main Event’ the entire time?”
He grinned and shook his head. “No, but once was enough to lodge that one in my head forever.” He stood up and offered her his hand. “How about we make the bed a little bigger so we don’t have to worry about rolling off?”
A few minutes later, they lay together on an absurdly large bed. Hermione had shed her shirt and skirt. She reached to remove her stockings when Harry stopped her. “May I?”
“Of course.”
He slid down to kneel between her legs. Her lacey topped muggle stockings went to mid-thigh, and she gasped when he kissed the skin just above them. He gently rolled them down, trailing sucking kisses down her thigh and calf. He knew better than to follow her stockings past her ankles, but he was rewarded for his attention that far. When he nibbled lightly on her tendon, she moaned and twisted for more.
He grinned in delight. “Like that?”
Breathlessly, she told him, “I don’t think that is supposed to feel as good as it does.”
“Who cares if it’s supposed to feel good so long as it does?” He emphasized his point by doing it again while she squirmed.
Finally, desperate for more, she dragged her lover up for a kiss. She rolled them both over so that she rested on top of him and ground her panty clad crotch into his hardness. She grinned down at Harry as he groaned and arched up into her heat.
It was a familiar game for them, and she knew just how to move to have them both panting with lust. She leaned forward and dragged her short nails gently down the skin exposed by his half unbuttoned shirt. No longer content to tease him or herself, she sat up and moved her hips in a firm rhythm.
She could feel her orgasm coiling inside her. Harry reached up to grip her hips and arched up into her. She knew he was just as close. A flash of heat sent tingles down to her toes, and she chased her climax relentlessly.
A cry of, “Hermione!” reached her ears, and her muscles locked with an overload of pleasure. She let the feelings wash over her before she opened her eyes. Her love’s blissful smile filled her with joy, and she settled into his side to recuperate.
They basked in each other for moment before he spoke, “You’ve made a mess of my trousers.”
“Well, you’ll have to take them off, won’t you?”
He laughed, “Why, Miss Granger, was that all a ploy to get me naked?”
“It was either that, or bind you to the bed and vanish your clothes.”
He shuddered with an intrigued arousal. “Maybe we could try that some time?” he offered.
She thought a moment and realized that she liked the idea. “Alright, but for now…” She pulled off her bra and tossed it across the room before attacking the rest of the buttons on his shirt. It quickly sailed through the air after her bra, and she reached for the button of his pants.
Finally willing to help her rather than tease, he shucked his bottoms together. With a sheepish glance to his girlfriend, he grabbed his wand to cast a cleaning charm on them and himself. He shuddered at the sensation.
“Cold?”
“Mmhmm.” He set his wand aside and rolled to face her. Her lovely face fascinated him, and he traced a fingertip along her jaw. He captured her lips with his and pulled her close. The feel of her against his naked body made him groan, and he slid his thigh between her legs to press against warm wet satin.
He rolled her on her back and leaned over her. “I love you,” he whispered.
She started to respond, but he nipped and sucked on her collarbone. She whimpered instead and rubbed against his thigh. It seemed impossible, but she was already aroused again.
He trailed kisses down her torso and took plenty of time to lavish attention on her nipples. He slowly made it to her satin knickers and hooked his fingers into the waistband. “Alright, love?”
She nodded.
He pulled them away from her and drew them down her legs. They joined her stockings, abandoned at the end of their bed. The musky warm smell of her drifted to his nose, and he grinned at idea of affecting her so much.
“Hermione?” He settled between her legs and kissed her thigh. His eyes asked his question for him, and she eagerly agreed.
Cold air hit her hot flesh as he parted her lips and trailed a finger between them. He knew how to touch her clit thanks to previous explorations, but this time he wanted more. He leaned down and gently licked.
She looked down at his shaggy hair between her legs and felt timid for a moment. Her reticence fled when he sucked her clit into his mouth gently. “Harry!” she shouted.
He looked up at her with a cocky grin and then did it again. She arched up into his mouth and begged him for more. He trailed his fingers through her moisture and circled around her entrance.
She tensed briefly, and then she mewled when he slid a single finger inside her. She thrust hips hard enough that he had to use one hand to hold her down. As he slid another finger inside her, she tangled her hands in his hair and keened with pleasure. When she finally crested again a few moments later, she forgot herself and clenched her fists around those silky black strands.
Tousled and flushed, he moved back up her body. She dragged him forward for a passionate kiss. She felt his erection resting against her thigh, and she twisted her hips to push up into it.
He broke the kiss. His pupils, blown wide with lust, nearly took over the green of his eyes. “You’re sure?”
In answer, she reached between them and guided him towards their goal. Gently, he pressed forward, and the heat of him made her whimper. “Please, Harry.”
He slid forward and slowly entered her. She moaned at the sensation and grabbed his bum to encourage him. He pushed the rest of the way and stopped. She could hear him panting in her ear.
She curled her fingers into the meat of his hips and arched up into him. “Harry,” she whimpered. “If you don’t make love to me right this minute…” He lowered his lips to hers and finally began to move.
The feel of him inside her felt wonderful, but, when he found an angle that bumped her clit, she began to spiral toward her climax. Every time he pulled back, she thrust upward after him. The now familiar tingles swept out toward her toes.
As her muscles locked, she felt her lover swell and harden inside her. She clenched down on him and the sensations sent her over the edge into bliss. With a few stuttered thrusts, her Harry followed.
They shared sweet tender kisses in their afterglow. Every breath they drew was used to say “I love you” until they fell asleep in each others arms.