Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well. Like always, I'm uploading this quite late at night- er, morning. It's currently 2:30am here. I've been quite busy, but now that its summer break I'll have time to hopefully create some more stories for you all.
I've been quite obsessed with the whole Harry Potter world and it's cast, again. I just adore Harry and Hermione. I adore Danial Radcliffe and Emma Watson even more;) I'm quite sad that the whole franchise is coming to an end, no more Harry Potter movies being produced. But the entire cast has grown so much since the very first movie. I was quite young when it first premiered, and here we are about ten years later.
Enough with the rambling. Enjoy!
Run.
That was the only thought her mind could process. Run. Forget about the burning within her chest, or that her legs were about to give out any moment. It didn't matter. As long as she was running to escape this dark shadow that was rapidly chasing her amongst the woods. Hermione was alone as she dodged trees and branches. She lost Ron while they were out looking for Harry, who has been missing for about four hours now. One minute she could still feel the warm presence of Ron beside her as they called for their best friend, then the next second all she felt was the sharp cold against her skin. No more warmth. She was alone.
"No use in running, child. I will capture you."
Hermione ignored the speaking shadow and continued running with all her might. She would not let this monster take her. She still had to find Harry and Ron as well, now.
"You should have never left the confines of your little tent. Foolish girl, did you think you could find Potter? We captured him hours ago and now we have your red-haired fellow as well. Thanks to you of course, stupid Mudblood."
The witch took a sharp turn to the left and suddenly tripped over a large root of a tree causing her to roughly tumble down a hill. She hit the bottom of the hill with a rather large thud. Despite the pain, she quietly groaned as she crawled behind a tree, trying to stay out of sight of the menacing Death Eater.
"Why do you care for those weak boys anyway? You don't mean anything to them. They would sacrifice you in an instant. You're just some thing tagging along, pretending to be some heroine. You are just a nuisance. I'm sure they'll thank me when I kill you."
She covered her ragged pants with her hands and flinched when it made contact with an open cut on her bottom lip. She leaned against the trunk holding back the stinging tears. Tears from the pain washing over her weak body, but especially from the fear. The fear of being alone and without her Golden Trio. Without her family and friends. Without Ron. Without her best friend-
"I found you, Mudblood."
"HARRY!"
"Hermione!"
Said girl shot up within her bed screaming and thrashing, pushing away the arms that tried to hold her still.
"Mione, stop it!"
She violently shook her head causing drips of sweat to fly as she attempted to get out of bed and run, her mind still slow and not being able to process that she was no longer dreaming.
"Look at me! Hermione, look."
Hermione opened her eyes just a fraction and was instantly met with emerald. Very familiar, piercing emerald orbs.
"Harry?" She breathed.
He nodded and gave a sigh of relief. "You gave me quite the scare there, Mione," he said as he brushed the hair out of her face.
The young witch didn't say a word. Her mind was still trying to process that she wasn't dreaming. That she wasn't in the woods running from a deadly Death Eater. That she didn't really lose Ron and Harry.
The tears came back once more as her voice cracked, "Oh Harry…"
Harry ignored the pang of sadness he felt when he saw her tears-stained face and decided holding her in his arms would be the best idea for the current situation. He couldn't bare to hear her broken, weak voice again.
He just couldn't.
"Shh, shh darling. You're fine. I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."
"Don't promise things you can't keep, Harry. We both know that-"
"Are you implying that I'm not a man of my word?" Harry jokingly interrupted, not wanting Hermione's thoughts to drift upon that subject. "You hurt my ego."
"Good. We wouldn't want your head to swell, now would we?" Hermione rasped then took a second to clear her throat. She looked towards Harry when she noticed that he remained silent and one of his hands rested on her wet cheek, with the other on her shoulder. He was staring at her. Not into her eyes, but more of under her eyes… Analyzing. Hermione quickly turned her head to avoid Harry's intent analyzing and huffed. She knew exactly what he was doing and was in no mood to speak about that particular subject. She was just too tired.
"Hermione."
"I don't want to talk about it, Harry."
"You don't have a choice."
"You can't dictate my choices."
"Have you been having nightmares again?"
He was met with silence.
"Are they just as bad as the ones during the war?"
Silence.
"Hermione-"
"I just don't want to talk about it. Is that understandable?" Hermione spat.
Harry stiffly nodded and retracted his hands, "You're a hypocrite."
She snapped her head towards the boy- man, with a glare, "Excuse me?"
"You used to tell me that bottling up my nightmares and fears does nothing but self-harm. You're doing the same shit right now."
The young witch winced at the curse word, "Don't use that language towards me, Potter."
"Stop avoiding the damn subject, Granger."
"I'm not," she whispered.
She heard him let out a long sigh and felt the bed beneath her adjust to Harry's weight as he scooted closer towards her. "Don't shut me out," he softly pleaded. He gently grasped her chin between his fingers and turned it so she was looking him in the eyes. Hermione noticed his they were so full with concern, pleading with her to stay true to him. She gave him a small smile and touched her forehead with his.
"Never."
Ahem. The couple quickly looked to see who had interrupted their moment, but didn't care to detangle themselves from their embrace. It didn't matter anyways, everyone knew that the couple have been together for a little over a year now since the war ended about two years ago. Some people were shocked when Hermione and Ron broke it off, then to have Hermione in Harry's arms only a few weeks later. That definitely caused some media attention and plenty of envious girls bad-mouthing Hermione. But the thing that surprised everyone? The fact that it was Ron who first spoke up and cleared up all the rumors, especially the ones about Hermione being some "filthy whore".
It was a busy day at Flourish and Blotts. Everyone within the streets of Diagon Alley were trying to escape the crowds by weaving in and out of random shops hoping to gain some sort of personal space. The Golden Trio could be found within this wondrous bookstore that day, the loud conversations suddenly became hushed voices and murmurs when they realized who just entered. Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed the hands of her best friends as she walked towards a secluded corner of the store. The last thing she needed was more gossip thrown around about how she couldn't keep her knickers on.
Ron was leaning on a bookshelf eating an apple while he waited for Hermione and Harry to find the books they were looking for, so that they could finally go grab something to eat. It was Ron's turn to decide where to have dinner and he had been craving some Muggle food for the longest time. He practically salivated on his apple when he noticed a young boy was staring. He took another large bite before throwing it away in the nearest waste bin.
"Hurry up, will ya? I'm starving over here and since none of you were considerate enough to cook, we gotta go catch a restaurant before it closes!"
"Oh hush it, Ron. It's barely six." Hermione mumbled as she continued to finger the spines of books.
"Wow. She can barely keep her knickers on long enough to at least make her two apparent best friends a decent meal."
"What a rubbish type of friend. Wouldn't they much rather have a friend, especially a female one, that can actually cook for them? Blows my mind why they even like her."
The two girls continued to whisper, or so they thought they were whispering, but it was obvious that the trio could perfectly hear them by the angry looks upon the two boys and the crestfallen one on Hermione.
Harry placed a comforting arm on Hermione's shoulders. "Ignore the twits. You're our best friend. We love you, always. Remember that." He softly kissed her temple to seal the promise.
"Now she's onto P.D.A.? I told you she's a filthy whore that-"
"ALRIGHT, that's it!"
Harry was just about to say something but closed his mouth when his best mate beat him to it. All heads whirled to Ron, whom was now panting from bellowing so loudly. Some customers snapped their heads so quickly that many were now rubbing their necks to prevent whiplash. "Enough with that crap! I'm tired of reading, hearing, and seeing all of you gossiping around like some mice! Yes, we are the Golden Trio. Big deal. We are everyday people just like every single one of you in here. We all have our own personal businesses. Do you see us snooping around and talking rubbish about you? No, you don't! Because we don't know you. You have no right to judge us. Harry defeated the Dark Lord and all you've been doing lately is talk about Hermione and her knickers-"
"Ron, stop." Hermione begged under her breath.
"No Hermione, I won't! You are on of my best friends and I won't listen to their stupid gossip any longer."
Ron turned his attention back to the large crowd that were standing stiffly and holding their breaths for Ron's lecture to continue. "Hermione is the most beautiful and intelligent person I know. Yeah, we dated. And yes, it didn't work out, but a relationship is a two person type of thing. We mutually decided to break it off. She's the glue to this trio thing you all are fond of calling us, and I really don't appreciate you speaking nonsense about my glue. She keeps us sane and together. I love her for that." Ron then inclined his head to give Hermione a quick smile and took a deep breath. "So if you want to continue spreading rumors, then spread this: The three of us love each other. Wait, let me rephrase that. The three of us are family. If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. So please, all we ask of you all is to respect us. You don't have to like us. Just respect us." With that, Ron broke his intent gaze on the crowd and looked back at Harry and Hermione holding hands with small smiles.
He held out his hand to Hermione which she quickly grasped. "How about some of that food now? I'm still bloody famished." The couple broke out into large grins and nodded. With one last glance toward the crowd, the three left the silent Flourish and Blotts.
"That was bloody brilliant, mate!" Harry praised and reached over Hermione's shoulders to clap Ron on the back.
The red-haired boy just nodded and unconsciously placed the hand Hermione wasn't holding on his stomach. "I sort of don't believe I just did that. I was on some adrenaline rush. But it had to be done, for the sake of all of us."
Hermione looked towards their walking feet as she said, "Thank you Ron. Really, I appreciate that so much." She emphasized her words by squeezing Ron's hand tightly.
"It was no big deal."
"Yes it was. Don't be modest about that." Harry said.
"And as a reward for your heroic speech, I will personally buy tonight's dinner. Where ever you want, Ron. Your glue is paying," Hermione teased with a wink.
"Yeah, what was with your analogies anyway? Gossiping like mice and Hermione as glue?"
"Ha ha, Potter. Very funny. Yeah well whatever. The lack of food is killing my brain cells."
"They can't be killed if there weren't any in the first place!" Harry said with a laugh and laughed louder with a ruffle to Ron's hair when the Weasley gave him a glare. Little did the boys know, Hermione was tightly holding her two best friends' hands with tears in her eyes. Happy tears, of course. She was just so grateful to have met these two on the train that one fateful day years ago.
"Am I interrupting you two love birds?"
Well, speak of the devil and he shall come.
"No Ronald, you are not. Now what do you want?"
"Ouch Hermione! You speak such harsh words. Anyways, mum told me to come fetch you two. Dinner is ready and she wants us all downstairs before Remus and Sirius arrives."
"Alright mate, we'll be down there in a bit."
"Yeah yeah, just try to hold it in and not dirty the bed sheets mum just washed all of them yesterday." Ron quickly shut the door before the pillow Harry threw could make contact with his face.
"Pervert," Hermione mumbled with a red face.
Harry stood and grabbed Hermione's extended hand to help her up. "At least now we know for future reference," he said with raised eyebrows.
"Harry James Potter!"
"Why yes, Hermione Jane Granger?"
"You're insufferable," she stuck her tongue at him and took off down the stairs with Harry trailing behind her shaking his head.
"Hermione!"
Said witch flew into the open arms of Sirius for a tight embrace. He picked her off her feet and twirled her around. The Weasley's home was now filled with laughter from Hermione and the aroma of the delicious food that Molly Weasley spent hours working on with the help of her boys and Ginny.
"Get a room."
"Jealous Harry?" Sirius smirked.
Harry had to refrain from giving him the finger and opted to just sticking out his tongue. The wizard took the plates from the hands of Molly and began to set the table.
"You're quite immature, my boy."
"Oh, I've been telling him that every day!"
Harry sent a menacing glare towards his girlfriend which had the affect of making her burst into more giggles. Geez, she was giggling a lot today. Something was off.
"Alright, alright everyone! Let's continue this conversation over dinner shall we?"
"You really didn't have to go through all this trouble, Molly," Remus informed as he sat next to Sirius.
"Oh, hush darling. It was no trouble at all and I know that all of your stomachs will be grateful for tonight's dinner. I made your favorites, Sirius and Remus. You two boys are nothing but skin and bones. So go right on ahead and fill your plates. No need to be shy, my dearies."
The two mentioned men smirked at being called "boys", but nonetheless filled their plates with all the food that was laid out in front of them. Joyous laughter, toothy-grins, and large hand gestures while retelling old memories went all around the wooden table. It was obvious that everyone was having a good time. A large sense of relief and happiness swelled within the room. There was no longer a Dark Lord that people had to fear. No longer were there Death Eaters- save for a few that Sirius was currently tracking down- wreaking havoc among the innocent. A dark fog of fear and paranoia no longer congested everyone's thoughts. However, was the absence of that somber fog a blessing? Considering that with the fog now gone, all that was left to plague the worn minds were the vivid, dreadful memories of the war. Especially in the case of a young witch.
She had no strength to open her eyes to analyze her surroundings. Most of her senses were shot as her ears could only hear a sharp buzzing and her entire body was so numb that she couldn't even feel the nails of her captures puncturing her arms as they dragged her on her knees. The only sense she could rely on was smell, and she sort of wished that sense was expelled as well. With each inhale her nose burned with the distinct poignant smell of wet mold and sewage. Even though her eyesight and sense of touch were missing at the moment Hermione could still tell that she was in a dark, cold place. There was no smell of sunlight. Though she knew that sunlight didn't necessarily emit a specific smell, she just knew that there was no yellow rays shining in this place. Who knew that the sense of smell could be so useful? Hermione was yanked out of her thoughts when she was thrown to the floor causing her face to make contact with the wet stone in a loud smack.
"Master, we were able to capture the young witch. Hermione Granger. She is still alive just like you asked us to keep her until we brought her to you… Well, for the most part she is still alive," giggled the Death Eater speaking.
Hermione finally gained enough strength to open her eyes just a crack. All she could see were the very faint breaths as she exhaled through her mouth and that she was indeed in a murky, cold stone room that had puddles and drips of condensation littering the chamber.
"Lift the Mudblood's head. I want her to be able to see her friend's once more."
No longer than a few seconds later did she feel a large hand harshly grasp her head, tangling their fingers in her hair, and tugged her up into a kneeling position. She yelped in pain and weakly scratched at the hands hauling her up. She much rather be laying on the stone floor face down than this. Her face was twisted in pain when she heard stumbling footsteps approaching. She opened her eyes, wider than before, and was met with three cloaked Death Eaters holding her best friends. The Death Eater on her left was holding Ron by the back of his collar as he limped and stumbled his way closer to Voldemort. Hermione's breath hitched as her eyes scanned to the right. Harry was being dragged on his knees by a Death Eater on both his sides, his body seemed to be completely limp as his head didn't even have the strength to lift itself to look at her. The Death Eaters holding Ron and Harry stopped short behind Voldemort. All eyes were on her but the only eyes she cared for were emerald ones. Just look at her, damnit!
"Potter, are you sure you it is a wise thought to not look upon the fearful faces of your friends once more? This can be a last reunion of sorts. Before I kill you all."
Hermione's eyes began to well up with tears and her vision became blurry. No. She had to see Harry's piercing eyes. She shook her head to rid the tears blurring her vision resulting in them cascading down her cheeks. "Harry…" she breathed.
At the sound of his name spilling from her lips said man quickly lifted his head, his eyes scanning the room until they landed on her form. Finally meeting her eyes. Hermione let out a small breath of relief that she hadn't known she was holding. However, his eyes did not relay the same relief that she was feeling. Instead they portrayed the complete opposite: shock, fear, and rage. Unfortunately Hermione wasn't the only one watching the wizard's reaction and Voldemort smirked to himself.
"It seems that Potter has become quite fond of this little Mudblood." The Dark Lord glided towards Hermione and tightly held her chin between his icy fingers. "I see no reason in why you would be interested in this thing." Hermione let out a strangled cry as he emphasized his words by squeezing tighter causing blood to trickle down her neck and stain her shirt.
"Hermione!" croaked Harry who was still too weak to even struggle against the restraining holds on him.
Hermione lifted her lids once more to look at the mates she had come to known for years. She looked at Ron to see his red hair sticking to his damp forehead and his expression full of worry and defeat. It was a surprise that he could still stand. Maybe Harry took the brunt of the torture. With that change in thought Hermione's eyes shifted to the emerald orbs staring at her. Though they were far away, she could still make out the emotions that they contained. The emerald was much duller, being drowned out by the raging emotions he was feeling. She could make out one more emotion that his eyes displayed. It was pain. Was it pain from his physical state, or pain from something else? The answer was tugging at her thought process, she somewhat knew the answer but couldn't quite place a finger on it.
She didn't have another chance to dwell on it because she was interrupted by the voice of Voldemort unmercifully yelling the killing curse with his wand pointed at her. The last thing she saw was the beholder of the emerald orbs crying out her name on silent lips and his face contorted in complete anguish.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Her world then turned silent.
Hermione's entire body jolted awake. She could feel her limbs shaking and the very tips of her fingers and toes tingling itself back awake from being numb for so long. She was about to use her elbows to brace herself up off the bed when a warm hand flew to her damp forehead and the other on her shoulder to gently push her back down. Hermione turned to look at the intruder with dark hair.
"Sirius?"
He gave her a quick nod. His warm smile covering the hint of worry etched on his face. Sirius Black was always quite good at masking his emotions.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm not the one you should be worried about." He gave her a knowing look that made her drop her head in shame as if she was being scolded by a parent for sneaking a cookie before dinner. "Hermione, you're shivering and your entire forehead and neck is damp. Both you and I know that this isn't from some common cold either. It's much more than that, isn't it?"
The young witch was preparing a lie when she bit her tongue at the sight of Sirius giving her a no bullshit type look. "The truth," he demanded.
"Yes. It is much more…"
That's all Hermione could say. She feared that if she told Sirius about her nightmares then he would look down upon her like some vulnerable child that had to be watched over. Not only that, but she also feared that he would tell his godson of her nightly terrors. She wouldn't be able to bare it if she knew she caused him more stress and worry. He's been through so much already. This is what she kept repeating to herself to prevent from crawling into Harry's arms whenever she had a bad dream. It was just a little bad dream.
She often repeated that to herself as well.
After reading the solemn expression on the young girl's face Sirius sighed and spoke, "You know, I used to have these nightly fits during the war. I would have these night terrors that when I awoke, my entire body would spasm and cold sweat dripped from the tips of my hair. It was quite unsanitary if you ask me." Hermione giggled. "But in all seriousness, the point of me telling you this is because those nightmares were not normal. They will not just go away in time. I surely believed that they would. If I just continued trying to sleep then the nightmares would just fade and I could go on with my life, but they didn't which caused me to cross out sleep all together. Let me tell you that wasn't a very wise idea, had me going throughout the day with hallucinations until I just passed out in the middle of the streets."
"I remember Harry told me about that."
"He didn't tell you it was because lack of sleep, did he?" It was more of a statement than an actual question.
Hermione shook her head, "No, he didn't. He said it was because you were dehydrated."
"Which isn't all a lie, what a clever boy!" Hermione gave him a quick glare. He cleared his throat, "He didn't really lie, Hermione. He just didn't tell you the entire truth. I was dehydrated. It was just another result from the nightmares, it distorted my regular eating schedule as well."
Hermione stared at the wall behind Sirius's head as she took in this new knowledge of his experiences. She hadn't reached the point of depriving herself of sleep yet, but she had been considering the thought of it lately. If her entire daily routine was ruined like that because of lack of sleep she wouldn't know what to do with herself! If anyone knew Hermione, they would know that she planned her days orderly from morning to night. She shuddered at the thought of Harry having to find out through friends that she fainted among the streets, or just fainted at all! The interrogation would never end.
Speaking of, where was he?
As if reading her thoughts Sirius spoke, "Well I think I've told enough stories for tonight. I was on my way to Remus's bedroom to have a talk with him about a particular matter when I heard you thrashing about and came in to check up on you. Harry is most likely there too, I'll just go and fetch him for you."
With a faint blush from embarrassment Hermione gave a meek, "Thank you," before he shut the door with a wink. The moment the door closed Hermione flopped back under the covers with a groan. How embarrassing. Harry's godfather, a man of importance and a high stature, saw her thrashing about in bed all because of a stupid nightmare. She laid there for a few seconds contemplating what Sirius was trying to get across by telling her all of that. Was he warning her about something? Maybe he was just worried and didn't want her to feel alone. Whatever it was, she just hoped to Merlin that he didn't speak about it with Harry. Hermione let out another groan as her face flushed red, replaying the embarrassing moment again in her head. The covers were tugged from her grasp no longer able to conceal her embarrassed form.
"Hey!"
"Hey to you too, Granger." Harry's voice had no hint of amusement. He meant business. She took notice that his brows were furrowed and his lips were creased in a small frown. She gulped in nervousness.
"So are you going to tell me what's going on with you that made Sirius get me and cause your face to be so red?"
"I didn't ask him to fetch you," Hermione replied as she placed her hands on her warm cheeks.
"He was worried, Mione. Like I am."
"T-There's nothing to be worried about. No need to fret your little brain." Hermione gave a small smirk at her tease, hoping to lighten up the situation so Harry didn't go all Sherlock Holmes on her.
The wizard didn't quite find her joke funny. He continued to give her this concerned look before he stood off his knees and began to tug off his grey shirt in one fluid motion. His defined muscles were revealed and Hermione wasn't complaining. His hand made a gesture for her to scoot over on the bed so he could crawl in. He wrapped an arm around her waist as his sweatpants-covered legs tangled with Hermione's bare ones. They were an inch away from one another as they stared, hoping to burn each other's features into their memory forever. Hermione fiddled with the bottom of her shorts while Harry played with a loose string from her tank top.
Harry broke the silence, "Like what you see?"
"All I see is an arrogant wizard. Whom isn't even all that great if you ask me."
"Oh yeah?" Harry suddenly placed his hands at her sides, feeling his girlfriend tense at the contact.
"Harry Potter. You wouldn't dare."
"Wouldn't I?" He quickly moved his fingers causing Hermione to yelp and violently squirm in his grasp. "What were you saying again? Ahh, yes… You were saying that I wasn't 'all that great.'"
Hermione tried her best to escape his grasp, she reverted to pinching, poking, and biting. No matter her efforts he just wouldn't give. Damn him and his strong muscles.
"Just say the word and I'll let you free."
"I give, I give!"
"Nope. You have to say, 'You're great, Harry!' with much enthusiasm too." She didn't comply so he quickened his fingers and traveled a trail of tickles to her neck.
"You're- mmpf!" Hermione bit her tongue to prevent the loud squeal that was about to present itself.
"What was that, darling?"
"You're great, Harry!" She felt the sudden relief as his torturous fingers ceased their attack.
"That's what I thought. Thanks so much for your kind words, much appreciated," teased Harry as he placed his arm around Hermione once more and snuggled his face between her neck and shoulder.
Nothing could describe the particular warmth that only Harry could give her. When he held her she felt swelled with so many rising emotions. She gave a contented sigh and gently placed a kiss on the top of his raven-haired head, "You really are great, Harry." She could feel him smile against her shoulder before he kissed it in return. Whether or not she was going to face nightmares again tonight, she didn't care. All she wanted to do at the moment was fall asleep in the arms of the only person that could make her feel so…
Indescribable.
ATTENTION: I am quite obsessed with this couple at the moment and would like to continue this story. Maybe for another chapter or a few. I would have to create a much more in-depth and interesting plot if I were to continue it.
There will, most likely, be another chapter.
Anyways, I would greatly appreciate it if you all recommended me a few amazing fanfics for me to read? I know that there are a lot out there.
Also, if you may have any plots or ideas for a story for this wonderful couple, please share! I'll try my best to maybe create a story based off of your ideas and of course you will receive the credit for providing me with it.
Thank you, and please review. Reviews make my day shine a little brighter.