Cherished Memories - Chapter 10

Little Tasks

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry, Hermione, Ron or any of the other characters. If I did, I would have all the money, and definately changed that epilogue. For that reason, most of DH is being ignored.

Harry woke up two days later to the sound of someone knocking softly on his door. He squinted at his clock and saw that it said one sixteen, groaned and shoved the covers off to answer the next round of tapping. He opened the door and found Hermione on the other side.

"I'm sorry to wake you up, Harry, but I need to talk to you." He stood back to let her in.

"What is it?" he yawned, closing the door and heading back to his bed. Hermione shifted from one foot to the other, then flopped down next to him when he'd gotten settled.

"Don't tell Ron."

"Don't tell Ron what?" he asked, now a bit more awake.

"What happened at Hogwarts. He doesn't need to know about it. I want it to stay between us."

"Thought that you 'wanted' it to happen."

"I 'did', Harry."

"Then why are you ashamed of it now?" He reached over, turned on his bedside light and put on his glasses.

"I'm not! I just want it to be our secret, please?"

"Hermione, unless you can give me a 'real' reason for me to not say anything to Ron, I'm going to tell him."

"Harry, please! I can't give you another reason except that I don't want him to know like this."

"He probably knows already. And I would have told him after the stuff with Morgan if you hadn't insisted that we go around town sight seeing. There's not a lot to see in Bryan, but you dragged it out for 'hours'."

"Oh, come on. I was fascinated by the courthouse. Are all the floors in there marble?"

"Pretty much. You're not going to change my mind." He realized what it was that she was doing by talking about the building.

"Isn't there 'any' way I can change it?" she pleaded. He looked her up and down.

"I can think of one." Hermione flushed when she remembered that she was wearing her shortest nightshirt... and not much else.

"What?"

"You can give me a good night kiss and let me sleep on it." Hermione didn't know whether to be insulted or relieved. She decided on the latter and leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead. He looked up at her when she began to pull away.

"That's not what I meant," he whispered and pulled her back down to him, crushing their lips together. Hermione instantly groaned. Harry moved around to her ear and whispered in it, "If we make love tonight, I won't tell him about Hogwarts. I won't have a reason to."

"And you have a reason to now?"

"I have to say it out loud to keep it in my memory. I do it at least once a week to an empty room just so that I will be able to remember it until eternity."

"How would it help for us to make love tonight?" she asked, knowing what the answer was going to be.

"I would have an even better one." He nibbled on her throat, making little shocks of pleasure run down her spine. "You ought to see my collection."

"Your collection?" she repeated, feeling him nod against her shoulder.

"My magazine collection. It's ridiculous. I've become too well aquainted with my hand. I think it's starting to hate me, it gets so tired of having to wank me off every night." She was surprised that he was telling her this.

"Why don't you find someone to help you with it, then?"

"Because I'm spoiled. I've had the best and to hell with the rest." He left one final suckle on her neck and raised his head. "You were my first, my last and my only, Hermione."

"You haven't been with anyone since?" Harry shook his head slowly. Hermione smiled shyly. "I haven't, either," she admitted, feeling her face heat up when his green eyes darkened with desire.

"No one?" She confirmed it with a short nod. Harry resumed lavishing attention on her throat, wrapping her in his arms when she moaned softly.

"Why now?" she whispered.

"Because I'm tired of fighting how I feel," he breathed back. She felt her hopes begin to rise, hopes that flared at the chance that he 'might possibly' feel the same way she did. Before she made her decision, she had to know.

"And how 'do' you feel?" she asked, pulling back far enough to look him in the eye.

"Like I'm about to implode. Forget 'exploding'! Ever since you walked into my office the other day, I've lost control over my body. I was filing some former cases with Trina yesterday morning before you and Ron got up, and I couldn't stop all the blood in my body from going where it wanted to. Right in front of Trina, I was getting hard! That hasn't happened 'once' in the entire time that I've known her. Fortunately, she didn't notice before I could excuse myself, but I was spending a lot of time making up excuses to stay in my office, today. I can't stop thinking about what we did that night, and wondering if, as incredible as it was then, it couldn't be better when we are sober." Hermione pulled away from him and stood.

"I think I should go back to my room, now."

"What! Why?"

"Because something just isn't sounding right, here. During lunch at the Newstand, you made the comment that you couldn't have forgotten what I reminded you of earlier that morning, you even told me your side of the story, and it was just as I remember it as well. But just a few minutes ago, you said you have to say it out loud to an empty room to keep it in your memory? Which is it, Harry?"

"I understand, now," he smiled. "It's 'both', in answer to your question. I will never forget what we shared there by the Black Lake, and I 'do' have to say it out loud in order to keep it in my mind for eternity, because if I don't do that, I won't be able to function. It will take over my entire life until I can do nothing else but obsess over every single detail. I have to relieve some of the pressure from my mind, so that the picture stays pristine, the way it 'should' be remembered, and not ripped to shreds, making a total mockery of what a beautiful moment it was in my life."
"Two days ago, it was a mistake, and it shouldn't have happened," Hermione pointed out, turning to leave.

"It 'was' a mistake for it to happen the way it did. I still feel that I had taken advantage of you, even though you were the one to initiate it. Your parents had just died, and instead of comforting you by talking about it, I let my... well, I let the head between my legs do my thinking for me since the one between my 'shoulders' was fogged with alcohol. I thought you would wake up the next morning, and hate me for what we had done. But from my standpoint, it was wonderful." He smiled wistfully. "In fact, I wish that it had happened sooner," he whispered.
"You do?" Hermione finally returned to the bed, sitting too far away for Harry's liking, but it was better than her possibly leaving.

"If I had known that losing my virginity to you was going to be the way it was, I would have readily given it to you as soon as we met on the Hogwarts Express."

"Harry, we were eleven, then."

"And your point is?" Her brown eyes widened in shock.

"Harry Potter!"

"I'm 'joking'. I wasn't even interested in girls, then. That didn't start until I got that stupid crush on Cho." He shifted position, lying back against his pillows. "So, what do you think?"

"I think I 'need' to think," she muttered in answer, then looked him in the eye. "You want to sleep with me?" Harry nodded, a look of lust forming on his face. She decided to tease him a bit before giving her answer. "How badly?" The lust changed to bewilderment.

"I've never wanted anything so much in my life," he replied.

"Do you want it badly enough to do something for me?" Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Really?"

"Anything," he promised eagerly.

"O.K. We'll see about that. If you do what I ask, without backing out once, 'maybe' I'll consider thinking about sleeping with you." Harry was so thrilled at that moment to have this chance, that he didn't quite catch what she'd said. She chuckled at the boyish excitement in his eyes. "Funny," she said softly.

"What's funny?"

"You never behaved this way at Hogwarts. Or anywhere else for that matter. Maybe moving to America was a good thing for you."

"I'm able to live my life here. Just be Harry, not the saviour of the wizarding world. But you'd be surprised at what it took for me to even 'begin' to do that. Trina told me for 'months' that I had to lighten up and stop being afraid to let myself go." He shrugged at her expression of mock surprise. "Now, what is it you want me to do?"

"Well, there are a few things I can think of, but which one do I 'really' want you to do?"

"I can do all of them, if you like."

"Don't tempt me, Harry. No, on second thought, I 'want' you to do all of them. But which one first?" Her face furowed with concentration as she stood and wandered over to the windows.

Harry watched with bated breath as he waited for her to set him his tasks.

"I know!" she said. After staring out into his yard for a minute, she turned and rushed to the door. "Come with me." She was gone before Harry could even blink. He scrambled out of bed and ran after her, hearing her footsteps heading down the stairs. She waited for him at the bottom, looking down the dark hallway, then to the front door.

"What are we doing?" he panted lightly.

"How do we get out to the pond?" Harry started down the hall, Hermione right on his heels. He took her through the formal kitchen and out a set of patio doors that sat behind the table. "Thank you. Now, how cold do you think the water is, and what are the chances of Ron hearing anything?"

"Well, since it's nearly June, the water's warm during the day, but at night, it can be a bit chilly. As for Ron," he grinned cheekily. "The house is soundproofed. I'm only about a mile from town and the trains come through at least three times a night. I had to make sure they weren't going to disturb my guests when they stayed here, even though I would probably have gotten used to it after a while."
"Good. Now for the first thing I want." She led the way to the edge of the water. "I want you to strip down." Harry did as she asked without hesitation down to his boxers. She smiled evilly. "Everything, Harry." He shrugged and slid them off as well, not in the least bit shy of exposing his body to her. After all, though it had been three years since the fact, she 'had' seen him this way. He handed all his clothes over to her when she held out her hand.

"Now what?" He shivered a bit as a cool breeze blew across his back yard. Hermione looked up at the clear sky, noting that the moon was hidden behind a tree. That served her purpose well.
"Now I want you to get into the water." He balked at this.

"You 'did' hear me about it being chilly at night, didn't you?" Hermione laughed.

"Of course I did, but you'll get used to it. Now, go on." Harry gave her another look that said he thought she was bonkers, gritted his teeth and stepped into the dark water. He gasped when he was up to calf level and turned back to Hermione.

"Happy now?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Farther out, to your shoulders, and dunk your head under, too."

"Hermione, I still have my glasses on, and I'm going to freeze if I go out that far." She silently held out her hand for him to hand over his glasses.

"You're cruel," he chuckled, taking them off and giving them to her. "Anything else when I get out there?" he asked, realizing that she wasn't going to let him off the hook.

"Yes, when you come back to the surface after dunking your head, I want you to close your eyes and slowly count to one hundred."

He gave a small groan, but nodded and started out into the water. Hermione giggled as his gasps from the cold water reached her ears when he reached waist and chest level. She had an idea forming in her head for what was next, and conjured a small table, placing his glasses and a note that appeared out of the blue, one that she'd mentally written, next to them, weighing it down with a small rock from the ground to keep it from blowing away. A sound from the water told her that Harry had now dunked under, and it was time to begin the next part of her plan.

Ten minutes later, she reentered the house, giggling to herself. Harry would be finished with his counting soon, he was up to the sixties, but he was in no way finished with his task. Hermione smiled broadly as she closed the door and headed up to her room. She couldn't resist watching from her window to see what happened when he came out of the water.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred." Harry opened his eyes, and looked around, squinting in the darkness of his back yard. He couldn't see where Hermione was, and shivered as he began heading to shore. She was nowhere around, but a table was almost directly in front of him, bearing his glasses and a note addressed to him. He snatched them up and tore the envelope open as soon as he was able to see once more. He continued to look around for Hermione as he drew the paper out and unfolded it.

Harry-

This was only the first on the list of things I want you to do for me. The next will be tomorrow, I'll let you know when.

XOXOXO,
Hermione

P.S. Your clothes are scattered all over. Have fun finding them.

Harry crumpled the note in his hand as he let out a cross between a growl and laughter. He looked up towards the window of her room, but it was totally dark.

"Little minx," he muttered with a laugh, and started looking for his clothing.