Chapter 12: Kiss Me

"Harry You're alive!"

Watching the young man stumble out of the portrait above Aberforth's mantle, Hermione was struck by how... handsome he had become in the last year. He had certainly slimmed down in all the right places, then built himself back up; toned muscles could be seen under his shirt. Neville Longbottom looked like he had been through as much of a war as she and her friends had - apparent from the scratches and marks she saw on his face as he turned to her and Ron and, with shouts of joy, was hugging them too.

Neville stopped short of embracing her, and so did Hermione, all at once feeling a little shy. She covered it well, however, stepping into his arms and throwing her arms about his neck. Truly, she had missed him while they had been gone on the Horcrux Hunt.

Hermione appreciated Neville's gallantry as he helped her onto the mantle and into the portrait hole, Harry and Ron scrambling after them. As they went along the darkened passageway for what seemed like a long time, Neville gave them an update on Hogwarts... which wasn't really Hogwarts anymore. Snape and a couple of his Death Eater comrades had taken over the castle; the subjects Muggle Studies and Defense Against the Dark Arts had been perverted in a way that made Umbridge look like a cuddly saint by comparison. With pride, Hermione hung on every word of Neville explaining how he had reactivated the DA with Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley, leading an inside rebellion against the Carrows.

"I got this one..." he gestured to the ghastly gash on his cheek, "...for asking Amycus how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."

"Bloody hell, Neville!" Ron ogled, impressed. "There's a time and a place for a smart mouth!"

The quartet emerged in the Room of Requirement to cheers. Neville helped Hermione down, lowering her to Earth by her waist. The gesture made her blush, and she hoped no one saw. McGonagall quickly rounded everyone up and began barking out orders - with the Snape and the Carrows having apparently fled, Voldemort and his forces were coming; the castle would be under attack soon. Harry huddled up with his two best friends.

"Luna thinks she knows where the diadem is. I'm going to break in Ravenclaw tower to get it."

"And I'll destroy the Cup!" Ron volunteered. "I know just how to do it..." He sprinted off before Hermione could offer to go with him, or even ask what his plan was.

"Miss Granger!" McGonagall suddenly barked. "You and Mr. Longbottom will fortify the Astronomy Tower parapet!" Her voice left no room for argument.

Hermione and Neville scaled the Astronomy Tower, emerging onto the parapet to see an bubble of orange glow encasing the castle. Protective charms. In the distance, out by the Forbidden Forest, a distant rumbling could be heard. They were coming.

Wands drawn, scanning for danger, Hermione and Neville listened to the castle gradually quiet down, grow unnervingly still, as everyone who had not evacuated hunkered down and prepared for battle. Hermione chanced a glance at her... friend and just as quickly looked away.

"You can see if other towers need reinforcements if you want," she murmured. "Or try and get somewhere safer."

Neville shook his head No. "They're after me anyway. And, you know, I'd rather be here." With you, he added as a silent afterthought. A silence and then: "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Hermione had, very much. She had thought of him so often during the Hunt, wondering if she would ever see him again, if she would have the opportunity to...

She took a deep breath. It was now or never. They would probably both be dead by dawn, anyway. And he had been so patient... years of patience. And she herself couldn't wait anymore. Turning to him, her voice and demeanor ever practical, she ordered:

"Kiss me."

Neville gaped at her, wondering if she was serious. Then, he took her in his arms, one calloused hand cradling the back of her neck, the other gliding about her waist. He hovered for a moment, too long for Hermione's liking, so she seized his shirt in her fists and closed the gap between them, smashing her lips to his in a heated, long kiss. Hermione closed her eyes. She felt him kiss her back.

The pair quickly became more involved. Neville's tongue flicked out against Hermione's lips, seeking entrance. She gasped into his mouth, parting her lips for him so that his tongue slipped effortlessly down her throat. Tilting her head, Hermione kissed Neville harder, granting him better access. Draping her arms about his neck, her palms splaying across his shoulders so that the fabric of his shirt bunched in her knuckles, she moaned in pleasure. "Mmmm... Hmmmmm..."

Neville, meanwhile, began to explore her body. The calloused palm about Hermione's waist glided lower, daring to grope and squeeze her ass through here tight jeans, his nails digging into her accentuated flesh. Accepting the challenge with relish, Hermione gallingly raised her leg to Neville's middle, hooking her thigh about his torso. Her one hand sprung from his shoulderblades as she assertively cupped Neville between his legs, eliciting a choked groan and a harmonized fondling of her left breast. Tightly pressed against Neville, Hermione's bruised lips curved into a satisfied smile.

It was the best kiss Hermione had ever had in her life, quite honestly... lightyears better than Viktor Krum - a series of sloppy, hurried pecks with a man much older than her. In this moment, Hermione didn't think about the Horcruxes, or about the Battle, or about...

As Hermione and Neville embraced and kissed, spells had begun to rain down on the orange protective bubble. There was a piercing shriek as fireworks and flares wheezed and exploded in the nighttime sky above Hogwarts; the old institution was sending up signals of distress to try and call for more help. The structure of the castle itself began to shake, and Hermione felt herself losing her balance. Neville lifted, swept her off her feet and limbs folded about each other, the couple staggered, still heatedly snogging, into the Astonomy Tower.

"Mmm!" Hermione gave a muffled squeal, as she felt Neville's pelvis lock against hers with the ease of a jigsaw puzzle piece, as she felt his hips flagrantly hump hers, clearly indicating his need for sex. She flushed crimson, and would have taken him for a bloody hot shag right there, if another quaking of the castle didn't make them break apart, their arms still around each other.

Hermione looked scandalized at their compromising position, and the very unladylike, un-Hermione-ish choices she had made to get there. Her flushed face and lips looked so adorable though, that a beaming Neville could not help but kiss her again before she could object. Hermione allowed it, with a bit of amusement.

"Mm - all right!" she laughed. "No more snogging. We have a battle to fight." Neville gracefully set her down, and hearing shouts from down below, she turned for the Tower staircase. But then she doubled back, grabbed Neville and kissed him hard. "For luck," she gasped when she broke the kiss at last. And then, because this might be her last chance to tell him, she got out: "I love you!"

Neville winked. "I know. I love you too. I always have."


Harry defeated Lord Voldemort, destroyed all the Horcruxes. But not before upwards of sixty Hogswartsians died fighting the Dark Lord.

Reuniting with a crushing hug and a chaste kiss, and entering the Great Hall hand-in-hand, Hermione and Neville were shocked to discover that close friends and family were among the fallen.

Hermione flew to Harry's side, her eyes stricken, to see that almost all of the Weasleys lay dead. Ginny was the only survivor and Ron was not long for this world. Hermione sank to her knees besides her dying best mate, and cradled his head in her lap, tears falling onto the redhead's upturned face. With the last of his strength, Ron lifted himself off the ground and captured Hermione's lips in a gentle kiss. Slightly startled, but quickly recovering, Hermione closed her eyes, a tear managing to squeeze out, as she indulged the parting gift, even kissing him back. Ron finally drew away.

"I love you," Ron got out. "And I'm sorry. I wish I had told you sooner."

Hermione gulped back a sob as Neville knelt beside her. Ron's eyes found his.

"Longbottom: take care of her, you understand?"

Neville tried not to gawk as he nodded, accepting his final mission. He knew? How? And how much did he know? He didn't have time to ask these questions, and perhaps they didn't matter, for Ron soon died in Hermione's arms. Ginny, the last living member of her family, could not be comforted - not even by the man who had brought down the darkest wizard in history. Not even Harry Potter had that kind of power.

McGonagall, the new Headmistress, held court at the end of the Hall. "We should have been prepared... for how much we lost."


That night, Hermione and Neville kissed passionately, broken only by the nervous smiles and giggles of two friends having recently become something more. Falling back onto Neville's four-poster and drawing the curtains, the couple undressed each other and tenderly began to make love. It was just as well that they were alone to just be with each other: Harry was sleeping with Ginny that night, and Seamus and Dean were both in the hospital wing, pretty banged up. And Ron... was gone...

Hermione clawed at Neville's naked back, letting out a choked breath as his manliness entered her womanhood, defiling it. Kissing him so hard that she bit down on his bottom lips, she let him ride her. The bed creaked and swayed beneath them, Hermione's fingernails dug into his rippling skin. Her breasts jiggled, her toes curled. She spread her knees apart more to nestle her lover closer still, her long legs squeezing around his middle.

"Mmmm... Hmmmm... Huhhhh! UHHH! OH! Merlin... Oh... oh my goodness... Oh my Godric... Neville, yes! Harder! Fuck me, shag me... please..."

At last, she came with a whimpering mewl, and Neville quickly followed, grunting as he spilled his seed into this gorgeous woman. Hermione was thankfully on the Contraceptive Charm, but Neville looked so beautiful above her, she wouldn't have minded if she wasn't.

They held each other in the darkness, their sweaty, naked bodies only illuminated by the moon. Neville watched as Hermione's orbs, blackened with lust, gradually calmed into their luminous brown again. She pressed a kiss to his bare chest, and he returned it into her bushy brown hair.

"Did you love Ron?" The question pinged out without Neville meaning it to.

Hermione bit her lip in a way he thought was quite cute, pondering her answer.

"Yes," she got out at last. "A part of me will always love him. He made a lot of mistakes, especially on the Hunt, but he came back to me. He protected me. I'll never forgive myself for how I treated him sometimes. If he had asked me to marry him, I just might have said Yes, or at least considered it..." Noticing Neville glance away, she cupped a gentle palm to his cheek, forcing him to look at her. "But it would have been agony to choose. Between the two of you. If Ron had survived. And you've waited forever for me..."

Neville smiled. "I understand." And he truly did. He bent over to kiss her, and she returned it with a smile.

"If we ever have a baby one day, I'd want to name him Ronald." Hermione whispered into his lips, her voice strangely hoarse, and she turned a little pink when they drew apart, scolding herself for moving so impulsively - something she did not often do. She shouldn't be thinking this far ahead.

And besides, they had years to go out proper and find out if this relationship could work. For now, comforting each other was enough.