DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter...

Chapter 14

The sorcery and charm of imagination, and the power it gives to the individual to transform his world into a new world of order and delight, makes it one of the most treasured of all human capacities. --Frank Barron

Hermione shifted the last of her stuff around in her flat which seemed to be bursting with stuff she couldn't remember buying. When she had arrived home from the hospital, the first thing she had noticed was how dirty her flat was. It was only later when she was shoving the couch did she remember the Healer's warnings on moving heavy objects, but by then she figured she had moved enough stuff that a few more pieces of furniture couldn't possibly hurt that much.

Wrong.

As she straightened, the muscles in her back and legs protested and her arms were throbbing. If that didn't hurt bad enough, she felt as if her head was about to explode.

"The Healer told you not to over do yourself."

Hermione spun around to see Tom glowering at her from her door which she had been sure she had locked when she entered. "I see you still haven't learned the art of knocking."

He merely shrugged in his arrogant way and moved closer to her. "I don't see why you even bothered with locking it. You knew I would come over as soon as I discovered you had checked yourself out of St. Mungo's."

She went to step away from him, but stopped as her body protested against the movement, attempting to disguise the pain on her face. She failed.

He was instantly at her side, lifting her up into his arms easily despite her efforts to push him away. Admittedly, she didn't have quite a lot of strength to do so, but it was more the principle of the matter more than anything.

"Quit struggling, hellcat, and let me help you before you hurt yourself," he growled, tightening his grip on her. He lowered her onto her bed and, before she could move, pinned her wrists down so that there was no possible way of her escaping.

"Let. Me. Up." She narrowed her eyes to angry slits that she figured could rival his own. "Now."

"I don't think so." He smiled down at her. "Wouldn't want for you to end up in the hospital again, now would we? They only released you on the grounds that you would keep yourself from winding up there again."

"I'm perfectly fine."

"Uh huh." It was evident from his tone, if not from his expression, that he didn't believe her at all. "I'm wagering that moving heavy objects was on the list of things you weren't supposed to do." When she stubbornly refused to answer him, he smiled down at her. "I guessed as much."

"I won't do it again," she growled softly, "I promise. Happy now?"

"No, because I know that's an empty promise that you have no intention whatsoever of keeping." He lowered his head so that his lips were hovering just above hers. "So I guess we'll just have to resort to Plan B."

She furrowed her eyes and gazed at him questionably. "Plan B?"

"The way I see it, you have two choices." He paused and smiled at the speculation lingering behind her gaze. "You can either move in with me or I'm moving in with you."

"Absolutely not!" she protested immediately, trying to buck him off of her, but only ended up hurting herself instead. She cried out, traitorous tears filling her eyes as she ground her teeth together.

He stilled above her. "Hermione?" his grip loosened from her wrists as he cupped her face, brushing away some stray tears with his fingers. "Where does it hurt?"

She whined and tried to curl up her body into the fetal position, but his body was in the way. "Everywhere," she finally managed to spurt out, discovering that it was better if she just didn't move at all.

"I'm going to go get some of those potions Cygnus sent over for you." He got up from the bed and turned to look back down at her unmoving form. "Don't move."

She had the urge to snap that she didn't intend to move, but found she couldn't spare the energy. She would need all her energy later to argue with him.

He came back carrying three different vials of potions, each a different colour. After staring at them for a moment or two, he finally decided on the green one and lifted her head up so that he could help her swallow the thick liquid.

She grimaced at the taste it left in her mouth and conveyed her displeasure to him through a nasty glare. He merely chuckled at her and tenderly kissed her temple, which surprised her and caught her off guard. She stared at him warily as he stood from the bed and walked to the door.

"Lock the door on your way out, will you?" She said, already attempting to move the covers down so that she could get some much needed rest.

She assumed when the door shut that he had left, but she thought wrong. She heard material being removed and her eyes snapped up to where Tom stood at the foot of the bed, removing his clothing. She stared at him, wide eyed, for a moment before regaining the power of speech.

"What do you think you're doing? I thought you were leaving," she stammered.

He merely grinned in that arrogant way of his at her as he removed his shirt. When his hands reached for the buttons on his pants, he said, "From the scene I walked in on, I don't think I could honestly trust you to stay here by yourself and follow the Healer's orders so I intend to make sure that you do so personally."

"I don't need a babysitter," she bit out more harshly than she intended to, but she wasn't about to apologize for her tone. "I'm not a child."

His eyes ran up and down her body slowly and then he smiled. "I know very well that you're not a child, hellcat, and I thank Merlin for that fact everyday."

She scooted away from him frantically as he sat down on the bed beside her, now only in his boxers. "Tom, please." She lowered her gaze and clutched at the covers, pulling them up over her. "I can take care of myself."

He chuckled as he pulled the covers back down. "Show me you can, Hermione. Take your clothes off and change into your nightclothes."

She blushed, though she hated herself for it, and drew her knees up to her chest. "I'm not going to do it with you in here," she pouted, looking away from him.

His hand gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him. His eyes were filled with amusement as his head lowered towards hers. "Hermione, I've seen it all." He stared at her for just a few more seconds before drawing away and sighing. "If you don't do it then that merely means that I'm going to be forced to do it for you…"

She was out of the bed in an instant, her body immediately protesting at her movements and, before she knew it, she was hurtling forward. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact of the fall, but it never came. Tom's arms had shot out with seeker-like reflexes, and had grabbed her before she could hit the floor.

"That's it," he said as he hauled her up into his arms, "you now have a choice between moving in with me, or I move in with you." His eyes met hers with serious determination. "So what's it going to be, Hermione?"

She growled lightly at him, but refused stubbornly to answer him. She turned her head away from him and stared pointedly at the bed. "I'm tired," she stated flatly.

He smirked. "Then we better get you undressed then, shouldn't we?" He sat her down on the edge of the bed and kneeled in front of her. She could only watch as he began to remove her socks and then reached up to take off her pants.

When his hand touched the inch of skin between her shirt and her jeans, she snapped out of her daze and jumped, startled. "What are you doing?"

He sighed with impatience and merely continued to tug at her jeans, lifting her hips up easily so that he could get them off of her. "We've been over this, Hermione. You want rest and to do that, you need to get undressed and into your nightclothes. Since you're clearly unable to do that yourself, I'm helping you. Now, stop being stubborn and let me help you."

Stunned by the control he was exhibiting, she sat there in silence while he took off her shirt and bra, and then eased her nightshirt over her head. She turned her head away, embarrassed, by the unflattering Quidditch jersey she always slept in.

Tom paused as he adjusted the hem of the large shirt over her thighs, staring at the jersey. "Did Krum give you this?" he finally questioned, his voice husky

She hesitated in answering as she watched the array of emotions playing out on his face. Shaking her head, she pressed some fingers to her hand. "Er, no. No he didn't." She closed her eyes as she touched a hand to the cloth. "I saw it in the store one day and," she paused, "it reminded me of something from my past."

He studied her, waiting for her to go on, but when she didn't he pressed her. "A past boyfriend perhaps?"

She didn't answer for a moment, causing him to stiffen slightly. Finally, "No, not a boyfriend." She fingered the material. "One of my best friends was obsessed with Quidditch. He lived and breathed for it." She looked up at him and smiled. "Every time I went over to stay with his family, I took one of his jerseys to sleep in. Eventually he just told me to keep the one."

He relaxed in his seat and placed a hand on her knee. "Miss him?"

She nodded. "Terribly." An image of Ron filled her mind and she smiled. "He was horrible at Quidditch when he first started playing, though. My other friend, though, was a natural, but he wasn't too much of a fanatic about the sport."

He listened patiently as she rattled off some more about her friends, though she still controlled how much information she offered up. This was the most she had ever opened up about her life, though, and he wasn't about to pass up on this opportunity to learn more about her.

She stopped suddenly, as if she knew she had suddenly said too much. Her eyes darted to him quickly before looking away again. "Sorry," she muttered.

"No, don't apologize," he said gently. He wanted to coax her into telling him more. He reasoned this need to know more about her with the fact that he always knew everything about everyone so he could use it against them later. "Tell me more about these friends."

She smiled at him and shook her head. "Nice try, Tom Riddle, but no. I've said more than I meant to already." She turned her body away from him and pulled down the covers. "Time for bed, I think."

He smiled at her and stood. "Absolutely right." He pulled the covers up over her when she rested on the right side of the bed and then moved to the left side. He settled in beside her and pulled the covers up over him.

Hermione didn't even bother to protest when he moved into the bed beside her; she knew it would be useless anyway. She went easily into his side when he pulled her body to his. He ran his hand up and down her arm a couple of times, and for a minute she allowed herself to wonder what it would be like to be in a real relationship with him.

o!o

Hermione walked over to her desk and sat down gratefully in her seat. She didn't realized how much she missed it until now. She leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes.

"Hermione!"

She opened her eyes as two arms wrapped tightly around her, lifting her out of her seat. Though her muscles was pretty much relaxed now after her week vacation, she still wasn't completely recovered and she groaned at the slight spasm through her body.

"Richard," she said, patting his back, "you're hurting me."

He immediately released her and let her fall back into the chair. "Sorry." He hugged her again, easier this time, and kissed her cheek.

"It's okay," she said, smiling up at him. "I'm just a bit sore still, but not as much as I was before. No quick movements."

He grinned and perched himself on the edge of her desk. "It's good to have you back. You don't know how bored I've been without you here. I've actually had to attempt to hold a decent conversation with Haley, which, I assure you, was quite hard."

Hermione laughed softly as she opened one of the files on her desk. "You poor dear, that must have been so trying for you."

"Oh it was," he assured her, "but I found a nice alternative."

His little dreamy smile had her grinning as she was sure she knew what the alternative was he had found. "Sneaking Minerva away for lunch, have you?"

"Not much sneaking was needed," he replied calmly, a goofy grin on his face. "Dumbledore invited me to dine at Hogwarts with Minnie whenever I wanted to."

Hermione gaped at him. "Minnie?" She shook her head with a small laugh. "You two have been getting close while I was gone."

Richard blushed slightly as he rubbed a hand through his hair in a nervous manner. "Sort of," he finally answered softly, averting his gaze from hers.

"Sort of?" she asked teasingly. Then her face grew serious. "Don't hurt her, Richard."

He raised a brow at her. "Are you not even worried about her hurting me?"

She shrugged. "No."

"Nice friend you are," he pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Real nice."

Hermione merely turned in her seat to pin him down with her steady gaze. "Richard, you have to admit that you've had your fair share of relationships while this is her first real one. She's not like the other girls you date."

"I know," he replied seriously, "which is why I like her so much. She's so sincere and sweet." He grinned. "Not to mention how cute she is when she purses her lips at me in that stern manner when she doesn't approve of something I'm doing or something I've said."

Hermione laughed. "About time someone kept you on your toes."

He sent her a roguish wink. "Ah, but Hermione dear, you've always kept me on my toes." As she shook her head and turned around, he looked at the single rose in the vase off to the side. "From Tom?"

Distracted, she looked over at where the rose stood in full bloom. "Oh, yeah." She turned away from it and picked up some files, flipping through them.

"So are you two back together?"

Hermione bit on her lip as she thought about her answer, her eyes staring at the page in front of her. "I'm not really sure," she admitted softly.

"You know, that's the second time I've received that answer to that question," he mused out loud. "I'm beginning to wonder about you."

Hermione gave an angry huff as she slammed the file down and glared at him. "Look, I don't know because every time I attempt to bring up the topic, he makes one of his arrogant comments that ends up distracting me. He's basically taken up house in my flat. At first I was willing to allow him to do so since the Healer had told me that I needed to take it easy and not overdo myself, but now I can't get him to move out."

"Sounds to me like you're in relationship," he told her softly.

"Then why the hell can't we be like normal couples?" she demanded.

Richard merely watched as she banged her head on her desk three times. "Darling, you and Tom will never be like other couples because, quite frankly, neither of you are like normal people."

Hermione raised her head and glared at him. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Well, no, not really," he said, patting her head, "but it is a fact that you're just going to have to accept and get over. Look, you're both too independent and stubborn for your own good and somehow that makes both of you compatible. I know you want him to change, but don't you think that maybe you'll have to change too?"

Hermione glared at him. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She honestly couldn't expect him to change so much and not be willing to make some sacrifices herself so that their relationship would work.

Richard grinned as she stood up and picked up her handbag. "You know I'm right."

"I will admit no such thing," she huffed as she walked out of the office and towards the floo system. She had a certain stubborn male to see.

Ah, I may be getting better at this updating thing...see, two updates!

As always, thank you for reading. Much love,

MiZZ AmAyA