Chapter Twenty-One: True Love
"Harry," he heard from the doorway to his dorm. "Hey Harry it's me."
He looked up and saw a familiar feminine form, the moonlight shining just enough to illuminate her fiery red hair. Her appearance created a jolt deep inside his stomach and he bolded upright, completely awake as if he'd never been sleeping.
"Ginny," he breathed. "What is it?"
"I need to talk to you," she told him, not coming any closer. He took that as a hint that she wanted him to follow her out the room, so her got out of bed and did just that.
As they traveled down the stairs into the Gryffindor common room, Harry racked his brain for reasons that she would need to speak with him. They hadn't spoken two words to each other since he broke it off with her the year before, and his stomach got all twisted to even hear her speak to him. He noticed that he was shaking.
She sat down on a plush sofa and motioned for him to sit next to her, and on her left side she lifted a piece of parchment from the end table. She glanced over its contents with a worried look on her face and then waved the paper to Harry.
Gin,
We've got a favor to ask. Have you noticed any strange behavior from either Malfoy or Hermione? Even more, have they been spending more time together?
You see the thing is, we needed to test a love potion that we created (it's called True Love and it'll be in a store near you by June 5th), so we decided to test it on Hermione and Malfoy.
We would've done Hermione and Ron, or You and Harry or something – Harry's stomach leaped to think of him and Ginny together again – but we needed a pair that mortally hated each other to prove that it was really the potion and not just the people falling in love.
We gave it to them at dinner, the first night that Malfoy spent with the Order. It would have started slowly, that's how the potion functions, and then it would have worked itself into a burning love everlasting. That's what it's supposed to do, anyways.
Have they? Fallen in love, that is?
We really need to know, Gin, please owl us as soon as you can.
Love, Your Favorite Brothers,
Fred & George
Harry put the parchment in his lap and stared down at it. After about a minute of this, Ginny turned in her seat towards him.
"What'll we do, Harry? Do we just go up to Hermione and tell her that it's been fake this whole time?"
"But wait Ginny, Hermione and Malfoy aren't dating anymore. They broke up a while ago," Harry countered.
"No they didn't, you big oaf. She loves him, for real or only because of the potion. And he loves her too," Ginny said convincingly.
"But how do you know? You don't even spend time with us anymore," Harry said, letting more bitterness come out than he realized.
"I just know, okay Harry? I know these things."
Harry stared at her, her eyes wide and all-knowing, her hair framing her beautiful face softly. She skin was so fair and soft-looking. Before he even knew what he was doing, Harry lifted his hand to brush her cheek. She backed away after he made contact and closed her eyes.
"Please Harry, don't do this to me," she said through a knot in her throat. She opened her eyes again and looked determinedly at him, making him want to look away but at the same time completely unable.
"Ginny," he whispered, but didn't know what else to say. He felt his arm reach around her waist without him willing to do so, and felt her melting into his arms. He put his palm on her round chin and lifted her face to meet his. She continued staring at him, but her determination was faltering. She broke their eye contact and looked down at her hands.
"Harry. I'm with someone else…"
"I know," he nodded, and released her from his grasp with a pang of torment in his chest.
They went to Hermione's room without speaking any more, but the tension between them had changed. It was no longer uncomfortable, but instead thick with longing and the knowledge that it just wasn't possible.
Hermione heard them knocking as she stepped out of the shower, and she ran down the stairs to let them in. She thought that it must have been something important, for someone to be there so early in the morning.
She wrapped herself in a towel and, dripping wet, she rushed to greet the visitor.
"Harry!" she said, surprised. "And Ginny!" she said even more surprised. "What are you two doing here?"
"Hermione, we think that something's happened – " Harry said, but Ginny cut him off.
"Read this," she said as she stepped into the Head's common room and handed Hermione the letter from Fred and George.
Hermione was shocked. She sat dripping wet on the green sofa next to the empty fireplace and opened the letter. It was short, but everything was included. Her stomach sank.
"Ginny," she breathed. "What do I do?"
"You're still with him?" Harry gaped at her.
Hermione nodded, feeling ashamed, and then turned back to Ginny.
"Hermione," the girl said. "I'm so sorry…"
"Doesn't matter," Hermione lied. "I don't want to be part of a relationship based on a potion. This means that… that our feelings aren't even real?"
Ginny nodded understandingly. "I think they'll probably have some way of equaling out the potion. It's supposedly "everlasting", but they'll have a cure, right?"
"I suppose…" Hermione agreed.
"You can use Hedwig to owl them," Harry said. He seemed a little angry, but not as much as Ron would have been.
"Thanks Harry," Ginny said as Hermione handed her a small piece of parchment and a quill.
"Dear Fred and George," Ginny said out loud as she wrote.
Your potion works very well. Put it on the shelves!
In the mean time, Hermione wants a cure, so please send it if you have one.
Love,
Ginny Weasley
P.S. If you don't have a cure, you better start working on it now!
"That should do it," Ginny said as she folded the letter up.
"I'll go with you to the Owlry," Harry said to Ginny. They both stood and began to leave the room.
"Wait, Ginny!" Hermione called. Once the redhead turned to face her, Hermione asked, "Can I keep Fred and George's letter?"
Ginny nodded in the way that she often did, showing that she understood exactly what Hermione was thinking.
Note in hand, Hermione headed up to Draco's room, completely unsure of what to tell him. She knocked on the door and then let herself in.
The familiar scene filled her eyes as she swelled with emotion. Draco had been sitting in this tub for two weeks, unable to leave the potion for even a second because if he did, the Draught would take effect immediately. He'd missed countless classes, and even with all the studying he was doing in the tub, he was missing out on a lot. He was bored, too, far too bored for his own good. He wasn't the type that could survive in a bathtub for two weeks straight.
"Hermione," he smiled as she came in. She didn't visit him that often because she was studying hard for N.E.W.T.s, but when she did it was the only company he got.
"Draco," she said back. She kneeled beside him and ran her fingers along his cheek tenderly. She wanted so badly to be able to kiss him, but if she did she would ingest that love potion, too, and then there would be no hope for them.
"What's wrong?" he asked her, bringing his own hand up to cup her face. She bit her lip to keep from crying, but it didn't help much.
"Draco," she forced herself to say. "It's all fake."
He frowned at her, very confused. "Hermione, what are you talking about?"
She handed him the parchment and as his fingers soaked the paper with red, Hermione's tears began to run silently down her face.
"It's not true," he said, and tore the paper to shreds, letting it fall into the shining potion. "Hermione?" he asked hopefully.
"Draco…" She sobbed. The sight of his worried face and his own tears welling in his eyes made her even more uncontrollable. "I told them to send a cure."
He nodded. She could tell that he was thinking it all over. He swallowed hard and then said, "Does it matter?"
Hermione shook her head. "Draco, don't," she told him firmly. "This is fake, all of this. We don't actually feel this way… Isn't it wrong to feel something that you wouldn't naturally feel?"
"But Hermione, what if I want to feel this way?" he questioned, letting tears roll out of his eyes now. She bit her lip again and thought hard, searching for an answer.
"Sorry Draco," she said finally. "I can't be with you knowing it's all a lie."
He nodded and licked his lips, tasting the salty tears on them.
Hermione decided then to do something to end everything. She dropped the towel that had been wrapped around her, emitting a loud gasp from Draco. She stepped into the tub with him, welcoming the warm liquid all around her body. She curled herself on his stomach and held him, and he held her back.
They stayed like that for some time before Draco started to run his fingers up and down her spine softly. The motion sent chills down her body. She moved her hands to his chest, where she stroked his skin under the red surface of the water. His eyes were closed and she could see that he was enjoying himself.
She uncurled her legs and wrapped them around his middle, bringing herself closer to him. His hands rested firmly on her hips and he started inching her down slowly.
She was breathing shallow now, and he was too. She could feel a core deep inside of her stomach pulsing, and all of the hot liquid around their bodies seemed close to boiling. He moaned her name quietly right before she reached the point of no return, and he pushed himself inside of her in one quick motion.
Just like the last time, she felt a jolt of electricity spark through her body and her eyes seemed unable to be opened. They moved in the potion, causing it to spill over the sides of the tub.
The muscles in his stomach were tensed, as were the ones in his arms, which were holding her ribs tightly. She opened her eyes when she realized that he was close, and immediately was shocked to see him. Suddenly he'd become a god, shining and glistening and beautiful. His pained and ecstatic expressions combined to create an image like nothing Hermione had ever seen, or could ever compare anything else to.
In that moment, the whole world stopped. Her heart stopped beating, her lungs stopped breathing, she just stared in awe at the beautiful creature before her. Then, as soon as it had started, it was over, and he relaxed beneath her with a soft sigh.
His arms closed around her as he held her tight to him, their bodies still connected as one.