Three days after the scene in the common room Harry and Hermione still hadn't reappeared. They had never really intended to be gone so long, hadn't meant to hide away as they had. Time had just seemed to slow in that room, with only the two of them there. The Room of Requirement had supplied all they needed, at times before they even knew they needed it.
They had been so wrapped up in each other they hadn't even given the rest of the world a second thought. Quidditch had not even crossed Harry's mind and Hermione had not once lamented the absence of books.
The two young Gryffindors had lain here, exploring each other's bodies; kissing, touching, and the occasional lick had been their whole world for that span of time.
The days they spent wrapped up in each other in their little bubble inside the Room of Requirement bonded them deeper than they could have expected. They talked of things they'd never shared, not even with each other or the third of their trio. Things Harry had kept hidden from his past, the extent of the abuse and neglect were shared and Hermione held him as he cried and finally purged years of pent-up pain and anger.
Hermione told him the true depth of her loneliness and isolation in the muggle world prior to starting at Hogwarts. How she'd been tormented relentlessly for being smart and her love of books and knowledge. She poured it all out to him.
They each learned more of each other than they realized they didn't know. They shared tears and mourned together the childhoods neither were given for very different reasons. They realized over the course of the days they spent hidden away just how truly lonely they both had been.
Harry smiled as he looked down at the brown-haired witch sleeping on his bare chest. They hadn't bothered with dressing after that first time, something Harry had definitely taken no issue with. He looked down Hermione's lithe body, taking in her soft cures, the swell of her lovely backside. The raven-haired teenager could not get enough of the girl's body, laying there gently caressing his fingertips up and down her spine as he held her. A soft glow filled his chest as he let his eyes wander over her exposed flesh, relishing in the fact that she was now his.
He had once, not so long ago, thought that he had loved Ginny, and he had been wrong. As time had passed in this happy little bubble of theirs, Harry had realized that Hermione had always been there, she had claimed a piece of his heart; even before he knew in his mind, his heart had known. He came to the realization that he had loved Hermione for a while now, that she had been the one that he wanted, the one that he needed. She was the one person he had always been the most open with, the one he had shared everything with. This beautiful brunette in his arms knew him, all of him; she knew things he had never even dared mention to Ronald.
Hermione had been the one constant in his life, the only person that had been there through every trial and tribulation. She, with her wholly good soul, had seen him through every failure and every triumph. She had been the one to pull him back together in the face of Sirius' death. No one else had been willing to be his rock; he was Harry Potter, strong savior of the wizarding world. People thought he should push the hurt aside and go on; Hermione alone had seen the devastation in Harry's heart and eyes as he floundered to cope with such a catastrophic loss. She had been the first person since his mother to hold him as he cried.
Laying here, his arms wrapped around her beautiful body, her leg wrapped around him, he felt complete and content for the first time in his life. He had thought that he would never truly feel this at peace, especially after the loss of his godfather. Sirius had been the only person he had ever truly loved, or so he thought. He now understood that the bond he had with Hermione was a different type of love, one that had grown out of years of friendship, a friendship that had withstood the test of so much heartache.
In a way he was saddened by the time he had wasted pining over false feelings for someone else, feelings his own mind had created to save him from the disaster falling for his best friend could have been had the feelings not been returned.
Reaching up with his other hand, he gently brushed his fingertips over Hermione's cheek as she slept, the soft smile she graced him with as she slept at his touch warming his heart.
Before this he had been losing faith, losing the hope he had for victory in this unending and seemingly impossible war. Harry, the Savior, had been a hair's breadth away from washing his hands of it all. Of disappearing from the public eye and letting the world burn. He now had a reason. An actual, tangible, reason to keep fighting the terror of Voldemort. He would do anything, be anything, survive anything to protect the girl wrapped safely in his arms. He would fight with every breath in his body to protect her.
He would have done anything to protect her before, but now... Now she was the most important thing in his whole world. He had been so alone for so long, even surrounded by friends, he had felt as though he was alone and untouched by others. Now he had been touched, his life had been changed.
The need to protect Hermione was a visceral, touchable, vital thing. The thought of her being harmed tore at his insides like a wild beast. There was no grey area, no moral code, he realized, where she was concerned. There was no Light or Dark, there was only survival and protection to him now. There was only the need to keep this newfound feeling of peace intact. No lengths were too far now, nothing too low as long as it would defeat the Dark Lord.
'If necessary' Harry thought to himself, 'I will use the same level of depravity to bring Voldemort to his death.'
Intellectually, the raven-haired Gryffindor knew that he should fear for his own sanity and goodness. Emotionally, goodness and sanity were relative terms that held no sway. He had lost every person he had ever loved, Hermione would never be another casualty in the raging war that had consumed the entirety of his life up until this point.
The two Gryffindors walked into their common room holding hands and talking silently, unaware of the effect their appearance had on the room. For once complete and utter silence reigned, it was as if the castle herself had taken a deep breath for the impending impact.
The first indication that either of them had to the frozen state of their peers was the sound of a chair falling over. The crash of the wooden back hitting the floor rang throughout the quiet common room.
With a jolt at the loud sound, the two looked up in surprise, finally taking note of the expressions on the faces of those closest to them; ranging from shock, relief, and even anger on a few. The anger and relief were the most confusing.
Looking around the room Harry met Neville's eyes and saw something there he didn't expect. A look of relief so profound his friend's eyes were slightly misted over. 'Something is wrong...' Harry thought to himself as he held the mild-mannered Gryffindor's gaze.
Neville had been one of the very few people who had stood beside him through everything. Neville, who held such a gentle soul couldn't even hardly defend himself against Slytherins, had followed him into the Department of Mysteries and fought bravely beside him. Neville, sweet, kind, loyal Neville, looked as though he was seeing at a dead man.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, breaking the strained silence that occupied the Lion's Den.
"You're... you're alright..." Neville had said, his voice so soft it was as though he feared that if he spoke any louder Harry and Hermione would disappear.
"Yes, Neville, we're just fine." Harry said, his bright green eyes dimming slightly in confusion. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"You've been gone mate." The round-faced boy said as though it was obvious. "You've both been missing for days. The whole castle has been in an uproar. Everyone has been looking for you, Harry. Not even Dumbledore could find you. He said that something had happened to the castle, it went silent is what the Headmaster said." Looking to the side nervously before continuing, Neville said, "Everyone thought you had been taken to... to Him." He paled as he spoke, swallowing nervously. "We... we thought both of you had been taken."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other in confusion. They knew they had been in the Room of Requirement for a while, a day, two nights at the most... but days? Had they really been so lost in each other that time had ceased to exist? Hermione, as if reading Harry's thoughts, shrugged, a baffled look on her face swiftly replaced by the look of determination she had when she went into research mode. That determined face made Harry smile, a soft twitch of the lips only she would understand.
Harry turned his attention back to Neville, looking at the truth of what he said in those round eyes. Looking around the room, taking in each face in turn, he saw only confirmed what was told to them.
"Where have you been, Harry... Hermione...?" The shy boy in front of them asked.
"We were in the Room of Requirement..." Harry said, unwilling to reveal too much of their time there. It was personal and intimate and he wanted no one to encroach on the wonderful time the two had had together. "We left during the party after the Quidditch match. We just wanted to get away from the noise and relax a little." Harry said, avoiding the topic of just why they felt the need for escape. "We ended up there and fell asleep. We... we didn't realize so much time had passed." The raven-haired teen finished lamely.
"It was my fault." Hermione finally spoke up, seeing the look of disbelief and a little anger on a couple of faces, stepping forward and slightly in front of Harry, almost as if to shield him from the backlash. "I got a letter from my parents." She said, squeezing Harry's hand discreetly as if to tell him to follow her lead. "With... with everything going on in the war and the return of You-Know-Who, they want to pull me out of school." She said, her voice perfectly portraying hurt. "I... I can't leave school. You know me, Neville, learning is my life. I was scared of losing this place and all of this knowledge. Harry took me away to calm me down and helped me write a letter reassuring my parents." She lied, so well that the teen in question almost believed her himself.
"Time in the Room of Requirement must work differently." Harry said, picking up the tale where she left off. "I asked it for a place where we could escape everything for a while and the war could just stop so we could think." He said, forcing a look of contrition on his face. "The castle must have taken me literally..." He finished, looking at Hermione.
When he looked back around the common room he saw that the anger and disbelief had faded to understanding and relief. They all knew how much Hermione valued knowledge and books. They knew the worst fate in life for the bushy-haired witch would be to have all of her learning opportunities stripped from her. Pavarti actually sent a pitying look Hermione's way; the dark-skinned girl had never understood Hermione's love of learning but even she knew how the other girl was.
"I'm just glad you're back..." Neville said, pulling the attention of the two at the door back to him. "We were so worried something terrible had happened."
"We're sorry we worried you all. It really was unintentional." Harry said. "Where is Ron?" he asked, realizing he hadn't seen the redhead in the room.
A look of pure disgust twisted Neville's usually happy face. "Won-Won and Lav-Lav are probably still attached at the mouth somewhere." he said, his voice holding nothing but contempt. Hermione was pleased to note that even Pavarti, Lavender's best friend looked a little green at the idea. Apparently, no one in Gryffindor House was pleased with the new couple.
Neville looked behind Harry and Hermione at something and his eyes widened slightly, shooting Harry a fearful glance before a voice rang out directly behind him.
"Mr. Potter! Miss Granger!" came the sharp yell of Professor McGonagall. Turning slowly to face her, both teens wanted to step back at the fury they could see burning in her gaze. "Come with me." She said in a short, clipped tone, whirling around and exiting through the portrait hole.
"Oh, mate..." Neville said in a shaky voice. "I would not want to be you right now... she has been prowling the castle like a wounded lioness. Six Slytherins, three Ravenclaws, and a few Hufflepuffs have already been sentenced to several nights with Filch and Snape because of her mood."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, gulping slightly before moving to follow their seemingly irate Head of House. This was not going to be pleasant.
Harry finished his breakfast not long after Hermione had, reaching out, he took her hand as they walked toward the Entrance Hall. They had not told anyone about their time in the Room of Requirement but they didn't hide the change that time had made in them and in their relationship.
They were rarely apart, often seen holding hands or with Hermione's arm linked through his as they moved throughout the school. The two young Gryffindors weren't even remotely as ostentatious with their feelings as Ron and Lavender were. In public, hand-holding and occasionally an arm of Harry's wrapped around Hermione's waist were about as much as the couple would display. Once or twice they had been seen to press a chaste kiss to the other's lips, but nothing more.
They were occasionally asked when they started dating, the two would just smile or laugh and say 'ages ago'. To them, it was the truth. They felt as though it had been ages. They had always been there, both had just been too afraid or too oblivious to see it.
The professors had been thrilled at the effect their relationship had on both teens.
Harry's marks had improved greatly, his homework had become not only of a very higher quality but much more legible. As well, his essays had become more thought out and structured, researched instead of just haphazardly thrown together.
His performance in his schoolwork aside, he was much calmer and far less prone to acts of stupidity. He paid attention in his classes, did his assignments properly, and spent far less time in detention.
By quite the opposite, Hermione had loosened up and learned to have a bit more fun. She still studied hard and made top marks, but now she laughed freely and sincerely. She seemed as though she had finally relaxed from her far too tightly wound nerves and learned to live instead of just reading about living.
Both teens seemed to be more confident in themselves, more comfortable in their own skin.
The staff was truly pleased to finally see the two young Gryffindors acting their age. Hermione no longer spending her time balancing between having her nose stuffed in a book and attempting to be the voice of reason to two unruly teenage boys. They were very glad to see Harry finally applying himself to his work and not just on trouble and danger. He seemed truly happy and that was something no one was sure they had ever really seen on him before.
A month later and Harry was still amused, and slightly scared, by the talk, or more like lecture they had been forced to endure, with McGonagall. She had thoroughly torn them a new one. Chastising them for everything from missing days of classes, to making everyone worry, to disappearing from the castle without approval. When Harry had pointed out that they never actually left the castle, merely been taken hostage by it, she didn't find it very amusing. They escaped punishment on the simple grounds that the Headmaster himself had not been able to locate them or access the Room of Requirement. Their tale that the castle had taken them and slowed down time was believed by all, with the population none the wiser to the actual events of those days.
Which suited both of them just fine. They were both very private people and were well aware that due to Harry's name, they would never have complete anonymity, however, any scrap of privacy they could scrape up meant the world to them.
Ron had barely spoken to them since their reappearance. He was apparently angry that he had been left out of something and had demanded to know why he wasn't told about this letter (a letter which the brilliant witch had thought to forge just in case). Hermione had simply fixed him with a very pointed glare, an eyebrow raised, and told him sardonically, "You were a bit busy with your tongue down Lav-Lav's throat at the time." The redhead had the decency to blush and look uncomfortable. He let the topic drop after that, but he seemed to avoid the two for the most part.
The school noticed the drifting apart of the Golden Trio, staff and students alike. A large number of the populous worried that something had happened, while the rest simply wrote the distance among them off to the two finally realizing that the one was just a distraction.
As Harry and Hermione made their way up to the library, they talked about the assignment they had been working on until late that night, days away from being due, but they wanted to have the weekend to themselves.
Rounding the corner Harry suddenly pulled his girlfriend into an empty classroom, pushing her against the door as he closed it, waving a hand and throwing up a silencing and locking charm. He'd gotten much better at wandless and wordless spells in recent months, especially those two for some odd reason.
"I have wanted to do this for hours..." He said hoarsely, pressing his lips against hers, his hands sliding along her sides.
"Mmm Harry, what..." Hermione gasped softly as the raven-haired teen kissed down her neck. "What if we're caught?" She asked, her hands sliding into his shaggy hair even as her words were a mild protest.
"Locked and silenced the room as soon as we came in." He said, slipping his hands beneath her uniform shirt and around behind her, pulling her body tight against his. "Looking at you and not touching you is getting harder and harder." He said, pressing his hips against hers, showing her the true meaning of his words.
The bushy-haired teen almost moaned in response, her head falling back slightly in pleasure. "Harry... Oh, Harry... I need.." She mewled out softly.
"I know what you need..." He said, sliding his hands from beneath her shirt and down over the swell of her ass, squeezing it firmly as he ground his hips against hers, eliciting another soft sound.
They'd spent so much time tangled up together any moment they could spare that any insecurity or inexperience had fallen away. They, unknown to everyone in the castle, were always at it. They took any spare minute they could to duck into unused classrooms or closets, usually one pulling the other. Hermione was just as bad about it as Harry was. They both needed the other, needed to feel that closeness and intimacy. Now that they'd both experienced passion and physical intimacy they couldn't get enough. They'd learned over the course of those days locked away in the Room of Requirement just what the other liked.
Suddenly he lifted her by his hands on her ass, pulling her up against him, her legs instinctively going around his waist. "Can I give you what you need? What we both need?"
"P-please Harry..." She whimpered softly, biting her lip as she felt his fingers knead at the globes of her ass.
Hearing her say yes was all he needed, he had been aching to have her for days, but work had unfortunately taken precedence over play. Moving one of his hands, he reached down between them and tugged her damp panties aside. Brushing his fingers along her wet slit, he groaned at the feeling of her so hot and eager for him.
Leaning in, Harry caught her lips in a deep kiss as he teasingly slipped one finger into her wet folds. Pushing it in deep only to pull it out slowly and brush up over her clit. The boy repeated this over and over until she broke, throwing all restraint out the window. "Harry if you don't take me now I will hex you into next week!" She groaned out.
"Promise?" He asked, leaning down and biting lightly at her breast through her shirt as he unfastened his pants, pushing them down hastily.
"That is a blatant threat." She said, her words fading off into a moan at the feel of his mouth.
"I don't want to be in next week... I want to be in you..." He said and with one hard thrust, buried his entire length deep inside her, moaning loudly as her slit hugged him tightly. "Fuck, 'Mione..." He growled into her shoulder, doing his best to hold still and give her time to adjust when all he wanted to do was slam hard and fast, again and again.
"Ha-Harry..." She gasped out, reveling in the way his larger than average member filled and stretched her tight walls. "M-more!" She called out, needing less than gentle treatment at the moment.
Harry nodded, beginning to move in and out of her, slowly building to a fast and hard pace. With one hard thrust, he bottomed out inside Hermione, causing her body to bow in pleasure. Her inner walls clenched tight around him as she climaxed hard, coating him in her hot juices. He stilled inside her, leaning her body back against the door, pinning her there with his hips against hers and his cock still buried deep inside her. Reaching up, he took hold of her uniform shirt and pulled popping the buttons off without caring, needing to see more of her beautiful body.
Dipping his head down he teasingly took one of her nipples into his mouth, drawing out her climax and making her shudder and writhe on his cock. "Fuck, Harry! Don't stop!" Hermione called out for him, her hands fisting in his hair.
Harry began thrusting again, slow and teasing strokes at first, aiming only to drive her need for him higher and higher. As he slowly moved into her, his hands caressed and massaged her breasts, moving from one nipple to the other, licking and sucking softly. They had been rough, taken the edge off of the days they had been close but unable to touch. Now was about showing her just how beautiful she was.
The brunette rolled her hips down against his, meeting his slow, sensual pace, taking him deep into her overly sensitive body, every thrust sending sparks along her body.
Sliding her arms around Harry's neck, she pressed herself against him, shifting and rolling with his every movement. Feeling her respond so thoroughly sent the young raven mad. He needed more. He needed release. He needed her release with his.
Reaching down between them, Harry brushed his fingers over his girlfriend's clit, drawing a loud moan from her. He began thrusting harder and faster, continuing to rub her clit, moving his fingers against that sensitive nub harder and faster as well. Every moan of hers was music to his ears. He could feel his release pressing down on him.
Leaning in, he whispered into the girl's ear, "Cum for me baby..." As he gave a particularly hard thrust.
His words worked like magic on her body. At once, her tight pussy clenched tight around his cock, squeezing and pulsing around him. The sensation of her tight channel flooding around him was too much and he could no longer hold back. He exploded into her with a loud yell, pulsing into her as he filled her with all he had to offer.
Panting, Harry's knees gave out, and to slow them he leaned his hands against the door, sliding down to kneel with his cock still buried inside Hermione. He hit hard and deep one last time as they collided with the floor, causing both of them to groan loudly and a brutal wave of aftershocks to run through the witch's body.
"Mmmm fuck..." the green-eyed teen said lazily, laying his head against her shoulder. "You will be the death of me Mione."
"I think that may be the other way around..." She replied in a shaky voice. "I don't think my legs will work."
"I'll just have to carry you," Harry said lovingly. "Once mine start working again that is." He added with a laugh.