December 5th, 1998

Hogwarts -Hermione's rooms

Harry Potter

Harry stared at the door to Hermione's new room, trying to rid himself of a feeling he couldn't quite name. One that stopped him from knocking. He knew that once he did, she would smile at him and open the door. She would be happy to see him.

Before he could touch the doorknob, the door was flung open and Hermione grabbed his hand to pull him into the room.

"Why have you been standing there? The ward told me you were there like three minutes ago?" She looked around the hallway, making sure no one was about. "I thought you were talking with someone. Hurry, I need your help."

"How can I help?" He looked around the room, before his attention was abruptly jerked back to Hermione, when she spun around and lifted her shirt up halfway. "Hermione."

His voice came out strange. He cleared his throat, watching her shift impatiently.

"Harry, are you listening to me? Please, it itches! Scratch, scratch!"

Oh. He blushed and scratched her back.

"Oh, Merlin, that's it! More towards the middle!" She gave a shiver and a little moan, her skin prickling with goosebumps as he lightly dragged his fingernails down the middle of her back.

They both froze, Harry with his hands up the back of her shirt, his fingertips resting lightly against her skin.

He stared down at where his hands rested under her shirt, and instead of pulling them out, flattened his hands against her skin. He could just slide his hands forward, wrapping around her to hug her close.

Hermione stepped away, his hands falling off her, and he quickly moved his bag in front of him, feeling the heat in his cheeks. She turned around, opening her mouth and then paused, looking at his face then the awkward way the bag was held in front of him.

"Oh." Then her face turned as red as his. "Sorry, I didn't mean…"

He gave her a half smile. "I know. Where should I put my things? I brought some things for you, too."

She showed him over to an armoire against a wall. "I have a bed in here that we can resize when you come, and then you can use the space for your things."

He pulled out a miniature trunk, resizing it and opening it to dig through book and clothes before he found the small black palm sized notebooks he needed. Then gestured her to the couch so he could show her.

He gave her one, watching her flip through the blank pages, then look back at him questioningly. He smiled and held up his hand, summoning a quill, before writing a message in the notebook.

She gave a small gasp when hers vibrated gently and opened it to the first page.

I wanted to make sure we could communicate whenever, immediately. The notebooks are charmed to sync and vibrate when a message is written.

"Wow! This is great, Harry!" She smiled excitedly, grabbing the quill from his hand and scribbling in hers. A second later, there was a vibration in the notebook he held in his hand.

Thank you. You're the best!

They met each other's eyes and smiled. The moment stretched out and their smiles faded. Harry could see the faint shadows under her eyes and the stress. He reached out and plucked the notebook from her hand, laying both their books on the table in front of them before turning and grabbing her hands, stroking his fingers along hers.

"Can you tell me what's bothering you?" She gave a soft sigh and seemed to deflate slightly, leaning back against the couch.

She shot him a small wry smile. "I just thought my redo of seventh year would be kind of… quiet?"

He squeezed her hand. "Is there anything I can do to make it better?"

She shook her head, giving a sigh. He leaned closer to her, letting the sides of their heads touch. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I'll sound whiny." She made a face.

"You'll sound like someone confiding in their best friend."

She gave a small nod of acknowledgement at that. "Ron flooed me yesterday."

She paused, and it took every inch of willpower Harry had not to prompt her to continue. She moved her head so she could glance at him. "I'm worried about him, he's always…" She grimaced. "He's always been jealous of you, and now with this—its like a nightmare of his come true and he's not handling it well.

Ron had acted like an absolute git the past three days since they found out Hermione was pregnant. Harry was at a point where he had zero sympathy for Ron's 'jealousy' issues, but he knew that wasn't something Hermione wanted to hear so he swallowed it down and from what Ron had said to him he had a strong suspicion Ron used the same arguments with Hermione.

"We all had our plans and paths Hermione, it wasn't just Ron that thrown off his, and he's behaving like it's about him when it's not."

"I just don't want to hurt him more than he is, but I can't make him understand that I need to think about this- I need time."

I could make him understand.

Harry cleared his throat, working on making himself sound reasonable. "I can talk to him for you. Don't let anything he says make you worry. You know how he is when he's angry- always mouthing off, then regretting it later."

"You're right. Okay. Maybe that will help."

He waited, but she fell silent again. "Hermione….." He drew out her name in a whiny tone, giving her a small smile. "What else happened? You were upset before that, when we were on the floo call together on Wednesday."

She took a deep breath that caught a little, her fingers tightening on his. Her words came out in a rush, tumbling over each other. "I resigned my head girl position. Madam Pomfrey told me witches basically can't cast in the last trimester of pregnancy. Ginny accused me of stealing you away from her."

His eyes widened. "Hermione!"

Harry didn't know where to start. He grabbed her, pulling her close and squeezing her tight, trying to comfort her. She gave a small shudder.

"Shit! I'm going to cry! Dammit!" She muttered angrily into his chest as tears started leaking from the corners of her eyes.

Harry stroked her hair, already trying to think of how to alleviate each concern. At least he had an answer for the worst one. Easiest first.

"Ginny is a barmy bint. I broke up with her even before I knew you were pregnant, and I should have never gotten with her in the first place. It was easy to fall into a relationship with her, and I was lonely. Even if you choose not to be with me that way, and we're just friends for the rest of our lives, I would never be with Ginny Weasley again. Okay?"

She nodded against his shirt, her tears leaving a damp trail. "Okay."

She resigned her Head Girl position. Merlin's pants. She always wanted to be Head Girl. Even as a first year, her eyes would get all shiny when she talked about eventually becoming one.

"Why did you resign as Head Girl? Did McGonagall say something about it when I was out of the room?"

Her hand had drifted to his side, and moved absently in a stroking motion, as if she was comforting herself by touching him. The same way she had held on to his hand while she had walked him out on Tuesday.

She shrugged. "How could I keep the position? I won't be able to hide the pregnancy for long and when they find out, they're going to wonder who the father is. Am I going to waddle with a huge stomach after first years trying to help keep them in line or set an example?"

Harry tried to focus on the head girl concerns, but it felt like that statement threw him for a loop.

"You're not going to tell them it's mine?"

"No."

"I- "His voice cut off. She looked up, and her eyes widened, both hands coming up to frame his face.

"Harry, don't make that face!" Her hands wiggled his cheeks, and he pulled away abruptly, upset. "No one needs to know our business, Harry! As soon as they know it's you, there's going to be press and just a lot of attention that we don't need while we figure things out for ourselves."

"Right, logical."

She doesn't want people to know it's my baby.

They needed to figure things out. She was right.

She doesn't want to marry me.

It would be easier to figure things out for themselves without reporters dogging them. He could feel his head start hurting with trying to suppress his visceral reaction to the idea she would deny he was the father.

He forced his focus back on track. There were more important things than his slightly irrational desire that she tell everyone she was pregnant with his kid. That didn't even make sense. Ignore it.

Ignore it. Harry took a deep breath, letting it go.

"I know you always wanted to be Head Girl, and I'm sorry it turned out this way, Hermione. I understand why you had reservations, and I think it will make things easier for you without that responsibility. But you not being a good example is just bollocks. You're the brightest witch of our age, and I would have died so many times without you. You're the best of us, and anyone who doesn't think that is a stupid git."

She was still watching him closely because of his upset, her hand worrying at the couch fabric because he had pulled away. He put his hand on top of hers, stopping the movement.

"I'm okay. And I've got something special for you." He held out his hand, summoning a necklace from his trunk wordlessly. The necklace appeared sparkling, the ruby red glinting like a deep fire on a black chain in the palm of his hand.

Her eyes widened at the jewelry, her faint disbelieving smile on her face. "You're giving me jewelry now?"

He laughed. "I think I would pick out something better than this if I was getting you jewelry." He paused. "Do you want me to get you jewelry?"

He tried to think of the jewelry that Hermione normally wore. He thought she favored more delicate pieces, and the ruby was a quite large faceted tear drop shape.

She ignored his question. "Why are you giving me this, then?"

"It's from my vault. That's why I came today instead of Friday. It took me quite a bit of time to find it. My great great great… um three greats I think grandfather created this for his wife Iolanthe Potter. Many of my relatives were inventors. I've been reading through the entailment of my estate since the war ended and learning about some of the items in my vault and my family history."

"While I'm really glad you're reading up on your family history… I still don't see why you are giving me a family heirloom, then?"

He cleared his throat, about to get to the important part. "Well, after I left Tuesday, I went and bought all the books for expectant wizards and I read about the power loss during the end of a witch's pregnancy. And I remembered this…" He handed her the necklace. "My relative created it to house his power so he could give it to his wife—so she wouldn't be without magic when she needed it."

"How do you power it?"

"When I first picked it up, I felt it, a small drain on my magic. It reacts when it's pressed against my skin and stops when it reaches capacity. I wanted you to put it on to see if you felt the power and were able to draw on it. There weren't any incantations in the box the necklace was inside, so I'm betting it works the same way, your magic will react with it at will—much like we do when riding a broom, our intent is what makes it work."

Hermione took the necklace, pulling it over her head, letting it against her neck and gave a laugh. "That's just amazing! I can feel your magic in it, like it's a battery!" She picked it up, inspecting it from all angles, muttering to herself. "I can't believe there's so much magic we don't know yet. It almost makes me want to be an unspeakable so I can see the really secret magics."

He grinned as he watched her brain go into overdrive, trying to figure out how it was made. She finally looked up at him, as if remembering his existence a few minutes later. She held his eyes and the next moment her lips pressed against his, her breasts pressing into his chest as she kissed him. His body reacted immediately to the feel of her pressed against him. The memories crowding in to blend with reality. Smart, beautiful witch.

Harry cupped the back of her head with his hands, holding her close, as he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue between her lips. Her hands crept up to rest around his neck, playing with the tips of his hair. He shuddered. He needed her closer, with fewer clothes on.

Their kiss broke slowly as they pulled back together. After so many dreams of it, it was easy to pick out the emotions in her gaze. She did want him; it wasn't just because of the spell and the possession. Here now, with both of them in their right minds- she wanted him.

The thought kept repeating in his mind, giving him a giddy feeling of relief. He leaned forward and rubbed his nose against hers, causing her to laugh.

Yes! He did make her happy.

The moment had a warm glow. The heat was there- he absolutely wanted to go to bed with her. But as much as Harry wanted that, he was also content to be there, braced against the back of the couch, staring into her eyes.

She pulled back slowly, like it was just as hard for her as it was for him. "I have some books I wanted to show you."

"Oh, I brought loads of them in my trunk, that's why it's so big." He waved his wand at his trunk and the books piled out and resized, creating a large stack on the coffee table in front of them.

"Wow, you got all these to learn about the pregnancy?"

"Yeah. I want to make sure I knew what to expect."

Hermione pulled out a large magical medical text, flipping through the pages until she had it spread half on her lap and half on his.

Harry slid his arm around her shoulders and leaned in close to pay attention to the graphic she was pointing to, realizing she was talking about getting a magical mark tattooed around her hips to promote hers and the baby's health.

How the hell was he supposed to sleep with that on his mind?

October 31st 1998

Room of Requirement

Harry Potter

Hermione giggled as he pulled her under him, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, her legs wrapping around his hips. Harry was too impatient this first time. It had been too long. He reached between her legs, stroking her clit briefly and dipping a finger in to make sure she was wet.

Then he grabbed his cock and guided himself until he barely nudged into her. They looked into each other eyes and smiled, and he thrusted in hard, jerking back violently when Hermione screamed.

Her eyes were squeezed shut, and a tear leaked out. He looked down and noticed the smear of blood.

Fuck.

December 6th, 1998

Hogwarts -Hermione's rooms

Harry Potter

Harry bolted up on the couch where he had been sleeping and stared at the doorway to Hermione's room.

I um wasn't… uh sexually active before that…

He thought of how completely undone she had been that morning after Halloween.

Fuck.