Chapter 5 Last Night
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the gang... JKR does. And Oh how I do envy her....
~*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*~
~*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*~
Ginny stretched languorously. Her already relaxed muscles tensed up and then released in there traditional way of waking up every morning. Burying herself even deeper in her comforter, she thought of her dream.
Her shadow-lover had visited her again. Ginny couldn't remember how many times this has happened but it began on her 2nd year in Hogwarts. He would visit her in her dreams and made her feel all sorts of wonderful things. The catch was she didn't know what he looked like. He would forever be in the shadows. Touching her here and there. She would feel his presence all around her and feel so comforted and special.
Ginny smiled again. Last night had been different. She had touched him back in turn. Lithe body, like a cat and strong wide shoulders under her very fingers. His arms were sleekly toned and his strong, muscular hands caressed her arms and all down her sides and back. She had felt his blonde locks fall on her cheek as he had kissed her tenderly. His face, still in the shadows and kissed down her body....
Ginny jumped up. The alarm that Ginny had set (A muggle invention that her father charmed to Yell out the time) went off.
Her roommates always left her in the morning because of what happened the first time they tried waking her up. She had hexed their hair purple. Its not that Ginny wasn't a morning person. It was just Fred and George had pulled their best pranks in the morning as Ginny, sleeping, the easiest target.
Six-thirty! Six-thirty! Wake up, Ginny! Six-thirty- Ginny hit the off button. With a deep sigh she fell back in her bed. And groaned. Ginny remembered the tour she had promised the Slytherin girl. She didn't know what possessed her to befriend a Slytherin. Everyone knew they were bad news. However, Ginny did sense that she was different from the rest of them. First of all the first thing to come out of her mouth was a greeting and not an insult. And the other was that Ron liked her.
Ginny got up and padded to her chest of clothing she hadn't bothered to unpack. There are no classes today and so they can wear whatever they wanted. Picking up her wand, she floated all her outfits up and inspected them. On her desk, her Witch's Teen Magazine was open. She floated that to her. It was for the fall styles. Dark browns and cremes were what the fall season called for. Frowning as if concentrating, Ginny studied her small but well equipped wardrobe.
She had one short skirt that came to mid thigh that was a plaid of dark brown and forest green that had a thin red peeking out from here and there. She had another skirt that came to mid calf that was a bit boring. Ginny tilted her head a bit and looked down on the magazine. The magazine had the same type of skirt that they were displaying on the page. The flowing movements of it said that it was made of lighter, gauzy material. Looking back to her choice number two, she decided that she might be able to doctor it. With that decided she put all of her other clothes in the trunk but kept the shirts afloat.
After putting all the reds and other colors that weren't creme colored in the trunk, she studied again her choices. A peasant shirt that was tight across her chest that she got as a present from Hermione and a flow-y shirt that had the same material as the skirt she had planned on doctoring. Not even thinking twice, Ginny picked item #2.
Ginny looked at the skirt and shirt. With a flick of her wand, she had transfigured her skirt to look exactly as the one in the picture. Dramatic was the word she named the outfit. Ginny looked at the clock. 7:00! She needed boots! Consulting the magazine again, she found a pair of boots that would have accented her outfit perfectly! She dug around her trunk and spied a pair of old boots she wore gardening. With a final flick of her wand, she had the outfit that HARRY couldn't possibly resist!
Ginny heard a knock on her door and charmed her outfit on her body and did a quick up-do with her hair. Soft wisps framed her face. Satisfied with that effect she answered the door.
"Hermione! Good Morning! Come in! Check out my outfit!" Ginny pulled Hermione in. They had become best buddies after the makeover both of them had received from Fleur. Hermione herself wasn't looking bad. Actually Hermione was also dressed to impress. She wore pants that were a dark mahogany brown that came to mid-calf that had an intricate design on the ends. The flowing sheer-like soft pink shirt that came to her elbows touched it up and whispered romantic. When Hermione moved, the shirt flowed and settled down around adding to the effect. The highlights in her hair caught the sunlight coming in from the window. The effect was a natural sort of sexiness. Natures child.
Hermione looked at her and smiled. Ginny did look older and more sophisticated. It was obvious to Hermione that she was trying to impress somebody. Her smiled dimmed a bit. She knew who that somebody was. Shaking herself from the depressing subject, she passed a message Ron had told her to give to Ginny.
"You look great, Ginny. I love those boots. But anyways Ron told me to tell you that you need to be at the great hall soon, if you wanted to have breakfast and meet Minako on time." Hermione looked uncertain when she said Minako. She didn't know who she was and didn't know how they met. Ginny, seeing this, explained.
"Yup. She's from Hong Kong. Remember the three transfers that were sorted last night?"Hermione nodded. "Well she's one of them and she got sorted into Slytherin house and I offered to show her around."
When Hermione heard that Minako was a Slytherin, her eyes widened. Gryffindor and Slytherin friends? No way. Not possible. How did they meet anyway?
Ginny read Hermione's face and decided to go on.
"Yeah. Ron likes her. You know likes her. And anyway, she's not like the rest of them. She's nice. Not like Malfoy." Ginny said the last with disgust. The reminder of what transpired between them got the fire in her going again and she didn't want to be in such a foul mood.
Ginny took one last look at her outfit and nodded. They walked out of Ginny's room and into the common room.
Ron had been sitting on the lounge chair when both Hermione and Ginny walked down the stairs. His back was turned from the stairs when he saw all the other Gryffindor boys stand up straighter or try to sit up taller. More than one of them had swiped their hand through their hair and tried to fix their shirts. Ron was confused. Some of the girls were sitting down on the chairs with a look of either envy of hate, or both. He looked at Harry across from him and saw something only described as fire in his eyes. He was looking at something right behind him. Ron turned around and his eyes widened.
Hermione and Ginny came down the stairs, throwing back their heads and laughing. Ron was unaffected because Hermione was his friend and Ginny was his sister! But as he watched everyone else react, he decided to study them more. Tilting his head, he saw that what they were wearing weren't bad. Ron frowned. Ginny's outfit was way to snug and suggested way to many things about what exactly was underneath it. His frown got deeper when he noticed that Hermione's shirt could be seen through when the light hit it at the right angle. Fortunately, she wore a shirt underneath to cover the right parts and Ron's frown lessened. But still, Ron thought that they looked way too feminine to be allowed out of the rooms.
They walked towards Ron and Harry. They weren't aware at how everyone had reacted to their obvious change. In fact, they had way too much in their mind to care. Hermione was still worried about Harry and Ginny was wondering what Harry thought about her to even start to care about anyone else. Ron however was way too insensitive to notice that Ginny had taken care to dress especially nice. The only thing Ron thought that it showed way too much skin.
"Ginny! What are you wearing? Go upstairs and change." Ron's frowned deepened. He couldn't believe that she thought she could go out in that.
Ginny's jaw dropped open. She recovered fast enough. She looked right about ready to explode.
"What's wrong with this outfit?! This is perfectly fine!" Ginny all but shouted. Ron could have sworn that he heard some grumbling agreement from the male student body. This got him even madder.
"You ARMS are Bare! What do you think Mum would say?" Ron thought he had brought up a good point.
Ginny couldn't believe it. Her brother was making a scene about her clothes. Her clothes, which she especially picked, would have been perfectly appropriate anywhere else. Ginny had never been this embarrassed in her life.
"MUM bought this shirt for me!" She spotted Parvati sitting on a chair, reading a Teen Magazine that looked suspiciously like hers." Look at Parvati. She's wearing almost the same shirt I am... and her arms are bare. Why is it ok for her to wear one and not me?!"
"Because you are my sister!"
"SO? I'm a GIRL. And a grown up one at that! Geez Ron, I expect this from Percy but not you! Come one Loosen up! We are supposed to meet Mina in a half-hour. Drop this or we are going to miss her..." The last words were said threateningly. Ginny had enough of Ron's lecturing. He usually wasn't like that. He didn't care what she wore. To him, she was just another brother that was a little smaller than they were. She didn't even know that he was aware about girl outfits. With all this playing, she had decided to use her trump card. And it worked.
Ron looked like he had an internal conflict. To let Ginny get away with it and meet Mina or drag Ginny up the stairs and force her to change. The first choice would mean three happy people. Second means three UN-happy people. The choice was easy.
"Fine. But if you ever decide to wear something like that again, I'm going to take a picture and owl mum. Let see what she says about that."
Ginny let that one go since Ron sounded like he was consenting. Ginny stormed out of the common room, still unaware of the stares that followed her.
Ron was at her heels grumbling and staring daggers at the guys looking at his sister. He had a plan of talking to all of them separately and threatening a few to a torturous death.
Hermione was giggling. The show both Weasleys had been displaying was comical. It resembled one of those muggle shows where the overprotective brother notices that his sister has grown up and could finally go on dates. The result would be embarrassing attempts at warning off all male attention through death threats and the like. She sat down where Ron had been lounging.
Harry hadn't said a word to her since last night. The events of last night still between them. Hermione remembered everything, every painful and exhilarating detail.
~*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*~
Last Night...
~*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*~
Hermione ran after Harry. She was so afraid that he might do something drastic. He had been acting so weirdly. He had changed, she knew that. The innocent glitter that had been in abundance in his eyes since first year had been fading. Today, and all throughout that summer it had been gone.
Hermione was afraid that Harry might be slowly withdrawing from them, the group. She had read from somewhere that after a traumatic event, a person would go to desperate measures to stop remembering or will separate themselves from the people that remind of it. Hermione knew that Harry had more than his fair share of these kinds of events but Hermione wouldn't be able to handle it if he left them. Left her. She felt responsible about what had happened to Harry. She was their unofficial watcher when at Hogwarts. She felt guilty at not being able to protect him or not even be able to carry part of his burden. She could see his tense back way ahead of her. She called out to him.
"Harry! Wait up!" Hermione saw him stop, and look to the side. He waited for her. Hermione took that as a sign that at least he wouldn't mind hanging out with them.
She finally caught up to him. They walked to the Gryffindor Tower in silence. Their footsteps echoed out, each step a reminder that no one was speaking. Breaking the silence, Hermione decided to dive into the heart of the problem.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione had stepped in front of him, stopping him. He looked down straight into her eyes, and a piece of her heart fell in to the dark abyss. He looked so alone. His green eyes intense with anguish. The urge to wrap her arms around him and fill him with her love that was hidden from him was so overwhelming that she had to clasp her books closer to herself.
Harry broke their stare. He stepped around Hermione and kept walking.
"Just leave it alone Hermione. You can't help me." Not in the way you want Harry said silently to himself.
Hermione had watched his back get farther ahead of her and she ran to him again. Had she been any weaker, she would have ran from him in tears. That possibility was still in the wings when she caught up with him. He had spoken the password to the Gryffindor Common room (Butterbeer) and was entering when Hermione called out to him again. She wasn't going to let him suffer alone again. Not this time. Her heart broke every time she had seen him drink the dreamless sleep potion in their fourth year. He had to take it frequently, being bothered with the images of Diggory. She was afraid that a repeat of it this year was going to take place.
"Harry, please, talk to me. We don't talk anymore. Why did you storm out on us like that? You've been acting differently since summer ended."
Harry turned on her, legs braced apart and eyes shooting off green sparks. In the back of Hermione's mind, she had gushed in appreciation. Every fiber of her being was aware of all the energy he was controlling.
"You want to know why I left the table, huh? Because I don't feel like I belong anymore." Hermione couldn't believe that he was finally talking to her and not hiding a single emotion. Totally open. But everyone else had noticed too and was looking at them. Hermione grabbed Harry and dragged him into his and Ron's room. She resumed their conversation.
"Don't belong, Harry? But we are you're friends. You're bestfriends. How can we possibly make you feel that way?" Hermione was totally confused.
"When you and Ginny was teasing Ron, it was like, the way we start every year. Everyone is happy and joking around. Everyone was carefree. Aren't you guys aware that Voldemort is out there? and other evil things are all but ready to get rid of us, white hats? Because of me, everyone is in danger. When everyone was laughing and having a good time, I felt like a complete fraud. How can I be happy? Everyone is in danger. I should be studying like crazy, preparing myself. Protecting everyone. Protecting you because all this happened because of me. The Dursley's were right, I don't deserve to be happy." By this time Harry had turned his head away from Hermione, his body facing the window, afraid to see the agreement in her eyes. He was startled when he heard a sob from behind him.
Hermione thought that this was worse than she thought. Harry had taken the whole burden of the school, the whole wizarding community, the whole world in to his hands. She couldn't stand to hear the hurt and anguish in his voice, his stance, his eyes. His back was tensed, as if expecting a blow. Hermione's emotions spilled forth.
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have been there when you were hurt. I should have figured out who had put you in the Triwizard Tournament....about Moody... Crouch..." By the end, Hermione was sobbing too hard to speak. Choked sounds from her throat. She had put her face in her hands and didn't notice Harry jerk and turn around.
Harry couldn't believe that Hermione felt that way. She was always the strong one. How can she say it was her fault? It was Voldemort's fault, no one else. How can she even think that? Before Harry knew what he was doing, he had wrapped his arms around her and led her to his bed. They both sat there, Hermione's sobs receding, and Harry's arms wrapped around her.
At some point Hermione had stopped crying and she sat in his lap, reveling in the warmth of his arms. Before she knew what she was doing she had wrapped her own arms around his waist. They sat there for they didn't know how long.
Hermione's face was buried into his neck, smelling his cologne that made her heart beat faster. Pulling a little away from him, she looked into his eyes. An inch gap was between their lips. She looked down at his lips then up at him.
~
Harry couldn't believe that he had Hermione in his arms, warm and pliant. He hugged her more to himself. He could feel her heartbeat in tune to his. He felt her breath and lips on his neck and felt a jolt. He didn't know if he could control his response any longer. Then he felt her pulling away. His arms wanted to resist and pull her even closer but she didn't move far enough to cause such a reaction. He looked at her. Harry felt desire course through him. He wanted to crush his lips to hers. Fill her with his tongue. He wanted to be close to her, so close he couldn't tell the difference from his pulse to hers.
She looked at his lips and looked at him. She didn't move. Harry couldn't stand it anymore. He kissed her.
~
Hermione felt the arms holding her shift, she almost cried out, thinking he was going to let go of her. Instead her lips were covered with his lips. She sighed. Harry was kissing her. After that thought, all else failed to register in her mind's eye.
Had it been anyone else, she would have felt crushed, instead all the parts that were incredibly sensitive was pressed up all against Harry's firm chest. She had wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt his tongue asking for entry and she conceded.
He entered her mouth with slow precision. She placed her hand into the back of his head and buried it in his hair. She pushed him to go faster. She could have sworn she heard him growl. After that, his tongue and hers were in an intimate dance that neither of them could stop. He lay down and pulled her on top of him, still kissing. Hermione pulled him over her and ended flat on her back.
Harry held himself up by his elbows, lost himself in her. Hermione couldn't stop touching him. She brought her legs apart and drew her knees up. She found that she was able to touch Harry better this way and the weight he put in just the right spot made her hotter.
Harry felt her shift and found his member right against her. She was wearing a skirt that had ridden all the way up her waist. He was right against her in the most wonderful way. Against his own control, he rubbed himself against her slowly. He felt her stiffen and relax, shuddering. He pulled away from her and started kissing her neck. He found the spot right below her ear that made her gasp and lift her hips to his staff, rolling in away that had him shuddering. He took his right hand and made to unbutton her shirt when he heard someone(sounding that they had just entering the common room) yelling his name out, looking for him.
It sounded like Ron.
Harry groaned. Hermione stiffened, hearing the same thing. She looked up at him, wondering what to do. Harry knew that Ron must still feel something for Hermione and Harry himself wondered what the hell happened. He hadn't ever felt this caught up in a kiss. Once in awhile, Parvati would come in here and try something. At one point she had succeeded in kissing him but that was it. It hadn't feel at all like this one had.
He could still feel her, wet against him. He had the urge to put a locking charm on the door so that Ron wouldn't have been able to come in but he knew that whatever happened here between Hermione and himself needed to be talked about.
Hermione was thinking about the same thing. Well trying to. Harry's delicious weight on top of her was making her think of things that shouldn't be talked about. Mentally shaking her head, she nudged Harry to get off of her. She could hear Ron coming up the stairs. Harry thankfully obliged and she pulled down her skirt, blushing. She sat up and fixed her hair with her wand. In the dim light she looked at the mirror. She didn't know what to do about her reddened lips but everything else was in place.
She could feel Harry looking at her. She didn't regret at all what happened between them. She had felt Harry shift and sit besides her. His arm around her waist. He kissed her cheek.
"We are going to have to talk about this, Hermione. I don't regret what happened right now but we still need to talk." He huskily whispered in her ear. Something in Hermione glowed at what he said. She looked up at him, since he was so much bigger than she was. She smiled. She didn't know that Harry was more than tempted to bring her back into his arms with her smile. Her reddened-kissed lips made her even more sexy and wanted.
"Harry, I don't regret this either. But we do need to talk. There are a lot of things I have to tell you." Hermione got up and kissed him on the lips. A peck and walked out. Ron was about to open the door when Hermione beat him to it. She greeted Ron a good night and gave him a traditional motherly peck on the cheek. She could have floated to her room at how light she felt.
~*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*~
~*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*~
Hermione, however, felt differently in the morning. In the light of day, everything was exposed to the garish light. Last night she had felt abandon. Freedom from rules but right now, to talk about what had happened last night felt wrong. Like by talking about and taking everything apart and studying it was... wrong and sad. Last night had been beautiful to her but if she talked about it, it would feel dirty.
Harry felt almost the same way. They had to talk about it because this was about their friendship and about what they were willing to do about it.
They sat in front of each other. Not moving. Looking at everything else but at themselves.
"Harry I-"
"Hermione, you see-"
They had both spoken at the same time. They looked down and blushed. Harry motioned her to go ahead. Hermione was relieved but felt the weight of pain about what she had to say. She knew last night was totally about animal instincts. She had read somewhere that people instinctively get the need to get intimate when they are in an emotional upheaval. On her part, however, it was all that she wanted, to be with Harry. But she wasn't sure about him and she didn't want any confusion on his or her part. Hurting each other wasn't what she was looking for. Her decision to ignore last night was painful and she had almost run into Harry's room to ask him if maybe there was another road to be taken. Unfortunately, Hermione knew that he wouldn't have wanted her in normal circumstances. She closed her eyes briefly to keep the tears at bay. She kept her eyes cast down. She spoke as if she had rehearsed this speech over and over.
"Harry. About Last Night. I think that we shouldn't have a repeat. We were too emotional and we had just came from a long trip. We were tired and weren't thinking very clearly. I still don't regret what happened but I think it's in our best interest to just remain friends. I will always love you like I do Ron as my best friends. I hope that last night hasn't changed anything."
Hermione didn't see the deadening of Harry's eyes because she had looked down, the way his hands had stopped grasping each other in excitement. The lips that had so tenderly kiss hers turn down and made his whole face a whole blank. After speaking her mind and ignoring her heart, she sat there, back straight and hands clasps together, trying not to bringing them to her face to cry. She would have rejoiced from joy if Harry had just said something about what she said was just a bunch of bull crap.
He didn't say anything. They sat both opposite from each other, not mature enough to see that the both of them were miserable. Harry finally spoke.
"I was thinking the same thing." Harry's voice didn't give away anything of his true feelings. Earlier on, he was ready to shout to the world that He was Hermione's and she was His. But when she said that she didn't feel the same way, Harry felt like the floor had disappeared and he had been dropped in a dark and hellish abyss. Then Harry thought to himself Of course, how could Hermione possibly love me? I had put her endanger and by associating her to me even more she is even deeper in danger! She was always the smart one. She shouldn't love me. I don't deserve it.
Hermione's soul cried out. She loved him! Let him see! Let him see! But her mind, her ever-reasonable mind told her it wasn't possible. They were just friends.
She pushed all negative thoughts aside and stood up. She wasn't going to let her stupid emotions get in the way of showing Harry a good time. It wasn't every day that they found themselves alone without Ron who would probably talk about Quidditch the whole time or talk about the love of his life. Although Harry and Ron thought she hadn't know about Ron's little time period when he had been 'in-love' with her, she did. She didn't really care. Ron was too flighty about his feelings and she already was in-love with Harry.
Harry seeing Hermione got up, looked up at her. Hermione had a determined expression on her face. She held out her hand.
"Come on Harry, let's go get some breakfast. I heard Ron's in-love with a Slytherin and I need to see who this unfortunate creature is." Hermione was so relieved to hear Harry chuckle. It was a sign that not many things have changed between them.
They both got up and walked out of the common room, just in time to eat breakfast.
~*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*~
~*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*~
A/N: Well... this was.... I don't know exactly... I think it borders on PG-13 and NC-17... I'm not sure... it doesn't have sexual intercourse so I guess not... but it was pretty close... hmm... oh well... here's CH. 5... chapter six is already being made but being delayed because the document manager in ff.net was down and I want to pace myself. LOL. Hmm if there are any sexually frustrated people right now after reading this... I have one NC-17 fic that I wrote (Strangers - a short story). Its a little quickie for you guys if its in great need hahaha. ^-^ Well... I just have one warning. This will become a NC-17 ficcie later on... like expect it in chapter 10 or 9. So this is ONE MAJOR WARNING.... bottom line: PWP ok? well I'm out...I still need to figure out a title for this and I need to find some insults to toss out at the gang and draco... my aching brain! well Have a good read! Oh yeah... Flipinagrace1023@cs.com... still looking for a beta-reader...
-Asia