A/N:

Freckled-Angel, and Issa2, and JCtigerwolf4e, and Isabella Grace, and baby sparkles, and Maxx77, and dawndrina, and ears91,a nd Tom Lovers, and shdurrani, and gaps, and Silver Streak, and Obsessed4, Angelic Demon16, and the five of spades, and hermioneGreen- Thanks!

Burgundy - More on that later.

John - You don't remember ... it was the best night of my life ... :P

Keebler-elmo - funny you should mention that.

Nutty AL - Ron knows and he's on his way to your house right now.

Julie - see note below

NasserPotter - action coming!

neurotic bitch - yep, I remember my teen years with angst and sexual trepidation.

American Mione - Ron is a character, isn't he.

MystyKitty - Who says he wasn't? I think he had more important things on his mid at the time, but you couldn't have known that until he shows back up.

Now I want to share a little flame I received just before posting it is from a little twat (pardon my language) name of Annie who doesn't have the courage to leave her email so I get to share her flame with the world.

Apparently I am I great writer but this story is "Stupid, sucks, unrealistic, and too fictional" oh, and I almost forgot ... "(she) doesn't mean to criticize."

Well, Annie, First we are going to start off with a little spelling lesson. If you are going to critique someone's work I think you need to have the minimum in schooling in order to qualify. Your spelling is awful, even taking into account your poor use of "net speak." So back up and return to third grade when you learned how to spell the word "Writer". It is not spelled "writter" "Styel" is actually spelled "Style" "Thum" is spelled "Them" I digress because the rest is just as idiotic.

Her main rant is that I have H/Hr getting married at 16 and this sort of thing just doesn't happen in the 21st century. Wake Up! It happens all the time. Perhaps not in your little corner of Poduck, North Dakota, where the population is 3.

The story is not about them getting married. It's about them taking responsibility for their actions you ignorant twit.

And this story has nothing to do with America. It takes place mostly in the United Kingdom (Scotland and England) so I don't really care if your Poduck town has too many 18 year old mothers or even if you are one of them. Stop trying to stuff your value system up my ass.

Anyway if you are up for a good laugh you might want to check out the gutless wonder's message on the reviews page (Chap 38)

**For future chapters (when ff.net is fried and acting weird) I am now posting at Portkey.org and at my site. Check the bio page for addys. though I am going through a editing phase and catching up at Portkey."

READ ON!

Chapters 39

After returning to their rooms for the evening and Hermione having access to her potions ingredients for a quick headache remedy they each soaked in a long warm bath and then settled in for the night. The torches were down low, casting soft flickering lights around the room when Hermione snuggled up under Harry's arm and laid her head on his chest.

"Harry," she whispered lightly while flicking a loose thread on one of the buttons on his night clothes.

"Hmm?"

She steeled up her nerve, "Do you find me ... attractive?"

His breathing stopped for a moment and then continued. "Course I do. You know that."

"Then ... why won't you ..."

"Mione, I promised your mum. You know that, too."

She frowned. "Well, we don't have to ... do ... that, but there are other things we can do."

Harry wasn't in the least bit ignorant of the other things couples could do. With locker room talk and just general talk amongst boys one understands that it isn't the only thing there is when it comes to fooling around. But he wasn't so sure that girls also knew those little tidbits of information.

Granted, the other night when Hermione was about to do the thing she was going to do, he got the impression that she knew a lot more than he thought. She was queen of research and he thought it stupid of himself not to realize when she said that she had read books on the subject, it might have been a little more than the romance novels that he had seen his Aunt read on occasion.

His voice took on a whispery quality, "Like what."

Her head moved up and her lips found his. "Like this."

She kissed him lightly then pulled away and kissed his cheek, "And this."

They trailed his jaw line to his neck, "And this."

He felt her teeth scrape against his neck softly and her hand at the buttons of his nightshirt. "Maybe a little of this."

Her hand slipped inside raked his chest lightly with sharp nails.

"Uh-huh," he sighed.

Hermione's mouth stopped working on his neck and he felt her warm breath at his ear. "Does this feel good?'

"Mmm-huh," he replied.

He watched as she threw her leg over his and rode on top of him, taking his head in her hands and sealing the movement with another kiss.

Warm thoughts ran through his head at the feel of her body on top of his. He ran his hands up her thighs not realizing that her floor-length flannel nightgown had ridden up and he was touching the soft bare skin underneath.

She broke their kiss, "I like the feel of your hands on me, Harry. Put them wherever you want, okay?"

He nodded and her lips found his again, but this time with more of a purpose.

After he felt her smooth thighs he pushed onward and upward to her hips and was somewhat shocked to find she wasn't wearing any sort of underwear.

She's been planning this. The little minx.

Before he knew what was happening she sat up and grasped the hem of her nightgown and lifted it up over her head, tossing it to the side of the bed. He was shocked, stunned, terrified, in awe, excited, and overwhelmed by the look of her.

Hermione's hair looked wild and windswept with her eyes sparkling and eager. A devilish smile crossed her face, "Do you like what you see, Harry?"

He gulped. Harry knew he didn't stand a chance of looking suave, so he tossed the idea out and just nodded.

She smiled. "I want to feel you against me, Harry. Take off your nightshirt."

She helped him unbutton the rest and pulled him up, gazing at his chest while he rid himself of the shirt.

Hermione heard his breathing starting to pick up and waited until his eyes caught hers.

"I love you, Harry."

He smiled. "I love you, too."

"I know."

*****************************

After they played for what seemed like hours, Hermione fell asleep in his arms, their night clothes forgotten on the floor. Harry still had on his pajama bottoms as he was instructed to keep them on during their playtime ... just in case. In Hermione's own words, there was no point in unwrapping the present if she couldn't play with the toy.

Harry was exhausted and still excited at the same time. The friction of her body had brought him so close to exploding so many times he had lost count, but ultimately there was a point where he drifted off to sleep.

What felt like moments later he was awakened by the now familiar feeling of a warm tongue running up and down his chest pausing briefly to nibble at his nipples.

"If you keep doing that we'll never make it out of this bed."

Hermione's head popped up from under the covers with a satisfied smile on her wet lips. "I just want to make sure you are thinking about me all day."

The uncomfortable straining of his pajama bottoms was proof that he would be doing exactly that.

The palm of her hand instinctively found his problem by slipping underneath the waist band and firmly grasping the situation. His breath caught. She stroked the length only twice and removed her hand albeit reluctantly.

Hermione moved slowly up his body and let her breasts trail against his skin ever-so-lightly until they reached the vicinity of his mouth. At the first flick of his tongue she hopped aside and jumped out of bed.

"Time to go teach your students, Harry," she giggled and ran off to change into her own clothes.

*************************

His morning constitution was nearly impossible in the condition he was in for certain things would not ... soften. And it was with great effort he was able to complete dressing and make his way to breakfast. He looked around for Hermione, but she had already left their room.

Harry thanked, for the thousandth time that morning, whoever insisted that wizard's wear robes. It made walking in public that much easier considering his condition.

"You okay, Harry?"

Ron came up from behind him.

"Um ... yeah. Must have pulled something yesterday when we were running from the Death Eater." He faked rubbing his calf as he limped along.

Ron shrugged. "Ought to get Hermione to rub it for you. One of the good things about having a girlfriend is they do a lot of rubbing."

Harry tried to banish the thought of Hermione's body from his mind. "Yeah, good idea."

They entered the Great Hall amongst all of the noise of an average morning. Once he sat down next to his fiancé things began to ease off a bit and he relaxed. The familiar squeeze of her hand against his thigh was reassuring and almost relaxing.

"Sleep well, Harry?" she asked.

He nodded, "Uh-huh."

A cup of coffee was waiting for him and he sipped at it hoping he would have enough energy to make it through the day.

"Are you going to have enough time to stop by the headmaster's office and show Phineas the stones I picked out?"

He looked at his watch and down to the food, knowing he didn't have much of an appetite and nodded. "Just coffee this morning."

"Stones?" Ginny asked. "What stones?"

Hermione bounced in her seat. "Show her."

He reached into his cloak pocket and withdrew the velvet bag from yesterday.

"Harry's making me a new ring. Professor Dumbledore said we might be able to rid ourselves of this one and live a more normal life."

She didn't go into the details of the possession, skirting the issue entirely.

He poured the three stones into his hand and opened it for Ginny and Ron to see.

"Blimey, Harry!"

"Are they real?" asked Ginny excitedly.

Hermione nodded smiling, "Which one do you like?"

She snatched the ruby from his hand and sat there staring at it. "It's beautiful!"

Ron took the white diamond. "Is it true that diamonds are the hardest substance?"

He was about to test his theory on the table, but Ginny stopped him with a smack of her hand. "These are not for messing around with, Ron."

"I like this one the best," Hermione said picking up the red tinted stone."

Seamus Finnegan leaned over with much interest. "Can I see that?"

She handed him the stone and he held it up to the light of the morning sun.

"That's a Fire Diamond!" he exclaimed.

"A what?" asked Harry.

"Me dad's a gemologist. Taught me everythin' he knows about the subject. This is a Fire Diamond." he handed it back to Hermione. "It's very rare."

She looked at it again, "I want this one Harry. Make sure Phineas says it's okay, please."

She leaned in and whispered seductively into his ear. "Please?"

Last night replayed itself in his head and his brief relief had come to an end. And he wasn't so sure Ron saying that Diamonds were the hardest thing in the world was so correct. He held out the velvet bag and collect the three stones, took one last sip of his coffee and stood up slowly.

"You ought to see Madam Pomfrey if that doesn't get any better, mate."

Hermione giggled and Harry nodded. "I'll see you all later."

**************************

"Good morning, Harry."

"Morning, sir." He was still clutching the velvet bag. "I've got some gems I wanted to show Phineas if I'm not disturbing you."

He shook his head, "Not at all. I am just catching up on a bit of paperwork. Go right ahead."

"Bring them over here, Potter," he heard from the portrait.

Harry emptied the bag in his hand and showed Phineas.

"Hmm, good choices. All three will suffice, though I wouldn't waste a Fire Diamond on this. Too valuable."

"A Fire Diamond, you say?" Dumbledore broke away from his paperwork to take a look.

Harry held his hand out and Dumbledore picked the Fire Diamond out. "Very nice."

He opened a draw of his desk and withdrew a magnifying glass that had to be the size of his head and held it up over the Diamond. "Very nice, indeed. Virtually flawless."

He place the glass back in the drawer, "Phineas is correct in saying that the Fire Diamond is very valuable. However if I know Miss Granger I supposed this is the one she has picked for the ring."

Harry smiled and nodded. "She didn't know what it was when she picked it out of the box. I think she chose the Ruby because it's part of Gryffindor colors and the diamond because ... well it's a diamond."

Dumbledore smiled softly under his silver beard, "And did you pick up anything else while you were in the vault, Harry?"

"Don't worry, we learned our lesson the first time. Remus and Tonks have separated the magical items into a box by themselves. Remus said he'd help figure out what they did later and not to touch them until then."

Dumbledore nodded, "Good advice."

Harry looked at his watch, "I've got to run. Class starts in fifteen minutes."

"Tonight, Potter," chided Phineas.

Harry nodded, "I've already got all the rest of the materials ready. I'll see you after my Transfiguration lesson."