Title: Speechless

Pairing: Harry/Hermione

Author: Gwendolyn

Rating: PG-13 for some innuendo

E-mail: simplypumpkinpieyahoo.com

Feedback: Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Jo Rowling. I'm only borrowing them.

Summary: There's only one thing that she wants to hear, but can he find the words?

He looked at the woman who stood pensively before him, a hidden light in her eyes causing her to glow like an ethereal angel, and the words previously located in his mouth evaporated into the sweet, heavenly air swirling about them. Gazing upon her, in an instance so intimate as this, he could scarcely recall the precocious youth with the bushy mane that he once knew so many years ago. Like flipping through the pages of a tattered scrapbook, scenes and images from days gone by came flooding back into his mind like the ocean tide, sending waves of nostalgia through him until he crashed upon the shore of reality and once again returned to the radiant beauty that anxiously waited his response. But the words were still lodged in his throat that was parched of eloquence in the barren desert of his mind that struggled for even the mirage of truth as the sands of time passed slowly by in this space.

A soft whispering sound escaped his lips, and he vaguely recognized it as being the beautiful melody of her name, and he felt it echoing in his mind, reverberating until it crescendoed into a wonderfully harmonious symphony. Nothing else could penetrate his thoughts than that enthralling orchestra, until that radiant beauty closed the space, the seemingly unfathomable distance between them slowing shortening, and he caught a glimpse of her eyes. Two cinnamon orbs that held an ancient wisdom that contrasted with her youth, making her seem as though she could penetrate his mind with her stare, searching the depths of his soul and scanning through its contents as though he were a long forgotten novel, written especially for her to divulge and dissect. In moments like these, they were the only inhabitants of this world; all other humanity forgotten and tossed aside, as all the natural beauty of this earth existed in this very spot, in this woman.

His shaking breath stopped in his chest, and he caught the slightest trace of an amazingly sweet and gentle aroma wafting through the surrounding atmosphere. Springtime floated through the entranced abyss of his mind as the scent of lilacs floated around him, and he could practically feel the radiance of the glowing morning sun casting its first light upon his cheeks as he basked in the glow. He breathed deep, catching a soft musk that he knew was unique to his angel intermingling with the delicate flower fragrance and he could feel himself rising into the clouds as he made his way to heaven. Oh, sweet heavenly bliss that he would surely cast off for the chance to spend even but a fleeting moment in her loving embrace, as she whispered words of eternal love and devotion into his willing ear. So tempting was she, this forbidden fruit, of which he would rather suffer damnation and indescribable torment than not taste. Her sweet nectar coating his throat, small rivers of it flowing down his chin, as the ground would give way leaving him to slowly fall into the blackened depths of hell, fighting the horrors before him whilst licking her still sweet juices of his lips, causing his mouth to thirst, and his body to heave a strangled cry of desperation disappearing into the solid walls of his cell. Such a miniscule price for such sweet, heavenly sin.

One could only imagine what divine actions she could perform, what powers she possessed, and his mind drifted off into reverie at the mere possibility. Such a powerful mind lay behind those sparkling eyes, and the tantalizing illicit knowledge it may contain sent a blinding light of electricity traveling the course of his body, flowing through his every vein and fiber and resting in a tight knot just below his navel. Oh, sweet sin indeed.

Slowly creeping back into reality once more, his mind seemingly unwilling to let go of the provocative daydream encircling him. But his seraph still gazed upon him, expectant of him to break the pounding silence that engulfed them. Countless words and phrases swirled around in his head and he desperately reached out trying to grasp but one of them, any of them, just to fill this seemingly eternal void. Clinging tightly to the only words that could fully express the depths of the emotions flowing through them, he swallowed the suffocating knot resting in the back of his throat, and breathlessly spoke the words he'd been aching to speak; that she'd been longing to hear.

"I love you." The ever-present glow around her escalated into a practically blinding plateau, as her slender arms flung around his lanky frame, her hands grasping at the nape of his neck, fingers tangling in has wild mass of black hair, her lips pressed softly against his. He knew this was bliss, this moment, this place, this woman, and he challenged the flames of hell to overtake him, to seize his soul and cast into the dark. This ecstasy, this decadent, yet gratifying sin, was well worth it.