A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! Since, as some of you
know, this is my first fic, it was a very exciting experience to get so
much helpful feedback. In fact, I almost started writing the second
chapter right after I got the first several messages but then decided that
I didn't even know what I was going to make happen yet. Anyways, thank you
all for reading my story, and I hope you enjoy chapter two!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It's all the wonderful ideas of J.K. Rowling, as you all well know by now.
Chapter 2: Caught in the Act
When Harry was sure he had cleaned himself thoroughly, he stepped out of the shower and wrapped himself in a fluffy white towel. He then walked out of the bathroom and picked out a pair of jeans and a yellow and black striped polo shirt that was at least a few sizes too big for him and had a small tear in the front where his corpulent cousin Dudley had stretched out a bit too much and caused the fabric to split on his bulging chubbiness. Naturally, the shirt was then passed down to Harry, whom the Dursleys had decided, didn't deserve to have anything new of his own when they could simply give him Dudley's and Vernon's old, unwanted clothing. After Harry was dressed, he made his way downstairs and scowled to himself at the thought of eating. He had grown quite accustomed to skipping meals over the last few weeks and really didn't feel any need to start eating now.
"Harry, come on over here, dinner's about ready," came the voice of Hermione, cutting off his trail of thought. Regretfully, he followed her voice and found his way to the table. When he came in, she smiled at him and patted the chair next to her, beckoning for him to sit down. He sighed and followed her orders, not wanting to disappoint her more than he already had today.
"Hermione," Harry started but was cut off immediately by the intrusion of Hermione's ambitious voice.
"No Harry, I won't hear of it. While in my house, you will be properly nourished and I won't allow you to continue those terrible eating habits that you have put on yourself this summer. Those god-forsaken people you live with ought to be put behind bars for the little amount, if any, attention they give you. You could have died in that room and they wouldn't have even noticed. But here, you shall have the love that you deserve and as long as I can help it, you shall be healthy," said the pursuing young woman that sat next to him.
The ebony-haired boy of fifteen looked up into the chocolate brown eyes of the intelligent person next to him. "Err, okay Mione but I was just going to thank you for inviting me over to your house." She quickly turned a rosy pink color after he had said this and he instantly regretted it. It hadn't been his intention to embarrass her.
"Oh," was all she could muster up to reply.
"But, I couldn't help but notice. Did you say something about the 'love' that I deserve?" he asked, in a skeptical tone, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.
"Yes Harry, I know you feel that now that your parents and Sirius aren't here that no one on Earth loves or cares about you, but you're quite wrong in that assumption." She instantly felt bad about bringing up his parents and Sirius when she saw the look on his face and paused for a moment. "Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," she said pulling him into a tight embrace and spoke again while still having a protective hold on him. "I know you miss them, but you have to understand that they still love you from above and if they're watching you right now, I don't think they'd be very pleased about the way you're beating yourself up. Besides, what you need to understand is that there are still plenty of people alive and well that would give anything for you to be happy."
Harry chose this time to interrupt her. "That's exactly the problem, Mione. Don't you see? You said it yourself; there are plenty of people who would give anything for me to be happy. I'm tired of people dieing for me!" He said that last part with a bit too much emotion and anger.
Hermione's parents chose this time to enter the room and both looked a little taken aback when they saw the sight in front of them. Their daughter was sitting with Harry at the table, hugging him tightly, and looking at him very worried, with a motherly expression on her face. Harry, however, looked quite angry and sorrowful and appeared to be on the verge of tears. Hermione, noticing that they had entered, quickly pulled away from the hug and thought about what they must be thinking. Her attention however was quickly drawn back to Harry as he stood up and excused himself from the table. Hermione then got up and followed him out of the room, leaving a very confused-looking pair of adults.
"Harry, open the door right now!" she shouted as she reached a locked door to his room. She banged loudly and bickered on about not wanting to break down the door. After about a minute of this, she decided he probably wouldn't have remembered to lock the door to the bathroom, too, so she rushed through her room to the place at the far corner where the entry to the bathroom was. Sure enough, he had forgotten and she peered into his room. Whatever she was expecting, however, she didn't get, because the moment she walked into the dim room, her heart stopped and she took in a gulp of air from the shock.
What met her eyes was a fifteen-year-old boy who was sitting on his bed, facing the wall, bent over a leather-bound photo album. She walked up behind him and brought her arms around his chest in a hug, peering over his shoulder. The picture he was looking at was one of his parents' wedding day. The two figures of Lily and James appeared to be in the happiest day of their live's as they stood with their arms around each other's backs, laughing. Sirius and Remus were on either side of them with bottles of what looked to be fire whiskey, singing gruffly, with merry expressions on their faces.
Harry, now noticing her presence, looked up at her. She now noticed that there were silent tears running down his cheeks. She sat down on the bed next to him and looked deep into his tired, sad eyes.
"Harry, you might not want to hear this right now, but I think it needs to be said. They wouldn't want you to spend your life like this, in grief and pain. They'd want you to be happy, just like I want you to be happy." She paused for a moment, looking deep into his soft pools of green for a trace of emotion, then continued. "They loved you with everything they had and were willing to put your life ahead of their own because they knew that you would be something special. They wanted to give you a life where you could be cheerful and peaceful. No one intended for you to have such a hard life, it just happened. I don't know what your mother was like any more than the next person, but I do know this. She gave her life for you willingly, not because she wanted you to spend your life in sorrow, dreading her death, but because she wanted you to live life to the fullest and know that experience of joyfulness that every human deserves."
"You're right Hermione, you always are, but it sure as hell didn't work out that way, did it? There's no one left on this world to love me any more and make me happy. There's just... no point to live anymore." He trailed off after saying this and Hermione started to cry for him.
"That's where you're wrong, Harry. There is a point to live. There are still plenty of people who love you."
"Who, Hermione, who? Sure, there are plenty of lovesick fans of mine that would just love to have me, but they don't even know who I am. Everybody in the whole damn world only sees 'The boy who bloody lived'!" Harry had gone from sad to angry to a dangerous point where he looked, for a moment, like he would have loved to take his life away right then and there and end the whole thing.
Hermione looked deep inside him, never taking her gaze off of his eyes and then, finally working up the courage to speak, said quietly, "I love you." What she did next took her by surprise just as much as it did Harry. She bent forward slowly and kissed him softly on the lips. That single moment, barely a second long, seemed to send an entire lifetime of love from her lips to his.
When they pulled away, he spoke, "You can't love me, Mione, you'll just end up dead like everyone else, and I won't allow that to happen."
"Harry, look at me, if I was worried about being around you, I wouldn't be your best friend, but the fact is, I am. We have been in life threatening situations before together, and I haven't left yet, have I? And I'm not going to be pushed away now."
She leant forward and kissed him again. Hesitantly, she pulled her hands around him, grazing his back and, eventually, resting in his hair, where she entwined her fingers in the soft, untamable mess that she thought was rather cute. Giving up on changing her mind, he rested his hands on her waste and started to poor some of his own passion into the kiss. It quickly deepened, as he licked her lips, begging for an entrance to the love that he knew would be in her mouth. She parted her lips without hesitation and leaned forward onto him, so that they were lying down on the soft, comfortable bed, unaware of anything going on around them. He nervously put his tongue into her mouth and began to explore every tiny detail of it.
"Ahem..." Shocked, the two of them sprung apart and turned bright crimson, when they realized they weren't alone. In the door way stood Hermione's mother, looking quite shocked at her daughter's actions. "D...dinner's r...ready." Avoiding, an explanation, the two teenage lovers ran out of the room and down the stairs, both looking like they needed a good straightening up, as Harry's hair was even more all over the place than usual, Hermione's shirt was all wrinkled up, and the both of them had swollen lips. When they sat down at the table next to each other, Hermione's dad, who had obviously been waiting for his wife to fetch the 'kids,' looked curiously at the pair of them, wondering why they looked so... guilty. After a moment, his wife walked in, also looking rather surprised and sat down at the other side of the table.
"Okay... clearly, something happened," he said looking very puzzled.
"Your daughter was, err, helping Harry to, err, get used to the, err..."
"Oh for God's sake, we were making out in Harry's room and Mum walked in on us! There, I said it, okay?" Hermione and Harry both looked very embarrassed, but her father only chuckled.
"Well, at least you kids are having fun," he started when he was cut off by a very mean glare from his wife, "I mean, err, what do you think you were doing? Hermione, for God's sake, you are way too young to be doing that. I would have expected better judgment from you. Gosh, letting him kiss you is way out of line. Everyone knows teenagers never do that..."
"Okay, Dan, you've made your point, you obviously don't care that Harry's tongue was halfway down your daughter's throat, but some of us..."
"Mum, just shut up!" The entire table went silent at this last yell from the mouth of perfect Hermione Granger. "I'm not the same little girl anymore and I won't sit here and let you bicker on about me not being old enough, I know exactly what I'm getting myself into and guess what? I like it!" Her mother looked quite taken aback and didn't really no what to say about her teenage daughter's little outburst.
"Oh, well I'll just get the food and we can eat..." She got up and walked hurriedly to the kitchen.
"So, I assume you're enjoying your stay then, Harry?" said Dan.
"Yeah, I am..." he replied hesitantly, still bright red from a few moments ago.
"Well good." Then turning to his daughter, he added, "I'm glad you found a nice young man, sweet heart and your mother is too, she's just a little shocked, she'll come around."
Hermione could say nothing so she just nodded and a moment later, her mother entered the room with the food. After the blessing, they all just sat there and ate quietly, not really knowing what to say. After a very silent and uncomfortable dinner, Harry and Hermione excused themselves from the table.
"I'm sorry I got you in trouble, Mione."
"You didn't, my dad obviously didn't care and like he said, my mum will get over it in a little while. She's just so caught up in this prospect that I'm some kind of perfect little innocent girl who has no faults and never does anything wrong." Hermione said this and then looked up at Harry. He seemed to be very worried about something and by the way he was looking at her, she had a gut feeling it somehow had to do with her.
"But, Hermione, you are perfect," he said. 'Did he just say I was perfect?' she thought, 'I most certainly am not and why is he looking at me like that? It kind of turns me on... Wait, what am I thinking, I can't let him get the best of me like that. But he just keeps staring at me with this hungry look on his face like I'm some kind of prize to be won...'
"Hermione," he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders, "you are most definitely the most perfect thing I have ever seen, in body and soul. You look so beautiful and flawless and you are the smartest witch alive and the best friend a person could ask for," he moved in closer to her so that there was now just a few inches of space separating the two of them, "And," he added, "I think I love you."
At this, he pulled her into a hug. "Harry," she whispered, finally getting her voice back, "that's the sweetest thing someone's ever said to me."
"Are you sure, Hermyninny?" he asked with a grin on his face. She slapped him on the arm and he jumped back in mock pain.
"Harry James Potter, you are terrible for spoiling a romantic moment with such a cruel, mean, sarcastic, funny thing to say!" Unable to keep a hold on the sternness of her face, she started laughing, and after he could be sure she really thought it was funny, he started to laugh too.
Later that night, Hermione sat on her bed reading her favorite book, Hogwarts: a History, when she heard a gagging sound coming from the bathroom. She got up and hastily made her way to open the door that separated her room from the noise. She opened it and hesitantly peered inside. Harry was leaning over the toilet, throwing up quite a mess. When it finally stopped, she spoke, "That's what happens when you starve yourself all summer, Harry, and then eat again. I daresay, we need to get you back into a regular eating habit, which, might I add, goes along with my little baby sitting scheme."
"Baby sitting?" he asked.
"Yes. I have to baby-sit you because you can't take care of yourself," she stated matter-of –factly.
"And is there a law about babysitters dating the people they baby-sit?" he asked with a grin edging on his lips.
She decided to play along, "Why would you care?"
"Because you're the most beautiful babysitter I've ever had," he replied, looking her over.
"You better watch it, little boy, or I might have to give you a spanking for getting such dirty thoughts into your mind."
"You mean like this?" he asked innocently, smacking her ass.
"Don't make me give you timeout..." she threatened.
"Does it involve being alone with you?" he asked with a grin on his face.
"Harry James Potter!"
"Yes?"
"You're so cute..."
And with that, she kissed him deeply, tasting his mouth. Very quickly, though, she pulled back with a grossed out looking scowl on her face.
"What's wrong Mione?"
"You taste like vomit..."
A/N: Well, there it is, chapter 2! Send me some more reviews. I've decided I've taken quite a liking to them... 'Till next time...
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It's all the wonderful ideas of J.K. Rowling, as you all well know by now.
Chapter 2: Caught in the Act
When Harry was sure he had cleaned himself thoroughly, he stepped out of the shower and wrapped himself in a fluffy white towel. He then walked out of the bathroom and picked out a pair of jeans and a yellow and black striped polo shirt that was at least a few sizes too big for him and had a small tear in the front where his corpulent cousin Dudley had stretched out a bit too much and caused the fabric to split on his bulging chubbiness. Naturally, the shirt was then passed down to Harry, whom the Dursleys had decided, didn't deserve to have anything new of his own when they could simply give him Dudley's and Vernon's old, unwanted clothing. After Harry was dressed, he made his way downstairs and scowled to himself at the thought of eating. He had grown quite accustomed to skipping meals over the last few weeks and really didn't feel any need to start eating now.
"Harry, come on over here, dinner's about ready," came the voice of Hermione, cutting off his trail of thought. Regretfully, he followed her voice and found his way to the table. When he came in, she smiled at him and patted the chair next to her, beckoning for him to sit down. He sighed and followed her orders, not wanting to disappoint her more than he already had today.
"Hermione," Harry started but was cut off immediately by the intrusion of Hermione's ambitious voice.
"No Harry, I won't hear of it. While in my house, you will be properly nourished and I won't allow you to continue those terrible eating habits that you have put on yourself this summer. Those god-forsaken people you live with ought to be put behind bars for the little amount, if any, attention they give you. You could have died in that room and they wouldn't have even noticed. But here, you shall have the love that you deserve and as long as I can help it, you shall be healthy," said the pursuing young woman that sat next to him.
The ebony-haired boy of fifteen looked up into the chocolate brown eyes of the intelligent person next to him. "Err, okay Mione but I was just going to thank you for inviting me over to your house." She quickly turned a rosy pink color after he had said this and he instantly regretted it. It hadn't been his intention to embarrass her.
"Oh," was all she could muster up to reply.
"But, I couldn't help but notice. Did you say something about the 'love' that I deserve?" he asked, in a skeptical tone, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.
"Yes Harry, I know you feel that now that your parents and Sirius aren't here that no one on Earth loves or cares about you, but you're quite wrong in that assumption." She instantly felt bad about bringing up his parents and Sirius when she saw the look on his face and paused for a moment. "Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry," she said pulling him into a tight embrace and spoke again while still having a protective hold on him. "I know you miss them, but you have to understand that they still love you from above and if they're watching you right now, I don't think they'd be very pleased about the way you're beating yourself up. Besides, what you need to understand is that there are still plenty of people alive and well that would give anything for you to be happy."
Harry chose this time to interrupt her. "That's exactly the problem, Mione. Don't you see? You said it yourself; there are plenty of people who would give anything for me to be happy. I'm tired of people dieing for me!" He said that last part with a bit too much emotion and anger.
Hermione's parents chose this time to enter the room and both looked a little taken aback when they saw the sight in front of them. Their daughter was sitting with Harry at the table, hugging him tightly, and looking at him very worried, with a motherly expression on her face. Harry, however, looked quite angry and sorrowful and appeared to be on the verge of tears. Hermione, noticing that they had entered, quickly pulled away from the hug and thought about what they must be thinking. Her attention however was quickly drawn back to Harry as he stood up and excused himself from the table. Hermione then got up and followed him out of the room, leaving a very confused-looking pair of adults.
"Harry, open the door right now!" she shouted as she reached a locked door to his room. She banged loudly and bickered on about not wanting to break down the door. After about a minute of this, she decided he probably wouldn't have remembered to lock the door to the bathroom, too, so she rushed through her room to the place at the far corner where the entry to the bathroom was. Sure enough, he had forgotten and she peered into his room. Whatever she was expecting, however, she didn't get, because the moment she walked into the dim room, her heart stopped and she took in a gulp of air from the shock.
What met her eyes was a fifteen-year-old boy who was sitting on his bed, facing the wall, bent over a leather-bound photo album. She walked up behind him and brought her arms around his chest in a hug, peering over his shoulder. The picture he was looking at was one of his parents' wedding day. The two figures of Lily and James appeared to be in the happiest day of their live's as they stood with their arms around each other's backs, laughing. Sirius and Remus were on either side of them with bottles of what looked to be fire whiskey, singing gruffly, with merry expressions on their faces.
Harry, now noticing her presence, looked up at her. She now noticed that there were silent tears running down his cheeks. She sat down on the bed next to him and looked deep into his tired, sad eyes.
"Harry, you might not want to hear this right now, but I think it needs to be said. They wouldn't want you to spend your life like this, in grief and pain. They'd want you to be happy, just like I want you to be happy." She paused for a moment, looking deep into his soft pools of green for a trace of emotion, then continued. "They loved you with everything they had and were willing to put your life ahead of their own because they knew that you would be something special. They wanted to give you a life where you could be cheerful and peaceful. No one intended for you to have such a hard life, it just happened. I don't know what your mother was like any more than the next person, but I do know this. She gave her life for you willingly, not because she wanted you to spend your life in sorrow, dreading her death, but because she wanted you to live life to the fullest and know that experience of joyfulness that every human deserves."
"You're right Hermione, you always are, but it sure as hell didn't work out that way, did it? There's no one left on this world to love me any more and make me happy. There's just... no point to live anymore." He trailed off after saying this and Hermione started to cry for him.
"That's where you're wrong, Harry. There is a point to live. There are still plenty of people who love you."
"Who, Hermione, who? Sure, there are plenty of lovesick fans of mine that would just love to have me, but they don't even know who I am. Everybody in the whole damn world only sees 'The boy who bloody lived'!" Harry had gone from sad to angry to a dangerous point where he looked, for a moment, like he would have loved to take his life away right then and there and end the whole thing.
Hermione looked deep inside him, never taking her gaze off of his eyes and then, finally working up the courage to speak, said quietly, "I love you." What she did next took her by surprise just as much as it did Harry. She bent forward slowly and kissed him softly on the lips. That single moment, barely a second long, seemed to send an entire lifetime of love from her lips to his.
When they pulled away, he spoke, "You can't love me, Mione, you'll just end up dead like everyone else, and I won't allow that to happen."
"Harry, look at me, if I was worried about being around you, I wouldn't be your best friend, but the fact is, I am. We have been in life threatening situations before together, and I haven't left yet, have I? And I'm not going to be pushed away now."
She leant forward and kissed him again. Hesitantly, she pulled her hands around him, grazing his back and, eventually, resting in his hair, where she entwined her fingers in the soft, untamable mess that she thought was rather cute. Giving up on changing her mind, he rested his hands on her waste and started to poor some of his own passion into the kiss. It quickly deepened, as he licked her lips, begging for an entrance to the love that he knew would be in her mouth. She parted her lips without hesitation and leaned forward onto him, so that they were lying down on the soft, comfortable bed, unaware of anything going on around them. He nervously put his tongue into her mouth and began to explore every tiny detail of it.
"Ahem..." Shocked, the two of them sprung apart and turned bright crimson, when they realized they weren't alone. In the door way stood Hermione's mother, looking quite shocked at her daughter's actions. "D...dinner's r...ready." Avoiding, an explanation, the two teenage lovers ran out of the room and down the stairs, both looking like they needed a good straightening up, as Harry's hair was even more all over the place than usual, Hermione's shirt was all wrinkled up, and the both of them had swollen lips. When they sat down at the table next to each other, Hermione's dad, who had obviously been waiting for his wife to fetch the 'kids,' looked curiously at the pair of them, wondering why they looked so... guilty. After a moment, his wife walked in, also looking rather surprised and sat down at the other side of the table.
"Okay... clearly, something happened," he said looking very puzzled.
"Your daughter was, err, helping Harry to, err, get used to the, err..."
"Oh for God's sake, we were making out in Harry's room and Mum walked in on us! There, I said it, okay?" Hermione and Harry both looked very embarrassed, but her father only chuckled.
"Well, at least you kids are having fun," he started when he was cut off by a very mean glare from his wife, "I mean, err, what do you think you were doing? Hermione, for God's sake, you are way too young to be doing that. I would have expected better judgment from you. Gosh, letting him kiss you is way out of line. Everyone knows teenagers never do that..."
"Okay, Dan, you've made your point, you obviously don't care that Harry's tongue was halfway down your daughter's throat, but some of us..."
"Mum, just shut up!" The entire table went silent at this last yell from the mouth of perfect Hermione Granger. "I'm not the same little girl anymore and I won't sit here and let you bicker on about me not being old enough, I know exactly what I'm getting myself into and guess what? I like it!" Her mother looked quite taken aback and didn't really no what to say about her teenage daughter's little outburst.
"Oh, well I'll just get the food and we can eat..." She got up and walked hurriedly to the kitchen.
"So, I assume you're enjoying your stay then, Harry?" said Dan.
"Yeah, I am..." he replied hesitantly, still bright red from a few moments ago.
"Well good." Then turning to his daughter, he added, "I'm glad you found a nice young man, sweet heart and your mother is too, she's just a little shocked, she'll come around."
Hermione could say nothing so she just nodded and a moment later, her mother entered the room with the food. After the blessing, they all just sat there and ate quietly, not really knowing what to say. After a very silent and uncomfortable dinner, Harry and Hermione excused themselves from the table.
"I'm sorry I got you in trouble, Mione."
"You didn't, my dad obviously didn't care and like he said, my mum will get over it in a little while. She's just so caught up in this prospect that I'm some kind of perfect little innocent girl who has no faults and never does anything wrong." Hermione said this and then looked up at Harry. He seemed to be very worried about something and by the way he was looking at her, she had a gut feeling it somehow had to do with her.
"But, Hermione, you are perfect," he said. 'Did he just say I was perfect?' she thought, 'I most certainly am not and why is he looking at me like that? It kind of turns me on... Wait, what am I thinking, I can't let him get the best of me like that. But he just keeps staring at me with this hungry look on his face like I'm some kind of prize to be won...'
"Hermione," he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders, "you are most definitely the most perfect thing I have ever seen, in body and soul. You look so beautiful and flawless and you are the smartest witch alive and the best friend a person could ask for," he moved in closer to her so that there was now just a few inches of space separating the two of them, "And," he added, "I think I love you."
At this, he pulled her into a hug. "Harry," she whispered, finally getting her voice back, "that's the sweetest thing someone's ever said to me."
"Are you sure, Hermyninny?" he asked with a grin on his face. She slapped him on the arm and he jumped back in mock pain.
"Harry James Potter, you are terrible for spoiling a romantic moment with such a cruel, mean, sarcastic, funny thing to say!" Unable to keep a hold on the sternness of her face, she started laughing, and after he could be sure she really thought it was funny, he started to laugh too.
Later that night, Hermione sat on her bed reading her favorite book, Hogwarts: a History, when she heard a gagging sound coming from the bathroom. She got up and hastily made her way to open the door that separated her room from the noise. She opened it and hesitantly peered inside. Harry was leaning over the toilet, throwing up quite a mess. When it finally stopped, she spoke, "That's what happens when you starve yourself all summer, Harry, and then eat again. I daresay, we need to get you back into a regular eating habit, which, might I add, goes along with my little baby sitting scheme."
"Baby sitting?" he asked.
"Yes. I have to baby-sit you because you can't take care of yourself," she stated matter-of –factly.
"And is there a law about babysitters dating the people they baby-sit?" he asked with a grin edging on his lips.
She decided to play along, "Why would you care?"
"Because you're the most beautiful babysitter I've ever had," he replied, looking her over.
"You better watch it, little boy, or I might have to give you a spanking for getting such dirty thoughts into your mind."
"You mean like this?" he asked innocently, smacking her ass.
"Don't make me give you timeout..." she threatened.
"Does it involve being alone with you?" he asked with a grin on his face.
"Harry James Potter!"
"Yes?"
"You're so cute..."
And with that, she kissed him deeply, tasting his mouth. Very quickly, though, she pulled back with a grossed out looking scowl on her face.
"What's wrong Mione?"
"You taste like vomit..."
A/N: Well, there it is, chapter 2! Send me some more reviews. I've decided I've taken quite a liking to them... 'Till next time...