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CHAPTER SEVEN

Hermione straightened her conservative, knee-length skirt as her heels clicked on the marble floor. She was about to do what she should have done weeks ago. Talk to Seamus.

Even if he didn't believe she loved him, even if he still wanted to be with Cho, Hermione had to try to convince him that she was willing to change her ways for him. She could be a one man kind of woman for him. All she'd thought about while Voldemort had controlled her was Seamus, Seamus, Seamus. And she'd realized the extent of her feelings for him, which had been deeply rooted, even in their younger years at Hogwarts.

But the point was, even if Seamus turned her dow, which would hurt like hell, she would still be changed forever. She wouldn't depend on sex for confidence anymore. She might even try celibacy for a while.

Oh, there he was. Seamus stood ten feet ahead, his broad, handsome frame recognizable from the back. Hermione could just imagine those chocolate brown eyes boring into hers, reading her thoughts, making her knees shake. She would touch his freshly shaven face and softly bring his mouth to hers. And they could stand there for hours, not caring about people watching, never feeling forced into bed. Her nerves would be on high alert, every sensation perfect and real...

"Hermione?" Seamus's voice cut through her fantasy. He stared at her, surrounded by two friends she didn't recognize. Unfortunately his stare was quite unfriendly. "I know you visit the boys dormitory frequently, but you don't usually stop in the middle of the hall."

She blushed and tried to ignore the fresh batch of pain this sent through her heart. "Can we talk... alone?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Seamus groaned. "I told you Hermione, I don't want to do this anymore." His friends sniggered behind him.

Hermione took a couple hasty steps forward, and he backed away. "Seamus, please. This isn't about that, I swear. If I try anything, I give you permission never to speak to me again," she blurted out, trying to pump as much sincerity as possible into her face.

After what seemed minutes of consideration, he nodded slowly, to the shock of his friends. "Where do you want to talk?" he asked, although bitterness was still present in his voice.

"Is your room okay?" Seamus glanced irritatedly at her. "I don't know where else we can be alone," Hermione explained. "Is it okay?"

"Fine, fine," he consented, grumbling along the way.

Once inside the room, Hermione sat awkwardly on a chair under a bright light, magically illuminated. She felt liek she was in an interrogation room on one of those old Muggle TV shows. Shading her eyes, she looked up into Seamus's unfriendly ones.

"Well, what is it?" he demanded, still handsome through his anger.

Hermione gulped. "Seamus... It really hurt me, seeing you that day with Cho..."

"And what, you didn't hurt me?" Seamus shouted. "Why is it that you can sleep with all the boys in school and I can't even with my girlfriend?" His sharp glare dug into her.

"We weren't even dating..."

"So why are you jealous?" he questioned, his hands slamming on the arms of her chair. "Why do you even care?"

Hermione tried not to flinch. "Look, Voldemort put me under the Imperius Curse..."

He backed away from her at the sound of Voldemort's name. "Don't try to blame this on He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named! You knew what you were doing when you made your choice!"

"I know, I know," Hermione sighed. "Just hear me out, okay?" She thought back to her days under the curse with a shudder. "Under the Imperius Curse, I wasn't able to... you know... experiment as much, and I had a lot of time to think." Staring at the floor, she cause a glance of Seamus's grimace in her peripheral vision and felt a stab of guilt for paining him. "The thing is, the only person I could think of was you. All the time, I was thinking, 'How could you be so stupid? How could you let him move on without you?'" Seamus glanced up in surprise, and Hermione fought the hints of a smile that were creeping onto her face. "I thought, 'If I survive this, I'll tell him how I really feel, how much I care. I can't keep lying to him.'" She gathered her thoughts but didn't speak.

The boy sat on the edge of the nearest bed and leaned in to hear her finish. "What did you lie about? How do you feel?" he asked softly, sensitively.

Hermione's eyes hesitantly met his. "We should be together. I love you more than anything, and I don't need anyone else." Quickly she stared at the floor again. "I guess I realized all this too late, but I still needed to tell you," she murmured as she stood and headed for the door.

"Stop," he said quietly. "It's not." His voice was closer behind her now.

"It's not what?" she asked, too ashamed to face him. She had poured her heart out to him and now would surely be rejected.

Now Seamus's breath was on her neck, just behind her. "Not too late," he whispered, trailing tiny kisses down the nape of her neck. She shivered.

She resisted reluctantly. "What about Cho?" she found herself asking.

"I broke up with her this morning. I couldn't be with her when all I could think about was you."

With this Hermione turned on her heels and, grinning and wrapping her arms around his neck, kissed him tenderly, relaxing for the first time in weeks. Electric tingles shot down her spine, and she didn't mind when he pressed his lips more urgently, more hungrily against hers. She responded in the same way, hormones and happiness combining into an almost sickening desire. Seamus's fingers brushed against her collarbone, and only then did she realize he was unbuttoning her shirt.

Ron had only left his, Harry's, Seamus's, and Dean's room for a moment to get flowers for Harry, but upon returning, he heard dull, rythmic thuds and moans coming from their room as he passed it. Curiously, he slowed in front of it to see if he could recognize a voice or name.

"Oh yes, Seamus!" a very familiar voice screamed out. Was it Cho's? But no, this girl's voice was raw, as if she'd been crying a lot lately. With a flash Ron realized whose voice he'd heard. It was Hermione's. That girl sure did get around when she put her mind to it.

Laughing, he continued towards the hospital wing. Harry had been sleeping there for about a day and half now, but Madam Pomfrey insisted that he was fine and just need a good, long rest. And Ron was going to be sure that when Harry finally woke, he not only would have flowers to remind him how much Ron cared, but also... hopefully... Ron himself. He could only hope that Harry would wait to wake until Ron arrived.

His footsteps quickened down the hallway at this thought. What if Harry was already awake? What if he had woken to a cold, empty room with no one to comfort him? Scared? Angry? Ron had to be there.

He sighed with relief as he entered the wing to see Harry still resting peacefully. Ron could barely believe the miraculous strength of his boyfriend that seemed to come from nowhere. That night, Ron had nearly resigned himself to Harry's terrible fate, much to his guilt. But Harry, being his wonderful self, had somehow turned the situation around, killing Voldemort, the greatest evil in the world. What boyfriend wouldn't be proud of that?

Harry's eyelids fluttered, surging hope through Ron's heart. Now if he would just open his eyes...

As if obeying the command, the fluttering flew Harry's eyes open. It took a moment before he actually focused on Ron lovingly.

"Hi," his cracked voice whispered.

Ron grinned. "Hi. How are you?"

Harry tried to sit up weakly. "Well, I'm not sure yet." Suddenly his face pinched as if he'd eaten a lemon. "Am I expelled?" he asked, panickedly, his face flushing a deep fuschia.

Harry felt as though he were having a heart attack. If we was expelled and sent to Azkaban, which he should be by law, he would have to leave the place he loved... the people he loved... the only boy he'd ever loved. He didn't know if he could survive that, and definitely doubted that he could survive the dementors very long without a wand. My life is over, Harry thought.

His question still rang in the air, unanswered. Glancing at Ron, Harry registered his expression--surprise. The answer was so obvious, Ron was surprised that Harry would even ask. He was expelled for sure.

"You're not expelled," Ron said finally, shocking Harry out of his panic. "No way."

"I'm not?" Harry choked out.

"No."

"No Azkaban?"

"Nope." Ron sighed. "Really Harry, do you think Hogwarts would expel you for protecting yourself?" He indicated to the table beside the hospital bed. It was covered with flowers and get well cards. "Everyone loves you even more for what you did in there."

Harry shook his head, relieved but uncomprehending. "But I used an Unforgivable Curse. As in, unforgivable. Men have gone to Azkaban for less..."

"Harry," the other boy interrupted, half-smiling. "You're an even greater hero now. No one would hear of you going to that dreadful place after all that you've done. Everyone is so proud. I'm so proud," he added, wrapping his arms around Harry. He felt as though his heart might burst with happiness.

"Whew," Harry breathed into Ron's warm, sturdy shoulder. "That's a relief." He felt the tension of the last few weeks beginning to melt away just by the presence of his boyfriend's arms around his back. As Ron pulled away, Harry murmured, "Stay."

Ron's brilliant eyes met Harry's with sudden understanding. "We're not cursed anymore. We can do what we want," he whispered, his breath light on Harry's cheek.

"What do you want to do now?" Harry asked just as softly. His hand, without Harry telling it to, had sought out Ron's face and was tracing his strong jawline with his thumb.

Ron laughed softly. "I don't know. Let's find out," he murmured. His mouth found Harry's.

The kiss was perfect, expressing all the things they wantedd to say to each other, containing all the emotions they'd felt while they'd been cursed: all the frustration, all the passion, all the love. Harry couldn't believe how happy he was, finally kissing Ron. Ron, who knew him better than anyone, who loved him as much as Harry loved Ron. There was no one to stop them, no one to limit them or interrupt them. No more frustration.

His hand held Ron's jaw and pulled him in closer, deepening the kiss. Slowly, Ron made his way onto the hospital bed, pressing against Harry. Harry had forgotten how great it felt ot be able to do what he wanted with the person he wanted, how free he could feel in that moment, without worry of another interruption from Hermione or one of their friends.

"Um... Excuse me?"

Of course, there was Madame Pomfrey.

Both boys turned to face the nurse, separating reluctantly. She was blushing nearly as much as they were, although it seemed impossible. She looked at them both with grim determination. "I'm sorry, but you'll need to find somewhere else to do this. This is the hospital wing. Try somewhere private?" Pomfrey huffed, trying not to look at them as they climbed out of the bed. "And Potter, your fly is open," she added, turning and walking away.

"Damn homophobe," Harry muttered under his breath.

Ron laughed. "It's okay. She may actually have a point."

"About what. A private place?"

"Yeah. I mean, if we went somewhere no one else went, we probably wouldn't be interrupted."

"So where do we go? The bloody Shrieking Shack?"

Ron shook his head, and his shaggy hair bobbed in the most adorable way. "Didn't 'Mione take you to Myrtle's bathroom earlier this year?"

The final assembly at the Great Hall was an excellent, if predictable event. Everyone knew that Gryffindor had the most points of all the Houses, just as usual. The only thing that was different from so many other years was the absence of Dumbledore. The room was quieter, emptier somehow. Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't help but glance at his empty chair sadly many times during McGonagal's speech.

Luckily, the food presented was delicious and very distracting. Once all the students were stuffed with turkey, pudding, and pumpkin joice, they found they could hardly think, much less grieve. As Hermione sat on Seamus's lap and fed him bits of whipped cream from her fingertips, she glanced at Cho, who was locked in a very intense gaze with Neville at the Gryffindor table. Apparently she'd gotten over Seamus. Hermione turned and kissed Seamus for seemed like the thousandth time that day, but it still produced a familiar, welcome tingle. She hadn't known how happy she could be with one person.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron's laced hands were a constant reminder of the ended curse. They grinned at each other constantly and occasionally kissed softly, not caring that there were people around. They could be one of those PDA couples if they damn well pleased. This year had seemed longer than any other, but it truly had the sweetest end. No more Voldemort, and Harry and Ron were together like they'd wanted to be for so long. The Weasleys had offered to keep Harry all summer, and without Voldemort as a threat, Harry was allowed to stay there. Now he would also have a spectacular summer.

Professor Snape stared longingly at Sybyl Trelawney, her thick, round glasses glinting in the candlelight. ONlyl two days ago he'd discovered that the professor he'd once passed off as silly and overdone was a great fan of...er... herbal remedies just as he was. She'd offered him a pipe unlike any he'd ever seen before and the high they'd experienced together was enough to bond them for life. That night had been so perfect...so wondrous... Trelawney smiled at him slightly and licked her lips. Snape wondered if anyone would notice if they left the hall for twenty minutes...

And through this all, three black flags hung at the front of the hall, representing the three deaths that year. Ginny, one said, Draco, said the other, and Professor Dumbledore, the last said. The three would be missed the next year, but would always live on in the hearts of everyone who loved them.