Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.
Chapter Twenty Nine : Pleasure Line
Harry sneezed again, leading to another wad of tissue that he lobbed in the general direction of the waste basket. He hated being sick. Worse, he hated being sick and having no one to blame but himself. At least when he was stuck in the infirmary back when he was attending Hogwarts, he wasn't to blame for it. It wasn't his fault he got injured while he and his friends were protecting that damn stone from Voldemort in their first year. It wasn't his fault that he hurt himself while trying to get to the Chamber of Secrets during second year either. And it certainly wasn't his fault that some idiot had thought it a brilliant idea to have soul-sucking demons prowl the school grounds during his third year – which quite inevitably led to him winding up injured once again, though that year, Ron had it worst than him. So it had went throughout his entire time at Hogwarts, except for now.
Harry really couldn't blame anyone for his being sick, not when it had been his own fault that he had been out in the rain for so long. Oh, he supposed he could blame Hermione and that bloody charm of hers for driving him outside, but that would be petty. And Hermione didn't deserve that, not when she had tried to talk to him the night before to reassure him, but he hadn't been in the mood to listen. Not to mention the fact that Hermione was sick herself as well, probably because she had been out in the rain.
Harry sighed. It had been embarrassing to see his friends looking at him that morning, as he had fallen while trying to lift a box that they were sending to their rooms at Hogwarts. Hermione had rested a hand against his forehead, before declaring that he was burning up. No one had asked him about it because he would have told them that he thought it was Hermione who was hot. Though maybe that was just as well, because he'd have to explain that he meant temperature hot and not hot as she was normally hot. A levitation charm and a portkey later, Harry found himself ensconced in the bedroom he and Hermione was to share at Hogwarts, with Hermione issuing stern orders for him not to move from the bed. Harry had agreed, hoping that none of the students had seen him being levitated by Hermione into their quarters. That would make a lovely piece for the Daily Prophet if any of their reporters ever found out. Bleh. Don't want to think of that right now, Harry thought. Head hurts enough as it is.
So Harry had tossed and turned in bed alone, trying to find a comfortable position. It was only a hour later, when the door burst open again and he looked up to see Ron carrying Hermione in. He felt a burst of possessiveness before Ron deposited Hermione in bed, muttering about idiot best friends who didn't know when to quit. Ron told both of them that he and his brothers would take care of the rest of the move and that they were to stay in bed because they were both sick—or else. Ron backed up that vague threat by mentioning that he was already going to owl his mum with the news and that he would hate to have to tell her about them not taking care of themselves.
Once Ron left, Hermione turned to snuggle against Harry and she was hot. Not that he didn't usually think she was hot, but this time she was literally burning up. There was a small part of him that felt vindicated, because he had thought she was hot earlier when she had checked his temperature. And of course, he had to tell her.
"You're so hot," he said dully.
"Be quiet. Something tells me that you don't mean that as a compliment, Harry," was her reply.
Harry stifled a yawn, before answering her. "Sorry," he said, in a tone that implied the opposite, "but it's the truth. You're hot. Too hot. You're burning up."
"In case you've not noticed, so are you, Mr. Potter," Hermione said in that tone of voice that would normally make him long to shag her.
He sighed. "Usually, I'd be . . . well, you know. But today . . . ."
"Good," Hermione said. "Because I don't feel up to anything like that." She turned away from him, tossing off the blanket. "And this room is too hot. Who cast this Heating Charm again?"
"You did," said Harry, a trace of smugness in his voice. "You said you wanted it nice and warm in here for me."
"Bleh. This is all your fault."
"Don't remind me." He pulled the blanket higher up over him, as though trying to hide. Harry really hated being at fault here for both of them being sick. It was worse than merely being useless.
"Oh Harry," said Hermione. "I didn't mean it like that." She placed her head on his shoulder, though she didn't join him under the blanket. "I was only teasing. Bad joke though, I see."
"Well, it is my fault and I'm sorry that I got you sick as well."
Hermione shrugged that apology off. "It's not your fault. I should've taken a Pepper Up potion the moment I wasn't feeling well. And on the bright side, maybe getting sick now means I won't get sick later when everyone else does. And that's without getting a shot." She shuddered. "Sometimes I think the shot is worse than the flu."
"Afraid of needles much?" asked Harry.
"No. I'm afraid of the people who use them but can't find veins."
"Good point." Harry turned on his side, so he would face Hermione. "Which reminds me. However are we going to thank Ron and the twins for moving us like this."
"You could start by staying in the room and under the blanket for one," came Ron's voice from the doorway. He shook his head and walked towards the bed, where he proceeded to tuck Hermione back under the covers. "There. Is it so hard to stay still when you're feeling that bad?"
Hermione stuck her tongue out at him. "It's too hot in here," she said.
"Well a rather clever witch I know insisted that a nice, warm room is one of the things a sick person needs . . . and I'm inclined to believe her. And once again, I am left wondering why I had to grow up and be the mature one of us all." Then he smirked. "And I came in to tell you that Mum thinks that her chicken soup will soon have both of you back on your feet. So she'll be here in a bit, once she finishes making it to feed it to you, while babying you both. We all figured it would be worth the show." Ron barely held back his laughter as his friends groaned. "Come on now. It's not that bad. You wouldn't want to be sick for your first day of classes, now would you, Hermione?"
Hermione held her tongue, which Harry thought very wise of her. They were both too hot to argue with anyone, and the best thing to do was to get as much rest as they possibly could.
Two days later, Hermione almost wished that she hadn't recovered so quickly. Another week of bed rest sounded lovely, especially when compared with teaching the little monsters she had to deal with today. Though that made her sound like some awful, old hag. Hermione heaved a sigh. One day of teaching and already she knew why Snape was always so grumpy. The third year class she had taught hadn't been so bad, although they had a bad habit of not paying attention and therefore, making mistakes when they Transfigured their pillows into rabbits. True, it had been frustrating to have had to repeat herself several times over again and that was probably what had led her to assigning that long essay that she did. It had been unfortunate for them that she had taught them before the sixth years, for she would have thought of them as angels in comparison.
The sixth year class, composed of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, had only wanted to talk about her and Harry. And not necessarily as in them being together. After Hermione had introduced herself to the class, almost a dozen hands had shot up, teetering back and forth as their owners looked desperate to ask a question. When she had called upon one studious looking girl, the student had asked if Harry would ever make an appearance in this class. Hermione had replied that he probably would not, as DADA was more his thing than Transfiguration, and then had asked the class if they had any more questions.
It had went downhill from there. The questions had kept coming in, even without her answering the previous one, each one wanting to know more about Harry or their relationship. Finally, Hermione had been reduced to almost shouting at her class to stop, deducting points for each personal question asked and threatening detention on the next person to ask such questions. That had shut the girls up at least.
Unfortunately, that was when the boys decided to start acting up. When Hermione had rather exasperatedly looked around the room and asked if anyone had any questions that were not related to Harry, one boy had raised his hand and asked if she was busy next weekend. That earned him a sharp look, a quick loss of ten points, and detention.
Only thing was he looked happy about the detention part. And so did all the other wizards who had wound up receiving detentions from her. Before half an hour had past, Hermione was heartily wishing that she could Transfigure her entire class into rabbits or something, because they were driving her insane.
The day hadn't improved when she had finished teaching and stomped off to the library in order to do a bit of research on that charm. Nope, unfortunately for Hermione, some of the more tenacious members of her class had followed her there and no sooner had she sat down, was she pestered with all sorts of questions once again. Madam Pince had turned a stern eye towards the group surrounding her, but to no avail. Knowing that she was probably only minutes away from being kicked out of the library once again, she had informed them all of her office hours and told them that she would welcome class-related questions at that time. Hermione then got up out of her chair, lifted her books off of the table, and proceeded into the Restricted Section, where she was finally left alone.
And yeah, she supposed that was a bit like running away, but she figured discretion was the better part of valor in this case. And it did allow her to go through some of the books she had located. Besides, the last thing she wanted was for any of her students to know about the charm that was on her. She didn't want to think of what would happen then. It was bad enough that half her class seemed to be part of the unofficial Harry Potter fan club; it seemed as the other half of her class had decided to form one for her. That was something she could have lived without, especially since the last thing she wanted was for anyone else to need her.
After spending several hours pouring over books, Hermione had looked at the clock to see that not only had she missed dinner, she had detention to get to in five minutes. She had flown out of the library, making her way as quickly as possible to the classroom where everyone was supposed to meet her. Hermione had arrived to find that all the wizards were there before, eagerly waiting their detention. That was when Hermione decided that she wouldn't be the one overseeing them, though she knew she was supposed to. However, they looked too damned happy about detention and any professor who knew anything knew that detention was not supposed to make students happy. So Hermione had set them on working on their homework and stepped out to find Filch. It had taken longer than she wanted, with Hermione wishing that she knew where the Marauder's Map had wound up. But once he was located, she had dumped all of the students on him, noting that they looked too happy about having detention with her. Filch complained mightily about the whole thing, saying how professors were supposed to arrange beforehand for him to take care of detention, but in the end, he had taken them over. Hermione was forever grateful for that. Though she didn't know what she would do tomorrow night, for she was certain that she would be assigning detention again, at least until she figured out how to control her classes better.
So it was Hermione was practically dragging herself when she entered her quarters late that evening. And she was starving, as she hadn't eaten since lunch. She sighed. She wanted to eat, but was too tired to Fortunately, Harry was waiting for her, with a large amount of food set out on the table.
"Bad day?" he asked when he saw her.
"Don't ask."
"Have you eaten yet? Because I asked Dobby to bring us a few things, and he had mentioned that you weren't at dinner," said Harry.
"No, I haven't." Hermione summoned the strength to cross the room and sit down next to Harry. "And I'm famished. Dealing with all those idiots has really done a number on me."
Harry quirked an eyebrow at her. "Idiots?"
"Yes," Hermione said. "Idiots." She reached out for a sandwich and took a large bite out of it. "I'm rather sick of teenage hormones right now," she told him.
Harry pretended to be hurt. "So if I told you I love you, you would . . . ."
"Oh, I would say I love you back, but you're not getting any tonight. I'm too tired." Hermione ignored his pout, cute though it was. "And I have no idea what I'm going to do for detention. The boys look like they'd enjoy having detention with me. And that would never do."
"No, it wouldn't," agreed Harry. "If you'd like, I could take over their detention for you." A wicked grin covered his face. "I'm fairly certain I can convince them to act better in your class."
"Um . . . thanks but no thanks. I think only staff members can oversee detentions. Besides, once it got out that you were handling my detentions for me, all the witches in my class would be scrambling over themselves to get one. And that wouldn't be a pretty sight."
Harry shuddered . "No, it wouldn't be. But I'd like to take this moment to point out the fact that I was right."
"Bleh. I wish you weren't."
"Love you too, Hermione. But I did tell you that the wizards would be fawning over you."
"And where were they when I was at Hogwarts?"
"Too intimidated by you," he said.
"And why aren't they intimidated now? Shouldn't they be more intimidated now that I'm a professor?"
"Probably because you're dating me." Hermione shot him a sharp glance. "No, no, it does make sense if you think about it. You were rather inapproachable before. You kind of scared off most wizards who would have asked you. But you seem more approachable now that you've had a boyfriend for several months."
"I've had relationships before," Hermione pointed out.
"Yes, but the way they ended . . . well, let's not go there. But my point is they have to know that if a bloke like me has a chance with you, then there's hope for them as well."
"That makes no sense at all. Logically, I would think that my dating you means that I'm taken—"
"Damn straight that you're taken." Harry dropped a quick kiss on her cheek.
"Thought so. Besides, how could they compete with the Boy Who Lived?" she asked rhetorically.
Harry tried to answer that question anyway. "Maybe they figure I'm not much substance." Harry shrugged. "Or that you'll get tired of the constant publicity."
Hermione snorted. "As if that could ever stop me from loving you."
Harry smiled. "Glad to hear that. Now about taking over these detentions . . . ."
"Harry, I told you that—"
"Yes, I know. I was just going to suggest maybe you can work something out with Lupin? Or some other professor?"
Hermione nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea. Thanks, Harry."
"Don't mention it," he said. "And about the charm—did you find anything?"
Hermione groaned. "Not a damn thing. And I spent hours searching through books."
Harry sighed. "I guess we'll have to build a counter from scratch, if worse comes to worst."
"We?"
"Yes, we. We're in this together," said Harry. "I know I might not be much help, but I'm going to do everything I can do."
"Thank you," Hermione said simply. "I really needed to hear that."
"Any time, love. Any time."
Author's note: And that is it for this week's installment. The next chapter should be up at the usual time. I'd love to hear what you thought of this one and so would very much like reviews Finally, thanks to danielerin (I think it goes in rounds actually), Shawn Pickett (I'm glad someone realizes that), ExcalibursZone (having fun with haiku? That was cute), PoTtErSPaYnE, Star19 (thanks though I couldn't really switch plots or speeds this far through, I think), Ash, jennymay (not Ginny as she's still in school), lee74, juliet's rose, TheGreatFox2000, Bulma Queen of Saiya-jin, Leah6, lanna1186, tigrrgirl13 (I think there's an option when you log in?), RogueBHS (well, where else can he see her everyday if not at work?), Amynoelle, Legolas-is-to-hot-4-u, Zekintha (it's always been slow -- before people were complaining how long I took to put H/Hr together. The fic is meant to develop, not to race to its finish ), Jen, Korine (not likely -- but I can send you More if you like), keita, EuphoniumGurl0 (well, that was Harry's opinion and even if true, we can chalk it up to his dad being imprisoned ), sally, Waterlili, myman-harry526, Oh-Dear ( am glad someone likes this imperfect Harry -- as it's annoying when he can do no wrong), malu (well, Hermione wasn't too happy with drunk!Draco anyway,considering how long she spent trying to find his flat to no avail), ThePerfectionist, wyndnfyr (yes, I freely admit he's OOC, especially after OotP, though that wasn't out when I started this fic. And thanks for all the reviews), Sadistic Shadow (yes, there are rather too many chapters ), lilmatchgirl007, shaznay17, acissej, Lanzit Ventre, Genki no Yuuki, casey windsor, Ramy (I know, but if you write that way, you have to worry about it going OOC -- because it doesn't really happen in real life, you know), Jazzylady, Jezzi, bishtawiman (if you want something really bittersweet, you'd have to read another fic of mine), NicoleAiken-B, ray1, Angel66, mrs. radcliffe (thanks -- am glad you like the plot), iluvdanrad, HarryNDracosDarlin, TheWraith1 (I actually meant, why not a boy? But either way, I think it's better for him to be self sufficient first), heavenscloud524, HHromancefreak, and xxbabysparklesxx for their reviews of the last chapter. I really can't say how much I appreciate them.