Chapter 19

No. This couldn't be happening again.

When Harry had last been conscious, he was lying in his bed after putting up his silencing protections just in case, hating that he was going to have to get used to sleeping alone again. But he suddenly heard the sound of a door, and when he immediately opened his eyes, his blood absolutely froze to see himself at Malfoy Manor, being led as a prisoner along with Ron and Hermione.

Everything went just as he remembered up to the point that Bellatrix went ballistic upon seeing the Sword of Gryffindor before eventually ordering the prisoners to be taken to the cellar. After Narcissa Malfoy gave that order to Fenrir Greyback, however, things took a drastic turn compared to what he could recall.

"Wait," Bellatrix sharply said. But then, instead of saying to leave only Hermione up here, all of Harry's fears began to be stoked when she walked right up to him. The Death Eater slowly pushed his hair all the way back and stared at his forehead, right where he knew his infamous scar could be seen from up close even though his face was swollen from Hermione's jinx.

"The scar does indeed appear to be there," Bellatrix said, with what sounded like a bit of hunger in her voice at knowing she had him in her grasp. Then, with a small yet menacing grin, she added, "Leave Potter and the Mudblood. She has some questions to answer, and Potter will get to watch while I force the answers out of her."

Ron instantly shouted out, "No, not her – "

He didn't get a chance to finish whatever else he may have said, though, as Bellatrix immediately hit him across the face. "Don't worry, blood traitor. You'll be next if she dies under questioning."

She then looked directly at Harry with a sadistic grin and added, "Not to mention, nothing would give me more glee than Potter having to witness both of the people he's closest to dying slowly and agonizingly because of him."

Then, while pointing her wand at him in case Harry tried anything, she pulled out a short, silver knife and cut him free before telling him to go to a specific place in the room and kneel while placing his hands behind his back. Harry had to follow her orders, knowing that Hermione would only be in more danger if he tried anything right now.

When he was in place, the crazed woman yelled, "Incarcerous!" And Harry immediately felt ropes go around his hands, ankles, and arms to prevent him from moving anywhere.

Then, the Death Eater cut Hermione loose, dragging her and throwing her to the floor a few feet in front of Harry, while Greyback led Ron and the other prisoners away and shut the door on his way out.

And at that moment, the horror began when Bellatrix pointed her wand at Hermione and angrily shouted, "Crucio!"

Watching Hermione writhe in pain, as the crazed Death Eater held the curse on her for the next ten seconds, was so much more than Harry could take, and he wanted to yell out to stop and torture him instead. But he had to remain silent as Bellatrix began questioning Hermione about the sword. If this wasn't just a flashback like he desperately hoped it was, and this was truly happening right now, he had to resist and hold out. Bellatrix had to talk about them being in her vault. Otherwise, Hermione might not believe him about Bellatrix having a Horcrux stashed away there.

There was also still one bit of hope remaining with the idea that, even if this was reality, he could use the images he had seen, from before he woke up here, to try using wandless magic and free himself from these ropes. And he could hopefully use Stunning Spells on everyone and get himself a wand before they knew what was happening.

But he was constantly right at the edge of breaking his plan, because Bellatrix would use the Cruciatus Curse on Hermione after every answer. Hermione's screams ripped through his heart and soul, and it was so much worse now that he knew he loved her. If this wasn't a flashback, that would be the first thing he told her if they could escape from this.

And then, Bellatrix said the magic words that he remembered previously hearing in the cellar.

"You're lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth!"

She then hit Hermione with another Cruciatus before pulling out the knife and shrieking, "What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall run you through with this knife!"

This was it. It was do or die for both him and Hermione. Thus, Harry gritted his teeth and said as forcefully as he could in his mind, Finite Incantatem!

To his great relief, the ropes disappeared. But as with seemingly every plan he was ever involved in, things immediately went to hell as soon as they started.

He heard Narcissa Malfoy cry out from behind him, "How did he get free?!"

On instinct, Harry thrust his hand in the direction of Bellatrix as he jumped up and yelled, "Stupefy!"

He felt the spell go off but didn't stop to see if his aim was true, as he immediately turned around to the three Malfoys and Greyback, who had returned from leading the prisoners to the cellar. As they were all gaping at him and standing in somewhat of a line, he aimed at them all from outermost targets to innermost and called out Stunning Spells before running towards them.

Greyback and Narcissa immediately went down, having been the first targets and not having time to do anything except stare in shock. Lucius and Draco, however, had just enough time to pull out their wands and deflect his spells due to being the second set of targets. Afterwards, though, they only got a bare instant to look up at Harry again to see that he was already right in front of them. Before they could even think to point their wands at him, Harry had whipped around and launched his elbows directly into their faces. And both remaining Malfoys immediately hit the floor like sacks of potatoes.

Harry quickly took Draco's wand and then shifted to run towards Hermione. But he stopped after only two steps, his heart sinking with every second that ticked as he realized what was in front of him.

His aim had not been true. Bellatrix was still conscious and standing. And she was holding the knife to Hermione's throat, with Hermione staring at Harry in both awe at what he just did and fear at what might happen now.

The Death Eater moved closer to him, keeping Hermione as a hostage, until she was a few steps away, staying just out of arm's reach of him. If he moved towards her or pointed the wand at her, she may have just enough time to react and kill Hermione. And that was the worst realization of all.

"Drop the wand," she whispered. "Drop the wand and then don't move at all, or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is."

Though she was breathing hard and her voice was trembling from the torture, Hermione immediately said, "Harry, don't listen – "

She stopped and hissed in pain when Bellatrix pressed the knife a bit deeper into her throat. Harry could see droplets of blood begin to appear. In his mind, he desperately yelled out, Accio knife!

But dismayingly, nothing happened this time.

"Drop it, and then stay still!" the Death Eater then exclaimed.

He had no other option after that. Thus, looking at Hermione as apologetically as he could to convey that he was sorry for not following her words, Harry let his arm fall to his side before then allowing the wand to drop to the floor. But Hermione's eyes were full of sympathy as she gave him a tiny smile, as though she was trying to convey that she understood why he was doing so.

His gaze went to Bellatrix when the woman mockingly said, "Oh, is this love, perchance?"

She then gave the most sadistic grin that he had ever seen before adding, "How pathetic."

And to his horror, her grip tightened on the knife as her arm began to move –

"NOOOOO!"

Harry screamed as he sat up, breathing as hard as a human possibly could as he looked around in absolute terror. No, he was still in his bed, with the curtains closed, in the Gryffindor seventh-year dormitory. He hadn't been at Malfoy Manor. He hadn't just watched Hermione get murdered in front of him because he hadn't been good enough to save her.

But he could only hang his head and cover his face with his hands. Knowing it was a nightmare wasn't enough. And the fact that they had immediately returned, and already with one of the worst cases, on the very first night back at Hogwarts…

He simply got out of bed as quietly as he could and gathered up his clothes for the day before ending the silencing spells. He knew that he was never going to get back to sleep tonight.

He was thankful that he had still placed his protections up before going to sleep that night, as Neville, Dean, and Seamus all still seemed to be sound asleep going by the fact that their curtains were all still closed as well as there being no sounds of movement coming from their beds. Checking his wristwatch as he reached the bathroom, he groaned in his mind when he saw that it was only three thirty in the morning. He just shut the door and placed his silencing spells up again so that he wouldn't wake the others.

Back to Hogwarts indeed, he bitterly thought.

Twenty minutes later, he walked down the stairs to the common room. To his surprise, Crookshanks was wide awake and sitting on top of the sofa near the fireplace. The cat was staring right in the direction of the boys' stairs and then immediately looked at Harry once he stepped off the final step.

Harry walked to stand at the back of the sofa. He gave Crookshanks a few pets of the head while saying, "Hey, boy. It's a little early for you to be up, isn't it?"

When he stopped, the cat seemed to just give him a piercing gaze. Since Crookshanks was half-Kneazle, Harry couldn't help but believe that the cat was asking him the same question.

He sighed and said, "Yeah, I guess it's still a bit early for me to be up, too."

He then moved to sit on the left side of the sofa. Crookshanks immediately jumped down and got comfortable in a loaf position in Harry's lap.

Harry gave a quiet chuckle as he scratched Crookshanks on the back of his neck for a few seconds, with the cat purring all the while. Afterwards, Harry just sat there silently, staring at the fire that blazed at all times to keep the room at a comfortable temperature. A few seconds passed before words flowed through his mind about what he should do.

Promise me that, if you ever have any such thoughts again going forward, or anything that you simply feel you could use a bit of support to handle, you'll come to me as soon as you think about it.

Hermione. He needed to talk to Hermione.

But he looked towards the stairs to her dormitory and remembered what she said in fifth year. Boys weren't allowed in the girls' dorm. He couldn't get to her.

He despondently sighed as he realized that he was stuck until she woke up.

Then, he couldn't help saying to the cat in his lap, "Well Crookshanks, I guess it'll be just you and me for a while, until Hermione finally comes down."

The cat turned and looked up at him for a second before giving his stomach a nuzzle and then staring up at him again.

Harry chuckled before saying, "I'll take that as you don't mind sitting here, then. And thank you."

With that, he resumed petting the cat again without saying a word. He remained as such, absentmindedly petting and scratching Crookshanks in his lap, for some amount of time, not bothering to ever check exactly how much. And eventually, he heard footsteps sounding from the direction of the girls' stairs.

-O-

Hermione jerked awake. She blinked a few times before sitting up in her bed, seeing Crookshanks lying awake near her feet.

She hadn't had any nightmare. Of course, she was dreaming about her and Harry peacefully lying together in bed, but it was serene enough that it wouldn't have caused her to awaken so instantly. She wasn't sure why she was wide awake right now.

But then, why did she also have a feeling in her gut that something was wrong?

She was further confused when Crookshanks looked in the direction of where the room exit was, before rising from his loaf position and jumping down from the bed. Hermione opened her bed curtains to see what was happening, and she saw Crookshanks simply trot out of the dormitory's open door.

She shook her head and then looked at her alarm clock. Checking the time, she rolled her eyes a bit at seeing how it was only three thirty.

Oh well, she thought. May as well get the day started anyway, since she was fully awake. She picked out her clothes and then headed off as quietly as she could towards the bathroom.

Forty minutes later, she was stepping down the stairs to the common room. But she stopped halfway when she saw a familiar mop of black hair already sitting down there. A mop of black hair that then turned to reveal Harry's face.

"Harry?" she asked as she stepped the rest of the way down and walked over to him. She was a bit surprised when, upon arriving, she found Crookshanks sitting in his lap.

She sat down on Harry's right side before saying, "What are you doing here? And how long have you been down here? It's only ten minutes after four."

At that moment, however, her eyes widened as Harry's revelations from over the holiday played in her mind. And before he could say anything, she shifted to leave no space between them on the sofa.

Then, she placed her left hand on his right one and asked with concern, "You didn't have another nightmare, did you?"

Her worries grew when he gave her a sad smile. The smile lasted for just a second, but the sadness remained as he responded, "You can read me like a book, indeed. But… yes, I had a nightmare."

Hermione couldn't stop the gasp that left her as he continued speaking. "I woke up from it at three thirty, and came down here twenty minutes later after taking a bath."

Three thirty… she couldn't help thinking for an instant how that was when she awakened. Was that why she woke up, and had Crookshanks also sensed that something was wrong?

She was pulled from the thought when Harry added, "And I've been waiting down here for you because… I know that boys aren't allowed to go up the girls' stairs, so this was as far as I could go so that I could keep my promise to you about talking to you whenever I needed support."

Hermione could feel her heart breaking apart. One night back, and his nightmares had already started again. The two of them needed a private place to talk now. And there was one specific place that would certainly give them that privacy.

At that point, she asked, "Do you have the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak with you?"

He was confused but answered, "They're always in my mokeskin pouch, which I also have on me."

She stood up before looking to Crookshanks. Then, she said, "Crookshanks, I hate to disturb your resting place, but I need Harry right now."

The cat looked at her for a second before shifting to lie on the part of the sofa that she had just vacated. Hermione then pulled Harry up and said, "Pull the Cloak out and cover us up. Then take out the Map and activate it."

He was further puzzled but followed her directions without complaint. She then whispered, "Check everywhere from here to a certain tapestry located on the seventh floor."

Recognition lit up in his eyes as he realized where she wanted to go. After giving the Map a once-over, he quietly said, "All clear."

"Good," she replied. "Let's go."

With that, the two of them quietly made their way out of Gryffindor Tower to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy that was opposite the location of the Room of Requirement. After Harry checked the Map one last time to make sure no one was near them, they left the safety of their invisibility, and Hermione paced back and forth at the tapestry while thinking that she needed a replica of the Gryffindor common room for just her and Harry that no one else would be able to find while they were inside. After her third repetition, a door appeared and led to a smaller-scale version of the common room. After ushering Harry inside and shutting the door, the two of them took refuge on the sofa that was sitting near a crackling fire.

They sat down with Hermione being on Harry's right side again. Upon sitting, she immediately took hold of his hands in hers and squeezed them. As was typical, he glanced at their hands for a few seconds before looking up into her eyes.

"Talk to me, Harry," she whispered. "Tell me what happened in your dream, and tell me anything and everything that you need."

He instantly got that dejected expression which said that he didn't believe himself worthy of her love and care. But he simply took a deep breath and asked, "Just please don't interrupt until I finish?"

She silently nodded, and with that, he began.

He gave her a recap of his entire nightmare, his emotions making him sound more and more watery as he went through the order of events. Her insides twisted at not only the fact that he had another one at all, but also how this one sadistically played with him by allowing him to think that he was going to change things for the better before yanking him off his feet with a cruel twist. And the fact that it was a nightmare where he had to watch her be murdered absolutely broke her heart.

But once Harry finished giving her all the events of the nightmare, he still had more that was plaguing him.

With tears in his eyes, he choked out, "And the fact that it was another nightmare where you were murdered in front of me isn't even the worst part. Now that I've finished recalling it for you, I can't help but wonder… is it some kind of sign? I couldn't even go one night without you before I immediately had another awful nightmare. What if I literally can't survive without you? Or what if I just physically can't stop these nightmares myself, and I'll never be rid of them?"

He closed his eyes and hung his head in shame as he began to cry. "I really don't know if I'll be able to endure these next few months if the nights continue to be like this. And I'm sorry that I'm admitting this to you, because you don't deserve to be saddled with such a burden that I could turn out to be."

Though he couldn't see it now, Hermione lightly shook her head. His thoughts were completely wrong, and it looks like she would have to show him that again.

She squeezed his hands again to get him to look up. Once he did so, she let go before shifting over to straddle his lap, causing his eyes to widen for an instant. As he wrapped his arms around her waist, she placed her hands on his cheeks and slowly wiped away his tears until they finally stopped falling. When she was finished, she didn't remove her hands from his face and silently stared into his eyes for a few seconds. Then, she circled her arms around his neck before leaning in and giving him tender kisses. She kissed him on his left cheek, right cheek, the scar on his forehead, and ended by kissing his lips for about five seconds.

When she finally pulled her mouth away, she saw that most of the despair in his expression had been replaced by surprise. Only then did she finally speak.

"You aren't now, nor could you ever be, a burden to me, Harry."

That caused him to sadly frown. "But what if it eventually becomes too much for you, Hermione? We don't know how long I could be like this, or how badly things could end up being, since we can't predict the future."

She shook her head before touching her forehead to his and gently whispering, "You're right. We can't predict our exact futures." His expression began to fall even more, but she hoped the rest of her words would immediately turn it around. "But what I do know is that I want this relationship to last. To be with you for as long as possible. And I'm willing to work as much as it takes, through whatever issues may arise with either of us, for that to happen."

Her mouth lifted in a soft smile. "I knew what I was getting into when I admitted that I love you, Harry. Knew that two weeks would almost certainly not be enough to fully rid you of the troubles that plague you. But I'm in this for the long haul. Like I told you the day we got together, give me every burden you have and let me carry you when you need help. One more nightmare on your part hasn't changed that, and won't ever change it even if you unfortunately continue to have nightmares after this. Whenever you feel like you're starting to fall to your issues, I'll be right at your side to keep you steady until you can continue walking forward. No matter how long you need to wait, how slowly your steps need to be, or how many times I may have to remind you that I'll be here. I promise."

And there it was, that soft expression that never failed to lift her heart. Upon seeing it, she couldn't resist leaning in and kissing him again. She also couldn't help smiling during the kiss when she felt his own arms immediately tighten a bit.

Once she pulled her mouth away and placed her forehead back on his, a tiny smile was now accompanying his tender expression. Then, Harry whispered, "How did I get so lucky to end up with someone as wonderful as you in my life?"

Hermione started gently running her right hand through his hair, causing him to release a small sigh of relief, and she said, "I could ask the same question to you. But to give you an answer… it's by simply being you, Harry. That's how."

His eyes closed for a couple of seconds before he looked at her again and said, "Thank you for putting up with me, Hermione."

She softly replied, "Thank you for wanting to help yourself and talk to me, Harry."

Determination flashed in his eyes for a second. "I promised that I would come to you if I ever had low thoughts again. And I'm not going to break a promise to you."

A little smile of her own grew on her face. "I know you won't."

With that, silence reigned as the two remained in their position, content to simply gaze into each other's eyes. Hermione did continue to run her hand through Harry's hair, trying to give him more comfort even without words. The occasional happy sigh that left Harry told her that her actions were working.

Eventually, she stopped her motions but kept her forehead touching his. Then, she quietly asked, "So, do you feel better now, Harry?"

He nodded against her forehead. "Yeah, Hermione. I do." He then gave a reluctant sigh. "Still though, I can't help but believe that I'll have more nights like this. That I'm going to need you more than ever to get through the rest of this school year."

His words made her recall the plan that had immediately begun to form in her mind when she went to bed last night. And now, with the combination of his words and the nightmare, she had zero hesitation about following through on that plan as quickly as possible.

She didn't bring any mention of that to Harry yet, though. For now, she resolutely replied, "And I'll do anything and everything it takes to help you. I promise."

His eyes shined a bit with a small buildup of tears, and he merely whispered, "Thank you."

Another few seconds of silence passed, before Hermione smirked a bit as she remembered something else to mention. "You said you woke up from the nightmare at three thirty, correct?"

She could see him become a bit baffled as he said, "Yeah. Why do you ask?"

Her smirk widened slightly before she responded, "Well, something you might find interesting is that… I actually woke up suddenly at three thirty myself, not understanding why considering I never had a nightmare of my own, but I still felt in my gut that something was wrong. And right after I awakened, I saw Crookshanks, who had been sitting at the end of my bed, jump down and then exit the dormitory."

His eyes had grown huge, and his mouth dropped a bit in shock, at her statements. It took a few seconds before he finally spoke. "Both of you woke up at the same time that I did. But how…"

She looked at him sympathetically and said, "Well, Crookshanks is highly intelligent since he is half-Kneazle, so he could have picked up on my own worry before I realized it myself. As for me… perhaps my heart knew that I was needed at that moment. And I'm glad that I was awakened at that time so that I could help you."

Though his eyes remained dry, his overall expression looked tearful as he barely whispered, "So am I, Hermione."

The need to comfort him flared up, and she tightened her arms around him a bit more and buried her head in his shoulder. His arms gave her a squeeze of gratitude in response. The two remained quiet and simply took solace from the hug.

After a while, Harry shifted his head so that his mouth was at her ear before he said, "Thank you again, Hermione."

Hermione pulled back just enough so that she could gaze into his eyes, and she was glad to only see happy affection within them. She simply replied, "You're welcome, Harry."

The smile that she received made her heart flip around in happiness. Then, Harry brought his left hand around to look at his wristwatch.

"Only five o'clock," he said before wrapping his arm back around her. "Still too early for breakfast in the Great Hall."

"We can worry about that in a little bit," Hermione replied. "For now, though, how about I give you a possible plan of something we can do today?"

"Sure, Hermione. What did you have in mind?"

She nodded first before diving into things. "First off, do you still remember the notes that Snape added into his Potions book about making a Draught of Living Death?"

Confusion instantly filled his expression before he replied, "Well, yeah. Crush the sopophorous bean with the flat side of a silver dagger to get more juice. Then, during the stirring portion, add a clockwise stir after every seven counterclockwise stirs. But I don't understand why you're asking."

"Because, Harry, we need to test both variants of my detection spells on other potions to be assured that they truly work as I intended. At this point, we only know the general detector works on Sleeping Draughts while the poison detector worked on bleach. Thus, I'm thinking that we could get the ingredients so that I could make something like a Shrinking Solution while you make a Draught of Living Death, even if that means having to take them from the Potions classroom. You could get food and drink from the kitchens afterwards so that we could actually test the potions. Having results from testing three different potions will put me more at ease about the general detection, and I also hold hope that the Draught of Living Death may count towards getting a positive result with the poison detector, given how dangerous that potion can be. If I had used a bit of logic, I wouldn't have made you throw that one you had away, but I was so frightened about you having that potion after everything you told me that I just needed it to be gone."

His eyes had been a bit wide with astonishment, but at her final statement, his expression instantly fell. She couldn't help putting her right hand on his cheek before whispering, "Don't, Harry. Don't feel guilty about your own pain. You're still here with me. That's all that matters."

He took a deep, shaky breath first. Then, he quietly said, "I'll try. This may be one of the hardest things to finally let go of the guilt, if not the hardest, considering how badly I hurt you. But I'll try."

She caressed his cheek for a second. "However slowly you need to take things. Never forget that."

Hermione was glad to see his expression gradually morph from sadness to affection after that. She circled her right arm back around his neck as they remained quiet for a few seconds.

Then, Harry took another deep breath, though much steadier this time, and added, "Getting back on topic, though. Yeah, Hermione, all of that which you spoke about the potions is definitely a good idea. Still, it most likely won't take us the entire day, you know? Considering how we've made finished Shrinking Solutions in class before as well as those handwritten instructions helping to tremendously speed up the process of finishing the Draught of Living Death."

She responded, "Oh, I know. Which is why there's also something else on which I want us to work."

He grew a bit puzzled again, but she continued without giving him a chance to speak. "We practice normal, nonverbal, and wandless casting with Disillusionment Charms, making certain that we can appear to be as completely invisible as possible with the normal casting at the very least."

His confusion deepened before he replied, "Hermione, we have the Cloak, which you know I would let you use whenever you want. And besides, we're not exactly going on misadventures like we were through all those earlier years when Riddle was still alive. Why do you want to focus on this?"

As much as she wanted to tell him about her plan, she knew that he would never go for what she was thinking. Thus, she could only plead, "Just trust me on this. Please?"

The confusion in his face gradually gave way to a pensive expression. For a few seconds, he didn't say a word and just continued staring into her eyes.

Then, the left side of his mouth barely curled upward before he said, "Alright. I can't say that I'm not still curious and confused as to why you want to do this. But you obviously have your reasons, and you've earned all of my trust and more for everything you've done for me. So, I'll gladly follow along."

A tender smile immediately rose on her face as she whispered, "Thank you."

"No need," he replied. "Like I said, you've earned blind trust."

She couldn't resist leaning in and giving him another kiss for a few seconds. When she pulled away, her smile grew upon seeing him wearing a large smile of his own.

After a few more seconds of silence, she became a bit more serious. "Alright, so. After breakfast, we'll go to the Owlery so that we can send that letter to Fleur. Then, we'll grab the ingredients needed for those two potions and come back here to form a potion-making room to do our testing. And when we're satisfied with those results, we'll move on to Disillusionment Charms. Does that work for you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan."

Hermione simply gave a small hum of agreement. Then, she smirked at him before pulling herself even closer into his body, causing him to blink in surprise as his arms instinctively held her a bit tighter.

With her lips nearly brushing his, she said in a low voice, "So, we have some time before breakfast, and a room all to ourselves. There's a few possibilities of what could be done with it."

She could instantly see desire grow in Harry's eyes before he replied, "Well, did you have something specific in mind?"

Her smirk widened before she pulled out her wand and cast the contraceptive charm on both of them. And after putting her wand away, she only gave him one more second before she lunged her mouth forward to capture his in a hard kiss.

-O-

That night, Harry had just gotten under his bed covers after closing the curtains and setting up his silencing protections. He just lied on his back and stared up towards the ceiling, thinking back on the day.

The slow lovemaking that he and Hermione had done in the Room of Requirement had completely driven any thoughts of the previous nightmare from his mind. Afterwards, they left for breakfast as early as they could and were the first students in the Great Hall. Though they still ate their meal like normal and didn't show off any blatant affection, Hermione did keep her left foot resting against his right one, which put a tiny smile on Harry's face. And once the two finished eating and sent off their letter, they focused on getting everything ready for their testing session.

The detection tests had been wonderfully fruitful. The general potion detector was able to show a positive result with both potions. The poison variant was in fact successful at showing a positive result with the Draught of Living Death, proving that it would reveal dangerous substances in general since the Draught of Living Death was technically not considered an actual poison. All of that put Harry and Hermione more at ease that her spells, which Hermione had decided to call the Potion-Detecting Spell and the Poison-Detecting Spell to give them somewhat official names, would truly be effective to use on their meals going forward.

When they had finished that by early afternoon and had eaten lunch, the rest of the time until a scheduled patrol of the halls that night was spent practicing Disillusionment Charms, only stopping at one point to go to dinner. As with the other spells that they had focused hard on during the holiday break, they managed to reach the point of being able to perform the spell without any of the aspects of spellcasting. All of their castings also became effective enough through the practice that they confirmed with one another to appear completely invisible, even while walking from one place to another, as long as they didn't make any movements that were too sudden or jerky. Moving too quickly would still cause a light shimmer to appear in the air, though it was also faint enough that it was barely noticeable when one wasn't specifically looking for it as long as the two weren't performing more continuous actions such as running.

Of course, how long exactly the spell would hold was still a mystery, but they knew they could last about one hour at the very least when they ended their practice session by doing an endurance test with the normal wand casting. They both assumed that removing any aspects of spellcasting would most likely cause the spell to either end more quickly or simply require more energy and magic to keep going to that same limit, but that, along with removing the shimmer on sudden movements, was something that could be practiced on another day.

That was the last bit of training they did before going off to patrol the halls. And they had only finished and said good night to each other in the empty common room a few minutes ago.

Harry let out a sigh as he came out of his thoughts. Though he knew that Hermione would always be there for him if something would happen, he was still afraid about going to sleep tonight. Would the nightmares just continue to get worse from where they started last night? Was he now going to have the most awful nightmares about Hermione every single night as long as he was alone?

He closed his eyes after asking those questions in his mind. All he could do was be brave and try to get through the night. That was the only way he would get his answer.

At that moment, however, he ended up getting an answer that would shock the daylights out of him.

His eyes shot open when he heard the curtain on his right side slightly shift. Then, what felt like a hand immediately but also gently covered his mouth, even though he couldn't see anything there at all. Filled with fright and acting on instinct, he immediately reached for his wand underneath his pillow. But before he could actually pull the wand out, a pair of lips brushed against his ear and then whispered as quietly as possible to him, causing him to stop.

"Hello, Emerald. It's your Angel."

Even with the hand still covering him, his mouth opened in shock. Hermione?! He knew this couldn't be a trick considering not one other person knew about their nicknames for each other. So, what was she doing here now?

He didn't have a chance to say anything, though, as he then heard in the same quiet tone, "Did you put up your silencing spells?"

Harry just barely nodded a confirmation.

"Good," she said, before he felt her remove her hand from his mouth. "Then scoot over and make room before someone else might wake up."

He shifted to his left as she ordered, but just to be safe, he pulled out his wand anyway and started casting his spells again to have extra protection. He was only vaguely aware of the curtain closing while he was working. And once he was done, he turned to his left to put his wand underneath the pillow again before taking a deep breath. He needed to prepare himself for this.

Then, he finally turned over to lie on his right side. And it seemed that his mind hadn't just simply played a trick on him.

Lying there beside him under the covers, having apparently canceled her Disillusionment Charm while he was occupied with his own spells, was Hermione Granger.

At that moment, she whispered, "I thought you said you had already placed your protections."

Shaking his head for a second to finally get his mind working, he quietly replied, "I had set them up, and I can tell you that they're good enough that no one stirred the tiniest bit earlier this morning even with as loudly as I was screaming when I woke up. But I'm also not taking any chances of someone hearing you."

His expression became stunned again before his next words. "Speaking of which, what are you doing here, Hermione? You know how much trouble we'll get in if we're caught in bed together."

She looked at him with resolution. "I'm here so that you don't have any nightmares tonight."

Her statement put him at such a loss for words that he could only sputter out, "Huh?"

She gave him an amused smile before sobering up and then placing her right hand on his cheek. "You never had any nightmares at home when you knew I was there. So… here I am."

He blinked rapidly for a second. Then, he replied, "That's why you wanted to practice the Disillusionment Charm. Because you can come to me even when I can't go to you."

Her smile was more tender this time as she nodded her agreement. "That's right."

Every response she gave continued to just blow his mind. His mouth silently opened and closed a few times before he was finally able to speak again.

"Hermione, I can't tell you how grateful I am about how far you're willing to go for me, truly. But it still doesn't change the fact that we'll be in massive trouble if anyone even has a suspicion about us doing this. With Professor Vector just as Gryffindor students, since she was made the new Head of Gryffindor, along with Professor McGonagall since we're also the Head students."

Determination filled her eyes again. "I don't care about those consequences. If we're caught, then I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that you don't get even the smallest punishment, that this was all my doing alone."

Her expression became sympathetic as she then shifted forward, leaving no space between their bodies, and touched her forehead to his. "I care more about helping you. And if me being here will keep you from having horrible nightmares every night, then I'll be here."

He felt tears beginning to rise in his eyes, and he could just barely say, "Hermione…"

She caressed his cheek before then pulling her right hand away and speaking. "Now, I'm not saying that this has to be something we do every night. But my hope is that you'll have a restful sleep tonight, since you always seemed peaceful when we started sleeping next to each other at home. Thus, if you ever have more nightmares that you can't handle alone while we're here at Hogwarts, no matter how big or small, just tell me the next morning. And I'll make sure to be with you that night to drive the nightmares away for a time."

Her declaration caused his tears to start falling. Hermione pulled her head away but used her hands to shift his head enough so that she could place both hands on his cheeks. Then, she simply began wiping his tears with her thumbs. Though he closed his eyes at her touch and continued to silently cry, he also couldn't help giving a tiny smile at her loving actions.

Hermione continued to stroke his face with her thumbs until he finally had no more tears left. Then, she gave his cheeks a few more caresses before pulling her hands back. Only then did Harry slowly open his eyes.

He and Hermione just stared at one another for a few seconds, before he was the first to talk. "Hermione, I – I don't know at all what to say."

She gave a small smile and replied, "No need to say anything, Harry. I promised to do whatever it took to help you. And here I am, hoping that I'm keeping my promise."

That actually caused him to let out one soft laugh. Then, he responded with all the gratitude he could muster, "You have, Angel. You've more than kept it."

Her smile widened slightly before she then wrapped her arms around his chest. He instantly responded by circling his arms around her middle. With that, at least a full minute passed as the two simply took comfort from holding one another.

Harry was the first one to eventually break the silence. There was something that was prickling at his mind and couldn't be left alone, after what Hermione had told him about her fight with Ginny on the train.

"Hermione, while you're here, do you mind if I ask you something?"

A bit of puzzlement flashed in her eyes for a moment, but she simply replied, "Anything, Harry."

Though her answer was warm and welcoming, he still couldn't help timidly saying, "Well still, you can tell me to bugger off if this is something that's too personal – "

"Harry," she gently interrupted. "Really. Ask me anything."

Her soft acceptance drove away just enough of his fear that he was able to hesitantly continue. "Well, when you were filling me in on what happened between you and Ginny, one of the things that you mentioned was how Viktor Krum was never anything more than a friend for you."

Her expression became almost adorably confused, but she just silently nodded.

He then said, "So, you two were never in any kind of deeper relationship together? And did he never kiss you at all?"

Her puzzlement deepened a bit, but she didn't hesitate when she responded, "No, Viktor and I were never together like boyfriend and girlfriend in any way, so Ginny was correct in that regard when she said that I had never before had a boyfriend. And to your second question, he only kissed my cheek after escorting me back to Gryffindor Tower when we left the Yule Ball. There was never anything more than that, though I did have to deal with rumors in my dorm thanks to someone having seen that happen."

He was unable to stop his eyes from glancing away in confused surprise as he took in this information.

Two years ago, when he and Ron had found Dean and Ginny snogging in the corridor, Ginny had yelled at Ron about how Harry had snogged Cho Chang and Hermione had snogged Viktor Krum. Harry obviously hadn't thought about it back then, but his kiss with Cho in fifth year hardly constituted a snog in even the loosest of terms, so it could be considered a lie for Ginny to have said that he had. Thus, could she have done the same thing regarding Hermione and Krum, as well?

He was pulled from his thoughts when Hermione said, "Harry, you look like you're having some sort of conflict in your mind. What's wrong? And why did you want to ask about Viktor?"

He locked his gaze onto her, remaining silent for a couple of seconds. Then, he nervously said, "Because your answers just confirmed something regarding an event that I need to tell you about."

Her confusion returned, but he just kept speaking. "Do you remember, at the church, when I made a mention in my potion hypothesis about Ron and me catching Dean and Ginny snogging after Quidditch practice one day?"

She just silently nodded an affirmation.

He continued, "Well, after Dean quickly left, a shouting match started between the two Weasleys, and Ron tried to hex Ginny after she said something about him kissing a picture of his Aunt Muriel in secret. And right after that – "

He stopped for a moment and couldn't help his growing uneasiness. "Right after that, Ginny yelled at him about how I snogged Cho and how you – you snogged Krum. Then, she said that Ron only acted like snogging was disgusting because he had no experience with it himself, before she stormed off. Ron and I didn't speak afterwards until we were at the portrait door to Gryffindor Tower, where he abruptly asked if I thought you had snogged Krum. While I admit that I honestly did think so in my mind, I didn't know what to actually say that wouldn't make everything worse, but even my hesitance seemed to be enough for Ron to make up his mind."

He was quite sheepish when he ended with, "That… that's why I wanted to hear from you about what happened with Krum."

If there was ever such an expression as 'distressingly neutral,' that's what Hermione's face appeared to be right now, as her eyes glanced away from him. It was so neutral, in fact, that Harry couldn't help but grow more and more frightened as the seconds ticked away and Hermione continued to remain silent.

And at some point, her eyes finally turned back to him as she spoke in a low voice. "That's why Ron got together with Lavender so suddenly, isn't it? He did it out of spite towards me, didn't he?"

As afraid as he was, memories of sixth year were flooding his mind and causing the words to flow out. "Well, he never said anything directly to me, but… yes, it's probably fair to assume that's what happened. Especially now that I'm remembering how, one day in the common room after you set those birds on him, he muttered things to himself like how he didn't promise you anything and that he was a free agent. I was too afraid about losing my friendship with either of you to ever talk about the situation at all."

A frown came to her face as she just nodded while slowly taking a deep breath. Then, with a bit of a growl in her tone, she said, "So, Ginny lies about me and Viktor, as well as you and Cho because I know from what you've said that your kiss wasn't really a full-on snog, just to make Ron furious. And then Ron takes that information, assumes it's true even though no one ever even thought to try and ask me about it, and gets with Lavender to basically try and show me up. All while knowing that we had reached an agreement about going to Professor Slughorn's party together."

Harry could only shrink in on himself. Given the information that Hermione had revealed about Krum, she was completely right on all counts. And that fact made him feel once again like the lowest scum, because he had been too afraid about losing his friendship with Ron at that time to realize that Ron's actions towards Hermione, and thus Harry's own silence about them, were awful.

It seemed that his fears could be read in his expression, because Hermione became sympathetic again and touched her forehead to his.

"I'm not angry at you," she softly whispered. "Please don't start thinking that I am. While I do wish that you would have come to me if you had any questions back then, I can also see why you wouldn't with as harshly as I was acting towards you that year, and it at least sounds like you kept all of your thoughts about Viktor to yourself. And I understand that you didn't want to lose any of your friends by jumping into the middle of things, especially when that situation between Ron and me throughout sixth year was such a volatile nightmare on both his part and mine.

"I'm angry at Ginny for so easily lying about you and me. I'm angry at Ron for being so spiteful towards me. I'm angry at myself for ever having spent time over the previous two years thinking about taking things further with Ron, despite having enough evidence to tell me how I would only be setting myself up for disappointment and despair. But I'm not angry at you, Harry."

He couldn't help despondently asking, "Why? Even if I wasn't trying to intentionally do so, it's yet another piece of evidence for how I always put Ron ahead of you, even in situations where I shouldn't have. Why wouldn't you be angry at me for that?"

She actually smiled at him again before replying, "Don't forget, Harry. I know what it was like to grow up without having any friends, even if I didn't have nearly the same kinds of other problems as a child that you did. So, I can understand you not wanting to risk any of your friendships back then.

"But even without that, you've also been putting me first since the end of the war. You listened to me about why I no longer trusted Ron. You didn't hesitate to go with me to Australia to find my parents. You returned to Hogwarts this year simply because I wanted you here with me. And you came home with me for the holidays even though you were terrified about facing my parents after what happened in Australia. You're not the same person that you were even two years ago."

Her expression then turned somewhat sad yet loving at the same time. "I wish there was a way that I could physically take away all of the guilt that you still hold within you. Since I can't do that, however, I'll simply say this. There's no need for you to ever feel guilty about anything between you and me, nothing for which you need to apologize. But whenever you may feel that way like you do right now, I'll reassure you again and again until you can move past it. And if you still feel as though there are things for which you need to apologize, then I forgive you, Harry. For anything and everything."

Her statements caused tears to build up too quickly for him to stop, and he closed his eyes as he began silently crying again. He couldn't help letting out a watery laugh when he also felt her begin to wipe his cheeks. Silence held as she continued her gentle actions, until his crying ended and he could finally open his eyes.

His tone conveyed the huge lump that was still in his throat when he spoke. "Without you, I would be so much more of a mess than I already am."

She wrapped her arms back around him before she responded, "Even if you are a mess, you're my mess, and I'll always be happy to help you through your troubles. And don't forget, Harry, I would be a complete mess without you. Remember, we're so much stronger together. Even if we deal with issues between the two of us for the rest of our lives, we'll always come out better on the other side of them as long as we're facing them together."

That brought the first smile, however tiny it was, to his face since he had asked her about what happened with Krum. That ended up causing her to smile back at him before she leaned in and gently kissed him. He instantly responded and then deepened the kiss when she moaned a little into his mouth. In his mind during the kiss, he gave many thanks for the fact that someone so strong and so willing to help had chosen to be with a basket case like himself.

It was maybe fifteen seconds later when they pulled their mouths away. They silently stared at each other again for a time.

Then, Hermione was the one to first speak. "What time do you set your alarm clock to go off in the morning?"

While it was an abrupt change in the topic, it wasn't exactly an irrelevant one. Thus, Harry replied, "I've been setting it for five thirty when we have classes during the week. Though as you obviously can figure out, me making it to that time or getting up early because of dreams is another matter entirely."

He could see sympathy flash in her eyes for a second, but she merely replied, "Well, I always set mine for five o'clock, which is probably why I'm still typically the first one downstairs even if you may not take quite as long to get clean in the mornings. Would you mind setting your alarm to go off then, even though we still don't have classes tomorrow? That way, I could sneak back to the girls' dormitory without anyone knowing. Of course, my inner clock is also good enough here at school that I usually wake up a few minutes before that anyway. So, don't be surprised if I accidentally wake you up when I leave to go back to my dormitory."

Harry just nodded before setting the time on his alarm clock, which was set up to be able to hang up on the bed panel. He couldn't help chuckling for a second in his mind as he recalled how Hermione had told him early on in the school year, having followed him to the dorm when he needed to switch out books for a study session, that she actually had the same setup for her own clock. Of course, she said that hers had been like that for a few years, whereas he had only made such a setup starting this year so that he wouldn't have to open his curtains to look at the time whenever he woke up from nightmares.

But once he finished with that task and was lying down and gazing at Hermione again, his guilt and worry quickly returned. He then said a bit dejectedly, "I really should push you to just go back to your dorm now. I shouldn't put you in any kind of position where you can get in such huge trouble."

She gave him a tender smile but lightly said, "But you won't. Like Dad joked about during the break and like you playfully said on the train ride here, you've corrupted me. Thus, you know I won't take no for an answer about staying."

He couldn't help chuckling for a couple of seconds. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

Her smile became more of an amused grin at that. After another second, though, she turned serious. "But really, why don't we call it a night and get some rest?"

He merely nodded at first. Then, looking at her as affectionately as he could, he said, "Sleep well, Hermione. I love you so much."

She looked at him with the same fondness and replied, "Sleep well, Harry. And I love you just as much."

With that, they tightened the hold that they had on each other before closing their eyes.

Harry knew that he was being selfish by letting Hermione stay with him tonight, but now, he couldn't find the strength to care about the consequences of being found. He was in her arms, a place where he knew that he still belonged. And as he quickly drifted off to sleep, he once again gave thanks that he could be so lucky to end up in the arms of such a wonderful woman.


A/N: A bit more of a Harry-centric perspective for this chapter, since I thought that the events of the nightmare and the reveal of Hermione's plan worked best when looking directly through Harry's eyes. Of course, that plan itself should probably have been obvious once it was mentioned again around the halfway point of the chapter haha. But of course, our lovebirds need a way to be with each other for at least some nights while at school, wouldn't you say? ;)

Regarding Ginny having brought up Hermione snogging Viktor Krum, it weirds me out how that moment is really the only time in canon where we get a mention about Hermione possibly having done anything with Viktor. There's never any kind of confirmation from Hermione, nor did anyone ever even think to actually ask her. And considering the circumstances in which that line was spoken by Ginny, along with the fact that Ginny has lied with a completely straight face before when she told her mother at one point in OotP that Crookshanks was leaving Dungbombs outside of a room when it was actually Ginny herself that threw and left them, it thus seems very easy to question the validity of the statement about Hermione.

Of course, whether or not Hermione did kiss Viktor, Ron's actions in the aftermath of his fight with Ginny were all-around horrendous with how he got insanely jealous over the mere possibility that Hermione may have kissed someone else two years prior. And yes, the bit in this story chapter where Harry mentions Ron having talked about being a free agent and not making promises to Hermione can be found right in the beginning of Ch. 15 in HBP ("The Unbreakable Vow" for the actual chapter name), so that's not something that was made up out of the blue.

Finally, I couldn't resist having the little fluffy moment with Crookshanks after Harry wakes up. It's hard in my mind to not take at least some comfort when a cat wants to curl up or lay in your lap.

As always, thank you to all those who have read this far or reacted to the story, and I hope you stay tuned for more!