Hi everyone!

I haven't updated in a few days - and that's all due to some enormous exam that I had this morning. It took up all of my time, so I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to post as frequently as I normally would. I hope to get back on track with that from now one :)

So, this chapter - Smut in the beginning :D Some exposure in the last part. Harry and Hermione want their relationship to be a secret for the Wizarding World - but how long will the manage to keep it that way?

Enjoy and thank you all for the support and the kind words! I love you all!

Love, Flora

Chapter 23: How Hermione would always be on Harry's list

The first thing Harry noticed when he stepped out of the floo, was the smell of her shampoo. Not seconds later he registered her body, pressing up against his, her lips firmly planted against his cheek, her fingernails scraping against his neck, clawing against his leather jacket. Ah, yes, there she was. His home. Hermione.

'Harry! My goodness, it's so late!'

Harry smiled automatically. He knew that this emotion would be first – relief and joy. Queue the next. Anger.

'Where have you been?!'

Yep. There it was.

Harry chuckled and stuck his nose in the tender space between her head and her neck.

'You smell nice.'

Hermione huffed and when he moved away from her, he noticed the real concern in her eyes.

'I don't care, I want to know where you've been! Are you hurt? Was there a raid?'

'No raids today,' Harry assured her. 'I sent you a Patronus.'

'Yes, but I thought you would be home after dinner. It's 11 PM, Harry. 11 PM.'

He paused and nodded.

'I know. I'm sorry. I would have been back earlier, if it wasn't for Ron.'

'Ron?' Hermione asked, bewildered. 'What's he got to do with it? I thought you would go to Philip, and that something must have gone terribly wrong there, otherwise, why would you be so late, I mean-…'

Harry laughed and cut her rambling off with a sweet kiss. God, those kisses. They would drive him nuts.

'I will tell you everything, if you allow me to step out of your hearth, and unwind a bit,' he grinned against her lips. Hermione blushed a bit at her own bossiness and obliged.

Harry shed his coat and his shoes, and followed Hermione to the bathroom, where she offered him a toothbrush. They brushed in silence, but Harry made sure to have his arm firmly wrapped around her waist, to show her he was sorry and to give him the contact that he craved so much. They pulled funny faces at each other in the mirror and one particular face of Hermione had him laugh so hard that he spit some of his toothpaste out. Hermione shrieked disgustedly, which made Harry laugh even harder.

Finally they ended up in the queen-sized bed. It was a particularly cold night, so they put an extra blanket on the bed and turned on a light heating charm. Hermione was pressed up tightly against the worn-out cotton of his sleepshirt – it was one of the shirts he had worn during the Triwizard Tournament, and Hermione circled the Gryffindor emblem as she sighed happily against his chest.

'Right, as you've got more to tell, I'll go first,' Hermione said. 'Boring day at work, so there's that. Now Bill's got my case I'm kind of back in the Elfish welfare – which I love, don't get me wrong, but I've heard their arguments time and time again and the research is getting kind of dry. Second: got news from Ginny, around 8 PM. Fleur's given birth.'

'That's great!' Harry exclaimed. 'Is she okay?'

'Yes, she is, and the baby is too. It's a boy, they named him Louis. Didn't Ron tell you that?'

'Ron was… occupied,' Harry replied. 'I'm not even sure if he knew, going by the state he was in. He had other things on his mind. Their own pregnancy, most of all.'

'Oh?'

'Ron and Nicky are expecting twins,' Harry said, with a grin.

'What?! No way!'

'Yes way. It was confirmed today. Now, we could have kind of seen it coming – Ron having twins-brothers, Nicky having twin-sisters and a mother who is a twin herself. They kind of hit the genetic lottery jackpot for creating twins, I suppose.'

'Of course! That we didn't think of that before… And Ron freaked out so bad that he waited for you at your office?'

Harry told her in detail how he managed to calm his friend down. He had no idea if he managed successfully – Ron had Fred and George in his mind, after all, but he did go home with less tension in his shoulders. Hermione and him contemplated on that for a bit – twins, for crying out loud! – and they both decided to pay them a visit soon, to tell them that they would be there to support them. They would need it, after all.

Then he told her about Philip. Hermione was shocked, to say the least, but emphatic.

'Oh, I feel so bad for making fun of his doctorate now… No wonder that he snapped…'

'He still called you ugly,' Harry reminded her. 'He still said things that were really uncalled for. No matter how bad things get, he shouldn't have done that.'

'No, I know, but-… Well, it kind of makes sense now, doesn't it?'

'He was miserable, jealous, and depressed. Yes. But I have felt like that, Ron has felt like that, and neither of us have told you that you were ugly. So, he's not just a wreck, he's also bloody blind,' Harry said, still a bit angry.

'Says the guy who can't see straight without his glasses,' Hermione quipped.

Harry grinned cheezily.

'Well, even without my glasses I know that you are absolutely breath taking, you know,' he chuckled, leaning against her lips. She rolled her eyes, as if she was irritated, but after a while he saw a smile creep up on her face as well. She deepened the kiss, opened her mouth, allowing her tongue to seek his. Harry groaned approvingly, enjoying the taste that was so purely Hermione combined with a minty freshness.

'We should go to bed,' he said, as he pulled her closer to him. Hermione nodded against his mouth, kissing him again and again, sweeping his tongue across his, desperate to get a reaction out of him.

'We should go to bed,' she agreed, as she pulled on Harry's shirt. He lifted it above his head, exposing his chest to her, and she kissed his cheek, then his neck, then the place behind his ear. Harry moaned.

'We should go to bed,' he repeated, as he forced Hermione to break off the delicious contact in order for her to hoist her shirt over her head. She didn't wear a bra and Harry latched onto her nipples immediately. Hermione let out an approving murmur, pressing him closer against her chest.

'We should go to bed,' she sighed, as she sat upright, bouncing up and down against his mouth. She broke his movements off, only to straddle on his lap, and have their cores meet. Harry was already half-mast and he shut his eyes, enjoying the friction that her body gave, moving against him with nothing but the flimsy fabric of their underwear between them.

'We should… go…' Harry panted, the contact sending a rush of blood to his groin. He kneaded his knuckles against his forehead, and let out a whimper when Hermione stopped her delicious movements. He needed her against him, like he never needed anything else in his life, and then there she was, removing her own underwear, then removing Harry's, and stroking her hands up and down his length.

Her lips engulfed him and Harry thought he would go mad. He gave up control, shuddered against the sheets and focused on her mouth and her tongue. She tried to take him in deeper than she had any time before and that just aroused him to no end. He brought his hand to her head, slowly caressing her scalp.

'Can I... Guide you?' he groaned, his own voice unfamiliar in his ears, clouded with lustful love. He had never acted like this with a girl, but Hermione hummed encouragingly against his member and he felt his hand push gently on the back of her head, as he thrusted upwards. The sensation was so freaking good and Harry just couldn't help the sounds he was making. He tried to be as gentle as he could, assuring that Hermione was capable of breathing and that he didn't push too far. She gagged once, but was so enthusiastic in her bobbing that Harry didn't even feel guilty about it.

'Merlin, Hermione. You're… Ugh, yes,' he heaved, as he picked up the pace. He saw stars, released the hand on her head and stopped thrusting, so Hermione could decide how he climaxed. She took him in as deep as she could muster and allowed him to finish inside of her. The sensation was overwhelming, it made him tug and wither and then completely still as he felt himself releasing.

Hermione wiped her mouth and kissed his abdomen, while the only thing Harry could do was lie down and breathe with his eyes closed. She giggled, pulled the sheets tightly around them and used her wand to dim the lights.

'We should go to bed,' she said sternly, when she felt his hands wander to the lower parts of her body. 'You've got to learn that you don't owe me anything, Harry.'

He chuckled, thinking about how he told her the exact same thing not that long ago, and curled himself against her soft body.

'That's not fair. I like getting you off, too, you know-…'

'Should've gotten home earlier then,' Hermione teased, but she kissed him nonetheless.

'Point taken. I love you, Hermione,' he whispered against her skin. She nestled a bit tighter in his arms, enjoying his warmth.

'I love you too, Harry.'

Next day's raid turned out to be a complete disaster. When they got to the compound it had been abandoned – and abandoned with care, as every scrap of evidence was either vanished or irretraceable. It didn't do wonders for Eleanore Holywell's mood, the Head Auror, as she barked commands at the team for the rest of the day. When Harry announced that he would spend his lunchtime outdoors, Holywell even remarked how the so-called "Golden Boy" was abandoning ship. She loved playing mindtricks on him like that, trying to convince him to stay, bit he didn't give in.

Convincing Philip's Muggle Professor that he had made a grievous mistake, was easy enough. Harry used a transfiguration charm to make himself look a bit older, gave himself a made-up title and feigned importance, and with some disillusion-charms and a few well-placed Confundus incantations, Oliver Humphries immediately admitted that he had been very, very wrong to throw Philip off the program. Harry made sure that Philip was not only allowed back on his post, but that he would be compensated for the months that he had spent without income and that he would get a good personal counsellor to guide him through the process of getting back into the school system. Harry liked being thorough, and as the old Mister Humphries bowed humbly while writing his autograph on a number of documents that would definitely seal the deal, he felt good. Philip would benefit from this greatly – if it didn't give him Lydia back, it would surely give his life back, and Harry kind of felt obligated to do so after witnessing the breakdown of the boy in person.

Harry made sure to eat his lunch with Hermione. Since their relationship had developed into something more, Harry and Hermione had both skipped their lunch-appointments most of the time, as they would be seeing each other the rest of the evening anyway. Hermione was delighted to see him, however, as he strode into her office with some salmon bagels he brought from Dial. They chatted a bit, about Philip, about work, about who would do the groceries, about politics and family and nothing special really, but they had such a good time that Mimsy had to come knocking to remind Hermione that she was very, very late to an important meeting. Their half-hour lunchbreak had turned into an hour and a half. Harry had to repress the urge to kiss Hermione when she left her office, but there simply was too much risk with Mimsy watching.

See you tonight, Hermione's eyes told him. Harry winked, and squeezed her hand, to tell her that he cared for her. Mimsy didn't think twice about the gesture – he and Hermione had been fairly close in touches for ages now – and Harry rushed to his own quarters.

'You're late.'

It was the voice of his mentor and Deputy Head, breaking the silence in Harry's office. Harry had only just installed himself behind his desk.

'I know, Mrs. Holywell,' Harry replied, opening the top file that lay on his desk. 'I'll work over-time.'

'That's not the point,' she said. The way she held herself reminded her of Professor McGonnagal a bit – the stern face, the knot – but her manners were too much influenced by Alastor Moody and Cornelius Fudge to like her as much. She was reckless, without fear, convinced that the end justified the means no matter what, exceptionally strong and good at magic, but she wasn't a fan of leg work. Like Fudge, she was ambitious, and didn't back away from using sly tactics to get her employers to act exactly how she desired. With different guidance, she would have been a bloody good Auror, Harry thought often, but that prick of an ex-Minister just had to poison her mind.

'Then what is the point, Mrs Holywell?'

'Your work-ethic for the past month,' she replied. 'You have been acting irresponsible in the field, getting injured. The insight that you usually bless us with during the reviews of our raids has been lacking, to say the least. And don't even get me started on you disappearing without a reason, taking days off without giving notice to our board, seriously overstepping your lunchbreaks…'

She sighed.

'If you weren't who you are, I would have been forced to officially reprimand you.'

'Then officially reprimand me,' Harry said coolly. 'If it's what every other Auror would have gotten, don't hold back. Treat me like the others.'

'I might, actually,' she said, sharply. 'But I also know you as a person. You don't slack, you take pride in your work. So, before I make any harsh decisions, I would like to know from you what happened. Is it the way we handle the memory charms? I know you disagree with them, but that wouldn't make you so agitated. Your work is your life, Harry! What's changed?'

Harry wanted to make a snide comment, but then he paused. Eleonore was right. Something had changed. Normally, cases would consume him. Heck, in the first few weeks of his "engagement" to Hermione, had had thrown himself into it like he didn't know what else to do. Work was something he used to cope, to distract him, and for the past month… Harry didn't want to be distracted. Not in the way he wanted to be before, anyway.

'I have changed,' he said, slowly. 'But I'm afraid I don't want to disclose to you what has caused that change.'

'Is it permanent?' Eleonore asked. Harry paused again for a few moments.

'I certainly want it to be.'

Eleonore Holywell sniffed and nodded.

'Alright. I see. I think I'm right at assuming that this has a direct correlation with you and the date you had, last week?'

Harry didn't answer her, he didn't need to. As trained as Harry had become in Occlumency over the past couple of years, his face was still very bad at hiding his true emotions.

'And I don't have to remind you, Harry, that everyone in the Auror-department is forced to give openness about their family life? That we need to make a list of everyone that is of close meaning to you, so we know who possible victims are, should you be personally targeted? If you want this to be permanent, it is of the utmost importance that we know, so we can provide them with the protection they might need.'

Eleonore whipped out a list from her bag – Harry's "hit list", he knew – containing just a few names. The people on that list represented Harry's weaknesses, his pressure points. The few people in the world that Harry would do absolutely anything for – that would make him confess all the Ministry's deepest, darkest secrets, were someone to take them and harm them. She grabbled in her bag for a quill and some ink, but Harry stood up from behind his desk.

'Don't worry, there's no need to add anyone,' he said, grimly.

He packed his files and his bag.

'She is already on there.'

It was silent for a moment, as Harry gathered his things. Eleonore was stunned.

'If that's all you want to discuss, I'll be working from home today,' he added, with a little hoarseness to his voice. 'If you want to officially reprimand me, this would probably be a good time.'

He had no idea why he was so acting so careless, but to be honest, he just couldn't be bothered. Eleonore read the five names on the list again – and then smiled.

'I won't, Harry. Don't worry. And I will keep this information about you and Miss Granger absolutely confidential.'

Harry held in his breath as he briskly walked past her.