And now, let's look in on the Dursley's;

()

Vernon was reviewing the stock market report of his paper, shaking his head at how much the value of some of these companies had dropped. Personally, he felt that the sort of people who were stupid enough to invest in those companies deserved what they got. The smart people, like himself, would invest in mutual funds, it was a guaranteed pay out down the road.

This was the sort of knowledge he needed to pass down to his son. Dudley would be set up with a bright future. Vernon could envision Dudley with exactly the sort of life he had with his wife. A perfect home, with a perfect wife and child. He would go off to college in a year and a half and get a business degree and become someone.

It was all planned out. And just a little longer and the money to send Dudley off to school would be in an account for him.

Vernon had been very wise about his money. He'd kept a strict record of what had been spent over the years. He'd set aside 10% of each of his paychecks for years for savings. Up until around three years ago anyway. Over these last three years those savings had been getting depleted.

Were depleted.

See, the carpets had looked like they could have used replacing, so that had needed to get done. The shingles on the roof, appliances, lawn care all needed to be looked at and taken care of by professionals. Dudley's room had also needed a carpenter in a few times to fix up the drywall, the boy was a spirited individual.

All of this had added up and Vernon had been paying everything out of his own pocket. Once his pockets were empty... he'd used other means.

It wasn't the first time this had happened, living slightly beyond their means. And he'd learned from his mistake, he swore he had. Having to turn to his brother in-law to help them out of that first pickle had been terribly embarrassing. He hadn't known about 'them' at the time, what they were. But it was only supposed to be a small loan, to be paid back.

Instead... well, that happened.

And now, in this current situation, it was all under control. He'd gotten credit. He'd worked out the interest owed and was keeping the creditors happy.

Things had just sort of steam rolled.

When his vehicle had started getting a little wonky the mechanic said it needed a new control arm, but that sounded like it would lead to more problems after its replacement. First it was a control arm, then a strut, suddenly you're in for a new repair every month. No. Better off getting a new vehicle. In the long run he would be saving money that way. Plus, mechanics need to get paid all at once. A new vehicle can be paid for in installments, and with a credit card.

The yearly family trip to Majorca with his sister, that could be thrown on the credit card as well. And that credit card could be paid off with the money from the lenders. They have a much more reasonable interest rate after all. And he was keeping the lenders happy.

Yes, over the last few years he had not been so frugal, but why should he?

He'd learned that the money they were expecting for tolerating Petunia's sister's boy would be coming in when he was seventeen, not eighteen.

For some reason their society deemed their young hooligans of age a full year before proper civilized society. Ludicrous. But if their cockamamie ideals allowed him his pay day a full year early, then so be it.

Only seven months and 29 days and they would be out of their debt and have plenty tucked away for Dudley's further education after Smelting's.

He smiled and nodded gratefully as his beautiful wife set down his breakfast of three eggs, bacon, and buttered toast and refilled his coffee.

His life was just perfect.

A knock at the door called Petunia away from her task of tidying up the kitchen with a flutter of excitement. She was always enjoying showing off her housekeeping skills to the neighborhood. It made her happy. Whether it was someone from down the street, or solicitors for a charity. Any opportunity for someone to notice how in her house you would not to find a speck of dust.

"Good morning and a Happy New Year to you." Came the distant sound of a female voice. "Would you happen to be Petunia Dursley?"

Vernon listened from his chair. It was uncommon for someone to come calling at this early hour. It was still before eight in the morning, and the day after New Year. It couldn't possibly someone in an official capacity, and the charities wouldn't be knocking on doors this early, nor this soon after Christmas.

"My name is Harley Gordon, and this is Dora Tonks. We have some business to speak to you about. Would you mind?" This Harley woman asked.

'Odd'. Vernon thought grumbling at how his breakfast was going to be left to go cold. You couldn't re-heat eggs and have them taste at all the same. He stood up and made his way into the sitting area as Petunia was showing the ladies into the room with a hostess smile about her face.

Vernon assessed the two women. The one of them was dressed smartly, she was short with cropped blonde hair and tasteful make-up. She gave him a polite smile. The other had black hair with one stripe of purple in her fringe, a black open trench coat and what looked like a man's dress shirt tucked into her dark jeans. She was simply looking around the room, as though searching for something.

He crinkled his nose at the sight of this second woman.

"You must be Vernon Dursley." The first woman extended her hand to him. "Harley."

He shook it and gestured for the two of them to occupy the couch. "I am, what can we do for you?"

Harley took the lead. The other girl must have been a trainee that didn't understand appropriate business attire. "You have made a lovely home here." She started.

Petunia fluttered her eyelashes at the compliment. "Why thank you. One does what they can with the space, but really, it is a lovely home. The whole neighborhood really. Though, Janice Deakens two houses down has the most awful carpeting in her home. Don't tell her I said anything." She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows conspiratorially.

"I won't." Harley promised. "Now, sorry to call on you so early, but I was hoping to catch the two of you. Mr. Dursley, I imagine you were heading off to work soon, so we won't take up much of your time."

"Ah, yes." Vernon didn't mind Harley but was rather wanting this Dora to get out of his house before one of the neighbors saw. "I have about ten minutes before I have to be on the road." Really it was about a half hour.

"Well, we have good news for you." She pulled out a file from her purse. Oddly the file looked about twice the size of the purse, but it was in mint condition, no creases. "For you." She passed it to Vernon.

He opened it and read quickly through the title of the document on top, then skimmed the rest of it. "The. The Deed?" He didn't understand. He looked back up at Harley now, then back down at the document and licked his lips. "Why. Are you from the bank?"

The goth girl snorted. "No. We're from the Ministry of Magic."

Both the Dursley's sucked in a breath and pursed their lips. Petunia quickly came to stand beside her husband and looked down at the document. "And you are here to simply give us the deed to the house?" she asked tersely.

"That's right." Dora said. "You are no longer obligated to 'raise' Harry Potter. He has a new guardian now. You may very well never see him again."

Vernon was delighted to hear that. "Wonderful. Do I have to sign something to make it an official transfer?"

He felt his wife's hand clench at his shoulder, and he looked up at her. She had a concerned look in her eyes. He didn't know what her problem was, she didn't want the boy here anymore than he did. Surely, she hadn't been lying to him about that all these years. She'd coddled the boy a bit much when he was a baby, but once he was old enough it was 'out of sight, out of mind'.

"No. Nothing to sign. You'll see that this has already been signed over by Harry and co-signed by his Godfather who is now his legal guardian."

"Godfather?!" The Dursley's repeated in shock.

"If he has a Godfather about, then why was he left here?" Vernon thundered.

"His Godfather was incarcerated until a few years ago." Dora told them chipperly. "Broke out of prison and then we recently found out he shouldn't have been there in the first place." She shrugged. "Anyhow. He's back now, Sirius Black, and he's adopted Harry."

"Sirius Black?" Petunia asked quietly. "Wasn't he? He was in our news. The real news."

"Yes, well." Harley took the reins. "Now that Harry has a home he no longer needs to come back here. But he still wished to grant you the deed to the house, regardless of how your obligation was not fulfilled. So." She shut the clasp on her purse loudly. "That was our only reason to intrude on your morning."

"Wait just a moment." Vernon thought. Something about how the 'obligation not fulfilled' comment stuck with him. "There was a certain amount of monies owed us once he was of age." He asked pointedly.

Dora and Harley exchanged a look. It seemed that Dora was the bad cop, or whatever their equivalent of that was, and Harley was the good.

"You didn't have him until he was of age, nor did you 'upkeep his health and welfare', did you?" There was something predatory about the way Dora asked that.

"We. We gave him a home. We kept him clothed and fed." Petunia stuttered nervously.

Harley pursed her lips and clicked open her purse again, pulling from it yet another pristine file folder and set it down on the coffee table. "Let's just look over some of his health and welfare reports from before Hogwarts, shall we?" She asked nicely. "Maybe you can clarify where we went wrong in our assessment."

Vernon and Petunia exchanged a look, thinking back over what they might have done, or not done during Harry's elementary years.

"I have here his immunization record from Fairlop Elementary. Shows that he is completely up to date." She read off nicely.

"And yet when we checked the record of the doctor's office he had supposedly been inoculated at, there was nothing under Potter. Your son however, his records were completely up to date with dates that match Harry's school ones identically." Dora told them. "Which is odd, considering Harry would have been too young to have received some of them at the time."

"And then there is this." Harley pulled out a stack of slips. "They kept record of the number of notices sent home with him about the state of his clothes, the malnourished physical appearance and the attitude displayed towards him from his own cousin, your son."

"Then there is this last little bit right here." Dora picked up an empty envelope at the bottom of the pile with a crest on the unsealed back. "Addressed to a Mister Harry Potter, Cupboard Under the Stairs." Her eye's narrowed at them. "Would that be those stairs in the hallway with the lock on the outside?" She asked maliciously.

"We. We." Vernon was at a loss for words. They'd clothed him. They'd fed him, at least once a day anyhow. And those slips from the school. They were all lies. But could he argue that? These women were magic, he couldn't just go out and get a barrister to contest these points. Who would he go up against? Their Ministry?

"And so, like we said." Harley put on a pleasant face again. "We came to delivery you the deed to the house, and now we will be on our way. You may never come across another of our kind again."

"That you know of." Dora added and stood, withdrawing her wand.

Vernon and Petunia recoiled at the sight of it. With one more smile Harley popped out of existence. There was one more glare from Dora before she too disappeared.

"Vernon?" Petunia asked.

He couldn't respond to her. Their nest egg was no more. They had the house, but their nest egg. The expected wind fall. The influx. That boy had been their goose with the golden egg. Seven more bloody months and some Godfather comes out of nowhere and now. Now!

"I'll have to call into the office." He told her. "I'll have to..." He had to look through all his statements. He, they, had the house. But they were supposed to get the money. He needed that to get out of the red. He didn't make enough.

Two hours later Vernon was still making his calculations at their table in the kitchen. It wasn't going to add up. It would take forever to get themselves out of this mess with his income.

Petunia came and refilled his coffee again.

"Here." He pushed the newspaper towards her.

"All done with that?" She asked, picking it up to place it in the bin.

"No. I need you to go through the classifieds. You'll need to get a job."

"A. A." Her jaw dropped. "A job?"

()()()()

It didn't look much different from the memory they'd seen of it. The tree's surrounding the shack were growing so close to the home, and spaced so close together than the sunshine was not allowed in, even in the dead of winter with no leaves on the branches. The narrow dirt path had overgrown, and the branches were now pushing against the sides of the building, but that was not the only difference. It was still a dark and depressing place. Now it had that extra touch required of an abandoned shack in the woods that it was missing in the memory; structural damage.

The window panes had been pushed into the shack, but not from children in the nearby village throwing rocks as children were known to do in their adolescent search for fun and mischief. The tree branches had pushed through the windows and into the building. If the nearby children knew of the shack, then there would have been more demolition apparent to its structure than the broken windows, sagging roof and warped exterior panels. There would have been graffiti, or the door would have been knocked off its hinges. Something would have shown that there had been teenagers using the shack as a hide out. Garbage and cigarette buts at least.

There were no signs that anyone had been to the building in decades.

Albus, Remus and Sirius stood at a distance from the building in observance. If there was another Horcrux in there, then there would have been repellent charms and wards placed around it. Albus began casting detection spells to find out which ones they would have to bring down.

Sirius looked back through the forest from where they stood and down the valley into the village of Little Hangleton. It was a nice quiet village. There couldn't be more than two to three hundred permanent residents, all living in centuries old homes. It was light and quaint. This shack was an eye sore in comparison, and the family that had last inhabited it had gone crazy through generations on inbreeding.

That they would have chosen to live by a lovely village such as this instead of in a wizarding village, he just didn't see why.

There were a few in his own family that had issues from his family's choices of intermarrying second cousins to keep the bloodlines close. He and Regulus had been lucky not to have their genes mutated like how he'd seen Morfin and Merope. Bellatrix was the craziest of his cousins, but hers came from abuse and being power hungry.

She'd been a nice enough girl when they were growing up but having two sisters that were so much prettier than she, it made her lash out for attention. That made his uncle Cygnus take to strapping her to make her heed his lessons on decorum. She'd gone off to Hogwarts when Sirius was around four years-old, but he remembered her from her summers home. It was when he was around eight that she'd started going dark and he'd done what he could to avoid her and keep her away from Regulus as well.

She had been one of the louder inmates he had the poor fortune of overhearing during his tenure in Azkaban. She had screamed and raved every time she had the energy to, always about her beloved Lord and how he would make everyone pay for what they'd done.

Sirius had thought he would take the Dementors over her ranting and raving when she was carrying on, but then the Dementors would come along and he would have the visions of finding his best friends dead, then he would be wishing Bellatrix's lunatic rants could replace the visions.

How he'd managed to survive in that asylum, which it essentially was, for a decade and still manage to escape was a miracle.

Dumbledore getting his name cleared, having Remus back, having Harry back. He would be eternally grateful for all they'd done for him. The Weasley's in particular he would always be indebted to.

A wave of magic brushed through him like a pulse from behind as he was looking away down the valley and he turned abruptly to his companions. He had felt Albus removing an enchantment around the shack. Albus and Remus were walking slowly towards the ramshackle structure.

Sirius caught up to them and matched their stride towards the front door. All of them silent and expecting something bad to happen.

The hook that had held the body of a snake from the memory was still in place in the high center of the wood. Albus cast another detection charm on the door itself and nothing had come of it.

Remus used his wand to open the door. The wood had expanded in the frame over the years and it was wedged rather securely in place. Blasting it inside did not seem like a good idea, but through a series of weak Bludgeoning hexes the door squeaked inwards bit by bit until it swung open with a loud protest from its hinges.

The three men regarded each other to determine the order with which they would enter the shack. Remus stepped in first, followed by Albus. Sirius had expected to be met with a powerful smell of decomposition when entering the open room, but it smelled just like the forest outside. Anything that had been left to die or mold had long since become one with the dirt and stopped stinking.

He didn't know how they were supposed to have found the object they were looking for. They might have had to begin disassembling the house board by board in search of it, but Remus had a plan that even Albus looked surprised and impressed with.

A Niffler.

Remus produced one from his inside pocket and gave Sirius a proud look before releasing him on the floor in front of himself.

The Niffler sniffed the air and began scurrying around, climbing on the steel structure that had been the stove, winding around a broken table, under the wrought iron frame of a collapsed bed and then it started scratching at one of the floor boards frantically.

Albus levitated the floor board and it came up easily enough, there were no nails keeping it in place. The Niffler dove under the board as soon as there was enough space and let out a strangled squeal almost as soon as it was out of sight and didn't stop.

They rushed forward to look down into the hole to see the creature had found a golden box and was screaming in pain from touching it. The Niffler stopped screaming and at once turned over on its side dead.

"I believe we've found what we're looking for." Albus stated solemnly.

Sirius' lip curled slightly at the statement of the obvious but decided not to say anything sarcastic. He patted Remus on the back in way of apology for him losing his little creature.

"Hagrid isn't going to be happy with me." Remus frowned and stepped back as Albus levitated the box out of the hole.

"I'd rather it was the Niffler than one of us." Sirius commented and surveyed the golden box. It didn't have any markings telling him who it might have belonged to. It was a simple small golden jewelry holder that didn't appear to be important in any way, other than the fact that it was cursed and probably held the Gaunt family ring that dated back to Salazar Slytherin, which was also a Horcrux.

Remus and Sirius stepped back out of the way as Albus gently guided the levitating box over to the stove and let it settle down on the surface. The box lid came open facing away from them. Sirius grabbed a branch from the ground by his feet and nudged the box around so it would open further and show them what was inside.

Albus nodded once they all got a good view of the ring inside.

That was the one they'd been expecting to find.

"Now what?" Sirius asked Albus. He still had the locket that he hadn't destroyed, no doubt he would have wanted to find some way to transfer the Horcrux out of this as well to 'preserve the founder's history'. And they certainly weren't going to be touching it after what had happened with the Niffler.

"Let me check it." Albus stepped closer and waved his wand to cast a few more detection spells. The box gave off a glow, but the ring did not. "It appears nothing was done to the-"

He stopped talking and stepped closer to the stove. He illuminated the tip of his wand and lowered his head to be closer to both the objects than neither Remus or Sirius were comfortable with. At the same time, they came forward and each took one of Albus' shoulders to pull him back.

"It's. When I saw the memories." Albus started while staring at the ring in awe. "I didn't see the symbol. On. On the stone." He whispered.

It still appeared that he was keen on getting a closer look at the stone disregarding the security precautions that should be taken. They moved him back to the other side of the room so if he had the impulse to grab for it take over him, they would have time to react before he touched either items.

"What is it?" Remus asked, coming to stand in front of him.

"It's the stone." Albus was staring through Remus to where the ring was. "The Stone." He said importantly.

"Right. The stone." Sirius repeated. "And do you have any impulse to touch the stone?" He asked.

"I've searched for it. Arianna." He said more to himself. "She. I could see her. The stone." He shook his head. "He must not have known. He didn't realize what he'd used. He must have just thought it was a relic. Not the stone."

Remus and Sirius exchanged concerned looks. There had to have been some Confundus type charm over the box or ring to make him rant like this.

"We're going to wrap up the box and the ring and get them out of here." Remus told Albus and reached into his pocket pulling out a small sack handing it to Sirius. "This has an impenetrable charm on it. See if you can get it in there without touching it."

Sirius took the sack and opened it as wide as it would go, placing it on the floor in front of the stove. He couldn't help but take a look at the stone set in the ring and try to figure out what it was that had set Albus off. The stone had a symbol on it, carved into the prism side facing out. But it was just a dark stone, quality of which Sirius couldn't tell. It looked to be a basic granite stone that had been smoothed down into the shape it now held.

He stepped back and stood up levitating the box into the sack and tightening it. Cautiously he tapped the sack with his bare hand a few times before being assured that the curse the box held wouldn't affect him through the fabric or impenetrable charm.

The two marauders got Albus back to Grimmauld Place and through the Floo to Hogwarts taking him straight to see Poppy and make sure he was alright. He wasn't ranting or acting uncontrollable, he seemed simply to be in shock about the symbol he'd seen. The two of them wanted Poppy's assurance that it was just the shock.

They left him with her and went back to Remus' office to chat about what had just happened.

"Did you get a look at the symbol?" Sirius asked him once they'd closed his office door and cast a muffling charm.

Remus shook his head. "What did it look like?" He asked. "Wait." He went over to his chalk board and handed Sirius a piece of chalk. "Can you draw it from memory?" It seemed he was understandable weary about retrieving the box and ring from the sack and checking for himself.

Sirius took the chalk and drew out the Triangle he'd seen with a circle encompassing the inside and a line down the middle. He set down the chalk and took a step back to stand beside his friend and stare at it. "I don't recognize it."

"It's familiar to me, but I can't think of why, or where I've seen it before." Remus' brow furrowed.

"Well. I guess we'll have to wait for Albus to come and decide to explain himself." Sirius took up a seat.

Remus looked at the symbol a bit longer and then turned to Sirius with his mouth pursed and twisting a bit. "I wonder if." He stopped and tapped his foot a few times. "I don't know if, after his reaction, if we should leave this for him to mind." He indicated to the sack that was now on his desk. "He was just too." He let out a sigh through his nose and didn't finish his sentence.

"No. You're right." Sirius agreed. "There was obviously something about it that caused him to lose control of himself." He contemplated where they could stash it until they figured out another way to destroy it and the locket. "I could drop it off in my vault I suppose. I'm going back there tomorrow."

Remus went around and sat in his chair on the other side of the desk. "He'll assume that that is where we've taken it. But I imagine he will understand our desire to keep it away from him." He nodded. "And if you'd like, I'll come with you again tomorrow, to look for the chalice again."

Sirius gave him a grateful look. "Thank you. Harry is coming with me too, and the elves." Currently Harry was at the Burrow spending time with Ron and Ginny. Probably more with Ginny than Ron.

()()()()

"Oh fuck! Yes. Right there." Ginny's head was thrown back.

Harry tried to muffle her cries by covering her mouth with his free hand. He couldn't tell how loud they were with the blood furiously pumping through his veins and echoing in his ears. His other hand was currently buried in her slick and hot folds pumping in and out of her.

He removed his hand and pulled her lips to his. Unable to hold back any longer he moved his hand between them and popped open the button on his trousers, lowering them freeing his erection. The cool air hit his flesh and caused a slight shiver to run through him. It wasn't but a few seconds of exposure before he removed his fingers from inside her and replaced them with his full length.

She cried out in pleasure again that was muffled against his lips.

He wanted to be able to tuck his head into the crook of her neck to focus on enjoying the feel of her tight walls around him, but his little vixen was being much too loud. "Ginny." He gave a strangled whisper. "You have to be." He groaned again as the sensations from his thrusts took over his brain. "Quiet." He managed.

Her legs were hooked tightly around him and he gripped at the tree behind her in an attempt to keep them both upright while he shagged her against the trunk.

It had started out as an innocent snog after a bit of a stroll. They'd been talking about Potter Manor, then about heading back to school. Ginny had guided their stroll in this direction and he'd taken that to mean she wanted them to turn their conversation into other things. It had unfolded as they tend to do with two entirely randy teens in the short weeks after opening themselves to the possibility of having shagging as an option for their pastimes.

He'd intended to make her cum with his fingers like he had while they were at school, but she was just so tight and wet around his fingers that his dick was being much to demanding of attention. Her moans were letting the head between his legs take charge, and that head was telling him that if he had the opportunity to fuck her against a tree, then he was damn well going to fuck her against a tree.

Her arms released from around him one at a time as she looped them around the branches beside them for leverage. That little bit of added support allowed him to grip her hips and give it to her with the wild abandon that his body was craving. The slapping sound their bodies were making was like a round of encouraging applause to his ears.

As his lower abdomen was telling him it was nearly over, he started grinding into her the way he'd come to understand she liked. He was desperate for her to cum first, and soon. He'd been halfway gone just using his fingers on her and had hoped she'd been half way there herself.

The change of tactic was supposed to have gotten her closer and pushed his finish further away, but it just felt so good to be inside her that his build up was still stacking higher. "Ginny. I need you to cum." He growled.

"Touch me." She moaned.

That request didn't help, it sounded so sexy that his eyes rolled back a moment in his head when the sweet sound of her request reached his ears. He managed to stop a whimper from leaving his mouth from the amount of effort it was taking to gain control of himself.

Pulling his head up to look at her, her eyes were still closed, and she was biting her lip to try and keep quiet. She had that sexy flush come over her that she gets when she's worked up. He gripped her under her bum with one hand and pressed his thumb over her exposed clit rubbing it in circles to match the movement of his grinding.

He watched with darkening eyes as her chest heaved sporadically while she rocked against him. Her mouth opened in the perfect 'o' shape and he couldn't help thrusting into her again as he looked at that mouth, his head filling with several images of her taking him in that perfect mouth.

Her brow furrowed and she let out a whimper from his change of pace.

The growl that emanated from his mouth when he reluctantly switched back to grinding into her again surprised him. Her mouth falling open again at the movement she wanted was reward enough for having to keep up this pace.

He looked down hoping to see where their bodies were joined, but her skirt was pushed up and blocking his view. He closed his eyes and pulled up the image of what it would look like. And what it would look like if he had her bent over so he could see her bum while he thrust into her. And what it would look like if she was riding him in his dorm bed.

His thumb was still rubbing around her clit and finally he felt her squeezing his dick, gripping him harder with her walls again and again. He opened his eyes to see her flush spread out the entire way up her neck and her body seized up. It looked like she was internalizing her scream of release. She was insanely tight around him now and he gripped her hips again and resumed fucking into her like he owned her body.

She was so much more tight and wet like this, it was made even hotter by how she was elevated using her own strength. He jabbed into her in quick repetitive movements, feeling the pressure build up in his belly and his balls tightening. He pulled her mouth forcefully to his right before he gave his last determined thrust as fully inside her as he could possibly go and spilled his seed deep into her belly moaning against her mouth.

His movements slowed as he milked the rest of his orgasm lazily out of him. With a sigh he relaxed against her. "Fuck." Was all he could manage with his lips against her neck.

"Harry." She gave a pained whisper. "I can't." He felt her shoulders moving.

It took great strength to try and stand up properly again from his slouched position. It was her arms around the branches that was the problem. She looked like she couldn't manage to detangle them without some leverage from his end.

Problem was that his own arms were losing the ability to hold at her hips, let alone boost her up. So, he did the only thing he could think of to help and used his pelvis to boost her up.

Ginny's eyes went wide as he rocked inside her fully again but clenched her thighs tighter around him and managed to get her arms over the branches and down over his shoulders with a satisfied groan. She slid down his body, lowering her legs and he slid out of her.

Her skirt fell back down to her knees as her legs came together and he managed to pull up his pants and trousers again and hugged her to him without doing up the button. That had been entirely exhausting, and he hadn't realized exactly how much of his energy he'd been using up to reach his climax. She was curving her body against his as though she'd been likewise affected.

It was a relief to feel considering just how rough he'd been with her.

"Are you. I didn't mean to-" He started weakly.

"Shh." She nuzzled into his chest. "I liked it."

He nodded and pulled her down to lay down with him on the ground. Standing was too much work. It was time for a nap.

()()()

Ron shook his head in disgust.

Did they not think he could see the orchard from his room?

It wasn't like he could see down below the branches, but the amount of quivering and shaking the tree was doing because of them left little to the imagination of what it was they were getting up to.

He might have had a more innocent explanation come to mind if he hadn't had the misfortune of hearing just how far Ginny had gone with her boyfriend the other night. He was damning Fred and George right alongside her over that one. They didn't have to share a dorm room with the bloke she was shagging.

And even though Harry had flat out told him that he thought Ginny was it for him. Still. Yuck.

He turned away from the window and looked back to his desk and the pro/con list he'd done up last week. It was still sitting there untouched since just after Christmas.

Hermione wanted to be friends. Just friends.

It was depressing, but he felt like they were already broken up. And it had felt that way since she'd talked to him if he was honest with himself. But the problem was that it wasn't official yet, and he wanted it to be before they went back to school.

So, he had written her a letter.

Harry had mentioned to him earlier, before he took Ginny out to shag her in the orchard, that he'd run into Hermione at the Ministry on Monday and she'd been busily researching You-Know-Who's background.

She wasn't lying about in her room just hoping for some romantic gesture from him to restore her faith in their relationship.

No, it was time. He'd done a rough draft and thought it read nice enough. He wasn't the most eloquent of blokes, but he'd just put down what he thought would express his feelings about it all decently enough for her.

Dear Hermione,

I can't say I wasn't blindsided when you told me you thought we were just too different. But I've had time now to think over it, and I really shouldn't have been so oblivious. I mean, we don't talk all that much about anything but school work and your research, and I know that is because that's all you're really interested in.
Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it is true. And I'm sure you think that all I'm interested in is Quidditch and food.
Maybe if we'd been friends before we became a couple then there would be more foundation there, but I thought you were so pretty the first time I saw you, and really, you were the first girl I'd ever been interested in.
I still really like you, but you are right. There should be more there by this point.
Three months we were together and I don't regret any of it.
Can't say I don't wish I'd gotten you alone in a broom closet a few more times, but what can I say, I already told you I think you're pretty, and I am a red blooded bloke after all.
I do still want to be your friend. I can't not be around you as I care about you so much and truly do like you.
I know it'll be hard and uncomfortable for a while, particularly when the time comes that you start dating someone else. But this whole holiday has been pretty hard, and I think I've managed to mourn the end of our relationship properly.
Ron

P.S- Please don't push me away if I try to hug you when I see you. I'll attempt to make it as platonic as possible.

That was as good as it was going to get.

He folded up the letter and attached it to Pigwidgeon's leg. As he watched the owl fly off a blanket of gloom settled over him again. That letter was the nail in the coffin of their relationship.

Ron threw himself on his bed face down, wishing he'd at least gotten the opportunity to explore certain aspects of their physical relationship. He'd been so respectful of her boundaries since day one. He'd been ignoring the little devil on his shoulder telling him to try this and that with her, he'd save those for the little fantasy scenarios he called to mind when he was alone in his dorm room.

Forcing his thoughts to turn to the sea of opportunities that was now open to him he wondered how long he should wait to try and find someone else for a little broom closet time.

Not all girls were as cross legged as Hermione was, and Merlin, was he eager to go about discovering the joys of being with a girl.

Daphne Greengrass might be the ideal, but he had noticed the lovely chest on Lavender as well. And, not to be that guy, but she looked... easy.

AN- Had to throw the Hinny scene in there. They didn't get any unsupervised time this week except for that trip to the orchard.