16

Reflections and Consequences

It ended up being a very long night. While the adults went back and forth about what was or was not true about the pair, Harry and Hermione were in their own little world. They'd moved off, begging everyone to give them a chance to gather themselves, since they'd not had a chance since the fight with the dragon. So sitting together in the study, door shut, Hermione on Harry's lap as they tried to figure out what had happened.

"I warned you about my luck," informed Harry, grinning a bit.

"Like I needed any warning," Hermione huffed, "I've been there for most of it."

"I didn't mean…"

"I know," she cut him off, snuggling into his side, "I'm just trying to get a grip on things."

"Well, let's take it one step at a time," Harry hugged her to him, "just like you always tell me to. The Tournament."

"Is a complete…" Hermione's snappish responce trailed off, "Sorry, I just hate how you're being forced to compete."

"Me too," Harry sighed, "but it is a factor now. I also suspect the judges are less than happy you found a justifiable way to help me."

"Serves them right for not finding a way out of it for you."

"Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Don't worry, you won't do it twice…" Hermione grinned evilly as he gulped, "Anyway, at this point there's not much we can do about it. We have to figure out the clue of the egg, then train for the next event."

"Yeah, nothing hard there."

"Prat," Hermione chuckled as she playfully slapped him.

"OK, so the Tournament is a deal with it as we go item. What about your, our, condition?"

"Which one?" Hermione sighed.

"Let's start with the full moon," Harry said, "You transformed further this last time, any idea why?"

"Well, the best guess Madam Pomfrey and I have is either a side effect of trying the Wolfsbane potion, or someone time unknown factor."

"So it's also a wait and see kind of thing?"

"Mostly," Hermione bit her lip, "The next moon we're not going to do anything else, just see where the effects are at before planning for the first moon of the New Year."

"On the plus side, it looks like we're making progress with the Animagus training. McGonagall said if we continue, soon we'll start trying to meet our forms and possibly be ready to attempt minor transformations by early spring."

"True, we do have that to look forward to."

"And now the 800 kilo gorilla in the room," Harry tensed under Hermione as he said it.

"I'm not going to apologize for helping you."

"I know, I wish you would have stayed safe, but I can't blame you because we both know I'd have done the same," Harry admitted, "I still hated seeing you hurt."

"Well, now you know how I've felt the last 4 years."

"Point," Harry sighed, "I have no idea what or how to feel about any of this. I just got used to someone caring for me, possibly loving me-"

"Definitely loving you," Hermione interjected, turning a pouting face towards him.

"Fine, someone loving me, and suddenly we're effectively married, or will be if we ever… er… You know," Harry's blush was an incredible shade of crimson, "with powers no one has seen or heard of in centuries. Bloody hell Hermione, we were being compared to Merlin!"

"Language Harry!" she said reproachfully, but without any sting, "It is the kind of thing you seem to attract to yourself though. Like a twenty meter long Basilisk."

"Not my fault!"

"Never said it was…" Hermione looked away from him, and he felt her tense beneath his arm, "Do you regret what has happened?"

"Do I regret what happened? No," Harry admitted, then pulled her close again. "Do I regret how it happened? Yes. I don't know what would have happened had it gone another way, but I know that this is going to make things change, good and bad, and we'll lose some opportunities."

"What do you mean?' She asked softly from his chest.

"I mean if Pomfrey is right, and we are married, the choice has been taken from us. The relationship we were building just got bigger and more complicated without our getting the chance to build a foundation. I care deeply about you Hermione, that's not in question, but wouldn't you like to have had me ask you to marry me? To give you a ring, ask your father's blessing?" He kissed the top of her head, "I wanted to build the strongest relationship we could, now we are basically married, we don't know what it means, or what we mean to each other fully. And if we ever get… intimate, it becomes permanent."

"We do know, at least some," Hermione reassured him, "Do you think I'd have jumped into that arena for just anyone? Would you have sat next to just any petrified girl for a month, reading and explaining what happened in class?"

"No," Harry sighed, "and I agree, there's no one I'd rather go through this with than you. I mean what are my other options, Ginny? The fan girl who can barely speak to you and tries to cling to me?"

"Harry," Hermione's tone was warning him he'd done something wrong, "In the future, please refrain from even joking about marrying one of your fangirls, unless her name is Hermione Granger."

"Yes dear," Harry said reflexively, but grinned to take any sting out of it. "Though if we're married, isn't it Hermione Potter now?"

"I…" Hermione twisted to look at him. She gazed into his eyes before blushing and softly grinning as she finished, "I like the sound of that."

"I do too."

The couple returned to the living room a short while later and joined the adults in their conversation.

"Now that you two have returned," Anne interrupted the current conversation, "Poppy, could you explain more about what to expect with this bond these two share?"

"Of course," Pomfrey agreed, "Though I have to warn you most of this is hearsay and conjecture. There really isn't enough information to tell for sure."

"Understood," Minerva said, "but we need at least a general idea."

"Well, from what little I know," the healer began, "we should be able to keep the Magical marriage portion from becoming common knowledge, in the cases of magical bonds they are automatically recorded at the ministry. So at least until someone specifically looks for it, or tries to make a marriage contract for one of them, it should be a secret."

"Marriage contracts?" Hermione said in dismay, "People still use those?"

"Mostly older pureblood families," Minerva explained, "but yes, they are still used."

"At least we don't have to worry about that," Hermione said softly, "What else?"

"Physical contact is pivotal to the bond settling. I've already noticed you two tend to hold hands more or sit together, even more than you used to. I expect this is an unconscious action on your part due to the bond. The down side to this is it isn't a when you have time thing."

"Can you explain that more?" Anne asked.

"I mean they'll need physical contact a lot, almost all day in fact," Pomfrey expanded, "First of all, while I doubt this will be the case with you two, the bond doesn't guarantee a relationship. I know, the Ministry deems it so, but it doesn't mean the bond makes you a couple. You, both of you, are equals, and if for some reason an intimate relationship doesn't occur, it shouldn't negatively affect the bond, at least once it's settled."

"Makes sense, the bond can only enhance what emotion is there, not create it," Hermione said softly, "What can it do?"

"Well, I'm not sure but given the immediate effects, some form of communication enhancement is evident. Though nothing was noted on that for any other pair."

"Side effect or something else entirely?" McGonagall asked, "Maybe something latent brought forth by the bond and shared between them?"

"Possible," Poppy acknowledged, "and sharing is something this bond does well. Expect difficulties with spell casting for a while, it is likely the bond will share your power with each other."

"So a power boost?" Hermione asked, "Or a common pool?"

"We'll have to see on that, personally I suspect a bit of both," Pomfrey answered, "A sum greater than the parts kind of thing. You may also gain increased mental abilities. Each report is very generic and never anything directly from the bond pair, but each seems to confirm at least a sense of the others condition."

"So we'll know if the other is in trouble or something?"

"Probably, possibly even some form of deeper mental communication, time will tell."

"So basically expect more weirdness soon," Harry quipped, "just what we need."

"And lastly," Pomfrey began, looking slightly nervous at this, "For the next several months, possibly a couple years, they'll desire near constant physical contact. There is one tale saying that the bonded pair exhibited signs of physical and magical distress when too far removed from each other for extended periods during the settling of the bond."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Hermione commented, "We already hold hands a lot, that should satisfy the bond most of the time."

"While you're awake, yes." Pomfrey confirmed as she turned to McGonagall, "However, the need won't stop when you go to bed."

"You mean…" George's voice trailed off, his jaw tightening.

"Unfortunately yes," Poppy sighed, "These two will likely need to share a bed for more than just the full moon for the foreseeable future. Once the bond settles it won't be as critical, though I suspect they'll sleep better together than apart even then."

Before anyone could say any more, George got up and walked out of the room. Both Hermione and Anne started to get up to follow before Harry cut them off.

"Let me," he said, "I'm part of the problem and it's better he get it out of his system now then let it fester."

Leaving the women to continue chatting, Harry follow George… His father-in-law, to the study.

"Sir?" Harry asked hesitantly, "Are you ok?"

"I'm losing her."

"Losing who?"

"Hermione," the raw emotional loss leaking into his voice, "It was hard enough when we sent her to that school for months at a time, but now I'm really losing her."

"No you're not," Harry assured the older man, "She has a lot going on, yes, but she'll never not need you. There may be things she doesn't want you to know, or things she'll have to do without you, but that's part of growing up."

"How'd you get so smart?"

"Your daughter," Harry grinned, "I wish I could tell you everything will be fine, and I wish it was true. But you've seen what my life is like, what kind of luck I have. I will probably have to face Voldemort again,and Hermione will likely be right beside me, much as I may wish otherwise. But the worst part of it? As much as I want her to be safe, I feel better about the future knowing she'll be beside me in that moment.

"We discussed what comes next, how this bond thing will affect us as a couple," Harry paused, steeling himself, "and we decided it wouldn't control us. We're taking things as they come, and doing the best we can. When, and neither of us thinks at this point it's an if, we get to the point where we do become… intimate, it will be because we want it, and with the full understanding of the repercussions."

Harry watched as an array of emotions crossed George's face. Anger, Fear, Regret, Pride, many more. Harry was prepared for rage, anger, denial, a multitude of emotions in response to what he'd just said.. He was not prepared for what he did receive. George turned and embraced him, crushing him as he wept softly.

"Take care of my baby," he whispered to the shocked teen, "She's not just my responsibility now, she's yours too."

By the time the pair returned to the rest of the group, Harry was feeling spent. With everything that had happened that day, the dragon, the fight in the tower, dealing with the Grangers and the emotional rollercoaster with Hermione, Harry just wanted to lay down and sleep for the next week.

Hermione immediately got up and drew her father into a hug when they returned. Anne joined them and together they felt like they were a family again. Harry watched from the entryway, wishing he was part of something like that, wondering if it would be like that for him someday. He turned to the professors.

"Thank you for letting us stay the weekend," he sighed, "I wish we could talk some more, but I'm exhausted at the moment, goodnight."

"Harry," Hermione called as he turned to leave. He turned back to see her stalking over to him. Grabbing his arm she pulled him back over to her parents, "You're part of this too."

He was immediately smothered in one of Hermione's bone crushing hugs, followed shortly by both her mother and father. He struggled to understand, Why? Why would they still care after everything he'd put them through? Everything Hermione had been through because of him? What caused them to keep accepting him? Hermione's whisper provided the answer, even if he still didn't understand.

"You're family too."

Several minutes later, after saying goodnight to everyone, Hermione joined Harry in heading for bed. When he turned towards the guest room, Hermione pulled him back towards hers.

"Hermione?" he asked, "Was there something else you wanted?"

"I want to know where you think you're going?" she said with a blush.

"To bed?" he returned puzzled.

"Don't you remember what Madam Pomfrey said?" She asked, eyes glued to the floor, "The bond needs us close."

"I…" Harry tried to speak, his face turning crimson in embarrassment, "You… us… together?"

"Harry," she looked up at him, her eyes full of acceptance and understanding, and fear. "I trust you. We've done this before, and I know you'd never do anything without permission. And… And don't you want to sleep with your wife?"

"I…" stuttered Harry, "I do, but I didn't think you'd… I mean… aw hell."

"Language."

"Sorry, I just…" Harry scrambled for words to describe what he meant, "I do, not just because the bond needs us together, but I don't want to do this for the wrong reasons."

"Wrong how?"

"Because if we sleep together," Harry sighed, gathering himself for the outburst to come, "Things may happen, before we're ready."

"Things?"

"The times we've slept together, we were so exhausted we were basically passed out, not sleeping. Now, it'll be more… we'll be aware of what happens. What if we do something, something we're not ready for?"

"You mean sex?" Hermione asked bluntly, deciding she'd have to take a more active role in this conversation.

"Yeah," Harry ran his hand through his slick black hair, "Not just sex, but touching and things like that."

"Are you saying we won't be able to control ourselves?"

"I'm saying we're hormonal teenagers with a bond that desires physical intimacy," Harry said exasperated, "And the last thing I want is for something to happen we regret later."

Hermione paused in her reply, seeing for the first time what he was afraid of. He was afraid he'd do or say something that would upset her. He feared losing her because his body said yes when neither of them were ready, or even if they were.

"I understand Harry," she said softly, demurely, "But do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you, it's me I don't trust."

"Why not?"

"Because I know how beautiful you are, how amazing it is when we kiss," Harry sighed, recalling fond memories of their kisses, "And every time I want more. I don't want to do or say anything that will make you uncertain, or not trust me. I want us to build to this, not be thrust into it."

"That's sweet of you, but don't I get a say in this?"

"Of course but," he was but off by her finger against his lips.

"My turn," she said simply, "Harry, if it was anyone else, I'd probably be worried. But this is us, we'd never do anything to intentionally hurt the other. And yes, I agree we need more time before we're ready for any bedroom activities, but this is just sleeping. I also understand that we can't necessarily control ourselves when we're asleep, but any serious actions in that regard require consciousness. I promise not to blame you for overnight wandering hands, or any conditions you may have in the morning, Okay?"

"You sure?" Harry hesitated, "I mean I do want this, but I'm afraid I want it for the wrong reasons."

"Trust me Harry, we both do," Hermione reassured him, "Now, are you coming to bed or not?"

"If you're sure…" Harry hesitated, then let himself be led into the bedroom.

Hermione woke slowly the next morning, which was unusual for her. She climbed slowly to wakefulness, savoring the warmth surrounding her. Easing her eyes open, she stretched languidly, and halted as she felt an arm around her middle. As she came fully awake, she realized what it was. Harry. Her boyfriend had shifted overnight, curling behind her and pulling her to him. She felt him behind her now, and the comfort radiating from their embrace. Sighing contentedly, she wormed back into him, holding his arm around her.

"Hmmmm," Harry murmured.

"Good morning Harry," She answered his drowsy mumbling.

"Morning Mione," he returned, shifting slightly, then she felt him stiffen.

"I like this," she assured him, still holding his arm around her. She felt him shift again, moving his morning situation away, "Harry, I said I liked this."

"But…"

"I said I understand it," Hermione sighed, "To be honest it's even a little flattering."

"Flattering?" his confused reply came back, his voice clearly unsure.

"Yes Harry, flattering. As if it's nice to know I can elicit such a reaction from you. It is proof that you desire me; that you think I'm pretty."

"Hermione," Harry exasperated, pulling her around to look at him, "You're beautiful, you'd have to be blind not to see that," Hermione blushed nicely at that, "I just hope I can be worthy of you."

"Well, you can start by not being ashamed of how you feel," Hermione said softly, "And don't be afraid to show it." And she kissed him softly.

"Hmmm, I'll try to remember that."

"Good."