22 Christmas Surprises
It was well past midnight before they made it to their quarters. Harry's tie was undone but still hanging around his neck with the top three buttons of his shirt undone, while Hermione carried her shoes in her hand. The obviously beat, but deliriously happy, couple staggered in.
"What a night," Harry breathed, pulling Hermione too him for a searing kiss. "I hope you had fun."
"I had an amazing time Mr. Potter," Hermione grinned, "but now it's time for bed."
"Awwww."
"Be good Harry, or you don't get your present."
"What present?"
"Come to bed and find out," she teased him, slowly pulling him into their bedroom.
"Where you lead, I shall follow," Harry grinned, following her in. He kissed her softly as she led him across to the bed. "I don't see a present here…" he teased.
"It's right in front of you," she blushed. "You just need to unwrap it…"
"Unwrap…" Harry's brain finally caught up and he got serious, "Hermione, I… We aren't ready for that."
"Not that silly," Hermione blushed so hard she was pretty sure it made it to her knees. "I just… I just want to sleep with my husband tonight. I want… I want you to see me, and I want to see you. Not everything, but for tonight, I want to feel you cuddled up to me, your skin on mine."
"Hermione," his blush matching hers.
"I'm not saying everything… just… I want us to undress each other to our underwear, then go to bed," she explained, running her hands over his shirt covered chest. "I know a small part of this is the bond reducing my inhibitions, but tonight I want my husband to know his wife a bit more."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked, his hands caressing her shoulders. Her nod into his chest was all he needed. Stepping back, she gently led him to the bed. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips, deftly undoing the buttons of his shirt as she did so. Once she finished, her hands moved inside, caressing his bare chest as he groaned. Fire trailed behind her hands as she kissed his exposed chest, her hands moving to his shoulders and gently pushing his shirt off.
He leaned down, and kissed her deeply, longingly. Then pulled back, breathing heavily. Her fingers plucked and pulled, loosening his belt, before undoing his trousers and sliding them over his hips, leaving him standing there in his shorts, his desire visible. Grinning at his obvious arousal, Hermione turned to him, presenting her back to him as she pulled the pins to release her hair.
"Unzip me," she said looking over her shoulder.
Harry kissed her exposed shoulder as his trembling hands found the hidden zipper at the small of her back. A tremor ran through him as he slowly released the dress. His hands ran up her back, resting on her shoulders as he leaned in and kissed her hair. A slight shift, his feather light caress moved to the outside of her arms, and lightly brushed her dress off her shoulders. As it pooled at her feet, he closed his eyes and slid his hands down her arms before moving back to her sides and around to her belly. He gently pulled her back into him, his eyes still closed and his lips whispering over her neck.
"Are you completely sure?" his voice trembled.
"Yes Harry," her voice shook just as much, "but just sleep. Tonight is a step, one of many we'll take, but it's one I want to take."
She turned in his arms, facing him, her pert breasts pressing into his toned chest. She pulled him down for a kiss, the skin to skin contact making her shudder.
"Now let's go to bed."
Harry woke slowly, as he usually did. It was hot in their bed, more so than normal on a cold December morning. As he groggily stretched without moving, as trick he'd learned so as not to disturb Hermione, a couple of things registered in his sleep addled brain. One, he was sleeping in just his boxers, something he'd stopped doing when he started sharing a bed with Hermione. Two, Hermione was curled up against him and her tail was lazily swishing across the front of his thighs, an action that guaranteed his morning situation was fully present. Third, Hermione was also sleeping without Pajamas. Fourth…wait, what?
As Harry's brain finally caught on to the lack of clothes for both teens, he recalled the previous night. Hermione's offer, request maybe, and the resulting sleeping situation. He groaned as he realized that, while he was very happy with how this felt, he was sure Hermione would be embarrassed when she woke as she was holding his hand to her bare breast. There was no way to extricate his hand without waking her, which would result in her being even more upset.
"If you try and move your hand away," Hermione growled, "you'll regret it."
"Yes dear," snarked Harry, kissing her shoulder and closing his eyes. He inhaled the exotic scent of her, the wildflowers of her shampoo, and the lavender of her lotion. "Sorry I woke you."
"You didn't," she assured him, scooting back against him. "I woke to such a wonderful feeling that I didn't want to get up."
"Oh?" he asked curiously, nuzzling her neck.
"Yeah, my husband showed how much he appreciates my body," she pressed her bum back a bit, contacting his morning situation in emphasis. He could see her grin even with his eyes closed, "and who am I to argue with such hard proof."
"God you're going to be the end of me," Harry groaned. Fighting to restrain his hormonal impulses.
"Harry?" she sighed. "I'm not saying it has to be now, but we are going to continue this."
"You..." he paused, fighting the flips of joy his inner self was doing, "You sure about this?" He kept his eyes shut as he felt her shift. She rolled over and sighed seeing his shut eyes. Reaching out, she gently caressed his cheek, leaning her forehead against his.
"Open your eyes Harry." He did, staring hard into her eyes. Green eyes piercing her brown ones, and she felt a trickle of emotion that wasn't hers. Fear, lust, love, tenderness, longing. Our bond she thought.
"Harry, I want this," she told him firmly. "I know you're afraid of the bond pushing us, but I think it's also calming our hormones. Making it harder for them to take over. Look at last night, you had a barely clothed young woman in your bed and what did you do? You just held her. How many of our year mates, or even those older, could do that?"
"So last night was a test?" Harry asked confused.
"No, last night was not a test, it was a step in our relationship," Hermione sighed. "I did it because I want this, I want you. I want to see you and for you to see me. I'm not saying I have our physical relationship planned out, but I think that a bit of experimentation is allowed."
"So it wasn't a test but it was an experiment?" Harry chuckled, grinning to take any sting out of it. His hands had also started to stroke her back, which was rather pleasurable and very distracting.
"Yes, no," she sighed. "I've noticed something and Madam Pomfrey was able to confirm it. We're not as young as we thought."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, pausing his ministrations in confusion.
"I mean, the bond is maturing us faster than we'd normally mature." Hermione started to slip into lecture mode before catching herself. "There's a spell that can monitor maturation. Physical, Emotional, and Magical. Harry, the clothes we bought you this summer barely fit anymore. They did before the first task, but not now, why?"
"Growth spurt?" he guessed.
"Yes, but a forced one," Hermione agreed. "The bond realizes we are still growing, but it needs our maturity to ensure a proper bond so it's accelerating our maturity. Madam Pomfrey checked and we're about a year ahead of where we were five months ago. It's not a lot, but it is there."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that our bodies are being forced to mature faster to handle the magic of the Bond. Basically, while we may be fourth years, physically and magically we are about where we'd be at the end of this year or the start of next year. Emotionally is harder to quantify but we both appear more mature there as well. By this summer, next year for sure, we'll probably effectively be physically mature. Emotional and Magical may lag a bit longer, they're harder to quantify."
"So that makes it ok to do this?" Harry was definitely confused now. "We're more mature so we do more things?"
"No, it's more like we're more mature so we're allowed to try more if we want," Hermione sighed, "I'm not saying this level of intimacy is unheard of in fourteen or fifteen year olds, but it's more a fifteen or sixteen year old thing. I'm not saying that's why I did it either."
"Ok…" Harry hesitated. "I'm not mad you did this, but I'd have liked to be involved in the decision."
Hermione closed her eyes as he stroked just above her tail, "Maybe I should have talked to you about it first, but it just felt right." She kissed him lightly on the lips, "Are you complaining?"
"No, but an idea what was expected would have been nice." Harry admitted, grinning as she started to purr.
"Tell you what," Hermione moaned, her tail wrapping possessively around Harry's wrist. "You don't stop that, and later on the train we'll discuss how we proceed."
"And if I want to talk now?" his grin told her he was teasing, but she didn't care.
"Simple, I kill you for being a tease and find someone else," and she kissed him.
It was about twenty minutes later, as Hermione lay curled into Harry's side, that they spoke again.
"Hermione, it's not that I don't want more of this," he sighed, still slowly tracing one hand up and down her back, "but I'm not sure I trust myself."
"Do you trust me?" she asked contentedly.
"Of course I do."
"Would you ever hurt me?"
"No, never."
"Then there's nothing to fear."
"But what if…" he trailed off as she sat up a bit, and he closed his eyes so prevent seeing her bits.
"Harry," she growled, "look at me."
He opened his eyes, staring fixedly at her face, determination etched across his face.
"No Harry," she sighed, sitting up and straddling his stomach. "Look at me, all of me. I want you to. I want you to see me like this, I want you to want to see me like this, and do things together like this."
Harry struggled, he really did, but there's only so much restraint a teenage boy can have when the girl he loves is demanding he look at her mostly naked body. His eyes followed the curve of her neck as it met her shoulders, the silky smooth skin luminous in the early morning light. The swell of her pert breasts, topped with perky pink nipples, stared back at him.
"I...I…" he stammered, trying to say something, but he just couldn't kick his mind back into gear.
"Yes Harry, I understand," she blushed at his incoherence, "and this is as far as I'm comfortable going right now. What that means is we're going to start doing more than just kissing. Not all the time, nor always this exposed, but I want to try things with you."
Harry nodded numbly.
"Goofball," she giggled, playfully slapping his arm. "Now we don't have time now, we have to catch the train, but we'll talk more later."
Hermione got up, moving towards the ensuite, and glanced back at Harry. His eyes were glued to her backside. Blushing, but happy he was this enamored with her, she made her way to the shower.
The train ride to London was one of the best they'd ever had. A large percentage of the normal holiday exodus had opted to stay at the school this year, as the Yule Ball prevented them from enjoying Christmas morning with their families, and most of the purebloods would be dragged to stuffy New Year's parties where they wouldn't be allowed to even speak. This left the train relatively unpopulated, mostly muggleborns and a spattering of others. It also meant that Harry and Hermione wouldn't be interrupted during their 'talk'.
"So let me make sure I understand this correctly," Harry was struggling a bit. "Because of the Bond, and the magic we now share, our bodies are maturing faster so they can handle it?"
"I think so," Hermione answered from his lap. "All we really know is both of us are about six to ten months ahead of where we should have been based on what Madam Pomfrey's scans said last year."
They'd commandeered their own compartment, and were currently sprawled out talking about Hermione's revelation that morning. Harry was kicked back with his feet on the table while Hermione had curled up on the bench and was currently using his lap as a pillow. She was also rather insistent on receiving more rubs behind her ears.
"So could it be something else? The were-cat thing maybe?"
"I suppose it's possible," Hermione conceded. "However, it didn't start to show until after the first task."
"How many times has she checked?"
"I… I'm not sure," Hermione admitted. "I assumed every moon but there really wouldn't be a need would there?"
"I wouldn't think so," Harry agreed, "but in any case, whatever it was, was it a one-time boost and we'll continue to mature normally, or is it a full term rapid maturation?"
"She thinks it's a general rapid maturation," she informed him, "but I'm not so sure."
"Hermione Granger, Sorry, Hermione Potter disagreeing with a teacher?" Harry teased, rubbing behind her ears to let her know he was joking.
"Well, she's not really a teacher, but yes," Hermione blushed, "I think it's a one-time boost, for a couple reasons."
"Such as?"
"Well, we both went through a growth spurt, at the same time. If it was a general speed up, we'd still have grown, just not as rapidly. For another, to accelerate at effectively double the normal rate would be a very harsh, long term issue. There's a reason you take years to mature. If you don't adapt, it causes issues."
"But a six month jump is ok?"
"It's effectively an enormous growth spurt," she explained, rolling to look at him. "While it's an extreme one, your body is adapted to handle growth spurts. But that's the point, it can handle spurts, as in short periods of rapid growth. It can't handle it long term."
"Makes sense I guess,"
"And magic is similar," she continued. "While we have 'accidental magic', which I still think is a misnomer, but we really start to have a stable magical core at about 10 years old, which is why we don't start Hogwarts until eleven."
"I guess that makes sense too," Harry pondered, "I mean it doesn't make sense to teach magic if you can't cast consistently. Heck, it's probably dangerous. But why not start theory and non-wand classes earlier? Potions, Herbology, introduction to the magical world for the first born witches and wizards?"
"Probably because the elite like the Malfoys don't want anyone to know any better?" Hermione hissed. "Have you seen the Muggle Studies curriculum? It's a hundred years out of date and taught by a pure-blood who's never lived outside of the magical world. Then there's the fact we have no Wizard Studies or anything similar to teach us about the magical world."
"Okay Okay, I get it, we need better classes," Harry said in rapid agreement. "But back to the original point, so you think we just got a big boost to our maturation, rather than it pushing us to really get it over with?"
"Sorry, Harry. Yes, I do," Hermione snuggled into him a bit. "I think that overall, we are just 'old for our age' at this point. You're basically where I was and I'm basically a year ahead of everyone else."
"And two ahead of Ron," Harry quipped.
"Harry…"
"I know, but the git is getting on my nerves," Harry sighed. "It's going to take a lot to change that. Especially with everything that's been going on."
"Agreed, but if he makes an effort, an honest one, are you going to try to repair your friendship?"
"I'm not sure," Harry admitted. "It's never going to be what it was, too much has happened for that. But I won't say we can never patch things to the point of being friends, but I will say it will take a lot of time."
"I think that's fair," Hermione purred a bit, starting to rub Harry's leg. "And McLaggen?"
"I'm not sure about him, what about you?"
"I just wish we knew how long he'd been being affected by whatever it was," she sighed. "But it's definitely something to keep an eye out for, more people being compelled to be nasty."
"True," Harry agreed then grinned, "and speaking of being naughty…"
"I said nasty, not naughty," Hermione defended coyly.
"Either way, we need to really discuss that part," Harry pointed out.
"Is that a complaint?" she teased.
"About what happened? No," Harry sighed. "About not talking about it beforehand? Maybe."
"Harry?"
"I love you Hermione, there is no question of that in my mind," Harry said seriously, but with feeling. "That said, I am still not sure I can trust myself. There are so many things that have changed for me, and for us, lately that I don't know what is me and what's not."
Hermione sat up, then wiggled to face him. Placing a hand on either side of his face, she slowly drew him to her, and kissed him with a slow, deep, love filled kiss that curled both their toes.
"Harry," Hermione sighed once they broke their kiss, "I never want to force you, or to make you uncomfortable. But I also don't want to deny what I feel and what I want."
"I don't want you to," Harry cut her off, "but I do want you to talk to me before taking such a major step. While I'm not sure last night would have happened the way it did, it would have happened eventually. I know you know what you feel, but remember that you grew up knowing what love is. I'm still trying to define it."
"Want to know a secret?" Hermione whispered to him as they rested their foreheads together. "So am I."
"You are?"
"Yes, Harry. I know what love is, but until you, I'd never felt love that was not for my parents. I guess I had an idea of what it would feel like, but it pales in comparison to how I feel about you."
"Hermione…"
"I know, cheesy, but it's true."
"And that's why you did what you did last night?"
"No," she grinned a bit, "I did what I did last night because, yes, I love you, but I want to know what it is to be with you, physically. I took a step to bring us closer to that. I know you're not ready for that, neither am I. But I am ready to explore that aspect of the relationship. I won't sleep that undressed all the time, but by the summer I expect it will happen more often than not. And between now and then, I want to explore."
"Explore? What do you have in mind?" Harry asked, his voice raw with lust as he remembered how the morning had started.
"I mean that I want to start learning your body, what feels good to you," she explained, running her hands over his chest. "Teach you what makes me feel good," she kissed him again. "And together find ways to make each other feel really good." Another kiss. "I want to find each and every way to please each other," a deeper kiss, her tongue dueling his, "and I want to practice a lot."
Hermione straddled Harry's lap, and resumed kissing him. It was a long time before either spoke again.
