Chapter 30 Angry Couch Gods

"A thorn defends the rose harming only those who will steal the blossom." –Proverb

Harry sat in the field long after Ron left, silently slinking back to whatever hole he seemed to have crawled out of lately. Harry couldn't shake the thought that, for once, he was in big trouble and he had absolutely no one to blame but himself. Sure, Draco had had a hand in the whole, horrible plot but, well, Harry was the one that had to go and open his big mouth.

"Feeling a little overwhelmed?" Hermione scooted into the vacant space of grass next to Harry completely unaware of its most recent occupant.

"More like completely in over my head." Harry turned to Hermione and she winced at the pain in his face. "I never meant to hurt Ginny, you know that right? She was just so excited after that I couldn't just take it back and it's not really like I ever meant to do it in the first place. She was just pushing and pushing and I didn't want to ruin this amazing thing we had going because I've never had anything amazing in my life before."

Hermione took a moment to digest his rushed, scrambled words before wrapping her arms around her best friend. "Why didn't you tell her, Harry? I mean, after, when she was already upset."

Harry let his head fall into his waiting hands. "I just can't stand to see her upset or angry or anything but perfectly happy. I especially can't stand when I'm the one that caused it."

Hermione sat thinking, "You and I, we haven't been very good friends lately, have we? Just thinking back, it seems like we're always on opposite sides now. I guess my marriage has made our friendship a little awkward."

"Hermione," Harry began, "You can't keep blaming your marriage and Draco for everything. We're different people than we were before. We've experienced different things. Things were going to change no matter what."

Hermione wiped away the tear that slid down her cheek. "I haven't been handling things very well. I'm just so used to having everything under control and things are just too different."

"You'll always be one of my best friends, you know. Even if we are on separate sides." Harry smiled at her and she laughed.

"I love you, Harry."

"Love you, too, Hermione."

&&&

Ginny was visiting with her family in the Great Hall and was dying to get away. She loved her family. Really, they were wonderful and the love was just free flowing. But Ginny always seemed to forget how suffocating they could be, especially all at once. Her mother was asking questions about a wedding that wasn't taking place. Her brothers were commenting on the honeymoon and the activities that wouldn't be taking place…ever. And Ginny was wishing desperately to have Harry and for things to go back to when they were just another teenage couple. Not that anything Harry did would ever really be normal but, Ginny could wish.

"Gin?" Harry's voice was so quiet Ginny was sure she wouldn't have heard had her family not hushed as soon as they noticed him standing before her. "Can we talk…privately?"

"Hell yes." Ginny stood up and grabbed his arm so fast, Harry barely had to time to register the blurs of color that were flashing by as she dragged up to Gryffindor Tower.

"I love you." Harry blurted out the words as soon as they were situated. "And I want to marry you…someday. And I want to," Harry lowered his voice, "have sex with you…someday. I'm just not ready for all of this right now. Not when I have so much other stuff to worry about. I mean, we're too young, Gin."

"Oh, thank god!" Ginny burst out. "Harry, I'm going crazy. I was going to let things slide a bit, maybe do a little of the silent treatment followed by an outburst then a highly gratifying make out, uh, up, make-up session but Hermione had this amazing plan for revenge. I mean, I really wasn't going to tell anyone, especially the family but it just seemed like a great idea at the time."

"Okay." Harry nodded. "We can fix this."

"How?"

"Well, we are intending to get married someday right? We can just tell them that we decided on a very long engagement."

Ginny thought on it and nodded, "I think that'll satisfy them. Hey, Harry? You ever pull anything like that again, and you'll lose your ability to procreate."

"You've been spending way too much time with Hermione."

&&&

Draco was sleeping on a couch. He couldn't believe it. Hermione had degraded him, a Malfoy, to the couch. And it wasn't a very comfortable couch at that. Draco was certain that somewhere the loose spring gods were cursing him and laughing as he shifted to find a spot where he wasn't being poked incessantly in the back and ribs.

Draco sighed and finally gave up. He was too exhausted to deal with angry loose spring gods so, being the intelligent, young individual he is, he just rolled himself, blankets and all, onto the floor. The problem with that though, was Draco soon discovered that he has fully pissed off the creaky floorboard gods too. He tossed and turned and squeaked and squealed until he gave up on that floor too.

He did something he had never done before; he sucked up his pride and knocked on the bedroom door so he could apologize to Hermione. She opened the door looking heavily disheveled and, in Draco's opinion, highly shaggable.

"Yes?" She leaned smugly again the door frame and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

Draco sighed, "If you let me back in the bedroom, I promise to keep me and my stupid ideas out of other people's business."

"And?"

"And marriage isn't a cop out for not wanting to do other thing." Draco finished to recitation and added his own twist. "Although, I would like to say that I'm very interested in doing those things Harry didn't want to."

Hermione rolled her eyes but let him pass. "You're lucky you're going to be the father of my children. Otherwise, you just be permanently attached to that couch."

"Thank god for that then. All those gods are too mad for me to spend any real time out there." Draco rambled as he walked past.

Hermione furrowed her brow as she closed the door, "What on earth goes through your head?"

"It's a scary place, Hermione. A very scary place. In fact," Draco got a seductive twinkle in his eye, "you may just have to hold me all night to protect me from those scary thoughts."

"Oh, just get in bed, you nutter."

A/N: Sorry things have too sooo long to get out. It's been hard to match time and inspiration into one space. I'm trying so hard to finish this story and, I promise, I'll never abandon it without finishing it.

Next Chapter: Draco and Hermione have a talk, the Weasleys are confronted, and um…other things occur.

Reviews:

SpicyRedHead99: I know Ginny's revenge probably didn't turn out like you were expecting but I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reviewing and enjoying the fluffy bunny.

White-Pink-Fluffy-Strawberriez: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you think the story's funny.

angelrider93: Thank you for that wonderful review. You and my mother should start a club about me being a professional writer. I'm glad you think I'm doing well handling all the different story lines and such. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Angelo Del Ghiaccio: Thanks…

Varia: Thank you! I hope you (read and) enjoy this chapter. By the way, comment on chapter 20…absolutely hilarious.

Sunflower18: Tell me about short and rushed. Chapter 29 was pretty horrible in my opinion. I hope you like this one a bit better.

Anarane Anwamane: Thank you for the wonderful comment as always! I hope this chapter is also to your liking.

xXnarutofan-22Xx: Thanks. Sorry I didn't update sooner! Things have been a mess. Well, enjoy the chapter!