A New Dilemma

Usually Sunday was even more relaxed than Saturday, especially this early in the year when exams were far away and homework was still manageable. It was often completely free from school issues and students did almost nothing structured. However, when Harry awoke, it felt more like the morning after Hagrid rescued him from the Dursleys five years ago. He often thought of that as the first day of his life, and now that feeling arrived again. His only thoughts now were what he and Hermione were going to do; where we they headed?

At breakfast, she sat on his side of the table for a change, and they were constantly touching each other, sharing nudges or bumps or tickles. Ron slept late and wasn't there to notice the change. Apparently, no one else did either.

It was dry, and still warm outside, and they decided to go out by the lake, taking books and a blanket with them to make it appear like a study trip. Harry led the way, going around the corner and past the flat shore to a group of bushes far away.

"Why here?" Hermione asked.

"This is where I conjured the Patronus the night Sirius escaped." Harry was still working through Sirius's death, but his anger was spent and he found he could talk about it. "To me, it's kind of a special place...and...well, you're very special."

Hermione smiled back, looked around, and observed that it was also pretty private. They both started to speak again at the same time...

"We need to ..." they both began, and then stopped and laughed. "I know," said Harry. "What do we tell Ron?"

Hermione looked at him with new respect. Harry had gained confidence. She didn't expect that he had seen this far ahead and seemed very proud that he had also anticipated the problem.

"Well, I guess we just tell him," she said.

Harry thought about that for a moment. "No, he deserves better. I don't know how he feels, but we can't just say we're together and he's out. What about his feelings?"

Again, Hermione was impressed with Harry's thoughtfulness.

"I don't know. Do we need to tell him today?"

"No, but we probably can't keep this secret for long...especially from him. He's not completely..." Harry had started to say "dumb", but that seemed very cruel. "He's not...well, he's going to notice things."

Hermione pulled him over on the blanket and leaned over his face. "We don't need to worry about that right now." She kissed him and then stopped. "Let's worry about this for a while."

After a few frenzied minutes, they took a break. Harry decided to start in a new direction.

"I went to the library Friday night."

"And..."

"I went to the Restricted Section."

"And..."

"I found a book that was...well, it was the book that started me thinking yesterday...out here by the lake."

Hermione looked at him with great curiosity. She had no idea where this was going.

"I brought it because I though you might find it..." He was going to say "interesting," or maybe "inspiring," but then he thought better of it. He felt twinges of the old Harry, the no-nerve Harry rising again. He wasn't so certain now that Hermione would think much of the book.

"What is the book?"

"Well, I'm not certain I should show you. You might think I'm being silly or something." Now Harry was really retreating, and Hermione knew it. She wanted it to stop now. She liked the new Harry a lot better.

"If you liked it, then it's fine with me," she stated. "After all, it got us this far." Harry was lost for a moment, and decided to change the subject.

"So, ah...what's the fourth condition?"

Hermione smiled immediately. "Wouldn't you like to know," she teased. "Here you are barely meeting the second condition and you're asking about the fourth. You're out looking for the snitch before the quaffle has even been tossed."

"But you said you'd tell me later, and now it's later," he demanded, but with a smile.

Hermione glanced around to see how hidden they were. For a moment, she stared at the bush that shielded them from anyone coming from the castle, then she dug into her backpack and took out her wand.

"Sensoria Proxima," she uttered, and a black streak flowed from her wand to the bush. It was accompanied by a mild shaking and a little glow.

"All right," Harry said with some impatience. "What did that do?" He thought she was showing off again.

"I found that when we were working with you on spells for the maze. It makes the bush into a sort of alarm. It will start howling if anyone else comes near it."

Harry marveled again at all the things Hermione learned from books. Maybe he could share the book with her after all. But not just now.

Hermione seemed satisfied that the spell had worked, and now turned to face Harry on the other side of the blanket. She slowly removed her sweater and placed it aside. Harry could see that she was wearing nothing beneath her blouse, and her nipples were clearly erect.

"I think you need to review conditions two and three before you go on, you know, just to make sure you have a good understanding," she said, just as if she were teaching a class. But then she leaned in to re-start the kissing. Both shirts came off quickly, and they spent the next hour in a thorough review.

"Do you know how long I've wanted this?" Hermione said breaking the silence after a pause. "It's been forever."

Harry didn't really know how to respond. Everything he thought to say sounded lame, and he didn't want to go back to being socially challenged. So he just smiled. That seemed to be enough.

"Tell me about the book that you got. Why did it make you think about me...or us?" Now he was in real trouble. The only book he brought with him was THAT book, and she knew it was there since he had said it was before.

"I'm not certain that you'll understand what I was thinking," Harry replied, trying desperately to buy some time. "It might seem really dumb."

"Harry, do you remember back when we fell into the Devil's Snare on the way to the Sorcerer's Stone?"

Harry nodded, confused by her abrupt change of topics.

"Do you remember that I told you to relax...and you wouldn't...and I kept insisting...and when you finally did, the Snare released you. I told you that night to trust me. It's the same thing here...you have to trust me. We can't have a relationship built on anything but trust. I will never hurt you and I know you will never hurt me. That means we can share anything and trust each other. I trusted you yesterday...and you told me the truth." She grinned a little now and continued. "And see, your trust didn't hurt you, did it?"

Harry had to admit, looking at her nearly naked body that so far, this trust thing seemed to be a pretty good deal.

He reached into his bag and brought out the book. It was time for confession...no going back now.

They rolled together in the middle of the blanket, and he opened the first page.

"I didn't get very far. It has Love Potions in it." Harry turned through the opening pages and came to Prompting a Choice. Here goes nothing, he thought.

"I got this far, and I was thinking about what you would say if I made a Love Potion. Then I thought about what you would say if I used this one on you. You know...er...to choose between Victor and me."

Hermione looked over at him, then back at the page, then back at him. The silence seemed to last forever. She finally spoke.

"I think that's very funny." She smiled, and then grinned. "But you never needed a potion to help, you only needed to make me an honest offer." She paused and then started to turn to the next page. Harry froze. He knew what was on the next page. Sensing his fear, she stopped and looked at him.

"Harry, I love you. I have for a long time. I want to be with you, just like this, forever. I don't want us to struggle because of what we've been through. You'll always be the boy-who-lived; I know that. I'll always be muggle-born; you know that. Together, we can get through anything they throw at us...we already have. What is anything else compared to Voldemort?"

Harry stopped breathing as he heard Hermione talk more seriously than he had ever heard. She was often serious, but this was from her heart. His pulse raced as his brain processed what she was saying.

"What's on the next page?" she asked quietly.

Harry nodded his assent to her, and she turned the page. Both his breath and his heart stopped as the printing came into her view. She started reading the title and then stopped and turned to look at him. Time simply stopped as she looked deeply into his eyes...

"Well," she exhaled smoothly. "That's a potion I think we're going to want...and real soon if I'm not mistaken."

Harry could hardly believe what she had said. She leaned over towards him, smiled that little smirk, and read a couple more lines. "Good thing it only takes a hour to make. Think you can wait that long?"

Now it was Harry's turn to grin, just a little at first, and then from ear to ear.

"You have about 1 second to wipe that grin off your face, Potter." Hermione was trying to sound like Professor McGonagall in her best commanding voice.

"Or what?"

"Or this," and she started kissing him again. This time, Harry was ready, and after a few kisses, he decided to see how ticklish she was. He quickly found his answer.