Hermione's Surprise

Planning ahead had never been Harry's strongest trait, but on Monday morning he was determined to get certain things done. Since N.E.W.T. classes were smaller, sixth years had more open schedules, and Harry had the early morning free. He decided to use the time to work on the potion. Part of the Snape's N.E.W.T. curriculum was independent study, and he expected everyone to produce samples of potions made between classes. While Harry wasn't about to submit an anti-pregnancy potion, he could use the N.E.W.T. student's space and supplies without question. Fortunately, the ingredients necessary were readily available in the classroom.

Harry had copied the instructions carefully, reading and re-reading each line to make certain he hadn't missed anything. This was one potion he didn't want to fail! He slipped the parchment between the pages of his book and went off to the dungeon to work. Hermione had an early class and went her own way, after a couple of knowing bumps and touches at breakfast.

Harry had been working for a few minutes when Ron walked in and sat down at the next table.

"What did you do yesterday?" he asked.

"Er...nothing really," Harry lied. "Hermione and I went down to the lake and reviewed some Charms notes and just talked about things. What did you do?"

"Well, I got up late, and you were already gone. After lunch, I played some chess and then wrote a letter to Fred and George, to see if they had anything new they wanted me to try out." Harry had the impression that something else was on Ron's mind, but he wasn't sure how to ask.

"What are you making?"

"It's supposed to be a Calming Draught, but I think I left something out." Harry had thought this one through in case anyone came in while he was working. He knew that the two potions had similar ingredients, and the difference in color would be easily explained if he had omitted the flax oil and the ground beetles...

"You really seem to be getting into this potions thing. Is Snape any better?" Since Ron wasn't taking potions anymore, he wasn't there to see how Snape was treating Harry in class.

"No, he's still the same. But since there aren't many Slytherins in the class, he doesn't seem to favor them as much. I mean, all four houses are together, and there's not many of us. Usually, he just ignores me and I ignore him."

Ron still seemed preoccupied with something, but he didn't offer any explanation. After a few silent minutes watching Harry check and re-check the book, Ron lost interest and left to get ready for his next class. Harry was left alone with his potion and his thoughts. His mind started racing as he replayed the last three days. What was going to happen next? Was this all real? Did he really spend most of yesterday lying with Hermione near the lake?

As the potion simmered, he thought about each little action. His finding the book...the confusion of thoughts...Herminone's reaction...the room down the hall...the blanket by the lake. What's next? Well, he knew what was next, sort of. It was something that every teenaged boy dreams about and fears...the first time. How would he do? Would they get it right? What can go wrong? Hermione was right, he concluded...they just had to trust each other and work through the rough spots together.

Harry walked over to the shelf and grabbed several bottles for the potion. Usually you just made one sample flask, and threw out the rest. Not this time. Harry had checked...this potion could be stored for a long time without problems.

After Charms, Harry and Hermione had lunch and tried to keep up appearances. It didn't work very well, although no one seemed any wiser. They had double Transfiguration in the afternoon and spent the time before dinner in a corner of the common room.

"How did it go?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"It looks just like it's supposed to," Harry answered. For a change, he was proud of his potion work.

"I think we should do some more reading," Hermione grinned, and Harry knew what she was talking about. This time, he had no advantage, since neither of them had looked at the next pages of the book. Looking back much later, he decided that not knowing what came next probably saved his life, since he would have died had he known.

"Where?" he asked. He was concerned about getting the book out of his trunk, and they certainly couldn't read it in the common room or the library.

"Maybe the same room as Saturday. We can go down the corridor by Sir Cadogan, and then down the east tower stairs; no one will ever see us." It was obvious that Hermione had given this great thought.

"Right now?" Harry asked. Did she really want to sneak down before dinner?

"Yes...I mean, I want to...if you want to." Hermione was working hard to remember that these were decisions that they both needed to be comfortable with. But she knew what she wanted, and she was pretty certain that Harry wasn't going to complain.

"Okay, I'll meet you outside in a minute," he said, and left to go up to his dormitory.

Ten minutes later, they settled onto the sofa, with the door locked and sealed. After a couple of passionate kisses, they opened the book and paged forward to the anti-pregnancy potion. Hermione looked deeply into Harry's eyes and reached to turn the page. They continued gazing at each other, and then looked down.

"Holy Quidditch!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry turned bright red. Below him on the page was a very graphic depiction of a charm to Enlarge a Woman's Breasts. They both just stared, not knowing what to think, or do, or say. Finally, Hermione broke the tension.

"Well, now we know why this was in the restricted section," she said in a somewhat offhand way. Harry was still looking for someplace to hide, or at least hide his face. Hermione continued. "You know, we probably have to look at things differently now...I mean...well...we can't pretend we don't know what boys and girls look like without clothes." Harry looked at her and started giggling. Then Hermione started too, and they sounded like Parvati and Lavender, two of Gryffindor's renowned gigglers.

Harry finally controlled his emotions enough to speak. "Should we go on?" he asked, knowing that the next page might even be worse. Hermione again surprised him with her answer.

"I think we should deal with each page as it comes. Would you like my breasts to be bigger?"

"WHAT?" Harry was completely over his head now. Where was she going?

"I mean...well. ..some boys really seem to have a thing about this." She referred back to the page for a moment and then continued. "There's a reversing charm too, so...we...er, you...well, it's possible."

Harry was completely stopped. First, the idea was, well, kinky. And now, Hermione, HERMIONE!, was suggesting she wanted to try it. He was lost at sea, without a map or chart or anything to guide him. He had no formal, or even informal, sex education. As this thought came, he started laughing, thinking of having a such a talk with Uncle Vernon.

"I didn't think it was that funny," Hermione said, immediately regretting the tone in her voice. This was the new Harry, and she didn't want to crush his new-found spirit.

It was Harry's turn to explain, and his grin grew bigger and bigger as he told her what was funny. Soon even she was laughing as she visualized the same conversation. Hermione finally brought the conversation back to the open book.

"I'd like to try it," she said. "You know, my mother's aren't very big, so mine probably won't be either. It's like when Malfoy hexed my teeth...we can always reverse it if we don't like it."

"Hermione, I like you just as you are. You don't need to do this for me."

"I know, Harry, but we are trying lots of new things, aren't we? We could try this too." It was beginning to sound like Hermione liked the idea, and Harry wasn't against it yet. He just hadn't thought it through very far. "Let's do it after, well... you know...ah, later."

That sounded okay, and they set the book aside for a while.