(Peeks timidly from behind a curtain) Er… Hello. It has been a while hasn't it? (A rotten tomato is flung through the air, and tojot quickly ducks back behind the curtain.) Too long, apparently. I am sorry, but this Harry Potter Fanfiction has not been on my main agenda. My life has been somewhat of an emotional roller coaster ride.

Disclaimer: Remember what I said for the disclaimers in earlier chapters? Commit it to memory.

Chapter 17: The Charm's Incantation

By: tojot

It was now that Harry had decided to comply with Ron and follow his heart. In one swift move he swooped down on his trunk and extracted the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak and was out the door and dashing down the spiral stair and out the portrait hole in seconds. Once outside the tower he muttered a "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!" and scanned the Map for a few minutes. He didn't see her in the castle or the grounds. There would only one place she would be if she were still in the castle. The Room of Requirement. Which didn't show up on the map if you wanted it unplotable. He moved through the deserted corridors and stairwells making his way toward the room as silently as his feet and breathing would allow. His heart was beating in his ears. He passed a darkened corridor where he didn't notice a pair of glowing silver eyes giving away the position of the large figure that loomed there watching him silently but never moved to follow him. A low rumbling chuckle sounded from the figure once Harry was out of earshot.

He passed Peeves, whom of which was enjoying his newest bit of mayhem in the sculpture-adorned corridor. Those sculptures never stood a chance, Harry thought to himself as he smiled at the handiwork that was going to give Argus Filch hell. Peeves was finger-painting the stone statues. From the looks of it, Peeves might have gotten hold of the Weasley twin's new glow-in-the-dark finger paints that couldn't be seen in daylight.

Harry had made it to the Tapestry with the Trolls in Tutus and passed that stretch of wall three times and the door came up thinking that he needed to find Hermione and not be disturbed. He was scared. But he knew that he needed to do this. Ron had given the okay, but that still didn't make Harry's nerves go away. He removed the cloak, lifted the latch to the door and pushed it open and went inside. He pushed the door closed and locked it.

It was dark inside the only light came from one candle. Hermione had turned to face him, surprise written all over her face. What surprised Harry the most was what was behind her. The Mirror of Erised.

"Harry?" She said.

"Hermione why are you here with the mirror?" Harry asked.

"I…I…" Her face went red in embarrassment.

"It seems that you have taken to the charm of the Mirror." Harry sighed.

"I am sorry, if I love what I see." Hermione snapped after she had regained her composure.

"And what do you see in that Mirror?" Harry pressed. Since the last time she had looked into the mirror, he knew it was the person she loved the most.

Hermione's face turned bright red again. She muttered something quietly.

"What did you say?" Harry asked.

"If you promise that you won't reject me if I do tell." Hermione said seriously. "It's not something I am very willing to tell just anyone."

"Hermione, we have been friends through the toughest of times." Harry replied gently as he approached her slowly. "I have really no reason why I would reject you."

"You may after this." Hermione said.

Harry grinned and whispered dangerously in her ear "Try me." She shivered.

"It's you that I see in the mirror with me, Harry. In it we are in love." Hermione said as she turned back towards the mirror and started walking towards it. "To bad it only shows our deepest desire, just dreams." Harry grabbed her wrist before she could get to far away from him and slowly pulled her back into close quarters with him. This action forced Hermione to look into his entrancing bright green eyes.

"Sometimes our dreams can come true." Harry whispered in the very intimate quarters they both shared despite the large room. He realized his hands were placed on her hips. When did they get there? He thought to himself. Hermione stared at him in wonder and awe. She seemed unable to speak. In an instant Harry had placed his lips on hers. An intense and burning feeling of excitement flooded his very being. He knew he liked this feeling. All coherent thought except Hermione was wiped from his mind. What was more was she kissed him back with full fervor. Her mouth opened to him and he accepted the invitation. He could tell she wanted this and he needed her. When it seemed she could not get any closer to him, she moaned in frustration and pushed him against the wall forcefully and continued to kiss Harry senseless. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she entwined her fingers in his messy raven hair. Harry was surprised with Hermione's sudden forceful move against the wall. His arms had wrapped themselves around her waist pulling himself as close as he could against her.

In an instant there was a white hot flash of pleasure sweeping through both of them and Harry was seeing his memories and some that were not his own. They were the memories of the bushy-haired bookworm that he was snogging. In the next instant they had forced themselves apart and looked at each other wildly. The Marks on Hermione's hand were glowing white once again and Harry was sure his scar was too. It throbbed comfortably.

"Wow!" Harry exclaimed. The feelings he had had just now were familiar, but he had not had them with Cho. He remembered that he had been in a situation similar to this and he suddenly knew what happened between he and Hermione when she had repaired the charm on Halloween Night. They had kissed once before. It had finally clicked into place in Harry's mind.

"A kiss from a lover to seal the charm." Hermione whispered breathless as she marveled at the marks on her hand. She seemed to be thinking the same thing he was. "You kissed me back that night." She said to Harry. "That is way I am under the charm as well."

"So that is what happened that night? I couldn't remember." Harry said.

"I couldn't either, but I had a hunch since I knew what the charm needed to consist of." Hermione blushed. "Oh. I am so sorry Harry I never told you before, my embarrassment got the better of me."

"I don't think it was your embarrassment Hermione. I think it was your fear of Failure. You were afraid that I would reject you if I knew. And besides if you had never kissed me and I you, we would not be here to tell the tale. For that I am grateful." Harry told her as he pulled Hermione back into his arms and embraced her. "If there is one thing I know now it's this: I need you desperately Hermione."

She smiled sadly and then backed away out of his embrace. "Why are you doing this Harry?"

"I told Ron the Prophecy…" Harry started.

"Finally." Hermione muttered under her breath. "But what does that have anything to do with me."

"… and then he yelled at me why I had been avoiding you." Harry said.

Hermione gave him an odd look, "you don't make any sense."

"I told him about red book as well and that it had been written in ancient runes. I was careful enough not to say it was a book, I only said that Gryphon had given us some useful information."

Hermione let out a relieved sigh and then said, "So why have you been avoiding me?"

"Because I have realized that I fancy you and was afraid that Ron would hate me if I showed any signs of that." Harry answered carefully.

"Did you say that to Ron?" Hermione said in a frightened tone.

"I did." Harry said gravely.

"What was his reaction?" She asked.

"He went silent." Harry recalled. "And then hesaid that he had beenselfish."

"Are you pulling my leg, Harry Potter!" Hermione said incredulously.

"All I am saying is the truth." Harry said in defense. "I couldn't believe it myself when he said it. Please, believe me when I say this: He let you go for the sake of saving the wizarding world. The very world he grew up in."

A hopeful and promising smile went across Hermione's features and she hugged him happily. "I never thought it would happen. I never thought that he would make such a mature decision."

"He also told me that he had to deal with new feelings since Luna kissed him on the cheek. I guess hearing what was in the prophecy was the last nail in the proverbial coffin." Harry added. Hermione nodded in agreement.

"More like buried and forgotten in my opinion. Question is…" Hermione said as she looked Harry right in the eye. "…what do we do now?"

Harry looked around the room and saw Hermione's book bag with a familiar book peeking out the top.

"We could always continue this." He said as he snatched the red velvet tome out of the bag. A twinkle soon added to Hermione's eyes in happiness as she took the book from him and led him to a couch that he had never noticed in the room before. He had also noticed the room was now better lit for reading. She sat down first at one end of the couch and Harry sat down beside her.

"May I?" Hermione asked indicating his hair. Understanding what she was meaning he lay down in her lap. She let the fingers of her left-hand play with the messy tendrils of his raven black hair and massage his scalp. She had the book open in her right hand as she scanned what was written and translated it into English for Harry to understand.

"Recognition of the Pheonix Blaze is very simple. The body of those who have successfully conjured the Blaze turn completely into magical flame consisting of pure untainted magic. They are ethereal spirits of magical fire that have the power to destroy utterly. This magical flame completely incinerates anything comprised of dark or malevolent magic once it comes into contact, thus destroying it. This magic cannot be stopped by incantation or anything else for that matter, this includes the conjuror. The Blaze chooses to stop once it is necessary to stop. It's once rumored that the Higher Powers gave the Phoenix Blaze to those who need it and will not misuse it. Those who have been borne to purpose. But the more powerful the Dark Magic the longer it takes to destroy. "

The paragraph was quite revealing. It had explained in full what magic had turned Harry into a fireball as a toddler and a little bit why.

"So what happened?" Harry asked. "If the Phoenix Blaze destroys anything that is evil, then how come Voldemort survived?"

"Maybe there was some good still left within him." Hermione suggested thoughtfully as she looked down at him.

"I find that very hard to believe." Harry scoffed.

"That or he used whatever was left of his original mortal body to block your magic from destroying his tainted soul so he could escape." Hermione added.

Harry sat up suddenly. "You and Professor Gryphon sound a lot alike.

Hermione gave him an inquisitive look. "Go on."

"She gave me an example in the form a corked bottle. She said that the bottle represented me and the liquid inside represented my magic. Voldemort was the stopper."

"Actually I think of it more as clogged garden hose." Hermione said. " Just imagine turning on the water an nothing coming out until it backs up. And the force of the water pushes that clog out with incredible force. But I still don't know if I have it right. I mean you can still do magic, right?"

Harry lay back down in Hermione's lap.

"Gyphon explained to me that I am using Voldemort's magic right now with some of my own peeking through at times." Harry told her.

"That makes sense." Hermione said as she closed the book and set it on the table beside the couch.

"You want to stop?" Harry asked.

"Yes, for now, but I think we need to talk." Hermione said anxiously.

"Haven't we?" Harry inquired.

"Let me revise that. We need to talk about 'us,' Harry."

"Okay. So what is it that you had in mind?" Harry asked.

"What do we do now?" She repeated. Harry gave her a curious look and reached his arm up to pick the red book up off the table, but she stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

"That's is not what I mean Harry." Hermione said. "I let myself get distracted before. I always get distracted when things that I want to happen go right. But not this time. What I mean is where does our relationship go from here?"

Harry gulped.

"Do we keep it to ourselves for now or show it out in the open?" Hermione continued.

"Let us keep it behind closed doors for now, Hermione. Ron promised me he would keep our confidence. We have too many factors that could get in the way. We have plenty of enemies, who could easily use one against the other. Don't you dare say you don't have enemies Hermione, Because I know how much you loathed Cho. Let's just see where secrecy takes us, okay."

"Right." Hermione agreed as she continued to stroke through his wild hair.

"Was the reason why you hated Cho so much, is because you were jealous?" Harry asked. Hermione blushed bright red.

"That and the fact that she was jealous of me too. You unintentionally showed me more attention than you did her." Hermione explained as Harry smirked in triumph at her blushing. "What!" She demanded, losing her temper.

"You look so cute when you blush." Harry teased, causing Hermione to blush even more.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Hmm."

"What do you plan to do for the Holidays?" Harry inquired.

"My parents are taking me along to Japan for a Dentistry Conference." Hermione answered. "Why?"

"Oh." Harry said dejectedly. "I was hoping that you could come with me to Grimmauld Place."

"I am sorry, Harry, but my parents insisted that I spend the holidays with them. I can see why considering that I have not been home very much including the fact that I canceled on them last year." Hermione said sadly, "It is also too late to change the plans since they have reservations already set up for me and the money has been paid out in full."

"So I'll have a couple of weeks without you?" Harry said, feeling of dread welling in his stomach.

"Don't worry Harry, I'll find a way to have us write back and forth without the wait." Hermione said and she bent down and pecked Harry on the lips and with it Harry's dread ebbed away. He sat up and kissed her back passionately. Their marks started glowing once again, but either teen didn't seem to mind, the sensation was a wonderful feeling. Harry ran his tongue along Hermione's lips in hopes of entrance. She welcomed him in as they parted with a moan. The kiss soon turned into a heated one of passion. The only things that they were aware of were the incredible intimate sensations that this interaction gave them. Somewhere along the way, Harry found himself lying on top of Hermione, his shirt open and Hermione kissing him hungrily underneath him. Her shirt was only open enough to show a little cleavage. He hadn't known how they had gotten in this position.

It was Hermione who ended the kiss. "Harry, we need to stop, or we'll be in an awkward situation." Hermione breathed in his ear as he kissed her neck.

"Don't worry, Hermione." Harry grinned at her. "The door is locked. No one is about to go bursting in on us."

"No is isn't that." Hermione stated. "I just don't trust myself in not letting us get too far!"

"Why is that Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Harry, in the past I've wanted you so badly than I could bare. Now that I have you, I don't want to let you go. Or at least until I am satisfied. Of which I think I'll never be." Hermione breathed. "But right now I am not ready to go and loose my virginity. If I got pregnant then we would have some explaining to do."

Harry understood, nodded in agreement, and got off her. He buttoned his shirt up again and picked up the red book from the table and handed it to her.

"Keep this safe." He said as she took it from his hands. "We need to get back to Gryffindor Tower. I am sure they would be wondering where we are." Harry said as he held out his hand for her. She took it and pulled her to her feet and gave her one last kiss. He pulled the Invisibility Cloak around them and they left the Room of Requirement.

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Author's Note: That was quite a fluffy chapter, I know. I think I may have confirmed someone's suspicions. For future reference, the glowing reaction will happen every time they share a kiss. I figured that a magical reaction would be better for such a magical pair.

As for the next chapter, as soon as I get a couple of days to myself and I actually have the inspiration to write the 200th page, the 18th chapter will be up.

Have a nice day,

tojot