Harry
"Good morning beautiful," he whispered as he felt Hermione roll over again next to him on the blankets he had laid out before the Yule Ball last night. Her eyes instantly found his as they opened slowly for the first time that morning.
"Good morning handsome," Hermione replied and leaned forward to give him a soft kiss. He smiled as her lips met his and the many blissful smells of Hermione entered his nose.
God he could get use to this.
"Did you sleep okay?" he asked her, and started to play with a strand of her hair that had fallen over her eyes.
"Best sleep of my life, even if you did wake me up a few times throughout the night," Hermione answered him playfully, giving him another kiss.
"Can you blame me?" he asked her as he kissed back, hoping she didn't actually blame him.
"Nope. I enjoyed all the not-sleeping last night."
"I did as well," he added with another kiss.
"What time is it?" Hermione asked him after a few minutes of good-morning-kissing. She rolled back over and stretched. He was sad that at some point last night she had conjured some pajamas to wear and now had clothes covering her body. He already missed the sight of her bare skin, but couldn't really blame her; even with the warming charms it had gotten a little cold out here on the tall tower late in the night.
"Just after seven," he answered her and pulled himself closer to her again, not liking even the smallest bit of separation between them.
"Ugh, I know we have to, but I don't want to leave here!" Hermione groaned as she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes.
"You want to just stay then? I'm sure I can find a way to sneak some food up here," he joked playfully, but secretly hoping that she would say yes.
"That sounds perfect to me," Hermione replied, giving him another kiss. "Although I think our friends will come breaking down doors soon."
"Yeah, they would," he laughed, thinking about Marik showing up to the next task alone while they were both still up here.
"What are you doing today?" Hermione asked him curiously as she rolled back over to face him.
"I was going to go clean up a little in a bit, then me and Marik were going to go get this clue solved today. We only have a week left before the task so yeah, hardcore library day today. We, of course, assumed you would be joining us," he replied with another smile and kiss.
"I could go for a good library day," Hermione replied as she snuggled into his chest.
Sweet Merlin he loved when she did that.
"You could always go for a day in the library," he laughed, and gave her a quick peck on her forehead as she snuggled further into his chest.
"Touche," Hermione laughed.
"Hermione, I have a uhmm, question, and forgive me if I am being dumb."
"Ask away, and I doubt you are being dumb," Hermione replied, shaking her head.
"Well umm, after last night and everything. I know we both said we love each other and we both certainly, well uhmm. . . showed it to each other, but I never technically asked you. . ." he started to say, but trailed off a little bit at the end nervously.
"Asked me what?" Hermione asked confused.
"To be mine. I want you to be my girlfriend Hermione. I never technically asked you last night," he answered her, embarrassed. He was sure he was probably the only wizard in history to tell the love of his life that he loved her before asking her out.
"Ha ha ha!"Hermione started to laugh.
"What?" he asked confused at the sudden outburst.
"Of course I will be your freaking girlfriend Harry! I guess we both were so caught up in the moment last night that I assumed we had already crossed over that bridge," Hermione answered him, still laughing.
"Yeah, we both kind of jumped over the whole bridge a bit," he replied, joining in on the laughter.
"Yeah, I guess we did." Hermione leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek.
"Well, as much as I want to stay here and kiss you, and a few other things. . ." he started to say, whispering the last part into Hermione's ear as he ran his fingers up her thigh, earning a sexy purr from Hermione. "We should get back to our rooms before the entire castle wakes up."
"Ugh fine!" Hermione pouted. "I guess this will be my first ever walk of shame," Hermione added as she picked up her dress.
"Nope, you get to stay in your pajamas! I came prepared," he told her with a smile and pulled out his invisibility cloak.
"You really are the best Harry," Hermione replied and gave him another kiss as he wrapped the cloak around the both of them.
"I know," he joked as he led them down the ladder and into the castle's halls.
Apparently, last night had wore a lot of the students out. As they walked through the castle the normally busy halls were for the most part empty. Only a few teachers and younger looking students were out in about, most likely making their way to the dining hall for breakfast. Altogether, the walk to their dorms was a quiet and easy one, made without any trouble under the cloak. Although, walking through Durmstrang was always quiet and peaceful sense there was no Peeves potentially lurking around a corner. Harry shook his head. For a second he had almost actually missed the crazy ghost.
"I'll meet up with you in the library later then?" Hermione asked him as they arrived at the two Hogwart's dorm doors.
"Sounds perfect. You can take the cloak and give it back to me later. Bye love," he said as he gave her a kiss and pulled the cloak off of him.
"Bye love," Hermione said in return, one of the brightest smiles he had ever seen her give him before, plastered on her face.
Merlin I do love that smile. He thought to himself. After painfully leaving Hermione, he entered the boy's dorms and made his way down the hallway and into his and Marik's room. Upon entry the room was dark and seemed empty, but after his eyes adjusted he could see Marik laying in his bed pressed up on its edge into the wall.
"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to make an appearance," Marik announced sarcastically from his pillow as Harry tried to tip-toe quietly in.
Guess he was awake.
"Good morning," he replied. As if all was normal in the world, he made his way over to his dresser to find a change of clothes, trying not to act suspicious and at the same time mentally preparing himself for an onslaught of badgering from Marik.
"It is a good morning isn't it. I take it that it was also a good night for someone, judging by the fact that you are just now making your way back here now, and are still wearing your dress robes," Marik replied. Harry could feel his friend's grin burning the back of his head.
"It was a good night," Harry replied sarcastically as he found his clothes and went to grab his shower bag, ready to leave this room as quickly as possible.
"You two had sex!" Marik shouted bluntly.
"What? How did you-?" he turned around and asked, wondering how his friend already knew.
"Well it was just a guess, but judging from your reaction you just confirmed it. Congratulations my friend. Congratulations!" Marik said to him as he got out of his bed in nothing but a pair of briefs and came over to give him a hug.
"Uhh thanks," Harry replied, not sure what to say, and slightly uncomfortable from being hugged by his almost naked friend.
"So spill the beans!" Marik shouted at him, pulling him onto the edge of the bed to sit next to him.
"What beans?" Harry asked uncomfortably, already assuming what Marik meant.
"All of the freaking beans! You and Hermione had barely kissed before last night! Now you walk into our room having just slept with her! I wanna hear details! I wanna know the dirt!" Marik said, his grin growing as Harry blushed more.
"I don't know what to say! I took her up to the observation tower last night. We started kissing, things got heated, we told each other we loved each other, and then we had sex. . . a few times actually. . ." he told Marik, mumbling the last part.
"WHAT! Slow down there sally! You two told each other that you love each other already?" Marik asked him, looking amazed.
"Well, yeah," he replied, scratching the back of his head. That had not been the part of the story he had expected Marik to comment on.
"You two are crazy. Everyone but the both of you already knew it, but still, you guys are crazy. And to think you and Hermione had sex multiple times last night. I can't believe it," Marik added, shaking his head.
"I hardly can either," he replied honestly.
"Well how was it? People always say the brainy ones are the best in bed," Marik asked him, the grin on his friend's face was fully grown.
"It was incredible. By far the greatest night of my life ever," Harry told Marik truthfully, feeling flustered at remembering the night.
"Was she hung?" Marik quipped.
"That's funny Marik."
"Well I'm glad you two finally tied the knot, or inserted the knot? Whatever you call it."
"I am too. How was the rest of your night with Fleur by the way?" he turned to ask his friend, wondering what the two of them had gotten into after they parted ways.
"It was great, not as great as yours was apparently, but great. We ended up being the last couple on the dance floor, and probably ended up drinking a little too much of the champagne, and by probably I mean we definitely drank way too much champagne. I ended up dancing with Beauxbaton's Headmistress at some point, and by dance I mean she literally threw me around the dancefloor. Then at some point after that Dumbledore taught me and Fleur a few new dance moves, who would have guessed that the old guy knew so many! He even taught Fleur a spell that keeps your shoes from slipping out on the dance floor! Fleur had had so much champagne though that she messed up the spell and turned the bottom of our shoes into glue; we never did get them unstuck from the floor. Anyways, After that me and Fleur went for a walk around the grounds, but the other Beauxbatons Champions came and dragged her back to her room before it got too late, so I came back here and crashed," Marik answered, rubbing his eyes as he stretched.
"Sounds like a fun night. The Headmaster's didn't care that you both were drinking too much?" he asked in disbelief. It was hard to imagine the Headmasters allowing their students to drink that much.
"Are you kidding me, they both were keeping up with us! Dumbledore said we deserved a night of fun for being Champions, and told me and Fleur a few stories of his time back in his glory days. Did you know that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were good friends in their early days? He told us that once he drank too much with Grindelwald when they were both younger Apparently that was the night he discovered the seventy-eighth use for dragon's blood when he spilled firewhiskey in one of his cauldrons."
"Wow, I would have killed to hear that story," he replied honestly. He always loved learning more about the Headmaster and his teachers and it was hard to imagine the Headmaster acting anything like that.
"Trust me it was fun, but not as fun as sex I imagine. Even if I have never had it before I can guess that much," Marik replied, looking jealous.
"I can't argue with you there," Harry agreed.
"So what's the plan? Showers then library?" Marik asked him.
"Yeah, Hermione is going to meet us there in a bit too. I haven't heard from or seen Alina so I don't know if she will come or not," he replied, getting up from his seat on the bed.
"I doubt she will. Alina was apparently hitting the champagne harder than me and Fleur were last night. Fleur saw Dedrick carrying her back to her room like two hours into the dance last night while I was in the bathroom. Dedrick told Fleur the two of them had danced to just one song before Alina had started throwing back champagne like crazy. Girl will probably be passed out all of today."
"Well I hope she had some fun at least before she passed out," he said. Hermione had told him how excited Alina had been about the ball.
"I'm sure she did, you know Alina is always fun wherever she is. You can get first shower, I'll put some coffee on the pot and pack up our books," Marik told him as he headed over to their coffee machine, which Harry thought was probably the greatest muggle invention of all time, and could not thank Marik enough for finding a way to enchant the device to work without electricity. After all, coffee was a god to them.
Harry made his way to their shower and quickly rinsed himself off, feeling upset as the smell of Hermione left his body. He would be the happiest man in the world if he could always have her smell around him from now on. After finishing his shower, he poured himself a large cup of coffee and finished packing up their materials as Marik took a quick shower. When they were both done, they made their way to the library, found their normal table at the back, and set about getting to work on finally solving the clue from the first task.
So far the clue had bested them in all of their attempts to solve it. No amount of research, guessing, or luck had helped them uncover anything about what the second task could be. Harry had begun to think that getting the clue had been a waste of time, or it most certainly would be for sure if they did not solve it by the time the task started. The only person who hated not knowing something more than he did was Hermione, and he was just about sure if they did not solve the clue today based of his frustration levels, that Hermione would probably lose it.
For the next hour or so, he and Marik continued their research on the clue, trying desperately to find anything that would shed some light. So far that had split up the researching the clue in as many ways as he could possibly think possible to do. They had tried examining individual words, lines at a time, pairs of lines at a time, looking for clues within the letters used themselves, and many more ways. Hermione had gone so far as to even do research into German hidden messages used in the second Great War, but had ended up just learning more about morse code than anything actually useful. Altogether, you could say that the clue was getting on Harry's nerves, and he was ready to be done with it already.
Harry had started his search today on researching more into famous mirrors. Unfortunately, there were little to no mentions of mirrors in any books inside the library. Most of what he did actually find were mirrors enchanted for witches to help them with their makeup, or talking mirrors, neither of which helped them much with the clue. As he closed another book, the level of frustration he was feeling was honestly closing in on max, and he was starting to think it was just about time for them to give up. Thankfully though, from the excited reaction Marik seemed to now have as he bounced in his chair, it seemed like today might finally be there day.
"Harry I found something! I knew looking in children's' books wasn't a stupid idea!" Marik shouted in excitement as he motioned for Harry to come sit next to him. Hoping that Marik had in fact finally made a breakthrough he quickly moved around the table to look over his shoulder.
"What did you find?" he asked curiously, looking at the pages of the book Marik had open.
"So let me backtrack a second to explain, okay?
"Sure."
"Okay, so Dumbledore is the one that physically gave us the clue. And he and Karkaroff are the only two Headmaster's left to design the remaining tasks, since Beauxbaton's Headmistress designed the first and we know each Headmaster was in charge of one task. So with that in mind I decided to start with Dumbledore, and tried to place myself inside his thinking, which is tough as dicks because the guy is a long-bearded-lunatic.
"Dumbledore is quirky, everyone knows he likes weird candy, is fascinated with muggles, and most importantly, thanks to the interview he and the other Headmasters did for the Triwizards Tournament, we know that he enjoys occasionally reading his old children's books. So I decided to get quirky with my research and I picked out a book of wizarding children's books, and in the first freaking one I picked up I found something.
"The book is called The Lost Sorting Hat. It is a book that was written by an old professor at Hogwarts, a professor who happened to be one of Dumbledore's professors back in the day."Marik continued.
"What is the story about?" Harry interrupted to ask, curious to know.
"It is literally about the Sorting Hat getting lost inside Hogwart's castle. It is supposed to be a story for incoming first years to tell them all about the rooms and layouts of the castle, and get them excited for their first year. But anyways, listen to this, on the eighth page the Sorting Hat makes its way to the dungeons of the school and the the chapter reads like this:
"The old Sorting Hat saw scores of doors lining the dungeon's halls. As the Sorting Hat opened door, the Hat found wizards brewing potions, witches crafting runes, and even a teacher casting brightly colored spells, but the Hat still could not find its stool. The Sorting Hat continued further down the dungeon hallway, and continued searching the many doors of the dungeon, finding more witches enchanting objects, wizards solving what looked like puzzles, a room with nothing but flowers inside, and many more rooms that each had something special and magical within their walls. . ."
"I guess it does kind of match up a little, but only in like two small parts really. There is still the rest of the clue that it doesn't mention," Harry replied as Marik finished the paragraph. Harry looked at the book to reread the passage again, making sure he had not missed something.
"Yeah, but it makes perfect sense!" Marik responded, his voice still full of excitement.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked him.
"The second task is going to be a puzzle, just like Hermione said it might be. If I had to guess I bet Dumbledore is for sure the one designing the puzzle, and he is using this book as the basis for task. I am almost certain that we are going to have to make our way through a dungeon that has a bunch of rooms, and solve a puzzle, or multiple puzzles, inside the different rooms to complete the task." Harry was impressed at all the dots Marik was connecting, and had to agree it did seem to fit, even it was a little bit of a stretch.
"I guess you could be right. . . It makes sense to me," Harry replied, even if they had not solved the entirety of the clue, Marik's argument made some valid sense.
"What makes sense?" a familiar voice asked them. Harry turned his head to see Hermione had finally arrived at the table.
"Hermione you were right!" Marik shouted before he could.
"I usually am. What specifically was I right about this time?" Hermione asked Marik curiously.
"Oh, congratulations on the sex by the way Hermione," Marik said, changing the subject with a large grin. Hermione's eyes went wide and a massive blush appeared on her face.
"YOU TOLD HIM?" Hermione shouted at him causing him to flinch slightly. Thank Merlin that the library was empty for the most part.
"Actually no, he already knew," Harry answered her, embarrassed.
"He told me you were awful in bed by the way," Marik joked, earning two raging glares from the both of them. "Anywayssss, we can talk about Harry's penis later," Marik started to continue. Harry joined Hermione in the blushing they were both now doing as a result of Marik talking about his private parts. "So I found a passage similar to one in the clue. Here read this," Marik said, handing Hermione the book and pointing at the passage. Hermione's eyes quickly began scanning the book over.
"Hmm. . . I definitely think it is too close to just be a coincidence," Hermione stated, rubbing her chin as she finished reading it.
"I agree. I was just telling Harry that I think for sure Dumbledore designed the task, and it is going to be one large puzzle, or a bunch of small puzzles. And I would not be surprised if we have to make our way through a dungeon filled with multiple rooms like the ones mentioned in the story," Marik confirmed to Hermione what he had told her moments earlier.
"What about the rest of the clue? I agree with your hypothesis, I figured it would be a puzzle of some sort with the reference to a missing piece, but what about the mirror part and the end your years part?" Hermione asked Marik, still not looking completely sold.
"Those could be clues for the actual puzzles once we are inside maybe?" Marik added, not sounding entirely confident with his guess.
"It would make sense for Dumbledore to put the clue to what the task would be at the beginning of the riddle," he added, starting to feel Marik was right on the money.
"Why do you figure that?" Hermione asked him curiously.
"Well I think if you look at the clue as being multiple clues instead of just one clue it makes perfect sense, especially if we will be solving multiple puzzles. For example because of the first two lines it led us to finding the passage Marik found. So now we know we will be in a dungeon opening doors or rooms with puzzles. Inside the dungeon we can assume the next lines like the mystery, what's left, missing piece, mirror, and the remaining lines are all clues for the puzzle or puzzles inside. Does that make sense?" Harry asked them.
"So you mean like the remaining lines of the riddle are pieces of the puzzle as well?" Hermione asked him, he could see the cogs turning in her head.
"Yeah, and the passage Marik found is the first piece of the whole puzzle," Harry replied, thinking they were for sure on to something.
"Well, what does everyone think. I think it is more obvious the longer we look at it. I think for sure now that the first part is the main clue to get us in the right direction and know what to expect, and the rest of the lines will help us once we actually get started."
"I think I agree, and it is the best we have at the moment," Harry added truthfully.
"So the second task is a puzzle. How do we prepare for a puzzle?" Hermione asked them.
"Now that part I don't know," Marik replied.
"What did the sorting hat see inside the rooms in the story?" he asked, wondering if Dumbledore might possibly use the same rooms for the task.
"Uhh gimme a sec," Marik said, raising a finger up as he scanned the book for the passage again. "The Hat saw wizards brewing potions, witches crafting runes, and even a teacher casting brightly colored spells. . . more witches enchanting objects, wizards solving what looked like puzzles, and a room with nothing but flowers inside," Marik finished reading the passage again.
"Do you think Dumbledore would use the same types of rooms in the actual task?" Hermione asked, not looking too sure herself of the answer.
"I don't know, but I think we should prepare ourselves to be ready for each of the things the Hat saw," Harry answered, it was their best option to date.
"I agree, which means going into this we need to be ready for the possibility of six different rooms. Even if there are more rooms than the ones mentioned if we at least go in ready for these six we will be better off than the other teams," Marik added.
"So how do you want to divide the preparation up?" Hermione asked the two of them.
"Hermione you prepare for the potions and also try to see if you can find anything about what area of magic the part about looked like puzzles could be. Marik you are in charge of runes and the flowers, sorry, and I will take brightly colored spells and enchanting. Sound good?" He asked the both of them.
"Sounds good to me," Hermione replied with a smile.
There it is. He thought to himself at the sight of her beautiful smile.
"Ugh, I hate flowers and herbology!" Marik groaned as his head landed on their table.
"It could be worse, it could have been a puzzle based only on divination," Harry joked. Their group never liked saying the D-word.
"That is actually a smart idea," Hermione said, he could see the wheels turning inside of her head again.
"What is?" he asked, not sure what she meant.
"Now you have gone and done it," Marik groaned again from the table.
"We should all look up a bunch of stuff on divination, just in case their is a puzzle based on divination," Hermione replied and immediately started rummaging through her bag for a book.
"And on that note I think it is time to take a break and go grab lunch down at the dining hall, bye!" Marik said in a rush as he stood up quickly and bolted from the table.
"Hey get back here!" Hermione shouted as Marik turned the corner around the shelf.
"I agree with Marik, bye, I love you still though!" Harry quickly added and stood up and gave Hermione a kiss as he followed Marik's lead and bolted out of the library. Nothing sounded worse than reading about divination the rest of the day.
"Hey I just got here!" he heard Hermione shout. "But I love you too Harry! Hey, Wait for me!" Hermione shouted again as he made his way to the door of the library. He couldn't stop the large smile that appeared on his face as he heard Hermione say I love you. He stopped at the door and turned to wait for his girlfriend. It still felt a little strange to call Hermione that.
"Thank you for waiting," Hermione said with another smile as she made her way over from their table to the door of the library.
"Of course my love," he replied flirtatiously, and gave his girlfriend, and the love of his life a warm kiss.
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