Disclaimer: JK owns HP; Always.
1989
Chapter 17
After what seemed like an eternity later, they finally broke apart, both panting and gasping for air. Charlie moved to rest his forehead against hers, and place his hand against the side of her face where his thumb began to trace a pattern along her cheekbone. The affectionate gesture was just what Hermione needed to solidify her feelings for him, even though she was trying so hard to keep them at bay.
"So where do we go from here?" She finally asked once she had caught her breath.
Charlie chuckled through heavy breathing. "No idea." He answered after pondering her question for a moment. "I came here to do the noble thing and let you go."
"And how did that work out for you?" She asked, tilting her head up to meet his eyes. The tips of their noses ended up brushing against each other in the process.
"It didn't." He chuckled again nervously. "Because I don't think I can."
Hermione tilted her head back down to stare at the ground, their foreheads coming to rest against each other again. "I don't know what to do." She groaned.
Charlie sighed. "Yeah, well I think it's pretty clear what we both want."
Hermione lifted her head and leaned back away from him a bit, looking at him with pursed lips. "Well yes, but there are a lot more factors at play here than what we want, Charlie."
"Maybe we should just ignore them and be together anyway." He smiled in an attempt to cheer her up. "Let the consequences be damned."
Hermione returned his smile gloomily. "That sounds nice in theory, but it's not just Ron's feelings that we have to worry about, you know?" Hermione reached her hand up to grab the one currently tracing patterns on her cheek. "There are other things working against us too."
"Yeah?" He asked before dipping his head down to place a kiss to her neck. It was clear he was trying to entice her into giving in. "Like what things?"
As tempting as it was to let him continue, she knew that she had to tell him what the real issue was before it was too late. Giving in would only make things worse in the long run. "Like the fact that I leave in six months." She forced the words out.
Charlie froze with his lips still attached to the spot where her neck met her shoulder. After a short pause he lifted his head to look her in the eyes. "I know." He sighed, looking taken aback. "I knew eventually you would have to."
She nodded. "The longer I stay here the more things I risk changing. Dumbledore has a friend at the ministry who came up with a plan to get me home."
"Shit." He cursed as he rubbed his forehead with one hand. "That's what you were talking about that day I caught you in the prefect's bathroom." He suddenly looked surprised and cursed again. "Shit. You're a prefect too aren't you? That's how you knew where it was and how to get in."
Hermione nodded again. "You know I expected these little instances to be a lot more amusing in hindsight than they actually are."
Seeming to be lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear her attempt to lighten the mood. "Six months isn't much time." He commented solemnly on their situation, before his eyes flickered to stare directly at her again. "So to hell with it."
Before she had time to respond, or even process his reaction at all, Charlie had grabbed her around the waist and backed her against the tree he had previously been leaning against. He dipped his face back down to press their lips together in a frenzied kiss; nibbling and sucking on her lower lip. It seemed his past mindset of kissing her as if they had all the time in the world was now long forgotten. This time he kissed her urgently, as if she would be ripped away from him at any moment.
"Charlie." She groaned. "We shouldn't."
He must have known that her heart was at war with her head, because he ended up smirking against her lips as her arms slipped back around his neck.
"I may not know what the future holds like you do Hermione." He backed off slightly so he could look her in the eyes as he argued back. "But what I do know is that I love you, and that I'm already in too deep. I don't want to regret not taking a chance on us."
She stared back at him, their noses almost brushing against one another again from the close proximity, but she did not respond. It seemed her head and her heart really were in two different places, and she didn't know which one to side with.
"Hermione?" He asked in another attempt to get her to comply. "Do you want to be with me?"
"Yes." She finally nodded, knowing that lying was out of the question. "Perhaps more than anything."
"Good." Charlie grinned, knowing that he was going to get his way. He dipped his head back down to kiss her gently again. "Then let's be together."
And as they stood there snogging for the third time that day, it seemed that that was that.
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"I was supposed to be doing research today, you know?" Hermione smiled as he continued to press kisses to her cheek and jaw.
She never thought that she would be the kind of girl who would waste the day away snogging someone; but it appeared that Charlie had changed her mind on that account too. Kissing him gave her a thrill that she not only had never felt before, but also could not get enough of. They had now spent hours together; constantly stealing kisses from one another as they moved along the grounds. Though they started off near that tree by the lake, they had now made it all the way to Charlie's favorite spot; the place he had taken her to on her birthday.
"Yeah, well you said we only have until May, and I want to kiss you as much as humanly possible between now and then." He grinned whilst cradling her head so he could hold her in place.
As his lips pressed themselves against hers for what had to be the millionth time that day, all Hermione could do was oblige him. Her arms wrapped themselves back around his neck so she could bring herself closer to him on the bench.
As the kissing became more heated and their breathing became heavier, she started to wonder if she should stop them for now or not. At this point she was practically in his lap, and as much as she was enjoying it she also worried they were moving too fast. They had only just gotten together after all.
"There you are Charlie!"
The new couple broke apart at the sudden intrusion of an irish accented voice calling out to them. Hermione's cheeks reddened at being caught, though her arms stayed wrapped around his neck from their new position on the bench.
As Devon maneuvered through the nearby trees, he finally caught sight of more than just the red hair he had glimpsed on his search for his best friend. It was apparent by the grin that spread across his face as he came into view that he knew exactly what he had just interrupted.
"Damn." He said excitedly. "It's about bloody time you two got together."