Chapter 30

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As most days Harry woke earlier than Hermione and relishing not having the pressure to be out of bed before her parents came downstairs to see them exit the guest room together he happily lay in bed enjoying the opportunity to hold Hermione. The fact that the door was locked and neither of them had bothered to get up and get dressed the night before was just an added bonus. He dozed lightly.

Hermione came awake aware of her nakedness, Harry's hand was cupping one of her breasts and his erection was pressing into the cleft of her bum, but he was breathing deeply and evenly so she assumed he was still sleeping. She turned in his arms to look at him and he reacted to hold on to her as if he was afraid she was leaving and moaned softly as her arse cheek dragged across his erection.

Hermione wrapped one hand around it squeezing gently watching as desire filled her husband's sleep slackened face. She pumped lightly and he started to thrust a little.

Remembering what he'd done for her the night before she didn't try to get him off backing off and letting go as soon as he started to seem close to orgasm.

Harry woke up frowning, he'd been having such a lovely dream about Hermione.

Hermione giggled.

Harry's eyes flew open and he looked at her lying there watching him, her eyes dancing teasingly.

Harry growled and moved suddenly to pull her beneath him.

"I'll teach you not to tickle a sleeping dragon," he said, misquoting the school motto.

"Are you calling your dick a dragon?" Hermione asked amused.

Harry laughed at that. "It may not spit fire but it will spit at you," he said thrusting against her belly.

Hermione laughed and wrapped her legs around him arching up so his next thrust was between her labia. They both groaned.

"I owe you a blow job but if you'd rather come like this I'm definitely not opposed," Hermione said huskily.

"This now, you can blow me later," Harry said thrusting again, he set a slow pace, rubbing all the way along his shaft with each thrust of his hips as Hermione rocked against him perfectly.

"Yesss," she moaned her agreement.

Harry kissed her fiercely to muffle both their moans as they came together.

-o0o-

Next door Neville blushed as he heard his friends' pleasure in each other and hoped it wouldn't make Elsie uncomfortable. He wished he could have that in his own marriage. He knew that there was a lot of work he and Elsie had to put into their relationship to get there and the sooner he started trying to build something honest between them the more likely they were to achieve a happy marriage, he wanted that. He just had no idea what the right next step was.

Elsie hadn't noticed the noise from next door or Neville's blush. She was lying in his arms the summer nightdress she wore bunched up around her waist as she felt the powerfully muscled legs spooning behind hers and his morning erection pressing into the cheek of her bum. Part of her wanted to leap across the bed and pull her nightdress down to a respectable position and a smaller part of her wanted to lie still pretending to be asleep and find out what would happen. She reminded herself that they were married, and they were both in the bed they'd been assigned for the night, she wasn't doing anything wrong. Neville wasn't hurting her or demanding anything. It was nice not to sleep alone, and even nicer to know that they wouldn't have to deal with her parents' and grandparents' disapproving stares at the breakfast table for it. She knew her parents were just wanting her to remain their little girl a little longer but they're the one's who married her off to Neville, and it was hypocritical of them now to be reluctant about her acting like his wife. She rather thought she might enjoy sharing married quarters with Neville at Hogwarts, when there was nobody to judge her for it in the morning. Especially in the freezing Scottish winter, the castle had been cool even in June when she was there for OWLs and awkward as sharing a bed with a near stranger had been, she'd been glad of the extra warmth, and he wasn't such a stranger anymore. Neville said that there was snow on the ground from November until March, she dreaded the thought of how cold it would be in winter.

Eventually though, they both had to admit that they were awake and face the embarrassment of waking up spooned together, and washing up and dressing to meet the others for breakfast. Elsie thought that it helped a little that Neville was as embarrassed as she was.

Breakfast was not a lively affair, far too many of the guests looked in need of the hangover potions the waiters were handing out at the entry to the room and even many of those who hadn't overindulged were still tired after the long afternoon, evening and night of festivities. Neville and Elsie were the first of their friends to arrive and helped themselves to the buffet before awkwardly taking seats in the corner, grateful when Padma and Terry joined them.

"Good morning, have you met my wife Elsie? Elsie this is Padma and Terry Boot, I'm not sure if you met the while you were at Hogwarts," Neville introduced.

"You mean this isn't Parvati?" Elsie asked astonished.

"No we're identical twins, Lady Longbottom," Padma said.

"Merlin, I'm sorry," Elsie said blushing. "Please call me Elsie."

"Don't worry about it, we never met at Hogwarts, Terry and I are in Ravenclaw," Padma said kindly.

"That must be difficult, being separated from your sister, the houses seem very separated, I don't think that I met any Ravenclaws except for Luna," Elsie said.

"It was very hard at first but I think it was also good for us to be able to make our own separate friends, and not be expected to be the same people. Lavender is my sister's best friend; we don't have a lot in common other than my sister so I was a little surprised to be invited," Padma replied.

"I think half our year level is here, I never really expected to be invited to Lavender's wedding, especially after Gran and Elsie's parents didn't allow me to invite her to ours," Neville replied.

"Why ever not? Parvati told me about the wedding," Padma asked. "Or was that because she's with Seamus?"

"Perhaps, but only my friends that were already married were invited so Ron wasn't either. I'm not sure why they did that, I would have preferred them both there too," Neville replied.

Harry and Hermione were next to arrive, both looking wide awake and cheerful, followed by a bleary eyed Seamus and Parvati.

"Good evening?" Padma asked amused as Parvati put her head down on the table, and Seamus commandeered the coffee pot which was luckily cooled down significantly before tipped a heap of sugar directly into the pot he chugged about three cups worth.

Elise looked at him in horror while Hermione looked faintly disgusted, Padma ignored him and

Terry, Harry and Neville laughed.

Nobody was in the mood to linger so they all headed home after breakfast.

-o0o-

Mrs Jessamine Fotheringay watched in shock and more than a little bit of worry, as Harry put her daughter through the most gruelling defence lesson she'd ever seen, and then when Neville and Harry's wife came in just as Elsie looked like she needed a break and she was about to call them to come and have tea, they all started firing blobs of colour at each other with their wands.

She was about to go in there and yell at them for mucking around, attacking her daughter when she was clearly too tired to fight back and destroying the classroom when her husband held her back. "It's okay, Neville spoke to me about this before his friends arrived. The spells don't hurt and Neville has promised that he and Harry will set the room to rights when they're finished," he said.

"But what are they doing, Elsie needs a rest, look how exhausted she is and the other three are ganging up on her when she's tired," Jessamine protested.

"It's a duelling training game, they're practicing targeting, dodging, shielding and increasing the speed of casting," Eustace Fotheringay explained. "They're not ganging up on her in fact all three of them seem to be targeting each other more often than they target Elsie."

"But Elsie needs a rest," Jessamine insisted.

"No she doesn't. Elsie told me that she needs to work on her casting endurance," Eustace replied. "We've let her get away with taking it too easy over the years and she needs to build up her endurance to be able to cope with a full load of classes next year."

"I don't know why she needs to have these friends come and tutor her. I could've taught her what she needs to know, and how do you know they can fix the room?" Jessamine said stubbornly.

"You know that you couldn't teach her all she needs to know before September. If that were true she would have been ready to sit all her OWLs a year ago in June with her age group, not still working towards sitting Charms in August and trying to catch up on enough Defence and Transfiguration to join the fifth year class next year," Eustace said gently.

"She's still young. There's plenty of time," Jessamine said.

"No, unfortunately things have changed with the new laws and there's not plenty of time anymore, Neville will finish his NEWTs in June when Elsie sits her OWLs and then, unless the law has been changed they'll need to have a baby within twelve months of Neville finishing school," Eustace said sadly.

"You don't think that Neville will let Elsie finish school?" Jessamine asked outraged.

"I believe he would be happy to let her if he could, but it's not up to Neville. Elsie will be eighteen and according to the law the only reason they don't have to have a baby this year is because they're both still in school. Elsie will sit her NEWTs in History this August and Ancient Runes next June and they'd have to petition Hogwarts to let her stay another year and petition the ministry to allow them to put off having children another year. If we'd sent her to Hogwarts, our Elsie would be sitting all her NEWTs next June with Neville and his friends," Eustace tried to explain.

"So this is my fault?" Jessamine demanded starting to get upset.

"No Dear, we did what we thought was best at the time. Nobody could have expected this marriage law to be enacted," Eustace said soothingly.

"Yes it's your fault. I'm seventeen and I'm going to be in classes with fifteen year olds and I'll still be struggling to keep up with them because they're used to using a lot more magic every day than I've been allowed to do. When you chose not to send me to Hogwarts or any other school, you should have hired a tutor to teach me properly or at least applied to the ministry for an official syllabus so you knew what you were doing and I could keep up with everyone else, instead of isolating me and coddling me so much I didn't even realise I wasn't using enough magic," Elsie said bluntly.

The Fotheringays looked up and saw their daughter standing in the doorway covered in splotches of colour, with an almost equally spattered husband standing behind her. Their friends were studiously ignoring the situation while efficiently removing the unwanted splotches from the floor walls and furniture.

"Your mother has tea ready," Eustace said diplomatically.

"I need to help Harry and Hermione," Elsie said turning to help with the clean up.

"Elsie surely you've cast enough, you'll make yourself ill," her mother protested.

"Yes I need to make myself feel ill, I'm under orders to keep casting until I can't cast anything more at least three times a day to try to build up my endurance enough to be able to cope with classes in September, to make up for not being allowed to exert my magic before this summer," Elsie retorted.

"Who told her that?" Jessamine demanded.

"Umm… Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both suggested she needed to, Madam Pomfrey assured us it wouldn't do her any harm in the long run though she will be tired and irritable until her core becomes accustomed to the amount of magic she's using. I'm sure she didn't mean to be so short with you," Neville replied.

"Should I get her a pepper up potion?" 'Jessamine asked.

"No Mrs Fotheringay, it will do Elsie more good to build the magic back up herself without magical help, and she can't depend on taking Pepper-up a couple of times a day throughout the school year, it wouldn't be good for her," Neville replied. "Can I ask why you didn't send Elsie to Hogwarts?"

"We couldn't afford it ourselves at the time, and her Grandfather refused to pay to send her, said that it wasn't necessary for her to be educated or to meet boys her own age to make a good marriage and I was working for him at the time and couldn't afford to go against his ruling. By the time we could afford it without his approval she was thirteen and would have had to start first year according to the school policy and she begged us not to force her to go. We didn't realise that she was falling behind her peers," Eustace said regretfully. "Perhaps we shouldn't have listened but she'd be in the same place as she is now, just starting fifth year, at least she will have her OWLs and a couple of NEWTs by the time you finish school."

"I can't promise anything but if I have my way she'll be able to stay and complete her NEWTs if she wants to, and have a career too if that's what she wants. Even if she has to take a year off to have a baby I'll support her going back as a day student or hiring a tutor to finish her studies afterwards," Neville said determinedly.

"Well I must say that her grandfather was at least half right, she did make a good marriage without attending Hogwarts," Eustace said more cheerfully.

"But perhaps still not the marriage she would have wanted," Neville said sighing sadly.

"Very few of my generation got to choose their marriage partners. It will all work out in the long run. You will see," Elsie's father said cheerfully oblivious to how unhappy his daughter seemed to be about being married to Neville.

"Do you really think that you should be pushing Elsie like that?" Jessamine couldn't help but ask Harry and Hermione.

"Yes Mum, they're just helping me to do what the professors asked me to do," Elsie said fiercely.

"Elsie's magic isn't weak or delicate, Mrs Fotheringay, she just lacks spellcasting endurance because she has never practiced casting like this, and it is already significantly better than it was at the start of the summer, but if she doesn't practice all summer like she has been she'd seriously exhaust herself trying to keep up with her classmates in September," Harry said seriously.

"Do you think there's any chance I can pass my defence OWL in August?" Elsie asked.

"I don't know. You still have about eight or nine spells to learn but your aim and casting speed are good enough for OWLs," Harry replied.

"Then why are you still pushing me to improve?" Elsie asked.

"Because learning to cast defensive magic and to duel isn't just about schoolwork and grades. There are still Death Eaters out there and your husband is one of the heroes who helped end the war. You need to be able to defend yourself in an attack long enough to be able to get away, that's more important than passing your OWL," Harry said bluntly.

"You think that she's in danger?" Jessamine asked anxiously. "Will she be safe at Hogwarts? Maybe we should keep her home?"

"I'm going to Hogwarts, I didn't put up with making a fool of myself by not being ready to sit OWLs at seventeen for nothing. I want the chance to make friends and make decisions for myself," Elsie said.

"I think she should go to Hogwarts. If she stays at home then she will have to have a baby this year, the exemption was only for students at a registered school of magic and they've already been married three months so she'd have to be pregnant before Neville goes back to Hogwarts to comply with the law. Then she would have to go through the pregnancy on her own. Going to school with Neville gives them a chance to get to know each other first before being forced to start a family," Hermione added.

"I won't say that there aren't any supporters of Voldemort among the students, and there are students whose parents went to Azkaban after being caught the night Voldemort was defeated that might hold a grudge but Elsie is safe enough when she is with Neville or one of us. Luna and Ginny will protect her when she's with the sixth years but she'll need to be careful to stay with her class and not wander around the school on her own, but it isn't any more dangerous than Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. You wouldn't want to keep her at home forever or the house will start to feel like a prison," Harry said thinking of Sirius' last year at Grimmauld Place.

"I will protect her as much as I can but it's better that she learns to stand up to them now at school where there's a limit to what they can do and is able to live her life than that she spends the rest of her life hiding behind wards afraid to leave the house," Neville added. "Besides they're all on their best behaviour because Harry killed their supposedly unkillable leader twice now and he threatened to set the lot of them on fire if his friends were hurt."

"Harry James Potter!" Hermione yelled.

"What! If they attack you I would make them wish I'd only set them on fire, at least they've been warned," Harry replied, looking fondly at his wife.

Hermione huffed at him in fond irritation, a little like you'd look at a beloved pet who was misbehaving but was too cute or amusing to be truly angry with. Harry grinned unrepentantly.

Neville wished he could feel like that, and Elsie wished that someone would look at her that way one day.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.