Retelling what had happened to Rita was difficult. Harry had taken it upon himself to take the lead initially, but all four of them ended up taking turns explaining the situation to Kingsley. The Minister had listened dutifully, his hands steepled atop his desk and his chin resting against his outstretched thumbs. He had a serious look on his face, one that befitted the situation.
By the time they finally finished explaining the situation to Kingsley, his expression had turned graver. "The memory charm wasn't done properly?" He asked for confirmation.
Neville and Hannah shuffled awkwardly in their seats, still refusing to look at each other. Harry gave Hannah a second to speak up, but when it was clear that she wouldn't, he opened his mouth. "No, it wasn't. We didn't stick around to find out the whole situation at St Mungo's, but the mediwizard who took Rita in didn't exactly have a confident look on his face."
Kingsley's expression didn't shift at that. The man was good at hiding his reactions when he wanted to. "This is . . . concerning. To have a member of the press assaulted like this—"
"She deserved it," Hannah interjected bitterly. She had been switching between fury and sadness ever since they sneaked out of Hogwarts. "She was trying to blackmail us."
"Be that as it may," Kingsley began with a stern glare. "You may have just destroyed her mind beyond repair. Are you aware of the charges for the improper use of memory-modifying spells?"
"Azkaban," Hermione murmured sadly.
A somber tone filled the room as the reality of the situation fully set in. Hannah seemed to settle into shock, Harry and Hermione looked distraught, and Neville, surprisingly, looked like he'd just been dealt a physical blow.
"Five to twenty years," Kingsley nodded in confirmation. "Under most circumstances at least." He let out a long sigh.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Hermione asked.
That was the important question, wasn't it? What could they do? This situation couldn't simply be ignored or wiped away; the consequences of this would be far reaching. Most people would be happy to see Rita gone, but there would always be questions.
There was a knock at the door.
Kingsley straightened in his seat. "Come in!" He called out in his booming voice.
The door to his office swung open, and a young wizard stepped through carrying a scroll of parchment. "The update you requested," the wizard said as he walked around the four students and delivered the parchment right into Kingsley's awaiting hand.
"Thank you, Stephen," Kingsley said, waving the young man away.
As the door closed behind Stephen, Kingsley unfurled the parchment and looked down at it. His eyes quickly scanned the document before he carefully rolled it back up.
"Rita Skeeter has lost the last three decades of her life," he announced to the room. A hush went through them all as Hannah's breathing hitched. "The last thing she remembers is her graduation from Hogwarts and an impending interview for a small print publication that no longer exists. Many of her earlier memories are scattered too, but she at least knows who she is. It seems that all of her activities related to journalism have been wiped from her mind."
"Bloody hell," Neville muttered, shaking his head.
"Can anything be done?" Hermione asked.
Kingsley hesitated a moment before shaking his head. "The healers at St Mungo's tried but her memories are too scrambled. They're going to start a therapy routine for her to see if they can restore anything, but the odds aren't in her favour."
Those same conflicted feelings from when they first realised what had happened rose up in Harry. Rita wasn't a threat to them anymore, but still . . .
"I'll be frank," Kingsley said as he placed his palms down on his desk. "This isn't good, but no one knows what happened."
Hannah's eyes shot up to meet Kingsley's gaze just as Neville's jaw dropped.
"You can't seriously mean . . ." Neville trailed off.
Kingsley looked a little chastised, but he pushed through regardless. "I'll swear the four of you to secrecy on the matter. Rita had plenty of enemies; I'll make sure that the Aurors don't bother any of you with this. Rita made lots of enemies over the years. It isn't so far-fetched to believe that one of them did this, or that it was an unfortunate accident in Knockturn Alley."
"I can't believe you!" Neville exclaimed as he leapt to his feet. "You're just gonna let this go?"
"Neville," Hermione said compassionately as she reached out to touch him. Neville jerked his arm away from her.
"Believe me, this is not a situation I ever hoped to be in," Kinglsey replied sternly, "but we have to make do with the situation. If I go before the Wizengamot and announce that four war heroes, including Harry Potter himself, attacked Rita Skeeter, the entire Ministry would be thrown into chaos. Do you understand just how delicate the political situation is in Britain at the moment? The Wizengamot is fractured, but we're trying to heal. We're still struggling to rebuild our international contacts, and our Department of Magical Law Enforcement is spread far too thin as it is. By all rights, we should have a trial on this matter, but the disastrous effects it would have on our society would be monumental. It's better to bury this matter and to try to work towards building a better tomorrow."
Harry felt hollow hearing Kingsley's words. He hadn't realised that the situation at the Ministry was that dire, even with how often he visited it. Maybe no one except for Kingsley and his closest advisers realised just how fragile everything was.
What Hannah did to Rita was terrible, even if Rita did deserve some recompense for all of the damage she'd wrought over her years working as a scummy reporter. The more he thought about it, the more Harry struggled to sympathise with Rita's situation. The woman truly was one of the worst people active in the public eye in Britain, and he'd often thought to himself over the years that the world would be better off without her.
Kingsley was right, Harry decided. "I agree," he spoke up, getting everyone's attention on him. Neville looked hurt by Harry's words. "Rita was a bad person, and even if she didn't deserve this, it's more important to bring stability to Britain than it is to bring this case into the public's view."
"Then it's settled," Kingsley said before anyone else could speak up. He thumped his desk with his fist and stood up from his seat with a grim expression on his face. "I understand why you did this," he said to Hannah, "and I can't say that I'm sorry that Rita won't be writing hit pieces on innocent people anymore, but I will be keeping a close eye on you. If I get a hint of any other malicious activity coming from you, you can be assured that I will not be so lenient next time."
Hannah looked sufficiently cowed by Kingsley's promise. "Yes, Minister."
The secrecy agreement was drawn up in short order. Everyone signed it, even Neville despite the reluctant expression on his face. The moment it was handled, Neville stormed out of the Minister's office, leaving the rest of them behind.
PAGE BREAK
"We should never have used the room."
Hermione had been repeating some variation of this phrase over and over again ever since they left the Minister's office. Everything seemed to have spiralled so badly out of control, and it was difficult for Harry to find the words he needed to comfort her. Still, that didn't stop him from trying.
"Everything will work out in the end," Harry said, trying to sound reassuring.
Hermione didn't seem convinced. All of the doubts and fears that Harry had helped squash earlier in the Room of Requirement had resurfaced in full force now. "I'm just not sure that this is the right way to do things. Kingsley's putting himself at risk—"
"Kingsley knows what he's doing," Harry interrupted, not wanting her to spiral further down a depressing train of thought. "He knows how serious this is, but he also knows how bad of a person Rita is . . . was. Her mind's intact at least, and now she can't hurt us."
"What if she regains her memories?" Hermione asked, feeling tears bubbling up to the surface of her eyes.
"Then we'll deal with it if it happens," Harry answered soothingly. "We can't know what the future holds; all we can do is handle what's in front of us."
"Right," Hermione sniffled. "You're right. I just . . . Merlin. I can't believe that this all happened. I thought life would be easy after the war, but problems just keep popping up everywhere we go."
Harry gently guided Hermione over from where she'd been pacing in her room to her bed. They sat down beside each other with Harry holding her left hand in between his. "Life will never be easy for us. It isn't easy for anyone really. We all have things we have to struggle with, and I know that this all seems really bad right now, but we need to be strong and persevere through this. We won the war so that we could have a chance to live our lives the way we want to, and that's what we need to do."
Hermione shuddered as she let out a shaky breath. She leaned against Harry's chest, and he wrapped his arms around her in response. "You're right," she murmured quietly. "I know you're right. It just feels like no matter what we do, there's always someone out to get us."
"I guess it just comes with the territory," Harry mused. "But so long as we stick together, I know that we'll be able to get through this."
Hermione nodded her head against Harry's chest. The two of them fell into silence as they sought comfort from one another.
Harry's mind drifted back to Hannah and Neville. Neville was obviously crushed by what Hannah had done and the lack of repercussions she was facing. Given his parents' experience with long-term spell damage, Harry could certainly understand why Neville was so upset about what happened to Rita. Magical damage couldn't always be easily fixed, and the long-term effects could be intense and life-altering.
The longer it sat with Harry, the more he realised that he was fine it happened to Rita. Maybe he just needed to talk with Neville about it to make sure he wasn't misunderstanding his anger and help him through this. Harry didn't want to see Neville and Hannah break up, not after how happy they'd seemed together at the Hog's Head.
He'd need to have a talk with Hannah too to make sure that she was okay.
As the minutes slipped away, Harry and Hermione soon shifted further back onto her bed so that they could lie down. Hermione continued to cling to Harry, even when she had calmed back down.
"Do you think you'll be fine to go to class tomorrow?" Harry murmured in her ear as he began to gently stroke the back of her head comfortingly. "Because we can always take the day off tomorrow instead. I'm sure McGonagall would understand if we told her we needed a break for a day."
Hermione laughed quietly. "What would we do? Just lay around in bed?"
"Is that such a bad idea?"
Hermione hummed against his chest. "I suppose not. As long as I can still carve out some time for me to study."
Now it was Harry's turn to laugh. "You can't go a day without it, can you?"
Hermione smiled up at him. "Nope," she declared happily. "You're right: we don't know what the future holds, but it's best to be prepared for anything. We've got our N.E.W.T.s to worry about, and then our careers after that. I can't be slacking off now."
"You haven't done any studying today," Harry pointed out playfully.
"I can make an exception on days like today," Hermione sighed bittersweetly. She grabbed Harry's wrist as she rolled over in bed so that her back was against him. Then, she tugged his arm over her waist, and Harry rolled onto his side too so that he was spooning her from behind. "Besides, cuddling like this is just as important."
"Only just as important?" Harry repeated with fake outrage. He lightly tickled Hermione's side. She squirmed around on the bed, laughing and rubbing herself against him as she grabbed his hand and pressed it down flat against her hip.
"Okay, this is more important," she acquiesced. "But only a little bit."
"I'd have thought that our years of friendship would've made you a little less serious about studying by now," Harry replied.
Hermione gave a slight shake of her head and giggled. "If anything, I had to become more serious to pick up yours and Ron's slack."
Harry kissed the back of Hermione's head. "I love you for that."
"I love you too," Hermione sighed happily as she snuggled back up against Harry. "Do you want to get under the duvet?"
"Sure," Harry answered.
Hermione snatched her wand off of her bedside table and gave it a quick flick. The duvet slid out from beneath their bodies and then covered them up.
"I think we're gonna get too warm soon," Hermione said coyly after another minute had passed.
"Well, we can't have that," Harry replied.
There was a sudden surge of warmth against his skin as both of their clothes disappeared off of their bodies. Hermione shivered lightly and pressed herself back against Harry, and he tightened his grip around his waist as he held her there.
The pretence of just cuddling didn't last long. With all of the skin-on-skin contact, Harry hardened quite quickly, and it was only a minute after that when Hermione started subtly pressing her arse back against him. It wasn't the normal, overt sexual desire that started off most of their encounters, but it was no less passionate.
Harry started to groan after a minute of Hermione grinding her arse against his cock. He slid his hand down her belly to between her thighs. Her pussy had a thin film of moisture built up on her outer lips. He softly wetted two of his fingers along her slit while he ran the pad of his thumb along her clit.
Hearing Hermione's breathing deepen as Harry toyed with her excited him. Every little hitch in her breath urged him to do more to her. When he finally slipped his two fingers inside of her, Hermione froze and pressed her arse against him so hard that his cock ended up slipping in between her arse cheeks.
Harry felt along the inside of Hermione's pussy until he reached the special spot he was looking for. As soon as he applied pressure to it with his fingers, Hermione gasped loudly and clenched up around him.
"Right there?" Harry murmured sultrily into her ear.
"Mm hmm," Hermione hummed. Her eyes were closed tight and she was biting her lip as he circled his fingers around the sensitive point inside of her. The moment that he touched her there again, he simultaneously pressed gently down onto her clit. "Harry!" Hermione cried out his name like a curse as she writhed against him.
"Yes, love?" Harry asked as he continued to touch her right where she wanted. She couldn't stay still on the bed, not with him touching her like this, but she never once broke the skin-on-skin contact they were sharing.
"More," Hermione said breathlessly.
Harry was more than happy to give that to her. He snaked his other hand underneath her body and grabbed onto her breast as he continued his assault down below. He started pumping his fingers in and out of her hole, always making sure to apply pressure to the right spot as he went. His thumb alternated between circling her clit, just barely grazing it as he went around, and softly touching it with just enough force to not completely overwhelm her. Hermione was dissolving like putty in his hands, mewling at his every touch.
It was this type of tender love and care that made Harry know Hermione was the one for him. Even on the most difficult days, they could still find comfort in each other like this, and that was what truly showed the strength of their relationship.
"More," Hermione moaned again.
Harry wasn't quite sure what she meant. "Faster?" He asked. "Or another finger?"
"No," Hermione whimpered. Her thighs trembled as Harry fingered her at just the right spot. "I want you inside me."
Biting back the urge to tease her and say that he already was, Harry gave into Hermione's desire. He slowly extricated his fingers from her pussy and brought them up to his lips. He licked himself clean of her musky, sweet juices before he pulled his hips back momentarily to release his cock from in between Hermione's arse cheeks.
Hermione lifted her leg of her own accord for him as he got into position. Harry grabbed the base of his shaft and moved the tip of his cock right up against her wet slit.
They both moved at the same time: Harry pushed himself inside of her as Hermione lowered herself onto him. They both groaned loudly as Harry's cock delved deeper into Hermione's pussy, slowly filling her up and stretching her out.
Despite the obvious lust that they both had for one another, neither of them wanted to rush this. They wanted to take things slow and enjoy the feeling of their bodies joining together. So, once Harry was firmly settled inside of Hermione's pussy, he just grinded against her so that he could kiss her neck and palm her breast.
All of Harry's touches left Hermione breathless, and those sounds of her gasping for air drove Harry to keep making her feel this good. He was gentle, just lightly pinching her nipples between his fingers and stirring his cock around inside of her pussy. He laid a trail of kisses along her shoulder and neck up to her jawline. All of it left Hermione in a love-filled haze.
After a couple minutes of this, Harry slowly started to thrust in and out of Hermione. He moved lazily, setting a tender pace that made everything feel like so much more than it was. It felt like all of his senses were heightened. From the warmth of Hermione's skin against him to the way her inner walls quivered around his cock as he probed inside of her, it was all so electrifying.
"You feel so good," Harry moaned as he thrust deep inside of her. His hips pushed against her arse, trying to get every last inch of himself inside of her.
"I love you so much," Hermione breathed, her walls fluttering around his cock. "More than you can possibly ever know."
Harry felt like he had a pretty good idea; it was the same way he felt about her. His heart was pounding so hard it was like it wanted to rip itself out of his chest so that it could prove its devotion to her. Everything about her from her brilliant mind to her sexy body just drew him in until he was ready to get lost in her completely.
"I love you too," Harry groaned back as Hermione's walls tightened around him again.
He brought on of his hands down to where their bodies met, and he went back to toying with her clit as he slowly fucked her. Hermione couldn't hold her leg up anymore; she ended up pressing her thighs together, making it a little difficult, but not impossibly, for Harry to play with her clit. Her legs trembled on the bed as he touched her, bringing her closer and closer to the edge.
No more words needed to be said as they rocked against each other for countless minutes. They never once deviated from their intimate touches and slow pace until they reached their tipping points.
Hermione got to hers first. The buildup had been so steady and gradual that Harry hadn't realised that she was having an orgasm until she cried out louder than anytime before. Her pussy spasmed wildly around his cock, trying to make him cum. He stayed buried inside of her, just touching her clit ever so softly as he kissed her neck and whispered everything that he felt for her into her ear.
Harry managed to last only a couple minutes after that. When he realised what was coming, he sped his pace up to something akin to their normal pace when they were just getting started having sex. He bounced against her arse, plunging his cock in and out of her pussy until one thrust sent him over the edge and he buried himself in her completely and exploded.
It was a wild rush of love and lust that coursed through Harry's veins as he shot his seed inside of Hermione. Just as he'd done for her, she was telling him how much she loved him, how good he felt, how perfect he was, how happy she was that he was hers and she was his. All of her affirmations of their love made his orgasm so much more intense, and when he finally finished, he felt thoroughly exhausted.
Harry let his body go slack as he fought to catch his breath. His cock was still inside of Hermione, and neither of them seemed to be in the mood to change that. Outside their window, the sun had already set.
Feeling satisfied and refreshed, Harry wrapped one arm around Hermione's waist and cupped her breast with his other hand. She snuggled back against him, and the two of them soon fell asleep.
A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! If you are interested in reading more or supporting me, check out at p atreon .com(slash) ashox