I humbly beg forgiveness for not giving you all new chapters sooner 3

As always not mine

The morning after the consummation of their marriage, Hermione had been exceptionally shy despite having been laid bare to him just that night. Harry had risen first, allowing Hermione the safety of wrapping the covers around herself to get to the bathroom.

She had walked stiffly, and he knew she had to be hurting. He silently thanked Snape for having given him a couple of pain potions and slipped into the bathroom long enough to leave it on the sink for her.

It was Sunday, a day of rest, so Harry planned for them to simply lounge around and do little. Hermione, apparently, had other plans when she emerged fully dressed and smiling. "Come on, why don't we go do something?"

He shrugged but agreed, quickly showering and getting dressed. "Alright, what do you want to do?"

"I thought maybe we could go spend some time with our friends in the tower."

Harry nodded. "Sure, come on then."

He opened the door to their rooms and was mildly surprised when her hand slipped into his. He squeezed and led her up the rest of the stairs and to the tower, giving the password for the common room. A group were playing Exploding Snap, everyone going silent when they walked in, hand in hand.

Ron had been in the middle of laughing at something Seamus had said, getting up when he saw the pair. "Hey," he said.

Harry waved. "Hey, Ron."

"So, stopping by?"

"No, thought we'd hang out."

Ron blinked. "Oh, well, okay."

Hermione frowned. "Unless that's an issue?"

The red head smiled. "No, not at all. Just, you haven't been out of your rooms much," he chuckled.

Harry's face went from friendly to cold in an instant, Hermione shying back a bit. "And?" He said icily.

"Well, we just wondered if you were ever going to come up for air," he said, grinning.

Hermione snarled angrily. "If you must know we…"

"No," Harry bit out, cutting her off. "What happens in our rooms is no business but our own. If you've got something to say, Weasley, out with it."

Ron's face grew pale. "Harry, please, I'm just playing, I'm sorry, I realise now it's in poor taste. I really didn't mean any harm by it."

Harry narrowed his eyes, but his face softened. "Don't make jokes about that, Ron."

He flushed red. "Sorry, mate, I sometimes forget that relationship jokes don't really apply here."

Hermione glanced between the two of them before she moved back around to Harry's side, her hand still in his. "It's been ages since we all just hung out."

Ginny appeared from the girl's dorm, took one look at Hermione and winked. "Hey, Hermione. Come to hang with the riff raff?"

The bushy haired witch laughed and joined her friend, leaving Harry with the boys. He sat down, played games, arm wrestled and mucked around together. The day was great, it was like things hadn't really changed, even though they had.

They both saw the day pass as they spent it with their respective friends, they all went to the Great Hall together for dinner, laughed and joked, and spent more time together in that one day than they had in weeks.

It reminded Harry that he needed his friends around him, just as Hermione did. But the day was not to end happily. As they bade goodnight to their friends outside their rooms, something in Harry's expression alarmed Hermione, he saw her eyes grow wide and horrified, right before an ear-splitting wail came from him and he felt his head split in two. The last thing he saw was Hermione rushing towards him and Ron's face pale drastically before darkness overtook him.

-oo0oo-

Running for the Infirmary, Harry's unconscious body floated behind her thanks to a Mobilicorpus. She had begged the others to go back to the tower so they wouldn't be caught out after curfew and get detentions.

She burst through the doors and screamed for Madam Pomfrey, guiding Harry's body to a nearby bed and pleading for him to wake up. The mediwitch bustled out of a door Hermione hadn't known existed and immediately conjured an internal school memo to summon the headmaster.

"What happened?" She demanded.

Hermione wrung her hands. "I don't know, he just went still, and his scar started bleeding, then he passed out. I haven't been able to wake him at all. What's wrong with him?"

Pomfrey cast scanning spells at a rapid pace and Hermione struggled to keep with it until she gave in and settled for holding his hand tightly between her two.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think this is something to do with You-Know-Who."

Dumbledore appeared in the hospital wing doorway and headed straight for Harry. "Miss Granger," he greeted tersely.

She didn't take it personally and released Harry's hand when he approached her, stepping back at the fear on the wizened face. He scanned Harry himself and breathed a soft sigh of relief, then turned to her.

"You have completed the consummation?"

She flushed red but nodded. "Yes."

He nodded once. "Your bands glowed?"

"Yes."

"That was it?"

She frowned. "No."

"Miss Granger, do I need to pull the events from your mind myself?" He asked, blue eyes icy compared to their normal warmth.

"Um, no, afterwards, the bands glowed, then it moved along our arms, and settled over our hearts."

Dumbledore blinked. "Excuse me?"

"It just…well it went into our hearts."

"I see." She could tell he didn't. "What happened when Mr. Potter fainted?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you feel anything?"

She blinked. "No, well, yes. Fear. Really strong fear. I thought it was my own at first but it felt like mine was being amplified."

He nodded and turned his attention back to Harry. "It would appear Voldemort made another attempt to break into Harry's mind. We won't know for sure until he wakes up. I suggest you return to your rooms."

Hermione stood taller. "Absolutely not. I am not leaving here until he wakes up."

Dumbledore opened his mouth, no doubt to argue, and then shut it. "Very well. I will ensure you are excused from your classes until further notice. Do not fall behind in your studies."

-oo0oo-

Night and day, Hermione remained at Harry's side. She washed him when Madam Pomfrey came to do it, she drank gallons of tea, read every single textbook she owned, said a couple of prayers, forced herself to be grateful when friends stopped by to check on them both, and cried buckets when Ginny asked how she really was.

"I'm scared he won't wake up."

Ginny chuckled. "This is Harry, he's being defying the odds since birth, I reckon. He'll wake up."

Hermione sighed. "I hate this. I hate that slimy bastard for doing this to him."

"I know, but Harry is strong. When the times comes, we'll all stand behind him. When Harry's strong enough, old Mouldyshorts won't know what hit him."

She snorted at that. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Gin."

Ginny hugged her fiercely. "Keep strong for him, Hermione. Let him know he's loved."

She cocked her head. "Of course he's loved- he's my best friend."

The redhead smiled and left the Infirmary. On hindsight, the smile had been a sad one.

-oo0oo-

Hermione worked on all the homework her professors were kind enough to bring her, and diligently made sure they were handed back in using the school's internal memo system. She was half-way through her Arithmancy equations when a hand brushed hers.

Shrieking in surprise, Hermione sent her inkpot sailing over her parchment, snapped her quill in half and nearly stabbed the offending hand before she recognised the tiny white scars on the back of it. "Harry!" She cried.

Immediately spelling the ink back into the pot, she jumped up and ran her hand through his hair. "I'm so happy to see you awake!"

Tears filled her eyes and spilled over. He smiled weakly, tried to raise his hand to brush them away but it flopped back on the bed. She grabbed it and rubbed it against her cheek.

"What happened?" He croaked, voice hoarse from days of no use.

"We're not sure. You've been out for four days."

His eyes widened and he struggled to get into a seated position. Hermione cast a Feather Light Charm and helped him up. She called for Pomfrey and settled on the bed beside him when he tugged her hand.

Dumbledore soon arrived as well, and she had to fight back a snarl when the old man barraged Harry with questions. Pomfrey did that for her.

"Albus! He's just woken!"

He looked suitably chastised and took a step back, giving him some space. "Miss Granger, perhaps you could now return to your classes?"

She levelled him with a glare worthy of Snape. "Over my dead body."

Dumbledore sighed but didn't seem to be bothered in arguing with her. "Harry, my dear boy, you gave your wife quite the scare."

Harry gave a feeble smile. "Yeah, so it seems. What happened?"

"We were rather hoping you could tell us?"

He glanced at Hermione, and she shrugged. "All I saw was you go drip white and your scar started to bleed."

He frowned. "I'm not sure. I had a bit of a headache, but I wasn't bothered by it. Then I felt like my head was going to explode. Then nothing."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

He looked up at her. "You were running towards me."

"Nothing after?" She asked.

His face scrunched up in concentration, her fingers instantly reached out to soothe the frown lines on his forehead. "My shields were attacked," he said suddenly.

Dumbledore sighed. "Voldemort."

Harry nodded. "He was trying to get in my head again, but my shields attacked back. Something went wrong though, at least I think it went wrong."

Hermione couldn't stand the pain in his face as he tried to remember what had happened. "Why don't we ask Professor Snape to come look?" She suggested.

Harry shook his head. "Not yet," he pleaded. "Please."

She smiled and kissed his forehead. "Okay, whatever you want, Harry. Try to think back to what happened. Why do you think something went wrong?"

"He was angry, no, furious. More so than last time. He was slamming against my shields with everything he had and he almost broke through. But then, it was like in the graveyard when he came back. There was a flash and a golden cage thing appeared around him, and it trapped him. Then he was gone."

Hermione smiled brightly and chuckled. "Always defying the odds."

He frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," she said. "Just something I heard."

Dumbledore glanced between them. "I am going to need to visit the Ministry of Magic, but I feel that there was something more at play there. Harry, do recover and I will see you on my return."

He swept out of the Infirmary at a speed Hermione didn't think possible for the old man, but she brushed it aside to look after Harry and get them back to the safety and security of their rooms.