Disclaimer: Anything that rings a bell is JK Rowling's

A/N: Things get a bit spicy in this chapter - just a heads up!

Chapter 52: Our Safe Words

"Aero saggitarius"

My white spell struck his shield charm, and it dissipated almost on contact, and I followed it quickly with a stunner.

"Nice!" I exclaimed, as my stunner disappeared into his protego charm, which looked almost solid at how sturdy it was, "You've lasted almost thirty seconds!"

Harry chuckled, as he let his magical force field fall, "Well…I am known for my endurance."

I choked out a laugh as he flung a purple spell at me and I deflected it with my own shield charm, "I'm sorry…known for your endurance."

He painted a sheepish look on his face, "Well, it's still known if it's just one person who knows of it."

I rolled my eyes, dropping my charm and quickly stepping to my left and flinging a leg locker curse at Harry, who gracefully dodged it. He anticipated my move and new position and sent a disarming charm at me that I couldn't dodge in time, forcing me to throw up another shield.

He smirked, and I gulped.

Godric that was hot.

Some couples liked to go for walks in the park, some couples liked to go for fancy dinners…well Harry and I, we liked to duel.

We had fallen into the habit of duelling for sport post-DA lessons, and it quickly became one of our favourite past times.

Harry flung a ball of wind at me so large that it would be hard to dodge. If it hit me, it would easily slice at my skin. I bit my lip, and his smirk faltered, I was contemplating my move - I could do a shield charm or…I narrowed my eyes, gauging the direction of the wind flow, and I flung the same spell back at him, both balls clanging into each other, some sort of friction at play cancelling each other out, and they slowed down and disappeared.

He barked out a laugh, "Fuck, you're good!"

I smirked, "Well, I am known for that. Even if it's just one person who knows it."

"Boy do I know it." He made an elaborate bow, symbolising the end of the duel. We often ended without finishing, the purpose being to learn from each other, rather than compete. Though Harry, smart guy that he was, always knew to end it when I had the upper hand.

Best to keep me happy as this was just foreplay.

As if reading my mind, he made quick work of the steps that separated us and I was up against one of the mirrors that lined the room's walls. "Honestly, there is nothing sexier than you and that wand of yours."

I laughed as he trailed kisses down my neck, "Oh, well I thought you'd much prefer me with that wand of yours."

He groaned at the comment as my thigh snuck in between his legs, and I could feel my face burn as I felt Harry against me. He mirrored my action and I gasped, his gesture eliciting a ripple effect of reactions throughout my body, which had begun to move desperately against his, trying to eek out satisfaction from every touch and taste of him.

I let go of my wand, which floated it's way back to my fondina like metal to a magnet. Harry must have pocketed his own, as one of his hands were digging into my waist, encouraging my movements, whilst the other gripped my back.

I ran my now free hand through his hair, dragging his face to my lips to muffle my moans, which echoed in the cavernous room. I felt the familiar 'bubble' grow larger and larger inside of me, desperate to pop.

"Remind me again why sex is a bad idea?" I muttered into his lips.

"It's not a bad idea." He panted, his eyes closing as I trailed my hand down his shirt and undid his belt, then his zipper, "I just…we…Godric." I smirked, busying my lips with his neck, as my hand did a much better job than my thigh.

There really was no better feeling than being this powerful.

"I just…thought…special."

I used my free hand to unbutton my school shirt, and his eyes fluttered open and he groaned as if in pain, "You don't fight fair."

I grinned, shrugging the shirt off my shoulders and delighting in Harry's eyes on me, "Who's fighting Mr Potter?"

Harry growled, his fingers travelling up my back with feather light touches, making impressively quick work with the clasps…practice does make perfect it would seem.

I let the bra fall, shivering into his gentle touch, my back arched as his lips released my own, lowering his head as I snaked my hand to the back of his neck, waiting for him to -

"Snape!"

"What!" I gasped, letting go of him and shrugging my shirt back on in record speed. I glanced fearfully at the room of requirement entrance, my heart pounding.

"Shit sorry, I mean, occlumency! I just caught sight of my watch when I…Oh man." He ran a hand through his hair, "I swear you're some kind of living breathing time turner - twenty minutes feels like two!" He stepped back, his hand on his heart as if encouraging it to slow down, "I'm going to be late if I don't leave right now. Fucking Snape."

I narrowed my eyes as I did up the buttons on my shirt. Harry and I had established an unspoken rule post Christmas break; we avoided talking about Sev, knowing that we would never agree with each other, and that was one battle Harry wasn't happy to just let me win. "I know you don't love those lessons, but he is doing it for your own good."

He rolled his eyes, the colour receding from his face as he zipped himself up, scoffing, "My own good. I swear he takes pleasure bringing up the nastiest memories in my head he can find. Or the most embarrassing. Or…" Harry suddenly jerked upright, "Ooooh we should not have done this."

"What?" I pulled on my cloak, turning to the mirror behind me to make sure my hair was…actually it was probably more suspicious if it was too neat, so I shrugged at the messy look. I raised a brow at Harry's reflection as he straightened his tie next to me in the mirror, "Harry, you know that's not sex right. Sex is when -"

"Oh shush!" He mock glared at me as he picked up our bags and walked to the exit to the room of requirement, "I mean…well…you know he gets in my head, and the last time, when I tried to not think of something -"

I gasped, "NO!"

"I can't help it!"

"I will never touch you again if you let Sev anywhere near any of that!"

"That's mean! I can't control it!"

"Well you better!" Harry gaped at me, "Has he ever -"

"No!" He yelped, "I mean…" My brows rose, "Not you. He…saw me kissing Cho in our last session. I think."

"Oh! That's it then! Just think about kissing Cho instead of me! Misdirection!"

"I am not doing that! I'll just…keep concentrating on his ugly mug and I'm sure that would do the trick."

I glared at him, clearly someone was in the mood to break our unspoken rule today, "Okay, you want to fight for real Potter!"

"Okay okay!" He raised his hands in surrender, stopping in the corner of the seventh floor corridor, leaning against the wall, "I'm…sorry. I…" He sighed, "It's hard because…Ky I swear you should have seen him goading Sirius when he told me about occlumency lessons."

I rolled me eyes, "They goad each other!"

"Sure! But…" I crossed my arms, waiting for him to finish the sentence, "But…I do not like that look on your face." He craned his neck to look me in the eye, "Love." My cheeks flushed a bit at that, Harry never called me love before, I quite liked it, "Sweetie."

"NO!"

He chuckled, "There. That look of outrage is much better."

I swatted his arm as he playfully pecked me on the cheek, "Okay, how about a truce."

I let him play with my hair, "I'm listening."

"We don't mention Snape…unless it's absolutely necessary. I won't complain about him to you, and you don't…fawn over him to me."

"I do not fawn over Sev!"

"You don't think Sev deserves to find love and happiness! You want him to die alone!"

I tickled his side at the awful impersonation of me, "You know what, I'm going to be closed for business from now on even if you manage to successfully keep Sev out of our memories!"

"Okay, okay, okay." He pulled me to his side as we carried on down the corridor and I shook my head as Sir Cadogan winked a hello at us, "And now the truce officially begins. Kiss on it?"

I laughed, standing on my tiptoes as Harry ducked his head down to me, "If only all business deals went this way."

"You'd be a very rich girl, Miss Thornton." We kissed, slowly, moving deeper into it until we heard a loud clearing of the throat, Harry made to move away and I grabbed his face, using my other hand to wave off the annoying portrait of the knight knowing it was just him.

Harry pulled back, laughing, "I should really go." He handed me my bag, and then, cleared his throat, "Also…erm…about the sex thing. I wouldn't have…even if I didn't have to rush off."

I shrugged, "I mean…I would have been fine with that. Wouldn't you?"

My heart sank as I caught hesitation in Harry's eyes. Oh Godric! Harry didn't want to have sex with me! Whatever look graced my face had him eagerly reach for me,

"Oh oh, love, yes, yes, yes! Yes." He leaned down to kiss me reassuringly, "Very much yes."

I returned the kiss with zeal, every time he called me love sending a shiver up my spine.

Man was he a good kisser.

"It's just Sirius -"

"OH MY GOD!" I groaned, the temperature dropping immediately at the mention of his godfather. "Are they like your Safe word when you want things to just cool down; Sirius or Sev!"

Harry burst out laughing, "No, I mean…I mean that's an idea…but no. I spoke to Sirius about us, over Christmas. And you know, he could tell we're a lot more physical with each other. And er." He scratched the back of his neck and I grew curious, we had grown quite comfortable with each other so it was strange to see him this nervous, "Sirius gave me…this is weird…he gave me advice that my grandad gave my dad and him when they were younger."

"Wow." I reached forward grabbing Harry's hand, understanding just what that must mean to him, "What did he say?"

Harry smiled, "Well, Sirius said that there was this girl that he was really crazy about. And that, his brain would go to mush when she was around. And…there just, physically got on well." I laughed at his euphemism. "So my granddad told him, that if the girl was special, then he should treat her that way. And that there's nothing wrong with getting lost in the moment, but it's important to talk about stuff to make sure you're on the same page, when things are you know, not so heated. And part of being a gentleman, was ensuring the girl you're with feels heard. Because obviously when things are heated, everything is screaming, and so it's easy to not…listen? So I guess, now that things are not quite so heated, and everything is silent…" He made a sweeping gesture of our bodies, "Do you trust me?"

I had trouble processing all of what Harry said, getting distracted by the implication that 'he was crazy about me' and that 'I was special."

"Ky?"

I didn't answer, pulling him down by the tie and kissing him. It was gentle, slow, and sweet.

He gulped, "So I take that as a yes."

I nodded, my heart so full.

"With everything." He whispered and I nodded.

"Do you trust me?"

He sighed, "A scary amount."

I understood what that meant. Harry had his own walls, and rightfully so. But these past few months, the boundary lines for his walls and mine seemed to have merged.

I reached up, embracing him. In some ways this felt more intimate than when our lips were at our most secret places.

"Okay." He pulled away, "I really have to go." He kissed me on the forehead, and sprinted off, hopefully just a few minutes late for his lesson.

I heard a sniff and looked to my left, "If you two don't get married some day I'm going to storm this castle."

I laughed at the ruddy face of the nearby knight, "You and me both Sir Cadogan. You and me both."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that! Let me know what you think with a review!

Kalina