Chapter 3 by Kinsfire
Chapter 3
Chapter III
He awoke feeling good, and couldn't understand it at first. Wait, I'm stretched out, not cramped. He opened his
eyes to see the ceiling of his hospital room, and yesterday came crashing back in on him. Jeez, I just left the Dursley
house and told off Shacklebolt and Tonks. Her revenge will be interesting.
His mind then ran to the view he'd gotten just before Hermione left. I sort of wish she hadn't done that. Now
I'm going to be looking at her and be like every other guy out there, trying to get under her clothes. He closed his
eyes and scowled. That's one part of normal I simply don't want. Hermione deserves better than to be drooled over
by some little jerk like me.
What if she loves you? the voice in his head asked, in the voice annoyingly (at the moment) like Hermione's.
Yeah right. She's the sexiest witch at Hogwarts …
… and that view proved that … the voice added with a smirk.
… sexiest witch at Hogwarts, and I've seen Ron and a few others looking at her. Besides, it's obvious the way
the two of them argue with each other. It's just a matter of time before we hear a ripping noise ending one of their
arguments, and we find the two of them shagging in the common room. A quick image of her face in front of his,
those beautiful breasts beneath him, him being the one doing the shagging … No! I will not go there, dammit! She's
my best friend! I will not ruin that!
You love her.
And your point is?
Take a risk. Hearing it in Hermione's voice was interesting, to say the least, and made him seriously
contemplate it for just a moment.
He shook his head and snorted to himself. Yeah. I can keep her as my friend, or drive her away by telling her
that I harbour feelings for her. Unfortunately, those feelings now include shagging her. Smart thinking, stupid. His
scowl stayed in place until a face popped into the room.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked, worry colouring her face. She'd pulled her hair back to put it into a
ponytail, and she was wearing khaki shorts and a blue spaghetti strap top, and it was mildly evident that she was
wearing the same thing under this top that she'd worn under her dress yesterday.
He winced internally. Oh great, more distraction. I can just see telling her, 'Hi, would you mind coming over
here and letting me peel you out of that top so that I can gaze longingly at your perfect breasts?' He laughed as he
realized the ridiculousness of the statement.
"Given where your eyes seem to be resting Harry, would you prefer it if I take off my shirt?" she asked him
with an amused smile on her face.
He felt his face grow hot, and he looked down. "Hermione, I owe you an apology. I was looking at you as if
you were Lavender or Parvati when they're trolling for boys, and not as the beautiful witch you are in your own right.
Please forgive me."
"Harry, thank you for calling me beautiful. If my appearance gives you pleasure, then I have no complaints if
you stare at me." She laughed. "I just hope you don't expect them to answer you if you talk to them," she said,
motioning to the breasts his eyes seemed to keep sliding back to.
He snorted. "If they do, then I'll know that they gave me some really good pain killers!" He began to laugh,
and she joined him
When the laugh was over, she asked him again. "Why were you scowling before, Harry?"
"Just thinking over a lot of things. The Dursleys, Tonks and Shacklebolt, and your folks. Don't they
understand how dangerous it will be for them to take me into your home? Have you explained how dangerous it is to
know me?"
"Yes, she has, Harry," Douglas Granger said. "But this is a war. If you know it's happening, you pick a side.
Helen and I chose the side of Light, supporting our daughter's … friend."
What's with all the pausing when they talk about our relationship? We're friends. I'm not going to lose that.
The doctor came in at that point. He looked Harry over for a bit, making notations in the chart, and looked at
the hand. Undoing the dressings, the doctor grumbled. "I'd like to do this to the face of that bastard that did this to
you. You made it bleed again. We'll probably have to immobilize it to keep you from flexing it and making the skin
crack and bleed further." He sighed. "I don't know if anyone told you, but you may never have feeling in that hand
again, Mr. Potter."
"So be it," Harry said. "There's worse things in the world than having no feeling in my hand. Being blind
would top that list for me." His eyes flickered to Hermione for a moment.
"I understand," replied the doctor with a smile. "Your girlfriend is pretty," he added quietly.
"I wish she was my girlfriend," Harry responded just as quietly. "She's just a very good friend right now."
"Good place to start," the doctor said.
"Yeah, but she's interested in our other friend, so I'm not going to push on that subject. I'll just enjoy the way
she looks, and envy my best friend."
The doctor shook his head. "Teenage angst. I'd forgotten what it was like. I understand, though. I was in
your shoes. She's my wife of ten years now. So I've been there, and I'll wish you the best."
"Thank you. Just curious. How soon will I be discharged from here? I don't want to leave if I'm in danger,
but this room and stay is being paid for by her parents, and the least I can do is make my stay here as inexpensive as
can safely be managed."
Doug and Helen Granger heard that last comment, and spoke up. "Don't you worry about that, Harry. You're
important to us, too, so if it means a week in here, you're in a week. If you're still here in October, then so be it.
Besides, NHS deals with the hospital stay here because of the emergency nature of it."
"Actually, from looking at the X-rays, and the photographs of the wounds, I'm surprised he survived to make it
here, in a way. That skull fracture was ugly, I must say. Will you be taking care of him over the summer?"
Before Harry could speak, they said, "Yes, we will."
"Then I see no reason why he can't be released into your care as soon as our social worker speaks to the group
of you. I don't see you arguing with getting him to the nearest hospital or clinic if he begins to experience dizziness or
fainting, or if the hand starts to bleed unexpectedly."
"I hope you're not planning on releasing him before I can speak to him," a quiet new voice said into the room.
Harry looked to see a woman who struck him as a cross between Cho Chang and Fleur Delacour. Hermione's face
was already looking disapproving. The women glided across the floor in a motion guaranteed to make most men pay
very close attention to her.
"Mr. Potter? I'm Carla Xiang, and I'm one of the hospital's social workers. I understand that you're in the
process of trying to legally emancipate yourself from the people who did this to you?"
"Yes. These wonderful people have offered me space with them until I can get on my feet." Harry was
watching Hermione, though. Why is she so annoyed? It's just the social worker.
"How long have you known Mr. Potter?"
Douglas Granger answered. "Personally, about a day. Our daughter, however, has known him for five years
now. They go to the same school, and live in the same dormitory house. Hermione trusts him with her life, and we
trust our daughter implicitly. She's a very mature young lady."
Ms. Xiang looked as if she wanted to say something and was having trouble phrasing it when Helen Granger
spoke up. "I think I know what you're worried about, and I will say that I trust my daughter implicitly in that respect
as well."
"Um," Harry interjected slowly. "What are you talking about?"
"You're a fifteen year old boy, and she's a girl about the same age," Ms. Xiang answered.
He snorted. "Yeah, and she's smarter than to get involved with me. If she ever opens her eyes, she'll see the
guy right in front of her at the school who's been pining for her for a while. If the two of them can ever stop arguing,
that is," he finished with a grin. Her eyes widened, and she went slightly white and ran from the room. "Great. I hurt
her again. Are you sure you want me living with you? I'm going to be doing that on a regular basis, most likely." He
hung his head. "She's my best friend, and all I've seemed to do this past year is hurt her feelings."
"I think I know why she ran from the room, Harry, and the only way that it's your fault is that you made her
aware of something she hadn't thought of before. She's not angry at you."
"Go talk to her, Mrs. Granger. If it helps, tell her I'll apologize when she comes back in." Both of her parents
left the room.
"Since the situation came up in conversation, how do you feel about that relationship?"
"Well, I don't know enough about relationships to know if their arguing is simply them not admitting that they
love each other or the sign of something that should be avoided, but when they aren't arguing, they're good friends."
He frowned. "Ron usually starts them. I get along with his family, too, but they have seven children. I'm not about to
ask to stay with them until the end of the month, even if they'd offer."
"What do you think about living with the Grangers?"
"They seem like wonderful people. I can see how they raised a girl like Hermione. It wouldn't be a problem,
living with Hermione down the hall, if that's what you're worried about. That's the way it is at our school. I haven't
tried anything with her there, I'm not likely to here."
"You will be alone with her while the parents are at work."
He scowled angrily at Ms. Xiang for a moment, and then calmed himself. "First, I lo … respect her too much
to attempt to take something not offered to me, and there is no way in hell she'll ever offer herself to me. She's too
smart to make that mistake. Second, if I did try to take what she's not offering, I'd not only have to face her parents
after, but Hermione herself would end up making me wish that she was going to kill me. I've heard teachers say that
she's the most brilliant student they've had in ages. Hell, Ron would kill me after she was done, if anything was left."
Ms. Xiang looked at him sadly. "Hurts being in love with someone who doesn't feel the same way, doesn't it?
" she asked quietly. He simply nodded.
Equally as quietly, he said, "I figure that I live with them long enough to get a feel for handling money and the
like, and then I find my own apartment to live in. While I would never touch Hermione in any way that she didn't
want me to, it won't stop me from wanting to, so I'll move to avoid the temptation."
He snorted. "I have no idea if I'm helping my case or not, but I will say this – given the way the Dursleys have
treated me these past fifteen years, if I'm ordered to go back by the courts and taken by force by the police, then I'll
tell them that I'll call when I'm done. I swear to you, Ms. Xiang, that if I'm forced to live with the Dursleys again, I
will kill them, knowing that I'll go to prison for it. I will not go through another year of this," he said, holding up his
left hand, and pointing at his head.
"You won't. To be honest, I've had to learn how to read people, and you're telling me the truth, and so are
they. You'll be happy with them." She smiled. "You might want to talk to their daughter, as well. She might
surprise you. She wasn't entirely pleased with my existence. I think she sees me as a rival for the affections of a very
handsome young man."
He quirked an eyebrow. "Hitting the hospital's supply of interesting pharmaceuticals?" he asked with a laugh.
"And as for the other thing, you look like the result of two girls I had particularly bad experiences with having a child
together. No offence to you, but I couldn't get past that if I tried. You're pretty, but …."
She laughed. "I understand. I'll bet she doesn't, though. Talk to her. You might find a reason to want to stay
with her parents even longer."
"If, by some miracle, you were right, that would be all the more reason to leave as soon as possible. No way
would I abuse their hospitality by trying to shag their daughter under their roof." He suddenly realized what he'd said,
his voice getting slightly louder, and blushed furiously. "My apologies, Ms. Xiang. That was uncalled for, that kind
of language."
"You're much better spoken, and of gentler speech, than some of the others I deal with. I see no problems with
you staying with the Grangers, and will tell the doctor that." She turned to see that the doctor was still there. "Well,
since you're still here, I think you heard me. As long as they agree to get him to the nearest medical centre if he starts
to have problems, then he can leave." She turned to the Grangers and said, "Leave me a telephone number and I'll
contact you with the information that you'll need as far as Harry's emancipation is concerned. I think we can have
everything ready by July thirty-first, so that one of his best birthday presents is knowing that he need never see the
Dursleys again except by accident. We'll need to find out about his family's moneys, to see if there's any surprises out
there for him, but as long as he has you to fall back on, he'll be fine." She smiled and left the room after Doug had
given her his cellular phone number and received a business card in return.
"Giving your number out to pretty girls again, dear?" Helen laughed.
"I've already given my heart to the prettiest girls around," he said, pulling Helen and Hermione into a hug, "so
a phone number is no problem."
The doctor left with a smile, after assuring them that he'd be releasing Harry very shortly. After that, Harry
asked, "Hermione, I apologize if I embarrassed you when I mentioned Ron."
"It's all right, Harry. I just don't know how to tell him that I don't fancy him. There's someone else I've fallen
for. And you know how Ron gets sometimes. He'll explode at him, and possibly lose the friendship that they've had
since first year."
"Oh." Oh shit. It's not Ron, and he's from our year. Dean? Seamus? Neville? How in hell do I ask her?
Dare I ask her?
"What's wrong, Harry?" she asked. "You blanked out there for a moment. Is it your head?"
He snorted. "I'm not going there, because you'll hurt me. I was just thinking, that's all." Much quieter, he
said, "I will admit that I'm looking forward to getting over to St. Mungo's and dealing with this stuff properly." He
realized what he had just said and laughed again. "Now I know I'm completely into the wizarding world. I look at
drinking a potion and spending a couple hours hurting as bones knit as normal, rather than the six weeks it took me
when I broke my arm when I was seven." He shuddered for a moment when he remembered why his arm had been
broken.
"How did it happen, Harry?" Douglas asked.
"Dudley. Fireplace poker. Of course, it was my fault that I'd done something that made him swing a fireplace
poker at my head. Actually, I think it was my fault that I'd blocked the strike, in Vernon's opinion." He thought for a
moment, and suddenly his eyes flared. "I'm just glad I wasn't Harriet, rather than Harry."
"Why'd your eyes flash?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing important. Didn't happen, so I shouldn't get angry over it."
Helen spoke quietly. "I think that's why I want you out of there the most, Harry. You talk about episodes of
blatant abuse as if they're the most normal things in the world."
"In my world, they are normal," he said simply. Hermione looked at him with wide eyes, and suddenly burst
into the hall. He could hear her starting to cry. "Okay, that's it. That's the last time I mention the Dursleys around
her. I am not making her cry again." He could feel his own tears threatening. Nice going, jerk. You know she's
sensitive. Do you enjoy making her cry?
A nurse came in a few minutes later with a wheelchair, Hermione right behind her, sniffling. Harry headed
into the bathroom to dress as best he could, and stepped back out when he was decent. He was immediately plopped
into the wheelchair, and a few minutes later was in the Granger minvan, wheeling his way to St. Mungo's.
---
At St. Mungo's, Harry tried very hard to convince them that Vernon and Dudley were creatures, but instead of
the Creature Induced Injury ward, he was sent to Artefact Accidents. Half an hour later he was on his way back to the
Granger residence with a series of potions that he would have to take until the end of August, one per week, to heal
the nerve damage.
He had nodded seriously and paid at the bursar's. As they left, he said, "Please tell me what the hospital bill
comes out to, so that I can repay you."
"No need, Harry," Doug responded. "You're our charge now, so we'll deal with the hospital bill, assuming that
NHS bills us anything."
"That was a private room, and those were some very expensive tests! I can't expect you to pay for them on my
behalf!"
"Why not?" Helen asked.
"I'm not family. Why should you eat such a big bill for me? I'm not wo …"
"If you say 'I'm not worth it'," Helen said, "I'm going to wash your mouth out with soap." She grinned
suddenly. "Worse, I'll wash your mouth out with Hermione's attempts at home-made soup."
"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" Hermione said with a blush. "So I misread the cookbook on the
amount of salt needed. I learned better, didn't I?"
Doug snorted. "How about that garlic dish you made once?"
"Okay, I overdid it on the garlic. I thought you liked garlic!"
"I could taste it when I breathed the next day!" her father laughed. He looked to Harry. "Beware my daughter
in the kitchen, Harry."
"S'okay," he laughed. "I can cook." He opened his mouth to say something more, but realized that he had
sworn just a short time ago not to mention the Dursleys around Hermione again. He looked to his left hand. "I'd
forgotten how it felt for it not to be in pain all the time. Well, actually, it wasn't. I'd learn how to push the pain
behind me." He looked at Hermione. "I need to thank you for that, really. I was thinking about Hogwarts, and my
friends, and that helped me concentrate."
"Why thank me, though?"
"For being there for me over the last five years. I'll admit that you were the one I thought of most when I
meditated on going past the pain."
She blushed prettily. "I think I like this Harry Potter. First, he worries about my feelings, then he compares
me rather favourably with the two prettiest girls in Gryffindor, and then he tells me that thinking about me gets him
past intense pain." Her eyes twinkling, she asked, "Is there something else you haven't told me, Mr. Potter?"
He blinked furiously at her for a moment, and blushed. Oh no, she's starting to figure it out!
Then tell her, idiot!
Don't call me that! Besides, I'm not going to make her cry again. She's got a thing for Neville, probably –
he's the smartest Gryffindor boy in our year.
He was saved from answering by Helen saying, "Look at what you did to him, Hermione. Stunned the poor
boy into insensibility."
Hermione laughed and put her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Harry. I do appreciate what you're telling me,
though. I've never thought of myself as attractive."
"Well, you are, so start thinking about yourself that way." He nodded in such a way as to stamp 'Finished' to
that part of the conversation. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his right arm, and rested her head on his right
shoulder. He put his head back on the back of the seat with a smile on his face. I'll enjoy what I can, while I can.
Back to index
Chapter 4 by Kinsfire
Chapter 4
Chapter IV
Harry was resting on a towel on the beach. The Grangers, after clearing it with Ms. Xiang, had decided that
since they had planned to stay in the country anyway this year, that Harry was going to be coming on vacation with
them. They had taken him shopping, and Hermione simply would not let him buy the swim trunks he had wanted. She
had insisted that he buy racing trunks, so he had relented and done so, even though he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep
from advertising, given how tight they were. I may never be in a position to take advantage of the fact, but I have
learned that I seem to be above the national average, size-wise, based on the boy's locker rooms.
"Do I get to see your swimsuit?" he'd asked with a grin.
"On the beach," she responded cheekily.
Well, he was on the beach, having managed to stake out a perfect spot fairly near the water. He had put up the
umbrella, and was resting on a towel, waiting for the Grangers to come down and join him. He turned around when he
heard the sand crunching behind him. He turned to see them walking toward him, Hermione and her mother both in
short robes tied at the waist, showing off quite a lot of shapely leg. He felt his breathing hitch, and the blood in his
body was contemplating vacationing in the south.
"In case you didn't recognize your own umbrella," he laughed in a voice he hoped sounded normal, "I'm over
here."
They were close enough now that Hermione looked at him and said, "Mother, I'm swooning. I see a Greek
god waiting by our beach gear." She dramatically put her hand to her head and began to fall toward the sand.
Harry didn't even think about it – he simply reached out and swooped her into his arms to keep her from
hitting the sand. When she came to a rest, she was looking up into his eyes, and he was swept away for just a
moment. It's such a cliché, but her eyes aren't just brown – they're the colour of a deep, rich milk chocolate. And
they're beautiful …
She threw her arms around his neck and sighed, "My hero!" melodramatically. When he had righted her, she
leaned in and kissed his cheek. While she was there, she whispered, "I love your Quidditch reflexes, Harry. I knew
I'd never touch the ground," and kissed his cheek again.
He was looking mildly stunned, and actually put his hand to his cheek where she'd kissed him. She looked at
him for a moment before saying, "Harry James Potter, take that robe off right this instant! You're on the beach; be
dressed for the beach!" She reached forward and untied his robe, then quickly shucked it off his shoulders, leaving him
in the red and gold racing trunks that they had found. He sat down quickly to her laughter.
On the ground, he suddenly realized where eye level was, and quickly looked up at her. "Well, Hermione, you
saw me in these trunks when I bought them. I still haven't seen your swimsuit. Your turn," he replied, trying to regain
some of his dignity.
She opened her robe and exposed the bikini beneath it. Harry stopped breathing for a moment. The bikini was
a brilliant blue colour, and exposed quite a bit of skin. Harry was suddenly forcefully reminded that his best friend was
sixteen. And curvy. Very curvy, at least to Harry's eyes. The triangles covering her breasts were smaller than the
palm of his hand, not that he was about to place his palms over the fabric to test that thought. His teeth did quite well
where they were, thank you very much. The lower fabric seemed to be comprised of even less material.
Her eyes twinkling, she said, "Coming in swimming, Harry?" and turned to walk down to the shoreline.
The bottom half of the bikini was a thong. Oh. My. God. "Can't swim," he said in as normal a voice as
possible. "Don't think learning in an ocean is a good idea. You go on ahead."
Hermione's look was not one of pity, but of sadness. "Are you sure, Harry?"
He smiled genuinely, looking not at her, but at her left eyebrow so that he could have an easier time keeping
his eyes from straying lower. "You want to go swimming. Enjoy! The place we're staying has a pool. Maybe
tomorrow you can start teaching me how to swim there. But for right now, you go enjoy yourself. We'll all be right
here."
"Are you sure it's okay?" she asked. She seemed almost ready to cry for some reason.
Harry mentally bit the bullet and stood. He couldn't stand to see her cry, especially when he was the cause. He
pulled her gingerly into a hug, fighting very hard to ignore just how much skin there was to touch, and not being
entirely successful. "Hermione, you enjoy swimming. You'd be too worried about me to enjoy it. You go into the
water and I'll sit up here with your folks. We're not that far away, so it's not like you'll have to go that far." He
grinned. "You can still keep your eyes on my godlike physique from there." He let go and intentionally struck a
Gilderoy Lockheart pose, complete with toothy grin.
What he wasn't aware of was the fact that he was a rather fit and trim young man; even if he was a little
malnourished this summer, he still cut a fine figure. Conversation nearby stopped for a moment, and a wolf whistle
pierced the air from close by. "Mum!" Hermione said in a shocked voice.
"He's got such a cute bum, darling!" her mother laughed, laughing even harder as Harry sat down very
suddenly. She added, "He'll be fine, dear. Your father and I can talk with him if he's willing to talk with a couple old
farts like us."
"Looks like it'll be you, Mum. Dad's gone off for a munch run. How does a man eat that much and stay so
trim?" She frowned for a moment. "Maybe I should ask Ron as well."
"Exercise, dear," her mother replied with an amused undercurrent. "A great deal of rather fun exercise."
Hermione looked to Harry speculatively. "Hmm, I may be developing a stomach from too much sitting and
reading. Maybe I'll start an exercise program," she laughed. "Well, down to the water."
Harry was utterly lost. He knew that something had passed between the two women, but he would not have
been able to figure it out if you paid him money to do so. He watched in rapt attention as Hermione walked to the
waterline and dove into the water, and scowled to himself as he noticed the other men (and a few women) watching
with enjoyment. He scowled and turned away.
"What's bothering you, Harry?" Helen Granger asked. "You don't usually see a scowl like that on the beach on
a beautiful day like today."
"Nothing, really," Harry said, turning slightly away from the water.
"What do you think of Hermione?" she asked.
He turned to face his best friend's mother. "She's the best friend I've got, although I'll never admit to Ron that I
like her a bit more than I like him."
"No, I want to know what you think of her. Good and bad."
Harry looked at her and laughed. "I am really not used to this, you know. The Weasley family has shown me
love, but seeing you shows me that the Dursleys are an abomin … sorry, aberration."
"From what I saw, Harry, you were right the first time," Helen growled. "You're shut of those monsters for
good." A short pause before the woman growled again. "You do not stuff a child into a cupboard under the stairs as
his bedroom unless there's no other room in the house. And their house is big enough to have allowed you a room of
your own."
He shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know how successful the emancipation is going to be. They've said for
years that I'm 'enrolled' at St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys. They'll probably say that putting
me in a room with bars on it, or in a cupboard that they could lock from the outside; that it was the best thing to keep
them from waking up dead, if you know what I mean. After this year, I wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to supply
them with whatever proof was necessary to keep me there."
"Well, I will not stand by and watch you be maligned by freaks who enjoy heaping abuse upon a helpless child
to the point that when he somehow makes it to being a fine upstanding young man, he still feels like that child. And if
Headmaster Dumbledore attempts such a manoeuvre as what you just described, then he'll be dealing with an angry
mother – me."
Harry stared at her for a moment. He was used to Molly and her smothering attitude – she was a wonderful
woman, but a bit much at times. Here was a woman who'd only known him the short time they'd been on this
vacation, and she was threatening to talk to Dumbledore on his behalf. He couldn't stop himself; no matter how hard
he tried not to, he began to cry.
He felt Helen move forward to hug him, and he cried against the woman. It wasn't until he had regained his
senses a bit that he was reminded, not for the first time, that Hermione could be mistaken for her mother's younger
sister, especially when the swimsuits they wore were so similar. He sat back up quickly. "Thank you for the
compliment, dear," she smiled at him.
"Umm," was about all he could say.
"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, Harry, but you looked like you needed a hug."
"I was just reminded of … umm … never mind," he stammered.
"You were reminded that my daughter and I can pretend to be sisters? Should I assume that you find her
attractive as well?" The smile on her face was honest with no sense of anger at the possibility that he might fancy her
daughter.
"I'll deny it if you tell her I said this, but she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Mrs. Granger. To
answer your other question, I think she's the smartest person I've ever heard of. She can be a bit of a pain when she
gets an idea into her head, but I admit that it's a pain only when I don't necessarily agree with her. She does things for
the best of reasons, but will do things without thinking about other people's feelings sometimes, like the … umm …
servant situation at our school. Only one of them will clean our tower now. She really means well, and I love … uh,
like her for it, but for such a brilliant girl, she doesn't think sometimes!"
He frowned. "Now it sounds like I don't like her. She really is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my
life, and my mother was beautiful, mind you. She's been there for me when others weren't, and she's the rock I can
lean on when I truly need it. She'll annoy me into studying, but it's because of her that I'm doing well at school. I'd be
lost without her."
"Something tells me that you're not talking school work, either," Helen said with an understanding look.
"She's … I can't say it. Partially because of you, but mostly because I just don't have the words."
"Do you love her?"
He sat back, leaning on his arms. "I honestly can't say. Not because I'm afraid to tell you, but because I have
no idea. I'd like to think that what I feel is love, but there's multiple reasons I'll never tell her. First is simply that I
don't have any history that would teach me what love is. I've got fifteen months of my parents. Not a lot of clear
memories from then. Beyond that what do I have? Love is shoving your charge in a closet for ten years? Abusing
him physically and mentally? Can't say I've ever had a girlfriend at the school. There was Cho Chang, who I'd been
drooling after because she was pretty, but she was dating me as a connection to her dead boyfriend. I didn't realize
until I was at the Dursleys that I felt something for Hermione. What else explains me leaving my supposed girlfriend
alone on Valentine's Day at Hermione's request, with no explanation?"
"Describe how you feel about her. Maybe I can tell you if you're in love," Helen said.
"Again, I'll deny any of this if you tell her, if only because it's too dangerous for her to get too close to me.
That's part of it, to be honest. I'd mourn if Ron, or Ginny, or Neville, were killed – it would hurt like hell, but I could
move on, even if it was very slowly. I almost died when Hermione …." His voice hitched as he bit back a sob. "If
she died, I really don't know if I could find a reason to go on past … my situation. Actually, I wouldn't want to." He
sighed. "No matter what happens, I want to stay in contact with her when she finds her future husband. I want to stay
her friend throughout my life. Her friendship is the most important thing in my life."
"Answer me honestly – if you could see her in the nude, would you take the opportunity? And it really does
connect to the previous question, whether you realize it or not."
He looked as if he wanted to swallow his own face for a moment. "May I refuse to answer that on the grounds
that her parents might kill me if I answered it?" he finally said with a weak laugh.
"If I can promise you that her mother won't say anything and promises not to kill you, will you answer?" Helen
laughed back. "Even though the way you answered it already does answer it."
"I've already said that I think she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. Would I like to get her
alone and naked someday? I'm a sixteen year old boy … well, almost … talking about a beautiful woman; what do
you think?"
"How about just seeing her walking around on the beach, for example?"
Harry bit his lower lip in thought. "Part of me wants to say yes, just to see her that way. But honestly, right
now, I'd say no. It would distract me from her real beauty." He tapped his chest to emphasize what he meant.
Harry looked at Hermione's mother and was treated to the sight of the woman with her jaw slightly dropped.
In a thick voice, she finally said, "Harry, you've got it bad." She sniffed once. "What are your plans for my daughter?
"
"To be her friend. To be there when she needs me." He laughed in a voice that sounded like he was holding
back from crying. "To try not to hate the man she eventually falls in love with and marries."
"What if it's you?" Helen asked with a smile.
He laughed a bitter laugh. "While we're talking fantasy, why don't we have my parents renew their vows at the
same ceremony? Maybe the dance with the groom's mother will be nice."
"Why are you so sure that it couldn't be you?" Helen asked in surprise.
"Because, Mrs. Granger, I couldn't be that lucky. Your daughter feeling … never mind. It can't happen, so I
enjoy what I can have. Her friendship is that pearl beyond price. To ask for her love is beyond greedy. I already envy
the man who will get that priceless gift." He looked down at the towel he was sitting on.
"Why won't you tell her how you feel?" Helen asked sadly.
"She's a very sensitive woman, but I'm sure you know that. She gets passionate about things. And when she
cries about something, she pours her heart into it. Imagine discovering that your best friend loves you more than his
own life. When you're that sensitive, how are you going to feel, knowing that you can never return the feeling? I'd
destroy the friendship if I told her. She means too much to me for me to throw that friendship away on a vain and
hopeless quest for something I don't even deserve." He bowed his head and let a few tears fall. "I'm sorry, Mrs.
Granger. I don't mean to be depressing. It doesn't help that I'm going to die sometime soon."
"Are you sick?"
"No. There was a prophecy – I'll tell you, if only to let someone understand. I'm going to die someday, at the
hands of Voldemort. That whole thing that happened … why did you people agree to take me? I almost got your
daughter killed! Hermione almost died because I was too fu … damned stupid and full of myself to actually listen to
her. Sirius is dead because I wouldn't listen. And it's my fault!" He began to sob. "He's dead because of me. She
almost died because of me. You should be throwing me out on the street with the rest of the garbage for almost killing
your daughter!"
He missed the two simultaneous sharp intakes of breath as he sobbed against Helen Granger for a time. "Oh,
Harry," she crooned to him and ran her fingers through his hair as he cried against her.
He finally sat up and started to turn around, but Helen gently grabbed his face and held it. "Harry, I have
something to say to you, and I want you to know that I will keep repeating it until you understand it. I do not blame
you for what happened to Hermione. Did you grab her arm and drag her along against her will? I already know the
answer to that – she's told us all about it. She chose to be with you, Harry. Her injury is not your fault."
"And as for your being garbage – I will not hear that sort of talk from my future son-in-law! Do you think she
would fall in love with someone who was garbage?"
"No. But she's not in love with me."
"That's where you're wrong, Harry," came a soft voice from behind him. He spun to see Hermione kneeling
behind him, her swimsuit clinging even more than it had before, now that it was wet. "Harry James Potter, I love you.
That's part of why my parents wanted you to come along with us this summer. They wanted to meet the man I told
them I hope to marry someday."
He could see the puzzled look on her face as his face fell. "Oh, Hermione – why me? I know I have my
dreams, but you can do so much better than me. I'm only going to die young and leave you a widow, assuming I lived
long enough to marry you. You usually make such magnificently intelligent choices. How could you be so
monumentally stupid as to fall for someone as worthless as me?"
Hermione's face purpled for a moment, and then she looked at her mother. "Promise you'll visit me in prison,
mother. I'm going to slowly, carefully and extremely painfully murder the Dursleys."
"Work with me on it, honey, and I'll bet we can get away with it," Helen said. She turned to Harry. "Son,
you're moving in with us."
He blinked. Then it struck him what that meant. "Um, that might not be a good idea. If she's crazy enough to
be in love with me, well, I think you got what I said. I really don't think it would be a good idea to make Hermione
sleep with a Quidditch bat in bed with her."
Hermione raised her eyebrows in amusement. "And why would I need one?"
"To use my testicles as bludgers if I get too forward. I'm almost sixteen, and you're … well …." He started to
blush profusely.
"... the most beautiful woman you've ever seen in your life?" she said with a smile.
"How much did you hear?" Harry asked, suddenly going white.
"Ever since you used crying as an excuse to fondle my mother," she laughed. "I saw you crying, and came at a
run to see what was wrong." She blushed. "There was at least once that I wanted to grab you and give you my
virginity right here on the beach."
Harry just could not quite parse that statement. She had just said that she wanted to … in front of her mother?
!? His mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound except a strangled "Gkk!" escaped.
"Honey, I think you broke his brain. Why don't you walk back up to the hotel with him, and carry on the
conversation with a bit more privacy than having Mum listening to every word?" Helen looked to Harry again. "I am
informing your headmaster that we are forbidding you to return to the Dursley home, and we will do whatever is
necessary to make you safe. You are moving in with us."
Hermione smiled at her mother, and led Harry back to the hotel.
Chapter 5
Chapter V
Back in the hotel room, Harry closed the door and turned around to a surprise. Hermione was reaching behind
her back, and a moment later, had peeled the bikini bra over her head. "You'll need to get used to this, Harry. My
family is clothing optional. If you're going to be living with us, you'll see me, Mom, and Dad in the nude
occasionally. We've tended to stay dressed for you." She laughed. "Besides, back in the hospital, you wanted to peel
me out of my top so that you could gaze longingly at my perfect breasts, I think you said?"
"I verbalized that?" he asked, going white again.
"No, but I read lips, and you mouthed it. I don't think they're perfect – they're too small. But you seem to like
them."
Harry nodded blankly as he sat down heavily in the nearest chair. He was feeling mildly dizzy and light-
headed. "Hermione," he finally managed to croak, "do you have any idea of the hell I'm going to be going through
living near you?"
"Why would it be hell?" she asked, obviously a little hurt.
"You heard me out there. Not only am I in love with you but …" He motioned at her body, and all he could
do was finally motion in an hourglass manner.
"Say it, Harry. Be as blunt as you want. I promise not to slap you for it."
He laughed. "Leaving punching open as an option," he grinned.
She returned the laugh as she said, "I promise not to intentionally hurt you for what you want to say. No
kicking, punching, or slapping. Any biting will be intended to be mutually satisfying." She was smiling widely as she
said that last.
"You really want me to say what's going through my mind?" he asked, a little green. She nodded brightly. "I
want to make love to you, Hermione. I want to caress your body with my oafish hands. I want to pretend I'm a baby
at those sexy nipples of yours, and someday I want to get practice at planting a baby between your absolutely
magnificent legs." He was blushing furiously, not believing that he was actually saying these things to her.
"You may not agree, but to me you are the incarnation of Aphrodite made flesh." She gasped happily at the
poetic description.
He blushed even deeper than he currently was. "I'd like to have you teach me how to pleasure you with my
tongue. Oddly enough, I want to see you dressed like you were the other day, where I can catch secret peeks at your
extremely perfect breasts. They are exactly the right size for you, Hermione, and I could spend hours rhapsodising
about them. I said it to you before, and I repeat it. You are more beautiful than any other woman at Hogwarts, or
anywhere else I've seen." I don't believe it – I actually used the word rhapsodising …
"Even Cho or Fleur?" she asked, her voice saying that she already knew the answer she was going to get, and
that she considered it a lie.
"Yes, Hermione. Yes, they are attractive, but as I told your mother out on the beach, your real beauty is in
here," he replied, tapping his chest. "Your heart. You have a beautiful soul. They just have beautiful appearances,
and shallow souls. My love goes to the woman with the beautiful soul, who just happens to have a particularly sexy
body to go with it."
He locked eyes with her. "I'm aware that the rest of Hogwarts and the world may not agree with me. In my
eyes, Hermione, you are the most beautiful woman in the world. And I don't care what the rest of the world says."
Her eyes widened as she realized that he was telling her the truth. "You know that you just told me that you
love me?" she asked quietly.
"I would never have said it, if you hadn't admitted that you love me. I'm a coward that way. I still don't feel
worth it, to be honest. But if you love me, I refuse to hide my feelings from you anymore. I love you, Hermione Pot
… Granger."
She smiled, walked over to him and sat on his lap in the chair, pressing his erection between them. Her breasts
pressed against his body, and he moaned in sheer joy at how wonderful it felt to him. The moan changed when he felt
her lips mashing against his own, and his arms came around her body, one at her waist, and the other coming up into
her hair and holding her head steady as he deepened the simple kiss.
The kiss finally broke, and she gently rested her chin on his shoulder and whispered, "Harry, all you ask is
yours. All that is mine to give is yours. You need but ask. But I insist that you ask."
"What will your parents say about it? As much as I want to make love to you; to feel you ... well, I don't even
really know what it is I'm asking ... as much as I want that, I will not abuse their trust, and will not be the vehicle of
the destruction of that trust. I don't care if I have to lock myself in the bathroom for an hour to release the pressure ..."
She smiled. "This is the Harry that my parents already love. I'm on a Muggle oral contraceptive, and have
been for a while. I also took the time during the year to brew up some contraceptive potions. They store for a period
of six months, and have a guaranteed duration of two weeks. Studies also show that they work well with Muggle
contraceptives, improving the efficacy of both. Considering I took my most recent potion dose yesterday, we could
couple here on the floor and not disengage for a week, and there would be no worries. This obvious ignores natural
functions and such, but I think you get the idea."
"You're on contraceptives, but you're a virgin. How long have you been planning to ... oh, sh ... that's a
question that deserves a slap. Never mind."
She laughed. "You needed to ask it Harry, and there was no malice involved. I've have been planning to give
my virginity to the man of my dreams for a while now. Situations did not allow me to jump him at the school as I had
hoped might be the case, but we had every intention of bringing him on this trip." She smiled. "My mother was quite
well aware of what she was suggesting when she sent us here, Harry. We're open about sex and nudity, and they
know that the only man I intend to take inside me is the man I hope to marry someday." The muscle pinned between
them twitched at that pronouncement, and she giggled.
"Are you proposing to me, Hermione?" he asked, his mouth open wide.
"I suppose I am, Mr. Potter. Yes, yes I am. It will be a while, since we still have two years to go before we're
free of school, but I wish to stake my claim to you here and now. Will you marry me, Harry Potter?" She giggled.
"You already started to propose to me. You almost called me Hermione Potter."
"You've always had my heart, Hermione. I didn't realize it until just before you came to rescue me from the
Dursleys, but it's true. I love you with every fibre of my being, and can not imagine life without you. If you truly feel
that way, then I will do the smartest thing I have ever done in my life and agree to marry the smartest and sexiest
witch I will ever know."
She climbed from his lap. As she stood, she said, "Let's go celebrate, Harry." She started to walk away, and
noted that he was utterly enraptured with her derriere. "You need to be with me if we're going to celebrate properly,
you know. Or were you merely enjoying the show?"
"You have an absolutely perfect arse, Hermione. Has anyone ever told you that?" She blushed prettily at the
compliment. He was still blushing furiously from having been so terribly forward with her.
"Get over here," she growled seductively. He stood with a smile and walked over to her. When he had
reached her, she said, "Would my lord please remove the rest of my swimsuit?"
His breath hitched, and he gently slid his thumbs under the cloth at her hips. He pulled down tentatively, but
she placed her hands on his and pushed down forcefully. She heard his breathing stop as they slid over her hips,
exposing her clean-shaven pubic region. He knelt before her to keep pulling the panties off, and leaned forward to
gently kiss the exposed skin. She shuddered and said, "Harry, if you're going to do anything like that, let's go to my
bedroom. My knees won't hold out long if you force me to remain standing for that." She stepped out of the bikini
bottoms and led him toward her room.
---
Harry followed her into her bedroom, where she stopped when she reached the end of her bed. Without a
word, she put her thumbs in the waistband of his trunks and pulled down. She giggled when he struck her in the chin
as he finally came free of the cloth. "Sorry, Hermione," he said.
"My fault," she smiled. She knelt to push them all the way to the floor, and then leaned forward and ran her
tongue up the length of his erection before gently surrounding the tip with her lips. He groaned at the astonishing
sensation, and gently rested his hands on her head. She continued for a few moments, sliding him a surprising distance
inside her mouth a few times, before releasing him and standing with a smile. "Did my lord enjoy that?"
He blinked at her for several seconds, realizing that his mind simply would not let him create the necessary
sounds to form words. He bent down somewhat to kiss her passionately, if a bit clumsily. He tentatively put his hand
on her breast, and she broke the kiss. He started to remove his hand, but she captured it and pressed it more firmly to
her breast. "You can be firm, Harry. I'll tell you if you hurt me."
He looked into her eyes and it suddenly struck him that this truly was not one of his dreams of her – he really
was naked with a naked Hermione. He stood an actual chance of physically showing her how much he loved her. His
eyes filled.
"What's wrong, Harry?" she asked in alarm.
"Nothing, Hermione. Everything is perfect." He pulled her close and hugged her tightly, willing her to feel the
love he felt for her. When he released her, she had tears in her own eyes. "Will you teach me to give you pleasure,
Hermione?"
"Lie down on the bed with me, then." She blushed. "I've never actually done it, but I've read a lot, and some
of the girls have told me that it's enjoyable. I was thinking of the two of us finding out together just how enjoyable
that tongue can be." She laid down on the bed and tugged gently on Harry's hand.
"May I kiss your breasts, Hermione? I've wanted to for a while." She nodded, so he repositioned himself to
make it easier. He caressed them gently at first, marvelling at the stiff nipples; the beauty of the slightly freckled skin
beneath his fingers. His breath caught again. "Oh, Hermione, you are so perfect." He began to gently kiss the flesh
that his fingers had been teasing, and she gasped slightly. The gasp became more pronounced as he carefully
surrounded the closest nipple with his lips, and teased it with his tongue which applying gentle suction. He felt her
hand grip the back of his head, and he got the strong impression that she'd be annoyed if he tried to stop. Like I'd
want to stop? he laughed to himself.
"Oh darling, please don't stop!" she gasped. He increased the force of his suction slowly, and began to swirl
his tongue a bit stronger against the hard tip in his mouth. After another minute or so of this, he forcefully disengaged
from that breast and moved his ministrations to her other breast, which she was roughly teasing with her fingers. He
used his own fingers to continue to tease the nipple he'd just released. "Oh my God, Harry!" she whimpered into the
air. "Please! Don't stop … until … oh gods … gonna come … gonna …. oh …
ohgodohgodohgodohGODOHGODOHGOD!" she squealed, her back arching to thrust her nipples deeper into his
mouth. Finally, she fell back to the bed.
"Wow," she breathed. "I've never come from playing with my nipples before! Between my being so eager,
and your incredible tongue … oh my God, am I going to enjoy being your wife!"
"You really were serious?" he asked incredulously. "You really do want to be my wife?"
"It's one excuse for mind-numbing sex," she laughed. Growing serious, she said, "That's just a bonus, though.
I want to wake up next to you, Harry. I want to sit in a drawing room with you, doing nothing but reading while you
smile at me and read your paper. I want to argue with you so that we can have fun making up. I simply want to be
with you, now and forever. A little sex now and then wouldn't be amiss either," she finished with a grin.
He grinned as well and kissed between her breasts, and began to move his kisses down her body. When he
reached her pubic area again, she gasped. "Oh my! I shave because of some of the bikinis I wear, but I've never been
kissed there before. It feels … tingly. In a very good way," she ended in a moan. He continued to kiss her gently,
moving slightly lower with every kiss. Finally, he repositioned himself, and was facing her very wet sex between her
widely spread legs. "Yes, Harry – please …"
He gently kissed the area before him, and she shuddered. His lips were wet with her now, and he stuck his
tongue out to lick his lips, brushing the tip of his tongue against her. "Oh …" she gasped. "Please Harry, don't torture
me … " She smiled and stuck his tongue out even further, slipping it gently inside her. She responded by gently
closing her legs around his neck and locking her ankles together. He moved closer and began to thrust his tongue into
her, drawing delighted gasps out of her with each thrust. He grinned internally and decided to do something he'd read
in one of those magazines that Dudley had left lying around once ….
His tongue began to explore. Somewhere around here is supposed to be someplace that will drive her crazy if I
… She bucked upwards as he found a small nub. Aha! He began to tease that nub mercilessly, and was amused by
the bouncing she was doing on the bed. He let his eyes travel up her body as best he could from this position, and was
amused to see her gripping the posts. She was panting incoherently, but suddenly started making an odd mewling noise
deep in her throat. He stopped in alarm, but was rather forcefully informed that he should continue his ministrations.
As her hands now held his head rather than the posts, he had no choice, and was no longer worried about the sound she
was making. It got louder, and suddenly she was crying out an incoherent noise that sounded full of joy. She bucked
against him for a time as he continued to torture her, but finally stopped as he could no longer breathe, and forcefully
pulled away from her.
---
When she was capable of speech again, Hermione looked at the man lying next to her with a grin on his face.
He looked so perfectly happy. "Two things. First – who taught you how to do that? Second – why are you grinning
so widely?"
"Both questions are answered by the same thing. For the first ever in my life, I've been with a woman, and did
something to … well …"
"Make her come?" she asked with a laugh. "You mean to tell me that what you just did with your tongue
comes naturally to you?!"
"I guess so," he admitted.
The grin that appeared threatened to split her face. "Oh, the fan club is going to be so jealous. He's all mine,
and he's got a tongue to turn a woman into his sex slave!"
He blinked. "Sex slave? Fan club?" he finally squeaked.
She laughed a throaty laugh that made him twitch. "Unofficial, of course, because we'd have had to approach
you for your blessing. And the way you used that tongue on me, oh my GOD are you going to be incredible once
you've trained up that native talent of yours! I'll be your sex slave, Harry," she murmured. "Just ask, and I'll try it, at
least once."
"I'll admit right now that I'm too worked up after that to want anything more than what any of us guys seem to
want." She looked at him, and he realized that he was going to have to say it. "I want to be inside you, Hermione. I
want us to be one. Please."
She smiled and pushed him onto his back. "Let me be on top, Harry," she said, straddling him. As she pinned
his erection against his body, she could feel herself pulsing against him. I wonder if he can feel that?
"Wow," he breathed. "Am I imagining things, or are you … umm … throbbing? Against me, I mean?" He
was a brilliant scarlet colour.
"I guess that answers that question," she purred at him. "That's what you did to me, Harry. That's my heartbeat
you're feeling. You're going to feel that surrounding you in just a minute." She slid up his body until she could kiss
him, which he returned with considerable interest, his arms wrapping around her.
When the kiss broke, she whispered, "You kiss wonderfully, no matter which pair of lips."
He blushed furiously again as he breathed in her ear, "I rather liked how you reacted to my French kissing." He
laughed quietly as he felt her blush and moaned slightly as he felt her pulse against him slightly.
"I think it's time to reward you for being such a wonderful man," she said in reply, and shifted her position
some more such that his erection now pressed against her opening. She began to slide back down his body, making the
both of them shiver from the delicious sensations flowing through them both. "Oh my God, it's even better than when
I use a vibrator," she gasped. "You're so … oh my God, you're stretching me …."
"Stop!" he said, worried. "If I'm hurting you, we stop right now."
She panted in his ear, "I didn't say you were hurting me, I said you were stretching me. Wonderfully, I might
add. I might not get you … oh God … all the way in before I start coming again." She continued to slide backwards.
"You can thrust to help me, you know."
"I'm afraid of hurting you. I may have been a vir … oh God, what a squeeze … virgin until a sec … ohmigod
you're so tight … second ago, but I know I'm … oh …" he growled.
"… bigger than most men," she finished for him. "I can take it all. I'm a very lucky girl that way." She
growled and pushed back harder, and moaned as she felt him finally thrust upwards to help her, making their pelvises
touch. "Told you," she panted victoriously. She sat up and squeezed him as hard as she could manage with the
muscles throbbing against his. She moaned out a giggle as he pulsed once inside her, and grabbed her hips.
"Oh my god I love you, Hermione," he gasped. It sounded almost like a sob, and she could see the tears in his
eyes. "What did I do to deserve you?"
She didn't speak, she simply began to gently bounce atop him, and knew that she simply was not going to make
it much longer without exploding again. His fingers dug into her hips and he began to thrust upwards erratically, and
as she plunged over the edge into another orgasm, she felt him begin to pulse inside her, and felt his orgasm explode
into her.