Fear had held him for too long, he thought, slumping against the wall. Too many fears. It was time to let go of festering wounds but he was too battered to move, with the adrenaline gone every muscle hurt. Thinking hurt.
Groaning in protest he sat up and looked around at the destruction of the dungeon. A small noise turned his attention. Hermione stirred, sitting up as she came too. Harry hurried as quickly as possible to her side, setting Oorjit's body on the ground and pulled her into his arms. Surprised, she held herself stiffly before the need to hold him melted her.
Urging her closer, in spite of the pain, Harry murmured in her ear, "I don't need more time."
Startled, she tried to pull back but Harry held her tight. "Harry?" she whispered, afraid.
"I know what I want," he insisted, pulling back slightly to stare deep into her eyes. "What I want is you."
"Oh, Harry," she moaned softly. "Please tell me this is not a dream."
"It's not a dream, Hermione," Harry assured her, pushing back a strand of loose hair. "We have to talk, but this is not a dream."
She nodded, suddenly sober. "Harry?" she asked tentatively.
"Yes, Hermione?"
"Would you--" she whispered, ducking her head before rushing, "would you kiss me?"
She missed his tiny grin and needing no further urging Harry promptly did so. It was something he had wanted too. She tilted her head, crooning in the back of her throat as he roughly plundered her mouth. Shifting his hands to cup the back of her head, Harry seized her, laying claim to all she offered. Hermione valiantly fought to keep up with his onslaught before capitulating to the storm he created.
Her hands clutched his back, his shoulders, before emulating his hold on her by curling up and around his head holding him to her. One slanted kiss merged into another until they became too numerous to count. Harry groaned in dual agony when she threw herself at him, leaning completely against his chest, her breasts squashed tightly against him, as she turned the assault around.
Harry stilled abruptly when the air shifted in the room. Breaking the kiss he pulled away slightly as the door swung open leading into the dungeon room. Dumbledore's stoic gaze took in the state of the room. Hermione lay suspended in his arms, clearly surprised by the Headmaster's appearance but too elated to move.
"I heard a ruckus," Dumbledore said mildly, eyes twinkling.
Harry cocked an eyebrow. "Really? And you decided now was the best time to enter the room?"
"I see that the mirror did not stay intact."
Harry shrugged, rubbing a hand along Hermione's back soothingly as he stated, "It wasn't a high priority at the time."
"It was a priceless family heirloom."
Harry glared at him. "Then you could have done the dirty work. I rescued Hermione, destroyed a Horcrux or two and you're complaining I didn't preserve your precious Ravenclaw family heirloom. Are you mad or just plain stupid?"
Dumbledore lost his twinkle noticing the dead snake on the floor. "About the Horcruxes, Harry--"
"Another time," Harry inserted firmly, standing up with Hermione draped across his arms. "Right now I am bringing Hermione to the hospital wing."
And himself, he added silently. He was going to need potions.
With a casual wave of his wand, Harry brought along Oorjit's corpse and quit the room. Hermione giggled rather insanely as they left Dumbledore behind. Harry looked in askance.
"Only you Harry could flummox Dumbledore so readily with a flick of a wrist."
"If only I could flummox you so easily," Harry replied, pressing a kiss to her temple.
She yawned sleepily and rested her head against his shoulder. Harry savored the weight of her pressed against him as he pulled himself up the last flight of stairs. It had been much too long since he had last done so.
Inside the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey neatly and efficiently put Hermione to bed and dowsed her with potions. Harry recognized Pepper-Up and Vigor-Oomph but after that they became a blur as Pomfrey hustled and bustled. She even managed to get him to take some potions during all her bustling to and fro. To Harry they were recognizable only by their extremely nasty flavor, but they cured what ailed him. He refused to be put to bed when the time came and ignored the Dreamless Sleep potion offered up to him.
Instead, while Hermione was unconscious sleeping her way through the multiple doses Harry sat down and brought Oorjit to him. Extremely mindful of the circumstances to which he lost his last friend, Harry folded his wings back in to a normal position and conjured an ornate emerald green box. Inside, like with Serion, Harry laid Oorjit out so that he looked like he was sleeping instead of dead. The inscription on the inside of the box wrote itself in Harry's neatest handwriting.
The silver lettering read in Parseltongue:
Lying here is Oorjit, loyal friend and courageous warrior. He served his King to the last breath. The great grasses are his eternal reward, where all who come across his path will hail him as the hero he truly was. We will meet again. --King Harry the First.
---
Later after Hermione was released by Healer Pomfrey, she and Harry found themselves ensconced in the shrieking shack. Harry had spruced the place up for her arrival. Regina, Milo and Reginald were ordered to go scouting for more recruits, thus keeping them out of the way for what was to happen next.
Harry stared at his hands, flexing them wondering where to start. This was going to be difficult. Opening up to Hermione again, letting her close, but he would do his utmost to try. Nearly losing her again was a terror he couldn't face with bland indifference. He loved her completely, even when she didn't understand him, even when she let her mouth run away with her, even when he pushed her away.
He wouldn't push her away now. It was time for healing old wounds and forging forward towards the future, whatever the future might have in store for him or them.
Taking a deep breath, Harry grabbed her hand and looked up. "You hurt me, Hermione," he said, holding her gaze, "whether you knew what you were doing or not. Youwould say that yourespected my wishes to back off and clear my head and then you'd do something demanding that I come back and forget it. I needed you to understand and you didn't."
"Harry-- I'm--"
He cut her off with a shake of his head. "We both have our insecurities, but you should have trusted me to be on my own and come back in my own time. It's not like I would date the first witch I met after you. Do you know how long coming it was trusting you enough to open up? You know the upbringing I had. My parents ignored me and I fought for the right to be there--food, clothes, all my needs were ignored--"
Hermione clutched tighter on his hand. She wavered unsteadily for a moment as he watched her connect the dots as he laid them out.
"It's been a long time coming, seventeen years coming, to get over Daniel. Even though I've let it go, it's been almost a ritualistichabit of jealousy and hate…"
She made a noise in the back of her throat, high and beseeching, but Harry continued, rubbing his thumb softly over the skin of her palm.
"This overwhelming, crippling, emotion would crop up again and again when I least expected it. Every time it did I felt like I hadn't made any progress at all and the whole process had to start all over again... that's what happened Hermione. I had to start all over again just as I thought I'd finally, finally, let it go. Seeing you with him broke something."
"Harry, please," she whispered, her eyes watering.
He smiled wryly. "You remember the pranks. I just wanted to prove that you couldn't ignore me--"
"That wasn't me!"
"I know, but I thought it was you," he reminded her. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you pick up the pieces. I know your life was thrown into chaos, but I couldn't think of that. It was selfish but necessary... I couldn't just forget."
"Me neither." Hermione touched his knee with her other hand. "I couldn't forget because you wouldn't let me forget."
Harry took that hand in his too and held them tight as he vowed, "I promise I will try, try to make things work between us, but things just can't be the same."
"We could start anew," Hermione offered, earnestly.
Harry laughed derisively. "I don't if I have time for that. I probably won't get the opportunity to do so."
"What do you mean?" she asked, gripping his hand nervously.
"The Horcruxes are all destroyed. Voldemort is mortal, the time to strike is now before he decides to make more of them. If he knew all of what I've done he'd take his chances by making the Horcruxes too close together. He would risk everything to be immortal again even his magic."
"All of them?"
Harry nodded. "What do you think I was doing away from you? Twiddling my thumbs?"
"No--yes--I don't know." Hermione shook her head. "There was seven?"
"Yes, seven. There was the diary, the ring, the cup, the locket, the mirror, and the garter. All that's left is Voldemort."
"The last seventh."
Harry nodded. "The most challenging. Seven is strong Arithmatically and going after Voldemort last makes him the seventh. Even with all my training with Flitwick I don't feel confident going toe to toe to him in an extended battle. I've survived this long because I could escape and I did. Over and over again."
"You can't face him!" Hermione burst out, clutching his forearms, a wild look in her eye. "You simply can't. I can't lose you, not now, not after we just got back together."
"I must," he said gravely.
"Why?" she asked. "Why you?"
"Because Daniel can't and the prophecy must be fulfilled. A Potter son will defeat Voldemort. It's the only way."
"But I love you!"
Harry crooked a smile at her desperate exclamation. "I love you too, but Voldemort will come after me no matter what I do. I can't simply wait around for him. He must know I'm here in Hogsmeade, how could he not? He also knows I have taken one Horcrux. He let me take it. Tom's hubris wouldn't allow the notion that I could destroy it. It was his most ingenious--"
"Did you say you love me?" she whispered, her voice thick with tears.
Harry stopped speaking about Voldemort then and pulled her closed. "I love you," he repeated.
"You love me?"
"Irrevocably," he admitted, kissing her ardently.
She capitulated immediately, seeking his tongue out with hers. Slanting his mouth over hers, Harry claimed her as his once more. She sighed softly and he drew that sweet breath into himself, moaning as she wrapped her fingers through his hair, bringing him closer. His heart quickened as did hers, the cadence of them echoing in their ears. A foggy haze enveloped them as he deepened the kiss like it always did when they fell into each other.
"Marry me," she breathed, pulling back, nibbling lightly on his lower lip, keeping her hands in his hair.
Harry groaned, touching his forehead to hers. "I can't," he said wretchedly, pulling away.
She let her hands fall into her lap and looked up to him, hurt brimming in the depths of her big brown eyes. "Why not?"
"It's not that I don't want to marry you Hermione," Harry protested, his voice despairing. "We just got back together--"
"Are you afraid to be hurt again?" Hermione asked forthrightly, touching the back of his hand. "You needn't be. I have loved only you."
A furrow developed between his brows as Harry frowned. "I'm not afraid."
"Then why won't you ask me?"
Torn, Harry glanced away before settling a steady gaze at her face, urging her to understand. "I want to more than anything else in the world, please know this--"
"If you do," she quavered, her eyes shimmering brightly with tears, "ask me."
"I can't promise you forever. I can't even promise you a lifetime," he returned with a frustrated sigh, picking her hands back up in his.
"I know," she said tremulously before repeating determinedly, "Ask me."
"Hermione," he whispered, his voice ragged, watching as tears slipped from her eyes. "I can't even promise you tomorrow."
"Ask me."
Harry looked at her beseechingly. "How could I when-- I don't want you to--- Hermione…"
"Ask me, Potter."
"And if I were to run into Voldemort tonight and die?" he challenged, airing his deepest fear.
Hermione licked her lips, her eyes flashing with pain and a hint of hysteria. "Then I will love you for the rest of my life."
"I don't want you to be lonely," he insisted, pressing his lips against the tears slipping down her cheek, tasting her anguish.
"I promise I won't be sad forever, but I can't promise you that I'll find someone else to love."
Harry choked on a helpless laugh. "Hermione," he said lovingly, sadly.
"Ask me, Harry," she interjected. "No more thinking."
He took a deep breath, releasing all his fears about meeting with Voldemort, of their last stance, the final battle. With one quick glance at their joined hands, he knelt and with upturned face, took for himself the greatest joy he would ever know. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes," she cried, lifting him up off his feet and kissing him fiercely. "Yes, yes, yes," she sobbed in litany. "Right now, Harry. Let's get married right now."
"Yes," he breathed into her mouth, closing his eyes and seizing her in his arms, laying claim to the life she promised in her kiss, in her eyes, in her touch.
----
Within the hour, Harry was standing in front of a Unite Bonder fidgeting in his dress robes. The tall wizard's face held no expression, except one of occasional grumpiness at the lateness of the hour as the minutes ticked by. Money, and lots of it, kept the Bonder silent.
Filius patted him gently on the shoulder, quietly assuring Harry that his foolish worries were for naught. Filius was Harry's best man, as it should be, and Harry was extremely grateful for the man's calm support. Without him, Harry was sure to have bolted from the anxieties engulfing him. He couldn't be a husband, he didn't know how to be!
A quick glance to the pews, showed Hermione's ecstatic parents. Her mother waved at him. Harry offered a tiny wave, forcibly pushing aside his own folly and gazed at the side door into the small room. Unblinkingly and with nerveless fingers, he waited with bated breath until it cracked open a smidge.
He craned his neck, trying to still a peak at his bride when the door swung open fully to reveal a smiling Luna. Harry had just enough time to register how lovely she looked in dove gray robes before Hermione appeared behind her in the doorway and he suddenly forgot to breathe.
Hermione glided toward him like an ethereal angel. Her hair was sleeked into an elegant updo, her curls tamed into artfully arranged strands around her face. Harry drank her in, avidly and visually devouring her as she sauntered toward him, a smile so lovely on her face it made his head spin. The gentle swells of her breasts were hugged tightly by the sharply slanting v-neck of her white dress robes. The glitter of a thousand fairies floated around her, decorating her robes in designs finer than any lacer's pattern.
Harry reached out for her hand as she came close, causing Hermione to beam at him in delight. Luna took her fragrant bouquet of myrtle and pink clove. The flowers symbolized true love and quietly paid homage to a girl whose spirit was as brave as it was kind. Myrtle had loved Harry, her last act on earth had bestowed the two of them this chance to find happiness even as she continued on her journey into the afterlife.
As the vows were read, Harry rubbed his thumb across the back of Hermione's hand, squeezing her fingers lightly. She gazed up at him tenderly, her eyes glimmering with wetness as Harry spoke repeating the Bonder's words. A soft warmth spread through her as he finished, stealing her breath. The Bonder repeated the binding words and then it was her turn.
"I, Hermione Jane Granger," she said clearly, joyfully, "give myself to thee, Harry James Flitwick. I promise to love thee, cherish thee, care for thee, and support thee through all endeavors, through all times, in this life and the next."
The buzzing warmth spread wildly through Harry as she finished. The Bonder waved his wand, murmured the closure of the Uniting Together spell and the warmth seeped slowly away. The bond was still there, shimmering between them, pale yellow, the promise of new beginnings, a new life.
Harry swooped down and claimed his kiss, trailing feather-light kisses across her cheeks. "I love you, Mione," he whispered in her ear.
"I love you too," she whispered back just as Flitwick broke between them to offer his congratulations to his newly adopted son and daughter-in-law.
When Luna joined the fray, it was truly a magical moment as the group exchanged happy hugs and exuberant words.
----
They had just returned from their wedding dinner with Filius, Luna, and Hermione's parents. Now they were alone and Harry was eager to explore the carnal sweetness offered to him in his wife's eyes. He removed his ebony black bowtie, tossing it aside, heedless of its landing. He had eyes only for her.
"I know I said earlier that I couldn't promise you a lifetime," Harry said, staring down into her upturned face before the bed. "But I promise you that if tonight is all I have to show you how much I love you---how much you mean to me---" he trembled slightly. "Then I promise to show you enough love to last you a lifetime… to give you in this night a lifetime of love."
She was crying when he kissed her, the arms encircled around his neck held tighter, clinging to him and his promise even as he lowered her to the bed. Slowly he eased her arms away from his neck, holding them with one hand above her head. Nibbling lightly on her lower lip, Harry teased her with soft pliant kisses before tilting his head to nuzzle the sensitive underside of her jaw.
"No tears," he told her, catching one salty quivering drop that was tracing its way to her ear. He followed the silvery trail up to her wet eyes and kissed them close. "We have time," he promised.
"Not enough," she murmured, opening her eyes to stare up at him.
Harry lost himself in those depths, grinning crookedly as he ground his hips into hers. "Plenty of time."
"Never," she vowed and he chuckled, skimming a hand down the side of her arm, following the line of her body to her hip and back up, resting briefly on the warm curve of her breast.
She panted beneath him, squirming under his touch as he dexterously traced a lone finger down and around the soft mound of her breast, outlining its shape.
"Harry," she begged, twisting her hands in his grasp.
For an answer, his mouth slanted over hers capturing her protest, as his hand came up to rest fully on her breast, kneading and molding the soft globe through her sweater until she cried out into his mouth. He feasted there at her lips, stroking her until she arched up into his touch, submitting unequivocally to him.
He pinched her nipple, fingering the tight bud as it cinched tighter. Hermione keened helplessly, clutching at him wildly. With a whispered word he vanished their clothes. He groaned at the contact with the searing heat of her bare skin. He trapped her wandering hands when she tried to touch him and gently held them above her head.
"Let me love you," he told her, skimming his free hand down to the bend in her knee, bringing it back up to rest upon his hip. "I have much to make up for."
When he brushed against her, she whimpered, biting her lip to hold back her pleasure before it swept her away. Harry ground against her, sliding himself between the slick folds of her sheath. He captured a nipple in his mouth and suckled, laving the tight peak with the flat of his tongue.
She bucked wildly beneath him and he chuckled lasciviously. He turned his attentions to the other peak, bringing it into the warm heat of his mouth. Hermione sighed his name, struggling to break her hands free of his relentless grip.
"Not yet," he admonished her. "We have time. You will let me worship you."
"Harr-eee," she cried out as he found her sensitive spot beneath her upturned breast, right along where the flesh met her ribs. He hummed wickedly, sending pure sensation straight through her.
His hand stroked her stomach in small circular motions, occasionally he would dip his fingers into her naval. Every twist and turn she made in response rubbed her sleek folds along his shaft. It drove him to distraction, until at such a time he couldn't withstand the delicious friction anymore.
He curled his fingers through both of her hands, interlocking them just as he interlocked their bodies with a swift thrust of his hips. Hermione gasped aloud, her back arching upwards as her whole body writhed.
"Mione," he breathed into her hair, burying himself to the hilt.
Slowly he pulled away, earning whimpers of protest as Hermione clutched at him, her legs and muscles tightening around him. He grunted, feeling her spasm. She was so hot, so wet, his body slid back into hers with such ease as to have them both groan.
Harry worked himself in and out of her without apparent haste. Pulling back until he was nearly completely withdrawn before a measured thrust plunged him back into the tight depths of her molten core. She arched up, blindly seeking his kiss.
Unable to resist, he gave himself over to the moment, slanting his mouth powerfully over hers as he drove himself into her harder. Sweet madness descended upon them as his restraint broke and his pace picked up, crashing his hips against hers urgently.
Her breath panted hotly against his neck as she buried her head there, crying out softly with every desperate plunge of his body. Her hips undulated beneath him, matching his frenzied pace as they both strove for ultimate pleasure. He broke first, spilling his seed in a rush of heat, the strangled sound of her name, ripping from him like an oath or a prayer.
Feeding off that single glorious expression of release, Hermione hurtled over the edge after him. Her walls rippled, locking him inside her as she rode out the wave of passion. Tears pooled once more in her eyes as she clung to him all the tighter. Fear gripping her heart that this might be the last time she would ever know him. The night couldn't end… it just couldn't… it would go on forever…
And Harry felt that same pressure, that insisting voice in the back of his head prompting him to make the most of this night, for it may be their last.
º«««º»»»ºEnd Chapter 46º«««º»»»º