This is the first story that I am posting here on PortKey! I really hope you like what I have setup so far. Reviews would be greatly appreciated! Encouragement does indeed help when it comes to moving along with a story. I hope you enjoy!
Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon
There are so many important moments in a normal person's life. There are weddings, children being born; getting that job you so desperately wanted. When you were a witch or wizard, important moments multiplied. Passing NEWTs was extremely important to most. Being able to successfully cast your first spell was another. The defeat of the Dark Lord had been the most important moment to date. Now, in her seventh year, Hermione Granger wanted to experience one of the next most important moments in her life before leaving Hogwarts. She had been secretly planning this for weeks. She had not mapped out a plan or tried to study up on the subject, something untrue to form. She had already set herself up for things to not go perfectly, not like a storybook. No, storybooks were just that; not real, not raw. She wanted to remember this moment like no other, in all its imperfect glory.
Then again, she hoped to be able to even experience the moment at all. For this moment, this important occurrence, involved the willing participation of another. In fact, it required the willing participation of the one person she trusted the most. Weeks before, it hit her like a ton of bricks; she trusted this person with her life. Why not trust him with this? She had known him since they were eleven. He had seen her at her worst and vice versa. Yes, the more she had thought about it the more it made sense; clicking together like puzzle pieces.
She calmly made her way to the Great Hall on that Saturday morning. She looked down and wondered if she had chosen appropriate clothing for the day. She never was one for fashion sense. She opted for one of her school skirts, shortening it with a quick sowing spell and a fitted white shirt. This was definitely not the norm for her and she hoped she wouldn't seem too obvious. Once she made it to the doors, she had to force herself to continue moving. There he was, in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. She knew this was her moment to approach him, hopefully setting into motion the actions she longed to experience. "Good morning, boys." Her tone was cheerful with a smile to match. Ron simply nodded his hello, his mouth too filled with food at the moment.
"Morning, Hermione." She watched her innocent friend fondly, knowing he hadn't a clue of what was about to go down. Harry was, without a doubt, the perfect male specimen. Gone were the days of an awkward, nerdy-looking boy who had no idea what the wizarding world had to offer. That boy was now replaced by a man who had learned to hone his magical skills, accepted the fact that people could love him, and taken a huge liking to Quidditch. The last is what helped his body develop into something young witches longed to touch. She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed her two friends staring at her. "Hermione," Harry began slowly, "stand up."
`Damn, I should have known better.' She continued to mentally scold herself as she found the strength to stand. "What's wrong?"
"Bloody hell, Hermione, you've never dressed like…that before!" Ron was clearly shocked at her chosen attire. "Are you trying to give us a heart attack? Do you want Harry and me to get detention for beating up every horny wizard that looks at you?"
"Ronald, it's just clothing," she sighed, rolling her eyes in the process. She took that moment to look at Harry, his mouth slightly open and his eyes traveling over her entirety. "Are you going to scold me to?" `Please say yes, please say yes!
He shook his head, his eyes returning to hers, following them as she seated herself once again. "Have anything planned for today?"
Hermione inwardly smiled. "Actually Harry, I wanted to discuss something important with you. What have you planned for the day?"
"We've got Quidditch practice after breakfast." Hermione scrunched her nose as she watched Ron finish his sentence with a mouth half full of food. "What?" His eyes shone the true ignorance to her glare.
"Honestly Ron, I feel sorry for any witch you date. You'll have to have a sneeze-guard between the two of you if she plans on any type of conversation at dinner."
"A sneeze what?" Ron looked completely confused as he glanced between an annoyed Hermione and smirking Harry.
"Never mind," she sighed. She gained the courage to look into Harry's eyes once again. "What about after practice?"
"I'm completely yours." At this, Hermione dropped her fork. She coughed lightly as she tried to swallow her food. The last thing she needed was to choke to death. "Hermione, are you okay?"
She sipped some pumpkin juice, allowing her throat to clear. She watched as Ron and Harry exchanged odd looks, eventually returning their gazes to her. "I'm fine, just went down the wrong pipe." Ron shrugged and continued eating while Harry nodded his head with acceptance for the explanation. "Just meet me in our common room after practice."
"Not a problem," he smiled.
Feeling like her first part of the mission was complete; she quickly rose and prepared to leave. "Ron, don't eat so much you throw up during practice. Harry, I'll see you in a while." She smiled warmly and quickly turned away, almost bouncing out of the Great Hall.
Ron and Harry both leaned forward, gazing at Hermione's leaving figure."You can see her damn knickers!" Ron quietly hissed. "What bloody right does she have dressing like that?" He looked to see Harry still staring. "And you! Some bloody help you were! If I didn't know better, you enjoyed that."
"Ron, she's no longer that eleven-year-old we met on Hogwart's Express. She's seventeen…"
"I know how bloody old she is, Harry!"
"She's trying to find herself. I may be her best friend, but I'm not blind. In fact, I'm single and find no embarrassment in enjoying the female form when presented as so."
"Harry, this is Hermione! She's our bossy, know-it-all, study-aholic, best friend." He looked at Harry, watching his eyebrows rise up and down. "You're not right," he sighed in defeat.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Try as she might, her favorite book was not holding her attention at the moment. She nervously sat on the couch in the private common room awaiting Harry's return from practice. So many emotions were coursing thru her at that moment. She felt anxious, determined, excited…too many things at the moment. She noticed her hands were fidgeting on top of her open book, longing to be doing something else. She tried to force herself not to allow images to invade her mind, for it would only make her upcoming mission more difficult. How on earth was she supposed to do this? This whole way she was approaching this was completely out of character for her. Then again, wasn't that the part that made it more thrilling? This was something that would shock him to his core. In fact, she hoped it shocked him so much that he would say yes without even thinking it thru. "You can do this," she stated quietly, giving herself some extra reassurance. But, the more she had time to think about it, the more she questioned her strategy of the impending proposition. Should she play it off as innocent, like she originally intended? Should she be direct and forward? Should she be teasing about it? In the end, she knew she had to be herself, or else she wouldn't be comfortable, he'd think she was losing it, and then the whole situation would go to hell. Just when she didn't think her nerves could worsen, she felt her stomach knot and her hands turn clammy as she realized the portrait was opening.
He looked like he had quite the practice, but the exhilaration that shown in his beautiful green eyes was evident. "Tell me again why I continue to play Quidditch."
"Because, you're one of the best players Hogwarts has seen in ages and you absolutely love the sport…and the attention." She had to add a smirk as she said the last part.
"Yes, quite the attention whore, I am." He allowed a haughty tone to his voice as he playfully made the declaration. This, along with plopping down on the couch next to her, caused a giggle to escape from Hermione. This alone caught his attention. Hermione can giggle? Sure, they had shared moments of laughter over the years (years that were mainly filled with gloom and torture, he might add), but this was a giggle…something completely girly. Shaking off the moment, he decided to press on. "So, what is it that you needed me for?"
That was a loaded question. There were several ways she could answer it, all leading to the same point. Did she need some more time to go over this? "If you want to get cleaned up first, you can. I know practice can be rough for you." Why was she stalling? At this rate, she would never get the damn question out.
"Nah, it's okay. That is, unless it will take long."
"No, it shouldn't take long." She closed her book and placed it on the table. Trying to get as comfortable as possible, in a failing attempt to calm her nerves, she rearranged herself so that she was sitting Indian-style and facing him.
Any other time, he would have thought nothing of this. Then again, any other time, she wasn't wearing a short skirt without her school robes. Did she completely forget this fact? Did she not realize he had an extremely pleasant view of her knickers? Sure, he had seen the backs of them this morning as she made her way out of the Great Hall, but this time he was able to see the more intimately-covered part. Averting his eyes quickly to her face, he regained composure. "So, what's up?"
"Seventh year is almost over," she began quietly. She started to look down, but knew she needed to see his reaction to what was said. "We've been friends for years now, experiencing so many things together. You're my best friend." The smile that played on her lips was nothing but genuine.
"The closest," he confirmed quietly, grabbing her hands to prove his statement sincere.
Her smile grew wider at this gesture, but only made the butterflies in her stomach swirl even more. "You are truly the only person I trust wholeheartedly. We've had our share of disagreements, but nothing so horrid that we couldn't get over it." Seeing that she had nothing but his undivided attention, she decided to push forward and just get it over with. "Harry, knowing how important you are to me, I've made a decision and have a very important question to ask you." She looked down at his hand still wrapped in hers. "I'm not even going to ask, I'm just going to tell you." She looked him dead in the eyes and took the deepest breath of her life. "I want you to be my first. I want you to take my virginity."
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