FicWad

A/N: Hey, sorry about the long delay, but here is chapter 7! As far as updates are concerned I'm afraid I can't promise a regular schedule, my life is quite hectic, and I do a lot of freelance so sometimes I have lots of time, and others I have no time. Either way I'm not going to abandon the story and will update whenever I can. Please, have patience with me. I admire those who can update on a schedule, but alas, I cannot.

Also, I did some minor typo correction to the earlier chapters, nothing major, which is why it got updated. I actually hand't expected it to jump to the top of the story list from that. I'll try to time any corrections I do with a chapter update so there's no more confusion.

In any case, hope you enjoy the new chapter!







Chapter 7: Unexpected Expectations

Harry sat down heavily across from Hermione at breakfast, not saying hello, nor even looking at her. Instead he simply stared into the middle distance, and bounced his leg gently in distraction.

"Hello Harry how…Harry?"

"Yeah?" asked Harry dazedly, still not looking at Hermione.

"Harry what's wrong?" asked Hermione, concern lacing her voice. She cast a quick muffliato.

Harry cocked an eyebrow, his attention grabbed, and asked wryly, "Hermione, how can you rag on the Prince all the time and still use his spells when it suits you?"

Her gaze fierce, "Never mind that, you look… odd."

"Yeah…"

"Harry!"

"I, uh… we, um…"

"Harry?"

"The um, bond finished forming last night."

"Oh. And?"

"It was… um… different."

"What was?"

"Sex."

Hermione seemed to fight her blush, Harry would have to ask her how she did that.

"What was different about it?"

"Well…" Harry began slowly, it wasn't really hard to put into words, yet it was daunting to talk about it. It seemed so intimate and powerful, but Harry found it had been rather cathartic to tell Hermione these things so far, and given their shared 'adventure' he forced the words out, "when we're, together, we feel everything the other feels…" he ended lamely.

Hermione eyes wide with intrigue asked, "you're perspective changes?"

"Not really, it's almost like both sets of feelings are happening to me, and both to Gabrielle. I can tell they're…foreign, but it's still almost like it's also happening to me… sort of?"

"Physical or emotional?"

"Both."

"Oh my…" said Hermione looking away. She was silent for a time, then said, "that sounds wonderful actually."

"It is," said Harry sharply, "it really is. It's… exhilarating, but, it's also kinda weird. I mean, when she um…"

"What?"

"Well, we uh, didn't, you know, go… downstairs-"

Hermione laughed, "go downstairs, honestly, you're as bad as Ron."

Harry glared at Hermione crossly, "whatever, the point is, we didn't until this morning, and it was… odd."

"I can imagine."

"Yeah."

Hermione sighed, her eyes looked tired, and a bit pitying.

"I enjoyed it… a lot. More than I thought I would."

"Harry you're not a poof."

Harry glanced around to see if anyone had heard her, "Merlin, could you have said that louder? All I need is for Malfoy or god forbid Snape to hear one whiff of this and I'll never live it down," he whispered harshly.

"First of all, I cast muffliato," Hermione spoke over Harry's apologetic surprise, "and second, you just got done telling me you 'feel' Gabrielle's emotions not just her physical sensations, so unless you've ever stared at another boy and thought 'by golly I'd like a piece of that' I seriously think you're not gay Harry."

"Not that there's anything wr-" Harry started quickly, but Hermione cut him off again.

"Harry…" she trailed off with a roll of her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry, I was just freaked out. I mean, she, really enjoyed it…"

"I'm sure she did," replied Hermione with a coy smile.

Harry balked and blushed fiercely, but before he could respond Luna sat down next to Hermione primly, "Good morning Harry, good morning Hermione, what are you talking about? It looked ever so interesting, yet for the life of me I couldn't manage to eavesdrop."

"Fellatio," replied Hermione before Harry could even begin to think of a cover. Rather than add to the conversation he simply glared at Hermione.

"Oh!" said Luna brightly, "I'm afraid I've not had the chance to try that out, though I've certainly thought about it, and some of my Mom's old books mention it at great length. Have you ever fellated Hermione?"

"Not yet, but I'm hopeful for the future, you Harry?" she asked with a broad smile, she had not looked away from Harry's glare the entire time, and Luna seemed unconcerned that neither of them was looking at her.

"No," said Harry sharply.

"It does sound fun though," continued Luna thoughtfully, "and the trust required from the receiver, just thinking about it makes me all swimmy."

"Trust?" asked Harry looking away. Try as he might to keep his fierce gaze at Hermione for creating this situation, Luna was talking about oral sex, and that was difficult to ignore.

"Oh yes, I mean, a penis is quite sensitive, and my teeth are right there. I could bite down any time. It could even be involuntary." Her eyes were wide and almost orb like as she stared at Harry, "scary isn't it?" she asked lightly, not even a hint of malice, only curiosity and something else subtle behind it.

Never the less Harry paled, and Hermione laughed and said, "You know, I've never thought about that. I have a cousin who's part of a feminist party in Bristol, and last summer she decided to lecture me on Men. She told me it was an act of service and was intended to display masculine superiority over women, which is why guys like the women to be on their knees."

Luna, her inner Ravenclaw peeking out added quickly, "I imagine those are both sides of the same sickle, it all depends on the context."

Hermione, always loving a good discussion, seemed to forget Harry's presence and looked only to Luna. Harry might have minded if he wasn't so enthralled with watching the two girls talk about 'it' so brazenly. He realized belatedly that while Hermione knew there was a spell blocking their conversation, Luna did not, and simply seemed to be comfortable discussing such a thing in public. As sparse as the morning crowd was, she was making no attempt to speak lower than her usual speaking voice.

Hermione let out a 'hmmmm' and said, "I'd say it's a continuum between dominance and subservience, whether by virtue of where a person and their partner fall on it, or the intent of one or the other partner."

Luna was thoughtful for a moment, "perhaps, though I'd say 'dominance' and 'subservience' are a bit… specific to the fetish community, I'd say it's more universally about power."

Hermione's eyes lit up, "yes, I think you're right."

"You!" a voice split the air and all turned their heads towards… Ginny, standing, one hand on her hip the other pointing straight at Harry. "Owe me a rematch," She sauntered over.

"Rematch?" asked Harry quickly.

In answer she conjured a snow ball and repeatedly tossed it smoothly into the air in her non-wand hand.

"Right," said Harry smirking, "didn't lose hard enough the first time?"

Her eye's narrowed, "after lunch, make sure to grab Ron and Neville."

"Sure, make sure you wear something water proof," said Harry teasingly.

Grinning, Ginny turned on the spot and made her way over to Dean who had just begun to dig into his breakfast, they must have arrived together.

"Harry," Hermione asked once Ginny had left, "where on the scale would you say you and G-"

"Hermione!" Harry said harshly, she seemed to realize her mistake immediately and covered her mouth with her hands as if to physically trap anything else from escaping.

Luna gazed eerily at Harry, "Ooooo, is this a secret? I promise I wont tell anyone about 'G-' if that's the case."

Harry laughed through his embarrassment at the way Luna referred to Gabrielle by just the guttural sound at the beginning, all that Hermione had managed to let escape before Harry interrupted her. Sighing, thinking he could both trust Luna and that it really wasn't much of a secret beyond who she was at this point said, "please don't tell anyone, but I've kind of, got a girlfriend."

"That's wonderful Harry, I always though it was a shame you were single despite being so desirable."

Harry's jaw dropped, if he was so desirable by apparently every girl he talked to, why was he only just realizing this now?

"Harry," said Hermione in exasperation, "It's like you don't listen. If you really thought about it you'd realize I was right when I also told you that. I mean do I need a list? Aren't Cho, Parvati, Ginny, mine, and um… your girlfriend enough?"

"Cho, Parvati, and Ginny are all disasters though-"

"Yes, but the interest was there, clearly you have something going for you, even if you need to work on the followthrough."

"I suppose."

"Harry?" asked Luna, looking down at her hands in contemplation, "how is Ginny a disaster?"

Harry spun to look at her in distress.

"I mean," Luna continued, "Parvati was quite put out by your date, and of course you and Cho was practically public as far as the D.A. goes, but Ginny doesn't really correlate."

Harry just let his head bang to the table and moaned frustratedly, but not before seeing the look of impressed surprise from Hermione.

"Oh!" said Luna suddenly and Harry picked his head up to look at her, "I see, you've realized you have feelings for Ginny and think it's too late."

Hermione saved Harry from answering with, "Luna, I'm quite impressed."

"Oh, don't worry Hermione. You're only impressed because you don't believe most of the things I believe in, otherwise you would have already realized I'm quite clever." She said it so matter-of-factly that both Harry and Hermione cocked their heads to stare at her. She giggled brightly, "you both did that head-cocky-thing at the same time like twins!"

Harry sighed, "please don't tell anyone that either."

"Of course I wont. I've always wanted a secret to keep a secret for a friend. You can trust me."

Harry frowned at her words, "I know I can trust you."

Luna beamed at him.

The rest of the meal passed with much more ordinary conversation, Luna had a few question about ancient runes that Hermione answered happily, and Harry sat back to eat. Gabrielle was an almost constant presence just on the edge of his mind. He had a vague sense of her mood, and what she was doing. Not having to guess anymore, he knew she was currently tutoring with Professor Flitwick and seemed quite bubbly and happy, still slightly fuzzy from their morning fun.

Harry cleared his throat and with a sudden braveness decided to finally answer Hermione's question. Luna's presence didn't seem to bother him anymore so he said evenly, "On a scale of 1 to dominant I'd say it was a 10."

Both girls stared wide eyed at Harry.

"A… 10?" asked Hermione timidly.

Harry nodded, "it's what she wants, believe me, she's made that more than clear."

"Then I'd say your, heh, 'pet' name for her is quite appropriate?"

"What's his pet name for her?" asked Luna excitedly.

Hermione waited just the perfect amount of time, catching Harry's eye briefly before looking at Luna and replying simply, "pet."

Luna laughed brightly, "Harry, you're so serious all the time, I wouldn't have thought you'd have a girlfriend with a pet name. Does she have one for you?"

"Yes Harry, does she?" asked Hermione maliciously.

"Yeah, but I don't want her to call me it," said Harry with irritation.

"It can't be worse than won-won, sorry Hermione," said Luna quickly, but Hermione just shook her off far more interested in the topic at hand.

"How did I end up with the two of you ganging up on me?" Harry asked accursedly. Hermione looked a bit mollified, but Luna persisted.

"How bad could it be?"

Harry sighed deeply, "she'd like to call me master actually," said Harry looking away ashamed.

"Oh!, one of my Mother's books was about that," said Luna excitedly.

"Luna," asked Hermione, "what kind of books did you say your mother had?"

"I didn't, but they're mostly about muggle pirates and lords and such, seducing or being seduced by beautiful maidens. Most of them have large bare chested men holding women with ripped clothing on the covers."

"Those sound like 2 pence romance novels," said Hermione bemused.

"My Mother had a love of muggle literature."

Harry snorted lightly at the thought of pulp novels being considered literature, but was used to the sometimes unbelievable lack of understand about Muggles that the Magical world had.

"Besides," said Harry suddenly, "I really like the way she pronounces my name."

Luna seemed to snap onto this new piece of information, and Harry realized he had given away something new, and Luna was apparently quite deductive.

"…way she pronounces…," Luna stared at the table, her fingers drawing small patterns until they quickly shot into her hair, where she scribbled them around making her wild stringy hair even more tousled, "Ooooooh!" she said almost painfully, "what was her name…?"

"She couldn't possibly have figured it out from just that," said Hermione is wonder.

"Yes, no, maybe… no but I have a rather good guess," said Luna now calm.

"Who?" asked Hermione excitedly.

"The girl Ginny's older brother is marrying," both Harry and Hermione's faces went slack and Luna seemed to take this as a sign of correctness, "yes, she has a sister, you saved her two years ago!"

"Luna that's incredible," said Hermione quietly.

"Hmmm, French names that start with G…"

"It's Gabrielle," said Harry lazily, there seemed no point in hiding anything now.

"Oh yes! Yes. Gabrielle. Gabrielle. Gabrielle and… Fleur! Yes, Fleur," said Luna stoping and starting in-between short contemplative squints.

"How did you know that?" asked Hermione.

"An article in the Prophet about the second task. It mentioned Fleur by name. There was something else about her though, something odd… they didn't say anything outright, but they implied something…" Luna trailed off. "Never mind, I'm sure it will come to me later."

"Right," said Harry a little wearily, afraid to say anything more, and the rest of breakfast was spent with idle chatter and small talk.



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Harry and Hermione sat together in Charms. Paired Flitwick had assigned them a series of complicated protection spells meant for small objects. Hermione was currently re-reading a page on fire-retardant charms while Harry tested the anti-summoning charm already applied to the small wooden block.

Flitwick walked among the class giving pointers and overseeing occasionally addressing the class, "Remember students, the order in which you cast the spells can leave drastic differences in the overall result. Next week we will go over in detail what that means, and what affects can be achieved, but for now just experiment with the order of the spells you use and see what unintended results you can come up with. I assure you no combination of the charms we are using today are dangerous, but a certain combination can cause the block dance away from a wand point. I'll give 20 points to whomever can discover this on their own!"

For Harry's part he was enjoying the lesson immensely. Though Flitwick's class was usually fun, this was the first time they were touching on more advanced uses of charms, and Harry was quite intrigued to be moving beyond simple tricks and affects. Harry had known for a long time that there were far deeper levels to magic that the obvious applications, and was quite excited to start learning about them, something he shared with Hermione. It was an odd dichotomy between those born into magic, and those who discovered they were magical on their eleventh birthday. Pure blood wizards like Ron and Neville just seemed to accept magic as part of their life, and sought no effort to understand it in depth. Harry always equated it with the same attitude his uncle had towards cars. He loved cars, and took great relish in driving them, and lording the quality of his car over his peers, but couldn't care less exactly how it worked, or even basic maintenance. He doubted whether or not Vernon even knew how to change a tire, let alone perform an oil change or fix something more complicated; preferring to take his car to a mechanic for even the most mundane upkeep.

Though he had not been in school long, he had just started to reach the point in his Muggle education dealing with scientific method, and though he was sure Hermione knew far, far more about such things than he did, it seemed it was an almost purely Muggle thing to desire the understanding of HOW things work, though there were obvious exceptions on both sides. Dumbledore surely knew much about the inner workings of magic, and the Department of Mysteries' entire purpose seemed to be based on understanding the fundamentals of magic.

This spark of interest had also been somewhat conjured by Gabrielle. True to her word she was quite exceptional at charms, and having only given her books on the subject a cursory glance, saw they were far out of his league. She was mainly studying spell creation, something that had always mystified Harry, and found that ancient runes, and arithmancy were both quite involved in the process; though never having taken either class, Harry was understandably lost in the material.

Shaken from his thoughts, Harry's attention was brought towards Ron, who was making his and Lavender's block dance and shoot purple sparks from the corners, much to his girlfriend's delight.

"Exemplary charms work Weasley, but perhaps you should get back to the lesson at hand hmm?" said Flitwick kindly. As far as teachers went he was the least likely to deduct points and assign detentions.

Ron apologized quickly and stifled his laughter along with Lavender who had a bit more difficult time of it.

Harry glanced at Hermione, who usually had a sad and reserved look when baring witness to Ron and Lavender's shenanigans. However, she hadn't seemed to even notice. Though she usually acted like she didn't notice at all, this time it seemed genuine.

While this made Harry a bit happy for Hermione, apparently no longer bothered by the boisterous pair, he felt a bit guilty. No matter what Ron and Hermione said, there was still something… complicated there, and he knew, girlfriend or no, Ron would definitely see what Harry and Hermione were up to as a betrayal. Irrational or not, Ron was still his best mate and oldest friend, if only by a few months.

Hermione was still re-reading a portion of the text and Harry fell back to his earlier musings. A new question popped into his head and he couldn't believe he had never thought to ask this before, and wondered at Binn's lessons, wondering why all he ever seemed to lecture about was goblin wars, and political intrigue. Realizing that he could probably just ask Flitwick he raised his hand and waited while Flitwick trotted over.

"Yes Mr. Potter? You had a question?"

"I did, but um… it's not related to the lesson actually."

Flitwick looked pleasantly intrigued, "I assume it is about charms in general then?"

"Maybe," Hermione was looking up now, similarly interested in Harry's question, "actually I was wondering what the very first spell was, or if anyone even knows?"

Hermione gasped slightly, wide eyed in interest, it seemed she had never thought to ask that either.

"That," said Flitwick distantly, "is quite the question, though I rather think you'd get a more satisfactory answer if you're willing to head to lunch a bit late."

"Sure Professor."

As Flitwick walked away to assist Seamus with his block that had just burst into flames Hermione turned to Harry and asked, "what brought that on?"

Harry mulled over his answer for a bit, "well, I've been sitting here a while and wondering about magic in general actually. I mean, I'm sure you can't help but notice this is really advanced magic were doing compared to pretty much everything we've studied for O.W.L.s. I mean, combining charms to get new charms and all that. I feel like no one questions how or why all this works the way it does, most people only care that it works at all. Then I started thinking about how in History of Magic Binns never talks about anything before the forming of Hogwarts. Doesn't that seem like somethings missing? I mean, in Primary we had a whole semester on pre-history, with cavemen and neandertrolls."

"Neanderthals," Hermione corrected.

"Yeah, them. Anyway, I was also looking at Gabrielle's charms books, and it's really advanced. I'm not sure any of it will be covered here. She's working on spell creation and she's really deep in the mechanics of magic or at least charms, something I don't think we've ever talked about at Hogwarts in any class, unless they're saving it for seventh year."

"No, no we haven't. In fact, all the professional spell creators have to obtain masterships in order to learn the necessary skills."

"How do you do that?"

"Apprenticing mostly, though there are a few magical colleges in the states that deal with the subjects, though… they are quite hard to get in to."

By the end of the lesson, no one had accomplished Flitwick's challenge, but Hermione had mastered casting and removing all the charms that had been assigned, but they had not had enough time to attempt all the possible combinations to find the elusive means of causing the block to squirm away from a wand as if directed by a magnet as Flitwick had demonstrated earlier.

Packing up their things, Harry and Hermione hung back, both quite interested in what Flitwick had to say.

When they were alone with the diminutive teacher sat behind his desk, he addressed them both, "so, what brought on this curiosity if I may ask?"

"It's just something we've never talked about in any class. Binns has never spoken about anything before the formation of Hogwarts, and to be honest I'm not even sure if the Magical world has even studied pre-history."

"Yes, well, most Wizards and Witches are quite content not to delve into deeper understanding, and Binns' lessons are far more about understanding our various relationships with the magical races we currently deal with on a daily basis, hence all the lectures about Goblin relations, and political history," replied Flitwick quickly. "As to your original question, which I might add is not a question I've ever had the pleasure of answering before, like I said most Wizards are more concerned with what they can do now, that what their ancestors could do, the original magic is elemental."

"Elemental?" Hermione queried.

"Yes, and notice please, that I said original MAGIC, not spell. Spell work would actually come a great deal later. Wands did not become commonplace until the late 900s, most magical beings practicing potions, and complicated ritualistic magic. Rituals are in fact the oldest known spells, aside from the recreation of the elemental magic as wand based spells. The very first piece of performed magic is thought to be the conjuring of fire, though there is much debate about this. There are a few magical cave paintings that depict great bursts of flames erupting from hands of decorated men."

Both Harry and Hermione nodded in fascination while Flitwick spoke, "now, Mr. Potter, I am sure there must be more inspiration for this line of questioning, hmm?"

"Yes, well," Harry glanced around reflexively to make sure they were alone.

"We are quite alone Mr. Potter," said Flitwick amusedly, "very few individuals would be capable of being present in my classroom with out my knowledge, though of course, I cannot speak to whether or not the Headmaster is in the habit of disillusioning himself and spying on my lessons and post lesson conversations."

"Right," replied Harry reassured, "I've also been looking at Gabrielle's charms books, and it's… intimidatingly advanced."

"Oh! I had not realized Miss Granger was aware of your new, erm… relationship, I am glad not to have to censor my words. Yes, I had wondered whether or not she would have such an influence on you. She quite excels at charms, no doubt also influenced by the remarkable charms work that comes out of Beuxbatons, though understanding like she has is beyond the ability to teach."

Harry smiled in pride at Gabrielle, and would be sure to mention Flitwick's high praise of her.

"In any case," continued Flitwick, "this is actually a common thing to learn about when studying spell creation, though Hogwarts is sadly behind on such things. Hogwarts places much importance on practicality, and while this method creates many outstanding Wizards and Witches, it does leave something to be desired on the academic side of things, though we always encourage students who show interest to peruse independent or guided study during their seventh year, especially if an eventual goal is an official mastery of a subject. Now, I don't know about you Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, but I am quite hungry. I would be happy to continue this discussion if you wish at a later date, but Minerva mentioned something about a delicious stew the elves were preparing, and I don't want to miss out!" he finished with an excited squeak.



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After lunch Harry rounded up Neville and Ron and headed out to the snowy field they had used the day before. They arrived first and so began to plan their fort in hushed tones, however after a few minuted Ginny showed up alone trudging through the deep snow. "Dean and Seamus barked off," she said with great aggravation.

"What?" asked Harry with relish. "Even knowing how important this was to, well, one of us?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes at Harry, "I still want a rematch."

"Ginny, as tough as you are, three on one isn't going to end well for ya," said Ron with amusement lacing every word.

"Fine," said Ginny decisively, "Ron, get your arse over here, Weasley's versus the rest."

"If we're just doing two on two building a fort seems pointless," said Ron.

"How about two on two with brooms?" asked Harry with a lopsided grin.

Ginny and Ron's eyes lit up, but Neville looked wary, "I dunno Harry," he said, "I'm no great shakes at brooms."

Harry led Neville away a few feet and brought their heads together, "Look, you passed Hooch's class right? So you can fly well enough yeah?"

"I suppose, though that last thing I flew was a thestral."

Harry's eye's darkened for a moment but cleared quickly, "Look, never, ever tell Ron I said this, but he's really not that good a flyer. He's a brilliant keeper… finally… but he's pretty much stuck in one place the whole time. Give him a chase and he'll have a hell of a time tagging you."

"You're sure?" asked Neville timidly.

"Yeah, game on?"

Neville smiled broadly at Harry, "Right!" he said loud enough for Ron and Ginny to hear, "I'm going to enjoy kicking some Weasley arse!"

Ginny laughing called over, "I think by the end of this you'll be KISSING Weasley arse boys!"

With out thinking Harry replied with a roguish, "all you had to do was ask Weasley," before summoning their brooms from the castle, and one for Neville from the Quidditch shed. Everyone cringed at the distant tinkling of breaking glass. "Oh yeah," said Harry after a silent moment, "I left the window open before the first task."

They had split quickly, Harry's natural inclination to shoot off straight into the air paired well with Neville's reluctance to go more than a few feet from the ground. Never the less Neville led Ron on a merry chase, swooping and juking along the ground, though he had few chances to target Ron. Harry meanwhile flew his hardest with Ginny hot on his tail. They flew fast and risky maneuvers, circling around each other and occasionally diving hard towards the ground to avoid an incoming snow ball. Harry enjoyed practicing his Wronski Feint with the knowledge that Ginny was, if not his equal than almost a better flier than he was; however his real advantage was based on their agreement to only count hits to the torso or head as a point, and Harry was particularly adept at snatching Ginny's shots out of the air a split second before they hit him.

Growling in frustration Ginny almost blatched Harry, "Ginny! You almost fouled me!" In his moment of pause a snowball hit him square in the face. When he had finally wiped the snow from his wet stinging face he saw Ginny almost falling off her broom in laughter, "That's it!" he said with a shout. He brought his wand out and every single snowball in his satchel streamed out and circled and danced around his wand. He accelerated straight at Ginny.

With a shriek she dropped suddenly and sped towards the ground at a steep angle. Harry followed quickly waiting to see how far into the dive she pulled out. He wanted to wait until she lost some of her speed. To his impressed surprise rather than swooping up she simply leveled out across the ground, getting so close to crashing her feet kicked up great clouds of powder.

Harry leveled out just above her and used his slight advantage of speed to trail her almost directly above and slightly to her right. She darted her head around trying to spot him, but failed to look up until it was too late. Leaping from his broom he tackled her as gently as he could to her side, and brought every single snowball directly down on her head, her only response was a muffled shriek and an attempt to go limp to avoid injuring herself when she landed.

Their shared fall landed them tumbling over and over down a short ridge. When they finally settled Harry found himself on top of Ginny. He started to brush the snow from the back of her head, as her face was to the side and buried in the snow. He couldn't see if her eye's were open or not. "You alright?" Harry asked through his attempts at staving his laughter. When she didn't respond, he asked again worried. At her continued non-responsiveness he shook her lightly a bit more concern in his voice, and just as he was about to get up and call Ron and Neville for help Ginny brought two snow filled hands straight to Harry's ears.

Falling to the side Harry tried getting the snow out of his ears but was halted when Ginny landed on top of him, scooping more snow into her hands and attempting to bury Harry's face in the snow. With a loud "Gah! Ginny stop!" made more difficult from the snow that was being shoved into his mouth he grabbed Ginny by the wrists and forced them away while he twisted and pinned her to the ground.

They were both panting and flushed, and Harry couldn't help but compare the position they were in to the many things he had done so far with Gabrielle. Grateful that his face was already flushed with cold and effort he perhaps waited a few seconds to long with Ginny pinned beneath him, but gathered himself quickly bringing both of them to their feet.

After they shook the snow from their cloaks they saw Neville and Ron making their way over to them, similarly caked with snow. When they got close enough Ron said, "Neville was better than I thought Harry. Only managed to get a couple of hits on him, and we crashed a lot. How 'bout you lot?"

Harry smirked, "well, we weren't really using snowballs by the end so I'm not sure how to count it, but I got Ginny with all twenty of my snowballs before we crashed."

"Crashed!" said Ginny hotly, "You tackled me."

"Semantics," said Harry waving her off. He was acting a bit more careless than he meant to, but was having trouble ignoring the way she had felt pressed up against him, with her wrists held tightly in his fingers.

"Sooooooooo," said Ron slowly, "we don't know who won."

Harry groaned, "Does this mean you're going to want another rematch?"

"Ugh, not now. I dunno, I'm tired and sore," she said wearily wringing the now melted snow from her pony tail. "I hate losing."

"We didn't lose," said Ron cheerfully. "More of a draw really."

Ginny scoffed.



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Harry and Hermione spent dinner in the Room of Requirement again, talking and eating for a bit, studying after, and finally ending up on a couch in front of the fire that had not been there before tonight.

They lay side by side, pressed together from head to toe, kissing deeply, hands roaming around unchecked, though they both avoided the most 'dangerous' places, not wanting to lose themselves like they had last time, preferring to keep this light and slow.

Harry reveled in the feel of her pressed against him, breasts mashed tightly to his chest. Though they were glamoured Harry could tell easily by feel that they were indeed bigger than they appeared, like two soft warm pillows of what he knew was creamy tanned flesh. It made his blood boil, and he knew she could feel his arousal pressed harshly to her belly. Rather than recoil from it like last time, she pressed and ground against him, causing little shudders and tight low moans to bubble out of his throat around their kiss.

She sighed deeply every time she raked her fingers through his wild hair, causing him to tense and swell in pleasure as he arched and ground into her. Harry for his part was content to run his hands languidly up and down her back and sides, and especially over the taught muscled leg she currently had draped over his hip, the tight denim leaving nothing to the imagination.

There was something intoxicating about snogging Hermione. Gabrielle generally preferred things to move rather quickly, and for Harry to be rather rough with her. She reveled in loss of control, while Hermione seemed content to simply lie there basking in the intimacy, no rush, no pressing for more, just light soothing kissing and petting; and Harry was more than happy to allow her to lead.

Slowly some sort of desperate something built within Harry. As hot and bothered as he was from the sweet slow grinding he wasn't anywhere close to orgasm, yet something new was driving him, and the calm he had before slowly waned.

His caresses become more insistent, his fingers digging harshly into Hermione, pulling her against him harder. She made little insistent whining noises against his lips and her nails dug painfully into his scalp, though Harry paid it no mind, he was no stranger to pain, and in the midst of such delight the pain was a distant background noise to the encompassing feel of her wrapped around him.

With out planning it Harry moved from her sweet lips and traced kisses down her face and neck, ending where her neck joined her shoulder. He kissed and suckled at it, Hermione's neck arching sweetly, baring her tender flesh to his hot insistent mouth. Her soft mewling was music to him as she shuddered and writhed at his actions.

"Wait," she said breathlessly, pushing Harry away gently. He leaned back slightly and gazed at her. Her eyes were heavy, eye's dilated. Her lips were swollen and glistening, her hair more wild than Harry had ever seen before.

She was so beautiful.

"Why?" Harry asked plaintively.

"Be-because," she swallowed and Harry watched her barely visible adams apple bob slightly, "if we don't stop now I don't think I'll be able to later."

"So?" asked Harry drunkenly, his brain was not working so well at the moment.

"Remember. Slow."

"Right," said Harry collecting himself. He separated himself from her a bit more and trailed the hand that wasn't holding her thigh in a death grip tenderly across her cheek, "Merlin Hermione…"

She flushed in a particularly lovely way, though not apparently from embarrassment if her lusty gaze was anything to go by. "I know Harry, I know. Me too."

The disentangled slowly, both realizing they were done, but reluctant to let go of the other. Once standing they adjusted clothes, and Hermione tried to tame her hair a bit. From his reflection in the window he could tell his was far, far messier than usual, even after a night of tossing and turning. He ran his hands through his hair briskly, trying to give the mess a slightly more uniform look, but failed spectacularly.

Hermione giggled at his frustration and walked up to him, running her own fingers through the now well tread path. "It looks good messy, like you just got off a broom."

"Thanks," said Harry shyly, wanting to turn the embarrassing focus back onto Hermione he asked, "so, what's next on the list after 'wandering hands'?

Hermione blushed prettily, and again it seemed not out of embarrassment, and she had a slightly secretive smile on her face as she said, "dry sex."

Harry cleared his throat, not trusting his voice to stay even, "dry sex?"

"We'll grind together in our knickers, and if it works right, we wont be leaving so frustrated next time."

Harry groaned and adjusted himself in his pants. He saw Hermione watch for a second before looking away embarrassed.

"Hmph," said Hermione with forced crossness, "at least you have an outlet, I'm going to have to go back to the tower and try not to wake anyone up when I-" she stopped talking suddenly her whole face red.

"When you what?" Harry asked with a coy almost disbelieving smile.

"When, when I… you know."

"No, tell me," said Harry teasingly.

"I do exactly what I imagine you do when you get back to Gabrielle," she said primly.

"Only you're alone."

"Well, yes."

"Do you do that, often?"

She wouldn't meet his eyes, but never the less answered, "increasingly."

"You… you could do it now…" he trailed off.

Her eyes locked to his, "that's… later. I'm… I'm still…"

"It's alright," said Harry softly hugging her tenderly, "no pressure, I just mean, well, I know I'd have fun watching."

"Me too."

Harry chuckled, "some other time then."

"Definitely," she replied breathlessly.









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Edited, I had Flitwick calling Dumbledore Albus, which he doesn't, so thank you Arag_e for pointing that out!