hogwartsexpressed | CLOSED: The WORST Double Date to Date (for: coreofdragonheart)

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CLOSED: The WORST Double Date to Date (for: coreofdragonheart)

Harry walked into the private dining room that Hermione had requested for their use that evening. He took a moment to search and take down any eavesdropping instruments he could locate and knew Hermione would or had done the same already. He didn't want this to get out to the public if they could at all help it. He had spent most of the day putting his Aurors through their paces and had perhaps had been a bit too hard on them but honestly, it wasn't any worse than what they could possibly face outside the walls of the Ministry. It was at that time that he regretted, again, that he hadn't sought further education and training from the ICW.

Once he was content knowing he'd taken down anything that could listen in on them, he cast his own set of privacy charms around the room that would allow their guests and waiter/waitress to enter but would not be able to listen in. He turned to look at Hermione and gave her a smile. Spending the evening talking with her and having dinner had probably been one of the best nights he's had in a long time. It had infuriated him to know Ron had been an even bigger arse in regard to Hermione's parents after the war. What gave him the right?

"Are you ready," he asked, walking over to her and watching her face closely.

He'd taken the potion already today and was glad that his intelligent and beautiful best friend had found something that would work. Harry loathed that they'd been treated this way after all they'd done for the Weasley family.

Ginny would be getting off work momentarily and getting cleaned up before she made her way to the restaurant. Ron... well he didn't give a rats arse. He was looking forward to knowing just how much the man knew.

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Harry chuckled and gave her an amused look. "I know what you mean," he agreed with a nod and stayed quiet for a minute. "People... especially in our age group, thought that 'fighting all the time like cats and dogs' was the way you two flirted." He paused as a thought came to him and groaned with a laugh. "I just remembered Draco telling me when we were working together that he fully expected the two of us to end up together. Not with the Weasley's. Because of the potion, I told him he was mad." But Draco hadn't been. Harry had cared about this woman sitting next to him, sharing a piece of cake and a bottle of wine. Had cared and still cared more than he should at this moment, he was sure.

He gave her an affronted look. "They're lucky? No, I'm lucky you liked me so much," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "But, I like to think we both saved each other over the years - me with my magic skill," he teased her before continuing, "and you with your brilliance and magic." He was just on this end of drunk and very sassy.

"Well, if we ever get the chance, that is something we will change. Can even start making the changes now. I mean... not literally now but you know." Harry picked up his fork again and took another bite of the lemon cake.

She can't help but laugh, shaking her head. "I wonder who else saw it, besides Draco, who were surprised about us ending up with those we did. Because I know several people have said things about never seeing me and Ron, but..."

But she had brushed it off as being different, of opposites attracting. Not that she had realized why she didn't see what others did. Now though she sees it. Even if she was on Harry's side of things where it wasn't his wife actually turning on him, she can see how odd it is. But for Harry for one reasons.

"I never thought you and Ginny should end up together. Even when I thought I loved Ron. Because you aren't who I saw her with," she says with a laugh. She leans in, resting her brow to his.

"I am very lucky," she says, believing that. "I've always been very lucky to know you. And we'll start changing things. Definitely. Let's not let anyone end up like us."

"Probably more than we expect," Harry admitted with a chuckle. He watched her and sat the cake aside for the moment before wrapping his arm around her shoulders again, bringing her in close. He liked this. Like feeling her close by.

Harry had always chucked it up to opposites and school yard teasing. But he really hadn't known what a 'typical' relationship looked like. He'd seen the Dursley's of course and despite their 'normal thank you very much' attitude, they weren't very normal.

"Looking back on it? I never thought we'd end up or should end up together either." He rest his brow against her's and exhaled a soft breath. "I'm not sure who I really saw her ending up with but it wasn't me."

He smiled, happy to know that she felt she was lucky as well. "Agreed. I'd say we're both damn lucky and we will not let anyone else end up like we did." No one deserved that. Whether it was the alcohol, the cake... the night, he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "Thank you, Hermione."

"Wonder how many of them thought at the very least, that I had gone daft? I mean, you and Ginny is a good and powerful match," she notes with a sharp smile. "She's beautiful, smart, powerful, and a quidditch star. At least they likely wondered what she saw in you,' Hermione teases, sounding a lot more like herself than she's likely to have sounded all evening.

"But Ron? I mean... really? Everyone just accepted that was natural?"

Because none of it feels that way to her. Not in the least.

"I really... I need Fleur to love Bill. I will destroy Molly with my bare hands if she did that to Bill after all he's been through. " There's an anger in her voice that can't be denied. Bad enough it happened to them, but Bill deserved everything that he and his wife seem to be. He deserves to be happy.

Sighing though at that kiss, aching to kiss him again. "You're welcome. I just want you to have the life you want, Harry. You deserve that as well," she says, hesitant a moment and then she leans in, unable to help herself, kissing him. She feels drunk with the sensation as much as the alcohol, and it is everything she's ever wanted since she was in control of her own desires.

Harry chuckled and brought her in closer to him, knowing this was hard despite their joking and teasing on the matter. Their whole lives had been flipped upside down in more ways than one and they were left trying to pick up what strands they could. Although, ultimately, Harry knew it was for the best they knew now rather than later but all the same, it wasn't what he wanted for his best friend. "The brightest witch of our age marrying a man like Ron? Probably thought those test scores were just a fluke," he said giving her a teasing look. "Now wondering what Ginny could potentially see in me? Fair, very fair question," he said with a laugh.

It didn't feel or seem natural at all now that he had clear eyes to look at the situation rationally. How far back did the manipulation start? He could only truly guess and feared it was from Molly Weasley's words at the train station.

He exhaled a soft breath and nodded in agreement. "I really hope they were not part of Molly's manipulations. Ron says they weren't under our very own truth seat but still..."

Harry wanted to know that Fleur and Bill were happy and obscenely in love. They deserved that much after all they had been through.

He smiled, glad that she hadn't responded negatively to the kiss. Not that he truly thought she would but he didn't want to push too much or do anything she didn't want. The fact that she sighed and then kissed him again made his heart soar. Her words though - her words were everything especially now knowing how much of his life had continued to be manipulated by outside forces. "Thank you," he said again as he kissed her once more, bringing her in closer. Because really, there were no other words other than 'thank you'. Thank you for being a constant best friend. Thank you for being so brilliant and finding the cure to their unknown problem. Thank you for being here right now with him. There was... so much to thank her for. And for giving him back his life free of that manipulative family.

"I hope they thought he was just a slacker and not that I cheated," she says, but it's the wizarding world and she has two strikes against her. One because of her gender, and one for not being pureblood. They likely would believe the worst of her.

She makes a face. "How could she not? I mean, there's a lot to be seen in you. You're smart, handsome, brave, talented," she says, realizing how much she's going on and trying to stop herself but it's been years since she's thought like this and now the words are all just coming out.

"But still, Ron is scum and knew about this and thought nothing wrong with it so who can trust a single damn thing that comes out of his mouth?"

There's so much bitterness in her tones then, revealing just how upset she is, even if she's working to try and get past it all, because they're fixing it. It doesn't make it hurt any less though.

"You're welcome. Though we do owe Cheryl. She was the one that thought I was obviously not under a spell and so used me for her sample," she says, realizing she hasn't told her yet that her charm does work, they just didn't know it then.

"Oh, they definitely thought he was a slacker from people I've talked to. They often wondered how you and I even put up with him," Harry said with a mused look. But it was true, despite knowing how often Ron slacked on nearly everything, Hermione was often given the short end of the stick simply because of her blood status and gender.

Harry's smile grew wider as she spoke about him. "Well Ms. Granger, I didn't know you thought of me like that," he said, though his tone was light, he was very pleased to hear her say all of that about him.

Without an answer, Harry just gathered her in his arms and just held her close. "He will get his, Hermione. I promise you," he says, his tone firm, pressing a kiss to her head. It was absolutely unforgivable what the Weasley family did to them.

"We'll buy her a fruit basket or a nice bottle of liquor... whatever she wants," Harry said, thankful to this woman who gave them back their lives despite knowing it or not.

"Oh well, now we know how. We know it's because of spellcraft," she says, bitterness in her tones. She knows it's going to be a very long time before she's not bitter over that reality. Over spending years on years being drugged by someone she had trusted and cared about as family.

"Yeah well, I was scared to say it to you," she admits. "And then I forgot how I felt," she whispers, realizing how deep those emotions were and how much she can still feel them.

"Just don't risk yourself. Let the law handle it. Let the public. I don't want you being hurt by this, don't let them turn this around on you," she says, truly meaning it. She needs him safe and well.

"I want her to know how well it worked, and offer her any help we can. We might be able to help others as well." Who knows how common this is, after all.

Harry watches her facial expressions as she spoke. It would undoubtedly take a very long time before they got over this (if ever) but at least they had one another. For that, Harry was grateful. "Now we know and now... we can plot," he says with a small smile. "Plot for a much better life than we have now. Make them all envious." His tone took on a teasing sound but in all honesty, he did want that. Especially with her.

"I know," he says, softer and just holds her closer to him with a soft sigh. He had felt the same way, scared to tell her how he had felt and then forgetting he had felt it at all.

Harry looked at her, trying to go for shocked. "Hermione Granger, me? Harry Potter? Risk himself? I will have you know, I stopped doing that for nearly everyone after the war," he said with a teasing look. But in all honesty, he hadn't and they both knew that. He was, if anything, even more willing to risk himself to help those who needed it the most. In this case though, he would have to let it be and let the law handle it.

He nodded in agreement. "I agree. Do you want to send her a letter? Or let her know when you go back to work?"

"If by plot you mean plot to ruin his life? Oh trust me, I am all for that," she says, smirking because she is in fact plotting for just that. Learning he had known for so long and gone along with it, aided his mother in what she had done, and she is out for blood now and she's not hiding that from Harry.

Because she might tell him not to risk himself and to let the law handle it but she's not going to do the same. She knows she is going to jump on his and ensure he doesn't do this to the next women. Or worse, come after her. She's prepared for that as well.

"Have you really? I mean, really Potter?" Smirking as she asks it that way, narrowing her eyes and giving him a hard, dark look. "Do you think I, of all people, is going to believe that? Really?"

Because nope, she doesn't.

"When I get back. By then she might have figured it out if the paper picks up what we're going to report tomorrow.

Harry blinked as though shocked. "I am absolutely shocked Ms. Granger that you would say that," he said with a chuckle, before smirking. He was not at all surprised and honestly, he felt much the same way. He would like to say he would leave it up to the law, especially if that's what it ultimately came down to, but truth was, he would do everything he could to make Ron Weasley and Molly Weasley's lives a living nightmare.

"No, not at all and I should hope you wouldn't believe it," he said and watched her face. She was absolutely bloody brilliant and gorgeous. Especially when she was riled up like this. Not that he liked that she was but that it was a good look on her regardless.

He nodded in agreement. "Agreed. I am very much looking forward to reporting all of this tomorrow," he said with a dark smirk. Perhaps he was still a bit drunk and a lot angry but all things considered, he was okay with what he was feeling. This need for revenge on both their parts and Ginny's.

"Oh, if you're shocked by that then you will not even believe what I'm going to say once I get before the Ministry," she says, smiling so wickedly, already plotting the things she wants to do, the things she's going to say to them about the Weasley family. At least two of them. She is going to ruin them, and hopes the good members of their family come out on top.

They'll make sure of that as well.

"I don't, and I know that we're in that together as well. We have a fight before us, and we know we can handle it, and there's things we'll be able to fix. We have the freedom now to do that."

Hermione cups Harry's face, leaning in and kissing him tenderly as if she's just learned this amazing new thing in life and she can't help herself.

"I guess we should probably sleep off all this alcohol," she says, her fingers still stroking ovre his cheek.

"Oh now you must tell me," he said, the wine and the cake already forgotten for the time being and he held her closer to him. "So that I can assist you as much as I possibly can." Not that he wouldn't anyway but he really wanted to know what she was planning. That and so he could know just how much he could say that would help her plans.

Harry grinned. "We absolutely have a fight ahead of us but if there's one thing history has told me is that between the two of us? We're a force to be reckoned with," he said, leaning into her touch. He smiled when Hermione kissed him and let out a soft breath before kissing her back, tightening his hold on her gently.

"I suppose we should," he said, his voice soft as he lifted a hand to her cheek, sliding his thumb over the soft skin. "We do have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Even as he said it though, he leaned in and kissed her softly, simply enjoying this feeling of her close to him.

"Oh I plan on telling them everything we have about the Weasleys and this spell. All that Ron admitted today. I plan to let them know it was planned and since we were kids, and all they took from us and then..." And then the part that will be the worst since it is likely to catch trouble for them. "And that Dumbledore gave us away like we were chattel for his plans," she says.

Still he is a legend to most but she's not letting this go. They've been quiet a long time about what he had done to them, on this she won't be.

"I hope you're okay with me bringing that up." Because it will be bringing up things about Harry as well, and he is the only person she is willing and eager to protect right now.

Kissing him back, making no move to head out to try and get some sleep. No, not when she finally has this chance for kissing him, something she wants to linger on, to keep kissing him as long as she can.

Harry nodded at the plans she was laying out and smirked. "Oh I am absolutely okay with you bringing that up and had every plan to do the same, now that I know how deep and how long it had been played," he agreed.

"We will have some resistance, plenty still see him as some sort of second coming of Merlin." There was one thing to be certain of, now that Harry was fully aware, he wouldn't rest until things changed. Thankfully, because wizards live for much longer than muggles, they had a lot of time on their hands.

He smiled when neither of them moved and slowly deepened the kiss. He didn't notice the soft pops of the cake and wine disappearing back to the kitchen. His entire attention was on the woman right there next to him and his lips on hers.

"Him dying as he did means they aren't going to want to hear what we're saying. They have lied about so much, Harry, and they're going to want to keep lying and the truth? I'm done with it. I'm done with all of the bullshit and the lies," she says, feeling so charged with the truth and with wanting to make things better. For themselves, and for others.

Her whole life she's missed this without ever knowing she could have it. Missed the chances she should have had. Missed being with him as if that is what she's longed for her entire life and only just now remembered existed in the world.

Cupping his cheeks with both hands, no longer teasing and playing and just enjoying the one good thing she's been kept from for so long, and how much it promises moving on with her life.

"I agree," Harry said with a nod. "Then you and I are on the same page. I'm done with it too. It's time things start changing around here. Not only for ourselves but anyone else who comes along from an abusive home or from the muggle world."

If there was something he found himself truly passionate about, other than this feeling right here, it was getting justice for themselves and making sure it didn't happen to anyone else.

Harry placed both hands on her hips and brought her onto his lap, deepening the kiss further. He truly wished they could have had this all those years ago. "Merlin, 'Mione," he murmured, his voice low and thick.

She nods, not wanting to be too excited and yet she wants to do this. She wants to change the world like they had always meant to and now realizes why that seemed to fade from her thoughts.

"She took so much from us," she whispers. "I want to take it all back.

Just like this. Not just her passion for changing the world she found herself in but for the man holding her in his arms. Pressing in close to him, kissing him in ways she had only ever dreamt of. When he says her name like that her knees go weak and she nearly goes down as she clings to him.

"I want to take it all back and more," he agreed. He was pissed that the Weasley's and Dumbledore took so much away from them. He'd thought it before but it was one thing for Dumbledore to continue manipulating his life from beyond the grave but to drag Hermione into it... it drove him mad.

And, the worst of it was that he took this away from them. This connection with Hermione. Something they could have had the entire time but then, had it been left alone he likely wouldn't have been the perfect sacrificial lamb to defeat Voldemort.

Harry tightens his arms around her gently and presses a deeper kiss to her mouth then pulling away, his breathing a little rugged. "We'll burn it all to the ground then rebuild," he murmured before leaning in and kissing her again, not able to help himself.

They had found themselves back in their childhood and had known what they would do. Yet they haven't directly talked about this, about what they left behind. Just the world they were building now, that they would build anew compared to the way things had been in their childhood. Their first childhood.

They were meant to be best friends. She believes that now, and knowing how things have felt since the curse breaking, she knows it is how her life should have been. Friends. Maybe more. They're still learning how they truly feel, but they have all the time in the world now.

Smiling as she groans, leaning in against him as she kisses him, slow and deep. "The world the way it's meant to be," she whispers softly.

If they ever found a way back in time, there would be no shortage of things to take care of. The only question would be where to even start? But for now, Harry is focusing on this, right here at Grimmauld Place with Hermione and looking toward their future. "Exactly," he whispered before returning the deep kiss. He never thought they'd be here like this together. When he was younger, he can remember now that he had thought about it.

He exhaled a slow breath and tightened his arms around her gently, sliding a hand into her hair, deepening the kiss further. "Merlin," he murmured, huskily.

This is not how this evening should go. They've both been through so much and they're only just now learning that they have a chance to be together again. Again after so much was taken from them and now they just have this chance.

A chance like this, to stand in Grimmauld Place making out like school kids hiding behind curtains in Hogwarts.

The very sound of Harry's voice in that moment makes her knees weak, clinging to him as she cants her head to take more, to give him more in that kiss. "We should," she murmurs, panting softly. "Maybe..."

Nope, she doesn't want to stop things. She just wants this to go on.

"Maybe," he murmured but again, neither of them moved, and instead, Harry brought her in closer. Everything else was a blur outside of the way her mouth and body felt against him. He was beyond thrilled that they would, finally, have time to be together.

Finally.

As right as this felt, suddenly, something in his gut twisted and he frowned. Harry knit his eyebrows together and pulled back from the kiss. He didn't feel right. "Hermione, d'you feel that," he asked but as soon as the words tumbled out, he wasn't in Grimmauld anymore.

Harry squinted at the sunshine pouring through the window and could hear children and parents outside saying farewell. He looked around the compartment then outside and frowned.

What... how... he had so many questions. How'd this happen? He looked down at his clothes and frowned.

Merlin.

Remembering that day, he only had a matter of time before Ronald Fucking Weasley came in, setting them down that particular path. While he wasn't sure at all what was happening, he knew he wasn't going to allow that to happen again. Harry pulled out his wand and charmed his luggage so if he had to leave the compartment to get away from the redhead, he didn't have to worry about it being tampered with.

That first time, he hadn't known Hermione right away so he wasn't sure when she arrived. That didn't mean he couldn't go and search the train for her though - it was better than waiting. He stood from his seat and walked to the door, opening it and looking out both ways.

This was absolute madness. Absolute bloody madness.

All he'd wanted was a night with Hermione where they didn't have to deal with anything until he next morning - was that really too much to ask?

Memories of a love that hadn't died, but had merely been cursed away are flooding back to Hermione. Ones that started from the very moment she spied a shy boy in broken glasses on the train to the magical school she had been accepted to.

A moment that was so important because it's truly when her life changed in so many ways. In having Harry in her life. In becoming a witch. In going to Hogwarts. Certainly it led her to war, but that war would have waged anyway, and it likely wouldn't have been won without her there.

A moment when she had found the man she should have had a chance with, but had been taken from her with a love spell.

A moment she suddenly finds herself much more acutely away of, as she finds herself standing on the Hogwarts Express, by herself, wand in hand and... and...

She looks into the glass door of one car, seeing her frizzy hair and buck teeth and youthful face. No, not youthful as it had been moments before but young. Eleven years young to be exact.

"Bloody Hell," she growls, knowing in an instant what it must be. "You bloody horrible woman. I swear when I find you I will see you in Azkaban." Or dead, but she doesn't say that outloud. She's getting enough looks from students in robes passing her as it is and she realizes she might want to keep those thoughts to herself.

And find Harry.

So she starts hurrying through the cars, knowing where he'll be. she just has to get there before that bloody little ginger bastard does.

Harry started moving toward the front of the train, keeping an eye out for the other girl. Now that the shock had sort of worn off, he knew exactly who it was that caused this and he was pissed.

He exhaled a relieved breath when he finally spotted the familiar frizzy hair behind another older student. "Hermione," he called, waving an arm to get her attention. If luck stayed on their side, they could get back to the compartment before the bastard did and lock it. He apologized to an older student he accidentally bumped into before standing in front of her.

It didn't even cross his mind that this could be Hermione at eleven who didn't know him. He could only assume that this was his Hermione, the one that he had just been making out within their adult bodies.

"Hi," he said with a smile, there was a way to know quickly without being weird about it. "I solemnly swear," he started, but once he took a moment to look in her eyes and saw the furious look in her eyes, he knew. "I have a compartment."

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I'm going to think of a nickname Harry can call Hermione that Ron wouldn't have. HAH

Mione is close to mine, or a magical or mystical name?

Probably Mione - I've also seen Mi! He just doesn't want to use something that Ron probably has! :D

Ron wouldn't have the imagination to call her anything but her name ;)

LOLOL Good point!

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