Of Days and Ends

A/N: I hope you are enjoying what you've read so far. The little voice in my head is beginning to be very defeatist, so I'm keeping it busy on the keyboard at the mo'. Toodles!
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Chapter 2—Life in Grimmauld Place

The next few days passed hurriedly enough as the trio and Ginny rested for their first practical defence lesson with Moody. Ron had joked that it would be no different than any of the other lessons Moody taught. All of his lessons had a practical application, and Hermione reflected on the many curses she had been hit with in lessons. Harry had only been through about 3 lessons since he had returned from the Dursley’s, but, as usual, was able to withstand the curses much better than the rest, but he was just as nervous about this latest turn of events.

Their breakfast that morning remained very quiet as each of them remained absorbed in their defence books and their thoughts. In the middle of the meal, something suddenly came to Hermione, and she closed the book and stared at her food.

Snape claimed to have access to The Book of Days and Ends. Her first instinct said to go find the book that was written by Merlin. Her reasoning said not to go, because she couldn’t take backup to a secret-kept house and it could be a trap. Then her reasoning said that there were ways to go undetected and she started to lose the battle with her first impulse. She began leaning towards going after everyone fell asleep that night, when her thoughts were interrupted.

“That goes in your mouth, y’know?” Hermione turned to look at Ron who had leaned in to whisper in her ear, and found her face a mere inch from his. The tension was immediate and his slow-growing smile didn’t help.

They had acknowledged that they may have had something together at the beginning of the summer, but had made no actions to further their cause. Now, however, being so close, Ron built up his courage and leaned in to kiss her. When their lips met, Hermione closed her eyes and let herself fall into the kiss. Across the table, Harry and Ginny noticed the lack of page turning and looked up, then at each other with a shocked impression, and then, blushing, began scraping around their bowls loudly and clearing their throats.

The couple remained oblivious as Mrs. Weasley entered and sternly cleared her throat behind them. Ron and Hermione snapped apart as though shocked, “It is about time you two realize what you have. I’m proud of you both, but not over the table, dears. Wait until you are in private please.” They stared at each other, incredulous and blushing. Harry was the first to snort with laughter and soon they were all laughing.

That didn’t last long as Moody stomped into the room, “Now, let’s get started.”

“They haven’t finished their food, Alastor! These kids need their nourishment.” Mrs. Weasley called out from the kitchen.

“And I suppose Voldemort is going to offer them nourishment before a duel, eh?” They got up immediately and trudged upstairs to the big bedroom turned defence arena and waited in silence for Moody to finish his argument with Mrs. Weasley. Ron sat down on the old battered beanbag and sighed as he watched Hermione, absorbed in thought at the window. Harry and Ginny stood at opposite corners of the room. Harry, with wand in hand, created a little, blue, smoke dog in front of him. Ginny stared at her feet.

“They’ll be down before you know it, Molly!” They could hear Moody’s voice on the stairs and Ron stood up, pulled out his wand, and faced the door. Hermione turned just as Harry banished his smoke dogs with a swish of his hand. Ginny drew her wand slowly and silently and rolled her shoulders to loosen up. Hermione listened to the silence and cocked her head curiously.

Moody usually made quite a loud ruckus when he walked, but they weren’t hearing anything. Hermione thought carefully and decided that maybe she should squat. It was more likely that he would be expecting everyone to be standing if he were to decide to catch them by surprise, and she would have an advantage if he didn’t find her where he expected.

“What do you suppose is taking him so long?” Ron asked nervously.

Hermione lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper, “He’s watching us.”

A brief second later, so many things happened in quick succession that it could only be termed an ambush. Moody apparated into the middle of the room and ducked as Ginny and Harry shot spells at him immediately. Unfortunately, Harry and Ginny happened to be standing directly opposite of each other, so when Moody ducked, Harry was hit with a brilliant stupefy and Ginny was knocked off her feet and into the wall by an overzealous expelliarmus. Ron and Hermione had taken a different approach, which was fortunate because their shield spell protected them from Moody’s first assault. Ron ducked behind the beanbag, but it wasn’t long before Moody had broached his hiding place with a spell to throw the beanbag. Ron threw a few desperate spells at Moody, but they were all dodged. Hermione immediately threw up a shield spell, but Moody shot an unexpected hex at her that went right through the shield.

The pain that shot through her body was excruciating and she screamed at a surreal pitch, reaching registers she didn’t even realize she had. Ron shot a stunning spell at Moody and distracted him from his torture of Hermione. Hermione felt her body relax and remained on the floor panting.

She really wasn’t ready to move, but when Moody stood over her with his wand in his belt and a hand offered to her, she raised her hand to accept. The world spun around her as she looked around and her vision cleared, she saw Ron, Harry, and Ginny all unconscious. Moody levitated the beanbag behind her and helped her sit down. She watched as he went around the room waking the others. Moody woke Ron last before he came back to her and gave her a piece of chocolate.

“That actually was better than I expected. At least you were all prepared,” said Moody who watched Hermione carefully. “We have a lot to discuss, but we’ll save that for tomorrow.”

Ron seemed to have fully oriented himself again and leapt up from the floor with his wand drawn at the back of Moody’s head. “It’s called an Unforgivable for a reason you cruel bastard!”

Harry and Ginny both reacted in surprise and screamed, “Ron!”

“You wouldn’t want to be trying to start a duel with me Mr. Weasley!” Moody said in a low dangerous voice.

“Ronald, get control of yourself!” Hermione snapped after dabbing her mouth clean of chocolate.

Harry stepped forward with a suspicious look on his face, “What did you do?”

“Yeah, Moody, tell him.” Ron snarled.

Moody merely growled and Ron raised his wand as though readying himself.

“Stop it, Ron.” Hermione ground out, standing, and stepping between Ron and Moody’s back.

Ron dropped his wand arm, but his gaze remained fixed as though he were still staring at the back of Moody’s head. He was seething. Harry asked again what happened. Ron glanced at Hermione’s face and then turned to Harry, “Moody hit Hermione with the Cruciatus Curse.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and Moody rose. “As I said, we will discuss it tomorrow. For now, you all need to talk about it, and see if there was something to learn from this.”

As Moody stomped out of the room, Ron stepped up to Hermione and pulled her to him. When his lips touched hers, she leaned into the kiss and accepted its comfort. Harry and Ginny glanced at each other longingly, but immediately began to study the floorboards when they caught each other’s gaze. Ron broke the kiss and leaned his head against her shoulder. She looked down at him and noticed his blush rising from his neck. “I really couldn’t stand to hear you in pain. I almost ran to you.”

Hermione smiled and addressed Harry and Ginny, “After Moody apparated in, you two fired off your hexes at the same time. When Moody ducked, Harry was hit with Ginny’s stupefy and Ginny was knocked out against the wall by Harry’s expelliarmus. Ron and I had put up defensive spells, and his first three hexes were shielded from us. That’s when Ron got out a few offensive spells and I shot an offensive spell and went back into defence.”

“He saw his chance to get Hermione and hit her with the Cruciatus Curse and I tried to stop him by throwing out a Stunning Spell, but he put up a reflective spell and I was hit with it.” Ron interjected.

“That must be when he released me from the spell then.”

“We missed a lot.” Sighed Ginny.

“So… Hermione wins?” Harry asked.

“Looks like it.” Ginny agreed.

“What?” Ron said in surprise, “She was incapacitated before me!”

“So. She was conscious last, and listen to you using a big word!” Ginny mocked him.

“Oh, shut up! I fired off the last spell.”

“That knocked you out, mate.” Harry agreed with Ginny.

“Hermione!” Ron had turned to her for her opinion, but found her by the window in thought again, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Ron.”

Typical of his personality, he didn’t press the matter and returned to the previous subject, “So, did I win?”

Hermione was annoyed by the intrusion on her thoughts and rolled her eyes. “Moody will tell us tomorrow.”

“But until then, who do you think won.”

“Hermione.” Ginny interjected.

Hermione opened her mouth to answer, and was interrupted by Ron shushing his sister, “Look, I know what you two dunderheads think, but Hermione can make up her own mind, so let her--”

“Me.” Hermione said without any real interest.

“What?” Ron shouted, and there began Ron’s silent treatment of them all the rest of that day. Hermione had every intention of taking the opportunity his anger presented that night, but as she sat in front of the fireplace grill in the early hours of the morning, she found herself growing steadily more nervous and unsure about her decision. Everybody had been asleep for hours, but she had a greater worry than being caught by the occupants of Grimmald Place . She was extremely worried about being caught by Voldemort and his followers.

She stayed up all night thinking, reading, preparing, and planning before deciding to give it a bit more time. She packed all her books together and trudged up the stairs, pausing to glance out of Grimmauld Place’s window. It was beginning to become quite a boring custom for her, because nothing ever happened outside. Somehow she was always drawn to look, and all she saw was a pair of cats running across the street. The night was over for her and it was obvious that she had better get some sleep. Mrs. Weasley would be waking within a few hours.

When Hermione reached the landing on the floor of her bedroom, she could hear a few raised voices in the room she and Ginny were using when her mother allowed her to stay the night. Mrs. Weasley protectively slept just upstairs when Ginny stayed overnight. She had reluctantly agreed to give Ron more leeway, but refused to do the same for Ginny who was being sent back to school by the end of the week. Mr. Weasley seemed to be content with the knowledge that the house was Secret-kept and slept at The Burrow.

Hermione stepped close to the door to eavesdrop on the hushed sounds within and heard Harry and Ginny still awake and arguing.

“We’ve talked about this already, and you didn’t seem to have a problem with it then.”

“That’s beside the point. You think you can handle something sometimes and then you realize that you aren’t that strong. Please, Harry, this has been torture for me, and don’t lie and say it hasn’t been for you too.”

“It hasn’t been, Ginny, and I’m telling the truth. Being with you was torture.”

“You keep saying that!”

“And you know how I mean it!

Ginny lowered her voice, obviously on the edge of tears, “No, Harry. That’s not fair, and you know it.”

“No, no, no… don’t start.”

“You always make me seem so weak, and feel so weak.”

“That’s why I ca--”

“Stop it, Harry, stop it! You have no right!”

“I have every right!” The argument was building fury again.

“You can’t tell me you don’t want this relationship because you don’t want to put me in harm’s way. I will always be there beside you, whether I go as your friend or your girlfriend. You can’t stop me from helping you or saving you or risking my life for you.”

“They’ll find out.”

“So they may.”

“They’ll try to find you.”

“Let them come.”

“It’ll kill me if they hurt you.”

“Please, Harry?” There was a long silence, and Hermione almost knocked when Ginny continued after a sigh. Inside, Harry had hung his head, and Ginny knew she now had the upper hand. “I know.”

“I can’t.” He threw his hands up, and Ginny took that opportunity to step under his arms and hug him.

“I know.”

He tried to push her weakly away, “Please, Ginny?”

“I know. I know, Harry. I know.” She had won and he stopped pushing on her. She leaned back to look at him and stroked his cheek.

From outside the door, Hermione could hear the brief wet sound of a lingering kiss and then a thud as Harry pushed Ginny against the wall a moment later. Hermione decided to fold her hands together and wait patiently outside the door. When she heard a soft gasp from Ginny while Harry cupped a breast in his hand, Hermione’s mouth dropped open. She stood up when the sound of the first bedspring creaking reached her ears. Shaking her head, she set a Silencing Spell on the door for them, and went back downstairs with a smile on her face. She decided it would be better to sleep on the couch and was soon snoozing contentedly.

Meanwhile, Ginny now found herself in a place of control with Harry. He had allowed himself to be pushed onto the bed and she straddled his hips, stripping off her light blue night-blouse in a smooth motion, letting it drop from her fingers onto the floor nearby. Harry reached up and Ginny rocked her body forward over the growing bulge in his night-pants. She took the hands he offered her and rocked again, causing him to groan when he realized that she wasn’t wearing underclothes under her night skirt.

He stretched his fingers out and tried to release her hands, but she gripped them tightly. He wanted so badly to touch her, and she knew it but kept him at bay. Ginny Weasley was in control and she was ready to milk Harry’s pleasure and give him such an amazing night that he wouldn’t be able to get her off his mind for years.

“Harry,” Ginny began. He grunted and ground his confined, groin against her, “tell me the truth.”

He seemed to come to his senses for a moment and tried to sit up, so Ginny slid to the floor in front of him and pulled down his night-bottoms. His hard cock sprung free and Ginny immediately began breathing heavily with anticipation.

Harry was shocked by her boldness. After all the last time they had had sex was the first time they had had sex and she had been no virgin, but she was still shy with him. He sat back on the bed and remained frozen in place as she took him in her hands and slid her mouth over him without hesitation.

“Oh, Ginny!” exclaimed Harry, dropping himself back along the bed.

Ginny took her mouth off of him immediately, “So what was that you were saying?”

Harry pulled his head up and stared at her for a few seconds, and Ginny could tell that he was losing the mood for sex as his penis became softer. Sticking her tongue out to remedy the problem, but not touching him, she breathed hot breath on his member and smiled as he became hard again. She couldn’t push him yet for what she wanted, so she relaxed that issue and laid her mouth over him again. He relaxed his head back and Ginny continued to bob on his shaft. She too became very aroused and used one hand to rub her clit at the same time.

Harry was battling with himself. On one hand he wanted to take Ginny back into his life as his girlfriend, but on the other hand, he knew that he couldn’t bear to make her a casualty of the war if they continued the way they were. The fact that all the blood was continuing to build pressure in his penis made him push all thoughts of anything else out of his mind.

Ginny could feel herself reaching the brink and began to go deeper on him choking a bit and pulling back as she began to lose control. It was a total surprise to both of them when her body convulsed in orgasm and she went so deep on him that he could feel himself sliding down her throat. He immediately dragged her to her knees over him to keep himself from exploding in her mouth. She took care of the rest, sliding his engorged cock into her opening. They both immediately groaned in unison, and Ginny began rocking.

Harry let her control the pace as she began to build up again, but obviously grew tired of the slow pace, and flipped her onto her back. Ginny gasped and Harry pulled her legs up onto his shoulders to pound into her body, “Oh, Harry! Harry, yes! Yes! YES!” Encouraged, he closed his eyes and moved faster, earning a scream of pleasure from Ginny as her muscles began to tense around him. “Harry, yes! Harry, yes! Ooooooooooooooooooooh!”

Her pussy was like a vice grip and he knew he would likely come with her this time. He opened his eyes to look at her, and gasped as her brown eyes locked with his in the throes of passion. Her mouth formed an “O” and she let loose a guttural growl as she came. He released his breath violently and let his seed flow into her body, collapsing against her. Ginny recovered first and asked while he was coming down from his high, “Harry, tell me the truth.”

In his post orgasmic haze he let the words he was holding back tumble from his lips, “I love you.” Ginny smiled and let him roll off of her and fall asleep by her side.

In response, she murmured an exhausted and satisfied, “I love you too.”