Erlking

(A/N- Sorry, couldn't help myself. Oh yeah, I meant to say earlier- please forgive all spelling mistakes and grammatical errors- I've yet to find me a beta, and any writer knows you can't really edit your own work- anyone who wants to beta the future chapters before I post them is more than welcome to,just give me a holler! Also...reviews would be really really nice...This is my first adult fanfiction...)

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Chapter 4

Hermione opened her eyes to bright blinding light. In the doorway she could see Ginny grinning at her, and Mrs Weasley sillouetted against the morning's sunshine.
Blimey. She must have slept right through.
She felt refreshed, but when she tried to move, her muscles screamed in protest.
Bloody hell. Swiftly she looked down and saw a blood spattered cut on her left arm.
Panicking, she clapped her hand over it,but not before Ginny had seen. Mrs Weasley, however, seemed blissfully oblivious.
"Good morning, Hermione, dear. Just thought I'd pop by and see how you all were, the house seems so empty these days with just me and Arthur-" She rambled on, turning from the window to beam at her. Hermione grumbled sleepily and muttered:
"What time is it?"
"Breakfast time, dear, now hurry up, the toast will be cold." She chivved Hermione out of bed, bustling to the wardrobe and picking out some clothes for her.
"It's supposed to be cold." stated Ginny mutinously from the doorway.
"Is not." said Hermione.
"Is too." said Ginny, poking her tongue out at Hermione like a little girl.
"Girls!" Mrs Weasley interrupted before they could make a serious argument out of it. "Now have a shower, Hermione, and come straight down. You're right. Toast is supposed to be hot." and on that note, she left the room, leaving Hermione to smirk triumphantly at Ginny and give her the two fingered salute,before heading into the bathroom.

Hermione turned on the shower and stepped under the spray, enjoying the pounding of the water on her aching body. She bent her head, letting the water soak her hair and heard Ginny come in and perch herself on the lid of the toilet.
"What happened to your arm?" the younger girl shouted over the noise of the shower.
"No bloody idea." Hermione lied,shampooing her hair, which was getting so long this was a major effort in itself. Straightening it had increased its length by almost a third, and it still caught her unawares sometimes, when she brushed her hair or caught sight of herself in the mirror.
"I had this bizarre dream though...I must have been thrashing about in my sleep."
Ginny was silent for a moment
"Actually you were wriggling, with this massive smile on your face...wish I had dreams like that. It'd be worth a cut on the arm, wouldn't it?" The redhead observed.
"Fuck off!" Hermione yelled, glad Ginny couldn't see her blushing. "It wasn't like that!"
"Mmm hmm." Ginny said. Hermione could hear the patent disbelief in her voice. "Were you having a kinky dream about Snape? " Hermione let out an indignant squeal
"What! NO!"
"Bet you were" Ginny needled." I bet you were going ' ohhhhh...Severus...What a great,big,huge...nose, you have!'"
Shoulders shaking with laughter, Hermione yanked the shower head out of it's holder and threw back the shower curtain
"RIGHT. You're gonna get it now!" She growled, aiming the spray at Ginny, who squealed and bolted for the door. Hermione drenched her, laughing like a cartoon villain, and when Ginny finally made it out the door, she yelled at her back
"That's what you get for being a cheeky bugger!" and went back to her shower.

A short time later, clean and dressed, her hair tied up in its usual plait, she made her way downstairs for breakfast..
She ignored Mrs Black's shrill shrieks of "MUDBLOOD! FILTH! GET OUT OF MY HOOOOOOUSSSSE!" She flipped the portrait the middle finger, and opened the door to the kitchen. It was conspicuously quiet. Grimmauld place was always a hive of activity these days. What with Harry's decision to move here after his 17th birthday, the neccessity of Ron and Hermione remaining at his side, and various members of the order and old school friends trooping in and out the house, it was never ever quiet. Two weeks after Harry, Ron and Hermione had moved in, Fred and George had declared the flat above their shop 'boring' and moved themselves in, bringing Ginny with them, and a couple of weeks after that, Lupin's landlord had discovered he was a werewolf and summarily evicted him, all of which delighted Harry and the others. They were used to boarding school life and the quiet of only their own company in the evenings had been getting to them. The more people here the merrier,as far as Harry was concerned, and it wasn't like he didn't have room for them,and others. Mrs Weasley shuffled around preparing food, as the various members of the household ate their food and talked quietly. Lupin was in deep conversation with Luna Lovegood, who was watching Fred and George throw bits of toast and scrambled egg at each other like children. Tonks was entertaining Ron with some impromptu shapeshifting, and Harry sat and picked at his food,staring down at the table miserably. Ginny was sat closest to the doorway, and as Hermione passed her to take a seat next to Ron, she heard her whistling 'A cauldron full of hot,strong love'. Hermione threw her a filthy look, which just made Ginny grin widely. "Cow!" Hermione mouthed at her silently. Ginny giggled and mouthed back "Moooo!"
"Please stop that" Mrs Weasley gave Hermione her breakfast, moaning at Tonks, who was now sporting a dolphin nose."Nymphadora, you're making me seasick!" Tonk's nose went back to normal and she made a face at Mrs Weasley's back. Ron nudged her and said "Yeah, Nymphadora." Which made her scowl at him too,and pelt him with her boiled egg shell. Hermione watched all this with amusement, and spotting a copy of The Daily Prophet under Ron's arm, snatched it up and shook out the front page, whereupon she promptly sprayed toast crumbs all over the table.

"HARRY POTTER-SEX GOD?" The headline screamed, above a set of pictures of him. The biggest one was one taken at the Triwizard tournament, looking very shifty and embarrased. Underneath that were pictures of him with Luna, at Slughorn's Christmas party, of Him and Cho Chang at Madam Puddifoot's, one of him and Ginny together at Dumbledore's funeral, and three pictures of him and Hermione- two of them hugging, and one of her storming away from him and ron, surrounded by a cloud of angry canaries.The last was one of him with his arm slung around Ron's shoulder after a quiddich match, both grinning widely at each other. It looked pretty damning, actually.
Hermione's eyes flicked over the pictures with increasing irritation, finally seeking out the article at the bottom of the page and reading the byline with disgust.
"Our special correspondant Rita Skeeter returns from a two year sabbatical a registered animagus-and with this fantastic scoop-exclusive to the Daily Prophet!"
The article itself was full of the usual drivel- but Hermione had to give the woman credit for the sheer level of vitriol it contained.
"Harry Potter, 19, must surely win the prize as Hogwart's Stud of the Year- the scar-bearing chosen one seems to be choosing a fair few himself!
'Harry's a real dreamboat' ex-girlfriend Romilda Vane sighed when interviewed by this avid reporter. " But it was destined to end. He said he loved me, but he didn't tell me he was loving everyone else as well!" The stunning brunette then described her year-long struggle with Harry's promiscuity, and former classmate Pansy Parkinson speculates he might even be a sex-addict.
'It's textbook, isn't it?' says the ferociously intelligent Parkinson, 'Starved for affection, isn't he? He tried it on with me once, of course, but I told him I was a decent girl, not like that slut Granger he hangs around with. Rumour has it they've been shagging since fourth year...'
Potters amorous advances don't seem to be exclusive to the fairer sex, either; former classmate, and current Reserve Keeper for the Birmingham Bolverks Cormac McLaggen is quoted as saying 'That ginger prat he hangs around with, Weasley? Bit more than friendship there,if you ask me. Potter picked him for the team once, when I clearly performed better at tryouts...' "

Hermione dropped the newspaper and looked around the table. Everyone was carefully avoiding her gaze.
"Have you all read this?" she demanded. One by one, they nodded. Harry just covered his face in his hands, mortified. There was a breif silence, then George grinned and threw a piece of toast at Ron.
"I always knew you were a poof, Ron." He smirked. Then the whole table was roaring with laughter. Ginny wiped her streaming eyes and said,
"Have you got to the bit about the horntail tattoo on his bum?" She sobbed with laughter, turning the page.
"What about the group orgies in Gryffindor tower?" Ron followed, pointing at the bottom of the article.
"Orgies." Hermione said flatly, trying to stop her mouth twitching.
"Yeah," said George "Apparently we were all at it all the time."
"I only wish I'd known!" Fred added wistfully "I was gagging for a shag all through my sixth year. To think my body was having sex without me all that time, and didn't bother to inform me!"
"George!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed, blushing bright scarlet and mixing up the twins in her embarrassment. "no sex or politics at the table!" She demanded.
George shook his head and pointed at his brother.
"Fred" He corrected.
"Well, whichever of you it was, watch your mouthes!" She frowned repressively at them, and Hermione continued reading the article.
" Harry potter is reported to have 'intimate' relationships with several members of the respected Weasley family," She read aloud, making Harry's face turn and even darker shade of puce.
"Oh Harry!" George cried, throwing himself to his knees beside Harry's chair
"Harry you said I was the only one!" He exclaimed in mock anguish as Fred fell to his knees on Harry's other side and wailed:
"But Harry you told me I was the only one!"
"Oh god!" George sobbed "Not my brother Harry! Not my own twin!" Finally, Harry laughed, and threatened to hex them both if they didn't get the hell away from him. Still chuckling, they sat back in their respective chairs, ignoring Mrs Weasley's rant about "impropriety" at the breakfast table, and Ginny muttered: "Ex-girlfriend Romilda Vane...as if that scheming witch ever had a chance with my-" She broke off, blushing as if suddenly realising she was talking aloud. Harry raised an eyebrow at her and smiled, causing her to duck her head and avoid his eyes. From then on breakfast continued, as normal, albeit without the frequent profanity caused by large numbers of young people living on their own.