Jake was brought to his destination moments later, his luggage was safely tucked into his pouch, and he stepped out of the fireplace, bending down to step out of it. The moment he looked up from his head clearing the fireplace, he was tackled by a Brown, Bushy Haired girl; her embrace was as warm as ever, "Jake! I'm so glad to see you!"
He wrapped his arms around her, "I'm glad to s-see you as well, Hermione," he felt his cheeks burn a little, "How long have you been waiting for me?"
She pulled back and he saw that her cheeks were a light red, "Only for about five minutes. I just stood up when I saw the green flames appear, and then I saw you a-and..." stepped back from him and got a good look at him. She saw that he had only gotten more handsome over the past month; in her mind, she was slowly removing that shirt of his, planting kisses all over his toned chest.
He saw her cheeks darken in color, and he got a good look at her; he was not ready for the beautiful girl that stood in front of him. He had noticed she was growing more beautiful a little over a month ago, but he was not ready for the end result at all.
He was brought out of his staring when she gasped, "Wh-What happened to your arms?" She walked back up close to him and gently grabbed one of his arms to look at the scarring.
"Training... I've had a busy month," he said and looked over to see Molly Weasley appear in the living room.
She gasped upon seeing his eye-patch, "Jake!? What happened?" She rushed over and grabbed him by the cheeks, turning his head every which way to look at it.
"Did Ron not tell you?" He asked as she let go of him, standing back up to his full height. Hermione noticed he had gotten a little taller.
"Well he did, but I had a hard time believing it actually happened... I figured Madam Pomfrey would've been able to regrow it-" Mrs. Weasley said, fussing over him, then she grabbed his other arm as Hermione had forgotten she was still holding the other, "and your arms, how long have they been like this?"
"Early July. Mrs. Weasley, you don't have to fuss over me. I've been taking care of myself since March just before First Year started, and if it wasn't for the book Hermione got me, these wouldn't look as good as they do, or as cleaned up as they do, I promise you that," Jake said, putting his hands up to try and get her to stop worrying as much as she was.
"You shouldn't be doing things so dangerous that would cause your arms to look like this anyway," she tried to argue.
"I can't keep myself or Hermione safe if I don't, Mrs. Weasley," Jake said honestly.
Hermione turned away to hide her reddening cheeks. Before Molly could say anything more, Ginny had come down the stairs and ran up to Jake upon seeing him, "Morning, Jake!" She gave him a quick hug, having to look up at him, "Did you get taller?"
"I might have... wasn't really focusing on my height in July," he said with a slight smirk.
"Is that why your arms look like they do?" She asked him.
"Yes, they will be fine, trust me," he said, trying to shift focus from him and his arms.
"Are you hungry? I've got breakfast cooking right now if you are?" Molly asked him, accepting that he didn't want to talk about it.
"Yes, actually. I forgot to eat before I left-" he stopped himself before he explained where he was staying, so far only Hermione knew, "m-my place of residence." Truth be told he actually hadn't been eating breakfast the entire summer.
"Alright, after Hermione shows you to your room, come back down to the Dining Room," she smiled at him and walked into the kitchen.
"Come on," Hermione said, grabbing his hand and leading him to his room. Ginny followed as well, which was not what Hermione wanted, but she said nothing. "This is where you will be staying. Mrs. Weasley thought it better to put you in your own room."
"I'm very thankful for that," he said, not explaining why. He walked over to the bed and turned around, sitting down on it with his hands a bit behind him as he leaned backwards, sighing as he did, "Does Mr. Weasley already have your tickets?"
"Yeah, dad got them a week ago," Ginny said, eager for the World Cup.
"You have yours I assume?" Hermione asked him.
He patted his pouch, which he had tied to his belt, "Tucked safely in here." Hermione knew what he meant, she had seen the inside of it, but Ginny was none the wiser.
"Seems like a safe place to keep a few small items, doesn't it?" Ginny asked Hermione.
"That it does, Gin," Hermione smiled, looking at the redhead.
Jake stood up, "Well, I'll unpack the few things I brought later tonight. I'm starving... I just can't help feeling like I'm intruding or something..."
"Nonsense, Mum invited you here. If she thought you were intruding, she would've told you to Floo back wherever you came from, trust me," Ginny said to ease his worries.
He nodded and took another glance around the mostly empty room, "Whose room did this used to belong to?"
"It used to be Bill's old room from what Mum said," Ginny informed him.
Hermione stood there, looking at Jake, wishing Ginny would just walk away. Not like Hermione was going to do anything to or with Jake, but she knew he wanted to open the Pouch without having to explain yet again where he pulled stuff from, "Come on, let's go eat breakfast," Hermione said, extending her hand towards him.
He walked up and grabbed her hand; soft was the word he would use to describe her hand. She led him back down, letting go after getting to the living room. He followed her into the dining room and took a seat next to her. Despite what Ginny said, he still felt like he was intruding; like a parasite, leeching off of its host. Ginny had just sat down across from Jake when Molly walked in, "Ginny, be a dear and go wake your brother and Harry up?" Ginny nodded and got back up reluctantly, walking in the direction of the staircase, again, "The food is ready, I'll bring it out in a moment," she smiled at them and walked back into the kitchen.
Hermione was glad to finally be alone with him again for a moment, "What have you been training exactly?"
"Sixth and Seventh Year Spells. If I am to keep the people I care about safe, then I need to know as many spells as possible," he said to her.
"Jake we - we're only starting Fourth Year..." she was in awe of him once again. He never failed to amaze her.
"I know. Some of them are more dangerous than others, but it has to be done. I have to-" he stopped talking when Molly walked back in with plates of food hovering in front of her. She set the table and told him to help himself.
He was reluctant at first to start eating, "Jake, I insist, help yourself, there is plenty to go around for everyone," Molly said and stood there until he filled his plate with food. She smiled and walked back into the kitchen just as Ginny came back, filling up her plate as well.
"Are you not going to eat, Hermione?" Ginny asked the slightly older Witch.
"Huh? Oh - er..." she grabbed roughly the same amount of food as Jake did and began to eat. Harry came down a little later and greeted Jake.
"Going for the long hair look, Potter?" Jake teased.
"At least it doesn't look shaggy," Harry fired back.
"Oh, you wound me with your words," Jake feigned hurt and clutched his chest.
Hermione gave him a light smack on the shoulder. He almost said something he knew he'd regret, especially in front of more than just Hermione, so he just ignored her, which only made her fully turn to him, her hands were fists and they were on her waist, "Are you just going to sit there and ignore me?" He pretended to not hear her, "Jake! Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
He casually looked in her direction, "Oh, Hermione, I didn't know you were here," he said, acting he only just noticed her presence.
She was glaring at him, "You are such a prat."
"Someone has to be until Ron gets down here," Jake said. Fred and George joined them soon, greeting Jake in a way only they could, which prompted Molly to yell at them.
Bill and Charlie both walked in through the front door with Arthur, and Jake greeted them politely. Ron eventually came down, the only one Jake didn't see was Percy, and he wasn't about to ask for his whereabouts.
"Can't remember the last time we had a table this full," Arthur said, commenting about all of the people sitting at Breakfast.
"Anymore and we'd have to move breakfast outside," Molly said to her husband.
"It feels weird, seeing so many people at one table. Hogwarts doesn't count, by the way," Jake said to Hermione beside him.
Hermione remembered last year on August 31st, when she, Harry, and the Weasley's, minus Bill and Charlie, all had that dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. Jake would've likely been there had she been able to find him, "Yeah, it is a lot of people..."
"You alright?" He asked leaning forward to look at her.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she gave him a weak smile.
"Hermione-" Jake started but was interrupted by Bill.
"Hey, Jake, so is it true that you lost the eye to a Boggart?" Bill asked.
"Now William! That's a rude thing to ask at the breakfast table!" Molly said immediately.
"Shall I ask him at Dinner, then?" Bill asked her with a cheeky grin.
"If you must ask such a question, ask it outside of the Kitchen," Molly scolded him.
"It's fine..." Jake said, "yes, I did lose it to a Boggart..."
"How bad was it that it caused you to lose an eye?" Charlie asked him.
Jake didn't say anything, "Too personal, we get it," Bill said, giving Charlie a look to not ask further.
Hermione watched them a moment before fully turning her attention to Jake; he had a neutral look on his face, which Hermione knew to mean that he was doing it to keep calm. He still didn't like talking about his Adoptive Father, and really only she knew that for a fact. She placed a hand on his forearm, and she smiled at him when he looked at her, silently letting him know she was there for him.
After Breakfast ended, all of the boys and Ginny went outside to play some Quidditch. Jake went to his room to 'get his Firebolt' and then met them outside. Before he walked out, he quickly took both of his luggage bags out of his nearly bottomless pouch, waiting until tonight to sort through them.
"Jake, where did you get your Firebolt from? I didn't see you with it when you got here," Ginny said when he got out there.
"Magic," he smirked as he said that.
Hermione was out there on the sidelines, watching them, "So, Hermione, whose team are you going to root for?" Ginny asked her, already predicting her answer.
"Well, I hope that-"
"You're rooting for Jake, aren't you?" She asked, cutting her off.
She turned red in her cheeks, "So what if I do?" She demanded from Ginny.
"I was just seeing how predictable your answer was going to be," she said and mounted her broom, only to dismount it a second later.
"Alright, we need two Team Captains, and since Charlie and I are the oldest, I say we be the Captains," Bill suggested.
"That's fine with me," Jake said, holding his Firebolt horizontally.
"Since you and Harry both each have a Firebolt, neither of you can be on the same team," Fred said.
"Otherwise it'd be an unfair advantage," George finished for him.
"Then the twins can't be on the same team, either," Harry said, smirking.
Bill chose first by reasoning of being the Oldest, and his first pick was Ginny.
Charlie chose George as his first Pick, meaning Fred defaulted to Bill's team.
Bill picked Harry, meaning Jake was on Charlie's team, and because of Ron being the last technically chosen, he went to Charlie's team.
The teams were Balanced for a 4v4 match. Hermione sat there, watching them fly around. She hated flying, but she would give a broomstick another go if she could share one with Jake. She wasn't confident in her own flying skills and felt like she had to rely on someone else. 'I'd always take a ride on his broomstick,' she thought to herself. It took her a moment to realize how that sounded and when she did, she knew her cheeks were red, so she hid her face in her hair.
She peeked through to see them having fun and she smiled when she looked at Jake. She loved him more than anything, and she would do whatever it took to keep him from getting seriously hurt this year. She'd do Anything for Him.
*******
That night, Hermione was awoken by a scream. She was sharing a room with Ginny when she woke up, it was coming from right across them. She got out of bed and hurried over to the door. Ginny was also awake and following her. When Hermione opened the door, Molly and Arthur were awake and already out in the hall, "What is that? It's coming from Jake's room," Molly said, about to open the door.
"Wait," Hermione said, stopping her, "l-let me go first. If Jake sees me..." she trailed off, but Molly looked reluctant to agree to it.
"AAAAARRRRRRGGHHHHH!" the scream was heard much more clearly that time.
Hermione didn't wait for Molly to move and pushed past her, opening the door to Jake's room. She saw him sitting there, wand in his hand, aimed right at her. It was dark, and she couldn't make out any detail about him, but she knew he was alert, "Jake, it's me... it's Hermione..." she walked in slowly, he never lowered his wand. His breathing was heavy, she noticed, but he wasn't firing off a spell.
She finally got close enough and placed a hand on his, lowering his arm so that it wasn't pointing at anyone. He didn't look at her, but his breathing slowed down, but it was far from even.
From the minimal amount of light shining into the room, Hermione noticed he was shirtless, and that he was shaking. She had her warm nightgown on, so she didn't notice it, but the temperature in the room was cold, about 9 Celsius, given the time of night. She looked around and grabbed a blanket, throwing it over him to try and warm him up some, "It's okay... it's okay..." she was on her knees on the bed, holding him, holding his head in her arms, trying to calm him down.
Hermione looked back to the door and saw almost every Weasley and Harry looking in. She really wished they wouldn't stare like they were at a Zoo or something. She held him until he was breathing normally. She looked and saw that he'd fallen back asleep. She kissed his forehead gently and carefully set him back down on the bed, keeping the blanket covered over him.
She got off the bed and walked out of the room, carefully closing the door behind her, "No one brings this up in the morning, please? If Jake wants to talk about it, he'll talk about it. If he doesn't, we don't breathe a word of it, okay?" Hermione asked them, "Okay?" She reiterated and re-emphasized.
"Okay..." was the general consensus. Everyone dispersed away back to their rooms to continue sleeping, except for Molly.
"Hermione. Do you have any idea what could be the cause of this?" She asked.
"No... this didn't happen last year... Harry and Ron would've told me," she said, 'But would they have? They were mad at me most of the year, it felt like... did they not tell me to spite me?'
"Maybe I should make a special breakfast for him tomorrow... well, you get some sleep, okay? I might have him take it easy; he was such a big help with things yesterday afternoon, but I want him to relax the coming day," Molly said and returned to her room with Arthur.
Hermione turned back and opened the door to his room. She looked at his sleeping figure as best she could with how little lighting there was. She quickly looked around, making sure that no one was around, and she slipped into his room again. She walked up to him and sat on the bed beside him. She gently placed the back of her hand on his forehead, "I don't know what's wrong, Jake, but I hope you'll tell me in the morning, or on the Hogwarts Express, or just at all... I want to be there for you, because I love you..." she leaned down, removed her hand, and kissed his forehead for a second.
She almost just got in bed beside him and slept there, and hoped that her presence would keep whatever happened from happening again, but she stood up and walked out of his room and back to Ginny's. She had a hard time falling back asleep knowing that Jake wasn't as okay as she wanted to believe.
*******
The following morning, Hermione was downstairs in the Weasley's living room, near the Fireplace reading a book. It was almost Eight o'clock and Jake had yet to show up. She stood up and saw Ginny arrive down the stairs, "Jake not up yet?" Ginny asked upon seeing her.
"No, I'm going to check on him," Hermione ascended the stairs and stopped just outside his door. She reached up to knock, and noticed the door was already slightly open. She pushed it a bit, "Jake?"
"Hold on," he said quickly. He appeared at the door a moment later, "Sorry, Hermione, I know I'm usually up sooner than this."
"No need to apologize. It's Summer Break after all," she smiled as he stepped out and pulled the door shut, "I'm going to assume you got your Summer Work done, right?" She asked as she began to walk down the stairs.
"Of course, I got that done before the second week was up," he said, walking behind her down the stairs.
Hermione reached the landing and turned around to look at him, "The Second Week?"
"Yeah," he stopped a couple of steps before the landing, "why?"
"It took me three and a half weeks to get it all done... and that was during and after we got back from France, my parents and I," Hermione looked right downtrodden.
He closed the gap and stood on the landing with her, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Hey, Hermione..." he paused only just registering what she said, "wait - you went to France?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you?" She looked at him.
"No... that would explain the slower than usual response time, though..." he said, his cheeks turning slightly red as he removed his hands from her shoulders.
"I'm sorry, I thought I told you... we spent a few weeks there, they needed a vacation, and I wanted to see France, so they let me go with them. I thought about asking if that offer extended to you, but I feel like you would've declined?" She asked him, one eyebrow cocked.
"I would've politely declined, yes. I had too much important stuff to do in July," he said.
They both turned and saw Ginny standing there, looking at them, "Mum said breakfast is ready," Ginny began to smirk and walked to the dining room.
"What was the smirk for?" Jake asked Hermione.
"I don't know," she responded, 'I think I actually do, but... we aren't, so her assumption for it was wrong...'
They both walked into the Dining Room and Molly immediately began badgering him about his well-being, despite Hermione asking her to not, but she figured it was the motherly instinct in her, so she didn't say anything.
"Mrs. Weasley, I'm fine," he said earnestly. He then spoke quietly so only Hermione could hear, "I just had a... a nightmare..."
"What was it about?" Hermione asked him.
"That's the thing, I can never remember. And each time I experience it... it gets harder and harder to make anything out..."
"Each time you experience it?" She asked and he looked at her, "How long has this been going on for?"
"..."
"Jake?" She softly spoke his name.
"July 3rd..." he said quietly.
"And it's happened - what, every night?"
"Yeah... every night I experience it... and every night I wake up screaming, and on edge... the one thing I can remember from the nightmare is some group... They call themselves the Brotherhood of Grim ," he explained to Hermione.
"The Brotherhood of Grim ? I've never heard of them," Hermione said.
"I haven't either..." Jake said, "but I feel like I have to know..." he kind of lied to Hermione. He knew sort of what his Nightmare was about, his birth and his biological parents' deaths. He couldn't tell her that, not yet at least.
"Do you have any idea how to stop the nightmare from happening?" Hermione asked him. She was going somewhere with her question, and she really hoped he said yes.
"No... I'm open to ideas, though..." he looked at her just as Molly brought over breakfast, and a plate was pre-made especially for him. He didn't quite know how to feel about it, but Molly wasn't hearing it and told him to eat. He did, mainly out of politeness and respect.
When Molly walked away, Hermione voiced her suggestion, "Well... what if I stayed with you tonight?" He began coughing upon her suggestion. She looked at him and rubbed circles on his back, thumping him on the back to try and calm his coughing fit down.
"Wh-What?" He asked in a hoarse voice.
"Maybe someone being there with you will help?" She asked with surprising confidence; she didn't know where it came from.
"Maybe... we can try it after Mr. and Mrs. Weasley go to bed," Jake said.
Hermione was, quite honestly, surprised he accepted so quickly, "Wait really? Just like that?"
"If it can help in getting rid of my nightmare, I'm all for it," he shrugged and Hermione smiled at him. 'I can also use Silencio like I meant to last night, that way if I still do have the nightmare, I won't wake anyone else up.'
*******
Later that night, Hermione was in Ginny's room, the redheaded girl already asleep, and she could hear footsteps outside the room. She was standing in her nightgown next to the door, and she began to wonder just how she could actually help. She knew what she wanted to try, but she wanted him to be comfortable with it as well.
When there were no other sounds, she carefully opened the door and looked around, seeing no one. She quietly crept over to his room, closing Ginny's door quietly and opening Jake's door. He was sitting in his bed, his knees up and his forearms resting on them.
He didn't usually wear anything besides his underwear to bed, but he knew the room would be occupied by Hermione tonight, so he did put on pajamas so his scarring was covered up.
He looked at her as the door closed, "So... h-how were we going to do this?"
"Wh-What?" His question caught her off-guard.
"You, helping me with my nightmare, hopefully... how did you wanna try it?" He asked more elaborately.
"Oh... u-uhm... w-well... I thought... m-maybe... maybe if you had th-the security of kn-knowing that maybe someone w-was in the bed with you... m-maybe that would help keep the nightmare a-at bay?" She was surprised to get through that stuttered mess. She felt her face burning at her own suggestion, and her body didn't really feel that cold anymore, which meant her blood was running hot. Hermione wondered if something else liked her suggestion, something of his, 'Not now!' She screamed in her mind.
She had a strong feeling that his face, and maybe his body, was also burning from the suggestion, "O-Okay..." he agreed to her suggestion. They were only best friends, but not even best friends did this, it was more of a thing that two people in a relationship did. "G-Get in on either side... I-I guess..."
Hermione walked over to the right side of his bed and he laid down on his left side. Hermione slid under his covers, but she was afraid of laying against him, afraid he'd be weirded out by the closeness. She carefully placed a hand on his arm, and was thankful he didn't flinch from the contact. She pressed on to see where he would draw the line and snaked her arm under his, sliding closer and against him; her forearm came to rest on his lower chest and she could feel how toned it was. She chided herself for her impure thoughts and looked at the back of his head, "J-Jake?"
"Yeah?" She heard him ask.
"I-Is this too much? T-Too weird?" She asked him back.
"No... no it feels... it feels right, Hermione," she heard him say and he actually turned around under his arm to look at her, "it feels more than right."
She licked her lips and inched closer to him, pressing her lips to his. He kissed her back with a vigor she wasn't expecting. He pulled her closer and turned with her so he was over her, "Jake..." she looked up at him, she saw a hunger in his eye. She saw him go down to her neck and he kissed her lightly at first. He trailed the kisses down her neck and when he got to her nightgown, he raised up and looked at her. She didn't even need to be told what to do, as she silently obeyed his silent command.
She managed to maneuver her nightgown up slowly as she took it off, only her bra and knickers remained. She saw him go back down and he kissed her collarbone, earning a light moan from her that she couldn't contain. He trailed kisses over to the top of her sternum, before proceeding to trail kisses down it in a line. She felt him kiss in between her breasts and she involuntarily shuddered. She squirmed underneath him in lustful desire.
Unable to wait any longer, Hermione took her hand and slid it beneath her knickers, lightly touching her sensitive area. She gave several gasps of self-pleasure as she felt his lips on her right breast. He then lay beside her as she still self-pleasured, and she felt his hand glide over her waist, down to her hips, and stop at her knickers. He slid his thumb underneath them and began pushing them down, in a severely teasing manner. He pushed them down to her mid-thigh, exposing her womanhood.
Hermione looked at him, her eyes begging for him to continue. He obliged and she felt his fingers touch her clitoral spot, sending a massive wave of pleasure through her shuddering body. She moaned for him, rather loudly, but with how good it felt, she didn't care.
"Hermione," she heard him say.
She looked at him, but he wasn't there. He had vanished. Hermione looked to the other side and saw Ginny standing over her, "G-Ginny? What are you doing in here?"
"This is my room..." Ginny trailed off, "Hermione, are you okay? I heard you make a weird noise that woke me up, were you having a nightmare as well?" Ginny asked.
Hermione looked down and saw that her nightgown was where it belonged, but it was too dark to be absolutely sure. She looked back up at Ginny, "No... not a nightmare... e-excuse me for a moment..."
Hermione got out of her bed and walked out of the room. When she was in the empty hallway, she lifted her nightgown and used her hand to feel her knickers; they were completely soaked.
'Oh, Hermione... What the hell is wrong with you?' She thought to herself. She walked across the hall to Jake's room and carefully peeked in. He was sound asleep, and it was already past the time he woke everyone up last night. Hermione quietly closed his door back and went to the loo; she had something to quickly take care of.
Jake opened his eye when he couldn't see any light through his eyelid; he was thankful he remembered the Silencing Charm before falling asleep initially, and was extra thankful that Hermione actually hadn't been in his room that night. He would dispel the Silencing Charm in the morning, for now he laid back down and rolled over to continue sleeping, this time, hopefully, without interruption.