Saturday, June 29th, 1994
"It appears our assassination list has just grown quite a bit," Harry said, "We're not wasting another moment. It is time to begin making plans. We have a long road ahead of us."
"Well, I have nothing better to do," Sirius said, "This would be the perfect time to begin our initial plans while we wait for dinner."
"I'll be right back," Hermione said, "Going to get some supplies for note-taking."
She stood and hurried out of the room. Meanwhile, Harry was rereading through Amelia's letter.
"Minister Fudge has barred any and all Ministry officials," he said, "from telling the public and the media about his decision to release Death Eaters. Only higher-up Ministry officials know, such as Amelia and Rufus Scrimgeour."
"Limits the backlash," Sirius said, "Fudge isn't stupid. He knows what he just did. If word gets out about this, there will be Howlers from the public demanding his resignation. Amy took a big risk giving us that news."
"How long do you think the Ministry can keep it a secret?" Harry asked.
"Oh, probably a good long while, if they play their cards well," Sirius said, "First off, who would want to reveal to the public that the Death Eaters are free? There isn't going to be any whistle-blowers. Sure, they might get Fudge out of the office, but they would instantly be Death Eater bait, if word got out that they blew the whistle."
"Lucius Malfoy has many connections in the Ministry," Harry said, "He could easily find out who blew the whistle, and said person would be dead within a week or less."
"Indeed," Sirius said, "I'm sure everyone who knows this information is smart to keep it secret. Amy trusts us, so she knows she is completely fine. Rufus Scrimgeour, on the other hand, might want to use it to put himself in office. As you said, if he did, he'd be dead within a week if he tried. Second, the riot in front of the Daily Prophet will be the big news. It will be enough to distract the media. As long as the newly-released Death Eaters don't scream to the heavens that they've been released, that is."
"They wouldn't," Remus said. "Everyone remembers what several of those Death Eaters got up to during the Great War. There are families still around, still affected by the loved ones that got injured or killed by the Death Eaters. People who would want their revenge."
"Anyway, if our plans go well," Sirius said, "We won't have to worry about it. They won't have a chance to do anything. If you want my opinion, I think they're going to lay low for at least a couple weeks. They were just released from Azkaban, after a long stay. They need to recuperate."
Hermione returned at that moment with parchment, quills and ink.
"Well, then we shouldn't waste time, should we?" Harry asked, as he watched Hermione start jotting down a few notes, "We should go after them while they're weak."
"Harry," Remus said, frowning, "Do you remember what I said when I agreed to go through with this? If I don't believe you're ready, I have the right to stop everything. Yes, I understand what might happen if we don't go through with this mission of yours. But you can't go head first without preparing."
"For starters," Sirius said, "we don't know where everyone lives or what they live in – be it a Manor or a run-down shack. We don't know if they have a family – if they do, and we kill only the Death Eater in that house, their family will wake up to find the Death Eater dead. What happens then?"
"They might alert the other Death Eaters," Harry said.
"Exactly!" Sirius said, "And before we know it we're dealing with harsher defenses, targets who will stay up all night, or partner up in groups and shifts. They won't be asleep when we go in, they'll be awake and expecting us! Or worse, they'll flee the country, then come back with a vengeance we won't be prepared for."
"Or they'll come back when Voldemort summons them," Harry said.
"Which is what we're working on trying to stop," Sirius said, "We are not ready to start immediately. For starters, Tonks needs to go to the Ministry and retrieve the information – locations, family details, blueprints if possible. Some of it is public records. Some of it won't be. I've been thinking about this. Very few people in the Ministry know of your talents, Tonks. However, one in particular does."
"Madam Bones," Tonks said.
"Correct," Sirius said, "Now, Amy and Susan will both be here a week from today. You two - Harry, Hermione – will be having a little play-date with Susan. Meanwhile, Amy, Remus and I will be working on important investigation stuff against Dumbledore. I'll keep Amelia here for a few hours. That gives you, Tonks, enough time to go to the Ministry and snoop around."
"A week," Harry said, "We'll have to wait a week to begin?"
"Next Saturday night into Sunday early morning can be our first night," Remus said, "If you're prepared by then. We have a lot to do. Sirius and I will make sure the house-elves know how to overcharge wards to bring them down. Harry, Hermione, you'll want to continue practicing your knife-throwing, because I'm sure it will be helpful. Focus on mannequins."
"Speaking of mannequins," Sirius said, "We could have situation training. You'll practice sneaking around the corridors of Potter Manor and into bedrooms quietly. If you make a noise, small enough for a house-elf to hear you – because these places may have house-elves who will alert their Masters at the first sight or sound of any intruders – we could have house-elves appear to tell you that you've been caught. Also, we'll have mannequins laying in the bedrooms, posing as your targets. There will also be occasional mannequins that magically pop up around the corridors, to prepare for the random event that a Death Eater is awake for a bathroom run or something."
"Probably best we don't have the mannequins active when we have house-elves on alert," Tonks said, "Wouldn't want these two to throw a knife or a spell at a house-elf."
Harry grimaced. "Good idea. So basically, we just need to think of a few strategies that will be useful. If a strategy works, we use it."
"If it fails, try again and modify it a little," Remus said, "Don't automatically discard it."
Harry nodded and turned to Hermione. "Do you remember all the names of active Death Eaters, Hermione?"
"Yes, I am writing them down as we speak," Hermione said.
"We won't worry about Bellatrix, or her husband and his brother," Harry said, "Since we know they're in Azkaban. And keep Barty Crouch, Junior off the list."
"I was under the impression Barty, Junior is dead," Sirius said.
"Right," Harry said, "We haven't explained that, have we? Barty, Junior is not dead. Your other self, Sirius, told us a story once. Bartemius Crouch, Senior and his sickly wife visited Azkaban once."
"Correct," Sirius said, "They visited their son. And he died a few days later and was buried near Azkaban."
"Nope," Harry said, "That would have been Mrs. Crouch. She was ill, Bartemius knew this. Her dying wish was to protect their son, take him away from Azkaban. Crouch played a whole switching game with his wife and son. They used Polyjuice Potion. Crouch's wife took her son's place. Dementors didn't notice anything. One sickly, weak person came into Azkaban, one sickly, weak person left – Barty, Junior, under the guise that he was his mother."
"Damn," Sirius said, looking rather impressed. "That's almost as impressive as my escape. You know what this means! I'm not the first prisoner to escape Azkaban! That kicks my reputation in the backside a little."
Harry chuckled. "Anyway, Crouch, Senior has kept his son under his control via the Imperius Curse, hidden in his own house for all this time. Soon enough, Wormtail – on Voldemort's orders – will confront Crouch, Senior, attack him, and do another switch. This time, Crouch, Senior will be under the Imperius Curse. Junior would take his place... and then he will do a few other things in the near future, all leading up to me being in the graveyard on the night Voldemort returns. He had a big hand in it. And getting swept the graveyard the same exact way, whilst Crouch, Junior and Voldemort are oblivious to the fact that I'm prepared for it is part of my plan."
"Right," Sirius said, "So it is just best we leave him alone for now."
"Correct," Harry said.
"Remus?" Hermione said, "What about Fenrir Greyback? He joined the ranks of Death Eaters in the last timeline during the Second War."
Remus grimaced. "Greyback, at the moment, is not in Great Britain. Last I heard he was several hundreds of miles away. He and his so-called 'family' – a pack of werewolves, of which he is the leader – travel all across Europe looking for other werewolves, looking to take control of territories. They usually set camp down for several months, then move on. We won't worry about him for now until he decides to show up in Great Britain again."
"Alright," Hermione said. "Well, I count about seventeen Death Eaters on this list, plus Umbridge, so a total of eighteen targets. I can tell you right now that at least five or six have children that will be in their houses. If we kill only the Death Eater, and not their families, I count four who would wake up to find the Death Eater dead or missing, depending on if we choose to make them 'disappear', as usually goes the term. Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle. I know Carrow has a couple of twin daughters, I think they might be Astoria Greengrass' age."
"Amycus and Alecto Carrow," Remus said, looking thoughtful, "Brother and sister Death Eaters. Word is they're a very close-knit family if you know what I mean. There's a rumor that the twin daughters you speak of were fathered by Amycus and their mother is Alecto. Though the common belief is that their mother died in childbirth. That's the story at least."
"So both siblings are likely the parents," Harry said, "Which means the daughters will be with their parents. Which means... we kill the Carrows, and the daughters will be orphans."
"We might be able to find some stuff about them in the information I take from the Ministry," Tonks said, "Perhaps they have godparents who aren't Death Eaters."
"Well, whatever happens," Sirius said, "We need to put those Death Eaters with families and spouses last on the schedule. Those who will be alone, we can make them disappear, as you say, Hermione. If we're lucky, the Death Eaters will be none the wiser before we take them out."
"The best scenario for our end-game is this," Remus said, "Death Eaters and Dolores Umbridge all 'disappear' by the time word gets out that it happened. We want it done before the Ministry and media gets word of it. That, in my opinion, would be a success."
"We could hit multiple houses each night," Sirius said, "If we split up into two teams – Remus and Tonks, and myself with the young ones, we could attack two houses at once. If it turns out the house-elves work better as a whole, then they'll destroy the first house's wards, then move to the other. It would be better if they can work in two teams as well, though."
"If we work all night," Remus said, "Then we can get some rest during the day."
"Actually, Remus, we can sleep during the night as well," Hermione said, grinning.
She reached into her robes and placed an object in front of her on the table.
"Is that... a Time-Turner?" Tonks asked, as she looked on with amazement at the artifact..
"Young lady," Remus said, "You were supposed to hand that in at the end of term."
"I did," Hermione said, grinning, "As far as Professor McGonagall knows at least. I made a fake, and on my way to give it to her, tripped and broke the fake right in front of her. She was too worried about the fact that we were covered in volatile sand – which wasn't volatile at all – to realize it was a fake."
Sirius barked out a laugh. "You pulled a fantastic prank on Minnie of all people? You, young lady, are definitely an honorary Marauder!"
Hermione blushed and smiled. "This Time-Turner is our perfect alibi. We sleep each night, wake up at – say – five or six-o-clock in the morning, then go back in time to the previous evening and leave at our scheduled bedtime. So... while we're breaking into Death Eater homes and making them disappear..."
"We'll also be asleep in our beds," Remus said, nodding. "Perfect alibi. Good plan."
"As long as we have disguises," Tonks said, "Obviously I have the ability to use a perfect disguise."
"Oh, I think we will have a good option as well," Remus said; he pointed at the Potter Family Grimoire, "There is something very useful in there, Harry, that we can use for disguises. But – and this is me going back into Professor-mode for a moment - that is your homework. You have to find it. We'll help you complete the steps, but you have to find out what it is."
"I can do that," Harry said, nodding.
"If our first night of attacks is next Saturday, you have until Friday," Remus said. "The tool you're looking for requires a step that will take a few hours to prepare."
"So... a Potion!" Hermione said.
"Part of it is a Potion, yes," Remus said. "The sooner you find it, the sooner we can go to Diagon Alley and shop for the required materials. If you don't find it until it is too late, we won't have time to make it for the first attack. Then we'll have to use another idea."
"This is part of our training, isn't it?" Harry asked.
"Indeed," Remus said, "All of it will help you get into the correct mind-set. This is going to be very dangerous. We haven't even discussed the worst portion of it all yet."
"Which is?" Harry asked.
"Taking a life," Remus said, looking very serious.
Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, and each had mirrored grim expressions. They both knew they would have to take lives, kill in cold blood. Both knew it was necessary. But they didn't enjoy it. Harry knew it was this that set them apart from Voldemort.
"Don't worry," Sirius said, "We'll train you. We know a few ways to do it without much of a mess, and without using the Unforgivable Curses. They were Tabooed during the Great War, you see. So, of course, we couldn't use them outside of Auror work. We had to come up with some creative ways to maim and kill when we were in battle, fighting with the Order."
"For example," Remus said, "Most of our targets will be asleep. Simply stun them so they don't make a sound, then use a Diffindo Curse on their throat. It would be the same as slicing their throat with your pocket-knife."
"Or use a modified Bubble Head Charm," Tonks said, "What are Bubble-Head Charms usually used for?"
"Breathing while underwater, or surrounded by toxic fumes," Hermione said.
"Precisely," Tonks said, "Stun the victim, like Remus said, then place a Bubble-Head Charm on them. Then use a minor Aguamenti Charm and fill the bubble with water. The Bubble-Head Charm is strong enough to hold the water."
"Death by drowning!" Hermione said.
"Nowhere near a body of water or bathtub," Tonks said, "Of course, you could always put those victims in their bathtub and fill it with water. Make it look like accidental drowning."
"You're scary sometimes, Tonks," Harry said.
Tonks smiled and shrugged. "One of the Auror Corps classes is nicknamed 'How To Get Away With Murder'. They train you to know what to look for when investigating murders. You want to learn creative ways of killing, that class is all you need."
"Basically what we're trying to say is this," Sirius said, "There are a lot better ways to kill someone than with a Killing Curse. Voldemort was actually humane when he killed people with that Curse. It simply snuffed out their life. No pain, no broken bones. Alive one moment, dead the next."
"Yes, well, if we could move past this subject until sometime after we eat," Hermione said, "I'm too hungry to lose my appetite."
It was mutually agreed so the conversation moved on. Harry and Hermione started talking strategies for their training. Sirius, Remus and Tonks simply sat back and listened to them, while they came up with strategies. They never once showing their approval or disapproval. Harry and Hermione both realized if one of their strategies was a failure already, Sirius, Remus and Tonks wanted them to use it first and learn from the experience when they failed. After twenty minutes of creating strategies, they finished, deciding they had enough for the first few days. If any failed, they could modify them and try again.
"Well," Sirius said, "It sounds like we have a long, busy week ahead of us."
"On top of all of this," Remus said, "You need to keep an eye on the apothecaries to see if Dumbledore or anyone he might be allied with visits."
"Bollocks," Sirius groaned. "Hmm, I think – if you approve, Hermione – I'll request that a couple of the house-elves do that."
Harry glanced at Hermione, who was biting her lip, and looking thoughtful.
"Normally, I would disapprove of using them like that," Hermione said, after half-a-minute, "But we don't want to waste any time this next week or we risk failing our mission and much worse. So... talk to a couple of the elves, if you wish, and ask them. I'm sure they'll volunteer."
"Excellent," Sirius said, "I will speak to them about it when we talk to the elves about practicing destroying protective enchantments."
Dobby appeared a moment later near the table. "Dinner is served."
He snapped his fingers and plates and glasses appeared, as well as a large dish of Yorkshire Pudding. The five seated at the table requested their drink choice, and their glasses filled with another snap of Dobby's fingers.
"Dobby, could you do me a favor?" Harry asked.
"Dobby would be happy to help Harry Potter with anything," Dobby said.
"Whenever you have the time," Harry said, "Would you go out and search for clothing mannequins to purchase? Five mannequins sounds about right."
"Try St. Mungo's first," Remus said, "They may have a few extras on hand. For a price."
"Whatever price they request, pay it, if you believe it is reasonable," Harry said, "Understand?"
"Dobby understands and promises to have five mannequins at Potter Manor by the end of the day," Dobby said.
"Thank you, Dobby," Harry said, "Please place them in the basement when you purchase them. You are excused. Please thank the other kitchen elves for making dinner for us. Looks excellent."
Dobby smiled, his eyes misting over when the others voiced their thanks. He bowed and vanished.
"St. Mungo's is an excellent option for mannequins," Sirius said, "Dobby might be able to find the mannequins Healers' apprentices use for training. Those would be excellent to practice on."
"Aren't their mannequins usually hollow inside and filled with Potions resembling blood?" Tonks asked, "I think we used some of those during training at the Auror Academy."
"Indeed," Sirius said, "It makes it more realistic. That way, you're used to seeing blood during the missions."
"Ugh," Hermione said, "We're eating here. No more talk about our mission until dinner is over."
"As the Lady of the House commands," Sirius said, grinning.
Hermione glared. She might have looked a tad more dangerous if she wasn't blushing. Harry chuckled at the look on her face, and Hermione's lips turned up into a smile and she joined in laughing.
"Not for a few years, Sirius," Hermione said, when she sobered up, "Though I am glad you are practicing for that."
Sirius' jaw dropped in shock, and Hermione grinned. Then Sirius barked out a laugh and the others joined in. As he started in on his meal, Harry smiled. It was nice to see that only minutes after finishing a rather grim discussion, they could still laugh easily and joke about things. It was a good feeling that they would still be good people after their mission was over.
About an hour after dinner, Harry was relaxed on his new bed in a half-sitting position, as he begun to read the Potter Family Grimoire. Hedwig was currently outside, hunting for her own dinner. Harry had just finished taking a hot shower in his master Bath. He had granted Hermione permission to use the shower after taking his own. Now he was doing his best not to think about the fact that his girlfriend was naked and bathing on the other side of the bathroom door, a few feet away.
His new bed was absolutely comfortable, probably the most comfortable he had ever had, beating out his four-poster at Hogwarts and the one in the guest bedroom at the Granger House. He looked forward to full nights of sleep in the bed. His mind attempted to wander and think about the distant future, when he would have one, two or more girls in his bed with him. But he did his best to force those thoughts away. The fact that Hermione was taking a shower nearby didn't help much.
He cleared his throat and focused on the Grimoire. The first entry was not an enchantment, ritual or spell of any kind. It was actually a story, penned by Isabelle Peverell. It didn't take long for Harry to realize the story was similar to The Tale of the Three Brothers, by Beedle the Bard. In fact, this story seemed to be the same tale in the words of Ignotus Peverell, who told it to his family, whom passed it onto Isabelle. Harry wondered if Beedle the Bard had ancestors who were friends with the Potters of old, and the story was passed on and on until Beedle decided to use the story for profit. The story was different in spots, but in general it was the same story Harry had heard Hermione read in the Lovegood house in the old timeline.
At that moment, Hedwig flew back into the bedroom and landed on top of her cage. A dead field-mouse was hanging from her beak.
"Yummy," Harry joked.
Hedwig glanced at him, reproachfully.
"Sorry," Harry said, grinning, "Enjoy your dinner."
Hedwig hooted around the mouse.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Harry said, grinning.
Hedwig rolled her eyes and turned away from him. Harry sighed.
Women, he thought, disdainfully.
The door to the bathroom opened and Harry's eyes popped up over his book as he looked toward it. Hermione was dressed in pyjamas and had a towel wrapped around her head, packing all of her drying hair into it. Her pyjamas clung tightly to her body, making her curves more pronounced. Hermione smiled when she saw him looking and she walked over to the bed. Harry gulped audibly, his Adam's apple moving slightly as Hermione crawled onto the bed. She rolled her eyes when she saw him looking at her.
"No, I'm not sleeping in here, Harry," Hermione said, "We have a couple hours until bedtime. I have nothing better to do then sit here and talk while we're looking through the Grimoire."
"Didn't you mention something about exploring the library while we were on our tour?" Harry asked.
"If I went into the library tonight, I wouldn't leave until tomorrow morning and you know it!" Hermione said, smiling wryly.
"Well, I wasn't going to imply that at all," Harry said, grinning.
"Luckily the Potter Family library book collection seems to have survived the ten-plus years of an empty Manor," Hermione said, "I'll probably spend most of the summer looking through it all. Probably far more than that, given our summer will already be busy!"
"Hermione, this is your home too, you know," Harry said, "Second until you leave your parents' house. Third, if you count Hogwarts. You have your whole life to view that library."
"It definitely feels more at home than Hogwarts," Hermione said, "And I'll likely be here in the summer more than I would at my own home, at least until we get married. This does almost already feel like home to me. Don't tell my parents that though."
"I promise," Harry said.
Hermione removed the towel from her head, and shook her hair. Harry studied her as she did this and realized something. Her hair was no longer its long bushy mess. It was shorter, smoother, and fitted into a ponytail.
"Okay, either I am totally oblivious when it comes to my girlfriend," Harry said, "Or you changed your hair very recently."
"Tonks helped me with it while you were taking a shower," Hermione said, "I might have purposely ducked into the bathroom as fast as I could when you got out just so you wouldn't see it until I got done with my shower."
"And here I thought you were embarrassed to see me in only a towel," Harry said.
"You are very handsome in naught but a towel," Hermione said, "I can see why Tonks loves getting an eyeful during those moments."
Harry blushed lightly. Hermione giggled, pecked him on the lips, then curled up on the bed next to Harry and laid her head on his shoulder.
"You find what Remus was talking about yet?" Hermione asked.
"Are you mental?" Harry asked, "I jut got started with this. There is hundreds of pages in here. For all I know it could be in the latter fourth of the book, and here I am going from front to back!"
"So that would be a 'no'," Hermione said.
"Definitely," Harry said. "What do you think we're looking for anyway? Something to do with disguises, right? It has to do with a Potion. Something like Polyjuice Potion?"
"I doubt there is a recipe for Polyjuice Potion in this book," Hermione said, "Unless they made it taste better, or brew faster than a month. Entirely possible, but I don't think that is what we're looking for. Remus brought it up right after Tonks mentioned her own talent. I think it might have something to do more with Metamorphmagic than Polyjuice."
"Entirely possible," Harry said. "Damn. Wish this thing had a table of contents or index."
Hermione squeaked, then sat up. She stared forward for a few moments, then turned and kissed him again.
"You are absolutely brilliant!" Hermione said.
She hopped up from the bed, then ran out of the room.
"Oi!" Harry called after her, "At least tell me what you're doing!"
He sighed and glanced at Hedwig, who was looking at him.
"Don't you just hate it when she does that?" Harry asked.
Hedwig simply hooted. Harry shrugged and looked back at the Grimoire. A couple minutes later, Hermione returned with a book in hand and made her way back to the bed.
"Now can you tell me what you're doing?" Harry asked.
"When you mentioned an index, I realized something," Hermione said, as she started turning pages of her book, "There is a simple Charm used by librarians like Madam Pince. Mostly it is for large books with multiple subjects or topics."
"Like this one," Harry said.
"Exactly!" Hermione said, then gasped as she found a page, "Here it is! The Index Charm. Okay, you need to close the book and tap the cover with your wand and say Indicum followed by the keyword of choice. But it has to be specific. For example, if we're looking for disguises, there could be several pages with that word. Have to be more precise. Try... 'Metamorph'."
Harry grabbed his wand from the bedside table and tapped the book. "Indicum Metamorph!"
The book opened and started turning through several pages. A minute later, about halfway through the book it stopped on a page. The title at the top of the page read "Metamorph Jewelry."
"Let's see," Harry said, as he looked through the description. "There is indeed a Potion recipe there. The ingredients don't look too hard to come by. You choose any type of jewelry – be it ring, earring, necklace, bracelet, et cetera – and soak it in a small bowl filled with the Potion. Let it soak for five minutes. Then you take the jewelry from the bowl and, while placing the tip of your wand against jewelry, you say the incantation below. Blimey, that is – that is ten words!"
"Wow!" Hermione said, "Most incantations have only between one and four words. That is complex!"
"If successful, the jewelry in question will turn several colors before returning to its normal color," Harry continued. "Then, whilst wearing the jewelry, you simply envision yourself as any appearance. Human-shape appearance is recommended, and you can be anywhere from an elderly person all the way down to a baby. Though the baby isn't suggested, because during that form, you won't have the mental capabilities to return to normal usually. Either way, the Charm lasts for a total of three hours, but you can change different forms, or back to yourself during that three hours, and then automatically back to yourself when three hours are over. Then the charms have to recharge for six hours."
"That is brilliant!" Hermione said, "I've heard about enchanted jewelry, but never thought about what could be accomplished. This sounds really neat. Really useful. You're basically a Metamorphmagus for three hours at a time!"
"Wow," Harry said, chuckling, "Bet Remus didn't think we would find it so quickly."
"I don't think he realized I would know about the Index Charm," Hermione said.
"He doesn't know you very well, does he?" Harry said, grinning.
"No, no he does not," Hermione said.
"Pity on him," Harry said, "You are an absolutely brilliant witch and girlfriend. Don't let anyone tell you different."
Hermione blushed, and took the book from Harry, then set it aside.
"Er... Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I simply wish to reward my boyfriend for that compliment," Hermione said. "As well as quickly finishing his homework.
She leaned toward him and kissed him softly on the lips. He grinned against her lips and returned the kiss. As Harry deepened the kiss, Hermione moved her body around. Soon, she was sitting on top of him, her butt inches away from his crotch. Harry groaned under his breath as he tried to keep certain parts of his body calm. Hermione grinned and pointed her wand at the bedroom door, and it closed. Hermione then added a Muffliato Charm. Before Harry knew it, Hermione was unbuttoning the top of her pyjamas.
"Er... Hermione?" Harry repeated.
"We're not doing anything near that, Harry," Hermione said, "I simply wish to up our intimacy a little. I'm letting you see me... topless."
Harry's eyes widened when Hermione unbuttoned the last button then shrugged out of her pyjama top. She was not wearing a bra underneath. Harry had a full, unimpeded view of her Full B-sized breasts – not that Harry knew exactly what that meant. All Harry knew was that Hermione looked absolutely beautiful. And he told her so, when he found the words to speak.
"Thank you, Harry," Hermione said, smiling and blushing slightly.
Hermione's breasts were not the first pair Harry had ever seen. In fifth year, Seamus had brought a couple nude magazines, that he had passed around. Of course, all the women in those magazines were in their twenties, and Harry wasn't sure if their breasts were entirely natural.. Harry had also seen Ginny's once or twice during times when they snogged in hidden corners. But he was doing his best not to think of that, and he definitely wasn't going to compare.
And then something happened that stopped Harry from thinking about anything else but the current moment. Hermione grasped Harry's hands and slowly placed them at her breasts. Harry cupped them softly in his palms, hoping this is what she wanted, and kneaded the skin of her breasts against his palms. Hermione murmured softly at his touch, and Harry groaned when she started wriggling her bottom half against him in response.
"Please don't squirm," Harry groaned. "I'm rather enjoying this and I don't want to have to go back to the bathroom. So unless there is something else on your mind, involving certain parts of my body..."
Hermione blushed and stopped moving. "Oops! I'm sorry!"
"That's... alright," Harry grunted; in reality he was doing his best control himself – not an easy task!
Hermione guided his hands with her own, as she showed him what she wanted and liked. He found that she apparently really liked it when he palmed her nipples, which became pointy against his hands. Hermione moaned softly as Harry focused his massaging on the center point of her breasts. She leaned down toward him and kissed him passionately on the lips. As he kissed her back, she encouraged him to continue his massage against her breasts.
They continued snogging for a few more minutes, until suddenly, Hermione whimpered against his mouth. She gasped and pulled herself off of him then blushed until her face was entirely red. She then cleared her throat and pointed her wand at herself and waved it around.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, slightly concerned.
"I'm perfectly fine, Harry," Hermione said, inhaling and exhaling, "Very fine actually. Well, I didn't realize..."
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.
"You gave me an orgasm by simply playing with my breasts," Hermione said, her cheeks turning slightly pink, "I just... didn't know I was capable of that, with only breast stimulation!"
"Um... oh," Harry said, "Ah... you're welcome?"
Hermione giggled and pecked him on the lips. "You're cute when you're feeling awkward."
Hermione backed away and put her pyjama top back on. Harry cleared his throat and picked up the Grimoire, then opened it back to the page he was originally on. He wasn't actually reading at the moment, just doing his best to concentrate on anything but what had just taken place. If only so he wouldn't require a trip to the bathroom.
When her shirt was back on normally, Hermione laid her head back on Harry's shoulder.
"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked, quietly.
Harry was about to say that he was 'fine' when he realized she likely didn't mean it that way.
"Are you worried I didn't like that?" he asked, "Because I did. You surprised me. I had no idea you were ready for anything like that. Is this – does this have anything to do with... with Tonks or the other girls."
"No," Hermione said, then sighed, "Not really. It's just... I suppose if things were different. If we hadn't come back in time, if we had won that battle and you killed Voldemort. And we had begun to start our new lives together... I just wondered if our relationship would – you know – turn more... sexual... sooner rather than later. We were at that proper age. I just wanted to feel a part of that, I suppose. We can go back to normal snogs and heated kisses if you want."
"Whatever you want, Hermione," Harry said, "We can go as natural as you want. I wouldn't suggest sex yet, but..."
He grinned when she nudged him playfully.
"I know what you mean," she said, "Thank you. I just wanted to make your first night in your new home somewhat memorable."
"You succeeded," Harry said.
"I'm happy," Hermione said, "Well, that's rather an understatement I suppose. Merlin, I didn't expect it to go so far! Harry? I love you. I truly mean that."
"I love you too, Hermione," Harry said.
He kissed the top of her head, which felt different than before since her hair was no longer a large bush. He liked it.
The young couple relaxed together as Harry started to read Isabelle's story for Hermione.
Hedwig smiled in her own little way from the top of her cage as she watched her owner and his mate. Of course, to be proper, she had tucked her head in her wing when the couple got a little heated with their sort-of mating ritual. Humans were very weird sometimes! But overall, she was very happy for her owner and friend. He was finally in a home he truly deserved.