Chapter 14

Harassment and romance

Harry was lying wide awake on his bed. His thoughts were on a certain redhead. But not the redhead snoring away on the bed besides him.

He knew that Ginny had a crush on him in her first and second year and he didn't know how to deal with that then, but now…

He had noticed that the little girl had grown into a very pretty, quite mature young witch. And the episode at the lake on Thule…

He had talked with Sirius a bit about how to approach a girl, but that hadden't helped much.

***

"GINNY!"

"Yes, Mione?"

"HELP!"

Ginny put down the book the book she was reading and smiled. Hermione could keep telling her that it was just about being friends, but she was behaving very much like Parvati and Lavender before the Halloween ball of last year.

When she entered the bedroom, Hermione was dressed in her green bathrobe and slippers, her hair still wet. "What's the problem, Mione?"

"I don't know what to wear out of these two outfits." Hermione pointed at two outfits she had laid out on her bed.

Ginny looked at them. On the bed laid a combination of a white blouse and a black velvet skirt and a blue dress in the style Counselor Troi often wore. "The blue dress."

"You sure?"

"You look great in that. Now, go put it on and I will pick out some things to wear with it."

Hermione dressed herself, while Ginny dove into Hermiones trunk. Quickly she pulled out the jewelry box Hermione had and selected a pair of blue ear rings with a matching necklace. She glanced up at Hermione and also dug out a blue shawl with silvery treads. She also picked out a pair of simple black shoes.  

When she looked up again, Hermione was wearing the dress and looking at Ginny's selections with doubt. Ginny grinned. "Put on the shoes and jewelry."

Ginny fetched her wand and cast a drying spell on Hermiones hair. Then she fastened the shawl in Hermiones hair. "How late were you supposed to meet?"

"In ten minutes."

"Well, then we don't have the time to put normal make-up on you. Accio book." Ginny caught the book Thousand Charms and Potions for the Young Witch in her hand.

Suddenly the chime rang.

"I am not ready yet."

"Pick one of the spells in there. I will get the door." She threw Hermione the book and walked over to the door, in the meantime sighing.

"Come in."

The door opened to show Doctor Crusher. "Hé Gin."

"Hi Beverly. Thought you were Damien."

"Damien?"

"Miones date. We just had a bit of mini-crises." Ginny looked over at the door of the bedroom. "Mione! You finished?"

"Coming."

Beverly and Ginny sat down on the couch.

Beverly smiled. "Is she always like that with a date?"

"No. She was just a bit exited and nervous. Were you here with a particular reason?"

"Actually yes. Your medical training is going well and I know you have started studying some non-human physiologies… If you stay here in this time and when you are fully adapted to it… if you choose to then I would be willing to support you entrance to Starfleet Medical Academy."

Ginny had to think about that for a few moments, but was snapped out of it when Hermione entered.

"How do I look?"

Ginny looked up and smiled. "You look fine, Mione. Ron would faint if he saw you."

Hermione turned bright red. Suddenly the chime rang again. "That must be Damien." She hurried over to the door and few minutes later Ginny and Beverly were able to resume their conversation.

***

"You're doing very well for the few talks we have had. Still taking the hypo's for the nightmares?"

"Doctor Crusher all got us hooked up to it."

After what Ginny had told Beverly, Beverly had gone to Deanna with Ginny's permission and told her what she had heard. Deanna had talked with each of them and convinced them to take a few counseling sessions, while Beverly gave them something for the nightmares.

"If I would suggest to her to build of the hypospray's, how would you feel about that?"

"I never liked medications, so I would be happy with it. But I had a slightly different question to you. Would you like to go out with me sometimes?"

Deanna didn't know how it possibly went so fast, but suddenly Riker was in the room, grabbed Sirius at his collar and smacked his fist into his face. Sirius seemed stunned for a moment, but then he raised his own fist and the brawling was on.

***

Ron and Harry and Beverly and Ginny had encountered each other in the hallway. Beverly and Ginny had been on their way to sickbay. Beverly had the morning of and had offered Ginny a class in the basics of lab work.

Ron and Harry were checking the magical wards on the ship and strengthening them where necessary.  The last wards they had to check were the wards around Sickbay, so they had decided to walk up with them.

Busily talking they didn't notice the open door to the counselor's office, until a loud crash sounded. All four looked aside and stopped still. Will Riker and Sirius Black were a dark mass on the ground and Deanna Troi was standing there with a shocked look on her face.    

Harry quickly pulled out his wand, stepped inside and cried: "Pertrificus totalus."

Both men froze instantly and Ginny, Beverly and Ron followed Harry inside.

"What happened here?" Beverly said to Deanna.

"I have no idea. One moment we were talking, next moment they were rolling around this way."

Ron and Harry had separated the men and levitated them on separated chairs. Ginny walked over to them and calmly checked their faces. "Just a couple of bruises."

"Can you guys unfreeze them?  I think I have to have a long chat. Let their bruises wait for a couple of moments." Deanna said.

Harry canceled his spell. Beverly tossed Deanna the small hand phaser she had with her. "For emergencies. Send them by Sickbay when you're finished." 

Deanna settled down with the phaser in her lap. Harry and everyone left. When the door closed behind them, Harry let out a short laugh. "I believe both are very lucky Hermione is on her date.

***

Beverly switched of the dermal regenerator she had been using on Will. Ginny had already fixed Sirius with magic, but Will was a bit uncomfortable with that.

Harry and Ron had peeked around the corner. Trouble with a certain ward made them figure out that some extra manpower might do the job so the had come to fetch Sirius. Now they were discussing what caused the disturbance of the ward. Ginny was listening, occasionally speaking up.

Sudden the heads of all four snapped up. Ginny was closing her eyes. Ron and Harry were turning white and Sirius got a grim look on his face.

First Deanna, but then also Beverly and Will looked in their direction. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. A strong surge of white magic. A very strong surge……… Something is wrong with Mione…" Ginny stormed out the door.

Harry, Ron and Sirius followed her, a second later also Beverly, Deanna and Will. They followed Ginny to one of the Holodecks.

Arrived there Ginny gave a hard kick against the door. "They used a privacy lookdown."

"Are you sure something is wrong?" Beverly asked.

Ginny wanted to answer, but Deanna interrupted. "Use your override. What I sense I don't know, but it isn't pretty."

"Computer, override privacy lock. Authorization Crusher-Beta-Seven-Teen."

The computer blipped affirmatively and the doors opened. It revealed a luxurious restaurant, but it was in shreds. At first sight nor Hermione, nor Damian were visible. All seven stepped inside, looking around in shock. Deanna was the first who spotted them.

Damien was lying on the ground, moaning. A Kneazle the size of the tiger was passing at his feet.      

Beverly and Ginny kneeled down at the side of Damien. At their approach the Kneazle ran away and hid in a corner.

"She is very scared."  Deanna said softly.

"What happened here? Where is Hermione?" Will asked.

Harry pulled out his wand. "Relevatio." The whole room lighted up in blue light and returned to his old state. Then a tornado ripped trough the room, returning the room to a state they had found it in. "He did something  to hurt her.  The fag hurt her." Harry growled.

"What spell did she use? You never told me about something like that."

"She used her own version of Harry's Fire Storm. It called Air Force. Aether potestas." Sirius explained softly.

"And she attacked him in her Kneazle form. He has claw scratches on several parts of his body." Ginny called from where she was assisting Beverly.

"Is that cat Hermione?" Will asked.

Ron nodded. "It's Animagus form." Ron slowly started to walk to Hermione. She only backed away.

"This isn't going to work, Ron." Sirius declared.

"Well, then we try this." A pop sounded and in Ron's place stood a griffin. He walked over to the smaller cat. Mione only growled and took an attack pose. Ron simply stood stoically and   started purring. Gradually Mione lost her attack pose and started to make soft sad-sounding noises. Ron padded over to him and softly licked her head. Both remained that way for a few moments.

Suddenly a pop sounded and Hermione took her human shape. Ron followed her example and held her when she started to cry.

In the meantime Harry had been looking with hatred in his eyes to the inert form of Damien Baker on the ground. Beverly and Ginny were checking him out. Sirius had placed a hand on his shoulder as if to restrain him.  

"Gin, will you arrange transport for him to sickbay? I will check on Hermione." Beverly asked. When she saw Ginny move to tap her com-badge, she walked over to Ron. "Ron?"

Ron looked up. "Yes?"

"I want to get her to sickbay. She needs to be checked out." she said softly.

Ron nodded and looked down on the crying young woman. After a moment he put his arm under his knees and lifted her up. "Ready to go." he simply stated. 

***

Harry looked up when Ginny entered Ron' and his quarters. Seeing her pale face he stood up and sat her down on the couch. "You okay?" Harry suddenly thought of something. "Is something wrong with Hermione?"

"Physically she is fine. She was quite bruised, but the dermal regenerator took care of that. He didn't get a chance to do much. She is sleeping now in one of the side rooms… That bastard was worse. Hermione scratched him pretty badly. Caused some internal damage, but he will recover… I am more worried how about this will effect her psychologically. There is something…"

"She is strong. She will get trough it. We are all here to help."  Harry consoled her.

"Perhaps… where is Ron?" Ginny looked around.

"At the Holodeck. Sirius took him there to stop him from attacking Damien."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ginny rolled her shoulders and winced.

"What's wrong?"

"My muscles hurt."

Harry gestured her to lean back against the couch and he stepped behind it. Carefully he placed his hands on her shoulders and started kneeding them.

Ginny sighed as the tension in her shoulders dissolved. "That feels góóóóóóóóód." She exclaimed.    

"Glad you like it." Harry continued until her muscles were compeltely relaxed, then sat down besides her. "Ginny… I know this isn't the best time... but…"

"What is it, Harry?"

"Well… would…you … liketogoonadatewithme?"

Ginny laughed softly. "I don't speak gibberish. Could you repeat that?"

"Would you like to go a date  with me?"

Ginny's face lit up. "I would love it."

***

Hermione lay on her biobed, tears flowing over her face. She couldn't believe that it happened again. Again a guy had done things against her will. And again she hadn't been able to forsee it.

"Hermione?" A soft female voice asked.

Hermione looked in the direction of the door. "Counselor."

The dark-haired woman entered and sat down on a chair besides the biobed. "How are you feeling?"

"What do think? You're the empath." Hermione spat out. Suddenly she blushed. "Sorry."

"It doesn't matter. I rather have you tell me."

"I am mad…"

"On Damien?"

"Among others. But mostly on myself."

"Why?"

"Because I let myself be fooled again. Again by a guy." Hermione sighed.

"What do mean with again?"

Hermione closed her eyes, remembering. A few seconds later she opened them again and looked directly in the eyes of Deanna.

"I only talked wit Ginny about this and then only once... In my fourth year at Hogwarts we had the Triwizard Tournament. Harry participated in that. And I became a couple with one of the other participants, Victor Krum. At Hogwarts everything was fine and we decided I would come to Bulgaria for a few days. My parents agreed and I went to Bulgaria. The first two days everything was fine, but then he wanted more from me. I think you can guess what. I managed to hold him off for two or three days, but when we were taking a walk, he attacked me… He didn't get very far. I managed to knee him where it counts, clobbered him on the head with a thick branch and ran away. I returned home by floo that evening, telling everyone that me and Victor had a big fight."     

"And what happened today reminded you of Viktor?"

Hermione nodded. "And I snapped… Will Damien be okay?"

"From what Doctor Crusher told me he will be fine. He is on the brig now."

"What's going to happen to him?" 

"He will be questioned. And what happens after that, depends on many things."

***

Riker stared at Cadet lying on the cot in the brig and shook his head.

The young man before him had been a very promising young officer and now this… He nodded at the security officer on duty to lower the force field.

Damien turned his head to look at the man that stepped inside, looked for a few seconds, then turned away.

"Can you sit up?" Riker asked.

Damien looked at him again and nodded.

"Sit up then as a supirior speaks to you." He said strictly.

The Cadet strugled to sit up and then looked at him.

Riker nodded curtly. "Then perhaps you can explain to me what happened to get you in this state."

"I don't know. Miss Granger freaked, created a kind of tornado and I stuck my head. Suddenly I saw a tigerlike creature jumping at me and then everything became black."

"That's not quite what we heard from Miss Granger."

"Well, she is high and mightly with her magic."

"What do yo mean with that? If you are implying she is lying… Counselor Troi took her statement."

"We had a few of dates, I treated her well and took her out. After some time a lad should expect some action from his lass."

Riker suddenly understood what had happened. "And could I say you decided to take what you deserved acccoording to you?" 

Damien shrugged and layed down again.

"I see. You will hear more later."

***

"What?! If we go home before charges are brought, the charges are automaticly dropped." Sirius exclaimed.

"Well, the charges would probably be dropped because there is no victim anymore to press charges." Picard replied.

There was a small private meeting, with Picard, Deanna, Riker and Sirius. Harry and Ginny were on a date, while Hermione was sleeping in her quarters with Ron staying there, working on some transfiguration. So Sirius was left to attent the meeting.   

"There is already a report to the Starfleet JAG. We have Miss Granger her statement. I think we could get a confession from Damien Baker…" Riker summed up.

Deanna was lost in thought. "Hermione is declared of age. She could appoint someone to press charges…" she mused.

"That could be a way." Picard said.

Sirius however thought about something else. "What do you mean 'of age'?"

"That's a message we haven't really have the chance to discuss. Under normal law Mr. Potter, Mr. and Miss Weasley and Miss Granger wouldn't be legally adults. However, after the Counselor's psychological examenation they are declared of age. If they stayed here and they wouldn't be declared adults, they would need guardians and those are difficult to find with their wizard background. We also have discussed you being here, but the case was that you would have enough adjusting of your own to do. Of course, there would always be someone availeble for advise and counsel." Picard explained.

"We didn't think of this. I received an order to judge if they would be able to take the responsibility. My answer was yes. So they were declared of age. But it makes Hermiones case easier to solve. Because Hermione is legally of age and we have her statement, she can chose someone to represent her, even if she isn't in our dimension anymore." Deanna added.

"We don't know how long it might take for you to get home, but it seems to me that it would be the best plan of action to discuss this with Miss Granger and that we should have a confession of Damien Baker." Riker contributed.

All the others agreed, but Sirius thought of something else. "Wouldn't Baker be able to charge her for attacking him?"

The three others considered this. Picard was the first to reply. "It's possible. But it was selfdefense and if her confesses…"

"Hermione has told me some circumstances, which also could help. But before I disclose those I would have to discuss that with her."

"Do that. Talk also about appointing someone. I will handle Baker." Riker said.

Deanna nodded, Picard agreed and Sirius did the same.

***

The minds of Harry and Ginny weren't at the return home at the moment. They were at the marvelous landscape.

Harry had chosen for a program on the Holodeck for a ride with horse and weagon. In the back was a large picknick basket. On the front was a driver, steering them through the landscape.

Ginny was wearing a long wide deep blue skirt, with a light blue blouse and a sun hat with flowing ribbons. Harry was in black pants and also a deep blue shirt.

Riding through the grassy meadow's and trees Harry tentativly placed his arms around Ginny's shoulders. Ginny looked up at him and smiled, leaning into him.

All too soon they arrived on a grassy meadow. The coach driver jumped down, assisted Ginny with leaving the coach and spread out the plaid on the grass. He also put out the food. Then he dissappeared in the trees.

Both filled their plates.

"Have you ever given it some thought what you're going to do if we are stuck here?" Ginny asked.

"Not really. Voldemort is still here. First we have to do deal with that. And you?"

"Hé, I thought that we had agreed: no Voldemort… But I have thought about it. When I am fully adjusted to everything, I am going to Starfleet Medical. Beverly has offered to support my entrance."

The talking turned into a light chatter, until Ginny presented him with the question. "Why suddenly this date?"

And Harry didn't know what to reply… "Well…uh…I like you, Gin. You're special."

"And I wasn't special before?" Ginny sat with a little smile of her face. 

"Of course you were special. I only realised how special a little while ago."

"Have you ever been on a date before, Harry?"

"Not really, unless you count Parvati with the Yule Ball and escorting you or Hermione to those receptions."

"Me neither. And what should we do after a picknick and a ride on a first date?"

"Well, on movies either an angry father chases the boy away or… the first kiss."

"We could have the first version with a big brother, but… I think I prefer the second." With those words Ginny leaned forward, touching Harry's lips in a tentative kiss.

Harry was shocked at first, but quickly reacted and returned the kiss.

Ginny let go a few moments later. "That was great."

"Let's do it again." And again their lips met.

***

Ron looked up from Advanced Transfiguration when he heard the paddle of cautious foot-steps.

"Ron?"

In the door opening Hermione was standing, dressed in a white nightgown and her green bathrobe and slippers.

"What's wrong, Mione?"

"Sleep wouldn't come. Would you mind if I join you for just a bit?"

"Of course not."

Hermione sat down on the chair besides him. "What are you working on?"

"Just some theory on how to transfigure humans into animals. Doesn't seep in so well." Ron said.

Hermione pulled the book towards her. "Let's me see."

Ron shook his head. "The doctor's order for you was to get some rest. Transfiguration doesn't count as rest in my eyes."

"Like you always follow doctor's orders." Hermione shot back.

"Myself is another matter then the woman I l…" Ron shut his mouth quickly.    

But Hermione didn't seem to have heard the last of his words.

Ron placed a hand on hers. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

"What do you think? Nightmares!" Hermione spat out. "Like always, stupid, fucking night-mares that wouldn't leave me alone."

Ron stared. He had never heard Hermione use the f-word. When she was angry she occasionally said damn, but never the f-word. He left transfiguration for what it was and guided Hermione to the couch. "Want to talk about it?"

Hermione unwillingly smiled a little. How much Ron had changed... Sure, he could still be an idiot now and then, but somewhere between the middle of the fifth year and last summer Ron had become a man, mature and reasonably responsible. Someone whom she could really trust. Someone who she could really… Quickly Hermione steered her thoughts away from that. "Maybe you can explain something to me?"

"What?"

"What is it with men and them wanting something from a woman when they have been together for a while?"

"What do mean with something?"

Hermione didn't speak and suddenly Ron understood what she meant. "I don't know. We are not all like that."

Hermione snorted. "Well, then it must be something about me that I attract this kind of men?"

"What do you… You mean Krum tried the same?" Ron stared at her open-mouthed.

Hermione bit her lip, but nodded slowly. "That was the big fight we had. I could fend him of and I fled…"

"Why did you never tell this?"

"Why?" Hermoine looked forward, eyes unseeing. "Good-Hermione-know-it-all couldn't even see through a man with such intentions…"

"Mione, look at me." Ron turned Hermiones head to look at him. "You know that isn't true, don't you?"

"Ginny said the same. But Ron, yes, I know it." Hermione yawned.

Ron smiled gently. "Let's get you back into bed."

Hermione protested, but her eyes were already dropping. Ron lifted her simply and carried her to the bedroom. Arrived there he pulled the slippers of her feet, but the robe he left on. Gently he pulled the sheets over her.

When he wanted to rise, Hermione mumbled: "You know I love you, don't you?"

"I know. And you know I love." He softly kissed her on her fore head.

No words needed to be spoken to know what they  meant for each other.