Chapter 17

Harry slammed the bathroom door behind him on the second floor, shaking with anger and also embarrassment.

'I need to practice my silencing spells more...' he thought to himself as he went over to the sink, canceled all the glamour charms, and splashed cold water over his face.

'Or maybe I need to speak with Hermione about this.. maybe a healer.' He pondered, looking at his obvious sleepless face. His emerald eyes were bright as always but he had very dark bags under his eyes.

He let out a harsh sigh and dried his face before making his way up to his room. As soon as he opened his door, noticed his angry best friend. Her hair was bushier than usual, her dark eyebrows were scrunched up with clear irritation and she was pacing the room.

Harry decided to approach her slowly, "Hermione, I'm so-"

"You better not say sorry when you know you used obvious family obedience magic on me!" She shouted, stalking up to him til they were nose to nose.

He didn't know if it was lack of sleep or the stress but he snapped back, "The words came out before I realized how I asked you to leave the room, so yeah, I am sorry Hermione!" He scoffed and raked his hands through his hair.

"Well, next time ask instead of demand " Hermione stated huffily, still keeping their close proximity. "Okay?"

Harry nodded, not knowing what else to say or do but wanting for this argument to be over. He overstepped and he knew it. "Okay, I promise."

This seemed to satisfy her as the anger had dissipated from her brown eyes.

Suddenly he was hyper aware of how close they were to each other. He could feel her breath hit his face. 'Chocolate mint.'

"So, should I ask what happened after I left?" Hermione asked suddenly, snapping Harry from his thoughts.

"I shouted and left. Same old lately." Harry shrugged but didn't move away as he kept his eyes on hers and hers on his. "What time is it?" He asked in a mumble. Hermione looked away as she did a quick time spell. "Past noon – We missed lunch." she muttered before looking back at him, her eyes flickering from his eyes to his lips. It made him feel excited, his heart was hammering and his pants felt tighter. That's when he seemed to recover.

He cleared his throat as he backed away from her. "We should proba-" He didn't have time to say much as Hermione pulled him back in and captured his lips with hers.

He was surprised at first but then he started to return her kiss, she tasted like chocolate mint and vanilla. He couldn't help but pull her even closer and he heard her moan softly at the action and she responded by running her hands up his shoulders to his hair. Gently, she started pulling at his locks as they continued to kiss. The action made him groan in pleasure which seemed to please her as she deepened their kiss. Harry was putty in Hermione's hands as they broke their kiss, she pushed him down on the bed and straddled him.

He watched as she cast a silencing and locking charm before turning back to him. They didn't say anything, their lips captured each other again as she started running her hands under his shirt, feeling his abs. She let out a moan as she felt him up, causing him to throb and buck slightly resulting her to moan once more.

His heart was hammering, this was a completely different side of Hermione. One that he would bet galleons no one but him has seen. Desirable, wanting, and sexy. He wanted her just as much as she seemed to want him but he wanted take it slow with her.

He rolled them so he was on top, this surprised her but his smile seemed to halt any questions.

"Let's take it slow, okay?" he whispered, she seemed to understand and smiled back at him before reaching up and resuming their kiss.

-111-

It was almost dinner time but they weren't in a hurry as she laid on his chest, watching him take a cat nap. For the first time, he seemed content. His dark circles had lighten up a bit, and there was a smile on his lips which caused her to smile as well.

She was happy, replaying their make out session in her head and touching her lips even now and then remembering how tender and loving his lips were on hers. She had no idea what had gotten into her. 'Maybe its because he knew he was in the wrong and instead of escalating like Ron would have he apologized?' She pondered, biting her lip then nodded to herself before nuzzling closer to him.

Suddenly he let out a content sigh and pulled her closer which made her laugh in a girlish way she never had before.

"You have a cute laugh." He whispered as turned slightly to look at her. "I haven't heard you laugh like that before though."

"You and me both." She admitted, "Out of curiosity, was this what you were planning to tell me tonight or was there something else?" she asked.

She could feel Harry's heart beat faster as he leaned down towards her lips and whispered a simple yes before kissing her deeply.

If she could leap with joy she would but as they both began to confess their feelings physically again a knock came from the door.

"Um.. Kiddos you both might want to get down to dinner..." Sirius called out to them thru the door, he sounded unusually hesitant.

"Will be right down!" Hermione responded to the old animagus as her and Harry disentangled and got up from the comforts of the his bed.

They heard Sirius's foots steps descend the stairs, Harry caught Hermione's hand, "I think I might have over done it..." He admitted to her

"What do you mean?"

She listened as Harry explained what happened down stairs and she could tell he was concerned that his emotions are not as in check as they previously thought.

"I think your body is trying to come to a balance with its full magic." Hermione explained her thoughts, "I can only imagine how much magic was being blocked by the Horcrux that was in your head. It seemed to stunt your growth and your emotions were that of just pure anger. Let alone all the other factors of your life plus you are still growing even if you look almost 18 now." She blushed at the last part as she looked him up and down.

He took a second to give her a cheeky smile before nodding at her to continue.

"Could explain the lack of sleep too. Your magic must be responding to all the stress as it is trying to balance out."

"So, do you think I should see a healer?" He asked her and she responded with a nod. "I could read all I want in a book but a healer would be better in this situation Harry."

He sighed and shook his shoulders. "Guess I'll take it easy and when we return to Hogwarts I will speak with Madam Pomfrey."

Hermione nodded "Also go easy on Sirius, he is trying his best and you need to be a bit more tactful." She advised him.

"I'll apologize soon." He responded truthfully.

~111~

Harry had made sure that matters between him and Sirius were corrected. He apologized as promised to Hermione and even went out of his way to make sure they could spend more time bonding. As for his sudden bursts of overflowing emotions and lack of sleep, instead of waiting til they were back in school, Harry made Remus and Sirius aware of his body feeling out of wack and Remus took Harry to see a healer in Diagon Ally a few days later. Hermione's theory seemed to be correct, his body was trying to balance out his magic so the Healer gave him the needed potions to correct everything. Harry was feeling even better than he had when they had pulled the Horcrux out of him but he took it easy to make sure he was adjusting to everything okay.

Hermione and him were also able to explore their feelings as the days went on, Harry was really trying to keep them from going any further than snogging. Not because he wasn't ready but because he didn't want Hermione to think that all he wanted was her body. But Hermione seemed to have other ideas and would always seem to want to explore "further south" and it would take all his might to get them on more innocent things much to Hermione's dismay. But he knew she was just teasing him since she could clearly tell he wanted her too.

As the days went on at the Black House, Ron made a full recovery. He seemed okay around Harry but was very quiet. Mrs. Weasley explained he was rather embarrassed about his behavior and thought it best to keep his distance til he was able to fully forgive himself for the way he acted around him and Hermione.

Harry thought it best not to pursue matters with Ron as well and allow him the time to process his own feelings about everything. Hermione, however, kept her distance all together since she did not feel like all of what Ron said to her or Harry was just from the curse.

So the rest f the weeks flew and soon it was the night before they headed back to school. With all their school work done and her stuff her packed, Hermione took a cat nap on Harry's bed as he finished packing up his things.

As he placed a couple books inside, a Chocolate Frog Card fell out of some papers. He went to pick it up and saw it was the Dumbledore card he got first year. 'Wonder if that old man is okay.' He thought to himself as he tossed it into his truck and sealed it shut.

They really had not heard from him since he set off. Remus and Sirius assured him that he was staying in contact with the Order but would not disclose where or what he was doing for their safety.

"Trust and faith is all we can have at this moment, Pup." Sirius told him a few nights ago.

He scoffed out loud at the memory which woke Hermione up.

"What is it?" She mumbled and leaned up on her elbows. "Nothing love, just stressed about going back." Harry fibbed.

She gave him a soft smile and shook her head. "You're a bad liar, Harry, but I will not pry if you don't want me to."

This made harry smile softly back as he walked over and kissed her forehead.

"You best be off to help Ginny, you know she is rubbish at packing." He said as he crawled into bed.

She let out a sigh and got up. "Fine, but I will be back around midnight to sleep here with you." She said cheekily and left the room but not before giving him a lingering kiss.

Harry let out a content sigh as he whispered "Nox.", the room going dark, and fell into a dreamless slumber.

Author Note: I am truly sorry for the really, really late and rushed updated chapter. With everything happening with COVID-19, since I am an "essential employee", and even before all this mess I have been unable to even sit down and write. I am hoping I will have more time to write going forward but can't make any promises that chapters will be out on certain days. Til then, please be on the look out. My other story will also take some time to update but neither of my stories have been abandoned by any means! Thanks for sticking with me and hope you are all safe and self distancing!