Soul Searching/End Game
EG Chapter 12 - Dating Disaster, Part 2
By Chem Prof
Chapter 12, Dating Disaster, Part 2
Saturday, December 21
Hermione had slept only fitfully, trying to be alert in case Harry needed her. Finally, while it was still dark, she heard him stirring.
You awake?
Yeah. Can’t sleep anymore.
Me either. Meet you in a few minutes.
Hermione had a few ideas for how to proceed with the day, since Harry still wasn’t thinking too clearly. She suggested they have breakfast early, while only a few students were around, then exercise the rest of the morning. A hard physical workout might help keep his mind occupied, and if not it would at least exhaust him and allow him to sleep. So for the rest of the morning they ran, then lifted weights, then swam. Finally they dragged themselves back to the Great Hall for lunch, and avoiding the Gryffindor tables, joined a group of Hufflepuffs.
“What’s going on?” Justin leaned over to ask her quietly. “The Gryffindors are all acting like somebody died and you two look terrible.” Indeed, Harry was just sitting staring blankly ahead, not noticing much of what was going on around him.
“Harry and Ginny.” Hermione replied. “They’re having a bad time of it right now. I don’t think either one of them is going to want to talk about it, OK?” Justin accepted that, especially since Hermione was the best friend of both of the Gryffindors. By the end of the day the word had been quietly spread amongst their friends, and the students generally kept a respectful distance and didn’t ask either of them about it.
After lunch Harry was exhausted and Hermione persuaded him to take one of the doses of Dreamless Sleep potion they had left over from the summer, and took a little nap herself. The rest of the afternoon she studied, then went down and got some food from the house elves when he didn’t wake before dinner. Finally she returned to her room to get dressed for the evening.
She hated to leave him alone, but she had a date of her own that night. She knew she didn’t dare cancel it. If anything would make him feel worse, it would be the thought that she was giving something up because of him. She just hoped he would be all right.
-ooOoo-
Hermione finished the final touches on her lipstick and returned the tube to her bag, then checked her hair one last time. This was going to be the night. She had her hair just the way she wanted it, with enough potion to take out the bushiness and make it fall in nice curls. One last check in the mirror confirmed that her outfit was perfect too. She was wearing a slim gray skirt that ended a few inches above her knees, and a matching soft silky blouse that showed off her trim figure to its best advantage. Attractive, but not too forward, she smiled to herself.
Underneath she was wearing her favorite bra and knicker set, in soft black satin with lacy trim. The bra was cut low with a deep plunging front. Like her mum had told her, it didn’t matter if no one but her saw it, it made her feel good. She felt as feminine and desirable as she ever had. With any luck, she would get her first real kiss tonight. Although she would never admit it to herself, Ginny’s accusation of her being a prude had made her even more determined to go through with this.
As she turned to go she saw her hand mirror sitting on the table. Might as well take it along, even though she was sure she wouldn’t be needing it. Moody had them all just a little paranoid, she laughed to herself, as she also felt her wand in her thigh holder. She knew she could reach under her skirt and draw it in an instant if there were any trouble. She gathered up her robes and carried them out to her common room. Hopefully, they would be coming off at some point during the evening and Blaise would be able to admire the outfit she had selected so carefully.
Harry had awakened and eaten the food she had fetched, and was sitting on their sofa in the common room reading a book. As she emerged from her bedroom he looked up at her and smiled. She felt a flash of guilt for leaving him after his disastrous date of the previous night, but she knew he would object immediately if she suggested that she stay here with him.
“Wow, you look great!” Harry said, rising to his feet. “Blaise is one lucky guy.” Hermione smiled, acknowledging the compliment and blushing just a bit. Harry gave her a hug and their eyes met, communicating without words. He was happy for her. She felt bad for him. He wanted her to forget about him and have a good time. She resolved to do it, knowing that he would feel even worse if he kept her from enjoying herself. As they pulled away he gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.
“Don’t wait up for me,” she instructed. He just laughed, and then she joined in. There was no way that he wouldn’t stay up to see that she got back safely, and they both knew it.
“Have a good time. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he teased. She grinned back but couldn’t help thinking that she wished she were doing this with him. She shook her head a little as if to acknowledge that he could trust her to behave herself and stepped through the portrait hole. No, she wasn’t doing this with him, but she was going to enjoy it anyway.
-ooOoo-
Several hours later Hermione walked hand in hand along a deserted corridor with Blaise. The night had been wonderful so far. They had spent some time in the seventh year student lounge, and he had treated her to a delicious late night snack from his private stash of delectable desserts that he restocked from Honeydukes sweetshop on each Hogsmeade visit. Then they had strolled a while, stopping to look out some of the windows on the beautiful snowy landscape outside, just standing close with their arms around each other. He had also shown her some enchanted paintings of a night sky that she could just get lost in.
Just a bit ago he had stopped and looked into her eyes, then leaned forward and touched his lips briefly to hers before pulling away. It had driven her to distraction and he knew it. Then they stopped in front of a door and she knew this was it. He opened it and pulled her into the broom cupboard, her first time ever in one with a boy. (Well, there was that time in third year with Harry, but that didn’t really count because they were trying to save Sirius from being kissed by a dementor.)
It was actually a pretty cozy spot, she realized as she looked around. I bet he’s used this before. He probably knows all the good ones. She shook that thought from her head as she pulled out her mirror and gave herself one last check, moistening her lips. She hesitated, then propped the mirror against her bag on the shelf, and turned to Blaise.
She saw that he was removing his robes and shyly followed suit, then stood with her hands clasped nervously in front of her as his eyes traveled up and down, taking her in. All the time she had spent on her outfit was instantly worth it when his eyes widened and an appreciative look slowly grew on his face. He liked what he saw! Her heart started pounding as he approached her and put his hands on her waist, pulling her towards him. This was it. Her eyes closed as their lips touched and she fell into bliss.
Somewhat dazed, she opened her eyes and pulled away. That had been … incredible! It seemed that she had taken leave of her senses briefly. Wait a minute! How did my blouse get unbuttoned? Instinctively Hermione felt against her leg for her wand. It was missing. She looked up in astonishment, to see Blaise smiling at her as he put her wand on a shelf, out of her reach.
“I don’t think you’ll be needing this.”
“Blaise, this isn’t funny,” Hermione said, beginning to panic. “Give me back my wand.” But he just grabbed her and pulled her up against his body and bent his head to hers, silencing her protests with another mind-blowing kiss.
-ooOoo-
‘Harry!’
Harry jerked his head up as he heard Hermione’s panicked voice in his head. He had been sitting on the sofa all night, staring at his book but not really seeing it, his mind occupied with thoughts of two girls. He couldn’t stop thinking about Ginny, and those thoughts made his heart ache. When he finally succeeded in pushing her out, he found himself with equally uncomfortable thoughts about Hermione. He knew instinctively what she had hoped would happen tonight, and he couldn’t help feeling jealous, even though he had no right to. But now all of that was forgotten.
He reached out with his mind to try to pick up her feelings, but immediately recoiled. Whoa, that wasn’t something he wanted to know. Embarrassed at intruding into such an intimate moment, he thought desperately. Why had she sounded so panicky just a bit ago? What was going on? Looking around, he summoned the Maurauder’s Map and activated it. Finding the dot labeled ‘Hermione’ he saw that it was in a broom cupboard with Blaise’s dot, just as he expected. But he also noticed that there were two other dots outside the closet, labeled as two fourth year Slytherins. Why would Blaise need guards for a snogging session?
“Harry Potter.”
He looked around, confused. This time it was coming from his mirror. How could Hermione be calling him on the mirror while she was snogging Blaise? Tentatively, he pulled out his mirror and whispered “Hermione Granger?”
The mirror cleared and he found himself looking out into a small room. Hermione was backed up against a wall a few feet away from Blaise, trying to hold her unbuttoned blouse together. A sexy black bra was clearly visible through the opening. They seemed to be talking but he couldn’t figure out what they were saying. Conflicting expressions were flowing across her face. Anxiety fought with ecstasy then was usurped by shame followed by confusion. Confusion? Hermione?
Just then she caught his eye in the mirror and she seemed relieved, but she was immediately blocked from his line of sight as Blaise moved forward and took her into his arms again. Tentatively Harry reached out to try to sense her emotions again. They flooded into his mind, roughly matching what he had read on her face. Alarm, then confusion, then desire (he almost broke it off again, not wanting to intrude on such thoughts, but held on this time), then … nothing? Her mind was a blank. What did that mean? It hit him – was she under some kind of spell?
Frantically, he considered his options. His immediate instinct was to run as fast as he could to her rescue. He could easily take out the two guards, then break into the broom cupboard. But … that would come off as a jealous former boyfriend breaking up a snogging session – or possibly more. Hermione’s shirt was already open, and it would probably be completely gone by the time he got there. And due to their stature in the school, the rumors would run wild. Hermione would be humiliated beyond belief. What he needed was someone else to rescue her, an authority figure. As his eyes darted around the room, they latched onto the floo. In an instant he ignited the fire and hurled in a handful of floo powder.
“Professor McGonagall!” he shouted.
In what seemed like hours, but was actually surprisingly quickly, her face appeared in the flames. “Mr. Potter. What is it? Don’t you know how late it is?”
Harry didn’t have time to feel bad about rousing the headmistress. “It’s Hermione. She’s in trouble!” In no time McGonagall was in the room with him, tying the belt of a tartan robe.
“What kind of trouble?”
Now, Harry was nervous. How was this going to sound? “She … she’s in a broom cupboard with Blaise Zabini and he’s … well he’s taking advantage of her.” He winced. How was he going to convince her?
McGonagall frowned. “Now Mr. Potter, I know very well what goes on in the broom cupboards in this school. And what Miss Granger chooses to do is really none of my business. I’m quite certain that she can take care of herself in such a situation.”
“But she’s in trouble.”
If it were any other student, Minerva McGonagall would dismiss this as a case of hormones exploding into jealousy. But Harry Potter had earned the benefit of the doubt. “How do you know that?”
“We … well we have ways to communicate with each other. He’s trapped her there and he has two guards outside. I’m sure …”
“Mr. Potter, how can you possibly …?”
“Here, look.” He thrust the map at her, pointing to the dots in the closet and the ones outside in the hallway.
“My word, Mr. Potter! Is that what I think it is?” McGonagall said in astonishment. “Why, I haven’t seen that since I confiscated it from your father and Sirius over twenty years ago!” Then it clicked into place. That was how Harry and his friends were able to move about the castle so freely on their adventures.
“Yes, it is. Please professor, we have to hurry.” They had wasted so much time already, and the broom cupboard was all the way on the other side of the castle.
McGonagall made a snap decision. Trusting Harry Potter was rarely a mistake. And if he was right time was of the essence. “Follow me.” She whirled and plunged into the floo and within seconds they were in the headmistress’s office. Without a pause she hurried over to a space between two bookcases, tapped it with her wand and said, “Seventh floor, east tower,” and a passageway opened. Beckoning Harry to follow, she hurried through and they emerged in an empty hallway.
‘Hang on, we’re coming.’ Harry quickly sent the most reassuring thoughts he could muster toward Hermione.
“First, we have to get rid of those two,” McGonagall whispered as they looked at the map. “If I distract them can you sneak up on them?” Harry grinned at her and pulled out his invisibility cloak
“Is that …?” McGonagall had long since stopped being too surprised by anything Harry Potter did, but this night was taxing her ability to suspend disbelief.
“It was my dad’s. Professor Dumbledore gave it to me first year.” McGonagall could only shake her head.
‘Get me out of here!’ Harry jumped and McGonagall gave him a surprised look, then realized he must have sensed something from Hermione and they returned their focus to the problem at hand. In a blink the headmistress was gone and a black cat sat in her place. It darted into the hallway, and Harry followed under the invisibility cloak.
“Hey look, it’s one of Figg’s cats,” one of the Slytherin guards pointed out a few seconds later. “We’ll have to warn Zabini that he’s about out of time.” Before they could move, though, two red streaks hit them from behind, as Harry cast a pair of wordless stunning spells, then followed up with twin levitating spells before they even hit the floor.
“Get them out of sight around the corner, then come back. But stay out of sight until I’ve dealt with Mr. Zabini.” Harry nodded and hurried off, the suspended forms of the unconscious pair of students bobbing in front of him.
-ooOoo-
Blaise Zabini licked his lips. This had been an excellent night. Hermione Granger had been all he had hoped for. Who knew that the studious Head Girl would turn out to be so passionate? He had never dated a muggleborn witch before, but he had heard that they were easy. After all, what all of them really wanted was to hook up with a pureblood. Up until now, he had considered them to be beneath him, but he was certainly enjoying himself with this one!
He knew that if he played it right, she would be too embarrassed to tell anyone about what they were doing. She might even come back for more another evening. She had been putty in his hands right from the start, and he could tell that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Except for a short bit back there when she had stepped back after one of their snogs and accused him of using her to get closer to Harry Potter, she was all his. She had melted into his kisses like he knew she would.
Now that he had her blouse nearly off, he wanted more. That low cut black lacy bra was driving him crazy. He had already run his fingers over it a few times, feeling her nipple perk up in response to his touch, but now he wanted to get his hands under it. Just then there was a sound from outside. What were those two clowns doing? Tearing his attention from the lovely creature shivering in front of him, he cracked open the door and looked out. The hall was deserted, save for one of Figg’s cats. Blast it, those fourth years had probably run when they spotted it. Now he had to get Hermione out of here before it managed to alert Mrs. Figg.
To his surprise, however, the cat ran by him into the broom cupboard instead of dashing away. ‘Oh, this will work out after all,’ he smirked as he quickly closed the door. As long as he kept the cat in here with them, it couldn’t do anything. Now he would be able to finish his conquest. He turned back to Hermione.
And found himself staring straight into the angry face of the Hogwarts headmistress.
From nowhere a stunning spell hit him and the last thing that went through his mind before losing consciousness was the disbelieving thought that for the first time in seven years he had actually been caught seducing a girl.
Before Blaise even hit the floor Harry had whipped off the invisibility cloak and raced to catch Hermione. She had been leaning against a wall in a daze, and as she slumped to the floor her blouse fell the rest of the way off her shoulders. As he clutched her fiercely to himself she began sobbing.
“Harry! I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry …” her body shuddered against his, and he pulled her tighter.
“Shh. Hermione, it’s OK. You’re OK now. I’ve got you. It’ll be OK.”
McGonagall finished binding Blaise and turned to regard the pair of students huddled in the corner. This had been a night of shocks and they were still continuing. The revealing undergarment that Hermione was wearing and the fact that she had been here in a compromising situation with Blaise Zabini made her realize that she didn’t know her Head Girl as well as she thought she had.
A moment’s further reflection led to the observation that Harry seemed to be completely unfazed that he was holding Hermione in such a state of undress, and that she seemed to not be having a problem with it either. Granted, she was in shock from her ordeal, but still … they were obviously quite familiar with each other. She clearly didn’t know either of her Head Students as well as she thought she had. Perhaps more had gone on between them this summer than she had been led to believe.
She shook her head to clear away these musings. Whatever, it was none of her business. She waved her wand at Hermione’s ruined blouse and transfigured it into a blanket. Wordlessly she handed it to Harry and he tenderly wrapped Hermione in it, somehow managing it even though she wouldn’t let go of him for an instant.
“Mr. Potter, can you see Miss Granger back to your rooms? I will deal with Mr. Zabini. I believe we can leave the other two where they are. They will wake eventually and make their way back to their quarters.”
Harry nodded and helped Hermione to her feet. She still wouldn’t release him completely, and an occasional sob still escaped from where her head was buried in his sweatshirt. He looked around briefly and spotted her wand on a high shelf and summoned it to himself, then grabbed a mirror and Hermione’s bag from another shelf. Finally he reached down to pick up her robes and his invisibility cloak and in a twirl of fabric they vanished.
-ooOoo-
Finally back at their common room, Harry helped Hermione to the sofa and they dropped into it as he put his arm around her once more. Hermione finally regained her composure and pulled back.
“Harry, I’m so sorry. I’m so ashamed of myself. You must think I’m horrible. I’m …”
“Hermione, don’t say that! You didn’t do anything wrong. You know I’d never think …”
“But I did! He didn’t drag me in there. I wanted him to. And I didn’t fight back or anything. When he kissed me I couldn’t resist. After what happened to you last night you probably think I’m a complete …”
“Stop, Hermione! I know you better than that. I know you didn’t want him to go as far as he did. And you did try to stop him. I heard you call for help in my mind and you called me on the mirror. Look, when I tried to sense what you were feeling I could tell you were confused and didn’t really know what was happening part of the time.”
“You’re right about that. I didn’t really know what came over me. But I wanted him to …” A fresh round of tears interrupted her. “I just wanted someone to kiss me once and really mean it. Is that such a hard thing to ask?”
Harry pulled her back to himself again and she buried her head in his chest once more, her tears soaking into his sweatshirt. It felt so bad to see her hurting like this. She had just wanted the kind of affection that he couldn’t give her. ‘Why not, you prat!’ an annoying voice in his head chided him.
“No one is ever going to want me, are they?”
“Hermione, don’t say that. You’re a wonderful, beautiful person and some day some lucky guy is going to realize how special you are,” Harry reassured her. Some day someone is going to think you’re as special as I do. And I’m going to have to pretend to like him when he gives you what I can’t. “You just haven’t met him yet.”
‘Yes, I have,’ Hermione thought sadly. ‘ He just doesn’t love me the way I want him to.’
As he patted her and stroked her back the blanket she was still wearing fell away, reminding him that she was still clad only in her bra and a skirt. Without needing to think about it, he tugged his sweatshirt over his head and offered it to her. She looked down at herself shyly, then smiled at him in gratitude, leaning back to let the blanket fall away as she pulled his sweatshirt on. She didn’t put her arms through the sleeves right away, though. After a little wriggling and twisting her arms emerged, with one hand holding her bra.
Her face darkened as she looked at the undergarment in her hand, then suddenly she burst into tears and hurled it across the room where it landed on his desk. Puzzled, he pulled her back into his arms and waited for her to recover her composure.
“I don’t think I could ever wear that again,” she whispered through the tears. “Every time I look at it I’ll remember his hands touching me.” Harry fought back the urge to find Blaise and kill him. He had no right to do that, especially to a girl like Hermione who had wanted that sort of thing to happen with someone who was special to her. Clearly that someone wouldn’t be Blaise Zabini. ‘It won’t be me either,’ he found himself thinking, and for some reason that thought bothered him.
Eventually Hermione settled down and they both sat leaning back on the sofa, with her curled up against him under his arm, each knowing the other was thinking about the events of the past two days.
“Pretty horrible weekend so far, isn’t it?” Hermione offered finally. Harry nodded his agreement. A thought had just occurred to him.
“What do you say we get away for a while?” She leaned away and regarded him quizzically. “We can go somewhere where we can take our minds off everything that’s been happening,” he explained. “How about if we go visit your parents in the States over Christmas break?”
Hermione brightened up immediately, the terrible ordeal of an hour ago temporarily forgotten. “Harry, that’s a wonderful idea! Do you think we can? I mean, you don’t have a passport or anything and the flights might be full and there are all sorts of details to consider.”
“Well, we can try. Let’s contact Viktor tomorrow and see what can be done. He’s got to be familiar with international travel from being on his national quidditch team. Maybe it’s easier for wizards.” Hermione readily agreed and leaned back against him, her mood now much improved.
Eventually, as the stress of the evening finally wore off, they began to yawn and Harry stood up and reached a hand out to pull Hermione to her feet so they could head off to bed.
“Harry?” He paused, seeing an anxious look reappear on her face. “Do you think you could stay with me tonight and hold me? You know, like you did this summer?”
“Of course I will,” he reassured her. “You know I’ll always be here for you.” She relaxed and smiled again, then looked around. Retrieving her wand, she transfigured the sofa slightly to make it wide enough for both of them to lie down. Then she reached back under the sweatshirt and undid the zipper of her skirt and let it drop to the floor. Harry sat down and turned away slightly as she stooped down to pick it up and fold it, and he removed his shoes. She kicked off her own shoes and pulled the blanket over herself, then crawled across the sofa. Their eyes locked momentarily as she lifted up the end of the blanket in an invitation to him to join her.
Harry swallowed nervously. Come on, this is Hermione. We’ve done this before. She just needs you to comfort her. Don’t make such a big deal out of it. He knew, though, that it really wasn’t the same as it had been this summer. This time he recognized that his feelings for her were different now.
For an instant Hermione thought he was going to back out, then she breathed a sigh of relief as he scooted under the blanket with her. She turned away as he snuggled up behind her, then she took his arm and pulled it around her waist, holding it against her stomach. She couldn’t help the happy grin that broke out over her face as he whispered a ‘Nox’ to put the lights out. For one night at least, he was where she had dreamed he would be.
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
I imagine that these two chapters may be somewhat controversial regarding the sexual activities of Hogwarts students. This is my view on what goes on in the castle. Just to clarify, Hermione was
just looking for some snogging, but got more than she bargained for. Ginny has not had sex with Harry or any of her other boyfriends. She had engaged in some fondling with the other two (more
details in a later chapter) and wanted to do the same with Harry. At this point Harry is not sure exactly what she did in her other relationships, and his imagination is torturing him.
In this story, there is some sex at Hogwarts, like there is in any high school, but it’s not rampant - more talk than reality. More on that next chapter. Of course, there are varying degrees of
groping going on, depending on the age, maturity level, self control, and inhibitions of the students involved.