[DanHenceworth]

hapter 2 – Allies

The walk back to Hogwarts late that afternoon was awkward for Harry. Hermione, however, seemed chipper, even giddy, and was more than happy to lead the conversation as they traveled. At first, she wanted to hold his hand, but when Harry paled, she relented.

“You’re not going to be able to keep it a secret forever you know,” she exclaimed smiling at him. The mousy-haired girl did seem to be brimming with vitality. Whether he believed that the charm would affect him or not, she certainly did seem to have more energy. Perhaps it was just how girls got after having sex.

“If half of Hogwarts already knew about what you planned to do, why did you bother with all the secrecy,” he asked.

She nodded knowingly and then looked serious. “That was for you, Harry.”

“For me,” he replied confused. “Were you afraid I’d call for help or something?”

Hermione laughed softly and grinned. “No, silly. Just because you’re the number one most desirable male in the whole school, doesn’t mean that I want Malfoy and the rest of Slitherin egging you over it for the rest of the year. Precautions were necessary.”

“Oh. I suppose,” he replied, thinking. “So, Hermione… Just how many girls do know?… About my Harvard rating, or whatever it’s called.”

“It’s ‘Halvard’, and that would depend.”

“On what,” he asked, fearing that he might not like the answer.

“Well, news does travel pretty fast in the girl’s dorms, and juicy gossip, especially regarding as fiery a topic as sex, travels even faster.”

Harry groaned.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if every girl who has been through Sexual Arts is aware by now. Most knew my intentions toward you weeks ago.”

Staggering a bit, Harry felt weak in the knees.

“Still,” she continued, “girls are remarkably tight-lipped when it comes to spreading the same gossip to boys. It’s quite possible that you yourself are the only male that knows. Thus the secrecy. But, Harry, I wouldn’t count on that for very long. Someone is bound to slip up sooner or later, and, um, you might find it a little harder to keep our relationship a secret in the near future.”

They had arrived at the main gates of the school, so he lowered his voice a bit. “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but, why’s that?”

Hermione sighed. “The charm, Harry. Remember why we were doing what we were doing all day… How it all started?”

“Oh… Right. Hermione,” he asked after a moment’s silent thought. “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but repeated trips to the Hog’s Head is bound to get noticed by someone, don’t you think?”

“Oh, to be sure! That’s why we won’t be going there any more.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” said Harry.

“No, I plan on having sex with you here on school grounds from now on… Careful Harry!”

Upon hearing her words, he had nearly tripped and fallen on his face.

“What?! Are you insane? Someone’s sure to catch us!”

She smiled warmly. “Then you had better hurry up and make plans to break the charm, hadn’t you?”

“Oh, bloody hell…”

Hermione was good to her word, as Harry found out that same night. He and Ron had stayed up late in the commons trying to decide what to do. At first he considered keeping his new relationship with Hermione a secret even from him, but changed his mind once he realized he was basically going to have to court three, make that four, girls at the same time. Ron was sure to notice. Besides, any understanding support he could get would be worth the risk right now.

Still, Ron could hardly believe it when Harry let on what he had been up to all that morning.

“Blimey Harry! You and Hermione? I always thought you two might hit it off, just not so soon, you know?”

“Well, it was a bit of a surprise to me too, Ron,” he replied as he kicked an errant log near the fire.

“You know, ‘arry,” replied the boy thoughtfully. “The fact that she did that assay thing on you in the first place means that she was thinking about,… uh, you know.”

“Well, apparently there are a lot of things about being a witch that we don’t know about. I mean, they have whole classes devoted toward, sex!” Both boys ducked and then remembered they were alone in the large round room.

Later that night, just before Harry was about to slip into bed, there was a knock on the door. Sighing, he stepped out of bed and went to answer it.

“Peeves, if this is you, I swear I’ll…”

“Hello, Harry.” Hermione was standing there dressed in a purple night robe. “Mind if I come in?”

Suddenly, Harry felt very faint. He wanted to scream, “no!”, but the words wouldn’t seem to come out of his throat. Grunting, he found himself stepping aside.

“I… I…” he stammered.

“I know. You want to ask me to leave, but can’t, yes?”

He nodded.

“That would be the charm, Harry. It’s forcing my will upon you. I’m very sorry, but it’s really for your own good.”

“B-b-but, someone… y-y-you… b-b-boys dorm!”

“Don’t worry, you should be able to speak more normally once you get used to it. Now if you would please go over to your bed, so we don’t wake the others.”

Before he knew what was happening, he found himself walking over to the bed following the girl. Hermione was quietly uttering spells as she waved her wand at the large four-poster, so that when Harry arrived he was only partially shocked to see Hermione disappear as she stepped through the curtains. From the outside, it just looked like an unmade bed, as though Harry were in the loo or something.

But once inside, it was quickly obvious that magic was at work. The curtains of the bed seemed to shimmer slightly, and the air had the same muffled quality that Hermione had used at the Hogs Head Inn.

“Hermione”, he whispered as best he could as he tried (and failed) not to look at the girl’s legs as she lounged on top of the covers with her hands over her head. “This is positively insane! Someone will catch us,” he added, finally getting control of his voice.