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Yuletide Blessing in Disguise	By : Gandalfs-Beard Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Harry/Hermione Views: 122975 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 9
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related properties--all rights belong to Rowling. Nor do I make any money from the production of this work.

Chapter List
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Paranoid

There were still two minutes to go before the bell and Harry was already cleaning off his table and packing up his gear having already turned in a flawless potion, much to Snape’s fury. Harry was beginning to suspect that Dumbledore had ordered Snape to lay off docking points from him for inconsequential reasons, as Snape had gone after everyone else but him today.
In his haste to leave with Hermione, who was waiting for him by the door while everyone else began filing out of the classroom, Harry knocked over his bottle of armadillo bile.
“Crap!” he muttered.
Harry ducked down under the table to clean up the mess and frowned when he heard Snape bark at Hermione.
“What are you still doing here Granger? Out now! ... Or I’ll dock another ten points from Gryffindor.”
Harry heard Hermione’s footsteps quickly exiting the classroom and another, heavier sounding set of footsteps entering the classroom. Cautiously, Harry peeked over the top of the desk, hidden behind his cauldron, and saw Karkaroff. Karkaroff? What was Karkaroff doing here?
Apparently Snape was thinking along the same lines.
“What do you want, Igor?” he snapped. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“You know why I’m here!” Karkaroff hissed through gritted teath. “This!”
Karkaroff yanked up the sleeve of his left arm. Harry’s eyes widened with shock, briefly catching a glimpse of a tattoo - more like red burn scars really, as if Karkaroff had been branded - a tattoo of a symbol which Harry recognised all too well.
“Put that away!” Snape snarled. “Not here, not now!”
“You must have felt it too! And look - it’s never been more clear! He’s back from the dead - he must be!”
“I said not now, Igor!” Snape spat. “This is not the time or place.”
Harry ducked back down under the table again, his heart pounding. Snape had one too! He had a Dark Mark! Why else would Karkaroff have said that Snape must have felt it too?
Snape must have just noticed that Harry’s cauldron was still on the table because suddenly he called out.
“Potter! What are you still doing here?”
Shaking slightly, Harry popped out from under the table, trying to look like he’d been under it the whole time.
“Er... Armadillo Bile Professor! I dropped it and I was just cleaning it up.” Harry held up his wet rag.
“Get out! NOW!” said Snape furiously.
Harry grabbed his cauldron, thanking small mercies that the rest of his stuff was already in it, and fled the classroom, leaving behind two highly agitated professors - professors who were Death Eaters!
“Harry!” Hermione squeaked anxiously when the classroom door slammed behind him. “What happened? What took you so long? I saw Karkaroff go in, then I heard raised voices.”
“Hang on. I’ll tell you in a minute. Let’s just get out of here!”
Harry grabbed Hermione’s hand and practically sprinted down the dungeon passages and then up the stone steps, emerging into the Entrance Hall, looking around wildly, trying to decide where he could get to the quickest.
“Harry, what...?”
“Outside - I’ll tell you outside.”
Hermione fell silent and followed Harry out the massive oak front doors without question. Harry glanced around and spotted a copse of Ash-trees surrounded by Hawthorn bushes not too far away. He hurriedly made a beeline across the lawn with Hermione in tow.
In the middle of the copse under the foliage was a perfect little clearing hidden by the Hawthorn. Harry quickly set his cauldron down and sat on the ground, leaning his back against a tree-trunk and panting. Hermione followed suit, sitting right next to him, also gasping for air. She remained quiet, waiting for Harry to catch his breath.
Finally, Harry felt his breathing slow, though his heart kept thudding.
“Can you tell me now?” asked Hermione, looking very worried.
“Yeah - listen, you’re not going to believe this, but please, give me a chance! Hear me out! I promise it’s all true...”
Harry anxiously told Hermione everything he had just heard and seen and she listened intently without interruption. She had that sort of skeptical look in her eye when he had finished and his heart fell.
“Please, you have to believe me,” he begged.
Hermione flung her arms around Harry, embracing him tightly.
“Of course I believe you, Harry!” she said earnestly. “And your deduction is very logical. Snape must be a Death Eater too if Karkaroff was mentioning that Snape had to have felt whatever it is too - maybe itching, or a burning sensation in their scars - sort of how yours feels when Voldemort is near or you’re feeling his emotions.
“But think about it Harry. They must be ex-Death Eaters. Karkaroff is clearly worried about Voldemort being back, and he expected Snape to be too. ... I know Snape is absolutely awful, but Dumbledore must trust him for some reason...”
“Okay, that makes sense about Karkaroff - he was definitely worried about Voldemort being back. But what if he was wrong to believe that Snape might be worried too? What if Dumbledore’s wrong?” said Harry, starting to feel frustrated. “Snape obviously hates me...”
“...because he hated your father! I know, Harry! But then he would have been working with Crouch Junior, or with Wormtail before that, wouldn’t he? Snape actually seemed to be trying to protect us from Sirius. ... And look at when he tried to stop Quirrell from killing you when Dumbledore suspected Quirrell was working for Voldemort...,”
“Maybe,” Harry muttered begrudgingly. “But what if Snape has to keep up appearances because he’s spying on us for Voldemort now? ... He didn’t seem to know that Voldemort was actually possessing Quirrell and he might have just thought Quirrell was really just trying to steal the Philosopher’s Stone for himself. And for all we know, Snape could have really been trying to help Wormtail escape, couldn’t he?”
“I know it all seems very suspicious, but Professor Moody is an ex-Auror who fought against Death Eaters with Dumbledore. I can’t imagine that between them they don’t know that Snape used to be a Death Eater, and that they would let him teach here if he still was one. ... Dumbledore is a Legilimens after all.”
“But it all comes down to whether they’re actually right about Snape - that he’s not a Death Eater anymore - doesn’t it? If Snape is really brilliant at Occlumency, say, he could have fooled them, right?”
Hermione sighed, then she nodded.
“That’s very true Harry,” she conceded. “You’re right! But if that’s the case - that Snape’s a spy - then no matter how badly he treats us, he still can’t actually do anything to you if he’s got to keep up appearances to fool Dumbledore and Moody into believing that he’s on their side now.
“And at least we know that they’re trying to protect you - and we’ve got Dora - she’s shadowing us right now, isn’t she - just staying out of sight. ... If Snape were to try anything, he’d be finished as a spy, and I don’t doubt for a minute that between Dora and Moody and Dumbledore and Flitwick and McGonagall - he’d be cooked.
“Ever since Crouch Junior was caught, they’ve all been on high alert - and given you private quarters with loads of protection charms, and alerted all the portraits and ghosts in the castle to keep an eye on things, and put up charms to detect Polyjuice imposters, and anti-portkey charms, and...”
“...and there are anti-apparition charms and probably other stuff too.” Harry nodded, starting to feel more cheered. “Yeah, you’re right Hermione! There’s too many protection charms up now - There’s no way Snape could kidnap me or you or anyone else at Hogwarts now.
“And Voldemort’s obviously stuck on doing me in himself - he’d probably kill Snape if Snape killed me, or tipped Dumbledore off by killing someone else! Snape would probably do a bunk before doing any of those things, and, er...”
Harry gave Hermione a lopsided, slightly abashed looking grin. “...and Snape might actually be an ex-Death Eater who switched sides and is really trying to help Dumbledore now and I’m just being totally paranoid because...”
“...because Professor Snape is still quite horrid and nasty and dreadful and hateful and awful and bullying and vindictive?” Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, half scowling and half smiling.
“I was just going to say, ‘still evil,’ but yeah!” Harry grinned.
“Yes!” Hermione agreed, grinning back. “If Snape really is trying to help protect Hogwarts, he’s not exactly giving us any reason not to be paranoid, is he?”
“I’ll try not to worry about it too much then,” said Harry, leaning closer to Hermione and putting an arm around her; he kissed the top of her bushy head as she nestled into the crook of his shoulder, “I can think of loads better things to do with our time...”
“Mmm... Me too,” said Hermione as she wrapped both arms around his middle and sighed happily.

~o0o~
Deciding that they had had enough excitement for the day, Harry and Hermione thought that it might be better to avoid the Gryffindor Common Room - where word of their exploits was no doubt making the rounds already - and went back to his quarters to do their homework together.
Harry was working on a particularly difficult translation for an essay for his Beginning Runes lessons. Hermione peered over his shoulder to take a look.
“Very good Harry!” she said, sounding really pleased.
“And you’re almost right with that one.” Hermione pointed at a word in his translation of the Nordic Rune-set. “It’s supposed to be ‘vargr’ singular, not ‘vargar’ plural.”
“Thanks Hermione!” Harry quickly made the correction in both the Nordic word and the English translation. “Wolf - not wolves! Got it! Blimey - translations are hard. I’m lucky I’m good at the calligraphy, and I’m really lucky to have someone amazing like you to help me with the translations.”
Hermione beamed and gave Harry a kiss on the cheek. She seemed to have something on her mind though, because she kept looking at him with a slightly amused almost-smile.
“So - how was it?” she asked.
“Er... what?”
“The kiss with Parvati - how was it?”
Harry gulped and began to panic. What was the right answer to this question? If he said it was dreadful Hermione might admonish him for taking it too seriously - that he should have known it didn’t mean anything. If he said he kind of liked it - well, that was sure to be a disaster!
“Er... it was dreadful,” he said, going with Option A.
Hermione swatted his shoulder and giggled.
“Oh come on, Harry! Don’t take things so seriously. Be honest!”
“Well...” said Harry very carefully, trying to figure out how to work his way through the minefield. “Maybe it wasn’t dreadful - I, er, suppose it was alright, maybe nice even... But it wasn’t nearly as nice as kissing you!”
“Good answer!” Hermione grinned and leaned forward, giving him a proper kiss.
“I meant every word of it,” said Harry, grinning back at her when the kiss was finished. “There may be loads of nice girls out there... but none of them are you! I can’t imagine ever wanting to be with anyone else! ... You’re perfect!”
For a moment Hermione peered at him with her big brown eyes and she almost looked like she was about to cry. Harry was beginning to wonder if he’d said something wrong when Hermione suddenly pounced on him, knocking his Runes book on the floor, pinning him to the sofa and kissing him heatedly.
When their lips finally parted they both panted breathlessly, green eyes meeting brown once more.
“I love you so much, Harry Potter,” she said softly.
“I love you too, Hermione.”
And then they were kissing again, arms around one another, hands roaming. When they both came up for air Harry smiled at Hermione, an impish look in his eye.
“So how was it for you?” he asked.
“It was wonderful!” she sighed contentedly, beaming back at him.
“I thought so,” said Harry with a grin. “You and Parvati looked like you were really enjoying it.”
Hermione’s cheeks turned the colour of an overripe strawberry.
“You... no...” she sputtered. “That’s not what I meant!”
Harry pounced on Hermione this time, tickling her ribs. He soon had Hermione on her back on the sofa, giggling hysterically, tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks.
“No...stop!” she gasped. “No more...”
Harry stopped tickling at once and grinned down at her.“Go on! Your turn to tell the truth!”
“Or I’ll use these on you again until you do!” Harry wiggled his fingers.
“No! No! I can’t take any more! ... I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”
“I’m listening.”
Hermione’s cheeks looked like they were on fire now.
“If...if you must know, I thought it was nice too,” she admitted shyly. “Nicer than I thought it would be! I honestly never thought I’d like kissing a girl - but I kind of did. ... But it was all just for show! ... I promise!... I love kissing you more! Lots and lots more!”
“I know,” said Harry as he looked into Hermione’s pleading eyes; he kissed her again, softly, tenderly, until he felt her calming down.
Then his brow furrowed pensively.
“I am a metamorphmagus, you know! If you want... I could, er... just for you.”
There was only a brief moment of hesitation, then Hermione shook her bushy head vigorously.
“No! Not for me! You’re perfect too, Harry - just the way you are! I wouldn’t have you any other way!”
They kissed again, and as it grew deeper and more impassioned, Harry couldn’t help but think of the flicker of temptation in Hermione’s eyes and filed that away for one day in the future, maybe after Hogwarts when they were married...

~o0o~
When she thought it would be safe, long after curfew, Hermione made her way back to Gryffindor Tower under Harry’s Invisibility Cloak in a blissful daze, the unsettled feeling caused by Skeeter’s article washed away completely. She felt ready to move things forward with Harry again, and was already planning their next rendezvous.
Happily, there was no-one left in the common room when Hermione entered through the porthole and she crept up to the stairs to the dormitory. Quietly she opened the door just in case anyone was asleep. Lavender looked like she had dozed off and the other girls had the curtains around their four-poster beds drawn.
Only Parvati was awake, sitting up in bed reading a book. They both blushed. Then they burst into giggles and both had to cover their mouths so that their giggles wouldn’t wake anyone. Crookshanks flicked his tail lazily and purred when he spotted Hermione.
As Hermione crawled into bed and let out a contented sigh about Harry, she wondered when she had become more giggly. Was it because she and Harry had become girlfriend and boyfriend, or because she had become closer to Lavender and Parvati?
She was suddenly taken with a strange sense of deja-vu.
Her eyes closed, somehow recent events all swirled together with past events and a vibrant memory popped into her head. A memory of Harry’s second ever Quidditch match in first year - the one which Snape had been refereeing.
Hermione giggled when she remembered Ron and Neville’s first ever fist-fight with Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle. They had been been brawling in the stands and it had all happened at once.
Hermione remembered screaming and leaping onto her seat to watch when Harry had gone into a terrifying dive and then shot past Snape to catch the snitch in a record time which was still unbroken.
The stands erupted into cheers. Hermione was shrieking gleefully, “Harry’s won! We’ve won! Gryffindor is in the lead!” jumping up and down in her seat and surprising Parvati with a rib-cracking hug.
As the memory replayed over and over in her mind, she knew she finally had what she had wanted all along - Harry as her boyfriend and friends like Parvati and Lavender to share the ups and downs of it all with. It was okay to have close friends who were girly girls, and it was actually okay to cut loose and giggle a bit every once in a while...

~o0o~
Hermione made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast with Harry and Dora after meeting them outside their respective quarters. Parvati and Lavender were already waiting and giggling with Ginny, Luna and Fleur.
Ron and Neville were chortling on the other side of the table with the Twins who were both sniggering. Fred and George peered at the late arrivals with new respect as Harry and Hermione took their seats next to the rest of their “harem.”
“We’ve all decided that we don’t care what anyone thinks,” said Luna with her usual dreamy smile. “Besides, it’s more fun making everyone think it’s true.”
“I still can’t believe you both snogged Parvati in front of the Slytherins,” said Ginny, grinning her head off. “I wish I’d been there to see their faces.”
“Well, Malfoy’s looked something like this when he was arguing with Bulstrode...” Ron screwed his face up into a remarkably good impression of a bewildered, jealous, angry Malfoy that got everyone laughing again.
Harry glanced across the hall and grinned to see Malfoy with the exact same expression on his face as they caught each others’ eye. And then the owls started arriving.
As the letters started piling up on the table in front of Harry and Hermione, Harry looked at them with suspicion, having a very good idea that they would be different than the usual odd bits of fan-mail he got every once in a while.
“Huh! I wonder what took them so long,” Harry muttered.
“Well, Skeeter’s article came out on Saturday, and most people probably didn’t start sending their owls out till Sunday and...” Hermione began.
“...and it took them a couple of days for them to start arriving from all over Britain,” Harry concluded as he tentatively reached for one of the envelopes.
All eyes were upon Harry as he opened the first envelope.
“Bloody hell!” he gasped.
Harry was stunned at what he saw and felt his face growing hot; he glanced at Hermione who had clapped a hand to her mouth and started giggling, looking just as shocked as Harry to see the photo of a nude young woman accompanied by a note offering to be part of the “harem.”
“What’s up?” asked Ron. “What is it?”
“Here!” Harry grinned and chucked the envelope across the table. “You’ll probably appreciate this more than me. I’ve already got a girlfriend.”
“Blimey!” Ron gasped.
Ron and Neville’s eyes nearly fell out of their heads as they gawked at the photo. Harry and Hermione began opening the rest of the dozen or so envelopes and chucking one after the other across the table at Ron and Neville who were both thrilled to see more pictures of young women in various states of undress.
All the girls were giggling again as they peered at the photos before they were tossed across the table - Dora and Fleur both looking very interested.
Harry came to the second to last envelope and opened it. He sighed to see that this letter was more like the ones he had been expecting to get. It was composed from pasted letters that looked like they had been cut out from newspapers and magazines.
“YoU aRe VeRY WickEd youNG Man! YOu arE Not HEro aNYmorE! wIZarD WorlD deSERve MuCH beTTer ThaN SEx-FieNd! Go bacK to MUGglE whEre yOU bElong DEgeneRAte PerVErt!”
“That’s horrible!” said Hermione.
“Yeah!” Harry shrugged nonchalantly as he reached for the last one. “But to be honest, that’s how I expected them all to be - OW!”
“What the hell?” he yelped as yellowy-green goo which smelled like petrol spilled over his fingers and boils began bubbling up.
“That smells like Bubotuber pus,” said Neville. “You should go see Madam Pomfrey.”
“We’ll tell Professor Sprout where you’ve gone,” said Ron.
Hermione stared at Harry’s hands, appalled. “Tell Professor Sprout that I won’t be there either. I’m going with Harry...”

~o0o~
Kingsley Shacklebolt peered around the sparkling clean lobby of the office. It looked almost like any ordinary muggle office-lobby, right down to the ficus in the corner and the magazines on the little table next to the armchairs. The only difference was that the secretary behind the desk was a goblin.
“Bookmaker Gribble will see you now, sir,” said the secretary, peering over the top of her reading glasses. “Down the hall, second door on the left.”
“Thank you!” Shacklebolt gave the secretary a courteous nod and entered the gold and green carpeted hallway...
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Yuletide Blessing in Disguise