Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling

Author's Note:

I am not normally one to make a soundtrack recommendation for a chapter; however a kind reviewer provided me one they felt expressed the last chapter rather well. I happen to agree. As such, this chapter was inspired in part by the song "You are the Reason," by Calum Scott. Thank you Wildfireartist for reaching out.

Also, I leave the rather unkind reviews people make on my stories as a reminder that as writers we can never please everyone, even in fan fiction. Also I appreciate the dichotomy created with those of you reviewers who take a civil route when offering your thoughts on my writing. Your tact and kind words are very much well received.

Now, back to what you came here for in the first place.

Content Warning:

This chapter contains somewhat explicit content. As such, please do not continue if you are either under age or do not wish to read such material.

Chapter 14:

Keeping You Safe

Harry traced his fingers along the delicate etchings upon the rim of his family pensieve, the runic designs slowly becoming familiar with every visit he paid the device. His eyes, unseeing as they were, rested closed in response to his weariness. It was here he came in the depths of the night when sleep hid from his grasp. It was here he fled to when the sleepy embrace of his Hermione felt confining; when the love they shared hurt in ways he felt it should not. It was here, in the embrace of magic and the voices of his long-dead parents that he came to remember what exactly it was that Hermione, his beautiful Hermione, had given him. It was here that he could forget and focus; it was here that he could weep and remember; it was here that he could glory in what could have been. With a quiet sigh, Harry bent and slipped his face beneath the cool surface of memory and entered a world equally as entrancing as had been the visions within the Mirror of Erised. He knew the danger, but without its embrace he was left to worry and struggle with feelings and thoughts he could not organize. It was here he could love and not feel guilty.

Upon the ground and beneath the singing voices of James and Lily Potter, Harry was free of the enveloping warmth of Hermione's presence. The memory replayed, eddies of magic shifting around Harry in time with the memorized movements of the parents he could never truly embrace. As they sang and as they spoke, Harry strained with every fiber of his being to sense those shifting waves of magic and identify them for what they were. Being here he could practice restraining that one skill that gave him sight and strengthening that which allowed him to understand. Hermione's presence was too tempting, too hurtful to pretend to ignore. In respect for her he had to work with something that would not take offense to his understanding, something that would not hurt at the words he might say in his frustration.

He knew by now where he could stand to embrace the apparition of his mother or father. Harry knew by now just where he could reach to hold the intangible memory of his mother's hand. Harry knew by now, through repetition and listening and tears, just where to be when he needed the comfort. With every new stretch of the magic within him, Harry's ability to understand what he sensed grew. Though magic was all around him in this quiet place, the movements of the memories were visible to him. Just like the "ventus" charm had become a way of sensing the world around him, he could picture this memory. Having something that repeated in a pattern of energy was invaluable, allowing him to learn every detail and nuance of how the sense of things acted.

It was due to this hyper awareness of the memory, as well as the total exhaustion that filled him, that caused Harry both to be fully aware as a new presence disturbed the memory, and be completely unresponsive to it. Legs hugged to his chest as he sat where he had landed, gentle arms wrapped around Harry, enveloping him in the calm waters of Ruth's emotions.

"O sweetie. You're exhausted love, how long have you been here?" she asked.

Harry shrugged.

"Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"Doesn't really matter if I can't fix it." he said.

"Harry love, that's what parents are for, listening to their children's problems and trying to help them learn how to make them better."

"That's why I'm here, I'm trying to fix it."

Ruth shifted, lowering herself to the ground beside him as his father bantered with his other mother.

"Will you at least let me try and help you?"

"I doubt you'd want to help me figure out how to love your daughter a little less."

Her hand made small circles on Harry's back, a young comfort he'd only just begun to understand he was allowed. "How about you try to tell me what you mean first."

"If I love her less it might be easier to not enjoy feeling her emotions so clearly. It, might be easier to go blind if, if I don't want to see her."

"You know what Simon and I find so beautiful about you and Hermione?"

"No."

"The fact that you love each other without worrying if the other person is going to hurt you. You trust each other."

"But we did hurt each other and now I'm trying to figure out how to make it better."

"Maybe, but tell me this love, has loving Hermione, the feeling of loving her, ever directly hurt either of you?"

"I don't understand."

"Good, then there's something that I can at least help you understand, if nothing else." Ruth was silent for a moment, a small chuckle bubbling up at a particularly entertaining joke from James. When she did speak up again, her words were slow, unpracticed.

"I think there's a part of love that a lot of people don't understand. I know that in general we can't define it, but that's kind of my point. Love just, is. It's instinctive and when we try to break it down and understand exactly what it means, that's when we get confused and question it. I don't think that's right. Love is an instinct, you either feel it for a person or you don't. I've fallen out of love with people before and in the moment I always tried to figure out whether or not I loved them. Looking back though, it was obvious, I just didn't realize it then.

"But love just exists. I don't have to question if I love Simon, or Hermione, or you. I just know I do, and that's what matters. Feeling love for someone, and the actions it causes you to perform almost never hurt the person. It's what we do when we're trying to make it a science that hurts. Do you mind if I use an example?"

Harry shrugged. He was curious and not entirely sure why she would feel the need to ask for permission.

"You cast a patronus recently to try and show Carrol how beautiful magic could be. You used your feelings for Hermione to power it, so far as I understand. Am I correct so far? Good. Now forget Carrol, forget Simon, forget myself. If we hadn't been there, everything you projected, Hermione would have loved to feel. When I talked to her about it, she said how loved she felt and how happy she was to be able to feel your emotions for once. Forget everything else about that situation. You did that out of love. Did showing Hermione how you feel about her hurt either of you directly?"

"Um, no?"

"Don't worry if you don't get my point yet. You're right though. You enjoyed sharing your feelings and Hermione enjoyed feeling them as well. That was an act of love you both benefitted from. Now, what happened when other factors came in to play that had nothing to do with your relationship?"

"Well, I'm guessing you mean the rest of you. Those feelings should have been private and when I shared them it made Hermione feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. Then it made me feel guilty for showing how I felt."

"And so on, right?"

"Yeah."

"Those other things had nothing to do with the original act and absolutely nothing to do with your relationship. I know there's other things going on, Hermione wouldn't tell me either and I don't expect you to if you don't feel comfortable. However, you loving Hermione didn't hurt her. How other people might react to those feelings did. You didn't hurt her, your timing and judgement did. Judgement becomes better with time and timing well, that's just experience. My point is, you feeling love for her and she feeling love for you doesn't hurt anyone. Those feelings are internal and shared between you. Why feel bad for that?"

Harry was silent, considering Ruth's words for a few moments, the memory drawing to a close. She was right and he knew it. For once he could understand a bit of what Ruth meant. The rest of it was probably just the experience of a long and healthy relationship, but the basics he was grasping. Or maybe he did understand all the messages in what she'd said and just didn't realize it? After all, he and Hermione had been together in a way for about five years now.

"I wouldn't have any of this without her." he said, gesturing around them with a free hand.

"Hmmm."

"Without Hermione I wouldn't have you and Simon, I probably wouldn't have figured out that I should read my parents' will and I wouldn't have this memory. I know what my mum and dad sound like now without them being murdered. I know they loved me and that they planned for a life with me. I have a family now; yeah it's different, but I still love you all."

"That's all good things isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Now see if you can tell me what you've given Hermione."

"I don't really know."

"Think of how she is compared to how she was a couple of months ago. What's she like now that's different?"

"Oh, well, she's a bit happier."

Ruth snorted. "Understatement of the year love."

Harry smiled just a little, lips lifting for the barest of seconds. "Alright, she's loads happier. Well, she wrote me a poem a while ago. She said she feels understood and loved."

"Go on. What else?"

"She'd never been able to show you and Simon magic before, and I know how much she'd wanted to show you Hogwarts."

"Good. Keep going, I know it's hard."

"She likes learning braille and doing homework. Now she has me to do those things with when I might have complained before. She, well, I'm not sure."

"Something you can't really describe right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because it's something you have too that you can't really explain. I have it and so does Simon." Here Ruth turned and took Harry's hands in hers, the memory dissolving around them, leaving Harry and Ruth sitting side by side on his bed. "Hermione has you to love. She has you to love and she has you to love her. I can't even express how deeply powerful that is Harry. It's that part of love we can't understand with words, it's a knowledge that makes a difference without us knowing it. A parent feels amazing when they think about their child because they have a child, because they love that child. They understand that their child loves them in some deep way a child loves a parent. Love can't be described, it just is."

"Kind of like hope?"

"How so?"

"Well, even when I was in some bad situations and I thought I was going to die, I just kept going because I had to. I needed to get back to my friends and I needed to just keep going. Hope just kind of, helps."

"And love lifts us. It protects us. Even if you have a fight with someone you love, that love is still there in the background making you want to fix it, making you want to just say that you love them and have that fight disappear, because deep down, you know that only the love matters. When it comes down to it, love is what matters. You would know if that love was gone. As long as it's there, that love makes all the difference."

"I think I actually understand."

"Damn right you do, i'm brilliant at these things."

He laughed, the tension releasing in that instant and Harry squeezed Ruth's hands. "Thank you. I'm still figuring out what to do with it, but I understand what you mean."

"Good, I'm always here for you dear. Now, I'm here to help if you want, but if you'd rather figure out the rest on your own, I suggest you sleep."

"But…"

"No way kiddo. You're exhausted, this can wait. Sleep on it and the fact that you have a direction to go in will make it easier to rest. You'll wake up and I promise you, you'll know what to do."

"Really? It works like that now does it?"

"I've been married to Simon for nearly twenty years Harry, I like to think I've figured a few things out."

"What about that, not going to sleep angry thing?"

"Are you angry?"

"No but…"

"Couples go to sleep confused all the time dear, there's a difference between yelling and going to bed without talking about it, and arguing, calming down then going to sleep. Rest love, you'll feel better when you do."

"Okay."

She embraced him, kissing his forehead. "Rest well Harry, i'll see you when you get up."

"Thanks, mum."

"You're welcome dear."

"Er, mum?"

"Hmmm?"

"How long did you know something was up?"

Ruth laughed. "Since it started. Simon and I decided not to get involved until tomorrow if nothing else changed though."

"Then what was this about then?"

"This was me addressing your sleeping problem."

"Right."

She wished him good night, a clear smile in the sound of her voice, and left the room. When Harry laid his head on the pillow, his confusion was no longer on Hermione, but on exactly how Ruth had solved his problems without even directly addressing or knowing about them. Was it a parent skill or something? Maybe it was a magic of its own, understanding and helping.

**GITLOH**

The single piece of parchment quivered in her hand, announcing Hermione's anxiety to the quiet corridor. While her beginning work on it might have been peaceable enough, the last few days had been anything but. Desperation and lack of sleep had driven her onward in a frenzy and as a result, she had completed her work far in advance of their plans. The twins were thrilled with the results but Hermione could hardly bask in the victory. She had first to see if the gift would be received as penance enough for what she had done. Her anxiety refused to abate as she entered the room of requirement, the heavy door snapping closed behind her. He stood there, alone in the center of the broad room, wand held loosely at his side, a gentle breeze stirring against her skirt and hair.

Harry's face turned in her direction, looking for the first time in days like he wasn't about to fall asleep where he stood. His eyes, unfocused as they were, seemed to meet hers and Hermione paused, uncertain. The air gathered, still gentle as it moved about her, but more solid. She felt the soft breeze all about her, brushing her skin, tickling her throat, making her clothes ripple. There was attention in that focus, a focus for the first time that was projected on to her. Harry had only gained enough control over the charm to generate direct focus upon a specific area since their disagreement, and so he had not placed her under it. Now though, with that attention upon her, Hermione felt, visible, to him somehow. Whether he could see her as he once had or sense her in his new manner, it was the first time since they had kissed and embraced that she felt he was seeing all of her. His face relaxed visibly in that moment, her breath catching. He liked what he saw, and he wasn't pretending that he didn't.

"You are beautiful you know." he said.

Hermione wasn't sure how to respond. The parchment had begun vibrating again and getting this over with was the only way to make sure it stopped, for better or worse. She walked up to him and extended it forward, knowing not only that he could hear the paper shake, but that he could sense it with his magic. Words and planned explanations failed her, leaving Hermione to force herself to speak in the silence.

"I don't know what to do when I can't explain or understand something Harry. Things like that frighten me and I panic. I think you know that though to a point. I still don't know how I feel about you sensing me and I can't seem to figure it out, but I know what I was asking you to do was wrong. I didn't mean to imply I didn't want you to see. II'm so sorry for that, it was really awful of me. So I tried really hard to finish this for you, to give you what, to give you what I didn't mean to ask you to give away. I love you Harry and I'm really confused and I'm really sorry and…"

Her words were cut off when he took her face in his hands. Palms cupping her cheeks and thumbs stroking below her lower lip, Harry kissed her. He was gentle, allowing her to step back if she wished, but her anxiety, as much as it made her tremble meshed with her surprise and Hermione found she needed that contact. They hadn't kissed since their argument. She'd thought in some hopeful part of her brain that their first kiss would be forceful, desperate from the missed time and contact. But Harry was gentle and only held her lips to his for a handful of seconds before breaking the kiss.

Harry placed a hand over her heart. "Do you feel that thing you can't understand?"

"Yes, I love you and there's hormones and I don't…"

"That thing you can't understand, I feel it too."

She blinked at him. "What?"

"Yes you silly love, I feel that thing too."

"But it's confusing and you always seem to know what you feel even if you can't express it. I don't know what to do with it."

"That's love darling."

"No, I know I love you. You're sweet and kind and you make me happy and I trust…"

"Hermione?"

"Hmmm?"

"Those are reasons you love me. I have those too. But there's also that thing we can't understand. It makes me want to kiss you, and it makes me love just being around you. It makes me want to hold you right now because I know how worried and hurt you are. That's our love, and we don't have to try and understand it."

"But I need to make it better."

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I've been trying to figure out how to make things better between us too. I've been trying to figure out how to stop sensing you to make you feel like you have privacy, while also still being able to see. But I realized something because a lovely lady helped me get it through my thick skull."

"What did mum do?"

"She reminded me that we love each other and that as long as we have that, we can find a way to make it work."

"Is that what she said?"

"No, but she got a similar point across. And I think she's right. I don't need to understand that feeling of love, and in a way I don't want to. It feels too good to want to analyze it. I like loving you Hermione. I like feeling that trust and being able to be comfortable around you. It means so much to me. You've given me so much and I like to think I have for you. We just need to remember that and we'll figure it out."

"I just have trouble with things I can't understand."

He smiled then guided her over to a sofa that flickered in to being nearby. They sat, Harry pulling Hermione on to his lap ignoring her squeak of protest. He took the sheet of parchment from her hand and laid it across her thighs, one arm wrapped about her waist. Hermione let herself relax in to his body, oh how she had missed this. It just wasn't the same without touching Harry, being held by him, kissing him.

Touching his want to the parchment, Harry enunciated, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Hermione watched in pride as beneath his fingers, raised lines rippled across the page even as it grew, expanding in size to accommodate larger gaps between the closer lines. In a matter of seconds, the Marauder's Map rose on the parchment in a tactile representation of Hogwarts. Harry's fingers slid over the textured staircases, the downsized braille labeling each large dot as a person, the small squares representing doorways and the multitude of other alterations Hermione had enchanted in to the map. With help from the twins at breaking open the underlying spell work, Hermione had been able to create something even she felt pride in. It was different and the same, a map she could see and Harry could feel. She looked down, seeing his lips parted in awe as he explored the creation. A quiet voice spoke as he pressed in certain places, announcing passwords and rooms where the spaces weren't large enough to accommodate legible braille.

Harry took a hand from the map, covering his face with it and breathing deeply. She knew he was pleased, but the tears that trickled between his fingers weren't what she had expected. As badly as she wanted to speak, she held back, letting him decide when to break the silence. Harry's hand squeezed his face and the other hand set the map aside, taking up his wand.

Harry wrapped his arm around Hermione again and pointed his wand toward the middle of the room. The two words were broken beneath his tears, but the spell blossomed about them as surely as it had the first night he conjured it.

"Expecto Patronum."

In radiance that swept Hermione's heart away, the silver stag stood in the center of the room of requirement. She gasped, feeling for the first time without an audience just how powerfully Harry felt for her. Amidst the love and warm joy was a burning light of, something that brought tears to her own eyes. It wasn't simply affection, nor was it love or trust. That emotion overwhelmed everything else beside it and settled over Hermione's heart and mind like a blanket made by her mother's hands. Harry's lips were on hers again and this time Hermione responded.

"Do you have any idea how much you mean to me?" he asked, lips whispering against her own. He was desperate, she could see it in his face and feel it emanating from the patronus, but for once she could answer him in truth.

"I, I do. I feel you. God I love you Harry."

Their lips met again, all Hermione's worries and hurt floating away, as difficult to catch as a floating ball upon the waves. She let them go, allowing their mutual feelings to push them aside; trusting those feelings to be better, trusting them to be true and strong. Harry was right, her mother was right, she didn't need to understand how this felt. She felt his forgiveness, his retreating concern, the confidence he held in his feelings towards her. Hermione had been afraid of the power and strength of the feelings she couldn't understand and Harry had been trying to find a way to explain them to her. How differently they had segmented their same concerns. Now though it didn't matter, now it was the same worry dashed upon the rocks as they embraced. With Harry's name whispered between breaths and kisses, Hermione turned, straddling Harry where they sat. Her hands sought his chest, needing to feel his heartbeat even as she felt his swirling emotions. Harry tangled his fingers in her hair, no pretense of using his wand to maintain the spell remaining as Hermione removed from him the one barrier between the warmth of his chest and her touch. She had seen him shirtless before, touched him, held him, but now she pressed at his skin with fervor rather than comfort in mind. Harry's mouth found the soft curve of her throat and she moaned, unable to disguise the sudden onrush of lust coursing through both their emotions.

"Harry, please, feel me."

His mouth paused, then the world shifted around her. She had known Harry could sense her, but this was different. His magic was tangible, stronger in its attention. Rather than the air of his charm brushing against her, Hermione felt the electric tingle of his pure magic coursing through her, sensing her, feeling her. Harry sucked in a breath, mouth tight against her skin and pulled with his lips. She hissed out a pleased breath, body taking over and turning the small spark of pain in to joyous need. Harry was causing this and she was causing the rising need within him, the rising heat growing beneath her in his lap.

She acknowledged to herself the mirror, the shift between that morning when they had woken together in sleepy passion and the clarity of forsaking all fears and doubts now. This was different, this was what she had wanted for all that time and maybe even needed. Harry pulled her top up, over her arms and tossed it to the side, his hands caressing her hips and chest with his own hunger. She pushed him back and down, the sofa morphing in to a bed in the same moment, leaving Hermione atop her love once again. This time the clothing that separated them was pulled away, leaving every inch of flesh bare to their exploring hands and mouths. This time Hermione allowed herself to press her core against him, drew his head downward to press his mouth over her breast. Harry touched her in places she'd never felt pleasure before, bringing her body to a delightful quiver, wet heat building between her legs. His own response was clear, his caresses becoming more forceful, kisses more needy, breaths longer and heavier.

Hermione took him in her hand, coaxing a gasp from Harry as she gripped his member. His touch between her legs begged more and Hermione placed herself over his manhood, uncaring whether pain or discomfort met her. Easing herself down atop him, Hermione found that the shock of pain she had been expecting was in fact easily ignored as everything else he was doing to her overcame the sensation. Harry breathed her name and she rocked upon him. His magic and fingers and lips made her body burn and having part of him inside her was bliss. To be so close, the feel his emotions, to feel his power, to feel his body within and about her, there was nothing else in that moment she needed.

Beneath her, Harry shuddered, gripping her hips in rough hands as he reached a climax. She paused, letting herself gasp at the heat that suffused her from his orgasm. Harry pulled her down and kissed her, his body covered with a sheen of sweat. Even so, once his tremors abated, he lifted in to her, sliding back and forth within her core and taking away what coherence her mind once held. Through the haze she noticed a shattering of silver light and an intensifying of his emotions seeping in to her own, but that was soon forgotten as their bodies moved against one another. The rhythm was uncertain, something so new and untested trying to find a constant, a security they hadn't known before. There was no mutual bliss or well-timed climax. Instead they reached their own peaks and valleys under the ministrations of the other. Hermione's body cried out for ever more and until she had satisfied that thirst, she lost focus of all else.

**GITLOH**

Their kisses were small and frantic; desperate things that danced across faces and shoulders. It at once made Harry feel deeply desired and equally captured by the woman atop him. Though they lay now, bodies exhausted and whispering quiet words of affirmation between kisses, he reveled in the touch of her body. Their position trapped him inside her, something Harry wasn't about to complain about. That warm embrace, as sensual as it was, bringing equal feelings of love and security with it. The fires of lust were matched with love and he couldn't imagine how such contrasting emotions could exist in such potency at the same time. He'd felt this inconsistency before, when they kissed and teased, but to this level? It just didn't seem possible. At least, he wouldn't have thought it so mere hours before.

Harry hardly had the energy to move but he traced his fingers across Hermione's brow, brushing back the damp strands of hair that clung to her skin.

"You alright love?"

She practically purred against the side of his neck, nuzzling in to him. "More than ever. And you?"

The last was accompanied by a hand stroking down his chest in far too enticing a gesture.

"Far too well satisfied to respond to you as you deserve."

She giggled, lips and breath tickling his throat. "Oy, you're evil woman."

"All women are, didn't anyone tell you?"

"Yeah well."

"Good. Give me a sec, I'll be right back."

With a soft moan, she lifted her hips, Harry sliding out of her with one of the strangest sensations he'd ever had the joy to endure. Hermione kissed him once then climbed off the bed. He heard her shifting her clothes about then her wand flicking through the air. He recognized the charms she spoke, relaxing at the sudden worry of not having properly protected themselves. The ones she used were successful even within a short time after intercourse, but they also scoured the flesh clean of any fluids. His own body was cleaned a second later and Hermione joined him again, pulling a thin blanket over them as she cuddled close. Laying with her like this, so close and warm was incredible. She curled up facing him, arms bent between their chests. He wrapped his arms around her as best he could and savored the contact.

"My fire."

Hermione made a pleased sound against Harry's chest.

"How are you feeling?"

"Aside from the obvious?" she asked. "Wonderful. I, don't want you to feel like you have to blind yourself. I am sorry about that and I'll try to work on feeling, observed."

"And I'll be sure to give you time to express yourself. You're right, just because I can feel it doesn't mean I understand exactly what you're feeling. I've been putting too much trust in it being accurate."

"I love you."

"I love you too my fire."

They spoke in that calm place, whispering because it felt right and talking of feelings and empty topics. Just sharing that space was sacred in a sense and Harry had no interest in breaking it any more than he had their joining. When they did finally force themselves to dress, he picked up the map to examine it once more.

"Hermione, this is incredible. How did you do this?"

"I wrote the twins and made them tell me everything they knew about it's charms. We figured out how to modify the enchantments."

"You're brilliant you know that?"

"I do now."

"Really?"

"It's strange. I knew I'm smart, but it's different now. Now I know I can make amazing things like this but I don't feel, overconfident or anything."

"That's great. I think it just means you're mature enough to recognize what you can do without flaunting it."

"I can still flaunt other things though."

Her body pressed to him, distracting Harry from tugging on his shirt.

"Oy. Maybe building up your confidence wasn't the best thing after all."

Hermione laughed and kissed him before moving off again.

"You're magic is getting stronger."

"Yeah," he said, "I don't really have to concentrate on the spell anymore I can just project it. I don't know if I can do it wandlessly though."

"That should take time. The fact that you can control the air around you as well as you do at this point is rather incredible."

"I'm glad. I mean, since we're starting up school again in a week, I'd better be able to get around as well as I can."

"I'll be there if you need me."

"And that makes it all the better."

"Not going to tell me that you can do it on your own?"

"You know I can, why should I bother saying it?"

"Good boy."

"Love you."

"You'd better."

"Evil."

"Prat."

"Yup."

She slid in to his arms, a standing embrace that felt even more bonding than before. "How did we get so lucky?" she said, kissing him on the cheek.

"We eh?"

"Being together like this?" Hermione pressed a hand to his chest. "No, something like this has to be because of both of us."

He smiled and found her lips with his. "Yeah, no idea. But I'm thankful for it every day."

"As am I."

they stood in each other's arms for a bit longer, unwilling to return to work.

"We'll have to go up to see Dumbledore soon."

"When he sends us his patronus."

"True," he allowed. "Want to show me what else the map can do now while we wait?"

"Yes, let's."

Whatever their parents were meeting with the headmaster about must be serious. The only consolation was knowing that Harry and Hermione would be included shortly. He held aside the worry though, concentrating on Hermione and their re-founded comfort with one another. Once again something had changed between them, something tangible and worthwhile. As he traced the map, Hermione's fingers alongside his, he prayed to whatever deity might exist that this never come to an end.

**GITLOH**

Elise