40 Days

December 15, 1997

Harry jerked awake in the early in the morning, startling me and I would have fallen off the narrow bed except for his quick reflexes, his arm wrapping around me.

"What is it?" I whispered, my hand already wrapped tightly around my wand, peering into the dark tent.

His breathing was rough, and he hadn't moved since waking me up. He got up, not replying, and walked out of the tent, not putting on a jacket or shoes. What the hell?

I was stunned for a second before jumping up and following him, wand in hand, coming out of the tent in a rush, the sticks and stones of the cold rough ground digging into my feet. I shivered, casting a warming charm at myself and then at Harry a few feet in front of me.

"Harry?"

"Go back inside the tent, Hermione." His voice was flat, and he didn't turn around, staring out onto the dark lake. The fog had come, obscuring the shoreline, and it looked as if we were on the only piece of land in an endless lake.

I paused, looking at his stiff back, not sure what to do. I hadn't taken a draught of peace in at least six hours, and I could feel my anxiety ramping back up. I couldn't leave him, though. Walking away from Harry had always been the thing I couldn't manage to do. Especially when I thought he needed me.

I walked up to him, sliding my hands around him, locking them over his chest and holding him to me. "What woke you up?" I whispered against his back.

He was silent for so long; I thought he wouldn't respond. "Bellatrix is pregnant."

No, Bellatrix is fucking him. The words he told me before he killed Rabastan Lestrange echoed in my head.

"He-He's going to have a child?" My hands tightened even more around Harry.

His voice was dark and cold when he spoke. "I need to kill her before she whelps."

I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing my face harder against his back. Even though I knew better, even though I had experienced it before, I forgot for a moment and breathed deep. I smelled Harry, and he smelled of cold bitter frost, decayed leaves, and the smoky whip of fire.

I pushed myself away from him, violently rejecting how deeply the locket had affected him. Harry turned to face me, his face shadowed, the fog obscuring the tiny amount of light provided by the early morning sky. We were trapped alone in a fucking nightmare together.

"What? The thought of killing her upsets you that much?" He reached out and grabbed my chin, lifting it and holding it up so I couldn't avoid his eyes. "You're going to die unless you stop being so weak."

"I thought you said you wouldn't let anything happen to me."

"Why do you think I'm killing as many as I can?"

"You know you can't kill him unless all the horcruxes are destroyed." I told him, not glancing down to where the locket lay against his chest.

Harry swallowed, stepping back and releasing me, his hand going to the locket. "I know." He pulled it off, holding it at his side for a minute before walking towards me, still not looking at my face again as he grabbed my hand.

When we got into the tent, he tossed the locket aside, pulling off my shirt, then his own before stepping close to me. His hands cradled my face gently, pressing his lips softly to mine. "I love you." He whispered fervently to me.

My eyes were open, watching him while his were closed, his face tortured. "Stupefy." I whispered back, my wand pointing at him.

I grabbed my shirt from the floor, pulling it on quickly, trying to keep my wand pointed at him. He was too heavy for me to yank him on the bed. I used a hover charm, casting another stunning spell when he twitched.

Carefully straddling him, I placed my wand close to his temple, concentrating on digging for the memory. I pulled carefully, watching his face, but he made no reaction. I flung the memory to the side, and it dissipated into nothing, and then cast a confundus, before extinguishing the light and laying down tensely.

After a minute, I jerked up out of bed, ran to get the locket, and pulled it over his head. His hands caught me before I could release the chain around his neck. "What are you doing?"

"I-I was adjusting it, it was digging into my skin." My fingers felt like icicles and I remained absolutely still against him.

"Mmm." Harry rolled me under him, yanking off the locket to toss it to the side. "You know you're a terrible liar, Hermione. It's going to get you into trouble one day."

His hand slid between my legs, stroking me, before pushing roughly inside me. His head lowered, his lips brushing against mine. "Tell me something true, Hermione."

"I-I—" It was hard to speak as his knuckles rubbed against me each time his fingers thrust inside me.

He braced his other hand near my head, his body above me, while his other hand worked me over. He yanked his hand out, grabbing my knees and pushing them upward, almost bending me in half, spread out before him. The blunt head of his cock probed me for just a second before shoving in hard, our hips cracking together.

"Tell me you like the feel of my come inside you." Harry's hands dug into the underside of my knees, keeping them up high as he fucked me.

"Tell me no matter what happens, you know you're mine." The slaps punctuated his demands and all I could do was give breathless cries as he buried himself deep inside of me.