Harriet Potter's Forbidden Love

Chapter 34 - Growing

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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Ixora's kiss ignited a fire she was still too young to understand.

It began as an innocent flame at first.

For the rest of her third year, she and Hugo exchanged soft, sweet kisses every once in a while, almost as a dare between two curious adolescents.

In their fourth year at Hogwarts, their kisses lost their sweetness as their frequency increased.

The couple, like so many others their age, began to frequent secret spots in the castle where they could meet and share a private moment throughout the many breaks that came during an average academic day.

Holidays and summers were burdens to bear as they were forced to sometimes spend weeks apart when their families schedules did not coincide for visits or pesky vacations arose.

One night during the winter recess of his fifth year at Hogwarts, Hugo found himself unable to sleep, filled with rage.

He let out a great roar as he picked up a photo frame from his nightstand and hurled it into the nearby wall.

SLAM!

CRASH!

The glass smashed to pieces from the impact, but the frame's destruction failed to ease the blind frustration Hugo's condition forced upon him.

His chest heaved as he struggled for breath while he raised a hand to his face in shame, knowing the noise would earn him unwelcome attention.

A moment later, a knock fell on his closed door as Ron called out, "........Son? Are you alright? Should I come in?"

"NO!" Hugo roared before he cleared his throat and responded, "No....I mean......yes, Dad. I'm fine, don't.....don't come in."

"Do you still have enough water?" Ron asked through the door.

"Yeah, I've got enough water." Hugo huffed as he rubbed his face.

"Are you hungry?" Ron asked.

"No, I'm not hungry!" Hugo snapped.

"Alright......" Ron answered, "When you're over the worst of it, I'll unlock the door. I'm sorry, son, I know how hard it is, believe me. I've been through it too..........If you need anything, let me know, yeah?"

"Thanks, Dad." Hugo sighed, "...........I will."

Outside in the hall, Ron frowned as he walked away.

The memories of the lonely ruts he had endured before he and Hermione had finally found one another were all too vivid.

Each one had been its own anguished torment.

Inside his room, Hugo sunk down on his bed and stared at his ceiling as a sigh left his lips.

A miserable frown twisted his handsome face as he lamented his own loneliness.

His body ached, his soul screamed, and his heart hurt.

Ixora lying next to him would have taken away his pain........and soon afterwards, made his parents into grandparents.

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It was almost as if their bodies had already synced.

While Hugo suffered through his first rut, Ixora lay sweating in her bed as she endured the high fever that an omega's first heat often brought.

"My poor darling......" Harriet frowned while she sat at her eldest daughter's bedside and blotted her face with a cool rag.