Living Dangerously

Chapter 6: Control

"I have several questions."

"About?"

"This place. I've never read about it before. Which is peculiar, because even the Chamber of Secrets is mentioned in some texts, and most say that didn't even exist."

"Not sure how much I can tell you, Neville found it by accident, actually. 'Lotta us were trying to find somewhere we could use a refuge against Umbridge. I guess Hogwarts just knows when it needs to lend a helping hand."

Daphne turned her nose up and fought against a gag. Harry chuckled, then his eyes lingered on her for a moment. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but his gaze instilled a tingling feeling inside her.

Daphne had to concentrate to ease her next words out.

"Forgive me, this is... So unusual for me..." she shook her head in disbelief, "...it doesn't feel real."

"Is that bad?" he asked.

"No. It's good. I like it. Just... odd."

Their eyes met.

She offered him a smile, which he gave back.

Then something else happened, and all of a sudden the two were kissing. It was soft, but had purpose. There was an intention behind it -a meaning- unlike before when it was just their tongues battling for dominance.

A warm fuzz spread through the Daphne body which made her let out a gentle moan into Harry's mouth. He apparently took that as his cue and moved his hands down onto her waist. Gently, he stroked her sides. Despite the few layers she had on, she could still feel his hands rising and lowering on her diaphragm.

A rush of goosebumps swept her body.

Slowly, she raised one of her hands and brought it down on top his own. She took him by the wrist, lifting it above his head and pinning it against the arm of the sofa, which he didn't fight. She took this new angle as an advantage to deepen the kiss, introducing her tongue into his mouth. The tips of their tongues gently rubbed one another, before beginning to explore their environments.

With the hand she had pinned down, she began snaking her hand into it his, interlacing their fingers. Then, she stopped abruptly.

She pulled away from him, frowned and looked up.

"What's that?"

Daphne moved to pull his hand down into her view, but Harry sat up suddenly, stopping her. She was now kneeling on top of him, a leg on each side. He hid his hand behind his back, shielding it from her view.

"Nothing," he said too quickly for it to actually be nothing.

"Let me see."

Daphne tried to move her head around his shoulder. Harry leaned back again, still denying her access.

"It's nothing, really."

Despite the extreme proximity the two had to one another, it didn't seem to get in the way of their conversation.

"Then you'll have no problem showing me," she shot back.

Harry struggled with himself for a moment, then gave in, sighing loudly. He gingerly pulled both hands out from behind his back, placed the innocent one on her thigh and presented the other to her. She took him hand by the wrist and pulled it up to her face, examining it closely.

"I must... not... tell lies?" she read out carefully.

She was silent for a second.

"Merlin's Beard..." her voice shrank. "How did you get this?"