Kissing Lessons for the Beginner

Lesson Four - Make Like a Spoon and Snuggle

Unfortunately for Harry, the days between their last lesson and their next dragged on for so long that he thought he'd burst from the mingled excitement and hope that Hermione's mere presence inspired. If he was right, if she wanted to be with him, too...well, he couldn't help smiling every time he thought about it.

On the other hand, there was a chance Harry was overreacting to the entire thing, and Hermione might not feel the same way about him at all.

It was all terribly confusing, and Harry very much wanted the next lesson to come so that he could begin to test the waters.

Three days full of awkwardness, pleasant but embarrassing dreams, and attempting not to touch Hermione passed before he finally found himself in the Room of Requirement again, with Hermione's petite body beneath his.

Luckily - or perhaps not, depending upon which way the winds were blowing - Harry's enthusiasm for kissing Hermione was doing wonders for his kissing anxiety. In fact, he was so calm about it now that for once, Hermione didn't have to tell him to get started. The moment she finished telling him that they would simply be practicing this time, he had his lips on hers - and oh, how lovely it felt.

"Mmm - Harry, it's - ah - it's good to - to see you're - more confident - mmmph!" Hermione said between kisses until Harry quieted her with the clever use of his tongue.

Harry was beginning to feel a bit dizzy as Hermione kissed him back - very enthusiastically. Honestly, the girl was a maniac! Before he even realized what was happening, she was flipping him onto his back - never breaking lip contact - and straddling him. Should've known she'd be the dominant type.

"Harry," she said, pulling away, "I think we're ready to move on after all."

His entire body tingled in anticipation. "To what?"

"Touching," she said in a breathy way that made his heart pound painfully faster.

"T-touching?" He wet his lips. His eyes traveled slowly down to her chest. Was she going to let him touch those, he wondered?

God, I hope so. ...Jesus, we're going to regret this later.

"I know it might be a little strange for us, and if you don't want to, I perfectly understand. I just thought you might like to learn how to go about that."

Harry nodded dumbly. His brain had shifted to autopilot and he could only watch as she took his hand and placed it under her shirt, against the soft skin of her hip.

"You want to start slow," she said quietly. "You don't want to push a girl into anything. Keep your hands above her clothes at first - if she responds well to that, you can try slipping your hand under her shirt, like this."

"Okay," he croaked, wincing at the toad-like sound of his voice. "Um. Then what?"

"Work your way up," she instructed. "Again, do it slowly. Give her time to stop you if she wants."

Hermione removed her hand from where it held his in place, and he started to caress his way upward, inch by inch, until he felt the lacy fabric of her bra. He wondered just what sort of undergarments she was sporting today; he'd always figured her for the white cotton knickers type - not that he'd thought about it very often, until recently, at least. Never in his wildest - okay, in some of his wildest dreams - had he pictured any lacy bras. I wonder what color it is. She'd probably slap me if I tried to sneak a peek.

"Harry?"

"Huh?"

"You can touch them, you know."

He was about to hyperventilate, but he reached up anyway and cupped her right breast. It was fuller than he would have thought by sight alone. Ruddy school robes...cover up the best things...

Experimentally he ran a thumb over the soft curve, feeling her hardened nipple through the fabric. Hermione jerked her hips against his spasmodically with a sharp intake of breath.

"Was - was that good?"

She nodded without opening her eyes. "Now, um...combine everything else you've learned with - with this."

She eased herself off of him and laid back on the bed. "Start again."

He didn't have to be told twice.

~

For the first time, Harry and Hermione left their lesson together. When they reached the common room, they found Ron waiting in a chair by the fire.

"Where do you two keep going all the time?" he asked. "I've been waiting around for you for half an hour!"

"I told you, Ron, we've been practicing defense!" Hermione said without so much as a blush.

"No, you didn't!"

"Of course I did. Twice."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He looked them over. "You two look a right mess."

"Getting jinxed will do that to you," Harry said with an ease he was rather ashamed of, taking a seat beside Ron. A guilty feeling twisted around in his stomach as Ron accepted their lies without question.

Harry knew that what they were doing - or at least the way they were going about it, sneaking around - was wrong. He couldn't bring himself to change that, though, not when he found he wanted Hermione more with each passing day. No, he wouldn't - couldn't - give this up yet.

He glanced at Hermione, who had her knitting needles clicking to the side as she worked on an essay. Harry'd found earlier that if he opened his eyes while kissing her, he'd see that same look of concentration on her face - like she was trying to drive him mad.

As if she has to try.

Hermione had definitely been enjoying their activities, regardless of whether she was trying or not. Her little noises still echoed in his head... He wanted to go over to her and draw them out of her again, to kiss and touch her in all the little spots he'd memorized, those spots that made her whimper or moan or clutch him more tightly.

He could have her every day until the end of eternity, and it would never be enough to drive her from his mind.

On some level, he knew things were spiraling out of control, that he was losing himself in this and would never find his way back - and on another level, he didn't care at all, not when one touch from Hermione could make him feel more alive than anything else ever had.

Harry watched Hermione finish her essay and blow gently across the paper in an attempt to dry the ink faster, and he knew he couldn't turn back from this now. Not from her.

He could only hope she felt the same way.

~

Their next lesson turned out much like the last had - with hands in places they had no business being and Hermione's tongue somehow turning off his brain - but eventually, as their energy flagged, it wound down to something gentler.

She was kissing him softly now, their lips barely brushing, and it felt heavenly. He didn't want her to stop, but she had plans of her own.

"This is the perfect time to teach you what to do afterward."

"Afterward?"

Harry watched in confusion as she laid herself beside him, nestling into the crook of his arm and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Yes. Afterward, you have to show the girl that you care - that you're not with her only for the snogging, that it's not just...physical. If you just leave, that's exactly what she's going to think. So if you do really care - and I'd better not ever find out that you've been using a girl that way - you have to show it somehow, like this."

"By cuddling?"

"Yes, cuddling!" she said sharply with a scowl. "It shows that you're content just to be close, that you don't need to have your tongue down her throat to be happy with her."

"Okay," Harry said as she pressed closer.

It was nice, actually, even if his arm was going a bit numb. Her eyes were closed, and he could observe her without her noticing. His eyes took in the way her eyelashes fell across her skin, the line of freckles across her nose, and her lips, darker and fuller than normal from their kissing. Her face was so familiar, and still so beautiful...he never wanted to go a day without seeing it.

Never? Did that just cross my mind? But it's true...I never want to go a day without her...oh God...

He had to tell her. Perhaps not that - he wasn't quite ready to accept that himself - but at least that these lessons weren't just lessons to him anymore, that he had feelings for her beyond what he was supposed to - that it wasn't just physical, and he did actually care.

She opened her eyes and looked up to him with a smile, and he couldn't stop the words.

"Hermione, I need to tell you -"

But before he could even begin to explain, the door burst open and they both whipped their heads around to see who their intruder was.

"There you two -" A pause. "What the bloody hell is going on here?"

Harry watched as Ron dropped the Marauder's Map he'd been using to find them and his face went chalk-white.

"Ron -" Hermione began, but Ron shook his head forcefully.

"No. No, you know what? I don't want to hear it."

The door slammed loudly as Ron left, leaving silence in his wake.

Harry glanced at Hermione's anxious face and wondered if he'd lost his chance forever.

To be continued