The Oddest of Couples

Sitting in the Prefects' common room, settled on one of the large, comfortable couches beside the fireplace, Hermione was poring over a hefty book, making notes on a sheet of parchment that lay beside her.

A warm, welcoming fire was crackling in the fireplace, illuminating her work, the chill of impending winter already creeping in, despite the fact that it was barely even halfway through November.

Outside, the rain was lashing savagely against the glass with the force of hard pellets of water, making the studious fifth year even more grateful that she wasn´t in any of the Quidditch teams, who seemed to end up outdoors in all weathers.

Her feet tucked up under her body, her uniform had been replaced with a pair of blue tracksuit bottoms and a baggy T-shirt that her lover had insisted she wear for comfort because her skirts and jumpers looked so awkward to just laze around in.

She looked more casual and comfortable than anyone had ever seen her, her hair pulled back in a scruffy ponytail as she chewed on her lower lip, looking from prior notes to the more recent ones, scoring through several and replacing them.

Behind her, she heard the painting that served as a door squeaking open, footfalls suggesting that a single person had entered, but she didn´t bother looking around, dipping her quill into the ink bottle on the small table beside her.

Her quill scratched quietly on the page, her dark brown eyes already scanning in the text for further notes, the fingers of her left hand tracing along the words in the book, while her right scrawled notes.

A squeal of indignant surprise escaped her, her quill jerking and jabbing a hole through her parchment, when a pair of ice-cold hands were stuck down the back of her T-shirt, against her warm back.

"Hey!"

She heard the chuckle from above her and looked up to find dancing eyes looking down at her, soaking black hair slicked around a face that was flushed with exertion and amusement. "What?"

Hermione scowled, although it was belied by a glimmer of a smile in her eyes. "You have cold hands," she replied, trying to duck away, but that only served to shift the mischievous hands, which spread on her shoulders. The cool fingertips palpated her skin and she shivered. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"Does that mean you´re not pleased to see me?"

Leaning back against the back of the couch, one of Hermione´s hands rose and covered her lover´s through the fabric of the T-shirt. "Not at all!" she replied. "But I thought you had Quidditch practise."

"I did," The fingertips that were roughened by years of gripping a broomstick started moving in lazy circles on her skin. "But have you looked out of the window in the last half an hour?"

Both of them looked towards the window, where the drops were pelting against the glass. It sounded like handfuls of gravel rattling against the panes.

"Pah!" Hermione sniffed. "It´s just a little rain."

"Excuse me while I point out that when you´re flying at high speeds, that little bit of rain hits you a lot harder and it´s very difficult to fly when your robes are so water-logged you can barely get a foot off the ground."

"Now that sounds like a Quidditch game that would actually be interesting to watch," Hermione smiled, a little naughtily, aware of how seriously her lover took the game. "Imagine trying to score in the goals."

A kiss was dropped on the top of her head. "Sometimes, I don´t know why I put up with you, you silly thing," her lover replied patiently. "After all, everyone knows that Quidditch is the best game in the world."

"Hmpf."

"Don´t you `hmpf´ me, young lady!" It was said with mock-indignation. "You can´t even claim to like mentally-stimulating games because you´re as bad at chess as I am at counted cross-stitch!"

"Actually," Hermione grinned wryly. "You´re probably better at counted cross-stitch and I´ve given up on trying to understand the rules of chess because there´s not a chance that I´ll ever manage to beat Ron."

There was a moment of silence.

"Do you think we should tell him? Well... not just him... everyone."

"I-I don´t know," Hermione admitted uneasily. "I don´t know if he can actually deal with me going out with somebody. You saw what it was like when I went out with Viktor, last year."

"I s´pose so..."

"Do we really have to think about that right now, though?" Laying aside her books and papers, Hermione motioned for the Seeker to join her on the couch. "You deserve a break, after all that flying."

"Or sinking," her lover quipped, smirking, then shook the long robes, which were still dripping. Fending off spray of drops with her hands, Hermione yelled out in indignation. "I feel like a drowned rat!"

"Look a bit like one as well," Hermione offered.

"Hey! I resent that!"

Hermione grinned. "Well," she said, a wicked glimmer in her eyes. "It´s just a good thing that I have a bit of a thing for drowned rats, isn´t it?"

A warmed hand lifted her chin and she met bright eyes. "I knew there was a reason I loved you," A kiss was brushed lightly across her lips. "I can look like I was just dragged through a hedge backwards and you still like me."

Hermione went a pretty shade of pink. "And you like me when my hair is that hedge which you were dragged through backwards!" she said, winding a hand through the unruly black hair of her lover and claiming another kiss. "Although," she added, pulling back. "I prefer you less... dripping."

She was given a deliciously wicked smirk. "Oh really?"

"I didn´t mean like that!" Hermione squeaked, going scarlet.

Her lover burst out laughing. "I´m sure you didn´t, but as a special favour, I´ll try not to get you... wet tonight." The witch sniffed indignantly. "What?"

"I can´t believe I´m involved with someone with such a filthy mind."

Sodden outer-Quidditch robes were stripped off and deposited onto the fire-guard along with the jumper, to dry, leaving the skinny Quidditch-player wearing a slightly damp white T-shirt and pale trousers.

"If you understood what I meant, does that make your mind any less filthy?" her lover countered, smirking.

Hermione pulled a face. "I hate it when you do that."

"Do what?"

"Twist my words and make me look silly."

Another kiss was pressed lightly to Hermione´s lips. "You love it, really." She raised an eyebrow. "How many people can successfully make you look daft? Not many and I´m one of the special few."

"Well, yes..."

"And that´s what you love about me."

"Mostly, yes..."

An eyebrow rose. "Mostly? What else do you love about me?"

"You´ll have to find that one out."

"And how might I do that?"

Hermione grinned. "I´ll let you work that one out."

Sitting down, nimble fingers rapidly removed arm and leg guards, dropping them in a heap on the floor beside the couch. Shoes were pulled off and dripping socks were peeled away from chilly feet, then tossed onto the edge of the grate, where the heat immediately made wisps of steam curl up from them.

Shifting to lean back against the arm of the couch, Hermione smiled as her lover slid between her thighs, a narrow, thin back comfortably coming to rest against her chest, her arms sliding around the Seeker´s neck.

Her legs stretched out and she squealed in surprise at just how cold her lover´s icy feet were against her own, feeling their chill in spite of her own thick socks, her own laughter mingling with that of her significant other.

"You do know this looks ridiculous?"

"It could be worse," Hermione murmured, tracing her hands down the front of the rain-dotted white T-shirt, nuzzling the rosy cheek and black hair of the slim Seeker in front of her.

"Mmm?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"How?"

Raising one hand, Hermione turned her lover´s face to hers and claiming a greedy, probing kiss. Her other hand drew up the white T-shirt, moving over the bare belly beneath it.

A rough hand pulled her hair loose from its constraints, winding into the bushy mass, possessing Hermione entirely, while the witch´s hand caressed the Seeker´s chest, tracing circles on the sternum.

Pulling back, they stared at one another intensely.

"You are so beautiful when you´ve been properly snogged."

Hermione´s cheeks glowed with a combination of pleasure and embarrassment, her eyes down for a moment. "I-I think you look beautiful all the time," she said, raising her eyes to dark ones.

A brilliant smile lit up her lover´s face. "Heaven help the school when we go out together and you´ve been snogged. We could take out half the population in the school on our sheer good looks."

"Not to mention the other half with our brains."

Cho beamed at Hermione. "Brains and beauty? We´re the perfect combination!"