It's Only Pretend

IT'S ONLY PRETEND

Surprising Realizations

Chapter Nine

Hermione lay on the bed, the sheets tangled at her feet. Her eyes were closed lazily, and she could feel her mind drifting away, nearing sleep. She felt Harry shift on the bed, and she cracked open an eye. He lay on his side, looking down at her.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Why?" she wondered, closing her eye again.

"You were smiling."

"Was I?" She grinned slowly. "I guess I was."
"So, what were you thinking about?"

She opened her eyes and rolled onto her side, facing him. She reached out a lazy finger and touched his shoulder, then his chest. A sigh of content escaped her lips before she spoke.

"I was thinking of the first time I met you, on the Hogwarts Express. Then, that thought quickly turned into many others. Like the first time I watched you play Quidditch. I was so worried. And the Tri-Wizard Tournament...gosh, I thought surely I'd give myself an ulcer before it was over. I nearly did." She laughed lightly, falling gently onto her back as her memories returned. "The Yule Ball...Ron was so surprised that I went with Viktor. Never let me live that one down either. We were so young and still, you and Ron and I...we had so many adventures. And it's funny, it seems like it all just happened. So, I found myself wondering...when did we grow up?"

She felt Harry brush his fingers against her cheek. "I can scarcely find a memory that doesn't have you in it," he said quietly. "Even when I try really hard, it's difficult. And I suppose, I don't want to remember the ones without you."

She smiled. "It's hard to believe I haven't known you my whole life."

"I know," he admitted, "I feel the same way." He slid his fingers down her bare arm and she shivered. "And the rest of it?"

"What about it?" she asked, opening her eyes and looking up at him in question.

He shrugged. "What do you think about me being a part of the rest of your life?"

Hermione's heart fluttered then stopped. What was Harry trying to say? She sat up abruptly and reached for the sheets, pulling them up to her chest and holding them tightly against her.

He sat up quickly and touched her arm. "Hermione," he said immediately.

"What are you saying Harry?" she asked, hearing the quiver in her voice.

"I'm saying that something just happened between us--"

"--and it will change everything," she said, only just realizing the impact of their actions. "We can never go back," she whispered, staring across the room into nothing.

Harry grabbed her arm to get her attention. "I don't want to go back," he said honestly and firmly.

She looked at him and didn't understand the tears she felt spring into her eyes. "I...I..."

"Please, don't say you regret this," he said, and it pained her to see the worry on his face.

She looked at him and reached her hand out to run it through his untidy black hair. His glasses lay on the floor near the desk where he'd thrown them off. She could see articles of clothing dropped or tossed carelessly around the room. Her stomach felt warm at the thought of what had happened between them. It was new and exciting, and there wasn't another soul in the world she would have wanted to share such things with.

She smiled sweetly and blinked her eyes as the tears trickled down her cheeks. "I don't regret this at all. Not for one single second. It's just all so sudden and so obvious."

He laughed lightly. "What do you mean, obvious?"

"As I sit here and think about it, I wonder if I haven't been in love with you for years. Perhaps I just didn't realize it," she said, looking at his lopsided grin and smiling. She wiped her wet cheeks.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Everyone has known for years. I suppose we've been the only ones denying it for ages."

"Have you? Been denying your feelings for me, I mean?"

He shrugged and then leaned over and nuzzled against her neck. She giggled. "It's possible."

Hermione pulled away suddenly and asked, "What about Ron? What is he going to say?"

Harry grinned wider. "He'll probably say it's about time or something along those lines. Then, he'll make me swear not to talk about the physical aspect of our relationship. He'll say he doesn't want that mental picture in his head because you're like his sister and he doesn't want to hex me for what I'll probably be doing with you." Harry winked.

"Do you really think he'll be okay with...with whatever this is?"

"Of course, Hermione. He's been hinting about this to me since forever."

"He has?" she asked in surprise.

"Sure."
"But you've...and I've...well, we've dated other people," she said, feeling suddenly awkward.

"So?"

"So, it's not like we've been pining after each other."

"We haven't?" he asked playfully.

"Harry, I'm serious," she said, swatting away his hand as he slid it up her arm.

"I know you are. And yes, we've dated other people, but every one of my girl friends have hated how important you were to me. They said I constantly compared them to you--"

"--did you?" she asked quickly.

"Probably."

"Why?"

"Why what? Why did I compare them to you? Because you've always been everything I've wanted."

She stared open-mouthed and disbelieving. "That's impossible Harry. I'm a bossy, know-it-all, bookworm--"

"--who is everything I've ever wanted," he finished.

And she melted as she blushed. "That's really kind," she muttered.

He lifted her face up with his fingers. "That's the truth." He leaned towards her and kissed her gently.

She almost gave in to his kisses but thoughts of the Sevilles entered her mind. "Harry," she said in between his kisses, "what did you learn today? You said something about the Sevilles."

"Yes...later," he muttered, still kissing her lips, her cheeks, her jaw line.

"Come on," she giggled as he nipped at her ear, "we have to talk about this."

"Just a few more minutes and then I promise we can talk business," he said, leaning her back onto the bed.

She started to protest, but when he began kissing down her neck she changed her mind. "Okay, just a few more minutes..."

It didn't seem to matter to either of them that a few more minutes turned into an hour.

* * * *

Hermione lay on the unmade bed on her stomach, eating a slice of orange when Harry walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist as he rubbed another one against his wet hair. Hermione's mouth dropped open, and she looked away, feeling the blush pink her cheeks.

"You'll have to get dressed before we discuss business," she said quickly, glancing up at him. He was grinning at her.

"And if I want to discuss business in my towel?" he asked playfully.

"Well, we won't get very much done," she tried to say seriously.

He knelt down in front of her and she couldn't stop the hand that reached out and stroked his face.

"That's okay with me," he whispered, closing his eyes.

She felt the familiar warmth begin to pool in her stomach and tug at her common sense. Then, she pushed him away.

"Stop it, Harry," she scolded. "You know we have work to do and you're trying to distract me."

"I can't help it," he said, standing up and smiling. He walked over to his suitcase. "I don't mean to distract you. It's accidental." He dropped the towel from his waist and Hermione gasped.

"Harry Potter!" she yelled and then burst out laughing. Harry looked over his shoulder at her and winked. "You're evil!"

"But devilishly handsome though, right?"

"Lucky for you," she replied, sitting up on bed and trying not to watch as Harry pulled on his boxers and then a pair of Muggle khakis. He was devilishly handsome. She licked her lips in response.

He turned around and walked over to sit on the bed beside her. He touched her cheek and smiled. "You're flushed," he said.

She looked down and felt her cheeks redden even more. "I feel so foolish, but it's just that you are handsome."

It was Harry's turn to blush. "Really?" he asked, looking at her with his big green eyes.

She laughed. It just tumbled out as she looked at the innocent expression on his face. He talked arrogantly but in actuality, he didn't believe half the things he said about himself.

She reached out and moved her hand down his bare chest. "Absolutely. I can hardly believe you'd want someone like me--Oh!" she exclaimed as Harry shoved her back on the bed and leaned over her.

"You keep talking like that and I'll have to make you stop talking," he said.

"Oh? And how do you plan to keep me quiet?" she smirked.

"I have some ideas," he grinned. "Want to test a few of them out?"

She giggled and shoved Harry off her with her hands. "We have work to do, Harry."

He poked out his lip in a mock pout, and then smiled. "Okay. You're right. I'll behave."

"Just for now," she whispered, leaning over and kissing him softly.

He raised his eyebrows. "That a promise?"

She smiled and looked away. "Okay, tell me what you know about the Sevilles. What did you find out today?"

* * * *

Hermione paced the room as she listened to Harry talk. Every now and then she would interrupt him and ask a question.

"I pretended to doze off once as they began talking of the merger. Nathan seemed less secretive about it, but when Victor was talking, he would hint around to the actual deal. I got the feeling he didn't trust me. But then again, he's probably not a trusting fellow seeing as how he's shady. So, when talk turned to the contract--"

"--The contract?" Hermione asked as she stopped pacing.

"Yeah. Nathan actually brought it up. I believe they are planning on signing the papers tomorrow afternoon," Harry said.

"Really? And you think," she asked, watching Harry closing, "...you think the papers aren't legal?"

"Are you reading my mind, Miss Granger?"

She laughed lightly. "Of course not. I haven't done that for years. The first sexual fantasy I found buried in your mind stopped that practice."

"WHAT?" he asked in shock.

She laughed again. "I'm teasing you, Harry. I would be too frightened to read your mind."

He sighed in relief. "Thank goodness for that. I thought perhaps you'd found that fantasy I had of you wearing that little black lacy--"

She clamped a hand over his mouth. He smiled beneath it. "Stop that right now!" He nodded. "Back to the contract." She removed her hand.

"Right. I think somehow, I haven't figured it out yet, but I think the contract has been fixed somehow. I know the Sevilles don't think Nathan is stupid enough not to read the contract thoroughly, so my guess is they have doctored it somehow--"

"--and it looks legit but it's not."

"Right. I just don't how we're going to prove it," he said, running his hand through his messy hair. Hermione bit her bottom lip in thought, and then her eyes lit up. "What is it? I know that look," he said, smiling.

"It's risky," she said, and Harry laughed.

"Oh, I'm sure I can handle it," he said playfully.

"Okay," she said quickly, "did you bring your cloak with you?"

"Of course."

"If we could somehow sneak into their room, then we could search for the contract. I know a few wicked and heavy-duty Revealing Charms. They won't be permanent because we wouldn't want them to know we'd been in there. We need them to think they're getting away with it."

"But what about the Morgans? You can't possibly want them to sign a doctored contract, can you?"

"Of course not, Harry, but one step at a time. First we need to prove that the contract is hiding something."

"And how are we going to get into their room?" Harry wondered.

"Maid service?"

"What?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Every morning, the maid service comes around. We could sneak in then," Hermione said triumphantly as she stood in front of him.

"Excellent idea. So, now that we have this sorted out for now, are we done with their business for now?"

"I think so," she said, looking away and thinking.

Harry reached out and grabbed her; she squealed. He pulled her on top of him as he leaned back on the bed.

"What are you doing?" she laughed.

"Getting back to our business."

She lay on top of Harry and smiled down at him. "And what exactly does that entail?"

"Oh, you'll see," he said huskily and he began kissing her.

* * * *

The following morning Hermione stood in the lift, seemingly alone, as she rode down to the second floor. She watched the numbers illuminate and change as the lift moved.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I can do it instead?" she asked.

"Positive," Harry replied from under his Invisibility Cloak.

She turned to look in his direction. "I'm nervous," she said honestly.

"Don't be. This is going to be easy. I'm going to sneak into the room, wait for the maid to leave and then let you in."

"I know."

The lift doors opened to the second floor and Hermione took a deep breath. "I'll ride down to the lobby and take the stairs back up."

"Okay, love, I'll see you in a little while."

She didn't hear Harry step off the lift, but she knew he had because she suddenly felt very alone. She rode the lift down to the lobby, bought a postcard she thought she'd send to Ron later, and tried to act as casual as possible, but she nearly screamed when Victor came up behind her.

"Shopping?" he asked.

She whirled around quickly. "Oh, yes," she breathed out. "Good morning. How are you?"

"Excellent. Where is your husband?" he asked casually.

"Oh, he's getting ready upstairs. I wanted to run down here and buy a postcard, then I think we're going to the pool. What are you and Victoria planning for today?" Her stomach was in knots.

"Victoria has gone off with my mother shopping somewhere...spending my hard-earned cash. Like most women do, I suppose. I'm having breakfast with my father and brother, and then we have a lunch meeting with Nathan."

"Oh? Well tell Nathan I said hello. I best get going. Have a good morning, Victor," Hermione said as she hurried away for the staircase.

* * * *

Harry stopped in front of room number 263. The door was propped open and he could hear the maid bustling around inside. He slipped in quietly and eased into the nearest corner. He stood completely still for the next ten minutes and just as his left leg began to cramp, the maid finished cleaning and left.

He waited a good few minutes before walking over to the door and opening it. Hermione was standing in the hallway, pretending to read a newspaper. She lowered the paper and glanced at the opened door.

"Coast is clear," he whispered.

She hurried inside and closed the door gently behind her. "Did you find it?" she asked.

"Not yet," he answered, pulling off the cloak.

"Well, we'll need to hurry. I ran into Victor in the lobby. He said he was having breakfast with his family and then he's meeting Nathan for lunch. Hopefully he left the contract in here."

Harry was already shuffling through a briefcase. "Damn it, where do you think he'd keep it?" he asked, feeling his anxiety growing. The contract wasn't in the briefcase. He moved on to the drawers in the dresser.

Hermione suddenly stopped looking through the drawer in the nightstand. "How could I be so stupid? Accio contract!" she blurted.

A gush of wind and a second later, a stack of papers flew out of the bathroom and through the air and landed in her outstretched hand.

Harry stood still and shook his head. "You are brilliant," he smiled.

"Thank you." She placed the contract on the bed and pulled out her wand. "Okay, stand back." She pointed her wand at the contract and uttered a Revealing Charm.

The contract began to glow red and she watched as the letters on the first page began to swirl and change.

"Look!" he said as the wording altered. "We were right! There are things hidden inside this contract. Those bastards! They are trying to swindle the Morgans."

"Yes, they are," Hermione said, frowning as she read the new words on the page. Then, the red glow faded, and the words reverted back to their original condition.

"What's happening?"

"The charm is only momentary."

"Then, how will they know it's fake?" Harry asked.

"I'm thinking," she said biting her bottom lip. "Okay, let's put this back where it came from and let me think about how we can do this without the Sevilles suspecting anything."

A few minutes later, Hermione and Harry were riding the lift back up to their bedroom. Her forehead was still creased in thought. Harry opened the door and allowed Hermione to step in before him. She walked over and dropped onto the bed.

"Wait, I've got it! I can make a Revealing Potion, and if we can somehow come up with a way to pour it on the contract. Then, Nathan will see the contract is a phony. But..." she paused and looked up at Harry.

"But what?"

"Well...I mean, if we pull this off, we'll have all the information I need for my story and..."

"...we'll have to go home?"

"Well...yeah," she said, feeling sad with the idea.

Harry turned away and walked over to the large tub. He leaned over and turned on the water taps and a silver tap which flowed with sweet smelling bubbles.

"What are you doing?" she asked, watching him in confusion.

He looked at her over his shoulder as he tested the temperature of the water with his hand. He shrugged his shoulders. "If we have to leave today after you make the potion and figure out how to use it, then we'll not have made good use of this tub. And that would be a shame."

He stood up and walked over to her, reached out his hands, and pulled her up. He began unbuttoning her shirt and smiled.

"That would be a shame," she whispered, feeling her heart slam against her ribs in excitement as she reached for the button on his pants.

* * * *

Harry closed his suitcase and smiled at Hermione. "I'm all packed. You?" he asked.

"All done. Let me wrap this potion and write the note out to Cynthia, and then we'll be all ready to go."

Hermione pointed her wand at the potion and flipped her wand in a series of swishes and loops. A box formed around the bottle, and the spell finished off by tying a large bow on top.

"Looks great," Harry admitted. "I'll take the suitcases down. Are the Morgans meeting us in the lobby?"

"Yeah. I'm going to miss this place," she said quietly, "and the Morgans."

Harry slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. "We can always come back for a visit."

"Yeah?"

"Sure we can."

"Okay," she sighed, "let's get going."

They rode the lift down and as soon as they entered the lobby, they saw the Morgans waiting for them.

"Oh, Julianna, I can't believe you have to leave!" Cynthia said sadly. "We were just starting to have such a great time."

"I know," Hermione admitted, "but we've got to get back to the store. But I," she paused as she pulled the box out and handed it to Cynthia, "...I thought you might like this."

"What is this?" Cynthia asked in surprise.

"A gift for you. You and Nathan have been so kind to us, and I wanted to get you something to show you how much it has meant to us both."

"You didn't have to get us anything."

"We know, but we wanted to," Harry added. He turned toward Nathan and shook his head. "Best of luck to you, Nathan. It's been a real pleasure."

"Here, take this. It's one of my cards. We should be back home in another week or so. Give us call. Cynthia and I would love to take you and Julianna out to dinner sometime."

"Oh yes! Do that, please," Cynthia said sweetly, pulling Hermione into a hug. "Be safe traveling home and I hope we can see you again very soon."

They finished their goodbyes and Harry and Hermione waved one last time as they walked toward the Flooing ports.

Harry slipped his arm around her waist and tugged he toward him as they walked. "We did the right thing," he whispered.

"I know. I just hope it works," she whispered back.

"When has an idea of yours not worked?"

"Thanks for coming with me, Harry."

"I wouldn't have missed this for all the world."

As they stepped into the giant hearth, she looked up at him and smiled. She hoped that leaving their pretend vacation as pretend husband and wife didn't mean their life would go back to just as it was before all the pretending started.