28 Harry Potter Fan-fiction 22 - H J Potter

Plot: Who would expect that sharing a simple kiss with his best friend was all it needed to begin a journey far beyond his greatest imagination? Soul-bond fic

Pairing: H-Hr

NOTE: Mainly a romance fan-fic, action is secondary (but plot is still very good)

Introduction

At the beginning of time, the Creator created a Magical world so that it would become a safe haven for those who had the gift to use magic.

He had the gift of prophesy and knew that there would be times when Darkness engulfed the Magical World and only a selected group of outstanding and powerful individuals would be able to bring the world out of chaos each time. Harmony and stability would be built with their blood, sweat, and tears. It was a noble yet terrible task for any individual to take upon his shoulders.

His heart ached as he watched the trials these chosen ones had to face alone as they gave their all. Out of compassion, he gave these souls a precious and powerful gift. The soul could never be perfect, so he created other souls that would complete them. In addition, he had given these souls more power and the power would remain dormant until the souls unite as one. He then tied a red thread of Fate between them so that their fates would always be intertwined. These fated souls would only start their search for the other when both of them were emotionally and physically mature enough to complete the bonding process.

The Creator had hoped that by creating the bond between the two souls, they could comfort and support each other as they overcome harsh trials together. The two people would be known as true soul mates. A cruel fate of utter regret, deep mental anguish, despair, loneliness awaited them if the souls never got the opportunity to unite as one. Therefore, He created a set of special laws to protect them. Prior engagements and marriages would be nullified once the bonding completes. They would also be legally recognised as being married at the instant they become one. The crime of forcing the true soul mates apart was the equivalent of committing first-degree murder. In essence, offenders were punishable by the highest sentence that the court could pass.

When the two souls bind, it will awaken dormant powers residing deep in their souls. Together, they will have the power to attain new heights and forge new chapters in History. Their heart, minds, and souls will forever be interlinked and not even death could tear them apart.

The Creator prized love. He had also created other weaker bonds like Familiar bonds and Marriage bonds that would tie two individuals together of their own will if they decide to pursue a deeper relationship.

He finally created a secret tome that would be passed down from government to government. The book automatically records the names of wizards and witches when they are born into the world so that they have access to the Magical World. It also has another function. When the name of one of the souls who have a soul bond appears in the book, the name of his soul mate would magically appear next to his name.

When Harry James Potter's name was finally added into the book on the day he was born, another name had materialized next to his.

Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey

The beautiful brown-haired girl had been in his dreams since the start of his holidays. In the beginning, he felt guilty for dreaming of her in that manner. She was his friend after all. After a while, he welcomed them. Dreams made his harsh life with his magic-phobic relatives bearable and tolerable. He didn't have to look forward to the start of the next school semester to escape from his personal hell. He could do it every night. Each night, he looked forward to escape from all the abuse, insults, and insecurity to his dreams where he could hold her close to him. Her warmth drove away all his fears and burdens away and replaced them with unspeakable joy and peace. He craved the security of her arms and her acceptance.

There was a sense of connection when they were together and she filled a deep and aching void in him.

She was in his dreams again, lying peacefully next to him as he admired her profile. Her beauty took his breath away and rendered him speechless. The faint sounds of the gentle stream filled the brightly lighted meadow. Red and yellow poppies blossomed in the sun-Nature at her most splendid. Yet, the beauty of Nature was incomparable to the girl who lay next to him, with her brown tresses fanned around her.

The intensity of his desire to touch her surprised him initially-he wasn't capable of feeling so much.

The girl of his dreams had never deny his ministrations.

Tenderly, he stroked her smooth, porcelain cheeks. A sense of excitement and joy overwhelmed him to have the privilege to shower her with his admiration. His finger gently traced her jaw as he stared at the girl longingly. If he examined his longing closely, he would realised that he longed to spend his life with her.

Her faint vanilla scent, tainted with a tinge of floral, permeated the meadows. She had shut her eyes in contentment. He was happy that she was enjoying his tender ministrations. Growing slightly bolder, Harry gingerly drew his fingers along her pink lips. For a moment, he was lost in the feel of her velvet lips.

He longed to kiss her and to taste if she was as sweet as her scent. He simply did not have the power to tear his eyes from that particular feature.

"Harry, don't tease me this way." Hermione whispered softly as she revealed those alluring eyes. He smiled indulgently as he gently played with her rather bushy brown hair by curling the ends up with his fingers. He liked her hair the way it was. Personally, he rather liked to think her hair was more "untamable", just like her, rather than just bushy. He had always admired her independent streak under her compliant and goody-two-shoes farce. It got her into more trouble than he could count.

"How am I teasing you, Hermione?" He chuckled lightly. The contentment of being with her warmed every corner of his heart. His heart was going to burst from that overwhelming feeling of bliss.

Hermione grinned as she relaxed next to him. Harry loved that smile; even though most had said that it was marred by two slightly buck teeth. It was just Hermione Jean Granger and she could never be anything lesser than beautiful in his eyes.

"By doing that." She answered as her lips curved upwards.

Laughter bubbled within him and erupted from his mouth uncontrollably. He revelled in the fact that she made him very happy. With a courage he knew he wouldn't have in reality, he leaned over and grazed her lips with his. The moment their lips had touched, his world exploded like fireworks, filling him with sensations he could not identify. It was electrifying. It was earth shattering. The simple kiss shook his world and reshaped his perception of it.

Their lips had parted after a while. Hermione grinned happily as she snuggled closer to his chest. Contented, Harry wrapped his arms protectively around her

He marvelled at the fact that she fit perfectly in his arms. The world no longer mattered, only she did. He wished he could remain like this with her forever.

You can't.

The dreaded voice of logic decided to dose him with cold hard truth by reminding him that this was not reality.

He woke up. Blurred darkness greeted him.

Tears were running rapidly down his cheeks when Harry Potter jerked up from his sleep. He was alone once more. The taste of freedom made his situation intolerable. The dreadful sense of hollowness filled him, making it unbearable. How much longer did he need to stay in this hell-hole? How much more did he need to take before he could be free?

He climbed out of his bed, hastily swiping his hands his face to clean off his tears. Did he really want her that way?

Tiredly, he pressed his palms on his face. Harry could not deny that he'd always felt a pull towards her. He was powerless to stop himself from trying to spend all his time with her. This was the main reason for his good results in school. Academically, he was second in his year, right behind Hermione, simply due to the hours they had studied together in the library.

How brilliant was his good friend! Their professors at school had remarked at her intellectual brilliance. She was loyal to a fault and dreadfully accepting. He could be himself with her. He didn't even feel this comfortable with Ron, his good friend.

Some of his dorm mates tend to tease him about his lack of interest in girls but they didn't understand that he did prefer the fairer gender. The only difference was that he could not see anyone else but her. She fascinated him.

She is your best friend!

Harry groaned,rubbing his face with his two hands. He chided himself mentally. I really should not continue to delude myself.

Harry Potter had no family in this world. His parents died when Lord Voldemort came for him a decade ago. He was left in the care of his only living relatives, the Dursleys, who hated him with a passion. They made it their personal goal to make his life a living hell. Thankfully, he had two great friends whom he'd known for about three years, Ron Weasley and Hermione Jean Granger. He was grateful for their companionship and their acceptance.

They were his first friends since his cousin had the perchance of chasing off his friends at school when they were younger.

None of them really knew of his living conditions and he didn't want them to learn of it too. His mind returned to the dream he had could not bear to ask more from Hermione since trouble was more of his middle name than James was. For goodness sake, she was petrified last year because of him! Besides, how could a person who had never experienced love, care for another ? He didn't know how to court girls or treat them right. Hermione was so amazing that she deserved a better person. He couldn't be the partner to complete her.

Harry drew a hand through his usually messy hair. Images of Hermione flooded his mind-her smiles, her laughter, her frown, a look of contentment on her face. Frustrated, he threw himself on his back. Determined, he willed himself back to sleep.

Miles away, in a large and comfortable room, a brown-haired girl was slumbering. A look of contentment was on her face. She was unaware of the dreams that her good friend was having of her. She was dreaming of a messy raven-haired guy with dreamy green eyes.

On this particular night, they had lain next to each other. He had watched her intently as he caressed her jaw. The intensity of his adoration surprised her-it was as if he was looking at his goddess. Her best friend was too young to be capable of such intense emotions. To make this dream memorable, they had shared a chaste kiss for the first time.

Her heart fluttered at the recollection of that kiss. Her linguistic capabilities failed her as she searched for words to describe the sensations of that innocent kiss. It was exhilarating!

Her world had rocked beneath her. Then, she had an epiphany-her world had never spun around another axis since she first laid her eyes on the scrawny green-eyed boy. Her world just spun around him.

With that unsettling revelation, she shot up from her bed with her eyes wide open. The taste of his lips seemed to linger on her lips and she tentatively touched them. Did she just dream of kissing Harry Potter? The Harry Potter, her best friend?

She never felt so conflicted. On one hand, she was upset that she had dreamt of kissing her good friend in her dream. Yet, she enjoyed the feeling of being with him. She felt so complete. Well, at least from being with him in her dreams.

She knew of her attraction to him from the day they had first met on the train to Hogwarts. Hermione could not help but wondered if she made an impression on Harry then but he certainly did impress her. She would never forget the first time when she first looked into the windows of his soul. Strangely, she did saw the essence of him and she liked him. Her instincts had told her that he would never hurt her willingly. There was a strange sense of connection and Hermione knew that her new life would always be entwined with this gaunt green-eyed boy.

She never understood why she felt that way for him but her instincts were correct. He became the first boy to move her with his courage when he saved her from the troll in their first year.

Realistic Hermione would never live in her fantasy world. Muggle-born Hermione Granger and Famous Boy-who-lived Harry Potter? No way, she sighed. She knew herself well; she just simply wasn't physically attractive enough to catch the eye of the most famous wizard in Great Britain.

It was only six in the morning and Hermione was already wide-awake. She was reading the very same page she had looked at for the past half hour. The images of Harry smiling were vivd and it distracted her. Her mind could not focus on anything but him.

Snapping the book closed loudly, she stood up with great frustration and paced around the room. The feeling of attraction to him was getting stronger day by day. The feelings was bordering on excessive since it was preventing her from functioning normally. She couldn't even concetrate on her work.

The restless pacing of the daughter caught the attention of her sensitive mother. She was peeking in, checking on her only daughter.

"Sweetheart, is something wrong?" Jean Granger asked. She had been paying closer attention to her daughter since she had come back from the holidays. Hermione's strange behaviour did not go unnoticed. She had no appetite and was very agitated as if there was something bothering her.

"I'm alright." She answered flatly. "I guess it's the heat that is troubling me." Hermione replied as she shrugged nonchalantly. She fanned herself for emphasis.

Her mother arched an eyebrow, knowing that she was telling the whole truth. "I've watched you grow up for the past 13 years; do you really think I wouldn't know if you are hiding something?"

Jean sat next to her on her bed. "I love you, Hermione. I'm concern for you."

Time had really flown; her only child, Hermione, had grown into a fine young lady who had the mark of a future ravishing beauty. "Let me guess, you miss your friends?" She asked as she raised her eyebrows questioningly.

Hermione was surprised that her mother knew her so well despite being away from them for so long.

"There's absolutely no way I can hide anything from you, mummy." Hermione smiled tenderly as she watched the lips of her mother curl upwards. It was true but she only missed one of her friends.

Suddenly, an idea just popped up in her head. "Mummy, is it alright that I invite Harry to stay with us for the rest of our holiday? Ron is currently in Egypt with his family so he can't invite us over. Harry is all alone with his dreadful relatives. I don't fancy the idea of leaving him at the mercy of those people for the rest of the holidays." A flash of anger flashed in her eyes when she thought of Harry's relatives-she knew that they did not like him.

Jean had heard a little of his relatives' treatment of Harry. That coupled with the pleading look in her daughter's chocolate eyes made her unable to reject her request. Honestly, she was curious about him, after hearing so much about him.

As an adult, she had to weight the options. Mentally, she drew up a list. There were several pros; first, she could get to know more about the company Hermione keeps when she is back at school. Second, Hermione would be happier to have someone of her age to play with. However, it was not proper for a girl to have a boy staying at her place and she wanted to spend more family time with her daughter. After much consideration, she decided she could always supervise both of them and they could definitely include Harry into their plans.

"I'll bring the issue up with your father and see how he feels about it. If he agrees, you can ask Harry if he wants to come over to our house for the rest of the holiday." Jean answered with a smile. Hermione beamed as she dashed upstairs to look for her father and ask for his permission. After a while, she could hear Hermione's squeals of delight as she bounced to the nearest phone to call Harry at his Uncle's place.

"Let him know that we'll pick him up from his house tomorrow afternoon at one, sweetheart." She added with a smile. Jean was happy to see her daughter being so enthusiastic – it was comparable to the time when she had discovered that she was a witch.

It was seven in the morning at the Dursley's residence. Everyone but Harry was eating breakfast, enjoying the quiet morning when the telephone in the living room rang, disrupting the scared tranquility. Vernon's face had turned mildly red with irritation at the disturbance.

"Who in the bloody right mind will call us so early? Go pick up that call!" Vernon bellowed from the kitchen as he sat at the table, reading the morning newspaper.

Harry grudgingly listened and dragged himself to pick the call. The voice of the caller was a balm to his mood.

"Hi, I am looking for Harry Potter."

It was a sweet feminine voice that Harry had no trouble recognising and his heart began to flutter.

"Hermione, is that you?" Harry asked happily. He finally could talk to his good friend! He did not bother to hide his excitement and she giggled in response.

"Yes, I'm calling to ask if you'd like to come over to my place for the rest of my holidays. My parents have offered to pick you up too."

He could not believe his ears. Her parents had actually given her the permission to have a male friend over at their place for holidays!

"I'll ask my uncle, give me a minute." Harry answered as he placed the receiver on the table. He breathed deeply, schooling his face into an impassive mask. It was difficult to maintain his mask or attempt to walk calmly into the kitchen but he managed to do so convincingly.

"Uncle Vernon, my friend has just invited me to stay at their place for the rest of the holidays. Is it alright that I join them?" He asked as he secretly crossed his fingers, hoping that his uncle would allow.

His uncle did not even glance at him, concentrating on his papers. There was silence in the house as his uncle contermplated. Finally, he grunted his approval.

He nearly gave a celebratory yell but he controlled himself in time. He dashed back to the foyer to give Hermione his answer.

She squealed in delight at his answer. "We'll pick you up tomorrow at one. I can't wait to see you, Harry."

He confirmed his address with her. He was leaving his relative's place tomorrow! Harry tried to hide his smile when he informed his uncle of the arrangements.

His uncle had merely grunted again, satisfied that he did not need to do anything to get rid of the freak in the house. "Finish the chores for next two days and I will sign that blasted form of yours. Just remember not to return until next year." He muttered under his breath as he flipped to the next page.

Harry suppressed the joy that was threatening to burst inside of him desperately. The last thing the Dursleys would ever like to do was to make him happy. He struggled to keep an emotionless face as he walked to his sanctuary on the excuse of packing his things. When he was finally out of earshot, he punched the air in victory. Cheerfully, he went into his room to talk to his beautiful snowy-white owl, Hedwig. She was perching in her cage, looking curiously at him with those large amber eyes of hers.

Her plumage was of pure white like untainted snow. He could feel her curiosity through a rather remote part of him and he answered her.

"I'm going to spend the rest of the holiday with Hermione. She invited me to stay at her place and her parents are picking me up tomorrow. Uncle Vernon has also promised to sign the Hogsmeade form." Harry grinned brightly as he scratched a spot under her beak as she hooted in delight.

"You miss Hermione too, don't you? Miss all the attention she gives you?" He laughed as he tickled his breath-taking owl. Hedwig merely hooted in excitement as she leapt on his shoulder. Hedwig was always careful with her talons when she approached him, choosing areas with more protection before perching on him.

He reached to his shoulder to scratch her and she wiggled in enjoyment. How was he going to bring Hedwig along? He stared at her cage, wondering what he should do. Suddenly, he thought of an idea.

"Hedwig, why don't you take a letter to Hermione and wait for me to join you? I'll write a note for her to inform her to keep you until I come." He grinned as he quickly scrawled a note for Hedwig to take it to Hermione.

Hedwig hooted happily and took off immediately after he attached the note to her leg. He chuckled fondly knowing that his pet liked Hermione. He rolled up his baggy-long sleeves past his elbow, ready to do some menial labour.

It was time for some packing!

A smile was on his face as he began to put his things into his trunk. For once, he hummed a cheery tune as he worked.

It was approaching one in the afternoon. Harry had already moved his trunk and his empty cage outside as he waited excitedly for the arrival of the Grangers. Uncle Vernon had even signed the form as he had promised, thus making it one of the best days he'd had in non-magical Britain. Harry didn't care if he was grinning like an idiot where everyone could see him. He was just too happy to care.

Soon, a modest black sedan halted at the gate. Before his mind could register it, he felt a brown bushy-haired missile tackling him as she dashed straight into him. He wrapped his arms around her as the impact knocked them on the well-maintained grass. Together, they were laughing, happy at their reconciliation.

When they had finally stopped laughing, Harry managed to take a good look at her.

It was the very face he dreamt of every night. He remembered every single detail of it and the planes of her face. Seeing Hermione in person after dreaming of her for so many nights choked him up with so much emotions. Harry could only stare at her wordlessly. Her cheeks were slightly flushed as those familiar eyes watched him intently. The desire to caress her cheeks was strong but he resisted and decided to watch her instead. She was tucking the loose tendrils of brown hair behind her ear as she grinned at him.

Hermione watched the range of emotions being played out on his face. It was quite fascinating how much Harry could feel in just a short time. The admiration in his eyes was simply too much for her to bear so she decided to distract him.

"You look as if it's very comfortable lying on the grass."

He made no response.

Shaking her head, she stood up and lent a hand for him to take. "But we don't have all day." She smiled warmly.

Harry had to resist the urge of tucking those brown tendrils that had begun to fly messily behind her ear. With great effort, he snapped himself out of his trance and took her hand so that he could get up. His face cracked with a broad smile. He could feel his facial muscles aching from all the smiling. Contended, he followed her to meet her parents.

"Mummy and Daddy, this is Harry. Harry, meet my parents." Hermione grinned brightly as she introduced her rather nervous good friend to them. She placed a comforting hand on his arm and he relaxed visibly with her support.

Jean smiled when she saw the effect Hermione had on her good friend. She observed the young lad in front of her and came to a conclusion that he was a nice young man. "Hi Harry, please call me Jean." She smiled warmly as she hugged him. When she had let go of him, Harry greeted back as he adjusted his glasses, edgy at physical contact.

It was now Dan Granger's turn. He stared at Harry with a critical eye. He had noticed that he looked rather small for his age and guessed that he had went through a period where he was not fed properly. In all, he judged him as a nice boy so he extended his hand to him. "I'm Dan Granger. It is nice to meet you Harry."

Harry immediately took his hand.

"Nice meeting you too, Mr. Granger." He smiled nervously as they shook their hands. Harry was relieved when he saw a soft smile on the elder's man face.

"Daddy is just trying to make you sweat, Harry." Hermione laughed heartily as she watched the exchange. Her father liked to intimidate younger guys and make them pale in fear for the fun of it.

"I'll go get my stuff." Harry said as he went to retrieve his trunk and his cage as Dan helped to make some space to put them at the back of the car. When everything was stowed and everyone was buckled up for the journey, they finally began the trip to Granger's house in Knightdale.

Harry could hardly believe his luck - he was leaving his relative's house at the start of his holiday and he was simply overjoyed. However, Harry soon found himself in a quandary. He was supposed to sit beside a girl that he had dreamt of all summer in a confined space for a period of time. He racked his hand through his hair. This was potentially one of the greatest challenges Harry had ever faced. It was worse than facing the Basilisk alone in the Chambers of Secret.

Harry could feel a strange and strong feeling of attraction to Hermione. He simply had a desperate need to kiss her as if his life had depended on it. Harry tried to concentrate on the conversation they were having as he fervently hoped that the need would pass.

Hermione, on the other hand, also had the same difficulty. She could barely pay much attention to the conversation. She could not help staring at his alluring green eyes or his kissable lips. It was barmy! She decided to distract herself by chattering endlessly about all the mundane stuff under the sun. If it wasn't for her raging hormones, she would've noticed that Harry was behaving weirder than usual, actively participating in topics that would usually bore him within seconds.

Neither could understand what had changed that caused them to start dreaming of each other or having a need to be so physically close to each other.

"Did you manage to do any of your homework?" Harry asked. He was searching for a topic they had not touched and he realised that they had yet to talk about homework. It was a safe topic to bring up since Hermione probably finished her work by the third day she was back at home. Hermione was probably doing supplementary readings as usual. Harry was not prepared for the bomb Hermione was going to drop on him.

"No." Hermione answered softly as she turned away to look out the window at the scenery zooming past them.

What? Did he hear her correctly?

Harry had to strain his ears to hear her answer and when he finally realised what she had said, his jaw dropped.

"Why? Uh...I mean that's just unlike you. Are you alright?" Harry asked in deep concern. Something must be wrong!

Her face was slightly red when she had turned to look at him. "I was just distracted."

Distracted? Hermione was blushing too!

Harry knew what that meant. Hermione had an infatuation for someone!

His heart sank instantly at the thought. It felt as if someone had just drenched him with a bucket of cold water, numbing his heart. He simply couldn't breathe because of the pain that was radiating from his chest. He never thought that anything could hurt as bad as this, to know that she finally liked someone.

Turning away so that she would not be able to see the dejection plainly on his face, he muttered, "Oh." She was of that age to fall in love anyway. I wonder who that lucky guy is. Maybe I rather not know.

The chocolate eyes widened at the sight of Harry's discomfort and she immediately jumped to conclusions.

Oh no! Did he know what the distraction was? He couldn't!

She didn't want him to know her feelings for him this way. Hermione glanced at her good friend and found that he really looked very upset.

Did he not have the same feelings for me? That particular thought made her feel as if a boulder had weighed her heart down. It was too painful to think that he just didn't like her the same way she did.

She blanked out her mind and focused on the scenery outside of the window, hoping to turn off those depressing thoughts before she become upset.

Desperately wanting to be the good friend that offered support and interest, he failed because he simply could not bring up the topic without sounding bitter. With a sigh, he focused on the scenery outside of the window dejectedly and the two teenagers did not utter a single word for the rest of their journey.

What seem like a good holiday was fast turning into a horrible one.

Chapter End