The barn is abandoned, the roof is falling in, and it smells, but the nearest neighbor is ten minutes away so it has become their base while they’re in this area. Hermione has put up protective wards and Ron has set a few traps that will ensure no one will actually reach the barn even if they locate them and break the wards. It is as safe as anything is these days.

When they arrive back from their search, candles are lit and he’s able to see the damage that was done. Ron has a bruise on his cheek and he’s pale beneath his freckles. He covers a yawn and mutters about needing some sleep. Harry watches him climb the ladder to the overhead loft where they’ve arranged their blankets and sleeping bags.

He looks at Hermione and his fingers curl into his hands, fingernails digging into his palms as he watches her perform the necessary healing charms. She was hurt worse than Ron, but Harry knows she’ll be okay. There’s a cut on her forehead from where she was thrown to the ground from a spell, her skin has a slightly green tint from another spell that hit her, and she seems shaken despite her efforts to appear okay.

They hadn’t expected to run into Deatheaters. There had only been two, fortunately, and Harry doubted they had been expected, either. If Voldemort actually knew where they were, he’d have sent more than two after them. It had been eight months since they’d left the Burrow to search for horcruxes and they’d managed to find two in that time, but he didn’t believe that Voldemort had realized what they were doing.

It was just a coincidence that they’d run into the two Deatheaters. They managed to get away, but not before they’d been forced to using the killing curse. If either of the Deatheaters had escaped, they’d have been in danger so it had been necessary but using that curse still left them feeling like murderers regardless of the fact it was war and self defense. He sometimes wonders if they will ever get used to the death and hopes they don’t because it’s what sets them apart from Voldemort and the others.

Hermione finishes the healing charms and looks up at him. He walks towards her and kneels on the dirty wooden floor of the barn. His arms go around her and he holds her tight as he rests his cheek on her chest. She brushes his hair with her fingers and whispers that it’s okay, that she’s okay, but Harry can’t stop shaking.

He always gets scared and worried when she’s hurt. He needs her so much and wishes she’d stop insisting on searching with them. She’s stubborn, though, and refuses to hide away while he and Ron risk their lives. Their relationship has changed since they first started this search, has become something far more than just friendship or platonic love.

No one knows except Ron, who accepts and approves despite his own brief relationship with Hermione at the first of the summer and Harry’s own failed relationship with Ginny. Hermione is in enough danger just from being who she is, and Harry refuses to make her even more of a target just because he loves her so it is a secret kept amongst the three of them. Once the war is over, there will be no secrets and no fear of being together.

He pulls her down into his lap and kisses her. The kiss is urgent, frantic, wet and sloppy. She returns it with a passion that still startles him, making him groan as he pulls her closer. Harry falls back against the floor and brings her with him. She straddles his leg and begins to rub against him as his hands moved along the curve of her spine before sliding beneath her shirt.

He arches up against her, rubbing against her leg as they continue to kiss, letting the tension, worry, and fear from the unexpected attack fade. There is only need, love, and desire clouding his mind as they kiss and touch and love; there is only Hermione.

They let everything else go while they’re together like this, forgetting about war and horcruxes and the danger that awaits them once they leave. There is time for worry and fear, for plans and searching, for battles and attacks later. For now, they escape into a world of their own where there is only Harry and Hermione and they can just lose themselves in each other for a few stolen moments.

The End