Title: Taking Care
Author: eeyore9990
Characters/Pairings: Harry/Hermione (ish)
Rating: R
Kinks/Themes Chosen: fingering
Other Warnings: awkward teenagers and bossy girls
Word Count: ~1500
Summary/Description: Harry notices that Hermione is sad and tries in his own, awkward way to cheer her up.
Author's Notes: Seriously, they lived alone in a tent for how long? Yeah...

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Harry pushed back the tent flap, already sliding the locket over his head when the sound of muffled weeping reached him. Swallowing the anger that attempted to rise up his throat in the form of hateful, cruel words, he stepped inside and allowed the tent flap to drop behind him. "Hermione?"

A soft gasp cut through the silence before Hermione came around the bit of canvas that separated the sleeping section from the main rooms of the tent. Her hands left muddy fingerprints along her cheeks as she wiped the tears from them, a guilty expression furrowing her brow. "I'm sorry," she whispered with a little shrug that seemed to indicate she knew as well as Harry that this wouldn't be the last time he'd interrupt a crying jag.

"You're sad." It was at once the biggest revelation of the preceding weeks as well as the most obvious of observations. Not missing the tiny roll of Hermione's eyes, Harry rushed to explain himself. "No, I mean... Of course you're sad, but you're more sad than I think you'd otherwise be in this situation."

"How can you possibly--!" Hermione's nostrils flared with anger before Harry held up the locket.

"I can't believe it took me so long to realize it. You're not just sad, you're depressed. It makes you feel these dark, horrible emotions so much more intensely than you'd normal feel them, right? Like how R--how I get so angry. Only you haven't, have you? Lost your temper, I mean. You're just..."

"So sad." Hermione stared at him, her eyes swimming again with as-yet unshed tears. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize, but I think you're right. I just don't know how to stop. I can't... I don't think I could summon a cheery thought if I tried." She shrugged, her hands spreading at her sides in a gesture so helpless Harry couldn't stop himself from rushing forward to pat her shoulder.

"It'll be all right," he said, not truly believing it himself. Then, in a burst of inspiration, "When I need to cheer myself up, I ... take a bath."

When she just stared at him, Harry cleared his throat, glanced at a spot over her shoulder and said, "You know. A bath." Subtle hand gestures ensured she was as uncomfortable as he was, which was really only fair, all things considered.

"So, I'll just be going now. Let you have that bath." Harry turned to make his escape, but not before Hermione's hand on his arm stopped him. Mortified beyond words, he faced her again and raised his eyebrows in question.

Hermione reached for the locket that was still dangling from his fingers, but Harry swung it up, out if her reach. "Come on, Harry. It's my turn. I'll, erm, bathe after I take my turn standing watch. You need your rest."

"Hermione, no offense, but there's absolutely no way I could possibly sleep now. And honestly, it'll make me feel better when... Wait, no, I mean... Not feel better! I'm not a creeper--"

For the first time in weeks, a smile curved Hermione's lips. "Well. If it'll make you feel better..."

~*~

Harry stamped his feet and blew on his hands, trying to warm himself up. Hermione was taking forever with her... bath. He was beginning to wonder if all girls usually took so long when a muffled sound reached him. Sagging with relief, he waited a few more moments for Hermione to sort herself out before he ducked back into the tent, seeking warmth.

Instead he found Hermione sitting curled up in a miserable-looking ball on one of the highly uncomfortable wooden chairs, banging her forehead against her knees.

"What's wrong? Didn't you...?"

Hermione lifted her head and glared up at him through angry-looking tears. "No," she said, her voice as curt as he'd ever heard it. "I didn't manage to... take a bath. At least not all the way. Let's just say I poured the water but didn't get clean, shall we?"

"But... How...?"

"Well it's not as easy for me as it is for you! The stress we're under, the constant fear of being found, of the Snatchers grabbing us, of h-him sending you dreams... not to mention this never-ending camping trip we're on! It's all just a bit too bloody much. I can't relax enough to bring myself off."

Harry felt his ears redden just before Hermione growled at him--growled!--and said, "Oh, come off it! We both know exactly where my fingers have been for the last hour. Stop being such a bloody baby about it. Especially since you're the one who all but shoved my hands in my knickers in the first place."

Harry cleared his throat and scratched behind his ear with a tiny shrug. "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that."

"It's all right. Just don't be a prat."

"So, d'you want me to leave again so you can try?"

"What? No. It's basically a lost cause. I'm never going to be able to masturbate under these conditions."

An odd thought floated through Harry's mind then, and he heard himself say, "I think I have an idea..."

~*~

"Harry James Potter, don't you dare get all virginal on me now. Let's not forget whose idea this was!"

Harry slowly opened his eyes and winced at what he saw. "I'm sorry, Hermione! I'm just... Well I wasn't exactly expecting you to agree, was I?" He gestured to her splayed thighs before looking away, embarrassed.

"Harry--"

"No, don't. I'm sorry. I'm not making this any easier, am I?"

Hermione folded her legs against her chest--after closing them, thank God--and wrapped her arms around herself. "It was a nice thought, but I just don't think it's going to work. We're not exactly made for each other, you know?"

Somehow, being provided the perfect out made Harry fight against giving up. "Don't start talking like that. Look, maybe it would help if we turned out the lights. You can imagine I'm R--whoever, and I'll get a really prime opportunity myself."

"Prime opportunity?" Hermione asked, the words utterly dry.

"Well, certainly. You'll tell me what to do, even the smallest thing, and I'll know how to do this in case I ever get another chance."

Hermione's shoulders fell before she lifted her arm and placed a hand on his sleeve. "You will, Harry. You'll get tons of chances!"

Harry lifted his wand to distract Hermione from how lopsided his smile was. "So. Lights, then?"

Sliding her hand from his sleeve up his arm, Hermione touched his fingers where they gripped his wand and whispered, "Nox."

The tent disappeared around them as darkness took over, but Hermione's hand around his was a solid anchor, grounding him. He heard a soft rustling before she tugged on the wand still held tight in his grip. With a deep breath, he relaxed and let her guide his empty hand forward and down. He touched something warm and rather clammy and started to jerk away when she said, "That's the labia. Nice enough, slightly sensitive in that 'I know I'm being touched' way, but nothing truly spectacular. But if you follow them up," she guided his fingers in a slow moving glide across squishy flesh, "you'll feel something a bit like a pebble under the skin. Do you feel that?"

Harry frowned, concentrating on putting his embarrassment aside for the moment. "Not really a pebble," he said. And it wasn't. More like, "just a tiny little hard spot."

"Yes. That's what the clitoris feels like. Now that you've found it, don't lose it or Ginny will be a very frustrated woman."

Harry was glad for the darkness that hid his blush. "What about your...?"

"My what?"

"Your... breasts."

Just the thought of having to touch her tits as well caused Harry's fingers to jerk, and Hermione let out a small gasp before she said, "Mine aren't very sensitive. You'll have to ask individual partners what they like in that regard."

"But you think they'll all like this?" Harry asked as he moved his fingers, experimenting with the tiny bit of hardened flesh Hermione had introduced him to.

Hermione sounded as if someone were strangling her when she said, "Yes, completely sure." Her hand on his began guiding his fingers in a very deliberate, circling motion until he really got going on his own. Her fingers flexed against his wrist then before sliding away, and Harry chewed his lips closed so as not to accidentally disturb her with any stupid questions.

After a few moments, he noticed it was a bit easier, his fingers slipping along her flesh almost without any friction at all. What Hermione did then startled him so completely that his fingers dropped away from her, losing his place. He scowled down into the pervasive darkness of the tent and fumbled around until he had a good grip on her hips, the same ones that had started bucking without warning.

That's when he noticed that Hermione's breath was coming in little broken sobs. "Please," she whispered, and Harry, emboldened by the note of pleasure in her voice, thrust his fingers back between her legs. This time, though, instead of finding the hardness of her clitoris, his fingers slipped up inside her. "Oh!"

Scooting closer to her so as not to strain his wrist, Harry left his fingers where they were, pumping them occasionally as he brought the other hand up and began to lightly feel along the moist folds of her sex for her clitoris. Rubbing and thrusting, and getting it backwards a few times, Harry kept up his rhythm until he felt Hermione's fingernails dig into his skin, holding his hand still as her body began to contract around the fingers he still had inside her.

Neither of them would ever mention this moment again, even in passing, and they especially wouldn't say anything about the fact that Hermione had sighed "Ron" right there at the end.