Chapter Text
Harry Potter and The Gift of Aphrodite
Chapter 1: Cursed.
Thursday, November 17th , 1994
Harry James Potter and his best friend, Hermione Jean Granger were just on their way to the Great Hall for dinner, when they heard footsteps behind them, three pairs. Harry wasn’t sure who it was, but he really didn’t care, they’d just had a tiring lesson in double Defense, and he was hungry.
“Hey! Cheater!” Draco’s voice rang out. Harry rolled his eyes. Of course, it was Draco. Who else would it be?
“What do you want Malfoy? Can't you see my friend and I have better things to do?”
“I just wanted to let you know that everyone is supporting the TRUE Hogwarts Champion, and we have no time or tolerance for cheats.”
“Oh, THAT’S rich. Considering what the Slytherin Quidditch team does half the time they’re on the pitch.” Harry retorted. “Oh, and for your information, I DID NOT put my name in that fucking Goblet! Someone else did! Someone who actually wants me dead, so that narrows down the list of suspects to round about 25% of the student body, and maybe 10% of the staff, and a good portion of the filth that pretends to be nobility while pandering to the whims of a nutcase.”
Draco scowled, his face turning red, recognizing the slight against his family for what it was, but then he smirked. “Tell me Potter, how does it feel to be hated and reviled by the entire school for the second time in as many years? First the Heir of Slytherin, now this. At least this time people actually know for sure it was you!”
“No they don’t!” Hermione shot back, her patience rapidly vanishing. “It could have been anyone who put that piece of parchment in the Goblet! It could have been Snape, it could have been one of the Seventh Year Slytherins! Hell, it could even have been Igor Karkaroff! He was a former Death Eater after all!”
“Wait, he was?” Harry asked, turning to look at Hermione, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle seemed just as confused.
“Yeah, I read about him while reading up about the last war, apparently, he bargained for leniency by naming several other Death Eaters and turning them in, including several who were unknown to the Ministry at the time.” she replied.
Draco scowled. “Then he’s a traitor to the Dark Lord! So why would he put Potter’s name in the Goblet then Mudblood? Answer that if you’re so smart!”
“Don’t you dare call her that! Ferret.” Harry snapped, raising his wand.
Draco scowled again, his face once again turning red with rage as Crabbe and Goyle raised their own wands.
“I’ll call her whatever I want to, Scarhead! Her kind are good for only one thing: Breeding stock for their betters! At least their Half-Blood children have some worth.” then he looked at Harry with an expression of pure disdain “...Well... some less than others.”
Harry grit his teeth as he felt his rage building. Insults against himself he could handle, he’d been dealing with that since he could understand the spoken word, but such insults against Hermione? His best female friend who had stuck by him not only through his second year and the Heir of Slytherin debacle, but she had also been by his side these last two weeks, and had been his rock through pretty much everything. No, insults against her he would not let stand.
“By the way, how do you like the badges? I made them myself.” Draco said, smirking as he gestured to small badges that he and his lackeys were wearing, each was the size of a Galleon coin, was bright red and flashed the words “Potter Stinks!” in big white letters, then Draco tapped it with a finger, and the words changed to “Support Cedric Diggory! The True Hogwarts Champion!”
“ Cute.” Harry deadpanned.
“Glad you like them!” Draco said, patronizingly. “I’ve been handing them out to all the students, even the Gryffindors have been buying them!” he taunted with malicious glee.
Harry scowled ‘ So much for House Unity...Then again, Second Year should have taught me that.’ he thought.
In truth, he had seen the badges before now, worn by several students, but he’d never been able to get a good look at them, as when said students had noticed him looking their way, they had promptly hid the badges, at least in the case of the Gryffindors.
The only one who he hadn’t seen wearing a badge, and the only one who had openly said they believed him, was Hermione, which he was immensely grateful for.
For her part, Hermione scowled as she saw the badges the three Slytherins were wearing, she’d wondered about those, as she’d seen them being worn as well, by students from all four houses. She'd been livid when, just the other day, she’d been in the Library waiting for her two other friends, Susan Bones of Hufflepuff, and Daphne Greengrass of Slytherin, to join her for a study session, only to spring to her feet and glare at the two of them as they walked into the Library with the badges on full display, with the words ‘Potter Stinks!’ on Daphne’s, and ‘Support Cedric!’ on Susan’s.
She had demanded that they remove the badges immediately if they valued her friendship and wanted to keep it.
They had both done so, both apologizing, and Daphne even told her that, as a Slytherin, she was expected to wear one, and if she was seen without it, the other Slytherins, particularly Malfoy and his ilk, would start harassing her, and questioning her loyalties. Susan’s excuse was that, as a fellow Hufflepuff, she had to show support for Cedric, and if the others saw her without her badge, they would think her disloyal. And when both girls said they also believed that Harry did not enter his name, did not cheat his way in, Hermione eventually decided to believe them.
She'd gotten to know the two of them during her third year, during the brief separation from Harry and Ron that had been caused by the incident with Harry’s Firebolt, which looking back, had been entirely Ron’s fault. Her actions, though un-necessary, had been justified at the time, but Ron being Ron, had blown up in her face, and wound up Harry as well, though he’d eventually come to his senses. Despite that, she had remained friends with the two girls, and regularly spent time with them.
“I’ll prove I didn’t do it. And soon. Then I'll make you eat those damn badges Malfoy!” Harry growled, then he turned to Hermione. “Come on Hermione, let’s get to dinner. We don’t need to bother with ‘Daddy’s Boy’ here anymore.”
“You dare!” Draco snarled, raising his wand again, then he smirked cruelly. “At least I have a father! And a mother!”
“A mother and father who spent all of the last war on their knees in front of Voldemort.” Hermione spat, “So much for ‘Proud Nobility’ , I wonder, who’s dick did your mum suck more Malfoy? Your dad’s or Voldemort’s?” then Hermione stopped, her eyes widening at what she’d just said, as she realized how much worse she’d just made things. Harry was looking at her with surprise, and some degree of admiration now. ‘Damn Hermione, didn’t think you had it in you!’
Now Draco was PISSED! His face turned an unhealthy, almost Weasley shade of red, his lips curled back in a feral snarl, and his eyes filled with utter hatred.
“The only whore here, MUDBLOOD, is YOU! The ONLY thing that mouth of yours is good for and should ever be used for is sucking the dicks of your BETTERS and SWALLOWING THEIR CUM! After all, that’s the ONLY way your kind make it anywhere in OUR World! You want to be part of our Society so badly? Fine then, but you better get used to giving head Granger, because that’s EXACTLY WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING! FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!”
And with that, his wand arm came up, along with Crabbe and Goyle's wands.
-=-=-=-
Harry groaned as his eyes fluttered open, and he took in his surroundings. He was in the hospital wing. Again.
‘Damn it.’ He thought, ‘What was it this time? Oh yeah…’
Then he remembered.
Draco.
Harry briefly wondered why he hadn’t just pushed her out of the way and let the spell fly past him, he was sure Hermione was going to grill him on that point when she came to see him.
Fumbling for his glasses, he found them, along with his wand, on the bedside table, after slipping them on, he checked his watch. 8:45pm.
8:45pm?!
Draco had ambushed them on the third floor just before dinner as the two of them were making their way down to dinner, at nearly 6pm, he’d been out for three hours! He’d completely missed dinner, and there was very little chance of them getting anything now, not to mention it was almost curfew.
“Great…” he muttered.
“Harry…?” came a muttered, soft inquiry from his left, he turned to look, spotting his bushy haired, brown-eyed best friend, well, best female friend. The one who he had tried to shield from Malfoy’s curse.
“Hermione? You ok?” he asked.
“Ugh, yeah, just aching a little, little tired and a bit hungry.” She replied as she sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking at him worriedly.
Harry frowned as he also sat up, now that she mentioned it, he was feeling a little hazy, and a bit peckish.
“Harry?”
“Hmm?”
Harry looked at her again, seeing the frown as she looked at him, and he realized she looked angry.
‘Oh uh, Duck and Cover Potter…’ he thought, unable to keep the slight smirk off his face, unfortunately, Hermione saw it, and she scowled.
“You think this is funny? Harry James Potter! What the BLOODY HELL were you THINKING?! Why didn’t you use a Shield charm?!” Hermione scolded, her voice getting progressively louder, until the last few words were almost a yell.
“Uh, well, we haven’t covered them yet.” He replied sheepishly, wondering how she could have forgotten that he didn’t know it.
Then he remembered her habit of reading above their current year reading material.
“What about you? I’m sure you’ve learned how to do it.” He replied. She huffed and folded her arms.
“Of course I have. I was about to, until someone decided to play ‘Human Shield!’”
“A-hem.” Came the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Together, the two of them turned to look towards Pomfrey’s office as the school matron stepped out, wand in hand.
“Well, I’m glad to see you two are finally awake. You’ve both been out for a couple of hours now.” The nurse said with a soft relieved smile.
“Hours?! What time is it? How long have we been out?!” Hermione asked.
“Uh, it’s almost 9? We got hit just before dinner.” Harry said, wincing slightly as he saw panic spread across Hermione’s face.
“Three hours?! We’ve been out for nearly 3 hours! It’s almost curfew, we’ll never make it back to the dorm in time!” she moaned, not looking forward to getting caught out.
“Oh, you two aren’t going anywhere tonight; I want to keep you in for observation.” Pomfrey commented, as she moved to a side table and picked up a couple of duffel bags.
“I had two House Elves collect your things; there are fresh clothes, both for tonight and tomorrow for each of you, and your respective necessities.”
Hermione accepted one of the duffel bags and opened it, looking inside to see her night gown, some underwear and her regular day clothes, as well as her tooth brush, hair brush, shampoo and some soap.
“What about our homework?” Hermione asked. “We’ve got work for History of Magic, Charms and Potions to hand in tomorrow!”
“Do not worry Miss Granger, I’ve spoken to Professor Flitwick, and he has agreed to waive your assignment deadline until next week. That should give you enough time to finish. I tried to make the same arrangement with Professor Snape, but…well, you know what he is like.” Pomfrey snorted.
Hermione nodded, sighing.
“Besides, I’m almost done with most of mine, and I’m sure you are too.” Harry replied, flashing her a smile. Despite herself, Hermione found herself smiling back at him. They had been close over the years, it had really picked up following her petrifaction in Second Year, and her helping him rescue Sirius, and, more recently, this whole mess with the damned Triwizard Tournament, and that she had been the only one who hadn’t believed that he’d cheated his way in, at first at least, it hadn’t taken them long to get Neville to believe them.
“Who found us?” Hermione asked. Pomfrey paused.
“I believe it was Mister Longbottom and Miss Abbot who found you.”
Hermione nodded, making a mental note to thank them, and get her hands on Draco, and wring his neck. They also needed to find out what he’d hit them with, and where he’d got the spell from.
“Now, how are you two feeling? My diagnostic spells haven’t shown anything nefarious, other than slightly elevated levels of testosterone in both of you, and slightly elevated Progesterone levels in you Miss Granger and slightly elevated levels of Melatonin and Ghrelin, those are hormones that control your tiredness and appetite, Mister Potter.” Pomfrey elaborated, when she noticed Harry’s confused look.
“Wait, you said that, uh, we both have elevated testosterone levels, but…uhm, Hermione is a girl…” he said awkwardly, scratching at the back of his head as he felt his face heat up with embarrassment.
Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled. “Women have testosterone too Harry, just not as much, but it’s still important for us. As to why we’re feeling hungry, well, we have missed dinner. I doubt there’s anything left, what doesn’t get eaten by the students and staff I think the Elves eat.”
“I thought about that, and planned ahead.” Pomfrey said as she turned and headed into her office, then returned, floating two table trays, on which were a couple of plates with some roast lamb and vegetables, and a pitcher of water and two glasses.
“When you were found and brought here, I asked a couple of the elves to put together some servings for the both of you, then I put warming and stasis charms on them. Eat up. I’ll check up on you when you’re done.”
At that point, the door opened, and Ron, Neville, Hannah, Parvati and Lavender, Hermione’s Dorm mates, as well as Susan Bones and Daphne Greengrass, Hermione’s other two best friends, entered the hospital wing, along with Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Moody.
“This isn’t a hotel!” Pomfrey protested the number of additional bodies in her domain, giving all of the students stern looks, it was, after all, close to curfew.
“We won’t be long, just wanted to check up on them.” Neville said, giving the matron a sheepish look.
“We’re fine Nev, a little hungry, a little tired, but otherwise ok. Whatever we were hit with doesn’t seem to have done much.” Harry reassured his friend.
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Alastor Moody growled as he stepped forward, his magical blue eye roaming independently in its socket, moving back and forth over first Harry, then Hermione.
Even after three months, it was still creepy to watch.
“Hmm…there’s definitely an aura around you two, whatever that curse Malfoy hit you with was, it doesn’t seem to have reached full effect yet. We haven’t covered the Protego spell yet, have we? I guess that’ll be the subject of your next lesson in class, a bit earlier than I planned though.” He muttered the last bit to himself.
“Well sir, uh, I DO know it…” Hermione said, cringing a little as both of Moody’s mismatched eyes fixed on her in sharp glare.
“Then why didn’t you use it?” he growled.
“Now Alastor.” Dumbledore protested, but Moody shot him down.
“It’s a fair question Albus.” He growled, before looking back at Hermione. “Well?”
“Uh, well, I didn’t really get the chance. Draco didn’t really give me much time, and he was too close, and before I could even raise my wand, someone—“ she sent a glare in the direction of Harry, who had the good sense to look sheepish “—decided to use a 'Human Shield ’ charm!” She emphasized the last three words, making her disapproval clear.
Moody snorted, his mouth turning up in a crooked, amused smile.
“Not heard of that one.” Ron said, Harry tried desperately not to roll his eyes or slap his face with his palm. Moody however, had no such restraint.
“That’s because there isn’t such a charm. She’s saying that Potter used himself as a shield. That was pretty stupid of you Potter, for two reasons: A, it clearly didn’t work, and B, that spell could have been anything. We’ll definitely be giving all of you a crash course in the shield charm during your next few lessons.”
“Wait, you already know it was Draco?” Harry asked. They all nodded.
“Yeah, smarmy little git was bragging at dinner, quiet loudly, about putting ‘Potter and his Mudblood in their places’, then your friends Longbottom and Abbot here came into the great hall and came straight for Minerva and Poppy here, and told us they’d found you out cold in a corridor on the Third Floor.” Moody growled.
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to get anything out of him. He claims it was just a harmless prank. But I disagreed. Harmless pranks usually don’t leave their victims unconscious for several hours.” McGonagall spoke up as she too stepped forward.
“Did you hear what Mister Malfoy said when he cast the curse?” they shook their heads, Hermione spoke up.
“Uh, no, there was too much going on, too much commotion, what with his shadows Crabbe and Goyle following him.” Then she looked at Daphne, giving her a slight smile, “Good thing you weren’t there, you might have had to publicly take sides, and I know you don’t want to do that just yet.”
“I wish I had been there, I could have helped you guys.” The blonde Slytherin said, ignoring the suspicious, dirty look Ron was giving her. He looked like he wanted to say something, but wisely kept his mouth shut.
“I checked his wand, but it seems he’d already cast more than 10 spells after he hit the two of you, since the check didn’t turn up anything.” Moody said.
“I…could try asking him…” Daphne offered.
“No.” Hermione said, then continued when her friend gave her a look. “If you start asking questions, he might get suspicious.” Hermione then frowned as she noticed the sour look Ron was giving Daphne. His blind mistrust of anything even remotely Slytherin was starting to annoy her. She decided she would have to have words with him.
She learned during the weeks she’d gotten to know the two girls that the Ice Queen persona that Daphne portrayed was just a front, to protect herself and her younger sister, Astoria, who had just entered her second year.
Susan on the other hand, was the quant-essential Hufflepuff; 100% loyal to her friends, and fiercely dedicated to honor and truth, and she had a very acute sense of right and wrong, and a very strong work ethic, thanks to her aunt, Amelia Bones.
“We will keep questioning Mister Malfoy, see if we can determine anything.” Dumbledore said, as he looked at each of them, his eyes sparkling. “In the meantime, it is past curfew, and we all need to get some sleep. Minerva and I will escort our guests back to their respective common rooms, Miss Granger, Mister Potter, I leave you in Poppy’s capable hands, we’ll see you tomorrow. Good night, Poppy, please let us know of any developments.” And with that, he turned to leave, ushering the students out, all of them saying good night, though Ron shot Daphne another suspicious look, which she returned with a cold stare.
Once they were gone, Hermione sighed as she continued eating her meal. “I hate that he kept doing that.” She complained.
“What?” harry asked.
“He kept giving Daphne funny looks. It’s really annoying, and I know Daphne doesn’t like it either, neither does Susan. Though to be honest, considering the way he’s been around you the past couple of weeks, he probably only came because Neville made him.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll have a word with him tomorrow about it, if he either comes by, or we get out of here.”
Hermione nodded.
Nearly half an hour later they’d finished their respective meals, and decided to try and get some of their homework finished, with Hermione’s help, Harry managed to get everything finished pretty quickly.
After that, Pomfrey told them that the en-suite bathroom was available for them if they wanted to take a shower before bed, and that there were fresh towels waiting in the bathroom.
Harry let Hermione go first as he decided to sit and think, and let his late dinner settle a bit.
This day had been quite eventful, and he was a little annoyed that Ron really hadn’t said anything to him, the idiot was still blanking him over that damn Goblet, he was even still wearing one of those fucking badges. How McGonagall or Dumbledore hadn’t called him out on it, or any other student for that matter, he didn’t know, maybe he’d ask McGonagall about it.
Eventually, Hermione came out of the bathroom wrapped in a nice fluffy looking towel, her wet hair clinging to her head and back as she smiled at him, looking refreshed, though she did look a little off put.
“Shower’s all yours Harry.” She said as she stepped behind a privacy screen Pomfrey had put up between their beds before she’d left after giving them a final check, though apparently their readings hadn’t changed much, for better or worse.
“Thanks. You ok?” he asked as he stepped towards the bathroom.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She replied, though there was something in her tone that he didn’t quite believe.
-=-=-=-
Hermione was concerned, she’d eaten a full meal, and yet, she still felt hungry, her stomach felt full, but she still felt hungry, and she seemed even more tired than before, though she chocked that one up to actual exhaustion, good thing they were about to get some sleep then.
When Harry emerged from the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, she got her first clear look at his muscled body. He didn’t have a Schwarzenegger-type build to him, which, in her adolescent mind, she’d privately wondered about, given how active he was with Quidditch, but the sport had definitely kept him fit and in good shape. She also got a brief look at some scarring on his body, and she scowled, suspecting the Dursleys, she’d have to try and ask him about it some time.
And if she was honest with herself, despite the scarring, she’d liked what she’d seen. She let out a light, quiet gasp as she felt her breasts start to tingle, and her nipples start to harden as she thought about his half naked body. Blushing furiously, she clamped down on her thoughts and libido. This was Harry , her best male friend…who she’d had a minor crush on ever since he’d saved her that day in the bathroom from that Mountain Troll.
And, for a brief moment, she wondered what his reaction would have been if she’d walked out of that bathroom with the towel ‘round her waist, instead of her chest. Her eyes widened and she felt her face flush, and her body suddenly tingle with warmth of a different kind, as she imagined Harry ogling her breasts, even if she wasn’t as impressive as Susan or Daphne, or Parvati or Lavender.
‘What the bloody hell is wrong with me?!’ she thought.‘That’s it Granger, definitely bed time for you.’
A few minutes later, Harry stepped round the divider, and smiled at her as she rose from the bed and moved to hug him good night, smiling.
“Good night Harry.” She said quietly, wrapping her arms round him in a tight quick hug.
The moment their bodies pressed together however, she ‘felt’ something inside her ‘click’, as if something had just been triggered. Her eyes widened as a surge of arousal shot through her, starting between her legs and spreading out. She felt her breasts firm up and swell a little, her nipples hardening fully to small points that she was certain Harry could feel through the thin material of her nightie and his pajama top, since she wasn’t wearing a bra as their chests were pressed together.
She also felt a surge of heat and moisture between her legs, and she knew that, if she allowed her fingers to go questing, they’d find not only her labia wet and dripping, but her clitoris hard and throbbing. She could practically feel it pushing through her lower lips and rubbing against the fresh pair of knickers she’d put on.
She’d never been so horny in her life before.
‘Thank Merlin he can’t see my face…’ she thought, horrified. Then she felt him tense, as he hugged her, and buried his face in her neck and sucked in a sudden breath, getting a lung full of the shampoo scent she’d used.
Then she felt it. And her eyes opened a little wider, and she felt him shiver.
It was impossible to mistake it for anything other than what it was, as it was pressing into her lower belly, just above her mound. It was long, and it was hard.
‘Oh my god…he’s so hard! I…I’ve never…he’s as horny as I am! What the HELL’S going on?!’ she thought, as she pulled back and looked at him. His face was bright red with embarrassment, and he was looking anywhere but at her.
“Er…good night Hermione…I’ll see you in the morning.” He said awkwardly as he quickly turned away, shooting her an apologetic look.
“Um…yeah, good night, Harry.” She said awkwardly as she climbed into bed, then Pomfrey came in and removed the divider, letting them know that if anything happened or if there were any problems, there were monitoring charms keyed to alarm charms in her room where she’d be, or they’d just have to call for her.
As she closed her eyes and settled down and tried to sleep, several things occurred to her at once. A, she was extremely tired, B, she was more aroused than she could ever remember being, and C, she was still hungry.
Harry quickly climbed into bed, feeling mortified. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. When he’d seen Hermione in nothing but that towel, he’d felt stirrings of an erection, which thankfully he’d been able to take care of in the shower, but the second they’d hugged, the stirrings had come back, skipped ignition, and gone straight to take off.
And he knew she’d felt it. He wasn’t sure if she’d felt his nipples harden with arousal, but he’d definitely felt hers.
‘Merlin…she’s really wound up, as much as I am…what the hell’s going on?’ he thought.
Though he decided it could wait until the morning, hopefully he’d be able to sleep, and if not, he could try to take care of it, then sleep. Another thing occurred to him as he closed his eyes and tried to shut down his mind and think of something completely unsexy, like Filch. It didn’t work. And what he realized as he finally drifted off to sleep was…
He was still hungry.
-=-=-=-
Albus Dumbledore sat in his quarters just off from his office, considering the events of the day.
This curse that Draco had used was a problem, if Harry was rendered too weak to participate in the Tournament, then he ran the risk of being stripped of his magic, and that was something Dumbledore could not allow, he had a destiny to fulfil after all, and he couldn’t do that if he was a squib. Miss Granger’s perceived fate from the curse was unfortunate, but in the end, could be beneficial. The girl was far too free-spirited and free-thinking. While yes, she did have some-what of an over-zealous faith in authority figures when she first came to Hogwarts, that seemed to have been tempered over the last 2 years, and her over-reliance on books seemed to have also been tempered, but still, she was too great an influence on young Harry, he needed proper guidance.
Try as he might, Albus could not fathom what the curse Malfoy had used was, he’d never heard of it being used. He’d heard of similar curses, one such curse made the victim so tired over a number of days that they eventually fell asleep and never woke up 'The Touch of Hypnos' he believed it was called, but he was certain that wasn't it, and curses that drove a person to such a frenzied state hunger that they resorted to eating raw meat, and eventually, anything living, and became nothing more than living inferi, but neither one of those curses shared the effects of the other. It was a conundrum.
And if the curse was lifted from them both then, well, there were other options, like the Second Task...especially if she was made Mr Krum’s hostage instead of Mr Potter’s...he had to make sure that Harry’s relationship with the young Weasley boy did not suffer any irreparable damage, after all.