Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's Note: Thanks guys for all the reviews! I returned from vacation relaxed and broke…let's just say you get me anywhere near an Old Navy outlet and I am going to do some damage. I didn't get any writing done during my vacation, but when I came back I was hit with inspiration and this is the result. I hope you like it. The title of this chapter as well as this part of the story comes from one of my favorite songs, "No Place That Far" by Sara Evans. If you haven't heard it before, you should definitely listen to it. In this chapter, Julie has a dream about Harry and something monumental will happen. I hope you enjoy. As always, please read and review…

Chapter Nine

No Place That Far

Julie was usually one who thrived under stress. In the past two weeks, she'd seen her love life become about as complicated as it could possibly be. She'd also had to deal with writing and researching a paper for one of her psychology courses. To top it all off, she still had to juggle all of this with her work schedule at Billie's. For someone who usually thrived under stressful situations, she felt as if she was drowning in it right about now.

Luckily, keeping busy was keeping her from thinking too much about Trey or Harry. Well, that was what she told herself. She had been able to think of little else besides them, to tell the truth. How could she explain to anyone else let alone herself the connection she felt to someone she had only known for such a short time? How could she not love Trey after all that he had done for her? He was a sweet guy who deserved better than someone who honestly didn't know how she felt about him or anything else anymore.

On Thursday night, she had a counseling session with one of her professors. She went home immediately following the session pretty much feeling dead on her feet. Usually, she liked to read before going to sleep, but she was too tired to even lift a book, let alone read one that night.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.

She was dreaming again…

She was in some sort of room. The room looked almost like a cabin living room. There was a comfortable large sofa sitting in front of a fire that was burning in a large brick fireplace. There was a wooden table in the middle of the room. There were two place settings at the table. The table's centerpiece was two lit tapered candles. The middle of the table was laden down with every a variety of foods---roast turkey, vegetables, dinner rolls, and some sort of drinks that Julie couldn't recognize.

There was a large Christmas tree in the corner of the room, decorated in silver garland and ornaments. A single silver star topped the tree and a handful of presents were sitting underneath the tree. Julie was standing beside the table; busily making sure that everything was just in place. She heard the door close and she turned expectantly to see….Harry? It didn't look like the Harry she knew now. This Harry was a little younger. Julie reckoned he was about 16 years old in the dream.

She turned to face him and whispered, "Happy Christmas."

"What are you doing here?" he finally managed to get out.

"Spending Christmas with you, of course," she said.

"With me?" he asked her. "I thought you were going home for Christmas."

"I am home," she said, her brown eyes staring intently into his. "Wherever you are, that is my home."

He looked at her, feeling as if he was going to cry.

"I, um, should go," he said.

"No," she said simply.

"What?" he asked her.

She stepped closer. "You walked away from me once, and I let you go. I'm not going to let that happen again. We have come through far too much for it to end like that."

He turned back toward the door, but she grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around to face her.

"Look at me," she said, her voice catching in her throat. "I know what you're doing. I think on some level, I understand why you're doing it, but you know, you could have asked me how I felt about it!"

"I'm doing what-", he began, but she stopped him.

"You're doing the same thing my parents did a few months ago, remember? They were planning my life for me without asking me what I wanted. They didn't stop to ask, Harry. You decided to cut yourself out of my life, not caring what I had to say about it. Well, you're going to hear what I have to say about it!"

A few moments later, she found herself and Harry sitting on the sofa in front of the fire.

"No one is guaranteed time," she was saying to him. "We don't know how much we have. We should enjoy the time we do have and cherish the people we have in our lives. I don't know about you, but these past couple weeks have been horrible. I don't want to spend the rest of my life like that, wanting to be with you, but denied that chance because you were afraid that I'd end up dead. I'm afraid of a lot of things, too, Harry, but I've never been afraid of you. I'm afraid of losing you for no good reason."

He was quiet. She stroked his cheek with her fingers.

"What do you want, Harry?" she asked him.

"You," he said softly. He took her hands in his. "I want you."

"My Harry," she said, smiling at him.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "I love you so much. I never want to hurt you."

"Then stay with me," she said. "Don't push me away."

She awoke with a start. She looked around the room, scared at how real the dream had seemed. What in the world was that all about? She had to ask herself. It had seemed so real, so vivid. The feelings she felt in the dream were so intense.

She looked at the clock radio on her bedside table. It was just past 2:30 in the morning. She laid her head back down on the pillow and took a deep breath. Everything in her life was going haywire these days. When would anything make sense? Would it ever make sense? It was a while before she was finally able to go back to sleep.

Since she had a few minutes before she had to leave for her first class, she decided to give her father a call. She hoped he would be home.

She quickly dialed the number. After two rings, her father's familiar voice came on the line.

"Daddy?" she asked.

"Julie!" he exclaimed, surprised. "How are you sweetheart?"

"I'm okay," Julie said, unconvincingly. Simon picked up on it immediately.

"You don't sound okay," he said. "What's wrong?"

"I called to see how you were, Daddy," she said, with a hollow laugh.

"Well, I'm okay, but I'm wondering how you are," he asked. "Is it something with your classes? Trey?"

"Everything's okay," she said. "Really, I'm just a little stressed from my classes and work."

"Well, you need to take time for yourself every now and then," Simon said. "You know, you are going to run yourself ragged if you keep up at the pace you go on all the time."

She laughed. "Keeping busy is the only thing keeping me sane, Dad."

"You've always been like that," Simon told her. "But you need to take time for yourself every now and again. It's really the best thing for you. Are you sure that's all there is, Julie? You know you can tell me anything."

"I know," she said. "Really, I just needed to hear your voice."

"Well, you can call me anytime, sweetie," Simon said.

"I love you, Daddy."

"I love you, too, sweetie," he said. "Take care of yourself. And you call anytime you need to, okay?"

"I will," she said. "I better get to class."

"Bye, Julie."

She hung the phone back up. Why hadn't she asked him the questions that were on her mind? Talking about the past was always a sore subject for her father. She knew it pained him to remember things he'd worked hard to forget. Hell, they'd moved to another country to start over. Sometimes, she wanted answers. The only problem was she was sometimes afraid to ask the questions. The last thing she wanted to do was upset her father. If she was going to find out answers, she'd have to do it on her own.

The next couple of days passed in a blur for Julie. Classes took up most of her time. She hadn't told anyone about the bizarre, yet vivid dream she'd had about Harry. She'd honestly tried to put both the dream and the kiss they'd shared behind her, but it was always on her mind. Unfortunately, things between she and Harry had become what could only be called as awkwardly polite. They spoke only in passing and usually only when Julie was placing drink orders for customers.

Despite appearances, Julie had a feeling that Harry, too, was having trouble putting the kiss behind them. Sometimes, when he thought she wasn't looking, she'd catch him glancing her way. She knew this because she was also guilty of doing the same.

She also had very little contact with Trey. He'd called and left a message on her answering machine, but she hadn't returned the call. She felt like a terrible person for doing it, but she honestly didn't know what to say. She was still confused today as she'd been the night he'd caught her and Harry kissing in the hall.

Weekends usually proved to be a good diversion, but this weekend was going to be the exception to the rule. Saturday, Billie's Restaurant & Grill was going to be closed off to the public for a private wedding reception. A large crowd of people were expected and the employees were bracing themselves for a long, hectic day.

Billie and Ray had prepared a lavish feast of baked chicken, roasted vegetables, dinner rolls and various pastries and desserts. The couple had hired a deejay to provide music. The wedding planner had nearly driven Billie crazy by coming over at 7:00 a.m. to decorate the restaurant with flowers. Billie had joked to Julie that the restaurant was going to have so many pink flowers it was going to look like it had been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol. It had been Julie's job to keep Billie calm in the midst of all the chaos.

The reception was scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. and would last until the last guest leaves. The staff had prepared itself for the long haul. Julie arrived at about 2:00 p.m. She and the other staff wore their own clothes to help set up tables and prepare place settings. They would all change into work clothes a few moments before the guests arrived.

She hadn't seen Harry since she'd arrived. Billie had sent Harry and Tim out for last-minute supplies and to pick up the champagne from Billie's distributor.

At around 4:00 p.m., Julie made her way toward the back room to get changed into her work clothes. She found the door to the backroom slightly ajar. She peered through the door and gasped at what she saw. It was Harry. He was standing in front of his locker, shirtless. His back was to her. She knew she shouldn't be staring, but she couldn't help it. His white button-down shirt was hanging over a chair. He turned around to get it and Julie caught sight of his chest. She could feel her jaw drop as she looked at him. He was absolutely…well, words escaped her. He was a lot more athletic and muscular than he appeared when he was fully-clothed. His stomach was toned and well-defined. His skin was slightly tanned.

"Julie?" a voice said behind her. She turned with a start to see Ray standing behind her, carrying a box.

"Mind if I scoot past you? I need to put this back here," Ray said, peering at her over the box.

"Uh, sure," she said, standing back to allow Ray to pass by her into the room.

Her cheeks flushed red as she saw to her horror Harry staring back at her. He now had his shirt on, but it was unbuttoned. She looked for all intents and purposes exactly like the cat that ate the canary. He knew she'd been watching him.

"Hi," he said softly. His green eyes pierced into her and she felt as if she would just melt right there.

"Hi," she responded. "I, um, was just---"

"Just what?" he asked, smiling at her.

"Just, um, well I was going to get changed and I didn't know anyone was in here," she finished quickly.

"Oh," he said, buttoning his shirt up quickly. "Well, I'm finished."
"Good," she said, wishing that the floor would open up and swallow her whole to put her out of her embarrassing misery.

"Thanks, guys," Ray said, walking between them and out of the room. Harry stepped a little closer. "It's all yours."

They stared at each other for a moment before Harry walked out of the room and she was left holding the door knob. She shakily walked inside the room and closed the door softly behind her. She rested her back against the door and let out a deep breath. "Oh my God," she whispered to herself.

Julie quickly changed into a white short-sleeved, lace top with a black mini-skirt that was embroidered with small white flowers at the hem. She pulled her hair back into a low ponytail and wore a pair of pearl drop earrings. On her feet, she wore a pair of black Mary Jane mules. For some reason, she took extra care of her appearance that she usually did. She wanted to look pretty today. That was a lie. She knew why she wanted to look especially pretty today and she knew who she wanted to impress.

She made her way out of the back room and into the kitchen where she saw Billie and Ray engaged in another war of words. She was Harry leaning against the bar and laughing at the two of them. She came out of the kitchen and stood beside him where they exchanged knowing looks.

"What's this all about?" she asked him.

Harry leaned in, a conspiratorial look in his eyes. "Well, Billie asked Ray to taste the vegetables and make sure they seemed alright. Well, he did so and mentioned that she might need to add a little more spice to them and apparently that was the straw that broke the southern belle's back."

"Poor Ray," Julie said, her eyebrows furrowing. "How long has this been going on?"
"Ten minutes now," Harry said, with a laugh. "She's threatened him with a spatula about twice. He's still in one piece so that's got to count for something."

Julie laughed and walked over to the partition between the kitchen and the bar and quietly closed the curtain. "She's usually like this during big events like this. It puts her on edge a little bit."

Harry nodded.

"Much better," Julie said, turning around to smile at him. "This way if anything happens, we couldn't be called to testify as witnesses."

"Good plan," Harry said. As she turned around, he was finally able to get a good look at her. She looked amazing.

"Wow," he said.

"What?" she asked, looking at him, confused.

"You look beautiful," he said, smiling at her.

She couldn't help blushing. He smiled broadly back at her.

"I mean it," he said. "You look amazing."

"You say that now," she said, "Just you wait until I've spilled champagne and food all over this white shirt. You know, I think I may have to talk to Billie about the color scheme we have to wear here. I mean, when you think about it white isn't exactly the easiest color to….I'm rambling. Sorry. I tend to do that when I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she said, with a slight laugh. "I honestly couldn't tell you."

"Are you sure about that?" he asked her.

"No," she said, meeting his eyes.

"Tell you what," he began, "let's just have a good time today and put any awkwardness and nervousness behind us. You think you can do that?"

She laughed. "I think so. Besides, we'll probably be so busy we won't even have to worry about it."

"Probably," Harry said, smiling again at her.

"Should be fun, though," she said, helping him get a tray of glasses from underneath the bar. "At least they haven't got some really cheesy band playing really awful music. I swear you are going to hate that you missed it, but there was this one couple that had this polka band play their reception here. To this day, when I hear polka music, which mind you, I don't hear on a regular basis, but when I do hear it, I cringe."

"You're doing it again," Harry said, his eyes twinkling at he looked her.

"Doing what?" she asked, knowing full well that she had been rambling.

"Don't play innocent," he said. "You were rambling again."
"Sorry," she said, sheepishly. "It won't happen again."

"I don't mind," he said. "You're cute when you ramble."

"It's a gift I have," she said, flinging a dish rag at him.

"Hey," he said, throwing the dish rag back at her, "That wasn't very ladylike, Miss Maxwell."

"That's what you get for calling me cute," she said, laughing at him.

"Would you prefer adorable, sweet, charming, or lovable?"

Julie was about to respond when Billie suddenly came barreling out of the kitchen. She was muttering something incoherent to herself as she walked toward Harry and Julie. Needless to say, she didn't look very happy.

"I swear, I am going to kill Ray," Billie said. "That man is going to be the death of me. That kitchen isn't big enough for the both of us. Can you believe he had the nerve to tell me that I needed to add more spice to the vegetables? More spice he says! I spent nearly all last night preparing this food with not much help from him, I might add. So he decides to contribute by telling me that I need to add more spice."

"Go easy on Ray, Billie," Julie said helpfully. "It takes a lot of guts for someone to go into that kitchen with you. Ray's heart is in the right place."

"I'm not that bad, am I?" Billie asked her, putting her hands on her hips.

Harry and Julie stepped closer together and gave each other worried looks. "In order to protect my job and our friendship, Billie, I'm afraid I'm going to have to plead the Fifth on that one," Julie said, holding up her hands.

"Me, too," Harry said, standing closer to Julie. They were both trying and failing to stifle their laughter.

"You know I used to like the two of you," Billie said, a smile playing at the corner of her lips despite herself. "Well, come on kids, let's add some more spice and get this wedding reception started."

An hour later, the restaurant was crowded with the wedding party and the wedding guests. The bride and groom, Trisha & Paul Thomas, were dancing their first dance together as a married couple. A crowd of people gathered around the dance floor to watch them. Julie was seated at a bar stool at the end of the bar, taking a rest and watching the couple dancing.

Julie's co-worker Chloe came by and took a seat beside her.

"Billie didn't see me go out for my smoke break, did she?" Chloe asked, looking around the restaurant for their boss. She sighed in relief when she found Billie no where to be found in the immediate vicinity.

"No," Julie said, her eyes still on the dancing couple on the floor. "I don't think so. She's still in the back with Ray."

"Good," Chloe said. "That's all I need for her to start arguing with me after the pounding she put on Ray today."

"Yeah," Chloe said. "Don't tell me you're getting all sentimental watching this?"

"A little," Julie admitted. "Who wouldn't? It's so sweet to see someone so happy like that. It makes you think that love can actually work out."

"Yeah, I guess," Chloe said. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you. The new bartender, Harry? I've seen you and him chatting a few times and I was just wondering if you knew what his story was?"

"His story?" Julie asked, taking her eyes away from the dance floor. She caught sight of Harry at the end of the bar, serving a drink to one of the guests.

"Yeah," Chloe said. "He's pretty hot, don't you think?"

"You think Harry's hot?" Julie asked, feeling uncomfortable at the way this conversation seemed to be going.

"Yeah, I mean don't you?" Chloe asked. "I mean, I know you've got Trey and all, but you're not blind, Julie. He's hot and I think he's a nice guy, too, from what I've seen. I mean, that's pretty rare to find in a guy."

"Yeah," Julie said, finding herself staring at Harry.

Chloe followed Julie's gaze. Chloe gave Julie a knowing smile. "Uh-huh."

"What?" Julie asked.

"So you have noticed he's hot?" Chloe asked.

"I have not," Julie said, a little louder than she planned.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much," Chloe said, smiling at her. "Don't worry. I won't make a move on the guy you've got your eye on."

"I haven't got my eye on him," Julie said. "If you wanted to ask Harry out, I wouldn't---I mean, I wouldn't have any say in that, would I?"

"You wouldn't mind if I asked him out?" Chloe asked, not believing a word Julie was saying.

"Of course not," Julie lied. The mere idea of it incensed her.

"Well, here comes Mr. Wonderful now," Chloe said, cocking her head in Harry's direction.

Harry had come up behind them.

"Hi, Harry," Chloe said, winking at him. She leaned forward so as to give Harry a better look at her cleavage. Julie couldn't help rolling her eyes at Chloe's not so secretive flirting attempts. To Julie's delight, Harry didn't take the bait.

"Hi, Chloe," Harry said simply. "Billie said she needed you to help her in the kitchen."

"Oh, Lord," Chloe said, getting up from the stool. "If you guys don't hear from me in 10 minutes, send for reinforcements."

Julie laughed. "Good luck."

They both watched as Chloe walked into the kitchen.

"How's it going?" Harry asked her.

"Good," she said. "You?"

"Okay," he said, leaning on his elbows on the bar. "You taking a quick break?"

"Yeah, watching the happy couple dance," she said, looking again at the dance floor as Trisha and Paul finished their dance. Trisha and Paul smiled and shared a kiss before urging their guests to join them on the dance floor.

"So why aren't you out their shaking your groove thing?" he asked her.

"Shaking my groove thing?" she asked him in mock disbelief. "I could ask you the same question."

"Well, I don't know how to do the Electric Slide or the Macarena and I'd have to be seriously drunk to do The Chicken Dance," he said.

"You know, I think I'd pay to see you do The Chicken Dance," she said giggling.

"There isn't enough money in the free world to get me to do that," he said, shaking his head.

"Ah, you're no fun," she said, getting up from her barstool and picking up her tray. "Well, in that case, I'm getting back to work."

"Yeah, work it on to that dance floor, girl," Harry called after her.

"I will if you will," she said, walking away laughing.

What Harry hadn't told Julie was that being at this wedding reception, he couldn't help remembering a day nearly five years ago when he and Hermione had exchanged their own vows to each other in the Astronomy Tower. It seemed like such a lifetime ago. He wished she would remember. There had to be some way to help her reclaim those memories.

He could still see her in her beautiful white dress, her eyes shining with tears as she recited her own vows. He could still see how she smiled when he'd told her how much she'd meant to him.

He wanted so much to tell her who she was and what she was and who she was to him. She wouldn't understand now. It was too damn soon to go telling her these things. If he ever had the chance to meet Simon Maxwell, he'd make that man regret the day he'd decided to help take part in some carefully crafted plan to rob Hermione from the people who loved and cared about her. He hoped Sirius was having luck finding out who Simon Maxwell really was.

His gaze traveled across the room, searching for her. He found her bent over a table, putting some empty plates on her tray. She turned and smiled good-naturedly at someone who said something to her in passing. She laughed.

She walked toward the bar. "I need a strawberry daiquiri and a club soda."

"Coming right up," Harry said, getting two glasses. He quickly fixed the drinks and watched as Julie placed them onto her serving tray.

"And to think it was only a few short weeks ago when you had no idea what you were doing," she said smiling at him. She was enjoying the flirty conversation she and Harry had been engaging in all evening. It was fun and she needed something fun in her life right now.

"Well, I had a good teacher," he said.

She brought the drinks over to the table and came back to stand by the bar. She and Harry were just watching the other couples dance.

"You two kids should dance," an older woman said. She was sitting a few seats down from them and was smiling broadly at them.

"Everyone should dance."

"We're working, ma'am," Julie said, smiling at her. "I don't think we could dance."

"You can take a break, can't you?" she asked. "It's a party after all. Besides, I think he really would like to dance with you. Wouldn't you?" She looked over at Harry, who was almost speechless.

"Do you think Billie would mind?" he asked Julie.

"Well, if we just danced once I don't think she'd mind," Julie said.

Harry walked around the bar and offered Julie his hand.

"What do you say?" he asked her. The older woman was beaming at the two of them.

"Okay," she said, taking his hand.

The fast song the deejay had been playing ended and a slower one started. Julie hesitated a moment before putting her arms around Harry's neck. He placed his hands on her waist and they began to move to the music.

"I can't imagine, any greater fear
Then waking up, with out you near
And though the sun, would still shine on
My whole world, would all be gone
But not for long"

As Harry listened to the lyrics and enjoyed the feeling of holding her once again, he pulled her closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and she rested her head on his chest.

"If I had to run
If I had to crawl
If I had to swim a hundred rivers
Just to climb a thousand walls
Always know that I would find a way
To get to where you are
There's no place that far"

It was as if everyone else in the room faded away and it was only the two of them. He wondered if this was affecting her as much as it was him. She lifted her head and with their arms still wrapped around each other, she looked up at him.

"It wouldn't matter, why we're apart
The lonely miles, two stubborn hearts
And nothing short, of God above
Could turn me away, from your love
I need you that much"

"Harry?"

"Yeah?" he asked, still looking down at her.

Their faces were inches apart. He was about to lean in and kiss her when she suddenly broke free from their embrace and walked quickly toward the kitchen, leaving him alone on the dance floor.

********************************************

He'd debated on whether or not to follow her. He asked Tim to cover the bar for him while he went to check on Julie. He needed to find out what was wrong with her. Why had she run away from him? He walked through the kitchen and found Ray.

"Ray, have you seen Julie?" he asked him.

"She went up to the roof," Ray said. "She didn't look too good, Harry."

"Yeah," Harry said. "If anyone asks, I'll be right back."

Harry walked out the back door to the restaurant and climbed the staircase up to the roof. He found her looking out over the ledge. He could hear her sobbing as he came closer.

"Julie?" he asked hesitantly.

She didn't turn around.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I'm so sorry, Harry."

"For what?" he asked, standing beside her.

"I'm scared," she said.

A sudden gust of wind blew a loose strand of Julie's hair across her cheek and mouth. Harry's hand rose gently, as if he were going to smooth the strand away, but he reconsidered and instead, tightly clasped his hands in front of him.

"What are you scared of?" he asked her instead.

"How I'm feeling," she said simply. "How I'm feeling scares me to death."

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm confused, but everything seems to make perfect sense. I say I'm not going to think about something and I only think about it more. I say I don't understand something, but I can see clearly what it is."

She laughed nervously.

"Julie," he said softly. He put an arm on her shoulder and turned her gently to face him. She didn't look in his eyes, though. "Please look at me, Julie."

She did so and he saw that her eyes were still shining with tears.

"I never have liked to see you cry," he said. He took his hand to her face and gently wiped a tear away from her cheek.

She didn't pick up on the clue to what he'd just said. Right now, he didn't care. He knew she felt something for him. He wanted to hear her say it. He needed to hear her say it.

"Harry," she whispered.

She stepped closer to him and slowly touched his cheek.

"Just tell me you feel something," he said. "Please."

"I do," she said softly. "I think I'm falling for you."

"So you're half way there, then?" he asked. She laughed.

He bent his head down, smiling reassuringly at her, and very slowly pressed his lips to hers. She didn't pull away to his great relief. He deepened the kiss and felt her arms wrap around him. She started to stroke the base of his spine. He lost all ability to think. There was only her. Everything he had done, he had done for her.

He moved down to kiss the nape of her neck and he took in the sweet smell of her skin.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you," she said back, without thinking, without question. It was just as she'd imagined it would always be. "I love you, Harry."