But I Thought YOU Loved Her....
By Hermione Cosplayer
Disclaimer:
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary:
Sometimes, important discoveries are too late. What happens if the two men that love you, including the one you love so much you would die for, settle for their second choices out of respect for the other without knowing that each is doing the same thing?
(A/N: I can't tell you how proud I am for this to be on Portkey! I started posting a few things on ff.net but even though I don't post much in the forums here, Portkey feels like my home! I read almost everything Harry/Hermione. I hope you like my work and even if you don't, I hope you offer suggestions on how to fix it up. This story is a bit different than many since it's set so far in the future.)
Chapter 1
They say the house is haunted. Sure it's old and doesn't have the modern appearance of the tract houses in the
middle class British neighborhood that replaced the other 200+ year old homes that used to line the street, but it
lacked the unkempt appearance of the traditional haunted house. The house always looked like it had a fresh coat of
paint; the lawn always looked freshly mowed... But then that was part of the problem. No one could ever remember seeing
any maintenance being done. As far as anyone could remember, the only person who lived there was the crazy old cat
woman.
Usually one gets the "crazy cat woman" reputation from an overabundance of felines living in one's house, but in this case, it was just one cat. The same cat. For at least the last 30 years. The cloning of one's beloved pets had become almost commonplace over the past 10 years so this didn't seem totally impossible, except no one ever saw this cat as a kitten. Also, no one ever entered or exited the house. Sure the post was delivered as well as The Times, but no one ever saw the occupant leave the house to purchase groceries or anything else for that matter. When a child got brave, usually after having taken quite a dare, and looked in the window, the house was very old fashioned, but very clean, and each room that could be seen seemed to be dominated by bookcases. The occupant was slim with silver grey hair that may have once been brown, and was rarely seen in the window without a cup of tea and an antique book.
When pressed, the oldest neighborhood residents said that perhaps the Haunted House reputation began with the Halloween Decorations and preparations each year. When today's parents were children, they remembered visiting the house and the amazing sweets they would receive! They also remembered walking through the most life-like pretend "haunted house" that they could ever remember hearing about! It was just too unusual no matter how much fun it was. The sweets were sealed, but they were brands no one had ever heard of. One time a child known for his honesty was willing to swear on a stack of bibles that the frog shaped chocolate he received had actually hopped away from him before he could eat it and the child had witnesses. There was only one explanation: Drugs!
The parents at the time, today's grandparents, got together and forbid their children from going back to the home. The remaining uneaten sweets were x-rayed and tested for drugs, and though none were found and no charges were ever filed, the once a year festivities stopped being attended. The decorations were in place each year, but no one had been allowed to visit for the past 20 years. Creepiest of all, the children that were of a more delinquent nature sometimes tried to destroy the decorations or take part in the time tested ritual of throwing eggs at the home, but the damage or mess was always almost instantly repaired. No one ever actually witnessed this, but sometimes it just took a quick run around the block to return to an untouched display. Several times hidden cameras were used to see how this happened, but noting was ever recorded.
The grandparents of today also thought of something else. This house was purchased right after "the mystery,"
the event that no one talked about. It defied the laws of nature and pretending it never happened was so much easier.
For several weeks, the earth was crazy. Severe weather changes happened from moment to moment. Unscheduled solar
eclipses happened. Sometimes the moon rose instead of the sun. Lightning of all colors lit up the sky. And the riots!
People did the unspeakable; it was neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend! Then suddenly, it stopped as
suddenly as it began. And no one mentioned it; no one ever tried to. No one. Not the press, not religious groups hoping
to gain new members, not scientists. But everyone remembered, and somehow this house 'felt' like it belonged to
that time in some way. What they didn't remember was that this house wasn't there before "the
mystery." It suddenly appeared between number 11 and number 13 right after everything went back to normal.