Chapter 11 - Time to Move on
February, 2002
Hermione was sitting in her small office in Lady McGonagall's manor, carefully writing a bunch of cards her boss wanted to send. She had had another sleepless night, and had spent half of the time feeling guilty because of her parent's death, and the other half thinking, yet again, about Harry.
She had sent him another letter a little after returning to Madrid. She had told him about her parents and Ginny. Of course, she hadn't expected an answer, but now, three months later, she had totally given up hope. She had tried to contact Ginny, but she hadn't answered her letters either, although at least she was sure Ginny was receiving them.
Hermione and Draco were sort of a couple now. They went out together almost everyday, and Draco had stopped dating other girls, while Hermione didn't even think about seeing another guy. However, she still kept him away, not ready to give him her love... The one that belonged to Harry.
Sighing, she turned her gaze to the parchment again. If she continued like that, she would never finish. Just when she had managed to write four lines without interruptions she heard a loud scream coming from the hall. Half a second later, there were several people screaming, something that sounded much like "Hurrah!!"
She ran to the Hall to see what had happened and found all the people who worked for Lady McGonagall, a bunch of her friends - very important people, and some of them were surely part of the Resistance - Lady McGonagall herself, and, among them, Draco Malfoy. They were laughing and hugging each other.
"Chiquita!!" Draco yelled, hugging her so tight that she found it hard to breathe. Then, he laughed at her perplexed look. "Don't you know?"
"Obviously not..." Lady McGonagall interrupted; grinning in a way that Hermione would've never thought it was possible. "The war is over! We won!" she added.
"Wha-?" What she was saying slowly sank in in Hermione's mind. "We...won?"
"Slytherin has fallen," Draco said hastily. "The FOS has been wiped out and Gryffindor's troops have taken over the Ministry. We're free! We can go back to England anytime!"
Hermione soon joined the happy, small crowd. Finally, the nightmare was over. She would be able to go wherever she wanted, without having to take extra precautions...
'I wonder how Harry's feeling...' that thought crossed her mind, but she did her best to push it away.
Half an hour later, when they were still celebrating, a small owl came flying through the window and gave a letter to Hermione.
"What's this?" she opened it, quickly. It was from Ginny.
"Hermione,
I'm really sorry to bother you, but I need you to come here right now. Im living in Saint Ouen, 245, department 301.
Ginny Weasley"
It looked as if Ginny had written the note in a rush and Hermione became worried. It didn't say anything, but she had a bad feeling. She asked Lady McGonagall permission to travel to France that afternoon.
"Of course, dear, take as much time as you want!" the old woman said, too happy to care about work.
Draco was eagerly chatting with a group of gentlemen, and Hermione didn't bother him. She apparated into her apartment, gathered a few belongings and parted to the Ministry, where she would take the Floo Network to Paris.
While she was waiting there, she saw many wizards coming from the fireplaces. It was obvious they had been fighting in the war, and now were returning safely to their homes. Too late she realized she was looking for a tall, dark-haired man with glasses. She scolded herself severely. 'He's not coming back,' she repeated for a millionth time.
****
Saint Ouen, although better in every way than Rue Crepe, wasn't at all a nice place to live. What surprised Hermione the most was that it was a Muggle neighborhood. Surely, Ginny had gotten tired of the cold stares that Wizards gave her because of being a "collaborator" of the Slytherin regimen.
She knocked on the door and Ginny opened right away. She was pale and it seemed that she hadn't slept in days.
"Ginny... What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry I had to drag you to this hellhole, Hermione... But you were the only person I could think of."
Hermione took off her cloak and followed Ginny to a small bedroom where Daniel - who had grown a lot in the last three months - was lying in a bed. He was sleeping, but his face was very pale.
"He's sick," Ginny said, and Hermione noticed the deep concern in her voice.
Hermione sat on the bed and put her hand on Daniel's forehead. It was so hot, she had the impression he was burning. "He's got a really high fever..."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Ginny snorted. She didn't want to be sarcastic in a time like this, but she couldn't help it.
Hermione ignored her. "We should call a doctor... I mean, a healer."
"I got news for you, Hermione. I'm an outcast in this country. No decent healer would want to help the son of a Slytherin General. I already tried. The only one who looked willingly to do it wanted me to pay him five hundred galleons."
"I could take him," Hermione suggested.
"I don't think it's a good idea for him to leave the house."
Hermione nodded. Ginny was right. A change of temperature could only agravate Daniel's state. She thought for a moment. She didn't have five hundred galleons... And then, she thought of someone who would be able to help them.
*****
"Where were you?" Ginny asked when Hermione came back ten minutes later.
"I went to floo Draco. He'll bring a healer, a friend of his. Don't worry, everything will be alright," she assured her. Ginny gave her a thankful look, but she didn't make any comments. "Since when has he started to be like this?" Hermione asked, turning to look at the small boy again.
"About five days ago. The fever only got worse last night, though."
"You should have called me sooner. Gin, I want to help you. You're the only person I have left."
"Really? What about your parents?" asked Ginny. They hadn't talked much about the years they had spent apart.
"They died..." Hermione said, feeling the too familiar pang of guilt. "Soon after I left France, the FOS killed them... It's my fault. I shouldn't have abandoned them."
"Don't be stupid," Ginny said, a little harshly. "It's not your fault, it's theirs, those bastards!"
Hermione looked at her friend. Of course, she knew how she felt. Her parents had died in the hands of the FOS as well...
"I feel guilty too," Ginny continued, sighing. "But not for their death... I feel guilty because the scum that betrayed my father hasn't received his punishment."
Hermione remembered that Ginny had made a vow she would find the person who had turned her father in. "Do you really believe revenge will make you happy?" she asked softly.
"I don't know. But it certainly will make me feel better," Ginny answered, a strange glint appearing in her eyes.
"It's just that... after all that has happened, it sounds so... useless."
"Trust me, when I'm over with him and his family, it won't be useless at all."
It was depressing to hear her friend talking like that, so Hermione decided to drop the subject. She thought Ginny was saying all that due to the hard life she was having, and she would change her mind when things got better.
Daniel woke up, crying, and Hermione took him in her arms, trying to calm him down. She tried to ignore the fact that Daniel's body was trembling.
"He's dying," muttered Ginny, darkly.
Hermione shook her head with violence, but inside, she realized it was true. If Daniel didn't receive medical attention soon, he was going to die. She lied the boy down in the bed again. In her few days with Remus, he had taught her a good spell to lower the fever, and she tried it on Daniel.
The boy stopped crying and fell asleep again.
Ginny and Hermione waited in silence for half an hour. Hermione was pleading silently. 'Please, please, don't let him die... Ginny was gone through so much already. Please, let Draco be here soon...'
As if on cue, a loud knock on the door startled both of them. Ginny exchanged a look with her, and opened the door.
Draco Malfoy stepped in, followed by a man about his age, who was wearing a blue cloak.
"Draco, thank God you're here," Hermione said.
"We came as fast as we could. This is Seamus Finnigan," he said. Then, he turned to Ginny. "Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy, do you remember me?"
Ginny nodded impatiently and led Seamus to where Daniel was. Seamus examined the boy while Hermione made some tea for Ginny and Draco. After a long hour, the Healer came to the living room.
"Someone cast a fever-healing spell on him," he said.
"I did," Hermione said, slightly worried. Had she done something wrong?
"You probably saved his life with that," Seamus said, smiling. "I already treated him; now all we have to do is wait. If he stays tonight night without fever, he'll be alright."
* * *
Daniel was sound asleep. Ginny and Hermione were both sitting on the edge of the bed, watching him. Draco and Seamus had returned to Spain, but Hermione had stayed there to be with Ginny just in case something happened.
"I wonder," Ginny started after a long silence, "how fast would that man, Finnigan, had come if he knew who was Daniel's father."
"He's a good man," Hermione said.
"Sure he is. That's probably the reason why he would despise his origins..."
Hermione didn't want to talk about the war again. That was over now. They had to look forward, to the future.
"I've never really asked you," Ginny said, looking at her, "what's going on between you and Draco? Are you two together?"
Hermione sighed. "Not really. I mean, he's a good guy, and I really love him, but..."
"You're not in love with him," Ginny completed. "Geez, you haven't changed a bit. You're always the romantic one. You should be happy that a man cares for you. He's good looking and treats you well, what more could you want? Besides, you're never going to find the Prince Charming you're waiting for."
Hermione closed her eyes for a brief moment. "I did." Ginny's eyes widened. "I'm in... I was in love with a man... But he stopped writing. I haven't heard from him in a long time."
She didn't want to tell Ginny who she was talking about. She wasn't sure how she would take it. And, somehow, keeping her love for Harry as her own, private secret was way better than having eveybody pitying her.
"Do you know what Daniel needs?" Ginny said, changing the subject drastically. "He needs to go to England... to his country."
"Then why don't you move there, Gin? Now that the war is over..."
"I don't have permission to enter England. I'm a traitor, remember? And as long as Daniel is mine and Krum's son, he'll be a traitor, too."
"What about your brothers?" Hermione insisted. During the last three months, she had been debating with herself, considering if she should write to Bill and the others to let them know that their sister was alive, but she had chosen not to. Ginny would never forgive her.
"I already told you, I don't want them to know I have a child, and everything that happened with Viktor Krum."
Hermione sighed. She wanted to ask her so badly, but she was afraid. Finally, she decided to do it. It was time to confront reality. "What about Harry Potter?" she asked, pronouncing his full name so that Ginny would not suspect. She dropped the question as casually as she could, as if she had the impression that Ginny and Harry had been in contact this whole time.
"Harry?" Ginny repeated, slowly.
"Haven't you had news from him?" Hermione held her breath waiting for her answer.
"Sure, last week I received his last letter," Ginny replied.
Hermione swallowed hard. "Where has he been?"
"Las time we wrote to me, he was in London. Very busy, he said. But, he's been having a lot of fun, I'd say... He told me about quite a bunch of girls he'd been dating."
Hermione's laughed forcefully. "So many girls?"
"Well, he mentions one in particular. I think they're pretty serious. Maybe she'll be his first wife," Ginny said, shrugging.
"I'm sure he'd like to help you and Dan-"
"-He doesn't know that Daniel exists."
"But if you told him, he would-"
"-I'm not telling him. And I'm not asking him anything, either. I don't want to talk about this again."
* * *
When Hermione left Ginny's apartment that morning, she had to lean on the closed door for support. She wasn't sure how she had managed to keep a straight face all the time, but now that she didn't have to pull an act, the sadness and feeling that she had been betrayed was overwhelming.
How could Harry do something like that to her? He could at least have told her their relationship was over! That way she wouldn't have spent the last three years suffering and waiting for him... And she had been stupid enough to worry about the dangers he was facing!
It was her fault... She had been naive enough to fall in love with Harry Potter, the famous and rich wizard that every single witch on the planet adored. It was so stupid to think he would pick her over them!
She was going to forget him.
* * *
Ginny closed the door behind Hermione, feeling horrible. Why she had lied in that way to her? She hadn't got a clue about Harry's whereabouts. Last time she had seen him had been in her house, four years ago.
Deep down, she knew the reason. She needed to feel superior to Hermione, at least in one way. She wanted to show her that someone did care for her, besides Hermione. That a guy as important as Harry Potter always had her on his mind...
Or it was she the one who wanted to believe that?
* * *
Hermione arrived to her apartment in Madrid really late that night. She had been wandering through the streets, thinking about all the time she had lost loving a man that obviously didn't care about her. If she had asked Ginny sooner, she maybe could have moved on by now...
She knew that wasn't true. She would never forget about Harry.
"I was worried about you. Where have you been?" Draco's voice came from her living room.
"I'm sorry, I stayed until I was sure that Daniel was all right," she said. Of course, she didn't mention that that had been early in the morning.
"I'm glad. Why do you have such a gloomy face, then?"
Hermione decided to tell him about Ginny's worries about her son as an excuse. How Ginny wanted him to live in England, but couldn't bring him there and the miserable life that awaited him as the son of a traitor.
Draco listened to her. He paced around the room, and then turned to Hermione, a wide smile on his face.
"I have an idea," he said. "Why don't we take him to England?"
"What? How?"
"Let's get married." Hermione's eyes widened in shock, but Draco kept talking. "We can adopt him as our own son and raise him until your friend is able to go to England. What do you say?"
"Draco, I..."
"Listen, I know that you don't love me the way I love you. But that's fine. I'll make sure you fall in love with me with in a little time. And we'll save Daniel's life." He got on his knee.
Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. Draco was proposing to her? It was a crazy idea... But it was a good chance to help Daniel...
She remembered what Ginny had told her about Harry. She would never love a man again. And Draco was a good friend. He loved her, and she loved him, in her own way...
"Will you marry me, Hermione Granger?" he asked, again. "You can take your time. A whole minute... Even two."
Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Draco was adorable.
"I will," she said finally.
It was time to move on...
* * *
A/N: Sorry for the late update. As always, I have to thank Emily for helping me out with the grammar and vocabulary.
I know, because I'm a Pumpkin Pie Shipper just like all of you, that you probably don't like what happened here. Trust me, it is necessary for the plot, so please be patient. Don't forget that this is and H/Hr fic and it's up in Portkey for a reason.
Next chapter: we'll know about Harry (At last!! We've been missing him!)