Chapter Sixteen
Several hours later Hermione was laying her bag down on the bed in a hotel room in the South of France. They had arrived at the apparition point arranged by Fleur and had been overwhelmed with the gathering of old friends reunited for a happy occasion. Hagrid and Olympe had been shocked to see the large gathering of friends and surrogate family, having expected a small meal, and Hagrid had crushed the Trio to him in a tight hug, weeping. "Ya didn't have to go to so much trouble!" He explained tearfully.
"Oh Hagrid. You're family! We'd never miss out on this. I can't believe you didn't tell us." Hermione said beaming at him. She watched with a smile as Hagrid beamed at her and hugged his fiancée to his side.
Hermione sat and spoke with Fleur and Gabrielle for quite some time during the party, arranging to help with some final arrangements for the next day, only when she saw Harry being accosted by several fans did she excuse herself and head over to rescue him. He grabbed onto her hand gratefully and they spoke with Grawp, happy to see Hagrid's experiments in teaching his brother English had roughly succeeded now.
Due to the last minute plans Fleur and Gabrielle had only managed to book a few rooms in the hotel, so Hermione found herself sharing a room with Harry. After all her worrying in the past week she found that she was surprisingly happy about the situation. It wasn't as if they'd never shared a room before, and being in the wedding situation Harry would look after her and help divert questions about Jack as not everyone knew about the end of that relationship so soon after she'd introduced him. He had rescued her from several awkward conversations already during the party, and to be honest it was just good to spend some time with her best friend again without having to worry about Jack's reaction, and making time to see her boyfriend.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry lay awake acutely aware of the young woman lying asleep beside him. It was a rather exquisite form of torture, lying next to Hermione, yet being unable to reach out to her. He lay on his back staring blindly up at the ceiling and thinking back over the events of the past week. Hermione had at first reached out to him, staying close for the two days after the break up, but since then she'd been ignoring him, and he was certain she'd been angry that he and Ron had in some way scared Jack away. Yet since she'd got home from work earlier that night she had seemed almost back to her usual self, though a little quiet and withdrawn, she hadn't seemed uncomfortable being close to him, and again seemed to enjoy his company.
He was relieved, he couldn't stand Hermione being too far away from him, and when she avoided him he knew he was hell to be around, as Ron had pointed out repeatedly. Harry felt his body tense as Hermione made a quiet noise in her sleep. He turned on his side and gazed at her face, visible in the dim light of the hotel room, her hair fell across her face and without realising his arm was even moving, Harry brushed the soft curls behind her ear. He froze as Hermione moved, but realised she was still asleep; she had just shifted closer to him. She really was trying to torture him now. He sighed deeply and focused on trying to fall asleep, yet with his eyes closed he still saw every tiny detail of her face.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hermione awoke, and for a moment wondered where she was. Looking to her side she saw Harry's sleeping form next to her. She yawned sleepily, and shivered slightly, she shifted across the bed and snuggled up next to Harry to warm herself up. She rested her head on his chest and rather guiltily inhaled the scent that was distinctly Harry, the most comforting scent in the world. She'd just warm herself up a bit, and then she'd go back to her own side of the bed and go to sleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry awoke as sunlight began to stream through the gaps in the Venetian Blinds at the window, he felt amazingly at peace, and he couldn't remember the last night he had slept so soundly without a single traumatic nightmare. He opened his eyes and his eyes sparkled with happiness to find a sleeping Hermione curled up in his arms, her head resting on his chest, an arm wrapped around his stomach. His arm must have snaked around her shoulders at some point in the night, and they had slept hugging one another. He knew he should move, but if Ron had told him Voldemort had risen from the dead and was standing outside the door Harry would want to stay exactly where he was at that very moment. Well, that or he just didn't want to wake Hermione up… Harry gently bent his head and placed a soft kiss on her forehead before giving in to the temptation and hugging her gently closer and drifting back into sleep.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hermione woke up with a smile, which only widened as she saw Harry's face so close to her own. Propping herself up on her elbow she glanced at the clock on the wall opposite and sighed as she remembered her promise to Fleur and Gabrielle to help with the wedding arrangements. She looked down at Harry's face regretfully, hating to leave for reasons she decided not to analyse right at that moment. She gently moved away from him, and headed towards the bathroom, she paused at the threshold however and looked back at him. His hair was rumpled beyond belief, and she studied his face for a moment, trying to memorise exactly how he looked at that very moment, to anyone else he might look the same as he did whenever he slept, but to Hermione at that moment he was the most perfect thing she'd ever seen. It was the moment she admitted to herself that she was completely in love with Harry Potter, and that she couldn't be happier about it.