Chapter 26
Harry watched Dobby's work and tried to look at least a little like he was really inspecting the preparations for the coming festivities…
His mind was elsewhere, though…
Since that first night, when he had confronted Hermione… for she was Hermione now… He couldn't keep with calling her Miss Granger when all he could think of lately was how good she smelled, and how beautiful she looked with the golden light illuminating her bare figure…
Shaking his head, he caught himself drifting… again. Since that night, he had come to her room every evening, leaving afterwards, as to not fall asleep there and be found out…
He felt very young and carefree throughout those stolen moments… It was all very well to explain it away to the magic of the firelight. It helped to keep their emotions in check during the day… At least it helped him… knowing that as soon as the lights would turn dim, he could be with her again as long as he didn't break the rules of that particular magic.
He felt the threat of losing her was growing stronger a reason to keep his bond to her secret, it was becoming a greater reason than protecting his honour… to keep pretending…
Thus went the surprisingly few days, acting as ever before, waiting for the dark to set him free.
Only, as much as his exterior complied with this façade, his thoughts didn't obey as easily. He found himself pining, disinterested in the daily proceedings, annoyed with Ginny's constant presence, weary of his friends visit… and most of all… afraid of Cho…
He hadn't had such a disturbing dream since that first night he'd spent with Hermione after all these years. But even though he tried to forget about it, the dream, as well as Cho, was never far from his conscious thoughts. He used to be jealous of the way Cho had loved Cedric, and would be unable to love him.
Now, he found himself less than envious. As much as he loved the feeling Hermione had managed to make alive inside of him, it was linked with weakness, and fear of losing… He couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to lose Hermione again.
The first time around, he had succeeded in fooling himself, now he was far past that point. He could never make himself believe she didn't matter… not anymore…
Was that why he had dreamed of Cho? After all this time, was she to wake? Did his dream warn him that she would heal at last? But why did the dream make him seem Cedric to her? Harry knew she wasn't in love with him… Cedric was her soul mate, she had never said so out loud, but Harry knew it was so…
Was Hermione his soul mate?
Frustrated with himself and his errant thoughts, Harry complimented Dobby on his work, and fled outside to take a breath of fresh air.
***
Hermione had fled her place in the hall next to the greenhouses, where she had been watching Lily.
Transforming into her Animagus, she ran as hard as she could over the lands. Despite the thick fur her cat form possessed, she felt the cold bite sharply. Cats didn't cry, and Hermione had wept enough. Emotions were so much more evidently while you were an animal, it softened the sharp edges…
After running a far while, she could see over one of the hills surrounding the Potter lands. Her curiosity was peeked when she sensed magical wards around the mansion she was looking at.
Strange, if Harry had a magical neighbour, why hadn't she heard about him? More astounding: why hadn't Miss Weasley even mentioned him? The woman could talk about anything and everyone she had ever met, than why hadn't there been one word about the wizard neighbours living here?
Her pain momentarily forgotten, Hermione explored the house from afar, careful not to trespass the wards. It was still elegant, but more posh than the Potter home, larger too… There was a pretentious feel about the structure of the house, and the way the gardens surrounding the building were kept.
For an hour, Hermione could set her mind on something uncomplicated and not emotionally exhausting. Yet the mystery about who lived there intrigued her enough to realise quite late that time had not stood still.
Making her way back to the Potter home, Hermione panicked slightly when she saw a carriage pulled further down the road, moving towards her own destination. The Weasleys! Going at it in a sprint, she kept her cat form and raced unnoticed into the house, up the stairs.
Out of breath, she transformed herself back in front of her bedroom door and slipped inside, quickly starting to change in her dressrobes. Being methodical and rationalising herself into calmness served her to be presentable just in time for Winky to appear in the room, summoning her to the parlour.
***
After a refreshing walk around the manor, Harry had felt more able to think clearer. He had even been able to finish some business before the Weaselys arrived. Now standing in the entrance, he couldn't stop smiling at the redheads invading his home.
Harry greeted his friend with a broad smile. It was always something to have a whole Weasley household barge in to the manor. With every visit, there seemed to be one more to the bunch. Luckily, this time, there weren't any recent additions to Ron's brood. Harry had started to worry for Luna after the birth of her fifth son. She'd always looked so fragile…
Ron's eldest, Harold, was Harry's godchild, as was the youngest of the bunch, James. The two differed exactly 6 years, one being already 10, the other barely 4. In between there was 9 year-old Billius, then Tristan, who was Lily's age, and Edgar who was to turn 6 shortly. Those three were loud redheads, genes they had inherited from their father… Harold and James, however, had fairer hair, and a calmer disposition, like their mother's.
Even so, the joyous welcome was enough to make Winky wince from all the noise. But this kind of noise, Harry loved. It was loud, but loving, unintelligible, but caring… It was the Weasleys personified.
Harry looked up to see Hermione come down the stairs, a vision of proper composure as always. Driving the thoughts of how she looked when that composure broke, firmly out of his conscious thinking, he regarded her carelessly and introduced her politely to his guests.
After just a quick greeting to her, Ron rounded back on Harry bombarding him with his rhetorical questions. Ginny was enthusiastically embracing her nephews, all of them fighting for their aunt's attention.
Even through all the noise and attention-seeking guests, Harry could sense Hermione standing to the side, waiting for someone to approach her. She was out of his line of vision, and still he was aware of her presence in the room like he never had before. It was difficult to pay proper attention when she distracted his whole being…
Eventually, after much twittering and coaxing, the mass of people moved to the dining room, the children for once allowed to join the adults to dinner. Harry saw Lily joining them. She soon bickered with Tristan who was backed by Bilius and Edgar in no time. Little James, though, chose to climb from his aunt Ginny's lap to favour Lily as a human seat, and offer himself as a buffer for his older brothers' teasing.
Soon, though, the three terrors were leaving Lily, and Harry smiled while quickly glancing at Hermione to gauge her reaction. She was the perfect embodiment of a polite governess, though, and he had the hardest time to guess how she was assessing the situation. All he could tell for sure was that despite her calm ongoing conversation with Luna, she was keeping a regular eye on Lily.
Something bugged Harry about her constant scrutiny… Though he couldn't put his finger on it exactly…
Shaking the thought away, he paid full attention to Ginny's and Ron's arguments, and offered another point of view, meant as a compromise. However, the two siblings only used it to bicker further as if age had not altered their relationship as brother and sister since adolescence…
***
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