Author's note: I can't believe the response I got on the first chapter…made me very, very, very happy. I hope you guys like this second chapter…there's a little bit of cameo appearance of something that I used in my last story…Sweet Home London….which is unrelated to this story, but what it was based on, makes a small appearance in this chapter. Also, couldn't resist a lyric from a song on this one…told you I'd do that from time to time, didn't I?
Chapter Two
What a Fool Believes
But what a fool believes ... he sees
No wise man has the power to reason away
(What a Fool Believes/Michael McDonald)
After saying a quick goodbye to Ron at O'Malley's, Harry saw Hermione back to 12 Grimmauld Place. As soon as she'd sorted out which of the bedrooms she wanted to stay in, Harry excused himself and said he had to pop out for a moment, but would return as quickly as possible and for her not to go to sleep.
She knew that wasn't going to be a problem. She wasn't sleepy at all. Since she had no clothes to change into, Harry offered to let her borrow a pair of his pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt. They were awfully big on her, but they were a great relief from her clothes, which now reeked of cigarette smoke from the pub.
She'd washed her face and brushed her teeth. As a child of dentists, she'd always carried a toothbrush and floss in her purse just in case. She'd never thought it would have come in quite as handy as it did tonight. She was just coming downstairs when she heard Harry coming back inside. He carried two plastic bags and smiled warmly at her.
"What have you got there?" she asked, looking curiously at the two bags.
"Well," Harry said, beckoning her to follow him as he made his way into the kitchen. "I have ice cream as promised and a movie for us to watch."
Hermione reached for the bag, but Harry was too quick for her and pulled it away just in time.
"What did you get?" she asked. Though, if history was any indication, it was probably something bloody and scary and disgusting, which was what his and Ron's taste in movies seemed to go toward. If it wasn't that, it was probably some war epic that would have Hermione fast asleep before the opening credits finished.
He grinned mischievously at her as he held the bag and walked over to the butcher block table and pulled two spoons from the drawer. Hermione, seeking to be helpful, walked over to the cabinet to pull down two bowls and he shook his head at her.
"Don't you know anything about this at all?" he asked her.
"What?" she asked bemused.
"We have to eat this straight from the container," he said matter-of-factly. He took her hand and led her from the kitchen into the sitting room.
"Sit," he said firmly.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, but seeing the stern expression on his face she sat down on the sofa and curled her legs underneath her. She was trying not to laugh as she watched him pull the DVD case from the bag and place it gingerly inside the player. He picked up the remote and turned the television on and walked over to the sofa and took a seat beside his friend.
"The ice cream," Hermione said pointedly at Harry. "Before it turns into milk, Harry."
"Oh, right," he said, pulling the small container from the bag and laughing as Hermione greedily reached for it.
"It doesn't get better than this," she said softly, dipping her spoon into the carton. "Eating ice cream with my best friend as I suffer through a breakup. Though, to be honest, if this were just like the movies, you'd be female and we'd finish off the evening by giving each other makeovers."
Harry thought about this for a moment. He looked at Hermione and in all serious said, "I hope you aren't planning on that for you and I because I will tell you this, Hermione. You're my best friend and all, but there are limits to what I will do for you. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's one of them."
"Not even a little facial?" she asked teasingly.
"No and no exfoliation, either," he said with a chuckle.
"Spoilsport," she retorted with a grin.
They sat in silence, eating bites of ice cream when the opening credits of the film Harry had chosen came on the screen. Expecting to see a battle scene straightaway, Hermione was quite pleased to see that it was one of her favorite films…Sweet Home Alabama. She turned and looked, surprised, at Harry.
"What?" he asked turning to face her.
"You got this for me, didn't you?" she asked pleased.
"No," he said deadpan. "I enjoy chick flicks as much as the next guy. Besides, I took a girl I dated to see this at the theatre."
Hermione hit him hard on the shoulder. "That was me, you idiot!"
"Was it?" Harry said, pretending to think really hard about this. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," she said rolling her eyes. "Don't you remember? I kept shushing you because you kept making snide comments in my ear the whole time?"
"It's all coming painfully back to me now," Harry said, remembering how Hermione had threatened him with bodily harm with one flick of her wand.
Hermione again playfully hit him in the arm.
"Would you please restrain yourself from wanting to touch me, Miss Granger?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes just like Hermione did. "I am trying to watch this movie."
Hermione laughed and then took another bite of ice cream as she settled comfortably next to Harry to watch the movie.
Nearly two hours later, she and Harry had finished the ice cream and the movie. Hermione had enjoyed the movie and Harry's company and she knew that although he hadn't asked her what happened with Brian, she could tell that he was dying to know. It was in the way he kept looking at her and seemed as if he was about to say something and would stop himself when she glanced his way. If she wasn't feeling so maudlin right now about the whole breakup, she would find it amusing and quite adorable.
"It's nearly one in the morning," Harry said softly as Hermione rested her head on his shoulder. She was a little tired, but she wasn't quite ready to go to bed just yet. She wasn't ready to be alone to mull over the last few hours.
"Go ahead and ask," she said softly.
"Ask what?"
"You want to know why Brian and I broke up."
"Not unless you want to tell me," he replied.
Hermione lifted her head from his shoulder and gave him that "Don't try to fool me, Potter" look.
"Okay," he admitted. "I would like to know, but it's only because I feel partly at fault because I was the one who introduced the two of you."
Hermione sighed. "It wasn't your fault, Harry. Things were going wrong for Brian and me for a long time. Things just kind of came to a head tonight and we faced up to something that neither of us wanted to admit for a long time."
Harry didn't tell Hermione that although he and Brian worked together and on the surface, he thought him a nice enough lad. But, deep down Harry didn't like Brian for some reason. He just seemed too perfect. He knew all the right things to say and all the right things to do, whether it came to his job or to Hermione. Harry hadn't actually thought that Hermione would fall for Brian's lines, but to his surprise, she had. But, he'd accepted the fact that Brian liked Hermione and Hermione liked Brian.
Like her parents, he, too, had reservations about Brian and Hermione moving in together. He'd not voiced this to Hermione, though. He'd dutifully listened as any best friend would when she'd complained about how unreasonable her parents were being about this. He could still remember watching her pace in this very room as she ranted and raved about how archaic and old-fashioned her parents were being about the whole situation.
Personally, he'd seen her moving in with Brian as an act of rebellion on Hermione's part. She'd always been the perfect daughter---getting the perfect marks, doing the right thing, acting responsible. Her choice in suitors was even excellent. Brian was every parent's dream for their daughter. He was polite, charming, handsome, and made a decent living in a job he loved. Hermione's parents liked Brian, but what they didn't like was his living with their daughter without putting a ring on her finger. Harry saw her decision to move in with Brian as someway of acting out against her parents. Of course, he hadn't told her this. She'd have hexed him into next century if he'd told her that. He was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them.
"Harry?"
Harry focused his attention back on Hermione who was staring at him.
"Where'd you go just then?" she asked him with a laugh. "You looked lost in your thoughts."
"Sorry," he said, focusing on her.
"It's okay," she shrugged. "If I tell you this, you have to promise to not get angry or blame yourself because you didn't have anything to do with it. Brian's just insecure."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "So you're saying that I had something to do with this?"
Hermione bit her bottom lip and then nodded. When she saw the look on Harry's face, she quickly said, "But only inadvertently. The bigger problem lies with Brian, Harry. Not you."
Hermione twirled a strand of her hair absently around her finger. "You know how competitive he is, right? You remember that dinner party at the Burrow where you and the rest of the lads went out for a pickup game of Quidditch?"
"Yeah," Harry asked, wondering why she was bringing this up. "That game went on for nearly four hours."
Hermione nodded. "He was so mad when you ended up winning. He doesn't like to lose, especially to you."
"Are you saying I should have thrown the game?" Harry asked defensively.
Hermione shook her head. "No, of course not. I'm just saying that he knew how close you and I are."
"And Ron, too," she added quickly. "But, especially you and I. He said he felt like he was fighting a losing battle. In the past, I was able to reassure him that I loved him and that I wanted to be with him, but he-"
"He thought you fancied me?" Harry asked. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. No wonder Brian lately looked as if he wanted to chop Harry's head off and feed it to a basilisk.
"And vice versa," Hermione continued. "He said that you and I had this bond that no one could break through and that we were fooling ourselves into thinking that we were only friends."
She gave out a hollow laugh, but didn't notice that Harry wasn't laughing.
"I told him about how Viktor and that awful Skeeter woman and some of our friends used to say that about us, but that is was all unfounded and he said that I was refusing to see what everyone else saw so clearly."
"That's rubbish," Harry said angrily. He had a good mind to tell Brian Finley off the next time he saw him.
"I asked him why he didn't seem to be getting so jealous over Ron since Ron was the one that I actually dated," Hermione said, her own anger rising up in her again as she remembered how unreasonable Brian had been. "It was like he wanted me to choose. And I'm not going to do that, Harry. We've been through too much together. I'm not going to give up a friendship that means so much to me…not for anyone."
Harry stared back at Hermione, touched by her heartfelt words. He, too, felt the exact way about her.
"I feel the same," he said sincerely.
Hermione smiled. Harry opened his arms and she let herself melt into his warm, comforting embrace. They stayed like that for a few moments.
"It's getting late," Hermione said, reluctantly pulling away. "I better get to bed."
"Okay," Harry said, grabbing the ice cream container and spoons from the coffee table. "Need me to tuck you in?"
She laughed. "I think I can manage."
She started to walk away, but stopped just before reaching the stairs.
"Harry?" she called back to him.
"Yeah?" he asked, coming around the corner.
"Thanks," she said. "And not just for tonight, either. For everything. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"I think you'd be okay," he teased. "I, on the other hand, would probably be a basket case who flunked out of Hogwarts."
Hermione smiled. "Good night, Harry."
"Good night, Hermione."
***********
Hermione knew that she wouldn't be able to live in the same clothes for the rest of her life. There was no way around it. She had to go back to her flat and pack her things up. She decided to take a personal day from work and enlisted the help of Ginny and Luna to help her pack up. Harry had offered to help, too, but Hermione had politely declined. He had already done so much. Even though she knew Brian wouldn't be home this morning, she didn't want the chance of he and Harry getting into a row if he came home unexpectedly to find his ex-girlfriend moving out of their flat with the help of the man he saw as the reason they weren't still together.
After a quick bite to eat, the three girls set off for Hermione's flat. Before long, the three of them were ensconced in packing and boxes littered the room. Hermione couldn't believe how messy Brian had allowed things to get in one day. His clothes were strewn haphazardly about. Last night's dishes were still in the sink and he'd not bothered to mop up the crumbs on the counter. Hermione resisted the urge to clean up. This wasn't her home anymore, she told herself.
Luna was in charge of sorting the CD collection and was calling off titles to Hermione as she went through the collection.
"I'm getting the impression that you were the one who liked music," Luna asked, when she'd finished. Of the 100 compact discs, only three remained on the shelf. The rest were enclosed in a box.
"Yeah," Hermione said, coming out of the bedroom, carrying a suitcase. "Well, most of them were mine to begin with. He just listened to whatever. I should have known something was up when he said he didn't like The Beatles."
Luna's mouth dropped. "They should throw his arse out of Britain for something like that."
"I agree," Ginny said, coming from the bathroom. "I have all your toiletries. Shampoos, lotions, etcetera."
Hermione sighed and sat down on the sofa. "I never realized how much stuff I had until I had to do this. I really should sort through it all when I get it back to Harry's and throw some of it out."
Ginny and Luna exchanged knowing looks. While Hermione was neat to a fault, she was also a notorious pack rat. She never got rid of anything. It was one of her most endearing qualities.
"I'm going to do it this time," Hermione said defensively.
"Sure," Ginny said, plopping down on the sofa beside Hermione.
"So," Luna said hesitantly. "It's great that Harry's letting you move in."
"He's not letting me move in!" Hermione said, sitting up. "He's just letting me stay with him until I find a place of my own."
"Uh-huh," Ginny said, trying to stave off the smile that was playing on her lips.
"What's that tone for?" Hermione asked, leaning back again on the sofa, and closing her eyes.
"Nothing," Ginny said sing-song.
"Not you, too," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Listen, for the umpteenth time, Harry Potter and I are just friends. We're best friends. Contrary to popular belief, a man and a woman can be best friends and not have sex and love and all the rest of that rubbish get in the way. I don't know how many ways I can say it. No one wants to believe me!"
Luna and Ginny exchanged knowing looks again, but this time, Hermione didn't see it. She'd put her head in her hands.
It was silent for a moment and the three women sat there in the sitting room, one emotionally drained.
Hermione exhaled sharply and then got to her feet. "Back to work," she said with a forced smile. She walked into the bedroom and closed the door gingerly behind her.
Luna and Ginny looked at each other.
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much," Luna whispered.
"You think?" Ginny asked, getting to her feet and walking over to one of the bookshelves and starting to pack some of the books away.
"Do you think she's okay?" Luna asked concerned.
Ginny looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, I think so. I've been listening to her same argument about her 'non-feelings' for Harry for years."
"And you think it's all an act?" Luna asked.
"Oh, yeah," Ginny said, nodding. "Big time. The two of them are perfect for each other. Everyone can see it. The only two who can't or won't are Harry and Hermione."
"You never know," Luna said softly. "They're all alone in that big house together."
"Harry'd never take advantage of her," Ginny said. "He's too noble for something like that."
"I know that," Luna replied. "I just mean that they'll be in close quarters. It could bring them closer together."
"Let's hope so," Ginny said with a grin. "Hopefully this will be the last time we ever have to help Hermione move."
*****************
Harry and Dean Thomas were chatting about Quidditch while they waited for the debriefing to begin. These meetings were held every Wednesday and every Auror had to attend one of the two meetings---one was scheduled in the morning and the other was scheduled in the afternoon.
"Did you hear about the seeker the Cannons are trying to get?" Dean was asking Harry. "Apparently, he's this egomaniac who is trying to get the owners of the team to cough up an obscene amount of money before he'll sign any contract. Seamus' was telling me the other day that if the guy wasn't so damn talented they wouldn't even bother."
Their schoolmate Seamus Finnegan worked in promotions for the Chudley Cannons.
"He's that bloke from Bulgaria?" Harry asked. He remembered reading about him in The Daily Prophet just this morning. "He played with Krum at one time, didn't he?"
"Yeah," Dean said, nodding his head. Dean launched into a description of the player's statistics, but Harry tuned him out, as he saw someone walking through the doors…Brian.
Brian's gaze was cool and angry as he looked at Harry.
"Finley?" Dean asked, ushering for Brian to come over and join their discussion. "You've heard about that seeker, haven't you?"
Brian reluctantly walked over to where Dean and Harry sat and avoided looking at Harry as he listened to what Dean was asking him.
"I hadn't heard," Brian said coolly. "I-I had other things on my mind these past few days."
There was an awkward silence that was broken only when Dean asked the one question that he shouldn't have. But, in all fairness, he had no idea that just the night before Brian and Hermione had broken things off.
"So how's Hermione?" Dean asked. "I haven't seen too much of her lately. I expect she'd down in the archives hunched over a book, right? Some things never change-"
"I don't know how Hermione is," Brian interjected. "Why don't you ask Potter? He should know."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Harry retorted angrily.
"You know damn well what it means!" Brian exclaimed. "When she left last night, I had a feeling she'd go running to you."
Harry didn't say anything. He stared back at Brian, trying to keep his emotions in check. Out of his respect for Hermione, he was trying to keep his temper under control.
"I guess you were all too willing to play the rebound guy, huh? The Boy Who Lived coming to the rescue of his best girl," Brian said angrily. "But you know what I can't get, Harry? You had her all to yourself for how many years? Six or seven? Never made a move on her, not even once. But, you let someone else show interest, and he can't take it. He doesn't want the girl until someone else does. That's just like you, Potter. And Hermione can't even see it herself."
Harry got right in Brian's face as Dean scrambled to his feet to keep them apart. Harry shrugged Dean's arm from his shoulder and stared down Brian.
"You listen to me, Finley," Harry said crossly. "You have no idea what you're talking about. If you really think like that you don't know Hermione at all. In case you hadn't noticed, she isn't some prize you won at a carnival. She's a woman…and yes, I think she's the best one I've ever known. If that makes you uncomfortable, that's your cross to bear. She's my best friend. She was before you came into the picture and she always will be. Stay the hell away from her. You got that, Brian?"
"Break it up," Kingsley Shacklebolt said, coming into the room, followed closely by Remus Lupin. The two men lead the division and were none too pleased to see Harry and Brian about to fight each other.
"I SAID BREAK IT UP!" Kingsley boomed loudly, commanding the attention of not only Harry and Brian, but every person in the room. Harry gave one last menacing glare to Brian before taking his seat beside Dean.
"What the hell just happened here?" Dean asked Harry.
"Nothing," Harry said quietly.
"You and Hermione, huh?" Dean asked. "I had a feeling-"
"Sod off!" Harry retorted and turned his attention to Kingsley and Lupin as they began the meeting. The two men might as well have been talking Japanese for all Harry listened. He was seething as he sat there. Brian Finley was a first-class git and as far as Harry was concerned, Hermione was lucky to be rid of him once and for all.
Brian Finley has no idea what he's talking about, Harry told himself.
When the meeting was over, Harry was following his colleagues out the door when Lupin called his name. To Harry's dismay, he also heard Lupin call Brian's name, too.
When the room was cleared, save for Harry and Brian, Lupin looked at the two men.
"What happened in here earlier?" he asked.
Both Harry and Brian shrugged.
"I see," Lupin said, folding his arms. "Well, let's just see that it doesn't happen again, am I understood?"
Both Harry and Brian nodded, albeit reluctantly.
"Alright," Lupin said. "You can go. Harry, might have a quick word?"
Brian smirked before walking out of the room. When the door closed behind him, Harry grumbled.
"Can't we transfer that wanker to Greenland or Siberia?" Harry asked his mentor.
"Not without good reason," Lupin said, with a laugh.
"Oh, I've got plenty of reasons," Harry retorted.
"Yeah," Lupin said, with a knowing smile. "I bet you do. And I bet they all have one thing in common…Hermione. Am I right?"
"How did you know?"
"You don't have to be Sybill Trelawney to have seen that," Lupin said. "You and Finley have never really gotten along too well…even before Hermione. Frankly, I never understood why you set them up."
"I didn't," Harry said defensively. "I just introduced them. I didn't set out to be a matchmaker, Remus."
Before Lupin could respond, Harry was shaking his head. "I can't believe this. You know Hermione's my friend, Remus. I was sticking up with her when her ex-boyfriend there had some rather uncalled for comments about our relationship…I mean, our friendship. Look, are we done here?"
Remus nodded. "Yes, of course."
"Okay then," Harry mumbled. Without a goodbye, he left Lupin staring after him.
Lupin cast his eyes upward and laughed. "Sirius, if you can hear me, you owe me 200 galleons. What was the bet again? Ah, yes. You said they'd be 20 before they'd recognize what was right in front of them. I said it'd be before they were 30."
He chuckled as he picked up his cloak. "Let's hope we don't have to wait another 7 years before our boy wises up."
(Author's note: In this story, Harry and Hermione are 23 years old)