Thanks again for all the kind reviews! You guys are great. Sorry this one took so long, but I hope you like it.
Chapter 11
Time
It was sometime around 11:00 that Harry couldn't take it anymore. He'd tried everything he could possibly do to sleep, but he couldn't. He was worried about Hermione. She'd been extremely angry, to say the least, after Ron had left. He'd understood---sometimes, Ron had a habit of saying something without thinking about it first. Come to think of it, most men had that problem, including me, Harry thought as he stood up from the couch. He paced back and forth in front of the sofa contemplating what he should do.
He had to make sure she was okay. He would just knock at the door and take it from there. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all he had. He knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep until he knew that she was alright. He slowly made him way past the kitchen and into the hallway that led to Hermione's room. He lifted his arm to knock on the door, but noticed that the door wasn't shut all the way. He pulled the door open a little more and saw that Hermione was asleep. The lamp was still on and a book lay open beside her.
He knew he should walk out of the room and go back to the couch, but he couldn't move. As he stood there watching her sleep, his mind took him back to another time….
Flashback
Five Years ago…The Morning After Harry/Hermione's night together …
Harry had woken up early that morning. He'd had the most wonderful dream about Hermione. As he rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses on the bedside table, he saw a sight that told him that it hadn't been a dream. It had been real. There was Hermione, sleeping peacefully beside him. He smiled as he watched her sleep. He had never remembered anything looking more beautiful in his entire life. He chastised himself for sounding like something out of one of his Aunt Petunia's cheesy romance novels.
Being careful not to wake Hermione, he eased himself out of the bed and quickly dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. He found his socks and shoes and quickly made his way out of the room and went downstairs.
The Leaky Cauldron was quiet that morning. Only a few patrons were seated at various tables. The proprietor, Tom, was wiping down a table when he saw Harry approaching.
"Good morning, Harry," Tom said, brightly. "Or should I say the graduate, huh? Congratulations, Harry! I can remember, like it was just yesterday, when you came in here with Hagrid. You were in awe of everything! And look at you now!"
Harry could feel his cheeks turning red. He smiled wistfully at the mention of Hagrid. "Yeah, Tom. It seems like such a long time ago, now."
"Hagrid would have been so proud of you, Harry. He would come in here from time to time and just talk about you and all the stuff that you'd done. He loved you like a son," Tom said, his voice seemed to break as he too remembered Hagrid.
Talking about Hagrid had always been a tough subject. Harry had always felt both angry and guilty at the mention of Hagrid. Not angry at Hagrid, of course, but angry at himself for not being able to save the first person who'd ever been his friend; the person who brought him from a terrible life with the Dursleys to the place he'd found a home, and friends and love---Hogwarts. When Hagrid had died at the hands of Voldemort, a piece of Harry had died too. If anything good had come of it, it had toughened Harry's resolve to bring Voldemort to an end.
"Well, Harry," Tom said, trying to change the subject. "What can I get for the graduate?"
"Could I get an order of French toast, pancakes, eggs, bacon, orange juice, coffee and strawberries, please?" Harry asked.
"That's quite a bit of food, isn't it?" Tom asked, giving Harry a quizzical look.
"Uh, yeah," Harry stammered. "I'm really hungry. I didn't get a chance to eat anything after graduation, so I'm famished."
"Okay. Are you going to want to eat it here or bring it upstairs?"
"Upstairs," Harry said. "Thanks."
"
"I almost forgot, Harry," Tom said, frowning. "This came for you first thing this morning." He handed Harry a plain white envelope that had a familiar script on it. Harry recognized it immediately as Sirius' handwriting.
"Thanks, Tom," Harry said, as he watched Tom head back to the kitchens to prepare Harry's breakfast order. Harry took a seat at the bar and opened the letter.
Dear Harry,
Congratulations on your graduation! I wish that I could have been there to see it. I have some exciting news for you; news that I will need to tell you in person. I will be arriving at The Leaky Cauldron tomorrow morning. I have a lot to tell you.
I hope you know that I am very, very proud of you, as I know that your parents would have been, too.
Please give my love and congratulations to Hermione and Ron.
Sirius.
Harry folded the letter after reading it and placed it in his jeans pocket. He had no idea what news Sirius could possibly have to discuss with him. For the past two years, Sirius had been working as an Auror. His work took him into dangerous places and put him into some precarious situations. Harry knew, however, that his godfather loved the job. Knowing this didn't stop Harry from worrying about Sirius, though. Harry had already lost so many people he'd cared for, he didn't want to even think about losing Sirius, too.
When Harry's order was ready, Tom offered to help him bring it upstairs, but Harry politely declined and assured Tom that he could handle it. Harry quickly made his way back up the stairs to Hermione.
As he opened the door, he found Hermione awake. She was wearing one of his t-shirts and was sitting on the window bench looking out at the street below. When she heard Harry enter, she turned and smiled. She noticed his hands were full and she quickly walked over to help him.
"What is all this?" she asked.
"Breakfast," he said, proudly.
She looked down at the array of breakfast foods on the table and looked at him in disbelief.
"Until the end of time?" she asked, suppressing a smile.
"Well, I wasn't sure what you wanted to eat so I got a little bit of everything," he said. "I hope you're hungry."
She smiled. "Actually, I'm starving." She picked up a strip of bacon and eagerly popped it into her mouth.
"That's what I wanted to hear," Harry said, sitting down at the table and motioning for Hermione to do the same. She sat and they each helped themselves to pancakes, eggs and juice and fruit. They ate in silence.
Hermione finally put her fork down and looked pointblank at Harry. "This is so weird."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, trying to look as if he didn't understand what she was saying.
"You know what I mean, Harry," Hermione said, pointing at herself and then at Harry. "This. You and me. You know we've always been friends, you and I and now…" her voice trailed off.
"And now what?" Harry asked. "We're still friends. The only thing different is that now we're friends who've seen each other naked. No big deal." He picked up another piece of bacon and popped it into his mouth.
She couldn't help but laugh at him.
"That's an interesting way to put it. But, come on, Harry. You know what I mean."
"Yeah," he said. "I know what you mean. Do you, um, regret what happened?"
She started to answer him, but he stopped her. "Before you answer, I want you to know that I don't. I don't regret it at all. The only thing I regret is that it took so long for us to admit that there was something between us. Last night, that wasn't a mistake. And it wasn't unexpected, either. It's like I said before, we've been dancing around this for a long time. I want you to know, Hermione, that I love you." He reached over from across the table to take her hand. "I love you."
She didn't say anything. He thought he'd made a mistake by just admitting to her how much he loved her. He might have scared her by being so forward. Her look of surprise, though, quickly turned into a smile and her lower lip began to tremble.
"You can say something now," he said, smiling uncertainly at her. "In fact, it would be greatly appreciated."
"Oh, Harry," she said. "You have no idea how long I have waited to hear you say that."
"Well, you'll just have to forgive me for being a little slow on the uptake," he said, smiling shyly at her.
"You can't help it, you're a guy. It's in your blood," she said, laughing.
"Hey," he said, standing up from the table and looking at her with a mock pained expression on his face. "You are going to pay for that one, Miss Granger."
Hermione, too, arose from her chair and stood in a protective stance. "Oh yeah?" she asked. "Well, you'll have to catch me first."
They chased each other around the room for a couple of minutes laughing and just enjoying being together. Within moments they were kissing on the bed. Harry had never remembered ever feeling so happy or feeling so at peace with the world. It was like everything he had done in the past had all been worth it to end up here in this moment with Hermione.
He had no way of knowing then that within a few short hours, that he would be leaving her. He had no idea what choice would be presented to him in just a few hours. All he knew at that moment was that he was in love and even more importantly he was loved in return.
Present-day
Harry took one last look at Hermione. She was as beautiful now as she had been then. He hadn't thought it possible, but he loved her more now than he had then. Looking back on that short time that they'd had together, he couldn't fathom how he had been able to leave her behind. He couldn't believe what an idiot he had been. He had thought that what he was doing for the best, but he knew now that that hadn't been the case. Hermione had been right. He'd always had to play the hero---he had been trying to live up to that name his entire life----The Boy Who Lived.
Things had changed so much in the past five years. If he'd known then what he knew now, he never would have left her. He also knew that when the time came, he didn't know if he'd be able to leave her again.
He took another look at her sleeping face and slowly bent down and softly kissed her forehead.
"Sleep well, Hermione," he whispered. "I love you."
He slowly crept out of the room.
He had no idea that Hermione hadn't been asleep at all.