Return to Me
Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Harry Potter World. JKR owns them.
A/N: A giant thank to my beta, Nakhash, she's wonderful! Thanks to you all, dear readers and reviewers!
Wytil: This is not a rewrite work. There might be some similar stories out there but I've never read one :)
My first title for this story was Come Back to Me but before I posted it I saw there is one story by that title so I changed it to Return to Me which has a similar meaning but God! There's still have another one with the same title and it's too late for I've posted it already :)
MrsDanielRadcliffe: You are so close… ;)
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Hermione had spent a lovely day with Harry and Agnes. The two old friends reminisced about their time at Hogwarts and played with the child. Agnes was such a lovely little girl, and smart for her age. Hermione loved the way she babbled incoherently; the way she crawled and pulled herself up to stand on her chubby legs. Her smile captured Hermione's heart. She even loved the way Agnes pulled her bushy hair and yanked at her earlobes. She couldn't believe how much she loved someone she had only known for one day. But it was true; she felt so close to Agnes that she could understand what the girl wanted just by looking into her lovely hazel eyes or listening to her unintelligible words. Hermione thought it was because she knew her father so well it made it possible for her to get close to the girl in such a short time.
Harry, on the other hand, seemed afraid of playing with Agnes. The last time Agnes had tried to crawl on him he had turned red and gingerly, but tenderly, pushed her off him and carried her to her bed. Hermione had told him that Agnes just wanted to get to know her father and he should play with her more often so he would understand her better. He agreed to try, saying he didn't want Agnes to grow up thinking he was some heartless monster. Even though he sounded playful, Hermione knew he was worried.
Harry might be a very good friend who would willingly give up his own pleasure for those he cared about but he wasn't exposed to much love in the home where he grew up; if you could call the indulgence of his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon toward Dudley love. To Harry it seemed they spoiled their son rather than loved him. Harry had never felt the kind of love a child receives from his parents. His mother and father had died when he was so young, he barely could remember the feeling of them hugging him or receiving kisses from them. It was no wonder he didn't know how to love his own child. Hermione decided to she would help him with that.
As night approached, Hermione sat looking down at Agnes's sleeping form. She had just fed her a bottle of milk Dobby had brought her and the girl had fallen asleep, peacefully, on her lap. She brushed back a stray black lock from the sleeping child's eyes; she stirred but didn't wake up. Hermione's lips curled into a smile.
"She must be very tired today," said Harry, watching Hermione and Agnes. "Dobby told me she fought taking a nap this afternoon and only did so after driving him nearly mad."
Hermione's smile broadened. She looked at Harry and said, "Yes, she played a lot today. Babies are like that; they love to play and it's good for them." Her smile then turned into a Cheshire cat grin.
Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What is it, Hermione?"
"Oh...it's just that it's time for daddy to put his little girl to bed," answered Hermione, smiling smugly.
"You can't be serious, Hermione," said Harry, slightly panicked.
Hermione would have laughed aloud if not for fear of waking Agnes.
"I don't know how to tuck a baby in bed; besides, I might wake her up, Hermione," Harry tried to explain as quietly as he could.
Hermione chuckled softly. "Oh Harry, I only asked you to tuck your baby to sleep, is it that hard?"
Harry mumbled something under his breath that sounded like Death Eaters and Voldemort.
Hermione inched closer to him carefully, so as not to wake Agnes. Her gaze bore into the depths of his green eyes as she whispered, "Harry, you want to be a good father for Agnes, right? You need to learn to do the little things."
Harry sighed. "Alright, but you have to come with me. I'm not sure if I can manage or not."
"Yes, Daddy," said Hermione, cheerfully ignoring Harry's glare.
She gracefully handed Agnes to Harry. He took her in his arms gingerly as Agnes stirred. They walked to the nursery. Harry put Agnes to bed and covered her with a soft blanket. He lightly kissed her on the top of her head, afraid to wake her. Hermione smiled to herself. He was still awkwardly around her but soon he would become the best father, she knew it. She also kissed Agnes goodnight, then the two of them retreated back to the living room.
They sat on a sofa next to each other in front of the fireplace, quietly drinking tea. Hermione glanced at her watch and saw it was already 10 PM. Putting her cup down, she said with a little smile, "I've got to go now. I don't want Mrs. Weasley to get worried again."
Harry looked disappointed but asked, "Will you come tomorrow?"
"Of course," she replied, then asked, "don't you have to work tomorrow?"
"Yeah, right!" said Harry, slapping his forehead, "but Agnes could use some company."
"It's a good thing you realize that," said Hermione sarcastically. "You don't want her turning into a house-elf, do you?"
Harry grinned and shook his head. "No, but I guess you would seeing as you're so fond of house-elves you set up that P.E.W thing."
Hermione turned slightly red remembering her efforts to free the house-elves in her fourth year. She spat, "It's S.P.E.W, and yes I like them and want them to be free. That doesn't mean I want Agnes to be one."
"Oh well, no need to get angry Little-Miss-Perfect," said Harry, grinning as his eyes twinkled back at her.
Hermione couldn't help smiling. Harry looked at her expectantly. She raised an eyebrow.
"So I guess I have no choice?"
Harry shrugged and shook his head.
"Ok, I will," she said with a sigh; covering her face with her hands and bursting into a fit of laughter. Soon, they were both giggling madly.
After a few minutes the laughter suddenly stopped and their eyes locked. They stared at each other, motionless. Their faces were just inches from one another. Hermione could feel his warm breath on her skin. She saw something in his eyes she had never seen before and couldn't quite put into words. She only knew that her stomach had felt an odd jolt at the sight of it and she had become strangely nervous.
Abruptly, Hermione tore her eyes from his and looked away. She could tell without bothering to look in the mirror that her face was as red as Ron's hair, if not redder. She somehow felt embarrassed. Without looking at him, she said in a small voice, "I should be going now."
She heard Harry take a deep breath, then heard him answer, "Yes, you must be exhausted; besides it's getting really late now. I'll see you out."
Hermione wanted to tell him she wasn't tired; that she was happy to be with him and Agnes this way, but she was too flustered to even look at him, so she kept her mouth shut and stared at her feet as a few minutes of awkward silence passed. They stood up and walked out of the house quietly. Hermione still couldn't look him in the eyes when she said good-bye and Apparated away.
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Hermione walked dazedly into the Burrow. There was a light in the living room; maybe Mrs. Weasley was still waiting up for her. But, to her surprise, it was Ginny who was hunched over the table sleeping, snoring soundly.
Hermione walked up to her friend. She squeezed her lightly on her shoulder, "Ginny… Ginny?" she whispered.
Ginny stirred and her eyes opened slowly. Hermione took a seat next to the other woman. Ginny rubbed her eyes furiously before focusing them on Hermione.
"Finally, you're back. I was beginning to think you were going to sleep at Harry's house tonight," said Ginny, yawning widely.
Hermione knew she was joking but she couldn't help thinking back to the moment, no more than fifteen minutes ago, and felt her face grow hot. She hoped Ginny didn't notice. Luckily for her, the redheaded witch seemed oblivious of Hermione's reaction to the remark.
Trying very hard to conceal her embarrassment, Hermione asked Ginny, "What are you doing in here at this time of night?"
"Whew!" Ginny stretched her muscles luxuriously, "I'm waiting for you, Hermione," she answered as she turned and looked at Hermione's surprised face.
"Waiting for me?" repeated Hermione. "At this time of night? What was so important? Are you ok, Ginny?" asked Hermione, concerned.
"I'm absolutely fine, Hermione," said Ginny, waving her hand dismissively. She continued when she saw Hermione was still frowning. "It's Harry. You know, it's all about Harry."
"Oh, I see…" Hermione said, and trailed off, feeling her face grow hot again. She mentally chastised herself for acting so immature.
"Ron and I," continued Ginny, as if hadn't heard Hermione, "we're thinking about having a talk with Harry. Since you're here, we feel we won't have to worry so much if he gets mad."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione incredulously.
"Oh you know!" Exclaimed Ginny impatiently. "From the day Cho left him until now, Harry has cut himself off from us all. Every time we try to talk to him about his life he says we're meddling in things and he won't speak to us for days afterwards. Sometimes he even shouts at us."
"Why didn't you tell me any of this, before?" inquired Hermione, a little upset with her friends.
"How could we? You just got back two days ago and you've spent most of your time with Harry," Ginny answered defensively.
"If you wanted, you could have told me in one of the letters you sent," Hermione retorted.
"Well, Harry threatened us not to tell you anything in our letters," Ginny stated simply.
"Harry threatened you?" said Hermione, looking at her friend as Ginny stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes rapidly.
"Yes, he did. He said he would know if we told you anything and he would never talk to us again for the rest of his life," Ginny told Hermione.
"That was childish," Hermione commented.
"Yes, it was childish," Ginny agreed. "You don't know how childish he has become over the last five years Hermione, and that's one of the reasons we want to talk to him." The redheaded witch let out a breath as if relieved that Hermione had finally got the point.
Hermione thought for a while, then she asked Ginny, "How do you talk to him? And what about?"
"We want to know what happened between him and Cho and why she left. We don't believe the rubbish the Daily Prophet brought out and wanted him to tell us the truth so that we could find a way to help him," she finished, catching her breath.
Hermione gazed at the flames in the fireplace, lost in thought.
"Well?" prompted Ginny.
Hermione sighed, "You're quite right about that, Ginny, only Harry won't answer any of your questions, with or without me present."
"How do you know?" asked Ginny, annoyed.
"Because I already asked him and he wouldn't say a word," Hermione said, examining her hands and sighing once more.
Ginny dropped her face in disappointment. They both sat quietly for few minutes before Hermione broke the silence. "Anyway, I think every one, especially you and Ron, should go over to see him more often."
"How do you know we don't?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrow and folding her hands over her belly. "We do our best to get him out of his stupid solitude but it was he who tried his best to push us away."
`Stupid solitude?' Hermione thought to herself, amazed at the description as she remembered Harry's laughing face.
"What is so amusing, Hermione?"
Ginny's voice snapped Hermione out of her thoughts. She hadn't realized she had been smiling. She shook her head to clear her mind. `It must be the lack of sleep,' she thought, as she answered Ginny.
"Nothing."
Ginny narrowed her eyes, "No? Were you daydreaming?"
"I do not daydream, Ginny; it's night, don't you see?" Hermione joked, grinning sheepishly.
"Oh well!" said Ginny, throwing up her hands. "Siding with him, are you?"
Hermione shrugged. "It has nothing to do with taking sides. We're his friends; we want to help him to have a better life, right?"
Ginny, as stubborn as she was, nodded in agreement.
Hermione continued, "Then that's it. Tomorrow evening, we will meet at Harry's house, tell Ron and everyone, will you?"
Ginny nodded. "We'll try to talk to him?" said Ginny enthusiastically.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I guess all pregnant women react this way?"
"Oh! Hermione, just tell!" demanded Ginny.
"No, we won't ask force him to tell us anything he doesn't want."
Ginny pushed out her lower lip liked a spoiled child not having the chocolate she wanted.
Hermione chuckled inwardly. "We'll have a friendly reunion and a happy evening together, and please tell Ron not to blurt out any stupid questions; we don't want Harry to shove us out of his house."
"As if invading his house is any better," Ginny snorted. "I still remember the last time I went to his house without warning."
"I can imagine," Hermione chuckled aloud. "Don't worry, I'll tell him in the morning to expect a visit later."
"Morning?" Ginny looked at Hermione suspiciously. "You're going to his house tomorrow morning?"
"Yes, I promised him," said Hermione, trying very hard to sound casual. "Well, I think you'd better go home to bed now. You might not want to sleep but the baby inside you needs his rest." Hermione looked pointedly at Ginny's belly.
Ginny smirked, "You're wrong. They're a boy and a girl." She grinned mischievously at Hermione's wide eyes.
"Well, goodnight," Ginny bid her good-bye. Throwing a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace, she disappeared.
When Hermione recovered from her shock, she shook her head and went to her room. She readied herself for bed still thinking about the evening's events. `What should I do when I meet him in the morning?' she asked herself, as she lay on her bed, eyes still wide open. `Well, act normal, like you always do. It shouldn't be a problem,' said the voice of reason in her head. She sighed and tucked the covers over her head, hoping against hoped that Harry would act in the usual way.
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