Soon after Hermione had gotten her things and was officially living with Harry, they started to plan their wedding for around the middle of June, which was about five months away. Things were falling into place pretty well. Harry decided to quit bartending so that they could spend more time together. He really wanted to be an Auror, but Hermione begged him not to.
"It's just too dangerous," she would say. "I've almost lost you once. I don't want to go through that again."
Harry protested, but in the end he gave in. He loved her, and wanted her to feel secure. There was an opening in her department on the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, so he took it.
"I want to take a little trip," Hermione mentioned to Harry one day as they were straightening up the apartment.
"Where to?" he asked curiously.
"Remember that Seer I told you about named Ruby?"
"Yeah, the one who told you that I'd almost die and what you had to do to keep it from happening. Of course, I remember you telling me about her. Did you want to go and see if she's still there?"
Hermione was pleased that he sounded open about it. "Yes, I really would like to see her again. I've been thinking about her a lot lately. It would be a good idea, don't you think? I want to thank her in person."
So, the next day that they had off, the two of them made the trip out of town. Hermione found the coffee shop with relatively little trouble even though it had been three years since the last time she was there. She walked in, hand in hand with Harry and found a girl sitting with her back to them. The sheet of long silver-blond hair was familiar. It was Ruby at one of the tables alone, sipping a drink. When she turned around and saw them, a warm smile crossed her lips.
"Do you remember me? I came to see you once before," said Hermione.
Ruby got up and crossed the room to give her a hug.
"Of course I remember you! It's good to see you again," she replied. "Is there anything I can do for you or have you just come by for a visit?"
"Well, the main reason I'm here is to thank you. Your prediction helped save my fiancé Harry. I wanted to bring him to meet you."
Ruby smiled kindly as Harry reached out to shake her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Harry," she said. Then to Hermione, "I think you did much better this time. I'd love to talk to you if you care to stay for a while."
"Do you mind, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"No! You two take your time," he said sweetly and squeezed her hand. "I'll just have a seat in the corner."
"Oh, he's so different from that other fellow you came here with! So, how are things going with you, Hermione?" she asked sweetly as Harry strolled across the room to sit down. The two women went back to the table where Ruby had been sitting when they'd arrived.
"Oh, everything is just wonderful now that I'm not with Bret anymore," she began, and went into an explanation of all that had happened - Harry almost being killed, then Bret cheating on her, and how she and Harry got together.
Ruby sat listening intently with an expression of deep interest. After Hermione was finished she spoke.
"I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that with your ex-boyfriend. When you came to see me before, I didn't really think he could be trusted. That's why I wouldn't let him in with us. I wanted to tell you, but I've often discovered that people must find some things out for themselves or they simply can't believe them, especially when it's about someone that they care for" she said apologetically, "and since I could offer you no proof of anything, I thought it best to keep quiet about it. That, and I couldn't quite be sure of what it was about him that I didn't take to. It was more of an intuition than a vision there."
"There is one thing that I've wondered about, Ruby, and I wanted to ask you," Hermione said curiously.
"Go ahead. I'll answer you if I can," she replied.
"When you told me that the one I loved would come close to dying, I always thought that you meant Bret. Did you know that it wasn't him?"
"No, I didn't. I thought that perhaps it might have been someone else, but I couldn't see his face; I just knew that it was a man you loved very much. That prediction came to me more in words than in a vision. If I had known, I would have told you, just like I would have told you what Bret was going to do if I'd seen it. Some things are better left unsaid, but when it comes to something important like that, I tell people whether they want to hear it or not," Ruby answered, and Hermione knew that she was being sincere.
"Thank you for being honest with me. I just hate it that I didn't see through Bret earlier," she said with a bit of frustration.
Ruby looked at her gently. "Hermione, there are plenty of men like Bret in this world, and let me tell you something else - no one, absolutely no one, hurts another person in this life and gets away with it completely. My grandmother used to say that life is like a big wheel that keeps turning and turning, and how we treat others sooner or later comes back around to us. One day Bret will probably have someone else do the exact same thing to him that he did to you. In my business I see things like this happen a lot. Anyway, at least it's over and you've moved on."
Hermione did feel better hearing this. "I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough for telling me what to do when Harry was dying. I love him so much. If he had died, I don't think I'd have been able to handle it, and I wouldn't have been able to save him if you hadn't helped me," she said.
"Oh yes you would have," Ruby answered, "I do believe that you would have figured it out on your own. Love has a way of telling people things." She paused for a moment and then said, "Would you like for me to do another reading? I can do one just for you, or we can do it with both of you together. Don't worry about paying me. This one's on the house. I want to do it as your friend. I'll even close early so we can take our time. It's been very slow today anyway."
Hermione was touched. "Oh I'd like for you to do one with us both. That would be great! I'd like to see what's in store for us together," she said excitedly.
Ruby got up and turned the sign on the door around so that it read "closed". "Come on back then," she said sweetly.
Hermione went over to Harry.
"Would you like to have our fortune told together? Ruby wants to do it for us."
He could tell how excited she was.
"Yeah, let's do. You've told me how good she is. This could be interesting," he said and got up from the table to go with them.
They entered the plain little back room which hadn't changed at all since Hermione had last been there. Ruby pulled in an extra chair for Harry and placed it next to where she motioned for Hermione to sit. Then she took a seat across from the two of them.
"Ok, I need you to join hands," Ruby said, "By the way, my skills have improved some since the last time you were here, Hermione. I should be able to tell you a good bit."
Harry took Hermione's left hand gently in his right and they placed them on the table. Ruby cupped both of her hands over theirs and closed her eyes. She didn't speak for a little while, but they could tell by her facial expressions that she was seeing something. She went from smiling, to looking shocked, afraid, and then peaceful again. This happened a few times before she said anything.
"Your past together is…amazing. You've been extremely trusting and loyal to one another, and I see that always continuing into your future. Both of you would die rather than let anything happen to the other. I've seen horrible things happening to you both, especially you, Harry - things that I don't understand."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other. She must have gotten a glimpse of parts of the wizarding world that she'd never seen.
"Your lives have been in danger many times, but you've survived, in great part because of each other. I'm relieved to say that I see a very happy future ahead for the two of you together. Your love for one another is extraordinary."
Ruby looked so moved that it appeared she was about to cry. Harry and Hermione looked at each other again and smiled.
"I know that you're both concerned about the time that you've not been together as a couple, and you consider it time that was wasted. This is especially true of you, Hermione, but don't worry yourself over it anymore," Ruby said reassuringly. "The experiences that you've lived through have served to strengthen the love you have for each other now, and things will, I believe, be even better than they would have been had you gotten together earlier. It might have taken you some time to truly discover your feelings for each other, but now that you have, it will be beautiful. The season has changed in your lives, and the timing is perfect."
She opened her eyes. "Oh, and congratulations on your baby, Hermione. You'll both make wonderful parents," she said with a smile.
Hermione and Harry looked baffled.
"But…Ruby, I didn't think I could have children," Hermione said. "I could never get pregnant before."
"Well, it wasn't you that had a fertility problem. It must have been him. You are pregnant right now. I could feel the presence of the life inside of you," she said sweetly.
Hermione cupped her hand to her mouth in surprise, and Harry put his arm around her.
"This is just…I'm so happy. There's nothing I wanted more than to be able to give Harry children," she said, absolutely ecstatic.
"Oh, you'll have your wish! This one won't be an only child by any means. I could see how many you'll have and even what they're going to be, but I won't ruin that surprise for you," she said, very proud of having been the one to give them the good news.
"Looks like we're going to be changing our plans then and moving up the date of our wedding," Harry said with a sweet blush on his face. He didn't want Hermione's belly to be obvious before they could get married. It never mattered to him that she'd lived with someone else; he wanted to uphold her honor.
"Would you like to come to our wedding?" asked Hermione.
"I'd be delighted," Ruby said with a smile.
"There are also a few things we'd like to tell you," Hermione added, "about our world."
Harry was silent for a second, but in complete agreement. She could be trusted to keep a secret, and if she'd already seen parts of the wizarding world in her visions, it was only fair that she have it explained to her.
"Why don't you come with us and we'll all have lunch together," he suggested.
Ruby accepted and they all set off. She listened wide-eyed as Harry and Hermione explained to her about Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, and things like the sorting hat. They also talked about Ron and how they'd all grown up together. When they got to the not so pleasant things, like the dementors and Voldemort, Ruby was spellbound.
"I was wondering what those horrible hooded things were," she said with a look of understanding.
"So how about you, then?" asked Hermione. "You're so gifted that I was amazed to find out you weren't a witch the first time I met you."
Ruby giggled. "Oh me? I'm not sure then how that came about. I'm definitely what you'd call a Muggle. I've never made things happen when I was upset like you and Harry have. I didn't even know I had any kind of ability at all, until I was fifteen and I had my first boyfriend. We were just walking through the park one day, and I remember telling him that he was going to have an accident if he wasn't careful. I wasn't even sure why I said it. It just came to me. Well, he laughed about it. Then that weekend he decided to go off and have a few drinks and got behind the wheel of his cousin's car. He had completely forgotten about what I'd told him until he ended up running into a fence."
Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "Was he alright?"
"Oh he was a little banged up, but he was fine. Well, he ended up breaking things off with me and started spreading rumors that I was some kind of witch who'd put a curse on him. Needless to say, not too many people liked me after that. At school I'd hear the whispers, people calling me `Ruby the witch' or `Ruby the she-devil'. It was horrible. For a while I even wished that I didn't have my gift. Then, I had other visions about different people who were my friends or were just honestly seeking help. When they listened to me, they avoided some horrible things happening to them, and then I knew what I had to do."
"I'm glad that you decided to go into the business of being a Seer," Hermione said. "Who says that wizards and witches are the only ones with gifts, anyway?"
Ruby smiled. "I still wonder sometimes what my life would have been like if I'd never developed my abilities. Sometimes it's still very hard."
"Why, what would make you say that?" Harry asked.
Her soft blue eyes looked saddened at the question. "Well, for one, my life has always been marked by loneliness since that first time I saw into the future. I'll meet a guy who I think seems ok, and then when he finds out what I can do, he usually freaks or I'll sense feelings of guilt, like there's something he doesn't want me to know. None of them stay around for long. It's harder for me to read people that I have a romantic interest in for some reason. Maybe now I'd be a little better at it since I've sharpened my skills, but a few years ago it was still pretty difficult. What I need is a man who has nothing to hide, and those are extremely rare and hard to come by."
By the time they had finished eating and talking, both Harry and Hermione knew they had made the right choice by sharing their world with her. Before they left, Hermione got Ruby to write down her phone number and address so they could let her know once they set a new date for their wedding. This was one friend that she knew she had to hold onto.
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