You Are My Family by SamanthaMarie Rating: PG Ship: Harry & Hermione Canon: Books 1 - 4 Genre: Angst, Drama Status: Complete Length: 2,233 words in 1 chapter Published: 6 Apr 2003 Last updated: 7 Apr 2003 Song Ficlett I thought of on a Sunday afternoon From the Unofficial Portkey Archive: https://portkey-archive.org/story/372/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. * Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I wish I did. But I don't. I also don't own the song this is based off of. "Family" is by Dar Williams. Just so we're all clear on that. You are my Family. Can you fix this? It's a broken heart It was fine, but it just fell apart Harry Potter climbed the creaky wooden stairs to the house. It was such a beautiful sunny day. There was a slight breeze, birds were singing, it was just the perfect temperature. Any other day this would have been a welcome June morning. But today, Harry wished it was raining. Perhaps if it was raining it would have been easier to cry. Harry opened the large red door and walked into the hallway. Normally, he would have knocked in case it was locked. He knew it wouldn’t be today. People were standing all around. Harry saw some people that he hadn’t talked to since he left Hogwarts 5 years ago. Lavender Brown walked up and hugged him. Others noticed this action of affection and followed suit. Harry embraced Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, Pavarti Patil, and others that he had shared so many happy memories with. This reunion of friends though would not be considered one of those happy moments. Harry walked into the kitchen that he had sat in so many times before. Sitting at the table were the saddest looking people that he had ever seen. Molly and Arthur Weasley were sitting mumbling softly to their children that sat there. One chair was left empty out of respect. “Harry.” He turned around. He knew that he had been wrong when he thought that the family was the saddest people he had ever seen. Nothing compared to the pain that he saw in her eyes. He ached for her. Hermione wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. It was mine, but now I give it to you 'Cause you can fix it, you know what to do Molly Weasley got up and walked over to Harry. He was a good foot taller than her. ‘Ron was even taller,’ he thought. Her face was shiny and her eyes were bloodshot from hours of crying. “Thank you so much for coming, Harry, dear. It means so much to us.” “There is no place that I’d rather be, Mrs. Weasley.” He lied. There were a thousand places he would rather be than at Ron’s funeral. Arthur slowly pushed out his chair and walked over to Harry. He clapped his shoulder. “The ministry is working around the clock to find this damn rogue supporter who did this. And there are laws already getting passed for tighter security and whatnot. I don’t know how many times I said it. Even if You-Know-Who is gone, his supporters are still roaming around everywhere. I knew something like this would happen. I just never thought it would happen to my own family.” “Mr. Weasley, the other aurors and myself have decided to try to work on this also. We owe it to Ron. He was one of the best.” Arthur sniffed a little, “thank you, Harry. Thank you.” Hermione’s hand reached down and intertwined with Harry’s. He knew that it was wrong. He knew that the Weasley’s had no idea. He knew that they didn’t know the truth, the awful truth of how their youngest son died. They didn’t know of the guilt that was eating him alive inside. The guilt that was most likely ten times worse inside of Hermione. He squeezed her hand. He wished he could hold her. Let your love cover me Like a pair of angel wings You are my family - You are my family The funeral party started to move outside for the top of the hill. Harry noticed that the temperature had dropped about five degrees in the short time he had been outside. Gray clouds loomed in the distance. Maybe it would rain after all. Hermione still was clutching his hand. And even though he felt sadder and guiltier than he had ever felt in his life, he couldn’t help to get a flutter in his stomach as she walked beside him. This was all he had ever wanted, to hold her hand, but it was under the most horrible circumstances imaginable. They reached the small family cemetery. Sobs and sniffles could be heard throughout the crowd. A man with white hair in a black robe that Harry didn’t recognize began to speak. But it really didn’t matter, Harry wasn’t listening to him talk about Ron’s life. Harry was focusing on Hermione’s small in hand in his. He had been trying to block out the memories from three days ago in his head. But it was getting harder to keep them from popping up. It began to rain. The flood gates opened in his mind. He heard Hermione try to stifle her tears, and he knows that she was thinking the same thing too. We stood outside in the summer rain Different people with a common pain A simple box in that hard red clay Where we left him to always remain Harry had always loved her. He had just been too ignorant to realize it until their seventh year. And once he had realized it, bad timing always prevented him from doing anything about it. Hermione was beautiful, smart, witty... she was amazing. And unfortunately, Harry wasn’t the only to notice. Guys were lined up around the block to be with her, and she dated them all. She broke hearts, and they broke hers. Harry and Ron were always there to pick up the pieces for her. And although it killed Harry inside, he knew that he couldn’t risk ruining their friendship, he loved her, and he never wanted to hurt her. He would love her in secret. And then one day it happened. Ron told her that he loved her. Harry had thought that Ron had feelings for her, too, but he never thought that he would act on them either. Again, Harry was too late, and this time was the last time. Harry could never be with Hermione after Ron had, it was an unwritten code. Ron and Hermione had their fights like they always had, and Hermione always came running to Harry as she always had. Then, three days ago, everything changed. Ron had proposed to Hermione. Harry had been sitting in his living room that morning reading the Daily Prophet. There was a familiar knock at the door, he knew it was her. He opened the door and she fell into his arms. She was a mess. He could tell that she had been awake for a very long time and she had most likely been walking and crying all night. “I couldn’t say yes. I wanted to. But I couldn’t,” she said in between her crying. Harry led her into the living room, not bothering to shut the door. They sat on the couch. He handed her a tissue and they looked into each others’ eyes. She had the most beautiful brown eyes he noticed. He could stare into them forever. “I love Ron,” she stated. “But I’m not in love with him. In fact, I’ve only ever been truly in love with one person...” her voice faltered, “Harry, I’m in love with you. It’s always been you.” Harry swore that his heart stopped. He had wanted to hear that for five years, he had dreamed about her saying those exact words. He pinched his leg to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming this up right now. “Harry? Will you say something?” She looked scared, as if she had handed him her heart and was afraid that he was going to throw it back in her face. He knew that it was wrong, that he shouldn’t do what he was about to. But he didn’t care. He loved her and she loved him. Nothing mattered, not even Ron. “I don’t have to,” he said. He placed her hands in his own and leaned forward. Her eyes closed and he lightly touched his lips to her own. He had intended to start with a soft kiss, but she was hungry. Her tongue lightly licked his lips and they fell into one another. He laid her down on the couch and they began to kiss as they had never kissed another person before. They kissed as though they only had five minutes left to live. He had never wanted anything more in his life than he wanted her at that moment. His hands began to unbutton her blouse, and hers began to undo the buckle on his belt. “Harry, are you home? Have you heard from Hermione? Something bad happened last night, and I can’t find her now...” Ron stopped dead in his tracks. Harry remembered that he had left the door open. “What the fuck?!” “Ron... I can explain,” Hermione stammered. “Don’t, just don’t. I can see it all for myself. Now I know why you didn’t say yes.” His bottom lip was trembling. “Don’t talk to me. I don’t want to look at you.” Harry stood up, “...Ron...” “Buckle your pants, Potter. And I NEVER want to talk to you again.” He turned around before anyone else could say a thing. He slammed the door. He was gone. Harry stood in a daze. He felt like the most horrible person that ever walked the face of the earth. Hermione was crying again. He sat down on the couch and held her. Let your love cover me Like a pair of angel wings You are my family - You are my family Hermione had left his house sometime later. Harry was getting ready to go to work; he was not looking forward to it. The defeat of Voldemort had been a historic moment in history, but it had come at a great price. Countless numbers of brave and wonderful wizards had been killed in the effort. Because of this, a law was put into effect that all aurors must have a partner. Of course Harry’s partner was Ron. It had never been a problem, until now. Harry got to the ministry that night ready for his shift. But Ron was not there. When he asked another colleague where he was, she said that Ron had come in early and she thought that he had gone out on an assignment alone. “Don’t know what the hell he was thinking, he’s going to get reprimanded for sure.” Harry looked through the files and found that Ron has apparated to a farm in northern Scotland. Harry knew that Ron didn’t want to see him, but going that far north alone was not a good thing. He apparated after him. Harry thought at first he had made a mistake. There was no house, no barn, no sign of any structures anywhere. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, though, he realized that he was standing where a farm had been. All the buildings were flattened, rubble was everywhere, and there was smoke rising from some piles of the wood. “Harry...” He heard a voice. It sounded like a child’s. He walked towards where it came from and then he found Ron. He was lying under a large pillar. He was dying. Harry started to cry uncontrollably. “Hold on, Ron. Hold on.” He muttered, “just hold on.” Ron sounded very young, and very far away, “death-eaters. Too many... they left. Harry...” “Yes?” “Take care of her. I love her.” And the child who played with the moon and stars Waves a snatch of hay in a common barn In the lonely house of Adam's fall Lies a child, it's just a child, that's all Crying... “Amen.” Harry was ripped back into reality. He was standing in the rain on a hill as Ron’s casket was being lowered into the ground. Hermione was still holding his hand. They walked back to the house. Hand in hand. Before they went inside she stopped him. She looked into his eyes and embraced him. He held her so tightly; he never wanted to let her go. And he knew what would happen next. He loved her. He knew that eventually she would be his wife. She was his family. Let your love cover me Like a pair of angel wings You are my family - You are my family He knew that it would take a while. And that it would be difficult. He knew that the Weasley’s would need sometime to get used to it, but he knew that they would accept it. He knew that somehow everything would work out. Ron had told him to take care of her. And he would. The rain stopped and the sun began to shine again. He knew that even though the pain would always be with him, he knew that Ron would be with him too. And somehow he knew that Ron was ok. Hermione let go of him and looked into his eyes again. She smiled for the first time in days. Harry didn’t need to say anything; he knew she felt the same way too. The two walked into the house together in silence. There would be plenty of time to talk later. You are my family - You are my family.