Chapter 9 - In the open
Madam Rosmerta blinked in surprise as she recognised Hermione as she led them through the bar to a secluded booth at the back of the Three Broomsticks, and put this together with the recent Daily Prophet article she'd read. Hermione saw the change in the older woman's face, and simply nodded her head to confirm her identity. A wide smile spread across Rosmerta's face, and as they reached the booth she embraced first Hermione and then Harry.
"Oh I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see you again Hermione."
"Thank you Rosmerta", Hermione replied with a smile.
"Rosie, we're keeping Hermione's return quiet at the moment. None of us are ready for the media storm yet." Harry explained with a wry smile.
"Say no more Harry" Rosmerta replied, placing an affectionate hand on his shoulder.
"No one will hear it from me" She assured them before she headed over to the bar to get them some drinks.
Harry grinned as Hermione slid into the booth next to him rather than on the other side of the booth. Hermione caught the smile out of the corner of her eye and winked mischievously at him, causing a rather adorable sheepish look to spread across his face along with the grin. Hermione laughed lightly.
"Merlin, I'm so obvious aren't I?" He asked in a rather embarrassed tone of voice.
"I don't know about obvious, maybe just to me, because I want to see it…" she replied softly.
Harry's jaw dropped a little, and his brain fumbled for a coherent response as his heart pounded away happily in his chest. He was saved from further confusion by Rosmerta's return to the table with a tray of Butter beers and a menu for the pair. Hermione smiled up at the landlord and invited her to sit while they quickly looked over the menu.
Harry took the opportunity to gather his thoughts while Hermione skimmed the menu and chatted amiably with Rosmerta, already knowing what he'd end up ordering considering the number of evenings he'd eaten in the Three Broomsticks over the years, particularly since he'd been teaching at Hogwarts. He was brought back to the present by Rosmerta's voice.
"The usual for you Harry?"
"Yes please Rosie, can't beat that steak and kidney pie." He said with a grin, as she stood and returned to the bar, glancing over her shoulder at the pair and smiling to see them again.
"Do you want to tell me about it? I know we've talked about most things, but we haven't talked about that last year, or what happened at the end...or between us."
Harry looked up at her in slight confusion, and Hermione smiled softly at him.
"Honestly Harry, I know that there was something between us - if not just from reading my diaries leading up to that last year, then from everyones behaviour around us. Molly and Ginny nudging each other if we sat next to each other, Tonks stopping mid sentence, having clearly been kicked under the table by someone..." She smiled again as she paused. "I think I know why you haven't said anything, and I know me being gone and now being back has been harder on you than on anyone else, but we're not going to be able to keep me a secret much longer, we've been taking risks the last few days being in public, and...well, I'd like to know what they're speculating about before they start speculating about it." She said quietly.
Harry reached across and gently took her hand beneath the table. He should have expected her to cut to the chase, and want to know exactly what was going on between them. He'd spent so much time away from her that he had almost begun to forget how their minds worked in different ways but perfectly complemented each other. Where he would usually sit on a problem and worry about in silence, she would bring it out in the open (usually against his instincts) and she would always be right to do so, as everything seemed more bearable, and easier to deal with once he'd shared it with Hermione.
"Where should I start?" He asked, looking to her guidance on a matter which shouldn't seem so complicated.
"Wherever you think the beginning is." She said with a reflective smile and he remembered a conversation in what seemed like another life where she had said those exact words. He looked over at her once more with an unspoken question in his eyes.
"You remembered that conversation?" He asked, knowing there would have been no record of it in her diaries.
"I remembered it earlier today when we were, the three of us at Godrics Hollow." She clarified, and he smiled sadly.
"Maybe not the happiest of memories to regain..." He said ruefully, but was stopped by her hand squeezing his.
"It is a happy memory Harry. it may not have been a happy time overall, but that memory is so important. Ron and I knew you'd been keeping something from us, and for so long that secret was caught up in the grief after Sirius and Dumbledore's' deaths, but we both suspected what was really bothering as time passed. I just wish you had told us sooner, and not thought of it like a burden for your shoulders alone. Do you remember what you said to me later that night? When Ron was checking the wards on the house?" She asked him.
"I asked you to leave." He said softly, seeing their conversation in his mind, as if they were suddenly sitting on the back porch of his parents house once more in the moonlight.
"And I refused." She said simply.
"I don't think I'd ever been so angry with you." Harry mused, "Well, you wanted to know where I thought it began then about the prophecy, just as you do now, and to be honest, that night was where it began. That fight with you - I mean, we never fought, ever. You always sorted me out before I got out of line or did anything too stupid, but...I didn't sleep that night, I was too busy trying to figure out what had changed to cause that fight between us, and it took me until about dawn to admit what I'd subconsciously known for a long time. I'd fought with you because this was one time I didn't want to back down - I wanted you safe...I think that when I broke up with Ginny it wasn't so much to keep her safe as it was to keep me safe. I was living in a dream world, and imagining that I could have a more normal teenage existence, but Dumbledore's death put that into perspective. I felt so guilty afterwards, wondering if I'd somehow been using Ginny, but, anyway, I wanted to keep you safe more than anything in the world, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that without you, Ron and I would have been dead within days anyway."
"I don't remember the morning after the fight." Hermione said sadly.
"I made you breakfast - sort of a peace offering, and you smiled at me and kissed me on the forehead. You'd never kissed me on the forehead before, and you touched my scar. No one other than Voldemort had very touched my scar, not that I remember anyway. We didn't talk about it again, but that was where I think it started."
They smiled at each other in the rather dim light of the pub before their meals appeared in front of them. As they began to eat Harry filled her in on the rest of that final year before her disappearance.
They were still talking two hours later as they strolled out of the Three Broomsticks hand in hand and walked through Hogsmeade, eventually finding themselves at the hilltop they had first apparated to that morning. Harry had paused in his telling of the story, and Hermione squeezed his hand lightly before sitting down on the cool grass, pulling him gently to sit down next to her. As he sat she snuggled closer to him, her head resting on his shoulder, and he smiled into her hair as he wound an arm around her shoulder to pull her closer to him.
"Harry?"
"Yes?"
"I don't think I want to know the rest yet." She said quietly.
"Any particular reason?" He asked her carefully.
"I think…I think I'd like to wait and try to remember the details…and in the meantime, make some new memories to fill in the gaps." She said a little shyly.
"New memories?" He asked, his hand gently cupping her chin and tilting her face up to look at him.
She smiled, and as he looked at her, he knew he'd never been happier in his entire life, not even the first time they had sat at this exact spot so many years ago.
"Ok then" he nodded.
It didn't seem possible but her smile widened, and her eyes sparkled like the stars glittering above them as she raised her hand to his face, and then raised her lips to meet his.
It wasn't a passionate kiss - it was sweet and loving, and soft. As she pulled away to look at him once more, Harry wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could and hugged her close.
"I missed you so much." He whispered with a crack in his voice.
"I love you so much" she said in reply.
Harry released her from the hug, and gazed at her in awe before covering her face in tiny butterfly kisses until she laughed with delight.
"Harry!" She laughed once `more, before placing a hand on each side of his face to hold him still and kissing him passionately.
"I love you too." He whispered softly several minutes later, gently kissing the end of her nose and smiling at her happily.
They apparated back to Grimmauld Place and walked through the front door hand in hand, still laughing happily at each other, and grinning like idiots. As they wandered into the kitchen to grab some drinks they paused to see a gathering of friends sitting thoughtfully around the table.
Harry instinctively pulled Hermione closer to him, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and she wrapped an arm tight around his waist, both knowing that when their friends saw them in the doorway there would be bad news to be delivered.
"What's up?" Harry asked. Ron, Remus, Tonks and Ginny turned around surprised at hearing Harry's voice. They all took in the way Harry and Hermione stood with arms around one another, happiness in their eyes despite their concerned facial expressions. Ron bit back a cheer, but met Harry's eye and he knew that Harry understood how happy he was for the pair of them. Ginny spoke up breaking the short silence.
"Lavender got called in to work about half an hour ago, she to tell me that they were trying to change the print run at the last minute - it was too late for the first morning edition, but the Prophet is going to run a special evening edition tomorrow…they had a photographer following you two in Hogsmeade this morning, and are going to break with the news that you're back Hermione, and they're going to say that you're dating."
Ginny smiled apologetically at the pair, meeting Hermione's eyes and reading the soft understanding there.
"What's the plan then?" Harry asked, puling up a chair for Hermione before sitting down himself.
"Is Luna still at the Quibbler?" Hermione asked after some quick thinking. The others all nodded to confirm her thought.
"Right, we'll ruin their exclusive for them. Ron, can you contact Luna? Ginny, can you floo Colin Creevey? We'll get the two of them over here as soon as possible, sort out an exclusive to make Rita Skeeter cry with jealousy, and then, Harry, you can use some of that magic you keep stored up to accelerate the print run at the Quibbler - ok?" They all nodded at her, Tonks smiling mischievously.
"God, it's nice to have Hermione back in charge isn't it." Ron sighed, with a grin towards his two best friends.
"Yep - she sorts out all the plans; we do what we're told any everyone's happy." Harry confirmed, grinning as he dodged a playful swat from Hermione as everyone rushed off to sort things out.
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