Approximately two hours later, at half past twelve, Ron was just finishing an early lunch, Whilst Harry sat with his head hung back, in a drunken stupor.
"Wow that must be bad." He thought to himself as he took a mouthful of a steak and ale pie. "Harry hardly ever gets drunk." In all their years of friendship he had only ever seen Harry drunk half a dozen times and five of those were when rejoicing. The only other time Ron had seen Harry drunk, and not happy, was after Voldemort's defeat.
Ron did however suspect Harry had done the whole drunk festering routine in the privacy of his apartment in Sydney, shortly after leaving Hermione.
"Sure I can't interest you in some food?" Ron asked as Harry stared at him vacantly. "It might sober you up a bit. It's not good to drink on an empty stomach."
"What, and risk ruining the temporary bliss?" He asked with only mildly slurred words. "No thanks. All I need right now is a couple of shots, and then everything really will be dandy."
"Harry if you drink much more you will pass out." Ron said as he looked at Harry sympathetically.
"Precisely!" He said, before falling forwards and snoring.
"Oh come on then. Lets get you home." Ron said as he tried to nudge Harry awake to no success. Instead he drew Harry up under one arm, and dragged him out, back to their car.
Harry didn't awake for some time. He was having rather vivid dreams, though he couldn't say what it was really about. He remembered colours. There was a perfect greyness, unblemished, and smooth and it made him feel at peace, with himself, and with the world. Then something changed… There were more colours, dirty colours, which disgusted him in his sleep. They eventually faded, and the calm returned, only for the process to begin over and over. He woke up to a crack of thunder outside.
It took him several seconds to make up the time in his mind. He wasn't where he had been. As he looked round now he recognised that he was in Fred and George's old room. He had been tucked in bed, and had a damp flannel over his head. It probably contained something more than water, which misses Weasley claimed would cure a hang over. In Harry's opinion it merely served to give the room a bad smell.
It was dark outside now, which meant it was probably dinner time, or there abouts.
He tried calling, but his throat was dry from some sort of spirit. He glanced around, and after pulling himself up and putting his glasses on he spotted a glass of water that had been put on the bedside table. Misses Weasley was rather thoughtful at times.
He climbed out of bed unsteadily, but after taking a few steps found he was more stable on his feet than he would have thought. Rain pounded against the thin glass of the window, and Harry shuddered despite the warmth of the room. It wasn't a good night to be outside.
"Oh I see you're up." Arthur said from the living room as he finished the crossword he had been doing. He had just returned from work.
"It would seem so." Harry said as he looked round for Ron.
"Got a bit carried away with the fire whisky did you?" He asked with a smile. "I remember when I was your age…" He began before Harry cut him off.
"Have you seen Ron?" He didn't need another one of Arthur's childhood stories.
"Er yes certainly he is in the kitchen."
Harry walked into the kitchen to find Molly and Ron readying dinner. Molly was cooking it whilst Ron was supervising that none of it burnt. Something she was quite capable of doing without his assistance.
"Good afternoon Harry." Misses Weasley said as she took some cutlery out of the draw. "How is your head? If it hurts I have something which will clear it right up." She said. "Still you should know better than to drink too much. Honestly Harry you do know its not good for you." She said as she mothered him.
He was tempted to have a bit of a shout at her. When his life was how it was (a mess) drinking too much was a far more inclining idea than sitting round sulking. At least beer made sulking fun.
"Ron would you mind going and setting the table?" she asked him as she handed him some cutlery and placemats without waiting for a reply. "Now Harry you know your welcome to stay as long as you like. If there is one thing we have in this house it is space."
"Yes thank you Molly." He responded with a small smile. I may take you up on that offer, if it won't inconvenience you."
"Oh you know it won't." she said as she shook her head. "I'm sure Ron will enjoy it, save him driving round in that death trap of a car. Also it will give Ginny someone to talk to. Dinner is just about ready so if you would like to go and sit down I will bring everything through."
Harry offered to help her, but she was rather adamant that she could manage on her own. Harry personally suspected she was afraid he was still a little drunk, and would drop something. He took a seat one side of the table. Ginny say next to him, whilst Arthur and Molly sat at opposite ends and Ron sat opposite Harry. There was an empty place set next to Ron as though they were expecting another visitor. This wasn't actually the case but Molly's cooking was so liked that old members of the order often found themselves stopping by.
Dinner was as delicious as ever, though at times things did seem a little awkward. They tried to discuss things besides the wedding, as Ron seemed to have mentioned something along the lines of Harry not particularly liking Hermione's fiancé. This was fully understandable, given his sudden departure. She was as tactful as possible, yet it was unavoidable that at some point the subject of the wedding would come up.
"How long are you planning on staying?" Ginny asked.
"Er, about a week." He responded, not wanting to state that in a weeks time the wedding would be over, and he could get back on with his life.
After dinner Harry helped clean and dry the dishes, despite Molly's protests that she could do fine with magic. Harry had several long years of experience cleaning up after the Dursely's, so he could give any charm a run for its money.
"What would you like for desert?" Arthur asked as him and Ron surveyed various objects of cakey goodness."
"Mmm if you don't mind I don't think I will have anything at the moment. Im a bit full up at the moment."
"Suit yourself." Ron said as he cut a large cake in half and put one piece on his plate before offering the remaining half to his father, who after glancing down at his t shirt which was a little tight in the middle, gave a sad shake of his head and cut a smaller piece.
"I might just go for a spot of fresh air, I'm feeling a little dizzy." He said as he glanced out of the window. The rain was pouring down.
"In this weather?" Asked Molly in disbelief. "You should do not such thing; you will catch a death of cold!" She said warningly.
"Don't worry." He replied with a false smile. "I'm not going to go dancing in it or anything. I will take an umbrella. It's just for a few minutes." And with that he walked out of the dining room, and out of the front door, where he pulled on his jacket, and stepped into the pouring rain without the umbrella. He would get soaked, but he really didn't care."
Harry strode along the London streets, each one a mosaic of bubblegum bits of rubbish and squashed chips. Even the torrent of rain that came down upon them couldn't clean those streets. He didn't mind though. He knew where he was going, though he hadn't walked it before. Although it was a half hour walk it took him forty five minutes because he got lost a few times.
Within five minutes his clothes were completely soaked through, and his trousers hung uncomfortably, rubbing and making his legs soar. This however was if anything a good thing, for e found the greater his physical agitation the less he thought about his mental state. His jacket wasn't good for the rain either. His leather jacket was back in the room at the leaky cauldron he had booked, and so he only had the one from earlier which was more of a thick jumper, and simply served to absorb the rain like a large sponge.
"Could you check Harry is alright?" Molly asked several minutes after he had left. Ron got up from where he had been watching the start of a James Bond film. He didn't know which one it was, though it had just involved lots of Russians getting killed in a car chase. He suspected it was one of the ones with an evil villain. He opened the front door, and peered round the front garden, before coming to the correct conclusion, that Harry had indeed made a run for it.
"Oh bum… Mum is going to blame me." He said as he rolled his eyes before heading back in to report the news.
"Harry's gone." He said as his mother looked up at him expectantly.
"What do you mean?" She asked, despite being able to read on the clock on the wall that Harry was "Travelling."
"I dunno, maybe he went to pick up his luggage. I expect that is what it is."
Ron knew in reality where Harry would probably be heading, and he also knew Harry wouldn't be apparating, but there was no need to worry his mother.
"Oh don't worry Molly, Harry is a big boy, I'm sure he will be back later. No real man would miss the end of Golden Eye" Arthur said as he sat down on the sofa to enjoy the next two hours of quality man time.
Harry's walk was coming to an end. He was in a suburban part of London, and he was just coming down a street where there was a house, with a white car in the drive, and a woman named Hermione inside. He couldn't reason with himself why he was coming here now, after dinner time in the rain, other than the fact it seemed to have worked quite well two days ago. That and the fact he had a feeling, even if Adam would be there now…
He would be inside, with Hermione, probably talking to her, holding her, and touching her, with his foul impure hands of his, that weren't good enough on the basis that they didn't belong to Harry. Jealousy was probably the most powerful of forces in the world. It could drive a man insane and make things appear out of thin air. A jealous man can convince himself that his wife is having an affair, and then kill her for it. Harry wasn't sure how far his jealousy would take him, for he still had rationality, yet he knew there was more than one Othello in the world.
He came to the point of the street where Hermione's house was, though he didn't come any closer. He looked carefully at it. He could see from the ripple effect glass of the front door that the living room light was on, and that also that her bedroom light was on. The rest of the house was dark however. Harry watched curiously for a minute, as he battled with himself. What was he doing here? What would he say to her? He really had no idea.
Didn't Hermione deserve to be happy? If she was happy with Adam then wasn't that enough? He wondered about what love really was. They said that when you loved someone they were the most important person in the world. You would put them before you, die for them, and do anything they wanted. He knew there was a time when he put Hermione's feelings over his own, and perhaps he still did, but if that was the case then what was he doing now?
He was risking Hermione's feelings for his own. Was it not enough that she was happy? What right did he have to ask for anything more. Why should he ask for so much, was it human nature to never be satisfied and always want more. Was it also part of human nature to love yourself, That was the only reason why he could think he cared so much. Since when had love been so damn selfish?
Things just weren't clear anymore…
He walked over to the opposite side of the road, away from Hermione's house, where there was a street sign. It was the kind that is about three foot high, and made from either stone, or if newer, a kind of black plastic. He his as he tried to make sense of the storm in his mind, whilst not noticing the one all around him.
Roars of thunder were going through the sky, followed by flashes of lightning that illuminated the whole sky for a fraction of a second. It was like god was taking a photograph, so he had record off just how low a human could sink.
Inside the house Hermione was in her bedroom. She had just got changed into her pyjamas, for they were much more comfortable than her work clothes. She pulled her dressing gown around her for it was a little chilly outside. Not that she wanted to look. She was afraid of lightning. Hopefully all the rain would come down before the wedding, she thought to herself. Nothing like rain to ruin a wedding.
She began brushing her hair, as she sung softly to herself. She couldn't say what song it was, but it was just a tune she remembered from when she used to do her homework in the school library.
A particularly loud roll of thunder crashed from overhead causing the windows to shake slightly, and for Hermione to jump up in the air.
A bolt of lightning struck outside. She happened to be looking as it came down in the middle of the road. It couldn't have been more than ten meters from the house. The strange thing was though, something which scared her maybe more than the lightning and the thunder that followed was what she was.
She swore she saw a figure sitting out in the rain across the road. As the lightning struck, he didn't move at all, he just sat there, completely still with the rain pouring down. Perhaps he was dead?" She thought to herself. After all what kind of person wouldn't run and hide when a bolt of lightning strikes?
In the end she managed to convince herself that she was imaging it. There wouldn't be someone sitting outside in the rain. They would have to be mad. As she shook the thought away she turned the bedroom light off and walked back down to the living room. The house was quiet inside, with the weather being the only distraction. She drew all the curtains closed before turning on the TV. The signal was out, so she put a film on.
Harry sat on the street sign, so lost in his own thoughts that he wasn't thinking any more at all, just sitting like a lifeless puppet. He cast his eyes upward briefly, where he could see the silhouette of Hermione against the window, through the net curtains. She was no doubt going for an early night with him… a bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds, just over a meter away from Harry. He didn't move, but merely noticed that there was a small black scorch mark on the tarmac.
Lightning never strikes the same place twice, or so they say. He looked down to his feet, where he couldn't see any sort of scorch marks.
"Well I have chosen a good place then." He said to himself, though he could hardly hear his voice over the rain.
"Come on Lightning, do your worst." He said as he raised his fist in challenge against the heavens.
If he was lucky perhaps the lightning would kill him.
Hermione sat with the lights turned off, curled up under a blanket watching a horror movie. She should have known better than to choose one, for given the dark weather outside it increased the effect of the film several times over. At least when she was on her own she could be scared and not ashamed of it.
She has seen the film several times, so she knew how it went.
"Don't open the door." She pleaded with the character, who would shortly get hacked down by the man with the axe outside. The murdered knocked on the door, and after the young woman inside failed to answer he raised his axe above his head. He bought it down splintering against the door, at the exact moment her front door shook heavily as someone banged on it with their fist.
She jumped out of her chair as this happened, before hiding her head under he blanket. "He might think I'm out!" she thought briefly, before she regained her senses a little. This was real life. There was no murderer after her. It was just a visitor, late at night, in a pouring thunderstorm, when she was all alone. She lowered the blanket before summoning her courage, and proceeding to the front door.
She hesitated as she stood with her fingertips on the door handle, the sinister figure outside distorted by the ripple glass. With a final summoning of her courage she pulled open the door. With her arm raised ready.
"Do you believe in Déjà vu?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow before his eyes drifted up to the knife Hermione had poised above his head. She slumped back against the wall and held a hand to her heart.
"Are you trying to kill me?" She asked as she tried to regain her composure
"I could ask the same?" He said, as he remained standing in the rain.
"I thought… you were a murderer." She replied before pulling him into the house, having a quick glance round the street, and double locking the door as well as putting the chain on.
"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked him with a hint of anger.
"I thought you might fancy going for a sandwich." He lied. The simple reason, if there was one, was that he needed to see her.
"You walked all the way here… in the rain, to ask if I wanted a sandwich?" She asked with notable amounts of disbelief in her voice.
"I really want one Mione…" He said, in a tone that implied it was an illness.
"What were you saying about Déjà vu?" Hermione asked as she walked into the living room in turned the film off.
"I was just saying that the whole thing was kind of similar to when I arrived. You know I turn up in the middle of the rain, unannounced. The only difference was this time…"
"I'm not wearing a wedding dress and I was wielding a knife?" Hermione asked with a laugh.
"Actually I was going to say but this time Adam is here." He said with a pained smile as he peered round for the mystery man. Hermione fell silent for a moment before awkwardly replying.
"Actually, he isn't here. With the storm and they have had to cancel flights, he wont be back for another two days at least, though he assures me he wont miss the wedding!" Hermione said with a small laugh.
"So you're all alone?" Harry asked. Was this stroke of luck more than just that? Perhaps it was a gift or something, these rare moments that meant nothing to her, yet meant the world to him Perhaps it was divine intervention which had kept Adam from returning to his fiancé, or perhaps Harry was reading into it to much. He liked the first idea, but suspected the last.
"Yeah, I was just watching a movie before you turned up. It was a horror one which is why I was a bit edgy." As she said this there was a loud crack of thunder outside and Hermione jumped as though someone had shot at her.
"You wonder why you're jumpy." Harry said as he rolled his eyes. "You are sitting in the house alone, watching a horror movie with all the lights turned off. Fancy a coffee?"
"When did I say you could stay?" Hermione asked indignantly.
"Well firstly Hermione you did pull me in and lock the door after me, and secondly I know you well enough that you don't like to be alone during a storm." It was a small fact that Harry had remembered from a long time ago.
"Yeah, I guess your right. I suppose you can stay, as long as you keep to yourself." She said, despite her better judgement.
Harry went into the kitchen where he knocked up two mugs of coffee which he bought into the living room and placed down on the coffee table.
"I thought you really wanted a sandwich?" She asked accusingly, knowing there was plenty of bread in the kitchen.
"Oh well turns out I wasn't so much hungry as bored. Now are you gonna tell me what the film is about or am I going to have to guess" He asked as he slumped down on the sofa next to her, and hit the play button on the remote.
She didn't tell Harry what was going on in the film, but he didn't really need to know. It was like most teen horror films. Bad guy has a big blade, kills lots of people, primarily shrieking girls, gets shot, and comes back to life in equally poor sequel. It wasn't exactly The Godfather but Harry was happy enough to watch it with Hermione if it's what she wanted. When the film finished they talked for a while, until a large bolt of lightning shot down not far from the hose, and the lights flicked off.
Harry was now sitting in total darkness.
"Well this looks fun." He said brightly.
"It's not funny Harry. It's scary." Hermione said grumpily as she pawed around for her wand. "Oh my god my shin." She cursed as she whacked into the coffee table. "I can't remember where I put it…" She cursed.
"Put what?" Harry asked slyly as he gave his wrist a flick and the wand in his hand gave off a soft light which revealed the room and Hermione.
"You pig, you could have told me you had a wand. Now my legs going to be all bruised in the morning. You wonder why I left you." She joked.
"Why did you leave me?" Harry asked seriously as he remained sitting in the armchair.
"You may have forgotten Harry, but it was you who left, I didn't go anywhere."
"mmm perhaps. Personally I viewed it as a case of constructive dismissal; in much the same way as a boss can make your job so difficult you have to leave. It isn't their fault they had to leave.
"Well if that's what you want to tell yourself Harry." Hermione said as she gave up looking for her wand and slumped down into an old armchair opposite him.
"Well you could tell me differently if it pleases you."
"Harry, you know it wouldn't please me to go talking about that stuff. Why do you ask anyway? You were there and you know it as well as I do. The only thing you will get from dredging up the past is depressed. I'm getting married remember." She said with a small smile.
"Yes, I think I remember hearing something about that." Harry remarked, causing Hermione to tut. "But that doesn't stop you talking to me does it?"
"No but would you feel comfortable knowing your girlfriend was talking to an old boyfriend about why they split up?"
"I don't have a girlfriend." Harry said as he took a sip of his coffee, which he personally thought was rather poor compared to that which he made.
"You know what I meant."
"Yes, but Adam doesn't have to know. I'm just curious, so I don't make the same mistake in the future. I invested a lot emotionally, and I don't want to see it go to waste again." He lied. "I wondered what I did wrong." He asked.
"It's not something you did wrong Harry." Hermione sighed. "It's just that you were you, and you still are. The only way you could not have the same situation would be to not be yourself, which isn't something anyone can really do.
"You mean I'm someone no one could ever be?" Harry asked, knowing it wasn't what she meant, but being hurt none the less by her words.
"No…I just mean Harry you always saw things differently from me. I'm not saying you saw things the wrong way, just differently from me."
"If it's different from you then it must be wrong." Harry laughed, though he didn't find it funny.
"No. You always looked at things differently from Harry. I always saw things as what I had to do, and what I wanted. Sometimes they were the same, but other times they weren't. It's not like I wanted to work such long hours, but I needed to.
"You however Harry, didn't see it like that. You always saw things simply by values. You might not have to work such long hours, and I know you could afford not to work at all if you wanted to, but other people aren't the same. Just because I had work, or went out to lunch with a friend doesn't mean I would rather be doing that than being with you.
Harry didn't say anything in reply to this. There wasn't anything he could say. He knew this was how Hermione had viewed things but she was wrong. It wasn't stuff she had to do, it was simply stuff she chose to do. She never had to work, they had enough money to comfortably live, and she didn't have to go to lunch with a friend. She might say she did but she was either lying or mistaken. The fact she didn't see things his way showed that she just didn't put much thought into the situation.
How could anyone think any way other than him? It was simply logic, was it not?
"Mmmm if you say so." He eventually said, though several minutes had gone by, and it wasn't really an answer to what she said, so much as a break in the silence.
"See Harry, I told you it would do no good. You don't feel any differently from how you did then, and it was a shame but I could live with that. I told you there was no point in bringing it up."
"Well you see Hermione I always had something slightly strange, and I don't know if you ever found this." Harry asked as he paused hesitantly wondering whether or not to continue. "You see you always said that you loved me, and though I believed it when you said it, it didn't feel like it. I mean the logic part of my brain knew that you were telling the truth, but yet I still hurt when you missed my dinner for work, and my heart couldn't help but feel you were lying." He confessed.
"I know Harry." Hermione said sympathetically. "And I don't blame you. I'm sure you will find someone who will suit you fine one of these days." She said kindly, if not a little patronisingly.
"Mmm maybe." He responded. "Now anyway, tell me about this wedding, what sort of food are you going to have there?"
"Honestly!" Hermione said rolling her eyes as she stood up from the chair with the empty coffee cup in her hand. "Ron asked me that just last week. I swear all you men think about is food."
"Its not all we think about." Harry muttered as Hermione walked out of the room and towards the kitchen.
"And stop watching me walk." She called over her shoulder, causing him to blush. Harry rose from his seat and followed her into the kitchen, which was still rather well lit as unlike the living room the window was not covered with a thick velvet curtain, and a good amount of moonlight still shone in illuminating the room.
There was a loud clap of thunder from outside, to confirm that the storm was still on.
"That's strange." Hermione said as she peered out of the window. It seems that the neighbours still have the lights on. I guess it wasn't just a power cut after all. It must have blown our fuse by the looks of it." She sighed.
"Oh, alright then where is the fuse box?" Harry volunteered as he looked round the kitchen, expecting to see it on one of the walls.
"Is it under the stairs?" He asked after not spotting it.
"No it's down in the basement." Hermione said with a grimace. "And its cluttered like no bodies business, so I don't want you going down there in the dark.
"What it's so cluttered I can't squeeze my way through?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No it's not that, it's just that I don't want you messing it up…" She replied before catching the look on his face. "It's an organised mess!" She exclaimed, effectively closing the topic.
"Still I was planning on going to bed soon anyway." She said as she finally found her wand sitting by the edge of the sink. She light it up, so along with Harry's they had a reasonable amount of light between them.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Yeah I do mind, that's what the sofa is for." Hermione laughed. "You and your wondering hands!"