5. Not Alone
The morning sun started to creep into the living room of Hermione's flat. Hermione, however, didn't notice it. She was deeply asleep in the big, comfy couch. But she was not alone. A warm firm body was lying next to her, sweetly embracing her with one strong arm placed over her waist, the other under her neck.
Harry had been awake for a while, but not wanting to wake Hermione hadn't moved a finger. They were both lying on their sides, facing each other. Hermione with her back towards the couch. Since the moment Harry opened his eyes, he'd been contemplating Hermione's peaceful expression as she slept.
She had begged him to stay with her the previous night. Not willing to leave her alone in the condition she was, Harry agreed. At first, Harry thought he'd stayed only until Hermione would fall asleep, but as the night went he had also fallen asleep.
Now that Harry was admiring her soft features, he started to remember what happened just before he had wanted to leave. He had kissed Hermione. Harry could not believe it, but it was true. He had kissed her.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Harry thought. She had looked so frail, so broken down. Harry had never seen Hermione like that before, but of course that was no excuse for his behavior. When Hermione had broken up with her previous boyfriend, she hadn't even shed a tear whereas now... Harry was quite sure her pretty brown eyes were still going to be swollen after she'd wake up.
Harry himself had been surprised by the kiss, but he sure had been glad to see that Hermione had instantly forgotten about it. She didn't even mention it. "The again," Harry thought, "maybe she didn't even realize what happened. She was pretty upset."
But then Harry remembered something. "Hang on, she responded. She actually kissed me back." That was too much. He couldn't understand what evil force had possessed the two of them into kissing 'cause obviously they hadn't been themselves. "But I enjoyed it." And as Harry thought that, he looked at Hermione's lips. They looked so appealing, so inviting, so.... "Stop it!" Harry told himself.
Then Harry realized Hermione had placed one of her hands on his chest. Even though Harry was wearing a t-shirt, he could feel the warmth of her touch. He looked at her hand and then at his own, placed on her waist. He was amazed to see how small her hands looked compared to his. As he was smiling about that, Hermione opened her eyes.
"Good morning," Hermione said lazily.
"Morning, sleepy head."
Hermione smiled at Harry, and to him, the room didn't look brighter before. To avoid having to say something about the two of them sleeping together, Harry left the couch as quickly as he could.
"Well, we just slept together, nothing happened." he thought, but still couldn't help feeling awkward about it. Hermione stood up and started stretching to rid her body of the sleep. Harry smiled at the sight of her.
"Why don't you go and take a shower, and I'll fix us some breakfast," suggested Harry. Hermione was more than pleased with the idea, so she left leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.
Twenty minutes later, Hermione came into the kitchen wearing a pair of jeans and a yellow jumper. She found Harry had already set the table ready. There were french toast, fresh fruit, coffee and orange juice. Both of them sat down and ate talking about the wonderful breakfasts they used to enjoy at Hogwarts.
"Do you have any plans for today," asked Harry as they both began to clean the table.
"None," said Hermione while shaking her head.
"What do you say we go to Hogsmead and spend all day there." Harry was resolute to keep Hermione busy so that she wouldn't start thinking about Steven. "We could take a picnic basket and find somewhere nice to eat. Hey, we could even sneak in to Hogwarts and pay a visit to the giant squid."
Hermione laughed at the thought. She knew what Harry was trying to do and felt thankful that he had been the one suggesting they'd spend the day together. She didn't feel like being alone. So they started to pack a picnic basket with fruit, sandwiches, cheese, crackers, and a jar of pumpkin juice. Before heading to Hogsmead, they made a stop at Harry's place so he could shower.
Harry and Hermione spent all morning and part of the afternoon going from shop to shop. They had left their picnic basket in Madam Rosmerta's care so they wouldn't have to carry it all day. Hermione felt great. She didn't think about Steven at all. Harry made a great job at entertaining her and keeping her mind busy. She took the opportunity and bought a new book she'd been wanting for a while whereas Harry bought the biggest box of chocolate frogs he could find.
"What are you going to do with so many chocolates?" asked Hermione. She had been laughing all morning her cheeks had started to hurt.
"Eat them, of course."
Well past three o'clock, they headed to the Three Broomsticks to get their picnic basket, and after thanking Madam Rosmerta and promising they'll be back later for a couple of butterbeers, they took the road towards to outside of the village.
It was a wonderful spring day. The trees had started to blossom giving coloured sprinkles to the green leaves. The chirps of different birds could be heard through the big trees as if calling out for each other. A gentle breezy, that helped keep the temperature at a comfortable degree, was playing with Hermione's hair, which she had let down. Trying to keep it our of her face, she tacked it behind her ears.
"I wish I'd tied my hair."
Harry looked at her. He passed a hand over her brown hair. In his fingers, it felt soft and silky. "I like it when you let it down."
Hermione made a funny sound with her throat, as if trying to say yeah, right. "Especially when it's windy, right?" said Hermione in a sarcastic tone. Harry smiled.
After they had been walking for more than half an hour, they found a very nice spot in between two big trees. The ground was carpeted with green grass, and to make the spot even better, they could see the mountains just ahead. It was an amazing view.
Harry spread out the blanket they had brought along, and sat inviting Hermione to do the same with a movement of his hand. She sat and started to take out the contents of their basket. While they were eating, the conversation shifted to their years at Hogwarts and their visits to Hogsmead during that time. Both of them laughed remembering how everybody had been afraid of even walking by the Shrieking Shack, when in fact it had just being Lupin's monthly hide out.
For a moment, Harry focused all of his attention in Hermione's laugh. He just loved to see her like this, with the sun in her face, the wind through her hair, and the sound of her laugh. Unconsciously, Harry stared at Hermione's lips and recalled their taste. To his surprise he found himself wishing he could kiss them again.
Hermione realized Harry was staring at her and stopped laughing. As she pulled a strand of hair away from her face, she looked at Harry. What was that she was seeing in his face? What was he thinking about? Hermione had not felt so aware of Harry's gaze until then. It was as if he wanted to memorize every line of her face.
Unable to hold his gaze, Hermione looked away. For a reason she could not explain, she had started to feel nervous by Harry intense look. She had even flushed. To make sure he wouldn't see this, she stood up and took a couple of steps away from Harry.
Harry then realized what he had been doing and shook his head. "What the hell is wrong with me?" He couldn't understand why all of a sudden Hermione looked different to him, though he could not say in which way. He just knew that something had changed.
When he saw Hermione had turned quiet and walked away, Harry assumed she was thinking about Steven. So, he got up and walked to her, standing right beside her. Without looking at her but at the view he had in front he asked, "What are you going to do now?"
Hermione hadn't even noticed that Harry was next to her. She had been so distracted by her thoughts. Harry's words brought her back to reality, but she wasn't sure what he had meant by that. Harry looked at her and after seeing her puzzled expression added, "about Steven."
"Oh... I don't know."
"Why don't you take a few days off?" suggested Harry. He was worried that as soon as Hermione'd see Steven again, he'd find a way to convince her. If Harry was sure of one thing that was he did not wanted to see Hermione near Steven ever again.
"Of work, you mean?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah!"
Hermione thought about it for a while, but immediately came to a conclusion. "I can't do that. I'm not going to put my life in hold just because of him." Hermione turned to face Harry. Her voice sounded resolute and firm. Harry was glad to see that.
"I'm not going to hide from him, Harry. I'm not afraid of him"
With great effort, Harry stopped himself from saying "I am", but thought better not to. He was glad she was taking this attitude, but wasn't sure she'd be this firm once Steven was in front of her.
The truth was that Hermione felt exactly as Harry suspected. She was in fact afraid of her own reaction, but she didn't want to voice it. To say it out loud would be like admitting she had no hope. And she wanted to believe she could stay away from him as she intended. She wasn't going to give in. She had to be strong even if she felt her insides were burning.
Guessing what was going through Hermione's mind, Harry took her hands in his and pulled her closer. "You're not alone," said in a soft voice. "Don't forget that. I'll always be there."
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Hermione's determination was tested on Monday when she went back to work. She thought that the weekend had helped her get ready enough for the unavoidable encounter.
She had spent Sunday at the Burrow. Molly had asked Harry, Ron, the twins and Hermione to come for lunch. Being surrounded by her friends had given her the hope that she'd be able to survive at work.
However, when she saw him that morning, she froze and immediately turned away. Steven hadn't even seen her. She had turned so quickly into an adjacent hallway that she almost went into the men's bathroom.
Making sure she was going into the ladies' bathroom, she walked in to regain her strength. Maybe Harry had been right. She should take a few days off. Make as much distance between her and Steven as possible. But after thinking about it for a while, Hermione realized it'd be useless. Sooner or later, she'd have to face him. Still, she hoped it could be as later as possible.
A few minutes later, Hermione left and got into her office as soon as she could without running. All through the day, she made her best effort to avoid the places where she knew she could see Steven.
Some place deep underground the city, Harry waited impatiently for the working day to end. He had been as anxious as Hermione about her seeing Steven at work. His plan had been to go and have lunch with her, but as he was getting ready to leave, an owl-delivered memo let him know he was supposed to attend an urgent meeting that had just been called for.
There had been some big problems with an identified creature in northern Ireland and they were requesting the assistance of the Ministry to solve the matter. Agents from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures would be going, but they had also requested a pair of Aurors to come along since it was suspected the creature had been illegally created with dark magic. Alastor Moody, head of the Auror Department was asking for a couple of volunteers to send out.
Under normal circumstances, Harry would've volunteered to help. But he just couldn't leave London at the time, not with Hermione having to deal with the Steven situation. He definitely was not going to leave her alone.
Inevitably, Harry had to wait until a little after 4 p.m. to leave the Ministry. Even though he wasn't going to Ireland. He had had to help out with some of the arrangements for the Aurors that were going.
As soon as he could, Harry arrived at St. Mungo's and quickly went straight to the fourth floor. He felt very anxious when he saw she wasn't at her office. Harry wished she would've stayed in her office all day. In fact, if he could've, he'd have locked her up in there himself.
Shaking that ridiculous idea of his mind, he tried to think were she could be. Every time Harry had visited Hermione at work, he had only been at her office. He knew that from time to time she had to work at the lab, but had no idea in which direction the lab was supposed to be.
He looked up and down the hallway. There wasn't anybody he could ask to. Trying hard to guess which direction to take, he decided to go east.
Hermione had in fact been at the lab, but at that time, she was heading back to her office. But before she could turn into the hallway that lead to her office, she felt a strong hand holding her arm.
"You've been avoiding me, haven't you?" said Steven in Hermione's ear.
Hermione was just thinking what to respond when he pulled her towards him and grabbed both her arms. Their faces were just a few inches apart. "You can hide from me."
"Let go of me." Hermione's voice sounded cold, distant. She was surprised to see that in fact she was able to stay calm. "If you don't let me go, I'll..."
"What? You're going to do something to me?" said Steven, his voice full of sarcasm. "Are you going to jinx me?
"She's not, but I will."
Steven turned around, letting go of Hermione's arms, and found Harry standing not far from them. If Harry's eyes were daggers, he'd have stabbed Steven and ripped him to pieces. In two big steps, Harry was next to them. He pulled Hermione to his side and stood in front of her, covering her body with his.
"Oh... but of course, it's the savior of the world," said Steven, who couldn't hide his anger and frustration. "The greatest hero, coming to the rescue."
"Listen to me Steven, 'cause I'm only going to say this once," Harry had gotten closer to Steven. So close he could've bitten Steven's nose. "Stay away from Hermione."
"And who you think you are to tell me that?"
"I'm her boyfriend." Harry hadn't moved his eyes away from Steven, and he looked ready to strike.
"I knew it!" Steven tried to walk toward Hermione, but Harry moved quickly placing himself once again between them. "I knew there was something going on here, why you little..."
But he wasn't able to say the insulting words that almost came out of his mouth. Harry strong fist had suddenly collided with Steven's pretty face. Steven who had not expected this, stumbled back and feel to the ground. It wasn't usual for wizards to make use of such muggle brutality, but Harry remembered quite well the lessons he had received from Dudley and his friends. Hermione gasped and quickly grabbed Harry's arm pulling him back to keep them form fighting, but it wasn't necessary.
Steven got up and gave Harry his dirtiest look. "This is not going to be the end of this." And as he began to walk away, Steven added, "Mark my words, we'll see each other again Potter."
"Whenever you want. You know where to find me."