Disclaimer: The characters and the world of Harry Potter came out of the brilliant mind of JK Rowling. I'm just an admirer.
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ONE
"Are you sure about this, Hermione?"
"Yes Harry, for the twelfth time, I'm sure."
"Well, just remember that if things don't work out the way you want, you can always come back home."
Hermione placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. She appreciated Harry worrying for her, but she had already made up her mind.
"I know. Besides, it's not like Greece is that far from here. A five-hour flight and you're there."
The whole gang - Ron, Ginny, Luna, Hermione, Harry, George, Fred and Neville - were at the twin's place, on the second level of their shop in Diagon Alley. They were having a kind of going away dinner for Hermione.
She had been awarded a scholarship to study at the Greek Academy for Healing Development in Athens. She had enrolled in one of the programs offered at the Academy to become a healer. It consisted of two years of intensive courses and six months of internship at the Academy's hospital.
One of the things Hermione liked the most about it was that the program was shorter than the three-year-courses-one-year-internship program offered at St. Mungo's. Also, the opportunity to live abroad at the ancient city of Athens was very appealing.
"So, Hermione, how are you getting to the airport tomorrow?" asked Ginny.
"I'll be taking a taxi," said Hermione while placing back on the table the bottle of butterbeer she was drinking.
They had finished dinner quite a while ago, but remained in the kitchen since it was the only room in the apartment big enough to hold all of them. The kitchen/dinning room was an open space. Some cabinets were lined along one of the walls, next to them there were an old stove and oven.
A few feet away, a square island stood in the middle. Ron and Fred were sitting there on a couple of stools. At the other side of the room, a wooden table for six took up most of the available space. The rest of the gang sat around it.
"Mum had originally offered to drive me, but she wasn't able to cancel some of her appointments so I told her not to worry."
"The independent girl can do it on her own," said Ron with a mocking smile on his face.
"You still don't believe I can take care of myself?" said Hermione defiantly.
Ron raised his hands signaling defeat. "I'm just saying, since you got this I-want-to-doing-it-on-my-own thing going."
"And what's wrong with that?" asked Luna looking at Ron as if she was ready to jump on him.
"Jeez girls! I was just kidding, alright?"
"Well I'm not," declared Hermione. "I want to show my parents I can survive on my own. The only thing they'll be paying for is my plane ticket. I'll be taking care of everything else."
"Exactly how are you going to do that?" asked Ginny. She was dying to finish her last year at Hogwarts and be able to get a place for herself, too.
"The scholarship will give me enough gold to cover tuition, books, supplies, all I need for my courses. If I manage it well, I may have a little leftover. Plus I'm going to be working at the Academy's library on the weekends so I can have some pocket money."
They all looked proudly at her. She sure had proved to everybody she could take care of herself, but nobody had expected that she'd be going away to study.
The final battle had taken place just a few months ago and they all were still trying to adjust to a normal life again. The relief felt when the Dark Lord was finally defeated had been bitter sweet. The lives of many great witches and wizards had been lost in the process. Some of them had been people close to them, like Moody, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Tonks, among others. Now they were trying to push all that aside and resume their lives.
"How is it that you haven't even left yet, and you already have a job?" wondered Neville, who was sitting across the table from where Hermione was.
"They happen to have this department for foreign students," explained Hermione. "They help you out to find housing, a job, you know, basically to get settled."
"You know Hermione," said Harry turning to her. "I can take you to the airport."
Hermione looked at him and smiled. "Harry, you don't have a car."
"I know, but I can get the taxi for you and we could go together."
Ginny and Luna, who were sitting at Harry's other side, looked at each other and smiled.
"I just don't want you to go alone," said Harry with a shy smile on his face.
"Thanks Harry," responded Hermione smiling back at him. "You don't have to, you know, but I appreciate it."
Besides wanting to get into a shorter program than the one at St. Mungo's and besides wanting to live in a wonderful city, one of the reasons Hermione had decided to go to Greece was to be away from Harry.
She was totally in love with him. Seeing him fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters had been agonizing for her. She had always hoped that some day he could respond to her feelings, but she had never seen in his eyes anything other than the love one has for a best friend.
So many times she had been in the verge of telling him how she felt, but there was one thing stopping her. She would never do anything to upset their friendship. To her, that was far more valuable than her feelings for Harry.
Hermione hoped distance would help her get over him, or at least ease the pain and tension she felt when being around him.
Hermione looked at her friends around the table. She sure was going to miss them, but she had to be brave and continue on the path she had traced for herself.
"What about you Harry?" asked Fred. "When do you start school?"
"In two weeks."
"I still can believe you're going to be a teacher man," said Ron standing up to get another butterbeer.
"C'mon Ron, don't you remember how great he was during our DA meetings?" reminded him Ginny.
"Well, I don't know how great I was, but I did enjoy them."
It had been a surprise to all when Harry had decided to leave his Auror dreams aside and enrolled in an institute for teaching that Professor McGonagall, the new Hogwarts' Headmistress, had suggested.
Professor McGonagall had originally offered Harry the post of DADA teacher at Hogwarts earlier that summer. Harry, however, had refused saying he needed more training.
"What do you mean more training? Don't you think you had more than enough Defense Against the Dark Arts training?" asked Professor McGonagall to an amused Harry.
"What I mean is training as a teacher, Professor."
"Oh! Well… that I can understand."
Harry smiled to himself as he remembered that talk. He had been assured by Professor McGonagall that the post of DADA would be waiting for him when his three-year studies were finished.
"I think I'm gonna head home now. I still have some things to pack," said Hermione while getting up.
Everyone stood up after her to hug and kiss her good-bye. This was the part Hermione hated, but she promised them she'd be coming home for Christmas.
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The following day, Harry and Hermione made their way to the airport on time. Harry had been quiet all the way from her parents' house to the airport. He hated to see her go. There was a part of him that wanted to tie her legs to a lamppost to keep her from boarding the plane that would take her away from him.
He was so used to having her around, to see her almost every day. But he was also proud of her and happy to see that she was going to fulfill her dreams. He had no right to stand in her way. As the friend he was, he was supposed to be supportive and encourage her every step of the way, even when it hurt to say good-bye. She deserved to have the chance to go out into the world and become her own person.
"Hermione?" Harry spoke with a soft voice.
"Yes Harry, I'm sure," said Hermione thinking that once again Harry was going to ask her the same question he had asked a hundred times.
Harry smiled. "Actually, I was going to wish you the best of luck."
"Oh! Sorry…"
Taking her hands in his, Harry got a little closer to her. "You're going to do great Hermione, I know it. You're very smart... of course, you already know that. I just, I'm going to miss you."
Harry was looking into her eyes in a way that made Hermione nervous. "I'm going to miss you, too," she said almost in a whisper.
Just then, a voice in the speaker system announced the last call to board the plane she had to take. Before letting go of her hands, Harry gave her a quick kiss in the corner of her mouth, perhaps a little too close to her lips.
To hide her flushed face from him, Hermione busied herself pretending to look for her boarding pass in her bag.
"Take care Hermione," said Harry when she finally walked up to the gate. He hugged her tightly for a few seconds and whisper in her ear, "See you soon."
After that, he saw her walk through the gate and into the plane. Harry stood by the big glass window and stayed there until the plane took off. He followed it with his eyes until it disappear form view, feeling that a part of him had left in that plane, too.