"Ms. Granger, there is someone here to see you."
Hermione lifted her eyes from the document she was reading and looked at her secretary Annette. She closed her eyes in slight agitation. It has been such a long day; I just want to go home. I know that I didn't have any appointments this late but I guess it won't hurt to see who ever it is.
"Send them in but please make sure they know to be brief. I really would like to get home at a decent hour tonight." She said quietly
"Yes ma'am. Annette vacated the room, the door closing behind her. Hermione continued reading the file on her last patient, anxiously awaiting her visitor. Moments later a man entered the spacious office and closed the door behind him. He was strikingly handsome with jet black hair and electric green eyes. He wore rectangular glasses that complimented his attractive young face. Hermione felt his presence and looked up to welcome him, but the breath caught in her throat. She made to stand up quickly but lost her balance and plopped down in the chair. The man stood grinning from ear to ear.
"Hello Hermione. So sorry to just drop in like this but I needed to see you. If it's a bad time I can come back later. You're secretary told me to make it quick but I don't really know if I can do that."
Hermione was still speechless. After a moment of stunned silence, she finally regained the use of her legs and made a mad dash for the man. She latched her arms tightly around his neck as he stumbled backwards from the force of impact. He suddenly felt warm wetness on his shoulder and pulled away. He held Hermione at arms length and saw that she was crying quite profusely.
"No, no. None of that." He said, softly wiping the tears from her face. Hermione continued to cry, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder. She tried to speak but her words were barely audible.
"You've come back to me. My god. Harry Potter has finally come back to me." Just then she dissolved into a torrent of sobs and Harry caught her dead weight as she fainted into him.
Flashback Five Years
She walked away, couldn't say why she was leaving
She walked away, leaving all she had believed in
She walked away
The grounds of Hogwarts were deserted. Since Voldemort's defeat three weeks earlier, Professor Dumbledore called for term to end early. Other than the professors and a handful of other students, Ron and Hermione were the only ones left. They had been allowed to stay until the official end of term considering their loss. Dumbledore thought they should try and heal some before they went their separate ways for the summer holiday.
Ron and Hermione had been sitting by the lake for the majority of the day. They were scheduled to head out for Hogsmeade that evening to catch the Hogwarts Express back to Kings Cross station. The lake was shimmering in the afternoon sky but neither Ron nor Hermione could enjoy its beauty. How could they? Harry was gone; they couldn't sit around laughing and joking like everyone else. They sat still, just gazing at the lake, when Hermione spoke quietly.
"Ron, I'm leaving. I just wanted to let you know. I can't stay here. Harry was the love of my life and now that he's gone…I just can't stay." She looked at the ground, awaiting Ron's response. When he spoke, he too, was quiet.
"I understand Hermione, I really do, but do you think that running away is going to make anything better? Do you think that you can just leave and forget? I respect that you have to go, but honestly, I don't think it will help. You can't run away." He watched Hermione wipe silent tears from her eyes. "Where are you going? Can you tell me?"
"America. A small city in a backwoods state; some where no one will ever think to find me." Hermione stood and brushed the grass from her pants. The tears were streaming freely down her face now. Ron stood beside her and wiped them away to no avail. They hugged tightly in an embrace that seemed like it lasted forever. Finally Hermione broke away from Ron.
"Take care of yourself Ron. Hopefully some day we will meet again but this is for the best; I truly believe that."
"I know Hermione, I know. Please just be safe. I'll miss you."
The two hugged once more, their last embrace as the remaining two of the infamous Trio. Then she walked away.
Present: Florence, South Carolina USA
The office was getting a little stuffy. Harry sat on floor with Hermione's head resting in his lap. I hope she's ok, he thought, I didn't intend to give her a bleeding heart attack.
After a few more moments Hermione finally stirred. She sat up very slowly and turned around to see that she was face to face with Harry Potter. It all came flooding back. A surprise visitor, Harry standing in her office.
No, she thought, this is just a dream. He can't be here; he's dead. This isn't real. This isn't…Harry's arms wrapped around her shoulders jerking her back into reality. There were so many things she wanted to say as she stared into his bright eyes but she settled on the easiest question.
"How on earth did you find me here? I'm in Florence, South Carolina."
Harry chuckled and smiled kindly at her. She was so beautiful; a graceful woman of twenty-two.
"Well, I honestly don't know. No one knew where you went when you left London. I was ready to search the whole world for you, but that wasn't necessary. When it came time to find you, I just knew you were here. It was a feeling I couldn't shake. It was like a little voice in my head was screaming `she's in the States! She's in the States! I cast a locating spell, and voila, here you were."
Hermione stared at him in awe. He was so handsome; no longer the boy of seventeen that had disappeared five years ago. His face was chiseled with muscle and she could tell by looking at him that underneath his clothing hid a very lean and muscular body. They stared into each others' eyes for a moment and then Hermione spoke.
"Harry, I can't believe this, it's too much. You were dead. How is this possible? Where have you been all this time? How could you just leave me…?"
Harry all of a sudden had a look of the downtrodden. He cast his gaze to floor and spoke quietly.
"I want to tell you everything. You need to know everything. There is so much to tell that I don't really know where to begin. Perhaps we should go somewhere so we can talk. This is no short story to tell, Mione."
Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes. It had been five years since the man she loved called her that. Five long years, and now he was back. He was here; holding her, preparing to relive for her what was sure to be a painful story. She stood and helped Harry to his feet.
"We can go to my place and talk all we need to. I'm going to take the rest of the week off. We have a lot of catching up to do." She grabbed Harry's hand and led him from her office to the reception room where Annette was preparing to go home.
"Annette, I need to take some personal leave for the rest of the week. Can you please make sure that Dr. Vasler can take all of my patients? If he can't, call them and reschedule for sometime next week. If there is an emergency, you know how to reach me, although I would prefer to be left alone for the remainder of the week. Thank you."
Annette nodded her head in understanding and with that Harry and Hermione headed from her private practice towards her apartment.
Hermione's apartment was small but very homely. A bookshelf lined one of the living room walls and was crammed full of thick old volumes. Most were books she had acquired while at Hogwarts but there was also an assortment of mystery, and to Harry's amusement, romance novels.
Harry had expected the décor of the whole place to be stark white but was pleased to see that he was wrong as Hermione led him in and gave him a brief tour. The living room was a pleasant shade of peach with white chair rail that bisected the walls through the middle. The kitchen was small but a cheery rendition of canary yellow with a white linoleum floor. The bathroom was larger than Harry had expected but was decorated in a jungle theme. He laughed to himself as he noted the leopard print hand towels that had a white `H' engraved at the bottom corners. The only place Hermione didn't show Harry was her bedroom. Although he wondered why, he didn't ask. Hermione always had a good reason for doing or not doing things.
Harry took a seat on the sofa while Hermione put on a pot of tea. He noticed that on the mantle sat an array of pictures but none included himself or their other best friend, Ron Weasley. That's odd, he thought. I figured she would have tons of pictures of us all from Hogwarts. Hermione finally joined Harry on the couch and handed him a scalding cup of tea. He looked at her for a moment and decided to ask aloud what he had just been thinking.
"Hermione, why don't you have any pictures of you, me, and Ron out? I imagined you would have a great collection of us all from school."
Hermione sighed and looked down at the cup in her hands. She took a deep breath before finally speaking.
"Harry, why do you think I'm here? Why would I come such a long way from home? To forget, that's why. After you…left, I couldn't stay. I had to leave home and all things familiar so that I could heal. I don't indulge myself with relics from my past because it is just too painful. I had to forget. I was in too much pain, so I left; I walked away. I would rather have had a life alone and without memories than a life without you."
A tear trickled down her cheek and Harry wiped it away tenderly. Hermione smiled beneath his touch as she allowed herself, for the first time in years, to remember what it was like when he touched her. His hand had been much smoother then, not so callused as it was now. His touch seemed to melt away all the fear and hurt and replaced it with peace and calm. Hermione lifted her head and spoke timidly.
"Will you tell me? Can you? I need to know where you've been, why you just disappeared. Please Harry; I have to know why I've had to live the last five years without you."
Fresh tears spilled down her face, but she wiped them away determinedly. Harry looked into her pleading eyes and gathered all of his courage to tell her his tale.
**
"The final battle was brutal. You know that; you were there. So many people were hurt, killed. When I saw you and Ron fighting beside me, I knew what had to be done. I was able to lure Voldemort away from the main fray to some desolate part of the vast battle field. I knew that no matter how big our army was, the ultimate result rested solely on my shoulders.
We dueled fiercely for what seemed like forever. I somehow allowed Voldemort to get cocky, to think that he would win. It was foolish of me really, because he almost got the better of me. When he hit me with the Cruciatus, I thought it was over. Then I saw your face. I remembered the first time you told me you loved me and the first time we made love in the Room of Requirement. I thought about every good thing in my life and all the people that Voldemort took from me. When I saw my parents' faces and Hagrid's flash before my eyes, I felt the most hatred that I have ever felt in my life. I vowed that as long as I still breathed, he would not win. The sacrifices that were made would not be in vain. At that moment I concentrated on everyone who I loved and the intense hate that I felt towards Voldemort for killing some and threatening the lives of the others. He raised his wand to finish me but I was faster. Before I even realized what I was doing, I hit him with the Killing Curse. I watched as he disintegrated before my eyes into a pile of dust and robes. Bellatrix Lestrange told me that night in the department of mysteries that righteous anger wouldn't fuel an unforgivable curse; you really had to mean it for anything to happen.
I suppose now that I meant it more than I thought. Voldemort took so much from me and I wouldn't let him take anything else; especially not you or Ron. My mind was reeling with everything that was happening and that I had just killed someone. I dropped my wand on the ground and passed out from sheer exhaustion."
Hermione sat staring at Harry wide-eyed, her mouth slightly open. She wore a shocked expression and more tears were threatening to fall down her face but she didn't speak. Taking the silence as a cue, Harry continued.
"When I woke up I didn't know where I was. I knew that it was somewhere warm and sunny but it was nowhere familiar. My first thought was of you and Ron. I didn't know if you two had survived or not. I was left alone for what seemed like days to ponder whether I would ever see you again, but eventually Dumbeldore turned up. He told me that you and Ron were ok but everyone thought I was dead. He said we needed to keep it that way for a while in order to catch the handful of Death Eaters that got away. He told me that I was in a place called Trevail and that I would find it a very interesting place.
I stayed for what seemed like only a few months, gathering back all of my strength and then some. I missed you, though, and I knew it was time to finally come home. Right before I left Trevail, Dumbledore told me that I would find that the world had progressed and that I had been there for nearly five years; time moved differently in Trevail. It was an odd thing because I continued to grow and change as I would in normal reality. I to this day don't understand why, but I didn't really question it.
I returned two months ago and bought a flat right outside Hogsmeade. A week after I got back, I started looking for
you and now, here I am."
Harry concluded his story and drained his now cold cup of tea as Hermione continued to stare at him in amazement. Without a word she stood and faced Harry, who was still seated on the couch. She lifted up her shirt to just above her breasts and he let out a low gasp.
On her right side was a scar that ran from the bottom of her right breast and wrapped slightly around her side. It was very thin but was probably nine inches or so in length. Harry moved to the edge of the couch and lightly ran his finger down the length of the scar. Hermione shivered slightly beneath his touch and sighed as he continued to massage the scar. Harry looked into her eyes and saw that she was crying again.
"Hermione, who did this to you?" he asked, his voice low and filled with sadness.
"Dolohov, the Death Eater from the ministry, got a second go at me during the final battle. He used the same curse he used back in the Department but it was more powerful since this time he had the use of his voice. I wasn't quick enough to disarm him. I almost died. Ron saw me and somehow got me back to the castle in time. Madame Pomfrey saved my life but it took almost two months for me to completely heal. She said I will always have this scar."
Harry was the one crying now. He closed Hermione in a deathly tight hug as the two of them cried together for not only what was lost, but what had now been found again. In one fluid motion Hermione kissed Harry ferociously. He almost immediately returned the kiss with all the passion he possessed. Hermione tasted so sweet to him; like raspberries and cream. Harry was jerked back from his thoughts as Hermione dragged the two of them to her bedroom, never breaking the kiss. When they came up for air, Hermione quickly tore Harry's shirt away and took of his belt. Harry removed her shirt in much the same fashion as well as the rest of her clothes and his own. Seconds later they were embracing each other completely naked and as suddenly as Hermione had begun, she stopped. She looked desperately into Harry's eyes.
"I want you. I have waited five years to hold you in my arms again, to make love to you. I waited for you and now you're here. Make love to me; however you want to, but please just be with me. Take this gift that I have kept for you and you alone for so long."
A tear trickled down her cheek and Harry took her into his arms and laid her gently on the bed.
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