A/N: After reading some of the reviews, I noticed that I didn't do a good job writing the last part of Chap. 10. The whole thing about the cookies was meant to be a joke. Since the situation was kind of tense, Harry -actually me as the writer - wanted to make an uncomfortable moment feel less tense. I guess I just didn't manage it that well. Harry does care more about what Hermione could have thought after seeing Lola than about the cookies. Just wanted to clear that out.
BTW, there's only one more chapter to come after this one.
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ELEVEN
After hearing what Lola and Carlos had to say, Harry run to Ginny's house. He knew Hermione must have taken things the wrong way. When Ginny opened up the door to him, she looked questioningly at him.
"Is Hermione here?" he asked, without even saying hello first.
"Hermione?" repeated a surprised Ginny. "I thought she was with you. She went to see you hours ago."
Harry passed a hand through his raven hair. He was afraid Hermione may do something stupid, like go back to Eric. "Yes! I know that. It's just that, well …."
"You argued!?"
"Not exactly, I didn't even see her."
Ginny looked at him, now completely confused. In as few words as he could, Harry explained to Ginny what had happened, hoping she'd be able to guess where she may be.
"Are you sure she's your friend's girlfriend?" asked Ginny teasingly. Harry looked at her with exasperation written all over his handsome face. "Just kidding!" added Ginny between giggles.
"Ginny, please… do you have any idea where Hermione could have gone?" asked Harry desperately. He felt he was wasting valuable minutes. "I need to find her."
Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side, thinking hard. "Well, I'm sure she didn't go to her parents'. She's had some issues with her mother lately." Ginny started pacing around. Harry was looking form Ginny to his wristwatch. "I know she wouldn't have gone to Luna's. She and Ron are having dinner at the Burrow tonight."
Harry was about to tell her to forget about and that he'd look for her on his own, when Ginny's face illuminated.
"Hang on, I think I know where she may be."
--- * --- * --- * --- * ---
It was no use. No matter where Hermione would hide, the disappointment and the pain she felt weren't going to go away. She had been in her office for almost three hours and she hadn't been able to take it all out of her mind.
Resigned, she decided to go home. She walked out of her office and guided her steps towards the lift. She was waiting for it to arrive when she heard a voice coming form behind her.
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. Ms. Granger!" a voice said in a mocking way.
Hermione recognized that voice immediately. For some reason, she always felt nauseous whenever she heard it too close to her.
"Malfoy," said Hermione turning around to face him. "I can't say it's a pleasure to see you."
During the final battle, Malfoy had turned against the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. He had helped the Ministry even before those last days, sending anonymous notes with very detailed information. Still, even when he changed sides, his enmity with the trio - and especially with Harry - had not gone away.
"That makes two of us!" he replied sarcastically, walking closer to her.
"And just what are you doing walking around the Ministry corridors at this hour," Malfoy said.
"That's not really your concern, is it?" added Hermione quickly in a defiant tone.
Malfoy smiled at that. "For Merlin's bird! Nothing that relates to you is my concern."
"Save your energy Malfoy," said Hermione firmly. "Your words don't bother me. Perhaps you haven't noticed,…" she said also getting closer to him. They were just a step away from each other. "…but I don't care about what you think."
"Perhaps you should," he added in a slimy tone. "Regardless of what an important position you may hold in the Ministry Granger, you will never stop being who you really are… a filthy mudblood! Even Potter realized it. He doesn't hang around you that much, does he?"
Immediately, Hermione took out her wand and pointed it directly to Malfoy's groin. "Keep your mouth shut Malfoy," said Hermione strongly. "Unless you want to lose your precious jewels."
Malfoy looked nervously at Hermione's wand. Her hand was firm and her eyes were defiant. She was quite mad, and she wouldn't mind taking this opportunity to vent her anger on him. Slowly, Malfoy pushed her hand away from him, while keeping his eyes locked on hers.
"Now, be nice Granger," he said. "You wouldn't want to play rough with me." Getting even closer to her, he spoke almost touching her nose with his. "I know some tricks you wouldn't want me to show you."
Without moving back, but holding his gaze, Hermione replied. "I'm not afraid of you. And believe me, I also know a few tricks."
Both of them had been so focused on defying each one, they didn't notice someone else had arrived.
"Get you ugly face off of her!"
Malfoy jumped at the sound of Harry's voice. "Potter. What a coincidence.! We were just talking about you," he said, sarcasm dripping in his voice. "But I must say, if you came to the rescue of our lovely… Ms. Granger here, you've wasted your time." Then looking at Hermione again, he added, "She doesn't need any help."
After saying that, he slowly walk backward to then finally turn and go away in the same direction he came form. For the first time since Harry had arrived, Hermione looked at him. Harry was sad to see there was so much pain in those brown eyes he loved so much.
"We need to talk."
Looking away, Hermione replied. "We have nothing to talk." She walked towards the lift, in which Harry had arrived, and got in. Quickly Harry got in after her.
"Yes we do," he said firmly.
As soon as the lift stopped, Hermione walked out. She was about to get away when Harry grabbed her by the elbow.
"I'm not letting you go until you heard me!"
Hermione sighed. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked directly at Harry. "I'm listening," she said.
"Okay," Harry thought. He let go of her elbow and took a deep breath, hoping that Merlin would put the right words in his mouth. "I know you went looking for me. Lola told me."
An exasperated sound came out of Hermione's throat. She didn't care about the woman's name. Seeing her reaction, Harry quickly grabbed her wrist to make sure she wouldn't run away.
"Listen to me! I have nothing to do with her," he said in a clear, firm way. "She's my friend Carlos' girlfriend. Both of them are spending the night in my place."
Hermione rolled her eyes on him.
"I've known the two of them for a few years now. I know I hadn't mentioned them to you, but… it never occur to me that something like this would happen." He looked right into her brown eyes and got closer to her. Hermione remained silent. Harry was afraid she hadn't even listened to him at all.
"So, you see... she's just a friend," said Harry, trying to help her mind process the information. "I wasn't even in the house when you showed up. I would never do something like that to you."
Hermione grabbed a strand of hair in her fingers and played nervously with it. After a few seconds, she finally spoke. "How can I know this is true?" she asked.
"You can come and meet them," he quickly responded. "In fact, they offered to explain things to you, but I thought I could convince you on my own."
Hermione looked down at her feet for a while. She wasn't sure exactly when or if she had agreed, but before she knew it, they arrived at Harry's place.
--- * --- * --- * ---
Hermione was pretty sure she would feel quite embarrassed meeting Harry's friends, after all the mixed up she had made. On the contrary, they made her feel as if nothing had happened.
"You don't know how great it is to finally meet you," said Carlos squeezing Hermione's hand. "We've heard so much about you."
"You mean… since this morning?" asked Hermione.
"Since always," said Carlos between chuckles. "Since the first day we met Harry. Somehow you would always come out in the conversation. Hermione used to say this… Hermione wouldn't have done that… Hermione sure would love to see this."
Hermione looked at Harry to see his reaction. He smiled, not looking at her. She then looked back at Carlos.
"Must have been quite boring I'm sure," she said.
"A lot," responded Carlos teasingly, but soon regretted it. Lola elbowed him in the ribs. "But I understand him, though." Then looking into his girl's eyes, he said, "I know what it's like to be crazy about a girl. She's all you're able to think about."
Looking quite pleased by that, Lola placed an arm over his shoulders. "You do?" she asked him.
"Of course. Tu sabes cuanto te quiero amor." Lovingly, Lola placed a kiss in her boyfriend's lips. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and smiled.
"Sorry, guys," said Carlos as soon as Lola released him.
"Don't mention it!" said Harry. "Well… what do you guys say we all go out for dinner?"
Harry took them to a muggle restaurant in the city. During dinner, Hermione found out that Carlos and Lola were only staying at Harry's for that night. They were really headed to Spain, but had decided to stop in London to say hello to Harry.
"Can't you stay at least one more day?" asked Harry.
"Sorry, but we can't," replied Carlos. "Some of Lola's cousin's are expecting us in Madrid. We're celebrating Lola's birthday there!"
"Some of your cousins?" asked Hermione curiously. "May I ask how many cousins you have?"
Lola looked at Carlos and smiled. "Quite a few," she responded.
"Like how many?" insisted Harry. "Four, five?"
"Well, including my sisters and I we're a total of 28 cousins, first cousins!" Then looking at Hermione's and Harry's open mouths, she added, "and that's just on my mom's side of the family."
She proceeded to tell them she was part of a big family, quite the Latino style. The only big family Harry and Hermione knew were the Weasleys, who added up to a dozen - that was already big enough. Being Harry and Hermione single kids, they both would have loved to grow up in a big family.
--- * --- * --- * ---
After dinner, Harry took Hermione home - Carlos and Lola were in the car with them. He parked right in front of her house. He quickly got out of the car and opened the door for her. After saying good bye to Carlos and Lola, she walked towards the front door with Harry at her side.
There were a lot of things they had to say to each other. Harry looked at the car. His friends were waiting for him. He turned his back on them to face Hermione. Slowly, he grabbed one of her hands and caressed it gently.
"Can I see you tomorrow?" he asked, his voice sounding more as a plea than a question.
"Of course," responded Hermione in a soft voice.
Harry smiled. He looked right into her eyes and was happy to see there was no trace of the anger he had seen that evening at the Ministry, nor was the resentment of the previous days. Not being able to stop himself, he leaned forward. Just before reaching her lips, he stopped to give her a chance to back away, in case she wanted to, but was quite glad to see she didn't.
Instead, she smiled at him and closed the distance between their mouths. Leaving aside anything else that wasn't the love they felt foe each other, their lips finally found each other. Harry's lips eagerly took in hers, while she responded equally.
In the sweetest kiss, Harry made her a promise - he would never leave her again.
--- * --- * --- * ---
The next morning Hermione woke up quite energized. Sleeping through the night was happening more and more often for her, without assistance from a sleeping draught. She got to work more than ready to get her day going. Even though it was a rainy day, the day had never looked better to her.
Harry had sent her a note earlier that morning at her house. Before she woke up, Hedwig had arrived and was patiently waiting for her to wake up sitting on top of her desk. Apparently, she had been told not to interfere with her sleep time.
Harry had a few things to take care of during the day, so he was going to pick her up after work. They would be having dinner at Harry's. He was going to cook for her.
Hermione waited impatiently for the day to end. She felt anxious, even a little nervous - like a fifteen year old waiting for her first date to start. Twenty minutes before four, the time Harry was picking her up, she went to the ladies' toilet wanting to check on her hair and make-up.
She knew Harry didn't pay attention to those details. Still, she wanted to look good. She smiled at her image on the mirror, satisfied with her reflection. She took off the coat of her paint suit to make her outfit look a bit more relaxed. Finally, she undo the bun that had tied her curls all day and let them hang freely.
Exactly at four, a knock on her office door announced Harry's arrival. She sure was thankful that Debbie had taken the day off. She wouldn't have wanted Debbie's bubbly personality to make things uncomfortable.
"Hey there," he greeted after he stepped into her office. "You ready?"
Hermione was about to say "I've been ready for years", but limited herself to a simple "Yes."
They left the office and headed towards the lift. Once they were ascending, Harry turned to her. He looked at her long curls. He loved to see her with her hair down. He run his fingers through her hair, grabbing some of her curls. Slowly, he brought them up to his nose.
"I just love your hair," he said to her.
Hermione was going to say "And I love you," but Harry gave her no chance. He closed his arms around her waist and brought her closer to him. Seconds later, he was kissing her desperately.
His tongue started tracing her lips, begging for entrance. She responded to his touch, melting in his arms. There was nothing stopping them now. No resentment, no guilt, no misunderstandings, no Eric.
They felt the need to breath a few seconds after the lift opened up. A couple of old wizards that had been waiting for the lift were looking at them, frozen in the spot, with their mouths wide open.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and smiled. Not caring about the old wizards, they walked pass them and headed out of the Ministry.