SIX
Harry wanted to patch things up with Hermione, but he wasn't sure how. He knew he had caused problems between Eric and her with the flowers he sent, but he couldn't help himself. He had been so happy to see her.
But he was also concerned. Hermione didn't look that good. She had dark shadows under her eyes and looked thinner. He worried not knowing the cause of her problems. Still, he couldn't deny she looked more beautiful than he remembered.
He had been a fool pushing her out of his life, but now he was willing to do whatever it took to keep her close. Even if it meant being just her best friend, pushing his feelings aside. She was involved with someone else, and even when it hurt to admit it, he was not in a position to demand anything from her. On the contrary, he was supposed to support her. Causing fights between her fiancé and her was definitely not the "best-friend" thing to do.
Wanting to get some advice from Ginny, Harry headed to the Quibblet's office, located in Diagon Alley. Once Ginny welcomed him, she led him to a conference room so they could talk privately - Ginny didn't have an office of her own.
They sat down. Before Harry could say the reason of his visit, Ginny told Harry about Hermione's break up and about Hermione's moving in with her. Harry tried to hide his happiness at the news, but failed to do it.
"I see you're glad to hear the news, aren't you?" said Ginny, looking at the grin on his face and the twinkle in his eyes.
"I can't deny it. I didn't quite like the guy," he said not meeting Ginny's eyes.
"Of course, you didn't," she repeated teasingly. Harry looked away. "Honestly Harry, you think I'm blind? You've always been crazy about her. I don't know what's stopped you."
Harry nodded. "I don't know either." He ran a hand through his hair and remained quiet for a while. Then, he leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees. "Now that they broke up, you think I should…"
"You should wait for a while," interrupted Ginny, knowing pretty well what he was about to say. "She needs time to be by herself, you know, think things through."
Then a thought came to his mind. "What if they get back together?" he asked in a panicky voice.
"Trust me Harry," Ginny said placing a hand on his arm. "That won't happen."
Keeping Ginny's advice in mind, but still not being able to hold himself, Harry decided to go straight to the girls' house right after leaving the Quibblet. Knowing that Hermione no longer lived with Eric, which made it a lot easier for him to visit her whenever he wanted, was great news for him.
--- * --- * --- * ---
Hermione was in her new bedroom. After she came back carrying her belongings, she sat on the floor, her back leaning on the bed, knees pulled up to her chest and held tightly by her arms.
Her mind was swirling. The last few days were replaying in her head. Just 24 hours ago, she was living with her fiancé. Now, she had moved in with her friend, her engagement and her entire romantic relationship finished.
It wasn't that she regretted breaking up with Eric. In the back of her head, she had thought about doing it quite a while ago, but now that it had actually happened she couldn't help feeling a sense of loss.
It had happened so fast, she hadn't had time to assimilate things. She had shared with Eric good times, which if truth must be told, were more than the bad ones. Still, she felt relieved as if a big load had been taken off of her shoulders.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Hermione heard it, but didn't process it. A couple of minutes later, it rang again, this time a little more insistently. As if woken up from a deep sleep, Hermione turned her face in that direction. Finally, she stood up, left her room and went to open the front door.
"Hey there!" greeted Harry.
Hermione looked at him, but didn't respond. Without waiting for her, Harry walked in and headed to the living room. She closed the door and followed him, wondering how he knew she was there. Harry saw her clueless expression.
"Ginny told me you were here," he said. "I… I owe you an apology. I never thought I would cause you all this trouble."
"It's not your fault, Harry," she said meeting his green eyes to assure him she was saying the truth. "Things were not going well between Eric and me way before you came back. I just hadn't had the courage to walk away." She was standing in the middle of the room, her arms crossed across her chest.
"Ginny also told me you went this morning to get your stuff," he said, taking one step closer to her. "How did it go?"
"How did it go?" she thought. That was a difficult question to answer. She could say it went well. After all, she had been able to leave the apartment almost unscratched and collected her things, but couldn't bring herself to saying it.
Thinking that perhaps she was just having a hard time coping with the break up, Harry got closer to her and caressed her arm trying to comfort her. Then, he thought of something.
"Was he there when you went this morning?" His voice sounded concerned.
She looked away and didn't respond. Harry realized the answer was yes. He knew her too well to know his question had made her feel anxious. And that only meant she had seen Eric that morning.
Harry wanted to look into her eyes to see what it was she wasn't saying. Gently, he pulled her head to make her face him. "You want to tell me what happened?" he asked in a whisper.
Hermione raised her left hand and rubbed her forehead with it. Just then Harry noticed something in her wrist he hadn't seen before. Quickly, he grabbed her arm.
"What's this?" he asked firmly.
Hermione had totally forgotten about the bruise Eric had left in her wrist that morning. Harry's question took her by surprise. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
"What happened?" said Harry in a much stronger voice. "Did he do this to you?"
"I, uh… no, uh… " Her always sharp mind let her down. She couldn't find a response that would convince Harry it was nothing. "Nothing happened," she finally managed to say, though not in a very convincing voice. "He didn't mean to… I was just…"
"He did this to you!" yelled Harry. He let go of her arm and took a few steps away from her, passing his hand through his hair. "I can't believe this. Oh, but just wait 'till I get my hands on that asshole."
"NO!" quickly said Hermione. The last thing she wanted was to make them face each other. "Harry, it's okay. Nothing happened. He… he didn't do anything. We were just struggling and …"
"You were struggling! Why?" Hermione covered her mouth with her hand. Her mind was not helping her. "What happened?"
Hermione walked away from him. She didn't want to open her mouth again, knowing she would only make things worse. Harry came to her and walked around to face her. He grabbed her by the shoulders forcing her to see him.
"Hermione," he said anxiously. "Did he try to hurt you?" She looked down. "Did he… did he try to force you?"
She didn't respond, but her reaction was more than clear. Her body was tense and her eyes were evasive. Harry felt a surge of rage coming from his insides. His fists tightened, turning his knuckles white. He started pacing around, breathing with difficulty.
As if suddenly taking a firm resolution, he headed for the door. Hermione, guessing was he was thinking, quickly stood on his way, holding him by the shoulders.
"Don't Harry!" she said firmly. "I don't want you to go looking for him."
He looked exasperated at her. "Why are you still trying to protect him? He doesn't deserve it!"
"I know, and I'm not protecting him. I just don't want you to make this worse than it already is." She looked straight at him, still not letting go of him. "I just want to forget about it, okay. Nothing happened. I'm okay and I won't see him again."
"How do you know that?" he quickly asked.
"I know it," she said, remembering the look in Eric's face after she hit him. "I just know it."
Seeing that Harry's body was relaxing, she let go of him. Harry took a deep breath to regain control of himself.
"He'd better stay away from you, for his own sake, or else I don't know if I'll be able to control myself."
--- * --- * --- * ---
Hermione went back to work the next day. She was more than willing to bring her life back to her normal routine. Work had always helped her to keep her mind busy and avoid thinking too much about the things she couldn't control, which of course had to do with Harry and Eric.
Work did keep her occupied. That Thursday - two days after leaving Eric - Hermione totally forgot about Ginny telling her Neville would be joining them for dinner. She only remembered it when she arrived home and found Ginny and Neville talking animatedly in the kitchen. To her surprise, Harry was also there.
"Hermione," said Ginny, while checking on a couple of pots on the stove. "Come join us. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."
Hermione greeted the guys as she was taking off her cloak. She placed it on a chair and walked towards Ginny.
"I'm sorry I'm late," she said taking a peak into the pots. "I totally forgot about dinner. I should've been here to help you."
"Don't worry about it. Neville helped me." Ginny winked at her boyfriend and blew him a kiss.
He was sitting on a high stool next to the island in the center of the kitchen. His face turned red at Ginny's comment. "Well, I tried to help. I only did what Gin told me."
"If you followed her instructions as well as you used to follow Hermione's at potions," added Harry with a teasingly tone. "Then, it should turn out good."
"I'm not as good at cooking as Hermione is at potion making," said Ginny, turning off the stove burners. Dinner was ready.
Hermione placed an arm over Ginny's shoulders. "Yes, you are! Molly is a great cook and I know she taught you everything you know. I wish she'd give me a few lessons. I definitely could use them."
The two girls laughed. Cooking was not exactly Hermione's strength. Just then, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," said Hermione, walking out of the kitchen. She went to the front door and quickly opened it. She froze at the threshold after seeing who it was.
"Hello Hermione," said Eric shyly.
Hermione didn't respond. She was not expecting to see him. She then heard footsteps coming from behind her. Before she could turn to see who it was, she heard an angry voice.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Harry demanded to know.
Ignoring Harry's interference, Eric looked at Hermione. "Can I talk to you?" he asked in a soft voice.
Quickly Harry step in front of Hermione and threw daggers at Eric with his eyes. "No! You can't," responded Harry for her.
Hermione placed a hand in Harry's arm trying to calm him down. His angry voice had attracted Ginny and Neville's attention and they had come out of the kitchen to see what was happening.
"Harry," said Hermione placing her body in between the two men. "Let me talk to him."
Harry looked at her as if she was out of her mind. "Of course not!" he replied angrily. "I'm not going to let you alone with this idiot."
Eric's jaw tightened at Harry's insult, but he remained silent. Hermione turned to Neville, pleading for help with her eyes.
"Hey man," said Neville, standing next to Harry and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we should just give them a minute to talk." Then, talking to Hermione he added, "We'll be right here in case you need us."
Eric looked at Harry and then at Hermione. "Can we take a walk?"
Harry was just about to respond to him, when Hermione quickly walked to Eric. "I'll be back," she said to Harry as she was closing the door.
Eric and Hermione walked down the street, silent for a few minutes. Eric seemed to be searching for the right words. He had opened its mouth to speak a couple of times, but had closed it almost immediately. Finally, he seemed determined.
"Hermione, I can't tell you how sorry I am," he said stopping and turning to face her. "For… my behavior the last time we saw each other." Hermione looked down, not wanting to talk about that.
"I was very upset and I had been drinking. I know that's not an excuse, but I want you to at least try to understand me." He took one of her hands in his and looked directly at her eyes. "You were everything for me. I wanted things to work for us, you know that."
Hermione looked away. Eric's feelings for her had never been the problem. She was the problem. Her feelings, which didn't respond to his, were the problem.
"But I know you don't feel the same." Surprised, Hermione looked at him. "I've known it for a long time, but I wanted to believe that my love would be enough to keep us together. I know now I was wrong and that it was selfish of me to try keeping you at my side." He looked at her hand still in his. "I just hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me."
Hermione placed her free hand on top of his and softly caressed it. "There's nothing to forgive." Eric looked up and found a warm smile on her face. He let go of her hand and pulled her in a hug.
--- * --- * --- * ---
About ten minutes after Hermione left with Eric, Harry walked out of the house. He stood in middle of the street wondering which direction they had taken. He felt anxious and wanted to make sure Hermione was okay.
"I shouldn't have let her go with him," he thought. "If that scumbag hurts her again…" but he didn't get a chance to finish his thought. At that moment, Hermione came into view from a side alley. Harry was glad to see that at least she looked alright.
"What happened?" he asked as soon as she was close enough. "What did he say to you?'
Even though Hermione appreciated him worrying for her, she felt a little overwhelmed by his over-protection. She let out a sigh and without responding started heading towards the front door. Harry stood in her way and looked questioningly at her.
"Well?"
Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Nothing happened. We just talked, okay?" Her voice sounded exasperated.
"Talked?" he repeated not quite convinced.
"Yes, talked." Hermione closed her eyes for a few seconds to calm down. She didn't fancy arguing with Harry, but he was getting to her nerves. "Look, I'm fine. We just patched some things we left pending, okay. I don't need you to worry about me."
"But I do worry about you. I want to make sure you're okay," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders.
Feeling frustrated, Hermione said, "Well I don't need you to take care of me. I've taken care of myself during the last five years. I very well can keep doing it."
Harry felt her last words as punches on his face. He knew he deserved them, but it still hurt to hear her say them.
"You don't know how much I regret leaving you alone all those years."
She looked at him, but wasn't able to keep his penetrating gaze. Knowing that was not the right time to talk to her about it, he dropped the subject and moved aside so she could walk into the house. After taking a couple deep breaths, he followed her.