A/N: Some of you actually remembered! The song was "Don't Turn Around" by Ace of Base. I still have that cassette - I hope you all know what a cassette is, right? Or maybe I should say was. They're almost obsolete.
Anyhow, here's something you've been waiting for. I'm sure the chappie's title will give you a hint as of what's coming up. And as always, thank you all for taking the time to write a review. I sure appreciate them. J
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12. Making Peace
Harry walked to the beach. He had looked for Hermione inside the beach house, but she wasn't there. Since the sliding glass door that led to the beach was wide open, he reckoned she'd be out there.
As he started walking, he could see her further ahead. She was lying in the sand. He stood there for a while, pondering whether to go up to her or not. Finally, he decided to close the gap between them. He had already come all this way to talk to her; he wasn't going to walking away at the last minute.
Slowly, he continued walking towards her. As he was getting closer, he noticed something that made him swallow hard. She was wearing a red two-piece bathing suit. He had never seen her wearing something like that before.
He shook his head. "Focus Potter! Focus!" he told himself. "Sure…," he replied to himself in a mocking way.
Finally, he reached the spot where her lean body rested placidly on the warm sand. Unconsciously, he ran his eyes over her body. Her skin had a wonderful golden tan and a healthy glow. He could very well remember how soft her skin had felt under his touch.
Thinking she was sleeping, he took the opportunity to admire her curves. Flashes of their night together started to invade his mind. Suddenly she stirred and took her sunglasses off.
"Harry, what are you doing here?"
Harry cleared his throat, pushing those memories aside and quickly put on his defensive mask. "This is what you wanted, isn't?" he asked in a sarcastic way. "That I'd come looking for you!"
Hermione quickly stood up. She had no idea what Harry was talking about. A little voice inside her said, "Well, I did… kind of want him to come looking for me," she thought as he turned away from her, his hands on his waist. "But not to be mad at him!"
He was trying hard to keep his firm angry posture before her, but seeing her in that wonderful two-piece didn't let him think straight. "C'mon Potter! You can do it," he cheered himself on. "Just keep your balls cool. I mean… your brain cool."
Hermione was just wondering what he was upset about when she noticed he was looking at her from the corner of his eyes. A half smile appeared on her face. Perhaps he wasn't as mad as he wanted her to think. Then, he turned around to face her.
"You want to explain to me why you didn't sign the papers?" he asked, keeping his eyes fixed above her shoulders.
"The papers…"
"The divorce papers. You missed the deadline!" He spat at her. "Why didn't you respond?"
"I did!" she quickly replied.
Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "You did?" he repeated. "And where are they?"
Hermione replayed in her mind the day she received said papers. She remembered taking the envelope from the lady's hands, getting into her kitchen, going to her study and signing the papers. "I signed them…" she said. "And then… I, uh…"
Suddenly she remembered. After signing them she had tossed them aside on her desk, trying to forget all about what those papers implied.
"Damn it!" She said smacking her forehead.
Harry was having a desperate struggle with his impulses to keep his eyes focused on her face. Now that she was standing up, Harry had a better view. Even when his gaze was locked in her eyes, his senses were still aware of her barely covered body, her long, slender legs, her round hips, her well-defined waist, her flat stomach, her… well, everything.
As Harry heard her talking again, he forced his mind to concentrate.
"I forgot to send them back," she said, as she took a few steps away from Harry. He followed her with his eyes. "I did sign them Harry, I did! I just... forgot to return them." Her voice had gradually lowered to a barely audible level by the end of the sentence.
Harry turned away, giving his back to her. Thinking that he was now really getting upset with her, Hermione walked up to him and placed a hand in his arm. The unexpected physical contact made him jump as if hit by lighting. He quickly took a step back. Hermione, however, had no idea that he had turned away only trying to take his eyes off of her, trying to take a break from such torture.
"Harry," said Hermione softly. "Why is it that we have to fight every time we see each other? Does it mean that we can't keep being friends anymore?" She was about to add "now that you're with Sally," but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Harry looked down for a while and sighed. Then, he looked up, a shy smile on his handsome face. "I'm sorry, Hermione," he said. His voice had totally changed. No trace of anger left. "I reckon that bloody lawyer just filled my head with stupid ideas."
He sat down on her towel, his body relaxing as he spoke. "I knew you weren't interested in getting a bigger allowance. I shouldn't have listened to her."
Hermione looked questioningly at him as she sat next to him. "Allowance…"
"Yeah, the monthly allowance I offered you. Of course, it was stated in muggle currency, but you know the equivalence in gold, right?" said Harry. Then, looking at her puzzled expression, he added, "You did read the papers, didn't you?"
Hermione bit her bottom lip as she slowly shook her head.
"You didn't! Do you always sign legal documents without reading them?" he asked her in a teasing way.
"No…" she replied softly. "I just…" Hermione could've told him that she had not even tried to read the document because it hurt her, but she wasn't going to admit that to him. "I trust you," she finally said. "Which is true!" she thought.
Harry smiled at her and then turned his face to admire the sea before them.
"I knew it! It's just that… the lawyer called me late last night saying that you had missed the deadline. Then I went looking for you," he turned his head to smile at her. "And nobody knew where the hell you were," he said half amazed, half irritated. "Not even your parents. They didn't even know you were not in London."
Hermione looked down with a smile in her lips. "It's been a while since I stopped telling my parents about my every move, you know." Then looking up at him she said, "And... I appreciate your offer, but I don't need you to give me an allowance."
Harry smiled at her. "It's only fair, isn't?"
"Fair? I don't think I even remember what fair is," she said looking away.
They remained quiet for a while, admiring the view and enjoying each other's company. At last, their friendship seemed to be getting back to normal.
Hermione placed a hand on his shoulder and broke the silence. "I'm sorry, Harry. It was not my intention to cause you so much trouble. I didn't mean for you to come all the way here looking for me."
Then, an idea came to her mind. "Which reminds me… how did you know where to find me?"
Harry looked at her, a big grin in his face. "I, uh… well, we, Aurors that is, have… you know, special techniques to… find out people's whereabouts. Not that I 'm supposed to be telling you this."
"And are you supposed to use those special techniques for your personal business?" she asked in what tried to be a serious tone, but totally failed. She grabbed hold of his left wrist and looked at his watch. "11:30 a.m.! Well done, Potter. You found me in… what? Less than twelve hours?"
He simply smiled.
"You know," she said after a while. "I think you should reconsider asking Moody for some days off. You really need them Harry. You look tired."
He waved a hand as if to deny such thing. "The last time I asked for days off they didn't turn out to be as enjoyable as I had expected," he said not meeting her eyes.
"Yeah," she said. "You ended up married to me!"
Harry quickly looked at her. "That's not what I meant." But the smile on her face told him she was just kidding.
"Hey, how about you stay here today," she suggested as she hung to his arm. "I can show you around. You're going to like it. It's such a wonderful little place."
Harry thought about it for a while. "Alright. I reckon I can stay here for a while."
"Good!" she said as she stood up. "Then, I suggest we go grab some lunch first. I'm hungry." As she was talking, she walked over to where her big beach bag rested on the sand and took out some carefully folded clothes.
"Lunch sound great," he said as he watched her jump into a denim mini-skirt. "I haven't eaten since last night. I was about to enjoy my dinner when the blasted lawyer called." His eyes observed how she put on a white button shirt and his mouth opened as he realized she only did two of the bottom buttons, letting that devilish red top show.
"Damned Hermione!" he thought.
They started walking back to the beach house. Once they were out of the sand, she took out a pair of sandals out of her bag and put them on once she cleaned the sand of her feet.
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Hermione took Harry to the same little restaurant where she had enjoyed her lunch the last days. Harry was pleased to have agreed to stay. He liked the relaxed and quiet atmosphere of the little town.
A tall waiter came to their table and greeted Hermione warmly, "Bonjour Hermione."
"Bonjour Pierre," replied Hermione in perfect French.
"Savez-vous ce que vous aurez aujourd'hui?"
"Oui nous sommes prêts."
Harry stared at Hermione as she talked with the waiter. He had no idea Hermione could speak French so fluently. Hermione smiled at him as the waiter left.
"I ordered us some sandwiches," she said with a smile. Harry smiled back.
"I didn't know you could speak French. I bet you speak better French that that guy," he honestly added while looking at her with pride in his eyes.
Before arriving to the French village, Harry had feared to find that Hermione was not there alone. Now, he was more than pleased to see that she was by herself. "Of course that doesn't mean anything," he told himself. He was just trying to figure out a way to find out if Charles would be making an appearance later when Hermione broke the silence.
"Did I… cause you any problems for missing the deadline?" she asked without meeting his eyes. She then looked up and found a question mark on his face. "With Sally," she added to clear things up.
He smiled at her. But instead of responding her question directly, he replied by throwing another question at her.
"How is it that Charles let you missed the deadline? I thought he was going to send one of his messengers to deliver the papers immediately."
It was now her turn to smile. She shook her head as she let out a sigh. "Seems we've both made wrong assumptions."
"So you and Charles…"
"Of course not!" she said before he could finish his sentence. "I told you he's never seen me like anything else but a friend." She kept quiet for a while, then added. "To be honest with you, I prefer it hat way. I think it would've never worked out between us."
Harry looked right at her. He was glad not only to hear her saying that, but to confirm it in her brown eyes.
Feeling his strong gaze on her, Hermione tried to resume the conversation. "And… I reckon you and Sally aren't back together, are you?" she said softly.
Harry shook his head. "It's over between us." He thought that it was now his turn to be honest. "She went to see me a couple of weeks ago." He was about to tell her why Sally had gone looking for him, but decided it was best not to. "That's how I found out that Charles wanted to get divorced."
"And you thought it was because of me?" she asked just as their lunch arrived.
"Yeah," he replied after a while. "But I'm glad it's not like that. I mean… if you're okay with it."
Hermione turned to look at two kids who were happily riding their bicycles. "I am." Then, looking back at him, she added. "I reckon I should thank Sally for that. She helped me to clear out my thoughts."
"She did the same thing for me, too." He took a sip at his drink to then speak again. "Can I ask you something, Hermione?"
She nodded yes, and looked at him expectantly.
"Why did you marry me? I mean…" he said playing with his napkin. "You could've said something to stop the whole thing. They're your family after all."
Hermione thought about it. "Well, sure I could've said something, but I wasn't expecting you to stick around to the end. I thought you were going to be long gone by the time of the ceremony."
Sure, she had expected him to solve the problem without her having to open her mouth. "Or was I unconsciously wanting to marry him?" she thought. Hermione, of course, didn't mention that to him.
"Besides," she quickly added hoping he wouldn't read her thoughts. "I didn't want to be the one having to tell on her. It was not my place to say anything."
"I reckon you're right." After all, she had been dragged into the middle of the storm without asking for it.
Finally, Hermione told him all about her Aunt's condition. She wanted him to understand her reason for not opening her mouth, hoping he wouldn't think she had hidden reasons to marry him.
It all became clear to Harry know. He should've known that Hermione had strong reason for behaving the way she had besides Charles' peace of mind
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After lunch, Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the little town. There were a few antique shops that caught their attention and kept them busy for hours.
When the end of the day was approaching, Hermione dragged Harry back to the beach. She wanted him to experience the peaceful sensation she had enjoyed lately while contemplating the beautiful sunset.
They sat on the sand and remained quiet for a long time; just glad to be there, content to have each other.
"I'm glad to have you back," he said suddenly, placing his hand on top of hers.
She smiled warmly at him. "Me, too."
Harry looked at her brown eyes. They shined with light of the last sun rays, which give them a wonderful glow. Hermione held his gaze for a while until the silence became awkward. She lowered her eyes and locked away. Even a few seconds after she had looked away, she could still feel his eyes on her.
When the sun had completely disappeared under the sea, Harry stood up and stretched a hand out to her to help her get up as well. "I reckon I should get going," he said softly.
"Now?" she quickly asked, suddenly not wanting to let him go. "And just how are you going to get back to London at this hour?" she asked teasingly. "Don't tell me you have a portkey hidden in your pocket for such emergencies?"
Harry laughed at that. "Hey, that's not such a bad idea, you know."
She slapped him playfully in the arm. "Just wait until they hear about it in the Ministry." Then, changing her tone to a more serious one, she added, "Why don't you stay here tonight?"
Harry looked at her intensively, but remained silent for a while.
"There are plenty of rooms in the house," she added quickly, making an effort to take her eyes off of him.
He still didn't reply for a while. Apparently, he was giving it some thought. Finally, he spoke. "Alright, I'll stay here tonight."
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After Harry agreed to spend the night in the beach house, they headed back. Hermione led him to Alfred's bedroom, Mrs. Welsh's son. She was pretty sure Harry would fit into Alfred's clothes since they were about the same size.
"Are you sure this Alfred guy is not going to show up and find me wearing his pajamas?" he asked in a mocking way.
"Of course not," she said between giggles. "He's quite busy right now." Hermione explained to Harry that Alfred and his wife Sophie were expecting their first baby to arrive any day.
After reassuring Harry once more time that it was okay for him to wear those pajamas, Hermione finally said good night to Harry and went into the room she was staying in, right across the hallway.
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It was not easy for Hermione to sleep knowing Harry was just a few steps away from her. She had tried to block him out of her mind, but it wasn't working. She had spent such a wonderful day with him, walking around town, laughing at the silliest of things. It felt great to know he was not longer mad at her.
She had missed him so much.
But now that she was lying in bed, images of him were invading her thoughts. She could close her eyes and see how the sun had given his raven hair a shiny look while they were having lunch, how the sea breeze had played with his hair, making it messier than usual. A half smile came to her lips as she recognized he still looked so darn cute with his hair like that.
That day, her senses had been completely focused on him, carefully memorizing his every move. Just two weeks ago, she had taken the firm resolution to once again push her feelings aside and bury them as deep as she could.
But it wasn't going to be that easy this time.
She had tasted his lips. She had touched his skin. Sure, those memories gave her strength to keep going on, to keep breathing. But they also made her want more, need more…
With a sudden idea in her mind, Hermione threw the blankets aside and got out of bed. Quickly, she went to the door and walked out of the room.