A/N: I just want to say Thanks to my wonderful beta. She's great!! Also, BIG Thanks to those who read and take a few extra minutes to review. J
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2. Betrayals
"Harry! What are you doing here?"
Loads of wild ideas came up in Hermione's mind. What was Harry doing there? Was he in one of his Auror missions? Was he looking for some dark wizard among the wedding's guests? Instinctively, Hermione touched her wand, which she had disguised as a hairpin, ready to grab it if needed.
Not only Harry's unexpected presence was surprising. The expression on his face made Hermione feel uneasy as well. She had only seen him like this in a couple of occasions before, during the Second War, and that alone put her on edge.
Harry, who also seemed surprised to find Hermione there, finally walked up to her and spoke.
"Hermione!" Harry looked around checking the surrounding area. "Why are you here?" he asked looking back at her.
"What do you mean? I'm… I'm here for my cousin's wedding," replied Hermione, confused by Harry's question.
"Your cousin?" asked Harry getting closer to her, a tone of urgency in his voice.
"Yes. Sally, my cousin," replied Hermione. She was feeling very anxious and Harry was not helping her much.
"Your cousin! She's your cousin!" Harry laughed in a way Hermione had never heard from him. It dripped with sarcasm. Harry started pacing around, resembling a lion trapped in his cage. His hands were shaking.
Hermione looked at him wondering why he was in such state. "Harry, you want to tell me what's happening?"
Then, Harry turned towards at her. His hands were not shaking anymore. He looked determined, resolved. "I must stop that wedding."
"What?" Hermione could not understand what was happening. "Are you insane? Besides the ceremony ended more than two hours ago."
Harry, who had started to walk towards the mansion, stopped on his tracks. He quickly turned to Hermione and grabbed her by the arms, not caring about the pain he was causing her. "What?! What did you just say?"
"The wedding's over," she repeated. She pulled herself away from him. For a few seconds, Harry didn't seem to notice that. His fists were still tight as if he were still holding her. Harry's eyes shined in a very peculiar way. Then an idea came to Hermione's mind.
"Do you know Sally?" she asked in a barely audible voice.
Harry looked at her. Once again, that sarcastic laugh came out of him. "I know her. I know her very well, or at least I thought I did."
"Harry…" Hermione extended her hand, trying to touch him, but he avoided her contact.
"Yes, Hermione. She's the one… the one I told you about. The one I've been seeing for the last eight months. The one I was going to ask to marry me." More than speak, Harry had yelled out those last words. Hermione could now understand the look of anger in his face. She could very easily understand what he was going through.
Again, she made an effort to get close to him, but once more he avoided her contact, not wanting to be touched, not wanting his anger to be soothed.
"She's been playing with me, Hermione, and she's going to pay for that." Harry headed to the mansion. He was not thinking clearly. He didn't want to do it. All he wanted was to hurt Sally, to hurt her as much as she was hurting him.
Guessing what Harry wanted to do, Hermione quickly stood in his way, trying to keep him away from the mansion. She wasn't going to let him do something he'd regret later. Plus, she knew her Aunt's heart wouldn't resist it if Harry were to make a scandal at her dear daughter's wedding reception.
"Harry, no! I can't let you do that." She was trying to hold to him, but his strength was greater than hers.
"You don't understand. She's a liar. We've been seeing each other." Harry thought Hermione did not understand his situation. "Just two weeks ago, we were together. I was in her bed!"
But Hermione understood very well. She didn't have a doubt in her mind. If Sally had betrayed Hermione's trust, she could very well have done the same thing to anybody else. Still, she had to keep Harry from making a scene. She couldn't let that happen.
Making use of strength she didn't know she had, Hermione grabbed one of Harry's arms and pulled him away from the mansion and behind a tree.
"Harry, listen to me. I understand. I know what you're going through." She tried to look into his eyes to calm him down with her words, but he wouldn't look at her. He didn't want her to influence him.
"No, you don't."
"Yes. I do. I do because you're not he only one she betrayed," she said, pain showing in her voice.
Even without him wanting to, he was curious to hear what she had to say. "Who else did she betray?" he demanded.
Hermione took a deep breath, finally letting go of Harry's arm. "Me," she simply said.
Harry had not expected this. He then looked into her eyes. Harry knew Hermione very well. He could tell when she was lying, when she was hiding something. He could also tell when she was sad, when she had been crying. He realized she was saying the truth and not just making something up to calm his fury.
With a sudden change in his voice, he asked, "What did she do?"
Hermione turned away, her back towards Harry. "She just married Charles."
It finally dawned on his mind. Hermione had mentioned him in her last letter. She had been in love with this guy and now he was her cousin's husband. Who would've thought?
Harry shook his head in disbelief. "How could this possibly be?" he thought. Then he started laughing. Hermione, surprised by his reaction, turned to face him.
"How ironic! Oh, this is amusing," he said looking at her. "Well, now more than ever I'm going to enjoy ripping her to pieces." The concern had faded from his voice, replaced by the sarcastic tone he had been using before.
"No. I'm not going to let you do that," she said to him. Amazingly, her voice came up sounding firm and strong. Something she was far from feeling.
Harry's expression changed from mocking to shocked. "How can you still defend her?" he said in a calmer voice, getting close to her. "How can you…"
"Herms, honey! We've been looking all over for you." A handsome blond man arrived. He was elegantly dressed with a black tailcoat. His gray eyes looked intently at Harry. "Herms dear, aren't you going to introduce us?"
Harry didn't need an introduction. Judging by Hermione's reaction to his arrival, he knew perfectly well who this man was.
"Of course," responded Hermione trying to sound as her normal self. "Charles this is my good friend Harry Potter."
"Potter! At last, I've heard so much about you. Herms speaks very highly of you."
Reluctantly, Harry shook the hand Charles stretched out, tightening his grip a little more than socially appropriate.
"Why didn't you tell me he'd be joining us dear?" asked Charles, retrieving his hand from Harry's.
"I… I didn't know… he'd be able to make it," responded Hermione. Fortunately, the fact that Harry was her friend was the perfect excuse for his presence there.
"No matter." Then, turning towards Harry, Charles added, "You're more than welcome to stay. Herms' friends are my friends. We'll make arrangements for you to stay here so you can join us tomorrow at the luncheon."
As Charles was speaking, he placed a hand in Harry's shoulders while beckoning him towards the mansion. Even just feeling Charles' hand on him was not pleasant for Harry - he deeply wished his skin could burn him just like it once had burned Quirrell's a long time ago - but he still walked with him.
Hermione quickly tried to make them stop, but Charles was already leading Harry ahead. Praying to Merlin Harry wouldn't do or say anything stupid, Hermione followed them closely into the mansion and towards the big hall. Charles led the way to the place where his lovely wife was talking to some friends.
"Potter, let me introduce you to my wife," he said to Harry. Sally turned around to face them. As soon as she saw Harry standing right there next to Charles, her face showed her surprise. But she couldn't say a word. Right after that, she lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
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Sally slowly opened her eyes looking at the worried faces surrounding her, but she quickly closed them again. After she fainted, her husband had brought her into this room, adjacent to the hall where the reception was taking place, and deposited her unconscious body on a fluffy burgundy couch.
"She's waking up!" Sally heard someone's voice close to her. She finally opened her eyes once more to find that the person next to her was her mother. Hermione, Charles and his mother were also in the room.
With a concerned look in his face, Charles kneeled down next to the couch. "Are you okay sweetheart?" Then looking at his mother, he added, "Perhaps we should call a doctor. She looks too pale."
"No!" Sally's voice was heard as she made an effort to get up. "I'm fine."
"Don't get up yet, sweetie."
"I'm okay mother." Sally pushed away her mother's hands as she finally got up.
Charles looked inquisitively into his wife's eyes. "Are you sure sweetheart? Should I get you some water?"
"Yes! Yes, please do so," said Sally quickly. Then almost pushing her mother out of the room, she asked them to leave her alone with Hermione.
As soon as they walked out, Sally closed the door behind them and turned urgently to Hermione. "I need your help," she said while trying to hold Hermione's hand. Hermione, however, took a step back avoiding her contact, just as Harry had avoided her a few minutes ago.
"I know everything Sally. You can't fool me now." Hermione's voice was cold. She stood looking at her cousin, her arms crossed across her chest.
"What do you mean?"
"Harry told me everything. I know about you two," said Hermione as she looked right into her cousin's eyes.
Sally's knees shook. To avoid falling once more, she sat in the couch where she had been lying. She seemed to be having a struggle inside her head, trying to figure out how to get out of that tight situation.
"You… you know Harry?"
"Yes. I know him," responded Hermione. She walked a couple of steps away from her cousin and looked out the window that led to the gardens. "He's the friend I've told you about."
A tiny ray of hope began to fill Sally's mind. "He's your friend! So you can talk to him." Sally got up, regaining control of herself, and walked towards Hermione. She grabbed Hermione's elbow to make her turn towards her. "He has to leave. I don't want him talking to Charles."
"They already talked." Hermione could've laughed at the expression of fear that for a few seconds appeared in the beautiful face of her cousin. She enjoyed making Sally suffer, at least for a little while.
"They did!" Then Sally grabbed Hermione firmly by the upper arms and began shaking her. "What did he say to Charles? What did he do?"
After being able to free herself from those hands that held her as hooks, Hermione walked away from Sally. "Nothing! He didn't say anything, but he's very upset Sally. I don't know how long he'll be able to control himself."
"Then make him, you can do something… you know, with your magic stuff. Whatever it takes but keep him quiet, and take him away from here."
"Why should I help you?" Hermione couldn't believe Sally's attitude. She was in no position to make demands. "You got yourself into this mess. Jeez, Sally you were seeing the two of them at the same time. How could you play with their feelings like that? You thought they'd never find out?"
Sally rolled her eyes as she let out a gasp of exasperation. She hated to hear Hermione's lectures, but she was in a position where she had no one else to go to. Realizing it wasn't going to be easy to get Hermione's help, Sally changed her tone.
"Only you can help me," said Sally as she got closer to Hermione. "You know how sick Mum's been lately. I don't want her to get upset. I would never forgive myself if…"
"Alright! Alright. But don't let your hopes get too high. I already talked to him, and I'm not sure I convinced him to keep quiet." Taking a few steps towards the window, Hermione added, "I'll talk to him, but I'm only doing this for Aunt Betty."