A/N: I still own nothing really. Ok, boys, girls and Manticores, I really meant to leave last chapter as a one shot, but here's a second...just because everyone seemed to want one. I really mean for this to be the end, as anything beyond would start to look a lot like Circle. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this fic. WARNING....This chapter is not for Ginny lovers, sorry.
Chapter 2: The last chapter.....
************************The Burrow, Ottery St, Catchpole*******************
August 1, 1997
10:10 am
A soft POP that was lost in the rustle of the leaves in the soft summer breeze announced the arrival of the three newest guests to the Burrow. Immediately they stepped out of the way of a harried, exhausted looking Arthur Weasley as he walked past, levitating a large, hippogriff-sized bouquet of flowers, a mixture of red roses and white lilies. He managed a small wave, and a smile then pushed into the flurry of work going on for tomorrow's wedding.
Hermione looked up at Harry, smiling nervously as she took in the wedding preparations in and around the ramshackle house. Hermione let Crookshanks down from where she cradled him against her with one arm, while the other held Harry's tightly. Crookshanks took off, running for the garden and hopefully a few gnomes, as she dropped Harry's hand and took a half step back, from where they had Apparated in together get past the newly placed Security Wards on the Burrow. She looked down at her hands, fiddled with something, and leaned up to give Harry a quick peck on the lips. "I'm going to go around the back and see Fleur and Tonks, Harry..." A loud boom echoed off the trees and a cloud of dust came from somewhere up the hill towards the makeshift Quidditch Pitch. "I suppose you'll?"
"Yeah, Hermione," Harry replied amusedly. He took a breath, looking around, "Do you want to me to go with you?" She smiled, and shook her head.
"I'll be fine," she patted the small of her back where her wand rode in a black dragonhide sheath, one that Tonks had picked up for her from the Auror equipment shop. "I have my wand." She canted her head slightly, "I'll be fine, Harry, I have to face them sometime, besides Ron was fine with it."
"I'm not worried about Ron, Hermione Jane," Harry muttered, reaching out and sweeping a lock of hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. She leaned into his hand, looking up at him through dark lashes. "I'll be up with the Twins, you will call if you need me."
"Alright, Harry," she sighed, holding up a small folding mirror, "see I have it."
"Thank you, Hermione, I just don't..."
"I understand, Baby, it's a good idea, but I will be fine, now go play with the boys," Hermione leaned in to kiss him again, before stepping back. She took several steps backwards, waving, before she vanished around the corner of the house. Harry smiled to himself, whistling a random tune under his breath as he started up the hill.
He wandered through a copse of trees, stepped around a large pine, and ducked as a second explosion ripped through the air. Harry stood up, brushed dirt from the knees of his jeans and finished climbing the hill. He looked down from the top of ridge, and saw George, Fred, Ron and Charlie all standing around looking down into a rather large crater in the ground. "OI, HARRY!"
Harry smiled as the boys turned from the large hole in the ground. "The Muggles treating you alright there?" Fred asked with a grin.
"They afraid of Hermione, I reckon?" George put in wryly.
Charlie grinned, and extended his hand to Harry, "Good to see you here, mate, Mum was going a bit spare, asking us when you and Hermione were going to get here. She's laid on a huge lunch."
"What are you doing?" Harry inquired, as he stepped forward, after sharing a quick nod with Ron. He looked down into a large, smoking hole in the ground, at least two meters deep. Several large crates were stacked nearby at the treeline opposite them, all marked with the logo of the store, and a couple were jumping around slightly.
"Something we are working on for the reception," Fred said.
"Hate for it to be too boring," George added with a toothy grin. "Mum finally gave up and let us come up here to work on it, said at least we can't blow up the house...not sure what she meant by that..."
"Sure you're not," Harry replied laughingly, "And what's your role in this, Charlie?"
Charlie looked on warily as the Twins conjured something and lowered it into the hole. He motioned Ron and Harry back as they started to fiddle with it, "I'm the adult supervision."
"Oh, what about me?" Ron griped, pouting slightly.
"You, adult, little Ronniekins," Fred snorted, overhearing. Ron gave him a rude gesture and led Harry away into the treeline, which was devoid of any other wildlife, all of it having long since been scared off.
Ron led Harry out of earshot of any of the rest of them, and with a wink and a quick pass of a wand, established a Cone of Silence around them. He flicked his wand at a tree stump, and a pair of butterbeers appeared, iced and ready to drink. "Brilliant, Ron, you've been practicing."
"Yeah, Herms would be proud, seems easier now, though, don't it? Now that we can actually use our magic?" Ron replied, as he walked over to the stump, picked up the beers and tossed one to Harry. He took a long pull on the frosted bottle, "How does it feel to be a free man?"
"I'm not free yet, Ron," Harry replied darkly, frowning as he took a sip from his drink. Harry walked over to a tree set across from the stump and leaned against it, sighing and looking down and away from Ron, back towards the decrepit house that had been one of the few places he could call home, and now, the place that in many ways he least wanted to be.
Ron looked over and shook his head. He sat down on the stump, looking up at Harry for once, "I'm sorry, mate, that's not what I meant." He took out his wand from behind his back and rolled it between his hands.
"I know, Ron, forget it." Harry did not look back at his friend, his best friend, as he watched Bill and Arthur walking across the yard of the Burrow, pulling along a large cart full of folding chairs with their wands. They stopped next to the front door, and Bill grabbed one of the ubiquitous Wellingtons from the front porch, and transfigured it into a post and used it to prop up the cart. He waved to Arthur and vanished with a CRACK that carried all the way up the hill to them. Arthur headed inside to no doubt work on something else for the wedding and Harry turned back to Ron. He reached up and scrubbed his hands through his hair. Ron smiled slightly at the sight of Harry's hair being even more unkempt than usual; Harry shared the grin, before it fell away, "I don't know, mate. This is all just an illusion, Ron...it's all just so..."
"Fake, yeah...I know," Ron whispered, he stood and replaced his wand into a thigh holster and came to stand next to Harry. "It's like another world, Harry, here since we got back, Mum's been focused on this wedding. I think she's sunk her reality into it, she can ignore the rest of the world by focusing on it."
"There's a lot of that dreaming going around," Harry mused. He glanced over his shoulder at Ron before looking back down into the valley. Another BOOM sounded from behind them, throwing dirt and ash into the air. Harry paused to shake dirt from his hair before he squared his shoulders and looked around, "I'm going to go find Hermione."
"Alright, Harry," Ron muttered something under his breath, he looked down at his beat and decrepit trainers, kicking aside a large clot of dirt that the Twins had relocated, before he slowly looked up, or rather down several inches into Harry's eyes, "Is she wearing it?"
"Yeah," Harry replied, ambivalently, "she is. She's not taken it off." He smiled slightly, remembering a conversation in the moonlight, "Not that I wanted her to, not that I ever want her to." He shrugged, "I suggested a spell to hide it though, to keep the peace, she seemed to think I was mental or something."
"She would," Ron agreed, smirking slightly, "she's the only person that I know that is as stubborn as you. I don't know what I was thinking." He laughed, Harry glared over at him and then after a moment, his visage cracked. He chuckled and nodded, watching Ron's expression.
His laughter faded away gradually, Harry frowned slightly, took a breath, "We're alright, aren't we, mate?" He turned fully, his entire being intent on Ron's expression, as Ron shrugged and closed his eyes.
"I won't lie to you, Harry," he said slowly. Ron looked around the woods, as if looking for the answer to Harry's question somewhere in the leaves. Finding none, he looked back to Harry, "It was a shock, it probably was a good idea that you told me in a public place...I mean...blimey, I know that Herms and me had just agreed that we were best as friends...I agreed with her, bloody hell, Harry, I still agree with her." He glanced around the clearing quickly as if expecting her to appear from nowhere. "Don't you dare ever tell her I said she was right."
"I won't," Harry smirked, "at least right away, I think I'll save it."
"Thanks, brother."
"Don't mention it."
Ron smiled, "I missed you two so much, Harry, you and Hermione. Just do me a favor, Harry."
"Yeah?"
"Keep the snogging to a minimum around me, alright, I'd like oh...ten or twenty years to get used to it." Ron replied, grinning, and Harry snorted. He looked out over the trees as Hedwig soared in from over the trees having just now arrived from Surrey.
"No promises, Mate, no promises," Harry waved towards the house, "Let's go reunite the Trio, shall we?" Ron nodded, and followed Harry down the hill towards the house. A platoon of gnomes ran from them, chattering. A ginger streak followed them, as Crookshanks took the opportunity for some exercise.
On the other side of the house, near where the stage was being set for the first of what Molly hoped would be six more weddings, Hermione was standing unnoticed under a tree watching Molly as she bossed around the rest of the clan. She bit her lip slightly as Molly ordered Ginny to carry something out from the house.
Hermione's eyes never left the smaller girl as Ginny slipped past, not looking up, muttering gripes about her inability to perform magic out of school. Hermione took a silent, deep breath as she watched Ginny toss flaming red hair violently side to side as she argued with herself, or something. Hermione squeezed her hands together, closed her eyes and walked forward, out of the shadow of the tree.
Standing several yards away, under a large white archway, which was currently bespeckled with glowing fairy lights, Molly flicked her wand tying a golden ribbon at the top, turned, "HERMIONE, DEAR!" She ran from her work and enveloped the young witch in a crushing hug. Tonks looked up from where she was working on stringing golden ribbon down a line of chairs. She headed over as Molly continued to hug Hermione, "I'm so glad you are here, where's Harry, dear? The poor dear, he's had such a bad time of it."
You have no idea, Hermione thought bitterly, but smiled anyway as Molly continued to patter on. "He's up with Ron and the Twins, Molly," Hermione said with a shrug. Tonks' eyes widened suddenly, as she caught sight of something, she stepped forward and took Hermione's hands in hers, pulling the younger woman into a hug, coincidentally turning Hermione so that her hand was away from Molly.
"I'd like to take Hermione for a bit, Molly," Tonks said, grinning, "I..uh...need her to look over something I got for Lupin's birthday." She kept hold of Hermione's hands and started to pull her away.
"Sure, Tonks," Molly grinned, "I was about to start on lunch anyway, is there anything you want dearie? You don't look like you've eaten at all, soo skinny. I can't imagine what poor Harry's like." She huffed slightly and headed off, towards the kitchen.
Hermione and Tonks watched her leave, before Hermione looked down at herself, "Too, skinny..." she pulled up the hem of her t-shirt slightly, revealing a tight stomach and a green-jeweled ring set in her navel. She glanced up at Tonks, who shrugged, having been the one mostly responsible for providing the regimen, "That's a bloody month of combat training."
"Wotcher," Tonks shrugged, "that five a.m. run does it every time." She wagged her eyebrows, "I like the ring...both of them," she added meaningfully. Tonks dropped her hands, and did something with her thumb across the bottom of her left ring finger. She shook her head forcefully, shaking it, and her hair seemed to grow with the motion, becoming waist-length, and darkening rapidly from bubble-gum pink, to a deep blue-black. She blinked, and her eyes darkened from the bright, vivid blue they had been to black. "Both of mine are diamond, how about yours."
Hermione squealed softly, and leapt up to hug the young Auror, "When?"
"Couple of weeks ago," Tonks grinned, her eyes flicking up and to the left, remembering. She motioned Hermione to one of the chairs, and sat. Hermione spun one around and sat down next to her, drawing her feet up to the edge of the chair and leaning her chin on her knees, before wrapping her arms around them. She wiggled her toes in the sandals that barely poked out from under the hems of her battered jeans, and waited for Tonks. Tonks looked back to her, "It was the cutest thing," she looked around as if worked about Remus showing up any minute, "or at least I thought so." She giggled, "I had just got back from a mission, a surveillance one, and I was stinking and dirty, and exhausted..."
"That sounds wonderful," Hermione rolled her eyes.
"It was, wait," Tonks giggled again, "I was tired, but Remus was still locked up, after the full moon, and I went to let him out. I unlocked the door, and opened it to watch the world's sexiest werewolf stumble out of the room, completely naked, drop at my knees and hold up a ring." Hermione giggled, Tonks brayed a laugh, "And then he goes, 'I really need someone to open that door for the rest of my life, want the job?'"
Hermione looked at her wide-eyed, her jaw dropped slightly, "Bullocks," she said after a moment, "he didn't."
Tonks just grinned and shrugged, "What about yours? He get down on one knee, tie it to Crooks' collar...or was it after a night of wild impassioned sex?" She waggled her eyebrows, and Hermione flushed.
"TONKS!" Hermione squeaked, throwing her hands over her mouth and looking around. Tonks laughed loudly, so loudly that Hermione looked around again, a touch concerned, but fortunately no one was near. "It was almost more of an understood thing," she said after a moment, she held up her hand in front of her and turned her ring around so that it showed on top. She held out her hand to Tonks, who took it and looked down at the platinum band holding a flawless, slightly glowing square emerald surrounded by a pair of triangular diamonds.
Tonks' eyes widened, she turned Hermione's hand back and forth a bit before letting it go. Hermione pulled her hand back, resting it on her knee and covered it with her right. "I guess it pays to have the richest wizard in England as your boyfriend," Tonks teased, Hermione's eyes narrowed suddenly. "I'm kidding, Hermione," Tonks said quickly, holding her hands up in a defensive posture as she felt a sudden presence start to manifest.
Hermione took a quick breath, and shook her head, smiling faintly. The tension in the air lessened but did not recede totally, "It's alright, Tonks, just don't say that around Harry, he's sensitive enough as it is, he didn't want any of it."
"I know, Hermione, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I know that I'd give it all back to get Sirius back. Mum made me keep what he left me." Tonks looked towards the house, "You haven't told them, have you?"
"Only Ron," Hermione looked towards the house, and unconsciously her eyes tracked upward towards the window of the room she had spent many a summer night in. "We are keeping it low key, to keep from taking away from Bill and Fleur..."
"And you don't want to start a fight?" Tonks supplied, "Yeah, she's been asking around, asking when Harry is going to get here."
"As long as she doesn't start anything, we're fine, Tonks, we're leaving soon after the wedding anyway...things to do." Tonks looked at her a moment, but just nodded.
"And if she does start something?" Tonks asked plainly. She looked towards the house quickly, then up towards the hill as another explosion erupted; then back to Hermione.
"I finish it. No one, hurts Harry. Not Snape, not Tom Riddle, and most definitely not her." Hermione's eyes were implacable as she looked across the distance to Tonks.
Tonks just nodded and stood, "I'm going to tell Remus, alright? He won't tell, but he'll be tickled pink." Hermione nodded and smiled slightly, though her eyes never softened in the seconds it took for Tonks to step back, turn and vanish with a CRACK.
Hermione continued to watch the space where Tonks had been, waiting as the birds chirped nervously in the sudden stillness after the Twin's last 'experiment'. She frowned slightly as she brought her hands up from her knees, and slowly inverted the ring, hiding the stones under her hand. She closed her eyes, scrubbing at them with fingers of her right hand as her left curled up in her lap.
8:15 pm
A ramshackle bedroom, filled with a decidedly orange color scheme was occupied by three bewildered souls. Three people, who had had a responsibility thrust upon them years before they should have had to burden themselves with it, sat on a pair of beds. A tall man, reddish stubble on his cheeks was lying on an uneven bed with his red hair desperately clashing with the orange pillow under his head. He squinted at the article describing the Cannons expected impending middle of the league finish in the league in the dim light from an oil lamp sitting on a battered table set between his bed and another, almost straight one that had been magic'ed to fit in the space available.
Ron set down the Quidditch magazine in disgust and looked over at the occupants of the other bed. Harry was leaning up against the rough headboard, his eyes fixed and staring towards the far wall, where the Cannon's keeper caught an inbound Quaffle, again and again in an endless loop. Ron watched as Harry's fingers combed absently through the third member of the trio's curly locks, where she was nestled into Harry's side, her head down in a book. Hermione moved a bit, snuggling back closer into the crook of Harry's shoulder, and sighed softly. She turned a page in her current book on Magical artifact creations, and glanced over at Ron to share a quick, tired smile.
Ron shook his head slightly, still slightly amazed that he really felt nothing at the sight of the two of them together, other than an odd sense of normalcy. He supposed, little that he admitted to thinking about it, that it really wasn't all that different from the other six years that the three of them had been together. Hermione was cuddled up closer to Harry than normal, yes, but nothing that would have seemed out of place in the common room when they were older than twelve. Even the quick kiss, which Harry planted on the crown of her hair as she continued to read some obscure tome in hopes of finding something to help them on their quest, seemed oddly expected in the part of his mind that actually thought about such things.
Unconsciously, Ron glanced towards the door to his room, towards the hallway that led to the youngest Weasley's room and frowned. She still had not been informed of the realities of the situation, and he knew she would explode when she found out, but Ron couldn't bring himself to care really. She had let Harry walk away, because it was easy, the fact that it was also the right thing to do, had, Ron knew, had little to do with the redhead's decision. Ron smiled slightly as he thought, that somehow, Ginny may have saved them all in the end.
Harry blinked and glanced over at Ron, and the two boys shared a small grin. "There is a locking charm on the door, right, Mate?" Harry said quietly.
"Aye," Ron replied, rolling his tongue in his cheek to keep from laughing, "but I'll be damned if you two get to shagging with me in the room...at least let me get to sleep and conjure some earmuffs."
Hermione laughed softly, a sound that was rare these days, "I'll conjure them for you, Ron," she offered, with the barest hint of a giggle behind her words, "I'd hate for you to turn your ears to turnips."
"Thanks, Hermione, I appreciate it."
"No problem," Hermione grinned slightly. She looked over at Ron, setting her book down slowly, as her smile slowly faded. She nibbled on her bottom lip for a breath, "Ron?" she asked hesitantly.
"I'm fine, Hermione, I've already told Harry today, I'm alright. Though I do admit that it's a bother that I have to give up my fantasies of you and me and a giant cauldron of whipped cream..."
"RONALD!" Hermione cried exasperatedly. She looked back and lightly punched Harry on the arm as he chuckled, deeply, glaring at him for an instant before she buried her head in his chest, giggling uncontrollably. She looked up suddenly from Harry and dove for her wand on the bedside table. Ron gulped and rolled out of bed, holding up a pillow as a totally inadequate shield. Hermione flicked her wand, vanishing the pillow, and causing the bed to scoot away from him with a loud creak. "What do you think, Harry?" she grinned as Ron dropped to his knees and pretended to beg, "Polka dots in his hair, maybe a touch of Gnome attractant?"
"I don't know, Love, maybe that Peruvian Fire Ant spell, you read about the other day," Harry replied airily, waving his hand in a noncommittal gesture.
Ron glared at him, obviously feeling betrayed, "I can't believe that you'd betray me, Mate," he moaned. He scurried back slightly, taking his chance to slip to the side as Hermione glanced back at Harry.
"She has certain...benefits that you lack, Ron, sorry," Harry said with a shrug. Hermione gave him a breathtaking smile, before she spun back to Ron with her wand bouncing lightly in her fingers. She grinned hugely, a dangerous glint in her eye as she raised her wand....
"OI," a loud voice sounded from the door as someone beat on it, "what are you three up to...Nothing, unnatural now are you?" Hermione rolled her eyes at the sound of Fred's voice, and walked to the door, opening it. She frowned imperceptibly, a look in her eyes more than anything, as she found Fred, George and Ginny waiting on the other side of the door.
"What do you lot want?" Ron shouted from his post, more or less hiding behind a closet door that was only hanging by the top hinge.
"What are you doing, hiding behind that closet door?" Ginny asked, pushing past Fred and Hermione to step into the room.
"Is there something that you wish to tell us, Ronnikins?" George put in, laughing, he walked into the room and leaned against the wall near the door in the tiny space. He looked at Hermione who still had her wand in hand, then at Harry who was sitting up on the bed, his hands folded in his lap, before he looked back at Ron, "We weren't...interrupting something were we?"
Ginny turned to Hermione as she shrugged slightly, glancing back at Harry for just an instant, "Ron had...annoyed, me. I was considering what to do about it."
Ginny smirked, as Fred laughed, "Well don't let us stand in your way," he waved towards his youngest brother like some Muggle game show host bestowing a prize. "Lead on, M'Lady, do with that miscreant as you will."
Hermione cocked her head, considering, and sighed exaggeratedly, "I think that I will think on it...The appropriate punishment will come to me, in time." Her wand vanished into a sheath behind her back, disappearing from view.
"No," Ron cried, trying not to laugh, as a subtle edge of tension that had been building crested and fell. "Punish me now, don't take time to think..."
"Anyway," Harry said over the tumult in the corner of the room, "what are you lot up to?" He swung his feet from the bed to rest them on the floor before looking up at the Twins in the corner. He slowly, and surreptitiously, marked the page in Hermione's book and slid it onto the bedside table.
Fred and George shared matching grins, "Cloaks and boots, lads, cloaks and boots, we are on a quest."
Harry glanced to Hermione, a question in a look, she shrugged slightly, "Just where are we going?" He stood slowly, and pulled his wand from under the pillow he had been lying on, and sheathed it. He slowly moved towards his trunk, which was stuck in a corner next to Ron's. He toed into a pair of beat up trainers as Ron reached over the side of the bed, to pull over his head a bright, almost iridescent orange Cannons jumper.
"You can't be serious, Ron," Ginny rolled her eyes, "that thing is ghastly." Hermione smirked slightly, privately agreeing with the smallest Weasley, she had literally begged Ron not to buy it in Diagon Alley the day they had all met up to reveal their revelations. She turned from Ginny and unthinkingly, grabbed a clean jumper of Harry's from the top of a pile on a chair. A look of annoyance flashed across Ginny's eyes, for a heartbeat, before vanishing before Hermione turned back, with her trainers in hand. She took a pair of steps across the crowded room, and sat on the bed next to Harry to lace them.
"It's just the boys actually, Hermione," George put in quickly, "a night of debauchery to celebrate Bill's last night as a free man, as we," he stepped forward quickly, grabbing Ron around the shoulders, and pulling him to Harry, where he draped his free arm around him, "are all of age, now. Not that we don't think of you as one of the boys, Hermione," he added with a huge grin.
"Merlin forbid," Hermione said dryly. "And what will I be doing while you all are gone?"
Ginny looked between Harry and Hermione as he frowned slightly, Ginny beamed, "Oh, Dad's taking Mum out, so Fleur and Angelina, and Katie, and Alicia are all here, to have a bit of a girls' night in...I think Luna is coming over in a bit," she added absently, watching Hermione's reaction.
Hermione smiled, and nodded, "That sounds like fun." She sat down on the bed, and started to unlace her trainers. She waved at Ron and Harry, "Go on, I'll be fine, I haven't had a conversation not involving Quidditch in ages." Ron laughed and grabbed Harry by the elbow, leading him from the room, following the Twins, who had already exited, singing a loud, bawdy song about a Wizard and his three wives. Merlin, those two are already halfway there...I should probably make some anti-Hangover Potion, before I go to bed, she thought idly.
"Are you coming, Hermione?" Ginny asked suspiciously, after the older girl leaned over the bed to grab the book she had been reading. She paused at the door, her hand on the jamb.
"Yeah, Gin," Hermione shrugged, "I just need to write down a note on something on this homework, before I forget it, I'll be right along." Ginny nodded, not able to naysay Hermione's reasoning, and slipped away. Ginny headed down to the living room to find Harry, Ron, Fred and George, along with Bill and Charlie standing, pulling on cloaks and boots or trainers. She stopped to kiss Bill on the cheek, before slipping into the kitchen.
Harry's eyes tracked her, hidden under glasses and dark locks. He pulled his cloak on from a peg next to the door, patted his pocket, "Bullocks," he snarled softly, and glanced to Bill, "I'll be right back, I need to get my Galleons from my trunk."
"Don't worry about it, Harry," Bill replied, laughing as he tied his cloak around his throat. His scars from the attack almost two months ago now were healed, and if a slight feral look occasionally filled his gaze, it was not anything that anyone who had had dealt with Remus for years did not expect.
"It'll just be a moment," Harry demurred, already halfway up the stairs, "after all, I need to buy you a round. It's tradition." He smiled and took up the stairs two at a time. Behind him, Ron rolled his eyes, and carefully did not show his face to any of his brothers to hide the laughter there.
Harry swept into Ron's room, finding, as he knew he would, Hermione still sitting on the bed. He looked back towards the open door, and slipped across the room, pulling a sack of Galleons and a small hand mirror from his trunk on the way. He stopped next to the bed and knelt down to her level, "You going to be alright, Mione?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, Harry," she smiled at him slightly, and reached out to squeeze his hand for an instant. "You be careful."
"It's you I'm worried about," he gave her a tired grin, that fell away almost instantly, "Someone has a 'lean and hungry look' about them, and I don't mean Bill." Hermione snorted, recognizing the reference.
"See, locking you up with me for a month has done wonders for your reading," Hermione said softly, holding his eyes with her own. She glanced around him to the open door, found it empty, and leaned forward, pressing her lips to his for just an instant. She pulled away, a small, half-smile on her face, "I know Harry, what will be, will be. I love you," she whispered, and nodded, her lip in her teeth as he mouthed the same in return, before flowing back to his feet and walking from the room backwards, his eyes never leaving hers until he was in the hall. A moment later, Hermione heard a series of CRACKs and POPs like a string of firecrackers from the floor below and sighed; before she picked up the book she had been reading and left the room.
August 2, 1997
1:20 am
Hermione sat alone on a rickety porch swing, at the edge of a pool of spilled light from the house. She looked out, unseeing, into the deep darkness surrounding the house, a darkness broken only by the light from the house, and over to one side, the light from the illuminated arch already in place for tomorrow's or rather, today's wedding. She had managed to wait out most of the party, laughing where appropriate, sharing in the insipid, at least to her, party games that got sillier and sillier as one after another bottle of a rather nice Burgundy, that Fleur's parents had donated several cases of to the cause, were opened.
To her credit, Hermione had lasted until an hour ago, when during a tipsy game of Truth or Dare that Ginny seemed to be itching for something, Angelina had asked who she had snogged and when. Hermione had grinned and taken the dare, ending up kissing Katie for one minute, both girls had been rather drunk by then, before she had excused herself, blaming a headache.
She idly swirled the same glass she had had when she stepped out an hour ago, just as Molly and Arthur returned from their dinner. Molly had given her a hug and admonished her to go to bed soon, before she had retreated with Arthur to their bedroom, and raised, no doubt, a strong silencing charm. Molly had told the girls downstairs the same, which had only resulted in hushed giggles echoing out into the night via the open windows of the house. Hermione took a sip of her drink, before setting the glass down on the planks at her feet, which were smoothed by age and wear.
The screen door to the outside squeaked open on springs that needed a touch of oil, or a Lubrication Charm, and a soft tread moved out onto the porch. Hermione glanced up as a small shape moved in front of her, and perched on the rail around the porch, facing her. She smiled a silent greeting and resumed her silent meditation, her thoughts reaching forward on what they would soon have to do.
"So, Hermione," Ginny said softly after a moment, her voice thin and hard, "how long did you wait, after you dumped my brother before you were in Harry's bed?" Hermione took a deep breath, pulling in air through her nose and out her mouth, closing her eyes. "Or were you sleeping with him, when he was still with me and leading my brother on the whole time?"
"I would thank you to keep your tongue about affairs that you have no idea about, Ginevra," Hermione replied very quietly, her voice taking on a subtly lethal tone. "But for your information, your brother and I agreed, together, that we weren't to be. I love Harry, that is all that matters," Hermione slowly stood, regretfully yielding the spot where she had hoped, unconsciously, to wait for Harry to return from his reluctant sojourn with the 'Boys'. "Now if you will excuse me," Hermione took a step, Ginny's hand flashed to her elbow...
Hermione's arm came up in a reflexive counter; she spun with the motion, sending the tiny Weasley tumbling to the rough wood floor of the porch. Ginny scrambled for her wand, fumbling with effects of too much wine, she glanced up, her fingers finally, lightly touching the hilt of her wand to find the tip of a carved, ivy-wood wand pointing directly in line with her eyes, from only feet away. "Go ahead, then," Ginny snapped, "hex me, Harry will still eventually come to his senses. You are just a stop on the trail, nothing else, Granger." Hermione flinched at her words, breathing heavily and Ginny grinned, darkly, "Harry's a boy, I don't blame him for taking the opportunity for a quick, handy shag now and then. He'll come around to someone who understands him...who is worthy of him. He's a hero, Hermione," Ginny laughed, "he'll go out and save the world, with his...sidekick...and he'll come home to get the girl...Which isn't you, luv," she added lightly.
Hermione's eyes widened, and she took a pair of quick, deep breaths, she then took one more, and her breathing slowed, becoming even once more. An almost pitying look replaced the one of almost panic that had dwelled in her eyes before, Ginny's jabs having gone unerringly close to her bitter insecurities. Ginny didn't appear to notice, as she went on, "What would you even do together, what are you good for, one shag a week? And I bet he has to beg for that one. Harry'll get tired of you, and come back...I knew that he wanted to get revenge, why do you think I let him go on his quest without me?" Ginny grinned as she watched Hermione slowly resheath her wand. The small Gryffindor stood and pulled her long red hair over her shoulder where it sparkled lightly in the light from the fairy lights. "I can wait..."
Hermione half turned, Ginny's lips curled triumphantly, and a small fist flashed out of the darkness, crashing into Ginny's left cheek and sending her sprawling on the ground. Ginny dove for her wand again only to see it spin into the darkness beyond as a precise bolt of blue ripped it from her loose grip. Hermione did not make an obvious move as a shimmering half-globe snapped around her and the prostrate girl. "You will be waiting an eternity, you stupid bint," Hermione snarled lowly. "You don't have a bloody clue what's going on, and you damn sure don't know Harry...leave him alone, Ginny, he's had enough pain without you."
"Just what do you think he will see in you a month or two down the line when he gets tired of your nagging?" Ginny surged to her feet, "He needs someone who can look good on his arm, when he accepts his rewards, Hermione...Think you can use him to buy out Sleekeazy's to tame your hair for that? He is rich, enough, I suppose," Ginny added softly.
Hermione blinked, hard, "You honestly think that he gives a bloody fuck about that," she snapped, "that he wanted any of it...that he wanted the beatings and the tortures he endured from his Goddamn, so-called family, for ten years? That he wanted to be treated worse than a House-Elf working for the Malfoys?" Hermione bent forward slightly, her chocolate eyes dark and glittering, "Or maybe you want to share in his nightmares, the ones where he sees Cedric die, Sirius Die, Dumbledore DIE, you stupid fucking cow, or the ultimate, where he sees them die, then you and your whole family die, your body tossed to Voldemort's," Hermione almost smiled as Ginny flinched, "minions, his parents dug from their graves and used in potions, and then sees his children, the ones that he so longed to have ripped from their mother, as they are tortured and killed in front of him, all before Voldemort," another flinch, "deems to let him die." Hermione took a breath, "That is what he wakes up to, crying, but he can't even do that properly because it was beat out of him. You don't know him at all Ginny, only his Press, and not even that very well."
Hermione spun on her heel to return to the house, when Ginny charged her, knocking her to the floor as she pushed her down, tumbling her off the porch onto the grass. Hermione rolled over, receiving a punch to the chest, and bit off a groan as she rocked back, to retaliate to Ginny's stomach with a quick jab.
The sound of incoming Apparations and the rumble of running feet announced the arrival of an audience. Harry looked up, mostly sober, unlike Ron who was hanging off his shoulder, "Oh. Bloody. Hell," he moaned and unceremoniously set Ron down on the soft grass of the lawn and started to sprint towards the pair. Fleur tumbled out of the porch from the other direction, trailed by Angelina, and Katie.
Hermione rolled to her feet, her training with Tonks already taking over as she dodged Ginny's wild kick, and swept her legs, dropping Ginny to the dirt once more. Harry reached Hermione an instant later, folding her in his arms. She relaxed instantly, turning into his shoulder. He turned slightly and took a punch from Ginny, who was aiming for Hermione, just before the slower house crowd could stop the small girl. Harry's head rocked back slightly, as her small fist knocked his glasses askew, but he did not otherwise move. A fleeting faint glow vanished as Ginny hobbled back, cradling her fist. "Keep that bitch away from me," Ginny screamed, "I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean it, it was her fault, she started it."
Hermione stiffened in his arms again and tried to break free. Harry took two steps back, drawing on his magic, as much as his physical strength, while Hermione fought him for a second. Sheeting, blue witchfire surrounded them for a heartbeat, before Hermione relaxed again. He cupped the back of her head as she buried her face in his shoulder and he could feel tears begin to dampen his shirt. He pressed his lips to her hair as she began to calm, and kept his eyes on Ginny where she still fumed in the combined arms of Katie, Angelina, and Alicia. Harry glanced back towards the Twins, and then towards their girlfriends, holding their sister. The twins nodded and took the girls' burden. "What happened, Mione?" he whispered near her ear.
In a low voice, she told him, quickly and concisely. Her voice cracked on a pair of points, and he closed his eyes. "Harry, she isn't right for you," Ginny said with a touch of desperation.
Harry leaned down and whispered something in Hermione's ear. She shook her head forcefully, and he repeated himself a touch louder, but not quite loud enough for the rest to hear. She nodded and turned in his arms, he reached down and picked up her left hand and lifted it to chest level, before flicking his thumb under her fingers to cause the jewels on her band to rotate to the outside. "I think you are wrong, Ginny," Harry said softly, "and we are going to keep proving you wrong for however long we have left in this adventure, be it an hour or a thousand years. And I will still love her after we are gone from this adventure to the next." As one, every female there, and the Twins, gasped as they recognized the ring for what it was.
Harry turned to Bill and Fleur, and glanced over to Ron as he came to stand next to them. Ron nodded, totally sober as the Twins had cast Sobrious on everyone as soon as they realized what was happening. "Bill, Fleur, you don't deserve this on your day. We're sorry," he said quietly, Hermione nodded, not trusting her voice as Ginny glared at her, "we're going to leave...I don't it would be wise for us to stay here tonight. I uhhh..."
Bill glanced down at Fleur, she nodded to Harry, and Hermione, "Harry, if you think that is best, fine...but you will be at the wedding in the afternoon, I promise that nothing will happen," he glanced up towards the still tranquil, master bedroom, "from any quarter."
Fleur nodded, ""zf course, Zit, will be my 'onor, ze 'ave ou, 'here."
"Thank you," Harry replied calmly, his eyes sharing his truth depth of gratitude. "Ron, I'd appreciate it, if you could grab our gear, and take it to where it needs to go?" Harry asked, and Ron nodded, automatically. "We'll see you later then," Harry pulled Hermione back into him tightly and vanished without a sound.
There it is...the last chapter. Have fun.