AN: Well, I have been away for so long I almost forgot what it was like to update! I kept to my promise of not abandoning my story, but I understand that it must be very frustrating having to wait so long for an update. I still have problems in my life and have only just found the motivation to begin writing again, so I will not be able to make promises in terms of when another update will be here, but it won't be as long a wait as before. I thank you for sticking with it. I hope you enjoy this.
Just One More Thing
Chapter 41
JOMT
Neville was shocked to say the least when Remus and Draco arrived at his place of work and told him what his former colleague had done. He couldn't believe he didn't notice any irregularities with the man's persona, which was the reason he fixed Steven up with Hermione in the first place. He seemed so…normal.
They were currently in the lab going over everything that may lead them to Steven's whereabouts. Neville told them that not long after Steven and Hermione broke up, that Atkins had gone to the Middle East to continue his research on the Nimbletonia plant, the place that he had originally wanted to drag Hermione to on their honeymoon. After he returned, he resigned his position from the company and no one knew where he had gone after that.
"When did he start working here?" Draco asked. "I mean they must have a personal record on file."
"I'm sure there will be," Neville said thoughtfully. "He started working here virtually straight away after I did. I can have my boss get for it you."
"And there was nothing about him that made you think he was a bit strange?" Remus questioned.
Neville felt awful. "Do you really think I would have fixed him up with Hermione if I did?"
Remus looked apologetic. "I'm sorry Neville; I didn't mean to make you feel bad."
"I know," Neville said. "I just can't believe this man was right under our noses, and all along he was a lunatic."
Draco narrowed his eyes; something about this whole thing didn't make sense to him. "Neville, you never really told us how Steven and Hermione met. I mean I know you fixed them up but did they meet like at a party or something?
"No, Steven was always asking me to…" Neville stopped abruptly and his face fell. "Introduce her to him," he finished feeling sick.
Draco and Remus looked at each other knowingly. They saw cases like this all the time, but they knew Atkins was far more dangerous than the common stalker. To say that he was obsessed would be putting it lightly, as it now seemed that the whole relationship he had with Hermione was premeditated. Of course Harry knew this already after the conversation he had had with the creep in the bathroom that time. Steven actually confessed to him that he was using Hermione for her fame, but at that time Hermione would never believe it if he had told her, simply because their own relationship had hit the skids by then.
One thing was for sure, Hermione Granger had a lucky escape.
JOMT
Harry and Hermione were sat at their dining room table discussing that morning's events.
"I still feel like it's all my fault," Hermione sighed as she nursed the cup of special tea that was in front of her.
"Hermione, please stop," Harry said firmly, he hated that she was blaming herself for this when it could've happened to anyone.
"I can't help it."
"Yeah, well you're gonna end up driving yourself nuts if you don't," Harry pointed out. "He's the arsehole Hermione. Remember that."
"Harry--"
Harry cut her off. "Well blame me too then."
Hermione scrunched her face up in bewilderment. "Excuse me?"
"If I had told you how I felt from the beginning, then he never would've come into our lives. There. My fault."
Hermione shook her head and huffed. "Harry, that's ridiculous."
Harry shrugged. "Well I'm sorry darling, but that's exactly how you sound at the moment."
"Well I'm sorry for feeling the way I feel," she said defensively.
Harry was starting to get annoyed. He couldn't believe they were starting to argue over who's fault it was, when the only one they should be blaming was the dickhead that was doing this to them.
"I know, let's blame Neville too for setting you guys up," his said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Hermione's eyes narrowed. "You're being a bastard."
"And you're being stupid," he shot back.
"Wow," Hermione laughed mordantly. "Your empathy for me this morning and the not wanting me to be stressed out in my condition certainly didn't last long, did it?"
Harry grinded his teeth together to stop him from saying something that could possibly make things worse, he understood that this was a tense situation but he was sick of Hermione blaming herself for it. She was right with her comment though, he did say he would try his best not to cause her unnecessary stress, and it was proving a hard thing to do to keep his temper in check. He'd always been hot headed, and it was in his character to want to vent it out on something, or someone, as soon as he felt it rise within him. At the moment there was no way of doing that.
"Look," he started calmly. "Let's just not talk about it anymore ok?"
Hermione stood up abruptly. "No I've got a better idea, let's not talk at all." She grabbed her cup and walked off to their bedroom in a huff.
The door slammed and Harry sighed heavily. "That's just fucking great," he muttered, before picking up his coffee and bringing it to his lips.
He was sipping it slowly when Ron entered the apartment.
"Hiya Harry," his friend greeted happily. Harry just grunted. "Trouble in paradise?"
Harry put his coffee on the table as Ron approached him. "What do you want Ron?"
Ron sat opposite him. "What's wrong?"
That was a loaded question if there ever was one. Harry was slightly ashamed that his friend had no idea what was going on, or had been going on the past few months. He was planning on telling his friend about the photograph, as soon as Steven was behind bars. It was no longer that simple.
"How much you time you got?" Harry asked glumly.
"For you mate?" Ron smirked. "All the time in the world."
Harry proceeded to tell him everything. Ron was understanding to a point, but he did get pissed off that both Draco and Ginny knew about something so important that was going on in Harry and Hermione's lives, and he didn't. Harry simply explained that the only reason Draco and Ginny knew, was because they just happened to be in the stands with them at the quidditch match Ron was playing in when it happened, and they knew something bad had happened. He also explained that Draco was his work partner and was on the case with him until they were both kicked off of it due to personal conflictions with the suspect.
But Ron didn't make it about him when Harry told him that a man had now been murdered.
"He's fucking nuts," Ron said of Steven.
Harry snorted. "That's putting it mildly."
"How's Hermione taking it?" Ron asked softly.
"She's not," Harry answered dolefully. "We just had a little spat before you came in."
"That much was obvious."
"How do you know it wasn't down to the prick?" Harry asked.
"Because I know your moods, Harry," Ron replied plainly. "You're face gives you away when you've had arguments with the missus."
"Great," Harry said tonelessly.
"What did you two fight about?"
"It wasn't a fight," Harry said quickly. "It was a…small altercation."
"Ok, I'll pretend to know the difference," Ron shrugged. "Well?"
"She's blaming herself."
Ron tutted. "Oh, that's stupid."
"Well can you try telling her that? Because she won't listen to me."
"It's not really that surprising though, is it?"
"What?"
"Hermione blaming herself," Ron responded.
"But it's not her fault," Harry said, not understanding at all what he friend was saying.
"Well then, because you've said so, she should be able to erase the thought from her mind," he said mockingly.
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying she shouldn't blame herself because I said so you twit. I'm saying it because it's the truth."
"Do the words `easier said then done' mean anything to you?" Ron asked pointedly.
Harry knew what his friend was trying to say and he now felt a bit guilty for not being a little more understanding of Hermione's feelings. He was too busy trying to keep his anger at bay whilst around her that he wasn't really concentrating on her own personal feeling about the problem that they were facing.
"You're right," Harry admitted quietly.
Ron rarely heard that come from anyone's mouth. "What? I didn't quite hear that."
"I said you're right," Harry repeated louder.
"Good," Ron said, now content with the response. He pointed towards Harry and Hermione's room. "Now get your arse in there and apologise."
"Only Hermione's allowed to boss me around," Harry joked, and then got to his feet.
"Accept for when you're acting like a twat," Ron grinned. "Then I reserve the right."
Harry didn't reply. Instead he just laughed and headed for the bedroom that he shared with Hermione, whilst Ron made himself a drink.
Harry knocked on his bedroom door and waited. "Hermione?" There was no answer so he entered slowly hoping that she wouldn't be even more mad him than she was already. He stepped into the room and saw Hermione on the bed lying on her side. "Can I come in?"
Hermione sniffed, she had been crying again.
"It's your room too," she replied flatly.
Harry walked in and closed the door behind him, before bravely going over to the bed and sitting beside her. There was silence for a while before Harry finally got the courage to speak.
"I'm sorry, baby," he said softly. "I know that this is hard for you and I'm not making things easier for you am I?"
Hermione wiped a lone tear from her face. "I can't help the way I feel right now."
Harry put his hand on her hip and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I know. I should have been more considerate."
Hermione let her hand creep up onto his thigh. "I know you're having inner battles yourself, so I'll forgive you this time."
"Is it the obvious?"
"I can tell by the look on your face that you're dying to release some pent up frustration."
"Any ideas on how I can do that?"
Hermione smirked. "Well, seeing as how you're determined not to leave my side, maybe I could help you."
"What do you have in mind?"
Hermione squeezed his thigh. "Too naughty to say."
Harry wiggled his eyebrows. "Tonight then?"
"You, as they say, are on."
Harry smiled then leant down and kissed her cheek. "I love you."
"I love you," she said tenderly. "And I'm sorry too for the way I acted earlier."
Harry was glad that the argument didn't last too long, and now he was really looking forward to tonight. He would have been happy to suggest that they relieve some tension right now, but they did have a guest in the next room.
"We've got a visitor?" he told her.
"Who?" she asked sitting up.
"Ron."
"Oh cool," Hermione smiled. "Is Luna with him?"
"No, he came alone."
"Be nice to spend a bit of time with him, just like old times."
Harry got off the bed and helped Hermione to her feet. "There's something I need to tell you."
"What?"
"I told him," Harry answered. "About everything."
"Well, it's about time we did to be honest," Hermione said thoughtfully. "How did he react?"
"He was a bit pissed off when he found out Ginny and Draco knew before him, but after that he saw the bigger picture."
Hermione chuckled. "Vintage Ron."
"Hmm," Harry grinned.
The two then left the bedroom to go and chat with their friend.
JOMT
Natasha and Kim finally were still lazing around on the settee that Sunday afternoon. They had finally got showered and dressed but neither of them could be bothered to do anything. Instead, they decided to stay in and relax for the remainder of the day. They were on the settee flicking through `witch weekly' magazines when a there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Kim said getting up and throwing her magazine to the side.
Moments later and she returned with Dean Thomas in tow. Natasha still hadn't looked up from her magazine when Kim cleared her throat. "Look who it is Nat," her roommate said in a sing song voice.
Natasha finally glanced up and saw Dean standing there. "Hi," he greeted quietly.
"Hi," Natasha mirrored.
Kim looked between the two. "I've gotta go…do something," she announced lamely, obviously wanting to leave the two alone.
When she disappeared Natasha tossed her mag to onside and stood up. "What are you doing here? Did we have plans today?"
"Erm…no," Dean replied sounding weird, now that he was there he had no idea what to say. He said the first thing that came to his head. "I was looking for Neville."
Natasha folded her arms and smiled. He was so full of shit. "Dean, Neville doesn't live here."
Dean forced a laugh. "I know that silly."
"Then why are you here?"
"I told you," Dean replied. "I couldn't find Neville and I know that he spent the night here." He was sure that was believable enough.
"Ohhh," Natasha nodded. "Right."
"So…is he's not here?"
Natasha wanted to laugh; she knew exactly why he was here. It appeared that her little plan had already started to work. "I thought we'd already established that," she said conceitedly.
Dean twitched. "Right. So…how are you?"
"I'm fine," she replied with a grin. "You?"
"Fine," he almost squeaked with a grin to match hers.
"Good."
"Good."
Natasha could see that he was desperate to ask her something, and she had a fair idea what it was. It was a bit naughty really, but if he did ask her that and she still wanted to go along with the plan that her and Kim had formed, then she would have to do a bit of fibbing.
"So did you want me to give Neville a message if I see before you do?" she asked.
Dean looked perplexed. "Eh?"
"You wanted to find, Neville," she said, reminding him of his bullshit. She wasn't judging as she was about to come up with some her own.
Dean finally twigged on. "Oh…yeah, right. No, no you don't have to do that."
Natasha smacked her lips together. "Ok then."
Dean scratched the back of his neck. "So…erm...just out of curiosity…good night last night?"
Natasha pretended to think about it for a while, and then made her eyes look as if they were glassing over dreamily. "It was lovely," she fibbed.
"Good," Dean said a little bit too happily, it was clear he too was putting on an act. "That's good." He cleared his throat and then looked at a wall. "So, did he take you anywhere nice?"
"Dinner," she fibbed again.
Dean finally met her eyes. "What about afterwards?" he tried to smirk. After all this he was still trying to be smooth.
Natasha smiled as wide as she could. "That's none of your damn business."
It was as if Dean found some of his old-self at last and his nerves started to diminish a little. He got closer to her but his heart was still going a mile a minute. "Does that mean…dessert wasn't satisfying?"
Natasha kept smiling. "No, it means none of your damn business."
Dean thought he was in hell, but he was great at hiding his emotions, or so he believed. The thought of her with someone else was hurting him more than he was ready to let on, but still he upped his game. He wasn't ready for her to know how much she was killing him inside, and was now determined even more to act as thought he didn't care. He licked his lips. "Did you cum as hard for him as you do for me?"
Natasha somehow managed to keep her composure, when all really she wanted to do was smack his face in for asking her that.
It was time to play even dirtier.
"What if I told you it was harder?" she asked a little bit harshly.
Dean froze, he'd rather of got a slap. His arrogance instantly eradicated from within at her question and it was immediately replaced with pain. This much pain caused by one person could only mean one thing, it had to be love. It was a mixture of what she said along with the realisation. He now knew for sure that he loved her. He was so screwed.
"Congratulations," he croaked.
The smile finally fell from Natasha's face as she heard the discomfort in his voice. Their conversation had gone a step too far and now she didn't know what to say. She hated for feeling guilty, all she wanted from him was at least some kind of sign that he truly cared abut her. And she finally got it if the look on his face was anything to go by. He did care. But why couldn't he say it? She deserved at least that much.
"Dean," she sighed. "I was just kidding around."
"Right," he said backing away. All that was going around in his head were the words I love you. "I have to go."
Natasha looked disappointed, he was running away again. "Right now?"
"Yeah," he replied coarsely. "Right now."
Without another word, Dean disapparated leaving Natasha to deal with her tears. Kim entered the room merely moments later and saw her friend clearly distressed.
"What happened?" she asked, already having a good idea. She hugged her friend and let her cry on her shoulder.
"What is wrong with him?" Natasha sobbed.
"He's a man," Kim answered easily.
JOMT
Hermione sat at her living room table chatting animatedly with Harry and Ron. She was so happy that her and Harry resolved their dispute, and now they were having a conversation without biting each others head off. They were now discussing with Ron possible outcomes of their current situation.
"So, do you think he'll be stupid enough to come after you then?" Ron asked them both.
Harry shrugged. "Who can say? We haven't received any more little letters from him recently. Hopefully he'll just disappear."
"Do you think that's a possibility?" Hermione questioned.
Harry nodded. "Absolutely, though, even if he did come back, we'd be ready for him. He wouldn't be able to break through our wards if he did show up, you know as well as I do that this place is like Fort Knox."
"What was Steven like with a wand, Hermione?" Ron asked innocently. He completely missed the double meaning in his question and couldn't understand why Harry and Hermione were now looking at him with narrowed eyes. He soon realised and laughed. "You know what I meant."
"I wouldn't know," Hermione replied giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"Good answer," Harry added with a grin. He thanked Merlin everyday that Steven never got his grubby hands on his Hermione.
Ron took a sip if his drink. "So we're just waiting for Draco and Remus to get back to you then?"
"That's right," Harry confirmed. "All we can do is wait."
"Yeah," Hermione sighed.
Harry covered her hand with his. "I know this is hard, but I really want you to try not to worry."
"I just don't want anything to ruin…" Hermione trailed off.
Harry knew what she was thinking and gave her hand a squeeze. "Hermione, in four weeks time I'm putting a wedding ring on your finger, and nobody is going to get in the way of that I promise."
Hermione prayed that he was right
"I think you're taking the right approach myself," Ron said happy with Harry's statement. "And besides, if the idiot was that stupid to try anything, he'd have the lot of us to deal with. I don't think anyone would fancy his chances up against us lot, do you?"
Hermione smiled. "No, I certainly wouldn't."
"Well there you go then," Ron said proudly.
Just then Draco and Remus apparated in with a pop.
Harry rolled his eyes. "I thought I told you two, no apparating into this flat whilst Hermione's pregnant."
"Sorry Harry," Draco apologised. "Force of habit."
"Well you better get use to it," Harry said seriously, pointing at Hermione's stomach. "Because the bigger she gets, the more important that rule of thumb becomes, understand?"
Hermione looked bit insulted at the use of the word 'bigger', and swotted his hand away playfully. "Merlin, you're a real charmer sometimes you know that?"
"I didn't mean it like that," Harry tried to defend.
Remus chuckled. "How did you mean it?"
Harry narrowed his eyes at the older wizard. "What I meant was, the bigger the baby gets."
Ron snorted. "Nice save."
Harry tutted. "Look, just…no more apparitions into this place until the baby is born alright?"
The other three men looked at Hermione and smiled, they could tell Harry's protective nature was testing her patience, and they all found it quite amusing.
Hermione folded her arms. "Seven more months of this? And I thought it was the mother-to-be who was supposed to be overbearing."
Draco snorted. "Yeah, give it another month," he quipped, thinking of his own experience with Ginny.
Harry saw Hermione smirk almost evilly; he knew he was going to pay for his imperious streak soon. When the tables eventually turned later on in the pregnancy, he was sure it would come back on him ten-fold. He loved the woman in front of him more than his own life, but she was still Hermione Granger. The `tap the feet on the floor and hands on the hips,' Hermione Granger.
He would just have to deal with it when it came around, meaning it was time to change the subject.
"Did you find anything out?" Harry asked flatly.
Remus dumped a file on the table. "Everything we could find out at the lab is right there."
"Bedtime reading for you, Harry?" Ron tried to joke.
"Yeah something like that," he replied.
"What about, Neville?" Hermione asked quietly. "Could he tell you anything?"
"Not too much," Draco answered. "He got his hands on this file for us and filled in a few blanks. All he did really was confirm what we all suspected."
Ron looked at his brother-in-law. "Which was?"
Draco shrugged. "That the guy's mental."
"I could have told you that," Harry said picking up the file.
Remus smiled. "Well, you did insist on playing bodyguard."
Ron snickered then looked at Remus. "I could have told you that."
It was obvious to Ron that Harry wouldn't let Hermione out of his sight right now with Steven on the loose; it didn't take a master of divination to figure that one out.
"There was one thing that Neville told us that might be an important factor in all this," Remus said seriously.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"Steven specifically asked Neville to introduce him to Hermione," Remus replied.
"Is that really anything out of the ordinary though?" Ron asked. "I mean people do that kind of thing all the time."
"Yeah, but Steven had an ulterior motive," Remus added.
"We already know that he was using me," Hermione pointed out in disgust, "he admitted that to Harry remember?"
Draco nodded. "It was clearly premeditated on his part from the very beginning."
"So what happens now?" Hermione asked.
"Well, we do everything we can to track Steven down," Remus replied, "whilst Harry here goes through everything we have on him with a fine tooth comb."
Hermione shook her head. "So basically what you're saying is that we wait?"
"I'm afraid that's all we can do," Remus confirmed. "But rest assure Hermione, we will not stop until that monster's in Azkaban where he belongs."
"Or six feet in the ground," Harry quickly offered an alternative, causing everyone to look him. An almost evil smirk crossed his face. "You know. Whichever."
JOMT
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