A Day At The Park
The Truth Of The Matter
Harry did his best to be quiet as he slipped open the door to number twelve Grimmauld Place and stepped inside. He was careful to avoid the squeaky floorboard in the foyer as he made his way unsteadily towards the stairs. He didn't want to wake Teddy and he certainly didn't want to wake Hermione considering that it was just gone two in the morning and though he was nowhere near as pissed as he had been a few hours before he was still not sober enough for a telling off of the sort Hermione was libel to give. Harry made it up the stairs without incident and was halfway down the hall to his room when he noticed that the door to the library was open and the soft shaft of light that was emanating from the room illuminating the otherwise dark and deserted hallway behind him. Curious he turned around and headed towards the open door.
As he peered across the threshold of the room, his eyes fell upon Hermione. She was lying on a chaise angled along the right side of the fireplace wearing the cobalt colored dressing gown of his that he'd given her to wear one night a year or more ago to ward off the chill that lingered in the house during fall and winter evenings. It had become hers by defacto as she'd neither returned it to him or taken it outright, she'd merely hung it in the closet of the room that'd been designated as hers and there it had remained. She lay on her side staring into the roaring fire that burned in the fireplace, lost in thought. An unopened book rested beneath her hand.
Envious of whatever it was that she was contemplating so intently, Harry spoke.
"Expecting a floo?"
Hermione never turned her face from the fire as she shook her head and spoke to Harry.
"Just doing a bit of thinking."
Jokingly Harry replied.
"Bit late for such pursuits wouldn't you say?"
Hermione's response was a noncommittal shrug.
Sensing that something was amiss Harry stepped into the room and asked.
"Hermione, are you alright?"
The words were barely out of his mouth before she replied.
"Yes Harry I'm alright…quite alright indeed."
Something in Hermione's tone struck Harry as odd and though he was not altogether sure how he knew, he knew that something significant had taken place, something that had altered Hermione in some way. Determined to find the source of Hermione's strange mood Harry opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Hermione's unexpected homily.
"Ron stopped by earlier. He fancied a word with you about you having called things off with Ginny. Actually, he was angling more towards a row than a word but as I expected he'd be in a strop once he found out I wasn't too surprised when he turned up bellowing for your arse on a skewer. Naturally, I wouldn't tell him where you were and so instead of having a go at you he and I called things off."
Hermione stopped speaking and resumed staring into the fire. The lingering effects of the alcohol Harry had consumed vanished as though he'd taken a hangover potion. How long he stood staring at Hermione he didn't know. His surprise was evident when he spoke.
"You and Ron broke off?"
Hermione slowly nodded her head.
"Yes. Ron and I broke off."
Still disbelieving Harry stuttered.
"You and Ron…you're over…you broke things off…o…o…over Ginny and me?"
Hermione wrinkled her nose and bit into her bottom lip with those perfectly straightened teeth she'd gotten courtesy of Madame Pomfrey during fourth year and answered.
"Ron and I did not break up over you and Ginny…"
Harry cut across Hermione's words as he strode across the room to where Hermione was lying on the chaise by the fireplace.
"You just said that Ron came over here to have a go at me about Ginny and that because you wouldn't tell him where I was he broke up with you…DAFT…STUPID…IDIOTIC…GIT! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN IS BLOODY WRONG WITH RON? WHAT KIND OF A WANKER GIVES UP THE WOMAN THEY LOVE…ESPECIALLY WHEN THE WOMAN IS YOU…BECAUSE I BROKE OFF WITH HIS SISTER…STUPID ARSE OF AN IDIOT! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO GO OVER TO HIS FLAT AND KNOCK SOME BLOODY SENSE INTO THAT EMPTY HEAD OF HIS!"
Hermione quickly rose from her perch on the chaise and with a wave of her hand, the library door snapped shut with a familiar soft suctioning sound that Harry immediately identified as a silencing charm. Gazing squarely into the depths of Harry's eyes Hermione hissed angrily.
"I honestly don't understand what it is in the nature of blokes that makes you feel as though shouting at the top of your lungs accomplishes wonders but I can promise you that if your racket has woken Teddy you'll be the one up with him not me!"
Harry glanced towards the door with a somewhat horrified expression at the idea of spending the late night hours attempting to placate his godson. Though thankfully Teddy had not inherited his father's lycanthropy, he did a fair imitation of a werewolf's disposition when he was in a snit. Seeing the look on his face and feeling that Harry had been properly reprimanded she said.
"He slept through Ron's bellowing which was at least an octave or two higher than yours so I suppose no harm has been done."
Harry directed his attention back to Hermione and shamefacedly mumbled an incoherent word or two that Hermione took to be an apology. Quietly she added.
"And just so you know…it wasn't over you and Ginny that Ron and I broke up."
Harry's eyebrows rose questioningly.
Hermione sighed at the look.
"Well, it wasn't because of you as much as it was because of something you said."
Cocking his head to the side Harry queried .
"And what exactly was it that I said?"
Hermione turned back towards the fire as she spoke.
"The other morning…the day you called things off with Ginny…in the kitchen before she came…you said that people grow up and change and that they start to find out who they are and what they want out of their lives. And that when that happens sometimes the relationships we have no matter how badly we want them to work just don't fit into what we want for ourselves. That got me thinking about my relationship with Ron."
Hermione stopped talking as she gazed more intently into the fire searching for the words she needed to say. Finally, after several minutes she said.
"Once I got to thinking things over I realized you weren't the only one who was trying to make a relationship work because you felt you owed it to someone else and not because you were truly happy with that person. When Ron came over tonight looking for you, I tried to explain to him how you and Ginny had grown apart. I told him that you could be with someone everyday, and still drift away from them. I told him that no matter how much you care about someone that you can become loose sight them and by the time you open your eyes and realize what's happened its too late to fix the mess you've made. I told him that just because it's your first love that doesn't always mean it's supposed to be forever."
Hermione's words stopped as she felt Harry behind her. Judging from the heat radiating from his body she was certain that if she turned around they'd be face to face. Harry's voice was enticingly low when he spoke.
"I don't suppose Ron took that too well."
Although he couldn't see her face, Harry heard the faint smile in Hermione's words when next she spoke.
"He wasn't pleased about it no but he accepted things well enough considering…"
Hermione abruptly left off what she was saying, not sure, she should or could say what she was about to.
Harry noticed the obviously pregnant pause and asked.
"Considering what?"
Hermione took a deep breath and gathering all her Gryffindor courage turned to face Harry as she said.
"Ron took things very well considering the fact that he knows you have feelings for me…"
Harry interjected.
"You told Ron about my feelings for you?"
Hermione made a gesture that was a cross between a shrug and a nod.
"It was actually more along the lines of my confirming his suspicions."
Harry pulled a bewildered face. Hermione explained.
"Ginny told Ron what you said about having feelings for someone else…and…well…she guessed that you meant me. Ron asked me if Ginny was right…and seeing as how they'd already sussed out the truth as it was, I told him that Ginny was right."
Harry nodded and made an odd sort of grunting noise as he contemplated the ramifications of it his feelings for Hermione being known to Ginny and Ron and by extension the rest of the Weasley clan. Harry was sure to be receiving another visit from Molly once word got round, not to mention the chats he was bound to have with the four elder Weasley brothers over his ill treatment of their younger siblings. Harry was pulled from his thoughts by Hermione as she continued to speak.
"Once I'd answered his question about you having feelings for me…Ron asked…if…if…if I had feelings for you."
Hermione paused and waited until she felt the intensity of Harry's gaze upon her. She brought her eyes level with his and Harry's voice erupted from his throat in a raspy whisper.
"Ron asked you if you have feelings for me…"
Harry paused and waited for confirmation, as Hermione nodded he finished off the last of his question.
"What did you tell him?"
The words that she hadn't been able to speak to Ron tumbled effortlessly from her lips for Harry.
"I didn't tell Ron anything…I couldn't seem to find the words to tell him that I've been in love with you since the moment you came barreling into the girl's loo and threw yourself on the back of a mountain troll to save me. I didn't tell Ron that the reason I've always stood by you no matter what, that the reason I've followed you to the ends of the earth and back is because I love you though I was to daft to admit it even to myself. I didn't tell Ron anything…I didn't have to…he could see the truth of the matter in my eyes."
Hermione's voice had dropped to a whisper by the time she finished speaking. She stood there staring at Harry waiting for him to react to her words. They stood there simply staring at each other for what felt like an eternity before Harry stepped closer and drew Hermione into his arms. She was certain he could hear her heart thundering in her chest. Hermione sound she was suddenly extraordinarily aware of Harry, the spicy scent of him, the firmness of his lean muscled physique, the brilliant sparkle of his emerald green eyes. She swallowed convulsively as Harry stood with her cradled in his arms watching the range of emotions play across her face.
Without saying a word, Harry reached up and ran his right hand through Hermione's hair; releasing her hair from the ponytail she'd pulled it into as she got ready for bed. With his left arm he pulled her flush against his body. Of their own accord, Hermione's arms snaked their way up his chest. Her fingers tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck as Harry lowered his head. Hermione's eyes drifted shut as Harry lightly pressed his lips to hers. Hermione's response was tentative at first. Then Harry slid his tongue along Hermione's bottom lip and as she opened her mouth to receive him the kiss intensified from it previous gentle exploration of lips to a lush and passionate openmouthed tangle of lips and tongues and grasping greedy hands that roamed under jumpers and opened dressing gowns to caress bare honeyed thighs.
When they breathlessly drew apart they found that they had somehow moved from the standing in front of the fireplace to being pressed against the wall next to the fireplace. Harry drew back slightly from Hermione and took in her mussed hair and kiss-swollen lips and opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by Hermione firmly placing her fingers to his lips.
"As much as I enjoyed that I think we should take things slow…we've both got a lot of baggage just now and there is the matter of Ron and Ginny to consider. I want to be with you but I just need a bit of time."
Harry's voice was a husky passion tinged whisper when he spoke.
"We can go as slow as you want."
Hermione smiled and raised herself on her tiptoes and brushed a soft kiss across Harry's lips before bidding him goodnight and heading out the door. Harry watched her disappear out the door and slumped against the wall behind him.
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