Chapter 25 - Halloween
Harry sat on a bench in front of his parents' graves at Godric's Hollow. It was Halloween night and ever since he and Hermione had first come here twenty years ago during Christmas, he made sure to visit his parents every year on the anniversary of their deaths. He had always made this trip alone and nobody, save Hermione, knew of his annual visit.
He had laid a wreath of roses, a tradition he picked up from his very first trip here, on the ground between their graves and began to talk to them, giving them his yearly update.
"Mum and Dad, it's me, Harry. It's Halloween again and I'm here to visit. First of all, I want to say that I miss you and I love you both."
He exhaled. "It's been a very strange year, full of changes. Your grandchildren are growing up so fast. James has his first girlfriend, his friend Samantha that I told you about, Al has started Hogwarts and is a seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Lily is already learning to fly."
He sighed, thinking of his little girl. "Unfortunately, she had an accident a couple of weeks ago when she fell off her broom. She's okay and she's recovering nicely at her grandparents' house. Lily had her accident because she was trying to come see me. You see, Ginny and I have split up. We're getting a divorce."
"I know you both must be terribly disappointed in me. When I married Ginny I thought she was the one for me. But over the years, we've grown apart and she's not the girl I married. She's been absolutely horrible since the split - she took the kids and wouldn't let me see them and wants sole custody. But her actions seem to have turned the kids against her and they want to live with me.
"I have my custody hearing tomorrow and I'm really scared. My lawyer says I have nothing to worry about. I have a stack of character reference letters and Molly and Arthur's neighbor is testifying of my behalf about Lily's accident. Ginny had left her alone to go talk to Ron, who's written a letter for me.
"What would be so unusual about my best friend writing a letter for me, you might ask? Well, Ron and I aren't really best friends anymore. His marriage to Hermione is also over. After the split Ron falsely accused me of having an affair with Hermione, which definitely put a damper on things. He later apologized and things are better but it's going to be a while before Ron and I are knocking back Firewhiskeys at our local pub."
"Which brings me to Hermione - Mum and Dad, I love her. She's the most amazing witch, no - the most amazing woman I've ever known. She's loyal, kind, brave, brilliant and beautiful. I realized over the past few weeks that I want to spend the rest of my life with her, if she'll have me. I only wish I'd had the nerve to go for her all of those years ago. But she loved Ron, or at least I thought she did and I didn't want to put a strain on our friendship.
"So now, I'm in this mess because of the choices I made twenty years ago. I married the wrong woman who now wants to take away my family. All I ever wanted was a family of my own and now I'm afraid I'm going to lose them."
Harry paused. He thought he heard something moving behind him, a rustling of leaves.
"Is anyone there?" He asked.
A cloaked figure came into view in the moonlight. "Hermione?"
"Yes, it's me, Harry."
"What- what are you doing here?" Harry blinked, not quite believing that she was standing before him.
"Well, it's Halloween. I know you always come here every year. I just got back from my trip."
"And you came straight here?"
"Well, I wanted to see you." Hermione said in usual her no-nonsense manner as she approached the bench and sat next to Harry.
Harry wondered how much of his monologue she had heard.
"Sorry I interrupted you talking with your parents."
"That's okay, I think I was almost done." He paused. "How much did you hear?"
"Not much, just heard you telling them that you were afraid you were going to lose your family."
"Oh."
"Why was there something you didn't want me to hear?" She smirked.
"Um, no." Harry wasn't sure if he had wanted her to know that he had wished he had pursued her when they were teenagers.
"So how is the custody battle going, Harry? I haven't heard anything."
"Didn't you get my letter?"
"Which one?"
"I sent you one about a week ago, telling you about Lily's accident and the first hearing."
"What? I didn't get it". Hermione shook her head. "The Ministry changed my itinerary a bit my last week, so that's probably why. What happened to Lily?"
Harry caught her up on Ron's letter, the hearing and Lily's accident, while Hermione took his hand sympathetically.
"Oh, Harry, that must've been so scary for you. I can't believe that Ginny would leave her alone like that. And poor Lily - my heart breaks for her. How is she now?"
"She's at the Burrow again. I don't think she's talking to her mother from what Molly and Arthur have told me."
"And tomorrow's the hearing. I can't believe Ron is going to have to testify. I would imagine he's not happy about it. I wish I could go, but I have to debrief my team about my trip."
"Well that's probably for the best." Harry said. "So, how was your whirlwind tour of the world's Wizarding cultures?"
"Oh, it was amazing…and exhausting. I met so many interesting wizards and witches and learned about their concerns and issues. Did you know in America that they live like Muggles? They use electronic devices and dress in modern fashions. There's so much more I want to share with you, but I need to finalize my report to the IWR."
Harry smiled. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."
"I did. I'm so glad I took this job, but I have to admit that there's no place like home."
Harry took a deep breath. "So did you see Viktor Krum?"
Hermione smirked. "How long have you been waiting to ask me that?"
Harry gave her a nervous look. "Well, I was a little worried…"
"Worried that he wanted to make me a stepmother to his son?"
"Well, did he?" Harry asked impatiently.
"Kind of." Hermione replied, slightly amused. "I went to his home for dinner and I met his son, Alex. He is such a sweet boy, he looks like a miniature Viktor. He's going off to Durmstrang in a couple of years and Viktor says he's lonely. He has his share of women, mostly groupies from his Quidditch days, but he's looking for a wife and someone who will be a mother to his son."
"But I told him, very gently mind you, that I wasn't interested. But Viktor could tell that my heart was already taken."
Harry smiled, encouraged by this news. "It is?"
"Yes." Hermione's expression grew serious. "Harry, I took some time during my trip to think about us and what happened the night before I left."
"And?"
"I definitely want there to be an Us. It's just that I think it's still too soon for us to start anything. Our divorces aren't final and you have this custody thing to work out. I just think it will complicate matters further if we became a couple now."
"So you want to wait until the divorces are final?" Harry said, a bit disappointed.
Hermione nodded. "Yes, I think that would be best."
"So what do we do in the meantime?"
"You mean, how do we define our relationship? I'm not sure. I guess we're still best friends."
"Even though we both want more?" Harry asked.
"Yes." Hermione nodded again. "Can you handle that?"
"I suppose I'll have to." Harry sighed. "I know in my head that you are right, it's just my heart that's having trouble accepting this."
"Well, that's always been our struggle hasn't it, Harry?" Hermione mused. "You act from the heart, and I act from the head."
"Yeah, and right now my heart's telling me that I want to kiss you." He admitted.
"Harry…"
"Please? I haven't seen you in a whole month. There's nobody around watching us, well maybe except the dead."
"Harry, do you really want to kiss me in front of your parents?" Hermione raised her eyebrow.
"I think they would like it. They would want to know that I'm happy."
Hermione relented, knowing he wasn't going to give up until he got his way. "Okay, but just one kiss."
Harry inched closer to her and leaned in, brushing his mouth against hers tenderly. Hermione was instantly transported back to the way she felt the first time he kissed her in his kitchen and pulled him closer.
After teasing each other with gentle brushing of their lips, Hermione moaned and opened her mouth, letting her tongue dance against Harry's. They continued on for a few moments, lost in the discovery of each other's mouths and the rhythm of their kiss.
Finally feeling the need to breathe, they pulled apart. "That was…." Hermione panted.
"Wow." Harry finished for her.
"Yeah."
"And I'm not apologizing this time." Harry said.
"Don't you dare apologize." Hermione laughed as she pulled him to her again for another kiss.
"I thought you wanted just one." Harry whispered teasingly.
"Shut up and kiss me."
This time there was nothing gentle about their kiss. They hungrily devoured each other while their hands caressed each others backs, stroked the back of their necks and ran fingers through each other's hair.
When they parted a second time, they retreated to opposite ends of the bench.
"Oh, Harry this isn't good." Hermione panted. "How are we supposed to be just friends when just a few kisses render me completely undone?"
Harry ran a hand through his hair, trying to ignore the fact that most of the blood had rushed from his head directly to his groin.
"I don't know. Are you going away again anytime soon? You know, if we're not near each other we can't kiss."
Hermione shook her head. "I have a few trips here and there over the next six months, but they'll be short ones. I will be in England for most of the time."
"Well, then I guess we'll have to exercise self control around each other. We're adults, not randy teens, we can do this."
"We can do this." Hermione repeated, trying to convince herself.
They sat there in silence, breathing deep and each trying to calm their erotic urges.
Harry sobered up as he stared at his parents' graves, and was reminded of what he had said to them before Hermione had surprised him. He thought of his imminent custody hearing and he felt the blood returning to his head. An anxious feeling came over him when he thought about James, Al and Lily.
"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione asked, noticing the change in his countenance.
"What if I lose them?" Harry said quietly.
"You won't lose them. The judge would have to be crazy to take them from you. Who is your judge, by the way?"
"Susanna Woodall."
"Susanna Woodall?" Hermione repeated. "I've been in her courtroom before. She's very fair, no-nonsense and has a great reputation. She reminds me a bit of Professor McGonagall."
"Yeah, me too." Harry chuckled. "I did get a good feeling about her. I was just worried when she decided to subpoena Ron. I mean, Gloria's allegations were ridiculous."
"Well, I'm sure the judge is just exploring all avenues. We both know that Ron wasn't coerced or bribed into writing the letter, so he'll just tell the truth."
"But what if Gloria tries to interrogate him about our relationship - even he thought we were having an affair."
"But Ron knows we weren't, and I know he wouldn't have written a letter if he truly believed that." Hermione tentatively moved closer to Harry again and took his hand.
"Everything will be okay, Harry."
He looked at their joined hands and then at Hermione. "I hope so."
He sighed. "I think I'm ready to go now. Mum and Dad, I love you and I'll see you next year. And hopefully I will bring Hermione with me."
"Definitely." Hermione squeezed his hand. "Good-bye Mr. and Mrs. Potter. See you next year."
Hand in hand, Harry and Hermione stood up and left the graveyard and disapparated back to their homes on Windward Circle.
TBC
A/N: Don't worry, there are no paparazzi staking out the graveyard at Godric's Hollow ;)
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