Author's Note: Hope you guys enjoy the new chapter. It is longer than the last chapter, which was too short for a lot of you ;) Hopefully this a bit more worth the wait. By the next chapter I hope to at last have a beta reader, so hopefully this is the last chapter you have to put up with me beta-ing for myself!
But I do want to make sure that I thank you all for your reviews, especially for that last chapter. I appreciate them all so much!!! Enjoy J
Disclaimer: Harry Potter = not mine, enough said. No infringement of any copyrights, etc. intended.
Chapter 9 - Looking Through You
Hermione sat at her desk, slumped forward with her head resting on her folded arms. Despite how horribly tired she'd been while waiting for Ron and Harry to come, after saying goodnight to Harry, she had been anything but sleepy. Now she could feel herself falling asleep right there at her desk, something Hermione Granger had never done in her whole life, whether it be at work or at school. Coming in to work a couple of hours early to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had seemed such a good idea at the time. Turning her head slowly to the side, she reached over for her coffee mug and glumly stared down into it. She had been hoping that there would be at least one sip left, but there wasn't even a little drop left. Sighing she forced herself to sit up and reached for a stack of paper would that she really needed to look through hoping that keeping her mind busy would help her remain conscious.
A loud knock at the door of her office about half an hour later, completely ruined the forced concentration that she had managed to scrape together. She felt like smacking her head against the desk in frustration when she saw who it was at the door, Ron. Even normally she didn't really welcome a visit from him at work, as he always talked for far too long when he came to see her, and if it was in the mornings he always set her behind and made himself late for work in the process.
"Come in," she managed with the little enthusiasm she could muster.
Ron proved to be a bit more welcome of a sight when she noticed that he had brought her some coffee from the café around the corner nearby. Since she was currently running on only three hours of sleep at the most, caffeine in any form was a very welcome sight.
"Hey, Hermione, I didn't expect you to be in yet. I was just going to leave this coffee waiting for you for when you came in," he said, smiling as he set the cup down on her desk.
"Yeah, well I've been kind of behind, and wanted to get some paperwork done before too many people came in to the office yet," she replied, taking a large gulp of the coffee despite the fact that it was still quite hot.
Ron took a seat in the chair in front of her desk and opened a bag, clearly from the bakery. He pulled out a muffin which he ate with his usual gusto.
Hermione felt a twinge of guilt for being annoyed with him. He was only trying to be kind to her, and he didn't know what inner turmoil she was going through these days, although she didn't dare tell him. Jealously had always been one of Ron's major flaws, especially when it came to Harry. Even after all that happened their last year of Hogwarts, she still saw it in flashes every now and then and didn't particularly feel up to dealing with a bout of his jealous right now.
"So, how's it going with Harry?" he asked, slightly hard to understand as he spoke while finishing up the last bit of muffin.
Hermione sifted uncomfortably in her desk chair, trying to mask it as an attempt to smooth her skirt, and replied, "Oh, fine. He hasn't even been with me a whole day yet, so I can't see that I would have much to complain about, unless he was a sleepwalker, then I'd have something I guess. Or if he was the sort to eat all the food in the fridge and then not remember it the next morning."
Ron laughed. "I roomed with Harry for 7 years at Hogwarts; I would've warned you about that if he did anything strange."
She smiled wearily. Ron eyed her with a look of concern.
"Are you doing okay, Hermione? You've been looking pretty work out lately."
"Oh, isn't that flattering. You really shouldn't be flirting with me at work, Ron," she told him with a small grin creeping across her lips.
He rolled his eyes in amusement and slight annoyance and stood up, brushing muffin crumbs off his lap.
"Oh, don't Ron, you know they make house elves clean this offices, despite my insistence that they hire a cleaning service or something to clean them instead," she protested.
"Hermione, the house elves get paid quite well now thanks to you, or else the bloody Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures wouldn't be using them to clean their offices," he grumbled in annoyance.
"It hardly matters," she sniffed.
"You're a treat this morning, Hermione," he told her, shaking his head. "I think I'll be off to work. Talk to you soon."
"Bye, Ron, thanks for the coffee," she said, trying not to sound overly eager to have him go. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, and she suppressed the sudden urge to pull away, luckily he seemed not to notice.
As he made his way he bumped into Luna, who was coming to see Hermione, nearly knocking over the petite blonde.
"Oh, bloody hell! I'm sorry, Luna," he said. "I didn't see you there."
"Oh, it's not a problem at all Ronald," she said with a dreamy smile looking at him with her large silvery eyes intently.
He looked relived and gently patted her shoulder. Hermione watching intently was surprised to see the usually imperturbable Luna flush delicately. "Have a good day ladies!" he said in parting. Luna stood in the doorway a moment longer, watching him go.
"Isn't his hair just an exquisite shade of scarlet?" Luna commented as she came through the door. Hermione suppressed a laugh. Luna had the knack for making the strangest observations and such random remarks.
"Erm, yes I suppose it is Luna."
Luna looked thoughtful for a moment but then produced a stack of papers from her messenger bag and put it down on Hermione's desk.
"Yes, well here's some information I found recently that I think would interest you. I just wanted to drop it off before it slipped my mind." Luna looked around for a moment, making quite sure no one was in earshot, then leaned over the desk and whispered conspiratorially, "So, how was it?
Hermione face scrunched into a look of utter confusion. Luna really was living up to her old nickname today.
"How was what?"
"You know, sleeping with Harry?"
"Dear Merlin!" exclaimed Hermione, nearly falling off her chair. "Why on earth would think we've been, well you know, having sex?" the question ending in a hiss.
"Well, I heard that Harry had come to stay with you, and you two have always had an obvious attraction to each other, despite the fact that you both have always denied it. And lately you've looked quite tired of Ron, so I figured you two would finally act upon your feelings."
"Luna, that's utterly ridiculously. Honestly, I don't know how you think up these things," Hermione told her dismissively, trying to sound as indifferent as possible, but carefully avoiding Luan's eyes.
Luna gave her a disbelieving look, but simply shrugged.
"Well, we shall see. Have a good day, Hermione. I'll see you around."
Hermione sighed. "Thanks for the info, Luna, see you."
Luna nodded and headed out.
Hermione frowned. Was she so bloody obvious, or was Luna just strangely adept at reading her like an open book? Yes, having Harry stay with her was a fabulous idea, just fabulous.
She attacked the paper work she had been trying to get finished before the two interruptions with grime determination.
Hermione looked at her watch and blinked in surprise. It was already well past six, and only now did she realize how quiet the office had gotten all around her. Very few people were still in; most everyone had gone home to their families and a warm supper. Leaning back in her chair she stretched out her stiff legs and back muscles.
She put her desk in order at record speed, wanting to get home to make sure Harry was alright. Throwing on her coat and grabbing her bag, she quickly closed and locked her office down behind her.
The night was rather chilly but the cool air felt rather pleasant to her after being in the stuffy office all day, as she strolled down the street. She often liked to walk for a little bit before Apparating on her way home, still preferring to do things the Muggle way from time to time.
As she turned the corner, a horrible chill ran along her spine. She turned and looked over her shoulder, making certain that no one was following her. After living through some of the most dangerous eras in the Wizarding world, she was more alert to danger than some, especially at night. Her hand immediately flew to her wand, her fingers tightening around the familiar object.
She took a couple more steps but couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. It would probably be best that she Apparate home now. Before she could, a menacing figure appeared in her path. Whoever it was, they did not look they had anything but the worst intentions.
"Good evening Miss Granger," the hooded figure said. A shaft of moonlight hit the man's face and all she could she was the harsh glint of his teeth as his mouth twisted into a malicious smile. She could see him going to pull out his wand.
"What do you want!?!?" she demanded, trying to sound unshaken.
"How's Mr. Potter doing? I understand that he recently had a bit of an accident?" she felt her stomach twist into a knot as she was gripped with anger and fear. This was clearly one of the people who been there when Harry been struck with a curse.
"You have no right to even speak his name, you swine," she spat. The man let out a little snarl, and stepping forward he slapped Hermione with such force that she was knocked to ground.
Stunned but still in control of her faculties, she pointed her wand at the man and hit him with a defensive spell before he could do anything worse. She was very lucky that he had decided to simply hit her rather than using any sort of dark magic he most likely knew on her. She could feel a warm trickle of blood sliding down her chin from her split lip. Before he could collect himself, she Apparated home. In a panic she ran to her door, first making certain that no one was there waiting for her before going to open her door.
Apparently the first man had simply been a warning meant to instill fear.
She quickly unlocked the door and slammed it behind her, putting a few extra protective charms on the locks.
"Harry, Harry!" she shouted in a panic. He entered the living room, coming out from the kitchen. He looked concerned, having heard the note of alarm in her voice, his frown deepened when he saw her bloodied face.
"Bloody hell, Hermione! What happened? Are you okay?" he demanded, rushing towards her.
She threw her arms around him, giving him a rib-crushing hug. He made a noise of surprise and pain. She loosened her grip and quickly pulled away from him, giving him an apologetic look.
"Thank Merlin that you're okay. I ran into what I'm certain was one of your attackers on the way home, and I was so worried that they had come here for you," she explained quickly, gazing at his dear face in relief, so glad to see him standing in her living room perfectly unharmed. He was old worn clothes and he clearly hadn't done anything with his hair after taking a shower, as it was sticking up in several places, even more than it usually did.
"No, no I'm fine. I'm so glad that you're okay too," he said, talking her face in hands, gently running his thumb over her split lip. She shivered with mingled pleasure and pain. Her heart was hammering so loudly in her chest that she wondered if it was audible to Harry as well.
"Yes, well, I don't even know if you'd remember any magic. I was so afraid that you would simply be an easy target for them."
He smiled and gently kissed her cheek before pulling away and taking out his wand. He pointed it her injured lip and softly murmured a spell that she recognized as a healing charm. She the cut on her lip stop bleeding and knit back together part way and looked at him in wonderment.
"Why didn't you tell anyone you remembered your magic?" she spluttered, completely shocked.
Harry grinned and laughed heartily. "Well, I was kind of afraid Ginny would use my magic for her own evil ends," he told her with a straight face that held for only a moment before the smile he had been fighting won out.
"Well, I'm glad that I don't have to spend time re-teaching you magic. You know you have always been rubbish at it," Hermione joked, having a little fun at his expense.
"Oh, really, I find that hard to believe Miss Granger."
They both dissolved into laughter, their eyes meeting as their laughter died.
She surprised herself and Harry by pulling him tightly against her. Her resolve from the past several weeks all completely dissolved. She couldn't deny how powerfully she felt about him anymore. It no longer mattered to her if it meant an irreparably broken heart when Harry's memory returned; she wanted him more than she had wanted anyone.
He broke the kiss looking down at her in concern.
"Hermione?"
The way he spoke her name held a whole host of questions in a single word.
Her answer to all of them was yes.