Disclaimer: JKR owns.
Lies for Love
Chapter 11: Just Me, You, and Baby Now
[AN] This chapter is the epitome of cowardice. So many lies… hence the title of the fic *cough, cough*
Beware for some OOC.
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Harry was nervous as he ascended the stairs to a flat building in Diagon Alley. He had just been to Gringotts to empty out much of his gold and convert it into American dollars. He figured that five hundred grand (plus the salary he'd be making) would be plenty for Hermione, Harry, and the baby to live off of for a while, especially since the flat was already furnished and paid for. And if it wasn't he couldn't always come back to get more.
After apparating back from dropping the money off at Hermione's flat he had some intentions to say farewell to another one of their school mates.
Harry knocked on the door three times and waited for Neville to answer his door.
When he did, his face brightened.
"Hey Harry! What are you doing here?"
"I kind of wanted to talk to you," Harry started, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Me? I mean... well sure, come on in. I was just doing a little project for Professor Sprout. You know she's having me on as her intern this year." As they walked deeper in to Neville's small flat, Harry could see a large green ivy plant covering most of Neville's front living room.
"Oh dear," Neville squeaked, obviously not expecting what he was seeing. The plant looked like it was multiplying every minute or two.
Neville turned quickly to Harry, "Um, I guess we have to talk out here then. Sorry about that."
"It's fine," Harry said politely, "I actually wanted to talk to you about something serious."
"Uh-oh, not too serious I hope," Neville said, clearly hinting about a rising dark power.
"Oh no, nothing like that," Harry covered quickly with a shake of his head. "Actually I was just transferred to a different ministry to complete my auror training," he started reciting. He had practiced this to himself a few times as he came up the stairwell, "and they told me to tell only one person where I'd be in case something happened and I needed to be found immediately."
"And you... and you want that person to be me?" Neville asked in a disbelieving tone.
Harry just smiled at him, not trusting his voice at this particular moment.
"Merlin Harry... I mean, yes! I'd be honoured to, but wouldn't you want someone like Hermione or Ron doing this?"
Harry shook his head, "Hermione and Ron are too obvious of choices. If the wrong people wanted to find me, they'd immediately go after them. That's why I came to you. You're not as obvious a choice for me and I know I can trust you with anything."
Neville beamed, "Of course you can Harry."
"Alright, so remember you'll be my secret keeper of sorts. You're just not under any vow. The place I'm going is Boston, Massachusetts in America."
Neville whistled, "That's quite a ways away Harry."
Harry nodded curtly, "Yeah, well I didn't have a choice so..."
"Oh yeah, I understand, but will you be home to visit often?"
Harry shrugged and looked rueful. It was hard lying to people, especially people as humble as Neville, "As often as I can, I suppose. I don't know what kind of work they'll have me be doing."
"Merlin, Harry. This just seems so unreal that you're moving away." Neville commented. Apparently he wanted to chat with Harry some more but Harry didn't have the time or energy to keep telling fake stories to people he cared about. Plus, he had to get back to Hermione.
"I know. I have to get going though, my portkey leaves soon."
"Oh, right, right... so basically if someone dies, or something bizarre like that- write you."
Harry nodded and thought it might be important to mention, "Yeah. But only write me for emergencies and stuff because if they see me getting too many owls-"
"I got you, Harry," Neville finished giving him a cheeky grin. "And if Ginny is caught dating another bloke, would that be considered an emergency?" he asked trying to keep from laughing.
Harry, however, only shrugged, "Ginny's not my girlfriend, she can date whoever she likes."
Neville's face straightened immediately, "Oh, right. Sorry."
Harry gave him a reassuring smile and thump on the back, "No worries, Neville. Thanks for doing this for me, and I'll see you around." He made his way down the small hall and to the door.
"Yeah Harry, see ya!" Neville called after him, still in awe that Harry would entrust this with him and no one else.
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Dear Ron,
I know this isn't the most conventional way to tell you this and I'm sorry it had to happen this way, but it was the quickest way I could tell you. I'll get straight to the point; I was offered a scholarship to an Ivy League school in America and I took it. This is a great opportunity for me, and I absolutely just couldn't pass it up. I hope you'll be supportive of me and my educational choice. I know now's a kind of weird time to leave, but I think it'll be best for us. This way I can find out what I really want and you can as well. I won't be back for a while, since term started earlier and ends a little later in the year, I probably won't have much time to spend away from my studies, but I want you to know that I'll miss you and all your family, and I will come back, I can promise you that much at least.
Love from,
Hermione
Hermione sighed as she sealed the envelope of her goodbye letter to Ron. Yes, it had been the cowardly way out- but hey, who was stopping her? She knew she deserved to give Ron a face to face farewell, but she didn't think she'd be able to look him in the face again without shouting at to him that she was pregnant with Harry's baby.
There were three bins on the far side of the room which were behind a desk that three wizards were sitting at. One bin was for express post, the other for priority post, and the last for regular post. She noticed that the regular pile was almost over flowing with letters, and being the coward that she was decided to give her letter to the wizard in charge of that pile.
"That'll be four knuts miss," he said gruffly under his bushy moustache. Hermione handed him the money without thinking, and watched as he put it on top of the huge pile.
"When do you think it will get to him?" she asked him, forgetting that the man didn't know who 'him' was.
"Two to three work days."
Hermione nodded, "Thank you." She left the shop without waiting for his reply and immediately started off for the gate way back into the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione didn't stop to turn and reminisce about all the good times she'd had in Flourish and Blotts or the Apothecary, she didn't stop to remember the first time she had ever laid eyes on Crookshanks in the pet store; she just left, willingly left, wanting nothing more at the moment than to just get as far away from the wizarding community as possible.
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Harry heard someone floo into the fireplace at Hermione's flat and hoped to god it was Hermione rather than Ron.
"Harry?" Hermione's voice called from the living room.
Harry smiled and walked out of the kitchen to see her. She looked a little frazzled, but it didn't bother him. They had both been through so much emotionally today.
"How'd it go?" Harry asked at her still giving her a comforting smile.
She shrugged, "As well as can be expected I suppose. You?"
"Same."
They continued to look at each other for a few minutes before Harry broke the
silence.
"Are you ready?"
Hermione nodded, "As ready as I'll ever be."
"I understand." He said quietly, looking directly into her eyes.
"Harry, do you think we're making the wrong decision?" she asked calmly, but
Harry could tell that all the lies she had told today were eating away at her heart.
Harry went to her and hugged her to him tightly, "Honestly? I don't know, but we'll figure that out together, won't we?"
Hermione sniffed and buried her head deeper into his chest, "We'll be okay, right?"
Harry smiled, "Definitely. Me, you, and baby."
Hermione grinned, "I like the sound of that."
Harry kissed the top of her head, "Me too. Come on; let's get our stuff over there."
She missed his warmth immediately after he pulled away, but busied herself by picking up a box and making her way to the fireplace. Harry gave her a nervous look as she grabbed some floo powder while balancing her box of things in her hands.
"Honestly Harry, don't start," she warned. It was too early for him to go into protection mode, there was too much to do.
"Right, love, sorry."
Hermione had already threw down the powder when he heard his last words. 'Love? Love? Well that's a new term of endearment he's never called me before...'
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Next chapter on Lies for Love:
Hermione looked deep into Harry's eyes. Harry- her best friend, her lover, the father of her child… How did he manage to say everything so sweetly to her? The things he said… they made her feel truly beautiful.
They stared into each other's orbs for a few more moments before Hermione smirked, "You sure you can handle two of me running around, Potter?"
"I can't wait," he said honestly making Hermione's insides melt for the second time that night.
…
Sorry for the short chapter. But thank you for your reviews! The first instalment is coming to a quick close, and I'd again like to thank everyone who's stuck with me throughout this fic.
By the way- to all of you who are desperately awaiting the next chapter for M&ME, I'd like to apologize. I'm terribly busy right now in life, with my daughter's football matches plus I'm selling my co. and buying into another- so life's very stressful right now.
I can promise that I'll be working on M&ME every free chance I get, though.