DISCLAIMER: HARRY POTTER, characters, names, and all related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros. © 2001. Bradley Stone is my own original character. Do you know anyone who actually reads these things??
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(A/N: This chapter is a bit confusing so to help with that, all the italicized print are flashbacks.)
They sat in silence for a moment. Harry continued eating while Molly had a look of concentration on her face.
"All is not lost, Harry," Molly said with a proud look on her face.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"She's not married yet. Tell her how you feel and maybe she will return those feelings for you."
"Molly, I think that you know something more than what you are sharing," Harry said.
"Okay, after you left to study you magic, someone came to me with a problem. She loved someone very much, but he had left for the year. She was afraid that he would find some other girl and would never know how she felt about him. So, I told her almost the same thing that I am telling you; follow your heart. If you love someone then let them know or let your head get in the way of your heart and don't tell them. It's really your decision, but it comes down to will you listen to your head or your heart?"
Molly finished, but was near tears herself when she looked at him. He certainly had grown up too fast.
Even her oldest boy was more childish than Harry was, and now he was faced with an even more challenging test; to care for someone more than he cared for himself and let everyone know.
Harry looked up at her with hopeful eyes.
"Who was is?" he asked.
"Ah, no names, remember? But, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out," she said.
Harry thought for a minute. He had gone away for a year about a year and a half ago. Hermione had been so upset, but he assured her that she would meet someone while he was gone and she would see him in one year.
"I know I should be happy for you. You get to go study ancient magic for a whole year, but I'm going to miss you so much," Hermione said.
"Hermione, I'm going to miss the man too, but you don't see me crying about it. He'll be back in a year. It'll go by so fast, you'll never even notice that he's gone," Ron said with encouragement.
"That's right. You'll never even notice," said Harry.
He was unsure of whether or not he wanted those words to be true, but he couldn't stand to see that angel cry. If she asked him to stay, he would.
"Alright, hurry up and leave so you can come back to us sooner!" Hermione said as she hugged Harry.
"Yes, and come back to us safe," Ron said as he hugged Harry as well.
He remembered that day very well. That was the last day that he had see Hermione single.
After he had left, Hermione had sent him an owl everyday, but eventually they had to stop for two months because he was in intense training. During those days, he still reread her letters everyday. Harry couldn't stand to be away from her.
Then the day finally came when he could go back home for a day. His masters said that this would help him keep in touch with the world and begin to use his newfound power away from their eyes. Harry was so happy and he owled Hermione immediately. However she did not owl him back.
Once Harry left and reunited with his friends, he found out why. She had a boyfriend. Harry hated this man before he ever met him. No one was good enough to touch that angel.
"Harry, this is Bradley Stone. He's my boyfriend," Hermione said.
"Nice to meet you, Bradley," Harry said politely.
"I finally get to meet the famous Harry Potter. Can I see your scar? Oh, never mind that. Tell me about that time that you fought off You-know-who all by yourself and that kid was killed. Oh, that was tragic, but at least you made it out alive," Bradley said with enthusiasm.
Harry hated him very much. He and Ron later found out that they shared mutual feelings for Hermione's boyfriend. Ron didn't think his intentions were because of Hermione, but because of Harry.
He was glad to be going back to his training at the end of that day. He missed Hermione's letters, but at least he had new feelings for his powers to work from.
Harry had only been back for about six months, but in that time, he had become sick of hearing about Bradley Stone. He dreamed of how he could get rid of him, but in his heart he knew that if he made Hermione happy, then he would do no such thing.
What did any of that have to do with who loved him? Harry thought about his friends. Hermione, the Weasleys, and Dumbledore were the only people that knew that he was leaving.
"Hermione?" Harry asked.
Molly nodded and started to cry.
"She let her head get in the way. She kept telling me that love between friends just complicated things and that there was only room for friendship," Molly blew her nose on her hanky. "But I told her that Arthur and I were best friends in school, and look at us now. Friends make good lovers. They already know all of your secrets and believe me when I tell you that you two know each other like the back of your hands. The only thing standing in your way is that you are both the most stubborn people in the world."
Harry jumped up from his chair and kissed Molly on the cheek.
"Thanks for dinner, Molly, but I have some business to attend to."
And with that he apparated with a quick pop back to his house.
"Go and steal her heart back, Harry," Molly said as she started to clean up.
"Hermione? 'Mione, where are you? I need to speak with you immediately!" Harry yelled throughout the house, but he could not find her.
"I broke her heart again, now she will never forgive me," he said to himself, but something caught his eye - a note.
Harry jumped over the couch to get to the table and ripped open the envelope.
The note was smudged with tears, but he made out what it said.
My dearest Harry,
Your actions have finally sunk into my thick skull, that you do not wish to be my friend any longer. I am getting married tomorrow. If you see fit to show up, we will be at the Ministry of Magic at 5 PM in the marriage ward. It would mean the world to me to have my former best friend there for the happiest moment in my life. However, if you do not show up, I will understand.
Your friend,
Hermione
Harry felt his heart being ripped out again. He quickly wrote a note to Hermione, found Hedwig, and sent her off with the note.
'Now, let's just hope that she forgives me,'Harry thought to himself.
Hermione was putting her last bit of clothing into her suitcase when she heard a rapping at the window.
"Come to tell me that he doesn't want anything to do with me?" she asked the bird.
Hermione opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.
Sweet angel, Hermione,
Please do not get married tomorrow. I have something of most importance to tell you. I would prefer to do so in person, so I will be along shortly. Please hear me out before you make your decision.
Love,
Harry
"Don't do anything until I listen to him! What is he playing at? He wouldn't listen to me, why should I listen to him?"
Hedwig looked up at her with understanding eyes.
"All right, all right, I will hear what he had to say, but it's not because he wants me to, its because I am a nice person," she said defiantly.
Harry made a quick stop before heading over to Hermione's. He needed to get something first.
He didn't even have to knock, because when he got there, the door was already open with someone standing in the doorway.
"Harry, this had better be good, because I have a portkey waiting for me!" Hermione said.
She was trying to sound angry when she was really restraining herself from wrapping her arms around him.
"It is, I promise. Can we go inside?"
"Tell me what this is about first."
"Listening to the heart, rather than the head."
"Oh dear."
Hermione had heard these words before. They had come from the mouth of Molly Weasley when Hermione had gone there to confess her feelings for her best friend.
She led Harry into the dining room and invited him to sit down. She sat in a chair across from him.
"Okay, go ahead," she said.
"Hermione, you can't get married tomorrow!"
"Oh, I can't? Why not?" she hoped that he would not say what she knew he was about to say. Those words would complicate things so much.
"I have been doing a lot of thinking and talking tonight. When you came over, I wasn't ready to face my feelings, so I left to go and talk to Molly. She is the closet thing that I have to a mum. Anyway, she told me that I should follow my heart. I coaxed out some other information though. She told me that someone else had come to see her about the same thing a few days after I had left. Molly had told her the same thing, but that girl and listened to her head instead. I chose an alternate route."
"Harry--"
"No, just let me get this out. After I talked to her, I went immediately back to my house to find you, but you had gone and taken our friendship with you. I couldn't bear to live without you again. You have been my friend for too long for this to ruin it. I think it will make it better. I want you to be the one that I wake up to in the morning. I want you to be the one that I kiss good night. I want you to be the one that I share my children with. But most of all, I want you to be my wife."
Silence was their only company for what seemed like an eternity. After that was an awkward tension that you could cut through with a knife. Joining this was anxiety and pain, as Harry realized that he had put the angel in a terrible position.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done this to you. I'll just be on my way now," Harry said while he got up and started walking away.
As soon as he got outside he apparated to his roof and put on the barrier again. He had a feeling that he could be there for a while.
The last thing that he felt before he fell asleep was pain in his heart and pain in hers.