Dan looked up at her in shock and confusion. Hermione looked wild- her mouth open and her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, her eyes filled with horror, as she slowly started to back away from him.
"Hermione, I'm sorry, I didn't…"
"Who are you?" she said as her eyes began to roam the room frantically as if looking for an exit.
Dan stood up, seized with fear. "Hermione what…"
"WHO ARE YOU?" This time she screamed it at him.
Obviously she saw or felt something from me, he thought; this was NOT the way he had wanted this to go down. His hand had been forced because he couldn't control himself around her. Just like always. "Hermione please calm down…"
"Calm down? CALM DOWN?!!! I saw a vision. You know what I'm talking about don't you. A vision. STAY AWAY FROM ME!!" He had begun to move toward her, and she backed up into the wall and took a fight stance. If he hadn't been scared shitless about her reaction it would've been funny- no matter how good a kick-boxer she might be, he was twice her size and 100 times her strength. After years of fighting he knew many ways to subdue an enemy. But she was anything but his enemy.
"Oh my God, Ben…" Her voice was tiny and laced with fear as she thought about her son. She knew she never should have let him go away. She had played right into their hands. Dan knew exactly where he was.
The terror radiating off of her now nearly brought him to his knees. "No Hermione, please, Ben is OK, please listen to me, PLEASE."
She stood as stiff as a statue, rooted in place, arms still raised, realizing she had no choice. I need to find out all I can before I kill him, she was thinking. So I can get to Ben.
"What did you see?"
"Mountains lots of them. Water. A cold dark, barren land."
"That would be my prison." He swallowed hard, groping for the right words. This is harder than the first time, he thought.
"And where exactly would that be?"
"Bulgaria."
Bulgaria. The place that had given her the love of her life such hardships a place that had taken him away. The place that could rightly lay claim to her son and take him away too. The word sliced through her like salt poured into an open wound.
"Bulgaria." She repeated it, trying to focus her mind. She had so many questions, but they would have to wait until she ascertained who he was, what he wanted, and most of all, how much danger Ben was in.
"So who exactly are you and what do you want?" She forced herself to appear calm.
His stomach was in his throat; he opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out. He swallowed and tried again.
"It's me, Mione."
"Me who."
"Me. Harry."
Her eyes narrowed to slits as she stared at him and every hair on her body stood on end. "I know three different ways to break your neck so I would advise you not to lie to me again. Who are you." Her words hissed through her teeth.
"Harry, Hermione; I'm Harry."
She pulled herself fully upright to look as menacing as possible. "Bullshit. Harry can't handle polyjuice to look like someone else. His body would not accept it..This is the last time I'm asking- who are you and who sent you here."
"I didn't transform Hermione. It's kind of a occlumens - a mind illusion really. My appearance hasn't changed. I've made you think that I look different than I do. See?"
The handsome dark haired face before her vanished and Harry's face appeared. The face that she still saw in her dreams only matured by years of trial and separation. His hair was still short but it was the beautiful raven hair she remembered. Smooth skin, rosy lips, and cute ears. The eyes didn't change though. She avoided looking directly into them. Keep your head clear Hermione, you have to be two steps ahead of him.
"You just proved that you're a shape-shifter. Harry didn't have the power to mind warp."
Not being able to help himself, he chuckled at her. "Well I guess you could say that living in a place with the lowest things that have ever graced this earth for the past 10 years has taught me a few things." He sobered instantly and dropped his voice, pleading with her to believe him. "Mione, it's me, I swear. I told you I would come back for you. It just took a lot longer than I ever imagined it would."
She shook her head vehemently. "You've constructed an entire identity to deceive me- if you were Harry you wouldn't have to hide yourself from me. He would know that. He does know that." Revulsion was beginning to wash over her. She had been loyal to Harry for so long, and now she betrayed him with- well, she still didn't know whom.
"Hermione, I had no idea what had happened to you. I didn't know if you had married or where you were or even if you were alive. I didn't know how you'd react to me when you saw me. I probably would've told you a lot sooner, but then I found out about Ben, and I didn't know what he'd think. From what you've told me tonight, I made the right choice."
"Don't you dare speak my son's name," she hissed.
"It's my name too. Hermione, if you let me connect with you, you'll see that, you know, I'm still me."
Her head jerked and her eyes locked on his. She had heard those same words, so many years ago. They had changed her life.
He took a step toward her. "mione, please." He was begging her, knowing he had to show her beyond any shadow of a doubt that it really was him.
Being torn between fear and knowing this would show her what she needed to know, she nodded her head almost imperceptibly.
He gently placed his hands on either side of her face and gazed into her eyes. He could feel her body shaking as he said, "relax and let your mind go blank."
The rush of images came immediately.
His adoration of her from afar. Her fussing over him going into battle. Their first kiss. Making love together. Various scenes from their relationship. Their tortuous goodbye. Harry in battle; as a leader; as a mighty wizard. The infamous Yule ball dress.
But more than the images she felt all of his emotions over the past 10 years. His fear of not being accepted on his "Return". His bravery in battle and his compassion for those who served under him. His pride in being regarded a great wizard. But through it all there was one recurring sentiment.
Loneliness, despair….
Its overpowering presence permeated every fibre of his being. Being surrounded by friends, comrades, adoring Aurors did nothing to lift him from the desolation he existed in.
When they were young, his loneliness came from his conscious decision to separate himself from others for protection. He dealt with it in silence, throwing up a wall if anyone came too close. Loneliness was a by-product of being who he was. It was painful but survivable.
But that was before Hermione had told him she loved him. Before he knew that it was possible for every cell in his body to be satiated with love and to know that love was returned just as strong. Whoever had written, "it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all" was wrong. Dead wrong. Knowing that there was something, someone, who could make the gnawing despair that lived in his veins go away was worse. Far worse.
He had lived in a glass cage for 10 years, waiting for the time he could return to the woman who held his heart in her hands.
And she knew. He had waited for her, just like she had been waiting for him. There was no one else. Ever. There never could be.
It was Harry. Her Harry.
He removed his hands from her face and asked "did it work?"
Just as it had been all of those years ago, she continued staring deep into his emerald eyes, into his soul, and nodded.
Then she did the only thing she could do.
She cocked her arm back and punched him full force in the face.