Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, Harry and Hermione would be married right now.
A/N: My take on the challenge "Secrecy" by reptilia, you can find the requirements here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26369 . Hope you'll like it, and if you read, please review to let me know how I'm doing, ok? Thanks!
Secret Wizards
Chapter Twelve: Living Together
Hermione wondered who could be knocking on her door. Only Harry already knew she was back, after all, and he was currently at his home making it up to Ginny for his long absence. Or so she thought.
Going to open the door, she was shocked to see her best friend standing there, a sheepish grin on his face and his emerald eyes sparkling.
Something else flared in them when he saw her and she gulped. It was something raw, primal, and it was powerful.
"Harry!" she said. "Come in, come in"
"Me and Ginny are going to divorce" he said. "Tomorrow she will send me the papers to sign. Had them prepared while we were away" he started. "We agreed that the flat is going to stay with her, so…uhm…I was wondering if maybe…"
"Of course you can stay here! What would we be friends for, otherwise?" she said, hugging him. "Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry" she said then holding him tight.
"Don't be" he breathed in her ear. She shivered and looked up.
"I wanted it as much as her" he whispered, just inches from her lips.
There was an awkward silence between them for a moment or two, before Hermione cleared her throat, let go of him, immediately missing the contact, and then started leading the way to the guest bedroom.
"I'm sorry it's a bit messy…" she started, but he placed a finger against her lips. "It's much tidier that it will be in a few days with me staying in here" he grinned, and she smiled too, albeit a bit shakily. She didn't know how she was going to live in the same flat with him and not shag him silly.
"I'm still mad at him for that…incident" she lamely thought in her head, but suddenly another voice took charge.
"Way to go, girl. Keep holding a grudge over what happened in Australia, see what good it will do you to reject him" a voice inside her head sneered. She willed it to shut up, but deep down she knew it was right.
Nonetheless, she left Harry unpacking and retreated to the couch again, after fixing a mug of coffee for herself, trying to think about anything but the black haired young man in her guest room.
--
When Harry had finished unpacking his things, he joined her in the living room, and they chatted about what had gone on between him and Ginny once he had come back.
He carefully omitted the part where he was assaulted by far less than platonic thoughts for the brunette in front of him, of course, and just told her he admitted having cheated on Ginny, which led to their agreement to get a divorce because he was in love with another woman.
Hermione gasped at that. She wondered who she may be. She didn't dare hope it could be her, although many of his actions when they were alone during the mission might have pointed in that direction.
As they chatted, the pair started fixing dinner, it was something quick and easy to prepare as both were tired for the emotions of the day.
They amiably conversed through the meal, a couple glasses of red wine accompanying the dishes, and then they settled on the couch for a movie. Hermione had a vast collection of DVDs, as she had found a way to make Muggle electronics work in a magical environment some years before.
"So, what should we watch?" she asked.
"Anything, but not a chick flick" he groaned, taking a seat on the couch.
She mock glared at him, then finally sighed and chose "Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl", slid the disk inside the DVD player, and sat on the couch near him. Harry's left arm immediately moved around her shoulders, and she contentedly snuggled near him as the movie started playing.
An hour and a half later, they were both asleep on the couch, cuddling together, the forgotten movie still playing on the TV.
--
Next morning, Harry woke up first, light peering into the room from the window. He took in his surroundings, and memories of the previous night came to him.
He couldn't help grinning.
There in his arms lay Hermione, still asleep, her head resting on his chest, her left arm draped over his stomach. He started running his fingers through her mane of curly brown hair, smiling fondly at the beautiful woman in his arms. He loved her so much…
Today it would be a big day, he thought. The papers for the divorce would come in, and his life with Ginny would officially be over.
He was glad for that, and yet a sudden sadness overcome him. They had spent years living together, he and Ginny, and while he knew he wasn't in love with her anymore, if he had even ever really been, still she had been an important part of his life. The papers for the divorce would make the separation much more real, and it was a bit painful, to tell the truth.
He felt a bit guilty over how Mrs. Weasley would take the news, too. Her reaction to Hermione's and Ron's divorce hadn't been pleasant, not at all, and he shuddered when thinking what kind of shouting he would be in for.
Hopefully, he would still be able to visit the Burrow. It was like a second home for him, really, and being kicked out of it would hurt. But for Hermione, he would risk it. She had risked much more for him, after all, and he knew she was more than worth it.
"What's wrong?" he heard Hermione say, and looked down at her brown orbs.
"Nothing. Just thinking that when the papers for the divorce will come in, it will make the end of my life with Ginny official, and it is kind of painful, even if I do want it"
She nodded her understanding, disentangling herself from him, a blush coming to her cheeks when it truly dawned on her how they had fell asleep the previous night. He stood up too, and before she could retreat to the bathroom to get ready for the day, he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. "Thanks for letting me stay" he said.
Truthfully, he wanted to kiss her on the lips, but he knew she might not have fully forgiven him yet for the events in Sydney, plus there was no assurance that she felt the same way about him. So he let her go and walked into the kitchen, where he busied himself preparing coffee, putting a jug of pumpkin juice on the table, setting it for two, and stated cooking eggs and bacon; he was also preparing pancakes and placing the jam and the syrup on the table.
It was a bit overwhelming to check on all these things at the same time, but he wanted everything ready for when Hermione came down.
She, however, was quicker than he expected, and leant on the doorframe, watching him with an affectionate smile as he rushed here and there through her kitchen to keep everything under control.
Finally, he spotted her and grinned sheepishly.
Breakfast finally ready, they were quietly eating it, idly chatting in the meantime, when a brown owl came to Hermione's window.
Harry, being nearer, was the first to get it, and after paying the owl, he unfolded the newspaper in front of him.
What he read made his blood boil, spoiling the great morning they had had so far.
Harry Potter, The Boy Who Cheats
By Rita Skeeter
Harry Potter, savior of the Wizarding World and married to Ginny Weasley for some years now, has finally revealed his true sneaking self, as after a prolonged absence for what he claimed to be "work", which coincidentally met the disappearance for the same amount of time of Hermione Granger, long time best friend of Mr. Potter since Hogwarts, came home to his broken hearted wife just to dump his luggage, without even a word to the poor woman, and left again, to nowhere else than Miss Granger's flat, from where he still hasn't left at the moment we are printing this. More details inside at page 4.
Harry growled as he opened the newspaper at the indicated page and kept reading.
It takes little to piece the things together and understand that Mr, Potter has been having an affair with Miss Granger, covered by his frequent absences for "work", a work that no one of his family or friends knows a thing about, as apparently he hasn't been given freedom to divulge details about it. The only job that requires such a level of secrecy is being an Unspeakable but that line of work doesn't require leaving the country often and at any time of day or night, so you, my faithful readers, can easily see that something is not adding up in Mr. Potter's story.
All of you surely remember my claims that Miss Granger had been playing with Potter's heart back in their fourth year at Hogwarts, when the boy was involved in the Triwizard Tournament and Miss Granger kept stringing along both him and the Bulgarian bonbon Viktor Krum, one of the Champions himself.
Well, it seems the bookwormish girl is up to it again, leading Mr. Potter to break the heart of a respectable young woman as Ginny Potter (but I don't expect her to stay under this name for long now). I wonder if the divorce of said Miss Granger with Mr. Potter's other best friend Ronald Weasley…
Having had enough and stopping reading, Harry threw the paper away.
"What a cow" he muttered, and Hermione picked up the paper herself to see what had him so riled up.
Noticing this, Harry sighed.
"I'm sorry Hermione. I didn't mean to drag you into this scandal when I came here last night. And by the way, how the hell do they know I came here? Do they watch both our houses?" he snarled, starting to pace the kitchen, and finally busying himself with washing the dishes in the sink, the Muggle way. It relaxed him to do manual work when he was angry.
Hermione stood up and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head on his back.
"It doesn't matter, Harry. I don't regret letting you in last night, and a stupid wench like Skeeter can't change my opinion. We are friends and you need a place to stay right now, so it's normal you came here and I let you stay, this is it" she said. She felt her own heart torn while addressing their relationship as just friends, but for now that would have to do. At least till she was ready to give him her heart again.
"I know, it's just that her ability to make up dirt on anyone makes me mad. I still haven't forgotten the book of rubbish she wrote on Dumbledore"
"Well, at least she got one thing right" she joked. "You really spent the night here"
He gave an hearty laugh. "Yeah, I definitely did" he said, pulling her close. "You're really the best, you know that, right?" he whispered into her ear then.
She just smiled warmly.
--
It was around noon that a grey owl flew to Hermione's living room window. She had needed to go out to stock her, and Harry's now, flat with food and other things and he had insisted to go with her, so it was a bit of surprise for them both when they entered the room and found the animal there.
Spotting the elegantly wrapped stack of sheets, Harry guessed those were the divorce papers so they put the bags of groceries and such in the kitchen, to be assessed later, and then went back in the room. They ignored most of the hate mail Harry had received through the day, not the Howlers though, those were hard to ignore, and the nastier one came from Molly, as Harry had expected. She had believed Rita back in fourth year, why wouldn't she now?
As he scanned through the pages, reading the terms of the divorce, a little note slipped out of the stack.
Harry,
Here are the divorce documents.
Don't worry about the Prophet,
I'll handle it once I get the signed
papers back. Oh, and I already told
Mum that Rita is a sodding liar, so
don't worry about the Howler she sent,
she knows the truth now.
I'm sure we will see each other around soon,
Ginny
Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
"At least Molly's been taken care of. Ginny has a temper that can match her mother's one so I'm sure it wouldn't have been a pretty sight to witness them arguing, though" he chuckled, and Hermione nodded, smiling warmly.
"Let's go through those papers now, shall we?" she said, and he nodded.
He was surprised to see that Ginny's only requests were the flat and one fourth of his money. He expected her to ask for half of it, and he was willing to give it to her, money never mattered much to him anyway.
Another little note appeared out of nowhere when he was finished reading that particular sheet.
I know you probably expected me
to ask for more but your money is yours
and it's not right of me to take too much away
from you just because we were married.
Ginny
When he was finally finished reading the terms of the divorce, Harry sighed, and shakily grabbed a quill Hermione had given him.
He stared at the papers for the longest time.
"Is this what I really want?" he asked himself. Ginny had been his companion in life for so long, it seemed strange to cut that connection. He looked up at Hermione, who was staring at him almost expectantly. She realized what she was doing, and blushed, looking down and busying herself in tucking back a couple of loose tendrils of hair.
He grinned. Yes, if his future held a life with Hermione, divorcing Ginny was definitely what he wanted. Of course, he still didn't know if Hermione would be part of his future that way, but he hoped she would, eventually.
As she looked up again, their eyes met, and he nodded. Then, still with a smile tugging at his lips, he signed the papers, stacked them together again, and tied the package to the owl's leg once more, letting it take off out of the window.
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