Chapter 25 - What Curiosity Killed
The visit with the Reverend was uneventful except that it took longer than they anticipated. To describe Reverend Gershom Jugmaker as a senior member of the London Society of Magical Union Binders would be an understatement. The Reverend was ancient and considering his age, his frequent trips to the bathroom for a chronic medical condition was par for the course. Ron did point out that it was amazing that he was still alive so being able to go on his own was a miracle in itself. He had married every Weasley couple since Ron's grandfather and tradition was definitely not to be broken with them. It wasn't worth thinking otherwise.
Reverend Jugmaker went over the ceremony with them, reminding them of certain cues, what to expect, what to say and when to say it. He stressed definite no-no's, like forgetting their vows, forgetting the name of the person they were marrying, forgetting who they were.
Coming from someone wizened it was fitting and it only heightened her awareness of the seriousness of the entire matter. Going into a magical union was not something to be taken lightly. Not many young couples chose to do it, opting for the more modern and legal but non-magical binding ceremony, because of the complications should the union fail. It was a lifetime commitment and unlike Muggle vows, death literally was the only thing that could dissolve it.
It was noon and Ron had to leave her to join the Cannons at the training facility. They defeated the Harpies in the semi-final game last night and were set to meet the Toronto team in the championship match in a few days. With this run for the Queen's Cup, their manager wanted them focused on the game and required the team's presence everyday.
Hermione was on her way to the Daily Prophet to see Ginny. They had not really talked since she came back from Toronto as Harry's grave condition kept everyone in the family pre-occupied. It detracted from her impending marriage to Ron and her affair with a stranger, and now that Harry was definitely on his way to a full recovery, she had no reason to procrastinate about her problem.
It was really a no-brainer; even Roy the Stranger knew the answer. She couldn't marry Ron, not after realizing that she did not love him that way anymore. It wouldn't be fair to either of them. And meeting with the Reverend made her decision more concrete in her mind. It was the right thing to do.
But she could not tell Ron. She tried a couple of days ago but realized she couldn't. Not yet anyway.
"How is Harry?" Ron asked.
He just came home from Quidditch practice and she was in bed, tired and sleep deprived. It was the night after the Healers at Toronto successfully repaired Harry's bleeding heart and that morning he was deemed stable enough to move through the inter-hospital Patient Transport Closet, which worked on a principle similar to the Vanishing Cabinet.
"He's still in deep sleep," she replied.
As Ron leaned down to give her a kiss, Hermione flinched. Thankfully, Ron didn't seem to notice. She definitely needed to tell him, not about Roy because it wouldn't make a difference, but about not wanting to marry him anymore.
"He'll pull through," Ron reassured her, knowing how worried she was and trying to make her feel better, "He always does."
Although Ron had a point, that thought did not make her worry less.
"How was your day?" she asked him as he put away his Quidditch robes.
"The practice was great. Mike is really getting better at honing on the Snitch faster and both Jeremy and Felix are natural Beaters," Ron talked excitedly. "We're going to cream the Harpies tomorrow. This is definitely our year."
Hermione had heard that a few times before but this time she believed it. Although underdogs because not many of them had playoff experience, it was their year. They had a strong solid line up with experienced players and their closest rivals were not as talented as they were. Ron was playing very well and was the top contender for the season's MVP award. After years of chasing the Queen's Cup it seemed that Ron would finally get what he wanted. She was proud of and happy for him and his elated voice said it all.
"So, Miss Granger, barring any injuries, kidnappings or emotional breakdowns amongst the team members, you will be marrying a Quidditch Champion!" he gave her a sloppy kiss on the forehead, making her break out into a bittersweet smile.
Ron did not see it. He was brimming with happiness and was singing some Cannon ditty on his way to and while inside the shower. Her stomach did a back flip. She supposed that even the most insensitive version of Ron would be distracted if she called the wedding off on him during his team's run for the championship. The Cup was what he had been working so hard for all these years. This was important to him. This was the worst time to do this.
She couldn't. Not right now. What she was about to do was going to cause a major upheaval in both their lives and with both of them being public figures the event would be magnified a thousand fold. She could just imagine the circus that would ensue and that would distract Ron and his teammates further.
Hermione supposed that waiting a few days until the championship game was over would not matter. As she heard him in the shower she thought about how to tell him, but by the time he had joined her in bed, she still had not come up with a good one.
Ron snuggled up behind her, kissed her hair and the back of her neck as he often did to start something. This was going to be painful. She closed her eyes, thinking that if she didn't see his disappointment it wouldn't hurt so badly.
"Not tonight," she heard herself croak.
He stopped, her words still hanging in the air. She could feel him looking at her face and imagined the irritation and doubt she was causing. Closing her eyes did not make her feel less bad for him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm just tired."
She heard him exhale in frustration and flop beside her.
"You're tired because of him."
Not this conversation again. She was weary of this talk. It was petty and childish.
Hermione sat up and faced him, annoyed, "Harry is in the hospital. He almost died and he still could."
"I know that," he replied, sitting up too, just as frustrated, "But why do you always have to be there for him?"
"Because I'm his friend!"
"I'm your fiancé and I always seem to come second!"
"Don't be juvenile!"
"Why does it have to be you? Why can't it be someone else?"
"He has no one else!"
"That's just it! He pushes everyone else away so he has no one else! And he'll never have anyone else because you're always there for him!"
What?
Ron got out of bed and turned to her, telling her in a more calm tone, "I'm not saying you shouldn't go there. I'm just saying you need step back. Let it be someone else. You can't always be there for him, definitely not after we're married, and he won't see that he needs someone until he wakes up and there's no one there."
He left the room, as upset as she was. She buried her head under her pillow, which quickly absorbed her warm, wet tears.
Hermione pressed '5' on the Daily Prophet lift and listened as the aged structure creaked its way up.
That night, Ron was annoyingly right. She needed to step back. His diatribe on her relationship with Harry made her realize a few more things. She was always there for Harry not only because she was his friend and she cared about him, but because she wanted to and had to. The fact that he had no one else was a non-factor because even if he did, she would still want to be there for him.
Had she really unwittingly all this time prevented him from needing someone else? Maybe subconsciously she had always wanted him to not need anyone else because she wanted him to need her. She hoped not because she knew now that getting him to need her was a pointless endeavour.
Since their conversation, she did as Ron asked and kept her presence in Harry's room to as less as she was able to tolerate. With her thoughts about the wedding in a state of flux, she decided to withdraw her vacation request and work, as there was never a shortage of that. She was on night shift over the next three days and nights were preferable because not only would she not be at home when Ron was, things were relatively quiet and she could sneak down to the private ward and check up on him. She reasoned that since she was working, that was part of her job, never mind the fact that she was not authorized to have anything official to do with his care.
Finding him finally awake earlier today was a huge relief. And again, he had asked about Roy so plainly, without a tinge of jealousy or anger, it hurt her to answer. Then he told her not to marry Ron with an abruptness that caught her off guard.
How did he know for a fact that she didn't love Ron? It was unusual to hear Harry say something like that and it made her wonder where such conviction was coming from. Or was it because he knew her well enough to know that she would not have gone through with the fling if she did?
Hermione could not tell anyone about her decision not to marry Ron, not before she told him. It would not be right if he were the last one to know. She was thinking about what to say to Harry when Ron came into his room.
As she got out of the lift it took no time at all to find her red haired friend at her cubicle tapping away on her keyboard. They were supposed to go out for lunch but Ginny had a few deadlines to meet and they bought food from the cafeteria instead. They commandeered one of the smaller meeting rooms.
"That's great," Ginny said to her upon hearing that Harry had finally woken up, "I'll drop by later to visit."
"Delilah said he should be out by tomorrow."
"I still can't believe you agreed to have that flirtatious bimbo take care of him," Ginny, surprisingly, disapproved of Delilah Dogooder.
"She's a pretty good Healer and I trust her," she replied, "And I think she knows it pointless to flirt with an unconscious man. Where is this vileness coming from?"
"You didn't notice her with the guests."
"Which ones?"
"Every male guest save for Mad Eye. Just ask Tonks."
"She's just friendly," dismissed Hermione, really thinking Delilah was misunderstood.
"It's unfair that just because Harry is friends with you he can't be your patient."
"Uh-huh."
Hermione actually agreed that she was too attached to him to have any consistent objectivity and it was risky to put her in charge of his care. When Harry flat lined on the OR table in Toronto, her mind went blank for a moment before turning back on when they asked her approval to stop resuscitation. What she did after was a blur and a bit embarrassing. It was time to talk about something else.
"So, tell me about 'man with cat'."
"Nothing to tell, really. Just the usual," Ginny answered, evasively.
"Must be serious if you're not sharing," she remarked, fishing.
"No, it's not," a slight pink blush crept on Ginny's face which Hermione thought was interesting.
"Fine. You can have your little secret for now," Hermione felt generous, considering she had secrets of her own, "Just tell me he's not married."
"No, he's not married and it's really not serious," Ginny insisted, and did the same thing she did earlier; divert their conversation. "But tell me about Toronto."
"It was cold, the hotel so-so and the conference started off weak…"
Ginny interrupted her just as she thought Ginny would, "I don't care about the bloody place or the bloody conference. I want to hear all about the hot DH you dated!"
They both laughed.
"I really shouldn't. We promised we wouldn't tell anyone else," Hermione had every intention to tell her but felt a bit bad about breaking their pact.
"A promise to a guy you don't know. Yeah, I agree, you should take your clandestine tryst to the grave," she rolled her eyes up, "We don't have to talk about him. We can talk a bit about baseball."
She couldn't help but laugh and she couldn't say no.
"Spill it. I want details," Ginny was grinning, pleased that she was going to.
And Hermione told her all about Roy, well almost; from the time he spoke to her first to how they parted ways the following morning. It took a while as they were interrupted by fits of laughter about how so unlike her this 'Jane' character was and her feeling too embarrassed to continue. Ginny insisted on hearing every moment, dismissing her reminders of the time, and her nearing deadlines. Of course, Hermione omitted any reference to Harry, about how Roy reminded her of him and did not mention her calling him into the huddle with a late phone call.
Ginny was beaming after, happy for her, she guessed.
"I didn't think you had it in you."
"I didn't either," her face darkened as she remembered Ron.
"This final box score is outrageous," Ginny was keeping score, "He's a dream. Women would kill for this. I'd like to meet this guy. No, I'd like to date this guy. What was his name?"
"No, you can't have his name," Hermione said to her but she had already magically turned on a Muggle computer, bringing up the Prophet research database.
"Come on," Ginny tried to persuade her, having no qualms using her work for something so personal. They were just having fun, "This taps directly into the Ministry records. It's up to date. He may have a picture here. I want to know how he looks like. Squib you said, right? And lives in London, maybe. Male 25-30…"
"The answer is absolutely 'no'," she said emphatically as Ginny entered the search parameters.
"Five thousand returns. A first name would narrow this down a bit more. You did exchange first names, didn't you? Aren't you interested in what he really does for a living?"
Ginny was a journalist and was as persistent about getting information as a bloodhound was for blood. Hermione had his full name from his rendition of his poems. Or at least what he said his name was.
"No, I'm not interested and stop asking me for his name. Don't you have actual work to do around here?"
"Oh, shit! The time," Ginny remembered something, "Don't move. This is not over. I'll be back in five."
Hermione wanted it to be over but before she could tell her she was leaving, Ginny disappeared, leaving her in the meeting room alone. She cleared up the table, getting rid of their rubbish, when she noticed that Ginny had left the computer logged on. The cursor was blinking on the box labelled 'first name'. Adjacent to it was 'last name'.
As a researcher she had compulsions she no control over and they had a saying that while curiosity killed the cat, the cat had nine lives, and only animagi researchers should be really worried. Without second thought, she filled the empty boxes in.
ROY HUNT
The screen refreshed in an instant and she could not have been prepared for what she was about to read. Her heart raced a thousand thumps a minute and she had to sit down as her legs almost gave way. The picture on screen was definitely the attractive man she met in Toronto. She read it, the long list, con after con, on women, young and old, theft, robbery, deception, each the same but different. Known associates, criminals, Dark wizards, details blurred as the information went into her mind and she could not make sense of it to know what to do with the facts.
She read as fast as she could, hoping at some point there was something that would say this was a mistake, or he had a twin brother with same name, something that would not make her come to the conclusion that she had spent the night with a con man and start thinking if there was more that was taken from her aside from her pride and dignity. Ginny would be back soon, and this was definitely something she could not tell her right away, not until she could think.
Finally as she got to the end, a puzzling entry caught her eye.
Arrested 12th February 2006 for attempted robbery. Charged with six separate counts of theft and convicted. Incarcerated since arrest at Auror Facility in West London. For transfer to a Squib-Muggle Prison.
But how could he be in two places at the same time? He was in Toronto on the 14th. Or was he?
With a sense of foreboding, she opened the link to his arrest record dreading what she would find. She felt blood drain from her face. The arresting officer on record was a Hit Wizard.
H.J.Potter
Without much thought, she cleared her search findings and brought the screen back to where Ginny left it. She paced the small room, thinking. The booming in her chest had not eased and she could hear the sound of her heart beating in her head. Where to start?
Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. Maybe there was some other explanation. But the only thought her mind could focus on was how Roy constantly reminded her of Harry.
Harry was in Toronto working on an assignment. He called that morning and he sounded sick. Was he really sick or was it because he didn't have his own voice? Hermione was privy to information about a newer Ministry version of the Polyjuice potion, which was longer acting and voice altering. Could he have been on Polyjuice all along?
They were supposed to have dinner that night but something came up at work. He had to cancel and minutes later she met Roy Hunt.
That first conversation, she was about to leave but Roy knew just what to say to keep her interested.
"Of course Weasley's much better and thank goodness Potter's gone…"
And all night, Roy asked very personal questions about her and Ron and seemed like he cared about what her answer would be. She remembered how a few times it felt strange, as if he was trying to make her stop what she was doing.
"What would your fiancé think?"
"How can you love him and do this?"
"Why are you marrying him if you don't love him anymore?"
That explained why he was so sure this morning that she did not love Ron. His reference to the stolen night in the poem was now glaringly obvious. And during the phone call to him, Roy was on the phone too.
She recalled the events of that night for the second time that afternoon and viewed it in a totally different light. Harry as Roy fit like a glove and explained the little things Roy said and did that she had thought odd. It made a lot more sense to her thinking it was Harry and now that she had, she could not think otherwise.
What really happened? Why did it happen? What did it all mean?
All she did that night she did with him and not with some stranger she would never meet again. It was Harry who she told innocent lies to, flirted with, and seduced. It was Harry she kissed, touched, and had sex with. It was Harry who did all those things to her, too.
It was taking a long time for that to sink in. This was Harry, her friend. They had been through so much together. How could he do something like this?
He appeared to act willingly and she could not believe he was being forced or Imperiused. Why would he do such a horrible thing? And whatever reason he had, surely, he knew this would hurt her if she found out. Did he think he could get away with it?
No doubt he was in Toronto working as Roy Hunt. But she could not imagine that the things they did was part of his job. He chose to drink Polyjuice Potion and be Roy Hunt while he was with her. He chose to be a stranger and she could only think that the reason had to be because he wanted it that way. She simply could not come up with a rational explanation to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Most of all, he had all night to come clean but he did not.
Sometimes remembering every single detail was not a good thing. Roy said something to her that night that coming from a stranger was quite appropriate.
"I need some reassurance that this is a one-time thing."
That was all he wanted, a one-time thing and he didn't even want her to know that it was him. Did he think her so desperate to have a last fling that he decided to 'do her a favour'? Was she a side trip from his assignment, 'might as well have sex with her because I'm here and she won't even know it's me'?
She was shaking, from anger, from disbelief, from heartache, from being betrayed by someone she least expected would.
"Are you okay?" she didn't notice Ginny was back.
"Um, yes. I'm fine," she managed to say without crying.
"You look pale," Ginny was really concerned.
"I'm okay, really. We had a busy night and it's finally caught up to me," she explained, "I should go."
"Have you thought more about what you're going to do about Ron?" Ginny asked before she got to the door.
All of a sudden even the answer to that question which seemed like a no-brainer moments ago was muddled.
"Gin, I know you mean well but I just need you to back off right now and let me sort this out," she said with a seriousness that took Ginny aback.
"Your wedding is in eight days. Surely you're not thinking about going through with it, are you?"
And give Harry the satisfaction that I'm going to do what he wants?
Hermione snapped at her without meaning to, "Maybe I am, I don't know! I need time to think!"
Ginny steadily looked at her and waited.
Seeing Ginny's reaction she calmed down and realized that she shouldn't take it out on her, "Please, just give me some space and I swear you'll be one of the first to know what I decide."
"Okay," Ginny replied. "Fine. I'm backing off. But just to let you know, I'm not buying a wedding present."
They both smiled weakly and gave each other a hug before she left. As much as Ginny was her closest friend, this was something she had to deal with on her own.