A/N: Hello everyone, this is the first time that I publish something here, though I've been on this site for quite a while now. This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it became longer than expected so it's a mini story I guess. I hope you enjoy it, at first it's kind of sad but it gets happier, or so I think. The chapter is short, but I thought it would be best to stop at that. The story's almost finished, but I will be posting one chapter per week, as I study and I have a lot of catching up to do. Please leave a review to tell me what you think. Happy reading!
Oh, and many thanks to magicalkira for reading this first and to -gal-texter for bearing with me and helping me out to become an author. Really, I appreciate it.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all recognizable characters are the property of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, etc. I have no intent on making money out of this, just a way of releasing some stress.
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There's a fine line between life and death, and Hermione Granger knew it very well. Losing her parents was the worst thing that could have happened to her. And to make matters worse, Ron was not talking to her.
After all they've been through together, after that kiss… Hermione thought they would finally be together, and that he'd be with her the moment she needed him the most. But after Fred dying he had shut himself off, and ever since he hadn't been the same.
She understood he must be grieving, and at first she had given him enough space, but when her parents died she sought a comforting hand, and it wasn't Ron the one who gave her that.
"Hey, you there?" asked a voice that took her out of her reverie.
"Yeah, sorry, I just… lost track of… well, everything," she said lamely, staring into space.
"I'm sorry Ron didn't come," he said squeezing her hand gently.
"I'm sorry I made you come, I know you wanted to rest," Hermione replied back.
"You're kidding me? I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," he simply said.
Hermione finally focused on him. His green eyes shone with concern, his black bangs hiding his eyebrows that were most probably upwards in a quizzical expression. She smiled at him, knowing that she could always count on him whenever she needed it.
"Are you ready to go?" Harry asked as he gave her hand another squeeze. They had been sitting next to Hermione's parents' graves for what seemed like hours, but never once had he complained about it.
Hermione smiled inwardly, feeling really thankful to have Harry as a companion the day she had buried her parents.
"Not quite yet," she mumbled and Harry understood.
It pained her to know her parents were gone for good, but what pained her the most was that they died not knowing they had a daughter.
When the war was officially over and they had paid their respects to the departed, Hermione thought it safe to go look for her parents. What she didn't know was that she was being followed. As soon as she got to Australia she went to look for them, but she wasn't quite ready to burst into their new lives, so the first day she just watched them in secret, enjoying how happy and carefree they looked, without worrying about a daughter who had kept so many things about her world from them. She left that night thinking to herself a way to walk into their lives in a slow pace so as not to scare them. That was her mistake. They didn't make it through the night. Early the next morning, when she went to their practice for an "appointment" she found out they had been murdered the night before. She didn't forgive herself for that, and she thought she never would.
"It wasn't your fault," Harry's voice broke into her thoughts. She blinked, focusing her eyes on him, a surprised look on her face. How did he know what she was thinking?
"It wasn't your fault," he repeated more firmly. "It was that death eater's fault, you couldn't know."
The death eater's identity remained unknown to Hermione, and it always would. She'd sworn that when she found them she'd kill them, but Harry got to them first.
He handed the person to the Aurors before Hermione could get her hands on them, and their trial was top secret. No one knew who killed the Grangers except the prosecutor and Harry. At first she hadn't forgiven him for keeping this from her but later he made her understand that if she killed them, her life would be ruined, and that person's life wasn't worthy of it. Harry didn't want her to become a murderer; her parents wouldn't have wanted that.
"I know, but I should've been more careful," she said, tears prickling her eyes.
"You thought it was safe, now that Voldemort was gone… I thought the same."
"It's different, I should've thought of it, I always think two steps ahead, remember?" she said bitterly.
"But you didn't this time, because you're human, and you were eager to see them."
"I'm so stupid…
"Don't," Harry said, taking her by the arms to spin her towards him. "You're human, and that's just it. Remember you told me not to blame myself for Sirius's death? Now I'm telling you the same."
"That was different."
"How's it different?"
"I… I don't know," she answered and broke down in front of him.
She hadn't cried once since she'd found out about it. She had been strong, even when the Australian authorities at first had refused to give her back her parents' bodies. She hadn't cried when she saw their lifeless forms at the morgue, nor did she cry when they were descending in their coffins 3 feet underground.
But she hadn't cried because it had been surreal, all of it, the proof of who they really were and what she was to them, their transportation, their funeral. It seemed like something out of this world, her world, but now, with Harry shaking her and telling her it's not her fault, it all became too much.
"Oh God," she choked on her sobs as Harry pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. She couldn't believe this was happening, her parents, gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. No spell, no incantation, no hocus pocus like they so fondly called it, would bring them back.
"I'm so sorry," Harry murmured in her ear as he gently rubbed circles on her back. She tightened her grip on him, clad iron, but he didn't complain.
She cried out all the pain she felt inside, and at some point, tired and full of remorse, she fell asleep in his arms. Harry waited until her breathing evened before he Disapparated them both in the blink of an eye.
--
Hermione stirred and lay motionless in bed. She didn't recognize her surroundings but she knew she was safe; she had been with Harry after all.
Slowly, she got up and left the nicely decorated bedroom, still clad in her black clothes. She softly padded the carpet making her way down the small hall and at its end she came to a small living room. It too was decorated to the last detail, and the soft glow that was emanating from the fireplace gave the place a cozy feeling.
At the left the curtains were drawn from what most probably was the balcony, and to the right there was a closed door, most presumably the kitchen. She made her way over there and in one swift motion opened the door. Harry looked up from the table and smiled at her.
"I'm glad you're awake, I was about to call the National Guard," he teased as he got up to retrieve some food for her. He was dressed in jeans and a blue shirt.
"How long have I been out?" she asked as she sat down directly across from where Harry had been.
"A day, I think, a little bit more, I kind of lost track of time," he commented as he put the plate in front of her.
"No wonder I'm so hungry," she joked and immediately froze.
"It's okay to have a laugh, you know?" Harry said, resuming his seat in front of her. Hermione looked down, ashamed.
"You don't have to be sad all the time, they wouldn't want that."
"What do you know? You didn't even know them," she spat angrily and regretted it right away. "I'm sorry Harry, it's just…
"It's okay," he interrupted gently, moving his hand across the table and covering hers with it. Hermione felt guiltier.
"Seriously, don't worry. If I understand one thing, it's not having parents," he simply said, and added in a lower voice: "and I know it's harder for you since you actually shared your life with them."
"Thanks," Hermione said in a teary voice, touched by his behavior.
"What are friends for?" he said with a small smile and removed his hand from hers. She suddenly missed its warmth.
"Now dig in!" he chipped happily as he continued to devour his half forgotten lunch/dinner.
"What time is it?" Hermione asked as she started to eat. She felt herself coming alive with the first bite.
"It is 7pm," Harry replied casually. Had she slept that much?
"Wow, it's late… where are we anyway?" At this Harry had the decency to blush.
"Well, it's my place, and yours, it's… ours," he finished lamely.
"Ours?" Hermione repeated, confused.
"Yeah, well, you see… you were really out yesterday, and I didn't think it would be proper to leave you at your, er… home, so I brought you to mine."
"You're telling me this place is yours?" Hermione asked in disbelief, momentarily forgetting the burden that had been on her shoulders the last few days.
"Yes, the day after defeating Voldemort I didn't have a place to go, you know, with everyone grieving their own, and you were off to… well, I didn't want to stay in Hogwarts, so I just walked in muggle London and saw this ad… I came to check it out and it was already furnished so I said what the heck? And I bought it." Harry fidgeted nervously under her gaze. For a moment she didn't know what to say, and finally she found her voice.
"So… this is yours."
"Yes, and it's yours whenever you want to come. What I mean to say is… I have two spare bedrooms so you'll always have a place to stay whenever you don't want to be at your place," he said quickly. For the first time since she could remember, Hermione broke into a grin.
"Wow Harry, that's so… generous. Thank you," she said sincerely. Harry's hesitance disappeared and he grinned too.
"What's mine is yours." He smiled. Hermione got up from her seat, circled the table and hugged Harry tightly.
"You're so sweet," she mumbled against his hair and Harry just shrugged, patting her lightly on the back, clearly flustered.
"It's nothing, really…
"No Harry…" Hermione interrupted, sitting this time next to him and taking his hand between hers. "This is… this means so much to me; I don't even know how to thank you properly."
"You already have." It escaped Harry's lips before he could stop himself. He blushed, embarrassed, but Hermione couldn't help but smile, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She was deeply touched.
"And who's the other room for?" she asked, trying to make him less uncomfortable.
"Well, Teddy, I want to be a part of his life, so… but I need to decorate his room properly, and I need your help."
"Sounds like a plan," Hermione said, seeing for the first time that, even though her parents weren't with her anymore, her future wasn't as dark after all.
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