Title: Adrift
Summary: It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, but a tragic accident plunges Harry and Hermione adrift in to a new, uncertain life.
Rating: PG-13 for language and adult themes
Authors Notes: Well, I'm a lot later than I thought I was going to be with this!!! I've been flat out since coming back from holiday. But the best part for you guys is that now it's a shorter wait from this update to the next!!!
As always, please review even if you don't like what I'm doing- just please be nice is all I ask for!
THIRTEEN
'Don't forget to write!' Hermione called to Rose as she and Hugo leaned out the window of the Hogwarts Express. Steam was rising in the cold morning air and two windows down from Rose and Hugo, Lily and Albus leaned out and waved to Harry.
'Behave yourselves!' Harry called and they laughed. Behind them, he could see James sitting down, obviously sulking. James had tried to tell Harry that morning that he wasn't going back to school, but Harry had forced him out the door and into the car.
'I hate you,' had been the last words he'd spoken all morning.
He and Hermione waved until the train was out of sight and they simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief, causing them both to giggle slightly.
'I'll see you at work?' he asked her, seriously. She nodded.
'Yes, yes I'll be there.'
He smiled at her as he disapparated into his office. He found himself sighing as the room came into view, as the pile of reports on his desk had grown since the previous day when he had left it. He sat down in his chair and immediately contemplated going to find a strong cup of coffee.
'Morning, Harry,' Charlie Cassidy said from the doorway, with a big smile on his face and two tall coffee cups.
'Oh, hey Charlie,' Harry replied, silently complaining that Charlie was so good at his job that he knew to bring coffee.
Charlie was Ron's replacement as second in charge. He had filled in for Ron and Harry both on so many occasions that when Harry had to make the decision to replace Ron the only hard part was knowing he wouldn't be working with Ron anymore. He was very comfortable working with Charlie, though he missed his best friend every day at this time.
'Kids get back to school ok?' Charlie asked, handing over one of the coffees and sitting down in front of Harry's desk.
'Yeah, fine, just fine,' Harry sighed. If Ron was here, he'd be able to get his worries about James off his chest.
Although, if Ron was here, Ginny would be too and there would be no worries about James.
They got down to work then, reviewing all the reports that had been completed on various incidents, making a pile of incidents to bump right back to the Magical Law Enforcers.
'I swear sometimes they just don't want to work,' Charlie said grumpily as he added a twelfth incident folder to the pile. 'There is no need for any of these to make their way up to us.'
'Hermione comes back today,' Harry said, not looking up from the report he was going over. 'I'll get her to have a word around the department and get it straightened out.'
They went back to work and barely ten minutes had passed when there was a knock on the door.
'Excuse me, Mr Potter?'
Harry looked up and saw Peggy, Hermione's fill in, standing in the doorway looking nervous.
'Yes, Peggy?'
'Mrs Weasley said that I was to come to you today if she didn't come in.'
'Hermione's not here yet?' Peggy shook her head.
'She said you'd get her here if she didn't come. And I need her here- she's got a meeting with the Minister in three hours.'
Harry knew that Kingsley wouldn't care if Hermione had to reschedule, but they all pretended that they weren't as close as they all really were and Kingsley didn't like to be seen publicly showing favouritism.
'Charlie, will you be right if I go?'
'No sweat, Harry,' Charlie said picking up the remainder of the pile that they hadn't gone through. 'I'll pass these back when I've done my signing.'
Charlie and Peggy left and Harry disapparated straight away. He marched straight up Hermione's front path, through the front door and stood in the entryway.
'Hermione?' He called. He heard muffled noises coming from the lounge room. 'Hermione, what's going on?'
The muffled noises turned into something being banged hard on the floor. He raced through the small foyer and through the open door into the lounge room.
The massive Christmas tree that stood in the corner beside the fireplace had fallen over and from underneath, Harry could see one of Hermione's arms, banging a large wooden ornament on the floor.
'Shit, Hermione, what happened?' he said, getting down on the floor and taking hold of her hand. 'I'll get this off you.'
He pulled his wand out of the inside of his robes and pointed it at the tree. As he waved it, he could've sworn he heard her mumble 'swish and flick'.
As he silently said 'wingardium levoisa', the tree rose into the air and he manoeuvred it so that it went back to where it belonged. As soon as he put it down, he dropped to his knees again and rolled Hermione onto her back.
'Are you alright?'
'I'm fine,' she gasped, wincing and placing a hand to her chest. 'Think I broke a rib.'
'That's not fine,' he grumbled at her. 'How did this happen?'
'I wanted to put the decorations away,' she said miserably. 'I wasn't really thinking all to well and I guess my charm to remove them all was too strong and everything just toppled over.'
'You shouldn't have done it alone.'
'I know,' she said sheepishly. 'But I was trying to put off going to work.'
Harry laughed.
'Well, you've done that now!'
~*~
After much debate, Harry managed to get Hermione to consent to going to the doctor in her village- despite how long she had been involved in the magical world, she still believed that magic and medicine didn't mix and didn't trust the healers at St Mungos. The doctor confirmed that the rib was broken and sent her home with some pain killers and a warning about over doing herself. Harry sent an owl to Kingsley, Peggy and Charlie explaining to them what had happened (leaving out how it had happened, to spare Hermione the embarrassment) and then set about getting Hermione comfortable.
'I feel like an idiot,' she moaned as Harry tucked her into bed and handed her some of the pain killers.
'Well, you are an idiot,' he said simply, but with a small smile. The smile vanished when he sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her seriously. 'I think you should come stay with me.'
Hermione looked at him, confused.
'I think, for a little while anyway, that you should come stay with me at Grimmauld Place.'
'Why?'
'Hermione, you've been alone for one day and you could have died. Now I know a Christmas tree isn't always going to fall on you, but had you not said anything to Peggy, warning her that you might chicken out of coming to work, I wouldn't have found you for another five, maybe six hours.'
She looked away from him.
'I know you want to be here, where you have all your memories of Ron. But I want you to be safe and right now, the only solution I have is both of us staying at Grimmauld Place. Just a temporary thing. Just until we're a bit more used to this whole 'being alone' thing.'
She still didn't look at him, but he knew she was crying.
'I'm going to go home and get some stuff, and I'll be back in a little bit. I'll sleep on the lounge tonight, just to be near you.'
He patted her gently on the leg and was at the bedroom door before he heard her speak softly.
'You're right,' he looked back at her and she was staring at him blankly. 'Thank you, Harry.'
~*~
Hermione moved some of her things into Harry's a week after the Christmas tree incident. He had cleared out two of the bedrooms on the second floor for her use and helped her settle in. He was using the top two bedrooms that had once belonged to Sirius and Regulus.
She felt slightly guilty as she packed her things, but she knew it was only a temporary thing. It was going to be so temporary that she wasn't even going to tell Rose and Hugo. They didn't need to know.
Two weeks after the accident, she finally returned to work. In many ways it was a relief. She didn't realise how much of a distraction it was and before too long she was bringing arm fulls of files home with her to review and was dictating letters to her quill at the same time.
This is what she was doing in late April when Harry knocked on the door to the bedroom she'd turned into an office and waited for her to finish her letter.
'Sorry to interrupt,' he said with a smile. She smiled back at him, brushing a loose piece of hair out of her face.
'I needed a quick break,' she told him, picking up her coffee cup. One sip told her that it was cold, so she grabbed her wand and heated it up quickly.
'I had a thought today.'
'That could be dangerous.'
'Well, it could be,' she looked at him oddly. 'I was thinking that we should go out to dinner.'
She choked on her coffee.
'What?'
'I don't know about you, but I'm sick of eating quick meals and leftovers. And the last few weeks, I've actually felt inclined to do something other than be at home.'
He didn't tell her that he'd been leaving work early every day for a month now to have a quiet drink at the Leaky Cauldron. It was comforting to be there, around other people and just socialise. Since November his life had revolved around his grief and somehow by being out with people, it eased it slightly. And in the back of his mind he knew that every drink was bringing him some peace, was dulling the things that kept him up at night. It made him feel good and helped him to sleep every night.
'Harry… I don't think I'm ready,' she said quietly. 'If I'm not working, all I do is think about...'
'Which is why I think this would be good for you,' he urged. She looked at him, her eyes full of worry.
'I'll think about it.'