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: Only a short one today, sorry guys!!! And I've had it sitting here ready to go for like 2 weeks now, I just haven't gotten around to posting it!!! To make it up to you, I will post the next chapter once you've had a chance to digest this one!!!
As always, please leave me any comments- just be nice!!!
SIXTEEN
The sound of the front door closing startled Hermione into action. With a quick wave of her wand the pots on the stove began to bubble and steam. She heard footsteps on the stairs and turned around at the exact moment that Harry walked into the basement.
'Thought I'd make something nice for dinner,' she said brightly, sending plates and cutlery to the table.
'Oh, that's nice,' Harry said with a smile. 'Anything I can do to help?'
'Just sit down, it's ready,' she said as the big pots soared through the air and landed gracefully on the table. 'It's not much, just a stew and some extra vegetables.'
'It smells delicious,' Harry said serving himself a large plateful. Hermione sat down and waited for Harry to finish before she served herself.
'Late night at the office?' she asked. Harry smiled.
'Yeah, we're trying out a few new procedures and they're taking a bit longer to adjust too,' Harry said, feeling uncomfortable at the lie.
'Sounds like fun,' she said, brightly. 'I had a meeting with Kingsley today.'
'Oh yeah?'
'Yeah,' she stopped eating and looked across the table at him. 'He's asked me to go to Australia for three and a half months.'
Harry choked on a sprout.
'What?' he spluttered, staring at her incredulously. 'What did you say?'
'Yes,' she said simply. She had decided this whilst waiting for Harry and didn't bother to mention that she hadn't told Kingsley her answer yet, nor spoken to Rose and Hugo.
'That's a big decision,' Harry said slowly. 'And a big move. Are you sure you're up for it?'
'I spent the afternoon thinking about it,' she said with a shrug of her shoulders. 'I think it's the right thing for me to do at this moment in time.'
Harry opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. They ate in silence for a few moments.
'I went to get the clothes brush today,' Hermione said airily.
'Oh,' was all Harry said. She knew instantly that he knew what she was talking about.
'What are all those bottles in the cupboard?'
'Oh, old rubbish,' Harry said quickly. 'I moved them in there a few weeks ago, meaning to throw them out. But I'd forgotten about them.'
'Well there's a reasonable explanation,' Hermione muttered to herself as Harry filled his mouth to render conversation impossible.
They finished dinner in silence.
~*~
Later that night, Hermione was in her office and Harry knocked on her door and came in. He stood in the doorway silently for a few moments, watching her.
'Are you really going to Australia?'
She looked up from the big, fat book she was scouring through for a little known fact and nodded.
'I'm leaving September 1st. After the kids have gone back to Hogwarts.'
'I just can't believe you'd leave,' Harry said, perching himself on the edge of her desk.
'It's not forever,' she assured him. 'Just until Christmas. Kingsley promised me that I would be back before Hogwarts broke up for the holidays.'
'Of course he tells you it's not forever,' Harry said bitterly. 'It's how it always starts out. And then before you know it, it'll just keep being extended until you've been in Australia for half your life.'
'It won't be like that,' she said. 'I'll be acting as ambassador, I have to go by Christmas as that's when the replacement will be taking over.'
'I still don't like it,' Harry said arrogantly. 'I don't think you should go.'
'Well, I am,' Hermione said shortly. 'So just deal with it.'
'Just deal with it?' he spat back at her. 'Wow, what supportive words.'
'I shouldn't be giving you supportive words,' she said rudely. 'You should be saying them to me.'
'Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry if all that I've done for the last few months is give you support. I'm sorry if I'm feeling like you're throwing everything back in my face by running off to Australia. I'm sorry if I feel like you're running away from things that need to be dealt with.'
'WHAT!' Hermione dropped her book and stood up in her anger. 'We've supported each other, Harry. And yes, I did need more help at first. But guess what? I'm doing better than you are now. And you hate me because I'm ready to do something like this and you're not. I'm not throwing everything back in your face- if it wasn't for you I would be in no condition right now to even think about leaving the house. I will be forever grateful to you, for helping me how you have. And I am not running away. I've accepted the cards that fate dealt me and I've realised that I can't stop myself from being happy, just because Ron isn't here to be happy with me.'
They stared at each other angrily.
'Face the truth, Harry,' she said bitterly. 'You're losing it. You've talked yourself into being confident and happy and putting this brave face on, but you're none of it. The only way you can deal right now is to drink yourself into a stupor.'
Harry just stared at her.
'Yeah, I know about it. Cleaning out old bottles, Harry? How stupid do you think I am? Does it block out the pain, Harry? Or does it make you see Ginny? Or both?'
Harry didn't answer, he just walked out of the room, slamming the door as he did.
~*~
Hermione could not remember that last time she and Harry were at such odds with each other. Sure, they'd had their fights when they were teenagers, but it was nothing like this. She felt bad about some of the things she had said, but she had meant every single one of them. And he needed to hear them. After two weeks of cold shoulders and complete silence, Hermione'd had enough.
'I'm moving back to my house,' she said to him as they passed each other on the stairs.
'Ok,' was all he said.
Frustrated, Hermione resisted the urge to slam the door. Downstairs, she heard the front slam. Obviously Harry wasn't able to resist urges as well as she could. It made her feel slightly smug.
Out on the street, Harry regretted slamming the door as soon as he'd done it, but he couldn't change it. Besides, he was angry at Hermione and door slamming suited his anger just fine.
He couldn't believe she was going to Australia, but he also couldn't believe how angry he was about the whole thing, especially about the things she had said to him the other night. He knew it was a fantastic opportunity for her and he was incredibly happy for her.
But he was most angry over how long she would be gone for. She would be gone for three and a half months, and in that time was the anniversary of their trip to Spain.
And more than anything Harry was dreading spending that day on his own. Harry knew she had been right when she had bought up his drinking. It hadn't started out this way, but the more he drank, the less pain he felt. He couldn't get through the day without something to block the pain. He'd pushed it away for too long, tried to focus on helping her and his kids. It was now coming back to bite him.
Slowly he made his way through the muggle streets to the main shopping area. There was a pub here that he'd been enjoying coming too, ever since he figured out that Hannah was paying attention to his visiting habits at the Leaky Cauldron.
It was here that he would stay, completely unaware that several blocks away Hermione was doing what she had said she would.
It took him three days to notice that she was gone.