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: I apologise for the delay- I swear I'm getting worse at this!!! I'll sit down and review a chapter, make any amendments needed and then start writing my notes, get distracted and then forget for a few days!!!
But I hope the wait is worth it for you.
As always, please leave any comments, just remember to play nice. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all (I don't even know why I keep putting this, cause all my reviewers so far have been WONDERFUL and I promise that soon I will respond to some comments that have been left, just haven't had time to go through them!).
SEVENTEEN
Hermione hadn't realised that living at her own house would be as easy as it became. She didn't know what made her cry more the first night she returned- missing Ron or missing Harry.
The next few weeks passed slowly. When Hermione woke up on the morning that the kids would be coming home from Hogwarts it felt like it had been an eternity since she had left Harry's house.
They hadn't spoken since that night. Several times, she had tried to approach his office at work, but just found she couldn't. And she knew she needed too- Harry needed her more than ever and she couldn't even bear to look at him.
The train wouldn't arrive until late in the day, so she spent the morning tidying up the house and making sure they would feel comfortable when they got home. She had stocked up on all their favourite foods and would spend the next two weeks cooking all their favourite dinners.
She drove into London and got parking right out the front of Kings Cross. There were hoards of other Hogwarts parents crowding in front of the barrier to Platform 9 ¾ and she wondered, as she always did, what the muggles must think of this one day of every year, with all the strange people hanging around.
The students began appearing in dribs and drabs and happy reunions were taking place all around her.
'MUM!'
She smiled widely as Rose and Hugo appeared and ran towards her. She had a sudden longing for the days when they were smaller and able to be scooped up into her arms. Instead she had to settle for hugging them each in turn.
'How was the trip?' she asked them as they began wheeling the trunks and owls towards the exit, very slowly as they were caught in a crush of people.
'The usual,' Rose said boredly. 'We sat with James, Al and Lily. And of course, James and Al fought the whole way.'
'They're still fighting?' Hermione asked.
'It's getting worse,' Hugo moaned. 'James found out that Al has a crush on Lucy Wool, and he's been teasing him non-stop.'
'But Al's giving it back just as good,' Rose reminded her brother and then looked at her mother. 'Al somehow found out that James has a girlfriend, that none of us knew about. He won't tell us much, but every time James starts on him, he just says that he knows his secret and James shuts up for a minute.'
'Good lord,' Hermione said with a laugh. She had forgotten what it was like to be a teenager and have raging hormones, and the fact that they had been the exact same at that age. She still remembered when Percy and Penelope had started being boyfriend and girlfriend in her second year, and how immature they had all been about it.
'Uncle Harry!' Hugo called out suddenly and broke into a run, forcing his way through the crowd. Hermione looked up and saw Harry just coming into the station. Harry hugged the boy quickly and then looked up at Hermione.
'You're late,' Rose said to him. He laughed.
'Got held up at work,' he told the girl and she rolled her eyes.
'It's a Saturday, Uncle Harry.'
'And I work some Saturday's, silly,' he said with a smile. 'Have James, Al and Lil got through the barrier yet?'
'They were just behind us,' Hugo told him.
'We've got to get going,' Hermione said to Harry, then looked at her kids. They looked at her curiously, but didn't say anything.
They took off out the front and Harry headed through the station and got to the barrier as the last of the students were coming through. Standing to one side were James, Al and Lily, looking around anxiously for their father.
'Well, what are you waiting for?' he said loudly as he approached them. Lily's face lit up into a massive grin and she ran to him, hugging him tightly.
'Nice way to show up one time,' James said sarcastically.
'Leave him alone,' Albus said. 'He probably got caught in traffic.'
'Lovely to see you too, James,' Harry said, already feeling worn out. 'Shall we go?'
The Potter's trooped through the station, Lily not letting go of her father the whole way to the car. Harry kept looking over his shoulder at his sons, marvelling at how much they'd changed. James had grown up a lot since Harry had last seen him and it made Harry sad that his oldest son was becoming a man.
James and Albus managed to keep the peace in the car and it wasn't until they were upstairs unpacking that the fights started.
'Oh just leave me alone, James!' Albus bellowed. Harry was in the kitchen with Lily and she just rolled her eyes.
'Don't even bother, dad,' she said. 'This is normal.'
'They fight like this at school?'
'Maybe a little bit worse,' Lily said with a shrug. 'James moved out of the tower for a month, just after Easter.'
'Why did none of you tell me this?' Harry asked, astounded.
'Wasn't my place, dad,' Lily said simply. 'James crashed in Neville's office for a month, Al was happy and then they kinda adopted a truce.'
'A truce?'
'Well, more like the silent treatment.'
Harry shook his head as the bellowing continued.
'How long until September?' he muttered to himself, sighing heavily. Lily smiled at him sadly.
~*~
After a long day of travelling, Rose and Hugo drifted off to bed a lot earlier than they usually would. Hermione stayed up for not much longer and then checked them before she went to bed.
Hugo was sound asleep, sprawled across the bed in a manner that reminded her strongly of Ron. So many nights, Hermione had felt like she was being forced out of their bed from Ron's spreading out. They'd bought a king sized bed and it even wasn't big enough for him, with his long gangly limbs.
She bent over her son and kissed him gently on his messy hair. He didn't even stir.
Up the hallway, she went into Rose's room and wasn't surprised to see her daughter still awake, reading.
'Rosie,' she said with a smile. 'I thought you were tired.'
'I was,' she said, not looking up from her book. 'But then I remembered this book and really wanted to read some more.'
Hermione sat down on the bed next to her and looked at the title of the book.
'The Second War: The Real Story of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort,' she looked from the book to her daughter. 'Honey, you've grown up hearing these stories.'
'I know,' she shrugged. 'But I wanted to read them from a third party prospective, see how their 'truth' matches with the real truth.'
'You're too much like me for your own good,' Hermione said with a laugh. Rose laughed too and put the book down.
'Mum,' she said, looking nervous. 'What's happening with you and Uncle Harry?'
'What do you mean?' Hermione was thrown by the question.
'Why aren't you talking?'
'We're talking,' if she wasn't so shocked at Rose, Hermione knew she'd be proud of how observant her daughter was. She had always been like that.
'No you're not,' Rose said wisely. 'I could tell, at Kings Cross. So what happened.'
'Oh, nothing,' Hermione said airily. 'We're just having a little bit of a fight, it's nothing to concern yourself with. Just one of the hundred we've already had and will have in the future.'
Rose nodded and picked up her book, but Hermione knew she didn't believe the thin lie.
'Don't stay up too much longer,' she said and Rose nodded.
'Night, mum.'
'Night, Rosie.'
~*~
Harry had sent the boys to their room after dinner, finally having had enough of their fighting. Lily had excused herself not long after, saying she had homework and Harry sat alone in the living room, feeling like a failure as a father.
He poured another glass of Firewhisky and stared out the window into the starry sky. It was different being at this house again. It was a relief to get away from Grimmauld place, but it was hard to be here with the memories. And the kids were going to kill him soon.
He didn't know what to do about James and his anger. And poor Albus who seemed to bear the brunt of it all the time. Harry had noticed that Albus was backing down most of the time if James started, although he had started to say something that had shut James up- he made a mental note to ask Albus what that was about.
And then Lily, on the outside, missing her mother and seeming to drift away into womanhood with every passing minute. It pained Harry to see her, to see her growing up and knowing how much she would need her mother. He was grateful for the strong female influence she had through her aunts and grandmother, but he knew it wasn't the same as having a mother around.
Upstairs, Lily crept along the hallway into James's room. He was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He looked at her when she walked in, and then looked back at the ceiling.
'What do you want,' he said rudely.
'I just want to tell you that you're a prat,' she said, folding her arms and staring at him. 'You need to get over yourself.'
'Oh, go away.'
'No,' she said firmly. 'James, you're killing Albus and dad with the way you act. I know you're pissed about mum, we all are. But it won't bring her back. You need to start talking to dad, not ignoring him or yelling at him.'
'Easy enough for you to say,' he spat back at her, sitting up. 'You and dad have always had this great bond. Same with Al and dad. But me- I had nothing. Lil, I don't know dad. I don't know anything about him.'
'Well find out,' Lily said, rolling her eyes. 'Just walk up to him and ask him what his favourite colour is. What music he likes.'
'And then what?' he felt annoyed with her statement- it was pretty much what Teddy had told him at Christmas and, if he hadn't listened to Teddy, there was no way he was listening to his little sister.
'I don't know,' Lily said exasperated. 'But it's like a game of chess, James. One of you has to make the first move. So are you going to be black or white?'
And with that she left the room. James sighed and rolled onto his back again and stared at the ceiling.