Harry was in the kitchen staring lost at his own cupboards. He had brought Hermione into the apartment and had her take a seat in his living room. He had said he was going to put a kettle on but as soon as he had gotten as far as trying he could no longer remember where he kept anything. He had been gone so long that he had become a stranger in his home. All of which he found both exciting and odd in many ways. He probably hadn't been standing there too long before she walked in behind him.
"It's in the one under the sink." Hermione said gently.
"Right. Right. Of course it is." Harry nodded with a smile, "Thank Merlin you're here, kid. I may need you to give me a tour of my own bloody place."
"Okay, Harry." She smiled warmly. She was avoiding the question she wanted to ask him. Perhaps she was just waiting for him to explain, or maybe she just though the answer would break her heart.
She moved towards the sink and pulled out the kettle. After filling it with water she set it on the stovetop to boil while she rummaged through his pantry for tea leaves. She had made a habit of picking up food here and there for the apartment. She had spent the night there some times. It was closer to the ministry than her flat, and a small part of her just wanted to remember him.
She had tried to move on with her life when he had gone. She really had. She went to nightclubs and parties with their friends. She even dated a man for a little while, though nothing ever came of it. It wasn't long until the old adage caught up with here. His absence had truly made her heart grow fonder. To certain point she stopped caring about her personal life. She made caring for his apartment part of her daily routine. No one knew about her feelings except for her mother. Her mother always seemed to know what lay inside her heart, a trait Hermione was so glad to have back.
It had taken most of that first year after the war to get her parents memories sorted out, but eventually she had. Her father would still sometimes confuse Luna and Ginny when the girls came to call, but otherwise life had been pretty fairly back to normal. Hermione lived with her parents until early last year when they all decided it was time she concentrated on her own life. She got a modest flat which she shared with Ginny. All of that was so distant to her at that moment though. Because he was back. Harry Potter was back. Standing lean and muscular with a silly beard and long hair. The silence was awkward and palpable.
"You don't have to make the tea." Harry offered by way of breaking the tension.
"Nonsense." She replied with a dismissive wave of her hand, "I'll make the tea, you tell me about your travels."
"Not much to tell." He chuckled, "Worked a lot. Saw some amazing things though."
"No. No. No." She smiled as she forced him back into the living room and onto the couch, "You're gone for three years with hardly a word to anyone, you don't get off so easy. Talk."
"Okay. Yeah." Harry began to collect his thoughts, "Let me just get my head in order."
"I don't have all week, Harry." She kidded him.
"Oh ho. Look at you and your razor sharp wit." He kidded back, "Well, okay then. I went around the world basically."
"Really?" She said interested, "We took holiday to the Isle of Wight, but other than that, just good old Londontown."
"Yeah, no I haven't actually been in London for awhile." He rubbed the back of his neck, "I thought about coming back when Ron got engaged but…"
"So where were you?" She quickly changed the subject when she noticed the far away look on his face.
"Little bit of everywhere really." He answered, "Started off just going around the UK, but I ended up all over. Even went down to the South Pole for a few months."
"The South pole?" She asked excitedly, "How did you stand the cold?"
"Well you don't get used to it really." He tried hard to explain, "You just sort of learn to live with it. It was amazing down there though, Hermione." His eyes lit up, "There were snow peaks as big as any mountain and the sky was almost always grey. If you looked off into the distance it seemed like the sky just melted into the ground and you were caught in the weird frozen world."
"Did you see any polar bears?" She inquired.
"Yeah, lots of them." He laughed, "There was one that took a liking to the camp because one of the blokes took to feeding it. Used to come up to the structures and make little noises until we went out and gave it a proper meal. She was like the great big pet of the expedition. Drove Dc. McMillan insane, we did."
"He was the head of it?" She asked.
"Yeah, he said we shouldn't be feeding it because we might upset the balance of the eco system. He was always saying things like that, good guy though. Met him the first time I went to Australia." Harry answered.
"You went to Australia?" Hermione said excitedly.
"Sure." Harry replied, "I went to a lot of places. Asia, the Americas, Japan, all over really."
"Come on then, lets have the pictures then." She replied with honest enthusiasm.
"Can't." Harry answered back, "Never did have a camera. Although.." He leapt to his feet and raced into his room. He tore through the contents still remaining in his duffle before he found his small stack of pictures. Almost all of them sent by Ron. But there, a little more than halfway through the stack he found the one he was looking for.
It was tattered around the corners from travel but there it was. It was a picture of him and the family he was staying with in the Congo. He had slightly shorter hair and a much more patchy beard. He stood at the entrance to the one room little house the family shared with him. Around him were the four children and the mother. She was in her late thirties but already had graying hair. The kids were three boys and a girl. The girl was the oldest, just a few years younger than him. He remembered his time in that little house. It had been a good place to be, with a very caring family around him.
He took the picture out to the living room and handed it to Hermione. She studied it for a few minuets before pointing her finger to the girl and raising her eyebrow slightly.
"She's pretty." Hermione said, "Were you two close?"
"Yeah, sort of." Harry replied unaware of the deeper meaning of her question, "That's Adriel. She was the eldest sister of a family I stayed with, though to be honest I spent more time with the middle boy. He taught me how to hunt." Harry beamed.
"They look lovely." Hermione said relieved, "So did you stay with many people?"
"Here and there." Harry answered, "Mostly just worker lodging and camping outdoors." He rubbed his lower back, "Which, by the way, is something I'm not likely to do again for awhile."
"Well, you look fantastic." Hermione blushed slightly but tried to plug on anyway, "Except for the beard."
"Yeah?" Harry rubbed the hair o his chin, "I kinda liked it, myself. Guess it is a bit odd for a young Londoner though."
"Without a doubt." She smiled, "So what brought you back? It sounds like an amazing time you had."
"It was, Hermione. It really was." Harry answered, "I left so… I don't know, lost I guess. But out there. I'll tell you, mate. It was so different and so amazing."
"And now you're back in boring old London." She offered.
"not how I would have put it, but yeah." He responded, "And let me tell you, it is brilliant to see you. You look amazing."
"You're just saying that. Besides you haven't seen me in three years." She answered, "I'm bound to look great."
"Well whatever it is, don't you go changing it." Harry said pleasantly.
She would have kissed him then. She was sure of it. He had said such nice things about her. But fate intervened. The kettle started to whistle and Harry jumped up, he seemed to do a lot of jumping around now, no doubt because of his newly athletic physique. He told her to stay put while he made up the tea and that he would be right back. She spent the time he was gone composing herself. She reminded herself not to come off as desperate or lonely. It was certainly not the most becoming look in her repertoire. She smoothed her skirt nervously as she waited for him to come back.
He came back with the cups in his hands. No serving tray she thought to herself, his time abroad had changed him so much but he was still totally unaware of custom. She loved that about him. He handed her a cup of tea and sat back on the couch. She took a sip. To say it was horrible tea would be like saying Grizzly bears are slightly intimidating. This tea was beyond the normal conventions for horrible.
"This is…" She trailed off wondering if he would be able to take the complaint before deciding that this was Harry, her Harry, "Well it's rubbish, really."
"Yeah, that's why I'm not drinking it." He laughed. She forgot how comforting his laughter was, "I'm not so great at the brewing thing. Been living off of coffee for a long while now."
"It shows." She laughed, "You're such a goof."
"I've been called worse, I'll take it." He grinned.
"You've changed." She said admiringly, "You seem so, I don't know. Easy going?"
"Had a lot of time to grow up a little." He responded.
"So it would seem, burly guy." She teased, "So, again, what brought you back?"
"Ron's getting married." Harry said excited.
"I see." She nodded knowingly, "I figured, but who can tell what you know about these days." She mused.
"Truer words." He said pleasantly, "Mostly my fault."
"It's so good to have you back, Harry." She smiled warmly.
"It's good to be back, Hermione." Harry responded.
And so began the next greatest adventure of Harry Potter's life. He had been a boy hero, and he had been a war hero. He had become famous for doing nothing and then famous for doing so much more. Yet in all his time wandering his lonely planet he had yet to find the one thing he had always searched for. A way to understand the woman sitting in front of him, the woman that had gotten him through the war and showed him how remarkable life could be with the simple gesture of a very short letter which even now was framed and sitting on the dresser in his bedroom.