The Horrors of War
By: FayeValentine00
Chapter 24
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"Hermione's awake, Harry, and she asking for you."
As soon as the words registered in Harry's mind, he swung his legs over the edge of his bed intent on heading straight to her room but before he could even place a foot on the ground, Hermione burst past Dumbledore and ran straight into Harry's arms. Without saying a word, she erupted into sobs and clung to him as if she feared he might disappear at any moment.
Lupin quietly stood up from his chair and made his way towards the door but before following Dumbledore out, his eyes met Harry's. With a soft smile, he mouthed the words "I come back later."
"Calm down, Hermione. It's all okay now," Harry whispered softly as he lightly ran his fingers through her hair.
Holding Hermione in his arms was like a dream come true. His senses seemed to take in everything about her. Right then, Harry wanted nothing more then to hold Hermione in his arms for the rest of his days. He knew that he'd never be able to tell her how complete she made him feel but he made a vow to try.
"I thought … I thought … I-" Hermione tried to speak but her sobs made it nearly impossible. She finally pulled away and gazed up into his eyes with so much love and relief that Harry found himself rendered speechless.
Even though her hair wasn't brushed, her eyes were red and swollen and tears were streaming down her cheeks, Harry couldn't ever remember seeing Hermione look quite so beautiful. Without saying a word, Harry gently brushed the tears from her cheeks before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers. His kiss did all the talking for him. It was full of all the fear, anxiety, and emotions that were running though his veins. As she kissed him back though, all of those emotions began to wash away and by the times that their lips parted again the only emotions filling either of them was love.
"I'm fine," Harry whispered as he pulled Hermione up onto the bed beside him, never losing the eye contact they shared.
"I thought you were dead, Harry. I didn't know what to do. When I woke up and saw you unconscious, I-"
"You were knocked out?" Harry asked with wide eyes.
"I'm fine now but after Voldemort used the killing curse, there was an explosion and it threw me into the wall. I woke up to find you both lying on the ground unconscious."
"I never wanted you to get hurt," he said softly, dropping his eyes away. "All I wanted to do was protect you and I guess I couldn't even do that right."
"Harry, stop," Hermione said forcefully as she took his face in her hands and made him look into her eyes. "You saved my life. That curse that nearly killed you was meant for me. If you hadn't jumped in front of me, I wouldn't be here right now."
Slowly, Harry nodded his acknowledgment of her words and covered her hands with his own. He didn't really know how to respond but the words that came out of his mouth weren't what either expected.
"Marry me, Hermione."
Her jaw dropped immediately and had Harry's hands not been holding hers to his cheeks, she would have pulled away. Her eyes gazed in to his with a mixture of shock, fear and relief on her face. Although those hadn't been the words that he'd planned on saying, Harry found himself relived to have said it and realized that he had more to add.
"I love you, Hermione. I don't ever want to be apart from you again."
Tears began to well in Hermione's eyes as she took in every word that he said but she didn't say anything for a long time. She simply looked at him with a loving expression. In fact, she was quiet for so long that Harry began to wonder if she'd ever answer.
"Do you really mean it?" she whispered softly.
"What?"
"Do you really mean it? Do you really want to marry me?"
"Yes!" he nearly shouted, surprised that she even asked.
To shock Harry even more, she leapt forward and threw her arms around his neck. Her tears dampening his shoulder before she kissed him firmly on the lips once more.
He couldn't help but laugh when she finally released him from her embraced because the smile on her face was the best answer he could have hoped for. "Does that mean you'll marry me?"
"Of course! I've never wanted anything more in my life!"
The two came together again in a tangle of emotions. There were tears and laughter mixed in with their kisses but it all grew into passion and before they knew what was happening, they were loosing their clothes. Any aches and pains they might have had simply seemed to vanish as their emotions took over.
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Ginny walked back into the hospital, anxious to see how Hermione was doing. It was nearly midnight but she found that she couldn't sleep without making sure that Hermione okay. She also needed to know if there was any news on Harry. Whoever made up the old adage that no news is good news must have been insane because not knowing is what was making the red-haired seventeen year old go crazy.
She made here way through St. Mungo's quietly. She had no desire to wake any of the other patients up considering visiting hours had ended hours ago. She just hoped to get in and out without being detected because if she was caught, there was bound to be hell to pay.
Slowly, Ginny opened up the door to Hermione's room, only to find the girl in question was gone. Instead, two very familiar men were sitting at a table talking.
"Where's Hermione?" she said to her Headmaster Dumbledore and former professor, Lupin.
"Hello, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Hermione's gone over to visit Harry."
A wave of relief flooded her very soul as she looked up at the smiling faces of the men. "Is Harry okay? Is he awake? I have to go see him!"
She turned on her heels, prepared to head straight over to the room three doors down but a hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks. She turned to see Lupin looking down on her with an odd expression of amusement and embarrassment.
"I think you should avoid the room for just a bit longer, Ginny," he said quietly.
"But, why?" It took her a minute to work everything out before a large smile spread across her face. "Oh… okay. I understand." There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Ginny decided to lighten things up.
"Care for a game of Exploding Snaps, Professor?" she asked with a big smile that Remus immediately returned.
"Sounds like a great idea," he said, leading the way back to the table. "But just call me Remus."
"Deal."
The two spend the next several hours playing while Dumbledore watched and joined in on any of their conversations. For the first time, both Remus and Ginny found themselves able to relax just a little bit even though they knew that there would be work to do the next morning. It was refreshing to smile again because both felt like it'd been a long time since they'd truly done so.
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The sun was rising in the early morning sky when Hermione woke up to find Harry's arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She remembered the proposal from the night before and smiled to herself. Although she thought about pinching herself just to be sure, joy flowed through her body as she thought about being married to Harry in the not too far off future.
"Good morning," Harry said before stretching with a smile on his face.
"Good morning."
They lay in bed talking for a long time. Both just happy to know that the night before hadn't simply been a beautiful dream. Instead, it was a beautiful reality.
"As soon as we get out of here, let's go and buy you a ring," Harry said suddenly catching Hermione off guard.
"We'll wait until you're better, Harry. I can wait. I don't mind."
"No. This is important to me. I want to do things right from now on," he said looking at her seriously.
"Alright," was all she could say before giving him a kiss that said more than any words could have. "I guess I really should get back to my room and change. The nurses said that I could go home today as long as I was feeling better."
"Promise to come back and see me?" Harry asked with a pouty expression that made Hermione laugh.
"I'll be back as soon as I get my things. I'm not leaving here until we can walk out together."
Without giving him a chance to reply, Hermione walked out of the room and closed the door. Letting out a contented sigh, she made her way down the hall. She got back into the room that was supposed to be reserved just for her but found that she had three visitors waiting there, two of which had rather knowing grins plastered on there faces.
"So Hermione, did you have a nice night?" Ginny said with a big smile before laughing in a way that made Hermione blush uncontrollably.
Dumbledore coughed loudly but it seemed to be nothing more then a way to hide his own laughter before standing up and announcing that he was going to get breakfast before heading out the door.
"Perhaps you shouldn't give Hermione such a hard time just yet, Ginny. She has been through a lot in these last few days," Lupin said but with the corners of his mouth twitching the way they were, it made his words seem less then honest.
"If last night didn't cheer her up, nothing will," Ginny said laughing again and this time Lupin joined in as well.
Even though Hermione was blushing so brightly that she felt as though she might explode at any moment, she couldn't help but wonder when Ginny and Lupin had become friends. In fact, she couldn't remember ever seeing Lupin laugh so much in all the years that she's known him. It wasn't until she realized that this was simply their way of getting out all of the stress that had been building up in their own hearts, that she understood and she couldn't help but laugh along with them.
It made Hermione feel good to see that everyone was beginning to relax because for a long time, she'd begun to wonder if anyone would ever truly be able to smile again. In Lupin's case, he hadn't found peace in 17 years and, for his sake as well as everyone else's, she hoped that the issue of the Death Eaters would be resolved quickly. She didn't want to lose anyone else to the war.