A/N: I'm finally back! It took a little longer than I thought, mostly because of work and family, but I'm finally making my return to my favorite community.
Thank you so much to everyone who expressed their condolences for my friend Tim. It meant so much to have the support of my community here on Portkey. Thank you all so much for being patient with me while I have been gone and for the little notes here and there to let me know you were here waiting for me.
I may have to go back and edit this some, I'll admit I didn't check it as thoroughly as I usually do, but I was really excited to finish this and get it out to you guys asap. Let me know if I missed something particularly egregious.
I'm very blessed and happy to be back and thank you all again so much. I will be back very soon with an update for "The End of the Beginning". Cheers!
~
It was the most boring week in Harry's life to be stuck in a hospital bed. They ran every test imaginable to ensure that he didn't have any lingering side effects or infections. Finally, after a final gauntlet of revealing potions and spells he was released.
"Ready to go mate?" Ron was waiting for him outside the room.
"Never more ready." Harry grumbled back. They walked in silence out to the front of the hospital where an anxious looking Hermione awaited them.
"Feeling well?" she eyed Harry.
"Swell; let's get out of here before they decide to keep me here any longer."
They stepped out the front door, materializing in a busy side street. Nobody seemed to notice the three young adults who appeared out of thin air. They walked a few blocks until they found an empty alleyway where they could apparate.
"So where are we going?" Harry looked from Ron to Hermione. His two friends looked at one another.
"We're not really sure ourselves." Hermione tentatively answered. "We could go anywhere really. We still have the tent, although I do have a house I've been renting."
"You do?" Ron looked quizzically at her.
"I didn't want to mention it, but we could go there if you guys wanted. It's a small cottage by the ocean. There's enough room I think." Hermione looked at her feet, clearly not thrilled with the idea.
"Well, if it's okay with you, why don't we just head there temporarily so we can make a more permanent plan?" Harry suggested. Hermione didn't look up but shook her head, Ron nodding his assent.
Ron and Harry each took one of Hermione's arms as she apparated them. The bright afternoon sun of Bulgaria disappeared in favor of a starry night sky in Australia. A small cottage was perched on stilts just passed a number of sand dunes, a small wooden walkway winding its way to the porch.
"Nice place." Ron whistled.
"Thanks, it's not much, but it's been a nice place to get away." Hermione's voice sounded far away, she stopped them when they reached the porch. "Listen, there's something I should tell you before we head inside." She looked apprehensively at them both, "I have a roommate."
Ron and Harry looked at each other, sharing a puzzled look between them. "Okay," Ron was the first to answer, "what's the problem with that? What's her name?"
"His name is Ethan."
Harry could have cut the air with a knife. Ron looked like a troll had clubbed him over the head while Hermione looked apologetic. Harry pushed aside his own surprise to ask what he knew Ron couldn't form the words to ask himself.
"When you say roommate…."
"He's just that. Well, at least now he is." Hermione shifted her guilt ridden gaze to Harry, "I kind of just left about a month ago. We didn't really talk about it, but it is my house. I still pay the rent. He may not even be here, but I thought you should know."
Harry looked from her to Ron, who was just now beginning to regain use of his faculties. "So he's your boyfriend?"
"Was." Hermione sighed. "Look can we discuss this later? It's getting late here and we still have to make the beds." She turned and pointed her wand at the lock which clicked open and strolled into a small sitting room. Harry followed suit with Ron bringing up the rear. There was a sofa and a small reading chair by the window. The sitting room led into an open kitchen/dining area that seated four around a round table while a small hallway lead off to bedrooms on either side.
"So, you came back." A tall, dark skinned man who looked to be a few years older than Harry stepped into the sitting room from the left hallway.
"Listen, Ethan we can talk later, can we get everyone settled first?" Hermione took one of Ethan's arms in her hands and looked up into his sour face.
"Why? Why should I listen to you? You just up and left. No note, no nothing to explain where you had gone." Ethan jerked his arm away from her. "The only reason I stayed was because I couldn't find another place that I could afford."
"I'm sorry Ethan. I promise we'll talk about this and I will explain everything. Just please, let's get Harry and Ron settled." Ethan still didn't change the sour expression on his face, but walked back into the hallway. "You guys can have the two guest rooms to the right here." Hermione walked them to a pair of identical rooms across from one another. "There's a bathroom in this door here," she gestured to a door they had just passed, "and linens in the closets. If there's anything else you need just ask."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Ron blurted out. Hermione heaved a deep sigh and closed her eyes.
"There really hasn't been a good time until now. Between the state I found the two of you in." a fire glinted briefly in her eyes. Ron's ears began to turn red.
"How I spent your time away is my business." Ron snarled.
"And how I spent mine is my business." Hermione huffed. Harry could see that both their tempers were about to reach the boiling point.
"Let's save this for the morning shall we?" he put a hand on each of their shoulders. Both of them glared at the other for another moment before Hermione walked around them both to head to the master bedroom. The last thing they heard was her casting a silencing charm on the door when she closed it.
Ron glared at the closed door. "Can you believe this?"
"Honestly, there's not much I wouldn't believe anymore." Harry grimaced at his friend. "We'll handle it later, let's get some rest."
"Fat chance, my body clock is all wrong for it to be night here." Ron mumbled. Harry kept his own thoughts about sleep to himself as he closed his bedroom door behind him and promptly cast his own silencing charm. He made his way to the window, sliding it open and awkwardly making his way out of it, making sure to break his fall with a cushioning spell.
He made his way towards the sound of the crashing waves, relishing being on his feet after a solid week (consciously anyways) of being in a hospital bed. Sleep wasn't forthcoming with the time lag, so a long walk on the beach seemed appropriate. The water was a beautiful blue here even in the moonlight, completely different from the dark, churning waters of the Atlantic and Baltic.
His mind drifted back to the last thing he fully remembered before the hospital. The snow and the winter wolves, it seemed like something out of another life. He couldn't really think of how he would tell Hermione that her voice had quite literally saved his life. It seemed surreal that he had been that close to simply letting it all end. At the time it was so easy, but now it seemed that being with his friends was reminding him that he did have something to live for.
He let his feet walk on autopilot while his mind drifted. He tried to isolate all the good that had happened in his life: quidditch, holidays at the Burrow, late nights in the common room with his friends. It was a simple reality of his life that at the edge of every good memory was an equally bad one that attempted to force its way in.
It almost seemed like he had lived two lives. One in which he was a target and reluctant hero and one in which he was a normal teenaged wizard. His mind flashed back to a conversation he had had years ago with Hermione.
"Why can't I just be normal?"
"We don't always get to choose our fate Harry. Unfortunately for you, you were marked long before you had any say in the matter."
"You really have a way of making me feel better…"
"Oh come on Harry. At some point you're going to have to accept that it's a part of who you are. It will only ever become the entirety of who you are if you let it. Yes, you are Harry Potter "The Boy Who Lived"; but you are also Harry Potter my best friend. It's not one or the other Harry, it's both."
She had given him a big smile that he hadn't been able to help but return. Sometimes Hermione was too smart for her own good, but sometimes she was exactly what he needed.
"Hey, wait up!"
Ron came huffing up behind him. "Wasn't slippery enough to get our unnoticed eh?" Harry elbowed him.
"Not quite mate."
They walked on in easy conversation, talking about quidditch and speculating who the top teams likely were. Harry couldn't help but smile, because sometimes Ron was exactly what he needed too.