Somewhere Chapter 1: No One Can Hurt Your Soul, a harry potter fanfic

The rain was pouring down with such intense ferocity. Ginny rested her forehead against the glass window and sighed; her breath misting up the pane.

"Why the sigh Ginny?" Harry called out from the other side of her bedroom. "Bored?"

"No." She didn't turn to look at him. "It's just raining. Outside is cold." The glass was cool against her forehead but she didn't remove her skin's contact. No, she lifted a finger to trace out patterns to the side. Harry left the book on Quidditch he was perusing and came to join her.

"What are you thinking about? You seem distant." He traced down her side with a finger and his hands came to rest on her hips. She fought the urge to push him away.

"Nothing's wrong. What could be wrong? Voldermort dead, world saved… heck, everything is how we want it to be." She watched the tree outside the flat bend beneath the onslaught of the rain.

"You're not being all silly and depressed are you?" Harry chided. It was the last straw. Ginny stepped back from the window and out of his arms and crossed to the other side of the room, picking up discarded jackets and shoes they'd dropped earlier.

"I told you, nothing is wrong." Ginny repeated, refusing to look at him. Harry watched her with a furrowed brow.

"Something's wrong. Stop keeping it from me. I have a right to know."

"Look, just shut up!" Ginny yelled, dropping all the items she had gathered. "It's always with the deep thinking and whatnot. I am tired. I am tired of everything now. I am tired of you. Just leave me alone a while."

"Oh, you want me to leave you alone?" Harry demanded, raising his voice. "That's rich, coming from my girlfriend!"

"You're making this more dramatic than it actually is." Ginny stated in a flat tone.

"You're having second thoughts about us, aren't you?" Harry demanded. Ginny stared at him with annoyance bubbling up beneath the surface.

"Oh, asking me that is the best way to cause them if they're not there!" She shouted at him.

"So you are eh?" Harry stared at her, waiting for an answer. Ginny pressed her wrist to her forehead in a gesture of defeat.

"Yeah. Fine. That's it."

"Goodbye then." Harry turned to leave.

"No Harry wait-" Ginny's words were cut off as her slammed the door. She continued with, "Harry! Come back! That wasn't me breaking up with you!"

He didn't come back and she bent to pick up his forgotten jacket off the floor. She felt so lifeless, so cold. If he left so rashly then he mustn't care for her like she thought he did. But she didn't know how to feel about him anyway… they'd all been so caught up in the war and absence always made the heart grow fonder. She folded his jacket and placed it on her chair. She just needed room to think. She was tired with always being in demand.

Draco put down his quill and stared at the letter he had composed before him. It was insanity writing to The-Boy-Who-Lived but he wanted to absolve everything that had happened over the past seven years. It had been over a year since Voldermort had died and he had seen anyone, and the time had given him room to think.

Dear Harry,

You will be surprised that I am writing to you, but with time has come maturity and I would like to apologise for numerous grievances over the years. Please accept this offering of peace. I would like to be counted as an amiable acquaintance, if not a friend.

Yours sincerely,

Draco Malfoy.

Even if Harry laughed in his face it was worth a try.

Lavender was sitting in the tavern alone when of all people, Harry Potter, stormed in.

"Harry! Ah! Haven't seen you in an age!" She squealed upon sight of him. "How have you been? Ooh are you and Ginny getting married yet?" She almost recoiled at the glare she received for the last comment she threw at him but relaxed as he took a seat next to her at the bar. "Oh are you not together anymore? Oh that's too bad." She waited for an answer but he kept silent. She placed her fingers on his forearm in an expression of comfort.

"Not much to do now Voldermort's gone." Harry stated baldly, ordering a fire-whiskey and drowning it in a few quick gulps. "I mean, why would you even bother being an Auror? Who's there to fight?"

"Oh you sound disillusioned." She sighed, trying to find something better to say but failing. She watched Harry order and drink another fire-whiskey and then broached the subject of Ginny again. "How is Ginny?"

"Sick of me. I walked out before. Screw her. She can bloody well take a flying leap off a bridge for all I care." He seemed angry.

"What did she do?" Lavender asked, concerned.

"I think the worst thing anyone can say is that they're tired of you. I don't care if they forget to meet you, but straight out claiming to need a break is the most disheartening."

"Did she say that?" Lavender was appalled. How could anyone not like Harry Potter?

"Pretty much. I think I heard her calling me back after I left but if she truly cared she'd have run after me. I'm sick of people hanging on for the ride. I had too many false friends after I killed Voldermort. Hero status does that to you."

"Yeah that must suck." Lavender agreed, rubbing Harry's arm. He noticed her touch for the first time and turned to look at her. She felt a pang as their eyes met, but then he turned and finished off his fire-whiskey.

"I have to go to Ron's." Harry declared. "See you."

He was up and gone before Lavender had a chance to say anything to stop his departure.

Ron laughed as Hermione threw yet another glass in his direction.

"It was just talking, alright?" He insisted. It was probably my brother with her when your friend saw them!"

"It was you! There is no better description than 'his face was as red as a beetroot when he noticed I'd seen them!" Hermione yelled, reaching for another glass. He'd caught the previous missile.

"Look, this is the crystal-ware we got from your parents." Ron protested. "You've already broken four stems!"

"I don't care!" Hermione yelled, flinging the glass towards his head. "Explain how you didn't come home the other night! Ugh, I can't believe you. So shy until you get me, and then your sexual prowess is released. I was the one who gave you that confidence! Give it back!"

"Look, you're imagining thing-" Ron was cut off as a glass hit his head. "Fine. Damn it Hermione. It was stupid and I shouldn't have gone out with her."

"Now the truth comes out!" Hermione spat in indignation. She lifted another glass up.

"I did go to her place but we didn't do anything- it was only talking!"

"Oh that's even worse!" Hermione sobbed. "You don't talk all night to someone you only lust for!" She threw the glass at her feet and stepped backwards; ignoring the sliver of glass that impaled her toe. "I can't stay with you knowing you've cheated on me. I've too much self-respect."

"No Hermione- no, please, Hermione!" Ron moved to go to her but she warded him off, balancing on one leg to pick the glass out of her foot.

"Take this god damn ring back." She told him bluntly, pulling off the copper band they'd bought when they visited his brothers in Romania. "I don't want you to talk to me. I waited years for you. I waited forever for you." Hermione placed it on the tabletop and then after grabbing her shoes she left their shared flat; her fiancé staring at her leaving with a truly desolate expression upon his face.

Draco was walking down the street with a curiously free feeling when he almost collided with the last person he expected to see: Granger, or rather, Hermione.

"Hello!" He smiled jovially. "How're you?"

He was greeted with an expression of complete distrust.

"Hello Malfoy. What do you want?" Her face was streaked with tears, he noted idly.

"What happened to you?" He demanded, mortified someone could have done something horrible. As far as he was concerned, the world was meant to be a jolly place without Voldermort and the various Death Eaters.

"Why would you care?" She spat angrily at him. Draco furrowed his brow as he stared at her and then started as he felt a raindrop tap his shoulder. Hermione was out without a coat but his own was an ample cloak. He moved to her side and draped it over her as he moved her towards the nearest restaurant.

"Look, let's just go have dinner –my shout, of course- and you don't have to tell me anything but at least you'll feel better, hmm?" He suggested. Hermione appeared to try and say something, but when he glanced at her she was simply wiping at her eyes so he said nothing and assumed she agreed.

Harry poked his head around the doorway at Ron's and blanched at the mess of glass everywhere.

"Blimey, what the hell happened in here?" He demanded of his red-haired friend who was slumped against the wall on the opposite side of the room. Ron lifted his head to give him a 'don't ask' look, but then filled him in.

"I went on a date with Lavender, stupidly, and Hermione found out." Ron looked as though he didn't need a telling off so Harry held back from giving one.

"Jesus. That's got to be the- well, you can't go back in time now. When did she do this?" Harry asked, surveying the scene.

"About an hour and a half ago. She walked out. Didn't take a bag, keys, purse, anything. I think she's gone to her mums."

"Jesus. Think she'll come back?" Harry asked his friend.

"Nope." Ron buried his face in his hands and then looked back at Harry as he realised he had no idea why his friend was there. "What have you come around for?"

"Oh," Harry thought back to him and Ginny and in comparison to Ron's situation it didn't seem that big a deal. He decided to censor it. "Had an argument with Ginny but it's no biggy. I should get back though… you okay man? Why don't you come back for the night?"

Ron took one look at his kitchen. "Sounds like a plan."

Lavender was walking back home from the tavern when she came to the walkway that passed over a bridge. It was quite high above the waterways and rather steep on either side. Suddenly she started… no, she had imagined it. For an instant she could have sworn she saw a figure standing on the side of the wall that ran along both sides of the path, -but that was insanity. No one would be foolish enough to risk that… would they?

She walked closer to the bridge and heard a ripping sound. Lavender picked up speed and as she got to the middle of the bridge she heard a splash. She looked over the side but it was too dark to see.

"Hello?" She cried, hanging over to peer at the water below. "Has someone fallen in there?" She shuddered, the water had to be at least ten meters from the level of the path, and the sides of the river were –even though the river itself was always calm- cliffs. She hoped it wasn't a drunkard who had fallen in. There was no way out.

After staring into the dark water for sometime she decided she must have imagined it and continued walking to her house. She never noticed the scrap of robe material caught on a jagged stone at the side, or the blood dotting the bridge's wall stones.

Hermione leant against the base on her palm as she watched Draco finishing his meal of spaghetti bolognaise.

"You have really changed, haven't you?" She smiled. The last hour or so of them chatting and eating had really warmed her to him considerably. He smiled a roguish smile at her, and then completely ruined the effect by trying to get too much from his fork into his mouth at once. Hermione laughed harmoniously.

"I've turned over a new leaf." He claimed, but of course because of the food in his mouth, none of this came out clearly. He swallowed, and then repeated his words.

"How so?" Hermione asked playfully.

"I wrote Harry Potter a letter. Not just any letter! A letter offering a truce… a peace offering. Hopefully it works." Draco smiled at Hermione's incredulous look.

"You think he'll accept that?" She blurted out before she could stop herself.

"Hey, at least I know I've done all I can." Draco shrugged. He gave her a narrowed glance. "So, what was up earlier? Care to tell me?"

Hermione almost told him to stuff it but then realised he'd been particularly nice to her so decided to explain. It was the least she could do. "Well, I found out Ron cheated on me… so I walked out."

"But you had none of your things with you!" Draco burst out, aghast.

"I know… so thanks for saving me. Dinner was nice." Hermione blushed.

"Where are you going to stay tonight?' Draco demanded.

"I don't know." And she honestly didn't. She didn't really care.

"I have a spare room at my flat." Draco informed her, stifling any protests she could possibly have. "No buts… I'm not going to try anything anyway, and I won't have you wandering around town like a homeless person. You're coming home with me, Hermione."

What could she say? She accepted his offer.

Harry unlocked the door of his and Ginny's flat and called out to her as Ron followed him inside. The place was completely dark.

"Ginny?" Harry called. "Are you home?" The two men picked their way into the house and on the kitchen table Harry found a letter address to him. With a sinking heart he broke the seal.

Dear Harry,

Yours sincerely,

Draco Malfoy.

He almost laughed with relief as he finished reading it. Malfoy! That was hardly bad news.

"Read this, Ron." Harry snickered, tossing the note to his friend. Ron too erupted into snorts of laughter.

"Slimy git. As if you'll forgive him after years of torment." Ron chucked the letter onto the smouldering fireplace as they entered the lounge and Harry vanished into Ginny's bedroom.

"She's not here." He said in a worried tone, emerging quickly. "Geeze Ron, I hope she hasn't left me like-"

"Like Hermione's left me?" Ron asked bluntly. "I know that's what you're thinking. But c'mon, unless you've cheated on her I doubt that's the case.

"I guess." Harry ran his fingers through his hair as Ron vanished into the kitchen to make them coffee. He was still worried.

Hermione looked at Draco's apartment with appreciation as she followed him in as he lit the lights with his wand. He turned to smile at her and gestured for her to take a seat on the comfortable couch in the middle of the lounge.

"What would you like to drink?" He called out to her as he moved into the open plan kitchen.

"What are you having?" She threw back.

"Fire-whiskey it is then!" Draco declared. He joined her after a few moments with the drink on ice in tumbler glasses and they clinked them together before taking drinks from them. Hermione looked around the room and smiled as her eyes fell upon Draco's large bookshelves stuffed with books –all of which appeared to be dog-eared. She liked nothing better than someone who truly enjoyed books. She abhorred those who collected books to look good.

"How are you feeling?" Draco asked her, startling her back into the moment. She turned to smile at him and he flushed with pleasure at the blatant goodwill she was showering him with. They indeed looking a lovely pair: He was dressed in dark slacks and navy dress-shirt under black robes, and her with muggle stockings under a pleated knee-length grey wool skirt with a black top. Her shoes blatantly clashed with her outfit but that was understandable seeing as she'd grabbed any as she flew out the door of her flat earlier.

"I'm feeling better, thanks to you." She told him, her eyes flickering over his face and pausing at his lips. Draco noticed this and shifted so he sat straighter, unsure how to react. Hermione's eyes looked back up at his and a mutual understanding passed between them.

"No, you're not just- because Ron?" Draco asked, furrowing his brow. Hermione just looked at him. He looked at her, then at her lips, and then at her hands which were inches from his own. Their bodies were tilted towards each other; relaxed, at ease… their eyes met again.

"I can't believe I didn't see you before." Hermione declared whilst shaking her head in disbelief. That sealed it. Draco leant it to kiss her and she moved in to reciprocate; losing herself in the embrace.

Harry awoke the next day to the realisation he'd spent the night sleeping in his armchair. Ron looked as though he'd done the same thing also.

"She back yet?" Ron asked groggily, referring to Ginny. Harry got up and did a quick check and then came back, shaking his head. It was odd… he was slightly worried but couldn't do anything. He walked through into the bathroom and stripped before showering. He'd dress and then walk around town. Hopefully she'd gone and visited a friend… maybe she'd bumped into Lavender.

Hermione woke up on Draco's couch tucked up in a duvet he'd obviously pulled off the spare bed- so much for sleeping in it. A pillow had been propped under her head and as she sat up on her elbow she smelt the distinct aroma of bacon and eggs wafting across the room from the kitchen towards her. She enthusiastically poked her head over the back of the couch and Draco waved the spatula cheerily.

"Good morning." He greeted. "You fell asleep after we watched that move so I left you there."

"Oh thank you for the duvet and pillow then." Hermione smiled.

"Oh don't worry, you owe me your first born child, that's all." He muttered sarcastically. Draco then realised the implications of his statement and shook his head. "Or like, your hand." He realised the connotations with that statement too and gave up. Hermione laughed.

"Is that coffee I smell?" She eagerly asked. He nodded.

"I ground the beans earlier. I didn't roast them, so sorry if that disappoints you."

"Ha, oh definitely." Hermione snorted. She shook back her curly hair and then clambered off the couch. "Where is your bathroom? I should make myself decent."

"Down the hall to your left." Draco informed her. "And thank god, I was about to claw my eyes out."

She threw the pillow at him on her way out of the room.

Ron was definitely depressed. Harry wanted to comfort him, but with each approaching hour he was getting more and more worried about Ginny. They'd wandered around town for about two hours that morning but hadn't managed to find Ginny, and they'd even talking to her friends, albeit Lavender, who'd been hard to contact.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Harry rushed to answer it and gaped at devastated-looking Lavender. She was holding a scrap of robe he recognised as belonging to Ginny.

"Where did you find that?" He demanded. Lavender said nothing as he snatched it from her and then she let go as tears coursed from her eyes.

"I was walking home last night over the bridge when I heard a tearing sound. I went back this morning –I was too drunk to think clearly about the sound last night- and found this on the outer side of the bridge. Last night I heard a splash too. Please don't tell me this is Ginny's, Harry. Please. Please tell me she didn't fall in."

Harry couldn't say anything, he just ran past her out the door. He knew a place where the river narrowed; where branches and twigs got caught and had to be cleaned out fortnightly so that a damn didn't get created. If she had fallen… that is where she'd be.

It took him fifteen to twenty minutes to get there –a secluded area just outside of town, in a more rural area, hidden by trees- and his heart plummeted as he saw the colour of the robe Ginny had been wearing yesterday amongst the rubble caught up in the river neck. She was suspended peacefully on the bits of driftwood there; her skin was slightly swollen from all the water but as she was mostly propped out of it now she had obviously improved from how she'd have looked after she'd first drowned. Harry waded in towards her –the sides of the bank were small here, the cliffs got lower the further they stretched away from town- and stood by her, caressing her face.

"Sick of me. I walked out before. Screw her. She can bloody well take a flying leap off a bridge for all I care."

But he did care. He definitely cared.

Harry gently lifted her up in his arms and waded back to the edge of the bank to begin the long, hard journey home.

Hermione emerged from the bathroom and entered the kitchen just as Draco was laying breakfast out on the table. Her wand had worked wonders, -even without toothpaste, makeup, etc, various cosmetic spells had done the job of their counterparts and she was refreshed. He went into the kitchen to fetch orange juice and as he turned Hermione was there, smiling at him. It created butterflies in his stomach, this, because he'd always been surrounded with bitter people. This last year had been spent with him mostly being alone, reading books… occasionally running into acquaintances as he shopped, but here was a living person, someone who liked him. He bent down to kiss her softly on the lips. She smiled into the kiss.

"Well here is breakfast." He declared, straightening up. On the table sat bacon and eggs, toast, jams and jellies, and once he reached it, orange juice would too. Hermione took the jug from him and moved towards the table as he doubled back for the glasses.

"You are amazing." Hermione declared.

Ron didn't believe it was true when he initially saw Harry walking up to him with his baby sister in his arms. When it dawned, however, he took Ginny from Harry and ran back into the house, laying her on the sofa. In almost no time at all, the authorities had been alerted and a Medi-witch showed up to inspect Ginny for signs of death, etc. She was taken away and aurors showed up to talk to Harry, Ron and Lavender. It was definitely a suicide, and slowly, the rest of the Weasley clan were informed.

"You said it was just a small fight Harry." Ron later said to him, tearful. "What the hell happened?"

"I walked out on her." Harry said, shaking his head. "But when I saw what had happened with you and Hermione I assumed my fight hadn't been so bad. Jesus…" Harry found he couldn't talk any longer. It was all too much. Ron looked at him and acknowledged it wasn't his friends fault. Poor Ginny. Poor, sad Ginny.

"I should touch base with Ron again, just so he doesn't think I'm dead." Hermione declared, later that day. Draco shook his head emphatically.

"No, no stay here. No wait, we'll go on a trip together. For once leave everything behind. C'mon, be adventurous Granger." Draco wrapped his arms around her, kissing her neck. "Where do you want to go? Anywhere is possible."

Hermione turned to smile at him as possibilities dawned on her. "We could go to Italy! Check out the paintings!"

"Okay. We can go now. All you need is your apparating license. Don't bother getting clothes. That can be done over there." Draco began waving his wand around, cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen with it. Hermione laughed in excitement as it all happened.

"Oh you are so fantastic! So we just go to the ministry's port and apparate into the other country?" Hermione asked.

"Yes! Right, I'll just cast a charm on the flat to keep it safe and we can go." Draco finished putting everything away and grasped Hermione's hand, pulling her to the front door. He shut it, cast the charm and then turned to plant a kiss on her forehead. Hermione felt invigorated with this new sense of freedom. He pulled her into an embrace and then they disapparated together.

No one even saw them leave.

"Where the hell is Hermione?" Ron demanded that evening. "I haven't seen her since she left. What if she's dead too?"

Ron's mother hushed him tearfully and Harry barely managed to raise his head to look at him. He couldn't believe that a simple fight had resulted in Ginny's death. It was horrible.

"Ron I'm sure she's okay." Lavender reassured him. He looked at her and Harry noted that whilst his friend was still worried, he gave Lavender a grateful smile. It was fairly obvious he did have a thing for her.

"In a different situation I'd tell you off something dreadful for what you did to Hermione, Ronald," Mrs. Weasley began, "but I can't. Lavender, you're a lovely girl. You can't help Ronald being a ladies man."

"Mum!" Ron spluttered. Harry had to grin at that, but then he sobered once more.

A/N: I may go on further than this but that is still undecided. I hope you enjoyed it.