This is the first fanfiction I have ever written, so bare with me.. Hope you like it, and please rewiew. Both good and bad.
It was only six o'clock in the morning, but Hermione was wide-awake. She had always been a morning person, and after the war, a very light sleeping person. Therefore, it was not uncommon for her to wake early. She listened to the birds whom just had started to sing, and the distant murmur from the railway. Her alarm clock would not ring for an hour, so she decided just to wait, being too comfortable under the warm duvet to get up.
It was four years since the war ended, and life were starting to get back to normal, at least as normal it could get.
There had been some rough years following the war, and everyone was coping in different ways. Harry and Ginny had married the year before to Mrs. Weasley complete joy - Harry was finally a part of the family. They were busy remodelling Grimmauld's place to make it a decent home for a child to grow up. Tonks mother took care of Teddy, but they wanted a decent room for him and their future children to live in. They had unfortunately not found a way to get Sirius mother down from the wall, but they had discovered a mutespell that worked, making her stare with a look that could kill every time they went through the hall.
George was slowly getting back to himself, after dealing with the loss of his brother rather badly. To put it mildly he'd had a drinking habit worthy an elephant for almost two years. The family didn't know exactly what had pulled him out of it, none of their efforts had worked. Hermione and Ginny had concluded that Angelina were the cause of that, it seemed like she was able to reach him when his mind went dark and pull him back to the surface. The shop had somehow survived during George's drunken time, mainly because of Ron's help and George's stubbornness of not to give up Fred's legacy. The two remaining Weasley-children, Percy and Charlie, were still single men to Molly's despair, even though Ginny were quite sure Percy had a ting going on with his boss's secretary. She had a lot of fun teasing him, since the redness of his cheeks and glow in his eyes always were present when he talked about her. Which was often.
Hermione herself were in an on and off relationship with Ron, which at the moment were on. After the war, they had dated for a while, but all their fights came in the way of any development of the relationship.
Hermione sighted for herself, she did not know what to do about Ronald. She cared and loved him deeply, but it felt like something were missing between them. The passion she sensed between Harry or Ginny were nowhere to be found between her and Ron. She never had the bubbly and giddy feeling Ginny talked about when Harry touched her, and even though she and Ron had sex on regular basis, it felt more like an obligation than an act of lust, joy and love.
Hermione looked at the alarm bell again, 06.45, this had to do, she had spent enough time dozing in bed. She slowly got out of bed and went to the bathroom, turned the shower on and brushed her teeth while she saw herself in the mirror grimacing. Her hair was long, brown and curly, her skin were smooth and clean, and her lips full and red. Still, Hermione only saw a mess of a hair, redness in her skin and thin lips. She quickly finished brushing her teeth and went into the shower. The hot water relaxing her tense mussels.
She was ready Forty-five minutes later, and sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. Ron were to pick her up at 08.00 before they went to Harry and Ginny. They had decided on a couple's holiday in Spain, just to get away from the stress that follow them everywhere. Ginny were a famous quidditch player, Harry was «the-boy-who-lived», she was overworked at the ministry and Ron (and Harry) were stressing about their auror duties. Ron also used a lot of his spare time with George, helping him out at the shop. Therefore, over some glasses of Firewisky and wine, they had decided to go on a holyday.
Ron came half passed eight on point, looking like he just wandered through a thunderstorm, Hermione could not help but giggle a little; he had never been a morning person. "You ready?" he said while he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah" she muttered smiling, he looked at her lovingly before rambling on to his excuse "sorry I was late, but could not find my luggage this morning… Turns out mother left it at Ginny's some days ago, assuming I could not pack my own cloths!" He rolled his eyes at the thought, making Hermione laugh harder. If Molly had left it there days ago, that meant that he had not thought about his luggage since then.
After a brief catch up they apparated to Harry and Ginny's, who were sitting in their kitchen reading the daily prophet, drinking their morning tea. " There you finally are!" Ginny shouted as they came into the kitchen. Ron started to explain the whole luggage thing, but Ginny waved him off while giving Hermione a hug. "So, you ready?" Harry said smiling at them. "Born ready," Ron answered. Hermione and Ginny just smiled and nodded.
Three hours later, they were settled in their hotel room. They had apparated to Spain, but the destination was a little off from their main goal, which made them wander the city for some hours before they found their hotel.
Hermione and Ron were changing into summer clothes. Hermione in a white tank top and a denim skirt, Ron in big shorts and a Hawaii shirt. Hermione felt Ron eyeing her up as he came closer and went in for a kiss. Hermione kissed him back with a smile on her lips. He slowly deepened the kiss and slipped through a little tongue, she felt his hands touching her waist slowly feeling its way up towards her breasts. Suddenly she felt this unpleasant feeling she often felt lately when Ron touched her. Quickly she ended the kiss, making Ron stare quizzically on her. "Sorry, I just need too…" She pointed toward the bathroom; "of course, go ahead," he answered, looking a little rejected while waving with his hand towards the loo. Hermione nearly ran towards the bathroom, after she locked the door she started to breathe heavily. What was this? Every time Ron went in for something more than a light kiss, she felt herself backing out. She knew she loved him, and that he loved her. It annoyed her that she seemed uncappable to show him any affection in a physical way.
She came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. Ron looked at her like he was about to say something. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally said, "shall we go then?" with a harsh voice. Hermione let out a breath she did not know she had held. She was frightened he would bring up the awkwardness around them; it was starting to get so obvious that they needed to talk about it. After all, they had not had sex for almost six months, and almost two years since they had sex sober. Every time he touched her, she ran away. We should talk together; this cannot go on longer she scolded to herself. It was not a conversation she longed for.
They went down to the beach, looking for a nice place to lay down to sunbath, the clock was barley one and the sun was high on the sky. "I like that necklace on you, it suits you," Ron said as they laid down on the towels. Hermione touched it immediately snapping her breath, "it was a gift from my parents, the last Christmas we spent together," she answered quick, maybe too quick she realised afterwards. "Oh, okay, it looks nice", he said as he gave her a reassuringly smile, thinking he had said something wrong. She quickly opened her book in front of her, trying to appear normal.
Her thoughts wandered off. It wasn't her parents who had given the neckless to her, it had been someone else. After the battle of Hogwarts, she had headed for Australia, in the hope of finding her parents again to restore their memory of her.
It had taken her longer than expected to find her them, and to her great horror figured out that she had been too throughout when she cast the spell. It turned out that it was permanent, and an attempt to remove it would most likely resolve in bigger damage. She had discovered that they had a good life, had made new friends and were genuine happy. Therefore, she had left Australia with great grief, but comforted by the thought that they were safe, alive an happy. Once a year she visited them to make sure they were fine, camouflaged as a tourist.
This had led to that she hadn't lived in a permanent place for almost three years. She had lived at the Burrow, her parents' old house and at Luna's, feeling that she could not stay at any one place for too long without becoming a burden. Therefore, about a year ago she Hermione sold her parents' house, the memories they brought back to painful to bear, and bought an apartment in the middle of muggle London. It was the first time she could settle down for now and call a place her own for the first time in her life.
When she moved in, she had carefully emptied the little purse she had brought with her ever since the wedding of Fleur and Bill, completely. She had been very shocked to find an old birthday present there, which someone must have slipped into her bag, not wanting the present to get too much attention. It was a necklace made of silver and something that looked like pink glass with sand inside. It was formed as a drop and was very beautiful with it simpliciality. Hermione liked to think of it as a tear that cried for everyone after the war. However, it was not the beauty of the necklace that caught her attention, it was the letter.
Happy birthday Hermione (even if it's not before September)!
I have come to the understanding that you, Harry and Ron are to skip this year from school, which I am proud to hear. However, I cannot think of a worse company to spend several months with, especially my little brother, ickle ronniskis. I've heard a rumour that you are hunting old-mouldy, so I hope you guys have a good plan. If you need help, George and I are always here, remember that. I guess I just wanted to say, take care, good luck, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Which leaves out everything... On another note, don't do anything I would do!
Think of the present as a good-luck-charm.
Love, Fred.
It had left her crying for hours when she read it. Why he had given her a birthday present was for her baffling. Nevertheless, she appreciated it very much. They had never been the closet of friends, but they had been friends after all. Moreover, the thought of him being dead was still unbearable, four years later. She had showed it to George, who had just stared at her with big eyes.
"I don't know why he gave it to me, but I'm thankful… Sorry I should not have come with this to you…" she had said, regretting coming to the shop. George looked like he did not know what to say.
"He cared a lot for you, you know? He never said anything but the way he looked at you… Never mind it is too late now…", Hermione was startled, what did he mean by that?
"eeh, okay?" she had said, not sure how to continue.
"He knew you and Ron were meant to be, so he never said anything. He made it of some broken time travellers we once found at the ministry, » he finally said. She had gone home very confused that day, hoping that she could will herself to not understand what George had implied.
Hermione was not able to focus on the book in front of her, and with an annoyed huff let her thoughts fell back to what George had told her. It had most defiantly suggested that Fred had liked her, maybe even been in love with her. However, she could not remember, even if it was to save her own life, a time where he showed her some interest of that sort. It is too late to dwell on the past she soberly told herself. Hermione looked at the inviting blue ocean, and suddenly decided to go for a swim.
It was nice feeling the cold water against her skin, cooling her down from the burning sun. She laid on swim, feeling the freedom that water was able to give her. It felt like she was flying, without the angst for falling following her.
Hermione didn't notice how fare from the shore she had gotten, she just concentrated on swimming as perfect she could. Suddenly she felt something tugging her foot, and she felt herself being down. She fiercely tried to fight it off, kicking her feet to all directions. When she looked down, she saw nothing, the was an invisibly force dragging her away from life. Her head was three meters under the surface when she looked up; the sun was shining down in the water at her as she tried desperately to reach the air. Her neckless floated in front of her, the sun making it shine with all the colours of the rainbow. She grabbed it desperately, as if that was the last thing keeping her alive. Suddenly she could not hold her breath anymore, and she gaped for air and breathed in the salty water, swallowed and felt it fill her lung. She felt the anger and despair over dying in a stupid ocean.
Had she survived the war against Lord Voldemort for nothing?
AN: Hope you liked it, please review!