The Alphabet Soup of love.

 
Disclaimer- J.K. owns all recognizable characters. I own the others, or rather they own me..

A/N- this story is a fluffy fic, but has mentions of serious adult themes. I have chosen to brush over most of the events that happened in OOP, they are not relevant to my story, so don't look for many mentions of the Great war and ensuing consequences. It centers around Hermione, but there are mentions of other charactors.

Chapter one.

Hermione glanced down at the book in her lap. She was reluctant to open it. Hermione Granger, procrastinating over reading a book! It was almost unheard of. The book was titled "The alphabet soup of love" and that was why she hadn't read it yet. The young woman regarded any self-help books with distrust or amusement, and a book with such a silly title couldn't be helpful in anything.

It had been given to her as a gift by Ginny, who had been notorious for her twisted love life, until she read "The Alphabet soup of love". She claimed that the book brought her her true happiness. Harry. Hermione didn't believe that it was the book that changed her friend, more it was Harry and his green eyes. However Ginny was adamant that the Alphabet soup of love had led her to find her one true love.

Hermione wasn't sure that she could find her true love, especially with a self-help book. What would she do if she didn't have one? Surely she would have found someone by now. Yet as a highly successful diplomat in muggle relations, she had only a string of failed romances behind her. She had never been in love, and she was sure no one had ever loved her. Now at 24 she had out grown her childish idea that she would find her Mr. Right and focussed solely on her job and friends. All you need is friends she mused, yet something deep inside her cried out 'no, its not all, you know you need more'. It was this voice that had eventually tipped the balance to lead Hermione to be contemplating reading the Alphabet.

The back page read:

"This book is one that will lead you to find your inner most loves and desires. It will solve those unanswered questions in your life by letting you know exactly who loves you, needs you and trusts you with their life. It should not be read lightly, for the magic contained within these pages works instantly to change the course of fate, bringing you closer to the happiness that you deserve.

It was as corny as any self help book that Hermione had ever had the misfortune of reading the back of, yet a thrill of anticipation shivered down her back at the word "the happiness you deserve". She did deserve happiness. She worked all day, every day, smoothing down any difficulties that were caused by the interactions wizards and witches had with muggles. Memory charms, fast-talking and on-the-spot fines to the offending witch or wizard were all part of a day's work, yet she didn't enjoy her work. She could be doing so much more with her life, any witch with a modicum of intelligence could do her job, 'maybe not as well' she thought with pride, but they could still do the same thing as her.

She wanted to work in the Ministries spell chambers, creating and altering spells, investigating obsolete usages, using more of her mind then her tact. This angry, bitter thought was the decider. She would read the first page, and see if it changed her life, any change would be welcomed at this point.

XXXXXXXX

You have now taken the first step to your future. Every line you read bring you closer to any revelations you desire, and your future as the most content, happy and beautiful person you can be in the future. "Really…' thought Hermione 'I guess some time passed when I was reading that, so I am closer to the future, in fact, I'm in the future. Stop it girl' she admonished 'Focus, or we will be reading this all night.'

You now must chose what you want this book to do for you. It will give you insights in to all aspects of your love, from those you adore to those who worship you. Yet you must make a conscious decision on whether you trust the book to do this for you. If you don't trust the book it will still work, but the results can take a lot longer to show, and can be uncertain. "How do I trust a book to tell me who loves me? I don't even know that myself; why would an inanimate object?

If you feel that trusting a book would be to too hard then read on, I will share my secrets on how to accept help from any source, however unlikely. "What makes you think I need help, especially from you? I am perfectly capable of helping myself. I am just reading this because of morbid curiosity."

You feel that you have no one in your life that you can turn to, no one that you can you can trust to help you and so you have turn to a self-help book, the last resort of a desperate witch, and that is what you are. Desperate for love, otherwise, why would you be reading this? Ouch! Is this supposed to be making me want to read this?

Don't despair though, as I have hope for you, prepackaged in this book form for your convenience. Within these pages are the words of the alphabet of love, from A to Z, Adore to Zest, Amore to Zeal. You will have found a pack of cards with the book. Keep these, as they are your connection to the book. You work the cards so that what the book tells you is specific to you. This is not mumbo-jumbo, nor a cheap charm. Within the cards are powerful spells and charms that can sense your relationship to other people. They will let you know which card you should pick up.

The way you use them, and this book and card system is thus:

Shuffle the cards, thinking of those people you are close to, or interact with regularly When you feel you should stop shuffling; stop, this is the cards way of communicating to you that they have learned enough to let you use the book. The card on the top of the pile is your card. Pick it up. It will correspond to a page in the book. Turn to that page. The page will give a word, part of the alphabet, and will give you a message. If you pay heed to the message you will find that it will come true for you, if you notice it.

Now, shuffle the cards and start your life of soup.

'Start my life of soup! What is that meant to mean, I am going to loose all my teeth?' Hermione shook her head. 'What was I thinking when I contemplated using a book to change my life?'

She looked down at the cards that lay on the table, next to the card that Ginny had sent with the book. Written on Ginny's was:

"I know you think that your life is complete, but I know that you need to find your One, like I have with Harry. Please, let this book help you. You will find yourself very surprised".

'Surprised or dissatisfied' thought Hermione, but out of respect for her friend she picked up the cards and started to shuffle them. 'What was I meant to think about… people close to me. Ginny, Harry, Ron, Fred, George…Percy. The people at work…Edward, Chloe. Every day folk…the grocer? Next door? This is silly. I am going to stop shuffling here, I feel ridiculous."

TRUST

Trust, in the alphabet of love means, a reliance on another person, to the extent that you would willingly surrender control to that person. It's the overwhelming confidence in that person that they will never betray you.

In the more specific use of the word that is important in the soup; trust is the word used when you place all your emotional baggage and fears with a person, and are at your most vulnerable, yet feel safer with them knowing, then when you kept it a secret.

In your life at the moment there is one person you should trust implicitly, and yet you haven't told them your biggest secret. Once you tell this person you will feel 100% better about life and love. Over the next 48 hours you will be given an opportunity to tell this person your secret.

Be warned that if you don't use this opportunity then you never will get it back. A wasted chance is a closed door.

The person you trust will not betray your secret, trust me.

XXXXXXXX

Trust a book? Trust a person with her secret, Trust Trust Trust. Everything was about that word. Hermione trusted people. She trusted all her friends not to hurt her, her colleagues to stand by her decision, her parents to be parents. Trust someone with a secret… that secret. That was something she wasn't sure she could do.

She had no further time for ruminations, as her door suddenly burst open. The youngest redheaded Weasley flew in, and plonked herself on Hermiones sofa. Her face was beet red and she was gasping for breath, obviously she had been running fast. She had a look of panic on her face that Hermione knew only too well. It was the look she got when she needed help with a relationship, when she felt overwhelmed by the situation. Hermione had seen it many times, but had hoped never to see it again as she thought that Ginny would be stable with Harry.

"What happened Gin? Is it something to do with Harry?" There was no response from the sofa, just the blank stare that had replaced the panic. "Tell me, you know you always feel better when you talk it over. Don't you trust me to keep it secret?" There was that word again. Trust. Did Ginny trust her? Hermione thought she did, yet she had not trusted Ginny with her biggest secret. Hermiones thoughts were again interrupted by Ginny.

"He proposed tonight."

"What did you say? You said yes didn't you… you said that you wanted to marry him yesterday…"

"Of course I said yes. I love him more then life, he is my life… but I'm scared. What if he gets bored of me? We've only been dating for a month."

'Ginny Weasley, he has known you for over a decade. If he were ever going to get bored of you then he would be by now. He loves you as much as you love him, and he obviously wants to spend the rest of his life with you. Do you want to spend the rest of you life with him, or are you going to sit on my couch forever?" With this question Hermione stood up and went to the kitchen to make tea. Tea always calmed down the hysterics of Ginny's love life and gave her time to think without disruption. 'So Harry finally popped the question, and Ginny's freaking out. Why is this? A-she doesn't love him. No that's true. B- she is going to miss her party life style. No it can't be that. Ginny had finished that period of her life years ago. Or C- could it be that Ginny was scared to make the big step from Weasley to Potter, with all of its complications. That was it!' Hermione thought triumphantly. She finished the tea making and walked back out to the lounge.

"Ginny darling, did Harry say whether he wanted you to have his last name or if you could keep your name?" Hermione knew how much pride Ginny had in being a Weasley. Her job as a fashion journalist meant that the Weasley name was famous in all the right circles. Her column was called "Weaseling it out" and she loved being the Weasel. Ginny raised her eyes to Hermiones. She had guessed right.

"No he didn't, but I'm sure he wants me to continue the Potter line. When he proposed I was so happy I could burst, but then all I could see was 'Pottering around with Potter'. It sounds like a gardening article. I don't know how to garden!" with this comment she dissolved into tears. "I feel so silly. It's just a name, but I love it. I always wanted to become successful, and have people know it was a Weasley who got there. I don't want to be just Harry's wife, I want to be more then that. I want to bring the Weasley name out of the back cupboard and onto the mantel where it should be." At the end of this diatribe she snatched at the tea that was waiting on the table for her and took a big swig of it, a sort of non-verbal exclamation point. The effect of this was ruined however when she scalded her mouth on it and spat tea all over Hermione.

"Oh, sorry Hermione, sorry. I was just so mad at everything that I forgot it would be hot."

"Don't worry Gin", said Hermione wryly " just promise me that you will talk to Harry about how you feel. You are saying important stuff, but to the wrong person. It's not just about the name, but everything that has to do with marriage isn't it. I know you love Harry, but maybe you're not ready to commit to the whole deal. You are obviously very concerned about this and as your fiancée Harry deserves to know. Talk to him tonight or… where is he any way? What did you say to get rid of him to come here? Normally when you accept an engagement it would be very hard to ditch the fiancée."

"After I said yes I panicked and I ran out of the restaurant. I just ran and ran, until I reached your house. I knew that I could trust you to help me, I was so worried about everything. What have I done?" this was said with a look of horror on her face. " He is never going to forgive me, I ran away from him. Just like I did with every other guy. But he's not like any other guy…"

"No he's certainly not", said a gruff voice from Hermiones hall. "He has been standing in this hall for the past 10 minutes after following his apparent fiancée halfway across the city and has heard all he wants to hear. If you didn't want to marry me you could have said something"

"But I"-

"No buts." Then Harry's voice softened and he walked over to Ginny, sitting pale-faced on the couch. He knelt down beside her. " Ginny Weasley, I love you with every beat of my heart, with every fiber of my body. You are my soul mate and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That's it. The rest is on your terms. I don't care if we never get married, I don't care if we get married. If you want to be a Weasley then be one. I will change my name to Weasley if that's what will make you happy. I will do anything, if I could just stay with you forever, and never have to leave your side." He looked at her, with emotion shining in his eyes. Ginny was crying openly at this point.

"Harry James Potter I love you so much. I do want to marry you, just not yet. I don't feel ready for it. I'm sorry.

"Don't feel sorry, I would never want you to do anything you don't feel ready to do, even if it is marrying me," he said with a roguish grin. "How do you feel about a long engagement, as long as you like."

"I love it. I love you…"

Hermione had slowly backed out of the room as soon as she realised that things were going well. Was that what the Alphabet soup book had meant about trust? Ginny and Harry had both completely bared their souls to one another, told each other their pain and it seemed not to have hurt them, but to make them feel better. Maybe she should bare her soul, to get rid of the aching canker in her heart. She was sick of the constant hiding from it, it was time she told someone about her summer in Bulgaria with Victor Krum at the end of 7th year.

Please review what you have just read. I really like this story, it's been therapeutic to write it after reading OOP, but I desperately need support, as the time spent writing this could be better spent on my home work, I need convincing I am not wasting my time. Plus, I want to know how I can make this better.

See you next chapter, in a few days.

Muse of Future History.