Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

"You were the one
You were the one who picked me
What have we become
Now have we begun our ending?"

Kina Grannis - Winter


"Ginny is gone."

Hermione blinked several times, searching for Harry's elusive look. Ginny was gone. She frowned, like she always used to do when she was focused into something important. And, Merlin's beard, this information was important, in the worst way. The heavy silence into the living room was just broken from time to time by Harry's slight cough, as if he wanted to distract his best friend from the obvious. Ginny was gone.

She continued to stare at him, not really knowing what to do. Did he expect her to ask him what happened? Hermione didn't want to do or say something that could hurt Harry, but at the same time, she wanted to be here for him. He had asked her to come, and she realised now that it was because of Ginny's departure: he wanted to confide in her.

"What happened?," she eventually asked in a soft voice, not wanting to force him to do something that he didn't want to do. This question was enough, at least for now.

Harry shrugged, but Hermione understood that it was because he didn't know what to say, not because he didn't know what had happened. Of course, he knew.

"She decided to leave to begin her Quidditch training."

"Well... That's quite unexpected to me, but I didn't have the opportunity to talk to her since Christmas, in my defence," Hermione retorted. "But you knew about her plans, right? Isn't it a good thing for her?"

Harry giggled nervously, and Hermione bit her lower lip, knowing that she had said something that she shouldn't have. He then bent over to fill his glass of wine a second time, doing the same with Hermione's glass. Seconds later, Harry's glass was already empty.

"Yes, it's awesome, isn't it? She decided to leave her one-year-old son with his father for a year. This is an amazing decision, really," he finished in a whisper, before taking the bottle of wine for the third time. But this time, Hermione put her hand onto his arm, urging him to let go of the bottle of alcohol.

"Harry, please," she almost begged him. "I understand that you're angry... and sad, but drinking is not a good solution tonight. Talk to me."

Harry's hand lingered on the bottle for a few moments, but eventually, he let go of it in a sigh.

"I don't even know where to begin," he mumbled, looking at an invisible point straight in front of him.

"Just tell me what happened. When did she leave?"

"Yesterday," Harry slowly started after clearing his throat. "I came home late in the afternoon; she was feeding James in the dining room. I realised that something was wrong, Hermione, as if... as if something had happened during my absence, something had changed in her attitude too. She seemed to be quite distant, which is quite surprising, knowing how exuberant she is sometime."

He stopped at this moment, and even if Hermione wanted to agree with him–Ginny had never been a distant woman at all–she didn't say a single word: it was his moment, and she didn't want to interfere. She just waited for him to resume his story, which he did moments later.

"I went to our room to put my bag down, and... I don't know why, I really don't, but I had this bad feeling... I decided to check the dressing-room and then I saw that her things were missing. You don't even know what I thought at this exact moment. I felt betrayed, lost and confused at the same time," he went on, still avoiding Hermione's look. "Then we talked and... and I realised that she wanted to leave. No," he continued when he saw that Hermione wanted to say something. "I didn't realise that she wanted to leave, it was so much more than that: she had already decided to leave, and my opinion wasn't important to her."

"But how can it be possible? I mean, she probably talked about it with you before taking this decision, didn't she?"

"That's the best part," Harry answered, pursing his lips as if he was doing his best to hide a smile of pure irony. "I had no clue that she wanted to pursue her Quidditch dream until she told me that she was leaving. That's the reason why I said that my opinion wasn't important in her decision process; she knew from the start, maybe from the beginning of the year since the auditions for the Harpies always take place around February, that she wanted to leave, and she didn't even think, not even for a second, that I wanted to give her my opinion about it..."

"Maybe that she didn't want to upset you before your mission...," Hermione tried, but inwardly, she knew that it would have been a pity excuse.

"You're too optimistic, Hermione," Harry almost laughed.

"And how are you doing, Harry? What do you plan to do now, concerning James, and... everything else."

He took the bottle of wine once again, but Hermione didn't do anything to stop him this time.

"You want to know the truth?," he asked her, his glass of wine close to his lips. "I have no fucking clue about what I need to do. I know that I have to take care of James, of course, since he is my son. But about my relationship with my wife... I don't even want to think about it for now."

Hermione nodded, understanding perfectly well what dilemma Harry was facing at this moment. He was totally in love with Ginny, and he had been since such a long time, but now, he was just blind with all this anger that he had toward her, all this resentment.

"You really didn't know that she wanted to leave, did you?," Hermione whispered, feeling her best friend's confusion.

Harry shook his head, and rose his eyes to heaven to prevent his tears to fall onto his cheeks.

"I had no clue, Hermione," he said before pinching the bridge of his nose to relax his body. "I wouldn't have reacted like this if she had told me about this... But now, I don't just feel alone, I have the impression that she betrayed our couple, that she damaged our relationship in a way. I know that it is selfish of me to think like this but it is the truth. I thought that we had built our marriage on trust, but it was obviously not her opinion about it."

"You're not selfish, Harry. You're a lot of things, but you're definitely not selfish," Hermione corrected him. "I don't want to blame Ginny, since I don't know what she really thinks about it, but... you're not the selfish person here. Not talking to you about something that important was her real mistake in my opinion. I can understand that she wanted to pursue the career of her dreams, but when you have a family, I consider that you have to think about their well-being before anything else."

"Oh, she had thought about everything," Harry retorted with a wicked smile. "She told me that her mum would gladly help me with James if I needed any help."

"Are you telling me that the Weasleys were..."

"...Aware long before I was, yes," Harry finished her sentence. "Funny, isn't it?"

"Molly is her mother after all, and we all know how close both of them they are...," Hermione tried to defend Ginny.

"And I am her husband!," Harry shouted, irritated to listen Hermione taking Ginny's defence. "I am her husband, and she had to talk to me about this. I would have been able to understand her dream if she had talked to me about it. But she decided to take this important decision by herself, and for now, I don't think that I am ready to forgive her about it."

Hermione nodded, looking at her glass of wine. It was a pity to see the most solid couple that she had ever known tear apart like this. Harry had been so happy the day of his wedding with Ginny, and even more during James' birth. To be honest, Hermione was sure that it wasn't the first quarrel that they had ever had, but if Harry had wanted to talk to her about this, it was because they had never gone through something so big.

"Will she be able to come home during the weekends at least?," she asked before taking a sip of wine.

"Not at all. During a Quidditch professional training, you don't have the possibility to come home whenever it pleases you. Ginny knew it when she signed for her training. During a year, she'll be with her teammates, and only them. With luck, she'll be able to come for Christmas and she will have a few days off during the year, but that's all."

"I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't realise that it was so... binding."

"Well, it was Ginny's decision. All that I can do is to deal with it, right? I need to focus on James, and James only."

His green eyes sparkled with a glimmer of pride when he talked about his son, and Hermione smiled at him.

"You love him with all your heart, I can see that," she noticed. "At least, James will have the possibility to spend more time with his father this way. Let's see the good in the bad, Harry."

He nodded, and smiled back at her.

"You're right, as always, Hermione. That was the reason why I wanted to see you tonight, actually."

"Really?"

"Of course. You are not like the others: you always try to focus on what is really important. Other people would have blamed Ginny for everything, but you didn't. You tried to understand what her reasons could be, and it makes me say that I made the right decision when I made that phone call."

"Oh, stop it, Harry Potter, you're going to make me blush," she chuckled.

"I mean it, Hermione. And to be honest, I'm really glad to know that you're not going back to Hogwarts this year: talking to you always calm me down, awkwardly enough. Another glass of wine, maybe?," he added when he noticed that her glass was almost empty.

"No, thank you. But what are you going to do about James? I mean... you're still working at the Ministry, and with you incessant travels..."

"I am going to retire from the missions, at least for now. I know that I have a bunch of money, and that I don't need to work for the rest of my life if I want but..."

Hermione waited for him to finish his sentence, but Harry seemed to be reluctant to do so.

"... But you have the impression that you have to continue," she finished, almost in an interrogative tone.

"Exactly. I am the Head of the Auror office, and it is my duty to continue to work with my colleagues. They are expecting a lot of me, and Kingsley too."

"I'm sure that the Minister would understa–"

"I don't want to quit yet, Hermione," Harry insisted.

"But James needs you more than anything right now."

Harry sighed, but inwardly, he knew that the young woman was right.

"I'm not working this week, since I've just returned from a mission. I just need to go to work on Friday afternoon for a meeting, but, apart that, I am free until next Monday at least."

"Alright, but what is going to happen after Sunday?," Hermione pressed him.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "Look, for now, I'll take care of James. I still have a few days to take a decision about it. If I don't find a solution, I'll ask Molly to take care of him."

Hermione seemed to think about it for a few seconds, but she eventually nodded.

"Alright. But don't forget that I don't work at the moment, so if you need any help, I'd be glad to take care of James too if Molly isn't available."

At the exact moment when these words crossed the barrier of her lips, Hermione wondered why she had said them; she had never taken care of a baby, and she didn't even know if she could change a diaper. Harry seemed to agree with her inner thoughts since he started to laugh.

"Come on, Hermione, I am not even sure that you have ever taken James into your arms," he said playfully.

Hermione opened her mouth in a perfect "O", looking totally outraged.

"Of course I have! And I love your son, you know I do," she said in a voice full of persuasion.

"You love him, sure... from a distance," Harry retorted with a smile.

Hermione Granger wasn't not a woman comfortable with babies, and she knew it. It was one of the reasons why she was still nullipara at twenty-seven-year-old. Of course, being single didn't help either.

Suddenly, Harry's stomach made a funny noise, and he quickly get up, urging her to do the same.

"Let's go to the dining room. I did my best tonight, I hope that you'll like it."

"If it's not burnt, it will be an improvement compared to last time," Hermione whispered to herself while following him.

XxX

It wasn't burnt. The meat was a little too dry, but other than that, it was not bad. When they finished their desserts, it was almost midnight.

"I guess that you don't have a Floo in your flat," Harry asked her while clearing the table.

"No. I had to Apparate here, but you know how I hate it..."

"I know," Harry said with a smile. "I remember this time next year when you Apparated at St-Mungos for James' birth..."

"Don't talk to me about it," Hermione warned him, unable to hide her smile any longer. "I almost splinched myself that day."

"I still don't understand how did you do this, really. It's beyond words, knowing how talented you are."

Hermione got up and helped Harry to bring the remaining glasses into the kitchen.

"I don't know...," she eventually said. "I guess that I was too happy for you, knowing that you were about to have the family that you always desired. I just wanted to be here for you and I guess that I was too much in a hurry," she concluded with a grin.

"And you made it, despite the fact that you were at Hogwarts, probably teaching some Gryffindors the art of Transfiguration."

"It was a class of Slytherins, actually. So well, it wasn't a big loss, either for them or myself."

They laughed together, and when they finished to do the dishes, Hermione headed to the living room.

"Well, I guess that it's time for me to leave. Thank you for the dinner, Harry, and I have to admit that you made some improvements."

"Don't you want to sleep over? I don't want to say it, but... you drank quite a lot tonight."

"Not true...," she managed to say while trying to hide a yawn of tiredness.

"Come on, Hermione, two bottles for two?," Harry raised an amused eyebrow. "You don't want to be splinched, do you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but Harry didn't stop here.

"And you'll be able to see James tomorrow. But I have to warn you: my son is an early bird."

"Well... from that perspective... Alright, I'll stay here tonight," she finished while following Harry to the guest room.

Arrived in front of the door, Harry took her into his arms, and Hermione noticed that he didn't only want to say her goodnight while doing so.

"Thank you for everything, Hermione. I'll see you tomorrow. Sleep tight."

Hermione had just the opportunity to meet his green eyes for a second, and then Harry left, heading to his own bedroom. When she closed her eyes that night, she said to herself that she would do everything in her power to help her friend to overcome this bad moment.

Everything.


Thank you again for your wonderful answers to chapter three. I've answered to every of you, I guess. Thank you to the anonymous guests too, you are amazing. And now that my exams are over (yey!), I'll have more time for myself.

See you soon.