The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling, Scholastic and WB. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.
...Of Being Hermione Granger
The Pain...
His wife had insisted that he take her to the event. They never attend; he has always been too ill, too despised, too Snape. But now, with his health and magic now stable, his status in this world firmly established, his wife insists they must go—that he is a war hero too.
As he dances with his wife, his eyes seek her out instinctively. To his heart she is the only one of consequence in the room. She is a picture of beauty and grace as she stands across the hall, her body now full of curves which tell of the children she has borne over the years.
She seldom speaks to those surrounding her. She, too, is aware of him, his sudden appearance leaving her profoundly shaken. His every movement holds her complete attention, though no one but him takes any notice. To everyone else she merely looks as bored as she always does when they speak of matters she does not care about.
Her eyes catch his once, but they do not linger. They cannot. The draw, the danger is too great, too palpable. She berates herself silently. It does not matter that she is aware of him; he is no one to her now, or at least, he should be.
His wife pulls him toward her, toward the group of former Order members, insisting that he must greet those he once knew. She is frozen, her face flushed, her eyes panicked as he extends his hand solemnly. For a split second, she does not understand, cannot fathom that she is supposed to touch him, but then her brain once again functions, and she is smiling and shaking his hand with sad, empty eyes, as if he were any other Order member and not the keeper of her heart.
For the rest of the evening their hands burn with the painful memory of the other's touch.
A/N: Poor S & H! :( So this is part four of six. They're getting older and still not together... sorry! As always, thank you for reading and reviewing! Special thanks to Linlawless for betaing this series for me on the fly! ;) ~Mel