It's hard to believe in coincidence, but it's even harder to believe in anything else. - John Green
With Halloween several days in the past, November sunk its claws deeper into the city each passing night.
Fog gently rolled over the streets of London in front of Grimmauld Place, the side garden blissfully secluded from the gaze of passerby. The steam rising above Hermione's blisteringly hot mug of tea rushed to keep pace with the fog surrounding her. The shuffling sound of Harry walking across the cobblestones to join her made her head whip around.
"Staring into space again, Hermione?" he teased as he pulled his dressing gown tighter around his waist. "No, don't get up, I want to sit out here with you for a bit."
"How are you feeling?" she asked, budging up a bit to make room on the bench beneath a canopy of bare tree branches.
"Like shit."
His honest answer surprised a laugh out of her, and another as he snuggled up under the blanket across her lap, pressing his chilly hands where she wore the shorts she typically slept in. She put up a token protest but made sure to arrange herself into a more comfortable position for Harry. Moving cautiously, because of his wrapped bruised ribs, Harry rested his head against Hermione's shoulder and the pair sat in silence to watch shiny black taxis and bicylists ride past at intermittent intervals.
"Is Remus still not speaking with you?"
Harry's question called her back to reality again, and she cursed internally at not noticing her thoughts straying again to her time spent searching for them in Animagus form. "He's speaking with me, what made you think he wasn't?"
"He's been in a state the last few days, won't leave Sirius's side for anything. I thought he might have been avoiding you."
"I've been busy with Teddy, he's only got a few more days until his Mastery test."
Harry nodded. The fact the test was coming up could hardly be missed by anyone in the house, the way Teddy only moved from his room to go down to the lab with Hermione, then back again, his nose constantly stuck in one book or another.
"But you've not gone up to check on Sirius, unless he's asleep." Harry must have felt her stiffen against him, because he sat up and pressed on, speaking much quicker. "I didn't know if you were avoiding Remus because he's always in there when Sirius is awake, or if it were Sirius you were avoiding."
"You've been spending time with Draco, haven't you?" Hermione said through gritted teeth. "That was almost Slytherin of you."
"Sorting Hat, Hermione," he reminded her, a long-running joke between the two of them since starting their Ministry jobs, and Harry repeatedly reminded her he had almost been a Slytherin. The teasing sometimes ended with Harry flat on his back laughing after Hermione used a tripping jinx in retaliation. His grin faded a bit as he resettled to rest his head on her shoulder. "You should go talk to him. He'll be up and around in a few days, so now's as good a time as any."
"To say what? 'Hey, I saved you from certain death almost exactly a year after accidentally pulling you from the Veil'? 'Oh, by the way, I've been doing some research, and I've concluded that I'm crazily attuned to your scent'?" Her voice grew shriller as she continued, feelings she'd sheltered bubbling to the surface. "I can't do any of that. He's only just been freed...truly freed for the first time in his life since Azkaban. If he had any idea-"
"That you love him?"
Hermione stopped short, dropping her mug onto the stone to spill her now cold tea into the dirt prepped for winter. The dull crash of the porcelain breaking into large chunks swallowed by a few angry honks past the fence. "What did you say?"
Harry sighed and sat up fully this time. "Hermione. I love you, and you've been my best friend for years. Decades. I watched you fall in love with Ron and I helped you bring your parent's back from Australia. You were with me when we lost Ron, and you kept me from falling apart more times than I can count. Like it or not, I've learned to read you, even when you don't want to show how you feel."
She felt as though she should be angry with him for assuming so much, the way he was pressing his observations onto her felt suffocating, but she felt a prickling of understanding grow behind the fog of her mind.
"It doesn't matter how I feel, Harry," Hermione said, wrapping one of her hands into his, still beneath the blanket for shared warmth. She swallowed against a lump in her throat and tried not to choke on her next words. "When you're well, I need you to come to the Department of Mysteries with me to...to understand why that is."
"You can't just tell me now?" Harry asked, his tone the same one he used when Teddy was seven and trying to hide that he'd done something he shouldn't have.
Instead of meeting his gaze, Hermione turned away from the scrutiny to watch a man walk by with his dog on a leash, his collar held up against the breeze affecting the world outside of their protective charms. She fiddled with the rings on Harry's hands and wished she still had her mug of tea to occupy herself instead.
"It will be easier to explain, is all. Someone attacked you two and we don't know what happened. That's more important than whatever is going on between..." Hermione faltered. The plain silver band spun around a few more times before Harry clenched his fist to stop her fiddling.
Harry sighed like he wanted to argue further, but kept his silence as darkness completely blanketed them.
November 2nd, 2016 - Thank you for your reviews, I will answer any questions as soon as I can.