This story is a repost from KaliMione77. It has been more fleshed out updated.

I do not own Harry Potter or anything else in the world that J. K. Rowling. I just enjoy messing with her characters a little!

Thoughts are in Italics.

Harry's POV

Lying on the first level hallway where Dust Dumbledore used to emerge, I could hear every sound in Grimmauld Place. I could hear the small fires cackling in the kitchen and on the third level heating the water tanks. The trees outside were tapping out an unintelligible rhythm on the drawing room windows. The creaks and groans of the foundation settling itself echoed loudly even though the house is several generations old.

I had sent Winky and Kreacher to Hogwarts three weeks ago. They had not wanted to leave me, but they couldn't stay. I couldn't let them stay and have to watch Winky carry around her child while knowing I would never get to see that with Ginny. I forced them to fly on the back of BuckBeak, so he could be with Hagrid. Before they could return I had used the strongest protection and repelling charms to keep them out. So now, the few dishes I had used were piling up the sink and there was a small layer of dusk over the entire house.

I had removed every portrait from the hallways and rooms of the house with the exception of Ariana Dumbledore's. She was unconnected to the whole situation and just wanted a friend. She was stuck in the playroom I had set up for Teddy and the next generation of the Weasley brood. I was able to avoid that room and her most of the time, she tried calling out to me when she heard me crying, but could not venture to find me. I found it even easier to avoid the rest of the portraits that are now stacked against the walls in BuckBeak's house in the back garden.

"Meow!"

"This is it. I am hearing some long dead, phantom cat. I have truly and finally gone insane."

"Meow!"

"Ouch!" I yelled as a gray, tabby cat with square markings around her eyes landed claws out on my chest.

"Meow!" The tabby said again as she stared into my face.

"Professor McGonagall, how wonderful to see you again," I said sarcastically. "You would think between my father, godfather, Hermione, and yourself, I would remember to ward against animals."

"Meow!" the professor said again before head butting my chin.

"Would you be so kind as to get off me?" I asked scratching the top of her head.

The tabby jumped lightly off of my chest after digging her claws on my chest again. When her feet touched the floor, she landed as my tall, statuesque, stern, Scottish, transfiguration professor.

"Mr. Potter, what on earth are you doing lying on the floor in the middle of your front hall?" She asked immediately after becoming a human again.

Drumming my fingers on my chest, I answered with, "Why not? As you said, this is my house. Plus, no one is walking around here to step on me."

"Right at this moment, I am here and I will step on you on my way to the kitchen if you don't move quickly." Then, she took a clipped step toward me and I jumped up.

I sat back down and leaned against the wall while listening to her light the stove in the kitchen below.

A few moments later, I followed her down the stairs. Slumping down at the table Hermione and I loved to play chess; I watched her moving expertly around my kitchen to make us tea.

"Minerva, you should stay out of this." I said in hopeless desperation. I knew that if she got involved too much I would consent and forgive Hermione, who in turn would make me forgive myself.

"Just you let me finish this tea. Then, we will talk, Mr. Potter." She answered not even turning to look at me.

After a few more moments of her quietly moved about my kitchen, she set a mug of tea on the table in front of each of us. We sat in silence, sipping our tea, and staring at each other.

"Potter, this tea will only last for so long. You will have to talk to me eventually." She stated frankly raising an eyebrow at me.

"I do not." I said averting my eyes. "I can drink this tea and walk away without talking to you."

"You have never been able to before. I am not entirely sure why you think you will be able to today."

After a long pause, she continued. "Dobette is growing quickly. She has already displayed magic, a week before most infant house elves."

I continued to remain silent, but I looked up at her to continue.

"Mrs. Norris came into the kitchens. Dobette got excited and snap Dobette was riding a yelling Mrs. Norris around the kitchens."

I gave McGonagall a small smile before I said, "I won't forgive her."

"Did I say that you have to? She did keep a large secret from you for a long time." Then, she countered. "You should hear what she has to say about the matter though."

I just took a sip of tea in response. Before Hermione had shown up across the street from my doorstep with no other place to go, I was planning on attending her and Ron's wedding. I was going to apologize for everything I had blamed her for. I wanted to protect her from the hurt I felt Ron might bring her. I missed her and wanted to become the friends we once were again.

"I know that you were planning on becoming friends with Hermione again before this mess with Ron happened." She said trying to draw me out. "I think you both needed to clear everything off your chest before you could actually accomplish that."

I shot her a look conveying that I didn't fully understand her meaning.

"I know that in this short time that you two were friends again you didn't tell her that Ginny was your second choice."

"Minerva, you have no right to bring that up." I jumped up and began pacing the room. I grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey and took a swig before continuing. "Beside Ginny was still my choice."

"I know she was, but I certainly think I do have the right." She said standing up much more gracefully and stepping in my path. "I know what you are thinking. You are wondering 'How in the bloody hell do I tell her? How do I let it all out?' I have to tell you that what I told you before still applies."

"I don't need to go scream at Professor Dumbledore's tomb or at my parent's home or the Riddle Mansion because I am angry at them."

"You forgot telling everyone, especially Hermione, the truth. That is the most important part. I know you think it won't help, but screaming and placing blame on those it actually belongs helped me move past things. Also, Harry, I believe you forgot Parkinson Manor."

"I most certainly did not forget about Parkinson Manor. I never forget about Parkinson Manor. It is permanently on the forefront of my mind." I said mostly to my mug of tea that I had just picked up again. I poured some of the firewhiskey into my mug to top off of the tea.

We finished our tea in silence. Minerva knowing that she had already given me plenty to think about.

She cleaned her mug and came back to clear mine from the table. "Harry, do you think that firewhiskey is really the best choice for you to make while you think things through?"

I took another drink before saying, "Of course, it is. Firewhiskey is the only thing that will give me the courage to walk out to BuckBeak's hippogriff house."

"Why do you need to go out there?" Minerva asked after taking my mug and the bottle of firewhiskey away.

"That, my dear professor, is where Ginny or at least a part of Ginny is." Then, I stood and left the room just before I could catch her with a small, proud smirk on her face that I knew she would be now wearing.

When I was a quarter of the way up the stairs, two small pops indicating Kreacher and Winky's return came from the kitchen. I heard McGonagall say, "Sometimes it takes a while, but things will usually get through his thick skull."

"Too true, Professor." Kreacher and Winky said in response.

Hermione's POV

"Do you think that this scheme is working?" I asked the over-full room at large as I paced from the fireplace over several sprawled legs to the kitchen door and back again.

"Of course, we don't think it is going to work." George answered from his spot amongst the infants and toddlers on the floor. "That is why we are all sitting on the couches and floor waiting to hear from McGonagall."

Katie and Molly Weasley smacked George on the back of the head in quick succession.

"Katie, dear, I love you and my son full-heartedly, but sometimes I have no idea why you agreed to marry him." Molly said picking up one of her only two grandsons.

"I appreciated it, George." I said with a smirk on my face as I continued to pace.

"Do you really think that McGonagall will be able to will be able to talk to Harry and make him see that he needs Hermione as much as she needs him?" Bill asked Kingsley and me.

"If any one person can, it will be Minerva." Kingsley stated in a matter of fact tone. "I do not think he is just angry that Hermione had a secret. He is upset with himself and feels guilty."

"Is that because he didn't get to Ginny in time?" Charlie half asked, half stated.

"No," a still partially hexed Ron said from the doorway surprising us all. He held his hand up to stop any of us from rushing him or speaking.

"What in the fucking hell are you going on about?" Charlie snapped at Ron.

"Language, Charlie!" Molly chastised. "This is not the dragon reserve where anything goes."

Ron answered his brother ignoring his mother's interruption. "Harry has been in love with two girls for many years."

"What in the bloody hell do you mean?" Bill asked as he stood to demand that his youngest brother give a full understanding of his confession on Harry's behalf. George, Percy, Charlie, and Arthur stood to form ranks behind Bill as he stepped forward.

"Language, William!" Molly scolded.

"Hermione, I am a much, much bigger wanker than you already thought." Ron stated ignoring his outraged family. "I held on to you so tightly, even though I no longer wanted you as more than a best friend, because then Harry couldn't have you. He may have been the one to push you away two years ago, but I am the one that encouraged and kept driving the wedge between you. I am sorry, Hermione. I will do anything in my power to help the two of you mend things."

Silence hung in the air until Molly stalked over and slapped Ron on the back of the head. "Ronald Bilius Weasley!"

Before anything else could be said to Ron, Professor McGonagall appeared into the door of the family room with a distinct twinkle in her eye. She looked around the now bursting at the seams living room and smiled at all the hopeful looking faces.

Anyone could tell when her eyes landed on Ron. She looked at him with almost pure distain. She shook that off and turned to address me. "Hermione, it may take another day or two, but he is coming around."

I ran forward and surprised her by hugging her tightly. I pulled back and quietly said, "Sorry, Professor."

"No problem, dear." She said gently rubbing her ribs. "Now, as I said he is thinking things over and more importantly he is talking to Ginny."

The entire room was silent for several heartbeats.

"But what in the bloody hell does that mean?" Ron asked feeling brave enough to risk our former Professor's wrath.

Harry's POV

I stood pacing outside the large door of BuckBeak's house. I did know what I would be walking into, but I couldn't. I used to be fearless. I used to barrel right in no matter what was on the other side of the door.

Now, that I know that the painting of one of the women I love is in there. I hate that I have to tell her that I love not only another woman, but her best friend.

I have become a coward.

Mid-pace, mid-step even, I hear my mother's voice saying something I had never heard her say before and never hoped to hear. "Harry James Potter, get in here right now!"

I opened the door a crack and peeked inside. I felt every eye looking at me with annoyance.

"Harry, what is going on?" My mother asked with a stern look on her face.

"Umm…" I knew I should have put her painting behind the others or maybe faced them all toward the wall.

"Umm… doesn't answer my question young man. What is going on?" She asked in a huff. "One minute, you and Hermione are the best of friends, closer than ever before and maybe starting a romantic relationship. Then, she and everyone else, including the portraits, are banished from the house."

"Mum, I love you. I love all of you really in many different ways and some of you way deep down." I said looking toward the floor. I am truly hoping that everyone, especially Ginny, will understand. "But I needed to be on my own for a bit. I needed to work some things out for myself."

The oily, sarcastic voice that belonged to Severus Snape spoke from the portrait next to my mum's. "Are you still pretending that you can work things out on your own? The last time that you actually accomplished that was when you realized when Quirrell couldn't touch you without being in pain and used it against you."

"I got through the Tri-Wizard's maze by myself." I said childishly trying to defend myself and stall the conversation I came in here to have.

"Hermione with Ron's minimal help found spells and helped you master them. She told me once after I found her pasted out in the common room." Ginny answered.

"I decided to ask Padma Patil to the Yule Ball on my own."

"That is the situation you want to be proud of right now?" Ginny snapped back.

I was getting flustered and frustrated. "Mum, aren't you going to defend me?"

"The girl is saying the truth from what I hear. Maybe you should hear her out."

I slumped against the door and waved my hand lazily, indicating Ginny should continue.

"You need to face the truth, Harry. Hermione is your voice of reason and who you turn to for help. I always wanted to be there in that way, but she always was. Will you let me be your voice of reason this once and tell you what you should do?"

"Ginny, there are a few things I need to tell you." I said to answer her question.

"Are they possibly things that McGonagall helped you realize?"

I mumbled, "Sometimes I hate that you can visit your other portraits."

"I know. I wish you could have told me yourself, too." Ginny said reaching out in her portrait like she wanted to trace my jaw line like she used to do to comfort me. "I am glad that you love Hermione. She will be great for you and she wouldn't try to force you to forget me."

"Like anyone ever could," I said with a small genuine smile.

Ginny smiled back. "Can I give you one more piece of advice before you go tell her?" I nodded in ascent. "Take a shower."

Professor Snape added in his snide sense. "I am very glad that we do not have to smell you, but I believe Miss Granger is not so fortunate."

I ran out of Buckbeak's house with a shout that I would hang them in Grimmauld Place again very soon.

Author's Note~

Things are being fixed & are wrapping up.

DuckiBelle