Chapter 7
(a/n:) Hi - first, THANK YOU to all of you who are reading, have reviewed, followed, or favorited this story. It truly means the world to me. I apologize for not having a more regular updating schedule, real life takes over sometimes and I get a little stuck! That being said, I have the world's worst cold so I am down for the count in most things so I have some more time to edit and post, which is good for us all! There will be a bit of a time jump around starting with the next chapter. I had initially thought to flush out their time apart but I'd like this chapter to be as angsty as it will get. Happy reading, please review - I love hearing what you guys think!
"Hermione."
"No."
"Hermione."
"Absolutely not, mum."
"Hermione Jean Granger you tell me this instant why you outright refuse to speak to this boy, who might I add had been here for DAYS. Just because I'm not a witch doesn't mean I can't kick your skinny bum all the way out of my house."
Hermione rolled her eyes heavenward and sighed. She adored her mum, she did, but the brunette bookworm had not gotten her stubborn tenacity out of thin air, and sometimes being on the receiving end of it was utterly exhausting. Admitting defeat, she hauled herself to her feet and slowly began her way out of her childhood bedroom and down the stairs of her family home. The sight that greeted her at the bottom would have been laughable had she not been so frustrated. There, in a ruffled heap of wizard's robes and her mum's afghan, was the very source of her current irritation.
Sending a mild stinging hex at him, she grinned at his outraged cry.
"Good morning to you too, your highness. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to come down from your tower." At the threatening wiggle of her wand still in hand, Blaise shot to his feet and held his palms up to her in mercy. "Be kind, Hermione. You know I hate sleeping in that chair."
Nodding her head, Hermione cocked her head to the side and waited for the explanation she knew was coming as to his persistent presence in her mother's home.
Rolling his eyes, Blaise finally exclaimed "Well it's not like you're speaking to the rest of them is it?!" Before collapsing back into her father's favorite recliner and let out a huff.
"That still doesn't explain why you're here, eating my mother out of house and home and holding her living room as ransom in this hostile takeover." Hermione knew she was fighting a losing battle, she wasn't stupid. She knew that if her friends sent Blaise to appease her that they really were serious about trying to force her and that insufferable twat to reconcile. It was really unfair of them all, if you asked her, to use her mother as her weakness. Blaise was Helen's favorite, and she would side with him on anything, refusing to believe he had anything but her daughter's best interest at heart. It's not like she was angry, per se, she just wasn't ready to face the truth in the faces of her friends that in order to get past Theo she would need to speak to Theo.
"You know why I'm here, kitten. They're worried about you. Especially after the gasket you blew at the ministry when you stormed off the job." Blaise said, raising his eyebrows in her direction, hoping for some kind of explanation. "Ginny says Patricia and Marjorie were in tears at the flat for almost two hours. They were only trying to help you see it from a Pureblood's point of view. Divorce is kind of a big deal for us."
Hermione also recognized the accuracy of this statement. She had held her quarterly review with Patricia Goyle and Marjorie Flint at the MLE office and it had gotten completely out of hand. Patricia had mentioned that she had seen Narcissa and had tried to explain to Hermione that the woman was absolutely distraught over the thought of one of the children she considered her own having a failed marriage. That was all it had taken for Hermione to go completely mental. Not only did she vehemently, and loudly, state that no matter what Narcissa said, she was divorcing her hell-spawn of a husband, but she also blew up a desk as she stormed out stating her desire to never see either woman again. While it wasn't her proudest moment, Hermione was still quite impressed with her control of her magic through her fury, still thankful that her aim had not missed and her Reducto hit its intended target and not one of the women sitting in front of it.
"Blaise I'm just so tired. Of all of it." Hermione's eyes welled up with tears as she flopped back into the sofa cushions. "I wish he was here." She said gesturing to her father's chair, "He always knew what to do in sticky situations."
Nodding, Blaise said "I can't believe it's already been a year. The time flew by." As odd as the pairing seemed, Blaise had been very close with Richard Granger, and had taken his death the year prior just as hard as the family, spending long hours with both Helen and Hermione trying to sort everything out. He still came by to see Helen weekly, and kept a standing lunch date once a month at Richard's grave, which not even Hermione knew about.
"So, has he signed them yet?" Hermione said, almost conversationally, trying desperately not to dwell on her father.
Barking out a laugh Blaise said, "You know he hasn't. Nor is he going to. No matter how many howlers you send him."
"But WHY?" Hermione whined, already feeling the sparks starting at her fingertips as she began her rant, seemingly unaware of the dark haired man that her mother was currently ushering in through the front door. "He broke me, Blaise! It took me almost a year to even be able to look at myself in the mirror. He promised me a lifetime of being loved, cherished even. He vowed to protect me from any harm and to be by my side always. Little did I know that always was less than six months and at the first sign of trouble he left and never looked back. Why d'you think it took so long for me to agree to date Anthony? He was absolutely a wanker but he never promised to give me something that he couldn't." Hermione slumped back into the cushions and dissolved into tears and Blaise looked over her head and into the doorway, where Theo stood watching, completely shell-shocked.
"You can go, Blaise. I know he's there, I felt the wards shift. Mum probably needs help in the kitchen." Hermione sighed dejectedly and tried to brace herself for the confrontation she was about to have with her husband. "You," she said pointing to Theo, "sit."
Doing as he was told, for maybe the first time in their long history, Theo perched himself on the edge of the chair that Blaise had just vacated.
"I'm giving you five minutes to say your peace. I will listen to your side of things, but you will not change my mind. Our marriage is very over, and that is not something that I'm willing to negotiate on."
Clearing his throat, Theo looked into her eyes, those honey brown eyes that he loved to get lost in, that turned a delicious chocolate when she was angry, and simply said "You're right."
Raising her eyes to meet his green orbs, she stared at him incredulously. "I'm what?"
"Right, Hermione. I won't say it again, and I'm taking this as my time to explain myself." He stared at her for a moment, willing her not to speak as he prepared to continue. At the slight nod of her head, he pulled out her divorce contract, creased and crumpled after having been read so many times, and signed his name without any of the normal flourish that she knew came with a Sacred Twenty Eight contract signing.
"I am through hurting you." He said, bowing his head to look at his hands. "I've done nothing to deserve you in my life, and it is selfish of me to try to force you to stay there. I love you with my entire soul, Hermione. I always have, and I'm almost positive that on some level, it has always been you for me. I see now, however, that I've done nothing but cause you harm. I hurt you so badly that I made you believe that I didn't want you any longer. How could such a thing be possible when you are entirely bloody perfect? I don't have a reason for doing what I did other than thinking that I was protecting you. I see now that I did more harm than good." Shaking his head at his own actions, he rose to his feet. "You were right when you said that our marriage is over. It is. But that doesn't mean that I'm done with you. I will do everything in my power to make you see how absolutely precious you are to me, and that begins with the one thing you have ever asked me for - a divorce." Leaning in, he kissed her forehead, and then her cheek as he whispered in her ear "I will win you back, Granger. You can be sure of it." as he apparated straight out of her mother's living room, leaving a confused, crying, and very single Hermione Granger sitting in his wake.
