Come Fly With Me

A/N: My favourite "Moon River" rendition was done by Louis Armstrong, his deep smoky voice just seems perfect for it.

Moon River

Chapter 7

"Hermione, more salad?"

It took her a moment to register that someone was speaking to her.

"Pardon?" She asked, looking up from her plate.

"Would you like more salad?" Harry pointed with his chin, indicating the salad bowl in his hands.

"Oh, no thank you." She said politely, poking at a piece of tender meat with her fork.

"Ginny?" Harry turned to his wife.

"No Harry." She spoke absentmindedly, waving her hand in the air to dismiss him as she watched every movement her friend made.

Hermione sighed and plopped a piece of food into her mouth. She wasn't completely oblivious; she could feel Ginny's eyes burning into her.

Harry looked back and forth at the girls sitting on either side of him and shrugged. Whatever was happening, Ginny would have to tell him about it later in private.

Hermione took a sip of wine and tried her best to plaster a smile on her face. At the moment, she had nothing to feel happy about. For the past week she had been dodging Ginny's questions, trying to pass off her break up as "we just had dinner and mutually decided to end it."

Ginny had known Hermione long enough to recognize when she withholding information, and after a week of probing, Ginny had gotten so desperate she told Hermione that she had better come over to dinner and explain the whole thing over a nice cup of tea, or else Ginny would call Keeve herself and have the whole story out for the Daily Prophet by the Saturday post.

It wasn't that Hermione was suffering from denial over the break up. She had gone home that Friday evening the week before and had a good proper cry. She woke up the next day, went to work, came home, and ate whatever junk food she could find in the house while watching old black and white films with Luna. By Wednesday, she had gotten over it. Merlin, was she happy she had never slept with him.

But that was the very reason she didn't want to tell Ginny about it. Well that, and the fact that Keeve had not given her permission to talk about his friend's accident. She could just hear Ginny say, "Well, if you had just bonked him, he wouldn't have left. I mean, he would have stayed in England if he had your lady parts to distract him from his ex-girlfriend's sudden death."

Hermione dreaded to hear that. She knew that couldn't be the case anyway. Clearly Keeve wanted to find himself, and he wasn't going to find the meaning of life in her knickers.

"Ginny don't exert yourself," Harry's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "You'll be seven months gone before you know it. Just another week practically."

"I'm not going on maternity leave until I've got a weeks to go, Harry. It's not like they're letting me go on missions anymore as it is. I'm just getting paperwork done, but I won't leave until I have to."

"If you're sure that's a good—"

"Besides, by staying on longer, I'm giving Angelina more time with her baby before coming back. Little Fred is only eleven months old."

"Was it really almost a year ago that he was born?" Harry smiled at the happy memory. "I can still remember the look on George's face. I've never seen him look so proud."

"It was good my brother had a boy he could name after…Fred," Ginny could feel her eyes pooling. Stupid hormones. "That's another reason why I won't leave yet. They'll be calling her back the moment I leave and with George busy running his shop, they'll have to hire a nanny for their son before he's even one!"

"What about your parents?" Hermione suggested, opting to join in the conversation.

Ginny switched her glare from her husband to her friend. "Yes, I suppose mum and dad will probably want to look after him, but enough about this. You 'Moine, and I, have something we need to discuss, don't we?"

Hermione bit her lip and wished had she kept quiet. Regardless of what she wanted though, soon Hermione found herself following Ginny into the kitchen as Harry magically cleared the dining room table and then retreated to the den to give the girls privacy.

"Sit." The very pregnant woman commanded.

Hermione diligently sat.

"I know you've been hiding the truth Hermione. I know you." Ginny filled the kettle with water and plugged it into the wall. Taking the table chair next to Hermione she added, "I'd conjure the water to boil but the kettle was a wedding gift from that batty old squib lady who used to live near Harry, so I like to put it to good use now and then."

Hermione nodded and opened her mouth to speak.

Ginny cut her off. "But I digress. Now, tell me what happened with Keeve. You didn't call me last weekend, you showed up late to lunch on Monday as if you wanted to avoid me, and every time I ask you about it you just lie and change the subject. So spill, or believe me, I will ask him instead."

"It's just, something did happen that was very traumatic for him and he hasn't given me permission to share." Hermione sighed.

Ginny's eyebrows shot up. "Traumatic? Okay, so something traumatic has happened and this has caused him to break it off?"

"Not exactly. Keeve has decided to move abroad and start over. I opted to stay in England at my job and with my friends and family."

"Well!" Ginny said, just as the kettle started to whistle.

She left Hermione for a moment to make the tea and soon came back, handing her friend a mug.

"Well," she went on, "if you had shagged him he probably would have been more reluctant to leave you behind."

"Gin!" Hermione protested.

"But," Ginny when on further, "I'm glad you didn't, because he's a wanker and he doesn't deserve you 'Moine. Breaking up with his girlfriend and suddenly leaving the country. Tosh."

"Honestly Gin, it was a traumatic thing for him. I can understand his confusion right now."

Ginnt sighed, taking a long sip of her tea. "I don't have all the facts, so I will accept your word for it. Goodbye Keeve, you let a real winner go."

Hermione raised her tea cup in salute. "Yes, goodbye Keeve."

oOo

It was Wednesday morning and Hermione was sitting in the hospital room attached to her office, getting ready for her appointment with Terrence in twenty minutes. The vague thought that sooner or later he was going to skip town and go on that vacation he wasn't allowed on crossed her mind, but Hermione doubted he would break the conditions set for him.

A knock on the door woke her up from her thoughts.

"Uh, Granger?"

"Yes Draco?"

He looked reluctant. "You better come to the office. There's a report on the wireless I think you should hear."

Following him back into her office, he motioned to the box and she listened carefully.

"The reports of the floating body came early this morning after a couple of children discovered the remains drifting down the river. Mediwizards determined death just after midnight, the moon the only witness—"

Hermione felt her spine go cold. She had a feeling that—but no—it didn't mean it was Emalia! It could be anyone, probably someone she didn't know. The news story changed without giving a name.

"Why did you think I should hear this?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice, turning to Draco.

As usual his grey eyes were dark and murky, and she could not make out what he was thinking. After a moment's pause, he answered.

"Before I called you in, they had said that…that the ministry had identified the body."

The hairs rose on her arms. She knew. Oh Merlin, it's Ema, it's—

"The body was identified as Terrence Kobstone, and after extracting the body's dormant memories, the mediwizards pronounced the death as successful suicide."

Hermione walked out of her office several moments later and immediately stumbled back after bumping into someone. Straightening herself up, she was met with three pairs of warm, dancing eyes.

"Hiya Hermione! Sorry about that, I didn't see you walking out." A beautiful black woman smiled and stepped forward to give her a slight hug, "It's so good to see you."

"You too, Angelina." Hermione smiled faintly, hugging her back.

"And you as well George." She waved to the tall freckly man holding a little boy in his arms.

"Hullo Hermione, you look like quite the professional." George winked.

"I do try." She nodded, and suddenly the thoughts of her dead patient rushed back to her head. To think, the Weasleys had even been able to make her forget for one moment.

"How's the shop these days?" She continued on, perhaps a little less cheerfully.

George smiled. "Cracking. We've got a new line out on glow-in-the-dark marshmellows that have been flying off the shelves."

"And I take it that these things turn you glow-in-the-dark when consumed?"

"Spot on," George laughed, "for precisely three hours."

Baby Fred, excited by his father's laugh, clapped his hands and giggled along.

Hermione's glance settled on the baby and she offered him her fingers, which he immediately grasped with an unknown strength all babies seem to have.

"He's healthy."

"That's what we're hoping for. We're here for his check-up." Angelina explained. "Well, we don't want to be late for our appointment. Give us a bell, we'd love to have you over."

Smiling at Fred, Hermione nodded. "Yes, that would be wonderful."

And as the family walked away Hermione realized that in existence there was both life and death, and babies where being born everyday while people of all ages were dying. If Terrence had chosen to end his life before his time then she was truly sad, but it was a choice he had made. And though she wished she could have stopped him, she realized she hadn't done anything in fact to do so. She still had two patients left, and this time she wasn't going to mess up. This time she was going to keep them alive, not just with potions and weekly check-ups, but this time making sure that they actually lived.

updated 2016