Author's Note: Hey guys. I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Real life is getting a bit hectic and I got a bit stuck on this chapter. Hope you like it!

Chapter 7

Christmas was quickly approaching and Ron wouldn't let Hermione out of his sight for more than a minute. Hermione found this rather irritating and tried to get away from him as much as she possibly could. The night at the Leaky Cauldron was a wakeup call for her and she vowed never to binge drink like that again. She didn't have a single urge to drink in those days before Christmas. Hermione was very proud of herself but she thought that the reason might be that Ginny still cared and wanted to talk. Not even her depression could bring her down.

Hermione and her family visited her parents on Christmas Eve. Mr. Granger seemed to be having one of his good days and that put everyone in good spirits. He played with Rose and Hugo and he even had a beer with Ron. Hermione and her mother talk animatedly and made dinner together. When Mrs. Granger noted how cheerful Hermione seemed to be, Hermione just shrugged and continued whatever she was doing.

After dinner, the Weasley family said their goodbyes to the Granger family and left for the Burrow. Molly had invited everyone to sleep over on Christmas Eve. When they walked into the living room of the Burrow, the first person Hermione saw was Ginny who was beaming at her. Hermione beamed back and they shared a seemingly innocent hug.

Hugo and Rose immediately began to play with their cousins while the adults sat and talked and ate sweets that Molly had made. All but Hermione and Ginny were drinking firewhiskey. Ginny didn't want to drink because she didn't want Hermione to feel left out. But when Ron saw Hermione with a glass he confronted her: "What is that?"

Hermione didn't like Ron's tone, "It's butterbeer Ronald. Care to smell it?" The room fell silent except for the kids playing. Everyone had their eyes on Ron and Hermione. At first Ron did nothing but look at his wife with suspicion. Then he took the glass from her and sniffed the golden liquid. When he finished, his eyes darted away from Hermione's glare and his face turned slightly pink. He gave the drink back and walked away.

Hermione was appalled that Ron didn't trust her. She stole a quick glance towards Ginny and saw the same thoughts boiling in her head. Ginny seemed angrier than Hermione and they both knew why. When their eyes met, they both blushed and quickly averted their eyes.

It was getting late and Hermione and Ginny were the last ones still awake. They sat in the kitchen and drank butterbeer together and laughed and joked the whole time. When Hermione began venting about Ron's trust issues, Ginny held her hand. At around one o'clock, they both fell silent and looked at their fingers intertwined together. Hermione gave Ginny an exhausted but warm smile that Ginny returned.

A floorboard creaked somewhere above them and they jumped apart. That was when they decided to finally go to bed and they bade each other goodnight. That night both Hermione and Ginny dreamed about what their lives could've been if Ginny had never left.

When Hermione woke the next morning, the sun was shining through the window and Ginny was looking down at her, smiling. Hermione got caught up in how beautiful she looked with the sun shining through her fiery hair. She beamed back at Ginny, "Good morning."

"Good morning," said Ginny as she lightly kissed Hermione's left temple. Chills ran down Hermione's spine at Ginny's kiss and her stomach did a back flip.

"I thought we weren't going to do this until we talked after the holidays…" said Hermione.

"You know I can't stay away from you that long." Ginny curled up on the bed beside her and nuzzled against her shoulder.

Hermione didn't make a move. She just stared at the ceiling, "You seemed to manage pretty well in the past seven years."

Ginny moved away from Hermione and sat up. "That's not true, Hermione. I left for you. I couldn't stand to see you hurting like you were because of me. I know now that I was wrong to leave you. It hurt you more than I ever imagined it would."

"You're damn right it did," said Hermione coldly. "How could you do that to me?"

Ginny was trying to blink away tears and her voice was wavering, "I thought it was better for you. I'm so sorry, love. Can you ever forgive me?"

"I don't know right now Ginny. I need to think about it." At that, Hermione got up and left the room. Before she shut the door, Hermione looked back and saw Ginny sitting at the edge of the bed. She was looking at her hands as they slowly filled with tears. Hermione quickly shut the door and leaned back against it. Where had she seen that image before? Déjà vu had enveloped her as she tried to figure out why that was so familiar.

Hermione tried to shake the feeling as she came down the stairs. In the living room of the Burrow sat the Weasley and Potter families opening their presents. The children seemed to be buried in wrapping paper. There were only two small piles of unopened gifts. One was for Hermione and the other was for Ginny.

"Happy Christmas Hermione!" said Harry as he beamed brightly at her. "I'm sorry we didn't wait for you but we couldn't hold the kids back any longer." Harry chuckled and kissed Lily Potter on the top of the head. She was sitting on Harry's lap enjoying a toy wand her parents got for her. Ron didn't even look up when Hermione entered the room. He was busy ogling over a Chudley Cannons jersey with his name on it that Harry gave him. To Hermione's dismay, she saw the watch she had bought for him had been tossed aside. Rose had picked it up and was looking at it with interest. Hermione wanted to cry but she held it in and put on a false smile as she spent the rest of the day with her family.

When Ginny finally came down, she had also put on a false smile as she wished everyone a happy Christmas. Hermione could see right through the smile and she saw the anguish in Ginny's eyes. It killed her that she wasn't able to comfort Ginny, but Hermione was also angry at her for wanting to come back to her after all this time.

A week had passed and Hermione had not heard from Ginny at all. As upset and hurt as Ginny was, she wanted to give Hermione space to think things over and Hermione respected that. She loved Ginny with all of her heart but she was afraid of getting hurt again. Hermione had to decide what to do about this but she didn't know what.

"I'm going to go and visit Neville today," said Hermione to Ron one morning about a week after Christmas. "Do you think you could find someone to watch the kids for me?" To Ron's relief, Hermione had agreed to take a month off of work after her incident at the Leaky Cauldron. On a normal day Hermione would watch Rose and Hugo all day, but today she needed a break to figure things out.

"Sure. I'll drop them off with Ginny before I go to work." The sound of her name caused Hermione's heart to skip a beat. She nodded and went up to take a shower.

By the time she had finished, she had the house to herself. Hermione sent an owl to Hogwarts, asking Neville if she could come and see him. When the reply returned, Neville stated that she was welcome to Hogwarts anytime but that she had to wait until lunch to talk to him since he had classes to teach.

At around noon, Hermione aparated to just outside of Hogwarts grounds and strode towards the main gate. She arrived at the gate just as Neville jogged up to meet her. The gate opened and Hermione rushed in to give Neville a tight hug. Neville hugged her back with almost as much force. "What's the matter, Hermione?"

"It's Ginny." Hermione's eyes welled with tears but she blinked them away. A look of understanding flowed through Neville's face and he led her into his office in the greenhouses. They had tea while Hermione filled Neville in on recent events. Many emotions passed over Neville's face during their talk but surprise was not one of them. After tea, the two of them went to sit by the lake. Surprisingly there was no snow on the ground. The sun was pale and shining down on them and the air was brisk.

"I don't know what to do Neville," said Hermione, "I love Ginny with all of my heart and soul, but I also have to think about Ron and our kids. I can't hurt them like that." She leaned her head back and closed her eyes and wished that everything would just go away. "And she hurt me, Neville. She hurt me terribly. I was never the same after she left and I have scars to prove it!" Her heart seemed to pound harder against the long scar on her chest. Tears began to roll down her cheek. The reflection of the lake was showing in her eyes.

"How could she just leave?" she whispered more to herself than to Neville, "How could someone who loved me so much hurt me so badly?"

"She did it for you," said Neville softly, "Ginny saw you were in pain and she tried to fix it as best she could. She still loves you, Hermione. I think she has always loved you."

"She loves Harry now," said Hermione. Ice was creeping into her voice, "Why do you think she agreed to marry him so soon after she left? Did she ever even love me? Maybe that's why she tried to keep our relationship in the closet." Before she could say any more, Hermione had broken into sobs.

"Hermione," Neville's voice was firm now, "Don't you ever say that. Don't you ever question it. Ginny loved you, she loves you now, and she will always love you. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe Ginny ran back to Harry so quickly because she was in just as much pain as you were? I don't doubt that she was trying to distract herself from the pain of giving you up. Now she is finally learning that you can live a lie for only so long. She knows now that you can never silence the heart and she wants to make amends for it.

"Unfortunately, Ginny is a very self centered woman. I think the only other person she ever thinks about in depth is you. So naturally she wouldn't figure this out until now. If you truly love Ginny, than you have to love everything about her. You don't have to like it, but that is how the world works. Ron will learn to accept it and your kids will love you no matter what. If you really want my advice, here it is: follow your heart. When was the last time you made a decision based on what you wanted?"
Hermione stopped sobbing and wiped her eyes. Neville's words were echoing in her head. She had never looked at it from that angle before. Hermione considered herself to be pretty intelligent, but when it came to her love life, she felt clueless.

An overwhelming urge came over Hermione to go see Ginny. Excitement fluttered in her stomach at the thought of seeing her. She gave Neville one more tight embrace and thanked him for everything before she sprinted towards the edge of the grounds.

Hermione aparated straight to Ginny and Harry's front door and she knocked. Ginny answered the door and even though she looked distraught, there was still a gleam in her eye when she saw Hermione standing on her doorstep. It wasn't until then that Hermione realized how cold she really was. She felt like she was melting just by gazing into Ginny's eyes.

"How's Neville?" Ginny said his name with the slightest hint of bitterness in her voice.

Hermione didn't respond. She was still out of breath from running across the Hogwarts grounds. Instead of trying to find the words to describe how she was feeling, Hermione took Ginny's warm face in her cold hands and kissed her hard on the lips.

At first Ginny did not move. She was in shock that Hermione would kiss her like that. But then she wrapped her arms around Hermione's waist and pulled her as close as she could possibly get. After a full minute, they were forced to break apart. The sounds of their children playing brought them back to reality. They were both out of breath now and looking at each other. Hermione laughed. It was a hearty laugh that Ginny had not heard in over seven years. That beautiful sound was contagious and soon they were both laughing and hugging.

They stopped when they saw all of the kids standing close to them and staring at them as if they had gone mad. The looks on their faces made Hermione and Ginny laugh even harder. When their fit of laughter was finally finished, Hermione decided it was time to go home. Hermione picked up Hugo, said goodbye to everyone and ushered Rose into the fireplace so they could floo home. Before Hermione threw the floo powder, Ginny said hurriedly, "I'll be sure to write to you Hermione!"

When they arrived home, Hermione put Hugo down for a nap that he desperately needed and lit a fire in fireplace. Not long after she sat down to watch the dancing flames, Rose climbed into her lap. Hermione sat and held her daughter (who was slowly starting to fall asleep) and she smiled to herself as she thought about the kiss her and Ginny had shared until her husband came home.