CHAPTER SEVEN A REUNION OF FRIENDS
The conversation between Hermione and Ginny was written by AlinaLotus from this site, who also happens to be my wife. It couldn't have been completed without her.
It was just after lunch when a snow white owl landed on the sill of Hermione and Ron's kitchen window. Hermione was sitting at the table, reading over the newest edition of the Daily Prophet as dishes washed themselves in the nearby sink. She was so engrossed in an article about people that were selling their souls on the black market, that she didn't hear the first couple of knocks on the window. Ron walked in, carrying a freshly made cup of hot coffee, and bent over to kiss Hermione good morning. He had just made it to her lips when he noticed a patch of white trying to pick the lock on their window. He was watching so intently that he didn't notice his coffee begin to spill out onto Hermione's lap. She had held up her hand to stop the brown liquid from scalding her lap and it was now pooling just inches above her paper.
"Honestly, Ron. Watch what you're doing." She waved her hand and the entire cup's contents vanished.
Ron pointed up to the window as a smile of recognition came over his face. "Been a while since I've seen that bird. Hermione, we've got a visitor." He stood up to cross the kitchen as she spun around in her chair. She grinned in anticipation of the news hanging from Hedwig's talon. It had been over a year since she had heard from Harry and Ginny, and she had begun to wonder if they had forgotten they even existed.
It hadn't been twenty minutes' time from when the letter had been pulled from Hedwig's leg to the time when Hermione had packed them both and was standing on the doorstep of number 12. Her breath caught in her throat at thoughts of what had once transpired behind these doors. It had been the meeting place of all of her friends and family once. People she had seen every day that she would never see again. She had tried to put all of that behind her, but now she was facing it straight on. She looked over at Ron and smiled briefly before knocking on the door.
They listened to the creaking of the trees before the clicking of locks coming undone overpowered them. The door slowly cracked open and a pair of green eyes peeked out around the corner, before it flung open and Ron was knocked back by a whirlwind of screams and hair. Both girls where screeching their greetings and commenting on each others hair and outfits. Ron could no longer see their faces, but he was sure that they had both gone mad. They pulled each other into a tight hug before walking hand and hand back into the house. Ron found himself deserted on the porch as the girls left him behind like he wasn't even standing there. He couldn't wait to talk with Harry. At least with him he knew that they could talk about something that would make sense.
Ron had barely stepped inside when he saw a look on Hermione's face that told him he had better get back outside as quick as possible. "I'll wait on the porch for Harry then, shall I?" He asked as he pulled the door back open.
"You'll do more than that, Ron. You'll keep that bastard out until I decide if he gets to come in again." Hermione nearly screamed as she slammed the door shut on him . She turned around to look at the shocked look on Ginny's face. Hermione hadn't noticed in the dark of the entryway, but now the bruise that covered Ginny's face looked like coal smeared on her pale cheek. "Is this why you asked us over, Gin? What did he do to you?" She had no reason to accuse Harry of something like this. He had never been an abusive or even a threatening entity, but she knew by the look on Ginny's face that it had indeed been Harry and that she feared he would do it again. She pulled her friend into a tight hug before leading her down into the kitchen.
Once seated at the long, scrubbed wooden table in the center of the basement kitchen, Hermione reached across the table top and enveloped Ginny's hand in her own. "I don't want to think the worst of Harry...I feel horrible for jumping to that conclusion, Gin. Tell me what happened."
Ginny heaved a deep sigh. She should have known there was no dissuading Hermione, and there was no possible way to talk or lie her way out of this corner. "If you want to know the truth, 'Mione, he...well, he hit me...it's a long story."
Hermione made a noise like an angry cat, her brown eyes narrowing. "I don't care if it's the fucking Never Ending Story, Ginny, I want to know why that asshole thinks he had the right to hurt you."
Ginny's eyes widened. She had never heard her friend swear, let alone call Harry an 'asshole'. "I guess you could say I kind of deserved it..." Ginny began, but Hermione pushed herself violently from the table, clicking her tongue.
"Is that what he told you? Is that what you think, that you deserve this?" She waited expectantly for Ginny's reply, tapping her foot lightly on the stone floor.
"No, Hermione...he actually feels pretty shitty about it. He wouldn't even face me this morning, before he left for his new job. He didn't tell me I deserved it, but I think I hit him pretty below the belt." Hermione eyed Ginny skeptically.
"Well?" She said, tapping her foot expectantly. Some things never change... Ginny mused, almost laughing aloud at her friend's behavior. An entire war and six years had not changed Hermione's impatience in the slightest. "I...well, if you want to know the truth, I told him that he had no right to be upset about losing his parents." Ginny squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the same sort of blow- up from Hermione that she had gotten from Harry. Hermione, however, neither moved nor blinked for several moments, and Ginny opened her eyes to find Hermione's expression soft, and understanding.
"I'm so sorry, Gin...I know losing your parents seems a lot worse than Harry having lost his, because you spent your life with them, knew them, and they knew you. In a sense you're right, Harry has no right to go all emo because his parents have been gone for twenty-two years, but since when has Harry cared about what he has the right to do?"
Ginny sighed, and Hermione returned to the table. "That's not all of it...first, we're lying in bed and it's been like three weeks since he's even touched me, so I decided to check if he still even had a dick you know, so I rubbed up against him while he was asleep and started to breath heavy, but I couldn't even get him to wake up. By the time I was about to give up, I'd kinda worked myself up so I decide to just take care of myself and he finally comes to and rolls over to help, like I even need him now, and he gets me over the edge and then he totally rejects me. I mean seriously, he comes up with this bullshit that he doesn't want to 'use' me anymore, but it's not like he's had a problem in the past! But, it's more than that, it's like he's dead, lately. Well, not lately, since the war, actually. It's like he's hollow inside, almost as if the only thing that's keeping him alive is his heart beating, but damned if he doesn't try to stop that as well..."
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Are you telling me he's tried to commit suicide?"
Ginny shook her head, tucking her ruby hair behind her ear. "No, it hasn't gotten that far yet, but he...well, he hurts himself a lot. A hairbrush to the knee, punching in a door, that sort of thing. It used to scare me, but now it's almost second nature for me to find a new bruise on him."
Hermione nodded, her brown eyes full of concern. "Have you tried talking to him about all this?" She asked, and Ginny rolled her eyes, smirking ironically.
"Use your eyes much?" The redhead asked, pointing to the large bruise on her cheek.
"Ah...I thought so." Hermione said, nodding.
Ginny sighed again, this time in exasperation. "If, in a year or so, you'd like to explain what you're on about, please feel free to. God 'Mione, some things about you just haven't changed." Hermione smiled.
"So Ron tells me every day...now, you say that Harry is almost dead inside, like there's nothing there but a beating heart, right?" Ginny rolled her eyes, but nodded. "Alright. Well, it seems to me the only time Harry shows emotion is when he's hurting something, whether it be himself or, well, you. Harry's anger is his biggest strength right now, it shows that he really isn't dead, that there's somebody in there, wanting to get out, they just don't know how."
Ginny began to smile. "You have a plan, don't you?" Her friend had always been the brains of the operation, from their first moments knowing each other up until their adult lives, and Ginny was fervently thankful to have somebody as clever as Hermione on her side.
"Of course I do," Hermione snapped. "Honestly, it hasn't been that long since we've seen each other, you should know that I always have a plan. But first, Gin, are you sure that you still love him? That he's worth what we're going to have to do?" At that moment the door creaked open and Hermione threw a flock of birds directly over her shoulder, smiling at the sudden slamming that meant she had hit her mark and kept Harry out of the house. "Of course, if you don't, we could just have him killed."
Ginny was taken aback. Of course she still loved Harry! Since she was but a girl, hearing Fred and George recount the defeat of Voldemort by a little boy, when she was ten, watching him through a train window...since that day when she had awoken from the Chamber of Secrets, seeing his sweaty, blood-streaked face swimming above her...and finally in her fifth year, when they were together, albeit briefly. Those were the happiest days of her life, and she had thought, rather naively it was true, that after the war things would go back to the way they were in those days, snogging by the Lake or cuddling on the couch in front of the warm, crackling fire of Gryffindor Tower. But things were different now...but were they? Didn't Ginny feel the same longing for Harry she had felt since hearing about him as a child? Didn't she still feel a tingling sensation that surged through her entire body when Harry touched her? Yes, she still loved him, for everything he was, and for everything she knew he could be. "He's worth everything to me, Hermione. I love him with my soul...I have to save him, to get the real Harry out of the dead Harry."
"Okay, Ginny. We need Draco Malfoy." Ginny laughed, shaking her head. Hermione and her far-fetched ideas....Hermione, however, looked reproachfully at Ginny from across the table.
"I'm serious, Gin! Look, you want Harry to feel something, anything, right?" Ginny nodded. "Well then, why not start with the emotions that are easiest to tap into, and are the strongest?"
Ginny nodded again. "Alright, that makes sense, I suppose...but what does Draco have to do with all of that?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly Ginny, how you managed nine NEWTs is beyond me...who is the one person that Harry has, since day one, hated with a burning passion?"
"Alright, alright, Draco, yeah, but Draco's on our side now...he helped with the war, he killed his own father, for God's sake, and Harry has admitted that he isn't the person he used to be."
Hermione grinned. "That's true, but you don't think the old Draco just evaporated into thin air, do you? Draco is still the arrogant, pompous asshole he's always been. It's time, I think, to invite our Mr. Malfoy over for a little reunion. If anybody can get anger, and hate and jealousy out of Harry, I think Draco is our best bet."
Ginny bit her lip. "Jealous? Jealous how, Hermione?"
Hermione's grin never faded. "You know bloody well how, Ginny Weasley...Harry may not know it, but I know you and Draco had a thing at school, and I doubt he'd protest at once again rekindling that old flame, even if it is all for show."
Ginny wrung the ends of her long hair in her hands. "And you think that Harry would be jealous of Draco?"
Hermione nodded in a satisfied way. "Absolutely. Gin, I know you don't feel like it, but you do mean something to Harry...I know him better than anybody on this planet, even Ron, and he loves you, he just needs to realize it."
"It's not just that, Hermione...I think I'm afraid of him." Ginny said, still playing nervously with her hair. Hermione's jaw dropped a bit, but she recovered quickly.
"I don't think I blame you. If Ron ever hit me..." Hermione trailed off, deciding that words weren't enough. She stood from the table and walked around to Ginny, putting her arms around her best friend. "I promise this will all go away soon. Everything will be better...let's start some planning and I'll drop a letter off to Mr. Malfoy telling him our plans." She waved her wand and the vase in the entryway picked itself up and burst against the wall before repairing itself. "That will at least keep those boys at bay until we're quiet ready to let them in. If we decide to let them in, eh?"
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
The night was turning crisp as the witching hour came upon the deserted streets of Grimauld place. A faint popping noise filled the square as a dark shadow emerged from the fog. As Harry rounded the corner he noticed another dark shadow, the face softly lit by the smoldering glow of a burning cigarette, standing on the porch to number 12. He reached for his back pocket where his wand was concealed behind his jacket. Even though they were supposedly in peace times, nothing unseated Harry like an unexpected visitor, especially one that knew where his house was hidden. He crept slowly up to the steps.
"Who are you and what is your business?" Harry asked threateningly, his wand held chest high. He placed one foot on the bottom step and looked up at the would be intruder.
"Probly a good idea to keep that out, mate." Came a voice Harry hadn't heard in almost a year. Harry lit the tip of his wand and filled the steps with light, revealing Ron as he crushed out his butt and pulled a new pack of cigarettes out, smacking them against his leg as he reached out with his hand to welcome Harry home. "She's in a right state and you might just need the protection." Ron smiled as he pulled Harry into a quick but firm hug. Even though he hadn't spoken with Ron in so long, Harry knew their friendship hadn't changed. He couldn't wait to catch up with him, but he had things that had to be said to Ginny while they were still fresh in his mind and so he politely pushed Ron aside.
"I wouldn't go in there if I was you." Ron chuckled.
"I know she's mad, but I have to talk to her. Now." Harry began to push open the door, but it barely had creaked when a flock of birds crashed inches from his head into the door frame, and he was forced to slam it shut to save his head.
"So Hermione's here, is she?"
"I warned you mate. Those two have been at it for hours. I think I made it ten seconds before I was thrown out. You know how it is. One of us messes up so all of dick-kind now must die." Ron knocked the ashes off the tip of his cigarette before holding it up in offering to Harry. Harry put up his hand to decline, and Ron shrugged. "I don't blame you. I wouldn't be so addicted if I didn't spend so much time outside of doors on porches. I've had a lot of birds thrown at me in my time."
Harry was waiting for Ron to jump the stairs and beat the living shit out of him for touching his sister, but the longer they stood there, the less likely it seemed to come. He wondered if Ron was just trying to get him to confess to it, but not once in their conversations did he feel like he was leading him to that. He looked down to his feet and noticed that they were covered in mud and blood. As he trailed up his body, he saw the grass stains blending in with the blood stains and began to question Ron's eyesight. He looked as if he had just murdered and buried three people and yet Ron was making comments on the difference in weather in London. He tried to kick off some of the mud as he knew Ginny would kill him herself if he came into her house like that, but it was dried on thickly. He let his wand hang from the tips of his fingers as he slowly tried to clean off his shoes non-verbally, without drawing too much attention to himself. It seemed to be a wasted effort as Ron was now rambling about the Chudley Cannons as if they were sipping a nice brandy inside by the fire. Occasionally he heard an angry voice from inside the house, or a crash that meant it was still not safe to enter. The night was getting cold and he began to wonder how long before the sun would rise. It seemed like hours had passed since he arrived on the steps.
His mind wandered away from Rons steady drone, and he began to watch the embers falling off the tip of his fourth cigarette. He watched as each one fell silently to the floor, glowing with such fury and passion and then succumbing to the filth of the steps. They came so softly and graceful, floating like fireflies on the back of the wind. Harry knew that one alone could do nothing but flicker and die when it met the greater force of the wind, but if they had joined together, they had the power to destroy the very home they stood in front of. He closed his eyes and saw all of the falling embers turn into his fallen comrades, falling one after the other onto the ground before curling up and fading away. Each body so weak separately that had at one time been such a strong force they had brought about the fall of the most powerful empire this world had seen since World War II. He wondered how many of the flames were wasted, burning out before they met with another. How many lives had been needlessly cut short in the hopes that they would be a contributor to the devastating flame?
Harry's eyes snapped open as he heard the door open forcefully. Both men lept back off the porch and unconciously ducked, before breathing a sigh of relief at the soft look on Ginny's face. She ushered them silently into the house. As Harry passed her and into the entryway, she immediately held up a hand before he had even a second to speak. "Not now, Harry. Anything you might have to say to me is gonna have to wait, I just don't want to hear it now. You better not try to even see Hermione right now either." Her face quickly changed to concern as she took in his apperance. "Harry? Is that blood?"
"Oh this. It's not mine. It's Fred and Georges."
Her eyes widened in a horrified stare. Could he have gone even more insane? What did he have against her brothers? Was he just trying to rid the world of Weasleys?
He saw the look on her face and realized how his words had sounded. "No. I mean, it's their nose-bleed nougats. I found one in my pocket earlier at work. I ate it to...well, I was hungry and I didn't realize what it was until I was bleeding."
She changed just as quickly as before, even more harsh now that she had been given reason to doubt his sanity. "I'll be sleeping in with Hermione, Ron's taking the sofa. We have more company coming today so you better get some sleep." With that she turned on her heel and her red hair wipped out of site behind the closed kitchen door.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 8 Teaser
"LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME!" Ginny screamed as the light glinted from the bloody razor held tightly in her right hand.
