Hermione woke to find her bed empty. He never rose before her, so fear began to settle in her heart. Looking around she noticed all of Ron's piles of clothes were gone off the floor. She jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs to Ginny's room, where Harry now slept, to find it empty. She ran down to the kitchen to find Mrs. Weasley eating breakfast with Tonks and Remus.
"You're up early" Tonks noted while sipping her tea.
"Where are they?" She gasped in a panic.
"Who?" Remus sat his glass down.
"Ron and Harry, they are gone!" She cried.
Suddenly everyone was moving, running in and out calling for Ron and Harry. Tonks was a mess again, and Molly was fit to be tied.
They woke the entire house, and after two hours, they gave in. They agreed that if Harry and Ron wanted to be found they would.
Hermione was furious. Not even a note. Did they even think about how this would affect their family? Hermione brooded about the kitchen for a while, drinking tea, eating breakfast and listening to everyone's conversation. Eventually she grew bored and headed up stairs. She went in to Ginny's room to find clues to Harry's whereabouts. Everything was in pristine condition other than a pile of dirty clothes in the corner. She picked them up to wash them, no doubt Mrs. Weasley would be in and out of here mourning her daughter, and would feel the need to do Harry's laundry.
She took the pile to the utility room and sat them on the counter and began separating the colors. It looked as if he hadn't done laundry since he came home, so she went to sifting through the clothes for the ones covered in Ginny's blood. She couldn't find any blood covered clothes in the bunch, she searched and searched to no avail. Finally she came up with the shirt and jeans he had been wearing, they were dirty, but no blood. Grass stains on the knees from rocking her body, shirt wrinkled and smelly from sweat and tears. Not a bit of blood. She stepped back puzzled. She was absolutely sure this is what he wore.
She ran upstairs to find her hair brush, she remembered how horrified she was to brush through her hair and find the dried blood in her brush, but didn't have the heart to wash her friends blood away so she put it away and used Ron's. It was tucked away in the bottom drawer in the bathroom by Ron's room.
It was clean other than the few strands of brown hair tangled in the bristles.
"What in Merlin's name was going on?" She thought.
Calmly, Hermione walked down Stairs.
"Has anyone been using my hair brush?" She asked
They all looked as her oddly, and shook their heads.
"Molly, did you wash it?" She turned to Mrs. Weasley.
"No dear, I didn't, did you lose it?" Molly raised her eye brows.
"No, I'm, never mind" she dashed up the stairs and back to her bedroom.
She was afraid she was over analyzing. Hermione paced the length of the room several times.
"What could this mean?" She mumbled to herself. Eventually she settled on the floor cross-legged with her face in her hands. The creaking of someone slowly walking up the stairs floated in to the room, but Hermione stayed still. A soft knock was heard on the door.
"Come in" her muffled voice came through her hands.
Tonks quietly walked in the room and sat on Harry's bed, directly in front of the girl on the floor.
They sat in the still silence, with neither of them moving or speaking. Tonks broke the silence after five minutes.
"I'm sorry they left you Hermione, I know how it feels. It really sucks." She sighed as Hermione looked up.
Tonks hair was black and grey, and fell to her waist; her eyes were still stony grey, very reminiscent of her cousin Draco. She was pale as ever with her jumper stretched tight over her bulging belly. One hand rested on her round abdomen and the other behind her on the bed supporting her on the bed.
"It's not that, I knew that would happen, someone needs to stay with Molly besides you and she would just argue with the boys and Arthur, so I elected to stay. I am upset about waking to an empty bed, no good bye, no note, nothing." Hermione looked up and rubbed her temples.
Tonks cleared her throat awkwardly, then began to speak. " well there is something I would like to talk to you about"
Hermione stopped rubbing her temples, and looked up at her friend.
" As much as I hate this, I wish it were different I have had to think about somethings since Ginny's um, passing" she choked out.
"Oh Tonks, " Hermione began. But Tonks stopped her.
"No no, let me finish" she sniffed" Ginny was to be Teddy's Godmother, and obviously she cannot perform her duties to the fullest, in her um, position" she stopped and composed herself for a moment while Hermione sat patiently. "and because of the way the world is going now, I can't wait and pick someone after he is born, there is no telling what could happen to us." She paused and cleared her throat again. "I guess what I am getting to here is, would you willing to take her place as my son's Godmother?" She had tears slipping down her face.
Hermione stood and wrapped her arms around Tonks, also getting teary."Of course I will!"
They stood there a long time, holding each other and crying. They broke apart wiping their eyes and sat down across from one another on the beds.
"How much longer?" Hermione wiped her face with the sleeve of her jumper.
"Last Tuesday." Tonks said rolling her eyes.
"You're almost a week passed due!" Hermione gasped.
"Oh yes. At first I was happy he was waiting, because I thought Ginny would make it home on time, but since she came home the day after my due date, I don't know what he is waiting on now." She absent mindedly rubbed her swollen abdomen while she spoke.
"Any serious aches and pains?" Hermione was curious.
"Not other than normal pregnant stuff. I'm ready to meet him, I'm ready to finally see the baby I have felt for months" She smiled.
Tonks winced and clutched her belly.
"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked concerned.
"Oh, yeah" she took a big breath." he is just kicking. Teddy is getting to big for me, and now it is very painful when he shifts around"
She was right, Tonks had always been a very small woman, shorter than Hermione's five feet five inches. She always had a small waist and small bone structure.
Now the poor woman had a huge infant inside of her, by Pomfrey's estimate at least nine pounds. You could see him through her jumper when he moved, it was a very tight fit for the baby and mother.
The two women slowly descended the stairs with Tonks clutching the rail for dear life. Her greatest fear was that her clumsiness would get the better of her and she would take a tumble down the stairs. Molly had insisted that Tonks move to the main floor for the remainder of her pregnancy, which Tonks agreed to, breathing a sigh of relief. Upon reaching the ground floor Tonks turned to Hermione.
"I really appreciate all you have done Hermione. It has been hard for you too, but still worry about everyone else. We both lost a sister a few days ago, and I think she would like how close we are getting. We need each other, don't be afraid to talk to me, we all need someone right now." Tonks put her hands on her friend's shoulders and looked her in the eyes "got it?"
"Got it" Hermione smiled.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It had been three days since Hermione had accepted Tonks' request to be Teddy's
Godmother. Things did not feel right in the Burrow. The order had left again, and the three remaining had fallen in to a routine. They woke early, had a small breakfast, went their separate ways, met back at mealtimes, and tucked in early. Molly mostly cleaned and gardened, Hermione read up on defense, healing, and wards and Tonks readied herself for her new arrival.
On this night Hermione was falling in to a fitful sleep.
She dreamed she was going to the forbidden forest to visit Ginny's grave, but try as she might, she could not find her stone among the trees. She walked passed Dumbledore, Sirius, the Potter's, Cedric, and Collin Crevey's place. She saw a figure off in the distance. A woman with waist length hair and a round belly stood before a large grave marker.
"Tonks!" She called out as she picked up the pace. The closer the got, the more she could see the light shining through the trees on red hair. The wind was whipping around the woman, and she held her arms close to her chest, as if protecting something. Faint cries could be heard through the whistling of the wind. Finally she caught up to the woman and put her hand on her shoulder. She turned to face her.
It was a heavily pregnant Ginny, holding a blue haired baby in her arms. Standing before a stone that read;
Nymphadora Tonks Lupin & Remus Lupin
" Ginny?" She gasped in disbelief.
Ginny only nodded solemnly with tears slipping down her cheeks.
" but wait. This is wrong. You're dead, not them." Hermione shook her head trying to clear it.
The baby in her arms began to wiggle and cry and Ginny began to sway to soothe it. With out looking away from the baby's face she said " things are not always as they seem."
" then who is in that casket!" Hermione yelled.
The child gave out a scream, obviously startled by Hermione's tone. Ginny kept calm as tended to the infant, then looked up at her friend and motioned for her to lean closer. Ginny put her mouth at Hermione's ear.
"No one."
Hermione burst out of bed in a cold sweat. The weather reflected exactly how she felt inside. Crashes of thunder and flashes of lightening along with pouring rain did not look inviting. But before Hermione realized what she was doing she was already downstairs and out the back door. The rain had her hair soaked completely in seconds and the wind blew it around until it was stuck to her face. Yet still she ran through the downpour, her nightgown clinging to her body, soaked. Her feet pounded in to the ground, splashing muddy water up her legs and gown, leading her to the cemetery, and directly to Ginny's marker. She fell to her knees and closed her eyes for a moment. Hermione pictured her best friend's face in her mind. She charmed the grass and dirt to move aside and created a hole down to the pine box.
She climbed down in to the hole with the storm raging around her and paused before opening the lid.
She had to know.
Hermione through the lid open and found exactly what she suspected.
An empty box.
A/N- tsk tsk. You guys. Come one, you could have gotten a new chapter way earlier than this! Since I still love you I gave you this chapter a whole day early. Shout out to puddingmonster and FelixFelicis.123 for the follows,RAD092515 for the favorite and scrappy8 and Hedwige31 for the reviews. Now come on people, reviews make me want to write more, give me some feed back!
