A/N: I should be in bed... oh well. Thank you all for your kind reviews, they mean a lot!

Tallyho!


Chapter 12:

The moment Harry and Hermione returned to his flat, he pulled out some spare clothes of his for her to change into. "You'll be more comfortable in these," he said.

She smiled at him and walked (more like stumbled) into the loo to change. While she was busy, he changed himself then walked into his kitchen and began to sift through the mail on his counter. "Bill, bill, junk, bill, junk," he muttered to himself. "Why is there never anything interesting in the mail?"

As if answering his question, there was a light tapping on his window. He turned to look and saw a large barn owl tapping at his window, persistently. He opened up the window and the large bird flew in and landed right on the counter and stuck it's leg out, showing Harry the letter it came to deliver. He scratched the owl's head and untied the letter, watching the bird fly back out the window as soon as it's job was done. Harry closed the window and began to read the letter when he felt two arms snake around his midsection and a head lay on his back. "Mmm, you're warm," Hermione said.

He laughed. "Thank you, I think." She hummed in response and he began to read the letter. A smile grew on his face as he read the contents and could only imagine the joy the rest of the Weasleys could be feeling right now. "Fleur had her baby early," he told Hermione. She hummed once again and he continued. "Both of them are fine, though; Molly says the baby's perfectly healthy for being born several weeks early. It's a girl; they named her Victorie."

"Victorie," Hermione said, quietly. "That's a pretty name."

Harry smiled at his inebriated friend and was about to unwrap her arms from his waist when she jumped back from him. "HARRY!"

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I didn't buy Fleur a baby gift!" she said, looking horrified that she had forgotten something.

He laughed and put his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, Hermione; you still have time to get a gift for them."

"But the baby's already born! Is that appropriate?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know. It's the thought that counts though, isn't it?"

She glared at him. "That's the arsehole way of saying 'I was too lazy to buy you something.'"

He rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Tell you what, we'll go shopping tomorrow and you can get Fleur the best baby gift that's ever been gifted, okay?"

She furrowed her brows as he sat her down on the sofa. "I suppose that's the best I can do in this situation."

"Yes, it is," he nodded. "Now, you lie down and I'll get you some water."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "I'm not a child, Harry; I'm older than you."

He smirked and nodded. "True; but you're also pissed and a lightweight. And, you're going to have a serious hangover tomorrow, so I suggest you start to sleep off what you can now." She huffed again and he chuckled. "Or not; it's up to you."

He left her muttering to herself as he grabbed her a glass of water. When he returned, he found her staring at the wall in shock. "Hermione? Everything okay?"

She looked at him, eyes still wide. "We didn't get our dance in!"

"Sorry?" he said, putting the water on the table.

"Our dance, Harry! We didn't get to dance together tonight! I'm a terrible date! You should have me arrested!"

He laughed and sat down next to her. "For not dancing with me? That seems a bit extreme, don't you think?"

"But we didn't dance together! What kind of date does that?!" Her eyes widened more as she thought more. "What kind of best friend does that?! Oh, God, I'm the worst!"

He resisted the urge to laugh again and stood up, holding his hand out to her. "If it means that much to you, we can have our dance right now."

She furrowed her brows. "But there's no music-" she began to say but Harry cut her off by waving his wand towards the small radio on the shelf in the corner and a soft melody began to play throughout the room. "You were saying?" Harry said.

She giggled and took Harry's outstretched hand. He pulled her close and began to dance with her in small circles around his drawing room. "Your dancing's improved," she mused.

He smirked. "My dancing has gotten much better from my Yule Ball days, thank you very much."

She scrunched up her nose. "Sort of; you still won't move around the room. You like small circles."

"Hey! You weren't complaining about the small circles when we danced in the tent!" he argued.

"Well that was a much smaller space," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "Sure; keep telling yourself that."

She giggled again and rested her head against his chest. They danced in silence for the rest of the song but when the next one started, Hermione perked up and smiled. "What?" Harry asked.

"This is the song we danced to in the tent!" she said, excitedly.

He listened for a minute and smiled. "Yes, it is," he said, looking at her. It was now, he realized just how close they were. Their dancing had slowed to a stop and they were looking into each other's eyes. As they looked at each other, everything else seemed to fade away; it was just them and the soft music playing in the background. Hermione's eyes fluttered closed and she stood on her tiptoes to match his height. He lowered his head to hers and closed his eyes but stopped just before his lips met hers when he smelled the champagne on her breath.

He wanted to kiss her; he'd wanted to for much longer than he realized. But he didn't want to now; not like this; not when they had been drinking. He could feel his heart drop as he realized what he had to do. Sighing, he lifted his lips to her forehead and kissed her softly there, instead. He wished it was her lips, but he knew it wouldn't be right if it was. He replaced his lips with his forehead and opened his eyes to see confusion reflecting back in hers. He gave her a small reassuring smile and squeezed her hands. "We should get you to bed," he said.

She nodded, not saying a word, as he led her to his bedroom. She furrowed her brows as he pulled down the covers for her. "Where will you sleep?" she asked.

"I'll take the sofa," he smiled.

"Harry, no," she began to argue but he shook his head and cut her off. "I'll just transfigure the couch into a bed. Don't worry about me, Hermione. You just rest."

She blushed, embarrassed that she hadn't thought of that and crawled into bed, letting Harry tuck her in. "I'll let your mum know you're staying here tonight, okay?" he said and she nodded. He kissed her forehead again and walked out of the room, pretending he didn't hear the small "Love you" escape Hermione's lips before she fell asleep.


Hermione woke the next morning with a pounding in her head and a cotton taste in her mouth. She groaned and opened her eyes to look at the clock on the bedside table; seven-thirty. "Urgh," she said, rolling onto her other side. She tried to fall back asleep but couldn't get comfortable again. Finally, she slowly got up from the bed and padded to the bathroom to take a shower and rinse off the previous day. She was extra grateful for Harry, who had put out an extra toothbrush for her. She'd never been so happy to brush her teeth.

Once she was out, she wrapped herself in a towel and returned to the bedroom, surprised to find fresh clothes and a hangover potion waiting for her. "Harry, you beautiful man," she said to herself. She downed the potion in one swallow, immediately feeling better, and got dressed before wandering to the kitchen to find Harry.

As she made her way to the kitchen, she smelled ham and eggs cooking and smiled at the domestic side of Harry she so rarely saw. She stopped in the doorway of the kitchen and muffled her laugh as she watched Harry move around the kitchen, humming to himself, wearing a Kiss the Cook apron. When he began to dance to the tune he was humming, Hermione accidentally let a giggle slip and he spun around on his heels, blushing from getting caught. "Oh, you're up."

She giggled again. "Yep, I'm up." She giggled again and no longer tried to hide her smile. "So, uh, do you always wear that around the house or just when you have guests over?"

He scrunched his nose at her and crossed his arms. "It's handy and a housewarming gift from Neville."

She raised an eyebrow. "You sure he didn't give you that as a joke?"

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, frustrated.

"Harry, come on," she argued, laughing, "it says Kiss the Cook on it! You can't seriously tell me you don't think Neville bought you that as a joke."

"Oh, I'm almost positive he did," Harry said, struggling to hide his smirk. "That doesn't mean I'm not going to wear it."

She laughed again and shook her head. "Whatever makes you happy, Harry."

He smiled and nodded. "Thank you!"

She walked to the counter and poured herself some coffee before sitting at the table where Harry placed an omelette in front of her before joining her at the table. They ate in silence for a few minutes before she spoke. "Sorry about last night, by the way," she said.

Harry smiled and shook his head. "Don't be; you didn't vomit on me or do anything particularly embarrassing so you have nothing to be sorry for."

She gave him a small smile and shook her head. "Well, I may not have done anything embarrassing to you but nearly having a panic attack over not getting Fleur a baby gift- which I did months ago, thank you very much- is pretty embarrassing to me."

"Oh so you do remember that?" Harry asked.

She rolled her eyes. "I remember everything," she said, pushing down the memory of their almost kiss the night before. To distract herself from that memory, she brought up another one. "Including my multiple freak outs over minor issues. Did I really freak out over our not dancing last night at the gala?"

He laughed and nodded. "Yes, you did; I think you were about to cry at one point because you felt so bad."

"Urgh!" she groaned and buried her face into her hands, causing Harry to laugh again. "That's it, you're not allowed to let me drink ever again!" she said.

"Aw, but you're so funny when you're pissed!" he said, still laughing.

She glared at him but it didn't deter him. "Hey, look at it this way: at least you're not like Ron when he's pissed. He gets very huggy. And then once he hugs you, he won't let go!"

Hermione laughed at that. "I think I remember hearing something about that from Neville the next morning. Didn't he fall asleep on the floor next to Seamus' bed or something?"

Harry laughed and nodded. "Yeah; poor Seamus. He didn't know what to do."

She rolled her eyes, chuckling quietly. "Oh! Thank you for the hangover potion and fresh clothes by the way."

He smiled and shook his head. "No problem; although Kreacher is technically the one you should thank. I just asked him to get you some stuff and he came back ten minutes later with clothes and several hangover potions for future use."

She grimaced. "Merlin help us all." He laughed at that but her eyes widened as she thought about that. "Wait, did you send Kreacher to my house?!"

"Yes, but don't worry; I told him to go once your parents were asleep so they wouldn't be surprised to find an elf wandering their house."

She raised an eyebrow, not sure how she felt about Kreacher being in her house without her parent's knowledge but supposed it wasn't hurting anyone if they didn't know about that tiny detail. "How's Kreacher liking the orphanage?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, he's loving it!" Harry exclaimed. "He adores kids so he's having a blast taking care of all the little children there."

"Are the kids liking it?"

He nodded. "They seem to be. Andromeda tells me they're all getting along incredibly well and she says she hasn't heard that much laughter in that house in a really long time." Hermione's heart tightened at that and she reached over and squeezed his hand. "That's great to hear, Harry."

He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Hermione, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Okay?" she said, noticing the hesitation in his voice. He stood and waved his wand, sending the dished to the sink as they began to clean themselves, "Molly taught me the spell," he told Hermione, as he led her out of the kitchen and into the drawing room. He sat down and patted the seat next to him. She complied and waited as he put his thoughts together.

"I'm leaving the Aurors," he said, finally.

She furrowed her brows. "I know; we talked about this already."

He shook his head. "No, Hermione, I'm leaving the Aurors." At her still confused expression, he elaborated. "I left my letter of resignation on Kingsley's desk when we left last night. Assuming he didn't return to his office after the gala, it'll be the first thing he sees Monday morning."

Hermione stared at him shocked for a moment before speaking. "Harry… you- I- I don't understand. You said you weren't going to leave until you had another job lined up?"

"I know but I've just… I've hit my limit. Getting injured back in January put a lot into perspective for me and I've realized that I don't want to live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. I want to get married and start a family some day and live until I'm older than Dumbledore and I can't do that if every time I go to work, I'm putting my life on the line. I'm tired of fighting the bad guys; I just want a peaceful life from here on out. So, I quit."

She didn't say anything for a moment, taking in everything Harry had just said. She understood; since she was eleven, she'd been helping her best friend fight a maniac who was out for his blood since his birth. Now that Voldemort was gone, Harry didn't have to fight anymore. She supposed she understood his reasoning. Taking his hand in hers, she smiled at him. "Okay; so what are you going to do next?"

He sighed and entwined his fingers with hers. "That's the other hard part… I- I've been thinking about leaving England for a while."

"What do you mean?" she asked, her brows furrowing.

"I've never really been outside the country before excluding Hogwarts. And even that doesn't really count because that was for school. I've never properly been to the beach or seen a different country other than just pictures. For the first time for as long as I can remember, I don't have something I have to do or somewhere I have to be. There's a whole world out there that I know nothing about and now, I can discover it. I can do what I want; and I want to live."

"Have you talked to Melody about this?"

He nodded. "She loves the idea."

Hermione nodded, feeling tears filling her eyes but she wiped them away and smiled at him. "When would you leave?"

He shrugged. "Ideally, the beginning of next month."

She sniffled and wiped away another tear. "You deserve to have that opportunity, Harry. I'm glad that you're going to take it."

He frowned. "Hey, what's wrong?" She shook her head but he was persistent. "Hermione, talk to me; what's wrong?"

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly as she cried. "Hey, don't cry," he said, soothingly. "I'm not leaving forever."

She pulled back and sniffled, wiping her eyes. "Promise me something," she said.

"Anything," he said, watching her.

"Go; go out and go see the world. Go learn new things about yourself and the world you've yet to see. Just promise me this: promise me that you'll come back. Promise me that when you're done, you'll come home."

He nodded and put his hands on both sides of her face and kissed her forehead before replacing his lips with his forehead. She wrapped her hands around his wrists and rubbed her thumbs along the backs of his hands. "Always," he whispered to her.


P.S. I know you want to see them get together... it's coming, I promise! We just have a few more things we have to address first.

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