Chapter 24

There they were, holding each other, naked on a transfigured sofa, in a dilapidated cabin, in the woods less than a mile from the Burrow.

"Fuck," Hermione thought to herself, "fuck, fuck, fuck!" In her head she was panicking, on the outside, she sat perfectly still, wrapped tightly in Ginny's arms and against her bare chest. What had just happened? One second she was extraordinarily pissed off at the woman, the next they were having mind blowingly amazing sex! Still not moving from the safety and warmth of Ginny's embrace, Hermione knew someone had to say something but the red head beat her to it.

"That was incredible," Ginny said simply squeezing the brunette witch closer to her body and kissing her on top of her head. Hermione could feel the smile on the other woman's lips.

"No, it wasn't," Hermione said pulling away slightly. "I mean it was but we absolutely cannot do this."

"Well too late for that, I think we just did!" Ginny said with a cocky smirk.

"Ginny, I am serious! We are both married! I'm married to your brother for Merlin's sake!" Hermione was now walking around the cabin picking up her discarded clothes. With out the warmth of Ginny's body, the cold winter air was hitting her skin causing her to shiver. "And most importantly we have children, we can't do this."

"Don't you think I know that Hermione!" The red head exclaimed now also hurriedly getting dressed. "What you think I don't care about our families? That I haven't been agonizing over the same things? You don't think I feel guilty when every time Harry and I make love I am thinking about you?" With this last comment a blush crept over her skin as well as the brunette's. "Because I do feel guilty Herm. And I don't know what to do about the kids or Harry or Ron or my parents. I don't want to break apart my family but YOU are what I want. What I need. And now, after this, what just happened, I can't just walk away and forget."

Hermione was experiencing too many emotions to think clearly but she had focused in on the word 'forget' and was able to gather her wits about her. "I would think that forgetting was something that you were perfectly capable of doing Ginny, by some means or another," she snapped icily as she finished getting dressed and walked over to the door. She was still angry with the woman for her leaving her the way she did and then forgetting everything but she couldn't deny what had just happened between them. All the heat and passion was still there, after all this time. Hermione knew it would be impossible to let this incident fade into the background and go on like nothing had happened, even now it took all her strength to not run to Ginny and take her in her arms. Before she left, the older witch turned to her companion with a softer tone and said, "now, if you don't mind, I really do have some Christmas shopping that I would like to get done. I realize I am walking out, yet again, without resolving anything but please respect that I need some physical space from you right now. I need to think about everything before I say something I regret."

Ginny slumped back down into the transfigured chair when Hermione closed the door behind her. She did feel extraordinarily guilty about a number of different things at the moment but also felt better than she had in a very long time. She always seemed perky, confident and happy to everyone around her but in truth she had felt very numb for many years. She attributed that numbness now to the memory charm that had hold on her for so long because the memories of Hermione had awakened so much within her that she was almost over-stimulated. The only times the red head had felt alive at all in the last twenty years was when she was with her children or playing quidditch. She did love Harry but was never in love with him. He had never been able to ignite the fire within her that Hermione could with just a glance. She got up, changed everything back to the way in was and extinguished the fire then headed back to the Burrow to grab her broom. Flying always helped her think clearly. Every step she took she thought about the brunette witch's lips on her skin and she certainly wasn't ready to face her family.

Hermione had left the shack and continued down the road towards town, hoping the cold December air would clear her mind somewhat. She soon realized the winter air in Siberia probably wasn't even frigid enough to smother the fire within her. Any flame she had held in her heart for Ginny before was now a raging inferno, both beautiful and dangerous. Hermione was being drawn in to the enticing heat but knew someone, or multiple people more than likely, was bound to get burned in the end.

The brunette witch tried to focus on her shopping but it hopeless, every thing, no matter how ridiculous made her think of Ginny. She quick picked up a couple of things for all the kids and decided to head back knowing she would have to face her sister-in-law and even more frighteningly, Ron, who she had just cheated on, sooner or later.

She didn't know how she would be able to look her husband in the eye. Though she had always loved Ginny and sometimes thought of what life would have been like with her, she had never been unfaithful to Ron in the actual sense. But now, all that was changed, she had cheated on her husband and wasn't entirely confident that she wouldn't do it again. Hermione despised the position she was in, knowing she didn't have a solution of some sort. She saw no way around Ron getting hurt, which she hated. Even, if by some miracle, she and Ginny never pursued any type of affair, the damage had already been done and Hermione knew she couldn't live with the guilt forever and would eventually have to confess her indiscretion to Ron. She tried to push the thought out of her mind, resolving to deal with that particular problem in due course. She had more immediate issues to deal with.

Hermione had no clue how she would be able to get through the next couple of weeks cooped up in the Burrow with Ginny, especially with all the eyes of the Weasley family on them at all times. As soon as she walked into the kitchen after returning from town, questions came at her from all directions.

"Mom, you missed it! I flew by myself!" Hugo was first to talk.

"Yeah and you missed me scoring on dad about a million times and beating Uncle Harry to the snitch!" Rose then interjected.

"Love, where did you run off to so quick? One second you were in the air with us, the next you were halfway down the road," Ron said trying to meet his wife's eyes but she couldn't bear it. "And where's Ginny? I saw her run after you but she hasn't come back yet. That was a few hours ago too. We assumed you were together."

'Wow,' Hermione thought looking at her watch, 'have I really been gone a few hours?' It was nearly two o'clock and the brunette witch realized how hungry she was having missed lunch. Remembering her children's comments she thought it best to respond, "Hugo, that is great, you are braver than me! And Rose, don't be too hard on your dad and uncle, they are pretty old so it's not entirely their fault. Um I am not sure where Ginny is actually, she followed me down the road but then I went into town to shop, I thought she'd have come back here." Hermione couldn't help the redness creeping up the back of her neck, mixture of guilt and excitement from what happened in the cabin.

"Well that's not unlike Ginny," Harry chimed in not sounding concerned. "Sometimes when she has something on her mind she just flies around for hours at a time."

"Right," Hermione said knowing how much the witch had to think about.

"You sure you are ok Herm? You seem a bit, I don't know, spaced out." Ron had closed the space between them and gingerly put an arm around his wife.

Hermione willed herself to not shrug him off, she couldn't afford to raise any type of suspicion with her behavior. "Yes Ron, thank you. I'm just cold from the walk back and a little hungry. I hadn't realized what time it was and it seems I missed lunch." She smiled as convincingly as she could in her husband's direction.

Just as she was about to sit down at the table to continue the conversations with her children, Ginny burst through the door. She looked entirely wind swept, her fiery hair in all different directions and her face appeared to be painfully chapped from the cold. Her robes also seemed to be frozen. Her eyes met Hermione's awkwardly but no one noticed because of the shear state Ginny was in. She apparently did go to Siberia to clear her mind.

"Bloody hell Gin, where have you been flying? The Arctic Circle?" Ron said looking worried as Harry ran over to tend to his wife. All the kids looked a mixture of amused but also concerned at Ginny's sub-zero appearance.

Molly walked into the kitchen and her jaw nearly hit the floor when she saw her daughter in the doorway. "Ginny dear, you look like an ice cube! Where have you been?"

"I was just out flying, you know to clear my head a bit," the frosty woman acknowledged as her husband tried to peel the frozen robes off of her.

"Hermione, go run Ginny a hot bath upstairs," Molly ordered as she went to get some Pepperup Potion out of the cupboard. "What the hell were you thinking? Here drink this"

Hermione could here Ginny protesting, saying something about not being a child, as she climbed the stairs to the bathroom. 'Seriously,' the brunette thought to herself, 'why does she need to be so reckless sometimes?' Quicker than Hermione was anticipating, Ginny entered the bathroom, steam coming from her ears, and locked the door behind her muttering 'colloportus,' trapping the brunette witch inside.

"Harry, Mum, I am fine! You always overreact. I am an adult, I know my limits! It's just a little wind burn," Ginny shouted through the closed door. She then turned to her sister-in-law and whispered through chattering teeth, "and don't you start with me! I admit I may have over done it a bit, but they don't need to know it. No need explaining what I was thinking about up there, must have lost track of time. Just help me out of these wet clothes and into the tub."

Hermione quickly helped Ginny remove her clothes, for the second time today, albeit under much different circumstances and helped her lower her frozen limbs into the hot bath. Her skin was red and raw from the cold and she winced as it made contact with the water. Though the red head was once again naked in her presence, the brunette's thoughts at the moment were entirely nonsexual and only about the woman's health. The poor woman had nearly frozen herself to death because of what had happened. Ginny had been known in the past to inadvertently put herself in jeopardy when something strongly affected her emotionally and Hermione knew it was bound to happen again unless they worked some things out.

Hermione sat next to the tub holding Ginny's thawing hand, "I guess we're going to have figure this thing out then," the brunette finally said.

"It would appear so," the red head replied squeezing her sister-in-law's hand. But where to start?