A/N: Thanks to Luna Writer for reviewing. The only one. Sigh, maybe it was the time it was published, but oh well. This story doesn't really matter so much to me, just a for of entertainment. My original is my passion. Hope ya'll like this one, I was hoping to get this out before Christmas…so happy Christmas for me to you. This is your gift, if anyone reads it that is!
Chapter XVI- I'm With You
"I'm standing on the bridge/I'm waiting in the dark/I'd thought you would be here by now/there's nothing but the rain/no foot steeps on the ground/I'm listening but there's no sound/isn't anyone trying to find me/won't somebody come and take me home/it's a damn cold night/trying to figure out this life/won't you take me by the hand/take me somewhere new/I don't know who you are/but I/I'm with you…because nothings going right/and everything's a mess/and no one likes to be alone…"
Avril Lavigne, I'm With You, Let Go
Harry followed Hermione up the steps of the house in Hogsmeade, to her room.
"So, how many nights in a row has Ginny spent at Draco's?" Harry asked, sitting on the corner of her bed while she shifted though her drawers.
"Oh I don't know? Three or four I guess. They are getting really serious. She comes here everyday after work with Malfoy. He hangs around for about ten minutes, then he goes home, Ginny does some work, then takes some clothes, and walks over to his apartment for the night. It's pretty daily. It's not a big deal." She replied, throwing a pair of under wear and a bra on the bed.
"Thanks Hermione, but I don't have man-boobs." Harry joked, holding up the bra to his chest. Hermione rolled her eyes and snatched it back, putting it on top of her dresser.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to play with women's under garments?" Hermione laughed, crossing the room to her closet,
"No, considering I never knew my parents." Harry replied truthfully. Hermione looked over her shoulder at the man sitting on the corner of her bed, smiling meekly at her. His gestures and tone took her back to the past. Harry, Ron, and herself were all having a short holiday with Hermione's parents in the French Rivera before their seventh year of Hogwarts.
"What are you doing in here Harry? I'm practically nude!" Hermione squealed, hiding behind the shower curtain.
"Practically nude? Hermione, you have a bathing suit on!" Harry rolled his eyes at Hermione's blushing face, and continued the business of washing his face.
"Yes, I do have a bathing suit on, but you scared me that's all. Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?" Hermione said bossily, coming out from behind her covering, donned in a conservative aquamarine bikini, hands on her hips.
"No…remember, I never knew a family who loved me." Harry replied, wringing out his wash cloth and putting it to his face. Hermione was taken aback.
"Harry I didn't mean to-"
"I know you didn't, Mione. I'm telling the truth."
"Harry, you do have a family who loves you."
"Who? The Dursleys? Last time I checked, locking a small boy in a tiny cupboard under the stairs for 11 years of his life isn't what I would call loving!" Harry laughed, and dried his face.
"No, not the Muggles. Harry, we love you. Ron and I. You are our best friend. Merlin knows where Ron would be with out you. And all the Weasleys…Molly treats you like a long lost son!"
Harry turned to her, his towel still clutched in his hand. He was also wearing a pair of red swimming trunks. He squinted at her, his glasses not where in sight.
"Harry, where are your glasses?" Hermione asked.
"You love me?" Harry replied, ignoring Hermione's question.
"No, Harry, we all hate you and are only your friends because you're the Boy Who Lived! Oh come off it Harry, of course we love you, why wouldn't we? We've known each other for almost 7 years now. I think we have pretty much gotten under each other's skin." Hermione laughed, reaching across his bare, thin stomach to retrieve her scrunchie from the other side of the counter. Harry looked down at her as she leaned over, pulling her hair up into a pony tail.
"How come you never told me? I know Ron would never tell me, but I just always assumed, I don't know, I was just a friend, you know, someone you knew." Harry replied, scratching his head.
Hermione stood up fully and gave him a funny look and laughed "Harry, I think Ron and I have made our love for you evident since our first year, going to help you get the Philosopher's Stone…"
Harry smiled at her, looking happy. "Thanks Hermione…for telling me. I…." Harry trailed off, not finishing his sentence.
Hermione smiled. "Actions speak louder than words, Harry James Potter. And where are you glasses? I can't take you squinting at me like that!"
"It's not that I can't see, because I can. I was in Muggle London, I needed a new prescription for my glasses, considering that I can't stand wizard's glasses. But I got contact lenses, along with a new set of glasses, and it's the first time I've worn them. Something to get used to I suppose." He replied, pulling a towel down from the rack and throwing it over his shoulder.
"Really, I never thought you would ever get contacts. I sure they will be much better for Quidditch." Hermione replied, wrapping a towel around her waist.
"That's what I thought. I won't have to put a water repelling spell on them anymore, and they are much safer if I crash."
"You had better not crash! You spent enough time in the hospital wing last year." Hermione replied, adopting a mother-like like tone in her voice.
"Yes mother." Harry replied, laughing. They walked out of the lavatory together,
"Harry, I'm not your mother."
"I know Mione. I was just joking." He said, this time Hermione was on the receiving end of the infamous odd look.
"Harry, you have to be the stupidest man I know." She said, pulling out a t-shirt from the closet.
Harry wrinkled his nose and arched his eye brows at her. "Thanks. I'll be sure to add that comment to my list of 'The Top Ten Nicest Things Anyone Has Ever Said to Me'."
"You go on thinking that you never had a family. Until you were eleven years old, yes, that was the truth, but the moment all three of us met on the Hogwarts Express, it was instant, like a preprogrammed moment in time. You have to me mad not to understand that by now, Harry. Hell you even said it yourself that night we were sitting on the hill, looking at the sky. " She replied, shaking her head at him, her usual 'hands on hips' stance being demonstrated.
"Hermione, I know. But as much as I hate to tell you this, but you'll never understand my situation." Harry said, sounding almost apologetic.
"You're right, I never will, but you act as if I've never wanted to. Harry, all you have seen and all you have been though is more than most people ever experience in life. I know these things Harry. I know…." His face melted from slight anger to hurt. She cast her eyes to the grown, looking away towards the window.
"Hermione, I know I am not the most easy person in the world to deal with. Damn, half the time I can't even stand myself, I don't know how you stayed around so long. All three of us have been though hell and back, most of it being my fault-"
"Harry, if we didn't want to go, we wouldn't, but we did, because we wanted to." Her face was still turned towards the window, studying the small back garden. Harry got up and stood behind her, snaking his arms around her waist, and rested his chin softly on her shoulder.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked her, looking out to the garden as well.
"How utterly crazy life can be at any given moment in time." She said, with a sigh.
"Do you just want to stay here tonight?"
"Yes, you don't even need to stay Harry, I'm fine."
"You're not fine. I'll stay in the guest room, okay? If you need anything, just call me, I'm a light sleeper." He said, lightly in her ear. He kissed the side of her head before untangling his arms from her body. She grabbed her arm before he could get out of her reach.
"Harry, thank you, for being here." Hermione said softly, directing her face towards him instead of the window.
Harry smiled slightly. "Your welcome." He exited, Hermione letting go of his arm, and shut the door behind him with a small click. Hermione sat down on her bed as soon as the door was shut, covering her face with her hands, as soon as racking sobs took over her mind and body.
Ron picked up his mug and slung back his last gulp of beer.
"Barkeep, another." He said roughly, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Ronald, I think you have had enough." A man replied behind him, putting his hand on Ron's shoulder. Ron swiveled around on his stool, only to see Dumbledoor, smiling wryly at him, his eyes visibly chastising him from behind his half-moon spectacles.
"Professor-"
"Ronald, we are colleagues now, please, call me Albus."
"I was just uh…let's just say I've had an extremely bad day." He said as Dumbledoor sat down on the stool beside him, and ordered a butter beer.
"Where is Miss Granger, or she the cause of your bad day?"
"No, sir, I'm the cause of my own bad day. I'm not going to blame it on anyone else but myself. Hermione doesn't need anymore things to worry about."
"I understand. So you're drowning your sorrows I see?"
Ron smiled dryly at him, and raised his mug. "This is my last one, I promise, or else I'll be to drunk to even apperate home."
"Why not cut you losses, and leave now?" He said wisely, and drank a bit from his glass.
"Do you know Hermione and my sister's house is less the two blocks away from here? Ginny is more than likely with Draco, wallowing in their bliss, and Harry is probably trying to lure my girlfriend into the sack with him. Merlin knows it will take a while for Harry to work out his shit with me." Ron said, not looking at him.
"It would take one of those loud Muggle saws to cut though my losses."
"You have not lost anything, from the information you have shared with me Ronald. Just because the relationships you have are now changed, does not mean you have lost them. If I am correct in my figuring, you are 22 years old, and beginning your very promising career in Defense Against the Dark Arts. You will not be alone at Hogwarts, I promise you this." Albus replied, putting his hand on Ron shoulder and smiled. He downed the rest of his butter beer and threw a galleon down on the bar.
"Please do not be late tomorrow, Professor Weasley."
Harry was awoken by the sound of the front door slamming loudly. He sat up quickly, putting his glasses on that were located on the side table next to the double bed. He also grabbed his wand and muttered 'Lomos' under his breath, causing the room to be light up. He hurried down the stairs, creeping carefully around the lounge door.
"Who's there!" Harry called gruffly into the darkness. "Show yourself!"
Nothing but the sound of crickets outside greeted his ears. He continued into the room, his wand held out. He scratched his head, thinking, looking out of the window, seeing a dark cloaked figure hurry across the back garden, onto the trail that lead to Hogsmeade Park.
"Hermione." Harry whispered, and shoved his trainers on quickly by the door, taking the spare too small cloak that was hanging on a hook near the door, and ran after her quietly. The rain pounded in sheets over his face and glasses, impairing his vision. He ran down the slopped trail sloppily, sliding in the mud. When he finally found her, she was standing on the quaint wooden bridge that went over top of a small fast running creek. He stood on the edge, leaning a bit on the rail catching his breath. Hermione had her hood up over her face. She looked out over the creek, the water level rising fast.
"I'd thought that you would be here by now." She said softly, barely heard over the roll of thunder and lightening booming from the heavens.
"I tried my hardest to keep up with you. Why didn't you wake me up? I thought someone was breaking in! "
"I wanted so time alone, I knew you would be out anyways." She said, as water dripped off her nose and onto the rail.
"Then why did you come here?"
"This is my special place I go…to think, to breathe, to cry. No one ever comes back this far into the park, so it's always deserted. I miss him already Harry. I miss him damn it. I'm so cold. It's damn cold tonight, and it's only August."
"I don't think it's the weather that is making you cold." Harry replied, standing close.
"Damn it, Harry, just take me by my hand and take me somewhere new. Everything's a mess, and nothing is going right, and I can't stand it. I can't figure it out! I try so hard, I try so hard to be happy. Maybe I'm going mad, Harry. I was alone for so long while he was gone. All I would ever think of was him, and that bastard. He broke my heart. No one wants to be alone Harry. Take me somewhere new, I need something. I don't know who you are, but I'm with you." Hermione replied angrily, practically yelling. Harry didn't shush her, but did as he was told, taking her hand in his own, drawing her into a tight embrace.
"You know who I am, Mione. I am family. I am our family." He said, holding her tight to him.
"I missed you Harry, I missed you so much." Hermione said into his chest.
"I missed you too, Mione, but I'm here now, and I'm not leaving."