Chapter Two
As it turned out, Harry and I didn't really have a chance to talk again until later that evening. While Harry was showering my mother came upstairs and told me that she had a surprise for us. She and dad bought tickets to a reproduction of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" which began at 3:00 pm and lasted to around 6:00. I couldn't say no; it was a nice gesture, especially considering that they took us out to eat beforehand. Harry had no problem with it, or so it seemed.
We ended up going to a local restaurant, where we all chatted about school (of course we watched what we said. Muggles were all around us). The production itself was wonderful; the lead actor was very brilliant. It was one of the best Shakespeare productions I have seen.
After the production we found out that audience members could go back stage and meet the cast. We decided we wanted to do this, so we made our way up the hallway to the backstage area. As we entered, we saw that the young man playing Hamlet was standing off to our right, wiping off some of his onstage makeup. The four of us walked over to him quickly.
"Hi. " I said smiling at him. He looked up from the mirror and nodded back at us, smiling.
"Why hello!" He exclaimed, as he turned around and saw Harry. I raised my eyebrows at the look he was giving to my friend, but refrained from saying anything. Instead I just introduced myself.
"I'm Hermione Granger, these are my parents, and this is a friend of mine..." I started to say, but the actor beat me to it.
"Harry Potter, what a pleasure it is to finally meet you."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw my parents giving each other bewildered glances. We all knew Harry had never been to anything like this before, much less spent lots of time out and about in the muggle world. And of course, Harry is only well-known to the wizarding world.
"Ah, I see I've caught you off guard. Right sorry about that. The name's Jake Finnegan. I believe you know my cousin, Seamus Finnegan," He said.
"Oh! Well that would explain how you might know about Harry. Are you a.... well.... like us?" I asked, trying to avoid using the word 'wizard' around so many muggles. Jake ran a hand through his dark brown hair and leaned up against his dressing table.
"Alas, no. I am a mere muggle. Adopted and all that. My parents live in the London area. My da and Seamus's da are brothers. I go to my Uncle Mick's every summer, and Seamus has shown me pictures of all of the Gryffindors and told me some of the stories. I'm just a bit surprised to see you here, of all places. "
Harry decided to finally speak up, " I'm staying with the Grangers until the start of the term, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger surprised us with these tickets today. You were brilliant by the way."
Jake smiled again and stood up straight. "Thank you very much for the compliment. And tell my cousin not to get himself into too much trouble, will you? That whole family's mischievous!"
We all laughed and chatted a bit more before finally we finally parted ways. The drive back to our neighborhood was a bit quiet, all of us lost in our own thoughts I suppose. We ended up getting back to my house at about 7:00 that night. My parents decided that they wanted to go visit my Aunt Caroline, who lives about twenty minutes away. She just re-modeled her living room and kitchen, and my mother was anxious to see it. Harry and I decided to stay behind and relax for the rest of the night. We did stand in the driveway and wave goodbye to them though, and when the car disappeared from sight I turned to look at my best friend.
"Would you like to go sit in the back yard on the swing?" I asked him, nudging his arm with my own. He nodded, so I led him around the side of the house to the back gate. I quickly undid the lock and we walked in, letting the gate swing close behind us. My backyard is fairly big. There is a small back patio with a dark green patio set, and a water fountain for the birds. Situated in the middle of the yard is a large white porch-type swing with vines growing over the posts. It makes a pretty picture and is one of my favorite places to read.
Harry and I sat down beside each other, with comfortable space in between.
"Hey Hermione," Harry said.
"Yeah?" I responded, looking at him. He pointed up to the sky.
"Look up."
I did so, and almost gasped at the sight. It was one of those beautiful cloudless nights with thousands of stars sparkling in the sky. It seemed like they were everywhere you looked, millions of little twinkling lights. We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.
"Sometimes I wonder if my parents and Sirius are up there, watching down over me from the stars," Harry whispered, gazing up at the sky. I reached over and put my hand over his hand, which was resting on the swing in the space between us.
"I know they are Harry. I know that all three of them are so, so proud of you and they love you so much," I whispered back. He turned to face me, and his eyes held a world of pain and guilt.
"Proud of me? How can they be proud of me Hermione? Because of me all three of them are dead. Mom and dad died to protect me. Sirius died fighting at the Ministry because I was there, because I was fighting. If it weren't for me, they would all still be alive. "
I frowned, getting up and placing myself kneeling in front of Harry. I put one hand on his knee and the other I left over his hand.
"Harry, I want you to look into my eyes, okay? I want you to listen to what I am about to say to you. Please?" I asked him quietly. He nodded his head yes and his eyes met my own.
"It is true that part of the reason your parents died was to protect you. But Harry, they too were fighting Voldemort. They were two of his biggest opposers, and obviously were huge thorns in his side. Why else would he want to kill them? He didn't come to Godric's Hollow just for you Harry. He wanted to kill all three of you. Your parents protected you because they loved you Harry; they must have loved you more than anything in the world. They gave up their lives so you could live on, so you could fight and so you could defeat him. When you love someone, no matter in what sense, you are willing to do anything, even die, to keep them happy and safe. And Sirius... Harry, you thought Sirius was in mortal danger. You did what you thought was right; you did what you needed to do. You can't feel guilty for loving him so much that you wanted to save him from Voldemort. Okay, it was a trap. But Harry, you aren't the one who pushed him into that veil. The only thing you ever did to Sirius was love him. And I know that both he and your parents loved you with all their hearts. They wouldn't want you to live on, feeling guilty and wallowing in the 'what-ifs'. They would want you to fight, to learn, to practice and succeed, to prepare yourself to the best of your ability. Harry, Voldemort can be defeated. We can all help you defeat him. For you. For your mom. For your dad. For Sirius. For all of the thousands of lives he has taken and destroyed. Before you do that though, you have to get rid of this guilt, because everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that it's not your fault. It's not your fault. "
While I was talking Harry had shifted his eyes to stare at the ground. When I was finished I squeezed his hand, and he looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. Slowly he sank down to his knees on the ground in front of me. I put my arms on his shoulders and slowly pulled him down in a hug. He moved his arms around my waist and his body began to shake slightly as silent sobs racked him.
"It's okay.... just let it out...let it out...." I whispered, holding him tightly as he buried his face in my hair. He began to gasp for air, his cries becoming more audible as tears streamed down his face. I rocked him back and forth slightly, letting him cry as much as he wanted to, knowing that he had been holding all of this inside of him for probably the whole summer.
"God.... why does.... why does it have to...hurt...so.... much?" He strangled out. Tears were falling down my own face as I shook my head slightly. I felt like my heart was breaking as I listened to him gasp and cry. Softly I began to hum a lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was younger. Eventually Harry's breathing seemed to be calming down a bit, and we moved so I was sitting on the swing and he was stretched out with his head in my lap. Tears still ran down his face, but the intense sobbing had stopped.
"Hermione?" His said, his voice rough.
"Yes Harry?" I replied quietly, stroking his hair away from his face in a soothing manner.
"Will you sing to me? That melody you were just humming? Sometimes I get flashbacks of my mom singing to me when I was baby. It's kind of comforting."
I nodded my head once, and continued to stroke his hair slowly as I sang in a soft voice.
I wish to you sunshine,
My dear one, my dear one,
And treetops for you to soar past
I wish to you innocence
My child, my child
I pray you don't grow up too fast
Never know pain,
My dear one, my dear one
Nor hunger, nor fear, nor sorrow.
Never know war my child, my child
Remember your hope for tomorrow
My prayer is simple,
My dear one, my dear one
May you never need understand
My prayer is for peacetime
My child, my child
Live it well and this life can be grand.
Harry's eyes drifted close as I sang, and his grip on my left hand loosened. I continued stroking his hair slowly, letting my mind drift back to all the adventures and danger we'd all been through together. Quietly I repeated the last few lines to myself.
My prayer is for peacetime
My child, my child
Live it well and this life can be grand.