2/11/04:  Just so you know, this is a shorter chapter, mainly a set-up for the climax.  A transition chapter.  Don't expect a lot of soul-searching by Harry or Hermione.

19. The Morning After

Harry fought as hard as he could to stay asleep, he really did.  He had just had the most pleasant dream, and he would damned if something as trivial as his body's natural inclination to awake would take him away from it.  It was, of course, a losing battle, but Harry wouldn't go down without a fight.  As Harry basked in the afterglow of his dream, he felt the bed shift slightly, as if someone were changing positions beside him.  Harry snapped open his eyes and very slowly, as if afraid that if he moved too quickly he would find that this also was a dream, Harry turned over and was greeted by a sight that nearly made him cry out in joy.  There beside him, sleeping peacefully only a few scant inches away, lay Hermione, her face framed by her curls, eyes closed, and her mouth slightly open.

Harry knew that he should be terrified at that very moment.  How would she react when she woke up?  Would she regret what had happened?  Was she too drunk to even remember what happened?  Harry knew that he should be in a state of near panic at that moment, afraid that he had just ruined any hope of repairing their friendship.  But Harry wasn't afraid.  He knew that he couldn't prevent what would come, so instead he decided to savor these few remaining moments of happiness.  Since he couldn't touch her for fear of waking her, he merely watched her sleep, trying to commit every detail to memory.

Harry didn't know how much time he had spent simply watching her, and he didn't know how much longer she would have stayed asleep had the blasted alarm clock not rung.  Harry froze - the alarm clock was on the other side of the bed, and he very well couldn't reach over her to turn it off.  He watched apprehensively as Hermione pouted slightly at the intruding sound and rolled over onto her back to turn off the alarm clock.  He then held his breath, waiting for what was to come.  Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Hermione turned her head towards Harry and looked at him.

"Mmmmm," she moaned, stretching languidly.  "Good morning Harry."

Harry found he couldn't find his voice.  He cleared his throat and tried again.  "Um, good morning Hermione."

Hermione looked at him again, and then rolled over to face him fully.  She gently placed a hand on his cheek.  "Don't be afraid Harry," she said softly.

Harry placed his hand over hers.  For a moment, he considered replying in a nonchalant manner, but this was Hermione.  He couldn't fool her.  "But I am," he finally said.  "I'm terrified."

Hermione scooted closer and kissed him lightly on the lips before snuggling closer, resting her head under his chin.  "You don't have to be.  Not anymore."

"But.this is too easy.  There's so much we still need to talk about."

"I know," she said.  "There is a lot that we need to talk about, and some of it won't be easy.  But right now, I just want to be.  Do you understand?  It'll still be there later, waiting for us."

Harry nodded.  He debated himself on whether he should tell her.  Was it too soon?  Would she be scared away?  Would she feel the same way?  Harry tried to scoff at his fears, considering all that had just happened, yet those fears, the fears that he wasn't worthy of love, would probably never be quelled, at least not entirely.  But he was Harry Potter, Gryffindor; it was time to lock those fears away in a box.  "Hermione," he said tentatively.  "I.I love you.  I never stopped loving you.  Not ever."

For what seemed like a long while, Hermione was quiet.  Those nagging fears started thumping away at his heart, until he heard her sniffle softly.  "I love you too Harry."

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After about twenty minutes of snuggling contentedly (two smacks of the snooze button), Hermione got dressed and left for her own room to get ready for the day.  Harry spent another ten minutes simply lying in bed, going over the events of last night and the morning in his head, committing every detail to memory.  Finally, after another reminder of the passing time from his alarm clock, Harry heaved himself out of bed and into the shower.  Harry had just finished with his hair when there was a knock at the door.

"Ready?" Hermione asked when he opened the door.

"Ready for what?" Harry asked suggestively as he gave her a lecherous once-over with his eyes.

"For breakfast of course!  What did you think?"

"Well," Harry said offhandedly, "you were rather frisky last night.  I figured maybe you were ready for another go."

Hermione blushed slightly but remained composed.  "Perhaps later," she said, and then stood on the tips of her toes to give him a small peck on the lips.  "But for now, that's all you get."

Harry sighed dramatically.  "All right.  Better then nothing, I suppose.  Let me grab my robe."

They found themselves the first two people to show up for breakfast, surprising given how many times they hit the snooze button.  They were shown to a table and sat as water and bread magically appeared on their tables.  Harry started to butter a slice of bread while Hermione looked over the menu.

"Um, Hermione-" Harry began tentatively.

"Not now, Harry," Hermione said quickly, interrupting him.

"Huh?"

Hermione looked up from the menu.  "I know you're probably torturing yourself right now, thinking about what this all means and about our unresolved issues."  Harry nodded.  "Remember what I said earlier?  It'll still be there waiting for us at home.  For now, I just to pretend that we're Harry and Hermione again, at least while we're here in America.  Is that all right with you?"

A part of Harry wanted to disagree; his natural tendency was to deal with a situation like this immediately, and not to put it off.  But what Hermione was suggesting did have some merit - it was definitely the more pleasant option, and Harry would have at least a couple days of happiness before he could say something stupid and ruin it.  So, in the end, he agreed.  He could wait.

In general, Harry was not one for physical contact.  A handshake or two, or a tap on the shoulder was generally his limit, but he was known to give out a hug or two after successfully avoiding death.  Having been subjected to a dearth of physical contact during his formative years, he was still very uncomfortable with the notion of a simple hug.  Therefore, no one was more surprised then Harry when he found that he was practically craved physical contact with Hermione when they started dating.  His analytical side surmised that the part of him that was afraid needed constant reassurance in the form of a hug or holding hands.  He suspected Hermione knew that (she was rather attuned to his thoughts and feelings after all they had gone through together); if she did, she never let on, but she always took the opportunity to touch him when possible (and always appropriately, to his chagrin).  That morning, Harry found himself holding hands with Hermione like a pair of lovesick teenagers, but he couldn't stop himself.  It had been so long since they had last held hands, and a part of him needed to know that this wasn't a dream.

Robert, of course, immediately noticed their sudden change in status, but he didn't give any indication except for a smile when he first saw them.  Tonks, on the other hand, was practically jumping out of her chair, and no doubt would have been doing so if not for the fact that she was sporting a rather persistent hangover from the previous night's activities.  Clarke and Price, not knowing the history between the two, simply accepted it all with polite curiosity.  Unfortunately, all too soon breakfast ended, and it was time to get back to business.  Harry's happy mood sobered somewhat as he remembered why he was in America in the first place.

In the end, finding the elusive Malvagita wasn't nearly as difficult as Harry thought it would be.  He attributed it to the typical weakness of all egomaniacal Dark Lords - arrogance.   Harry had been very worried that his sudden and well-publicized visit to America would prompt Malvagita to go to ground, but it was either his arrogance or their flimsy cover story about Harry visiting to improve relations between the two nations that kept Malvagita in place.

It was Tonks' work that provided the break.  Again, it was either due to Malvagita's arrogance that his owls couldn't, or wouldn't, be tracked, or he truly did not suspect that they had connected Tway to the wannabe Dark Lord.  Their first full day was spent mostly in meetings and waiting around.  Tonks and the American surveillance experts performed the real work as they pinpointed Tway's owl in the city.  The owl, predictably but regrettably, did not go directly to Malvagita, but to one of his lieutenants.   Once this was discovered, the work began in earnest for Harry and the others in the form of surveillance - a stake-out, possibly the most boring activity for an Auror.  Hermione didn't fare much better, either.  Though they shared the same boring Tuesday, Hermione, to her severe displeasure, wasn't allowed on the surveillance activities ("Remember?  You promised!" Harry would remind her).  When asked by the Americans, Robert told them that she was an expert who would be examining the evidence they collected. 

Finally, after almost a week of following suspects and owls, one of the American agents trailed a suspected Dark Arts practitioner (previously thought to be in the state of Florida) to a rather large and sprawling compound south of the city.  It had several spells cast upon it to make it hard to find, including Muggle-repelling spells and a spell to make it look like a collection of abandoned warehouse.  It was also unplottable, but as the Agent had followed the suspect directly to it, he could now find it.

A two-day planning session followed, as the Aurors and Agents collaborated on the best way to infiltrate the compound and capture Malvagita.  Agent Perkins, who was the Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office, was vehemently against taking such rash action on only two days' planning.  However, the Minister of Magic had a confidential conversation with the President (Magics), making him aware of certain details that affected both countries.  The President (Magics), in turn, called the Director of Bureau of Magical Investigations, who called Agent Perkins and stressed the need to "do whatever the Brits say to do." 

Somehow, and Harry truly had no idea how this happened - perhaps he had gone on a coffee break? - Hermione had managed to get herself placed on the raid.  Fortunately, she would be limited to the Command & Control (C&C) van until the raid was complete, and then she would be allowed to examine whatever "evidence" she was supposed to be an expert on.  It was as such that Harry, along with his fellow Aurors and a several squads of Agents, silently gathered around Malvagita's compound.

A/N: Almost done!  The next two chapters are filled with action, which may or may not appeal to you.  I admit that I sorta wussed out on this chapter.  While I do see it as realistic that Hermione would want to put off having 'the conversation' until they get home (why ruin a good moment?), I mostly wrote it that way because I'm too lazy to write all that emotional dialogue.   Like I said before, it's time to put this story to bed.

kraeg001: hmm.I would imagine the US wizarding capital would be someplace more historic.  Once they all came over from Europe, I see the wizarding community setting up shop not too far from the Muggles.  The wizards wouldn't really have a reason to move their capital like Muggles did, so it would probably still be there.  Also, I definitely see American wizards as being more 'current' then European ones, since there's not the thousands of years of tradition bogging them down.

Alex20: I'm glad you like the plot.  And, if it makes you feel any better, I probably would have tried to add a few scenes to show Hermione's role in the break-up beyond being a victim, but I got lazy.  However, I do plan to have Hermione do something bad in my sequel to Decisions of Fate.

Vanna: I used to live in Lakeview (a few blocks from Wrigley Field) for several years before I got married and became a suburbanite.  Ah.the good old days.

Alatoic01: Sorry no explanations, like I said, I'm lazy.  Though basically, Hermione was never in love with Rick.he was just very fun, no pressures.  But once Hermione and Harry had their dramatic reconciliation in chapter 13, she realized that she loved Harry and couldn't date Rick knowing that she still loved Harry and that there was a chance they could get back together.

sethro72: hey, any review is a good review.

Akuma-sama:  thanks for the beta offer.  I won't need one for this story, but I'll most likely be contacting you for the sequel to DoF.  Be sure to read DoF to see if you like the plotlines.

Jouve25, Rocky235, Risty, Facade1, and ears91: Thanks for the reviews!  I thought Hermione was a cute drunk too :)