Chapter 3
Reflections and a Shock
Hermione had dropped Jamie off at the local muggle school and was now sat in her office dwelling on last night's mail. After staring at the envelope for nearly half an hour Hermione had plucked up her [Gryffindor] courage to open the letter marked clearly on the front by Ginny Weasley's handwriting.
It had been Ginny she had maintained contact with after deserting Harry. As much as she'd felt that her taking the burden of a baby away from Harry so he could begin a new stress-free life was the right decision, she loved him far too much to sever all contact. She needed to know he was happy. So Ginny had agreed to write her every few months to tell her how Harry was doing, what he was doing and if he was happy, although Hermione knew she had probably only agreed in the hope of convincing her to return to England.
Ginny included other bits about the Weasley family and mutual friends from school, which comforted Hermione but always made her feel desperately sad. However in Ginny's last letter she'd said that Ron had nearly found letters from her and Hermione had made the heart-wrenching decision that the correspondence must stop. From Ginny's letter she knew that Harry had not fully gotten over her leaving him so suddenly, and she couldn't bear to cause him more pain. Having told Ginny this, she expected no more letters and now that was nearly six months ago now.
Seeing the letter then had shocked her, as she knew it must be important. She prayed that it wasn't bad news and tears leaked from her eyes as she'd sat staring. It turned out it was just Ginny – being more like Molly than she'd ever admit – stubbornly refusing to listen to Hermione's pleas and writing anyway to let her know the news from England.
Hermione had read all about Harry's latest achievement at the Auror's office, Ron and Luna's toddler Arthur and his latest escapades, Ginny's upcoming wedding [and heartfelt plea for her to attend], and other news about the twins receiving a business award and Charlie's new girlfriend. Ginny had never written about Harry's girlfriends Hermione reflected – saving me the pain she thought. As usual after reading one of Ginny's letters she felt full of hope and then instantly depressed and then read the letter again. She sighed and placed it in her draw, got her coat and headed for her favourite café, just by the river.
As she walked through the doors to the fresh air outside she felt a little better. She told herself to stop living in the past and cheered herself up with thoughts of taking Jamie to the movies later that night. She walked in to the café and ordered her coffee and sat by the fire in the corner. She was lost in thought when a voice said "Miss-you're coffee"
"Oh thank you" said Hermione and returned to watching the fire. She was as relaxed as she'd been in weeks and thanked Ginny silently for ignoring her request.
A man cleared his throat nervously behind her, but Hermione hardly noticed. She did however cry out in alarm as that said man sat down next to her and said "Hello 'Mione".