Chapter 24

Talking

Hermione felt wonderfully full of sleep. She decided it was the pillow; it felt so soft and cuddly. Only it cuddled back? She opened her eyes a little, and then seeing Harry's form, opened them a lot. What the hell happened last night? Why is beautiful Harry Potter in my bed? BEAUTIFUL – stop it! I didn't drink last night did I? No. We didn't- no- clothes still on. How did he get here? Is this a good thing? NO-wait. Yes? No. Definitely not. Best as friends. And friends don't sleep in the same bed. Well still have clothes on so not too bad. Crap. Now what do I do. Head hurts. Wait – don't forget to breathe Hermione. Breathe in. Breathe out. Simple. If wake him, he'll want to talk. Breathe in. But how am going to get out of bed without waking him? Breathe out. Could just stay in bed. Breathe in. Not very practical Hermione! Breathe out.

While Hermione wrestled with her thoughts, she didn't seem to notice that the man beside her was awake and watching her with interest. She's trying to figure out how to get up without waking you Potter. He smiled.

"Good Morning" said Harry politely.

Her eyes darted towards him and she tried to read his eyes. He smiled at her and was pleased when she blushed. Why? He wondered.

"Hi." Said the voice meekly. She looked away from him and sat up, but didn't, Harry was pleased to notice, move to get off the bed. Yeah- but it's her bed idiot.

"We should talk about last night – clear the air." Harry said.

"Sure... yeah." She looked as uncomfortable as he felt but he had to continue, he might not get another chance.

"Erm- I meant it – all of it and I don't want to push you, but... I need to know how you feel – if what I said last night made any difference."

Silence.

"Hermione?"

Shit. She's not talking. She must really hate you now Potter. You've really blown it.

"Harry... I'm sorry... really sorry..."

Please just try to carry on breathing.

"No Harry" she said putting her hand on his "I'm sorry because I don't remember what you said last night." He looked at her, trying to work out if he heard correctly. "Really- I fell asleep pretty much when you-when you held me."

"You didn't hear any of it?"

"Not really – I'm sorry – I was really tired after everything and when you took me in your arms I just-well fell asleep."

"Oh."

Silence.

Hermione seemed to take a deep breath before- "so why do we need to clear the air – what did you say?"

"You really don't remember anything?"

Nothing I'm certain of. Please just say it again.

"Well- erm." Harry sighed.

You remembered wrong Hermione. You were just dreaming.

He took another deep breath and started speaking quite quickly "We were talking about the lunch. You said something like everyone was really nice considering and I said considering what. You said considering you hurt me and kept Jamie from me and I asked you if you thought they hated you and when you didn't answer I told it was crap to think that. Because it is Hermione-they all love you" He held her eyes with his and she was looking at him so intensely that he found it easy to go on, more naturally this time. "Then I told you that I love you. I really love you Hermione – not because of Jamie, but because of you. I want to be with you. I want us to give it another go. And I know that you're reluctant to because of Jamie. I know you're afraid that we'll end up like your Mum and Dad, arguing all the time and that Jamie will hate it. But we won't. I know we won't because we're friends. We're friends first and parents and we're smart enough not to let anything get in the way of that. We'll make it if you give us the chance."

Hermione looked a little shell shocked.

"-well that's basically what I said last night. And-erm... what do you think?"

She didn't say anything for a while.

"Harry – if... if we ever got together it might go wrong and Jamie-"

"Don't use our boy as an excuse not to be happy. We are not your parents. We might get it wrong – yes. We might screw it up – true. We'll probably argue – maybe even a lot sometimes – but that doesn't mean we're stupid enough to put Jamie through the rubbish you had to go through when you were his age. If you don't take a chance with life, then what's the point in living? You get one chance in life – one, that's all – and when its gone, its gone. We've already wasted so many years – please don't make us waste anymore."

His pleas were heartfelt and he meant every word, she could tell. She didn't know what to do, what to say or even how she was feeling. She wanted to tell him she loved him – that he was right and she wanted to give them another go, but she didn't really know how to start. Fortunately, or not-

"Mummy can- oh?" said the voice, walking into his mother's room "Dad? What are you doing here?"

Since Harry had Hermione's face in between his hands and was peering down at her intently, it took him a few seconds to regain his composure.

"I was- well me and Mum were talking." Harry said, not sure if his son was as astute as his Mother, in which case they were in for a lot of complicated questions, or if he was as astute as Harry himself, in which case Jamie would probably ask for breakfast or something.

"Oh." Jamie said, looking at his Mother who smiled back at him. "Ok. Can we visit Hogsmeade today or Diagon Alley?"

"Erm-" Said Hermione.

"After breakfast of course."

"We'll see" his Mother replied "but let's see to breakfast first."

Hermione got off the bed and began to lead Jamie out of the room.

"Ok Mummy – but that wasn't a "no" was it. It was an "I'll see"?" Hermione replied that it was – "You coming for breakfast too Daddy?" Jamie asked, turning towards him.

"Yeah course I am" Harry said, meeting Hermione's eyes and being thankful that his Son was so like himself.