Previously…
So, in other words, life is good, and I'm not just saying that to convince myself. I've found happiness after Harry. I don't know what I'll tell her when she asks about him. Her Daddy. So, back to that strange state of limbo. But it's not so bad here, I'm getting used to it.
(Harry's narrative)
It was a day like any other. Wake up, eat, get dressed, etc. I remember digging through my closet, looking for a clean shirt. Never was one for cleansing charms. Everything came out smelling like burnt rubber and banana peels. Times like these I missed Hermes. She always made sure my clothes were clean enough. Funny that, because I'd been thinking about her a lot lately. Well, not thinking so much as dreaming. There was this one dream where we're eating eggs one minute then on top of the table the next, pawing at each other like a couple of randy teenagers. Not that I minded dreaming about Hermes. Not that it hadn't happened before. But these were strange. Her hair was different for one. Shorter than it is now, more like it used to be when we lived together. And the dreams were always set around the house, beginning in perfectly plausible exchanges and ending with perfectly packed ones.
Anyhow, I was looking for a shirt, tossing out old winter clothes from the closet, when I felt something in the pocket of an overcoat. I reached inside, and pulled out a pensieve. As I sat there puzzled, it opened, and my life changed forever. Again.
- - - - - -
Hermione and I were by the pond outside her parent's house. It was Christmas, and everything was white and silver, shining with moonlight and covered with frost. The night sky was clear, and we were just sitting there. Enjoy it. Enjoying each other. Gods she looked gorgeous. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bright. Her lips were just begging to be kissed, though they looked like that'd had enough of that already. My arm snaked around her waist, and my mouth found her neck. I nibbled and licked, reveling in her delicious coos and sighs. Her eyes were hazy as she turned towards me, my name on her lips, her arm around my shoulders, and her hand, suddenly, on a small ring box.
Her eyes widened with her realization. She didn't say a word as she opened it. I missed her face though, as I was too busy tugging on her ear to take in her reaction. What can I say? Ring or no ring, it was still Hermione, and it was still hard as hell to keep my hands off her. She gasped and threw her arms around me, knocking us both off the bench as she kissed me two feet into the snow.
"Harry I don't believe this. Yes, oh yes." She planted several more kisses on my face and neck.
"Yeah, love," I said with a smirk and a wistful sigh, "I figured it was time I made an honest woman of you."
She paused and looked at me with raised eyebrows. "An honest woman? Just who were you planning on marrying?"
I propped myself up and stared into her lovely cinnamon eyes, tracing her cheeks with my finger. "Only you love…"
- - - - - -
Ok, yeah, it was a bit hokey. But it was heartfelt. Besides, if a bloke can't be a bit mushy when he's proposing to his girl, then dammit, life just isn't worth living.
Anyway, that's when the memory ended. I just sat on the edge of my bed for a few minutes trying to suss it out. Not minutes, hours actually. Make that hours. Only I didn't know it was hours, because that's when I got the rest of my memories back.
I remember waking up with clothes all over my bed and the pensieve in my hand. It was bright outside, and sunrise was creeping over the windowsill. I patted the space next to me, expecting to find a sleeping Hermione, maybe do a bit more after finding her. Needless to say, she wasn't next to me. Next to me? Ha. We weren't in the same time zone.
Gods, what a blind panic I felt then. Realizing what I had done, how I'd hurt her. Merlin, I'd even asked her for relationship advise. Advise about a relationship with a woman who wasn't her! I threw on some clothes, determined to see her, and if need be, chase away whatever wanker she was with. I'd be damned if I lived to see her with anyone else. Which was a tad unreasonable since she'd seen me with women enough. She'd even joked about how I'd have to move to Paris since I'd gone through London's witch population.
I started to apparate to her house when I realized I didn't know where she lived. I didn't know where she lived! Gods I was an arse. Anyway, I went to Ron's and explained everything. Funny thing though, at first he didn't want to tell me. I thought he was joking. Ha. Ha. I said, giving him a playful punch. Now give me her address you git. But he prattled on about needing to tell her and not to surprise her and some such nonsense. So I did the only thing I could do. I snuck a peek in his address book when he wasn't looking.
Next thing I know, I'm in the middle of Goddess's-green-nowhere. I seem to be in someone's yard, and I just stand there, transfixed, studying the little vine-covered cottage in front of me.
And suddenly, she's right beside me.