Disclaimer: You know already. This story is inspired (sort of) by the movie "The City of Glass".

To flamers: I don't take kindly to flames so back off, if you know what's good for you.

Note: I decide to dedicate this story to my Grandmother, who passed away on Saturday (22-1-2005).

Thank you all so much for your reviews! (401 reviews! gasps)

Stella Blu: Jemima is 7 years old. And no, Hermione and Krum didn't get a divorce when she and Harry die.

Shortie522, StrGzr974: I got the answering machine idea from "The City of Glass".

Gryffindorgrlwiz: I did think of letting them to come back as ghosts but I dropped that idea.

Emerald tears, BeaumontRulz, Sarah, x-The-Ravenx, Meagan: (hands you a pack of tissues)

Starlight-Heart: I got the rose idea from 'The City of Glass", I don't know whether the aspirin thing will work….

Chapter 19: 25th February 2003

The next morning, the group came back to Harry and Hermione's house to continue Hermione's diary.

Katie sat down beside Oliver and opened to the date marked "25th February 2003". "Wow!"

"Huh? What?" asked Ron.

"Look at this." said Katie and showed everyone the entry. The pages were all badly stained with….

"Is it water?" asked Neville?

"Or is it tears?" asked Lavender.

"Well, we will find out soon enough." said Katie and started reading.

Dear Diary,

I can't stop crying.

I just can't.

Harry is gone.

He has gone to Italy and left me all alone here in England.

I will tell you everything, along with my tears….

Yesterday, when I woke up, I saw Harry standing near our bedroom window, reading a letter. He sighed and crumpled it.

"Harry?" I asked suddenly.

Harry jumped before he turned around. He looked tense but then his face relaxed when he saw me. "Oh, good morning, Hermione." he smiled.

"Whose letter is that?" I asked.

"Hm, I will tell you…. tonight." said Harry slowly.

I narrowed my eyes.

"Really." insisted Harry. He walked to our bed and offered me his hand. "Come on Hermione. Let's go downstairs. I have made breakfast."

Harry had made pancakes for breakfast, but he had just made enough for one person. As I sat down, Harry poured the syrup over my pancakes and sat down beside me.

"Aren't you eating, Harry?" I asked.

Harry shook his head slowly. "I have no appetite."

"Is there anything wrong?" I asked in concern.

Harry looked at me for a while before he said, "I will tell you tonight. But right now, I want you to eat your breakfast."

"I won't eat if you don't." I said and cut up a small piece of pancake. "Open your mouth."

Harry was still. Then I frowned deeply and he opened his mouth unwillingly. I inserted the pancake into his mouth and he chewed it in a very slow pace.

"Get a fork and share the pancakes with me." I ordered. "Or I won't eat."

Harry quickly got up and went to get a fork while I cut all my pancakes into small pieces.

After breakfast, Harry suddenly asked me to go shopping with him in the Muggle world.

"Do you have something to buy?" I asked.

"Um, not really." said Harry. "I just want to go out with you."

I should have persuaded Harry to tell me what's wrong, Diary. He was acting so weird. But I didn't. I just changed my clothes and went out with him.

One good thing that I found out about shopping in the Muggle world was that Harry and I could hold hands and kiss in the public when we wanted to. Not much witches or wizards would shop in the muggle world anyway.

So that morning, we went through the mall, holding hands. Harry was quiet as we strolled pass the shops. He was so quiet that I couldn't stand it.

"Harry, say something." I urged.

Harry sighed and asked, "Hermione, do you want to buy some clothes?"

I blinked at him. "What?"

"I want to buy a dress for you." said Harry and smiled slightly. It was a rather sad smile.

I didn't know what to say back then, Diary. Harry looked so upset and yet I couldn't get anything out from him until night time.

"All right." I said and Harry practically dragged me to a boutique.

I looked at the dresses on sale and finally picked out a white dress with red flowers printed on it. I stood in front of a full length mirror and held it up in front of me.

"Looks good," said Harry, standing behind me and looking at my reflection. "Try it on."

I nodded and went to the changing room. As I changed out of my clothes, I couldn't help thinking what's Harry's big secret. All sort of guesses came to my mind. I guessed that maybe there's something wrong with his health, or his work… or maybe he was having financial problems….

I put on the dress and came out of the room. Harry smiled at me and said with a sincere tone, "You looked great."

I smiled back at him.

"Do you mind wearing this throughout the whole day?" he suddenly asked.

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Please." said Harry quietly. "I want to see you in this dress as long as possible."

I looked down at my dress, then I looked up at my lover. He looked extremely desperate.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I said, "All right."

Harry smiled before he held my hand. "Come on, I will pay for the dress and then I will buy a pair of shoes to go with the dress."

Harry bought me a pair of white sandals with red straps. I loved it so much that I wore them immediately. We walked through the mall and when we walked past a shop that sells men's clothes. I stopped Harry and wanted to buy something for him.

Harry hesitated a while before he agreed to let me buy a shirt for him. Happily, I looked around before I selected a turquoise, long-sleeved shirt for him.

"Here," I said, holding the shirt in front of Harry's chest. Then I smiled in adoration. "Oh, you looked charming in it."

"I do?" asked Harry slowly.

"Of course, go and try it on." I said and pushed Harry to the changing room.

A few minutes later, Harry came out with the shirt. My jaws dropped. The first few buttons were undone, showing off a bit of his chest. Oh, he looked gorgeous.

"You looked fantastic." I said and steered him to a mirror outside the changing room. I smiled at his reflection but my smile faded when I noticed that Harry wasn't smiling.

"What's wrong, you don't like the shirt?" I asked.

"No," said Harry. "I mean, I like it, I mean, I love it, just that…."

"What?"

Harry didn't say anything.

"Harry?"

"Nothing." said Harry quietly.

"Harry, are you all right?" I asked for the second time of the day.

"I'm all right." said Harry and forced himself to smile. "I will take this shirt. Thank you for buying it, Darling."

With that, he gave me a kiss on the cheeks. I sighed mentally, oh well, since he wanted to act like there's nothing wrong….

I smiled. "Now let me pay for the shirt and we will go for some fun."

This time, Harry gave me a genuine smile.

Harry and I walked past a gift shop when I noticed a photo sticker machine (It is an invention by the muggles, Diary, you just choose the frame that you want to have on your photo and the machine will print it out like a mini sticker, it's really cute).

"Harry!" I said, grabbing Harry's arm. "It's a photo sticker machine! Oh Harry, can we create some of our own, please? I have never made one before"

Harry looked amused at the machine. "Well, I haven't made one before either….." he said slowly.

"Then let's go!" I said excitedly and dragged him to the curtain in front of the machine.

I looked at the machine's instructions and put a muggle coin in it.

"Please choose a frame you desired." said the screen on the machine.

I rubbed my hands and asked Harry. "Which one do you want, Darling?"

"Hmm…. I dunno….." said Harry. "That one, I guess." he said, pointing a black heart-shaped frame with small bats at the bottom.

"It's gloomy, but cool." I said. "Okay, here goes." I pressed the picture of the frame on the screen and grabbed Harry's arm, smiling and preparing to take a photo.

SNAP

"Harry, you aren't smiling!" I said.

Harry cleared his throat and smiled at the screen. I smiled in satisfaction and leaned on him as we took the next picture.

SNAP

SNAP

After taking three pictures, I liked the machine so much that I decided to take more pictures. I put another muggle coin into the slot and chose a rose-filled frame.

"Come on, Harry, let's take a few more pictures!" I said happily.

Harry looked at me for a while before he nodded.

After taking another 3 more pictures, I put in another coin, I just couldn't stop taking pictures. The machine was so much fun…. by the time we were finished taking pictures, we had enough stickers to fill up an A4 size board.

I looked at the pictures in adoration when an idea came into my mind. "Harry, why don't we put these on an A4 size board? Then we could decorate the edges in any way we want! How about it, Harry?"

"Okay." said Harry immediately.

"Great! Let's go and buy a board. Then we will go for ice cream."

We bought a board and a few markers before we went to an ice-cream parlour. At the ice cream parlour, I ordered for vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips as usual while Harry just ordered a glass of mocha with ice cream.

When our orders arrived, Harry took my ice cream.

"Hey…." I started.

Harry dug the spoon in the ice cream and scooped some of it out. Smiling sweetly at me, he said, "Hermione, say 'ah'."

I smiled at him and opened my mouth. "Ah…"

Instead of putting the ice cream in my mouth, Harry grinned and ate the ice cream himself.

"Hey!" I protested.

Laughing, Harry scooped out another spoonful of ice cream.

I pouted.

"Okay, open your mouth. I won't eat it this time." said Harry.

I continued to pout before I opened my mouth slightly.

Harry put the spoon in my mouth and I savoured every bit of the ice cream before Harry pulled the spoon out.

"Hmm, nice." I said and took the spoon from him. "My turn." I sang and took out a scoop of my ice cream with the spoon. "Say ah…."

"Ah…" said Harry and I fed him with my ice cream.

We took turns to eat the ice cream and when we were done with it, we moved on to eat Harry's ice cream, which was in the glass. After that, Harry asked for another straw so that we could share the mocha. Oh Diary, he was so sweet.
When we got back, it was already night. I ran up to our room immediately once we stepped into the house. Harry followed.

"Now, Harry, let us change and we could work on our stickers….." I began and put down the things we bought.

"No, Hermione." said Harry suddenly.

I paused. "What?"

"I got something to tell you." said Harry slowly.

I suddenly remembered that Harry was going to tell me something, he said he would. "What is it?"

Harry swallowed, put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me gently down on the bed. "You better sit down."

I did. "Harry, what is it you are going to tell me?"

Harry stared at me for long while before he sighed sadly. He moved to the window, looked out to the quiet village before he said, "I'm going away."

I blinked. "What?"

Continued to look out of the window, Harry said louder, "I'm going away. Tomorrow"

I jumped up from the bed. "To where?" I demanded.

Silence.

"Italy." said Harry quietly.

"Italy?" I exclaimed and walked to him. "W-why are you going to Italy?"

"Work. The Aurors Headquarters are sending me and a few of my colleagues there to stop a civil war between the purebloods and the muggleborns."

"That means you are going to war?" I asked.

Harry thought for a while. "Sort of."

"How long have you known this?" I asked slowly.

Without looking at me, Harry said, "Since the day we came back from Miami."

At that moment, I felt the whole world crashing down on me. "And you didn't tell me?" I whispered.

Harry didn't respond.

Suddenly I remembered Neville and Ginny's actions back in their house. "Wait a minute, did you tell Neville and Ginny about this?"

"Well, Neville is my lawyer and Ginny…." Harry started.

"Answer the question." I said.

"Yes."

I took a deep breath. "You tell Neville and Ginny about you going away but not me. Why? Why did you keep this from me?" I demanded. "Is it because you don't trust me or something?"

"No," said Harry quickly and grabbed me on my shoulders. "I couldn't bear to tell you, Hermione. I, I…" he looked desperate. "This is a war, Hermione, not just some small fight. I won't dare to see the look on your face when I tell you that I am going to stop a war….."

As he talked, I felt hot tears filling up my eyes. Soon, they started to roll down my cheeks.

"Hermione, darling, please don't cry….." said Harry.

"H-how can't I?" I asked loudly, my voice shook. "Y-you are g-going away to stop a war! You might die there! How can't I?!"

At that point, my knees went weak and I fell to the floor. Sitting against the wall, I started to sob. Harry kneeled down, looked at me before he pulled me into his arms.

I cried on his chest as he said, "I'm so sorry, Hermione. But I have to go. That's my job."

"W-why can't you just refuse?" I asked.

Harry didn't respond. He just held me tightly.

"When will you come back?" I asked weakly.

"I have no idea. A week, or a month……"

"Or never." I whispered. Fear clutched my heart as I wrapped my arms around Harry. "Harry, please don't go. Please don't leave me alone."

"I must go." said Harry. He sounded as if he was going to cry. "I wish I could stay here, but I couldn't."

I looked up at Harry and found that his emerald green eyes filled with tears. "Now you know why I looked so sad recently. I don't know how long I will be away on this mission, b-but…." he sniffled. "I-if I am not able to come back….."

"No….." I said, shaking my head weakly, unwillingly to hear.

"Hermione, listen to me, please." Harry begged.

I stopped shaking my head.

"Hermione, i-if I am not able to come back, I want to let you know that you are my first and only love of my life. I will always love you."

At this point, Harry kissed me on the forehead. I whispered in his ear. "Carry me to bed, Harry."

Nodding, Harry carried me up in his arms and put me down gently on our bed. He lay down beside me and then put his arm around me to pull me close. I sniffled and made myself comfortable in his arms.

Stroking my hair affectionately, Harry whispered, "Remember, Hermione. No matter where I go, I will always love you…."

I fell asleep in Harry's arms. But when I woke up the next morning, he wasn't with me. His side of the bed was neat, as if he hadn't slept on it.

Sitting up, I looked around the room frantically. "Harry?"

No response.

I got out of the bed, went to the cupboard and opened it. My clothes were in there, but almost all of Harry's were gone, including the new shirt that I bought for him.

"Oh no….." I said slowly.

Then I dashed to the bathroom. My stuff was near the sink, but Harry's belongings weren't there.

It was like Harry didn't live here.

I felt a wave of coldness washed over me when I realized what was going on: Harry had left without telling me.

Breathing heavily, I went back to our bed.

"How could Harry just leave without telling me?" I thought. "I wanted to say goodbye to him…."

I sat down on our bed slowly. I gazed at Harry's side of the bed sadly.

And that's when I saw a note on Harry's pillow.

Quickly, I snatched the note and read:

My dearest Hermione,

I decide to leave while you are still sleeping. I don't want to wake you up because I afraid that I will end up not leaving at all. I think it's better for me to leave while I still can. I have bought the clock that Neville and Ginny bought with me too, so that I could see what you are doing while I am in Italy.

Please forgive me for leaving without saying goodbye. I will write when I reach Italy. I will miss you, my love.

All my love,

Harry

By the time I finished the note, my tears had stained it badly. So that was why Harry left early…..

I clutched it tightly and held it to my chest. I felt that my heart had been torn apart. My lover had gone to stop a war. And I didn't know when he would come back. He might even die there and we would never see each other again….

I lay down, buried my face in my pillow and started to sob.

Harry is gone, Diary.

And I prayed everyday for his safety.

Harry, although you can't hear me now, but I still want to let you know that I will wait for your return. Let it be weeks, months or even years, I will keep on waiting.

I love you.

Hermione

"Oh, so that's what the secret is!" said George loudly.

Neville and Ginny nodded.

"Well, it's good that you keep it from Hermione. It's better to let Harry to tell her himself." said Oliver in approval.

"I wonder if Harry made it safely to Italy." said Lavender suddenly.

"Of course he did," snapped Angelina. "Otherwise he wouldn't be able to come back and had that acci……" she stopped when she caught the look on Ron's face. "Sorry."

Silence.

"Err, can anyone read the next entry?" asked Alicia.

"I will read it." said Oliver, taking the diary from his wife.