A/N: I'm really afraid! EEP! You all want to kill me right now. I realize this. I don't have as much free time any more, so my chapter take one to two weeks to published. However, my chapters are getting much longer. This chapter is nice and long. I had a really good time writing it, so I really hope you'll all enjoy it! Also, there's a hefty passage of time here, so you'll have to keep that in mind. On with the story!
JKWilliams- I'm glad you agree with my perspective of Hermione. She's really got the capable, independant woman image in the books, but I can't help but wonder if that's all just a mask to hide behind. In my mind, it is. You will see her struggle with her image in this chapter especially.
Zarroc- Thanks so much! Your reviews are always motivational!
Dagworth- Thank you so much for correcting me! I don't speak German. I get all my translations on-line. Apparently the site I use isn't very reliable. I'm going to fix that error right away! Also, I'm reallyhappy that you like the story minus my horrendous attempts at German!
Cappygal116- All is well that ends well, indeed. That's a good motto. Hopefully, this chapter will also end well. We'll see!
Violet Snicket- Sorry, I don't show the next morning. I wanted to go a little further in time so that theplot could progress a little quicker. However, now you can could up with your own ideas as to what happened that morning and all the mornings that followed until the story picks up again!
Quidditch7- You flatter me way too much! I read your comments and POOF! My ego inflates! Yeah, I agree that fisrt dates are never perfect, especially not when you're Ron and Hermione! I thought you'd enjoy the fact that Harry and Ginny had a secret relationship that had been going on for a while! As for the closing, I think that's the best sign in a relationship, when you can just be with someone and feel safe.
The End of a New Life by mykonstantine.
Chapter 10: One Day of Infinity
The sun glared through the windows, lighting up the darkest crevices of her still-closed eyelids. Her mind tried its best to force the shine away and fall back asleep, but her body disagreed. She woke slowly. The ringing and murmuring in her ears soon distinguished itself as three separate voices.
"We're going to scare the life out of her like this!" The first voice whispered harshly.
Several feet hit the floor almost entirely in sync, edging toward Hermione's bed.
The second person clicked their tongue. "It's not like we've never woken her up before!"
"Yes, but that was a bit different." A woman's voice argued. "There was usually some sort of emergency. We're not in the middle of a war anymore."
"Oh, she'll live through this!"
Hermione thought about holding her breath and pretending to be dead, but thought the better of it. She let her eyelashes gently flutter upon and pretended to be surprised by the fact that Ron, Harry, and Ginny were standing over her.
"Why the hell are you here?" Hermione asked in a breathless voice.
Ron let out an exasperated snorting noise. "Nice to see you too."
Hermione wanted to remain giving them a line of sharp questioning, but Ginny answered all her questions for her.
"C'mon!" The ginger woman sighed. "We're getting you some fresh air! No research today!"
"But my appeal-"
"Isn't happening for another month and a half!"
Hermione began to panic on the inside. She knew that her friends meant well, but she just didn't have the time. This trial was too important to her.
"I need to prepare!"
"You haven't left your house in ages, Hermione!" Ron whined. "You haven't even stopped 'preparing' to have dinner with us!"
Hermione slowly felt the guilt set in. She tried to tell herself that they were over-exaggerating, but they weren't. Ever since Ron and Hermione's fateful first date, Hermione realized even more how terrible this marriage law who be. Thus, she flung herself into research for her case. She only left to do the things that were necessary, such as buying food and supplies and bathing.
Hermione hadn't had anything that would constitute as a date with Ron since Mysteria, but they still saw each other often. Ron usually brought her dinner and helping her research a bit, and some nights after a long day of staring at books, Hermione would apparate to Ron's flat to sleep with him in his bed.
However, Hermione knew that besides those nightly escapades, she had become a hermit.
"Honestly," Harry said to her, "how much more material do you need to look up?"
Hermione's mind sparked and her eyes lit up. "Oh, there are a million things I could be looking through, like the Separation laws of 1846 and-"
"Stop!" Hermione's reaction was certainly not what Harry had expected. "Stop now or I'm going to be ill!"
At that moment, an unknown object flew at Hermione from her right and wrapped around her head. Hermione untangled it in a bit of a panicked fury, threw it in her lap and realized that she was staring down at her own red cloak.
She had been so busy avoiding eye contact with the others that she did not even notice that Ginny had gone over to her dresser and picked out an outfit for her.
"This one day is not going to ruin your whole investigation!" Ginny proclaimed. She seemed to sober up in the following seconds. She sat down on the bed next to Hermione. "Please come out with us? It's not healthy to be cooped up in your flat all day, everyday. We're all so worried about you."
Hermione looked at Harry, Ron, and Ginny in turn. The guilt hit her harder than ever.
"Just for today." Hermione sighed. "Then it's back to work."
Harry and Ron gave each other a high five from the bedpost.
"What are we doing today, then?" Hermione questioned as she clambered out of bed feeling drowsy and a bit foolish.
"First, we're going to get some breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron," Ginny spoke in a quick, excited voice that made her sound as if she'd swallowed a squirrel, "then we're going to shopping in Diagon Alley."
"Shopping?" Ron blurted out in a flabbergasted tone. "You never told me that shopping was on the agenda!"
Ginny turned to her brother with her hands on her hips. "Nobody said that you were going shopping!" She gritted her teeth at him. "I'm sure you have other things to do!"
Ron immediately turned pink. "Yeah, I suppose I can find something to fill the spare time with, but shopping… honestly."
"It's a witch's best form of stress relief!"
Harry looked over at Ron somewhat apathetically. "As long as they're not forcing us to shop with them, I reckon it's best we let them."
Ron seemed torn between words. He fidgeted for a moment then made a few grumbling noises before finally agreeing to the plan.
The Leaky Cauldron was a bit quieter than one would have expected it to be on a Saturday morning. Besides their party of four, only five other people sat eating in the restaurant.
Hermione hadn't eaten such a healthy meal in what felt like ages; thus she ate her sausage with extreme fervor. Her friends had been oddly silent, but Hermione figured that it was only because they were enjoying their food.
Ron was the first to make conversation. "I spoke to Tonks yesterday."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah," He gulped down a large chunk of ham. "She said if we had been banned from the Ministry by anyone but Scrimgeour, the Aurors could have denied the paperwork. There's no way they can overturn the Minister's rulings, though."
Ginny shook her head. "I don't know why she worries so much about that. She's about to give birth any day now, she should be worried about herself."
Hermione wanted to slap herself in the face. She had completely forgotten that Tonks had been very pregnant the last time she'd seen her. Hermione even bought a present for this child that would become part of her wizarding family in the days to come.
"When is she due again?" Hermione asked, trying to mask her curiosity as best as possible. That way, she didn't look like a fool.
Harry coughed awkwardly. "Three days ago."
Hermione sank back in her chair. Now she certainly looked like a fool. At that rate, she figured that one more question wouldn't hurt.
"Is the baby a boy or a girl?"
Ron raised his eyebrow in Hermione's direction. "Nobody told you? Lupin sent a letter to Harry and me all about it. He seemed awfully excited."
"Well," Hermione began in almost a whisper, "I've gotten a bit of post over the last few weeks but I just haven't had the time to… I'm sure Remus must have sent me something."
Hermione's throat began to close up. Had Lupin sent her anything? Hermione didn't know. She hadn't even spent enough time to look and see from where her post was coming. She had fallen a step behind her friends. She couldn't even keep up with the facts of everyday social life. Christ, even Ron knew more than her!
"I think we're all done here!" Ginny piped up before Hermione managed to get drastically upset. "I'll pay Tom for his troubles then I'll go off into Diagon Alley with Hermione."
Ginny worked her way around quickly, and in less than a minute Hermione had said her goodbyes to Harry and Ron as she watched a plain brick wall turn into the elegant archway of Diagon Alley.
"Can I see you later tonight?" Ron asked in a husky voice as he gave Hermione a long hug goodbye. "Just apparate to my flat when you're done with Ginny."
"Of course."
Hermione walked through the archway with Ginny, but something caught her eye and curiosity forced her to whip around. Through the piling bricks, Hermione could see a bright silvery light approach Harry and Ron. She couldn't see the clouded shape it took, but she exactly what it was.
"A patronus!" Hermione spotted as the last brick fell into place. She turned to Ginny. "Do you still communicate with the Order of the Phoenix through them?"
"I haven't in ages, but I supposed that some Order members still use the patronuses to communicate with Harry."
"Why do you say that?"
"He's Harry Potter." Ginny sounded exasperated as she spoke. "Goodness knows they can't communicate with him like they would a normal witch or wizard. That would be preposterous!"
Catching the sarcasm in Ginny's voice, Hermione let out a giggle. It was good to be out talking with a friend again. The thought of the patronus was whisked out of her mind as she and Ginny began a frenzied string of conversation.
They had walked up and down Diagon Alley two and a half times before Hermione realized exactly what had been going on. The conversation topics of Harry, Ron, the Order, the Weasley family, Harry, Ron, Crookshanks, Hermione's reluctance to purchase an owl, work, Ron and Harry had kept her comfortably distracted from all of her troubles and time.
Hermione looked over at Ginny, looking more amused than she should have. "So, did you actually plan to buy anything on this shopping trip?"
"I dunno." Ginny shrugged, revealing to Hermione that shopping was not her main plan. "I just wanted to chat a bit. Though I suppose I should buy some broom polish and a new dress robe, if I can afford it."
"A dress robe? Do you have a big date with Harry coming up?"
"I wish." Ginny snorted, sticking her nose up into the air to emphasize it all. "Harry wouldn't know romantic if somebody shoved it up his arse." She took a deep breath. "No, that's not it. Do you remember my roommate in Gryffindor, Melinda Hopkins?"
Hermione strained her mind. It was difficult to keep track of all the Gryffindors she had met over the years. Slowly, the image of a girl with short stringy brown hair, green eyes, and enormous eyes appeared in her mind.
"Yes."
"She's marrying Colin Creevey next month."
Hermione should have seen that one coming, but she didn't. The statement made her stomach lurch a bit. However, she tried her best to play it as calm and as casual as she could manage.
First, she let out a deep sigh to get out some tension. "It seems like everybody is getting married these days."
There. That was a perfect, non-judgmental statement.
Ginny rolled her eyes as she yanked open the doors to Madame Malkin's shop. "Let's face it, Hermione. That's because everyone is getting married these days."
With that, Hermione's casual attitude burnt out. She had to ask the one question she had been holding back.
"Isn't Colin a muggle born?"
Ginny looked shocked and a bit hurt, but then she hung her head. "Yeah."
"They all give in so easily!" Hermione chided those of muggle heritage even though none of them could hear her. "Why would you give your life up like that?"
Ginny, who had been looking through a rack of robes when Hermione was speaking, whirled around in what seemed to be outrage.
"Maybe they're not giving up on their lives!" The fiery red-head shot back in a fury. "Maybe they're getting the lives they've dreamed of for ages! For your information, Melinda and Colin are very much in love, and I'm damn happy for them."
Hermione was shaken to the core. Ginny was right! Was it wrong to fight so hard against this? Had Hermione become some sort of feminist from hell?
Whether or not Hermione had become a horrid activist, she certainly felt like one. Now she had to tell Ginny her truth.
"Well, I'm in love too! What does it mean? NOTHING!" Hermione cried out, completely disregarding the fact that she was in a small shop. "I have three weeks until I'm done for! My time will be up and the Ministry will send me to Azkaban until my appeal at the very least."
"Hermione-"
"I can't make him love me, Ginny." She gasped, holding back a painful sob. "And I can't make myself love somebody else. Especially not in three weeks."
Just before Hermione had a chance to break down, something extraordinary happened in the cramped robe shop.
Ron Weasley came sprinting in, failing his arms and huffing heavily.
"Bloody hell, you two are hard to track down." Ron bent his knees a bit, leaned over and placed his hands on top of his knees in an attempt to regain his breath. "I've been searching every corner of this place."
In Hermione's fragile state, she feared the worst. "Ron? What happened? Are you alright?"
Ron nodded his head vigorously. "Yeah, but we've got to get to St. Mungo's right away."
Hermione didn't know what to think. She glanced over at Ginny and she could see the same horror and anticipation that Hermione was feeling.
"Tonks just had a baby!"
Less than an hour later, Remus Lupin came strutted through the doors of St. Mungo's maternity ward with his head held high.
These were various shouts of congratulations from Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny, who were all waiting in a small room just outside the ward.
A thought struck Hermione. "So the patronus was Lupin's!"
"Of course." Harry answered. "How else would he have found us?"
"He's beautiful." Remus put his modesty aside. "They should let you see him now, if you'd like."
Hermione could feel a small sheet of water bathing her eyes. Lupin had been through so much in his life. As much as Hermione had gone through, Lupin had seen more. He had seen Voldemort's reign not once, but twice. Almost all the people he had held dear in his childhood were now dead. Now, he had a wife and a son. He was full of joy and he finally seemed to have reached an inner peace.
"I'd love to meet him." Hermione said with a grin, trying her best to hold back her bittersweet joy.
They all followed Lupin though the many twisting halls, and after a bit Hermione grew curious.
"Where's the nursery?" She asked, looking back and forth across the hall at every door.
Ron looked at Hermione as if she were covered in giant pimples. "What's a nursery?"
"You know," Hermione stuttered. "The room where all the babies are kept."
"The baby has his own room with Tonks, of course." Ginny explained to Hermione. "Children need their mums."
Hermione nodded, pretending to have known that all along. She was surprised that in all her years of study, there were still some details that Hermione had yet to discover. Ron, however, wasn't going to let the subject go that easily.
"Muggles keep all their newborn children all in the same room?" He gaped. "Mad, that is."
Hermione was just about to tell off Ron for being so inconsiderate of the reasons muggles kept children together, such as health purposes and security, but Lupin stopped in front of one door and put a finger to his lips.
"You don't have to be so quiet." Tonks softly called out into the hallway. "He's awake right now."
Thus, the five members of the group entered the room one by one to set their sights on the newest addition to their lives.
Next to the bed where Tonks rested was a white cradle with several magic monitoring instruments hovering over it. Standing by its side, Hermione could see the tiny baby's button nose, wisps of sandy brown hair, and grayish eyes.
Harry looked back from Lupin to Tonks. "Where are the gray eyes coming from?"
"All babies are with eyes like that." Hermione explained. "Real eye colour doesn't develop until a baby is weeks, sometimes months old."
"Since when did you a book on newborn attributes?" Ron laughed.
She turned toward him with a smile. Their eyes locked for a minute in what Hermione could only describe as an awkward tension. Since when was Ron so interested in the subject of children?
They both turned and stared back at the baby. "I'm not really knowledgeable on the subject, I've just heard it before, and that's all."
Out of all of them, Ginny had been staring most fondly at the baby. "What's his name?"
Lupin looked at Tonks and Tonks looked at Lupin as if they were exchanging conversation through glances. They seemed to decide that Lupin would be the one to speak.
"His name is James." Remus told them with a twitchy smile, looking straight at Harry. "James Sirius."
Harry returned Lupin's deep stare in a moment of both affection and understanding. Hermione's heart melted.
"I know it's a bit cheesy." Tonks sighed from her bed, quickly adding "And overly sentimental."
"No!" Harry finally managed to speak up. Everyone turned to look at him now, and Hermione could just barely notice a sad smile on his face. "It's a lovely name. It suits him well." Ginny made her way to Harry and put her arm around his waist.
An eerie silence followed. Nobody could think of anything to say that could top the moment that had just passed them by.
Hermione was already cooing over the baby once again while Ron watched from the other side of the cradle when Lupin finally spoke again.
"His first name was almost Sirius, but I couldn't let Padfoot have that satisfaction even in the afterlife." Everyone let out a weak laugh.
By then little James had fallen asleep and he looked as if he would stay that way for a long time.
"Maybe it's best if we leave you all to rest now." Hermione concluded aloud.
Ginny seemed to agree wholeheartedly. "Yeah, you've all had an awfully long night."
They all left and made their way out into the waiting room, trying to be as invisible as possible. Every once in a while, Hermione would look into a room to see a mother cradling her baby or a little arm stretching up toward the glowing monitors above their cradle.
She wondered if she would ever be so lucky as to experience a situation like Tonks had experienced. Could the unstoppable Hermione Granger domesticate herself into a loving wife and mother? Certainly, her more harsh critics would think she'd gone soft. Thinking about it made her mind ache. Such a large decision was not one she could have made at that moment.
"Where are we off to now?" Hermione asked, expecting that Ginny still had an agenda hidden somewhere up her sleeve.
Ron looked uncomfortably toward Harry and Ginny. Ginny made a motion that Hermione didn't quite catch and Ron nodded ever so slightly.
"Well, I have lots to do tonight." Ginny informed Hermione. "Sorry, love."
Typical, Hermione thought. Ginny had made Hermione clear out her entire schedule even thought Ginny had already had plans for the evening.
Harry rubbed his hand into the hair residing on the back of his neck. "I can't go anywhere either. I've got to help Ginny."
"With what, exactly, does Ginny need help?"
"Oh, well… She's moving furniture." Harry stated after a moment of confusion.
Is that what they called it these days? Hermione propped her hands up on her hips. "Can't Ginny just levitate her furniture herself?"
"You know how it is!" Ginny let out an unsteady laugh. "Lots of furniture! It would take hours, maybe days!"
Hermione didn't know what had come over her friends, but before Hermione could even say goodbye to Harry and Ginny, they had apparated out of sight.
Now she stood face to face with a modest looking Ron, a meek smirk painted on his lips. "What do you say we go back to my flat, then?"
It was late afternoon and Ron's flat was dead quiet. Hermione found a creepy yet intriguing at the same time. She and Ron had never had the entire flat to themselves, especially not during the later hours of the day.
She had almost forgotten that Ron was by her side until he spoke. "I had something for you, but it's all mucked up now." He grumbled. "I suppose I'll show you anyway."
Ron took Hermione hand gently and led her into the kitchen. In the middle of the room stood a small wooden table that Hermione knew to belong to Ron and Harry, but it was disguised in a crimson cloth. Hermione didn't even know they owned a tablecloth! On the table, there were only two long white candles.
Hermione wasn't positive what Ron meant to do with such a romantic setting, but she had a few ideas.
"I set it up this morning before we left." Ron explained, looking more than disappointed. "I was going to cook dinner while you were shopping with Ginny, but then that bloody baby got in the way."
"Oh yes!" Hermione laughed at Ron's cynicism. "Let's blame a newborn child!"
Ron pulled out a chair and sat down in a huff. "I'm not blaming him. He just should have picked a different date of birth, that's all!" He retorted. "I think he's lovely. He looks just like Remus."
Ron thought for a second before adding, "Though he could look like Tonks."
"What does Tonks normally look like? You know, without the morphing?" Hermione pondered.
"I doubt Tonks even knows herself."
Hermione nodded. "James was darling, though. I can't wait to see him grow up."
"You won't even think about James growing up!" Ron sat back his chair, doing his best to convince Hermione. "You'll have your own children to think about!"
A chill ran down Hermione's spine. They had never discussed this subject in the past. Ron seemed confident, almost arrogant in this statement. Why was he so sure of himself? What was he implying? Who said that Hermione even wanted children?
"No, I don't think I'll have any of my own." Stated Hermione, acting half-defiant and half-depressed. It was a blatant lie because Hermione had never completely ruled out the idea of having children, but she hadn't decided on it either.
"What?" Are you going to adopt?" Ron replied as casually as ever.
How daft could he possibly be?
For some reason, the fact that Ron did not catch on to her previous statement angered her greatly, and she felt the need to retaliate more harshly than ever before.
"NO, Ron! I'll be in AZKABAN!"
Ron stopped looking so suave at that moment. He took down a hard gulp and leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "Hermione, listen to me. That's not something you have to worry about anymore. You know that."
"I only have three weeks, Ron! Sorry to inform you!" Hermione couldn't believe that Ron was so calm about this! It only served to fuel her rage more.
"I know that!" Ron had begun shouting now. "Did you think I wouldn't notice?" He stared at the table for a minute, letting out a rough growl. "This is not how I wanted tonight to be!"
"How did you want it to be, then?"
To Hermione's surprise, Ron began digging in his pockets and quickly pulled out a red dragon hide box.
"I wanted it to be like this." Ron stood up then dropped down to one knee by Hermione's chair. He opened the tiny box to reveal a gold ring with two diamonds forming an infinity symbol. "You can nag me. You can fight with me. You can call me whatever you want, but you have to do one thing for me first." He told her in a weak voice. "Marry me."
Hermione stood up from her seat. "Are you mad?"
"Hermione," Ron stood up next to her, "this is right and you know it! I love you!"
"You are mad!"
Hermione tried to walk away, but Ron blocked her path. His bright blue eyes bore down on her as she tried to avoid looking up at him. Finally, Hermione did look up and found herself stuck in the most frightening position of her life.
"Tell me you don't love me and I promise I'll leave you be, Hermione."
Hermione wanted to speak. She wanted to tell him a million things all at once, but she couldn't manage to find the words.
"You do love me." Ron smirked, taking Hermione silence as the answer for which he had been searching. "Don't you?"
"Yes."
Their stare broke. Ron stopped blocking her path now, but Hermione wasn't going anywhere. "Then why won't you marry me?"
Hermione had trouble finding words again, so she shook her head until she found the right ones. "It's just too much, too soon."
"Is it?" Ron seemed desperate to convince Hermione otherwise. "Ever since Hogwarts, I can't imagine myself with anyone else but you. If you can imagine yourself with someone else, someone better, I'd understand. But for me, it's always been you."
Hermione could feel something strange building inside her. She was unsure whether or not it was happiness or sadness filling her soul. She knew the answer would come to her, but it was coming very slowly.
She found herself staring into Ron's eyes once again.
"So, what do you say?"
Oh boy! What will she say? GUESS!
You'll definitely be able to tell in the next chapter. The answer won't be based on words, but on actions. You'll see?
So what did you think? Was Ron's proposal horrible? What about the name of Lupin and Tonks' son? Too predictable? I found it a bit cheesy, myself, but I'm no good with names.
Be sure to give me some feedback!
