Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of these characters. That belongs to JKR, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, etc.
Chapter Thirty Two : Connected
Ultimately, it didn't take that long for Harry to end the match. Only a little over an hour, and Hermione had sat at longer Quidditch matches. But this one had felt like it lasted forever, and the sympathetic glances from Emily and Elizabeth did not help. Hermione rather felt that they could have at least tried to intercede when it came to Caroline's questions, but they didn't. When Harry finally did catch the snitch, Hermione couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Thankfully, Hermione didn't have to say a thing to him when they were invited by his teammates to join them in celebrating the win. Harry simply said that they had other plans, and before anyone could protest, Apparated himself and Hermione away. And though Hermione thought that was because he didn't want her to stay away from Hogwarts any longer than necessary, it did turn out that he had other plans.
Very nice other plans. Though nice was certainly the understatement of the year. And they certainly had enjoyed those other plans of his. Though they were rather transparent – if it weren't for Hermione's predicament, she probably would have seen right through them and had known what he was talking about right away.
But unfortunately, she did have that problem to deal with, and while she more than enjoyed what they did that night, when she awoke the next morning, she felt horridly guilty. For she still hadn't told Harry yet – despite her promises to herself that she would do so.
Sighing, she rose from the bed, taking great care not to disturb Harry. It was far too early for her to be up, much less him, considering that he had played the match the night before. Turning to look at Harry, she pondered if he was sleeping deep enough for her to take a shower or if that would wake him. And if that does wake him, would he . . . ? Hermione shook her head furiously, trying to rid herself of such thoughts. No, Hermione. He might . . . but I have to tell him first. Because he deserves to know. Because I need to tell him. And more than that – the longer I put it off, the harder it will get and the more reason he'll have to be upset with me in the end. So it's better to just get it over with. She sighed as she gazed at Harry, reaching out to caress his cheek, which he leant into in his sleep. And he does seem to be deeply asleep. As should be considering the work out he got last night. Both during and after the game. Which is good, because I really need that shower.
With that thought, Hermione quickly and quietly gathered her things to take with her into the bathroom. After showering and getting dressed, she headed towards the kitchen. Though Professors were encouraged to eat in the Great Hall, every Professor's suite of rooms came with a fully-stocked kitchen attached. Which is probably because it would be beneath our dignity to sneak down to the kitchens late at night to steal a bite to eat. Though all the stuff in it is probably supplied from the main kitchen. Not that the boys cared when they saw everything. Hermione smiled fondly, remembering Harry and Ron's first reaction to the kitchen and everything it came with. Merlin! I'm surprised we ever got Ron out of here after that . . . for that matter, I suppose I'm surprised that either of them tore themselves away before they had finished inspecting it completely. Though I told them not to bother, as probably the contents of the kitchen would change as we used it and the House Elfs learned what to expect of us. As they did.
Opening a cabinet in her kitchen, Hermione got out her coffee press and set it on the counter. Thankfully, there were a couple things she could make and one of those two things was coffee. Hermione didn't know how she would survive without her morning cup. Probably if I was living in London – or anywhere else but here – I'd wind up going to one of those expensive coffee places every single morning. She shuddered. And what a drain on my finances that would be! Not to mention the fact that the coffee there . . . well, the coffee beans are always good but sometimes the coffee doesn't turn out that great. And my cup always winds up being too full for me to add any milk or sugar when it's bad. It's as though they want me to revel in the awfulness that is their coffee.
Her coffee press set, Hermione carefully carried it over to the table, snagging a cup for her to use along the way. The Daily Prophet was already there, having been delivered earlier. Hermione separated the sports section and put it beside her. Harry would want to read that first. Then she turned her attention to the paper, but not after throwing a longing glance at the kitchen. Toast would be really good right now. But I know better. I don't want to set off a fire before I've even taught here a month. That would not look good. So I'll restrain myself. Hermione immersed herself in the paper, losing track of time as she read it.
Fortunately, she wasn't holding her cup or swallowing a drink when Harry tapped her on her shoulder. For she leapt up into the air, startled at the interruption. "Harry!" she exclaimed when she saw who it was.
"What?" Harry looked a bit frazzled at her response. "I didn't know you'd react like that!"
"Well, you startled me."
"Sorry," he said contritely. He snagged the chair next to her and sat on it. "I was lonely when I woke up," he informed her.
"Sorry," she said and tilted forward for a quick kiss. "I didn't want to wake you though. I thought you needed your rest," she explained.
He grinned at her. "Trust me, Hermione. Seeing you first thing in the morning would have made me wake up right away." He winked. "In every single way."
Hermione blushed – and then frowned, remembering again what she hadn't told him. Now was as good as time as any, she decided, and she opened her mouth to speak.
Only to find herself being beaten by Harry. "Is there something wrong, Hermione?" he asked, leaning towards her. "I know that there's been something on your mind this past week . . . I didn't think it was anything but the usual. But did something else happen? Something that I did . . . ?"
"No!" Hermione said vehemently. "No, it's nothing like that. You're wonderful, Harry. And it's not something else at all. It's—"
As luck would have it, someone chose that time to knock on their door. Very loudly. And insistently. Hermione exchanged a look with Harry, and then they both sighed. Whoever it was, it didn't seem like they would go away without seeing them. "You'd best answer that," said Harry mildly. "It's probably better if none of your students see me answering your door."
"I have to agree with you there," said Hermione as she rose from her seat. She crossed the kitchen and then the living room to answer the door, with Harry remaining by the door to the kitchen so he could duck in there if it did turn out to be a student. But upon opening the door, Hermione found herself looking into the beaming face of her other best friend.
"Finally!" Ron looked very impatient. "I've bee knocking forever—"
"You mean for all of a minute," Hermione interrupted.
"—and I was wondering if you two were asleep and I was about to go away and just send a note."
"Too bad," Harry said with a smirk. "If I had known that, I would have made sure that Hermione was too busy to open the door."
"Hey! Is that anyway to treat your best friend? Who got up at this awful hour to congratulate you for winning last night, Harry?"
Hermione winced at how loud Ron was. "Get in, you git," she snapped at him, dragging him in by the arm and then shutting the door. "Do you want to let all of Hogwarts know that Harry's here with me?"
"Hermione, I'm sure they already know," Ron replied. "You two haven't been hiding your relationship – thank Merlin because I probably would have been the one to let that secret out – and every other witch would keep a short leash on Harry—"
"Hey! I am not on a leash!" Harry protested.
"—so everyone probably expects him to be here. Anyone with brains that is. And even those without any," Ron added as an afterthought. "I could see his fan club hanging around, just hoping he would be here."
"Were any of them around?" Hermione asked.
"Or any students in general?" Harry added, as he sat down in the armchair across from Ron. "As Hermione has her own fan club now."
"No, it's too early for them. And Hermione has her own fan club?" Ron took a seat on their couch. "Do tell! You've not said anything about that."
Hermione groaned. "Please. Let's not talk about that."
Ron shot a glance at Harry. "That bad."
Harry nodded. "Yeah. Especially as our Hermione evidently didn't know how much she was admired back when she was in school—"
"—But everyone thought she was too unapproachable to even ask," Ron finished for him. "And now that theory's been blown out of the water and so . . . ." He smirked. "I'd feel bad for her if—"
"If you had a single sympathetic bone in your body, you git," Hermione retorted. "Which you don't."
"Is it fun, Harry? Getting to say 'I told you so' to her?"
Harry grinned. "More than you could imagine."
"Harry! That's an awful thing to say!" Hermione turned around to face him.
Harry laughed and held up his hands apologetically to Hermione. "Well, I can't say it too often, otherwise she'd toss me out of bed. And that would be a drag since it's always fun sleeping—"
"Gah! No details, no details!" Ron shouted. "Innocent, young redhead standing by!"
"Ron, I don't think any of you Weasleys qualify as innocent."
"I have to agree with Harry there."
"Thanks. You two are real friends," said Ron. "But enough of this. I'll pry the details about your fan club from Harry later, Hermione." He smiled broadly at her. "I hear the game was bloody excellent. And of course, I wasn't able to make it."
"Bleh. Harry didn't catch the snitch fast enough," Hermione said with a pout. She sat down on Harry's lap, and his breath whooshed out of him as she did so. He tucked his hands around her waist, first adjusting her position and then settling down just to hold her.
"What? Hermione! I caught it before the other Seeker – and you know that's what counts!"
"Yes, well, that still wasn't fast enough." Hermione crossed her arms. "Besides, if you're going to enjoy holding the fact that you were right about the fan club over my head, I'm not going to act as though I had fun sitting with all those other witches."
"Other witches?" Ron asked, a perplexed look covering his face.
"I don't know what . . ." Harry started to say, but stopped. "Oh. Those witches."
"Which witches? Do you care letting a bloke know what you're talking about? Not all of us speak your secret code, you know."
"Our coach had all of our girlfriends and wives sitting together. Because he thought at the last game we had, some people were paying more attention to who was sitting in the stands than to the actual game. I think it worked," said Harry. "And probably you all will get to sit together at the next few games as well."
"Gah! I will not! I'll buy my ticket separately. Or I'll get Ron to buy my ticket so I don't have to sit anywhere near those witches," Hermione declared.
"Was it really that bad?" Ron asked.
"Yeah. I thought I saw you chatting with a couple of them before the match started," said Harry.
"Okay, those two weren't that bad. But when the rest of them came along . . . ." Hermione shuddered. "If I had to hear one more question about wedding plans, I would have killed the lot of them."
Harry went pale at her words, while Ron started laughing. "Wedding plans?" Ron repeated. "They grilled you on those? And you're complaining? You should be glad that they're not thinking of ways to steal Harry from you!"
"Hey! They're dating my teammates," Harry said.
"And your point is? You're still the most eligible bachelor in the Wizarding world, Harry . . . and I'm sure that at least one of those witches is secretly pining away for you," said Ron.
"And it better stay that way," Hermione said ominously.
"Just as well that we didn't go to the party afterwards," Harry noted. "Someone might have got hurt."
"It wouldn't have been me." Hermione smirked.
"So when are you dragging him to the chapel, anyway, Hermione? So you don't have to worry about witches trying to steal him away any more," Ron said.
"Hey! It's not as though I'd let myself be stolen," Harry protested. "I wouldn't do that."
Ron continued to toss cracks at Harry, but Hermione paid them no attention. His question had reminded her that she had still not told Harry. It was the perfect opening – well, not perfect, but as good as one she would ever get. But she didn't want to tell Harry with Ron around. It was embarrassing enough to tell Harry that the charm might not function if she was pregnant, but to say that to Ron as well would be ten times worse.
"Okay, and someone is ignoring us," Ron said, snapping his fingers in front of Hermione's face. "Come on, Hermione. I was just joking."
"Huh? What?"
"She wasn't paying attention, Ron," said Harry. He looked at Hermione, concern written on his face. "Hermione. What is it? You've had something on your mind these past few days . . . and you know you can tell me."
"Well, it's private," Hermione said.
"How private?" Harry asked.
Hermione shot a glance at Ron, trying to get him to leave, but he was oblivious. Which is typical, she thought. "It's about . . . about a solution to a problem I've been having," she finally settled on saying, hoping that would be vague enough. With any luck, the boys would assume that it was a personal problem and Ron wouldn't want to hear about it.
Harry blinked at her. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked.
"Huh?"
"You've found a possible counterspell?"
"You have?" Ron stood up from his seat. "You did it?" he repeated. "And you've waited all this time to tell us."
Damn. No luck for me today. "No, I've not found a counterspell," Hermione said. She felt compelled to continue when she felt Harry's arms tighten around her in dismay. "But maybe a solution to the problem it creates."
"That's being very vague," Ron noted.
"Well, it's personal." Hermione glared at him. Why can't he take a hint?
"And? I'm your best friend. I'm not going to go around telling everyone. I've not told anyone about your problem."
Hermione flushed. "And I very much appreciate that."
"You'd hex me to hell and back if I didn't. So you can trust me. What is this 'solution'?"
"Please, Hermione," Harry said from behind her, his arms gripping her so tightly that it was getting hard to believe. "Please."
Hermione closed her eyes. She wasn't going to be able to put this off to get Ron away, not with Ron being stubborn like he was and not with Harry needing to hear the answer like he was. And the way he is . . . damn. I don't think I could tell him no, she thought. She took a deep breath, then said, "If I . . . well, it's been suggested that . . . okay, if I had a child, the charm probably wouldn't work."
"What?" Ron's jaw dropped. "Hermione, you're joking! You have to be!"
"I'm not."
"But you can't be serious. Even Mum and Dad waited a few years." Ron looked frantically between his two best friends. "This is nutters. You can't seriously be contemplating that. And there's no guarantee that it would work, right?"
Hermione sighed. "I said it was private," she said under her breath.
By now, Ron had worked himself into a dither. "This is crazy. This is insane. I'm not ready to become a godfather just yet!" he wailed.
At that, Harry let out a snort. "Think of it on our end," he said. "And I think we need to talk about this."
"Talk about this! Certainly! Take your time!" Ron said. "You should."
"Alone," Harry finished.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked. "You do have privacy charms here, right? So the ghosts can't spy on you."
"Yes, we do, Ron. But we're not alone," Hermione said pointedly.
"Huh?" Ron looked around the room. "Who else is here? Does someone else have an Invisibility Cloak? Or—"
"What she was trying to say, Ron, was that we'd like you to leave," Harry said through gritted teeth.
"Oh. I get it." Ron seemed to deflate, and Hermione felt for him. She knew he was used to the three of them always being together and working to solve their problems as one, but things were different now. There were some things that she and Harry had to work out amongst the two of them – and this was one of them.
"We'll see you later, okay?" Hermione said as Ron walked over to their door.
"Yeah. That's fine." He smiled wanly at them. "Sorry for being slow on the uptake. I . . . I should have known that you wouldn't want me around when you're talking about something like that." He held up a hand to forestall anything they were going to say. "And now that I think of that, I don't think I want to be around. I don't want to hear either of you going into detail or saying something mushy and starting a snog session. I really don't want to be witness to that." And with those words, he left.
An uncomfortable silence settled between Hermione and Harry after Ron departed. Hermione didn't know quite what to say, and so she merely waited for Harry to speak. However, he was taking such a long time about it, she was beginning to wonder if she should say something – and if he was mad at her.
Finally, he did speak. "So what makes you think that having a baby would stop the charm?" he asked, a curious detachment filling his voice.
Hermione got up off his lap, so she could turn around to face him. "It's . . . the charm takes me to whoever needs me most. And if I was . . . well, who could need me more than my own child?"
"That makes sense," Harry said. "Did you want just one?"
"What?"
"I was asking if you just wanted one child. Or several."
"I actually hadn't thought that far ahead," Hermione admitted.
"So what happens if we have more two kids and they both need you really bad. Do you splinch? Or do you go to just one of them, and get to explain to the other that he didn't really need you that badly?"
"I don't know."
"You didn't think of this solution, did you?"
"No," said Hermione, shaking her head. "How did you know?"
"Because you're more diligent than that. You'd have the answers before proposing this on your own."
Hermione smiled softly. "Yeah. I would."
"That being said, do you want to . . . to give it a go?"
"Do you?"
"I asked first," Harry said. "So you should answer first.
"I don't know. Do you?"
Harry frowned. "I don't think that counts as an answer. Especially as I'm certain you have an opinion. But . . . well, I don't."
Hermione gaped at him in surprise. "You don't?" I thought he would have been raring to go.
"I don't. Is that so surprising?" He ran a hand through his hair absently, before standing up to approach her and take her hands in his. "Hermione, we just finished school a few months ago. We both have new jobs. We're both trying to get used to being on our own – and to being together. We're not ready for this. You heard Ron. Even the Weasleys waited. I don't think it would be a good idea for us not to wait."
"If it weren't for the charm, I would agree with you wholeheartedly. And even then, I still don't think I'm ready. But—"
"But what? We're going to tell the child that Mummy and Daddy only had him because Mummy needed to have a kid to stop a spell she was under? And trust me, we would have to say something, or he'd learn it from some place else and be even more hurt by it. You can't keep something like that a secret."
"I thought you would have wanted to do it. Because you get so worried about me."
"Yes, I know. But – do you want to try it? As it sounds as though you do."
Hermione shook her head no furiously. "No! Not at all. I just thought . . . I just really, really thought that you would want to try it."
"I don't, Hermione. I really don't. I want to try to figure out how to live a normal life before having a child. I just want to be with you, without having to worry about someone else."
Hermione let go of the breath she had been holding and flung herself into Harry's arms. "Me too, Harry. Me too."
"And you've just started to research counterspells here, right? If it had been years that you've been looking for a counter and you hadn't found any, then it'd be worth the risk, but it hasn't bee that long, has it?"
"Not even a month," Hermione agreed.
"So just keep looking. That's all I can ask. And if you can't find one, then we'll think about it."
"Sounds good to me," said Hermione. "You're not mad, are you?"
"Why would I be mad?"
"For me getting your hopes up like that."
"I'm not mad. And I'm glad you told me, even though it was that. Because . . . because I like to know that we're that close and you're willing to talk to me about that." He kissed her softly. One kiss was followed by another, and before they knew it, they had wound up back in bed once again.
Author's note: The next chapter will hopefully be up next Friday. In any case, I hope you liked this one and I'd appreciate it if you could leave me a review. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter -- Shawn Pickett, Tanaly, Connie, danielerin, TheGreatFox2000, ExcalibursZone, Angelic Demon16, Star19, lee74, CookiMonstr08, Oh-Dear, EuphoniumGurl0, xxbabysparklesxx, ray1, Zekintha, Korine, 788, Jabba1, Fire-bound heart, Horselover01, Amynoelle, LeslieGlady, Gamali Howell, RogueBHS, kararadcliffe, hpluver456, Kariprincess15, wyndnfyr, Bulma Queen of Saiya-jin, liongirrl4eva, Blackjewel6666, TheWraith1, aliceinwonderville, malu, Shaznay17, l-xFaTaLx-l, and PoTtErSPaYnE. Thanks so much guys. It really does mean a lot to me that you took the time to review. I'm sorry that I can't respond individually to any of you like I usually do, but I'm running out of time to post this and I don't want to delay it. I hope you understand, and hopefully I'll be able to do better next week. Yumi