Intermission - 2
It was supposed to be a short, no more than a few months' trips and yet here he was, in Nassau, The Bahamas. It had been four years since he arrived in the Caribbean nation which forms part of the infamous Caribbean Archipelago. He has stayed there ever since.
Far and wide he had traveled. To Africa and to the easternmost Asia he had gone, enjoying the perpetual summer the continent of Africa possessed and observing the deep mystical culture of the oriental. He stayed for a while in Bhutan, enjoying the calm and the serenity the Himalayan country offered. But it was The Bahamas where he ended up stuck for the next four years.
No one knew who he truly was in The Bahamas. No one knew that he was the one who slain one of the most dangerous dark wizards of all time. No one knew he was the hero for both wizard and muggle-kind. In The Bahamas, he was no one. And yet he found that he enjoyed his newfound status. And he found that he actually enjoyed being a muggle for once. Not that he didn't meet anyone from the wizarding world. He saw them nearly every day. They just didn't recognize him. The wizards and the witches were just too busy with their vacation to notice anything else.
He worked various odd jobs in Nassau, from being a bartender to being a security guard to being a tourist guide. Not that he needed to. The large inheritance he received from the Potter Estate and the Black family was more than enough to last him a lifetime. He just needed something to cover his track. No one needed to know that he was actually one of the richest men currently residing in The Bahamas.
Letters from the Weasleys were few and far between. He understood why. No owls would survive the journey across the Atlantic. Letters between countries were sent in a multitude of different ways and it can be quite expensive to send one especially over the ocean. Also, the Weasleys would be very busy now that all except Ginny were working. Mrs. Weasley, although she was a housewife, would be very busy tending to her household.
It had been a year since the last time Harry heard anything from them until one day he returned from work to a letter placed neatly on his bed. It was a wedding invitation. Ron was getting married.
It wasn't the news of Ron getting married that surprises him. It was to whom Ron was getting married.
Lavender Brown.
The girl who hogged Ron's attention during their sixth year. She nearly died in the Battle of Hogwarts after falling from one of the balconies and into Fenrir Greyback's hands during the peak of the battle. She would have lost her life if it wasn't for Hermione's quick reaction. Hermione together with Professor Trelawney managed to drive the werewolf away before the latter could sink his teeth into Lavender's unconscious body.
Fate was cruel to Hermione it seems.
Questions burrowed into Harry's brain on why Ron ended up with Lavender instead of Hermione. He was so sure that Ron and Hermione would end up together given how close they were. He knew that Hermione loved Ron and Ron himself showed his jealousy streak when Viktor Krum appeared during the wedding of Bill and Fleur.
So what gives?
Throughout those five years, he only got one letter from Hermione who expressed her relief that he was safe and that he finally got to enjoy his life the way it should be. That's about it. He sent a few more letters to her of course, but she never responds to any of them. He took it that Hermione was very busy with her career and her family.
His initial reaction was to write back to Ron right in that instance to demand an explanation but then he remembered that he was going to attend his best friend's wedding anyway. Might as well just hear the explanation directly from the groom himself.
Harry landed at London Heathrow two days later.
He purposely chose to fly from The Bahamas instead of using the Floo Network. He had grown fond of muggle transportations. They were slow alright, but they were a lot more comfortable than any magical transportation could ever be. He still liked brooms though.
British Airways First Class was fine indeed.
From the airport, he took the taxi to Westminster. He intended to take the Floo Network to the Burrow from there. The Weasleys were expecting him. But just as he arrived outside the entrance into the Ministry of Magic, he met Bill.
Bill was on his way back to Shell Cottage. He invited Harry to his house.
"They won't be back home for another few hours. Fleur and I are planning to visit the Burrow tonight. We could go together," said Bill.
Harry accepted the invitation.
Harry sat idly inside the kitchen, watching Fleur attending to Victoire. The precocious five-year-old girl was just as pretty as her mother. Bill and Fleur's daughter had been staring curiously at Harry ever since he arrived at the Shell Cottage.
"You have to forgive her. We don't get a lot of visitors and the only time she has friends is when she attends the nursery. She gets bored very easily. She has been demanding that we give her a brother or a sister ever since," said Fleur, chuckling.
Fleur's English had improved tremendously since the last time he saw her. Now she sounded just like any English people he met. At that moment, she was a few months pregnant with her second child.
Harry smiled. "Looks to me she's getting her wishes. Now all she has to do is wait for the bun to come out from the oven."
Fleur laughed. Gathering Victoire's plate and cup from the table to place them at the sink, she said, "She hates waiting."
Shell Cottage underwent very few changes since the last time Harry came here. It was there during the war that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a few others seek refuge. Aside from a television set that now resided inside the living room, it was a familiar sight.
"So how's France? How's your family?" Harry asked.
"They're fine," Fleur replied. She was washing the dishes at that moment. "Papa and mama came to visit last week. They missed their granddaughter so much and have been talking about wanting to bring Victoire to France for a week or two."
"And your sister?"
"Still in school. She'll be attending Ronald's wedding this weekend. You'll meet her."
At that point, Harry had nothing but respect for Fleur. She came from a well-off family and yet she had no problem spending her life with Bill inside an old and small cottage that was far from everyone and doing everything herself. Harry knew this because Bill told him once that Fleur's parents offered her a house elf. She declined.
In the magical world, aside from private and government institutions, only rich families had access to house-elves.
Bill entered the kitchen at that moment after taking a long hot shower. Fleur handed him a cup of hot coffee. Bill muttered thanks and sat opposite Harry at the table.
"It's been a while since the last time I saw you," Bill began, taking a sip from his cup. "You look not much different. Aside from the beard."
Harry chuckled, feeling his face at the same time. "Yeah, I never shaved. Just trim. It's too much work and I'm just too lazy. I found that wizards and witches don't recognize me when I'm looking like this so that's a plus."
"Is that so? I take it that you saw a lot of our kind at The Bahamas?"
"More than I care to count," said Harry, taking a sip from his cup. "But it's nice to be invisible for a change. It's fun living there, you know. You meet a lot of people. Gringotts even has a branch set up there."
"Yeah, I know. I could get transferred there anytime I wish but I don't want to. I was told that it was too hectic working there. A friend of mine was transferred there. Had been screaming about wanting to go back to Britain ever since," said Bill. "So how long you'll be in England, Harry?"
"Two weeks. Been wanting to do a little bit of catching up with some friends."
"So you're not staying permanently?" asked Fleur as she sat next to her husband.
Harry paused. After a while, he said, "I don't know. I've been thinking about returning permanently to England, but maybe some other time. There are some affairs that I need to take care of in The Bahamas first before I make Britain permanently my home."
"Understandable," said Bill.
"Anyway," Harry continued. "So, Lavender Brown is going to be your sister-in-law."
Bill's reaction to his statement took Harry by surprise.
Shaking his head, Bill said, "You know, I thought it would be Hermione. Imagine my surprise when mom told me Ron brought Lavender Brown back to the Burrow and introduced her as his fiancée."
"I wonder how that happened? I mean, all the signs were there," said Harry.
"I know, right? I wonder about that too but things happened. The problem is, Ron never tells us anything especially when it comes to his personal life. We only got to know that he and Hermione were an item after the Battle of Hogwarts. Mom was the one who told us. But anyway, Lavender Brown will become the latest member of our family this coming weekend, not Hermione. Mom was quite devastated. That woman loves Hermione a bit too much. She accepted Lavender though, saying that as long as her children are happy, she wouldn't mind," said Bill.
"Have you heard anything from Hermione? I only got one letter from her. She went silent after that."
Bill and Fleur exchanged somber looks.
"Harry, Hermione is no longer with us," said Fleur.
Fleur's reply took Harry by surprise. "You mean... she's dead?"
"No! No. She's still alive, I promise you. What I meant is that she's no longer part of the magical world. She rescinded her right of using magic two years after finishing Hogwarts. The Ministry destroyed her wand right after that. We lost contact with her ever since," Fleur explained.
Harry slumped against his chair, his face betrayed utter disbelief.
Silence took over the Shell Cottage's kitchen. For a few minutes, no one said anything.
Harry raised his face from the palm of his hands. Looking at the couple in front of him, he asked, almost pleadingly, "But why? Why would she do that? Why would she leave?"
Fleur who had been watching Harry very carefully glanced at her husband. Bill however said nothing. "It has something to do with Ronald and to some extent, you. That boy hurt her, a little bit too much," she said. There was an expression of disdain showed on her face when she uttered Ron's name. "And you weren't there when she needed you. Hermione came and stay at our house many times during your absence, Harry. She talked about Ronald. She talked about you. She lamented about the time when you and Ronald were by her side. She spoke about how Ronald hurt her. She spoke about how much she misses you. She stopped going to the Burrow after Ronald left her and started coming here instead."
"She told us that Ron broke up with her a few months after she graduated. I think he had been going out with Lavender Brown when Hermione was still at Hogwarts," Bill added.
Harry sighed. "She could have told me this. I would have come back for her."
"I know you would. That's what I told her, Harry. I urged her to write to you but she refused. She told me she doesn't want to bother you with her own personal issues. She said she wanted you to enjoy your life as you should without having to worry about anything," said Fleur.
Harry went silent at this.
Ron would be holding his wedding in three days. Harry found that he no longer looking forward to it. Not when he knew Hermione wouldn't be attending it.
He would get to the bottom of this, that's for sure. He would confront Ron and once the wedding is over, he would search for Hermione.
And he would not stop until he found her.
To be continued to the next final chapter...
A/n: I just had to write this chapter. I'm having trouble opening up a new chapter for my other story. Hopefully, it'll resolve soon.
Anyway, I'm bringing Across the Time back. It will appear by the end of the month, hopefully. To Neatstuff, if you read this, I allow you to use the old version of the Across the Time. Not the new one. I'll report you if I found any similarities with the new one.
To the rest, I will share more info when I update The Day We Find Love.
Anyway, enjoy.
