Apologies for the super late and long overdue chapter upload. Life has been so busy and a little crazy as of late so I do hope new & returning readers enjoy it!
After a quiet session in the library that morning mindlessly reading a book on Gaelic myths and magic, Harry currently sat inside the local teahouse Hermione was meeting him at. The teahouse frequently brought in muggle tourists from the area and had a popular specialty of rose cardamom tea. The teahouse was modest-sized and had a warm feeling to it, walls painted in a creamy white color that were spruced up by the floral centerpieces on each linen-clothed table. The owners of the establishment only offered a traditional British tea time experience wanting to preserve the ageless tradition of their proud country.
Laurits had been waiting dutifully upon his master's hasty return to the manor last night, politely refraining from asking questions about how Harry's day went until after a sizable portion of the French onion soup and thick slices of bread were devoured. His butler listened as he recounted the events of the day- his undesirable return, his impending nuptials, the disastrous ending to his first day back into the wizarding world featuring Ron and Hermione. He took part of the blame for the way the trio had departed their reunion on such sour terms, he would reach out to Ron but first he wanted to speak with Hermione. His butler had been delighted at his upcoming outing to the village with his master's friend and suggested he treat her for a turn around the manor grounds.
A bell dinged as the door to the teahouse swung open, Hermione Granger walked in. A pair of soft, white linen pants swished past her ankles, a silk navy blouse tucked into the waistline of the pants made her appear as though she were another fashionable muggle visiting the English countryside. She sat directly across from him and set her purse down.
"Harry." She smiled and he offered a small smile in return. "Someone didn't get a good night's sleep."
"Do you ever have any fitful bouts of sleep Hermione?" He asked, signaling the waitress to start their teatime. "Mine is still not good, but better than before."
Their waitress Anne set the table as they warmed up by going over the state of their sleeping habits and any tidbits of information they hadn't included in their meeting yesterday. Anne brought jars of raspberry preserves and clotted cream near the centerpiece. Lastly, bringing the tiered dessert tower of delicate cakes, freshly baked scones, and cucumber sandwiches. They thanked her and Harry poured their tea. Taking a moment of silence they dropped sugar cubes and poured cream into their teacups, Hermione began slicing a scone in half after making her tea to her liking.
"So Hermione, would you be up for indulging my curiosity?"
"Aside from seeing you, that's why I came so you are properly caught up on the events and unnecessary family drama that has unfortunately overstayed its welcome." She began scraping a clump of preserves over a half of her scone, occasionally breaking eye contact to evenly spread the red over the pastry. "I hope you are prepared for this to take a while, because the series of events are long and have to be explained in full detail if you are to understand what has been happening."
Harry nodded reassuringly, sipping his tea and mentally preparing himself for another round of surprises. After finishing off their first cups of tea, Hermione refilled them both. Once done fixing her tea, she began.
"I married Ron because I loved him. After the trials the three of us overcame it had brought him and I closer than ever. I thought he was the one for me, whenever I came home exhausted from my job at the ministry he'd comfort me, and I did the same for him too. Of course, we started our coping mechanisms to process our trauma shortly after." Hermione's expression turned pale at the memory. She took a nibble from her scone. "He made the decision right after our wedding to hire an editor and write a memoir about our war stories."
"I remember that," He twirled his spoon in his teacup, thinking of his thoughts when Ron took the first printed copy home and brandished it in front of everyone at dessert. The book had received encouraging smiles and congratulatory phrases from most members of the Weasley family with the exception of George. "I was pretty surprised by how swiftly it sold out, the public went bananas for it."
"It turns out, despite the wizarding community's fixation on returning things "back to normal" they wanted an outlet to process the war too, and have a small escape from the hardships of rebuilding their lives. Ron's book sold out at the quickest rates seen in almost half a century. Before long, his editor and he planned out a worldwide book tour that included an array of book signings and exclusive Q&A gatherings." Harry nodded again, already having known this from past newspapers Molly would read aloud each morning after cooking breakfast. The matriarch of the Weasley family had swelled with pride at her youngest son making a career for himself. Hermione had set up the background of the story and dove into the details. "The morning after we got that newspaper covering his first book tour stop in Paris, I read the memoir. It was fairly accurate- yet, the flaws were deep. Ron and the editor put his personalized style in it, embellished details and an absolutely self-aggrandizing, self-congratulatory tone. For the duration of the book tour he didn't bother coming home to see his family, hardly responded to my letters, and each speech he did from Paris to New York was this odious bragging and arrogance that came out from him."
"Did he ever say why?" Harry asked curiously. Ron had rarely shared the unwanted attention he'd received at Hogwarts and knew the man had always craved approval and validation. He would've thought that those desires of Rons' had faded away.
"No. When he got sick of touring and playing the part of the ponce, he wouldn't explain himself. At the time, I thought it was just a blip in our marriage and put a new foot forward. For a few weeks, it seemed our marriage returned to its former state. Then when I'd come home and sleep, I'd wake up to him reeking of alcohol and pawing at me." She took a deep breath to steady herself. "He'd back off once I told him to knock it off, but it became a regular occurrence."
"I remember that as well, I saw him practically tripping over his feet going up the stairs quite a few times." Harry felt the slight pang of guilt at his inability to help his friend at that stage.
"That's when it escalated from drinking to alcoholism. He became erratic, quicker to anger. He was losing himself, I tried talking to Molly about it seeing if we could collaborate on finding him help. Fred's death still hung over her head like a dark cloud, she told me it was a small problem choosing denial. I'm not blaming part of this on you in any way Harry, but when you left it dealt a blow to him. I tried many times to persuade Ron to get help but he was on this self-destructive spiral to rock bottom that no one could stop." As she spoke, Harry took a rather tempting chocolate cake from the top of the dessert tower, needing a break from his tea. "I moved from trying to get him help to simply turning a blind eye and hoping that it would just go away. I began to spend even more time at work and sunk into a deeper oblivion of sadness and failure in my marriage. Ron's favorite drinking spot was at the Three Broomsticks, which happens to be frequented by not only employees at Hogwarts but ministry employees who directly closely work alongside me."
"Alas, and that is why Ron made that comment about him staining your career's reputation."
"Yes, that's where it originated. However, our marriage had been steadily deteriorating for some time. My colleagues gossiping about his drinking habits didn't bother me as much as he thought it did, but he seemed to think it was the catalyst that brought about my decision to end our marriage."
"How so?"
"We had a row in the middle of the night. We took it outside once Molly reminded us that other people lived in the house. I tried explaining to him that our marriage was destined to fail if we couldn't talk to each other and work things out, starting off with getting Ron help and honestly, I needed some help too. But the argument became worse and never got better. He accused me of sabotaging his happiness and making him feel bad. He told me I did wrong by telling Molly about how he needed help when she still had Fred she was always thinking about, it got nowhere and ended with Ron taking his stuff from his room and crashing on the couch."
"I thought marriage would get Ron to mellow out more, having you balancing his differences and perhaps his doing the same for you." Ron had fallen into the deep end, he thought melancholically. "So, then what happened? Did you file for divorce right after your row with Ron?"
"That night after Ron went to the couch and I was laying in bed staring at the wall I began to deeply think about my future. Is this what our lives together will look like for the rest? I thought about the problems I tried fixing but could not. I even blamed myself thinking my role as a wife had spectacularly failed and that I was to blame, that I had not tried hard enough and I lacked the capabilities to tackle married life. "
"You did not," Harry said supportively, a little saddened by her tense jaw and glassy eyes. "You exhausted your options Hermione. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink the water. You tried your best to help him, but if he doesn't want to help himself then no one can."
"I pitied myself before I resorted to anger and furious indignation at my current position. I had been the most diligent, high-achieving student in our year. I had survived a war through sheer will and was the hardest worker in my department. I wanted more for my life, not to remain stuck in this cycle. So I packed my things and got myself an apartment in downtown London."
"I understand much better now. So this is where you finally decided to push for divorce." He offered, completely engrossed by her telling of the events.
"You know it's a little funny Harry, I nearly considered taking a leaf out of your book and making a run for it too. To escape all this – but I couldn't. I was too dedicated to my job in the ministry and was playing a role in the rebuilding through my job. I couldn't back out- I'm glad I did not." She added that last part firmly. Draining the remainders of her tea and polishing off her scone, she poured her third cup but skipped the additional sugar cubes. "The divorce was quick and relatively painless. Molly was upset and held it against me for three years. Ron showed up to court looking emotionless."
"So…. when the divorce played out, what occurred after that? From what you've been telling me Ron and you were in a nasty bind. It seems like he would need something more to even begin explaining why he was so rude to you yesterday."
"Yes there is more. I'm just going to come right out with it- shortly after my divorce I began seeing Draco Malfoy."
He loudly coughed on his sip of tea and miserably failed to hide his disbelief and astonishment at the dramatic bombshell.
"Harry James Potter!" She pointed a finger at him. "Before you start peppering me with questions I need to tell you everything." He bit his tongue to keep the dam of questions and comments from breaking. "Aside from work, I never went out because the paparazzi kept coming for me wanting the big scoop on the divorce details while the public seemed eager to lap up another distraction. In a way, I became like you, hiding myself from everybody. Only, I found one of the few wizards who understood my predicament. Draco had been laying low after having his punishment doled out and we connected. I thought it was to keep the ache of loneliness at bay that sparked our ah… companionship."
"Alright, excuse me Hermione" He briskly interrupted. "Do not take this in the wrong way, but before you continue I am going to have Anne sneak me a brandy so I can listen to this. I mean, Malfoy and you?"
"I know you must think it's completely diabolical that I shacked up with him for a few months but he was remorseful and had started becoming a decent person. He was keeping a low profile and begged my forgiveness for the part he played in the war. We opened up and allowed one another to see our vulnerabilities, and well….." She profusely blushed. Anne delivered Harry his brandy, much to his relief. "It didn't take long for our friendship to also take on the role of physical intimacy. Putting it bluntly, we used each other for carnal release."
A snort combined with a chuckle released itself from Harry. He couldn't help but feel the temptation to laugh at Hermione's blushing face and the fact that she couldn't even say the word "sex" and opted for a way of saying it that made it sound like an unholy sin.
"Oh shut up you" She blushed even harder. "We tried keeping it a secret, which inevitably failed. Someone must have tipped off a paparazzi photographer because one night when Draco was waiting at my apartment doorstep for me to let him in, the unthinkable happened. We see on the front page of the newspaper a photo of me pecking him on the lips right before I let him come in. Next, all hell broke loose."
"You really landed yourself into boiling hot water. On top of getting with one of the most infamous Death Eaters, the paparazzi managed to catch you in the act. I'm not saying that you don't have the right to be with whoever you want, you are a free woman but you really picked the wrong time to experiment with the bad-boy type."
"But still!" She slammed her cup back into its saucer as her voice volume rose. She was still mindful to keep it below a certain level so as to not make a commotion. "What business did everyone have pressing their noses into my private life? It took months before the never-ending stream of Howlers calling me an evil trollop stopped."
"The public bombarded you with hate mail Hermione?" He commented disgustedly, negative bias towards the paparazzi increased at the story of his friend being used for their viewership ratings that placed her at the mercy of public outrage. "Yet another reason why I have hidden away all this time, is so those relentless photographers will not endlessly hassle me."
"The hate mail wasn't even the worst of that fiasco Harry. Ron lost it. Banging like a madman on my door demanding to speak with me. It was positively frightening."
"But you two were divorced. Malfoy might not have been the best choice for a rebound but why was he so spun up about it?"
"Aside from being an ex-Death Eater he had never forgiven Draco er- Malfoy for all the heckling and bullying from our Hogwarts years. He told me I had allowed myself to be bedded by the enemy, in his eyes, I had stabbed a knife in his back." Hermione was gripping her teacup handle so tightly Harry thought she would shatter it. Time for a change in scenery, he thought.
"Hermione would it make you feel better if we go for a walk? I have many paths and trails on my manor grounds. That way, you will not have to restrain yourself as much." She nodded, sliding money onto the table. Harry had invited her and refused to let her pay for it all. He placed a wad of money onto their table. Once outside and leaving the premises of the village, she resumed.
"I yelled at Ron that our marriage was over and that I had the right to be with who I want when I want. He had no right as my ex-husband to show up on my front doorstep accusing me of betrayal. Right on cue, the paparazzi arrived and began snapping photos of our argument. To save us embarrassment and not wanting to be further publicly humiliated, I tried to convince Ron to have a civil conversation inside my living room."
"Did he?" He already knew the answer before she spoke it.
"Of course he didn't. He seemed content to let me be the one who's embarrassed and he kept the production going by shouting how clear it was to him now how little our marriage had meant to me. He literally acted like I had become Voldemort's mistress! Who was he to talk to me about our marriage meaning anything while he let it fall apart?" She threw her arms up in an exasperated manner. They turned a corner to the right down a dirt pathway covered by a long arch of trees shading them.
"What about Malfoy? Did he dump you after the media coverage and the Weasley tornado rolled in?"
"If only he had done that, it would have made things much less complicated." A hard acorn crunched under Hermione's wooden sandal. "As a matter of a fact, I broke things off with him."
"So you're telling me that after you ended things with Ron, you crawled into bed with Malfoy, dumped him, and then went to throw a protest against him and his blokes. Merlin, you've been very busy, haven't you Hermione."
"It doesn't stop there Harry. The plot is about to thicken. When I discussed ending our companionship, Malfoy was furious at me. While we'd been doing well- what'd we'd been doing he caught deep feelings for me."
"Hermione, I better watch out- you are cultivating a track record for breaking hearts." He wittily suggested, trying to lighten the mood of the conversation.
"Ha, ha." She threw back sarcastically. "Very funny. All that aside, I am glad to speak to you about it. It's almost like the old days."
They passed through the archway of trees hanging over them and came out to a view of luscious green rolling hills covered by blooming dandelions. Stone walls lined parts of the hills, giving this part of the manor property a true countryside touch to it.
"Alright Harry, you have heard me talking about my life for too long. I am just going to leave out details to arrive at the current events. After breaking up with Malfoy he reverted to his old ways. Now I am back with Viktor Krum."
"Krum?!" Harry halted momentarily. "He's still orbiting your atmosphere? I thought you guys lost contact before our sixth year."
"We fell out of touch because it became too hard to maintain. He was traveling all over the world playing quidditch and we were in the beginning of a war. There was too much to think about and not enough time to keep a young love going."
"Are you are in love with him Hermione?" He carefully asked.
"I always have, although I repressed those feelings for a while and my feelings for Ron overpowered the feelings I had for Viktor. Yet, that time when I saw Viktor at Bill and Fleur's wedding I–" She choked up a little, eyes watering. "I felt a burn in my chest and then I remembered I was with Ron so I danced and I forgot about him during the war. After the Ron and Malfoy mess, I had to step in for the ambassador to wizarding France. During a break in the conference, the World Quidditch Cup tournament conference was taking place nearby. I ran into Viktor then, and from there well, we picked up where we left off."
"But that is why he is still so angry at me after all this time," She continued, story seemingly at an end. "Because I divorced him and coupled up with his former archnemesis, which resulted in his fury and humiliation. He does not know that I am back with Viktor."
"Better hope he does not or his head will blow for real this time. It is no wonder Ron transformed into such a moody dragon. Again, you are completely within your rights to do as you please with your life Hermione, don't you think choosing maybe Anthony Goldstein or Oliver Wood may have been a more diplomatic path to take? Instead of getting back with the two men that Ron probably despises the most in life?" The last question he said sarcastically, faintly amused at his close friends' choices regarding men. Perhaps Ron needed a little fire set under his butt after all. He felt that their outing together was unbalanced due to Hermione sharing all her secrets, he was suddenly taken by the urge to infill her in on the details of his pending engagement.
"Well this has been great to do with you Harry, but I've got to go to my apartment and put my final report draft together. I've run out of time, maybe we could meet up like this again soon?"
"Yes 'Mione, for you, always. You'd only need to ask."
They hugged and parted. Hermione taking the direction back to the village and Harry beelining to his manor, both feeling good and footsteps lighter than before. He took the roundabout trails back to the manor, enjoying the faint smell of lilies in the air. Passing through the array of flower beds and grand tiered bubbling fountain he jogged up the stairs under the columned portico and saw that Laurits already awaited at the doors with an uneasy look on his face.
"Is something the matter Laurits?"
"Sir, I do greatly apologize for this rather surprising imposition to have put you in…"
Harry sighed, the lighter feel good feelings from before decreasing. "What happened Laurits?"
"You have an unexpected visitor sir. She came in not too long ago. I offered her seating in the drawing room to no avail, she insisted on waiting in the front foyer until your return."
Oh Merlin. If it is Ginny Weasley just beyond the door waiting to have some words with him about her being callously dumped, he was in for it. Worse, if she brought Molly Weasley along, he was dead. How on Earth did they find his address?! Potter manor was his private safe haven, he made sure any records or postal logs carrying information on his address were wiped off right after he moved into the manor for a pretty penny too. He had paid good money to ensure his privacy would only be open to others if he allowed it. Which brought him to the next thought- why on Earth did his most trusted member of staff who he counted as a friend and confidante let them in? He could outduel both women but he did not want verbal confrontation. He began regretting returning to the Wizarding World at all- he seemed to be getting ambushed everywhere he went.
His butler must have caught on to his train of thought, rushing to reassure him. "It is not the senior Mrs. Weasley nor the junior Ms. Weasley sir. I do not believe you two are acquainted, despite being in the same school year at Hogwarts. When she first arrived, I was ready to immediately send her away with a reminder that this is a private estate and that the master of the house does not take visitors, let alone unexpected ones. Before I could get a word in, she presented her calling card and I made the decision not out of disrespect to your wishes sir, but for the sake of the current conditions of the situation to allow her inside."
"What conditions of what situation are we talking about Laurits?"
"It would not have been a wise move on my part to bar the future lady of this house entrance on our first meeting."
Harry's head snapped up and he composed his Lord Potter expression to sweep past Laurits into the front foyer. There, standing before the portrait of Fleamont and Euphemia Potter was a tall woman with light blonde hair. She turned and he was taken aback by the beauty of her. It was not a classical type of beauty- a cold, fair skinned blonde haired ice queen beauty, befitting of the nickname he heard her called during their time at Hogwarts. Her green eyes bore into him.
"Hello Potter. I do hope you do not mind my impromptu visit, I was passing by. Seeing as we are to be married soon, I think you would agree that we have important matters to discuss." His betrothed made no movement towards him.
"Very well. Come, I will take you to the seating in the gardens behind the manor." He quickly recovered and maintained his composure. Offering his arm to her, he escorted Daphne Greengrass through the network of halls to the exits leading to the gardens, mind juggling a variety of thoughts centering on how she got here and more so what it is she wanted.
Boom! Finally finished this chapter. Thought it would take me longer. Next one will not take nearly as long to be uploaded as this one did. Don't be shy, send reviews!
