And onto part 3.
I'd just finished the last of my correspondence, and was making my way over to my drinks cabinet for a little night cap when an owl flew into my office. I knew this owl. I hadn't seen it for what felt like years.
Hermione had responded. Dread and anticipation filled me with equal measure. I regretted sending the missive as soon as I lost sight of one of the school owls. But it was too late to take any of what I said back now. "Hello Bowie, long time no see my friend" I stroked down his feathers and removed the letter from his leg. "You can rest up in the owlery until you're ready to fly back" I got a deep hoot in response, and then he swept from my office. I slit the seal and opened the parchment
M
I need you.
I'm at my parents house, I'll be waiting in the garden for you
H x
My heart sped up, could she possibly mean it? I grabbed my outer robe and made my way down to the gates of the castle. As I approached the gates, my hands started to shake and sweat. Merlin, get a grip you old coot I admonished myself. As I opened the gate I took a few deep breaths and then turned on the spot envisaging the little park a little away from Hermione's parents home.
As I appear in a copse of trees I make sure no ones around, and make my way quickly to my destination. I could get there quicker if I transfigured into my familiar but I don't want to sneak up on Hermione. I bypass the front door and make my way to the back gate. It opens silently, as I make my way around the side of the house, Hermione comes into view. My breath leaves my body, my mouth drops open. I haven't seen her in person since Rose's 1st birthday, but she looks more resplendent than before, The moonlight reflecting off the few highlights in her hair. She's looking towards the floor, her thoughts a million miles away. I steady myself and clear my throat lightly to announce my presence.
"Hermione, love" I whisper. Her head jerks up and she turns to face me.
The pain in her eyes radiates towards me and wraps itself around my heart. Oh My Love.
I take the last few steps and pull her to me. I hold her as tightly as I dare. She begins to cry into my shoulder, great heaving sobs. I ease us down onto the swing, and rub circles on her lower back, murmuring words of reassurance into her ear.
"I'm here, I'm so sorry Hermione. I'm here now" Over and over like a mantra. I pull her onto my lap, I'm hoping the heat from my body will keep her grounded. I go quiet as her sobs quieten down. After about 20minutes she becomes heavy in my arms. She's fallen asleep.
I lift her carefully, and carry her back into her childhood home. I ascend the stairs with my precious cargo and nudge open the only slightly ajar door on the landing. It seems luck is with me as this seems to be Hermiones room. I lay her down in the middle of the bed and cover her with the comforter. As I stand back, she begins to murmur and becomes restless, even in sleep she can't find peace. I quickly transfigure my clothes into some nightwear and scooch up next to her. I carefully place my arm under her head and put the other over her stomach. She snuggles closer into my side and then begins to softly snore.
My poor dear Hermione. I look over her features now that she is closer, with the light of the moon I can see the dark bags under her puffy eyes, the red rims, and redness around her nose, where she has been blowing it a lot. She did truly love Ron. Surprisingly that thought doesn't hurt as much as I had feared. At least she had been happy and loved for the last 10 years. I brush my lips across her brow and close my eyes.
Something disturbs me from my slumber the following morning. I can feel someone watching me, It's not Hermione, she is still sleeping if her breathing is anything to go by. I crack an eye open a smidgen to assess my surroundings and I see a little ginger haired boy staring at me, with wide eyes. Hugo. He's hugging a teddy bear to him and is comforting himself by sucking on his thumb. I free one of my hands from Hermione's grasp, wait how did that happen? I don't have time to figure it out right now and place my finger against my lips. I ease the rest of the way from the warmth of Hermione and slide my way off the bed. As soon as I am stood upright, Hugo pelts towards me and jumps into my arms. "Minerva" he whispers into my ear and I carry him out of the room so as not to wake his mother. She needs as much sleep as she can get.
As we move further down the hallway I can hear noises downstairs, the other occupants of the house must be up. I make my way down the stairs with Hugo balanced precariously on my hip. His hold around my neck hasn't abated. I realise that the other members of the household probably don't know I'm here and as I push through the kitchen door the silence that greets me confirms it. Rose is the first to break the silence
"Minerva" she yells and launches herself at me. I just about manage to move Hugo out of the way so that I can catch her with my other arm. Oh these precious little darlings. I've missed them so much. I look up and nod at Mr and Mrs Granger.
Rose pulls back and sits back on her chair at the table, but her eyes haven't left me. I pry Hugo away and place him on his chair, and stroke his head as I pull away.
"Mr and Mrs Granger, my apologies. Hermione sent me a letter late last eve requesting my presence, and she fell asleep on me out in the garden. I honestly didn't want to leave her, so I slept in her room" I realise I'm babbling at this point, so I close my mouth and look around the room again.
"Professor Mcgonagall, right?" asks Mrs Granger
"Yes, Minerva if you will" I say and shake the proffered hand
"Then I am Jean and this is my husband Christopher, Chris for short" Jean reminds me, indicating to her husband who is giving the children some toast. " A pleasure" he murmurs.
"Did you get Hermione to speak about anything?" Jean enquires.
I cast a glance over the children not really wanting them to be privy to our conversation, I'm sure Hermione doesn't want her children to know how much she is hurting right now.
"Erm. no, it was quite an emotional reunion" I settled for. Jean nods and passes me a cup of coffee and indicates a seat at the table.
As I sit down, I take a sip of the coffee and look over at Rose and Hugo again. They both look well, if a little strained around the eyes. At least they are eating. I give them a smile and encourage them to eat up by grabbing a slice of buttered toast myself. As I'm slowly chewing and drinking the last of my coffee, my keen hearing picks up on Hermione coming down the stairs. I turn towards the door, just as she enters the room. "Mum" Hugo squeals and gets down from his chair and runs over to her "Minerva's here" he pulls her by the hand and brings her over to me. I smile up at her, a glint of humour in my eyes. "I can see that Hugo, she came to see me last night, you know she's a very dear friend. You're talking again, that's good to hear, I've missed your voice little bumblebee" She bends down to give him a hug and smiles at me over his shoulder. Hugo then proceeds to walk over to me, climb up on my lap and announces, "you can have my seat Mom, I like sitting with Minerva" Hermione grins at him, kisses him on the nose and as she walks around us trails her fingers across my shoulder. I remember when she last did that, and I can see goosebumps travelling up my arm. To try and hide my reaction I begin to tickle Hugo, his laughter fills the small kitchen, and the start of the day seems to brighten some.
As Hermione takes her seat, she takes a look at the food on the table, I can see that she doesn't want any. I reach out, lightly butter and jam some toast and slide the plate across the table, "please" I implore. I let my hand leave the plate and I find hers and rub my fingers over the back of her hand "if not for yourself then for the children. I thought we could maybe walk them to the park a little later if you're up for it. We need to talk" I finish. Our eyes haven't left the other, I can't read the emotion I'm seeing but she finally nods and brings the toast up to her mouth and takes a small bite. "A walk would be nice" she agrees and finally looks away from me.
Rose and Hugo rise from their places and go back upstairs to get changed. I realise I've been sitting here in transfigured nightwear, I can feel my cheeks pink and excuse myself from the table. I also make my way upstairs to revert my clothes back, but just as I'm closing the door, Hermione follows me in, with a panicked look in her eyes.
"Don't leave" she breathes, "I'm not ready for you to go yet, please Minerva, I….we need you" her chest is heaving from the anxiety she's put herself in. I walk over and pull her towards me, "I'm not going anywhere, love, I just wanted to change my clothes back" I lean back and kiss her on the forehead. I can feel her relaxing in my arms as I stand there rubbing her back. She places her ear over my heart and a tear runs down her cheek. We stand there for a while, gently swaying, until Hermione has composed herself enough to pull away.
"I'm sorry" she whispers as she wipes her face dry from the tears. "I'll go use the bathroom and get changed then we can go." I nod and watch as she leaves. A quick wave of my wand and my clothes are suitable enough for a walk and visit to the local muggle park and my hair is in a braid down my back.
Hermione looks a little bit more put together when she returns. I can hear the children chattering away in the hall, waiting for us to descend and take them out. I grab Hermione's hand as I walk past, and give it a little squeeze of encouragement and then walk out the door. Hermione follows me down the stairs and asks her children if they are ready "course Mom, let's go already" says a very impatient Hugo, who's bouncing on the balls of his feet. Rose just shrugs and heads out the front door. She has a notebook under her arm, I wonder what she's planning on doing with that?
We arrive at the park five minutes later. The park itself is mainly a field with a play area in the middle for the local children. There are a few things to climb, a couple sets of swings and the obligatory roundabout. Hugo zooms off to go play and Rose surprises me by going to sit under a nearby tree and pulls her notebook and a set of pencils out of her pocket. Hermione and I pick a bench that is in view of both the children and sit down together. I take a moment to look her over, again. The bags under her eyes seem to have lessened somewhat since last evening, there is still a redness to her nose and eyes but she still takes my breath away with her beauty. When I see her start to get uncomfortable from my scrutinising I blurt out "I'm so sorry, Hermione. For everything. For pulling away, for not fighting harder for our friendship, for the letter" I sigh "it wasn't the way I wanted to tell you, hell I hadn't wanted to tell you at all" I look down at my hands. "I'm sorry Ron's died and left you alone to look after your wonderful children on your own, but if you will allow me I'd like to help, where I can, babysit, a shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to, even yell at if that's what you need, anything" I finish in a rush. I wait, and wait for Hermione's response. When nothing seems to be forthcoming I raise my head and look at Hermione. "I'm sorry too Min, I never questioned why you distanced yourself from us, in the beginning Ron kept me occupied with little projects, or trying to get pregnant again, and then I was so wrapped up with Rose and then Hugo then work, by the time I realised that I missed our talks, our time together, three years had passed. I had written a letter to you, asking to meet for lunch again but Ron came home as I was finishing it up and he got angry. I didn't understand at the time, we said some crossed words, he tore the letter into pieces and stormed out of the flat." She confesses. "Whenever you were mentioned in Ron's presence it was like a cloud of rage descended, there was absolutely no talking to him. I spoke of you often to both Rose and Hugo when Ron was away for work, regaled them of stories from our time in my final year and our meetings prior to Roses birthday, that's why they reacted to you the way they did, they love you Minerva" she smiles at me and reaches out to take my hand "almost as much as I did. Well do, I suppose, but I'm not ready to be in another relationship. Ron's only been gone a few days, we haven't even buried him yet, and here I am betraying him, bringing his worst fears to life" I can feel her hands trembling as she holds mine. I give them a squeeze "Hermione, we don't have to do anything, until you're ready, until then I can wait, I can support, I can be whatever you need. I love you, no amount of time is going to change that" I smile at her, and pull her towards me for another hug. She leans her head on my shoulder and holds my hand in her lap, occasionally stroking her thumb across my palm. "We'll take things as slowly as you need, love" I whisper and kiss her head.