Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Thirteen: Carry Me Out

Meredith looked up from her spot on Leo's shoulder, finding the tears still dripping from his eyes - just as they were from her own.

"I think about her every second of every day." Meredith admitted tearfully.

"So do I." he whispered back. "And you, Mer. Always you."

She wanted to tell him just how much she missed him. How much she still loved him. But she couldn't. She couldn't open up her mouth to get the words out.

"What did we do to deserve this?" Meredith whispered bitterly.

"I ask myself that everyday." he said.

Leo laid down, pulling Meredith with him. Hesitant at first, she decided to rest her head on his chest, letting him hold her close - just like he used to. She felt his lips brush the top of her head and she just held on tighter, letting her tears fall again.

. . .

Draco tried hard to not glare at Harry, but he couldn't help it. He hated seeing Harry like that with Hermione, even though he knew that he shouldn't be jealous. He couldn't control his jealousy, even after all these years.

He knew that Hermione loved him with all of her heart, there was no doubt of that in his mind. He just hated that Harry knew her in a way that he never would.

"Draco, would you please stop looking so murderously at Harry?" Hermione sighed.

Draco blushed, looking back at Hermione. She stood up from her spot next to Harry on the couch and crossed the room, joining him on the love seat. She kissed his lips softly before slipping his hand in his.

That calmed him down a bit.

"Alright, what can we do, Harry?" Draco asked, sighing in resignation.

Harry just shook his head. "I don't know. Have you ever tried to reason with Ginny before?"

Draco widened his eyes and nodded. He had tried a few times to reason with Ginny over the years - all of which had ended in Ginny yelling.

It wasn't his favourite thing to do. He usually left it to Hermione.

"D'you want me to try?" Hermione offered.

Harry was quiet before his cheeks went red. "No."

"And why not?" Hermione questioned.

Hermione was usually the one that could actually get through to the red head. He looked at Harry curiously, realizing just why Harry was blushing.

"She... she brought that up." Harry muttered.

"Seriously?" Hermione blurted. "Your fight was so bad that she brought up something that is literally from twenty years ago?"

Draco ground his teeth together as Hermione squeezed his hand. He knew that what Harry and Hermione had had was never anything real, but it still made him feel squeamish.

"That's how bad it was." Harry sighed. "That's how crazy this Ron thing is making her feel."

Hermione groaned loudly and Draco kissed her temple quickly before squeezing her hand back. He knew that she always got flustered and crazy about her relationship with Harry.

"Still... I've got to talk to her." Hermione sighed. "And Meredith. I've got to talk to Meredith."

Marley and James came back into the room with Harry's coffee, James putting it on the table in front of his father before standing hand in hand with Marley again. Draco had only been mildly surprised at the appearance of James in his kitchen that morning. He had been more controlled by the sight of Harry snuggling with his wife.

"Where is Meredith anyways?" Hermione asked. "I don't think she ever came back since leaving with Leo last night."

"Angel, I'm sure she's fine." Draco sighed, wrapping an arm around Hermione.

Now, he just needed to believe it himself.

. . .

"Can you guys give us a minute, please?" Harry said.

Marley looked up at James's father before looking at James. She noticed his jaw was clenched and she pulled him from the room without another word. She led him back to the room, closing the door behind them.

"James." she said softly.

He looked at her and she decided to just act on instinct. She pressed her lips to his, enveloping him in a deep kiss. She felt him pull her over to her bed and she went with him eagerly, resting herself gently on top of him as he ran his hands over her.

"God, Marley." he whispered, pulling away from her lips slowly and staring up into her eyes.

She rolled off of him, lying close side by side. She felt his fingers gently trace up and down her body before coming to rest on her hip.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" James whispered.

Marley's eyes widened slightly. She wasn't sure if James had ever said that to her before - and if he had, certainly not with that much meaning in his voice. It almost made her eyes well up in tears.

"I mean it, Marley. I don't know how we haven't been doing this until now." he whispered, pulling her against him and kissing her softly.

She shook her head as they pulled away. "Me neither."

Marley bit her lip, thinking everything over. She wanted everything with James - but she was too afraid to say it. Too afraid to tell him just how in love with him she was. It was way too soon for that. She knew that he had been with girls at school. He was way more experienced than her. Marley was almost certain that he wanted the same things she did - yet there was still that little nagging feel of doubt.

"What is it, M&M?" James whispered.

She sighed, knowing she'd be foolish to try and hide anything from him. "I just..."

"What?" he repeated, his voice just as soft.

"What are we, James?" she started slowly. "I mean... what do you want us to be?"

Marley felt herself relax as James smiled at her. He sat up, pulling her along with him and she let him easily wrap his arms around her.

"Marley... I want to be with you. More than anything, really." he whispered. "I've always wanted to be with you."

Before she could say anything, James kissed her quickly before getting off of the bed and walking over to her fireplace.

"Now, I am going to go home and take a shower and dress. And you, my girlfriend, are going to stay here until I come back, okay?" James said.

Girlfriend.

Marley felt her heart grow at the sound of it. Before James could step into the fireplace, Marley was on her feet, running to him. She jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly.

James.

Her boyfriend.

. . .

"Mer, your parents are probably wondering where you are."

Meredith didn't care. She didn't ever want to move from her spot on Leo's chest. His arms tightened around her waist and she just squeezed her eyes shut.

"We've been here all day. It's dark out." he whispered.

He sat up, forcing her to sit up with him. Meredith looked at him as he touched her cheek gently.

"Let me take you home, okay?" he said softly.

She wasn't sure if she could face going home. After crying all day, she felt absolutely destroyed and worn down. She wasn't sure what she was going to do when she saw her parents.

"Will you stay with me?" she whispered.

"Of course." he answered.

Leo Apparated them back to Meredith's house, landing them in the living room. Meredith groaned inwardly at the sight of her parents and Uncle Harry. She had really been hoping that her house would be empty.

"There you are!" Hermione shouted, standing up and pulling Meredith into her arms.

"We've been wondering where you were." Draco said.

Meredith pulled away from her mother but remained silent. Leo placed his hand on the small of her back, rubbing it in small circles.

"We had Harry checking his house every couple hours." Hermione added.

Meredith didn't have the energy to say anything. She was too encased in thoughts of her baby girl. When she went through a day like this, it was hard to stop.

"Meredith, what's wrong?" her mother asked.

Meredith just shook her head, starting to head for the stairs. Her father was suddenly in her path, blocking the staircase. Meredith just looked up at him, her eyes too tired to show anything. She didn't even have the strength to argue.

"Meredith, please." Draco said.

"Dad, move out of the way." Meredith whispered tiredly.

Flames erupted in the fireplace revealing Ginny who stepped out, her eyes instantly falling on Meredith.

"Aunt Ginny, can you please tell my father to get the hell out of my way?" Meredith whispered, hoping that her eyes would portray exactly what she was thinking about.

Ginny nodded in understanding. "Draco, please let your daughter go."

"What's going on?" Draco asked.

Meredith looked at Ginny in panic. She knew she was going to lose it again, and she couldn't lose it in front of her parents. Her lip started to quiver and she suddenly felt like a kid again.

"Mer, it's okay." Leo whispered in her ear, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to him.

"Draco, let them go." Ginny said again.

"No. I'm sick of this. Leo, what the hell did you do to my daughter?" Draco said, yelling.

Meredith shook and turned to bury her face in Leo's chest again. She couldn't hold it together. She just couldn't do it anymore.

"Look, sir. I know we don't know each other, but you need to back the hell off of your daughter." Leo suddenly said.

"Excuse me? You don't have any right to talk to me like that, especially in my own home." Draco snapped back.

"Really, I don't care right now. All I'm trying to do is help your daughter upstairs." Leo said.

"Yeah, you're not going upstairs with my daughter." Draco said with a dry, bitter laugh.

"Draco, let them go." Ginny interjected.

"Excuse me, Ginny. This is my house, not yours. It's my daughter, not yours. Therefore it's my problem, not yours." Draco shouted.

Meredith couldn't listen to this. She began to sob loudly into Leo's chest, quieting everyone down in the room. She felt someone come up behind her and touch her shoulder, but she couldn't turn around. She just couldn't do anything except for cry.

"Meredith, love." she heard her Mother say.

Meredith wrapped her arms around Leo's middle, holding herself against him. As she cried, she could hear Ava's gurgling sounds that she would make echoing in her head. She could still hear her cries, her laughter - everything. If she tried hard enough, she could even smell her.

. . .

Hermione couldn't remember the last time she had seen her daughter look so broken. She wasn't sure she could remember the last time she had seen anyone look so broken. It actually reminded her quite a bit of herself when Meredith had been missing.

"Meredith, would you please talk to us? Not now, of course." Hermione whispered. "But later. When you're ready."

Hermione felt tears spring to her eyes just at the sight of her eldest daughter. She watched as Meredith nodded her head into Leo's chest before turning around in his arms to look at her. All Hermione could see in Meredith's eyes was agony.

"Th-th-thanks Mum." Meredith stammered.

Hermione turned to Draco and pulled him out of Meredith and Leo's way. He was still grumbling as she did so, but she instantly silenced him with a look. She knew he was just as concerned for Meredith as she was - he just had a different way of showing it.

Leo guided Meredith up the stairs and Hermione waited until she heard a door shut before speaking.

"Honestly, Draco! She was upset! Why couldn't you just let them go?" Hermione snapped, swatting his arm.

This whole day had given her a headache. She had spent a large chunk of the day in the living room with Harry and Draco, trying to decide what to do with Ron. When Harry had left to speak with Ginny, he had returned only an hour later - looking miserable. Now that Ginny was there as well, Hermione didn't know what to think.

"I'm worried about her. I don't know what he's done to her, but -" Draco started.

"Shut up, Draco. For the love of God, Leo hasn't done anything to her, okay?" Ginny sighed, sitting down next to Harry on the couch.

Hermione looked at her friend with raised eyebrows. How the hell would Ginny know?

"Before you ask, Hermione - it doesn't matter how I know. I just do, alright? Meredith will talk to you when she's ready." Ginny sighed.

It then occurred to Hermione that Meredith had confided in Ginny. She had chosen to speak with her instead of to Hermione herself. She couldn't deny that it stung a bit. She had always prided herself on being so close with her eldest.

Now she was starting to wonder if she knew her at all.

"Look... Ron's owled us." Ginny sighed, reaching into her jean pocket and pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. "He wants to... to speak with us all."

Hermione shook her head instantly. "No. No way. He doesn't just get to do this."

"I-I know, Hermione. But... you know that what happened wasn't really him and-and maybe..." Ginny started weakly.

"Maybe what, Gin?" Hermione snapped, stepping towards her friend with her eyes narrowed.

"Maybe he's the same guy he used to be. Before the tumour." Ginny whispered, her eyes tearing up.

Hermione looked at Harry who was staring blankly into space, a tortured expression on his face. She shook her head at Ginny, turning around and storming past Draco up the stairs.

"Hermione, come on. Read the letter." Ginny called out.

Hermione stopped halfway up the stairs, turning around as tears leaked from her eyes.

"He ruined everything, Ginny. He beat the hell out of me. I almost died. He took my baby girl. You saw her on the train, Gin. Tell me that that has never left your mind, because it sure as hell never left mine." Hermione said darkly, turning around and continuing on up the stairs.