A/N: Wuhu. Chapter 7 is here. This one is from Hermione's point of view. Please read and enjoy :) Oh, and a review or two won't hurt either ;D
A/N2: Oups. Forgot to edit the thing with paragraphs and stuff. Let's try once more :)
Someone was knocking at the door. I was sure it was Ginny. I yelled at her to come in. She was in the kitchen moments later. I was busy cooking. I had decided to cook chilli con carne, one of the few things I was able to cook without setting something on fire. But Ginny didn't have to know. Not yet at least. She glanced around the kitchen while she greeted me,
"Hello, Hermione. Mum and Ron says hi, too".
I did not expect her to be right behind me, I was sure she was in the doorway, so I jumped in terror and turned around, and well, since I'm so used to be alone, I had my arm stretched out and managed to hit Ginny in her head, knocking her to the floor.
"OH GOD! Ohgod, ohgod, oh god. I'm so sorry, Ginny. You just scared me. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you. Oh god. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
I was on my knees by her side holding her head in my lap. She on the other hand just groaned and put one hand to her head.
"Don't worry. I'm just fine. Could use some ice for my head, though. Got some?"
In my hurry to get her a bag of frozen peas, I forgot about her head in my lap. First I heard a short scream followed by the sound of her head hitting the floor and a low groan.
I cringed at the sounds. How the fuck was it possible to do something like that? Christ. I'm such an idiot. I ran back from the fridge with a pack of peas and got back down on my knees. I put the icepack behind her head and told her to hold it. Somehow I manage to lift her up an carried her to the couch. I sat down on the edge of the couch next to her,
"I am so sorry, Ginny. I didn't mean to hit you or drop you. I am so, so sorry. I'm just not used to people, and I'm nervous about this dinner and all. And oh my god, your eye. It's bruising. Stay here. I'll be right back".
I ran to the kitchen, ripped open the fridge and found some ice cubes I put in a towel before I ran back an put it on her eye. Careful not to hurt her any more than I already had. Suddenly she laughed. She laughed loud, not able to speak a word. Confused I asked her why she laughed, but that only made her laugh even harder.
Oh god. I had broken her. Mr. And Mrs. Weasly would kill me. After about 15 minutes of crazy laughing from her and worried looks from me, she managed go calm down again. The next couple of minutes she spent catching her breath again.
"Ginny? Are you okay? How much did I break you? Maybe I should take you to the hospital, they could save you before you get too broken permanently".
This was not helping, she just laughed again. Not as badly this time, but I was still worried. I really had broken her. When she was able to talk again a few minutes later, she spoke,
"no, don't worry. I take hits to my head all the time. I play quidditch, remember?"
My eyes grew wide.
"That's supposed to calm ne down? We are going to the hospital right now. We can go to a muggle hospital if you don't want the entire wizarding world to know I almost killed you".
I stood up and prepared to go.
"Hermione! I don't need to go to the hospital, I'm not about to turn crazy. I just thought about something my mum said yesterday morning. She is more or less planning our wedding already, you know. She's convinced we are getting married, preferably later tonight. I'm sure she's more excited about us talking again than I am. And well, what I was laughing at, was I imagined how it would be if we actually got married now, it would be interesting if you're not used to having people around. I would be hexed to madness within the first month".
I stared at her. Marriage? Christ. How could she think about marriage already? We don't even know each other properly yet, marriage would be years from now if we even got to that point ever. I was stunned. And Ginny must have seen it because she spoke again, a little more serious this time,
"Hermione. Relax. We're not getting marriage. Hell, I don't even consider a relationship at this point. Okay? My only concern at this moment, is to gain your trust again and become your friend again. I don't even think about best friend, yet. Right now I just want you back in my life and earn your trust again. That's my number one priority, okay? Yes, I still love you and all, I always did, but I'm not good enough for you, I don't deserve you after all I said to you. I'm just grateful you want to talk to me. Trust me, mum is just too excited about you. She loves you like you were her own daughter".
I relaxed a little, but I was still anxious. I was not comfortable with her talking about a relationship between us. Luckily we got interrupted by the smoke alarm.
"Fuck. The food. I forgot about the food. Fuck!"
I ran to the kitchen, it was now black with smoke. I found the stove and removed the casseroles from the stove and opened a window to get the smoke out. A few minutes later all the smoke was out, and the smoke alarm was silenced. Ginny stumbled her way to the kitchen while I was throwing the burned food in the bin,
"why don't you use magic to remove the smoke and everything?",
she was curious,
"I don't use magic"
I replied harshly. I think I hurt her feelings, because her voice was lower and more careful when she spoke again,
"may I ask why?"
I didn't look at her. I couldn't, not right now after what she had just said,
"I haven't used it since the war. I don't need it. I manage just fine without it".
My voice was still a little sharp, but not as much. She was silent for a few moments before she said anything again. I'm glad she didn't say anything more on the subject,
"Hermione, look at me".
I sighed, but I turned around and asked,
"what?"
She looked sad and worried. Her voice was wary,
"are you angry with me? For what I just said. I know I shouldn't said it, but it sort of just fell out. I'm sorry, but it's the truth".
She looked at me, anxious about my reaction,
"Doesn't matter. I just didn't expect it. But I really do think it's a little early talking about relationships and marriage, don't you think? I just think we should focus in getting trough this night alive at first, and just take one day at the time, because this is going to take time to get over. You were gone for seven years, and suddenly you are back, I really don't know what to think. I'm so scared I'm so desperate to see you again, that I'm imagining all of this".
Ginny took a step towards me and spoke,
"Hermione. You are not imagining this. It's real. I promise you. I mean, it feels like a dream to me as well, but the pain I just felt when I arrived here proves otherwise. I promise you, it's real, all of this".
She hugged me. It felt good. She pulled away from me, still holding on to me. She looked me in the eyes, we froze in the moment. We stood like that for a few minutes before I broke away. I turned around and went over to continue taking care of the ruined food. Ginny pulled out her wand,
"Hermione, let me take care of the cleaning",
and before I had time to react, she flicked her wand and everything started cleaning itself up. I sighed,
"okay. Thanks. The only problem now, is what do we eat? Care for pizza?".
"Sure, pizza sounds good. Where do we go?"
I looked at her amused. I had forgotten about how the magic world didn't have take-out delivered at their door,
"nowhere. I'll call them with our order, and we get it delivered to the door in a short while".
"Really? Wow. That's weird. Dad will go crazy when I tell him about it. I can tell him, right?"
She looked excited at first, then curious, I just had to laugh at her. People who grew up with magic and muggle things is really funny to watch. They get excited about something as simple as light bulbs and batteries, quite amusing, actually,
"go ahead, Ginny, tell him about take-out, tell him about the smoke alarm too, if you want. I'll even take a look and see if I still have my old cell phone somewhere, he would be excited about that one".
Ginny had a sceptical look at her face,
"a what? What the bloody hell is that?",
I laughed again, this was just too hilarious,
"I'll explain later when I have placed our order".
I called pizza hut and ordered a large pizza. When I was finished I took Ginny back to the living room to explain the cell phone, but just as I was about to talk, she spoke first;
"before you tell me what that seller thing is, you have to tell me one thing",
she looked at me with a very serious look, like she was the wife who needed to know if her husband was cheating on her. I got worried, but before I had time to say anything she continued,
"what exactly is this pizza thing you were talking about? I figured it was food, but I just have to know if it's something alive it not. I'm not eating something that moves".
She continued to look at me, I stared at her and blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out if she was serious or not. Then I started laughing really loud, of course she didn't know what pizza was, there were no such thing in the wizard world. I pulled myself together enough to speak, it worked fairly well considering how much laughter I was suppressing,
"sorry. It's not really funny, I just never had to explain pizza to anyone before. Okay, well, it's not really easy to explain pizza, but it is food, non-moving food. Very much dead, actually. It should be here in about.. 15 minutes, you will find out then. I'm sure you will love it".
She looked a little less serious, and a little relieved we were having dead food, I let out a small giggle, and to my relief, she smiled to.
"Now to the cell phone. It's a muggle device that help you contact people and having people contact you. It's kind of like when you put your head in the fireplace and floo someone except they can't see you", I began,
"dark muggle magic, that's for sure. Where does it have its brain? This thing is evil, I'm telling you",
she muttered, just scowling at the phone, turning it around to look at it from all angles. I laughed again,
"yes, it is indeed evil, everyone can get a hold of you at every hour of the day. Anyway, you know the incident where Ron called Harry the summer after their first year?",
"yeah, Harry got some real trouble for that one. His uncle almost killed him because of it. Why?",
she scowled even more, like she was waiting for it to explode or something,
"well, it's the same thing, just a portable version of it",
I put on a reassuring smile hoping to convince her it wasn't dark magic,
"told you the thing was evil",
she muttered as she pressed some buttons. She let out a scream and threw it away as she accidentally unlocked it and the light came on,
"IT'S ALIVE! IT WILL KILL US ALL!"
I fell to the floor laughing, this was just too funny, I should have had it taped or something, I would love to see this over and over again later. She gave me an really ugly look now, I guess she didn't find this as funny as I did.
"I'm sorry Ginny, I don't mean to laugh, but that was just hilarious, you should have seen your face, it was priceless".
"Stupid, evil muggle world",
she muttered under her breath while she crossed her armed and glaring between me and the phone,
"oh, Ginny dear, I'm sorry",
I went over to where she sat and sat down next to her,
"what can I do to make it up to you for laughing?".
A small smile crept over her lips, she was thinking about something, but almost like she changed her mind, she just shrugged and said;
"a hug will do",
I leaned over and hugged her, with her in my embrace I asked;
"that's not what you first thought of, was it?"
I leaned back and looked at her as she shrugged again answered;
"no, but I decided not to push my luck".
I just smiled and pulled her in for another hug and whispered in her ear;
"thank you. Maybe someday, but not just yet. Thank you".
Before any of us had time to say it do anything else, the doorbell rang, the pizza was here. I paid the delivery guy and closed the door. I put the box down at the table before I opened it and gestured towards it,
"pizza. Delicious and simple. Dig in. You'll love it".
Ginny picked up a slice and stared at it,
"are you sure it's safe to eat?".
I took a bite and burned myself at the hot cheese,
"no, not really. Be careful, it might burn you. Seriously, the melted cheese is dangerous",
she looked at me with eyes at the size of plates,
"oh come on, Ginny, just try a piece. If you don't like it, I'm sure I can retrieve some chilli con carne from the trash. Go ahead, you won't regret it. I'm going to get some butterbeer, want some? I got them from the leaky cauldron earlier".
She just nodded, still keeping an eye on the pizza slice in her hand. I went to the kitchen and returned to the living room and Ginny. I found Ginny still scowling at the pizza,
"Ginny, it's not going to attack you, just try, please".
She carefully chewed at the corner, still sceptical to the whole thing. A moment later, she smiled,
"okay, it tastes funny, but I actually think I like this",
she more or less threw the rest of the slice down her throat and went for another one. I giggled,
"I knew you would like it, but trust me, this is far from the best pizza you can eat",
she looked at me,
"really? I'm pretty sure this is the best thing I have eaten that is not something my mum has made".
I laughed, she sounded excited about the idea of an even better pizza,
"yes, really. It's homemade, and tastes a billion times better. You should cone over again someday, and I'll make you one, if you want to?".
She just grinned wide,
"I would love to. Can we do it tomorrow? I got the day off because of the game Saturday, and really don't have much to so if you don't mind, we could do it tomorrow?",
she looked at me warily, the poor girl looked so shy, this was a rare sight,
"sure we can. Have the day off as well, so we could spend the day together if you want? We could just relax, maybe watch a movie or something? And maybe we could talk a little, you know, sort things out a little? If that won't ruin your game, that is?"
She looked like she was thinking for a moment before she smiled and answered,
"that sounds like a good idea, and if it does go wrong, I'm sure it will only help the game",
I must have looked worried or something, because she quickly added;
"Hermione, don't worry. It will be fine. We will be fine. Don't worry. Okay?".
I relaxed a little and shook my head,
"still haven't changed, I see".
We both laughed at this before we continued the meal in silence. After we were finished, she groaned a satisfied groan and spoke;
"this food will make me fat, won't it?"
We laughed again,
"Ginny, not five years of only eating pizza will make you fat. Everyone else, yes, but just not you",
she raised an eyebrow, then nodded,
"yeah, I guess you are right".
We just sat in silence for a few minutes. Ginny looked like she was deep in thought, I figured I would find out why soon enough.
"Hermione? Can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer it, though".
This had me a little worried, when people asked to ask me a question, well, let's just sat it rarely brings any good, but I nodded and signalled for her to go on. She took a deep breath before she spoke again;
"when I got here on Monday night and Tuesday, the floor was filled with different quidditch magazines along with the empty bottles. Since when did you care about quidditch?".
I looked at my hands for a moment before I looked back up and answered her;
"Uhm. That's not an easy question to answer. I will show you instead, but first you must understand something, it's not what it looks like, it's not some stalker thing, alright?"
She looked confused, but nodded. I took her hand and pulled her with me to the closet in my bedroom. I took a deep breath before I opened the door and pulled out a box. I opened it, pulled out the folder and handed it to her,
"this might seem pathetic and creepy, but please understand how difficult the past 7 years have been for me. This was the only way I could get to know you when you didn't talk to me",
she looked at me, she was realizing what the folder contained, she nodded,
"I understand. If this was anyone else, I would have found it creepy, but I think I can understand this when it comes from you".
She sat down at the bed as she opened the folder, I don't think she knew how to react, either that, or she had no reaction. She just looked at the pages, one by one. Not saying anything. After a few minutes, she closed the folder and put it down on the bed next to her,
"well, this was interesting. But I'm not really creeped out, I would have done the same with you, I think. It's just weird seeing it all like this",
I looked at her surprised,
"you're not creeped out? Really? I was so sure you would be. It's not exactly normal, you know. Even I felt like a creep doing this, but I just couldn't help it",
she nodded,
"I know what you mean, just trust me, I don't find it creepy when it's you, I just found it rather unexpecting, that's all".
I was putting the folder back in the box when she noticed the two letters who also was in the box,
"what are those? Is it the letters I sent you? Please don't say it is",
I just looked at the letters and nodded. A sad expression appeared on her face as she whispered;
"I'm sorry. I am so sorry",
a tear fell to the floor and I went over to wipe away the one who followed. I placed my hand under her chin and lifted her head, forcing her to look at me;
"Ginny, listen to me. It doesn't matter. It's a part of the past, what matters, is now. You are here, we are working through it. So don't apologize, it's a part of our past, please don't think about it anymore".
She sniffed and nodded. I pulled her in for a reassuring hug. A few moments later we went back to the living room. I decided to head outside and have a cigarette. Yes, I smoke now. Not much, usually just like three or four a day, some times more, some times less. It all depends if something happens that day that stresses me out or not. Today, I was definitely stressed out. I just had to have one now to calm down, even though I had sworn to myself that I wasn't gonna let her know about this bad habit of mine, but what the hell,
"I'm going out to the balcony for a cigarette, would you like to wait here or come with me?".
She looked confused,
"a sirrett? What's that?".
I just smiled at her,
"a cigarette. Know those pipes with tobacco some wizards smoke? It's kind of like that. It's a bad habit, I know, but after I got back to the muggle world, I took up both smoking and drinking",
she raised an eyebrow at me and spoke,
"aha. Right. Uhm, I'll join you outside, some fresh air would be nice".
We didn't speak much while we were outside, we just enjoyed the cool October air and each other's company. Actually, we didn't speak much at all the rest of that night, we talked a little while about our day and I told her about my job, how I was working at a bar, bit wasn't really happy about it, but since I couldn't put 6 years at Hogwarts and a year looking for horcruxes on my CV, that was the best I could do at the moment. And she told me about how Ron now was a reporter for "potions of the future", a sub magazine to "the quibbler", and married to Luna Lovegood. That last part there really took me by surprise. Ron and Luna? Who would have guessed they would end up together. She told me they had six children, three boys and three girls, and Ron had convinced her to name a son and a daughter Harry and Hermione, this had cost him, though, because that meant Luna got to name a son and a daughter without a word from Ron, they were named Gudrilla and Armando. Ron wasn't very happy about those names, but he had gotten Harry and Hermione, so it was only fair, even he said so, but according to Ginny, Luna had actually been thinking about naming two after me and Harry if that was possible, but when Ron had offered her two names, she somehow magically forgot to tell him. The last boy was named after Luna's father, Xenophilius, and the last girl after Ron's mother, Molly. It was nice, I was happy to know that everything had worked out so well for Ron.
After a while of silence, Ginny glanced at the time, it was almost midnight.
"Oh man, is it really this late already? I should head back to the Burrow now, mum is probably still awake wondering when the wedding is",
I laughed this time, I knew now that she wasn't expecting anything at the moment, it was only Mrs. Weasly who was a little too excited about all of this,
"yeah, don't keep her waiting. You should tell her it will be in June, just for fun, you know. I can imagine her face if you did",
Ginny laughed at the idea, probably picturing it herself,
"you're right, that would be hilarious, but the poor woman would probably have a heart attack or something, and that's not something I wish for her, you know".
We laughed a little again. It was great to pull some jokes with Ginny again.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll see you tomorrow around noon, then?"
She came over to stand in front of me,
"yes, I'll be knocking on your door around then. I can't wait",
then she hugged me.
"Good. I'm looking forward to spend the day with you, too".
I smiled, I really looked forward to tomorrow, an entire day with Ginny. It had been so long since last time.
"Goodbye, Hermione"
she said, and with that, she was gone. Just a few more hours until she was back. I could feel excited butterflies replacing my organs. Tomorrow would be an amazing day, I was sure.