CHAPTER SEVEN- SUSPICIONS REVEALED

DEDICATED TO thesimspokehamtarofan (Congratulations!)

:Previously on Pacts Unbroken:

"Are you in love with Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Of course I-"

"Or are you just marrying him because of a promise- "

"Or a pact," Hermione added. Ginny glared at her and Hermione pointed out the fact that a pact and a promise was the same thing.

"I mean, are you just marrying him because of a pact that you made years ago?"

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Hermione stared at Ginny. Ginny stared at Hermione. She waited for her friend to answer, needing to know if this was real or not. Ginny knew that Hermione, as well as Harry deserved the best. 'After all he went through...' Ginny thought. 'He does deserve to be truly happy.'

Hermione sighed. "Ginny... I really don't know how to word it."

'He was the only one who survived You-Know-Who and was left with only a scar on his forehead as a sign to the rest of the world that he was The-Boy-Who-Lived,' Ginny sighed, getting very lost in her own thoughts and ignoring Hermione completely. 'He never did have a real family... his real family died by the man who marked him as his own equal. Sure, he had us, and the Order, but it's not the same thing as having a real family. Everyone wants him to experience that, but if he's going to marry Hermione, I don't know if he will.'

"Ginny, hello?" Hermione waved her hand if front of Ginny, pulling it back when the red-head cast an annoyed, slightly amused look at her. "Yeah, yeah," Ginny grumbled, scratching her head. "Sorry Herms, I was just thinking about something. Anyways, why don't you know how to word it? C'mon, it's me, your best friend. You know you can tell me anything."

Hermione smiled weakly. "Yeah, I know." she said. Ginny smiled, which caused Hermione to frown. "Ginny, I suppose I am marrying him because of this pact... but I'm not sure if that's the only reason why."

"Okay, not following you here," said a slightly confused Ginny. "You mean, like, the official reason is because of the pact, but you have another secret reason?" she questioned, her brow furrowed in thought.

"Exactly!" Hermione replied, surprised that Ginny had hit the nail on the head. Then again, Ginny has always been very intuitive.

Ginny just smiled modestly, and motioned for Hermione to continue.

"Well, I stayed single all this time... sure, I must admit that I did go on a date or two... but they weren't Harry... they just weren't him." she said and sighed. "I think that subconsciously, I have always compared the men I have dated to Harry. You know, like, 'Harry wouldn't like him', or 'this guy isn't nearly as charming as Harry', things like that. Does that make any sense?" Ginny nodded and Hermione went on. "I feel like sometimes that the reason I never really fell in love with anyone was because there has always been a part of me that was in love with Harry."

"Oh, Mione," Ginny said sympathetically. "Well, he's a good guy to compare others to… he's pretty much an all-around great guy."

Hermione nodded in agreement, but then asked, "And since I'm marrying Harry, I have been wondering lately if Harry stayed single the same reason I stayed single. But he possibly couldn't love me, could he Gin?" Hermione asked.

Ginny smiled. "It's possible you know." she said. "You both deserve to be loved."

Hermione looked towards Harry and Ron, who were chatting animatedly. They didn't take any notice of Hermione, who smiled when Ennee rubbed up against Harry. Hermione then turned her attention back to Ginny. "I know I deserve to be loved... I know that now. But Harry deserves it even more. And he deserves to be in love… not just to go through the motions, you know?" she whispered, feeling a small tear drop slide down her cheek slowly.

Ginny enveloped her in a hug, letting Hermione relax on her shoulder." 'Well, even though they don't know it yet, I'm sure that they'll realize eventually that what they've been looking for all of this time is each other- that it's always been right in front of them..' Ginny thought and smiled to herself.

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"So mate, how are you and Herms doing so far?" Ron asked.

Harry smiled. "Good, good." he said. "We both love the new house."

Ron smiled. "That's good to hear. So, how are the midgets at Hogwarts doing?"

Harry laughed. "Doing fabulous. They said I'm the best DADA professor yet, but they really don't know who the best is." Harry said, and Ron knew he was referring to Remus, well, Professor Lupin when he was at Hogwarts.

"You always were a good teacher Harry." said Ron. "You did well in our secret meetings."

Harry smiled. "I loved doing those! I l relished the fact that we were having those meetings behind Umbridge's back. Damn, how I hated that woman!"

"She was a monstrous git, wasn't she?" asked Ron with a laugh. "She ranked up there with that Skeeter woman."

"And don't forget Snape." Harry said. Harry remembered all the pain that potions teacher put him through- all of the six foot long essays for punishment, cleaning his storage cabinet at least once a month..

"Still can't believe we blamed him for all those things in our first year." Ron said. "And remember when me, Hagrid and Herms thought he was trying to kill you at the Qudditch match, but he was trying saving you all along?"

"Well, he said that he would have done the same for any other student, but I think that maybe he was trying to repay my Dad for what happened back when they were in school, with Sirius and everything. Besides, first years can be a little naïve sometimes, huh?" Harry told Ron.

Ron nodded, thinking 'Twenty seven year olds named Harry and Hermione can be naïve as well,' Harry looked around for a moment. He saw Hermione talking earnestly and tearing up a bit talking to Ginny, but he knew that their redheaded friend would comfort her. He had no idea why she was upset, but he didn't want to go over and make Ginny mad at him for trying to help. "Well, Ron, do you want to go somewhere and eat? We really don't have that much in the house, we've been living off of take-out."

Ron rubbed his stomach. "Sure, I'm hungry anyways!"

'Ron and food, is that all he thinks about?' Harry wondered and then frowned. "Should we go get the girls then?"

Ron looked to where the two girls where standing. "I suppose, it would be mean to leave them behind."

'Wow, since when did Ron become considerate of other people's feelings? We are talking about food and possible Quidditch-talking here, I thought he'd want to leave them behind. I guess we never really noticed the changes over the years- then again, we had a war to worry about."

And with that, Harry and Ron collected the girls, giving them plenty oftime to get ready, of course. (Not without voicing complaints about taking forever, I might add.)

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Well, ladies and gents (if there are any reading this- guys, that is), that's it! I suppose Jess and I did a little collaborating- writers block sucks!

Anyway. Review! Come on. You know you wanna... don't forget- we've got a Hit Counter now, and we know exactly how many people aren't reviewing! Joking, joking. But it is always great to have new reviews! It means the world! And, as always, thanks for reading.

XOXO

Beth and Jessie

QUESTION

Well, all of you Americans really know your cartoons! See, I've never seen the Simpsons before, so I thought it was a rather difficuly question! Turns out I was wrong.. quite a few people reviewed with the correct answer... congrats tothesimspokehamtarofan for responding the quickest. So, here's the new question!

What eighties cartoon theme song did Ricky Martin sing? Good Luck!