Chapter 2- the unusual comforting
Before they were laughing and having a little fun, now they were quiet and solemn. Harry had his arms around Hermione who was quietly sobbing on his shoulder. It pained him to see her cry, though. He was like her big brother and was her best friend. Yet beneath that platonic feeling of having a sibling was something deeper than he could have thought.
'Is that all he did?' He asked.
Harry felt a nod but it kind of stopped mid-way. He looked down and noticed that Hermione was (again) fidgeting her fingers. He swore he could have laughed because of that. She looked quite...cute when she did that. It was probably she did not do this often, especially not when everyone's around; she only did this when she was alone with him. He knew the reason behind of her fidgeting yet the impression it brought him seemed to overwhelm him in such delight and happiness. Then, her small voice of response broke this moment he was enjoying.
'He-he...kind of...-'
His ears stopped listening to her small, almost-broken voice. Hearing it made him tighten his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. That was when her response ended with just simple mumble of her breath.
'Can you tell me what happened?' He asked, knowing she might not respond.
A slow nod answered and Harry loosened his hug.
'He...came home from work...late one night-'Her voice started.
'I was waiting for him, sitting in the couch, thinking of where and what hell he was doing. The clock ticked 2 in the morning when a slow low sound of the front door opening came to my senses. I could see him in the dark, silently tiptoeing to get across the room when I flicked my wand at him.'
'Where were you?' I asked with irritation.
'He looked at me with his face flushed and his lips were red as if he just finished kissing someone. His uniform was all distorted and a mess as small beads of sweat was rolling down on each side of his face.'
'Well, I was...out in my office...' He panted.
'I walked up to him and noticed something in his white collar. It was a red mark. I smudged it with my thumb and it went all blurry.'
'How can you explain that?' I asked.
'He held my hand firmly and he looked at me in the eye directly.'
'It was...a game I played...Do you want to play?' He asked me with a hint of pure excitement and seductiveness in his voice.
'I pulled back my hand but he wouldn't release it as well as his eye contact. There was something beneath his eyes that I couldn't understand; it was something he kept himself.'
'Come on, you know you want too' He whispered softly.
'I gazed back at him with all disgust and with my freehand; I slapped him across the face. He released my hand but he didn't flinch on it. He was looking on sideways and not moving. I held my hands on my chest closely and made few steps backward.'
'Don't think of me as dumb! Every Tuesday and Thursday night you came home drunk then every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you look like this every time you came home at 1 to 2 in the morning. Every weekend, you were always out. It was so easy to know how you tried to hide it so much when it comes out eventually!' I told him loudly as I wrapped my arms around me.
'I noticed his lips tightened and he looked at me slowly with his eyes brightly shining with frustration, exhaustion and anger.'
'Then, if I was that, what about you? Weren't you the one who was almost glued to your bloody office all the time? Weren't you the one who was hardly ever home? It was you and you bloody know it!' He spat out with the hint of fury in his voice.
'At least, I was not the only one who was stuck up on work, am I?' I asked back.
'He snorted out a little chuckle and put his hands on his pockets.'
'If I knew better, you have another woman. Am I right, Billius?' I used this middle name now and he knew what it meant.
'Oh...is that so? What about you? You have another guy other than me?' He answered coolly.
'Is that what you think?! Well, let me explain this to you, Billius! I have work shift for 7 hours plus 3 hours for rounds to check if everything's fine. Then, another 2 hours for briefing, conferences and meetings. I have freaking 12 hours of work! And you think I have time to freaking flirt around with guys?! You're absurd! You only work for 9 hours! I'd wonder how you could not spare time for other women other than me! Adding up to that was when you go home for 1 to 2 in the morning looking like that! If you were smarter, you could have come up with a better lie and much effective plan to hide it!' I shrieked and had let out an irritated scream.
'So what if I am? You aren't always around, you know! You are not me! You don't know how I feel! Sometimes I even wonder if you are still there! I even wonder if you love me or are you just staying here since you pity me!' He raised his voice now.
'Pity you? How could I pity you?' I yelled back as tears were starting to blur my vision.
'How could you not? You're asking me now? I thought you were smart as you said! You ought to look as dumb as anyone!' He asked out in annoyance.
'I looked at him with anger and frustration in my system as tears were falling.'
'Fine, then I'll leave! This is just not going anywhere.' He said as he went upstairs.
'Leave? You can't just leave!' I told him as I followed him.
'How can I not leave? I live here.' He said as we entered the room we share.
'We live here!' I told him as I emphasized the word "we".
'He didn't listen. He flicked his wand and his trunk was all set.'
'You can't run away from this?!' I told him as he reached the front door.
'That's why I am leaving, because I can't run away.' He told me and slammed the door.
'My heart was beating fast and my knees went cold. Soon, I fell on my knees and was crying out myself.'
'It had been two day since that...happened.' She told Harry as she cried.
Right now, Harry was full of emotions. He was feeling sad, angry, frustrated and infuriated. He wanted to just strangle him but he could not. He was his best friend too. He was Ronald Weasley but he changed and was now different from what he used to be.
He wanted to yell at Hermione for still loving him but he could not. He did not know what to say to her anymore. He had always been the one who used to comfort her about this. He had always been there for her in times like this. That's what he knew how she looked at him. He was also frustrated with himself. No matter how much time and effort Harry spent to comfort and advice for Hermione, she didn't listen. He didn't want to be needed in onlytimes like this.
It was tearing him apart. He didn't know how to react or how to comfort himself since he had always been comforting someone. He was fed up of hearing Hermione's endless crying and Ron's bastard ways but he couldn't just let them suffer. He didn't know much about the reasons of this circle of problems that surrounded him. He was torn apart between what he felt and what he needed to do. It either himself or his friends battling over who was going to suffer the most. It surely was true that Ron would soon contact him and it was either sooner or later but now he was feeling the strong emotions of confusion, anger and infuriation.
'Just let it out, it's much better that way.' He whispered to Hermione who was silently sobbing.
Harry looked at the flame in his fireplace. There was a peaceful silence that dawned on them for awhile. He was rubbing her back and she was feeling relaxed. But the silence was not that peaceful to Harry. His thoughts were running over a mile per minute, his heart beat was going 5 km per hour and his mixed confusion were wrecking him inside. He felt he was going to go crazy in a minute but it didn't show. Suddenly, he used his right hand to slowly rubbed right temple.
'What's wrong?' Hermione asked as she pulled away from the hug and looked at him.
Harry smiled at her.
'It's nothing.' He lied.
It was not nothing. His head was starting to ache because of the thoughts that spun around. Yet Harry knew better than to openly tell his problems to anyone. He rubbed it off quickly though, it did not cease the aching.
'Are you sure?' Hermione asked with a curious and sleepy look.
'I'm sure.' He nodded.
Then, Hermione's eyelids felt heavy and soon, she went to a slumber in Harry's arms. Harry sighed quietly and closed his tired eyes for a moment.
'I guess that bastard's damn lucky to have you. I just hope he could have not been that pain to you because it would be nice to see you happy again even if it was not with me.' He mumbled softly.
Harry slowly carried Hermione upstairs to the guest's room. He had two rooms in his house. One was his and the other was for the person who wanted to sleep in or something, (which was really for Hermione). He placed Hermione in bed and covered her with the sheets. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Hermione.
'Don't worry, you'll be fine again. I just hope it would be sooner.' He thought to himself again.
He kneeled down and moved closer to Hermione.
'Have a good night, Hermione. Hope you would have sweet dreams.' He whispered to her ear and placed a friendly good night kiss in her forehead before he went to the door. He softly closed it and soon, his telephone rang.