Author's Notes: I tried to make chapter two a bit longer, so please review and tell me if it needs more. I can't tell if I'm using one word too much, or anything like that. Please let me know!
Disclaimer (Forgot to put this on the first chapter): I do not own any of these characters, they are all a creation of J.K. Rowling who has complete ownership. The only thing I hold a right to is my plot and my writing. Copying my work is a big no-no.
The rain poured down that dark and cold night on Hermione's shadowed figure as she walked up a large gravel driveway that led up to a very large house. You could almost call it a mansion, with the large, oak double doors with the large knocker in the shape of a lion's head that looked similar to the Gryffindor lion.
Hermione walked up to the large doors, double checking her thoughts. Did she want to go through with this? She hadn't seen Harry Potter in so many years, she didn't know what he would be like, what he would look like, but the most important part that she'd overlooked was if he was with anyone. She'd never imagined Harry with anyone.
Teddy Lupin had been given to her to be cared for by her. Tonks and Remus thought that Hermione would make a very good mother to their son. She was a motherly figure that they knew they could trust. In the letter, they had appointed Harry as the godfather, but they didn't give Harry care of him because they thought a mother had more importance then a father if they had to make a choice. The problem was is that Hermione needed help. She couldn't do this without a man to help her. Even though she could be a mother figure, a little boy needed a father in his life, and who better then Harry to father a child who also lost his parents at a very young age.
Hermione slowly reached her hand up; her jeans and thigh length dark blue trench coat were soaked, along with her curly hair, which was no longer curly. She grabbed the large knocker and lifted it up then let it go, and just of its own accord it made a very loud thud against the gold plate it landed on against the door.
Upstairs, on the second floor of Harry's house, Ginny was in the bathroom freshening up for the night, and Harry was laying in the bed in only his boxers, playing idly with a model of a snitch that always sat on his bedside table. Harry heard the knock, and wondered who could be out at this hour. "Ginny, I'll be right back." Harry called in the general direction of his bathroom, then got out of the bed and headed out of his room and down the long, straight staircase fairly quickly. When he opened the door his eyes were wide.
"Hermione is that you?" He asked, surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry, get out of that rain, come in, please." He said quickly with a small smile. Hermione smiled up at him a little sheepishly and stepped in.
"Hi Harry. I'm sorry to be knocking on your door so late. I would hug you, but I'm a little wet." She said with a soft laugh, looking down at her wet clothes, then back up at him.
Harry just laughed and walked up and hugged her eagerly anyways. "I don't mind. I haven't seen you in forever Hermione!" He said, sounded very happy to see her, which made Hermione feel a little better about coming over.
Hermione hugged him back, a little surprised, but willingly put her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tighter hug that was reminiscent of those summer greetings at the burrow when the she would see Harry for the first time that summer.
"I know, I'm sorry I haven't made more of an effort to come see you or anything, or write. I feel horrible. Life has just been… really busy." She said with an apologetic smile.
Harry shook his head and waved that comment away with his hand. "I don't mind. I didn't make much of an effort either, and I apologize. It's just as much your fault as it is mine."
Come on; let's get you out of those clothes."
"Thank you, it's freezing out there."
"So why did you come here anyways, just to see poor old me?" Harry asked teasingly as he took Hermione wet jacket and put a wandless drying charm on it before hanging it up in the closet behind him.
"Hermione? Merlin, is that you?" A girl called in question from the top of the stairs.
Hermione looked up to see the red headed Weasley, the girl who used to be one of her best friends.
"Hey Ginny!" Hermione called, but her greeting wasn't filled with as much gusto as her voice started to falter when she caught site just in time to see Ginny wrapping a red robe around a very revealing black night gown. She bit her bottom lip slightly, and frowned, knowing she'd interrupted something now. For all her thoughts coming together at that moment, she held her composure pretty well.
Harry was with Ginny. Ginny was with Harry. She had walked in on their intimate night together, and now she felt horrible. She couldn't possible spring her question on Harry now, with Ginny right here. She would have to lie, and she really, really didn't want to lie to Harry. This was not a good start to rebuilding their friendship.
Ginny came down the stairs in twos and met Ginny at the landing, hugging her tightly. Then Ginny released her from her bear hug and had one hand on each of Hermione's shoulders and held her at arms length. "You look so different, so grown up!" Ginny exclaimed with a grin, then hugged her again.
"Oh my, you're right soaked Hermione." Ginny said, after the dampness on her robe set it.
"Ginny, would you mind getting our new guest a new pair of clothes?" Harry asked.
"Sure, I'll be right back. Oh Hermione, I'm just so happy to see you!" Ginny quipped again and couldn't resist to giving Hermione one more hug, then she went back from where she came.
"She seems happy." Hermione said quietly, turning back to Harry.
"She is. Who wouldn't be when seeing you after three years?"
Hermione just laughed and shrugged. She couldn't come up with a humorous come back for that one as she felt the tiredness start to set it on her.
"How about some hot tea, and I'll meet you in the living room? It's just through that way."
"That sounds nice, thank you." She said and headed into his living room.
Hermione walked around the large, lavish living room, walking over to the mantle on the fireplace and looked at his line of pictures. There was the same picture of her, Ron, and Harry that she'd had on her mantle. She looked down the rest of the pictures, and she smiled softly as she came to a picture of just herself and Harry, hugging each other, and every once in a while Harry would pick her up in the photo and swing her around in a full 360, a bright smile on both the people's faced. It looked to her like the old Hermione. The always smiling Hermione, who only had to worry about petty teenage troubles. It was so different back then.
Maybe her mother was right. When Hermione had gone to her for advice on what to do about her relationship with Ron, she'd given her daughter more of a life lesson then a how-to. She had said some people just drift apart over time. They grow away from each other, and you can't help it. It's the order of the universe. It may have seemed perfect and easy when you were teenagers, but when it comes to morals and adult values sometimes you're just not 'meshing' together.
Hermione had taken her words into consideration, and she knew every singly point her mother had made related to Ron and her, but she still denied it. The thought wouldn't place itself correctly in her head, like a body rejecting its new organ.
"I made it a little warmer the usual for you, since you're cold."
Hermione jumped slightly and turned to see Harry holding two cups that looked more like coffee cups then tea cups. She quickly walked away from the pictures, turning her back on them.
She went and sat down on a chair, while Harry sat down on the couch across from her.
"Thank you." She said with a smile and took a first sip of tea. The warm liquid entered her body happily, as if it was going through her veins and heating every part of her.
"Here you go Hermione, nice and warm." Ginny called from behind her as she walked into the living room.
Hermione set her tea cup down and stood up to take the clothes from Ginny. "Thank you."
Ginny pointed her in the direction of the nearest bathroom and Hermione headed off that way to change.
"So she hasn't said why she's here?"
"No, and I'm not going to press her so quickly. She looks tired and she seemed to be standing outside for a long time contemplating to come in or not, so I'm going to give her some time."
"I bet it's Ron. The stupid git, he probably screwed something up again." Ginny said a little sourly, shaking her head slowly, back and forth as if she was scolding Ron like he was in the room.
Harry lounged back on the couch, sipping his tea and thinking about Hermione. He was truly glad to see her, and whatever she was here for he was sure he would be of whatever assistance he could. He was planning on letting her stay here for the night, and he hoped Ginny wouldn't make too much of a fuss about it. He knew she could be jealous, especially in school.
Things with Harry and Ginny weren't going so well either. Harry suspected Ginny of cheating on her because he hadn't been giving her any lately. He was starting to feel the need to be apart from Ginny sometimes, to have his space, and he knew that his love for her was dwindling. He only felt lust for the red-head, and even that was starting to fade.
Hermione came back in the room, making sure to enter the living room when she didn't hear any talking so that she didn't interrupt a private conversation. "Thanks for the clothes, Ginny. I really appreciate it. These are much better. I hope you don't mind, I just hung up my wet clothes in the bathroom for now."
Harry and Ginny nodded. "That's fine." Harry spoke first.
Hermione sat back down and picked up her tea and took another sip of it.
"I'm getting tired. Hermione do you mind if I excuse myself off to bed? I wish I could stay and talk, but I have to leave for work in the morning."
"No, that's fine, go ahead. Good night, Ginny." Hermione said with a friendly smile.
"Good night, good night, Harry." Ginny said, nodding to Hermione first then turning to Harry, who kissed her on the cheek and smiled with a 'good night' of his own.
"I'll be up soon." He added quietly before she left.
When Ginny was gone, Hermione looked over to Harry with a smile. "I'm glad you two are happy together, at least one of our relationships is working out." Hermione joked sarcastically, letting her voice trail off.
Harry nodded and sighed. He knew she was here because of Ron. She'd left their little flat to get away.
"Harry, er, do you mind if I sleep here tonight? I feel really rude asking, but I-I don't want to go back out in that rain, and I'd like to be able to spend more time with you so we can catch up and all…" Hermione asked, feeling a little timid.
Harry nodded with a grin. "Of course you can stay Hermione, how about I show you up to your room?" He asked as he stood up and held is hand out to Hermione to help her up.
Hermione smiled up at him and mumbled a sheepish "Thanks", then Harry headed out of the living room with Hermione right behind him, and they both headed up the stairs.
Hermione was now wearing grey sweat pants and a loose fitting t-shirt. It wasn't the most flattering, but she didn't mind. At least it wasn't wet.
"Here is your room, Hermione. I think you'll find this one to your liking." He said with a smile.
Hermione stepped in and saw a large queen size bed, a large fireplace in the wall to the left of the bed, with a long couch in front of the fireplace. On the opposite wall to the fireplace was a full wall of books on oak shelves. She had to smile at that. He knew her well. There were two double doors with dark oak panes that matched the book case, and glass windows. She figured those two doors led out to a small balcony of some sort.
After looking around Hermione nodded approvingly. "It's perfect. You have impeccable taste." She said in a slight teasing tone.
Harry just laughed softly, but the look on his eyes while he watched Hermione was different then earlier. It felt like a stare of approval… and love. Harry slowly walked up to her and took her hand in his, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Hermione… why are you really here?" He asked softly, his voice the softest and sweetest of tones she'd ever heard from Harry, let alone any man Harry's age.
She smiled softly, but it was a sad smile, and her eyes showed pain and agony. She hoped he didn't look to deep into her eyes. "Ron and I haven't been getting along so well. We've had row after row, and this last one… it just… blew it." She said, tears starting to well up in her eyes, her gaze averted from Harry.
Harry pulled her into a soft, comforting hug, rubbing her back soothingly. He'd gotten better at dealing with crying girls. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I know Ron can be difficult sometimes. You're welcome to stay here as long as you need, and if you need anything while you're here, my room is the third door down from yours. You can come to me with anything. I'll be here for you." He said, his voice barely above a whisper in her ear.
Hermione closed her eyes and smiled softly as he said this. She wrapped her own arms around his torso as she felt tears start to seep through her eyelashes. "Thank you, Harry. You don't know how much better that makes me feel." She said softly, her voice cracking into a whisper as she buried her head in his chest and cried. He made soothing shushing noises while he rubbed her back. Hermione took a few deep breaths, trying to get herself together. She pulled away and looked up at Harry through blurred, teary eyes. "I've missed you… a lot." She whispered, her bottom lip still quivering slightly.
"I've missed you too Hermione. I want you to stay with me as long as you need to, and we can get caught up. I want to know everything that's been going on… well, obviously not right now, but tomorrow. Promise?" He asked her with a smile, making it more of a statement then a question.
Hermione smiled and nodded. "Of course." She said softly, wiping the stray tears off her cheeks.
Harry reached a hand up and wiped away the tear stains on her cheeks with a finger. "I care about you Hermione, and I hate to see you hurting like this. Whatever I can do to make you feel better, just tell me." He said with an eager nod, and Hermione believed him, down to the very last word.
"Right now I think I just need a good night's rest." She said.
Harry kissed her forehead and nodded. "That sounds like a good start. Good night, Hermione."
Hermione smiled and closed her eyes for a moment, relishing the feeling when he kissed her forehead. "Good night, Harry." She whispered, then slowly let go of his hand and turned and headed over to the bed and pulled back the sheets. Harry felt his hand become cold as soon as she let go of it, and the tips of his fingers tingled. "Sweet dreams." He whispered before closing the door, and heading down the hallway to his room.
Ginny was laying in Harry's bed on top of the covers in the same, thigh length black night gown that Hermione had seen. She was reading a muggle magazine while she waited for Harry.
When Harry walked in and saw Ginny like that on his bed, he couldn't help but smirk. He'd gotten a little out of hand with his sex life. He and Ginny did it pretty much every night, and the only reason the shagging kept going was because they used it as an excuse to get away from actually talking out their problems.
Ginny smiled over at Harry as he walked in, "Hey." She said softly. Harry rubbed his forehead in a manner of a person who was very stressed. "Hi." He said simply, and got on the bed, laying on his back, but propped up against the head board.
"I'm letting Hermione stay here for the night. You were right, it was Ron, and she's in a lot of pain right now. I told her she could stay here as long as she needs to." He explained, hoping Ginny understood.
"That's very nice of you. I knew Ron would screw something up like that. He should feeling like the luckiest guy on earth to have Hermione, because she was the only girl… besides Lavender… who gave him the slightest encouragement or notice. She actually paid attention to him, and now he's never going to get another girl." Ginny explained, sighing and shaking her head in that scolding manner again.
Harry just laughed a strained laugh and nodded in agreement.
Ginny looked over at him with a curious expression, then set her magazine back on the bedside table. She got on her knees and climbed over to Harry's side, straddling his waist on her knees. "You look tense." She whispered as she leaned her head in to kiss Harry's lips passionately, but started out softer.
Harry kissed her back for a moment, getting caught up in the feeling, while back in Hermione's room she was laying on her side in a slight fetal position, her right hand clutching at the sheets until her knuckles were white, and tears rolled sideways down her cheeks as she cried, her sobs were fairly quiet.
Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and moved up higher on him, so the upper half of her body was right up against his. She kissed him with more gusto, opening her lips up to him, but Harry put a hand up, and pulled away from her lips. No matter how bad he wanted that, he couldn't bring himself to do it tonight.
"G-Ginny, please… not tonight." He said softly.
"Oh." Ginny said quietly, then she looked at him questioningly.
"Why not? Is it because of her?" She asked, her expression already shocked as if this was the reason and she knew it.
"Well, I don't want her walking in on us having sex. I don't want to make things awkward… so yeah…" He said apologetically.
Ginny just nodded and got off of him and laid back down, but got under the covers this time, laying her head on the pillow with her back turned to him.
Harry sighed, feeling back, but he couldn't risk that, and he just didn't want to have sex tonight. He hoped Ginny wouldn't be too mad at him for refusing. He turned off the lamp on his bedside table, but didn't lay down all the way. He was worried about Hermione, worried something was wrong, and he had been wrong to think that she would come to him so easily. She wasn't like that. She knew he was sleeping with Ginny, and he realized it wasn't like Hermione to come and just knock on his door wanting comfort. She was a stubborn girl, and didn't take help that easily.
Harry waited a few more minutes until he heard Ginny's even breathing, then slowly snuck out of his bed and out of his room, and headed down the hallway to where Hermione was sleeping. She was definitely still crying, but it was as if she couldn't feel the pain anymore, she was just aware that it was there, and her whole body felt numb. Her eyes were closed, but she still sobbed, her hand still clutching the sheet like it was some sort of lifeline.
Harry slowly opened the door and pulled out his wand. "Lumos." He whispered.
"Hermione, are you alright?" He asked, hearing the sobbing.
She laid still, Harry didn't startle her, as if she was expecting him to come in and check on her. It was just like him. "No." She mumbled, quickly wiping the tears off her cheeks. She sat up a little bit and flipped the pillow over onto the other side so that she didn't have to lay her head on the wet puddle of tears… and maybe so Harry couldn't see how long she'd been crying.
Harry quickly walked over to her side, still only in his boxers, but he didn't care. He sat down on the bed next to her, and took her hand in his that had been clutching the sheets.
"Do you want to tell me what happened between you and Ron?" He asked tentatively.
Hermione sighed, and just started into it, but she would have to lie if she didn't want to give away the real reason she had come here. She didn't want Harry to know yet.
"It was like any other night; we had small arguments over little things, like he would always leave his clothes laying everywhere. But tonight I brought up an apparently very sensitive subject." She said quietly, sniffling slightly.
"I told Ron I wanted to have a baby. I didn't mean that moment or the next day, I just wanted to talk about it calmly, like adults, to plan with him. Frankly I thought I would be with him the rest of m-my life." She explained sadly, her tone was heavy with hurt.
"Oh." Was all that escaped from Harry's lips as his eyes glanced away from Hermione for a moment, then he looked back to her and gave her a caring smile.
"I'm very sorry he reacted badly."
"He just flipped! He went insane just at the mention of it, said he wanted to 'live a little'." She explained with some bitterness rolling off her tongue along with a few tears rolling down her cheeks.
Harry frowned and laid down completely next to her and muttered something Hermione couldn't here, but the next moment his light was off on his wand, and he set it on the bedside table.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him, and put a hand on the back of her head and stroked her curls, playing with a few of them.
"I'll stay with you, until you fall asleep, alright? You don't need to worry about Ron anymore. I know it's hard to forget, but I'm going to help you try." He whispered.
"Thank you." Hermione whispered in reply.
She closed her eyes and let her forehead rest on his bare chest and took a deep breath.
"Don't worry. I'm right here." Harry whispered, and kissed Hermione's forehead again, running his hands soothingly through her hair.
Soon Hermione was breathing peacefully, with no more tears and no more sobbing. Harry wanted to stay with her, but he knew Ginny would have a fit. He stood up next to the bed and looked down at Hermione, glad to see her expression was at least somewhat peaceful. With the light of the moon shining down, barely lighting up the features on her face, she looked beautiful. Harry smiled softly, and before he could let his eyes wander on her anymore he turned and left the room very quietly, closing the door behind him. He went back to his own room and got back in bed.
Ginny stirred slightly and rolled on her other side to face Harry, her arm subconsciously going over Harry's waist. Harry sighed and slowly removed Ginny's arm from him, trying not to wake her. He rolled onto his side so his back was to her and he closed his eyes. The image of Hermione laying in her bed with the moonlight on her form put him to sleep, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake the feeling that he felt for Hermione, a feeling of which he couldn't put a word on.