Some Kind of Home
I wanna know where you go when you're dreaming
I wanna see what you see when your eyes close
And when it all goes down, will you have a place to run?
.
Leave it to Percy to find a witch in the most Muggle of places.
As soon as he spots her, he becomes frustrated with himself. Wasn't he sure he was the only wizard who knew of this particular café? He supposes it doesn't much matter—she'll move on without noticing him, without even glancing in his direction.
"Percy?"
Perhaps not.
He looks up in faked surprise. "Hermione!" And then, as she crosses to him, he wonders how he ought to greet her. Since the war, he has kept his distance from his family, always coming home for holidays, but still not letting them in. He decides on the awkward half-hug and they embrace. He notices, with a slight blush, that she smells of caramel. She sits down across from where he had been reading a Muggle newspaper, which he folds and puts aside. "How have you been?"
She nods, begins to say something, and then stops herself. "The honest to God truth? I've been terrible."
Percy blinks, mildly surprised. "Oh."
Bravely she smiles. "But how have you been?"
He thinks over his answer for a moment. "Just okay."
"Are you still with Penelope?" she inquires politely.
"No," he says, and he tries not to let the bitterness show as he adds, "She left me, just after last Christmas. Said she wanted to be alone for a while."
"I haven't practiced magic in two months."
"Oh." He's sure the shock rather rudely is showing on his face, but he asks, "Why not?"
She shakes her head. "I don't know. I just wanted—I just needed away. I haven't seen Ron, Ginny, Neville—not even Harry," she says. There is fear in her tone and, oddly, it makes him want to reach for her hand. He didn't know he was so sympathetic.
"Do you miss them?" he asks.
She swallows and bites her lip. "No, and it scares me."
They sit in silence for a while, and Hermione nervously drinks from her coffee. Percy contemplates a response. Finally he musters, "Was Ron angry?"
"I don't know," she answers. "I haven't owled him. Harry's owled me, about ten times, trying to get me to come back or at least answer him. I don't know what I would say." And then, after another moment of silence, "I'm so sorry, I've been so rude. I don't even know why I'm telling you this—"
"It's alright," he says, and again he wonders where his empathy is coming from.
"It's just that you're the first wizard I've seen in so long," she rationalizes, more for her own benefit than for his. "Haven't you ever wanted out?"
Slowly, he nods. "I know what you're feeling."
She lets out a sigh of relief. "I thought you would."
She takes another sip from her coffee and looks out the window. There is a small brown line above her top lip, and he would very much like to wipe it with his thumb—what is with him today? He forces himself to remember that she is his little brother's girlfriend as he says, "You have coffee on your lip."
Embarrassed, she wipes it away with a napkin, and then the two delve into silence once more.
"So what have you been doing since you left your job at the Ministry?" she asks eventually, once her coffee is gone.
He is tempted to answer, "finding myself," since that would be the best definition of his absence from the Wizarding world and insomnia, but instead says, "A little of this, a little of that. I'm taking some courses through a Muggle university."
"That's great," she says. "Listen, Percy, I have to go—"
"Wait." They're both standing. "You should go back. See Ron, or at least Harry. They miss you, I'm certain."
"Do they miss you?" she asks.
He blinks. "I suspect they do."
"Then come with me," she says, and once she says it it seems so rational. Still he shakes his head.
"I can't."
"Then run with me."
He closes his eyes for a moment. "Hermione—"
"I'm sorry," she says. "I didn't mean….I just…" She sighs. "I know we can't. I can't."
She turns, about to leave, and before he knows what he's doing he grabs her arm, turns her around, and kisses her. The taste of coffee and caramel assaults him full on, and she pulls away far too quickly for his liking. Still, her lips are close to his, and her eyes meet his.
"If we go back," she says, and her breath is cool against his lips, "we can't ever do that again."
"I know," he admits. He rests her forehead against hers, pleased at the cool of her skin. "But we have to go back."
"Right." But neither moves. After a long while (in which, Percy reflects later, many of the café's other customers probably stare at them) he rests his hand lightly against her jaw. He kisses her again, slowly now. Finally, he pulls away and steps back.
"I guess I'll see you in the Wizarding world, then," he says.
"I guess so."
She turns and walks away, long hair bouncing behind her, and he watches her go. He sits back down, finishes his coffee and his newspaper, gets up to leave, and decides that this will be the last time he ever visits this café. He's going back.