Chapter 9

"Welcome Home," the Customs Officer said as he stamped Hermione's passport.

"Thank you," she replied, grinning as she retrieved it form him then stepped out of the line. It had been a wild week but she could honestly say she returned a different woman. It was just sex and he was just a guy but still it was something she would have never done in London. She already knew that it was a secret she was going to carry to her grave and it felt nice to have done something no one would ever expect. And if she ever got back with Chris, it was something she would never admit to. Maybe she would consider it her own private revenge for what he had done to her.

She felt a twinge of guilt as she joined the line of people lugging their luggage and heading out of the airport. She had contemplated leaving a note for Damien before leaving her hotel room but had decided against it because it made her feel a little cheap. Even if the sex was their first, it was mind blowing. It wasn't the type of sex you write about in a letter to your mother.

She walked through the door into the arrivals section and thirty seconds later, she heard someone call her name. She followed the direction of the sound then grinned widely when she saw her friends waving at her. From the way they were screaming and jumping, she was sure at least one passerby would mistake her for a celebrity. She lifted her bag and ran towards them. Then she dropped her bag and reached across the barricade between her and her friends. "I've missed you guys so much!" She said, hugging whoever was closest to her, which happened to be Ginny.

Ginny hugged her back and sighed in relief. Even though she didn't show it, it had been the worst week of her life. She had tried to convince herself not to worry because she trusted her friend to take care of herself but Hermione had never been gone by herself even after all the hardships she went through. "You're looking really well."

Hermione separated from her then smile at her. She hugged her one more time then went along to hug everyone else.

"Do you plan to come over to this side at some point?" Harry asked, pointing at the barricade. "If we don't leave soon, I think they might tow my car."

"Stop trying to act so tough. I'm sure you've been crying because of how much you missed me." Hermione didn't get to hear his response because he was interrupted by the sound of someone else calling her name.

Hermione, along with the rest of her friends turned in the direction of the voice. It was a no-brainer that he would know when her flight was arriving, after all, she hadn't changed the itinerary. But she still hadn't expected to see him so soon.

"Hey," he said as his voice trailed off. He knew he had done a cruel thing so he braced himself for some unpleasantness of a hex or two. So he sighed in relief when all she did was hiss, turn around and walk away. If it didn't get any worse than that, he knew he would get her back in no time.

Chris dashed through the throng of people to catch up with her. Yes, he had been silly and even though they had been together for so long, he had known that he wasn't ready to get married and that had no bearing on how he felt about her. He was still in love with her.

After being together for three years, she had begun to hint about their future together and when he couldn't come up with any real reason why they shouldn't get married, he proposed. He didn't want to make any excuses but the truth was he had succumbed to the pressure. It she wasn't hinting about it, his parents were asking him directly, warning that they didn't want any of their grandchildren born out of wedlock or even less than nine months after their parents' wedding.

Throughout their engagement, he had tried to be enthused about the wedding, attempting to psyche himself out of this fear but at the last minute, when push came to shove, he couldn't go through with it. He should never have proposed and he regretted that he hadn't been smart enough to do something before it got too late.

He had spent the past week hating himself, wishing that he were a different man but what could he really do? It wasn't like he could undo the past. All he needed to do was remind her that they were still love so that she wouldn't leave him. She had her fun in Aruba and now it was time for them to get back together.

"I should have called you," he said, catching up with her and grabbing onto her hand. "I'm so sorry. I should have called you."

Hermione looked at his hand like it was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen. "Take that off me!" For some reason, seeing him apologize the way he normally did made her blood boil. Surely, this required more than a freaking 'sorry' didn't it?

"Hermione, please, don't do this. I still love you. Please listen to me. I love you."

She knew that she couldn't care what he said but she did anyway. She folded her arms and turned to him. "Really?"

"Get the fuck out of here!" Harry said from behind her.

Hermione looked around and saw her friends looking back at them. Her heart was beating in anticipation and her head was spinning with a thousand emotions so for a split second, she had forgotten that they weren't alone.

"Hermi—"

"Are you fucking deaf?" Harry snarled. "Get the hell out of here. No one wants to see you."

Hermione turned to him and shook her head. She was touched by his reaction to the scene unfolding but she really wanted to hear what Chris had to say. "Let him speak."

Encouraged, Chris took her hand. And as hard as she tried, she couldn't shake the warmth that came with experiencing the familiarity of his skin on hers. "What?" she wanted to be dramatic and shake his hand off but she just didn't have it in her. The truth was that she still loved him.

"I'm sorry."

She stared at him, waiting for him to say something more but he didn't. Instead, he just looked apologetically at her. Disgusted that he wasn't putting more of an effort into his apology, she slapped his hand off hers. How could he believe that was all it took to tame her anger? "Is that all you have to say?" She asked, not bothering to hide her venom.

He shook his head vehemently. "Of course not. Let's got somewhere else. What can I say with all your friends glaring at me?"

"You care about that? You surely didn't think of the hundreds if eyes that would stare at me after you left me at the altar! If you have anything else to say, say it now or just forget about it!"

He sighed and looked down. How could he convince her with her cheerleaders listening to every word? He fell to his knees and bowed his head. "Please forgive me. I love you and I miss you. This past week has been hell. Please forgive me."

Hermione felt some of the ice she had in her heart melt slowly. "What do you want me to forgive for?"

"For being so thoughtless. For being so cruel. I just felt overwhelmed that all I could do was run. I still love you, Hermione. I will always love you. You know you own my heart, right? There's no one else for me. You're it."

She smiled despite herself. "But you don't want to marry me?"

"Of course I do," he said, hoping that if they did get married in the future, he would be ready by then. And even if he wasn't, he would get married anyway. He couldn't repeat this mistake. He didn't want to lose her. "Let's plan another wedding. Maybe something a lot smaller. Just you and me and some of our family and friends."

"I won't be there," Lavender interjected. It annoyed her to see her friend yield so easily to that asshole. What the hell? Couldn't she tell that he was manipulative git using sweet words to con his way out of facing the consequences of his actions?

"Neither would I," Harry said. The pretty much the rest of her cheerleading squad relayed similar sentiments. Hermione looked over at her best friends.

She turned back to Chris. "Let me just go home now. We can talk again later."

Hermione walked into her flat, slammed the door behind her, dropped her luggage by the door then threw her keys into the key drawer. It sure felt nice to be back. It was obvious that Ginny had been to place because all the stuff she had left in the hotel room was placed neatly by the dining table. She was about to bend down to pick up one of the bags when she noticed her engagement ring on the dining table. She picked it up and played with it with the tips of her fingers. The ring mark on her finger hadn't yet faded but seeing the ring made her remember the fateful day he had placed it on her finger. Then she put it on and admired her hand. She sighed. Why did it have to make her hand look so pretty?

The light on her answering machine was blinking out of control so she decided it was as good a time as any to listen to her numerous messages. She hit the button and as the messages played, walked over to her refrigerator to find something to drink. After a few nervous calls from friends expressing their sympathy and extending their wishes, she heard Chris's voice come on.

"Hey, Baby. Where are you? I went to the hotel to find you but they said you checked out. Where are you?"

The next one form him came two messages later.

"Honey, I called Ginny and she said that you're not there. Are you at home? I'm at the door but you're not opening. Where are you? Shit." She heard him swear. "Why the fuck did I lose my key? Open the door."

The next one went, "I'm so sorry. Please. I'm so sorry. You can hit me all you want. You can scream at me all you want and I won't say anything. You have the right to do whatever you want with me. But you need to open the door to be able to do this. So open the door."

Even though she had poured herself a glass of soda, she had yet to take a sip. She felt her heart melting despite herself. She sighed. He really did sound sorry.

After a few more messages from him, with her heart shaking uncontrollably, wondering if she really could give him a second chance, another message from him came on.

"What the fuck is your problem? I'm apologizing here. Can't you hear me? Open the fucking door!"

The next one went like, "Okay, you don't want to talk to me. Fine. I don't need you. I can't believe how selfish you're being. How long do you want me to spend out here waiting for you? It started raining and you didn't even come out to get me. When did you become so heartless? Okay, forget about it. It's a good thing we didn't get married. I don't even know who are you are! Just return my ring! You don't deserve it. It's a family heirloom and there's no reason for you to keep it. So just send it in the mail!" He said before hanging up.

Hermione hissed and shook her head. And to think that she had even thought of forgiving him. Was he insane? Why did he feel entitled to her forgiveness? She pulled the ring off her hand put it back her friend had left it. Yeah, it was her fault. If she had never made it clear to him that she love him so much that she was willing to forgive him anything, he would have thought twice before leaving such a nasty message. And to top it off, he lied! Because as far as she knew, he bought that Tiffany ring during a business trip. She still loved him, after all, love didn't have an off switch one could use whenever they needed it but she was certain that she would never be with him again.

So a few messages later, when Chris called to apologize, stating that Harry had informed him that she had gone on their honeymoon, she didn't give a shit. As far as she was concerned, they were ancient history.

Seven months later.

"I'm so happy you still have time to hang out with an old man like myself," Chris's father said to Hermione as they walked into a store.

"Liam, I will always have time for an old man like you," she replied, grinning at him.

"Oh, you're calling me an old man?" He frowned, pretending to be annoyed.

She laughed then linked her arm with his. "Yes, but I like old men like you."

Most girls usually buttered up to their prospective mothers-in-law but it was different for her. For some reason, she always got along really well with guys and apparently, that extended to fathers as well. Shortly after Chris had introduced her to his parents, she and his father realized they worked a few blocks apart and somehow fell into having lunch or hanging out together.

He enjoyed talking to her because she had never been intimated by him and always spoke freely, and something about how she treated him made him feel young again. For her part, Hermione had initially befriending him to kiss his ass but it didn't take long for her to like him independent of his relationship to her boyfriend. She enjoyed that he loved to gossip and always treated her like an equal. His so-called fatherly advice was kept to a minimum and for that she was truly grateful.

"So what do you think of that?" He asked, pointing at a diamond tennis bracelet. They were meeting to pick out a gift for his wife.

She sighed. "Thirty years of marriage. Wow, I can't even imagine that," she said as she bent over the counter to take a closer look. "Excuse me," she said to the salesgirl, "can you bring that one out so that we can look at it closely?"

Chris's father watched as she waited for the lady to unlock the case. He was still yet to get over the fiasco with her botched marriage. His son had always been very calculating and thorough when it came to making big decisions so he had been very shocked when he just hadn't shown up for the wedding.

Even though he understood that Hermione couldn't forgive him, he held onto the hope that one day, she would come around. Even though he really liked her as a friend, he really wanted her as a daughter-in-law. From all the girls he had met in his life, he never met anyone else that suited his son so well. They were a perfect match and it always amazed him at how easily young people destroyed valuable things.

"Here you are, Sir." The shop lady said, handing it to him.

They held onto the bracelet and watched it gleam in the light. "It's pretty shiny, don't you think?" He asked. "Does it look like something Chris's mother will like? Oh, speaking of which, have you given that foolish boy his ring back yet? I still can't believe that he tried to pretend that it was a family heirloom. Whose family? Stupid boy."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "He calls occasionally and no matter what we talked about, he ends up trying to get it back. Sometimes, I just want to give it back to him so he can leave me alone but other times, I feel that he doesn't deserve it."

"I understand," he said nodding. And from what he could see, the ring was the only thing left that linked them together. "Keep holding onto it and never give it back." And maybe one day, there would be no need to.

She looked up from the designs in her hand. This was going to be an interesting project. A wealthy magitect wanted her to design a few robes for the whole winter season for him but he wanted to be a part of the project from beginning to finish. She felt like he was going to be a over-compulsive person that was going to put his input on everything. The clients that came to her usually just dropped off a picture of themselves and their sizes and left everything up to her. She didn't like to work with others but she realized that this wasn't an opportunity to slip through her fingers, knowing that this person was a wealthy well-known magitect in the Wizarding world. This could be her chance to show off her designs to them.

According to the magitect's assistant, he was a private person but he made frequent public appearances for his buildings he designed so he wanted a change of style this season. She had picked up a book filled with his creations and was awed. They were incredible. She wasn't much into modern designs but they were just incredible.

She glanced at her watch and saw that it was about time this magitect named D. M. joined her and when she saw one of the hostesses leading two men of varying heights and builds towards her, she sat up in her seat. The shorter man looked a bit older and even though she couldn't see the taller man's face, she could already tell that he was younger. They were both dressed in suits with no ties but the taller man's black suit was cut in a way that accentuated his toned build. He had the trendy, short hair that young people were sporting these days and there was something undeniably sexy about him. It was quite unethical for a designer to get involved with her client but judging from the looks of her last few clients that were wealthy, she was pretty much sure that he was the assistant she would barely see while the shorter many was the one she would spend hours with. Which suited her fine. After all, she wasn't quite ready to date any men yet.

As they got closer to her table, she stood up to greet them. She took one quick glance at her folder to read their names: D. M. and his assistant, Mike Smith. She put a smile on her face and looked up at them.

"Ma'am, your party has arrived," the hostess said before turning back around.

"Thank you." She beamed at the two men and stretched her hand out. "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger and I'll be your designer on this project." She shook the shorter man's hand then stretched her hand out to the taller man. "I've been looking forward to meeting you. I already anticipate enjoying working with you."

The guy took her hand but instead of shaking it, just held it.

Confused by his action, Hermione looked up into his eyes.

"Hello Jean. Nice to meet you again," he said icily. "It's been a while."

Her eyes widened as recognition hit. "Damien?"