Disclaimer: I still don't own J. K. Rowling's characters, just the plot. And the horrible smut.
A/N: Dear readers, if you have read chapter 8 before the rewrite, please go back and re-read it now. It has been pretty extensively revamped.
In this chapter, Harry is confronted by Ron and Hermione.
Harry stared into those deep dark chocolate eyes staring back at him, those soft lips that had just told him she thought she loved him, and he smiled. This was not the smile of someone happy, or amused. This was the slow-breaking, wide smile that lights up someone's entire face, changes the shape of it, and makes their eyes shine. This was the kind of smile that forced other people to smile in response.
That was the smile Harry gave Pansy, as he replied quietly, "I think I love you too, Pansy Parkinson."
Her answering smile was just as wide and brilliant as his was, and she ducked her blushing face and snuggled into his side. "Thank you for telling me your story, Harry, for opening up to me. You have no idea how much that means to me," she spoke honestly.
Harry kissed the top of her head and lifted a hand up to run his fingers through her hair. "You're very welcome, Pansy. You're actually very easy to open up to. And I think you're right. Can you ask Ron and Hermione to come over for dinner tonight? Now that I've started, I need to finish. I need to tell them why I left." His voice broke slightly. "And apologize for the pain I caused them."
Pansy nodded against his chest. "I'll text Hermione in a bit. Right now, I don't want to do anything but sit here and be held by you."
And so they sat there, holding each other, saying what words could not say.
Harry was preparing for dinner when the phone by the door rang. He walked over and answered it. "Ok, show them up here, please? Thanks, Ant. Bar is yours for the night, I trust your judgement on anything that comes up. See that nobody disturbs us, okay?" He hung up the phone and turned to where Pansy sat at the counter, watching him. "They're here."
A moment later there was a knock on the door, and Harry opened it. "Hermione, Ron, come in."
The tall redhead and the shorter brunette walked in the door and looked at him. They stood there in an awkward silence for what felt like hours, but was probably more like a minute. Harry opened his mouth to say something, and Hermione slapped him, hard. Then she threw her arms around him, squeezing him until he couldn't breathe. "You bastard," she said. Harry sighed, and hugged her just as tightly. "I know." He looked over at Ron. "I'm sorry," he said to them both, his voice wet with emotion. He held an arm up for Ron, who rolled his eyes and hugged them both. They stood there, all of them crying now, as Harry just kept repeating, "I had to," and "I'm so sorry."
He looked up at one point and caught Pansy's eye, and she rolled her eyes and made an exaggerted "get on with it" gesture, and he laughed. The laugh broke the spell and the Golden Trio split apart. Harry rubbed his jaw and looked at Hermione. "I'm not sorry," she said. "You deserved that."
"All right, then," Harry agreed. He took their coats and hung them up on the coat rack. "Come on in, sit with Pansy while I finish dinner. Wine?"
"Sure," Ron said as he took Hermione's hand and walked over to where Pansy was sitting. He gave her a very strange look, as if surprised to find her there still.
Hermione looked between Pansy and Harry and muttered a soft "Oh!", then jabbed Ron in the side with her elbow. "Lovely to see you again, Pansy," she said aloud, and sat down at the table.
Harry poured them both a glass of wine and brought it over to the table, then refreshed Pansy's glass. He went into the kitchen and finished preparing dinner while the three of them stared at each other uncomfortably. He had asked Pansy not to tell Hermione of their relationship just yet. He hoped they would think she was just there to bask in her success. He put a casserole dish in the oven, checked a sauce that was simmering on the stove, and set a timer on the counter.
"We've got about 30 minutes until dinner is done, so I guess we can start talking," Harry said reluctantly.
Hermione and Ron both start firing questions at him at once. Harry held up his hands. "Stop," he said, forcefully. "I will tell you what you want to know, but you don't get to interrogate me."
Hermione sat back with her arms crossed over her chest, clearly unhappy. Ron looked like he was about to explode. "Go ahead then," Hermione said tersely.
Harry began to talk, telling them everything he'd told Pansy that morning. He didn't gloss over anything, and he didn't hide the tears when they came. He didn't realize when Pansy walked over to him and put her arm around his shoulders, comforting him. He didn't see the looks that crossed Ron and Hermione's faces when she did that, he just kept talking.
"And I know you've been looking for me, and I'm sorry I put you through so much pain and grief. But I swear to you, I am fine. I did have a minor breakdown that day, but I pulled through. I'm happy here, away from that life. If you can forgive me, I'd like you to be a part of my life again but I'm not going back to what I had before." He looked up at them, then, tears in his eyes, and reached up to touch Pansy's hand.
Ron started to say something, looking back and forth between Harry and Pansy, but at that moment, the timer went off in the kitchen. Pansy squeezed Harry's shoulder and whispered, "I'll get the food out of the oven."
Harry looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks, love. Stir the sauce, too, please, and turn off the burner."
He looked back at his friends. "And I guess I should also tell you that Pansy and I are involved, and I'm happy with that, as well."
He pointed at Ron. "And if you say one single word about her being Slytherin or insult her in any way, you get to leave without eating." He knew how much Ron loved food and that was the worst punishment he could think of.
Ron sputtered "But...but…Harry…" Hermione laid a hand on his knee and looked at him. He subsided.
Hermione looked at Harry. "I wish...we both wish...that you had come to us. Or written. Or something, anything, to let us know you were ok. We didn't know if you had disappeared or just jumped in the Thames and were gone forever. Nobody could find you, and that frustrated the Ministry beyond anything. I'm surprised they didn't make you a wanted man with a reward."
Harry sighed. "I know, Hermione. I didn't at first, but after a few months, I knew. But I also knew if I contacted you then, you'd have pulled me back into that world and put in St. Mungo's for evaluation. And I'd be cleared, and go back to work, and then what would happen the next time someone died? I'd blame myself all over again and maybe that time I actually would have a breakdown."
He stood up, and walked around the table to hug her. "Sometimes, Hermione, you have to let people make their own decisions. I wasn't allowed to do that very often." He put an arm around Ron as well. "I love you both dearly, you're the best friends anyone could ever have, but I had to do this. And if you don't want to be a part of this life I have now, I will understand. I will be sad, and it will hurt, but I will understand and accept that decision. Either way, I ask that you accept the decisions that I have made."
He straightened up, wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and walked away to let them think and talk to each other while he plated dinner. Pansy stood by the stove, and as he neared her, she opened her arms and put them around his waist. She hugged him tightly as he shed a few more tears and his body shook. "Feel better?" she asked quietly. He nodded, his cheek pressed to the top of her head.
"I do. Thank you, love," he replied, just as quietly. She smiled at him and let go.
"Now get me some food. I'm starving," she said, smacking his arm playfully.
"Ma'am yes ma'am," he replied with a grin. He washed his face and hands and then started putting food on the plates. They each carried the plates to the table and set them down, and they all began eating.
After dinner, they sat with their wine glasses in the sitting area. Harry and Pansy sat on the sofa, her legs tucked up under her and Harry's arm around her shoulder. Ron stood by the fireplace looking at the basilisk bones. Hermione sat in a chair, watching the new couple. "You two look good together," she observed, breaking the silence.
Pansy smiled up at Harry. "I think so too." She looked over at Hermione and Ron. "I think you both realize I can't complete the job you hired me for. I'll return your deposit tomorrow when the bank opens."
Hermione shook her head. "No, you did exactly what we asked you to. You found Harry, and you got him to talk to us. Finding him, that alone was more than anybody's done in almost three years. We'll pay you the rest that's owed to you."
Pansy frowned. She started to object when Harry said "How about you split the difference, Pansy keeps the deposit, and you keep the remainder, Hermione?"
Both girls looked at him, and nodded. "Don't look so surprised, girls. I am a businessman now, remember?" He laughed at the looks on their faces, then winced with Pansy dug an elbow into his ribs. "Ow! Woman…"
They all laughed. The lingering tension that had filled the room bled away as they all laughed at Harry's discomfiture, and Harry grinned at them.
He kissed Pansy's forehead and stood up. "Ron, come help me with drinks. Pansy, please don't gossip about my underwear drawer."
He walked into the kitchen with Ron following him, carrying their glasses. As Harry uncorked a bottle of wine, he looked over at Ron. "She's not the girl we went to school with, Ron. She was right to try to do what she did, with what she knew at the time. She was scared and we've dealt with that. And she makes me happy. She's a strong, professional, talented woman who has a very deep and caring heart."
Hermione looked at Pansy. "Is this real, Pansy? Do you really care for him? After what he told us tonight...I don't think he could handle it if you broke his heart. I can see it in his eyes, he has completely fallen for you."
Pansy looked back, intensely. "I care for him deeply, Hermione. I might even love him. I think I do, but it's so soon. This all happened very quickly, but it's real. It's really real."
Searching her face, looking into her eyes, Hermione nodded. "I think you do, too. But let me warn you, if you do hurt him...remember that they called me the brightest witch of our age. I know more spells than you've forgotten."
Pansy nodded. "I know. And I believe you. But I don't think it will come to that. I am happy with him, and I haven't been happy in a very long time."
He poured the wine into the glasses as Ron replied. "I can see that, Harry, but you know me. It's hard to let old grudges go. But I can see that she does make you happy. And if I haven't said this before, you're a git for leaving."
He paused. "But I can see why you had to. I don't like it, but I accept it. And Hermione will make her own decision, but I miss my best friend and I'm not letting you out of my life again." He clasped Harry on the shoulder. "Besides, Harry, you own a pub. Like I'm going to want to avoid that kind of connection."
Harry grinned and they both laughed as they carried the glasses over to the girls. Ron sat down on the floor in front of Hermione, leaning back against her legs, and Harry let Pansy snuggle up into him again. They talked, then, of the things they'd seen and done over the years. The Trio already knew the stories, of course, but Pansy had only know of the public side of things. She interrupted them often to ask questions, but for the most part listened and smiled until she thought her face would get stuck that way.
Pansy then told Hermione and Ron of the second dinner she had shared with Harry, and how they had both set out to seduce the other. Ron covered his ears at one point, but Hermione laughed and giggled and complimented Harry on his plan.
Late into the night, the three old friends and one new one talked, and learned more about each other. When Ron and Hermione finally left, it was with hugs and kisses on the cheeks and promises to write and come visit.
After shutting the pub door behind them and locking it, Harry went upstairs. He found Pansy laying in his bed, wearing one of his shirts again. "You have your own clothes, you know," he said, as he started to undress.
She grinned. "But I look so much cuter in this shirt than you do," she said warmly.
"I can't argue with that. Look, I'm sorry we kept you up so late that.."
"Shush. I could have gone to bed at any time if I wanted to. Now come here, Potter. I want dessert."