Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

"Loneliness is worst of all

When you got no one else to call

Feeling kind of sad when the times are bad, the times are getting bad"

Kodaline - The Answer

Hermione didn't sleep well that night. She woke up several times during the night, her heart beating fast into her chest, and she couldn't blame the heat of the summer nights any more; in September, the nights were getting colder with time passing by.

Around seven o'clock, she eventually got up from her bed for good, and decided that a warm bath wouldn't do her any wrong, even if she was supposed to go to work right after. Once in the hot water, Hermione tried to focus on the things that she needed to do at work; but unfortunately, her mind quickly drifted toward another important subject, or was she supposed to say an important person.

She wondered how Harry's encounter with Ginny had gone the previous night. Inwardly, she couldn't help but feel terribly guilty by what this married couple had had to gone through, even if she remembered that Harry had told her that it was not her fault at all. But how could she trust him when they had shared more than one kiss during the past few weeks? Despite her willingness, despite the fact that she had promised to herself not to do anything with Harry in the mean time, she had failed lamentably, and now, she was just ashamed of what she had done.

"Even if it wasn't your fault in the first place, you've made things worse...," she mumbled while taking the soap into her right hand.

Not knowing what had happened last night wasn't helpful either. What if Harry and Ginny managed to find a way to repair their relationship? A sigh escaped her, and she took a deep breath. She couldn't blame Harry if it was the case; she was the other woman, and Ginny was still his wife after all. Truth to be told, it would be even better for James if his parents were back together. Maybe that Ginny would eventually find a way to reconcile her family life with her professional career, and then... then obviously, Harry wouldn't need her anymore.

These dark ideas going through her head, she immersed her whole body – including her head – into the warm water in order to wake her up and clear her mind. And hell, it worked.

XxX

"Someone doesn't seem to have slept well last night," a man's voice shake Hermione out of her torpor, and she almost made the pile of books that was into her arms fall on the floor. She cursed through her teeth and turned around to meet Daniel's playful gaze.

"Do you want some help with these books?" he offered, but, without giving her the opportunity to answer, he took more than half of the books that were hampering the brunette.

"Thank you. And yes, I didn't sleep very well. I'm sorry if I was grumpy this morning," she sighed before putting the remaining books back on the appropriate shelves.

"What is the reason of your insomnia? Do you have some trouble to plan your upcoming birthday party?"

"How do you know that my birthday is coming?"

"Come on, everyone knows when your birthday is, Hermione," Daniel explained with a wink. "Next Friday, eh? I'll think about you eventually."

Hermione smiled at him before shaking her head. "I don't really care about my birthday to be honest. But if you want to buy me something, well, I'm not going to complain," she concluded with an angelic expression all over her face.

It was a pleasure to work alongside Daniel. He was kind, and, with time passing by, Hermione realised that she was considering him as a friend. He always tried to cheer her up, and since his arrival, her relation with her employer was much better than before. Nonetheless, it wasn't a reason enough for her to want to work for Flourish and Blotts for eternity, but for now, it would do.

"Do you plan to work here for long?" Hermione suddenly asked to Daniel, taking advantage of the fact that the bookshop was almost empty at this time of the day.

"Mmh, I don't know. Tertington wants me to stay at least until the end of the year, but... You know, I'm not a stable man, I like adventure."

"I can see it. And that was the reason why I didn't accept to have this drink with you," Hermione retorted playfully, knowing perfectly well that Daniel had understood since a long time that she didn't want nothing more than his friendship.

"Really? Because, if you want my opinion, I'd say that there is another man in your heart, and that's the reason why you don't want to go out with me," Daniel grinned, visibly amused by their discussion.

"What makes you say something like that?"

"Oh, nothing," the tall man chuckled, before putting the books that were in his arms back on the shelves like Hermione did.

"Nothing?" Hermione insisted. "Come on, Daniel, you cannot say something like this and don't explain yourself in the aftermath."

"Let's just say that the man that I am talking about is not well-known to traipse around the shops on Diagon Alley. He is not well-known for that, but he is well-known, generally speaking. Famous, even," Daniel explained with a side-glance to the former Gryffindor.

Hermione suddenly blushed, mortified by what Daniel had just said to her. It was true though; Harry had came at Flourish and Blotts twice during the last week, every time just to talk to her right after her lunch break. It had always been a matter of five or ten minutes, and she didn't realise that Daniel witnessed the whole thing.

"I don't know who you are talking about," Hermione eventually said with a shy smile before heading to the other pile of books that she needed to store.

"Does Harry Potter ring a bell?"

Hermione's grip on the book tightened, and she was happy that Daniel could just see her back from where he stood.

"Harry is a friend, so I definitely don't know what you are talking about, Daniel," she retorted in steady voice, before swallowing to make the lump in her throat disappear.

"I'm not judging you, Hermione, I jus–"

Hermione swiftly turned around and shook her head in denial.

"I think that you didn't understand me the first time. There is nothing to judge, since you are obviously wrong. Drop it, Daniel. You are wasting your time – and mine – here."

She then headed toward the reserve without a glance at her coworker, her heart pounding in her chest. When the door of the reserve opened a second time, she let out a sigh when she saw Daniel.

"It's almost one o'clock, do you want to go out for lunch with me?" he offered with a since smile. "Please, I don't want you to be mad at me. Moreover, I can see that you need to clear off your head a little, so... Are you in?"

"Only if you swear –"

"I'm not going to talk about it if you don't want me to," Daniel cut her off, his right hand over his chest, next to where his heart was.

"Alright," Hermione abdicated. "Let's go."

XxX

Daniel had opted for a healthy restaurant, which proposed a various choice of enormous salads and organic meals.

"The waitress is staring at you," Hermione whispered softly to Daniel's attention, doing her best to hide her smile.

"She always does. Not that I gave her any hope, but you know...," he explained, rolling her eyes. "I can't blame her for finding me attractive. You should follow her example, if you want a very good advice."

"Damn, I should have made you swear not to talk about your so-called attractiveness too," Hermione chuckled before taking a sip of her apple juice.

"So-called? You are going to make me doubt about my charm, woman, be careful with your words," he retorted playfully.

At the end of the lunch, Daniel eventually cleared his throat, something that he always did when he wanted to be serious about a subject.

"What is the matter, Mr. Gathy?" Hermione asked.

"I want to talk to you about something... You know, I've told you that I don't plan to work for long at Flourish and Blotts."

"Yes, I do remember about this information, since you said it... well, just an hour ago?" Hermione said back ironically.

"Alright, make fun of me, young lady. But what I am going to say to you, to ask you, is really important."

He stopped, obviously waiting for her to say something, but Hermione just raised an eyebrow. Daniel sighed.

"I want to open my own bookshop, Hermione," he went on. "And, from what I learned about you, you want to do the same. That's the reason why I am asking you right now if you are interested in such a project."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I am," Daniel nodded frantically. "I am more than serious, and I know that we can do it together; I know how to run a bookshop, and you are definitely brilliant. You know a lot of people and–"

"Wow, calm down," Hermione interrupted his stream of words. "I don't know a lot of people to be honest..."

"But people know you, and that's the most important. We could make a brand with just your name, and people would come in a heartbeat. Did you notice how impressed the customers are at Flourish and Blotts when you are next to them?"

"Come on, I just dealt with a bunch of students so far, of course they are impressed..."

"It's more than that," Daniel insisted, bending over the table to take her right hand into his. "Please, think about it. We would make a great team together. All that we have to do is to resign from Flourish and Blotts at least two months before the overture of our store."

"How can I trust an adventurous man like you, Daniel? What can make me put all my trust in a project like this without a guarantee that you wouldn't run away to begin something new in, let's say six months or so? Don't get me wrong, I really like you, but..."

"But you want to be sure, and I get it. Take all the time that you need, but just do me a favour: think about it, alright?"

Hermione nodded, and freed herself from Daniel's hand. "Alright," she said. "But you didn't have to take my hand like that, you know. I would have say yes anyway."

"Oh, this," Daniel chuckled. "I just wanted to make this waitress think that we are together. I'm tired of her advances, it's creepy to have someone staring at you like that."

Hermione saw the young blonde waitress turned around with an expression of pure despair over her face and shook her head.

"I guess that it worked..."

XxX

The project of opening a bookshop helped Hermione to think about something cheerful at least until she went back home. Once in the corridor that lead to her apartment, she started to look into her bag in order to find her keys, and she almost bump into someone while doing so.

"Excuse me, I didn't–"

The rest of her sentence didn't pass the barrier of her lips; Harry was just a few inches from her, his green eyes staring at her, his expression undecipherable.

"Harry," Hermione muttered. "What are you doing here? You were supposed t–"

"Can we talk about this inside?" he asked in a low voice, so different from the voice full of life and spirit that he usually had.

"Of course," she quickly said before looking back at the inside of her bag. A second later, her keys were in her right hand. "Follow me."

The brunette entered her flat without a single look at Harry; the same happened when he took place in the living room after getting rid of his navy blue scarf while she headed to the kitchen to make some tea. The young man didn't seem eager to talk, and she didn't want to ask him a bunch of questions in the current situation. But she wanted to know so many things: what had he said to Ginny the previous night? Why wasn't he with her at the moment? And what about James?

Frowning, Hermione served the tea into two cups, and returned in the living room, just to notice how livid Harry was.

"Here," she said in a breath, handing him one of the cups. "Be careful, it's still hot."

Harry nodded without even thinking about it, and searched for Hermione's eyes while she sat next to him.

"How was your day?" he asked almost automatically, as if anything had happened last night at his house.

"Good, actually. But it seems that you are the one who wants to say me something, am I right?"

Harry sighed deeply, but didn't utter a single word. Hermione decided to push him a little further.

"Where is James?"

She had the feeling that Harry's cup of tea was about to spill over the couch and quickly took it from his hands to put it on the coffee table, just next to hers. A strange feeling took possession of her whole body, and she inwardly prayed that nothing too bad had happened with Ginny.

"James..." Harry began in a hoarse voice. "James is currently at the Burrow with Ginny."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Had Harry really said something like this? She couldn't help but think that she had missed an information, something that could explain this sudden situation.

"We had a discussion last night. Ginny and I..."

"What happened?"

"We're over, Hermione. I couldn't accept the situation and..."

The only thing that Hermione had heard was Harry's first sentence. We're over. But who were over?

"... I broke up with her," Harry concluded, his green eyes searching for her chestnut ones.

She didn't know if she had to give him a shoulder to cry on. Or maybe tell him that she was sorry that his marriage ended so badly. Hermione just didn't know what to do. She just didn't want to make something inappropriate, while James was obviously under Ginny's care for now – and, as far as she was concerned, she wasn't sure that Harry was thrilled about it.

"She left last night," Harry went on. "I told her to leave for the Burrow because... because what she told me... I couldn't accept it."

His voice was hushed, and he didn't seem to be able to think properly, as if he was in shock from what happened last night.

"Did she leave with James?" Hermione asked softly.

"No, no of course not," Harry shook his head vehemently. "But she came back this morning, saying that, at least, she wanted to spend the weekend with him. She is supposed to drop him off at home on Sunday morning."

Hermione nodded in silence.

"It's not because it didn't work out between us that I can forbid her from seeing our son," he explained, seeking for her approbation.

"Of course. She's still his mum, and I'm sure that he is in good hands right now," she tried to calm him down. "Don't overthink the situation, Harry. What is done is done, you can't do much better right now."

"I know," he sighed. "But I'm not sure about what is going to happen in the future. About James, about the divorce, about everything. I thought that it would be easy, that she would be busy with her career as a Quidditch player, but I have the feeling that she doesn't plan to let me file for divorce that easily... And to be honest, I don't really want to see James travel around the world just to fit with her planning."

"I can understand that. He's just a baby. But one thing at the time, Harry," she muttered. "Ginny will go back to Ireland in two days, and you'll be able to think about what you plan to do then, alright?"

"Yes, I guess that you are right," he said, but Hermione noticed how defeated he was. "I just wanted to say this to you, that's why I came here. I've waited for you since midday I guess," he admitted in a forced chuckle. "That shows you how desperate I was when she left with James."

He suddenly got up, and Hermione frowned.

"Where are you going? You didn't even drink your tea."

"Home. I don't want to disturb you any longer, I guess that you have things to do tonight."

"Hell no, you are staying tonight. I can't let you spend your night alone after what happened. You don't have to talk about this anymore if you don't want to, but please stay for the night. It's a sofa bed," she proudly explained with a wave of hand at the couch, smiling.

"I'm not sure if..."

"I was about to make your favourite Italian dish," Hermione tried again.

Harry smiled weakly, but his eyes were now shinning with a light that he had seemed to have lost before.

"Lasagnas?"

"Exactly. So do you want to stay?"

"Alright, I'll stay," he muttered before giving her a hug. "Thank you for everything, Hermione," he breathed next to her ear, and Hermione closed her eyes. There was nothing sexual between them during this embrace, nothing romantic either; they were just two persons close to each other, and she wanted to ease his pain, that was all.

When Harry let go of her, she bent over to take his cup of tea and gave it to him.

"Tea?" she offered.

"With pleasure," Harry accepted, his expression softer than before.

Little did Hermione know that just the fact of being with her was a relief for Harry at this exact moment.

Damn, you're so spoiled with all these updates these days... And I'm spoiled by your reviews, so I guess that it's well deserved. I'm really happy to know that you like this story, I really am.

A lot of things are going to happen in the upcoming chapters, Harry and Hermione's relationship is going to develop now that Ginny is aware of his desire to divorce, so fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride!

Thank you for following this story.

PS: I'm sorry for the mistakes, since this story isn't Beta'ed. Moreover, being French certainly doesn't help. :D But I'm doing my best, be sure of it.