Hermione tried to buy a little more time for herself, still unsure how to explain, and proceeded to ask Ginny about James and baby Albus while she nibbled her biscuit and sipped her tea.
Ginny launched into a rant about the latest mischief the little boy has been able to get himself into. James really was a combination of his Grandfather, father, and mother all in one; take your eye off him for a second and he'll have found some kind of trouble to make.
The latest saga involved James not wanting to wear pants causing Ginny to chase him around the house and even out into the yard where he went tumbling into a muddy puddle and came out dripping with mud from head to toe. And of course, the cherry on top was a reporter from the Daily Prophet turning up on their doorstep right at that moment!
Hermione found herself giggling at her god son's antics and a little bit of the weight in the pit of her stomach eased along with it.
As the older witch took the last sip of her tea and set it on the coffee table gently, she could feel Ginny's eyes on her and she knew her dawdling time was over.
With a sigh, Hermione made eye contact with the redhead, "I don't understand it all myself Gin".
"Well, why don't you start simple… What set the ball in motion?"
Hermione looked down at her lap and mumbled, "Luna".
"Yes, well it didn't take a medi-witch to work that one out…" Ginny really was trying to be patient, but pickling rat brains would be less tedious than getting Hermione to open up.
"I just… she turned up at the hospital. With no notice. Like she disappeared for over ten freaking years and then she's just there like it's any ordinary Monday afternoon!"
The younger witch nods along empathetically as Hermione finally gets going.
"And she didn't even apologise, just her usual floaty effervescence as if she was gone a few days or weeks." Hermione's cheeks were going red as she worked herself up, "No explanation for anything!"
"Well not one that's worth anything anyway, 'I think we all needed some space to find ourselves'", Hermione air quoted dramatically doing a poor impression of Luna's lilted voice. "I didn't need space, I needed support. I needed my friend".
Ginny didn't need to be reminded. During the period after Luna left and Ron and Hermione had called it quits as a couple, Hermione had been a mess. They all had honestly. There was a lot of processing to do, and they all tried to lean on each other as much as possible, but Ginny was trying to hold Harry afloat, not to mention the awkward tension following the break up. Hermione had gone to great lengths to find Luna with no success.
"Why didn't she owl or floo or anything? I didn't even know for sure she was alive…" Hermione started to cry, "Did she really not care enough to check in, not even once in ten years…"
"I'm sure she had a good reason Mione, I know she does care about you", the redhead tried to reassure the distraught witch.
"Then why did she not bother to even give me a heads up she was coming back?"
Ginny handed Hermione some tissues to clean herself up, and Hermione dabbed at her swollen eyes.
"I'm so torn between being so excited that she's come home and so hurt that she left and never reached out in all of this time…"
The younger witch felt the fire drain from Hermione with those words and gestured for her to scootch over for a hug, "I think you need to give her a chance to explain herself properly, and give her the benefit of the doubt…This is Luna, her intention would never be to cause anyone pain".
"Yeah, maybe you're right. I didn't give her much of a chance before letting myself get all worked up like a silly school girl".
"You're allowed to be upset 'Mione, although maybe we could skip the bottle of firewhisky next time hey?" Ginny gave the older witch a cheeky smile before continuing, "Look the gang heard that Luna was back and decided we needed to have a bit of a welcome home for her, everyone's coming to our house Friday evening. Please consider coming… It might help clear the air between you".
Hermione's initial instinct was to say absolutely not, but she knew that she would regret not going. Despite her current emotional state, she had missed Luna desperately and didn't want to be rude, or throw the chance of being friends again completely out of the window before even giving the blonde witch a chance.
"Fine, I'll be there. Do you need me to bring anything?"
"Mione I'm a Weasley, there'll already be more food than you can poke a wand at. Just bring yourself and a good attitude".
"I can't promise the good attitude…" Hermione gave Ginny a wry smile.
Ginny playfully shoved the older witch, "Fine, then you can be on babysitting duty while I have a good time for the both of us".
"Don't tempt me, you know I'd rather hang out with your boys than the grownups", Hermione sassed back and Ginny could help but feel some of the tension drain, glad that her friend was starting to return to her usual self.
They stayed on the couch for a while longer before Ginny felt Hermione was going to be ok before taking her leave to go and save Ron from her children. He was an excellent uncle but wholly unprepared for actual caretaking.
"Give the babies a cuddle for me!" Hermione called after Ginny as she was walking to the floo, "And Gin… Thanks, I really appreciate it".
Ginny just winked and jumped into the floo calling out for Potter Cottage.
After a couple of years at Grimmauld Place, Ginny had finally gotten fed up with the dank, dark building that felt so oppressive. Every corner held memories for both herself and Harry and it wasn't doing either of them any good. They discussed buying in a newer wizarding village or even renting for a while, until Hermione asked about Godric's Hollow.
It hadn't occurred to the young couple, and at first they were hesitant. It would take a lot of restoration to return it to a liveable condition again. But out of curiosity and hope they visited Potters Cottage for the first time since the war and by the time they left Harry and Ginny were both sold (although neither of them quite knew it yet).
It took them a couple of days to mull it over individually, Ginny mentioned how beautiful the gardens were and that she would love the space to grow some potions ingredients and fresh vegetables. Harry agreed, their future children would have lots of space to run and play. The redhead commented that she had felt like she could still feel Lilly's love as they had walked through the entrance to the house, and Harry couldn't help but want that connection for their children.
The next day Ginny started browsing magazines for furniture and considering paint options, while Harry asked around for recommendations for builders that could be trusted with this kind of project. 3 months later they moved into their new home, and they've been incredibly happy there ever since. Even Hermione agreed that sometimes you got the feeling that Lilly was smiling down at her family.
Once Ginny was gone, Hermione decided to go for a run to help release the negative feelings and clear her head. Even though she'd never been particularly athletic, after the war Hermione had taken to running to keep herself fit and burn off steam when she was in any kind of emotional turmoil. She changed into work out clothes and her runners and hungrily inhaled the cool, fresh air as she stepped outside.
Hermione worked her way down the street and around the nearby park, not going particularly fast but trying to keep her feet and breathing rhythmic to ground herself. As she neared the corner of the park before turning towards home, the witch thought she caught a glimpse of blonde hair disappearing around a corner down the lane. Her heart beat sped up and before Hermione could really consider what she was doing, her feet were carrying her in that direction instead.
The now puffing witch made her way to the corner, unsure if she hoped it was Luna that she would find or if she just imagined the streak of white blonde floating around the corner. Hermione came around the bend and caught her breath, it was her. Luna. What did she do now? Her usually analytical mind was a jumbled mess as she got nearer and nearer.
When she was just about level, Hermione lost her nerve, looking down at the ground she made the decision to just try and run by unnoticed.
"Hermione?"
Shit.
Hermione slowed, trying to catch her breath as her heart hammered in her ears.
"Oh Luna! I'm sorry I didn't see you there, I was all in my head", Hermione tried to cover.
"It's ok Hermione, I know you're not ready to talk to me", Luna smiled sadly.
"Oh no! I umm... I just have a lot on my mind.." Hermione stumbled awkwardly, "I'll be at the party on Friday though… and I really… would like to catch up with you then".
The brunette had to hold herself back from face palming herself for how badly she was handling this.
"I'll see you there then, and let you continue your run before the wrackspurts settle in your ears", Luna said gently. Her tone told Hermione that she could see straight through the older witch and was being compassionate.
"Yeah, um ok, thanks. Seeya Luna", Despite how desperate Hermione was to get out of this conversation, her feet seemed to struggle to remember what to do, part of her wanted to stay. She slowly forced herself to start jogging again.
The brunette didn't trust herself with wine, but Hermione decided that as soon as she got home, she was ordering take away and losing herself in a book by the fire with Toothless curled up on her lap.
And that is just how she spent the rest of the night.