A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! I can't believe this one is almost over, just an epilogue after this one. You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter fifteen and be on the lookout for chapter sixteen!
Despite the gnawing hole in her stomach, Hermione decided that she would respect Marcus's wishes to leave him alone for the remaining few weeks of the school term. She no longer sat next to him at meal times, skipped out on the last Quidditch match, and avoided meeting his eye if they passed one another in the hallways. It hurt, but she knew that he didn't want to talk to her.
Blessedly, she had a full schedule with additional office hours to help students prepare for end of year exams, OWLs and NEWTs. They kept her busy enough that she could distract herself enough to get through the long days. Though, she knew that the students were still gossiping about her and the rather sudden end of a relationship that had previously seemed so perfect and the speculation of what might have happened or who might be at fault.
She had initially planned to spend the entire summer traveling, but she didn't have the energy to put together any concrete details. Hermione found herself with a welcome and unexpected invitation to spend a few weeks at the Burrow, where Ginny and Harry were also temporarily staying while they fixed up a cottage in Godric's Hollow.
It was much more comforting to be back at the Burrow than Hermione expected. Things had been a bit awkward with Molly when she and Ron did not end up falling in love and getting married, but she seemed to sense that Hermione needed a bit of extra care. Soon, all of her favorite dishes were in the dinner rotation. Hermione helped de-gnome the garden, surprisingly finding it a bit zen now that she was an adult.
Ron was away in London, so Ginny and Harry were sharing his room, which had long been converted into a guest room. Hermione was staying in Ginny's room, where she always had when she visited the Burrow previously. It was a time capsule of Ginny's teenage years, but it was a comforting nostalgia when things were simpler. Before Marcus.
Her book was released to rave reviews early in June and Hermione had sent Marcus a copy with a hastily penned note, asking him to just read it. Hopefully, he would see that the novel she wrote really had nothing to do with them at all. Would he realize then that she hadn't just been using him? She wasn't sure that he wouldn't just throw it directly in the trash.
That was until one afternoon late in June, when Harry knocked on the open door, finding her hunched over her desk (starting work on her next best seller... Clementine Dearly never slept). "Um... Marcus Flint is at the front door and asking to see you," he said, looking at her very skeptically. "Do you want me to tell him to leave?"
"No!" Hermione stood up immediately, shaking her head no. If Marcus had come all the way here, she wasn't going to send him away without getting the chance to talk things out with him. Catching her rather frazzled reflection in the mirror, she desperately tucked stray hairs behind her ears. "No, I'd like to talk to him, if you can... bring him up here?"
"Hermione, is this the guy you—"
She cut off a rather concerned looking Harry before he could finish his thought. "I'll answer all of your questions, later, I promise," she said, pushing him towards the door so she could do a quick tidy of Ginny's room.
Complying, Harry disappeared, and before long he came back with Marcus Flint in tow, up the creaky old stairs of the Burrow.
Marcus stood in the doorway, taking up nearly all the space. Hermione, who had previously been worried about her own appearance, was surprised to see that he didn't look that great either. He was wearing a pair of muggle jeans and an old Falmouth jumper that seemed just a bit too loose on him. But, clutched to his chest was her book, held like a shield.
"Hermione," he breathed out, as if he couldn't imagine that she were really standing in front of him. "Can we speak in private?" he asked, looking over his shoulder where Harry still hovered.
"Of course," Hermione agreed, pulling him inside the room and shutting the door in Harry's face. When she turned around, Marcus had taken her now open desk chair, so she settled on the edge of the bed, uncertain of how to sit. "I didn't think you'd want to speak to me."
He looked down at the book in his desk. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to," he answered.
"Did you read the book?" Hermione asked, unsure of where they stood.
Marcus nodded his head. "It wasn't... what I expected when I found the manuscript," he admitted, looking almost ashamed of himself.
Hermione wasn't surprised. The romance that she had written could not be further from the whirlwind romance that she'd had with Marcus. It focused on a premise where the heroine disguises herself as a man in order to join a Quidditch team, only to fall desperately in love with one of her teammates. It was a little bit As You Like It, but many wizards did not read Shakespeare, so she was not too concerned.
"I wanted to tell you," she said, looking at him softly. "I swear that I wasn't using you to write the book, honestly, though you might have been the inspiration for it. The first day we met, when Minerva reintroduced you, I was completely struck by how... attractive you were, out practicing. It quite honestly took over my mind."
"I can see that now," he answered, softly. "I should have given you the chance to explain."
"I will confess that my interest in flying was a little bit to do with the book, though," Hermione explained, wanting to come clean. "I was absolutely shit at describing it. You helped me round out the writing, unwittingly."
"You wrote it beautifully. It felt like I was actually flying," he said, paying her quite the compliment for such an accomplished flyer as he was. "So, you didn't actually want to learn to fly?"
"That was maybe about five percent of why I asked," Hermione admitted. "I don't really fancy flying all that much. Some of it was for the book, too. But mostly, I just wanted to spend more time with you. I'd come to enjoy all those late nights together, just chatting. I didn't want it to end, honestly."
"I believe you," Marcus said, sheepishly. "Though, if we are being honest, I have to come clean too. I didn't actually need your help with warding. It's just about one of the only sorts of magic that I'm actually good at. But, I wanted an excuse to spend a bit of time with you."
Hermione immediately started laughing, thinking of how he thought he was tricking her. It also made sense why his friends gave her such a look when she explained how they got reacquainted. But mostly, because he still didn't know she was the original break in.
"What?" he asked, perplexed as to why she was still laughing. "I swear it, I really am good at warding! I'll show you myself if you don't believe me!"
"It's not that," Hermione said, shaking her head. She wore a broad smile. "It's that... full transparency, okay? The first break-in to the Quidditch dressing room was actually me. I went to do some research for the books, hoping to get some feel for what the uniforms and gear were like and well... you nearly caught me."
"That was you?" he asked, truly incredulous.
"Yes," Hermione agreed with a laugh. "I hid in your ref uniforms. I was so afraid you were going to discover me."
Marcus started to laugh, too, thinking of how ridiculous the whole thing sounded. "I probably wouldn't have been too happy with you," he said, giving her a crooked smile. "Although now... now I might want to see where that goes."
Hermione felt a familiar pulse of warmth between her legs at his suggestion. Her cheeks went a bit pink and she cleared her throat. It felt nice to be chatting with Marcus all the time again. She wanted what they had back. "Do you think you can forgive me?" she asked him. "I probably should have told you what I was up to, rather than sneaking around behind your back."
"Me forgive you?" he asked, with a snort. "I'm the one who came here to beg you for forgiveness. I blew up for no reason and didn't even give you a chance to explain. It wasn't... it wasn't something that a good boyfriend does. I let my insecurities get the better of me."
It was nice to hear Marcus ask for forgiveness. She had been hurt that he wouldn't even listen to her and that he'd brushed off her confession of love. "I forgive you, of course," she said, wanting nothing more than to have another go with him. She really felt like they had something special together.
"Do you—" he wet his lips, clearly unsure of himself. "Do you think you could give me a second chance? I really do love you, Hermione. I haven't stopped."
She felt her heart soar and she pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Perched on his lap, she pressed kisses to his face. "I would love to pick up where we left off," she said, when she had the chance. With her lips pressed against his, she immediately deepened the kiss, moaning at how much she'd missed it. Finally, she broke away. "And, I love you, too, Marcus."
He gave her the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "I'm glad that I have my girlfriend back," he said. "And now I know she has such an exciting new talent. How long have you been writing these things?"
"Oh, a couple years now," Hermione said, blushing. She took the book from him. "I usually write two or three a year, just for fun. It's a... creative outlet for me."
"Who else knows?" he asked.
"Just you," she answered, feeling her cheeks go even hotter. "I'm not really sure why, but I'm sort of embarrassed by it. I just imagine all the horrid things people would say if they knew it was Hermione Granger writing romance. That's why I have the penname."
"Well, I am honored to know that you are Clementine Dearly, then," he said. "I've got to say, you really are an excellent writer. This is the first book I've read in Salazar knows how long and I burned right through it. Couldn't put it down."
On the other side of the bedroom door, they heard quite the commotion. Suddenly, it sprang open and revealed a shocked looking Ginny. "Hermione Granger! You mean to tell me that you are Clementine Dearly and you haven't told me!" she said, holding an Extendable Ear in one hand. "Mum loves those books!"
"Ginny Weasley, were you eavesdropping on me?" Hermione asked, her jaw hanging open in disbelief. She made no move to get off of Marcus's lap.
"Haven't been Weasley for over a year Granger!" Ginny said, sticking out her tongue, completely unapologetic.
"You have to promise not to tell anyone!" Hermione said, all but confirming the truth for her friend. "Or I'll obliviate you."
Harry appeared in the door next, stilling when he saw Marcus's large arm around Hermione's waist. "Um, Molly has sent me to ask if your friend is staying for dinner," he said, though Hermione could practically feel his green eyes boring into her brain trying to figure out what was going on.
Standing up, Hermione offered her arm to Marcus. She gave him a questioning look and when he nodded, Hermione smiled at her friends. "He'd love to stay for dinner," she said, giving his hand a tight squeeze. "Ginny, Harry — I believe you remember Marcus Flint? He's my boyfriend."
Leading Marcus from her room, feeling as if all was right in the world, Hermione couldn't stop from smiling. She was just glad that they'd smoothed everything out and gotten everything out into the open after all. For the first time in weeks, she was looking forward to what the summer would bring.