HAHAHA! Wow am I a ditz! For those of you who yelled at me constantly (and there were a few) about Hermione's middle name, I concede defeat. Unfortunately for me, I had NEVER read the World Book 2004 chat in which Jo says that Hermione's middle name is Jane, so after hitting my head on the desk a few dozen times, I went back and changed that. So thanks to everyone who reviewed in yelling at me. I'd just like to remind a couple of you though that even as a writer and someone blatantly obsessed with Harry Potter, I, just like everyone else, get things wrong from time to time. So next time, just let me know how I'm wrong and where I can find the correct information instead of acting all pissed off because I made a mistake.
But don't stop reviewing....::wink::
On another note...ok, so you all didn't like that bomb I had last chapter. Try this one on for size.
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Chapter 7: The Woes of Life
Harry sat in the common room looking to his right at Hermione, who was working silently on some project or another. Given the excellent first week he had at Hogwarts, he should've expected it wouldn't last.
For two weeks after he had told Hermione everything, she had become more withdrawn from the world. She no longer greeted him with a beaming smile at breakfast in the Great Hall. She no longer was anxious to find out what he planned to do with his day, and if it was work help out. She didn't give him any more than one word responses when he asked her how she was doing or if she wanted to do anything. It was killing him.
Harry sighed and turned back to the book he was supposed to be reading to help determine the text selections for each year. He noticed somewhere in the back of his mind that he had been staring at page 23 for the past hour or so. Just when he was about to give up and go back into his room, Hermione spoke up.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You've been awfully silent today." Harry turned his head in surprise to her. It was the first whole sentence she had said to him in the past thirteen days.
"I'm normally not this silent?" he asked with a small smile.
"You usually say something to me while we're working," Hermione replied. "But today you haven't said a word in the two hours I've been here."
"I didn't think you wanted me to talk to you," Harry said.
"What would give you that idea?" she asked.
"I dunno," Harry replied. "You just seem like you've been avoiding me these past two weeks. You don't even talk to me anymore."
"I didn't realise I was obligated to talk to you," Hermione commented, looking back at her parchment.
"I didn't say that," Harry said. "I just....."
"Just what?" Hermione asked, not looking up.
"I'll just go," Harry said, standing up with the book and walking towards his room. He gave the password to the gargoyle and opened the door, but didn't step inside. "Look, I'm sorry I told you everything I did," he said. Hermione said nothing. "If it makes you feel any better, I know exactly what it's like to get life-changing information dumped on you when you're least expecting it." When she still said nothing, he sighed and walked into his room.
Closing the door, he dropped the book on his desk and flopped unceremoniously down onto the bed, looking over at Fawkes who was pruning his feathers.
"Right brilliant idea you had Fawkes," Harry said, causing the phoenix to look up. "I bet she hates me now." Harry sighed and closed his eyes.
"She doesn't hate you."
Harry's eyes snapped open and looked wildly around the room, landing on Fawkes when there was obviously no one else present. "Did you say something?" he asked the phoenix. Fawkes simply stared at him for a minute before resuming his grooming. Suddenly a knock startled Harry out of his thoughts. "Come in."
The door opened to reveal Hermione, her head bowed slightly.
"Hi," she said softly.
"Hi."
"Can I come in?" she asked.
"Of course," Harry replied, waving his hand to make the chair behind his desk pull itself out for her. Hermione closed the door gently and sat down, still not making eye contact with him. "What's up?"
"I'm sorry," she said, not looking up.
"It's okay," Harry replied, swinging his feet over the side of the bed. "Like I said, I know what it's like."
"Do you mind telling me how?" Hermione asked. "I don't want to intrude or anything -"
"No, no it's fine," Harry said before she could start rambling. "The most memorable time was after my fifth year."
"What happened?"
"I had just witnessed the murder of my godfather," Harry said, causing Hermione's eyes to widen. "Since my parents had been killed, he was the closest thing I had to a father...even though sometimes he behaved more like the teenager inside of him than an adult."
"I'm sorry..." Hermione said.
"It's in the past," Harry replied. "Anyway, about half an hour after I saw his death, Dumbledore and I had a fairly unpleasant conversation in which I learned some things that I felt I should've been told many years beforehand."
"Like what?" Hermione asked.
"There was a prophecy made before I was born," Harry said. "Long story short, it states that either I will kill Voldemort, or he will kill me."
"That's horrible," Hermione said.
"That's what I thought," Harry replied. "Imagine being only 15 and being told that you're the only person with the capability to kill the greatest dark lord of your time?"
"I imagine your summer wasn't all that pleasant," Hermione scoffed.
"I tried to kill myself that summer," Harry said hesitantly. At this, Hermione's mouth opened slightly.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"Do you think I would joke about something like that?" Harry asked.
"No," Hermione replied softly.
"No one knows except for my cousin, and as far as I know he didn't tell anyone," Harry said. "He caught me trying to hang myself and figured he could use the information to blackmail me if I ever got on his nerves."
"That's terrible," Hermione said.
"I didn't care," Harry replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Seeing as no one else did except for you or Ron."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"You and Ron were the only two people to write me all summer," Harry said. "And I reckon that Ron only did because you made him. Everyone thought I should just have my space and that I'd snap out of my funk on my own eventually."
"...Do...do you have anything I wrote you?" Hermione asked.
"Of course," Harry replied, getting up. "I've saved every letter you've ever written me."
"Have you really?" Hermione asked in astonishment as Harry opened his trunk and started rummaging around through it.
"Course," he replied. "They were the only things that kept me going during my summers."
"Why were your summers so unbearable?" Hermione asked.
"Let's just say my aunt and uncle weren't the nicest people in the world," Harry said, standing up and handing Hermione a stack of parchment a half foot thick. "There you go."
"I wrote all these?" Hermione asked, looking them over with an amazed expression.
"Yep," Harry said, sitting on the desk next to her.
"I can't believe all of this actually happened," she said softly. "I knew your godfather too?"
"Yeah," he said. "If you look through those, you'll find a letter that you wrote me during my summer before sixth year telling me that you were almost as depressed as I was over Sirius' death."
"How come?" Hermione asked.
"You helped me rescue him in our third year," Harry said. "On the back of Buckbeak, to be exact."
"Hagrid's hippogriff?" she asked.
"The same."
"This is all...this is astonishing," Hermione said looking at a letter she had written Harry just before their seventh year started. "I really did love you...didn't I?"
"I sure hope you did, given what we did the night before I destroyed the egg," Harry said without thinking. The moment the words were out of his mouth his face turned the color of Ron's hair.
"Er...what did we do?" Hermione asked nervously.
"I didn't mean to bring that up," Harry said. "Ignore it. I just put my foot in my mouth like Ron does."
Hermione opened her mouth to speak and Harry mentally cringed knowing that she wasn't going to let this go when there was a knock on his door. Relieved, he waved his hand to open it, and saw Dumbledore standing outside next to a very familiar blond.
"Harry, Hermione," Dumbledore said rather grimly. "Perhaps we could come in?"
"Of course," Harry said motioning them inside the room. "You must be Luna," he said warmly as though he had no idea of who she was.
"Indeed," she replied with an airy smile. "Ron's told me all about you, Harry Potter."
"Nothing bad, I hope," Harry said with a smile.
"That all depends on what you view to be bad," she replied.
"I take it you're here to interview me?" Harry asked.
"I would like to," she said. "If it's not a good time, I can come back later."
"No, no now's fine," Harry said, grateful to escape the icy glare Hermione was shooting at him for a little while.
"Glad to hear it," Luna said, sitting on Harry's bed and pulling out a quick quotes quill.
"Hermione, perhaps I could speak with you outside while Luna's asking Harry questions?" Albus asked, and Harry was surprised to see that he wasn't making eye contact with her, but rather frowning quite a bit.
"Sure," Hermione replied, giving Harry one last glance before following Dumbledore outside and closing the door behind her.
"A quick quotes quill," Harry said looking at the quill nervously. At least this one was a bright blue instead of an acid green.
"I assure you, mine is not nearly as vicious as Rita Skeeter's," Luna said with a smile. Harry's head snapped up so fast he got a crick in his neck.
"Wha-what?" he stammered.
"I'm lucky that I'm an astute person," Luna remarked, looking at some point in the air behind Harry. "Or else everyone would have thought I was mental when I ended up asking what happened to you. More mental, anyway."
"You....you remember me?" Harry asked, mouth hanging open.
"One of the benefits of having Seer capabilities," Luna said absently, "is that if you know what's coming, you can protect yourself against it."
"You're a Seer?" Harry asked, his mind reeling.
"Heavens, no," Luna replied. "But I do get the occasional vision. Lucky for me I knew about two days before it happened that when the egg broke it would cast a mass memory charm on everyone in existence. You remember mass spells, don't you Harry? Like how Voldemort cast a mass sleeping spell on everyone the day of the attack?"
"I...I can't believe this..." Harry said.
"You have no idea how happy I was to hear you were alive when Ron told me you were the new DADA teacher," Luna said, extending her hand. "Welcome back, Harry."
"Thanks, Luna," he said shaking her hand lightly.
"How have these past few years been?" she asked.
"Rough," Harry replied, finally shaking the shock from his head. "I was living as a muggle working in a diner."
"I imagine that cooking comes to you naturally, given how awful your relatives were," Luna said making eye contact for the first time that day.
"You could say that," Harry said. "Does anyone else remember?"
"Not that I know of," Luna said, at which point Fawkes chirped from his perch drawing attention to himself.
"He and Dumbledore do," Harry replied.
"Fawkes must remember because he made the prophecy in the first place," Luna said absently, to which the phoenix nodded vigorously.
"What prophecy?" Harry asked.
"Harry, don't you know?" Luna asked. When he shook his head she sighed. "How do you think the recordings of prophecies in the Department of Mysteries are made?"
"I don't know," Harry said. "Seeing as how the keeper of the hall can't possibly have heard all of them, I figure they just pop into existence when a prophecy is made."
"That's partially correct," Luna said. "But they need help from somewhere. Now usually, the person the prophecy is told to goes into the hall and puts the memory of the telling into a glass sphere. But when that doesn't happen, yes, the spheres essentially pop into existence."
"So what does Fawkes have to do with this?" Harry asked.
"Fawkes, being the smart one, and apparently knowing you don't understand phoenix yet," Luna said looking at the bird which nodded its head once. "Made sort of a combination, knowing he couldn't physically relate the prophecy to you himself. Mind you that's just a guess on my part."
"How do you know all of this?" Harry asked. "And how could it have been a prophecy since it opened a time portal?"
"I know all of this because I Saw it," Luna said. "That, and I have Hermione's knowledge when it comes to these type of things. I was a Ravenclaw, remember?"
"Right," Harry said, feeling stupid.
"I think the time portal, along with the mass memory charm...mind you this is purely speculation, but I think that they were defense mechanisms, am I right Fawkes?"
The phoenix chirped loudly in response to this.
"Defense mechanisms? Why?" Harry asked.
"Probably has to do with what information the sphere actually contained," Luna said shrugging. "I really couldn't tell you much more than that."
"It still amazes me that you could tell me anything at all," Harry said leaning back.
"Thought I'd still just be plain old Loony Lovegood?" she asked with a faint smile.
"You were never plain, never loony, and I can hardly call you a Lovegood now, can I?" Harry asked with a grin.
"I suppose not," Luna said looking at the wedding ring on her left hand with a smile. "I never thought he'd feel the same way."
"Do you mind if I ask how it happened?" Harry asked.
"It was right after Hermione tried to kill herself," Luna said. "Ron was in a bad place, and I helped him out of it. After that I think he realised that I wasn't as crazy as he thought I was. Things just progressed from there."
"What's he doing now?" Harry asked. "He didn't tell me when I saw him."
"He's the Keeper for the Liverpool Lightning," Luna said. When Harry's eyes bugged, she laughed. "Hard to imagine him playing quidditch professionally, isn't it?"
"How on earth did he make the team?" Harry asked. "Not that he was horrible at it or anything but -"
"He blames me for it," Luna said with a smile. "Said that I motivated him to practice and get good enough to play."
"You two seem to be just right for each other," Harry said.
"Just like you and Hermione," Luna replied.
"I don't know about that," Harry sighed. "I told her the truth and she hasn't been friendly to me since."
"Why'd you tell her?"
"That arse over there wanted me to," Harry said pointing at Fawkes, who ruffled his feathers indignantly.
"That's the only reason?" Luna asked.
"I suppose part of me wanted to tell her too," Harry said sighing. "I wanted her to love me again."
"You know," Luna said standing up, "I don't think she ever stopped."
"We'll see," Harry said as Luna put the quill and parchment away. "We're done?"
"Of course," Luna replied. "I already know almost everything there is to know about you, Harry, I'm sure I can just twist it so that it doesn't seem strange to everyone else."
"All right," Harry said standing up and opening the door for her.
"It's good to see you again, Harry," Luna said giving him a hug as she reached him.
"You too, Luna," Harry replied. "Say hi to Ron for me."
"I will," Luna said. "Now I think you should go see what's wrong with Hermione."
"Huh?" Harry asked, turning to look at Hermione's closed door, behind which he could hear faint sobs. "How'd you -" But Luna was already gone.
Sighing, he made his way over to Hermione's room and knocked once.
"Go away," came her sobbing voice from the inside.
"Hermione?" Harry asked. "What's wrong?"
"I don't want to talk about it...please just leave me alone," Hermione sobbed.
"Did something happen?" he asked, not about to give up. When he didn't get an answer he was about to go back to his room until the door opened slightly.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I...I just..."
"Shh....." Harry said opening the door fully and wrapping her in his arms. "What happened?"
"My parents are dead," she sobbed into his shoulder. Harry froze.
"What?" he whispered.
"Murdered...by that damn V-Voldemort," she sniffled.
"Did Dumbledore tell you this?" Harry asked softly. Hermione nodded into his robes. "Just now?" Another nod as her sobs continued. "God...Hermione I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," she said, still crying.
"It is..." Harry said. "He knew that it would hurt you because he remembers me...and everything about me...it's my ruddy fault..."
"Stop it Harry, you're not making me feel better," Hermione said through sniffles.
"I'm sorry," he replied snapping out of his own self-hatred for a minute. "Come on, let's get you in your room."
Hermione allowed herself to be led by Harry back into her room and onto her bed where she dissolved into tears again.
"They were all I had left..." she wailed.
"You still have me," Harry said softly. At this, Hermione looked up and sniffled, tears still running down her cheeks.
"I do...don't I?" she asked, sadly.
"Of course you do," he said, brushing her tears away. "I still love you...you know that right?"
"I know," she replied. "I think....I think I do too."
"Do you really mean that? You aren't just saying that because you're depressed and feel alone?"
"I mean it..." Hermione said. "I haven't been avoiding you these past few weeks, Harry. I've been trying to come to terms with the fact that I fell in love with you so quickly."
He couldn't take it any longer. Leaning in slowly, he touched his lips to hers in a tender kiss. He could faintly recognise the taste of salt from her tears, but pushed it out of his mind as Hermione wound her arms around the back of his neck. Finally, a minute later they broke apart, staring into each other's eyes.
"Love me, Harry," Hermione whispered. "Love me like you did before you vanished."
"You believe me then?" he asked.
"How could I not?" Hermione countered. "I read my own letters signed 'With all my love' at the bottom." Harry smiled at that. "Love me," she repeated. "Physically."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked softly.
"Yes," she replied. "Help me forget all of this."
"I don't want to do something you'll regret tomorrow just because you wanted to forget," Harry said.
"I could never regret it," Hermione said. "Not with you. Just take me a million miles away from all of this, for a little while."
"You're remembering," Harry said with a smile as Hermione sniffled again. "You said that exact same thing to me the morning I smashed the egg."
Nothing else was said between the two as they disappeared into their love for each other. Fawkes, on the other hand, was sitting on his perch in Harry's room singing away, a slight smile showing in his features.
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So how bout that? Huh? I count...let's see....3 bombs in this one. Did I do a good job? Hmm? Make sure to let me
know ::wink wink:: Au revoir!