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Author: Majick Story: One Year Later Rating: Teens Status: Completed Reviews: 6 Words: 18,898
Hermione Apparated outside of the Burrow with a faint pop that echoed in her ears for several seconds. Padma had had a stomachache from her lunch and had left to get a potion from the apothecary. She was now fine – but she appeared to have passed the affliction onto Hermione. Well, I suppose I won't be going to her birthday party next Saturday, she thought with a half-hearted smile. "Hermione?" "Harry?" She turned around, and saw Harry and Remus standing a short distance from where she'd Apparated. "What are you two doing here?" she asked. Harry started and looked behind him, apparently not having noticed Remus there. "I'm here to see Ginny," they said in unison. "You are?" Harry and Hermione said, looking at Remus. "I am," he replied. "And as I believe the old adage is age before beauty, I'll just pop in and see her now. Trust me," he added, grinning wolfishly. "You'll thank me later." "I will?" Harry asked, but Remus had already popped into the Burrow and was on his way up the stairs. "He's a lot more lively now he's with Tonks," Hermione said, as they took seats in the kitchen. "He reminds me of Sirius." "Yes, now that you mention it. It must be what he was like when he was our age." "I suppose. What do you think he meant when he said that I'd thank him later." "Well..." Hermione paused. "He must have meant that he was going to help you out with Ginny." "Right. How, though?" "How should I know?" "Sorry. What's up with you, anyway?" "I spoke to Ron." "And?" "And Padma." "Oh." "I didn't know that Padma was there." "Ah." "I'm hiding here." "Where Ron's family lives?" "He doesn't live here." "He comes back for tea every Sunday afternoon." "He had a big lunch – maybe he'll skip it today?" "Ron? Miss out on food?" "I should go." "No, wait, you're here to see Ginny, right?" "Yes." Harry sighed. "Look, go in after Remus. I can talk to Ginny afterwards." "Are you sure?" "Yeah. A few more minutes won't make any difference." * "Remus? What brings you here?" Ginny was sitting on her bed, the Sunday Prophet propped up her knees as she read the account of the Cannons' victory the previous day. A full colour picture of Ron, Harry and Tatiana accompanied the piece. "I wanted to speak to you," Remus said. "About Tatiana." "Harry's new girlfriend?" Ginny said, carefully setting the paper aside so that a bewildered Ron, sheepish Harry and giggling Tatiana peered out at the two of them. "Well, not as such," Remus said, wincing as he wondered exactly how far Tonks had gone to fool Ron. "So, she's not 'the love of Harry's life' – that's a direct quote from her – and they weren't at it all night, Harry proving his stamina – that's from a conversation with Oliver Wood." "Er, no," Remus said. "You see, Tatiana is Tonks." "The resemblance is striking," Ginny said drily, pointing at a picture of herself and Tonks that hung on the wall beside her mirror. "Tonks is very good at what she does," Remus said. "But she needed practise. As Tatiana. Some case she's working on apparently requires her to go undercover." "So she decided to be Harry's girlfriend." "Yes." "With your approval?" "Yes." "So they weren't testing Harry's stamina." "No," Remus said, desperately wanting to be out of the room. Ginny was being remarkably calm. "I see. Well, thank you for coming all the way down here to clear that up, Remus, but why did you come all the way down here to clear that up?" "Well, I..." Remus tailed off. He tried to imagine what Sirius would have done in his position, but his imagination failed him. "I just thought that it was important. I know that Harry thinks very highly of you, and that he wouldn't want you to think poorly of him." "Why would I think poorly of him? I think that it's about time that Harry found someone – although probably not Tonks." "No, I agree. Well, er, good. I'll, er, see you soon, I suppose." "Yes. Will you stay for tea? I know Mum would love to see you – she's just popped down to the village for some jam." "Ah, er, another time, I think. Right then, well, bye Ginny." "See you, Remus." * Remus shuffled back into the kitchen and looked forlornly at Harry. The two men regarded one another for a long moment as Hermione slipped out of the door and up the stairs. "I don't think you'll be thanking me," Remus said at last. "What have you done?" Harry asked, rising up and out of his chair. "I was trying to help – let's keep that in mind, shall we?" "Remus-" "Speak to you soon," Remus said, making for the door. "Remus-" With a pop, Harry's old teacher was gone. * "Ginny?" "Hermione, hi. Are you here to talk about Tatiana as well?" "Tatiana?" "Harry's girlfriend." "Oh. No." "Right. What can I do for you?" "It's about Ron." "Yes?" "I just told Ron that I liked him." "Excellent," Ginny said, beaming at her friend. "Padma heard me." "And?" Ginny asked, suddenly cautious. "He's still going out with her." "After what you said? Why?" "I don't know. I left them to talk." "Oh," Ginny said. "I thought that you meant he'd chosen her, but..." "Do you think he will?" "I..." Ginny paused, her loyalty to her brother warring with her loyalty to her best friend. "I know that Ron isn't happy with Padma, Hermione. Anything else you have to find out for yourself." "You're right, you're right." Hermione turned to leave. "Oh, and Ginny?" "Yes?" "I really don't think that Harry's serious about Tatiana." Ginny blinked. "You don't?" "No. I mean, she's not really his type, is she?" "No," Ginny said, slowly. "I'll see you later." Ginny stared at the door for a long time after it closed behind her friend. * "Ginny's always such a good person to speak to," Hermione said, as she walked back into the kitchen. "She knew exactly the right thing to say – just wait and see what happens between Ron and Padma and then work my way on from there." "Yeah?" Harry said. "Yes. She's exactly right, of course. If Ron and Padma break up, then I can see if he wants to go out with me." "Yeah, that's something we might want to talk about," Ron said, as he stepped through the door. Harry looked from one to the other. "So, I can go and talk to Ginny now, then?" he asked. Receiving no reply, he ducked his head and slipped past Hermione and up the stairs. * "You know, this many interruptions would be a bad thing if I was trying to do the crossword or something," Ginny said, as Harry stood nervously in the doorway. "I, er, didn't know that you did crosswords," he said. "I don't," she said. "What's on your mind, Harry? Have you come to talk to me about Tatiana as well?" "Yeah, why?" "Well, because Ron says that you're sleeping with her, and Tatiana says in the Prophet that she's the love of your life, Oliver Wood says you were up all Friday night with her, proving your stamina, Remus told me that Tatiana was actually Tonks practising for some undercover mission and I've just had Hermione up here telling me that whatever is going on between you and Tatiana isn't serious. So, what's the truth?" Harry took a deep breath and a moment to order his thoughts. "Hermione and I decided yesterday to find out whether you and Ron were happy with Olivier and Padma. Tonks – Tatiana – and I went to talk to Ron because Tonks thought that seeing me with someone so very opposite to me in every way would make Ron look at himself and Padma the same way – if he hadn't already. I don't know why Ron and Hermione told you those things. I know that Tonks was trying to wind me up because I got her out of bed early after she'd been up all night with Remus." "Is that the truth, Harry?" Ginny asked. "I don't like being lied to." "I don't blame you. And it is the truth. We needed help because I've spent the last year knowing you were with Olivier and regretting it, but never being able to find out how you really felt about him. We went to Tonks and Remus for advice and they offered to help. In hindsight, we could probably have done a better job without involving them." "Everything is clear in hindsight, Harry," Ginny said. "But you should have known that you could have just talked to me." "I can't," he said. "Or I couldn't, anyway. When I went away after... after last summer, when I came back, everything was different. Ron and Hermione were barely talking, you'd found someone else... I didn't know where I fit in. I didn't feel like I could talk to you – I knew you were angry with me, and-" "Well of course I was angry with you," Ginny exploded, leaping off her bed and crossing her bedroom floor in one sudden movement. "I was crazy about you, you idiot. I was waiting for you to realise that with Voldemort gone then we could be together – no more needing to lie, no more needing to worry. But you just left – without saying anything! All you had to do was tell me, and I would have understood – I would have gone with you!" "You couldn't! I couldn't... I couldn't be with you, with anyone. I Apparated to the other side of the world and spent three months in Tibet. The first two weeks I was just blowing holes in mountains trying to burn off all of the stress I'd spent seven years collecting. I didn't have room for anyone else – didn't have time. "I know it was selfish, but I needed it. I needed to clear my head, to work out exactly what I needed and where I needed to be. I couldn't do that here, not with so many people pulling me in every direction. It took me a month to decide to be a Quidditch player, for Circe's sake. How long do you think it took me to work out that I was in love with you?" There was a pause. "What?" * "Hi," Hermione said, staring at him. "Hi," Ron said, staring at her. "You didn't manage to say that earlier." Hermione felt the flush spread across her chest and up her neck. Before it could reach her cheeks, she turned away and would have run for the front door but for a strong, gentle hand closing around her arm. "I'm sorry," he said, pulling her around to face him again. "I've had a bit of a strange day." "Padma?" Hermione managed to ask, not daring to look up at him. "Yeah, she's not had the day she was expecting, either." "Ron," it was barely a whisper, but the admonitory tone was somehow there. Hermione marvelled at how she could tell him off even as her mind refused to function properly. "We're finished. It wasn't great. She threw things. I didn't always manage to duck in time." She looked up. An area of his forehead about the size of a cup was noticeably purple. "It must be your Keeper reflexes," she said, reaching up to touch it. He shied away and caught her hand in his. "Yeah, but in Quidditch normally I'd just catch it." She paused, looking at her hand in his. "So..." "Yeah..." * "What did you say?" "I said that I love you," Harry said, softly. "And I've spent the last nine months watching you with Olivier. I had to do something. I had to find out if there was any hope. If you'd been happy with him then I'd have walked away-" "Or run away? Again?" Harry frowned, his mouth a thin line. "What do you expect from me, Harry?" she asked. "That I'd just fall into your arms? That I'd tell you that Olivier was my sad and pathetic attempt to convince myself that I didn't need you – that I could be with someone else?" "No, I-" "Because I can't. I can't be with someone else." "You..." Harry looked at her, confused. "You hurt me when you left, and you hurt me when you came back, and I hated seeing you, thinking that you'd got over me. So I stayed with l'Olivier, even though... What?" Harry was smiling. "L'Olivier." They smiled at each other. * "You like me?" Ron said, at last. "Yes," Hermione whispered. "All this time? All this time that I've been with Padma?" Hermione nodded. "And before?" She nodded again. "Why didn't you say anything?" "What would you have said?" "I'd have told you the truth – that I'm ruddy well crazy about you. Bonkers. Nuts. Mad." "Ron..." "Hermione, it's always been you. I thought that you knew that." "I hoped... But I never knew for sure." "Now you do. So, do you still want to go to Club Two tonight?" Hermione smiled, and nodded. "I don't have anything to wear, though." Ron smiled. "Are you a witch or not? Transfigure something. You can borrow one of my old school robes, if you like." Hermione laughed softly. "I'll manage something." "Good, now-" his stomach rumbled loudly. "Shall we have some tea first?" she suggested. "I reckon," he replied. "Mum'll want to know about us, anyway. She's been dropping hints since forever." "She has?" "Yeah. She really likes you. Not as much as me, though. That'd be weird." Hermione smiled. "As lovely as your mum is, I think I like you more than I like her as well."
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