Unbecoming

Chapter Six: Unbecoming

Hermione woke the next morning in her bed. She was a little confused at first, since the last thing she remembered was sitting on the sofa, watching the mirror and wondering what all would happen. The sunlight tickled her nose and would have made her smile had she not immediately remembered the happenings of the night before. The new life they had created was falling apart, and there was nothing more she could do about it. Part of her wanted to be relieved that the truth was out, but the other part cried for the happy place they had created here. The little voice in her head told her that none of this would have happened at all if she had managed to convince Ginny to go home after the war had ended.

Past ~ Summer of 2005

It was late in the afternoon whey they heard the war was over, and both women were sitting at the dining room table attempting to eat their lunch while they decided what to do about their current situation.

“Ginny, the war is over. There is no reason for you to stay here. You have your whole family waiting for you. You don’t need to hide anymore.”

Ginny rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

“I am not leaving you here alone! If I go, you go. It’s that simple. You would be welcomed just as I would. I don’t understand why you can’t see that.”

Hermione felt her throat tighten at Ginny’s words. She didn’t understand why Ginny couldn’t see things the way they were. Ginny could go home, back to Draco and the rest of her family. There would be love and happiness for all involved. But her, well she didn’t have any of that. Her parents were dead. Her one time love had seen the whole thing as a fling, and as much as she loved Harry and Ron, they would not understand.

“Everyone would be miserable if I went back. There is nothing left there for me.”

Ginny stood up from the table and crossed over to where Hermione was now openly crying. Taking her friend into her arms, she soothed the other woman with nonsense words as she ran her hand over her head.

“If you stay, I stay. I will not leave you to handle all of this alone. We are in this together, our own happy family. Will I miss them? Yes, but we are doing all right here and they will be fine there. Most likely they already think we are dead.”

Hermione gave an odd hiccup cough before nodding and sniffing. She took the serviette that Ginny handed her and blew her nose hard.

“You will continue your research and become a wonderful success and life will go on. Perhaps later we will be ready to go home on our own terms.”

That had been the end of the discussion. Ginny had stayed, and life had been good and on an even keel, until last week, when their past had finally caught up with them

Present

Still lying in bed staring at the ceiling she answered the soft knock on her door with a husky voiced, “Come in.” There at the door was Ginny, who looked as ragged as she felt. Making her way to the bed, she flopped down on it dramatically next to Hermione.

“So what do you think the verdict will be? I looked in on the office when I got up, and they were already gone. They took the package with them.”

Her head turned at looked at Hermione, who was just lying there with her eyes closed as she spoke.

“You know this all could have been avoided if you had gone back after the war ended, right?”

Ginny snorted. “This could have all been avoided had they just called first before showing up. We made the right choice for us back then. I would have never been able to keep it a secret that you were still alive, and you know the whole story would have come out, and then they would have showed up and tried to take you by force.”

Hermione huffed out a laugh. “You mean they would have tried to take me by force and in the end no one would be happy.”

She then spoke softer, “Thank you for staying. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

A calm reverie fell over the bedroom, but was soon interrupted by a loud crash from downstairs. Rolling her eyes, Hermione sat up in bed.

“I knew it was too quiet down there. What do you think is going on?”

Ginny giggled. “Oh, I am sure the regular mayhem. I was keeping order until I came to talk to you.”

“Sure, sure blame it on me. You could have left me up here to rot, you know. I would have been quite happy.”

With a sigh, Hermione pulled herself out of bed and walked into her adjoining bathroom to start her morning ablutions. She called out to Ginny.

“Go back downstairs and hold court. I will be there as soon as I can.”

As she washed her face, she could hear scolding going on downstairs and Ginny shrieking, “What on earth is going on down here? What do you think I am here for, to clean up after you?”

She laughed and started to brush her teeth. No matter what happened, Ginny was right. They would be fine and they would be happy, and if those at Hogwarts couldn’t deal with things, it was their problem, not hers. There were more important things to worry about now. Like opening up the Apothecary. She let out a groan. Because of all the goings on, the place had been closed for a day and she had left a notice that they would be opening up again today.

“Oh Merlin, it’s going to be a long day. Thank Heavens for house elves, or my sanity would be long gone.”

Not for the first time was she happy that she had given up on her goals for S.P.E.W., and she was very grateful for the time and help they provided.

By the time she made it downstairs, Ginny and the elves had righted things and the house was quiet. Noticing the clock, she looked at the names there and smiled at what she read. Ginny: Opening the shop, Sage: reading in the library, and Dante: Putting a dung bomb in the school toilet. The last notation made her chuckle as she walked to the fireplace and took the Floo to the office.

“Can’t forget to warn Ginny that she is going to get an owl from the school soon.”