Meet Your Match

19. Happy Couples

“Why did you stay away so long, Hermione?” George asked quietly.

She looked over at him before turning back to survey the wreckage of the room. Harry and Ginny had had separate celebrations for their respective stag and hen nights, but as both groups had ended up returning to the Burrow—and they were all friends anyway—the partying had only continued from there.

Harry and Ginny were curled together on the sofa, her fake wedding veil draped over his face. Ron was passed out under the kitchen table, still clutching the king he’d taken in his final chess match. Luna was asleep on top of the table, clad only in someone’s Weasley jumper. Charlie and Oliver Wood were propped together in front of the hearth. Charlie’s fingers traced slow patterns over Oliver’s back as they watched the flames.

“You know what happened, right?” Hermione said, feeling the slight slur of her speech.

George gave a wry laugh. “No secrets in a house this size. Especially not with three of the interested parties living in it.”

Hermione looked back to Ron and felt her heart clench in her chest. After more than a year of avoiding each other and months of awkward interactions, tonight had been the first time that things really felt okay between them again. He had been making an effort to stop by her desk in the Ministry or chat when they shared a lift. She finally felt like he could look at her without seeing something else. 

But there was something else. Something she had never even given him a chance to forgive her for. 

“Everything was so fucked up,” she said finally. “I was so fucked up.”

She closed her eyes and saw her wand slicing through the air. Felt the magic burn in her arm. The smoke of countless spells, the rubble of ancient stone walls, the screams of the dying.

“I felt like I lost a part of myself during the war.”

She realised at once who she was talking to and looked back over at George, horrified. “God, I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe I just said that to you.”

She quickly covered her face with her hands as shame welled up within her. George wasn’t having it though, and she felt a gentle hand shake her shoulder. “Knock it off, Hermione. It’s not a competition.”

She looked back up and felt tears sting her eyes at his understanding look. 

“Everyone put too much pressure on you,” he went on. “You were expected to figure everything out and hold Harry together while doing it.”

Hermione let her gaze drift back to the couple on the sofa. 

“No one blamed either of you for what happened,” he said.

She scoffed, and George rolled his eyes. “Okay, fair enough, no one reasonable. My point is, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

She shook her head, trying to suppress the sob working its way up her throat. “But I did, George, I—” she stopped and swallowed, feeling her pulse throb in her temples. “I did,” she repeated in a near whisper. “And I’m not the same person I was before.”

“Now you’re the kind of person who dates a Mystery Bloke?” he asked with a soft smile.

She huffed a laugh through her nose.