Harry Potter & The Heart Of Harmony

Chapter 4- Careless Whisper

You know what they say; retrospect is 20/20. Like looking at the past is something you can do with absolute, unequivocal clarity. Well, that's more often than not true. But, it's not always one hundred percent...
He looked back on that fateful evening with somewhat conflicting feelings. It was an easy answer to say that he should have never kissed her. But, if he didn't..... He would've never kissed her. The thing about uncertainty is that if it's important enough to not fade away into the veil of obscurity, you eventually have to choose a certainty. Being quite analytical, Harry would scrutinize everything. He thought that both sides of the coin were very compelling, even obvious in their own ways, but also damning. To kiss her was to betray what basically was his best friend (other than Hermione) and the first real friend that he ever had, while they were married and had children together, and he now briefly had to live there (unless the truth came to light). While on the other hand, it was pretty clear that Ron and Hermione never really belonged together, in a way his best friend stole her from him, as petty or juvenile as it might sound. She was the love of his life that got away. While more succinct yet riddled with questionable morals, he decided that the latter was more compelling to him, especially after it was eluded to that there was a distinct possibility that Ron was cheating on Hermione.

I don't care if it's technically wrong - well, that's not all true. I do care. But, I don't regret it. How could I regret such an amazing kiss?
Harry was fairly certain that Hermione felt the same way, at least to some extent, no matter how minuscule it may be. She didn't spend much time in her garden after that, except to water her plants or keep her shrubbery buddies trimmed. She never kissed Ron in front of Harry, either.
She showed Potter the guest room that night before Ron returned. In the morning, over a bowl of Babbity Rabbity cereal (which was like Twix with lil' marshmallows) Ron glubbed through a fat, dripping mouthful of milk and cereal, "Blimey, Harry. What the ffuck happened to your glasses!? You look weird!!"
Restraining a laugh, at least halfway, Harry said, "Lasik."
Hermione snorted and put her hands to her mouth as she laughed. At first trying to restrain it, but as Ron dimly asked, "What's so funny?" with a leaking mouth, she erupted into uproarious laughter! Harry laughed as well.
This went on and escalated until Ron was done with his Babbity Rabbity cereal, got up to go put his bowl in the sink, and muttered, "You guys are weird..."
More laughter erupted!

She was civil to him when they passed, saying, "Hello" or "Good morning" and such, but she wasn't fake. She didn't go out of her way to be pretentious or super friendly to him. It was weird and awkward now, with lingering tension.
He was just glad that she hadn't told Ron about the kiss. Again, she was always there for him, even when it was technically wrong. She didn't want him out on the streets with nowhere to go. Sure, he could dive into the little bit of his fortune and savings he had left, to get a hotel room, but she didn't want him risking even a possibility of leechful bugs latching onto him. She still cared for him. She wanted to make sure he would get on his feet. She even briefly told him this and kissed him on his cheek as he blushed and smiled. She even helped him get his job back as Head Auror in the Ministry of Magic, being the Minister of Magic herself. He was extremely grateful.
However, Harry immediately spent most of his time either going to work or working out. He didn't want to be in the way, or gaze at or think about Hermione too much. Twice, he checked out her library, out of curiosity. As expected, it was pristine, a gorgeous, epic labyrinth of knowledge and literary adventure. He couldn't bring himself to read much of any of the books, though, as it would remind him of her the whole time. The second time he visited it, Hermione glimpsed him. She almost went over to suggest some of her favorite books to him, but he started to walk out abruptly, much to her discontent. He never even saw the sorrow in her eyes.
It's not like he gave them nothing for their hospitality, either. He had given Kreacher to them, who turned out to be a great help around the house and even with their kids, surprisingly. The kids loved to pull on his flappy ears and gross nose, but he rarely yelled, and did nothing else about it. Everyone else would have to tell them to leave him alone, though. Harry also offered to give them 50% of their mortgage for that month as soon as he could get to Gringotts.
Ron hastily escorted Harry to Gringotts Bank to withdraw the money... Plus, Harry needed some extra money so he could go and get a new wand, food, and a new wardrobe of course.