With you in my Arms

30. This is the first time I actually am thinking about it

The beginning of chapter 30 is a rather adult themed. I have therefore uploaded that part separately. It can be found under

http://www.wattpad.com/2421849-with-you-in-my-arms-chapter-30

The rest of the chapter can be found underneath.

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Ron was sitting together with Harry in the Leaky Cauldron after work. He had been lucky that his father had to meet somebody here after finishing at the Ministry. Otherwise the two friends would have had to meet at the Burrow.

Harry didn't want to go home yet as the house would only remind him of Ginny, who was somewhere in the Midlands at the moment for her first official training with the Harpies. He was really proud that she had managed to get on the team, but it meant them not being able to see each other as much as he would have liked to. He would see her at the weekend, when she was playing in Newcastle. He would be in the box reserved for the boyfriends and husbands of the team members for the first time. It was a somewhat odd thought. Harry would be meeting the partners of all the Harpies. He would become a supporter when until now he had always been used to be a player himself. Times were changing it seemed.

"Whom has Shaklebolt sent to find Hermione again?"

Ron's voice slowly penetrated his thoughts.

"What? Oh, the guy with the green hair and Dawlish, I think. Why?"

"I was just wondering, if Ginny might know, where she is. Them being best friends and all that."

Harry looked at him.

"Aren't you supposed to be her friend as well? Her best friend?"

"Yeah, but if she is having emotional reasons for doing things she's more likely to tell Ginny than us, isn't she?"

He had to agree with that. Though he knew, that Ginny didn't know. The knowledge of his friend's whereabouts and not being able to disclose it was somewhat of a burden at times. Should he tell Shaklebolt? No, not yet. He would send her an owl and ask her, if it was okay for him to disclose her location. In the moment she was safe as not even the Minister for Magic had any idea where she was hiding. Though she wasn't really hiding. She was on an extended holiday with an extra agenda.

"How are you and Ginny?"

It was a question Harry hadn't anticipated his friend to ask. He sighed.

"To be honest, I miss her. More than I thought I would. She is going to be forever all over the country for practice and matches. I mean, I can see her at every match as the partners of the team have a box reserved for them, but I can't just got to the Burrow to see her."

"Sorry, mate."

He shrugged.

"How are you and Parvati?"

There was only silence instead of an answer. Harry turned to his best friend.

"Is everything okay? I know, she has been a bit weird lately, but..."

"I am thinking of breaking it off."

Ron's voice sounded sad.

"Why? We know, that she has been put under the Imperius Curse. So it's not her fault when she is acting weird."

"I know, but I miss Hermione. I miss her smiling at me, talking to her, just being together with her."

This time it was Harry's turn to sound sad when he spoke. "You had your chance, mate. Why didn't you take better care of her, if you love her?"

"I was an idiot. She has always been there, all these years. I just couldn't imagine her not being with us, with me. Maybe I just got used to her."

"Maybe that is the problem, you never had to fight for her. She came to you willingly once you finally had caught on that she seriously liked you. Malfoy on the other hand..."

They both knew what the other wizard would have had to overcome in order to win their friend, if events hadn't overtaken them. He had been prepared to be ridiculed in order to just talk to her. He had taken the last chance presented to him to get close to her. For a moment Harry wondered, if Ron would have been as courageous, if the situation had been reverse.

"I still love her."

Harry sighed.

"Ron, for once in your life use your brain. She is having a baby. She is not going to leave him. Ever."

This earned him a rather puzzled look. What was he on about? He knew, that Hermione was pregnant, but what did that have to do with her being... He frowned. It shouldn't matter, whom she was with as the baby was just... And then it hit him. The baby was Malfoy's! That realisation left him utterly stunned. She had been sleeping with the snake! She must have been with him during the Graduation Party. She had given him her... He groaned. He didn't want to think about that one at all. How could she? And with him of all people?

He felt Harry's hand on his shoulder.

"You okay? You look white as a sheet."

"It's his, isn't it?"

It took a moment before Harry understood what he was asking. Then he simply nodded. Ron groaned.

"Why, Harry? Why him and not me?"

This time it was his friend's turn to groan.

"Ron, she has been trying to feel something deep and meaningful and breathtaking for you, but never really succeeded. I don't know what exactly Malfoy has said or done, but he was the one that could give her what she was looking for."

A moment later he regretted his unfortunate choice of words. Ron's face had a rather red tinge now.

"Ron, what I means is, she just fell for him. There is no reasoning with it."

His friend didn't answer. He stared into his butterbeer.

"I'm sorry, mate." Harry mumbled.

"Did I ever stand a chance with her?"

Harry was taken aback by this question. What was he thinking? Of course he would have had a chance with Hermione, if he had been... What? Not quite as woolly brained? Or maybe a bit more... He gave up. What ever it was that Malfoy had and what had captured their friends heart, Ron obviously didn't have it. A loud sigh escaped him. Ron looked at him.

"I don't know, Ron. I would think you did, but I don't know where it all went wrong. Maybe you should have noticed a lot sooner that she liked you, not just in that moment when she kissed you first."

"You mean, I should have never got together with Lavender?"

"It hurt Hermione, badly, to see you snogging Lavender."

"I wish, I'd never done it."

"Yeah. It's too late now."

"I know."

Harry looked at the clock over the door.

"I'll need to get home, mate. It's nearly midnight and tomorrow we have that assault course test. I need to be awake for that."

"Yeah, I better get home as well."