Blaze (Book 3 of the Light Series)

Chapter Six: Home

"The aeroplane is leaving at noon. We'll be that much closer to getting home." Harry announced when he came into the dining area.

He had gone out much earlier to the muggle world to make the arrangements for our passage back home. Ron and I had stayed behind and were just having a cuppa and some biscuits when he came back.

"Brilliant." Ron said, standing. "I'm going to finish packing so we can make our way out. We can go to the muggle world and stay there until we leave." Harry nodded his head at me, letting me know we needed to talk.

"Yeah. I should go finish my packing as well." I agreed, standing and heading to our chambers. Harry followed my lead, shutting the door behind us.

"I received a post from Malfoy this morning. Love, if Liam gets any more powerful, we might not be able to stop him. The bond has to be weakened before it can be severed. Nobody has ever tried to do it without the bond being weakened."

"We're going to break the bond, Harry, no matter how strong he is." I replied, moving to remove my things from the wardrobe.

"Hermione, we don't need that type of strain. We need to have a plan." He insisted.

"I do, Harry." I turned to him. "My plan is to get that last piece for the ritual, get home, spend a few days preparing, and break the bond between Liam and Ginny. That's my plan, Harry. Plain and simple."

"Love, you aren't thinking right now. All you can see is helping Ginny. You are the last person I would ever expect to go into something blind."

"Liam needs to be gone." I snapped at Harry. "He killed my parents and stole my sister from me. She was the last piece I would have had of them and she was so messed up about magic after everything that I had to send her back to muggles and lose my parents all over again." My voice trembled. "Not only that, but he took Ginny from us. He outsmarted all of us, even me. He made her the perfect villain and we played into his hands. We created Ginny the way she is. We let that happen. Now we need to fix it. I will not let Liam win. This ends now."

"Is that what this is about? Your feelings that you were outsmarted?" He shot back.

"No." I threw my hand up in frustration. "Yes. Maybe. I don't know. It has everything to do with the fact that we failed to help our own friend. We've said countless lives before but we couldn't even...., we let her fall. And not just that, I took her life from her just like she once said." I finally said what had set a fire in me that I hadn't even let myself think, that I hadn't even realized I was feeling. "If we had caught Liam when he first got to her, we could have stopped him then.

"If we had, she would have never said such horrid things to you. She would have never hurt you. I would have never been the one there to comfort you and you would have never looked at me that way. We would have never gone out for your birthday celebration and slept together. I would have never gotten pregnant and you would have never married me. I took the life she was supposed to have. She was meant to be Mrs. Harry Potter. She was supposed to have our children with you. And she would have if we had just seen it all coming and helped her." I turned my face away from him, biting my bottom lip.

"Hermione," Harry stepped toward me.

"Don't." I held out my hand to stop him. "Just don't." A tear slipped out of my eye. "If nobody else feels like this, I do apparently." I sniffed. "She was my friend. And she loved you with her heart. She loved you since we were kids. She spent years just waiting and wanting you. Finally she had you and Liam comes along and changes that. Finally she had you and I helped end that." I swallowed. "The Weasley's have been the only family I've had for years and..., I ripped their daughter's life away from her."