His Past, Her Future {Book One}

Chapter 36. The Fairies

Her parents were more understanding than she could have ever hoped.

Their only daughter had left them to join a war that they knew little about and that they would never be able to fully understand only to return to them six months later, eighteen years old, pregnant and distraught.

They welcomed her with open arms, held her while she cried and whispered words of comfort as best they could.

Sirius had come the day after she arrived.

Her departure from Grimmauld Place had been such a hurricane of disaster that she had been forced to leave all her belongings behind apart from the clothes she had pulled over her wet skin.

Remus had barged down the hallways right on her heels as she had fled to her room from Sirius'...

"Remus let go of me," she shook off his hold on her wrist so she could open her door.

She tried to push the door closed behind her but he wouldn't allow it.

"Remus, get out!"

He ignored her plea as he barged in and pushed the door shut, throwing a locking charm behind him.

She heard the dull 'THUD' that signaled Sirius' unsuccessful attempt to follow.

Not wasting a second she turned her back on him as with a wave of her wand clean clothes came flying to her fingertips.

She pulled on the yellow sweater without bothering about a bra and snaked on a pair of knickers before pulling on the soft cotton pants that she had taken to wearing during her pregnancy.

She cursed sending Sirius earlier to get her clothes as she couldn't find a jumper to pull over her rounded stomach which the sweater stubbornly clung to.

Remus hadn't muttered a word since she had dropped the towel but now as she waved her wand over her damp hair and bent over the cupboard to pull out a large suitcase he jumped to action.

"Hermione, please, please just listen to me ..." his voice was shaky and she could tell he was crying without seeing the tears that rolled down his face.

"Don't leave me..." he begged, covering her hand that rested on the suitcase handle with his larger one.

Her skin burnt with his touch and her only wish was to sink back into the chest that she knew stood bare centimeters away from her.

But he was more than married now, he was having a child.

What right did she have to one woman's husband, one of her closets female friends' husband, to take away a child's father just because she too carried his babe.

She would not be the one to cause the kind of heartbreak that racked her everyday to someone else, whom had done no wrong.

She dropped the suitcase, freeing her hand from his grasp before she could change her mind.

She whispered the charm to unlock the door and quickly left the room.

Sirius jumped as the door opened in front of him but Hermione didn't stop as she raced down the hallway.

She flew down the staircase, closing her eyes to the tears that were finally making their escape. She wasn't watching where she was going and was stopped when she ran head-on into a warm chest.

Gentle hands on her shoulders stopped her from falling but she knew who it was before she opened her eyes.

It was the feel of Harry's gentle hands on her stomach that startled her more.