Things Fall Apart, But Then You Build Again

Chapter 7: Rolling the Ball

The next day found Harry and Hermione sitting in the Leaky Cauldron again. They had previously decided that it was the perfect venue for their big row. Malfoy had carefully constructed just what they should say. They had to script the entire conversation, not only the most public part, just in case someone was near enough to overhear everything. As Harry was not good at remembering things verbatim, he was just given a general outline as to what he should say. Still, it was with a heavy heart that he prepared for it and only his Gryffindor courage kept him from bolting. He just hated what he was about to do.

“Oh, Hermione, I miss the kids so much,” Harry began, trying to sound as authentic as he could manage.

“I miss them too,” she agreed.

“You know, you could get them back easily enough.”

“Harry, you know I can’t do that.”

“But you were both so happy together. Surely, now that you’ve had a few days without your family, you can see that without them, you are no one.” He cringed internally at that part. Malfoy had insisted that Light Wizards regard an unattached woman as a person without aim or meaning. To them, the real purpose of a woman was attending to her husband and children.

“We have talked about this over breakfast. I’d just like to have a nice, peaceful lunch now,” she said and then took a sip of her water, pretending to hide her nerves behind the glass.

“I have allowed you to stay in my house long enough.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” She raised her voice a bit and noticed from the corner of her eyes that the patrons sitting closer to them were eavesdropping.

“You know very well what it means.” Harry crossed his arms and glared at her.

“Well, I may be just a simple woman, so I need to be enlightened by a smart man like you!”

“Fine, Hermione.” Harry was speaking loudly enough by then so that all who wanted to could hear everything. “You are a disgrace as a woman, a wife and a mother. You have gone against the wishes of your husband and when he rightfully demanded that you do as told, you left him. Now you have the audacity to want to rip your children away from the Weasley family - where they belong. With such an attitude you are no longer welcome in my house.”

Hermione just looked at Harry for a bit, her face mirroring the astonishment she felt. To an outsider, it appeared to be caused by what her friend was saying. Yet, it was actually due to the way that he had said those things. If they had not talked it over beforehand, she would have thought his words sincere. When had Harry become such a good actor?

“As you wish, Harry.” She stood from the table, ran out the door towards Diagon Alley and even managed to brush a tear from her face.

* * *

Next, came phase two of their plan for the day. They had to find a way to have Hermione’s path cross with that of Draco’s, so in the Alley, they staged it that Hermione would accidentally run into Draco and his son on her way through the Alley. Harry on the other hand simply stood up from his seat, left a few Galleons on the table and Flooed home. All of Hermione’s things had already been packed away into her old bag. Harry returned to an empty house.

His phase two began an hour later, so he sat down to have an actual lunch. He did not enjoy it. He realised that he had not eaten so alone like that for a long time. He missed the kids. Ginny too, of course. She was his wife, of course he missed her. Once he finished, he went upstairs to continue reading his book. However, he stopped once he heard the Floo flare downstairs and the voice of his wife and of Ron could be heard calling for him.