At the Beginning With You [Harmione]

5. Missing You

  Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey


I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you  

- 'At the Beginning' by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis from the movie Anastasia

  ❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾  

It was turning out to be one of the longest weeks of Harry's life. He hadn't realized how much he was beginning to depend on Hermione until she left. And he had no idea how much Teddy had become attached to her in the week that he had been living with them. Teddy cried more often, slept less, and his hair was never orange anymore. Harry was becoming more and more frustrated as the week went on, wishing Hermione was back to make Teddy happy. Hell, it would make Harry happy too; he was just realizing how much he missed having Hermione in the house. Not only for the help with the baby, but the companionship, the talks over dinner, putting Teddy down for the night, or even just spending time in the living room, reading or watching TV, even if they didn't talk. And now she was gone, and it was only Tuesday. She'd only been gone two days. Harry sighed as he changed Teddy's diaper. This was going to be a long week. He tickled Teddy's foot after the baby was clean and dry and in a fresh diaper. Teddy kicked his foot and squirmed, but didn't laugh. Harry really wished Hermione was back. Though the week was different, it was by no means uneventful. Luckily no one had noticed Hermione was gone, but the hate mail that came for both of them Harry threw away without reading them, tossing them into the fire. Thankfully it was nothing that would blow up when coming in contact with flames. Not much was said since the article, but Harry wasn't about to forget about it, especially when Ron came to visit him the day after Hermione had left for Australia. Ron apparated into the living room with a 'pop', causing Harry, who was sitting in the chair reading about childhood diseases, to jump.

Ron offered no greeting or preamble, just asked rudely, "Where is she?"

"Well, hello to you too, Ron."

"Don't give me lectures, Harry, where is Hermione?"

"She's not here."

"Of course she's here, she's always here. She's not at her flat, so therefore she's here." 'So Hermione didn't inform the boyfriend about her trip then. That was thoughtful of her,' Harry thought with a little bitterness.

"Well, Hermione has a life outside her flat and this house, Ron. There's hundreds of places she could be besides here."

"But she's not; I know she's here, Harry. Now where is she?"

"I told you, she's not here."

"Then where is she?"

"She's in Australia with her parents. She's lifting the memory charm and bringing them back to England. Here, sit down, I'll get you a drink." Harry set his book aside to get up.

"Don't give me that, Harry. Don't even try to pretend to be a good friend. Apparently you've been backstabbing me for months."

"What are you talking about?"

"The article!"

"That's what this is all about? You want to see Hermione about the article?"

"Yes."

"You honestly believe that Rita Skeeter rubbish?"

"It explains a hell of a lot that's been going on lately with Hermione. Why she's been so distant to me, why she doesn't want to marry me. It's all because of you."