unleashed

In Canton, a girl was lying in bed. She appeared to be asleep but asleep she was not. Her brown curly hair was over her face. In her room, the drapes were closed letting in no light. Outside of her door, the girl’s mother was gently knocking, wanting entry.

“Sweetie, you need to eat something. You have been in there for two days.” the woman pleaded with her daughter. There was no answer. She had no idea what the girl has been up to, but she was obviously very upset and it was unhealthy for someone to go too long without food. ‘She’s going to make herself sick with all of that crying....maybe I should contact someone to help her.’ the woman thought desperately. The woman had been holding a tray of food for the girl, but seeing as she was not going to come out and talk, the woman decided to set the tray on the floor next to the door just in case.

Inside of the room, Hermione sat up in bed. She pushed her hair out of her face. She had dark circles under her eyes from all of the crying. She had been thinking about all of the things that happened during her stay at Grimmauld Place. She missed Harry. But she knew that what she did was for the best. She left knowing that things could never be the same with him. When she got home she sent a letter to Dumbledore stating that she was leaving school. She did not receive a response yet so she figured that he accepted her letter and she was done. Hermione had no idea what she was going to do. There was no way that she could work for the Ministry, she had wanted to take S.P.E.W. further. She could do muggle schooling, but all she knew was magic.

As Hermione was contemplating her future outside of Hogwarts, there was a light tapping on her window. Hermione noticed that Hedwig was there with a letter. ‘What does Harry have to say to me?’ she wondered as she got up from the bed to let the owl in. Hedwig hopped into the room. Hermione took the letter from Harry and watched as the owl flew back out of the window. ‘Probably hate mail from Harry.’ she thought. So she took the letter and sat it on her desk. She wasn’t ready to read anything that Harry wrote at that moment. Hermione went back to her bed, flopped down onto it and went back to her crying.
**********

Back at Grimmauld Place, Harry was sitting in his room. He woke up thinking of only Hermione. He knew that she went home yesterday, but he didn’t know if he would see her again. When she left, Harry realized that he needed her back. He needed someone to hold him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. But that day would not come. He knew he blew any chance of him getting back together with the woman that he loved.

The truth was that Harry knew that he really loved her. It hurt him every time he thought about it. He noticed that there were warm tears rolling down his cheeks wishing that he could have another chance with her. ‘No, you cannot have her back, you broke her heart. You blew it.’ he thought. At this thought Harry cried out openly. He had no reason to live.

Outside of his door, Molly was knocking. “Harry, dear, you need to come out. Dumbledore wants to talk to you in the living room.” No answer. Inside of the room, Harry got up from the bed and moved to the farthest corner of the room and sat down. He drew his knees to his chest and rocked himself while he cried.
**********

Molly walked back down the stairs. It was hopeless, Harry was not going to come out of his room. She stepped into the living room where Albus was sitting and waiting. He looked up at her, but all Molly could do was shake her head and start to cry. “Oh, Albus,” she said through sobs, “I am so worried about Harry. He has been in that room since Hermione left. He won’t talk to anyone. Ron and Ginny are upset with him for something that Harry did. They won’t tell me what it is. Can you do something?”

Albus stood up and gave Molly a comforting hug and disappeared. When he appeared, he was standing in Harry’s dark room. He heard sobs coming from the shadows in the corner of the room. Albus walked over to the hurting boy and knelt down next to him. “Harry.” he whispered. Harry looked up at his mentor and let a few more tears roll down his cheeks before he answered.
“I don’t know what to do, I need her back. I–I love her!” With that he cried harder. Albus saw the hurt that was in the boy’s eyes. This reminded him of James when he fought with Lily. He saw the hurt and the love then too. Albus took a long breath and placed a hand on Harry’s arm that was wrapped around his legs. It was a comforting move that no student has ever witnessed.

“Harry, this morning I received a letter from Ms. Granger asking to withdraw from school.” Albus decided that Harry ad a right to know and that he should not keep this information a secret. Harry’s head jerked up with a face of pure horror.

“W–what?!” He choked out. “She cannot go away, I lost her, yes, but she needs to be safe. She will die if she is out there with no one protecting her.” He dropped his voice so that he could barely be heard, “Voldemort will definitely kill her if he knew that she was without protection.”

“I know, Harry, but there is nothing I can do. If she wishes not to go to school, then I cannot force her to stay.” Albus said.

“There is something we can do” said Harry while standing up, “I need to see her now.”
***********

Hermione woke up with a start. She was dreaming of Harry. She looked at her clock... 4:00 p.m. She has been sleeping for a few hours now. Hermione stood up and stretched. She walked over to her desk and saw the letter from Harry. She sat down on the chair and picked up the letter. She opened it.

‘Dear Hermione,

Words cannot express my sorrow. I hurt the one person that was trying to love me the way that I needed to be loved. No matter what you say, I deserved that beating that Ron gave me. I’m just like a poison, once in the system of someone else, I spread around and damage anything that is perfect.

When we made love that night, I celebrated my love for you. I knew right then, that I would never be able to get you out of my system. But under all of that celebration, I was scared. Scared that if we loved each other, Tom would take you away. But unfortunately, I pushed you away.

One day I truly hope that I can tell you how I really feel about you. But alas, I cannot. If I do then I condemn your life to the hands of Tom Riddle. But I will kill him Hermione, I promise you that. And when that day comes I will be able to tell you Hermione that you are to me all that a woman should be and that I dedicate my life to you always. And that if ever you are in my arms again, that will be the day that I will love you forever and so mush better than I have. Can’t you see that I was trying to keep you safe, love? If anything happened to you I could say that the sun in my life would be gone and everything would be sent into darkness. And nothing can live in darkness, my dear.

I just hope that I live to see the day when you read these words. And if it means anything to you, that night we spent together, was the best night of my life...even if it was cut short, I was able to paste your form in my head so that every time I close my eyes, I see you. I love you, Hermione Jane Granger.

Love always and forever,
Harry. The-boy-that-cannot-live-without-you’

‘Oh, Harry.’ she thought as she cried. It pained her to see this object of affection from Harry. They were the words that she wanted to hear from him since third year, but now, she didn’t want to hear them. She didn’t want to risk being hurt again; something that Harry could not promise. As Hermione cried some more there was a knock at her door.

“Hermione?” said a male voice. It was not her father, but she knew the voice as soon as he started speaking. It was Harry. She didn’t want to see him at all so she shouted back.

“Go away, Harry! I don’t ever want you to darken my doorstep ever again!” She knew that she was only telling half truths. A part of her wanted Harry to stay. But she knew that if she wanted to prevent herself from being hurt again, she would have to turn him away.

“No, Hermione. I need to talk to you about you leaving Hogwarts. I don’t want you to go. I need to stay there.” he said through the door. Hermione knew then that Dumbledore got her owl that morning. She couldn’t believe that he told Harry. That was supposed to be private. ‘This is just his game of trying to get us together.’ but she didn’t get to finish her thoughts because Harry started to speak again. “Hermione, you are not safe here. Voldemort will kill you knowing that you are no longer under the protection of Dumbledore. I can’t live with the fact that you can get harmed. Please let me in so that we can talk.” he pleaded. Hermione, got up from the bed and crossed the room, but she didn’t open the door.

“What about the letter, Harry?” she asked referring to the letter he sent to her this morning. Harry on the other hand, didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Dumbledore has it, he told me this morning and he brought me here.”

“Not that letter, Harry, the other one.” she said.

“There was no other letter. I do not know what you are talking about.” said Harry getting a little confused.

“Harry James Potter! The letter! The one that you sent to me this morning.” she yelled.

“‘Mione, I didn’t send a letter this morning. Hedwig was gone when I woke up so I figured she was out hunting.” said Harry not understanding why she was getting mad at him, but he knew that he didn’t want to be out in the hallway anymore. “Please, let me in.”

Hermione had enough of him playing games. She walked over to the desk, picked up Harry’s letter and slid it under the door. “That letter Harry. It is your handwriting is it not?” she asked still angry at him for toying with her mind.

Harry picked up the letter and felt his stomach drop as he read the letter that he rote to Hermione last night. ‘Hedwig probably thought that I wanted to send this.’ he thought. He cleared his throat, “Hermione, I did write this letter, but I didn’t want to send it yet. It was just something that I had to write to get it out of my system.” he said quietly.

Hermione, opened the door and looked into his eyes, “Do you really feel this way Harry?” she needed to know. She watched as Harry pulled his fingers through his hair; his nervous twitch.

“Yes, ‘Mione. I do. I have felt something for you since third year, but I never said anything to you about it because I knew that Ron liked you. But that night that we were together, I knew I loved you. Which is a blessing and a curse. I don’t want you to get hurt. I have told you that many times.” but he didn’t finish because Hermione leaned in and kissed him on the lips. It was soft as first and then Harry deepened the kiss. He knew that this was so right.