Sins of the Father

AUTHOR'S NOTE: at bottom.


*

And so it went for the following week. Hermione avoided Draco whenever he happened to be at Headquarters, which was proving to be easy as he had only showed up two times since their ‘discussion’. He was only there for a short meeting and the other time to visit just Harry and Remus and talk over some strategies.

She also found herself backing away from Ron. It angered her that he thought he should protect her, now of all times, and that only those at the Burrow had helped her when none of them actually had. She found it ridiculous for them to argue like that, ouside her door, when neither of them had done anything, ever, to help her.

And then there was Harry and her lingering anger towards him. She had always stood by him, only arguing with him when he was going to hurt himself or others with his rash heroics. She always stood by him, and it stung her heart the he couldn’t offer that self same understanding.

She was in the library, reading up on dark curses, when she felt a presence behind her.

“Harry didn’t mean to upset you,” Remus’ soothing voice came from the doorway. She looked over her shoulder at him and sighed.

“Well, he did a good job of it.” She looked Remus over , noticing how battle worn he looked. She closed the book but kept it in her hands. “Besides, shouldn’t he be the one apologizing?” Remus looked away from her and stared at the far wall.

“He’s on a mission right now.”

“Of course he is,” she said, tapping at the spine of the book before re-opening it and setting it back on her lap. “He’s always gone,” she murmured to herself, getting lost in dark curses again. She continued to read, thinking Remus was gone, when suddenly her book was taken from her hands and she was looking into the pensive face of the aging Maruader.

“Hermione -,”

“Give the book back.”

“No, Hermione, listen -,”

“No, Lupin! Give me it back!” She stood up, reaching to grab for it. She swiped her hand at the book but Remus moved, and she found herself falling. Before she could hit the ground, though, Remus was there, cradling her to his chest. She stood stock-still against his solid chest, feeling the muscles and planes of his flesh under his worn out clothes. She didn’t dare move, her eyes shut tight and her head burrowed in his chest. All she knew was he was solid, and holding her, and the pain was melting away.

“Hermione-,” she interrupted him by holding him tighter.

“Please don’t make me talk about it.”

He sighed and smoothed her hair down. “You have to talk about it sometime, Hermione. This isn’t healthy for you, keeping it all inside. “ She pulled back from him then and looked him in the eyes. His eyes held genuine concern in them, and there was something else. Love. There was love for her in his eyes, but it wasn’t of the romantic sort at all. He loved her like a daughter, or a really good friend, and it warmed her. Seeing the love and concern in his face was almost too much for her. She felt herself go faint and began to slide from his arms.

“Hermione? Hermione!” He yelled as she sunk to the couch with a thud, her head flopping lifelessly on her chest. He immediately knelt in front of her checking for her pulse and watching her rapid intakes of breath, even more concerned then he had been. Luckily, she still had a strong pulse. He pushed the hair out of her face and saw that her eyelids were fluttering. She slowly opened them, amber meeting amber, and took a deep breath.

“Remus,” she moaned, a single tear falling from her eye.

“I’m here, love. I’m here for whatever you need.”

“Hold me.” He complied, sitting down next to her and pulling her into his arms. Slowly, the tears started falling and before long, the shoulder of his shirt was soaked. He knew she needed it, though, and just rubbed her back, murmuring soothing words to her. After twenty minutes of sobbing, she pulled back, rubbing at her eyes. He placed a gentle, fatherly kiss on her forehead. She smiled sadly and took a deep breath.

And then she told him. Just like that. Everything came out. Hiss eyes went from being wide in shock, to narrowed in anger, to sympathetic, to pools of compassion. Her story flowed from her lips almost nonstop, her breath only hitching every once and a while when she described the pain she experienced at the hands of Malfoy Sr. Slowly, a picture was beginning to from in Remus mind about her reactions to things over the past year. She stopped letting people touch her. She stopped getting in confrontations. She ate meagerly. She cleaned messes that weren’t hers.

And she was always alone.

She began to cry again before she got the whole story out, but Remus understood. So he held her, rocking her against his chest. She felt small, and safe, in his arms, knowing no harm would come to her.

A throat cleared itself and, startled, Hermione jumped up from the couch to see Ron staring at her and Remus. Remus’ eyes were wide in shock at the unexpected arrival of Ron Weasley.

“Harry just returned.” Ron turned to go when suddenly Hermione smacked her forehead, realizing what this must look like.

“Ron. It’s not like that. Remus and I were just talking.”

Ron looked back at Hermione and smiled sadly. “I know. No need to freak about it. Sometimes you just need to talk to people.” He walked over to her and kissed her forehead like Remus had. “When you want to talk to someone else as well, you know I’ll be here.” They smiled at each other before he scooped her into a hug. Remus stood and walked over to the two friends, glad that there were no misunderstandings. “Now, come on. Harry and Malfoy have a lot to tell us,” he said, practically growling when he mentioned Draco’s name.

Hermione swallowed, suddenly feeling hot. “Draco’s here?”

Ron shot her a quizzical look. “Since when has he been Draco?” Hermione bit at her bottom lip, looking down at the ground.

“Just accept it for what it is, Ron,” Remus told him sagely. Ron looked from one to the other and then shrugged.

“Fine. Come on. Mum’s making stew for dinner. I know that’s you’re favorite Mione.” She groaned inwardly at her childhood nickname, allowing herself to be pulled from the room.

Remus had been right. Talking about it made her feel good. It made what happened to her feel like it was firmly in the past, instead of something she needed to relive every day, over and over again. She smiled as Ron and Remus pulled her down the stairs, feeling as though things might turn out okay for the first time in a long time.


A/N: I am not happy with this chapter. I don't feel like it's that good. So be kind. I know you all were hoping for a Draco/Hermione confrontation. Don't worry, it'll happen. I just need to get there. The next chapter might take a week to pound out, as I'm going to Chicago next weekend, so don't forget about SOTF. Thanks to all those Reading and Reviewing! And look out for my next fic "The Education of Miss Granger" a threesome/moresome/orgy that's gonna be almost pure smut. I hope you guys go read that one too!