Bitter Sweet Love

Bitter Sweet Love

Disclaimer: The Story idea is mine, but the characters are not. They belong to J.K. Rowling, and I am merely borrowing them for a short period of time.

I would greatly appreciate it if you found the time to read and review my story. This is my very first fanfiction, and it would do me a lot of good to hear what you have to say early in the story so I don\'t make the same mistakes over and over again. I hope you enjoy this story greatly.


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Chapter One: The Letter

Hermione was sitting alone in her studio apartment picking at her take-out Chinese not knowing whether to finish what she had started, or just put it away in the fridge for another day and head back to the office. Lunch was almost over, and it was a long hike back up to her small office space where she spent most of her days working diligently on new reports that always seemed to pile up while she was out of the office.
With her mind made up Hermione headed to her fridge and gently placed her food on the top shelf, trying not to knock over the milk that always had a habit of spilling out over the floor. She headed up into her bathroom and added a few touches of make-up onto her face, while pulling her hair up into a small twist. Looking at her reflection Hermione was surprised at how much growth she had gone through over the last two years. No longer with bushy hair, Hermione\'s once brown locks were now a golden blonde that were straightened into a slight curl that hung just above the tops of her breasts. Her skin was no longer a milky white hue, but it had more of a golden tone to them since she always happened to be outside due to her line of work. Leaning down to tighten the laces on her sneakers she admired the way her legs seemed to have just the right amount of length and curve to them. Now standing at a height of 5\'9\", she was well over her school age height of 5\'5\" and was seriously wondering how that had ever snuck up on her. No stretch marks appeared on her flawless skin, and she often wondered whether it was a dirty trick her mind was playing with her.
With everything in order Hermione stretched and headed for her door when she heard a familiar \'click-click\' on the window. Turning abruptly on her heel, Hermione gasp to see a tawny colored owl clicking its beak impatiently waiting for her to open the hatch on the window. Shocked slightly by the appearance of the owl, Hermione headed over to its perch on the window sill and opened it up so that it would be able to come in. Still slightly confused about the owl, Hermione hesitantly stretched out her hand and carefully released the note that was attached to its leg. The owl began to nip affectionately at Hermione, and not sure of what to do since she had no treats for the owl Hermione headed for the fridge and fumbled around for the Chinese while knocking the milk off the shelf. Silently cursing herself she quickly cleaned up her mess and handed the Chinese to the owl. Looking confused the owl just turned and flew back off into the horizon, Hermione watched the owl disappear and then turned to look at the clock noticing the time she picked up her bag and the letter while running out the door.

***Later that Day***
\"What could it be?\" Hermione asked herself now safely locked inside her apartment away from prying eyes.

With the arrival of the letter, Hermione had increasingly become more paranoid thinking that everyone knew she had received a letter today by owl. Thinking to herself she thought it would have been best to leave the window shut and just head out to the office... but then again... it would have come to the office and then I would have really had a field day, she quietly muttered to herself, just open it! It might be important, or it might not be... you’ll never know until you open it.

“It might be from Ron,” Hermione said to no one in particular while picking up the letter, “But why would he be writing me? He made himself perfectly clear after Harry’s death that he wanted nothing more to do with me and my bad luck! It wasn’t my fault Harry died... or was it?”

Hermione began to think back again on the fateful day that Harry fell, a brave soldier in the war against the Dark Lord.
***Flashback***

“Ron! You take to the left with Dean, Seamus, and Neville.” Hermione yelled with all her might to her red headed friend, “I’ll take Oliver, Luna, and Ginny to meet up with the twins on the right! Take out as many death eaters as you can we HAVE TO GET TO HARRY!”

“You be careful ‘Mione! I’ll do my best to take care of these three!” Ron yelled back half-heartedly.
“Oh come off it! You know we’ll be picking your sorry arse off of the battle field in less than an hour,” Dean said smugly to Ron with a hint of laughter in his voice.
“Yeah Ron, really you shouldn’t get so cocky, at least not when we’re around to protect you,” Neville said grinning at him then turning back to Hermione, “You go one Hermione we have things under control!”

Hermione laughed silently and headed back to the right side of the battlefield, knowing well that if she let herself slip the slightest that it might be her last. Turning when a flash of bright yellow shot off the her left she turned in time to see Harry’s body tossed high into the air as explosions all around seemed to go off in that instant. Engulfed in fear, and rage all at the same time Hermione ran headfirst into the deepest pit of the battle screaming curses and hexes at anyone in the shadows. Narrowly escaping a few deadly curses on her way to save her best friend Hermione managed to make it to Harry’s side safely. Kneeling down she cradled his head in her lap caressing his cheek lovingly as a mother would to her sick child. Harry stirred, and slowly brought his gaze up to Hermione’s and gave her a soft smile.

“We did it ‘Mione,” Harry coughed hard as he said this, a few droplets of blood escaping his mouth and lingering on his lips until Hermione brushed them aside. “Voldemort is gone, forever...”

“Shh... Harry save your strength you’re hurt I have to get you taken care of...” Hermione whispered softly into his ear as tears started to fall softly from her eyes as she struggled to speak her thoughts out loud, “...does it hurt much Harry?”

“Oh no ‘Mione, it did... but its slowly going away, I think I just needed to rest a bit that’s all,” Harry said as Hermione’s tears began to fall more freely,”’Mione what is wrong? I’ll be all right, really, look I want you to go find Ron for me I want to make sure he is ok, would you please find him? I will be all right until you return I promise”

“I don’t want to leave you though Harry,” Hermione said holding back a sob as Harry tried to push his aching body up. Harry looked deeply into her eyes and she just knew that saying no to him would result in something much worse later... guilt. “All right, but you promise me right now that you will be fine until I return Harry James Potter.”

“I give you my word,” Harry said while leaning over and kissing Hermione softly on the cheek, “Thank you for being such a great friend ‘Mione,”

Hermione nodded at Harry, then gently placed her cloak over him so he didn’t get too cold, and she started running off to look for Ron. Nearly an hour later she was able to locate Ron, and she dragged him off towards where Harry was laying peacefully waiting for his friend to return. Hermione and Ron made it all the way to Harry’s side before either of them noticed that Harry was no longer breathing, he was just lying on the ground in a deep never-ending sleep. Ron sat shocked as everything he was taking in hit him full force, and he turned his gaze onto Hermione who was now crying so forcefully if it hadn’t been for the cold air that was chilling her body she would have passed out for exhausting herself.

“What...did you do... to Harry?” Ron growled at her crying form.
“Wha..what? I didn’t do anything Ron! He was in this shape when I fou...” Hermione said before being cut off.
“Exactly! You did nothing! Why would you ever leave someone that was badly hurt alone? Why didn’t you take him to be healed?” Ron said standing up and towering over her menacingly.
“I did..I didn’t..know that he was dying Ron!” Hermione stuttered out as her best friend glowered down at her.
“You are the smartest witch in school, and yet you couldn’t tell that our best friend was dying right before your eyes?” Ron was practically screaming at her now. “What, did he have words of wisdom for you and I, but you’re so selfish that you wanted the last picture in his head to be of you?”
“No! Ron, I did him a favor! He wanted me to find you, so I did!” Hermione was crying louder than ever, her small frame wracking with sobs.
“Yeah, and because of that favor Harry is now dead. I hope your happy, you just killed our best friend.” Ron said stalking off, and not stopping to turn and see Hermione on the ground crying her heart out over losing her two best friends in one night.

***End Flashback***

Hermione was sitting on the floor crying, wishing she had never even thought back to that day, she lay there for another forty-five minutes until she was able to calm down a bit and head into the bathroom for a nice relaxing bath. Sitting in the tub she let the warm water soothe her aches and pains, the ones that always appeared after she sat and thought for long periods of time on her horrible past. The only other time her body felt that way was when Harry had died during the war. Kicking herself mentally for thinking about the topic again, she leaned back and began to hum silently to herself so the silence of the apartment wouldn’t help remind her about how much she has failed in life already. Straightening up, she let the water drain out of the tub and she towel dried her hair before putting on her favorite pair of pajama’s.
Heading out the door she noticed the letter she had received earlier still unopened on the table. Pouring herself a cup of warm tea, Hermione grabbed her favorite book, and the letter and went into her bedroom. Turning on her lamp, Hermione set the letter down on her bedside table and began reading. She was able to concentrate fully for about an hour, before she realized that she had been on the same page for over five minutes, and her eyes had been transfixed on the letter that was still sitting on her table. Placing the book down, she reached for the letter and examined the writing, noticing that the handwriting wasn’t Ron’s, Hermione felt herself sigh heavy relief as she flipped the letter over, ready to read the contents.
All her nervous nature returned when she noticed the Hogwart’s emblem stamped onto the maroon colored wax. Why would Hogwart’s be writing me now? She thought to herself, I mean its not like they couldn’t have offered some help after Harry’s funeral. Kicking herself mentally again for thinking about the past, Hermione finally gave up with her internal battle and opened the letter. Reading about halfway through it Hermione gasped, and had to force herself to read on.
Dear Ms. Hermione Granger;
It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to you now, with all your past traumatic experiences I really would have liked to offer my services as your Headmaster and Friend to console you during those hard times. But you must understand that it was difficult to get away for even a moment’s time, back then almost everyone was in the hospital, the wizarding government had fallen, there was so much that needed to be done. I barely had time for myself, and I regret it fully that I never went after you personally when you left for the States. But, I also did believe that you needed to have time alone, and that in due time I would be able to contact you.
I had every intention of contacting you later in the summer to offer you a job teaching at Hogwart’s as the Potions Master, it seems Severus has landed himself a small fortune and he regretfully had to inform me that he was too retire this year. And although I am still offering you this position, I am also writing to inform you that it seems something terrible has indeed happened. If you remember Draco Malfoy, then I am sure you remember his father Lucius quite well. Draco and Lucius have been very gracious to me after I saved their lives in the ending battle, and they have been keeping me up to date with the things that happen in the wizarding world. So it has been brought to my attention, that one of the Dark Lord’s most faithful servants has been bidding their time, and in doing so have found a way to reincarnate Lord Voldemort himself.
The Dark Lord is now alive, and on the rise again. If you will not consider the teaching job than I hope you might consider working for the Order again, you would be a great asset for our side. But, if after this entire letter you feel that you would rather stay out of it this time, then I would not blame you. Especially after the way Mr. Weasley treated you, and if I might add though I do feel it might be a little bold, that I do know for a fact that you did not kill Mr. Potter. I think that he may have asked you to locate the young Mr. Weasley... so that you wouldn’t have to watch him pass away. And I might add that, I think that Mr. Weasley might have been upset because you were able to talk to Harry one last time. Not that it matters now, since you both have parted ways, but you just should know that these things take time, and I will be waiting patiently while your friendship is restored.

Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore

P.S. - I placed a small bag of Floo Powder into the envelope, and I had my fireplace opened directly to your fireplace. I will be in my office all night, and I do hope that you remember how to use the Floo Powder.

Hermione still could not believe it, even though she had read through it at least five or six times now. Looking into the envelope, she noticed that indeed there was a small parcel of floo powder, and she wondered whether Dumbledore had that twinkle in his eye right now that he always had when he knew more than he should. Standing up, Hermione quickly gathered all of her belongings into her suit case, and searching through the closet she finally found her black box that contained all of her wizarding things. Looking inside she found her old copy of ‘Hogwarts: a History’, her wand, quills, rolled parchment paper, ink wells, a whole array of random books such as, ‘Your Guide for Werewolves, Vampires, and Leeches’, ‘The Full Moon Chronicles’, ‘Deadly Potions In Disguise’, ‘Quidditch ‘Round the World: The History of How it Began’, and plenty of other titles that she felt no need to read at the moment. Looking around she shuffled through her old school belongings until she found her school robes. Taking them out with her wand, she shut the lid on her trunks and placed everything in front of the fire. Putting on her old robes, she quickly tried to remember a spell so that her robes would fit her properly. Almost pulling out her hair she finally remembered, and she let the words roll of her tongue effortlessly. Almost as if she opened the gate to another world, Hermione began to remember every spell, every hex, and every curse she had ever learned. Adding a bit more of her knowledge to her robes, she ended up with robes that actually fit but that were now in a soft silk material and in a lavender color. Tossing out a few more spells she quickly had her whole apartment wrapping into her trunks thanks to a few stretching and shrinking spells.
With all of her things pack up, she cast one more longing look about the fire and muttered to herself, I do hope I am not making a mistake with this. Placing a shrinking spell on her two trunks, she placed it in her robes and took out a pinch of floo powder. Standing in her fire pit she called out “Albus Dumbledore” and through down a fistful of the powder, then she was gone. Her apartment was now quieter than ever, with no furniture, or clothes lying about to muffle the sound.