Chapter Text
7th year. Their future is looking more grim by the day. They sleep in shifts, Hermione recasting her concealment charms every morning while Ron and Harry take turns trying to figure out what the hell to do with this necklace. The necklace… something is wrong with it. Hermione isn’t sure what, but Harry has been acting so off lately. Like, really off. He’s super distant, and she wonders if it’s something she’s done wrong, or if it really is that stupid necklace.
She decides tonight is the night to confront him. She can’t handle it. The distance. The anger. The coldness that radiates off of him.
“Harry?”
“What?!”
He whips around, eyes wild and frown deep. Hermione stumbles back, shocked at his aggressive reaction. This isn’t the Harry she loves. Loved. She takes a deep breath, preparing to face him.
“I don’t know if I can do this anymore. You’ve been so weird lately… you’re not yourself anymore. We need space. From each other.”
She exhales, and the weight that was pressing on her disappears. Harry’s face immediately darkens, and the panic she had just gotten rid of returned.
“Break up? I mean, I guess, if you want to.”
Harry looks fine, completely fine, not even mad. He shrugs and walks away, leaving Hermione dumbfounded, mouth agape. She had wasted years on their relationship. Years that were apparently useless to Harry.
Five years later.
Hermione is twenty-two. She lives in Muggle London, working as a nanny during the day and a waitress at the local diner in the evenings. Swearing she would never set foot in the wizarding world again, she decided to leave that life behind. Well, so she thought.
It’s a Saturday evening, the one night she gets off work, when she crashes into someone. She apologises instantly, but it dies on her lips when she sees who it is.
“Harry?”
Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Her ex-boyfriend. They had broken up years ago, and she remembers every second of it. Every wasted word, every time he ignored her for his studies. It all came flooding back. His voice sounds the same as it did then, except softer. Sweeter. Not like the boy Harry was in 7th year, but like he was earlier.
“Hermione. Listen, I’m so sorry. I have so much explaining to do.”
“Don’t bother, Harry. I don’t want to dredge up the past.”
“It’ll only be a minute. Please. I’ll buy you a drink”
“...Fine.”
And that’s how Hermione Jean Granger ended up sitting at a bar with her ex from Hogwarts. Harry sits her down and suddenly dumps everything on her. Explains everything. How it was the necklace making him act weird and once he and Ron figured out how to destroy it, he had realised what a jerk he had been. How he loved her, even now, and had been looking for her for years. At the end of his massive speech, Hermione couldn’t help it. She leaned in and kissed him.
“Oh Harry. I knew it couldn’t have been you. I knew it was that stupid necklace. I love you too. I always have.”