Confessions

Chapter Four

Harry walked back into the Common room and saw that the discussion had broken apart. Ron and Felicity were sitting across the room looking as thought they were deep in a conversation. He looked around the room, surprised that there weren't more people in there and finally spotted Hermione sitting on the couch, reading the book that Aislynn had left there.

"Hey," he said as he walked up to her.

"Hi," she set the book down and looked up at him.

"I was wondering, do you want to go for a walk?" he asked. He could see that the sun was just beginning to set and thought that it would be a great time to say all that he had to say.

"Umm . . . sure. Let me grab a jacket," she smiled at him and stood up.

They walked for a while talking about this and that, never really touching on the subject of "them." He had learned that she was a professor at the school that Aislynn attended, Mouchoirs, and taught Transfiguration. She and Aislynn lived at Mouchoirs year round because it was much easier on them. He learned about how Aislynn was a very talented young witch, who was much consumed in her magic. Hermione was worried about her. She didn't have many friends and spent most of her time perfecting the most difficult of spells. She only opened up to her mom. When she did open up to a person though, it was because she sincerely cared about and trusted that person. Harry told her about his job with the Ministry and she found that he had been living by himself since graduation in a flat located in London.

"Hermione," he said as they sat down beside the lake. "Hermione, there is something that I need to tell you."

"What is it Harry?"

"I don't know where to start. There is so much that I have wanted to tell you over the last 16 years," he sighed trying to collect his thoughts. "I just wanted to let you know that you were the only thing that kept me going when I came face to face with Voldemort. I don't know what I did or how I did it, but it was the strength that I got from you that helped me defeat him. When I came home and saw the look on your face, I didn't know if you were happy or depressed to see me. My heart broke when I heard about what had happened between Ron and you. I felt as if I had been utterly betrayed. I could always feel you. I knew you were alive, I couldn't understand why you didn't know that I was still living. That I was somewhere out there waiting to return to you. I didn't want to make you choose, yet when you just walked away from both of us I lost the last bit of my heart that I still had. I was nothing without you. You were my strength. It took me a long time to get myself back together and move on with my life. It took me a long time to remember who I was," Harry looked into Hermione's deep brown eyes. "Now that I have found you again, I don't ever want to lose you. I want to be a part of your life again. I want to be with you. Forever."

Hermione did not know what to say. She was stunned. All of these years she had felt that Harry had hated her. That he had wanted nothing to do with her. Now, as she looked into his shining green eyes, she knew that everything she had thought was wrong.

"Harry, I...I don't know what to say," Hermione stated as she placed her hand on his. "I just don't know what to think now that Aislynn is in the picture. What will she think?"

"Well, that's the thing," he said with a slight smile. "You see, I've already talked to her about all of this," Harry grinned slightly at the shocked expression on Hermione's face.

"And?"

"Well, she said that she thought, no, she knew you loved me. Do you Hermione? Do you love me?"

"I've told you before Harry. There hasn't been a moment that I haven't thought about you. I have never met anyone like you in all of my life. I don't know if I can jump back into a relationship like this with a person that I hardly know anymore," Hermione glanced up at him. He was staring at her with a hurt expression in his eyes. His eyes held the same anticipation as the little 11-year-old boy she had met originally on the Hogwarts Express. "Don't look at me like that Harry! You must believe that I love you! Please don't ever think that I don't. I just...I just need to work things out in my head. I have to think of what is best for Aislynn, not myself."

"You know that I believe you Hermione. I know you love me. I'll wait for you to come around. I have waited my whole life for you," Harry gazed at Hermione who smiled, a single tear gently sliding down her cheek.

"I will let you in on one thing though, Harry," she said taking his hand in hers. "I will speak with Aislynn and see if she would maybe like to visit England more often."

"Visit? Only Visit?" a flash of anguish swept across Harry's face before it quickly disappeared.

"I can't leave my job Harry. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to Aislynn to pull her out of her school in her seventh year. Would it?"

"Well, I suppose not. You will visit though, won't you?"

"You know I will. Harry, I promise you, just as I promise myself, I won't let you get away again."

Harry laughed lightly, before becoming serious, "I could move to New York with you," his thumb stroking the top of her hand.

"And leave the Ministry. You can't live in America and be the Minister of Magic Harry. I won't let you do that."

"But Herm..." he was silenced by Hermione's finger on his lips.

"Shhhh...don't talk anymore. Not about that. I don't leave for another two days. Let's not think on that Harry. Don't dwell on it. We will work something out. I promise."

Harry's lips curled into a smile under her finger. Gently he kissed the tip of the finger, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Harry I..." she began, but Harry cut her off with a tentative kiss. Slowly they relaxed and the kiss became deeper and more intense.

*

Aislynn watched from the Gryffindor tower, smiling to herself. She felt complete and happy here, and knew her mother did too.

"Hey," a voice said from behind her.

"Hey Ron!" she said turning around. "What's up?"

"Felicity and I are going to our room. It's getting late, and we need to talk. Will you be okay here?" Ron said whispering as not to wake the young girl in the chair next to them.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Felicity, she doesn't like me does she?"

"Not like you? No! Why would you think that?"

"She keeps staring at me."

"What? Oh, well she is a bit shocked and amazed. She laughed about it though. All these years she has wanted a daughter and all we've had is boys, mind you, we love them dearly, but she has always blamed it on me! Well, now we know that's not true now is it?"

Aislynn laughed, "Well now, aren't you more of a man."

"Of course," Ron puffed out his chest and strutted around hitting it like Tarzan would.

"Ron?" Aislynn asked her laughter subsiding. "Tomorrow, would you tell me about your family? About your mom, dad, brothers, sisters, and everything?"

"Of course! I have to figure out how to tell them. Mum will be ecstatic. They all will, but mum especially! She has always wanted a granddaughter. All of us that have had kids have only had boys, so you are the first girl, but I will tell you all about that tomorrow. Get some sleep Aislynn. Sweet dreams. If you sleep at all," he smiled at her and then leaned down and kissed her tentatively on the forehead.

"Good night Ron," Aislynn looked up at him. "Good night Felicity!" she whispered loudly over to where Felicity was standing. The woman smiled sweetly and waved.

"Good night Aislynn," Ron stated as he walked away.

"'Nite," she watched silently as they walked through the portrait hole. Turning her attention back to the window, she saw that Harry and Hermione were no longer by the lake. She jumped as she heard a voice behind her.

"Aislynn? Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, hi mom! Hello Harry!"

"Hullo," Harry stated with a grin on his face.

"We think it's about time we all turn in," Hermione said blushing slightly. "Get some sleep Aislynn. Please will you?"

"Of course mother," Aislynn couldn't help but grin at her mother's embarrassment. "You too."

Hermione looked at her with a shocked expression, which quickly changed to a shy smile.

"I will, Aislynn, I will."

Aislynn smiled at her mother. Hermione kissed Aislynn on the cheeks before giving her a giant hug.

"Goodnight Mom. Goodnight Harry," Aislynn said giving Harry a quick hug.

"Goodnight Aislynn," he said winking at her as Hermione and he turned around and headed out the door. Aislynn turned and looked back out the window at the moon surrounded by the stars, high in the sky. She soon yawned and walked up the stairs to the dorm.

*

"Well, here we are," Hermione declared as they walked up to the door of the room she would be staying in.

"Yeah, here we are,"

"Umm...would..." Hermione felt like a child again, "Would you like to come in? For a drink or something?"

Harry looked at her with surprise in his eyes as he relaxed, allowing himself to smile, "Yeah, I'd like that."

Hermione slowly opened the door, shaking slightly with nervousness. 'What am I so nervous for?' she thought to herself. She walked into the room and placed her purse on the nearby table. She didn't know how Dumbledore did it. There must have been around 200 people there, and yet, each couple or single adult had their own room.

"It's nice," Harry said, trying to begin a little small talk.

"Yeah, have you seen yours?"

"No, I haven't been in there yet," Harry said walking around the room. Turning to Hermione he said, "I'm sure it is just like yours."

"Yeah," Hermione said walking over to where he was standing. "I'm sure," she placed her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart beat through the thin fabric of his shirt. She slowly reached up and took off his cloak, her eyes never leaving his. "What can I get you to drink?"

"I want nothing more than you Hermione. Nothing more," Harry leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. He grabbed her around the waist and slowly lowered her to the bed.

*

Aislynn woke to the early morning sunlight shinning through the window. She had spent most the night gazing at the moon outside, absently forgetting to close the drapes around her bed as she drifted off to sleep. She had dreamed of Harry, Ron, and her mother, imagining what it must have been like growing up at Hogwarts.

Aislynn wondered what they had all been like. What Hogwarts is like. She couldn't help feeling that she was missing out somehow. All the boys, well and of course the atmosphere.

Sitting up slowly, she glanced around at the other girls fast asleep in their beds. She wondered how many of them attended Hogwarts already. How many of them were the same age as she was.

Aislynn quickly walked over to where her luggage was sitting and pulled out a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and a hooded sweatshirt, hastily putting them on. She grabbed her running shoes, walked out the door, and silently closed the door behind her. Turning around she came face-to-face with a young girl with blonde hair.

"Oh my goodness! You scared me!" Aislynn exclaimed.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you. My name is Bailey. I was just heading back from the lavatory. I'm so sorry!" Bailey said.

"Oh no, it's okay, I just wasn't expecting to see anyone up this early! It's barley 6 am. My name is Aislynn by the way," she said as she looked at the girl.

"Oh yeah, it is a curse, I can never sleep in, but I'm going to try to go back asleep. It's been nice to meet you Aislynn."

"You too," Aislynn watched Bailey walk back in to the room before she ran down the stairs. Sitting on one of the couches to put on her socks and shoes on and headed off to find the restroom. She worked quickly, brushing her teeth and face, before pulling her hair into a ponytail.

"You look beautiful, child," the mirror stated in a pleasant female voice.

"Ummm...thank you," Aislynn replied. She felt almost stupid speaking to a mirror, but she decided that since no one else was around, who cares. She walked out of the restroom and out the portrait hole. The school was completely quite. She had expected at least a few people to be out and about, but she was happy to be alone. She walked quietly down the stairs towards the Great Hall and out of the front door.

The air felt warm on Aislynn's bare skin as she stretched her muscles, which responded with a slight tingling feeling. She looked around the grounds trying to decide which way she should run. The grounds were huge. Finally, she chose to run around the lake, up to the Quidditch Pitch, and back to the castle. She set off slowly towards the lake, giving her muscles time to warm up completely. She ran, enjoying the silence watching as the sun cast colors of gold over the rippling lake. She could feel her muscles respond to her every move and decided to speed things up. She ran as hard as she could up to the Quidditch pitch where she began to slow her pace a bit. She saw something in the distance flying towards her with great speed. It was a person. Quickly jumping out of the way, Aislynn watched as the blur zipped past her and rolled onto the ground. Shocked, Aislynn ran over to where the person had landed in a heap. As she reached the person and kneeled down, the person stood up and turned around to look at her. Aislynn was surprised to see it was the boy from the hall the other day. She spoke before she thought about what she was saying.

"Oh, it's you," she said standing up, a frown on her face. As not to be rude, she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said looking down at her with his piercing blue eyes. She was beautiful he knew she was. Yet, he knew about that Potter guy she had been with and didn't find it within his interest to befriend her.

"Too bad," he thought, watching her. "She looks as if she would be fun."

"Is that all you have to say to me? You could have killed me, you know! And you can't even have asked me how I am?" she was furious. His eyes glanced over her before stopping at her knee. Following his gaze, she realized that her left knee was cut pretty bad.

"You're hurt," he said, almost sounding concerned.

"No thanks to you," Aislynn stated defiantly. "What the hell were you doing anyway that you felt you had to dive bomb me?"

"I was going after the snitch," he stated, his hand opening to show her the small golden ball. "You just happened to be in the way."

"In the way? That's great. No apology or anything," she looked up at him with anger in her eyes.

"Do you want me to take you to the hospital wing? I really didn't mean to hurt you, just scare you a bit."

"No, I don't need, nor do I want your help," he took a step toward her. "Don't come near me...you...you...what's your name anyway?"

"Adrian," he said never taking his eyes off of her. "And you?"

"Aislynn, not that you care."

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't care. You should go and have that looked at," he said softly as he climbed onto his boom. " I really didn't mean to hurt you."

"Well, this is a complete turn around from yesterday. You actually do have some heart," Aislynn stated glaring at him. She didn't mean to say it, and her stomach ached when she saw him wince. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. It's just..."

"Forget it," he mounted his broom, and with one final glance he bolted off into the distance.

"Way to go Aislynn," she said to herself as she looked at her leg. She didn't mean to say it, and her stomach ached when she saw him wince. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. It's just..."

"Forget it," he said leaning forward on his broom. With one final glance at her he bolted off into the distance.

"Way to go Aislynn," she said to herself as she looked at her leg. She sighed, this was the second wound she would have to heal on herself in the last two days, and at least she would have perfected this spell. She suddenly realized that she didn't have her wand. She could do some spells without one, but she wasn't sure how good she would do without it as far as a healing spell went, but her leg hurt too much to walk all the way back. Sitting down, she placed her hand on the cut and slowly said, "Ripari la ferita," a light purple glow emitted from under her hand and a warm, tingling sensation traveled through her skin.

Standing up Aislynn saw that the cut was completely healed, and began her run back to the school for breakfast. She hadn't realized how long she had been gone when she glanced at her watch. It was already 7:30am and she had told her mom she would meet her at breakfast by 7:30am. Sprinting across the lawn, she reached the school by 7:35am. She said a quick spell to make her sweat dry quickly and make herself smell at least halfway presentable before walking in the door. She rushed to the dinning room and was amazed at how many people were already there. She glanced around and finally saw her mom with Harry, speaking with a few other people. Aislynn quickly walked over to where they were sitting with a smile on her face.

"Mom!" Aislynn said loudly from about 10 feet away. Hermione turned and smile back at her. "Sorry I'm late mom, my run took a bit longer than I thought it would."

"It's okay dear. I would like you to meet a couple of other people that Harry, Ron, and I went to school with. Aislynn this is Neville Longbottom and his wife Noreen, this is Seamus Finnigan and his daughter Elizabeth, and Dean Thomas and his son Zachary," Hermione stated gesturing at the people to her right.

"Nice to meet you!" Aislynn exclaimed smiling at the other people. The adults continued to talk as they ate dinner, and Aislynn found their conversation fascinating. She spoke a bit with Elizabeth and Zachary and found out that they were going to be seventh years at Hogwarts in September. They ate for the next half hour talking about the days they used to go to school here and what it had all been like. Hermione and Harry kept stealing glances at one another, and Aislynn couldn't help but grin. She liked Harry.

"Well, Potter, are you ready for the Quidditch game?" Seamus asked grinning at Harry.

"Quidditch game? What game?"

"Didn't you hear? They are having a Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Slytherin today at 10:00. A replay of the game seventh year," Seamus said.

"Oh, but we are missing part of our team."

"Well, we have our seeker, our keeper, and two beaters. We just need three chasers and we should be good to go."

"Who is going to play our chasers?" Harry asked.

"Well, we have Zachary here, he plays keeper most of time on the house team, but he could play Chaser," said Dean, pointing at his son.

"And Elizabeth, she is a Chaser already on the house team," Seamus pointed out.

"Aislynn, can you fly?" Harry asked looking over at her.

"Yeah, I suppose."

"You suppose? Aislynn you are great at flying!" Hermione exclaimed, smiling at her daughter.

"Well, I am a reserve seeker on my classes team at school," Aislynn said blushing.

"Do you think you could play Chaser?" Seamus asked her.

"Yeah."

"Great!" said Dean. "Because we have a touch team to beat. Slytherin has a great team built from what I hear."

"Don't you worry. We beat them once, we will beat them again," Harry said his voice low. "Malfoy doesn't stand a chance."

To Be Continued...