Rowan's Heart Chapter 3
OKAY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE EXCHANGE THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE POSTED ON, BUT IT WAS A SHAME TO LET THIS PIECE STAY UNPOSTED :) MARIE, THIS IS FOR YOU. I HOPE IT FULFILLS YOUR REQUEST! :)
Title: Rowan’s Heart
Written For: nriveraortiz (Marie!)
Rating: R
Pairing: mentions of HHr ultimately DHr
Disclaimer: JK Rowling is a wonderful writer… so who wrote that darn epilogue? Characters (except for Rowan) and setting not mine.
Summary: It’s been five years since their eighth year ended and Hermione has a secret she needs to let out of the closet.
CHAPTER 3
-0-
Death comes unannounced, abruptly he may thwart you; no one knows his features, nor the sound of his tread approaching.
Hermione took a deep breath as she prepared to ascend the podium and give her mentor the eulogy she deserved. She had a whole speech written out but now it seemed like such a pithy tribute to the greatest witch she had ever known.
She looked out at the gathered crowd of students, friends and acquaintances and she realized that this was what their lives together had been reduced to. When would she see these people next? Who would have to pass on so that they could be together again?
She moved to the center of the stage and blew a kiss toward the barge where Minerva’s body lay in eternal repose. They had decided to do a scene out of Camelot apparently and the archers with tar on their arrows were standing at the ready.
She cleared her throat before casting a Sonorous and beginning her speech. To hell with the script she had written out. She was going to do this for the Professor she had loved and looked up to and she was going to do this right.
“We are all gathered here today as a testament to the magnificent legacy left behind by the best witch I have ever known. Minerva McGonagall was a fountain of wisdom, strength and courage throughout my eight years in this institution. She has mentored not only me but hundreds and thousands of other former and current students, a handful of which are present today. Her influence was far-reaching and lasting. She was the first person to initiate me into the world of Magic and she was my guide through this strange new world…”
Hermione continued on to talk about the contributions Minerva had made to the Wizarding World and to Hogwarts. She inserted little anecdotes here and there, and yes, she talked about Harry and Ron and all the hijinks they had gotten into. She looked into the green eyes that had meant so much to her for so long and she was surprised to find him smiling softly at her, as if he too was remembering all that they had been to each other.
She didn’t see the grey eyes that watched her watching the Boy that lived… she didn’t see the man that held a green journal to his heart while hanging on to her every word.
-0-
Hermione gripped her drink in her hand as she surveyed the room filled to the brim with former classmates and schoolmates. After the eulogy, they had watched as the barge had been set loose on the Great Lake. Merpeople guided the small boat filled with flowers and the funeral pyre to the center of the lake… the archers strung their charmed arrows to their bows and a man passed on front to light each one. The arrows had been charmed to hit only the barge, out of respect for the creatures that lived in the lake.
The sun had set while the barge caught fire and tears had escaped her eyes as she thought about all that she still needed to ask Minerva. So many things…
She straightened from the chair she had been lounging in and nodded to Professor Flitwick before making her way out of the castle and into one of the waiting carriages to take her to Hogsmeade. It was time to pick her daughter up and go home.
Harry caught Draco’s eye as Hermione left the Great Hall and they moved toward the entrance, falling into place beside each other as they silently shadowed the girl they both loved. They watched her get into a carriage and when it was gone from their sight, they turned to each other, wariness still in their eyes.
-0-
“Congratulations.”
He knew he had won the chance to be with her, but his earlier insecurities came to the surface again. “You love her too. Perhaps even more than what I feel for her… you certainly know her better. Maybe…”
“I do. And rest assured that that’s something I will hold over your head for a very long time. Not forever, but very long indeed. However… she, misguided as I think she is, loves YOU.”
“Are you…”
“You’re the one she loves… that about wraps things up in my view. Take care of the both of them, all right?”
“From this moment on, they are my life. And you know how attached I am to myself, right?”
“Yes. That’s why I trust you enough to get your arse out of here in five minutes and go get your girls. I think you all have some catching up to do.”
“My girls. I like the sound of that. Rowan and Hermione.” He headed out of the mixer and practically ran to the Floo in the Head’s office. He swore he saw a glint of mischievous blue in one of the portraits as he shouted out the nearest Floo address he knew of in her area.
It was time to go home.
-0-
“Mummy? Did you see Daddy?” Rowan asked Hermione as soon as they returned to the flat. “Did he want to see me?”
Hermione’s eyes filled with tears and she turned to place her coat in the hall closet before rubbing her eyes with the heel of her palms. “Y-yes. He wanted to see you… but I told him Mummy needed some time with you first.”
“Oh. Okay! I should get ready then.” Rowan skipped happily to her room as her mother stared blindly out of the hall window, tears filling her eyes and spilling over her cheeks. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that her courage had deserted her on the most important day of her life. On the day that she was supposed to bring home the man she had told her daughter so much about… and the man that she had been unable to truly explain to her yet seemed so much a part of their lives despite his absence.
A knock sounded on the door and she was shaken out of her miserable state. She rushed down the hall to answer it, and the memory of rushing to the library for a meeting flew through her mind. Shaking her head to get rid of the thought, she reached for the golden knob and turned it slowly, pulling at the oak door.
He waited on the other side of it, clutching a transfigured stuffed bear in one hand and a bunch of wildflowers in the other. His heartbeat slowing as he watched the knob turn and the door open.
Grey met amber and the world stopped for a few seconds.
A pitter-pattering of small feet approached them, grey met grey, and the world started spinning again.
“Daddy! You’re home!”
-0-
She took a deep breath and released it in a slow exhale. It had been a year full of drama … but it had ultimately been a gradual healing process and a chance for new beginnings.
She had found her best friend again and reconciled with the man she loved.
Her daughter had her father in her life, finally… and Rowan had never been happier.
She and Draco often took the journal out and opened it to the very first entry she had written. Seven simple words, yet it all seemed so profound. It had been the start of so much change.
The words in the journal had given them hope for a future together… and though it hadn’t looked to be all golden sunshine and verdant green fields… it was still more than either of them could have wished for.
Who knew the words written on that first page would be the catalyst to so much change in their lives?
February 9, 1998
Today, Draco Malfoy and I became friends…
Title: Rowan’s Heart
Written For: nriveraortiz (Marie!)
Rating: R
Pairing: mentions of HHr ultimately DHr
Disclaimer: JK Rowling is a wonderful writer… so who wrote that darn epilogue? Characters (except for Rowan) and setting not mine.
Summary: It’s been five years since their eighth year ended and Hermione has a secret she needs to let out of the closet.
CHAPTER 3
-0-
Death comes unannounced, abruptly he may thwart you; no one knows his features, nor the sound of his tread approaching.
Hermione took a deep breath as she prepared to ascend the podium and give her mentor the eulogy she deserved. She had a whole speech written out but now it seemed like such a pithy tribute to the greatest witch she had ever known.
She looked out at the gathered crowd of students, friends and acquaintances and she realized that this was what their lives together had been reduced to. When would she see these people next? Who would have to pass on so that they could be together again?
She moved to the center of the stage and blew a kiss toward the barge where Minerva’s body lay in eternal repose. They had decided to do a scene out of Camelot apparently and the archers with tar on their arrows were standing at the ready.
She cleared her throat before casting a Sonorous and beginning her speech. To hell with the script she had written out. She was going to do this for the Professor she had loved and looked up to and she was going to do this right.
“We are all gathered here today as a testament to the magnificent legacy left behind by the best witch I have ever known. Minerva McGonagall was a fountain of wisdom, strength and courage throughout my eight years in this institution. She has mentored not only me but hundreds and thousands of other former and current students, a handful of which are present today. Her influence was far-reaching and lasting. She was the first person to initiate me into the world of Magic and she was my guide through this strange new world…”
Hermione continued on to talk about the contributions Minerva had made to the Wizarding World and to Hogwarts. She inserted little anecdotes here and there, and yes, she talked about Harry and Ron and all the hijinks they had gotten into. She looked into the green eyes that had meant so much to her for so long and she was surprised to find him smiling softly at her, as if he too was remembering all that they had been to each other.
She didn’t see the grey eyes that watched her watching the Boy that lived… she didn’t see the man that held a green journal to his heart while hanging on to her every word.
-0-
Hermione gripped her drink in her hand as she surveyed the room filled to the brim with former classmates and schoolmates. After the eulogy, they had watched as the barge had been set loose on the Great Lake. Merpeople guided the small boat filled with flowers and the funeral pyre to the center of the lake… the archers strung their charmed arrows to their bows and a man passed on front to light each one. The arrows had been charmed to hit only the barge, out of respect for the creatures that lived in the lake.
The sun had set while the barge caught fire and tears had escaped her eyes as she thought about all that she still needed to ask Minerva. So many things…
She straightened from the chair she had been lounging in and nodded to Professor Flitwick before making her way out of the castle and into one of the waiting carriages to take her to Hogsmeade. It was time to pick her daughter up and go home.
Harry caught Draco’s eye as Hermione left the Great Hall and they moved toward the entrance, falling into place beside each other as they silently shadowed the girl they both loved. They watched her get into a carriage and when it was gone from their sight, they turned to each other, wariness still in their eyes.
-0-
“Congratulations.”
He knew he had won the chance to be with her, but his earlier insecurities came to the surface again. “You love her too. Perhaps even more than what I feel for her… you certainly know her better. Maybe…”
“I do. And rest assured that that’s something I will hold over your head for a very long time. Not forever, but very long indeed. However… she, misguided as I think she is, loves YOU.”
“Are you…”
“You’re the one she loves… that about wraps things up in my view. Take care of the both of them, all right?”
“From this moment on, they are my life. And you know how attached I am to myself, right?”
“Yes. That’s why I trust you enough to get your arse out of here in five minutes and go get your girls. I think you all have some catching up to do.”
“My girls. I like the sound of that. Rowan and Hermione.” He headed out of the mixer and practically ran to the Floo in the Head’s office. He swore he saw a glint of mischievous blue in one of the portraits as he shouted out the nearest Floo address he knew of in her area.
It was time to go home.
-0-
“Mummy? Did you see Daddy?” Rowan asked Hermione as soon as they returned to the flat. “Did he want to see me?”
Hermione’s eyes filled with tears and she turned to place her coat in the hall closet before rubbing her eyes with the heel of her palms. “Y-yes. He wanted to see you… but I told him Mummy needed some time with you first.”
“Oh. Okay! I should get ready then.” Rowan skipped happily to her room as her mother stared blindly out of the hall window, tears filling her eyes and spilling over her cheeks. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that her courage had deserted her on the most important day of her life. On the day that she was supposed to bring home the man she had told her daughter so much about… and the man that she had been unable to truly explain to her yet seemed so much a part of their lives despite his absence.
A knock sounded on the door and she was shaken out of her miserable state. She rushed down the hall to answer it, and the memory of rushing to the library for a meeting flew through her mind. Shaking her head to get rid of the thought, she reached for the golden knob and turned it slowly, pulling at the oak door.
He waited on the other side of it, clutching a transfigured stuffed bear in one hand and a bunch of wildflowers in the other. His heartbeat slowing as he watched the knob turn and the door open.
Grey met amber and the world stopped for a few seconds.
A pitter-pattering of small feet approached them, grey met grey, and the world started spinning again.
“Daddy! You’re home!”
-0-
She took a deep breath and released it in a slow exhale. It had been a year full of drama … but it had ultimately been a gradual healing process and a chance for new beginnings.
She had found her best friend again and reconciled with the man she loved.
Her daughter had her father in her life, finally… and Rowan had never been happier.
She and Draco often took the journal out and opened it to the very first entry she had written. Seven simple words, yet it all seemed so profound. It had been the start of so much change.
The words in the journal had given them hope for a future together… and though it hadn’t looked to be all golden sunshine and verdant green fields… it was still more than either of them could have wished for.
Who knew the words written on that first page would be the catalyst to so much change in their lives?
February 9, 1998
Today, Draco Malfoy and I became friends…