When in doubt, go to the library; Harry Potter, closed.

[hermioneee]

As promised, Hermione was at the Ministry's library on New Year's Day. In fact, she was there from opening until closing for two days straight, until she was happy with the amount of information she was going to present to Harry. That was why she was on his doorstep earlier, when she ran into Ron Weasley, the prat

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[hermioneee]

She looked up from the books, her thoughts disrupted and blinked a few times. Right, the cult. Harry didn't need her complete history lesson she was prepared to give. "That is exactly what I think, Harry."

Hermione skipped over the next two tables and settled at one, covered in books, notes written in her hand, and pulled out her laptop and settled down. She ignored the computer for a moment and reached across the table for an huge, worn leather bound volume, The Encyclopedia of Symbols"The problem with that symbol is that it appears to be extremely common. Generally speaking, the staff is a symbol of power, think of it like a wand, but it also has religious significance in the muggle world. On top of that it can mean authority, guidance, rulership, leadership, um... masculinity, or phallic... a pilgrimage, dignity, high class, or rank

[hermioneee]

Hermione nudged him a little, "Harry. I am a witch. Ma-agic. I wouldn't leave your couch a disaster. Even if he fled under the blankets like a child..."

She didn't blame Harry for what happened, she knew he would be apologizing to Skylar, but she wouldn't dare get anywhere that near to the Burrow just yet. She had thought Ron would stay there through the New Year, but those days were obviously long since past.

"It's not your fault, Harry. I was bound to see the prat sometime. I was just so focused on what I had found out that I didn't even give him a thought.

[so_harry]

"Probably a good thing-" he said, sheepishly.

"He's not exactly the same bloke you saw the last time you were here-" which was something that worried him probably as much as he worried other people. It was an odd situation to find yourself in- to worry about someone who's only acting in the same way you are.

[hermioneee]

"Really? Because he sure sounded like the same bloke!"

Hermione took a breath. She was not mad at Harry, she had to remember that.

"Forget it, Harry. It happened, it's over. I'm sorry I snapped at you.

"Before you go, how did you manage with Skylar?"

[so_harry]

Harry didn't want to explain to Hermione how the break-up had affected him, the way Ron sort of threw all caution to the wind after that- how he basically drank himself into the same stupors. He didn't want to say all that because frankly, Ron had brought most of it on himself. He had only been glad he threw himself into his work.

"Oh- um, alright?" he said, his brow furrowing. "We had this whole big talk- and I sort of, well, I might have told her I loved her-"

[hermioneee]

Hermione would not have been able to deal with that information at the moment, so it was best that Harry kept that to himself.

"Really? You did?" Hermione was glad she was already sitting. She looked around her books... if she were Skylar, that would not be the circumstances which she would want to hear those words for the first time. But, obviously it turned out well, "Well, that's great, Harry! Really. I like her, I'm glad you sorted it out."

[so_harry]

"I've got a long way to go," he told her, heaving a sigh just thinking about it. "I know there's a lot of shit I need to fix- and you know, making things right with Skylar was the first step-"

Forgoing all alcohol altogether was the next one and probably going to be the hardest of all. He'd only made it one day so far and he already had a wretched migraine pulling at his temples.

[hermioneee]

Hermione nodded in agreement. Harry totally deserved to have a bit of a hard road with Skylar. Skylar shouldn't let him off easy just because he told her he loved her.

"I'm glad you want to be better for her. That's a good sign," maybe not for every relationship, but for Harry right now... well, he needed to make some improvements in his life. And if Skylar was his motivation, Hermione wasn't going to mess with that.

Though, she was still perplexed he had chosen last night to tell her he loved her. What a heel.

[so_harry]

"I said some bloody awful things," he said, barely looking at Hermione. "And I scared her- you know? I mean, that's never my intention, not with anyone-"

He leaned against the pile of books behind him, almost grateful that the case was big enough to distract him for the rest of his problems for at least eight or nine hours in the day. He didn't know what he would do without it.

"Anyway- enough about that. Thank you, for all of this- really-"

[hermioneee]

Hermione was glad she didn't have to remind him how awful he'd been, that he remembered and felt badly about it.

She was tempted to tell him how lucky he was, but she hated that word. She wasn't superstitious.

Hermione gathered the relevant notes for Harry and shoved them in his hands, "Don't think of it, Harry. Just put it to good use," she said with a small smile.

[so_harry]

"You know I will, Hermione," he said, rising from his seat now. He had a lot of work to do, if her notes were any indication (and since they were eleven years old, they always were).

He looked down at her, offering her a smile, before holding out his hand to help her up.

"You might want to start paying these kind folks a rent check or something considering all the space you've taken up-"

[hermioneee]

She laughed lightly, the number of books in front of her was daunting, and she was restricted from returning them herself- which she found frustrating, but she understood nonetheless. They had a whole tracking and cleaning system, to keep tabs on which books were used when, by whom, and then restored so that they wouldn't decompose.

It had been a while since she did a research marathon like this one, though. "Maybe I should offer them something..." she said more to herself.

[so_harry]

He grinned, moving to wrap his arm around her shoulders and giving her a tight squeeze.

"A donation, at the very least," he said, laughing. "Perhaps get yourself a whole Hermione Granger wing of your own-"

[hermioneee]

That made her roll her eyes, though, she had to admit, she rather liked the sound of that.

She made a mental note to send a care package later in the week.

"Alright, Harry, go save the world," she said grinning. Hermione wasn't ready to admit to Harry how fragile she was feeling, or that she had cried in front of Ron. Harry had enough on his mind and enough to do.

[so_harry]

He laughed, rolling his eyes as he turned to face her, both arms around her shoulders now in mid-hug.

"I can only do that because you help me, you know-" he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek before properly hugging her. "Now, go home and relax, yeah? You look frazzled."

[hermioneee]

Hermione really appreciated his words, she really needed that reassurance/praise. The affection was unexpected, but very nice, too.

If she didn't feel so frazzled, she would have been insulted, but she conceded. "Fine, fine," she gave him a good squeeze back before breaking away. The comfort was bringing her guard down, and she didn't want to start crying again.

"Be safe," she said with a serious sort of smile.