Talking to Empty Corridors is the First Sign of Madness…

Harry rushed to the study where he knew Hermione and James were for their reading time, ridiculous, really. Who on earth would force a seven year old to read at the time almost exclusively reserved for afternoon playtime?

Well, Hermione would, of course. Not that James needed any forcing; he seemed to rather like it.

It wasn't as if Harry didn't enjoy a good read now and then, aside from Hermione's influence he was a teacher and there were loads to learn but Harry still preferred doing rather than reading about doing.

"God that sounded wrong." He thought to himself before he wheeled into the study.

Smirking a little over the inadvertently dirty turn his mind had turned, his expression didn't quite match the gravitas of his following statement.

"Hermione, James, I'm going to have to leave."

Hermione started to rise and a frown started to appear on her beautiful face but it was James' reaction that puzzled him the most.

His son turned to him with the most heartbreakingly crushed face Harry had ever seen on such a young face and said, "Was it something I did, dad?"

It took Harry a while to recover from that statement that he didn't realize the storm brewing on Hermione's face as he finally recovered enough to take James into his arms before the boy burst into tears.

Harry rubbed James' back consolingly and when his son had finally calmed down enough for Harry to know that James would understand what he was about to say.

"Don't be silly James! Of course I'm not leaving leaving! I would never, could never, do that. I just meant to say that I'm going to have to go to Hogwarts for a couple of weeks—days." Harry changed the last word when he saw Hermione's incensed expression.

"I'm sorry I upset you, son."

"It's *sniff* okay, dad. It was silly *sniff* right?" James said starting to smile a bit.

"Extremely. After all this time how you could ever think that I would want to leave you and your mother… it's just not possible, love." Harry said rumpling James' hair.

"And you love the both of us right?" James said, looking for more confirmation on Harry's words.

"Yes, I do." Harry replied looking straight into James' eyes, knowing somehow that James needed to be reassured.

"And we'll be together forever?" James demanded, this last question being the one that mattered most.

"Together forever," Harry whispered with heart-stopping emotions but he wasn't looking into James' eyes anymore, he was looking into Hermione's.

Hermione's heart stopped and a blush started to form as she forgot the reason she was so angry at Harry.

"Because his choice of words couldn't be any worse, and that stupid smirk on his face looked like he got some last night and because you wish you were the one he got it from," was her mind's instant reply to her momentary loss of memory.

Ignoring her mind, for the moment, Hermione let herself get drawn in to Harry's gaze. She allowed herself to unglue the book from her fingers and rise up while still holding Harry's emerald gaze.

"Come on, Hermione! Don't be a coward. He's the father of your child! He just said that he loves you and you'll be together forever!" she chided herself when her feet seemed unwilling to go anywhere near him.

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, "Yes James… we both love you very much. And if you want, then we'll all be together."

Naked pain sliced across Harry's features and Hermione almost felt her hand sting as if she had slapped him.

"Did you hear that, daddy?" James said brightly as his father slowly rose up. "Mum wants to stay too!"

"Yeah, she does. I think for you she'd do anything." He said the last bit a little roughly, as a jibe towards her, spiteful but he'd just had his heart broken in front of his son and by the mother of said son to boot!

Giving James one last bone-crushing hug Harry quickly strode out of the room without so much as a glance towards Hermione.

Hermione rushed after Harry, leaving James to get back to his reading. Thank goodness it was his favorite series otherwise he'd have followed her out for sure!

"Harry, wait. Please." She added the last bit when he seemed to not want to stop walking away.

Harry did stop but refused to meet her gaze, Harry instead decided that his ceiling needed his utmost attention.

"I need to explain." She said a bit desperately—breathlessly—sexily. He shook his head at the direction of his thoughts. Merlin! She was driving him mad!

"No, don't shake your head resolutely as if you know what I'm going to say!" Hermioe pleaded. "Please, I need you to understand where I'm coming from and—I…"

"I get it, Hermione," Harry said with his jaw half-clenched, the words were painful but he needed to hear them, needed to say them that he would finally give up. "You're not interested in me. You're only interest is James and his happiness."

Tears sprung to Hermione's eyes as she heard the resoluteness, the finality in his voice. He believed that. He really, truly believed every word that just came out of his mouth. She had to do something.

"Two months we've been living together again, a month and a half since we've started sleeping in the same bed and yet nothing. I don't know what I was expecting but I know I was wrong to expect in the first place. I—I'm sorry." Harry said wishing to be anywhere but there at that very moment, in that very place and position.

"It's partly your fault, you know." Harry said taking advantage of her silence to voice out questions he was always too afraid to ask her.

"It was you who suggested the whole sleeping in the same bed thing. You were the one who said we needed to work on 'us.' Of course I realize now that it's my fault and I shouldn't have taken us to mean us two but us as in James, but really Hermione! You know I've never been that smart to begin with! Did you really have to let me figure things out on my own? Are you listening to me?" Harry said, suddenly frustrated at her for once again letting him do all the talking and soul-baring.

But as he finally allowed himself to look at her, he realized why it seemed he was talking to a wall.

It was because he was talking to a wall, or rather, an empty corridor.

"Uhh, Hermione?" he called out a bit tentatively.

"In the bedroom," Came her blasé reply.

Feeling quite the fool, Harry trumped grumpily to the bedroom.

"You didn't even bother listening." He said not going into the room, brooding again.

"Of course I listened. I was using an extendable." Hermione replied holding up the flesh colored string, not that it mattered, because he wasn't looking at her AGAIN.

Although she seemed to catch his attention by mentioning the extendable ears, "You found them? Where?"

"Men," she thought "so easily distracted."

"I didn't look for it, I used Accio. Long as your speech was, I doubt I'll ever be able to find anything without magic with the chaos you've been living in." She added the last bit as an afterthought. An afterthought that obviously went unheard.

"You were able to use magic? How?" Harry spluttered. The few times they had tried to practice, Hermione's magic seemed feeble and a little more than just rusty. It seemed as if her body just forgot she was magical. Not to mention the fact she was usually so exhausted after each attempt.

"It seemed easy enough, what with all the emotions flying around." Not to mention you've just told me you loved me for the first time since before I left. She added silently.

As Harry digested this bit of information he finally realized what she had been doing while he bared his soul. She was packing.

"Where in bloody hell do you think you're going?!" Harry half-roared as he tried to remember the unpacking spell she had taught him years ago.

"Language, Harry! James is just down the hall!" Hermione reprimanded before explaining. "WE are going to Hogwarts together."

"We are?" Harry asked. This was not what he had expected. Not AT ALL what he had expected.

"But before that you're going to drop James off at the Burrow to stay with Molly and Arthur until we return."

"Why?" he finally managed to say.

"Because I do not want to see them just yet; I know they know that I'm back but I'm just not ready to face them yet. Ron and Luna were okay but I cannot imagine the verbal beating I'll get from Molly once she sees me." Hermione said, answering the wrong 'why.'

"No, why are we going to Hogwarts together? And why can't we bring James?" Harry clarified.

"Because you said we wouldn't take him to Hogwarts until he was eleven, I won't have you looking like a liar to your son, even if he will want you to break that particular promise. We're going to Hogwarts together because after you've sorted anything, we're going to get married." Hermione said snapping her suitcase closed.

Harry thought he'd just died.

(AN: I am so sorry. This update is more than late—it's the great great great grand daughter of late. I hope you have not yet given up on this fic! I promise there's loads more in store! -someonestolemycookies)