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I'M BACK! *shock*

but this is only for the meantime. my computer's broken, so I really can't update on the others. Luckily I was able to squeeze in some time for fanfiction in the midst of my busy college life. Term's almost over btw. I'm taking up Organizational Communication when I should be taking up literature..

AAAAAAANYHOO :))

Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

P.S. I changed the title.

It Could Have Gone That Way

The saddest day for us Harmony Shippers probably wasn't the day we found out that Hermione was ending up with Ron. It was, as a matter of fact, the day when JK Rowling revealed to us that "It could have gone that way." We started imagining, what if the story did take a turn for Harmony?

Apparently, it wasn't sad only for us. What if our beloved characters had the same inkling, that they should have been together in the end...but weren't?

XXX

It had been quite some time, but she was back. Hermione had tried hard to forget who she was as she returned to the Muggle world, and barely succeeded in doing so.

After Hogwarts, Hermione had pursued her Muggle bachelor's degree for four years. On a business trip, she saw Ron Weasley again and a year later, they got married.

Yes, it's been about eight years since Hermione Granger-Weasley graced the halls of Hogwarts with her presence. As she walked through the halls, she was reminded of everything she'd done here as a student: the troll, the Stone, the Chamber, Sirius, Buckbeak, the Triwizard Cup, Umbridge, Dumbledore's Army, the "Half-Blood Prince," and the Horcruxes. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen that recurring character in her memories lately—Harry. She'd last seen him at their wedding reception, but that had been almost a year ago. He'd been called to duty and she hadn't seen her since then. She didn't even pay much attention to him back then since it was her wedding. However, she heard a familiar chuckle as she passed by Hagrid's hut on the way to the lake.

Smiling, she knocked on the door, as she did many years ago, accompanied by two boys under an Invisibility Cloak. She heard Hagrid stand up and took in a deep breath.

"Hermione!" Hagrid said in surprise as he opened the door. He was still the same as she remembered, huge and warm, but now he had a few gray hairs on his beard. "I haven't seen ye in years!"

"Hi Hagrid," Hermione replied simply, with a large grin.

"Come in, come in!" he said, inviting her inside. And just as she suspected, he was right there, sitting on Hagrid's bed while petting Fang. He looked up as Hagrid closed the door and was surprised to see Hermione standing in the room in front of him.

"Hermione," he breathed in surprise. He stood up and hugged her. "It's so great to see you."

"Great to see you too, Harry," she replied. Only now did she realize how much she'd missed him.

"Oops, we're out of tea an' cakes," Hagrid said. "Mind if nipped down the kitchens fer a bit?"

"Not at all," she replied. Harry simply nodded in agreement.

"Be back in a few," Hagrid called as he closed the door behind him.

The first few moments were awkward, but soon, they fell into deep conversation. The usual topics were given out: work, Hermione's married life (so far), Harry's love life (or lack thereof), and finally, school memories in rough chronological order.

"I have a question," Harry asked.

"Shoot."

"Do you . . . remember when Ron left us?" Harry asked. Hermione stiffened. She'd been avoiding this question. She'd learned to forget, but forgiving was out of the question; his was an act of selfishness. She'd tried to forget his mistakes and love his imperfections, and so far she has succeeded.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have . . . It was too—"

"I try not to," she replied truthfully.

"That's what I thought," he mumbled to himself.

The fell back into the awkward silence they began with. Only a crack on Hagrid's wireless radio was able to break the tension. A new song began playing and Hermione couldn't help but smile a little. She looked up as Harry offered his hand. With an even larger smile, she took it and their previous misunderstanding was forgotten. Together, they danced to the melody.

No words were needed, only looks and movement. They understood each other completely by means of only this dance. Years ago, this was the moment . . . the moment when they thought of what could have happened when they admitted how much they loved the other. Now in this moment, they can only marvel at what could have been.

They slowed in time with the music. Harry's eyes were filled with questions that only she could be able to answer.

"Yes, I remember," she admitted finally. "And at that moment, I'd wished you'd loved me instead of Ron. I'd wished that Ron wasn't capable of hurting me the way he could."

Harry was stunned. "But . . . I did love you," he replied much to Hermione's surprise. "And . . . I still do."

Almost immediately, she let go of his hand. Her mind started to wander off. She thought of a wedding where Harry was the groom. She laughed humorlessly at the thought of not marrying the "Best" Man. Her mind even conjured the images of children. Three of them. They were running around a huge backyard at a house in Godric's Hollow. The two boys, both of whom had jet black hair and chocolate brown eyes being chased by a petite girl with bouncy hair the same color of her brothers' eyes as her own emerald green ones shone with happiness. The image fast forwarded and she saw herself hugging her eldest boys goodbye at Platform 9 ¾ as Harry held the little girl in his arms, trying to console her. She blinked once and the image was gone.

"I'm back," Hagrid suddenly said, snapping both of them out of their reverie. "Missed anything?"

"No," Hermione replied almost immediately as she sank back down on the overly-large armchair, her mind brimming with thoughts of what could have been.

Both of them secretly fell into silent agreement that no one would know what had transpired between them at that moment. Secretly they buried whatever it was they'd felt for each other and lived with the pain of regret forevermore.

XXX

There we go. Thank you all so much!

Please review. Thanks! I missed everyone :*