A Web of Deceit.

Chapter 1

Hermione opened her eyes and sighed. She was still alive, still breathing, still existing. Her life had become such a mess. She got out of bed, got dressed in an old shirt and pants and went to pour herself a strong coffee and lit up her first cigarette for the morning. She walked outside and sat down on the small outdoor settee that sat on her balcony. It was a nice time of the year, April, a lovely time to get married she supposed. She looked around for her overflowing ashtray and spotted the book that had led to the opening of her recent string of memories. A leather bound diary with the initials HJG printed in gold calligraphy on the bottom right hand corner.

Inside it had the inscription,

To my best friend, I hope you find some peace with this diary, love you now and forever H.

What a bloody liar.

When did all of this happen, oh wait, she knew exactly when it all happened. The first few pages of the diary reminded her of exactly when it all began.

It was years ago when life was so easy, way back in Hogwarts. Well as easy as it could be while battling a war. Harry, Ron and Hermione were too busy planning attacks, trying to stay alive and trying to keep their friends alive to worry about anything that normal teenagers worried about. It was during one of those attacks that Harry and Hermione were separated from the main group and as it had been rehearsed many times, if anyone was separated they would make their way to a safe house. Harry apparated them both to the closest house and Hermione instantly placed the strongest wards around the small one room, one bed flat. He got some food and they quickly went over the problems that arose to them being separated from the main group. They ate and then sat in silence waiting, whether it was for other Order members to arrive or Death eaters to kill them, they just waited. Hermione started to doze off so Harry told her to take the bed and since she didn't have the energy to argue, she laid down and quickly fell asleep while Harry watched her. The time ticked on and it was getting colder, the snow was falling outside the abandoned building and the cold air rushed into the small room through the many cracks. Harry noticed she was starting to shiver and he laid down next to her to keep her warm. His exhaustion took over quickly and as he cuddled up next to her, he too fell into a deep sleep. They were so entangled with each others body that it was hard to determine which body part belonged to whom. Harry woke first but it was seconds later that Hermione opened her eyes. He stared at her and neither one knows who moved first but the next thing they knew they were kissing frantically. It quickly escalated and they fumbled over their clothes and couldn't seem to coordinate themselves. It was both their first times and it was not the romantic love making that one wishes it would be. No, it was frantic, messy and uncoordinated but it was the two of them and they trusted each other immensely. When it was done, only minutes later, they didn't feel the need to talk, they both dressed and then Harry said where they would be apparating to.

The missions continued with nothing being said about their union at all.

It was months later when the two of them were alone together again. Hermione went to bed early and she didn't think about it because Harry had his own bed. But after she had been asleep for about an hour, she felt him tap her and then wordlessly slide in next to her. Hermione had been facing the other way but when he got in she turned around and rubbed her hands over his chest. She rubbed his back and found that she loved the sound of him moaning under her touch. Harry kissed her and the intensity grew quickly but Hermione wanted to savour it this time. She slowly turned him over so he was laying on his stomach and even though he was confused at first, once she climbed onto his back with her clothes off and started massaging him, he groaned as she massaged the knots out of his neck and shoulders. It was only a few minutes later when Harry turned around and grabbed her to kiss her again. Harry swung her under him and managed to remove his pants and kiss her with as much passion as he could muster. This time they took it slowly and they both enjoyed themselves immensely, Harry kissed her neck and shoulders and down to her breasts. Hermione moaned and arched into his mouth and it spurred him on even more. She was so wound up that as soon as Harry touched her she exploded and Harry entered her quickly then he drove her home until they were both trembling with their own intense orgasms. Harry's body shook with small after tremors and Hermione held him tightly till they fell asleep.

The following morning Harry and Hermione got dressed in silence but before they went to apparate, he leaned in and kissed her passionately then pulled her in tightly running his hands through her hair.

"Harry, I think we need to talk?" Harry looked at her and ran his fingers down her cheek and he slowly placed his hand behind her neck and pulled her in for a deep kiss. It was heated and passionate and Hermione was too scared to pull away, afraid it was the goodbye kiss.

It was quite amazing that they both continued to work together without any questions, no discomfort, nothing, they just continued to work and the others were none the wiser. The war continued on and the fighting became more and more frequent. More of the team members were being separated and when people were being caught alone and of guard by Death eaters, Sirius and Lupin decided that no-one in the team would be separated again so he paired everyone up. Each partner would not leave the other under any circumstances whatsoever. Everyone was paired up with a female and just before Sirius read out the list Harry whispered something to him. Hermione watched him and she couldn't help but wonder what he asked and then when Sirius called out his name with Ginny Weasley and her name with Neville Longbottom she clearly understood. Harry wanted to be as far away from her as possible.

Time again was her enemy, it just kept leaving her like everything else in her life. The battles continued and Hermione was very grateful for the leather bound diary Harry had given her for her birthday the year before the war began. It was her sanity, her saving grace... her only friend. She wrote in it the two times her and Harry were together and she read over it to keep the memories alive.

It was again another month later when the group, now considerably smaller, were living at Grimmauld's place. It was getting closer to the end of the war . The team had managed to destroy every horcrux and they were closing in on Voldemort with each attack. Hermione's brain was physically hurting but she didn't have time to relax because they had to plan strategic battles and attacks for the next few days. Hermione had not spoken to Harry or slept with him for months now and she honestly believed it was over but later that night when everyone was asleep and she was still going over battle attacks, Harry came down to bring her a hot coffee.

"Thanks Harry, I just can't get this attack planned out right, every time I play it through something goes wrong. It's doing my head in." Hermione put both hands on her head and grunted in frustration. Harry took her hands in his and stood her up. She stood up with him and smiled and then as she was thanking him for the coffee again, Harry leant forward and pressed his lips to hers and pulled her in tightly to his body and she responded to him instantly. The desire grew and then Harry laid her down on the lounge, there was no time for romantic gestures so he removed his pants while she took off her pyjamas pants. Harry entered her quickly and the feelings that were bottled up inside both of them contributed to their quick encounter. After they were both finished, Hermione stood up to get dressed and was shocked when Harry spoke to her.

"Mione, I am probably going to die tomorrow." Hermione gasped and spun around, "No Harry you can't say that."

Harry looked at her with such pain in his eyes, Hermione started to cry. She knew it was goodbye, Harry wasn't planning on coming out of the war tomorrow. She felt his arms surround her body and she cried into his chest. Then an urgency struck her and she pulled away quickly surprising Harry.

"No you can't die Harry, never Harry, do you hear me?" Hermione was becoming frantic and all Harry could do was hold her tight. He couldn't comfort her because he honestly believed he was right. This would be his last night with his beloved Hermione and he wanted to make it last. He kissed her again and this time he led her up stairs to his room. He was the only one with his own room and he did this for this reason exactly. They spent the whole night together and this time they were actually making love, nothing frantic, nothing rushed, just the two of them spending their last quality moments together. As Hermione listened to Harry's breathing deepen, she whispered in his ears that she loved him and then she fell into a deep sleep. Harry laid there with his eyes wide open and he replayed those three words over and over and over in his mind.

The war continued on for another two months and exhaustion and sickness was starting to take its toll on everyone. A few of the guys were run down but Hermione was the worst, she was tired and pale and she kept throwing up every minute of the day. The problem was that they were so short on people and they couldn't afford for anyone to not take their positions so as a result everyone was getting more and more worn out.

It was the final day, Voldemort obviously felt that he had the upper hand as he stayed and fought instead of fleeing as he had done so many times before. The main battle went for ages, or that's how it felt but what made it worse was that Hermione lost sight of Harry for quite a while. She was battling another masked death eater, when she managed to finish him off and she came around a bunch of trees only to see Harry in a duel with Riddle. Everything happened so slowly that she was sure it went for an hour but in reality it was only seconds. Hermione looked over to her left and saw a death eater raise his wand to Harry's back while he was fighting Voldemort. She looked at him and started to run towards Harry, it was the first thing she thought of in her moment of madness. Later she would say she should of stunned him or used an unforgivable curse, but at this minute she didn't think of anything else, she just ran, ran straight towards Harry. She saw the death eater raise his wand and she saw him mouth the curse and then she saw the coloured light leave his wand and fly straight towards Harry. She screamed no and then ran as fast as she could. She turned at the last second and as she was now in the path of the curse and between it and Harry, who had no idea of what was happening behind him, she raised her wand to place a shield around herself but it was too late.

The spell hit her straight in the chest but it felt like her whole body was on fire. All the noise of the battle slowly faded and she felt herself falling. As she landed she turned to look at Harry, who was screaming no and trembling as each tear streamed down his face while she collapsed to the floor. He turned around still shaking from anger and mouthed the final curse that killed Voldemort. She allowed her eyes to close and the darkness enveloped her, finally able to rest knowing Harry was safe, finally in peace.

Hermione slammed her diary shut, it did not do well to dwell on the past. She got up from her seat and rubbed her arms, there was a slight chill in the air and with her old shirt on she could feel every breeze. Hermione stood up and walked inside and took a look around her modest flat.

It was a small two bedroom flat, one was her bedroom and the other was an office with a make shift bed. Hermione worked in research and when she got a name for herself, she left the hospital and started working independently from home. It was good for a little while but because she kept herself busy, she didn't realise she was becoming more and more isolated. She made very good money but she never felt the need to buy extravagant things so the only expensive thing she ever bought was her modest home. When she turned 17, her mother told her she was expecting a baby and even though it was the biggest shock at first, Hermione enjoyed having a younger sister. Emerald was 14 years old and much to her parents worry, was also a witch and had started Hogwarts three years ago. Hermione mostly bought gifts for her sister but besides that her money just piled up in Gringott's. Her isolation was certainly self inflicted and over the years she had managed to alienate her friends too.

Hermione walked into the kitchen and the calendar on her fridge reminded her of why she was feeling like death warmed up, tomorrow was Ron Weasley and Luna Lovegood's wedding.

The problem was HE would be there, Harry would be at their wedding for sure, he would probably be the best man.

Where the hell did it all go wrong? Hermione said out loud and opened the fridge door and seeing nothing that interested her she slammed it shut. She walked out into the lounge room and as she wondered down the small hallway her memories continued to invade her mind. Hermione ran a hot bath and walked back outside to retrieve her diary. After placing a warming spell on her bath she sunk into the water and continued reading.

One week after the war.

Hermione opened her eyes in the hospital wing of Hogwarts and squinted as the light burned her pupils. She tried to sit up but her entire body ached, she felt like she had just gone twenty rounds with a boxer. Madame Pomfrey rushed over when she heard her gasp and quickly ran her wand over Hermione's body to check her vitals.

"Miss Granger, what do you remember?" Hermione was actually startled at the softness in her voice, in all her years at Hogwarts she had never heard Madame Pomfrey be nice to anyone.

"Umm, I'm not sure, I remember Harry... Harry OH MY GOD where is Harry? Is he ok? Did he beat Voldemort?"..."

"Miss Granger please..." Madame Pomfrey had to stop her before she started to hyperventilate.

"...Mr Potter is fine Miss Granger, besides a few battle scars and an insufferable attitude you can believe me he is just fine. Now I asked you Miss Granger what do you remember?"

Hermione slowed down her breathing and tried to remember as much from the fight as possible. She told Madame Pomfrey that she remembered the fight, she remembered seeing a death eater shoot a spell towards Harry and then she used herself to block it." Hermione's eyes teared up and then Madame Pomfrey told her something that she would never recover from.

"Miss Granger I am very sorry to tell you that I was unable to save your unborn child. I tried my best but there was too much internal damage. I'm very sorry Hermione dear."

Hermione felt the walls close in and the roof fall down on top of her at the sound of those words. The white on the walls was instantly too bright and if she had eaten she was sure her stomach would have left her body at that moment. The heat started from her toes and travelled up to her head and then she felt like she was falling or even floating. She could see Madame Pomfrey's worried look on her face, she could see her wand moving over her own face and head but she could hear nothing just the deep pounding of her heart. Hermione closed her eyes and let the darkness consume her pain once again.

Those words rang in Hermione's head for months and months and the pain still had not subsided to this day. It all made sense to her now, the sickness, the vomiting and the excessive tiredness. She was carrying and she lost Harry's baby, a son. The devastation was almost too much to handle but when Harry confronted her about it, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. For reasons unknown to Hermione, Harry had found out that she lost their baby and he was brutal. He accused her of doing it deliberately and for some unknown reason she couldn't make him listen to reason. He just had it in his head that she was to blame and that was that.

Hermione spent many months recovering and grieving the loss of her unborn child and also the loss of her best friend. The media were having a field day with the end of the war and constantly requested the group for interviews. At one particular interview for the Daily Chronicle, Harry walked in and saw Hermione sitting down in the waiting room. They made eye contact and the look of disgust on his face said it all. He turned around and walked out and from that day on Hermione never went for another interview again.

Hermione threw the book down and grunted out loud. Why did she constantly put herself through this pain. The pain of remembering and the pain of losing. She got out of the bath and got dressed for the day. Hermione heard the familiar tap of an owl demanding delivery of his letter.

Hey Mione,

I am coming home for the weekend, is it ok to stay with you cause Mum and Dad are overseas on a dental trip.

Thanks Sis

Love you, Emmie

xoxoxo

PS see you at 11am.

Hermione closed the letter and fed the owl a treat and watched him fly away into the distance. She sighed and looked at her watch, it was already 10.30 so her sister would be here in half an hour. Even though Hermione didn't entertain or was she an untidy person, the house still looked like it was unlived in. Dust gathered on the mantel piece where two photos sat that used to have pride of place. The lounge sat unused as did the arm chairs and the dining table. Hermione sighed yet again and summoned her wand from her bedroom, the only room that showed it had an occupant and the wand flew the air with a renewed enthusiasm. Hermione waved her wand around and all the articles in the room puffed up and polished up, all looking brand new waiting for it's bubbly new house guest.

Hermione walked back to the kitchen remembering that the fridge was painfully barren. She glanced at her watch wondering if she had any time to grab something but at the same time she heard the floo open in her lounge room, signalling her sister's arrival.

"Mione, Mione I'm here, a bit early but I'm here," Hermione smiled and walked out to greet her sister.

Emerald saw her and ran into her big sisters arms. They hugged for a long while and Hermione stepped back still holding her in her arms to look at her. Emerald was nothing short of stunning. She had long golden brown hair that seemed to lay perfectly in ringlets down her back. Her skin was milky white but without a single freckle, spot or blemish on it. Emerald's eyes were the only resemblance she had to her sister. They were deep golden brown with golden flecks in them.

"Emerald, you look beautiful, how's Hogwarts treating you?" Hermione smiled at her enthusiasm. If there was one significant difference between the two, it was that Emerald was the bubbly, outgoing chatterbox where as Hermione was still painfully quiet and shy.

"I LOVE it, it is so much fun, Professor McGonnagel is the best in the whole school but don't tell Professor Snape, he thinks I think he's the best." Hermione's eyebrows flew up into her hair line,

"Professor Snape, did you say Professor Snape?" Emerald laughed, "He said you wouldn't believe me but he is sooooo cool now." Hermione nodded but it was still a bit unbelievable. She suggested they get some food shopping done and Emerald continued chatting filling in her sister of all the details of life at Hogwarts while they filled the trolley.

Hermione was actually happy that she had come to stay, it had been last Christmas that they had been together and she found she missed her little sister terribly.

"So Sis what are you wearing to the wedding tomorrow because I need something I have nothing at all?" Hermione sighed, "I don't know whether I should go."

"Yes you will go and I want to dress you so you don't look like you're a hundred years old!"

"What Emerald, I am not a hundred years old thank you very much." Emerald continuing walking, mumbling under her breath, nah but you dress like you're 100. The smirk on her face was enough to spur Hermione on.

They arrived at Madame Maulkins and they walked straight down the back to the formal wear. Hermione started looking through some dresses and she pulled out a light purple dress that had buttons down the front, gathered at the waist and fell to the knee.

"DIS-GUST-ING!" she heard from behind her. Hermione turned around and saw Emerald holding a long emerald dress that had diamonds on it.

"What is that?" Hermione asked folding her arms knowing full well her sister wouldn't rest till she chose her a dress.

"Come on Mione, try it on." Hermione shook her head and turned back to the rack of clothes but as little sisters can sometimes be ruthless in their quests to get their own way, Hermione had no choice but to try it on. She walked out into the mirrored section and all she heard was a gasp from Emerald.

"Mione that is so beautiful, we are getting it." Hermione looked into the mirror and secretly she was pleased with what she saw. Even though she always wore oversized shirts and daggy pants or skirts, she had a beautiful curved figure under it all and this dress showed it perfectly. It was an off the shoulder emerald sequenced dress with silver diamontes coming across the top of the breast line and down the middle of her chest and body to meet half way down her thighs which was where the split in the front of the dress started. The dress gently touched the floor at the back so with some high heels on, it would float beautifully. It took Emerald half an hour to chose her dress and even Hermione agreed, which was unusual for the two sisters to agree on what Emerald wanted to wear.

Emerald convinced her to buy the matching shoes for both outfits and then the ladies returned home after some food shopping. They chatted, well Emerald chatted and Hermione listened, all afternoon and when it was time for dinner Emerald went to have her shower while Hermione cooked. Hermione found herself smiling while cutting up the vegetables and she knew it was because she was around family and she made the decision to tell Emerald to visit more often. She set the table for two and served out the food while calling out that dinner was ready.

Emerald walked in and even though Hermione wasn't looking at her, she knew something was wrong straight away. Hermione turned around to see Emerald holding her diary. She realised straight away she had left it on the floor after her bath and she must have forgotten to pack it away.

"We don't have to go to the wedding sis, umm if you don't want to I mean..." Hermione sat heavily in her seat, she realised that Emerald must have read a fair bit of the book.

"How much did you read?" Hermione's voice was even strange to her.

Emerald started to cry, "I'm sorry I didn't mean too, I mean I did mean to obviously I opened it, but I had no idea Mione, none at all and then I just couldn't stop. How could you have kept this to yourself for so long? Why keep this secret Mione, you know you could've trusted me?" Emerald continued to cry but Hermione couldn't comfort her. It was quite a while later before anyone broke the silence.

"It happened a long time ago Emmie, I'm over it now."

Emerald was shocked. She looked at the stranger in front of her, the person who had been her sister all her life, and she was dumb-founded.

"No you're clearly not over it Hermione, not over it at all. You've stopped everything, No you've stopped living and that is not healthy." Hermione didn't feel the traitorous tears escape her eyes but she knew they were there. The girls ate in silence and then Emerald collected the plates and set them to clean themselves. She poured her sister a drink and sat down on the lounge with her and she waited.

Hermione finished her whiskey and then while staring at the fire place, she began.

"It was so long ago Emmie but I remember it like it was yesterday. The worst was after the war, after I woke up in the hospital. All I wanted was to talk to Harry to tell him about our baby but for some reason he blocked me out." Hermione summoned the bottle of whiskey, poured herself some more and continued.

"I just couldn't understand why he was so angry, why he wouldn't just listen to me." Hermione took a deep breath and then looked into her glass of whiskey.

"I tried to contact him, tried to make him listen but for some reason he was unwilling to listen. At one point I cornered him and grabbed his shirt and screamed in his face to talk to me and he grunted back the strangest thing..." Hermione paused again obviously recalling all of this was so painful. "What did he say Mione?" Emerald asked quietly.

"He said you made a decision that affected my life, your life and my child's so now live with it, I'll never ever forgive you Hermione, never."

There was silence for a long while then Emerald asked her what happened next.

"I never tried again Emmie, never, he made it clear I had to stay away from him so I did." Silence again for a few more minutes.

"It was really hard at first, hard being alone. Then after a while I needed it, it was becoming more and more annoying being around people. His name just seemed to pop into conversations on a daily basis so I decided to work from home and its been like this for years. I prefer it like this though."

Emmie shook her head clearly disagreeing with her sister's decisions but decided it was not the right time to tackle it.

"And that is the whole story. I'm sorry you had to find out like this, you're too young to deal with this stuff, only 14 what am I thinking?" Hermione scolded herself but Emerald sat up and hugged her sister.

"Mione I'm not too young, I can handle this especially since you're really all I have. Mum and dad are always so busy and more importantly I'm all you have so don't forget it." Hermione smiled and hugged her.

"I think we should go to the wedding though Mione, you need closure, you need to know its really over."

"Oh I know it's over, that's for sure. But I do agree, I should go to the wedding it could be interesting to say the least."