Loving a Squib

Author: emptyfirefly

Summary: Set eight years after Deathly Hallows, Harry is in something of a rut in his life, meanwhile everyone else's seems to be picking up momentum. Then one day he meets a girl and finds that slowly everything begins to change.

Rating: T

Spoilers: All of the books, because I can't control myself

Warnings: The usual line-up, some violence, some swearing

Pairings: HP/OC, RW/HG

Disclaimer: I do not in any way claim ownership over the Harry Potter world or characters. This is purely fanfiction. Anything you recognise is owned by either JK Rowling, or Warner or her publishing peoples… yeah.

Chapter One: Meeting A Squib

It doesn't make sense to me, that's why I trust it. – Sean O'Donnell

Harold James Potter, twenty-five years of age and bored out of his mind, apparated quietly into the home that he shared with his two best friends: Ronald Bilius Weasley and Hermione Jane Granger. It had been eight years since Harry had defeated Lord Voldemort, and though he was definitely into the rhythm of a normal life, it still didn't feel quite right.

His job at the ministry as an Auror was not particularly exciting because the Department didn't want to send him out unless they needed the poster boy to be seen 'doing his thing', so he spent most of his time behind a desk. Not that the terror of possibly getting killed was something that Harry enjoyed, but he liked being useful, and his current job could have been done by a trained monkey. Or perhaps even an untrained one.

Harry grinned as he looked around the home that the Golden Trio had formed together. Although it remained clean through the efforts of Hermione, who was unsurprisingly a cleanliness freak, there was an air of only just restrained messiness that she was unable to get rid of. Random piles of bits and pieces appeared on the floor at leats once a week and continued to grow until Hermione cleaned it up (generally just sending the things to fall either on Harry's bed or on Ron's side of hers.)

No one had been particularly surprised when Hermione and Ron finally got together during the final hours of the battle against Voldemort, in fact the most common feeling was one of relief, or hope. Hope that someone could come out of everything whole, healthy, and with the future they had always had planned.

It was then assumed that Harry and Ginny would get back together; in fact the pair had been more than willing. But the strain of the loss of Fred, and rebuilding the Wizarding world had obliterated the relationship that it should have strengthened. Harry and Ginny had stepped back to merely being friends, much to the disappointment of everyone (except Hermione who seemed to have guessed what would happen), and Harry was back to being alone in the world. While Ginny had since found someone else, a muggle-born wizard with a fascination in fiery redheads, Harry had not managed to find someone else. To say he hadn't made a real effort would be a fair enough guess, but to say that he hadn't looked wasn't quite right. Harry HAD looked, he just hadn't really found anyone.

With all this in mind, Harry was pretty certain that the living arrangement they currently had would not be lasting much longer. In fact, it was merely a matter of one of them proposing to the other, then Harry would have to be looking for his own apartment.

Speaking of which, Harry casually opened the door to the kitchen to find Ron and Hermione in the middle of an overly excited twirl.

"HARRY!!!" Hermione let go of her overly tight grip around Ron's neck, to launch herself at Harry's.

"Something going on, guys?" Harry laughed as Ron's face doubled in redness, and a touch of smugness tinged his face.

"Harry! We're getting married! Can you believe it?" Hermione let her grip around his neck go to wave her left hand energetically in front of his face, a dot of sparkling white moving along with it.

"That's brilliant!! Congratulations!!" Harry pulled Hermione back into a tight hug, then let go to turn to Ron who had moved closer, "Finally got the balls to ask her, did you?"

The smugness on Ron's face amplified as he wrapped an arm around his fiancé. "Yeah, something like that."

"Well, well done, mate!!" Harry pulled the pair into another tight hug, carefully ignoring the slight sinking feeling growing at the thought of losing the pair, even if it was to each other.

He let them go just in time for Hermione to grab hold of his arm, "We're going out to celebrate with some friends, and you HAVE to come!"

Harry attempted to placate her, hoping to God she didn't tighten her hold, "Of course I'll go 'Mione! When and where?"

Ron carefully extracted Harry's arm from the vice-like grip, grinning sheepishly, "Kind of now. We just contacted everyone else by Floo, so we're meeting up at Three Broomsticks."

Harry blinked with surprise, but took in stride; living in the same household as the pair had taught him how to do that, "Okay, sure, let's go!!"

Hermione shrieked once more with happiness, then headed over to the door to grab her bag. Ron swung his arm around Harry's shoulder, leading him to the same thing, "Don't worry mate, while we're there I'll see if I can find you a nice witch!!"

"Yeah Ron, sure you will."

Harry doubted very much that Ron could find anyone a nice witch, in fact he was pretty certain that it was pure dumb luck that Ron had ended up with someone as great as Hermione at all.

The meet up at the Three Broomsticks was everything Harry expected. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't exactly a surprising experience. Everyone that had ever been friends with the Trio were there; all the (left-over) Weasley children, Neville, Luna, Seamus, Dean, etc, etc… They were all drinking, laughing, reliving the good times from Hogwarts – or explaining the good times from Hogwarts to the people who hadn't gone. Over all, it was everything the celebration was meant to be.

Yet… Harry wasn't joining in. He knew that he was meant to be, he knew that he was thankful and glad that his friends were getting their happily ever after, but something wasn't right. To be truthful something hadn't been right in his life for quite some time, and this celebration was merely a reminder of how much he hadn't gotten back into the swing of everyday life.

Kinda sad, kinda depressing, and very pitiful. And boy, did Harry know it.

Suddenly, as all things of this nature are, a new person came up to table, and needless to say something about her took Harry's breath away. It wasn't that she was the "hottest" woman Harry had ever seen, he'd had many a model throw themselves at him, it was more that she was different, and captivating. The girl was short, not ridiculously so but enough that she was probably teased about it during high school, she was skinny, but she had enough meat on her that she would've been pleasant to hug. Perhaps it was her hair that made Harry stop and stare as the girl attempted to get the couple of the evening's attention; it was a cascade of ringlets that fell to her shoulders and bobbed around ever time she moved, and was a mixture of red, brown, blonde and purple, evidently a result of many dye-jobs in a short space of time. Or perhaps it was her clear blue eyes that were dancing between laughter and frustration at the total lack of attention she was receiving from the couple.

"Jesus Christ!! Hermione! Pay attention to me!"

There was a pause in the hubbub as the short girl finally yelled out into the muggleborn's ear. Hermione whipped her head around and suddenly her face lit up with recognition as she launched herself into a hug with the short girl.

"HAYLIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!!! Oh my God!! I thought you wouldn't be able to make it!!"

The girl laughed as she hugged her back just as hard, "Of course I came! As if I wouldn't come to your fricken engagement party! Give me some credit!"

Hermione pulled back from the girl, her smile still impossibly large, "You weren't even in the country, I think I had a right to believe you might have some trouble!"

"Well, I'm here now, so introduce me to your so called fiancé, yeah?" The girl glanced around the table when her eyes fell on Harry's penetrating stare. Her smile faltered for a second, then grew, before she turned back to Hermione who had now dragged Ron up to stand next to her.

"This is Ronald Weasley, my fiancé. Ron this is a very dear friend of mine, Haylie."

Ron sized the girl up for a moment before shaking the girl's hand. Then his eyes shifted to Harry and mischievous grin. Sensing what his friend was looking to do, Harry stood up also.

"Hi there Haylie, pleasure to meet you! And of course this is our best mate; Harry Potter!"

The girl turned to Harry and held her hand up to him, her smile resorting to a tiny smirk, "Hey, I'm Haylie."

Harry shook her hand, trying to ignore the warmth of her palm, and the blush he could feel creeping around his neck.

"Hi, I'm Harry, it's nice to meet you."

The girl nodded and turned to talk to the other pair, only to find that they had disappeared. She shrugged and turned back to Harry, her smirk growing across her face. "Well, I guess it's just you and me then!"

Harry smiled back and sat down, indicating for her to do the same. "They're pretty hyperactive tonight, so you'll have to forgive them for their short attention span!"

Haylie nodded understandingly and sat down next to him, "Well, the possibility of having a happy ending can do that to people!"

Harry nodded as well, and then a silent pause ensued, as it so often does when two strangers are forced to sit together.

"So… how long have they been together?" Haylie turned to Harry, with a look of interest and curiosity on her face.

"Uhm… not really sure, about eight years I guess." It was a bit strange that someone that was greeted that enthusiastically by Hermione wouldn't even know how long the pair had been together, but he didn't mention it.

"Holy crap! Really?! That's practically forever!" Haylie laughed and shook her head, "That's pretty incredible. I thought they'd only been together for the past two years or something."

Harry quirked an eyebrow, "I gather you're not a fan of those long relationships?"

She glanced up at him, her cheeks slightly flushed, as her eyes danced, "Nonsense, we're all fans aren't we? I'm just impressed that Hermione could find someone that she enjoyed the company of for that long!!"

Harry snorted, quickly reaching forward to take a drink of the Butterbeer in front of him, "'Enjoyed' is such an exact term. Bloody hell, all during our school years they never stopped fighting!"

Haylie laughed, nodding her head happily, "Well, that's what all the best couples do after all!" She paused to gaze at the counter, "You know, I think I'm gonna go get something to drink: this is too much of a celebration to stay sober!"

The girls swiftly stood up and with a final grin at Harry, she walked towards the counter. Unfortunately, it was clear that her height was once again an issue, because the barkeeper couldn't see her between the two very tall men either side of her. Harry smiled thoughtfully to himself as Haylie started waving her arms around in an attempt to attract some attention, when suddenly his view was prevented when a redheaded blob impeded his vision.

"Typical! A hot witch arrives and Harry snags her immediately!!" George Weasley shook his head sadly, "What does it take in this world to make the girls realize that there are far better men for them out there: like me!"

The redhead ex-twin sat down next to Harry, gazing at the still trying desperately to buy a drink. "So, who's the girl?"

"A friend of Hermione's."

"Old friend?"

"Dunno, she didn't know they'd been together for eight years, so I guess not."

"Hmmmm…." George shrugged and stood up again, "Well, she's too short for me anyhow! So, have fun, I think it's time I go hassle Ginny again!"

Harry shook his head with a laugh as George disappeared into the mob of people. He knew that everyone worried about George, they had been for eight years straight, but in all honesty, he believed that George was okay… and that that wasn't going to change. The Weasley's were strong people, and nothing, not even the death of a loved one, could break them.

"Who was that?" Haylie had reappeared and was now standing in front of him, a bright purple drinking almost overflowing the mug.

"An old friend, one of Ron's older brothers as a matter of fact." Harry shrugged and pulled his drink to his lips once more.

"Holy crap, another one? There's so many!" Haylie smirked, sitting casually back down. "It's actually rather interesting: Mione's an only child, and now she's marrying into a family that has them by the dozens… a psychologist could have a field day with this!"

The girl stared casually across the room to where Hermione and Ron were talking and laughing with Bill and Charlie. Harry glanced over too and grinned, it was incredible, just how similar Ron looked to his two brothers. Most of the boys in the family were identical twins anyway, except Percy for some reason.

"Yeah, I guess it is a bit strange…"

"So, what's your story then?"

Harry blinked in surprise and his gaze swooped to the girl next to him, she casually took another sip from her drink, making a cute face as the contents hit her taste buds.

"What do you mean?" Harry could feel his eyes narrowing with suspicion: this has happened before, he meets a girl and they get along… until she wants to know all about his heroic teen years.

"Well, you know, I get Hermione… I think I even get Ron… but you're something of a mystery…"

Harry abruptly stood up; Haylie glanced up in surprise, following his movements with wide eyes. "Well, if you want to know more, I suggest you read up on it in a magazine or something. Good night."

Haylie stared in surprise as the wizard Apparated out of her sight.

"Hey Haylie… where'd Harry just go?"

Haylie shook her head in confusion, staring up at her best friend. "I really have no idea Mione. We were just talking when he got all pissy and left!"

Hermione chuckled, shaking her head lightly, "He does that sometimes… So, you sticking around?"

"Nah, I'm gonna push off, I have work tomorrow anyway." She shrugged and down the rest of her drink, "Bleaurgh, that stuff is disgusting! Honestly, you wizarding people have the strangest drinks!"

The two girls hugged each other tightly, "Will you be my Maid of Honour Haylie?"

Haylie's eyes shone with happy tears as she pulled back from her fuzzy-haired counter-part. "You know I will! Jeeze, who else could it be?"

They hugged again, little squeals of excitement peeling out, their neighbours around them just shook their heads: 'girls, they'll get excited over anything!'

"How exactly do you plan to get home, by the way?"

Haylie grinned, sending a cheeky wink to her friend, "Why, the way that all of my kind do: I'm gonna walk!"

She blew a kiss in her friend's direction, and then quickly walked out of the bar and into the slightly chilly night. She glanced silently back at the pub to where she had been sitting with a tall, green-eyed, black-haired, man only minutes before and shook her head.

She knew she didn't belong; even that man had been able to see it, so why did she ever even bother?

Author's Note: Hey guys it's me, starting up a new story, again!! I know, I know, shame on me! However, I have the entire storyline planned out currently, so while it may still be a slow slog, it will definitely reach a conclusion in the end!

So review if you want, I won't cry if you don't, but I like to have feedback. Also, let me know if she's seeming to Mary-Sue at the moment, I'm trying to avoid it, cause this girl IS a seriously flawed chick, but I'm worried that in this first chapter that doesn't come across!

Anyway, thanks for reading this much, you rock!

Next Chapter: A Wedding and Another Meeting