Chapter 1- Remembering the past
Hermione Granger was laying down on the couch with her four year old son Nate watching Disney's the Lion King. Her son looked nothing like her except that he had brown eyes just like she did. He was the spilling image of his father. Black messy hair that no matter what you did to it, it was always sticking up in every direction it could. Even though he was only four he had round glasses that rested perfectly on his button nose. He had the best mixture of his parents personalities. Hermione was an over bearing perfectionist bookworm with a heart of gold and his father was a sassy sarcastic courageous hero. Nate was the smallest boy with the biggest heart which made everyone fall in love with him. Of course he was starting to become sarcastic, for what a four year old could be, and the more he went to school the more he fell in love with reading.
A sound came from the front of the house. Looking up Hermione found her fiancé and Nate's father closing the front door. Harry Potter the savior of the wizarding world, which they don't talk about, walked into the family room.
"Daddy! You're home!" Nate yelled forgetting about Timon and Pumba singing Hanukah Matata as he rushed over to give Harry a big hug.
Picking up his son "Well hello to you too Nate. Did you have fun with mum today?" He walked over to the couch and sat down position Nate on his lap.
"Uh huh" Nodding his head. " We made cookies, read a book, went on a walk to the park so I got to play on the swings! You should have seen me daddy! Mommy was scared that I was going to fall. We got ice cream on our way home and now we are watching the Lion King! Mommy cried when Mufsa died. I didn't because I'm a big boy and big boys don't cry."
"Wow it sounds like you two had a lot of fun." Harry said smiling at Nate. "But I think after all that excitement it's time that you go take a nap. I'll tuck you in."
"I don't want to take a nap." Hiding his yawn. Or at least trying to hide his yawn the best a four year old can do. Smiling at his son Harry walked up stairs to Nate's room. The room was everything a four year old could ask for. The walls were painted blue with footballs all over. Books where in a small little bookshelf that Hermione made sure that it stayed organized. Toys,mainly legos, scattered all over the floor. So every time you walked into his room you had to watch where you are walking unless you wanted to know what getting stabbed in the foot felt like. The bed was a lime green and blue bed with footballs as pillows.
Setting Nate in the bed Harry kissed his forehead. "Sleep tight munchkin. I love you."
"Love you too daddy." Nate yawned as he curled up into a little ball clutching his teddy bear that is dressed up as a football player.
After shutting the door quietly Harry walked back down stairs to find an owl staring at him through a window. Walking over he opened the window and took the letter. After giving the owl a treat he wondered who is sending him owls. In America wizards don't use owls as mail carriers. They do what the muggles do, use a cell phone, a computer, or go to the post office. In America the wizarding community wasn't stuck in the 1700s. They use everything the muggles use. Phones, cars, computers, even wear the same clothes. It was refreshing and something that British community really needed to start following. If Harry and Hermione would ever go back. After the war it took a toll on Harry. Even though he defeated Voldemort he wanted to go back to being just Harry. No one but Hermione could see Harry as just plain old Harry Potter. They all saw him as the Boy Who Saved Them All. Even his biggest fan girl at the time Ginny Wesley and his best mate Ron Wesley couldn't see past his celebrity status. After a couple of months of funerals and getting forced into doing interviews Harry wanted out. He tried to convince Ginny to run away with him to see if she was serious about him. But she wouldn't have it. She wanted to be known as the girlfriend of Harry Potter. Even her mom Molly was already starting to plan the wedding of the century as she would like to call it. Harry didn't want to get married right after saving the world. All he wanted was a normal life. Which was something he wasn't going to get in England. Hermione just broke up with Ron when Harry told her how he wanted to run away. Thinking that being away from everyone and everything would be a good thing especially being with the man she really loved. Saying that she would go with him made Harry ecstatic. They started making plans on where they would go. Staying in Europe was out of the question. The farther the better. Hermione's parents, Dan and Emma Granger, sent her a letter from America. They were traveling the world, it was the best way to keep them safe during the war. Being a muggleborn witch was everything the dark side hated. Wanting to protect her parents she sent them to Australia. Originally they were going to stay there. But the dark side found out where they were staying so before they got to them, Hermione's parents were on a plane to Japan. Keeping them moving was the best option. After the war and threat of their lives was over they stayed in Chicago. They fell in love with the city, mainly for the food. Who ever decided to make deep dish pizza was a genius. Harry and Hermione decided to join them in the Windy City. Unfortunately they moved there during the winter. They were right downtown outside of the wizarding community. Experiencing a Chicago winter was just like the winters at Hogwarts. Just with more cold and harsh winds. Once the snow was cleared the two best friends wanted to experience their new city. Hermione dragged Harry to all the museums that Chicago has to offer. Harry dragged Hermione to a Chicago Bears football game. It was a lot different then quidditch, Harry enjoyed the game from the start. Hermione started to get into it more as the game went on. It helped that the couple next to them, Myra and Jonah Smith, were explaining the rules of the game. Ever since then Myra and Jonah became their best friends and they never heard anything from any of the Wesleys.
"Harry what are you holding?" Hermione said knocking Harry out of his day dream.
Looking down at the letter he has yet to open."A letter that I got from an owl."
"An owl? Who sent it? Do you think its from the Wesleys?" Hermione said taking the letter from Harry. Slowly opening it, thinking that if it was from Molly Weasly it could be a Howler. It read…
"Dear Harry and Hermione.
I wanted to invite you to the re opening of Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizzarding. After five stressful years of construction and dealing with the Ministry we are finally opening the doors back open for the students. I know you two haven't set foot in the wizarding world for quite some time but it would be an honor to have two of my favorite students back. Tap the letter twice if you two are going to be joining in the celebration".
I look forward for hearing your answer
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress of Hogwarts
Looking at Harry "Should we go? Hogwarts was our home at one point."
"I don't know Mione. I mean Nate doesn't even know what Hogwarts is. We of course would have to bring him with us. Do we want to go back to England? Our home is here now. Your parents are here." Harry said running his fingers threw his hair.
"It's not like we are going to be moving back to England. It will just be a well deserved holiday. I want to see what they have done with Hogwarts. See if they have caught up to the 21h century. I doubt it but you never know. Also seeing everyone again would be nice."
"You know I really hate it when you're right. It would be nice to have Nate see where we met and where we fell in love with each other." He said pulling Hermione close to him.
Wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. "More like where I fell in love with you while you were to busy getting chased by a red head fan girl."
"I loved you even while Ginny was chasing me. She had me in 6th year. You've had me since I saved you from that troll in 1st year." Kissing the tip of her nose. "And besides you had your own red head chasing after you."
"Ugh! Don't remind me of the most pointless 3 months of my life. If you didn't come to me after the break up saying that you wanted to move away from everything, I would have been in Azkaban for murdering a red head son and mother." When Hermione broke things off with Ron, it was Ron and Molly that were the only ones who took everything to far. Ron just thought that since he loved her and they have known each other for 8 years that was enough for her to stick around. With Molly wanting both her youngest children to marry Harry and Hermione, she tried to give Hermione love potion induced food, making Hermione think that there were no hard feelings between the two. George and Fred were the ones who warned Hermione about the food. They were wondering why their mom was getting love potions from their store and after hearing her conversation with Ron about making Hermione falling back in love with Ron one way or another they went to warn her. Once the twins left Hermione was about to head straight to the Burrow to curse the Wesley mom and son. But instead Harry popped over to tell her about moving away. After some rational thinking she packed up her tiny apartment and moved with Harry to America. After moving to America Harry and Hermione didn't start dating right away. Neither of them knew that the other liked them. It took Myra to set them both on a blind date with each other for them to figure it out. That was also after a year of living in America. After that date the rest was history. They found out that they were pregnant with Nate a couple months after that first date. Harry finally got the family that he always dreamed of having.
"So should I tap twice to let McGonagall know we are coming?" Harry asked taking his wand out of his pocket. Hermione nodded and watched as Harry tapped the piece of parchment. The wording switched and it read
I am so glad you two are coming. The journey will begin at 10 am on July 31st at King's Cross Station. You will be taking the Hogwarts Express. We will get to Hogwarts by 4 pm. You will be staying in your own personal room inside the castle by the Gryffindor tower.
We will see you soon.
Headmistress McGonagall
"So on my birthday we will be in England going back to Hogwarts." Harry said putting the invention on the fridge. Hearing tiny fast foot steps signaled Nate was awake from his nap.
"Mommy daddy, I'm hungry!" Nate exclaimed running into the kitchen where his parents are. "Can I have hot dog mac n cheese? Please! With sugar on top!"
Smiling and grabbing the pot that she will need. "Of course you can! It's our family favorite." Hot dog mac n cheese was introduced to Nate by Myra and Jonah, who also have a four year old named Liam. Liam and Nate have been attached to the hip since birth. When they were seven months old they would start crying when either of them were taken from each other. Luckily they have stopped the crying when they leave each other.
"Mom whats that moving paper on the fridge?" Nate asked pointing at the invitation.
"Well its an invitation for mummy and daddy going to see our old school. We will go on a train ride in England to the school that we went to in Scotland. Doesn't a train ride sound like fun?" Harry asked picking up Nate so he could see the invite better.
Nodding his head with wide eyes. "We can go on a train?! That is so cool. When are we going?"
"We will be going on my birthday. We get to ride an airplane to London then get right on the train to Scotland."
"And a airplane?! Daddy I love airplanes! And trains!"
"Do you want to know what is super cool about our old school?" Hermione asked pouring the pasta in the boiling water. Nate shook his head. "Well it's a castle."
"A castle?! I want to go now." Squeezing Harry's cheeks together. "Can we go now?"
Shaking his head. "No buddy not now but we will in just a couple weeks. But I'm sure mummy will give you all the books you can read about England and Scotland."
"I'll pick some up tomorrow when you are at pre school. How does that sound?" Hermione said gently taking Nate's hands off Harry's cheeks.
"That sounds good mommy. Going to England won't make me talk funny like you guys will it?"
"No baby it won't. You will sound funny to everyone in England." Hermione said bringing their dinner to the kitchen table.
For the rest of the night, or at least until Nate's bed time, they talked about England. After tucking Nate into bed Harry walked into their master bedroom. Seeing Hermione already in bed reading a book made him smile. Even though every other night she has a new book it read it amazes Harry how many books she hasn't read. "Why don't you write a book? I mean you have read every kind of book imaginable. So I'm sure you could come up with some amazing story." Harry said climbing into bed.
"I have no idea where I would even start to write a book." She said marking her page and setting it on the night side.
"I think you could find a book that could help you on how to write a book." Teasing her was one of his favorite past times.
Lightly punching him on the side of his leg, "Smart ass. Why I love you I'll never know."
"I'm just so drop dead gorgeous thats how. And I'm the Chosen One." Winking he turned his back to her.
"Chosen one my ass." Switching the light off Hermione and Harry slowly started to drift asleep.