Promises

Promises

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, Harry/Hermione shippers would have been a lot happier at the end of book seven. Also, I have not read book seven, though I know the major plot points, none of which are relevant to my story.

Loosely based on Kyndeyrn's fic "We'll Just Pretend" During the final battle, Harry makes many promises to Hermione. Surprisingly, they survive. More surprising, he has every intention of fulfilling his promises.

HHr, strongly implied RHr

He had done it again. No one on Earth could figure out just how, but Harry Potter had once again overcome the forces of evil and triumphed over the Dark Lord. Not a soul on Earth could discern exactly how he had managed to once again vanquish He-who-must-not-be-named. Not even Hermione Granger, the woman who had been at ground zero of the event could discern just how he had done it (and she would swear to it under a truth spell). Not even the young man himself knew how he had succeeded yet again where so many before him had failed miserably. Regardless of how, victory had come at a harsh price to the wizarding world. Many promising young wizards and witches, as well as several seasoned Aurors, had lost their lives in the final battle. It was a great tragedy for the families who were left behind by the brave warriors. But, in spite of the sorrow, the world could once again breath a sigh of relief, knowing that all was well…

Hermione threw down the Daily Prophet in frustration. She hated how the press had obsessed over that blasted battle. Three months later and they still yammered on and on about it, writing about it as if it was some glorious victory, all the while repeating over and over the well known fact that no one had a clue exactly what had turned the tide. There was no great victory as far as Hermione Granger was concerned. Barely over a dozen wizards had survived the battle, and no one went home uninjured. She herself sported several unattractive scars across her back and chest. Good people were lost in that fight; Neville Longbottom, the shy young man who died so bravely; Seamus, the boy who spent his whole first year blowing himself up, ironically meeting the same fate at the end; and then… Ron.

Hermione clutched her chest a bit. She remembered exactly how Ron died. She was right there when he was blasted by the Avada Kedavra. She had held him in her arms as his life was cursed out of him. She had to watch her fiancé die at the hands of the Death Eaters. Inevitably, her mind was drawn back to the events of that terrible day.

Hermione cradled the body of the red-haired boy in her arms, weeping into his limp form. She didn't care that the very men who had killed him were walking down the hallway towards her, intending to send her to join her boyfriend in the afterlife. She continued to sob and embrace her lover as one of the Death eaters pointed his wand at her head.

"Sorry love," the man said in a crude tone. "But you'll be with him soon enough."

Hermione trembled as she awaited the curse of death. I'm coming my love.

"EXPECTO PATRONUS!"

Hermione's eyes shot open as a shining silver stag raced at the Death Eaters and impaled them on its antlers. The men dropped dead and the patronus vanished. From an adjacent hallway Harry ran up and turned to see his two closest friends. He saw instantly that Ron was dead. He held in his tears and grabbed Hermione by the arm. She refused to move.

"Hermione!" he said anxiously. "We have to go!"

She shook her head again, still clutching the corpse of her boyfriend.

Harry grabbed her shoulders and endeavored to shake some sense into her. "Damn it Hermione! He's dead!" he shouted.

"No!" she said stubbornly.

"Do you want his death to be for nothing?!" Harry asked impatiently, sensing more enemies coming through the castle.

Hermione opened her eyes to Harry's worried gaze. She looked at Ron, his body now laying on the floor. She finally nodded in submission and Harry dragged her to her feet and lead her further down the hall. As they passed a window, they looked briefly outside and saw the carnage. Hundreds of good wizards lay dead below just as many Death Eaters. They ran into a room and Harry locked them in.

Hermione automatically fell to her knees. "My god!" she said in horror. "They're dead! They're all dead!"

Harry shushed her. "Do you want them to hear you?" he said in a strained whisper.

"What does it matter?!" she cried out. "We've lost! We're already dead dammit!"

"You think I don't know that?!" Harry replied, again straining not to raise his voice. He got down to her level. "I'm not so damn prideful I don't know that I'm as good as dead and buried. Forgive me for wanting to add a few more seconds to my life."

Hermione sobbed into her hands. "I just want it all to end," she said in a hoarse voice that was strained from crying and screaming. "I just want to die."

"You don't mean that," Harry replied with as much comfort as he could muster. "You're just scared, and rightfully so. You want to live through this as much as I do!"

Hermione shook her head. "No I don't!" She said sobbingly. "I-I-I've lost everything. We were supposed to get married! We were supposed to have little red-heads with curls and freckles and brown eyes! We were supposed to be happy! What do I have to live for now?!"

Harry crawled up to Hermione and gently embraced her. She cried into his shoulder. "You have everything to live for," he whispered softly to her. "You're Hermione Granger, the smartest, most beautiful witch in the world. I know it'll be hard, but you'll move on. Ron will always hold a special place in your heart, but you'll find new love. You'll have a family and be happy. For Ron's sake, for both your sakes, you'll find happiness."

Hermione shook her head. "Even if we survive this, which won't happen, I would never be able to replace Ron. I wouldn't ever want to open my heart like that again. I'd be too afraid of it breaking… just like now!" She sobbed ever harder into his shirt. "I'd be alone forever!"

Harry could sense them coming closer. He couldn't let it end like this. He couldn't let her simply lose her will to live. What would have been the point of saving her then? Why would it have mattered if they lived or died, even if the situation certainly leaned towards the latter. He had to restore her hope somehow, otherwise he'd never forgive himself through all eternity.

Harry held the young woman closer. He held her tightly and poured all his emotion into the embrace. Then he whispered, "Hermione, I know it's a severely long shot, but if by some miracle of God we survive this, I swear you'll never have to be alone. I swear that if we survive all this that I'll marry you, buy us a beautiful house in the country, away from the blasted fame that'll hound us for doing something so impossible, and together we'll fill it with beautiful children who look just like you. We'll name them after all the friends we lost today, so they can live on through them. We'll live and grow old together and be together until we die properly and of old age. I'll make sure you're always happy, because you deserve it so much Hermione Granger."

Hermione pulled away from her friend. She looked into his eyes for any sign of jest or deception, but all she saw was sadness and sincerity. "Harry…" she muttered in disbelief. She then thought of something else. "But what about Ginny?" she said as her late boyfriend's younger sister came to mind. The woman Harry had already expressed a deep interest in marrying.

Harry shook his head. "Ginny only ever loved the idea of me," he said, "never the person. She'll be just as happy with another. But I could never be happy knowing that you were alone in this world Hermione. I'd rather be dead myself than live with that." Harry felt that soon his statement would become fact.

"D-do you mean it Harry?" Hermione asked, her sobs subsiding slowly.

Harry nodded, giving a grin that successfully showed confidence that at this point he totally lacked. He pulled her close again, holding her to him, letting their heartbeats merge between their chests.

A bang came from the door; they were on the other side. Harry and Hermione watched as a green light began to shine from the edges. Then they looked at each other before closing their eyes and locking lips. The kiss held as the door burst open and their vision filled with green light.

Hermione would later confess under truth spell (and much to her embarrassment) that had they had a few more minutes, she and Harry may very well have faced their deaths shagging on the classroom floor. It had been one of the most romantic moments of her life. Alas, after that there was little else to say. The one who had tried to kill them in the eleventh hour was none other than Lucius Malfoy. She knew this because after passing out, she had awakened to find the man on the other side of the classroom door, dead.

All the Death Eaters had been found dead. Every last one. And above the body of Voldemort himself stood Harry Potter, victorious, and just as confused as everyone else. In time all of the heroic wizards who had fought along side them had either pulled themselves or had been pulled from the rummage of the wrecked Hogwarts. They all spent weeks in intensive care, all the survivors reunited with their families. Hermione had never been happier to see her parents again. Only Harry had no visitors, but that was probably the nicest thing the Dursleys ever did for him.

In the following month Hermione had endured interview after interview. She told all she knew about what had happened to the press and everything else, it would seem, to the ministry. All the while, she had awaited for Harry to uphold his promises. But Harry avoided her like the plague, never visiting or calling in the first few weeks she was home. She decided to take this as a sign. She resolved that Harry had only said those sweet things in the heat of the moment and had no intentions of upholding his promise and was now to afraid to tell he so. It was just as well, she thought. It had been a foolish and girlish fantasy to think the great Harry Potter would whisk her off her feet to this fictional country manor where they would constantly procreate and live out their golden years. All just a fancy dream, though a very happy one.

When he did finally contact her two months after the fight, but by then she was in no mood to listen and simply hanged up on him. She didn't feel like hearing what she already knew he was going to say. He had stopped trying to reach her after that. She hadn't heard from him since. That had been three weeks ago.

Much had happened since then. Luna, who had been engaged to Neville before his death, revealed that she was having his child. Hermione had been shocked that Neville and Luna, too of the shyest and most reserved people she ever knew, could be bold enough to do such a thing. She pitied poor Luna, who'd have to raise her child alone, but was happy that at least she wouldn't be alone.

Hogwarts, which had been devastated by the battle, was already being rebuilt. Hermione was glad to know that at least the next generation of wizards and witches would still benefit from the wonderful learning opportunity she had had when she had gone to Hogwarts.

Harry and Ginny had spilt up shortly after his return. No one was sure as to why and they were both being quite stubborn over not speaking of it. It was that common factor that added to the confusion as to why they broke up. Hermione of course could tell that of everything Harry told her that night, what he said about Ginny had been the truth. It meant nothing to her. Surely it didn't mean he was keeping his promise to her.

She looked at the table full of wedding invitations from her school friends. She and Ron hadn't even created a list of who would been at their wedding. Surely Harry would been best man with Ginny a bridesmaid. Hermione probably would have thrown the bouquet right at her just for the romance of it. Now, she wasn't even sure she'd let him be guest at her wedding, whoever she decided to marry.

Yes, Harry had at least done that for her. He had convinced her that she deserved happiness, and that Ron would have wanted that for her. Now all she had to do was actually go out and meet men. That could wait at least a year, giving enough time for her to truly accept the fact that he was gone and see how she truly felt about dating again.

Sitting back down in her living room with a freshly brewed cup of tea, Hermione finally managed to stop thinking of the past and started to relax.

A knock came from her door.

Sighing in frustration at losing her calm state, Hermione got up from her chair. She walked to the door of her flat and, without even looking to see who was on the other side, opened the door. To Hermione's surprise who else should be on the other side of her door but the very dark-haired and bespectacled young man she had just been thinking about.

"Hello 'Mione," Harry said casually.

"Harry," Hermione said in surprise.

He stood there for a moment. "May I come in?" He asked finally.

"Ah… yes," Hemione quickly replied, coming more into her senses. She opened the door wider for him and he entered her flat. Hermione had to mentally force herself not to get high hopes over this. His coming to her house meant nothing.

Harry sat down in one of her chairs. Hermione sat on her couch and stared across at him. Again, there was a strong silence.

"Nice flat," Harry finally said.

"Thank you," Hermione replied.

Again, silence.

Hermione sighed. "Just say it Harry."

"Say what?"

"What we both know you're going to say!" She replied impatiently.

"And that would be?" Harry said, baiting her to speak her mind first.

An angry expression came on her face. "Oh, I don't know. Something along the lines of, 'I'm sorry 'Mione. I know I made all those promises in the heat of the moment and all and I really didn't expect us to survive.'" She stood up as she continued her rant. "'I hope you aren't too mad at me but I just can't marry you, or buy us that countryside house, or have all those little curly-haired glasses wearing children with you. I know it's painful love but the truth is I don't really love you like that and I just needed a couple of months to build up the courage to tell you and then you wouldn't answer and I had to wait a month to be sure you were ready for my rejection. Hope this doesn't ruin our friendship!'!!" She stopped and took a quick breather before continuing. "Well, don't you worry Harry. Your little promises and the fact that you have no intention of carrying them out has only further motivated me to seek a real relationship in the future and not to be taken in by half-hearted promises made on the battlefield. You fulfilled your little plan quite brilliantly. And as for our glorious friendship… you can shove it!! As far as I'm concerned, if I never see you again it will be too soon!"

Harry just sat there, unmoved. Silence again filled the flat.

"Well?!" said Hermione through angry tears.

Harry stood up. "Well…" he said, "if I had any intention of rejecting you, I could never have done it as well as you just laid out."

"W-w-what?" Hermione whispered in disbelief.

Harry walked right up to young woman and looked down at her, which he had to since he was so much taller than her. "The truth is Hermione, I meant every last word I said that day. The heat of battle wasn't even a factor. All that mattered to me then was trying to give you hope and happiness. If I failed to fulfill that I'm sorry. But I promise to do better… if you'll let me."

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. Was he… keeping his promise? That couldn't be. She had spent so much time convincing herself he wasn't, that it was all a foolish girl's fantasy. Wasn't it?

"B-but," she stuttered. "After the battle… Y-you didn't even try to contact me and I couldn't call you. Why?"

Harry closed his eyes and looked as if repressing a stressful situation from his mind. "The damnable ministry. Held me for days on end like a bloody prisoner. They kept picking my brain, kept trying to figure out why we survived, how in god's name we won a battle that was totally hopeless. They pulled every second of that event from my brain with pensive and went over it time and again to find an answer that wasn't there. When they finally decided that I didn't know anything the bastards let me go and I immediately tried to get in touch with you. But you wouldn't answer my calls and your friends said you didn't want to see me. At the time I thought it was because you didn't want me… that you didn't want that life I offered you and I let you be."

That wasn't true though, she thought, I was just being a stubborn ass of a girl afraid of breaking her heart again. "Then-then why are you here now?" she asked.

"Because it only hit me just today," he replied. "I only just now realized why we won that day. I know now how I defeated Voldemort, and it was so obvious."

Hermione looked at Harry with an expression that mixed distress, confusion and curiosity. "What?" She asked.

"Love."

Her heartbeat seem to skip a few times when she heard that. "L-love?"

"It was my mother's love that saved me as an infant," Harry continued. "It was that pure unadulterated love of a mother for her child that not only saved me from the killing curse, but other times too."

"B-but… V-voldemort destroyed that protection, didn't he?"

Harry moved even closer to the young woman before him. "It wasn't my mother's love that saved us…" he said, reaching and grasping her hands in his. "It was ours."

Now her heart was really beating. "Ours?" she said softly. "Does…does that mean you… love me?"

Harry smiled a bit at her. "We wouldn't be here right now if I didn't," he said. "The truth is Hermione, I started having feelings for you in the first year. I said nothing because I didn't fully understand them. But as the years went on, I just fell more and more in love with the beautiful witch you were becoming. I tried to distract myself with other girls like Ginny and Cho. I think you've seen how that panned out."

"But…" Hermione shook her head in total confusion. "Why didn't you ever just tell me?"

"Ron…"

Hermione's eyes widened and the pieces began to fit better. She sat down as this all sunk in. Even though she loved Ron, she remembered the many times he had demonstrated what a prat he could be, especially with Harry. Ron had always been envious of Harry for things Harry couldn't help; his fame; his money; the Tri-Wizard tournament. Had she become another casualty in their strange struggle? "So… rather than be happy, you let Ron have me to preserve our friendship?"

Harry, joined her on the couch. "I thought it might make things easier for all of us. Ron was always so resentful of all the things I had; things I never wanted or needed in the first place. Then I let him have the one thing that ever really mattered to me, and everything seemed to be all right. I hated myself for it…" he looked straight at her, "but at least you seemed happy."

Hermione sighed. "I hate myself for saying it now that he's dead," she started. "I loved Ron, and I always will; but, truthfully, I only started dating him because it was what was expected of us. I did really love him, and I think we'd have had a good marriage. But, for as much as I loved him…" She looked straight back at him, "I always loved you more."

Harry embraced her and she fully leaned into it. He buried his face into her soft brown hair and kissed her head. "If you're not ready yet, I'll understand," he said. "But I do want to marry you Hermione. God I want to marry you so much. But if you need time…"

"Harry," she said, cutting him off and pulling away enough to look him in the face. "I want to get married too, but not just yet. I want to pay some respect to Ron's memory. I promised I'd give myself at least a year before I started dating again. Can you wait that long to marry me?"

Harry grinned slyly. "I've waited since we were eleven to marry you. One more year can't hurt."

"Of course…" Hermione continued, pushing herself against him, "that doesn't mean we can't make up for lost time right now."

Harry looked down at her with a very surprised expression. "Are you sure you're ready for that?" he asked.

"Harry. I just spent the last three months in copious amounts of denial," she said in a cynical tone. "I need this… badly!"

"O-okay," said a slightly aghast Harry before Hermione pulled off his glasses and tackled him down on the couch.

"I love you," she said as she bet down and gave him what would be the first of many passionate kisses they would share.

Harry gladly locked lips with the beautiful witch that now straddled him. His hands wandered her slender waist, reaching into her shirt. He rubbed her ribs and cupped her breasts.

Hermione broke the kiss and sat up, pulling off her shirt and unhooking her bra. Harry stared at her full and very well sized breasts and then grasped them. He teased the nipples with his thumbs and enjoyed her moans.

Harry pulled her down to kiss her again. He then said, "Mind if move to somewhere a bit more comfortable?"

Hermione nodded.

They ran to her bedroom. Hermione leaped backwards onto her bed and Harry climbed on top of her. He kissed her lips once and then looked over her again, admiring her nude upper body with deep affection.

"You are so beautiful Hermione," he said. "I love you."

Hermione sighed happily. "I love you too Harry." The she smiled seductively. "Now cut the romantic small talk and fuck me!"

Harry kissed her again, his tongue reaching into her throat. He quickly unbuttoned his shirt and threw the garment off, without breaking away too much. Hermoione ran her hands over his muscles which had been crafted over years of Quidditch. They broke away long enough to pull off their pants. Hermione laid down as Harry pulled off her panties. Her area had been perfectly shaven and her scent was already very prevalent. He licked her lips and sucked on her womanhood. Hermione's moans of pleasure stirred him on, as he started to push his fingers in to aide his tongue.

"God! Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "Fuck me! I need you inside me!"

From his discarded pants, Harry pulled his wand. He silently cast the contraceptive charm on her. Harry pulled down his boxers and aligned himself with Hermione. He pushed into her with a quick thrust, only a little surprised to find no hymen. Harry pumped into her slowly, then increased pace.

"Oh Harry…" Hermione sighed lustfully. "I needed this so bad! Harder! Please, harder!"

Harry put all his strength into pumping into her. He focussed all of the pent up passion that had been building in him into her. Within minutes his pleasures began building inside him. "I'm gonna cum Hermione!"

Hermione also felt something build inside her. "I'm cumming too Harry! I'm cumming!"

Hermione came first, with her crushing walls bringing Harry to his climax inside her. Harry fell to his side, allowing Hermione to snuggle up to him. They laid there in the afterglow of their passion.

"I love you 'Mione," said Harry.

"I love you too Harry," she replied.

A year later, Harry and Hermione were married. The wedding had been more beautiful than Hermione had ever imagined. All of their friends and family had appeared (minus the Dursleys). Even Ginny came as one of the bridesmaids with nothing but good wishes. She had already entered into a relationship with another young man and they seemed quite happy. Luna had come toting her infant son, Neville jr. who had been a major attention getter. Everyone was happy to see Harry and Hermione together.

They bought a country house, as Harry had promised, and moved right in. Soon they were happy to learn they were having their first child within only weeks of their wedding. Nine months later, baby Ronald Potter was born. While they did promise to wait a while before trying to dip into the parental pool again, it was obvious they wanted to fill up their big house with even more little children with black curly hair.

Hermione looked back on her life a year ago and felt nothing but relief. While she still missed her late love, she had to admit that Harry was turning out to be everything she had ever dreamed of in a husband. As she rested in the strong arms of her husband and held her adorable baby in her arms she knew life was only going to get better from here.

AN one shot, no more, no less R&R Again haven't read all the books.

Whoo, First HP Fic Ever!!