Twist of Fate

Chapter 3

It wasn't the wedding either of them had ever imagined. Harry and Hermione stood in front of the head of the Wizengamot with two others to act as witnesses. There wasn't much ritual with the ceremony and it ended with a simple kiss. They signed the wedding certificate and Harry took Hermione out for a nice dinner to celebrate the decision.

As they sat with their drinks and waited for their meal, Harry smiled at his new wife. "So how does it feel to be Mrs. Harry Potter?" he asked.

Hermione chuckled. "Like a dream come true," she said softly. She gave him a smile but Harry could see the doubt in her eyes. "You don't think we rushed this, do you?" she asked.

Harry shook his head. "Not at all," he said. "You're still the most important person in my life, Hermione, and I don't want another day to go by where I don't have you in it. I'm serious, Hermione. I can't live without you anymore. The past four and a half years have been a long and lonely hell and I know that I'm being a little selfish, but I really can't bear the thought of you not being there. Now that we have the chance to have our son as well, there isn't another option for me. I love you, I do, and I want to be the one who makes you happy."

"Even if it's not perfect?" Hermione asked with a smile, remembering the words Harry had spoken so many years ago.

Harry nodded as the smile spread across his lips. "Especially if it's not perfect," he replied.

Hermione smiled at him and reached across the table for Harry's hand. "Good," she said softly. She chuckled. "You know it's not going to be perfect, right?" she asked.

Harry laughed as he nodded. "I would be worried if it was," he replied. "So we move into your flat?" he asked. "I don't think Grimmauld Place is the best place for a small child."

Hermione nodded. "That sounds fine to me," she said. "At least for right now. My apartment is going to be very small when there are three of us in it. I also have an office that's going to need to be cleared out. I don't want to put Christopher in there with all of my work. He's liable to get into things."

Harry nodded. "We'll work on that tomorrow then," he said.

Hermione sighed. "There is one thing I wanted to talk to you about," she said.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

Hermione sighed again but was interrupted by their waitress arriving with their food. She waited until the woman walked away before she voiced her concern. "With you being an Auror…I know I can't ask you to quit your job, but I don't want to get that call…I don't want to find out that you've been hurt or killed…"

Harry gave Hermione's hand a reassuring squeeze. "You don't have to worry about it," he said. Hermione gave Harry a questioning look. "They're transferring me to the academy," he explained. "I'm going to be a teacher from here on out. They've decided that my knowledge and expertise are better put to use in teaching others to have that same information rather than being the only one with it. I have to say that I agree with them, and I'm actually looking forward to the change. Especially now."

Hermione smiled at Harry, who kissed the back of her hand before letting it go so that they could eat. "I didn't think you liked teaching," she said with a sly smile.

Harry chuckled. "If I recall correctly, I was rather good at it," he replied. Hermione chuckled along with him before she turned to her meal.

They woke early the next morning and set to work on clearing the office as soon as they had finished breakfast. By the time they stopped for lunch, they were more than half finished with the project. They entered the kitchen to see that a letter had been dropped onto the table. Hermione sighed heavily as she picked it up and broke the seal.

"It's from Gertrude," she said as she scanned it over. "I asked her for a list of supplies that we would need for Christopher. She says here that the accident was a fire and that virtually everything was destroyed," she said softly, bringing a hand slowly up to cover her mouth. Harry saw the parchment in her hand begin to shake. She cleared her throat. "He was with a sitter," she said. "They wanted a date night and got too drunk. They figure that one of them knocked over a few candles and they were too impaired to react and the whole house went up…. It wasn't until the next morning when the sitter arrived to drop Christopher off that they knew he was still alive…."

Harry walked up to Hermione and held her tightly. "He survived," he said softly before he kissed the side of her head. "He's okay. We can get everything he'll ever need and he won't have to worry about losing his parents ever again."

Hermione nodded and clutched Harry tightly. "I can't lose him again," she whispered.

"We won't," Harry replied.

When the room was cleared, Harry and Hermione began the task of getting the furniture and other supplies they would need for their son's arrival. They purchased a bed, dresser, clothes, and toys. Hermione reasoned that they should wait for the bulk of the things they would need as they had no way of knowing just what size clothes he would need or what toys he actually liked. Agreeing with her, Harry and Hermione focused mostly on the necessities.

When the room was put together and painted the Muggle way, Harry and Hermione stood in the center of it and looked around. The only thing missing was Christopher. The reality of the situation suddenly hit Hermione as she looked around. She felt herself begin to tremble and quickly retreated to the living room where she sat down and held her head in her hands. Harry quickly joined her and sat down on the coffee table in front of her. "What is it?" he softly asked.

"It just suddenly hit me," she replied. "Most people have nine months to prepare for a baby to enter their lives. We have five days to prepare for a child! We don't know anything about him except that he was our biggest mistakes and the reason we fell apart," she said. "What if we can't handle him? What if he hates us? What if he refuses to have anything to do with us because we're not the people he knows as Mom and Dad? We're strangers to him, Harry," she cried, tears falling from her caramel eyes. "What if they take him back? What if they decide that we're horrible parents and that we can't raise him? What's going to happen to us if we lose him again?"

Harry sighed heavily before he kissed his wife's forehead. He wrapped his arms around her and cradled her close, effectively pulling her down from the chair she had been sitting in. She knelt between his legs and buried her face in the crook of his neck and breathed in the calming scent that was Harry. "They won't take him away from us," he said softly. "Yes, it's going to be awkward at first and yes, he isn't going to know what to think of us until he gets to know us. The key to making this all work is for us to give it time. We can't give up at the first sign of trouble and we can't give up if he takes a while to warm up to us. He's five years old, Hermione," Harry needlessly reminded her. "He barely knew his other parents to begin with. At his age, this isn't the easiest thing, but it isn't the hardest either."

"I just hope it all works out," Hermione whispered.

"It will," Harry promised before he kissed her softly.