… and Love
A/N – First of all, nothing has changed regarding the state of the multiverse and the ownership of the Harry Potter franchise within it. JK Rowling and her various and sundry corporate partners still own the Harry Potterverse. Anything remotely familiar etc, etc, etc. And a grateful nod to the madness that is Convergence. And sadly, it's not just for Goths anymore. Pity. Of course, some Visigoths might a worthy addition.
Just a slight warning. The ending takes a bit of a left turn. Not quite Albuquerque, but heading in the direction of Roswell it would seem. While I didn't quite intend it, this story seems to be wandering towards another storyline.
And before I forget, Happy Birthday Miss Granger!
See, not only am I not JKR, I'm not RBW either.
And now, on with our show.
Chapter Four – Convergence – It's Not Just for Goths Anymore
0845 - 19 September, 2003 – Room 611 – The Lily Potter Dark Arts Trauma Ward - St. Mungo's, London
.
"Harry, I love you." "Hermione, I love you."
As both sentences echoed in the room, several things happened at once. Every monitoring and diagnostic charm focused on Harry began to trill at once. Helen took a deep breath and murmured "Angels and Ministers of Grace …" under her breath. Harry's eyes flew open as he realized he was hearing Hermione's voice with his ears and not just in his head.
And Hermione Jane Granger fainted dead away.
Staring up and seeing Hermione start to slump over, Harry sat up and tried to turn so his legs were hanging over the edge of the bed. Closing his eyes for a second to cancel out the room spinning, Harry half turned and wrapped his arms around Hermione as she started to lean over the edge of the bed.
Opening his eyes, Harry gently pulled her to him. Looking over at Helen, who was staring at the two of them with a look of joy mixed with disbelief, he smiled and simply said, "Go find a healer."
As Helen stood up and started towards the door, the door popped open and in came a pair of mediwitches and the lead healer for Harry's case. As all three stopped, shocked to see their patient sitting up and functional, Harry just smiled.
"A little help here? I think she's just a bit surprised to see me up and around," was Harry's response to the shocked St. Mungo's personnel. Seeing that they were still standing there staring at him, he rolled his eyes and muttered, "Fine, I'll do it."
Reaching down, Harry plucked Hermione's vine and dragon heartstring wand from her pocket and cast a quick Rennervate, causing her to begin to stir.
Shaking his head, Harry shifted a bit so he was leaning against the head of the bed and had her cradled in his arms. As her eyes fluttered open, he smiled.
"Hey there. Back with us?"
Staring at Harry in disbelief, Hermione bit her lip for a second before shaking her head, causing her curls to bounce a bit.
"Harry, I think that's my line. You've been out for three weeks, you know."
"And you go and faint the second I get back. I think our timing is a bit off."
As the healer cleared his throat, Harry held up his hand, never taking his eyes from Hermione's.
"I know the drill. You've got a hundred scans and tests to run, but it's going to have to wait for a moment." Not hearing anything, Harry finally looked up from Hermione and smiled.
"This is the point where everyone steps out into the corridor and closes the door while Miss Granger and I have a private discussion." Eyes twinkling, Harry turned his attention back to Hermione and quipped, "It is still Granger, isn't it?"
Rolling her eyes, Hermione waited until Harry turned his gaze back to the healer before replying, "Yes, though Ron wasn't very happy when at the last minute I said I didn't want to change my name."
Turning his head back to stare at Hermione in disbelief so fast she was worried he was going to injure himself, Hermione held his gaze for several seconds before winking and chuckling at the look on his face.
"Yes, Harry, it's still Granger."
"Good," was the only response he could muster. Turning his attention to Helen, Harry smiled warmly as he gently squeezed Hermione and felt her settle into him.
"Helen, it's good to see you. I know you've been worrying about me for a while, but for me it's only been about twenty minutes or so." Reaching a hand out, Harry gently squeezed her hand once before continuing.
"If you wouldn't mind, I need to talk to your daughter for a couple of minutes. Could you and the others wait outside for a bit?" Turning his attention back to the healer and the pair of mediwitches, and seeing that there were several others standing in the corridor, Harry chuckled.
"I promise that as soon as a couple of things are attended to, both of us will behave and let you poke and prod us to your heart's content."
Feeling Hermione stiffen in his arms, Harry turned his attention back to her. "Both of us."
Seeing the tentative nod from Helen as she got up from the bed, Harry just smiled at Hermione until he heard the door close. Looking up and seeing that the room was, indeed, empty, Harry sighed.
"I meant it, I do love you." Placing his face beside hers as she settled back into his arms, he waited until he felt her start to respond before continuing.
"I think I always have, but I could never tell you."
Sitting there for a moment or two, Hermione closed her eyes and just basked in the feeling of having Harry's arms around her. Finally taking a deep breath, she started in a quiet voice.
"I was always afraid that if you knew how I felt, I'd lose you. Having you in my life as best friends was better than nothing and that's what I feared. I would be left with nothing."
"Do you want me to talk to Helen?" Knowing that Hermione's eyebrow was raised and arched in her usual 'Are you going to explain that willingly or am I going to have to pull it out of you' look, Harry smiled.
"I'm relatively certain that Helen's been giving you a running dose of advice about how we ended up like this. Do you want me to tell her it's my fault?"
"Harry, we're both to blame for this," was her exasperated reply. Scooting forward on the bed, Hermione turned so she was leaning against Harry with her legs across his lap. Snuggling into his chest, she gently stroked the back of his hand holding her wand, tracing the "I must not tell lies" scars with her pointer finger.
"I can't really blame Ronald any longer," she added as she looked up to see his reaction.
"He talked to you?" Looking worried, Harry gently ran his hand down her back as he felt her tense up. "I should have …"
"Done nothing. Harry the fact you told him off about what was going on was enough. It wasn't your place to tell me that my boyfriend was cheating on me. Ronald should have come to me and let me know what had been going on. Instead, he proposed just to spite you and preempt me finding out and I was idiot enough to say 'yes'."
"Ginny dumped me because of you, you know."
"Ginevra was here for most of the first week you were out, once they released her. As soon as she heard that I'd given Ron back his ring, that there wasn't going to be a wedding, she explained to me that she'd gotten tired of having a boyfriend who wouldn't commit because he was in love with another witch and she hoped that forcing the issue would get you off your lazy arse and make you see which one you were actually in love with." Sighing as she remembered Ginny's embarrassed explanation, Hermione added, "It didn't quite go the way she had hoped since she wasn't the one chosen."
"That's not quite the way I remember the conversation going," Harry mused thinking back to the very noisy conversation with the volatile ginger. Knowing something was up when she began with the infamous, "Harry, we have to talk", all Harry remembered clearly before she started hurling hexes was her wanting a recap of everything that Harry had done with Hermione since they'd met on the Hogwarts Express and then her inexplicably blaming him for Ron treating Hermione so shabbily.
"Well, you are a bit clueless when it comes to witches," Hermione replied as she smiled at the blush on his cheeks. "Though I can't take any honors in understanding wizards apparently."
"We understand each other now, I think." Looking deep into her eyes, Harry smiled at the love and depth of feeling he could see there. Realizing it had always been there made him blush and look away.
"Hey, now. None of that." Cupping his cheek with her hand, Hermione gently turned his face back to hers. "It's going to be strange enough with everyone we know after having almost married Ronald without being awkward with each other to boot."
Seeing he was about to speak up, she placed a finger on his lips. "And none of that 'I should have said something' tripe. You do realize I probably would have hexed you if the ceremony had gotten to the 'does anyone have any reason …" part and you'd stuck your two-knuts in at that moment?"
"What do we do now?" Looking thoughtful, Harry watched her carefully to see where she was going to go with this.
"Well, since you so gallantly offered, I suppose that the first order of business will to be to allow the hoard of healers and my mother back in from the corridor so they can 'poke and prod us to their heart's content'," was Hermione's amused response. Seeing the wary look Harry was shooting the door, she placed the flat of her hand on his cheek and reclaimed his attention.
"However, I do believe that we need to clear one little bit of business up, first," she said in a husky whisper as her face moved closer to his.
"And what might that be," was Harry's response just as his lips brushed against hers.
Sliding her hands up so they slid behind his neck, wrapping her fingers in his hair, she huskily whispered, "This," right before she began to kiss him.
Pressing her lips against Harry, and the rest of her against the rest of him, Hermione tried to shut down her conscious mind and just revel in her first real kiss with Harry. No, not just that.
Her first real kiss.
While she had kissed and been kissed before, by several wizards not just Ronald, and one witch one night celebrating the completion of their NEWTS, this was the first time that 'The Kiss' lived up to its billing. Remembering all of the purple prose she had consumed as a girl in the romance novels she had discovered in the library when she was eight and hid from everyone, this kiss went far beyond anything she had ever read, or experienced firsthand.
Just as the need for oxygen was starting to become acute, and she was desperately trying to remember an article she had read in a muggle musicians magazine about something called 'circular breathing', the incessant beeping and pinging that had started seconds after she began to kiss Harry reached a volume that made it impossible to ignore.
Regretfully ending the kiss, she sat back and let her hands slide forward until they were cupping Harry's face. Seeing the same passion in his eyes that she felt, and the same goofy smile she knew she was sporting, she rolled her eyes and whispered, "Do you think they'd take it wrong if I cancelled all of their diagnostic charms?"
Before Harry could answer, Hermione stiffened as she heard her mother dryly respond, "Actually, I think they'd have a stroke if you did that Mi. Unless the two of you are intent on giving Teddy a sibling right this second, why don't you both sit on the bed and let the healers check the two of you over?"
Seeing that neither one moved, Helen simply shook her head and turned to Chastity who was staring at the pair in disbelief.
"I tried. If 'Mother Guilt' won't move them, try magic."
Chastity, dialing up her 'healer mode' as her husband Dudley called it, simply clucked her tongue and moved to where both of her 'patients' could see her. Looking over at the door, she sighed and turned her attention back to the pair on the bed. While both were paying attention to her, Hermione didn't seem disposed to vacate her position straddling Harry's lap in the least.
Staring at the younger pair for almost a minute, Chastity finally broke her silence.
"Headmistress McGonagall is inbound to see you. My guess is that she's just gotten off the lift, you've got about thirty seconds tops to get decent."
Both pairs of eyes widened to the point where it was almost comical, and then both of them were sitting on the edge of the bed, side by side with an easy hand's width between them, so quickly that a couple of the mediwitches watching from the doorway later swore that they must have both apparated.
Moments later, the Headmistress of Hogwarts, one Minerva McGonagall, came strolling into the room carrying a brightly wrapped parcel and stopped short when she saw both of her favorite students sitting on the edge of Harry's bed looking for all the world as if she had just walked in on them in the middle of something that would have cost them house points, back in the day.
Smiling, she exchanged pleasantries with both Chastity and Helen, and acknowledged the rest of the staff whom she knew from their student days at Hogwarts, before turning her attention to the two sitting on the bed.
"Miss Granger, Mister Potter," she began. Seeing both of them nervously smile and try to keep from looking at each other, she began laughing at the expressions on their faces.
As the rest of the room joined in, both Harry and Hermione stared at her in disbelief. Harry unconsciously reached over and took Hermione's hand as they looked at each other. Seeing that the other had no clue as to what had struck their former head of house as being so funny, they simply waited until the laughter in the room died down.
"I have been waiting for this moment since Hermione told me that bald-faced lie in the witches' lavatory on Halloween," Minerva began. Seeing the shocked disbelief on her face, the older witch rolled her eyes.
"Hermione, while I was never an expert on magical creatures, I was well aware of what was and was not available regarding trolls in print," she began with a smile as she noted the blush on both their faces. "Even as capable as you were at the ripe old age of twelve, I didn't think you would have thought yourself equal to the task of tracking down a troll."
Seeing the looks on both their faces, Minerva smirked. "Which would be more believable, Hermione Granger going out of bounds against instructions to track down a dangerous troll, or Harry Potter haring off to rescue someone who wasn't at the banquet and didn't know there was a troll in the castle?"
Seeing the grudging acceptance of her point, she added, "And I'm a bit disappointed that the two of you would think that I wouldn't know that a member of my House wasn't present at a major feast in the Great Hall."
Seeing Hermione was about to protest, she held up her hand. "I may have just taken it for granted that you were studying in the library or in the tower the countless other times you weren't present at the start of a meal, but with feasts such as Halloween, Pomona, Filius, and I were always aware of who was and wasn't present."
Looking down at the parcel she was still holding, Minerva smiled again as she shifted it from under her arm to holding it in front of her.
"Speaking of presents, however …" Holding the brightly wrapped parcel out to Hermione, she smiled warmly.
"I was coming by today to congratulate you on your big day and find myself in the position of being upstaged by young Harry. Again."
As Hermione blushed, Harry turned and stared at her in disbelief. "It's your birthday?"
Nodding, Hermione leaned over and kissed Harry warmly on the cheek.
"It is, but I think I've got a much better reason to celebrate. I'd forgotten all about it until Minerva just mentioned it." Turning her attention to her favorite professor from her school days, she beamed.
"I was wondering what you were doing when you first walked in," Hermione began. Seeing the skeptical look on the older witch's face and hearing the laughter from her mother, she rolled her eyes.
"I'm capable of being embarrassed and wondering why someone has a package at the same time," she grumbled as Harry leaned over and returned the kiss. Turning to Harry, she mock scolded him, pointing her finger at him with a severe look on her face.
"And I don't want to hear anything about you forgetting to get me a present. Lollygagging around for the past three weeks is no excuse, Mister Potter."
"Actually," Harry drawled while looking down his nose at her in a very bad imitation of Draco from back in the day, "if you would bother to check with the concierge of your hotel in Barbados, you'll find that your present is waiting for you." Looking over at the enchanted sundial on the wall of his room, he shrugged. "Though they might not appreciate a floo call right now, it's about four thirty in the morning by my calculation there."
Stunned, Hermione sat back and stared at Harry in disbelief. Not quite knowing what to say, she simply stared at him until he blushed and began speaking.
"You were going to be gone, and the betting was better than even that your …" Pausing for a second, Harry shrugged and continued. "… that Ron wouldn't remember this time, so I thought that if I Had something delivered early enough, it'd give him time to get you something before dinner."
Taking a deep breath in through her nose, Hermione closed her eyes for a moment. Opening them, she looked up at Helen, who was desperately trying not to laugh at the look on hers and Harry's faces. Exhaling, she closed her eyes again.
"Would everyone except for Harry step back out into the corridor for a moment?" Not hearing anyone moving, Hermione opened her eyes again and looked around.
"I know that Harry promised everyone that we'd behave and allow you to poke and prod us to your heart's content, and I do realize it's a bit rude to just chuck everyone out into the corridor, but I really need to discuss something with Harry and since he finally decided to rejoin us, now seems like the perfect moment."
Giving everyone the look that was capable of clearing the library at Hogwarts in two seconds flat, Hermione kept her face turned away from Harry as everyone exited the room. Seeing the knowing look on Minerva's face, Hermione nodded slightly as the older witch pulled the door closed behind her.
Taking her wand back from Harry without a word, Hermione silently locked the door and then put up a battery of privacy charms before turning back to Harry.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she pulled one leg up and tucked it under the other as she carefully placed her wand between them. Reaching over and taking both of Harry's hands in hers, she began speaking very softly.
"You went out of your way to try to idiot proof my birthday by arranging things so my soon to be idiot husband would have one last reminder to either get me something or plan something for me. Even though you thought that my marrying him was one of the three biggest mistakes in my life, you went to the trouble of sending a gift four thousand miles just to keep me from missing my birthday?"
Not knowing quite what to say, Harry smiled warily and nodded slowly.
"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of I'd not forgotten your birthday once I knew when it was, so I was going to get my gift out of the way early so as to not interfere with whatever Ron may or may not have planned." Unable to keep a straight face through that, Harry smiled at the look on Hermione's face.
"It's possible that he was going to plan something special once you two got to the island."
"Harry James Potter, now is not the time for us to start shading or bending the truth with each other," she began. Holding his eyes with hers for a moment, Hermione conceded his point.
"Since I can't say it's categorically impossible that Ronald would have independently remembered my birthday for once, I'll concede it's possible." Seeing the smirk on his face, she added, "Not very probable, but possible."
"What am I going to do with you?"
Hermione's question threw Harry for a loop. Not expecting that, he stared at her, waiting for her to continue.
"Harry, my wedding got interrupted by a phoenix and a Neo-Death Eater attack. The betting line against either happening at a wedding is astronomical, not to mention both."
Taking a deep breath, she glared at him, daring him to disagree before continuing. "Three weeks ago I was standing in front of most of our friends, in a wedding dress no less, prepared to marry the wrong man because I was too much of a coward to tell the one I did love that I loved him."
Looking a bit too maniacal for Harry's peace of mind, Hermione let go of Harry's hand and gestured wildly around the room.
"You spent three weeks in a coma after jumping in front of me to take a curse that most likely would have killed me, and the timing and method of you waking up leads me to the conclusion that I've joined you in being Fate's puppy's favorite chew toy."
Trying not to smirk at Hermione bringing up Luna's explanation for why things happened to him, Harry just nodded, waiting for Hermione to get back to her original question.
"Harry, I'm scared. Since it seems inevitable that we're going to spend the rest of our lives together, what the bloody hell happens next?"
Reaching over, Harry placed his arms around her, pulling her onto his lap. As she collapsed forward and onto him, he wrapped her in a hug and held her tightly.
"Hermione, other than we ask Minerva and Helen what would be the appropriate amount of time to wait before announcing that we're getting married, I'm not certain."
Feeling her react to his mentioning getting married, Harry chuckled.
"That is, if you want to marry me. I can understand if you're a bit off on this whole married thing, we can just put your stuff back at Grimmauld Place or Potter Hall and play this whole thing by ear for a while until you're ready."
Pulling herself up, Hermione stared at Harry in disbelief. "Harry, if you want to be the one to tell my father, the former Royal Marine, that we're going to shack up and live in sin …"
"We've been living in the same house since we left Hogwarts, and he's been fine with it."
"I've been living in a separate house from my boyfriend or fiancé for the past five years," Hermione countered. "Daddy knew that you'd never do anything while Ronald was in the picture. Now …" Trailing off again, she smiled at the blush that was creeping up on his cheeks.
"I think that the situation is a bit different and Daddy is not going to be amused by his only daughter being, …" Pausing for a moment she started laughing as she remembered Ron's standby.
"He's not going to take it well that you're treating his darling daughter like a 'scarlet woman'."
Thinking for a moment, Harry rolled his eyes. "We'll leave handling Alex to Helen, she's the expert." Looking at Hermione suspiciously, Harry chuckled. "Let me guess. Your stuff is still in your rooms at Grimmauld Place, right?"
"There and at Potter Hall," was Hermione's exasperated reply. "Ron and I were still arguing about finding a place of our own, we'd decided to wait until after we'd gotten back from the honeymoon."
"Ron was still pushing to buy the Kellerman place?" Seeing the exasperated look on Hermione's face, Harry sighed. "It's a quarter mile from the Burrow, why was he thinking it was a good place for a newly married couple to set up housekeeping?"
"Because it was a quarter mile from the Burrow," was Hermione's response. "For all of his complaining that his mother wouldn't let him live his own life, I think Ron was hoping that close proximity to Molly would have encouraged me to be a bit more … domestic."
Seeing the grimace on Harry's face, Hermione chuckled. "I know, but we don't have to deal with that not."
Taking her wand back up, she waved it lazily, cancelling the spells and allowing it to swing open. Seeing that her mother and Minerva were waiting, almost patiently, she smiled.
"Drag everyone in, if the mediwitches and healers can be content to poke and prod one of us at a time, the other will tell the story."
2045 - 19 September, 2003 – Room 611 – The Lily Potter Dark Arts Trauma Ward - St. Mungo's, London
Sitting back against the head of the bed, Hermione was sleeping with her head on Harry's chest when the door quietly opened. Looking up, Harry smiled as he saw Luna wink at him from the doorway.
"I was going to wish the Birthday Girl a 'Happy Birthday', but it seems you wore her out," Luna began airily as she walked over to the bed. Ignoring the blush on Harry's cheeks, Luna leaned over and kissed him on his cheek as Hermione stirred fitfully.
Walking around the bed, so she was on the side Hermione's legs weren't hanging over Harry's lap on; Luna made herself to home on the edge of Harry's bed. Smiling at the sight of Harry and Hermione together like that, Luna sighed.
"I told the children that you'd be back today, you know," Luna began. Seeing the shocked look on Harry's face, Luna chuckled.
"You haven't missed her birthday since third year, I don't think. Why on earth would you let a little thing like a mysterious dark curse and a totally undiagnosed magical coma stop you?"
Looking more curious than shocked, Harry tilted his head to the side as he gently stroked Hermione's back. "Did you 'know', or was that wishful thinking?"
"Does it matter," Luna replied guilelessly, her eyes open wide. "I set out some candied pineapple for Fawkes to thank him on buying you enough time and stopping the wedding."
"How did Teddy and Victoire take the news I was back?" Harry and Hermione had both wanted their godson to be brought to the hospital, but Chastity had wanted to wait until tomorrow when Harry was scheduled to be released.
"Victoire's a bit like her aunt," Luna began nodding at Hermione who was still sleeping peacefully. "She's a bit skeptical about you just deciding to wake up on her aunt's birthday, but Teddy thinks it's all a big prank you planned to make his Uncle Ron go away."
Blushing, Harry placed a gentle kiss on Hermione's head before turning his attention back to Luna.
"I wish I could take credit for it, but truth be told I was going to let her walk away and make a mistake," Harry began. Seeing the understanding look in Luna's eyes, Harry leaned his head back.
"What do I do now," Harry asked while staring at the ceiling of the darkened room.
"Other than marry her," was Luna's response. Chuckling as Harry whipped his head around to stare at her; Luna pulled her wand out from behind her ear and began twirling her long blonde hair around it.
"It's going to be a bit awkward no matter when you do it, so you might as well ask her and pick the day the two of you want," she began. Seeing the suspicious look on Harry's face, she smirked.
"Harry, the 'wedding of the decade' got interrupted by a phoenix and a Neo-Death Eater attack. You ended up in the hospital in some sort of mysterious coma saving Hermione's life. Hermione hasn't left the hospital since she walked in wearing a wedding dress three weeks ago, and now the two of you are going to leave, hand in hand, tomorrow."
Sniggering as Harry tried to face palm without waking Hermione, Luna continued on.
"Of course it's going to be awkward. The Daily Prophet is better than they used to be, but they haven't had something like this land in their laps since Rita Skeeter was writing those tacky stories about Hermione leading both you and Viktor on back during the tournament."
Pausing for a second to let that bit sink in, and to give Hermione a chance to decide whether or not she was going to let Harry know she was awake, Luna continued in a way too chipper voice.
"And I have it from an excellent source that tomorrow's edition of Witch Weekly is going to feature a behind the scenes story by Pansy about how the two of you have been shamelessly carrying on behind Ronald's back for the past year paired with a reader's write-in poll about where the two of you should spend your honeymoon."
Before Harry could stop himself, he started answering. "Oh, that's just bloody great. We're getting painted as the bad guys by the bint that Ron was with on Hermione's birthday …"
Breaking off, Harry looked down to see that Hermione was staring up at him with a sad smile on her face. As she set up, she stretched and nodded to Luna before picking up where Harry left off.
"Dear, I think you were going to say that we're going to be pilloried by the witch who was polishing my boyfriend's broom last year on my birthday after that pantsing his sister gave him in the Harpies / Cannons game earlier that day." Chuckling ruefully, Hermione leaned over and kissed Luna on the cheek before whispering something in her ear.
As Luna's eyes got even wider, Hermione sat back and wrapped her arms around Harry.
"I'll admit I'm not the biggest quidditch fan, but even I know that letting your baby sister score twenty-two goals on you in twenty minutes isn't a good thing." Huffing for a second as she remembered Ron not making it to the party that Harry and Ginny had thrown for her later that day, she sighed.
"I suppose Pansy's a bit like Ronald in that respect, neither one can keep anything out of the goal."
Her deadpan delivery caught both Harry and Luna off guard, and it was several seconds before they both began laughing hysterically. Luna was doing a repeat of the trip on the Hogwarts Express years ago and was repeating 'can't keep it out of her goal' over and over again.
Harry was laughing so hard that it set off a few of the monitoring charms and a pair of mediwitches were standing in the door, staring in disbelief, within moments.
When the three were finally back under some semblance of control, and the mediwitches were assured that Harry was none the worse for wear from his little outburst, the two staff members made their way out of the room leaving the three friends alone.
"I've talked to Alex and Helen this afternoon," Luna began with an air of seriousness. "They've agreed that between the three of us we can make certain Teddy's taken care of."
Seeing the blank looks on their faces, Luna rolled her eyes. "Your honeymoon. Surely you're not thinking about taking Teddy along on your honeymoon? You'll scar the poor boy for life." Pausing for a second, she smirked. "Of course, since Victoire will insist on coming with him, it might be more educational than traumatic for him."
"Luna, the boy's six and she's five. I seriously doubt …" Stopping at the incredulous look on Luna's face, Hermione turned to Harry for backup. Seeing that he was nodding in agreement, she rolled her eyes.
"Our son is not coming along on our honeymoon and if he was, he's certainly not bringing his girlfriend. And that doesn't even begin to address the fact that the two of them are much too young to be thinking of them like that."
Closing her eyes and sounding like her father had back when Helen had broken the fact that it was evident Hermione was in love with Harry from her letters home when she was thirteen, Hermione said. "I'm not going to discuss this until he's much older."
Looking a bit wary, Harry smiled nervously. "Hermione, Victoire's a Veela like her mother. And French to boot." Seeing the look on her face, Harry chuckled. "You remember that story Gabby was telling …"
Trailing off, Harry gulped at the look on Hermione's face when he mentioned the younger Delacour who had had a crush on him since he had rescued her from Black Lake during the ill-fated Tri Wizard Tournament. Shaking his head, Harry smiled at Luna.
"You were saying that you would be able to take care of Teddy for us while we're gone?"
Snickering at the looks Hermione was shooting both of them, Luna nodded eagerly. "Helen and I agreed that while Petunia would be more than willing, having a six year old metamorph running around the house might be a bit much for her to explain. Once he learns to remember what color his hair is when he shows up …"
Trailing off, Luna smiled as she could see that the two were lost in a silent conversation between just the two of them. Quietly getting up from the bed, she shook her head as she made her way to the door. As she was putting her hand on the door handle, she paused as Hermione's voice broke the silence in the room.
"You wouldn't mind stopping by the Matron's station and letting them know that I'll be keeping an eye on Harry' vitals for the next little bit?"
"No problem, I'll just let them know that all of their monitoring charms are about to go silent. I imagine it would be terribly embarrassing in about ten minutes if they came barging in, thinking Harry's heart had stopped."
Closing the door behind her, Luna could feel the locking and privacy charms taking effect on the door. Smirking, she cast a variety of the Notice Me Not charm on the door to Room 611 and turned to look at the red-haired wizard sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting area.
"Well?" Looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes that would have done Dumbledore proud, back in the day, George Weasley watched his friend carefully.
"If anyone's got before nine in the pool, we have a winner," was Luna's reply as she walked over to him.
Getting up and stretching, George chuckled as he looked over where Room 611 was. Seeing the confused faces on the mediwitches at the Matron's station, he gestured gallantly to Luna.
"Shall we? It looks as if the staff is a bit perplexed why one of their rooms just disappeared on them."
"We shall," was Luna's reply. Looking at George out of the corner of her eye, she grinned. "Side bets on whether or not they announce the wedding before or after lunch tomorrow?"
"No dice," was George's begrudging reply. "I still owe you ten galleons over Fawkes showing up at the wedding." Looking at her, he waited patiently while she explained things to the mediwitches about their 'patients'. When both of them were still a bit confused, but accepting of the fact that Room 611 was going to be under a 'Do Not Disturb' for the rest of the night, they turned and headed for the lift.
As they waited for the lift, Luna looked up at George and rolled her eyes. "And before you ask, I had no idea about the Neo-Death Eaters. Yes, I bribed a phoenix to crash the wedding with candied pineapple. You and I both know that it had to be done and Fawkes knew it was wrong, so it only took a little persuasion to get him to help."
Shaking her head, she looked a bit worried as they entered the empty lift.
"Neo-Death Eaters showing up trying to kill the bride? Didn't see that one coming at all."