Marry Me Harry

Chapter 4

Lying comfortably on his back, Harry still had his eyes closed and his mind only half awake, as he began to stretch, spreading him self spread eagle as he did almost every morning; that was when something warm and soft to the touch stopped his movement and his brain finally woke up.

Memories of the night before pleasantly drifted into and out of his mind, the memories came randomly and with out sequence, pictures of a beautiful Hermione drifted in front of his closed eyes, pictures of the look of discomfort she had had for a few seconds as he made love to her for the first time, pictures of her smile as she had whispered good night some hours later, all drifted in and out of his mind.
The feeling of the pleasure in thinking she was now his woman gave him filled his heart till he thought he would burst, and then the knowledge that he could never live without her again, he could never look at another woman the same way ever again filled his mind, suddenly he knew he was in love with her, deeply and totally.

Last night had woken up and released deep hidden dormant, sleeping feelings he had for his best friend, some where in his heart she had waited patiently seemingly just for the night that last night was. The night she had agreed to marry him as soon as they had the rings.

'Oh my! I'm really truly IN love with her,' he thought as his hand rested gently on her side.

Harry sat up as the realisation really hit him, he had known last night that he loved her, he had since the day they became friends, then when he had seen her in the shower as a sixteen year old, that love had changed, he then loved her as a boy loves a girl, when he had buried those feelings he had never thought they would change, even when those feelings had been released they had still been the love of a sixteen year old boy for a girl he had seen naked in the shower.

Now as his hand rested against her, feeling the warmth of her body, the body that she had so willingly given to him just a few hours ago, realising he had fallen in love with her again, and yet having loved her without knowing for all these years, this time he was in love with the woman he had been blind too for so long, and it warmed his heart and filled him with a strange sensation of fulfilment and contented happiness.

Harry crept from the bed room, jumping for joy as he walked to the stairs, there was a new lightness to his steps as he slipped into the kitchen and prepared their breakfast, he was still skipping like a young child when he took the huge tray with two breakfasts up to Hermione's room.
She was just waking as he entered the room, a small smile turning her face radiant in the morning light.

"You know last night when I said I loved you, well I was wrong," he said as he placed the tray on the bed.

He was a little surprised when she looked up and her smile had vanished, but like most men he had no idea why so he just continued.

"What I should have said is that I am IN love with you, before I loved you as a memory of a sixteen year old beauty, but I realised I am in love with you, not Hermione the naked teenager, but Hermione the woman that has always taken care of me, I think I was totally stupid to walk around being so blind to the fact that I have always been in love with you."

Harry plonked himself down on the bed suddenly grinning like a little boy, "As soon as you finish breakfast we will go buy those wedding rings, and pop over to see Arthur," he said bouncing up and down a little, unable to keep his good mood under control.

Hermione chuckled with relief as she watched him acting like a school boy again; she hadn't seen that side of him since just before Sirius died. Pulling the tray over she nodded her agreement to going out shopping, and began her breakfast in bed.

Standing in the shower Hermione wondered if she had possibly conceived, or if she hadn't how long would it take before she did, she knew that everything inside was working well, thanks to a visit to her healer to ask about having her first child at 28.
She had no intention of using a contraception charm or potion, not now she had promised Harry she would give him the family he so wanted.
By the time she had finished her shower she knew she wanted children just as much as Harry did, she had just never let her self admit it before, now she was sure that was one of the subconscious reasons she had asked him to marry her.

Their shopping trip in search of wedding rings was placed into her hands by Harry, giving her the choice of what kind of ring she wanted, after visiting several different jewellery shops, they eventually found them selves back in the first shop they had tried. Hermione then purchased a pair of wide gold wedding rings both engraved with the Gryffindor crest, she had them both engraved inside with the words, 'love released at last'.

Arthur Weasley was the sole occupant of the Burrow since his family had all gone off to live their own lives, his wife Molly had died a few years before, he was convinced she died from a broken heart caused when their only daughter died. His only regular visitors were Harry and Hermione; they still called in to the Burrow on the first Sunday of the month, a ritual that had begun when they left Hogwarts school as students for the last time and carried on every month except the year they had defeated evil.
Arthur himself had retired from his work at the ministry and now spent most of his days raising animals, the Burrow having been converted into a small but rather lucrative farm.

Arthur Weasley had quite surprised himself when he had first had the idea to turn to farming, it had just been something to keep himself busy, keep his mind off his loss, the surprise had been in just how good he actually was at farming.

So on that Saturday morning Arthur Weasley was pleasantly surprised by a visit from his almost adopted children Harry and Hermione, he loved them just as he had loved all his children, he knew there had to be a good reason for them to visit, normally they only came on the Sunday, so he welcomed them with the question of "Why the pleasant surprise kids?"

Hermione with a little input from Harry explained that they wanted to get married and they wondered if he as a registered ministry bonder would do the ceremony for them, and as they wished to keep it as private as possible they wanted to know if he would be willing to let them get married at the Burrow.

The wedding took place on the Sunday of the following week end with only a handful of trusted friends as guests invited.

They had only been married for three months when Hermione slipped away from work one morning and went to visit her healer, on returning to work that afternoon Hermione Jane Potter knew for certain that she was pregnant.

Harry having lost Ginny in child birth was anything but calm during the following months, when Hermione confronted him and told him the chances of the same thing happening again were so slim as to be almost none existent, Harry confessed to her that although he had in some way loved Ginny, it was nothing like the all consuming love he had for her.

"You Hermione mean the whole world to me, and if I had to I would willingly live my life without children just as long as I could be with you."

Harry had no need to worry, on the 20th May almost to the exact date her healer had told her she would, Hermione Potter gave birth to a little girl.
Harry Potter sat on Hermione's bed in St Mungo's with a few tears falling down his cheeks as he held his daughter, her bushy black hair stuck up at all angles, and as he looked down at the first of his five children, Harry Potter felt an overwhelming love for his wife and child, it was a kind of love he had never known before, and he suddenly thought that Arthur Weasley may well have been right when he said Molly had died of a broken heart.

Harry gave his wife's hand a gentle squeeze as he watched his great grandchildren, all twenty nine of them as they lined up to file past and give him a handshake or a kiss on his wrinkled cheek before giving Hermione a kiss and a hug, there was always a hug for the Potter matriarch, then taking their seats waiting for the celebration of their great grand parents anniversary to get underway, it took several minutes before Harry and Hermione had kissed and hugged their way through all their family.

"So my love any regrets about that day you asked me to marry you?" he asked his wife of a hundred years.

"Just the one Harry darling, I just regret having left it so late before I asked you, we could have had another ten years together, and who knows maybe even more babies," she replied smiling at him as she started to cut the cake.

Harry winked and leaning over he whispered in her ear "Maybe we're not too old to try again."

Hermione chuckled as she gave his hand a squeeze "Not tonight my love, but then again who knows?"

Harry looked around at his now large family their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and thanked who ever was in charge of the universe for putting Hermione in his life, thanked them for the woman who had been either his best friend, his lover, or his wife since he was eleven years old, she had been his everything and she was the reason he was still alive and for that he was so grateful, and for her love, for that he would be grateful for all eternity.

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