A LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

Chapter 4

Harry was brushing his teeth before the dirt flecked mirror lazily. It was a blissful day, as the other Healers would be filling in for him. He had one day of rest, which he intended to use for that purpose only. He rinsed his mouth, and splashed his weary face with water, wondering if his life would've been any different, if he and Ginny hadn't broken up.

It was a simple thing, actually. They'd wanted different things with their lives, and suddenly the war wasn't there anymore, and there was no adrenalin or fear coursing through his veins, unless he was trying to save a patient's life. Ginny had wanted some excitement, the firecracker that she was, and he simply hadn't been up for it. She was holidaying somewhere in Tokyo, last he'd heard from her, and he was genuinely happy for his first love.

The Weasleys were still family to him, and Molly was still a doting mother, despite his break-up with her daughter. She helped immensely with Teddy whenever Harry was in charge of him, and also ensured that he didn't forget to feed himself by sending him timely reminders every day.

It was then that his doorbell rang, and he opened the door to see Mary Macdonald standing before him in an oversized jumper over tights, a bright green scarf wrapped around her neck, her wavy dark hair all over the place, holding a big container of something that smelled great.

'Hey, Harry,' she said, brightly, a greeting he returned enthusiastically.

'Come on in,' he said, ushering her inside and beaming when she handed him the box.

'They're chocolate-chip cookies,' she said. 'Made them myself. Thought I'd give you some.'

'Well, that's incredibly sweet of you, Mary. Here, have a seat. Would you like something to drink?'

'Um, no that's quite alright.'

He took a seat on the high backed sofa-chair opposite her, and said, 'I think it should've been me bringing you a gift, seeing as how you're the one who's just moved in.' He chuckled. 'But then, I'd probably be getting you cookies from a store, seeing as how I'm useless with anything to do with making food, even with magic.'

She grinned. 'That's fine. Plus, you're a Healer, so I reckon you hardly have time to breathe, let alone waste away operating an oven.'

He nodded his head sheepishly, shooting her a smile.

No one spoke for a bit, but Mary stared at him, until he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

She laughed nervously. 'I'm sorry, it's just that…you just look so much like…' she trailed off, looking away.

'Yeah,' Harry replied, his voice catching. 'I know.'

'They were wonderful people, Harry,' she said, turning to look at him again, and he noticed that her eyes had pooled with bright, shiny tears, just shy of cascading down cheeks that had turned rosy from the cold. 'And they were great parents to you,' she continued, and he smiled warmly.

'You know, Lilly had always wanted a girl?' she said, and his eyes widened.

'Not that she was not thrilled to have you,' Mary rectified hastily. 'But she had always wanted a pretty little baby girl, with eyes like James' and hair like hers. Her brains, and her attitude, she would joke.'

Harry, dumbstruck, didn't know what to say. This was new. He didn't know things like these about his parents. What they'd liked to eat, what music they'd liked, what they'd given each other for birthdays and anniversaries…nothing. Remus and Sirius had been with him, and Merlin knows what he'd have done without their support, but in the middle of fighting a war against the darkest wizard of all time, there had hardly been any time for chit-chat.

And God, how he wanted to talk about his parents. He had an inkling that Hermione would refer to this as an unhealthy obsession, but Harry always thought that sometimes, Hermione used her brain much more than her heart. Sure, he was thirty, and didn't crave for parental guidance like he had when he'd been younger, but somewhere, he still felt that he'd been robbed of a huge chunk of what could've been his life, had his parents been around.

'Please,' he found himself whispering, tears gathering in his sharp green eyes as Mary wiped at hers. 'Tell me more,' he said, like a man who had been roaming about in the desert sands, desperate for a drink of water to survive, and had suddenly found an oasis brimming with his life.

Hermione looked up from the pile of paperwork on her desk when she heard a rap on her door. Her hair was in a mess as always, and her eyes were half-lidded with exhaustion, but her face brightened in a second when she saw the man who was soon going to be her husband, leaning against the door to her cabin.

'Hey there, beautiful,' he said, walking forward to spin her chair around and kiss her soundly, in a way that always managed to take her breath away.

She chuckled, nestling her nose into his neck. 'I've been working for three hours straight, my hair's its usual frizzy self, my face is stained with ink, and my breath probably smells of the onion sandwich I had for lunch.' She looked up, and smirked. 'I hardly think you need to suck up to me anymore, now that I've said I'll marry you.'

He laughed and kissed her forehead. 'You could be reeking of piss, Granger, and you'd still be the most beautiful woman in the world to me. Now, what say we shut up this monstrosity you're working on, and head back home?'

She sighed. 'I can't, Theo. I need to hand these in to Kingsley by tomorrow morning.'

He huffed and dragged the chair kept opposite her desk to where she sat, and straddled it, resting his chin on his hands.

'I knew there'd be some setbacks to becoming right-hand of the bloody Minster,' he muttered sullenly, and she laughed and kissed him on his cheek, a huge burst of emotion welling up inside of her for this wonderful, kind man.

'I'm sorry, darling, but you know I've to work hard to keep up the job.'

'Oh, you and I both know, Hermione, that if you asked, he'd gladly let you work from home and come in once a week, just to say hello. You're kind of indispensible to the man, but you don't see so.'

'Be that as it may, taking advantage of the situation would be wrong, Theo, and you know that. Besides, you're the Slytherin, not me,' she added playfully, which elicited a little smile from him.

'How was work today?' she asked him, as he lifted her feet onto his lap and started massaging them, despite her insistence that this qualified as inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

'Same old, same old,' Theo yawned. 'Yelled at Grisham for being incompetent, then yelled at Bareiles for being slow, and then yelled at Miffsy for being a clutz and falling into a ditch type of thing and hurting herself.'

Hermione frowned. Theo was the head of a business he'd started five years ago, and they were involved in restoration and installation of safety measures in buildings in wizarding London. It was shocking to see that half the buildings in magical London were falling apart, simply because the wizards or witches who'd made them had forgotten to re-strengthen the spells holding them up. They were slated to begin working on the Ministry of Magic building from next month, and that made her happy, because it meant that she'd be seeing more of him, and God knows she never got enough of Theodore Nott.

'Don't get too angry, now,' he said, when he noticed her frown. 'I apologized for being an arse at the end of the day, and gave them all bonuses.'

She chuckled. This was one of the reasons she'd fallen in love with him. Though he was still a spoilt rich boy, at heart, he was a good man, who was considerate, and actually cared about the needs and feelings of others.

She smacked his arm when his hands, that had been massaging her feet, started travelling up under her skirt, and he guffawed.

'You honestly can't blame me, Hermione. You look nothing short of delectable in this grey skirt – you know it's my favourite – and besides, it's been ages!'

'Stop whining, you big lug,' she smiled. 'We had sex just this morning!'

'Yes,' Theo said. 'Like I said, that was ages ago. Now, if you don't start clearing up to head home, I'm afraid I'm going to have to bend you over this table right now, and show you just how much I mean my threats.'

She shrieked when he started shuffling papers off her desk, and bounded up from her chair, grabbing her bag and keys. 'Okay, fine. I'm coming, I'm coming.'

'Good,' he said, and shot her a grin, when she slapped him lightly in the arm for pushing her around. He brought her left hand up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles tenderly, rubbing at it affectionately and admiring the ring that sat on her finger.

'I can't tell you how happy I am, love,' he said, and she smiled, capturing him in a hug, one he returned all too happily, turning his face around to kiss her. 'I can't wait to do this for the rest of my life. Now let's get you out of here and put some food in your stomach.'

In their happy little bubble, they didn't see the man who had been lingering outside Hermione's office, who'd come for the purpose of taking her out to dinner himself, but who now walked back towards the elevators, running a hand through his shocking blonde hair resignedly.

Ron had been snoring on his desk, when Malfoy strode into his office and whacked him on the head with a calculator.

'OW!' He exclaimed. 'What was that for, you bitch?'

'Stop sleeping at work, and come have dinner with me.'

Ron brightened visibly at the prospect of dinner, and wiped the drool off his chin.

'Sorry, mate. I promised mum I'd be at the Burrow today. She said she has something important to talk to me about.'

Malfoy huffed and walked out Ron's cabin in a pissy mood, and Ron shrugged. The way he saw it, he was the one who got to behave all crappy, considering he'd been robbed just two weeks ago.

He shook his head as he cleared up and headed into the elevator. He really needed to be more careful about whom he trusted. He still had some feelings for Hannah, and he was trying to make up for that by desperately searching for a new girl, because despite what people thought, Ron wasn't stupid. He knew how he functioned, and he knew that he was one of those people who were absolutely in their worst form when alone.

But, he thought, as he apparated to the Burrow, maybe it was time to lay off girls for a bit, as Draco and Harry suggested, and take some time to figure out what he really wanted.

Ron burped contentedly as he sat down on the sofa before the fireplace, happy because of the hearty and delicious meal he'd just consumed. His parents took the seat beside him, and his mother kept fussing with his hair, and only stopped when he shot her a look.

Percy's daughter, Molly, who was a little over four, was also visiting because her parents had gone into muggle London to watch a concert or something that he could imagine only boring Percy and boring Audrey doing. Little Molly squealed and jumped into her uncle's lap, who let out a painful "OOF" at the force, but nonetheless accommodated her and started running a hand over her hair affectionately.

'Ron,' his mother said, gingerly. 'We know what happened to you.'

Ron's eyes widened. He hadn't told his parents about his little tryst with Annie. He internally groaned. Now, he'd never hear the end of it.

'Yes,' Arthur added. 'We're very sorry to hear about you and Hannah, son.'

Ron relaxed. It was just about his break-up with Hannah. He could deal with that. They'd probably all mope around for an hour or so, and then he'd be back in his little flat, where his bed would call out to him temptingly, beckoning him for a night of undisturbed sleep.

'And,' Molly continued, 'I want to let you know that you mustn't be disheartened. Padma Patil's mother called me yesterday, and she said that she's been looking for a boy to get her lovely daughter married off to, and yes, even though we don't really believe in arranging marriages of our children, in your case, we think it'd be good if you just met with her again, you know.'

Ron did nothing but stare at his mother, before saying, 'Not a chance in hell that's happening.'

'But why?' his mother screeched, now quite angry. What happened, Ron thought, to not forcing your children? She'd probably emotionally blackmail him a thousand times to the moon until he agreed to meet with Patil.

'Why? Have you forgotten what happened at the Yule ball, mother? Padma hates me! And I don't need to marry anyone right now, God!'

'Listen, son,' Arthur said, calmly, but Molly cut in, wildly.

'You know what, Ron? I'm not asking you to marry her, for God's sake. I just want you to meet her. Who knows, you two might hit it off! That ball was ages ago, you know. And don't give me rubbish, young man, because I know that you aren't averse to meeting a girl and having a relationship, I'm your mother!'

She continued. 'I don't know what's going to happen to my family, Arthur. Charlie refuses to marry, Arthur! He refuses. His younger brother has a daughter, and he just laughs whenever I bring the issue up. Fred is still fooling around here and there, and don't even get me started on your daughter. Traipsing off all over the world, sending me postcards with a different boy in the picture every week!'

She turned to Ron. 'And you! You will not fail me, do you hear? I don't care if I have to drag you there myself, but you will meet with Padma and get to know her better. That's final. Now wait here, I'll get you some hot cocoa.'

And with that, Ron wondered, how a day that had started out so normally, had ended on such a horrific note as this, as he was suctioned into yet another one of his mother's master-plans. So much for his plans of laying off girls and "discovering himself."

A/N – Thanks to all those who reviewed Chapter 3! Your feedback is what keeps me going.

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