Hi guys whoo 2 chapters in a week, I'm on a roll :) Or mabe I'm just geting better to manage my time lol :P ATM I'm writing this (as with all of my stories) with no BETA. Any takers drop me a message :)
Dinomus - Yep Hermione's family will be making an appearance I'm just not telling you when :p As for Remus and Tonks etc. I'm not sure atm but it's highly likely (I love Remus and Tonks) :)
KawaiiChibiWolf - Thanks :) I loved that part too :)
Togepi - Thanks for your comments... and I actually was just thinking the same, just a case of when lol :P
Many many many thanks to everypne else who has R&R'd, I'm just sorry that I can't speak to you all! My target now is to get 200 reviews by chapter 10. As a special reward if this target is reached I will send the 200th reviewer an incy wincy spoiler from one of the later chapters ;)
Please please please R&R! It makes me feel good inside :)
Any questions or ideas let me know, you never know I might just use them ;)
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR and publishers. *sob* Kudos to majorgtpie for the original plot bunny :)
Despite being completely worn out Hermione woke up early the next morning and, with nothing better to do until Lily woke up, she decided to test herself on how much she remembered of Harry's tour by finding her way to the kitchen. It was a room that Harry had vaguely mentioned but informed her that she would never need to go in there since the house elves did all the cooking and cleaning around the house. She frowned, thinking about his casual tone as he said this and decided to ignore him, intent on making her own breakfast. Employing house elves was just a modern day version of slave labour and it was something that Hermione couldn't adhere to.
At first she was happy that she had managed to find the kitchen in this large house yet as soon as she had stepped through the door she had been swarmed by several house elves with cries of `Mistress need not be in here.' `Mistress' breakfast is already cooked.' `Is Mistress lost?' `Did Mistress not like the food?' Then before she could even utter a single word she had been rushed out of the kitchen and into the dining room.
"I'll be making my own breakfast tomorrow." She called through the door, though she wasn't sure they could hear her through the thick oak. She turned away and immediately regretted it at the sight of a laughing Harry flipping through the morning paper.
"You don't like your breakfast? It looks untouched." He commented grinning up at her as he indicated an untouched plate across from him.
"I didn't realize they'd cooked." Hermione huffed, sitting down in the seat offered.
Harry shrugged, returning to his paper. "I told you yesterday they do all the cooking."
"I was hoping I was up early enough to make my own."
"They wake extremely early and know the instant you leave your bed. You'll never beat `em down here. So why, may I ask, do you want to make your own breakfast when they'll gladly do it for you."
Hermione had been picking at her breakfast when she heard this and immediately stopped, gobsmacked that he would even need to ask. "Because I don't support slave labour."
"Slave labour?"
"Yes, slave labour, I bet you don't pay them or give them proper credit for what they do."
Harry sighed, "They don't want to be paid, they're bloody house elves."
"You think just because they're not people they don't want to be paid or receive proper accreditation for what they do." Hermione growled, feeling her face heat up in anger.
"Of course I don't. I have offered to pay them, but they just won't accept it. Go ask them if you don't believe me. They'll only tell you the same. Dobby is the only elf that that wants to be paid and he is. He gets vacation time and everything. I'm not some tyrannical monster that just walks all over his employees."
"You don't exactly make it difficult to believe you are though." Hermione muttered.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Harry snapped, he was getting angry now. What was this woman bi-polar?
"It means . . ." Hermione began but was cut off mid shout by Ginny storming in and throwing a newspaper in front of them.
"Harry James Potter have you seen the paper?" Ginny yelled, her face was almost as red as her hair.
Harry sighed but rolled his eyes in amusement. "Well, yes actually I found it quite amusing." Harry grinned, turning to Hermione. "What do you think of it dear?"
Hermione growled under her breath but looked at the paper in front of them and grimaced in horror. There was a horrible picture of her looking quite terrified and flinching at the flash of the cameras. Lily's face was buried in her shoulder and Harry was beside them looking ready to kill.
She was just about to throw a scathing remark back at him when an irate Ginny beat her to it.
"Does this face look amused?" Ginny yelled pointing at her own snarling face. "No! Cause dear Merlin I am not happy! As your self-proclaimed publicist I am horrified that you didn't at least buy her a ring, Merlin Harry!"
Harry rolled his eyes and fixed her with an almost bored stare. "I didn't exactly go to England with the intention of getting married you know."
"Then you could have conjured one to stand in." Ginny barked, her hands on her hips. "Now you have to release a statement as to why she doesn't have an engagement ring on her finger, so you had better get thinking because you aren't saying it's a marriage of convenience."
"I don't have to tell them a damn thing!" Harry yelled, standing nose to nose with her now.
As Harry and Ginny continued to rage at each other Hermione's eyes skimmed the article in front of her, horrified to find it to be a bit of an attack on her and Harry's character. They had a bunch of made up theories on what was going on and most weren't very kind to her virtue. She scowled at the paper and sunk into her chair, pushing the plate of food away from her as she listened to them shout.
If it wasn't for the lack of resemblance she really would think they were brother and sister. They argued as though they were siblings. She sighed as Ginny won and told Harry he'd have an over the phone interview waiting when they got back.
This got Hermione's attention. "Back from where?"
Ginny turned to her as if she hadn't even realised that she was there. Hermione was glad to see her face was returning to its normal colour. "Back from New York City." She explained, making more notes in her notebook before using her pencil to twist her hair up into a bun. "I've set up a private meeting with one of my favourite jewellery companies so you can get your rings. The owner is a wizard so you're safe to use the floo and he knows how to keep good business so he won't sell out to the press. Be ready to go in ten minutes."
With one last acid look at Harry and a smile for Hermione she turned to leave, Harry glaring at her back. She paused at the door and consulted her notebook.
"Hurry back though Hermione," She told her, flipping through a few of the notebook's pages absentmindedly. "We're going to Milan today to do some shopping with the girls. We need to restock your wardrobe and get you some dresses for the engagement parties, something semi-formal for press interviews, some suits for the luncheons and café meetings and maybe some sun dresses too for casual afternoon outings in case the press should make an appearance." Ginny nodded to herself before flouncing out the door without looking up to see Hermione's bewildered expression.
After Ginny's grand exit the two sat in silence for a while, Harry taking a final bite out of his toast. "You're busy." He commented after swallowing the last mouthful.
"Apparently," Hermione agreed but then a sudden slightly worrying thought occurred to her. "I suppose . . . I suppose I'll have to leave Lily with you." She muttered softly.
Harry shrugged, crumpling the paper in his fist before setting it alight with a single flick of his wrist. "Yeah, so?"
"It's nothing." Hermione replied, not looking at him. "I'm just being silly."
Harry looked at for a moment, knowing exactly what her problem was. She didn't trust him with Lily. "You're going to have to get used to leaving her with me. Being my wife will probably be a twenty-four hour a day job."
"What?" This time Hermione was gobsmacked.
Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "You don't think the interviews, lunches and the rest will all go away after the wedding, do you? They'll be hounding you about everything; on being a housewife, living with Harry Potter, babies, everything."
Hermione cringed at as he spoke. "Actually, I was hoping I could get a job as an art student around here somewhere, something free-lance at least."
Harry snorted. "You won't have time. That's why you have an art room. You're not here to work, Hermione, you're here to be my wife."
"And when were you planning on telling me all this. This 'I can't work and must be a housewife' business?" Hermione retorted angrily, standing to face him, her eyes murderous.
"I just did." He told her arrogantly before throwing her one last haughty grin and striding out of the room.
Hermione glared after him and muffled a scream of frustration. `The nerve of that man! Merlin!' Sighing in defeat she stomped after him, meeting him by the living room fireplace.
"Ready?" He asked offering her his hand. She snorted and rolled her eyes, ignoring his offered hand and his loaded question.
"Ignoring me now are we?" He smirked, throwing floo powder into the fire. "You know when you play feisty it turns me on." Ignoring her death glare and indignant yell, he grabbed her arm and tugged her in, giving the name of the shop Ginny had scribbled on a piece of paper.
The minute they arrived, she jerked her arm out of his grasp and stalked forward to dust herself off. Harry just stared for a moment, watching her hands move over her breasts and hips before stepping out of the floo himself and shaking himself down.
"Oh come on, it won't be that bad. Who wants to sit around and paint all day anyway? You'd get bored with it and then your talents will go to waste because you wouldn't be passionate about the things you do have time to paint." Harry reasoned, stepping closer to her and whispering in her ear. "Besides you should keep that passion for other more enjoyable activities that we can do together." He smiled inwardly at her disgusted look and ran his hands over her hips slowly, loving the way he could so easily push her buttons.
Whirling round to face him she slapped his hands away. "Keep your hands and sordid fantasies to yourself!" She snapped in a furious whisper. "And if you think you're helping, YOU'RE NOT! So please do not speak to me for the next hour or so."
"You're going to have to talk to me. How else will I know which ring you like?" He smirked.
"Shut up." She growled, folding her arms and looking away from him.
"Why don't you make me?" He smirked, taking another step towards her as an old man entered the room and stopping her from any form of retort. She glowered at him and gave an irritated growl as the man approached smiling at them.
"Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, I've been expecting you." He smiled, shaking both their hands. " I must offer my congratulations to you both. When Ms. Weasley called me I told her I'd be delighted to do your rings. Come, come she told me you were both quite busy today so let's not waste any times. As soon as I size your fingers we'll be ready to begin."
They were ushered to a long black table in the centre of the dark room they'd flooed into. Only a bright overhead light stood over the table, probably to make the gems sparkle when shown under the bright beam. As they moved towards the table, Harry wrapped a strong arm around her waist but when the man wasn't looking Hermione smacked his arm away and sent him a warning glare.
Harry just grinned and held her chair out for her. She sat watching him suspiciously as he pushed in her chair and then proceeded to sit closer to her than she deemed necessary. She gave him a fake smile before turning away from him, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
Deciding to put on a 'happy and in love' façade Hermione plastered an excited smile on her face as the old man returned with some sizing strips and some black boxes. He took their hands one at a time into cool fingers and did the measurements while writing on a tablet.
"Right, let's take a look at these rings shall we." He grinned, flipping to a new page in his tablet before opening all the boxes one by one to reveal layers upon layers of black velvet miniature shelves of sparkling rings. "These are the best rings we have. You just choose which design you like and we can modify it in anyway."
"Oh wow! Those certainly are, um, sparkly." Hermione blinked, her eyes almost burning from the brightness. "There's nothing simpler?"
"Actually I was thinking they were a bit too small." Harry said, wrapping his arm around the back of her chair and causing Hermione to stiffen involuntarily.
Hermione looked at him in shock. "Are you joking? Those look like they cost a fortune."
"What's your point?" Harry told her, looking almost bored. "Any wife of mine's going to need something bigger than those."
The old man nodded and got up to go fetch some more boxes.
"What? No, that's . . . what are you talking about? That's not necessary. Harry you're not spending a load on this, under the circumstances that seems quite ridiculous." Hermione tried to reason with him.
"What's the point of having money if you can't spend it?" Harry said flippantly, ignoring her protests.
For a moment Hermione just stared open mouthed at him, trying to gage his seriousness. "Are you serious? You . . . you're unbelievable." Hermione scoffed throwing him a disgusted looked and shifting away from his arm.
"Yes, I've been told thought quite often." He responded with a cheeky grin, knowing she hadn't meant it that way. Hermione just stared at him with unmasked disapproval shaking her head and muttering unbelievable under her breath.
"Here you are? These are the biggest diamonds I've got." The old man smiled placing a silver box on the table and opening it up.
Hermione's mouth dropped open staring at them all, she had to admit that they were gorgeous but she knew that they would be far too expensive. Despite her reservations she felt her eyes linger on one that really caught her attention but, before she could do or say anything embarrassing she stopped herself and turned to glare at Harry.
"They're beautiful, they really are." She sighed. "But I'm not choosing one of those."
Harry rolled his eyes. 'Why must this woman be so goddamn stubborn?' "Fine, don't. I'll choose one for you." His eyes skimmed over the box for a moment then plucked one out at random. "What do you think?"
Hermione didn't respond, placing a bland expression on her face and purposely looked away.
"If you don't like it I'll choose another." Harry chided, putting the ring back in its place.
"I don't like it and I don't want another!" Hermione hissed, folding her arms in annoyance.
"Woman, you're being ridiculous."
"ME! I'm being ridiculous?" shouted Hermione, her face reddening at his accusations. "You're… you're horrible! You're just so argh!"
Harry rolled his eyes and gave the man an apologetic look.
"She just likes being difficult." He whispered, hunting for the ring he'd seen her eye linger on. When he found it, he picked it up and held it in front of her.
She gave him a stony look but her eyes couldn't help but flick to the ring and even in that split second movement he could tell that he had chosen the right one.
Harry smiled, handing the man the ring. "We'll take this one." He said. "White gold, full diamond band with two emeralds by the larger one in the centre. Inscribe 7/11/01 alongside something sentimental in it and Ginny asked that you create an entire jewellery set to match it at the wedding. Ginny will send details on the dress with all the measurements and style and all that later."
The man said nothing and began writing notes furiously as he tried to keep up with Harry's instructions. Hermione, for lack of a better word was speechless and just stared blankly at him as though he'd lost his mind. Taking in her shocked look, Harry smiled and before she could react or push him away he leant forward and kissed her gently on the lips, lingering for just a split second longer than necessary. For once she didn't react to him invading her personal space; she just sat there in shock.
"Now, you're also here for wedding bands, am I correct?" The old man asked finally done writing and flipping to a new page.
Harry nodded, "That's the plan." He said, leaning back in his chair and watching the man collect the boxes before bumbling off the fetch the wedding bands.
Once he was out of sight Harry turned to Hermione and rolled his eyes at her stony look. "Stop looking at me like that, you know you wanted the ring."
Hermione lowered her eyes, slightly ashamed that he was correct. "But it's too much to spend on one ring Harry." She whispered, wringing her hands together.
Harry's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Nothing's too much." He told her, using the arm that was wrapped around the back of her chair to rub her arm gently. "I want you to have the best."
"But Harry, how do you justify spending all that money on one ring when there are people who actually need the money?"
Harry sighed in exasperation and removed his arm. "Look I don't go around throwing money about like candy. Before I went to Hogwarts I never had a penny to my name and I now I have so much that sometimes I don't know what to do with it all. So I spend as I see fit and at the moment I see you have no diamonds. So I'm going to buy you diamonds that you can wear to some of the parties and interviews that Ginny has booked for us. And yes I'm aware people could use the money and when you've gained access to my private funds, you'll see how much of it goes to charity and whatnot."
Hermione met his gaze then and Harry was surprised to find disbelief and annoyance written on her features. "That may be true but do you actually care about what happens to it? Do you even know where it's meant to go and who it's meant to help? How do you even know that it's going to where it's meant to go anyway? Do you physically check? Tell me Harry what have you done lately to help anyone but yourself?"
"Hermione I'm an auror and I don't know if you've ever read the job description but I save people's lives all the time." Harry snapped, his patience beginning to wear thin. "But let's get something straight right now. I owe the world nothing. I've already given them my entire life from day one. I was their child prodigy, their boy wonder, the one used to make everything right in the world and there was no what Harry wants. Not once. It was what the Ministry wants and what the Ministry wants only. But now that's all changed, I'm in control now and can do whatever the hell I want, regardless of what those crackpots at the Ministry think."
Hermione raised her eyebrow, seemingly unfazed by his outburst. "If you think I'm supposed to feel sorry for you and be okay with that, you're insane. Yes, I'm sorry you were treated like a puppet for the Ministry but that doesn't mean you go around acting like the world is beneath you. It will never always be about what you want. Hasn't anyone ever told you with great power, comes great responsibility? I'd of thought by now you'd have accepted that."
Harry gave her a cold look. It was a quote that he had heard no end of times, spoken by the person he'd trusted above all. And even with all his wisdom and greatness he'd been killed, weakened by someone else's folly.
"You know nothing." He hissed. She met his eye with a defiant look.
"Then why don't you explain it to me, because all I see is a selfish boy who has yet to grow up. I know it's nothing compared to yours, but my childhood wasn't all sunshine and daises either, Harry."
Suddenly they heard a shuffle, telling them that the shop owner had returned and they broke their intense glares long enough to see a glass case being opened in front of them.
"Pick one." Harry whispered, his eyes not leaving her face.
Hermione gave him one last hard look before turning to the case. She couldn't be bothered to argue with him right now. The old man was looking back and forth between them quickly; trying to figure out what he'd missed in the time he'd been away.
"We'll take the diamond bands set in silver." Hermione decided, pointing out the one she wanted.
"White gold, I don't want silver to touch her. She's worth more than that." Harry interjected, his eyes unmoving.
Turning back to face him she furrowed her brows, confused by his behaviour. She'd thought he was angry with her but his words suggested otherwise and the thought confused her.
"White gold, then and could you inscribe the same thing that was in the engagement ring into the wedding bands please?" She finished.
The man nodded, finishing his last notes with a flourish. "Alright, we'll start on those today and have the whole lot sent to you as soon as possible."
And with one last shake of their hands the man was gone, taking both the case and the tablet with him and disappearing through the doorway.
"Let's go." Harry said, grabbing her hand and leading her back to the fireplace without warning. They remained silent for the short trip home and when they returned they just parted ways without any form of good bye.
There you have it guys... chapter 9 done and dusted. Please please please R&R, the more reviews = faster typing = quicker updates lol :p
Tune in next time :)