It's Harri's turn to meet the parents this time. How will our intellectually challenged heroine cope with spending quality time with the clever clogs muggle family and can she avoid letting the cat out of the bag about just how intimate she and Hermione have been getting lately?
The Potterverse is still JKR's and I'm still working. Damn it.
DtR xx.
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Fortunate Son?
Chapter 10. Secrets and Lies.
The letter that Hermione was reading over breakfast seemed to have entirely captured her attention and Harriet Potter was feeling more than a little neglected. This meant that she was now engaged in using every cute trick in her arsenal to get her girlfriend to notice her. None of it worked so she gave up and started playing with the post owl that had delivered the now despised missive. This did not go un-noticed by the rest of the owls at breakfast, who having delivered their own mail turned envious eyes on their colleague who was enjoying the affectionate attentions of that wonderful smelling black haired girl in the red robes.
Hermione finally looked up as the mass of soft hooting and chirping brought her attention to the fact that their breakfast table was full of bloody owls all jockeying for position to receive some Harri love. Even then she only gave the raised eyebrow at her animal magnet girlfriend before going back to reading the rest of her very interesting and slightly disturbing letter. After writing her own extremely ill advised letter in a state of euphoria following her fantastic birthday celebrations with the Potters last weekend it seemed that her parents were in a hurry to reply. Her mum and dad were both happy that she had a girlfriend and that said girlfriend's family were so nice to her (their experience with wizards had not been very positive so far) but were concerned that Hermione was moving too fast in this very new relationship.
In short, Dan and Emma Granger wanted to meet (and probably interrogate) the girl who had stolen their daughter's heart. While it was not an unexpected response from them Hermione had thought that she might have a bit more time time to prepare Harri for the mad dentists' grilling. Oh they would be perfectly nice and middle class about it but that wasn't going to make it any less horrific for her poor girlfriend. Who, she realised, she had been ignoring for far too long now as the owl covered girl squeaked and fell off of her chair under the weight of all her new playmates.
Later on that afternoon, after classes were over, in the headmaster's office Harri's eyes were flicking around uneasily before finally coming to rest on the man with the long white beard who had been their staunch support and champion. She was hoping that he would prove himself their friend once more here.
"How can we help you this evening Miss Potter, Miss Granger?"
She weighed up her options once more. Her mum and dad had that concerned but slightly annoyed look on their faces which Harri knew was not conducive to getting what she wanted. Or there was her twinkly eyed headmaster, a decent choice but they would probably end up giggling with each other which would only piss her parents off. Which left? Her head of house here at Hogwarts, Professor Mconagall. She may appear the poster child for severity and discipline but Harri knew that she could be moved by a carefully judged display of insincere sniffling and pure emotonal blackmail. Channelling a little of that wide, tearful eyed innocence that her sister was so good at, the nice but habitually mediocre student blinked at her deputy headmistress and made a stumbling start.
"Well, the thing is ... um ... you see."
Hermione reached over, took the nervous girl's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Harri took a deep breath and tried again.
"So what it is ... Miney's parents want to meet me and being muggles, well, it's a bit difficult for them to come all the way up to Scotland so we were hoping that you might be able to give us permission to floo to London and spend the weekend with them."
After a slow start the words seemed to tumble over each other in their haste to escape from her mouth. The three professors tried not to smile at the panting, nervous young woman as Miss Granger patted her hand comfortingly and whispered a 'well done' in her ear. Minerva McGonagall smiled at them, being frankly relieved that this was the reason they had asked for this meeting with her and the headmaster and Harri's parents as she had been concerned that the other students had been making life difficult for them. There had been very little evidence of it, the headmaster's warning and Mister Weasley's extremely harsh punishment seemed to be having the desired effect, but she was still worried for her lions turned lionesses and also for the two brightest witches in the place.
"I think that we can make an exception to the rules just this once." Dumbledore pre-empted his deputy with a very fast decision. "Shall we call it a special dispensation for research into muggle attitudes towards wizading ... relations?"
Even Harri's parents and the naturally reserved McGonagall chuckled at that one and just like that, with a great deal less fuss and argument than either of them had anticipated, Harri and Hermione's trip home to 'meet the parents' was approved. The bushy haired girl was a touch disappointed to be honest as she had spent half the morning working on several excellent and cohesive arguments as to why this excursion should be allowed and now she wouldn't get to use them. She never liked it when things were too easy, one never got the same sense of achievement as when you had to really work for what you wanted. Lily seemed to realise that her daughter's super intelligent girlfriend would be thinking this and since her pouting face confirmed it decided to offer an olive branch.
"It's allright Hermione, you and Harri come and have some tea in our quarters and you can give us all of your brilliant reasoning then if you like."
McGonagall actually laughed out loud at the happy, excited face that her favourte student made at Lily Potter's suggestion that would have sent most girls into a blind panic. The red headed History of Magic professor had a reputation that was almost as fearsome as her youngest daughter's and the thought of having to go through the trial by fire that she would set if you were dating one of her children would terrify anyone. Even her. But apparently not Hermione Granger who, if anything, appeared to be looking forward to it.
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Greenhouse Number Three was probably the most wild of all of the four at Hogwarts as it was home to some of the largest plants used in the field of Herbology. It was also the warmest and driest due to the preferences of it's large and mainly equatorial dwelling inhabitants. Even in this tangled jungle though the Beobab tree at it's centre and which the greenhouse had been been constructed around more than two centuries ago, managed to dominate it's surroundings. Sitting at the near edge of the horse-shoe shaped arrangement of benches that curved around the majestic old tree and hidden by a large cactus two blonde haired female figures waited in companionable silence. The peace and quiet of the poorly lit space was broken by a loud thudding sound and a muttered.
"Fuck."
An identical pair of rare smiles graced the poised features of both of the Greengrass sisters as the grumbling Rose Potter crashed through the undergrowth and into the central clearing, tripping over yet another root and dropping her bag and books again. The stream of invective that poured from the girl's mouth at her vertical fail was both impressive and disturbing considering her age and Daphne hoped that her language didn't rub off on Astoria. Okay talk about disturbing, the image that last phrase brought into her mind was definitely one that she was going to struggle to blank out.
"Are you ready for your detention Miss Potter?"
Detention. The word held mixed emotions for Rosie. On the one hand she had got used to getting them and tended to use the quiet time or tedious, mundane tasks to run spell crafting problems in her head. On the other hand her parents being taken on as professors meant that they now knew exactly how many detentions Rose got which had caused some friction to say the least. Lily in particular had been incredibly upset as in the two weeks following their appointment and Rosie's return to school her youngest daughter had been kept back as a punishment every single night. Including Saturdays and Sundays. Knowing her little girl's lack of patience and her temper she wasn't really that surprised by it but it was still upsetting that someone who possessed such an over abundance of intelligence should be tarred with the label of a trouble-maker.
Still this 'detention' was not so much a punishment as a carefully engineered attempt to spend time with her Slytherin girlfriend, something which Daphne thoroughly approved of. This was her first year of being a prefect and having the authority to hand out detentions to younger students and she had quickly established a reputation of being firm but fair and she had only actually given out two. Her punishment tally had soon increased, however, as Rose Potter seemed to take every possible opportunity to break the rules in front of her, eventually leading to the desired result for Rosie. It had become clear exactly why Miss Potter was being such a little cow when, on turning up for duty that night, she had seen Tori appear and the two youger girls had immediately set to snogging. In front of her.
After a brief discussion in which Daphne agreed to give Rose three detentions a week if they stopped making out in her presence she had removed herself and left the hormonal teenagers to it. Since then she had given, what seemed like, far too much thought entirely to setting up places and activities for her sister and the scary Gryffindor witch to have their little trysts. She was actually rather impressed with the girl and her sneaky, underhanded ways that she flew underneath the radar and still managed to get precisely what she wanted. Forget Hermione Granger, she was in no doubt whatsoever that the 'brightest witch of her age' was actually Rose Potter. Brightest and scariest. She gave the two girls a nod before leaving them to their date.
She would probably not have been so quick to leave if she had known what the two scheming little witches were going to be discussing tonight. They had been inspired by the headmaster's Hogwarts revolution and thought that a very similar thing could be tried with the rest of wizarding Britain when they left school. This would necessitate two things happening. Firstly that their new and scandalous (to some people) relationship be strong, secure and, more importantly, out in the open and secondly that they should be the very best, cleverest and sneakiest witches that they could be. Rose Potter and Astoria Greengrass were about to spend the evening plotting a rainbow revolution. And making out obviously.
Both of them were really very practical in their approach to their personal lives and unknown to other Tori and Rosie both had the same thought. Looking at her girlfriend's older sister if Rosie looked even half that good at Harri's age then Tori thought that she was going to be a very lucky girl indeed in the not so distant future. Rose looked at the cool, beautiful Daphne and had the exact same reaction. True it wasn't a terribly romantic point of view but then neither were they really. Not that they didn't have that sometimes, their 'dates' often turned to more snogging than studying, it was more that they had so much more in common than just that. Like their quiet, understated intelligence and their ambition to more than just glorified house witches. They didn't just want to run a household they wanted to run the world and with their combined talents and ambition each of them saw the possibility that they could do exactly that. With the right partner of course. Betrothal contracts may not be either very popular or usual in wizarding society since the great blood war but in this case it may turn out to be the best route for them.
Having got rid of their annoying blonde chaperone Rose and Tori set their minds to what they did best. Scheming and plotting and planning to subtly force their families into making the perfect match. Well perfect for them that is. And if subtle didn't work? Well Rose was rather well known among the staff and students of Hogwarts school for her ability to be extremely 'not subtle'.
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It was Six O'clock Friday evening when Hermione's parents spotted the familiar bushy, brown hair of their daughter sat on a bench next to a stunning, raven haired, goddess of a girl and pulled up to a stop outside of the Leaky Cauldron in London. Emma Granger waved at them enthusiastically while Dan cocked his head and furrowed his brow thinking that this 'Harri' girl looked extremely familiar but it wasn't until he was right in front her that he recognised the girl from Hermione's wizard paper. He was smirking at Hermione so much that it was his wife who had to do the meet and greet thing.
"Hello Hermione love, my goodness you look well, and this must be the 'Harri' that we've heard so much about."
"Hello Doctor Granger and ... umm ... Doctor Granger."
Dan and Emma glanced at each other very briefly indeed as the unbelievably gorgeous, black haired girl holding their daughter's hand looked confused, stumbled over her words and then stopped altogether, clearly embarrassed, before turning red.
"Please Harri, just call us Dan and Emma if you wouldn't mind."
This time Emma just couldn't keep it in and did actually laugh as the delightfully bashful girl blushed all the harder and responded to her amusement by burying her head deeply into Hermione's shoulder.
"Mum! Be nice."
By the time she had apologised and Dan had finally managed to locate his manners and introduce himself it was getting dark so it was decided to head straight for the Grangers' Crawley home. Which meant getting Harri in the car. This was more difficult than they had imagined as Harri had never been in a muggle automobile before and this, added to her nerves about meeting 'Miney's parents, was making her very reluctant. Once Hermione had at last coaxed her into the car with the promise of kisses and they were on their way back home Emma decided to probe a little further into the origins of this incredibly cute relationship and have a little fun with the girls into the bargain.
"So Hermione dear, how on earth did you manage to convince this absolute angel to go out with you ... and can you give your old mum some tips because I'd love to have a little cutie like this for myself."
Hermione glared dangerously at her parent and decided that she was going to bring this cringe worthy flirting session of her mothers to a very swift close.
"I put out."
Car horns honked in anger as Dan reacted to his daughter's bald statement by hitting the brakes hard, causing the vehicles behind to swerve around them and throwing the already nervous Harri into her seatbelt and into a panic. While Hermione attempted to calm down her almost hyperventilating girlfriend by rubbing soothing circles on her back and kissing her hair her mum and dad just stared straight ahead, grim faced out of the windscreen. The rest of the journey, thankfully, passed in total silence.
Since their very awkward car ride and despite the thawing atmosphere that Harri had managed to cultivate at dinner with her extremely cute behaviour, Dan had started to become a lot less inclined to let the girls share the queen sized bed in Hermione's room. He relented due to the fact that no man alive could resist the 'sorry' posture and puppy dog eyes when their teenaged daughter turned them on him. And Hermine had the lovely Harri to assist her so it took less time than normal. It still meant an uncomfortable and sleep deprived night listening for the slightest creaking of springs from across the hall and it was a grumpy and bleary eyed Dan Granger who joined his family at the breakfst table the next morning. Grumpy until he spied his little girl's rather sweet girlfriend out in the back garden with her face turned up to the rising sun that is.
"What on earth is Harriet doing out there?"
"Just watch"
The Granger family watched on in confusion as the girl in the garden held out her arms and began to sing softly. Confusion turned to stunned fascination and open mouthed awe as, first one inquisitive little bird landed on her, then another, and another until Harri's arms and shoulders were covered in her small, feathery friends. Thrushes, bluebirds, finches and swallows all gathered together, whistling and chirruping along with the black haired beauty's melody, which Emma recognised as an old Frankie Valley song. The absurdity of a fifteen year old girl leading a chorus of two dozen assorted songbirds in an extremely strange, if oddly beautiful, rendition of 'Oh What a Night' in no way detracted from the magic of it all. Nudging her husband the elder female Granger hissed quietly at him.
"Get the camera Dan."
"Here use mine."
Hermione handed her mum the wizarding camera that she had got in Diagon Alley two summers ago and Emma flailed around for a moment not being able to tear her eyes from the amazing scene playing out through the patio doors. Finally laying a hand to the device she continued to gawk through the viewfinder as she snapped away with abandon. Dan had got his own camera anyway and had joined his wife in the pictorial free for all.
It happened that Emma and Dan were not the only people taking photos this morning as in the upstairs back bedroom of the house next door an utterly entranced seven year old Tracey Jackson had managed to rouse herself enough to grab her dad's old Olympus 35mm camera. Stopping her swaying to the gorgeous young woman's singing for just long enough to hit the shutter release a few times the little girl sighed and let it fall on to the handily placed cushion as the girl and her avian chorus trilled happily to each other. Oh my God but how cute was this. And how on earth had she missed the presence of a genuine Disney Princess in her street? It may be spectacularly uncool but that was of little concern to Tracey right now as this was possibly the most adorable thing that she had ever seen. She let out a disapointed mewl as her brand new heroine finished her impromtu performance and headed inside before racing around her bedroom gathering clothes so that she could pay a call on the Grangers and their royal house guest. After pressing the doorbell of number Ten she waited for what seemed like an age before she got an answer.
"Hello Tracey, how can I help you. Time for another check-up?"
"Hello Mrs Granger, no check-up but can I see the Princess please?"
"Princess?" As she looked at her neighbour's clearly over excited little girl bouncing up and down on the doorstep it suddenly clicked. "Oh the Princess. Come on in and I'll see if she's available."
"Hermione love, could you see if 'Princess Harriet' is free, young Tracey from next door saw her in the garden and would like to talk to her." Emma leaned over and whispered in her daughter's ear before letting her head off to the kitchen. "Do make sure that she's properly dressed dear."
After ushering their small visitor into the living room to await her audience with Harri she slipped out to grab her husband and let him know what was happening and bring him in to watch the fun unfold. Tea and cakes were provided for their guest and the three of them were just about to dig in when the door was opened and Hermione entered followed by a jaw dropping vision in light blue and white. Emma thought that her daughter had truly out-done herself as, from the long, puff sleeved, two tone dress to the tiny tiara, Harri looked the perfect image of Snow White. Her naturally black hair just set it off brilliantly. At least Tracey appeared to think so since the wide eyed girl got all blushing and tongue tied in the presence of what she thought was in all probability 'Disney royalty'. This was Snow flippin' White for flip's sake. Putting her nervousness aside for now Tracey decided to just relax and enjoy her audience with the magical princess.
It was at this point then, just when the three Grangers thought that she couldn't get any more adorable, that Miss Harriet Potter gave the performance of her life, treating Tracey (and them) to a delightful morning of light conversation and song. She told them stories of befriending werewolves, riding unicorns and singing with the woodland creatures in the dark forest by her home, only some of which were based on fact. It was an absolutely spell binding display by the 'girl-who-lived' and all four of the other people in the room fell in love with her just that little bit more than they already were. The star struck Tracey was packed off home an hour later with a kiss on each cheek, a warm hug and a promise to write from Harri and after a shaky start, operation 'charm Hermione's parents' was now a roaring success.
Harri, even though her mum was muggle born, had never really spent any quality time in the muggle world, a few trips beore she had left for Hogwarts but that was mostly just trailing around the occasional bookshop after her. She had certainly never had a shopping trip like this. Emma Granger had fallen for her in a big way after the morning's events as well as from how she treated Hermione and had decided to treat her girls to an afternoon of retail therapy in town. She had planned for them to start with a coffee and a light lunch beore hitting the clothing stores but on passing a well known high street electrical goods shop Harri had become a bit distracted by the sounds coming from within.
She was mesmerised by the large television and it's brightly coloured images, stunned by the fact that the sound seemed to be coming from all around her and then the picture cut away to show four young women in a green field. When the girls on screen started to sing and dance and Harri began to unconsciously mimic their movements while a huge grin spread across her face, Hermione knew that she had lost her. Her girlfriend was Atomic Smitten and had been B*Witched over to the dark side of 'pop' music. She looked over to the figure of her beautiful lover laughing and clapping at the antics of the Irish pop tarts prancing about in their double denim disaster outfits and singing (surprisingly well) C'est La Vie and decided that she still loved her. No matter how bad her taste in music was.
The Granger ladies tried their absolute best to talk her out of it but Harri ended up as the proud owner of not one but two denim jackets in deference to her new musical heroines. It caused almost physical pain for Hermione and a great deal of amusement, if laced with a touch of frustration, for Emma at the black haired girl's new enthusiasm. Having been to more young peoples music stores than she knew existed Emma at last managed to shepherd the two happily tired teenagers to the bus stop and on home.
The fashion show that Dan was treated to that night featured his daughter looking beautiful in a dark pencil skirt and matching jacket and her first pair of high heels. Then Miss Harriet Potter sashayed in to the living room in a very outrageous (to her sensibilities) pair of black leather trousers which would have looked incredibly badass if there weren't paired with a Spice Girls Tee shirt and a rhinestone trimmed denim jacket.
They turned in for their second night under the Grangers' roof knowing that the family's patriarch would be getting a good night's sleep tonight and the temptation to take advantage of his trust was almost too much for the girls. In the end, however, after a heated snogging and petting session Harri and Hermione drew back from the edge and respected the trust that their hosts had showed in them. It made for an extremely relaxed atmosphere the next morning and once Harri had visited number Twelve to say goodbye to Tracey and ask her to write via the Grangers, it was time to go back to school.
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When the door to the Gryffindor Head Girl's suite banged open and Harri and Hermione virtually fell into the main space three heads immediately turned to gawk at the strangely dressed duo. Hermione's outfit wasn't too bad with her denim jeans (that were perhaps a little on the snug side) and crop top shirt but nobody in this room had ever seen leather trousers before and they were astonished. Even more so since Harri seemed to be completely at ease with wearing something that showed every ripple and bulge of her lady parts. Neave managed to tear her eyes away from Harri's vagina for long enough to ask if everything had gone well.
"We had such a lovely weekend, Miney's mum and dad were just wonderful. I just wish we could spend every weekend there."
"Let me guess, she charmed them with her own special brand of ditzy lunacy."
"Oh not just them. The neighbours, shop assistants, people in the park, you name it. If she met them they all fell to her charms." Hermione smirked suddenly. "Didn't they Princess Harriet."
"Princess?" There was a snort from her oldest friend.
"Long story. Not important." Harri blushed and tried to steer the conversation away from this subject and onto safer, less embarrassing subjects.
"Um ... question?" Rosie looked at her big sister with her hand raised enquiringly and on receiving her happy little nod pointed at her hot pink tee shirt and continued. "What's an Atomic Kitten?"
"I'm glad you asked Rosie." Harri beamed at her, threw her bags to the floor and struck a 'pop princess' pose. "Allow me to demonstrate."
"Oh my God no, please don't."
The three other witches in the room were confused about Hermione's aghast, ashen looking face thinking that her reaction was rather over the top for a simple song by her girlfriend. Harri had a quite lovely voice it had to be said and they were sure that it was all going to be fine. They thought that right up until the moment that they actually began to listen to the lyrics of the 'song' that Harri was performing.
"Looking back on when we first met,
I cannot escape and I cannot forget,
Baby you're the one, You can make come,
You can feel my hole again."
"Those aren't actually the words are they?" A horrified looking Rosie asked as her sister finished singing.
"No, they're really not."
"Thank Merlin for that."
"I think I threw up in my mouth a bit."
"Oh that was lovely. Do it again."
The clapping blonde haired Ravenclaw was excitedly bouncing up and down and, laughing, ran over to Harri, grasped her hands and encouraged her to join in the jumping and sing it again. As the the terrible, saccharine sweet, muggle pop song started up again this time it had a loud and enthusiastic, if slightly off key, Luna Lovegood accompaniament. Neave and Hermione looked at each other with identical horrified expressions while Rosie grabbed Crookshanks and ran for the common room desperate to save herself from the terrifying noise. Unfortunately for her the sounds followed her down the stairs. Rosie climbed into an armchair and cuddled the ginger cat tightly to her while rocking to and fro mumbling.
"Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop."
The rest of the Gryffindor house stopped and stared at small, scary witch and were very afraid. Whatever it was that could upset the tiny terror of Gryffindor Tower to this degree had to be something so awful that nobody in their right mind wanted know what it was. It was then that they heard it. The soft sounds of singing from the stairs that led to the head girls rooms. Muggle born students across the large space started to smile as the perky pop music came wafting into the common room. Whoever the singer was they were clearly very talented, their back-up could use some work but otherwise it was an altogether very pleasant experience, so they were a bit perplexed as to why it had affected Rose Potter so badly. Thankfully they couldn't quite hear the other Miss Potter's loose and somewhat pervy interpretation of the lyrics or they might have understood a lttle better.
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I know that I took some liberties with the timing of the releases of the songs mentioned and HP canon but I've never let the truth get in the way of a good story yet and I certainly don't intend to start now.
As usual I write for me but reviews are always nice. They give me warm fuzzy feelings and make my dull, horrible job just that little bit more bearable.
DtR xx.