Chapter 14: Breaking Into Tomorrow

The family knew what had happened before the trio had even returned and had already made plans to make that evenings Christmas feast be able to double as an engagement party. The Lovegoods, Neville and his Gran, Angelina, Hagrid and even Professors McGonagall and Flitwick all stopped by to congratulate the trio on their engagement. Again Harry found himself where being the center of attention wasn't necessarily a bad thing as he reveled being able to show off the two loves of his life.

Ever the organizer Molly was already in discussions with Mrs. Granger that evening on wedding plans and for the rest of Christmas break they joined with Hermione and Ginny to begin making plans. Harry only had one requirement, "I want to get married in Godric's Hollow," he insisted. "My parents can't be there in person so I want it to at least have a part of them with us there."

"Oh yes Harry, that church that we walked past there would be positively splendid," Hermione cried and a few moments later she took the other three ladies and apparated there to begin making the arrangements.

With both of his brides to be entirely distracted by the wedding Harry spent the rest of his Christmas holiday reconnecting with his best mate and continuing to fly every day with the Weasley boys. He even went and took Mr. Weasley's place at the stores during their sales so that Arthur and Mr. Granger could continue to tinker with the Aston Martin.

On the last night off before returning to Hogwarts Harry took Ron, Neville, George, Bill and Charlie out to the local pub and asked them all to be on his line, (meanwhile Hermione and Ginny were asking Luna, Katie, Angelina, Fleur and Demelza). The boys all toasted to Harry and drank the night away before stumbling home at the end of it. When Ron and Harry made it up to his room Harry said, "Ron it should go without saying but I want to say it anyway. You've always been my best mate and I know you'll make the best best man I could have."

"Of course mate," Ron hiccupped. "And thanks," he said before falling onto his bed.

…

The next term at Hogwarts began and for the most part nothing missed a beat. Hermione and Harry continued their quest to become the best teachers in the school though with the end of the year exams slowly sneaking up on them they were beginning to feel the pressure.

Ginny, meanwhile, seemed determined to make this version of the Gryffindor Quidditch team the stuff of legends. This goal was backed up when, just a few weeks into the new term, they went out and beat Ravenclaw 290-10, (it likely would have been a much lower scoring affair but Harry had spent nearly a half hour just watching in amazement at the way his teammates were playing and nearly completely forgot about the snitch).

Everything was going along quite swimmingly though Harry was missing out on a bit of time with his two lovely fiancés as they spent a lot of time on the weekends traveling around the country with their mother's to continue planning the wedding. On one such weekend Harry was doing some lesson planning in the Great Hall when Minerva came up to him. "Mr. Potter could I have a word with you for a moment?" she asked.

"Don't you think if you expect me to call you Minerva you should be able to call me Harry?" he asked grinning.

"Fine then Ha… mmm no sorry Mr. Potter I was hoping to be able to speak with you about your plans for after this school year. Is it still your intention to try out for a professional Quidditch team?" she asked.

This time Harry was a bit more prepared for the question than he had been before. Since realizing who he was meant to spend his life with he had been spending more time thinking about how else he wanted to spend it. "You know if this season turns out the way I think it may I would kind of like to use it as my sort of walk-off shot. It would be nice to end on a season like we are putting together," he stated.

"Ah yes it would although may I add that you may want to pay a little bit more attention to the snitch in your next match. Heaven knows Mr. Zabini will be out to make a new, less dark name for himself after very publically denouncing the dark arts after the war." Harry smiled and nodded before Minerva continued. "Anyway if it is no longer your intention to play Quidditch as a profession have you thought about what else you may do?"

"Well that's just it you see. I have thought about it and I really do love the idea of continuing to teach, if I'm still wanted that is," he offered.

"Oh my boy, you know full well Hogwarts would be lucky to have you as the first repeat Defense teacher in a generation," Minerva interjected.

"Well thank you but I also now have two other people I have to take into consideration."

"Ah yes your two lovely brides to be," she said nodding.

"Yes and while I hope for this year to be my last year in Quidditch I know that it is Ginny's dream to lead England to it's first World Cup win in more than a century. And while Hermione loves teaching her passion lies in S.P.E.W. and hope for her to be able to continue on with it in a much more significant way once this year is over."

"Yes you do have two very ambitious ladies on your hands Mr. Potter."

"Yes, so see I don't know that I could do it. I mean how could I force them to live with me here in the castle while their dreams lie beyond these walls?"

"You know Mr. Potter it is your humility that is perhaps your most heroic attribute but lest we forget that Hogwarts post both Dumbledore and Riddle is a very different place. Yes it has been custom for teachers to live within the confines of the school my Hogwarts, the new Hogwarts aims to look more at the world that exists outside our grounds. Dumbledore sought to protect the children from the horrors of the world around us and while I understand the need for that at the time this is a new world and I think it's important that we show the children what is really out there."

"That makes sense. I that when I was forced out of these walls I find myself very uncomfortable at first because Hogwarts was really all I had ever known," Harry replied.

"Yes and as such I feel it would be perfectly understandable and acceptable for a Hogwarts professor to live outside these walls. After all, countless witches and wizards commute hundreds of miles every day to work. Why does Hogwarts have to be any different?"

"You really think that could work Minerva?" Harry asked.

"Of course," she replied. "There will surely still be plenty of teachers who wish to continue to live on the grounds and we will always have Mr. Filtch and Hagrid to keep an eye on the grounds and the students within them so having some teachers coming in just for the day certainly would not pose a problem at all."

Wow, staying at Hogwarts, teaching, making this my life, "I'm in," he stated.

"Oh wonderful," Minerva replied. "Now just don't go dying on me before next school year," she stated in jest.

"Don't worry Professor. I think I've reached my quota for near death experiences," he said laughing.

…

That evening when the girls got home Harry informed them of his talk with Minerva. "Oh Harry that's fantastic," Hermione squealed as both girls wrapped him into a hug. "You really were born to teach."

"Among other things," Ginny said grinning as she leaned up and kissed her fiancé.

"Yes well I knew I could only do it if I knew you two could pursue your dreams as well," he replied smiling at them both.

"They're our dreams now," Hermione reminded him.

"Yes sorry, our dreams," he repeated. "So now I guess all we have to do is find a place to live."

"Well you do own two houses already," Ginny mentioned.

"Yes but I don't think either of them could ever be our home. I mean no matter how great Kreatcher has done cleaning it up Grimauld Place will always be the place that Sirius was trapped in though it could certainly make a nice vacation home any time we wish to visit London and there's just too much damage done to my parents house for it to be livable. But I was thinking that maybe it was time I came down. I mean they left it as a monument to my parents to remind people of how evil can tear a family apart. But I think a better monument to them would be to rebuild, to make it new and better than ever," he continued. "My parents fought for a better world. They died that night to try and give me a tomorrow. They wouldn't want a monument to remember their defeat. They would want a monument that celebrated the tomorrow that they gave me. I want to make us a new home there where we can celebrate tomorrow," he finished.

"I think that sounds perfect ," Ginny stated.

"Yeah, and we've spent a good deal of time in Godric's Hollow recently trying to get all the details worked out. It really is a lovely village," Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah and it's a place we can really make our own," Ginny continued.

"Great well let me worry about the whole house thing," Harry said excitedly. "You girls just worry about the wedding and I'll make sure we have a proper house to come home to after our honeymoon."

"Oh you're already thinking about the honeymoon huh?" Hermione asked grinning.

"Yeah, I was thinking Australia."