42-Breaking the News

Breakfast that morning was somewhat festive, although they planned to celebrate Harry's birthday the next day, Sunday, when the Granger couple could also come. Vernon didn't work on Saturdays, so he was present, and Dudley woke up earlier than usual for him during vacations just to be with Harry at breakfast. Harry was glad that the whole family was sitting together. He appreciated this more than the presents, although he made sure to thank for the presents just the same.

Breakfast was almost over when two owls came through the open window and landed in front of Harry. Vernon grimaced and took a few steps away. Harry quickly released the owls from the letters. Neither waited for a treat. They just flew away, to Vernon's relief.

"Birthday congratulations?" Vernon asked as he took back his seat at the table.

Harry shrugged. These didn't look like mail from friends, but he wasn't sure what these letters were. He opened one and read.

"Dear Mr. Potter,

Let us congratulate you for your bond and marriage with Mrs Hermione Potter nee Granger that was registered in our files this morning at 0607…"

Harry lifted his head, feeling a bit dazed. "Yes, congratulations, but not quite as expected," he said.

He quickly scanned the rest of the letter and then opened the other, scanned it too and sighed. "It looks like I need to visit Gringotts."

\/\/\/

The Granger household was also at the breakfast table. While both dentists accepted patients on Saturdays, they started working an hour later and ended two hours earlier than during the week, allowing them more time with their daughter, during vacations, or just with each other.

They were almost finishing breakfast when two owls started poking at the window. Hermione stood up and quickly let them in, collected the mail and let them out.

"What is it, dear?" her mother asked.

Hermione shrugged. "It's not from Hogwarts."

She then opened one letter and gasped. Not minding her parents' questioning looks, she opened the other letter and scanned it quickly. "It looks like I need to go with Harry to Gringotts."

"Is everything alright? You seemed to be surprised, dear."

Hermione smiled at her mother, feeling uneasy about keeping it a secret, but knowing this was not the right time for the kind of discussion these letters would cause. "Everything is just fine. I only don't understand why Gringotts asks us both to come. I'll know better when I'm back."

She tried to act as if nothing was out of order. Her parents were already in a bit of hurry to go to work, missing the barely hidden anxiety of their daughter. Once they left the house she concentrated. 'Harry, we need to talk!'

He replied immediately. 'I intended to call you. I just wasn't sure about the right time. Can I come to you now?'

'Sure! I'm in the kitchen.'

Harry materialized at her side a moment later. She immediately stood up and hugged him, putting her head on his shoulder. "Oh, Harry! What have we done?"

Harry, who already had some time to think of how she would react to the news, was ready with his response. "We just moved the timetable forward, I think. We knew that the next step, after starting being physically intimate, was to get married. It looks like we did them both at once, that's all."

His matter-of-fact attitude calmed her down a bit. "You're not mad at me? It was my initiative, after all."

He lifted her head so he could look directly into her eyes. "Why should I be mad at you after getting the best birthday present anybody could get – I got you for my mate and my wife. I couldn't wish for a better present."

"So, you're alright with that?"

He sobered a bit. "I'm not sure we're ready for being married and it will probably take us some effort to learn to live like a married couple, but I'm sure that the benefits for us both are much greater than the effort needed. Are you alright with this?"

Hermione smiled and then grabbed his head and kissed his lips. "I'm also a bit worried. I really want this to go well for us both, and we're really very young, probably too young to even contemplate marriage, but I'm sure we can make it work for us if we put some effort in it. I love you, you know, and it's important for me to make this work really well for you and for me."

Harry tightened the hug. "Did you tell your parents?"

She shuddered. "No! Luckily, they were already in a hurry. We'll need to tell them later, though. I can't keep that a secret from them. It just isn't fair."

"Did you tell your aunt?" she added.

He chuckled. "No, not really. I only said these were letters of congratulations, but not exactly what I expected. I then told them I needed to visit Gringotts. Should we go now?"

Hermione scanned Harry. He was already well dressed and had even taken an overcoat, that he had folded on the chair near him. "I still need to brush my hair and take an overcoat. The forecast is indecisive, you know."

It didn't take her long to get ready. They then held a Gringotts letter together and Harry tapped it with his wand, saying "Gringotts!" A blink of an eye later, they both vanished.

\/\/\/

The two exhausted teens reappeared in the kitchen much later.

"My parents are due home in about half an hour," Hermione told him. "I think you should stay, so we can tell them the news. You should call your aunt first, though."

Harry grimaced. He didn't think any parent was ready for the kind of news they had. Well, he could at least tell his aunt that he would be probably returning after dinner. She would not be surprised.

The Grangers returned home a short while later. They weren't surprised to see Harry there, but were surprised at seeing both children (well, teens, but still children for them) so tired and so serious.

"Is something wrong? Why are you both so tired?" Jean asked.

Hermione smiled tiredly. "Nothing's wrong. It was the visit at Gringotts that was exhausting. We've only come back a few minutes ago."

"Which probably means that you're both hungry. Harry, will you stay for dinner?"

"Yes. I called my aunt so she won't wait for me with dinner. And thank you for accepting me."

"You know you're always welcome here, sonny," Jean told him, going to the refrigerator to start preparing dinner.

'This could have been the right introduction to what we need to tell them, had we not been so tired,' Harry sensed Hermione in his mind. He silently agreed.

Jean Granger was not less efficient than her daughter. Dinner was ready much quicker than Harry thought it would be and they all ate it with gusto. There was very little talking during the meal, which fit the teens well. Each of them was contemplating how to tell the news, also glimpsing at the other's thoughts. Eventually he sensed Hermione, 'Let me tell them about us.'

Hermione waited until they finished their desert. "I think we need to tell you some more about today," she started, making her parents focus their attention on her.

She smiled nervously. "Let me start a bit earlier. You both know that Harry and I are spending most of the nights together since before we went to Hogwarts. You also made sure that I know how to stay protected from unwanted pregnancies, although that has stayed only a theoretical concern. Nothing happened during all those nights. Yet Harry became worried as his puberty kicked in. He was worried that during the summer, when we both sleep naked, he might slip into me inadvertently. I told him I didn't mind and that I'll take precautions. Indeed, before coming home for the summer, I went to the infirmary and asked for the contraceptive potion, gaining a very unpleasant lecture along with it."

Dave grimaced. Although he knew about their sleeping together, he still found it difficult to think of his innocent little girl as a blooming young woman.

Hermione smiled reassuringly at her parents before continuing her story. "He didn't slip into me, as he feared, although he had some dreams that ended between my thighs."

Dave grimaced even harder. Evidently, he didn't like the idea. This didn't stop Hermione. "Now, as you know, Harry's birthday is today. I was glad that my period ended yesterday. You see, I wanted to give him a very memorable birthday present, so this morning, after we woke up, I persuaded him to take my virginity."

Dave's grimace became a scowl, but he kept silent. A sharp glance from his wife assured his silence.

Hermione smiled at the memory. "He was quite reluctant to accept that present and I had to be very persuasive, but eventually, it was a wonderful present for both of us."

Jean smiled with relief. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. The first time may turn more pain than pleasure for some."

"It was pure bliss," Hermione reassured her, "and the other times were even better."

"How many…?" Jean was unsure about her question. It was a private matter, that's for sure, but it was about her only daughter, so she had some rights to know.

"I didn't count. There were at least two or three more before we stopped to get ready for the day."

Dave was still scowling, but he couldn't refrain from commenting, "Youth!" gaining himself an amused glance from his wife.

Jean let her mind calm down a bit before speaking. "It's somewhat early to start sex at your age, but I can't say I'm surprised. Considering your sleeping arrangements, I'm even a bit surprised this hasn't happened earlier." She then shrugged and added, "Well, congratulations, dear, for becoming a full woman." She turned to Harry. "I believe you liked this birthday present. Congratulations for becoming a man."

Hermione took a deep breath before continuing. "There's more to it. While… giving him his present… we both glowed, and then there was a bright flash when we finished. We thought it was just the effect our experience was having on our senses. We were wrong. These were signs of some magic in action."

She put the two letters she'd got in the morning on the table. "You both saw these letter arrive. One is from the Ministry. It congratulates Mrs. Hermione Potter for her bond and marriage with Harry Potter, that also emancipates us both. The other is from Gringotts, congratulating Lord and Lady Potter and urging us to take control of our assets. That's why we needed to visit the bank."

Her parents stayed silent, as if shocked. Dave took the letters and read them carefully. It looked like reading them made the events seem more acceptable. He was still shaking his head with disbelief.

Jean was the first to recuperate. "Are you happy about this?"

Hermione nodded. "None of us expected this to happen so soon. We thought we'll get married after graduation, but we had no doubt that we'll be together. You may also remember our visit at Longbottom Manor, when Lady Augusta cast that spell that showed us as soul mates. We didn't give it any thought since, but she said that we would become soul bound when older. She probably meant once we had sex, but didn't want to say that explicitly."

Dave was still holding the letters, although he was listening attentively. Jean thought for a moment and then shook her head, like she was getting rid of something. "Alright. You two are together and that was evident almost since you first met. Now, why was the visit at Gringotts so exhausting?"

'Let me talk about it,' Harry told Hermione in their minds before talking. "You see, as a child, I only had access to the trust vault that my parents had prepared for my tuition. There's quite a lot of gold there, but not enough for two. I also visited my main vault, where I saw some more gold, but at that time I was only interested in the ring that my account manager suggested I take and later in finding the right gift for Hermione. This time, even that vault was only a small part of what our account manager had to discuss. It turns out that my parents had shares in many businesses and also had quite a few assets that are not readily translatable into money. We now own quite a lot, and we had difficulties understanding it all. We then had to visit our vaults, and that was also time consuming. Our main vault contains, aside from money and other valuables, a large library of rare books."

Both Granger adults smiled at that, knowing the effect such a find could have on their daughter. Hermione grimaced for the same reason. She wasn't ashamed of loving books, of course, but she tended to forget herself when immersed in reading, and that was something she still needed to work on.

"We also took our Lord and Lady rings there. See?" Harry made his ring visible and Hermione did the same. This made both adults turn completely silent.