Chapter 5 – Meet the Parents
Harry and Hermione sat in McGonagall's office the following morning discussing their desire to leave Hogwarts for the remainder of the Christmas break. They had also mentioned the trouble that they Luna had been having, and she had promised to speak to Professor Flitwick who could then make investigations into his own house. She had explained to them that while they were indeed entitled to leave Hogwarts during the break, the Hogwarts Express would not be running, and they would have to floo to the Leaky Cauldron instead.
They had arrived back in Gryffindor tower the previous night after the ball had ended to find Hedwig waiting for them with a letter from Hermione's parents. In short, they would love to have them come over for the remainder of the Christmas break. Hermione and her parents usually visited her grandmother on Christmas day but as Hermione was staying at Hogwarts this year, they had gone without her. They had returned home to find Hedwig waiting for them and sent a letter back with her immediately.
Before Harry and Hermione had gone to bed, they had visited the kitchens to ask the elves for some food to send down to Sirius. They filled a basketful and asked Dobby to let Sirius know that they would be leaving Hogwarts to stay with Hermione's parents for the rest of the break. They asked the elf if he could take some food down to Sirius each day while they were gone, he was more than happy to help the "Great Harry Potter Sir".
Harry had sent a quick letter to Grymshard at Gringotts requesting a meeting for the following day and they returned to McGonagall's office with their trunks full of their possessions ready to leave. Hermione was leaving Crookshanks at Hogwarts as they were doubtful he'd enjoy the ride on the knight bus. Hedwig would be staying in the owlery for the same reason. McGonagall accompanied them to Dumbledore's office to use his floo. As the headmaster was the only one able to remove the restrictions on floo travel so they could travel to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Harry, Miss Granger. Can I help you?" He asked as they entered his office, eying their trunks and their muggle attire.
"Mr Potter and Miss Granger would like to use your floo to head to her parents for the remainder of the holidays Albus."
"That should be fine Minerva, though if I may Harry, I would like you to exercise caution if adventuring out in muggle London. It may be that whoever entered your name in the tournament could attempt to take you while you aren't in the safety of the castle. Have you told anyone you're leaving?"
"Only Neville and Ginny professor, Hermione had the same thought so we only told people we know we can trust." Harry answered him.
"Very wise Miss Granger." He said with a wink. "Nonetheless your absence will eventually be noted, I shall visit and ward your home if that would be okay with you? It will cause no inconvenience to you or your parents, merely prevent unauthorised magical visitors."
"That would be great Professor. I told my parents that there may be some danger involved but they will be happy to know that measures have been taken to ensure our safety."
Dumbledore gave them a grandfatherly smile. "The Hogwarts Express will leave at 11am on the 6th of January for the start of the new term. I'd like a word with you Harry when you return, there are some things we should discuss and someone I would like you to meet."
Confused, but glad that he was able to leave the castle, he agreed to meet Dumbledore at the start of the new term.
They got off the knight bus outside Hermione's house less than an hour later. The house was much larger than the Dursleys, and it immediately felt much more homely than Privet Drive ever had. The front garden was trimmed, though it wasn't as perfect as Aunt Petunia always insisted that theirs should be. Harry much preferred it like this, it looked as though a family actually lived there, instead of simply an entry to England's Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition.
Hermione pulled Harry along by the hand and unlocked the door. "Mum and Dad will be at work still, so I'll show you around before they get home."
As he entered the house the first thing that he noticed was the family photos adorning the walls. A certain smiling bushy haired girl sitting between two people who looked very much like her. The photos seemed to have been taken periodically over the years as she grew up, with the most recent one looking as though it had been taken only the previous summer.
"This is great." When she looked at him in confusion, he explained himself. "The Dursleys only have pictures of Dudley growing up and stuffing himself full of food. Here you can actually see a family growing together.
She gave him a huge smile and a quick kiss. "I hate that you had to grow up with them, if only we somehow met you sooner, we could've adopted you into our family."
He grinned back at her. "As great as that would have been, I doubt you'd be willing to kiss someone who was basically your own brother." He gave her a much longer kiss to prove his point.
She smiled shyly at him and pulled him further into the house. They entered a modest-sized living room and Harry's eyes immediately found the large TV that Dudley would have killed to get his hands on. Dudley wouldn't have been the only one to commit murder after he was led into the large kitchen that would've made Aunt Petunia drool.
Hermione pulled him up the stairs and they entered her bedroom. He noticed the desk in the corner of the room and could imagine a younger Hermione sitting at it working on her school homework. The walls were covered in shelves full of books that all looked extremely worn, as though she had read each of them hundreds of times. Which he thought, she probably had.
The rest of the bedroom was decorated in pink, from her bedsheets to the curtains, wallpaper and even the carpet. "We haven't redecorated since I got my Hogwarts letter, I haven't really spent much time at home, so it didn't seem necessary." She looked at him shyly.
"Don't worry about it, I think it's great. It's very Hermione, I can almost see a younger version of you bent double over that desk, trying to memorise every book in here."
"I always read while lying in bed actually." She admitted in a small voice. "And I did more than just try to memorise them all… I succeeded." She smiled at him warily.
He hugged her close to him. "Never change Hermione, it's the things like that that make you, you. And it's you I fell in love with."
She kissed him passionately. "Thanks Harry, sometimes it's hard to forget about all the insults people used to throw at me for being a bookworm. So, I needed to hear that from you. Now, as much as I wish you were sleeping in here with me, I don't think my parents would approve of that. So let me show you where you'll be staying."
Emma had just arrived back at home early from their dental practice. George O'Leary, the little boy who she'd had the honour of performing his first dental examination had bit her as hard as he could the moment she'd put her fingers near his mouth. The little devil had actually done a considerable amount of damage and she'd had to go to the hospital and have stitches. She'd postponed her days appointments and headed home without Dan, leaving him to handle his own appointments and close up the practice once he was done.
She'd arrived home to find the front door unlocked, her and Dan had always been extremely meticulous about locking the front door. She'd been about to back out of the house and the call the police, under the assumption that someone had broken in and unlocked it from the inside when she heard giggling coming from upstairs. At that moment she saw her daughter's school trunk leaning against the wall and realised that she must have already come home with her friend Harry and used her own key.
She'd made her way up the staircase quietly and was surprised to find Hermione's room empty, upon peering into the spare bedroom she found out exactly why. A black-haired young man was sitting on the bed with his arms wrapped around her daughter. Her daughter in question was straddling the young man and looked as though she was attempting to suck his soul out of his mouth. Both were still fully clothed though looking extremely ruffled, it couldn't have been plainer that the house tour had turned into an impromptu snogging session very quickly.
Emma couldn't have been more thankful at that moment that it was her who had come home to this sight instead of Dan. He would have completely overreacted and likely would've tried to murder the young man for 'defiling his daughter'. Emma however, remembered what it was like to be young and was not inclined to harm him, especially considering that it appeared to be her own daughter who was the aggressor in this case. Though embarrassing the hell out of them seemed quite appealing regardless.
Neither of them noticed Emma standing there in the doorway until she cleared her throat to announce her presence.
An extremely ruffled looking Hermione resurfaced before shouting "Mum!" and jumping off the young man to give her a hug. "What are you doing back so early?"
"I had a bit of an incident with a boy at the practice. I think a better question would've been what else would have happened if I hadn't come home early?" She raised her eyebrows at her daughter knowingly.
Several attempts to ensure her that nothing more would have happened had Emma laughing.
"I'm just messing with you Hermione, I was under the impression your 'friend' was visiting though, you should be glad your dad isn't the one who found you up here." She laughed harder at the expression on her daughter's face.
"Yeah, murdering my boyfriend would have put a bit of a damper on the rest of the holidays I think." She smiled as the word boyfriend left her lips, finally she could use that word to describe Harry!
"Thanks for not killing me anyway Mrs Granger." He smiled sheepishly. "And for having me over for the holidays."
"Don't worry Harry, Hermione has told us all about you and you sound like a lovely young man, and please just call me Emma. How did you two get here so quick anyway? I thought we'd have to come pick you up from London."
"Magic" Harry said simply. "We flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and took the knight bus here."
"Flooed? Knight bus?" Emma was extremely confused.
Harry and Hermione headed downstairs to help Emma with dinner while explaining all about floo travel, the knight bus, apparition and various other wizarding means of travel. Hermione's dad returned home as they finished and after quick introductions, they all sat down for dinner together.
Emma leaned over to whisper to Harry halfway through the meal. "I'll explain to Dan about you and Hermione tonight, just try not to make it too obvious until I can bring him around." She gave him a wink.
Harry let the relief show on his face "Thanks Emma."
Conversation was polite as they ate their way through dinner, Harry didn't miss that when he'd called Hermione's dad "Mr Granger" he did not correct him as Emma had. He wisely decided to continue to call him Mr Granger until he told him otherwise.
The same owl that had delivered the previous letter from Gringotts arrived with a reply from Grymshard, confirming a meeting for 5pm the following day. He realised that this owl must be Grymshard's own owl. He offered it a bit of his steak and was surprised when it didn't turn its beak up at it, instead gulping it down before giving him an appreciative nod and taking flight back out the open window.
"You'd think these wizards would have a better way of communicating than using owls." Mr Granger muttered, eyeing the window where the owl had exited.
"One of the only ways really dad." Hermione informed him. "Electricity goes haywire around too much magic. It would be impossible for me to phone home from somewhere like Hogwarts."
"You would think you'd be allowed to show us some of what you're learning at least, you head off to that school for most of the year and when you come back, you're forbidden from doing magic. Makes a parent wonder if their child is actually learning anything."
"Funny you should mention that. I was wondering if you could take us to London tomorrow. Harry can claim his title as head of the Potter family which will mean that he's legally an adult in the wizarding world. He'll be able to do magic without getting in trouble with the ministry." Hermione explained.
"We can take you to London of course, but what's all this about Harry becoming a 'head of house'?" Emma asked.
"I'll get access to my full vault at Gringotts." Harry explained. "I'll also gain ownership of any properties and businesses that my family own."
"His family is one of the wealthiest in the wizarding world." Hermione put in. "He'll also receive his title of Lord Potter, which is why he'll be able to do magic. Due to old wizarding laws, the heads of the family must be able to use magic in case any of their duties as the head require it, regardless of what age they might be."
"Lord Potter?" Dan asked sceptically. "Will people have to call him Lord Potter?"
"I did some reading on it yesterday and people only have to call him that during his formal duties. Unless of course he gives them permission to just use his name." Hermione noticed the sour look on Harry's face. "Which I assume he'll insist upon being the case."
"Yeah, no way do I want anyone calling me Lord Potter if I can avoid it." Harry stated. "Makes me sound like someone who's full of himself like Malfoy."
Hermione smiled at him before directing her attention back to her father. "Anyway, Harry will be able to do magic afterwards so he can show you the kind of stuff we learn at Hogwarts without getting in trouble for it. He's better than me when it comes to actually casting spells anyway."
"Don't be so modest Hermione, you're always the first in the class when we're taught something new."
"You'll have to wait until you're seventeen before you can do any magic though?" Hermione's dad asked her.
"Yeah, on my seventeenth birthday the trace will lift." Hermione said disappointedly. "Unless Harry-" she stopped speaking suddenly, terrified at what she had nearly let slip.
"Unless Harry what?" enquired Emma interestedly.
"Nothing!" squealed Hermione, chancing a glance at Harry and felt relief wash over he when she noticed that he too looked confused. She had done a lot of reading after the ball the previous night about being the head of a family. Clearly Harry hadn't, to Hermione's great relief.
Emma looked between her daughter and Harry suspiciously, she saw the pleading look on her daughters face and decided to change the subject. Clearly this was something about her and Harry's relationship, she didn't want Dan to figure anything out before she had a chance to talk to him. Though from the look on his face, she thought he had a vague idea anyway.
"Seeing as though we'll be in London anyway would you like to do some shopping Harry?" she asked him, eyeing his oversized clothes. "Been a while since you've done any clothes shopping?"
Harry looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, you could say that. I don't have any muggle money on me though."
"Don't worry about that." Said Emma smiling at him fondly. "You've been a good friend to our Hermione for years so this is the least we could do."
"I couldn't ask you to do that!" Said Harry. "I've got money, I can get some exchanged at Gringotts when we go later in the day and pay you back."
"Nonsense, your money is no good to us. We're well off enough, paying for a few clothes won't bankrupt us."
Harry finally relented, though he would find a way to pay the Grangers back somehow.
Hermione was sitting there watching mum and dad speak to Harry when a thought only just occurred to her. She'd spent almost all of her time with Harry since he had woken up so was used to his eyes now, though she was amazed that her magic-doubting dad hadn't even mentioned them.
"I have to say dad, considering how sceptical you are about magic, I'm surprised you haven't said anything about Harry's eyes."
"What do you mean?" he asked turning his attention to her before looking back at Harry. "I don't see anything wrong with his- with his-"
Dan was speechless, he had been sitting at the same table with his green-eyed boy for ages. But had he really? As soon as Hermione mentioned his eyes and he looked at Harry they seemed to change colour. They were golden, actually golden. As though someone had melted down a gold bar and somehow swapped the colour of his Iris with it. They were slightly disconcerting.
He pushed his chair back from the table suddenly to put some more distance between himself and this extremely strange phenomenon.
"Don't tell me you've only just noticed?" Hermione said exasperatedly.
"They were green." Emma said simply, looking into Harry's eyes. "I swear they were green until you said that."
Harry just sat there perplexed. How could they have not noticed? He'd been dreading going out in public, how could he get away with gold eyes in the muggle world? He and Hermione has discussed it and come to the conclusion that he'd just have to wear sunglasses, or else tell people he had some kind of rare genetic disorder or something if they asked.
Hermione suddenly realised that it wasn't that they hadn't noticed. It's that they couldn't see the real colour at all until she told them.
"It must be because you're muggles!" she exclaimed.
"We're what?" asked Dan vaguely, eyes still transfixed on Harry's.
"Non-magical" supplied Hermione, "don't you remember Professor McGonagall explaining when she came with my letter on my eleventh birthday? You must not be able to see the colour of Harry's eyes unless someone points it out, like the Leaky Cauldron."
"What's the Leaky Cauldron got to do with it?" Asked Harry, what could the pub which serves as the entrance to Diagon Alley have to do with the magical colour of his eyes?
"Muggles can't see the Leaky Cauldron, but it's different to how they can't see Hogwarts." Hermione explained. "They can't see Hogwarts because it's enchanted to look like an old ruin, with signs warning people away. The Leaky Cauldron isn't enchanted, muggles just can't see it unless someone magical points it out. It's something to do with the way magic works in muggle areas, though it's not really understood too well, wizards just accept that it works and get on with their lives.
"So they've been like that the whole time he's been here?" Dan asked.
"Yeah" replied Harry. "I had a bit of an incident at Hogwarts and when I woke up they were like this, I used to have to wear glasses too but whatever happened to my eyes fixed my eyesight." Harry didn't feel too much like going into what happened at the first task. He wasn't even sure if Hermione's parents even knew about the tournament now he thought about it.
"Must've been some incident. Will we be able to see them like that all the time now?"
"I expect so." Said Hermione.
"Well I can hardly dispute the fact that magic exists anymore after seeing them, is it just me or are they like… glowing?"
"They are." Said Emma, "It's beautiful."
Harry looked at Emma in surprise, then promptly burst out laughing after a glance at Hermione.
"What's so funny?" asked Mr Granger incredulously.
Hermione smiled sheepishly. "That's one of the first things I said when I saw them too."
"So, Harry and Hermione seem pretty close." Dan said as casually as he could manage.
He and Emma were lying in bed later that same night, they had spent a lot of time talking to Harry and Hermione about their life at Hogwarts the past few years. They couldn't help but think that they were leaving a lot of things out, though if they weren't comfortable telling them then they weren't going to pressure them. They'd tell them when they were ready.
Hermione had said in her letter that there may be some risk in taking Harry in for the rest of the Holiday, yet she hadn't explained exactly why other than to say that someone was after him. Dan and Emma had taken self-defence courses in the past after an incident at their dental practice after a drunk stumbled in and accosted Dan so they felt they could handle themselves. Though neither of them knew exactly what wizards were capable of, they were therefore grateful when they said they said that the headmaster was going to add protections to their home.
"Noticed, did you?" Emma asked grinning at her husband.
"Hard not to really, isn't it? I know I'm usually pretty oblivious Emma but the way that they look at each other makes it pretty obvious."
"Yeah, I'm just glad you didn't see what I did when I came home early." Emma said with a smile.
Dan propped himself up in bed and frowned at his wife "What exactly did you see?" He had gotten to know Harry a little better during their conversations at dinner, though he wasn't exactly comfortable at the thought of them sneaking around together. Hermione was only fifteen after all.
"They were only kissing Dan." Emma said with exasperation. "Harry seems like a nice young man, I'm sure we've got nothing to worry about."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it though." Dan muttered. "It's my responsibility as her father to make sure that anyone who my daughter dates know exactly what will happen if he doesn't treat her right."
"Don't think trying to intimidate Harry is going to work, I get the impression he's gone through a lot in his life. You really think you can look into those eyes of his and tell him you'll hurt him if he hurts Hermione anyway?" Laughed Emma.
"Probably not." Dan sighed. "I want to know what his intentions are at least. I'll have a little chat with him while we're out tomorrow. Preferably before he gets permission to use magic outside school."
"Should've known you would." Emma frowned. "I'm sure his intentions are perfectly gentlemanly."
I'll be the judge of that, Dan thought to himself.
Harry was lying in bed in the spare bedroom he and Hermione had been found in earlier that day by Emma, thinking about how the day had gone. Dumbledore had arrived shortly after dinner and warded the property, they had told him about their trip into London and Diagon Alley the following day. He couldn't see it being a problem as no one besides himself, Professor McGonagall, Ginny and Neville currently knew they were away from school. Though he advised caution nonetheless.
Emma and Mr Granger seemed like really great parents, Emma had been really understanding when she found him and Hermione earlier on. She had even said she'd speak to Mr Granger about him and Hermione's relationship, apparently he could be extremely protective of her. He was still dreading the inevitable conversation with Mr Granger about it though.
He found himself extremely intrigued with what Hermione had nearly let slip during dinner, something he, Harry could do would allow her to do magic outside of school? He had no idea what it could be but knew it was something he wanted to do, he knew she would want to show her parents all the magic she had learned at Hogwarts over the years. She had put on a brave face when mentioning that after tomorrow, he would be able to do magic outside of school even though she couldn't. He knew it bothered her that she wouldn't be allowed to.
He'd have to try to get it out of Hermione tomorrow, he'd do it, whatever it was.
Hermione was laying in her own bed with her hands over her face, mentally kicking herself due to what she had almost let slip. She had done a lot of reading on what being the head of a family entailed, during her reading she had discovered that there wasn't necessarily only one head of the family. After tomorrow, Harry would be Lord Potter, and if he ever asked anyone to marry him, they would become a Lady-to-be, one day becoming Lady Potter. This would entitle them to the same treatment as a lord, including the removal of the trace.
When asked if she'd still have to wait until she was seventeen to perform magic, she had been so close to saying 'Unless Harry asks me to marry him'.
She had only been officially dating Harry for a couple of days, not to mention the fact that the previous night had been their very first kiss. Sometimes it felt like they'd been dating for years, regardless, she shouldn't even be thinking about it for a few more years at the very least. Her parents had gotten married young, when they were both only eighteen in fact, but she was only fifteen, far too young to be getting married, or even engaged.
She felt so comfortable speaking her mind around Harry, that she had started to blurt it out before even thinking about it. There were no laws in the wizarding world preventing people from getting engaged until they were a certain age. In her reading she had learned it was often common for people from pureblood families to be engaged before leaving Hogwarts. Though often that was due to some barbaric betrothal contract.
Harry would ask her what she had been talking about tomorrow, she just knew he would. Though there was no way she could tell him truth about what she'd thinking about.
Harry awoke early the following day and made his way down to the Grangers kitchen to get started on breakfast. He'd always had to make breakfast for the Dursleys and had become a rather good cook if he did say so himself. He knew the Grangers wouldn't expect him to cook breakfast but figured it was the least he could do to say thank you for letting him stay over for the holidays.
He was just plating up the sausage, bacon and eggs when Emma and Mr Granger poked their heads into the kitchen, no doubt lured by the smell of sizzling bacon.
"Harry what's this?" Emma asked curiously. "You don't have to cook for us while you're here."
Harry smiled at her. "It was the least I could do for letting me stay here Emma, I've cooked for my aunt and uncle for years so it's no problem. I actually quite enjoy cooking now." It had been one of those rare Dursley free moments when he had been younger after all, when he could just busy himself with cooking breakfast before the Dursleys woke up. When they were awake, they rarely left him to his own devices, no doubt thinking he'd find a way to blow the house up if they did.
Emma smiled sadly back at him. "It's no trouble at all Harry, we're happy to have you here. If you want to cook while you're here, then at least let us help you in future. It all looks wonderful though, I'm sure it'll be delicious." And to Harry's great surprise, she hurried forward and gave him a tight hug. He knew now where Hermione had gotten her hugging strength from.
They sat down to enjoy breakfast and shortly after, Hermione wondered in looking extremely dishevelled and said good morning to everyone. Her hair was even bushier than usual, he realised he'd never actually seen her before she'd washed it in the morning. She was wearing an extremely thin pyjama shirt and shorts. He tried not to let his gaze wonder but the hormonal teenage boy in him couldn't help himself. He looked back into Hermione's eyes hoping that she wouldn't be upset with him and was happy to see she was smiling coyly at him.
After finishing breakfast, they showered, changed and climbed into Mr Grangers car for their journey into central London. The plan was for them to visit some muggle stores in London to do some clothes shopping for Harry, before heading to Diagon Alley for his meeting at Gringotts.
Harry had tried to get Hermione to explain what she was talking about the night before when she mentioned the trace lifting when she reached age seventeen. He had insisted that if there was anything that he could do to enable her to have the trace removed early then he would do it. For some reason this just made her blush scarlet and refuse to speak any more on the subject.
Hermione was helping him pick out a few pairs of jeans in one of the stores, when Mr Granger dragged Harry away alone with the excuse at looking at ties to go with some of the dress shirts he was getting. They had been standing in front of the aisle that was seemingly full ties of varying colours, patterns and themes when Mr Granger spoke without so much as glancing at Harry.
"How close are you and my daughter Harry?" Mr Granger asked roughly.
Harry had been dreading this, he had faced Voldemort three times if you counted when he was only a year old, yet the idea of Mr Granger having a problem with him worried him even more.
"I know you are more than just friends, that much is obvious even to me. I just worry that you aren't taking it as serious as I'm sure she is. I'll be honest with you; Hermione had a bit of a rough time going through school when she was younger. I can't count the number of times she came home in tears because of some 'pretty girls' making fun of her." He sneered and made air quotes with his fingers.
He continued "She's everything to me, but if you aren't serious about her then I expect you to end it before she gets any more attached to you than she already is. It would crush her, but I know what boys are like and if you lead her on then we're going to have a serious problem." He still hadn't so much as glanced at Harry since he'd dragged him off.
Dan Granger glanced at the boys' face and fought the desire to take a step back from the defiant look in his eyes.
"I'll be honest too then Mr Granger, Hermione means the world to me. She's always been there for me and has had my back whenever I needed her. I'm not sure how much she told you about the start of this year but the short of it is that something happened, and the entire school thought I was a lying cheat. Even someone who was supposed to be my best friend. Hermione was one of the only people who believed me and did everything she possibly could to help me. I've loved her for years and couldn't imagine my life without her in it. I'd never do anything to hurt her."
"You love her?" Mr Granger asked coolly.
Harry nodded defiantly. "I know this may seem silly as I'm only fourteen, but I know that Hermione is the only person I'll ever feel this way about. I never knew my parents but people who did have told me how much they loved each other, one day I want the kind of relationship they had, and I want it with Hermione."
Dan Granger was impressed, and immensely thankful that his daughter had chosen this young man for her affections, yet he couldn't pass up on the opportunity to make the lad squirm. "Is this your way of asking me for my permission to ask her to marry you?"
The look on Harry's face was priceless. "No Mr Granger! At least, not yet! I don't think either of us are ready for that just yet-" he stopped suddenly at the look on Mr Grangers face, who then burst out laughing.
"I'm just messing with you Harry, couldn't help myself. I guess I can drop the dangerous father act now." To Harry's surprise he patted him on the shoulder consolingly.
"I'm glad Hermione found someone like you, you'll be good for each other, I'm sure. Call me Dan from now on, you may as well if you'll be my son in law one day. You've got that permission when you want it, though I'd prefer you to wait a couple more years at least."
Harry was speechless, he had no idea what to say at all. He'd gone from being worried that Hermione's father would try to forbid him from going out with her, to being given permission to ask her to marry him one day. He managed to stammer out a "Thanks Mr Gra- I mean… Thanks Dan."
Dan picked up a couple of ties without really looking at them. "Better take these back with us, can't let on that we talked about anything other than what ties would look good on you." He smiled at Harry good naturedly, before they headed back off in search of the women.
Hermione and Emma had snuck off after the men to see what they were talking about. Her dad always hated ties and was obviously using it as an excuse to interrogate Harry.
She needn't have worried, she almost interrupted them when she saw how standoffish her father was being, but her mum had held her back, so they watched mostly in silence.
She'd accidentally let out an excited little squeak when Harry had said that he loved her and wanted the kind of relationship that his parents had together. Thankfully neither of the men noticed, though her mum had given her a huge smile.
Her tears flowed silently when her dad had essentially given Harry his blessing and couldn't help but picture herself walking down the aisle in a long white dress towards the man she loved. On the arm of her dad. She had never been as close with her dad as she had with her mum, she knew that he loved her, but he'd never really outwardly shown it. All she wanted to do right then was to hug her dad and thank him profusely.
As though sensing her need, her mother suddenly hugged her tightly and kissed her on the cheek. "You've found the perfect man there Hermione, I expect you to let me help you pick out the wedding dress in a few years."
She hugged her mum back, insisting that she definitely would. "Now we better let them find us somewhere else so I can kiss my boyfriend in front of dad now that we've got his permission."
She dragged her mum off to look at some shoes, and when Harry and her dad showed up, she gave Harry a very thorough, non-verbal show of her feelings for him.
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office at Hogwarts once again, thinking about the mystery that was Harry Potter, and the dark objects that he was sure Voldemort had created. The diary from Harry's second year undeniably held a piece of Tom Riddle's soul, but how many more had he created? How had he even come across the knowledge of this darkest of magic? Albus thought back on all the dark books he had removed from the library when he became headmaster, it must have been from one of them. Why the headmasters before him didn't see fit to remove those books he would never understand.
He planned on telling Harry about the prophecy after he returned from his holiday with the Grangers, he deserved some time away to unwind. To forget about the Triwizard Tournament and whoever had put his name in the goblet. Albus had truly grown to care for the boy, more than he should, favouritism wasn't a good treat for a teacher, and especially for a headmaster. He just couldn't help it, the boy was all of the good aspects of James Potter and Lily Evans mixed into one being. He just wished Severus could get over his hatred for James Potter, and see him as the young man most people did.
He worried for Severus, he had been alone for almost his entire life, his only friend was Lily Evans, and he made a mistake which lost her friendship forever. He blamed himself for her death, and he was partially right to do so. He had been so blinded with his hatred for James that he leaned further and further into the dark arts, eventually joining the death eaters in his youth. He had naturally hurried to tell his master when he heard the prophecy, not realising that he was dooming his once best friend and her family to a terrible death.
If there was any hope of Severus forgiving himself, he would have to tell Harry all this himself. It couldn't come from Albus. Harry may end up hating Severus even more than he already did, or he may forgive him. Only time will tell.
Albus walked to the window of his office and looked out upon the snowy grounds, where he himself had once enjoyed his youth, wishing that the young children of Hogwarts could live a life without fear, without death and the inevitable war which was making its way ever closer.
And its saviour, Harry Potter, he suspected the boy was a horcrux, an accidental one when Voldemort's curse backfired, breaking apart his soul even further and latching itself onto the only living being in his presence. How could he tell the boy that one day, he must die, if there was to be any hope of defeating Lord Voldemort. He couldn't, he just couldn't tell him. He could only hope, hope that somehow the Horcrux could be removed and once the war was over, he would be able to live a long full life.
Harry and Miss Granger reminded him a lot of James and Lily, he could only hope that they didn't meet a similar fate.