In the years to come, she would blame Harry for the disaster that was her tattoo. It wasn't really a disaster, but the duo hadn't realized the implications of a wizarding tattoo. They'd ventured into muggle society together countless times to get tattoos together. The first of which being the Chinese symbol for family on their wrists.
Hermione's next tattoo came a month after the first. She'd once again descended into muggle London for art work, this time she returned with flowers blooming across her arm, surrounding the carving appearing on the skin. It wouldn't be until a week later that she saw Harry again, the bespeckled boy quickly shedding his jacket and shirt, revealing a piece he'd gotten done over his shoulder.
It took Hermione a second to realize what it was, but when she did she felt her eyes well up with tears. The man had gotten Padfoot's paw print, and as Hermione traced it delicately with the tip of her finger, she felt tears run down her cheeks.
They went together for their next tattoos. For Harry a stunning stag appeared on his hip, a look at Hermione's revealed an otter on its back. They allowed these to heal, keeping them secrets from most people.
It wasn't until a few weeks later at her grandmother's birthday party, that anyone saw the many artworks decorating her body. The elderly lady had tutted, catching Hermione's arm in her own, undoing the cufflink that held her sleeve together and tearing the fabric out of the way. "What is this?"
"A tattoo." Hermione had deadpanned, having long lost the patience to deal with judgements like this.
"A tattoo?" The woman practically choked on the word, spitting it out venomously. "No good man is going to want a lady with a tattoo" She shrieked.
"Tattoos, as in more than one." She chose to ignore the 'man' comment, knowing she needed to pick and choose her battles.
"You have more than one? Think about what it will look like on your wedding day!" Jean Granger's face was turning more and more red by the second, her nails digging painfully into Hermione's arm.
"Well Gram, that's assuming I find someone crazy enough to marry me in the first place." She grinned when her mother intercepted the older woman, dragging her off to socialize with other ladies. "Tell mum I headed out." She nodded to her father, quickly making a retreat out the back door, buttoning her sleeve up as she went.
She apparated into Harry's flat, demanding the man follow her out to get another tattoo. Harry readily agreed, and the duo once again headed into muggle London, the crests of Houses Potter and Black appearing on their respective shoulders.
Years before, when he was alive, Sirius had recognized Hermione's curls for what they really were, Black family genetics. He'd done the research and discovered that Hermione's father was a squib born to his Aunt, making Hermione eligible to become scion Black, a title she graciously accepted.
It was then, that the duo decided they no longer cared what finer society had to say about them, or their tattoos. Several more appear on the fair skin of the two young adults over the course of a year. A pair of doves joined Hermione's collection, as well as the wand movement for wingardium leviosa. She covered her ankle with a simple book tattoo, birds flying from the pages. Harry started to cover his skin with small tattoos, Teddy's thumbprint in the shape of a heart, the swirl of expecto patronum, and a stem of aconite joined the works.
Two years after the final battle, the duo agreed to get one more matching tattoo. A simple Fred appeared behind their left ears one day, paying homage to the man they lost.
It was shortly after that, that Hermione and Harry ran into their slytherin counterparts. A tattoo parlour in downtown muggle London had been the surprising venue. Draco was just starting what Harry was sure to be a beautiful sleeve, surrounding the dark mark covering his otherwise perfect alabaster skin. Pansy's choice was much simpler, the flower of her namesake covering the skin behind her ear. They'd made nice in front of the tattoo artist, not wanting to start a fight in front of the man that had invested so much time into the artworks covering their skin.
Hermione quickly realized that Pansy was someone she wanted to see more of, and smooth talked her way into several dates with the slytherin woman. Harry himself having been won over by the fair haired Malfoy man, allowing his grey eyes to con him into a date.
It wouldn't be until another few months had passed before the quartet had met together again. As couples this time. Harry sporting a new bunch of flowers across his arm, lilies and petunias, a grinning Draco hanging off the other. Hermione boasted a copy of her original wand, covering the inside of her forearm.
A year later, Hermione brought Pansy to meet her grandmother. The elderly woman balked at the tattoos covering her granddaughter's skin. "Gram, I wanted you to meet Pansy Parkinson."
"How do you do young lady?" Pansy grinned, tucking herself against the taller girl's side, watching the older woman's confused expression carefully.
"I'm quite well, thank you."
"Gram, I brought her here because I wanted you to meet the woman I'm going to marry. I love you gram, and I love Pansy too. I'd like you to be there."
"I can't say that I agree with this, however you deserve to be happy my dear." She patted Hermione's cheek lovingly, smiling warmly at her granddaughter. "I'm sure I can convince your mother to bring little ole me to my only granddaughter's wedding." The couple left several hours later, in high spirits.
It was two months before her wedding that Hermione heard whispers of wizarding tattoos. Ones that moved on your skin, the work of pure magic. She'd mentioned it to Harry immediately, who confirmed that he'd heard that Luna Lovegood, of all people, was doing them.
The duo quickly made appointments with the blonde, a lion covering Hermione's wand hand, and a phoenix decorating Harry's ribs. It wasn't until a few days later that they'd realized, just exactly what they'd done.
Hermione woke to the powerful roar of a lion, sitting straight up in bed, she whipped her head around wildly attempting to find the source of the sound. Assuming it was just a dream, she laid back down, basking in the morning sun.
That's when Harry appeared in her doorway. Shirtless. The man had wide eyes and pointed to his new tattoo, the phoenix having disappeared, replaced by a pile of ashes. Hermione reached out with a shaky hand, tracing the lines of the ashes in complete silence. It was at this point in time that the lion spoke up again, roaring impatiently on Hermione's hand, licking at its chops after.
"Hermione what the bloody hell did we do."
"Magic Harry, amazing magic." She regarded her hand, watching the animated lion move about. The tattoo on her hand proved to be amazing, seemingly tapped into her emotions, it roared when she became angry, or upset. Purring loudly when she was at her most content.
However, now she was sure Pansy was going to kill her, on the day of their wedding no less. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get the lion on her hand to stop making noises. It rumbled all day, through the breakfast she'd shared with her parents and Harry, getting dressed, and the mini photo shoot she did with Harry.
But now, as she stood at the end of the aisle, the lion on her hand was at its loudest. Roaring for everyone in the front few rows to hear. The wedding march began, and Pansy came into view, everything was deathly quiet. Every part of Hermione's being calmed, entranced by the amazing woman walking slowly towards her.
They exchanged vows, and after Hermione took the rings from Harry, the minister announced that Hermione could finally kiss Pansy. The gryffindor reached up, cupping her wife's cheeks gently and kissed her. The lion on her hand roaring it's approval.
Hermione didn't add to her collection of tattoos for almost three years, she put all her focus into her wife, and the two pregnancies that followed their wedding. It wasn't until her daughter was born that she added a new tattoo.
It started as a simple maple tree, covering her whole arm. Her parent's initials etched into the bark on it, her son's name scrawled in Pansy's handwriting along with her daughter's name joined the inscriptions. She had Luna enchant the tree to match the seasons of the year, causing it to lose leaves in fall, and blossom new growth in spring.
She continued to add to the ark work scrawled across her body slowly over the years, a raven here, a dead rose there, even a tribute to her wife, a pansy behind her right ear. She got her final tattoo on her granddaughter's seventeenth birthday. A white sword that stretched across her spine, matching her children's first tattoos on their fingers.