Day Twenty-Four

Hermione was standing in front of her Advent calendar with her arms around Harry's waist, she couldn't seem to bring herself to step forward and open it.

"Did you make me get out of bed just to stare at it?" Harry teased.

"It's the last day. I'm kind of sad," she admitted.

He kissed the top of her head. "There's still Christmas tomorrow."

"It's not the same." She was whining now, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

He chuckled and squeezed her tighter. "Okay well, there's next year, and the year after that, and the year after that…"

She looked up at him, eyes wide, probably more surprised by that sentiment than she should have been.

"What, did you think this was a one off?"

"I don't know," she chewed on her lip, "I guess I hadn't thought about it that far."

He rolled his eyes. "I'll never understand how your brain works. Okay, then let's make a date. You, me, this Advent calendar, on December 1 next year."

She looked away, a little embarrassed by how relieved that promise made her feel. "Sounds good." She took a deep breath, disentangled herself, stepped forward, and opened the last door.

She couldn't see anything inside, but that wasn't a cause for concern as it wasn't the first time this had happened. Some of the presents had been small and the calendar wasn't lit inside. She simply reached in, felt a small metal object, and pulled it out to see another charm for her bracelet. This one was a rose.

This was the third rose Harry had left in her calendar, the first two being actual flowers, so it wasn't unusual. But she felt like she was missing something. The other three charms had gone along with the seasonal theme (her argument that the reindeer was actually a stag notwithstanding) but a rose didn't really fit.

He must have seen the question on her face because he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "That one is because of what you do every year for my parents."

Hermione's hand flew to her mouth as tears welled in her eyes, knowing immediately what he was referring to. She had left a wreath of Christmas roses on the Potters graves every year since that first one during the war. It was their own little tradition, to visit them on Christmas Eve, something they'd always done alone.

"Is that okay?" She heard him asking, "or is it, I don't know, morbid?"

She nodded vigorously until she realized how that could be misinterpreted. "Of course it's okay. It's perfect. I love that tradition. I mean, obviously I wish that there was no need for it-"

He stepped forward and cut her off with a kiss. "I know what you mean." He cupped her face and looked her in the eyes. "I think I may have fallen in love with you that day."

"What?" She asked in shock.

He smiled wryly. "I didn't know what it meant. I wasn't in any place to evaluate it, not for years. Not until very recently, actually. But yeah, if I had to name the day, I would say that I fell in love with you on Christmas Eve 1997."

"Harry," she gasped.

"I'm sorry if that's inappropriate given that neither of us was exactly available at the time."

"We were both single, don't you dare feel guilty about that. It was a complicated time. I was only surprised."

"Well, I understand that. Except when you think about it, it's not really surprising at all."

"Oh, how so?"

"I know what you said about that little trip to Godric's Hollow, that you thought we had to go there and at least check it out. But I know you really did it for me. Maybe you could excuse going to my family's cottage and to see Bathilda Bagshot as fact finding. But going to Mum and Dad's grave was risky, and you left evidence behind. I didn't consciously realize what a risk that was until I went to auror training, but I'm certain that you knew and you did it anyway."

"We couldn't go there, and not go visit your parents," she whispered, voice rough.

He nodded. "Yeah, I believe it was really that simple for you. But it was also an enormous act of love, and part of me knew it, even then. I'm not saying you were in love with me back then, and honestly I don't care. But nobody had ever loved me like that before, if I wasn't falling before that night, that tipped me over the edge."

She put her head on his chest. She didn't have any words.

"Do you remember how angry I was when I woke up after Nagini's attack?"

"Yeah, Harry," she bit her lip and immediately shut up when she heard the bitterness of her tone.

"Yeah, I was a prick. Have I ever apologized for that?" He shook his head and continued before she could respond. "I was, and I can't tell you how sorry I am. You saved my life, even after I ignored your warnings to be careful and not follow Bashot by myself, and then I got mad at you over my wand being broken, which wasn't even your fault. It was ridiculous of me to blame you. Not to mention a broken wand was nothing in the scheme of things."

"Losing your wand is a big deal. I understood that."

He grabbed her face and kissed her, slow and deep, and a little rough, obviously trying to make a point. He pulled back to look into her eyes, keeping her head captured in his hands. "This is what matters, Hermione, right here," he shook her a little. "And I knew that, even back then. I woke up and there you were, you were always there, without fail. It was so overwhelming, I've never felt that much all at once before, and that scared me. So I lashed out. Tried to drive you away again, but it didn't work, it never worked."

She reached up, taking his face in her hands, mirroring their positions. "I'll never leave you."

His forehead fell to hers. "I know."

After a few minutes she spoke again. "Do you want to go to Godric's Hollow before the wedding, or wait until after?"

"No, let's go before, while we're not tired."

"Okay," she rubbed his chest.

A couple of hours later, after eating, and separating to get dressed, Harry was standing in the doorway to Hermione's bedroom watching her run around gathering the last of her things. She would have been able to feel his eyes on her even if she hadn't already known he was watching.

He had noticed over the last week, since he'd started getting such intimate views of her routines, that she almost always did this before leaving her flat, even though she was the most organized person he knew, she remained convinced she was going to forget something and always spent at least a couple of frantic minutes making sure she hadn't before she departed. When he had commented on it, she had just shrugged, not being aware of her own ingrained habits.

Finally satisfied, she smiled and walked over to him, telling him she was ready. He held up the object he'd been holding for her to see; it was his mother's bracelet. The one he had given her to wear to the Bertrands almost a week ago. It had been sitting safely in a little dish on top of her dresser, she hadn't attempted to give it back, but she also hadn't put it away in the box where she kept the rest of her jewelry.

"Do you want me to wear that?" She asked when she saw what he was holding.

He shrugged. "If you like, I don't know if it works with everything else you're wearing and I wouldn't assume anyway. I'm just giving it to you."

"Harry-"

"It's mine and I want you to have it," he insisted.

"But it was your mother's you should keep it for…"

He raised his eyebrows. "For what?"

"It should stay in your family."

"You're my family," he replied easily.

She huffed. "I meant that you should save it for your wife, or even a daughter."

He actually smirked. "Okay, you want to do that?"

"What?"

"Are you really going to stand there and pretend that that's not exactly where this is going?" He pointed between the two of them. "Have I been completely misinterpreting almost everything we've been doing and saying to each other for the past month?"

"No," she sighed.

"Then there is no need to refuse on those grounds."

"It just feels awfully presumptuous."

"I'm telling you it's not. Have you recently become superstitious or something?" He frowned. "Like accepting this will jinx us?"

"No," she practically whined, "I just don't feel worthy of it, I guess." She tried not to put Harry's parents on a pedestal, but the near mythical status they held in their society made it difficult sometimes, and to accept something like this seemed almost blasphemous.

"This is just a bracelet, Hermione, Dad had it made to be worn. It shouldn't just be sitting in a vault," he replied without hesitation, almost as if he was reading her mind. "I don't think it's conceited of me to say that I was the most important thing in the world to them both. Before that, my mum was the most important thing to my dad, and he had this made to help protect her. You're far too perceptive not to have noticed that this is steeped in protective enchantments. It won't help Mum now, but I can give it to my most important person, in order to protect her. That's literally what it's for, it's not presumptuous at all. Please, Hermione."

Well, when he put it like that, she couldn't really refuse him. "Okay," she said slowly and held out her bare wrist for him to attach the bracelet.

"Are you sure? I don't expect you to wear it all the time, but it would set my mind at ease if you would wear it when we go to big events like the Yule Gala. Because of that target that's on your back that we talked about last Friday." He smiled at her. "Regardless of what you think, I'm really not trying to mark my territory or anything like that."

She laughed. "I know, that's why I can tease you about it. If I actually had any concerns that you were actually that chauvinistic the conversation we were having would be very serious. But I'd like to wear it today. Dudley is Lily's nephew, it feels appropriate, and it's beautiful."

He nodded and with a little quirk of his lips, which might have been annoying because he was clearly reveling in winning the argument, except she could also see the pure relief in his eyes, he clasped the bracelet to her wrist. Then he raised it to his lips and kissed her pulse point. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They apparated to Godric's Hollow in what had become their usual spot, just outside the village, and walked to the cemetery. Once they were standing in front of the Potters' headstone Hermione gently nudged Harry, a silent question, because sometimes he preferred to speak first and sometimes he liked to wait for her to begin. and she was uncertain of his mood at the moment. He'd been slightly reserved all morning.

"Hi Mum, Dad, Happy Christmas Eve. As you can see, Hermione's here with me, as usual."

He squeezed her hand before releasing it and squatting. She almost followed, but decided to give him a moment.

"You know by now how amazing she is," he began again, "so I'm sure that you'll be happy to hear that I finally wizened up and realized that I wanted her to be my girlfriend." He laughed. "Not sure I can really take credit for that, though. Dudley's getting married today. He turned out okay, and his fiancee is great. Anyway, when Hermione found out about the wedding she did what she always does and she tried to protect me. She told a bold faced lie and said that we were a couple so that she could accompany me to the wedding. And because I like to think I'm not totally daft, it only took me about a week to realize I wanted it to be real. Well. If you don't count the thirteen and a half years that we were friends before that. So maybe I am rather daft. I don't even care, I'm so happy."

Hermione could see that he was grinning, and then he sighed.

"I wish you were here, so that I could actually see how you feel about this. I think you would be happy too. I love you both." He reached out and touched a gloved hand to the marble and then looked up at Hermione.

She held out a hand, and he immediately took it and she used it to help lower herself to the ground until she was kneeling beside him. She had magic, she would worry about cleaning and drying her coat and dress later.

"Merry Christmas," she whispered, not realizing until she heard the sound of her own voice that she was already almost on the verge of tears. "Your son is a menace, did you know that?" She asked, trying to add a little levity, she always tried to do that for both of their sakes.

"He didn't tell you what he did, because he doesn't like to brag, but as you know I have no problem bragging about him, it's easy."

Harry bumped her shoulder with his, but didn't interrupt.

"He gave me the most thoughtful gift anybody has ever given me. It's made this the perfect Christmas season. I didn't have any choice but to fall in love with him," she laughed, "I'm not sure I ever really did." She took a deep breath. "He gave me your bracelet Lily, I promise to take good care of it, I feel honored to have it. I was going to ask you if that was okay, but in the few minutes that have passed since I accepted it, I realized that you probably don't care at all, because I have something infinitely more precious to you. And I do hope that you approve of me for him. I promise you that I'll take care of him. There are no words to properly thank you for him. I hate that you aren't here too, but please know that even in your absence he is so, so loved, and he always will be."

She took out her wand and conjured one of her famous wreaths. Harry stood and then helped her up. She cleaned her clothes and then pulled one of her new handkerchiefs out of her bag. "I didn't think I'd need this so early in the day," she smiled at him as she dabbed at her eyes and cheeks.

He kissed her forehead. "I love you too, you know? As much as you love me, more even."

She dropped her hand from her face and huddled against him. "Sometimes it feels like more than my body can contain."

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "I've got you."

The wedding was lovely. Hermione held Harry's hand and cried through the ceremony. He had watched wide-eyed, having never witnessed a muggle wedding except in movies. But he, too, seemed moved by it. It was beautiful, Amelia did have discerning tastes, it was no wonder she was good at her job.

The church had made Harry curious, as he'd only been inside of one a few times, and never for very long, but it was the transformation of the Bertrands home and garden into a winter wonderland for the wedding breakfast that had him literally gaping. Hermione could hardly blame him. She had been here less than a week ago and she barely recognized it.

It was easy to stay out of Vernon and Petunia's way as it was a very large wedding. It was so strange to Hermione, looking back only a few weeks to how she had imagined this day going. How they would be roleplaying a relationship. It was almost laughable now, the idea of anything between her and Harry being false.

"How was your day?" She asked him while they were dancing later.

"Good, I had fun. Thank you for insisting on coming with me," he murmured into her ear and held her closer, his voice laced with humor.

"I do suffer for you," she sighed dramatically.

"Mmm," he kissed the corner of her mouth. "Do you want a wedding like this?"

She went momentarily still in surprise over that casual question. "It was lovely, it suits Amelia, and Dudley seems happy with whatever makes her happy, at least for the wedding. But for me it would be a little much." She clenched her fist in his shirt. "But I understand that there will probably be expectations for your wedding. For our wedding," she added the last part quickly, determined not to play ignorant, even if this did feel presumptuous.

"Since when have either of us cared about those kinds of expectations?" He scoffed.

"Never, of course. But I'm not sure we can escape them, just like we couldn't prevent our relationship from making the front page of the Daily Prophet."

"We could elope," he said, without missing a beat.

"Molly would kill us," she shot back just as quickly.

He bit back a laugh. "We could bring our families and do it a long way from Britain. Or," he licked his lips, considering.

"Or?" She prompted.

"Or we could get married in the muggle world. Honor both of our heritages that way."

She frowned. "How would that be both of our heritages? Your parents were both magical."

"But mum was a muggleborn. And I imagine Dad would think it was a great prank."

She laughed, she could practically see Sirius' eyes sparkling at the idea and she imagined James would be the same.

"Do you think your parents would like that?" He continued.

"Yeah, they'd really appreciate that," she gave him a little smile.

"Well, that's settled then."

Hermione suddenly stopped moving to the music and he nearly stumbled over her feet. "Harry, did you just propose?" She asked incredulously.

"Of course not. You'll know when I do that."