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After the fashion show and getting Daniel's approval on Hermione's new clothes, not that Hermione herself had cared about whether her father approved of her choices or not, Emma dragged Daniel out for a walk down the pub that evening to have a serious talk with him.
"What did Hermione want you to talk to me about?" Daniel asked perceptively.
"She and Harry want to share a room. Apparently they do at school and neither of them slept well on their own. It was one of the triggers for Harry's nightmares when they stayed with us at Christmas," Emma said.
"They both looked fine this morning," Daniel protested.
"Yes, because Hermione admitted to me that she gave up trying to sleep alone and went downstairs just after midnight," Emma replied.
"And what will happen if I object? Will I be overruled?" Daniel asked.
"No, Harry respects us too much to do that. He is prepared to accept your word while staying in your house even though Hermione was upset with the idea, but it would be likely they will move out sooner rather than later if they are still having trouble sleeping apart. Hermione anticipates that with magic it will only take a day or so to make a bedroom and bathroom in Harry's house liveable enough if they don't mind roughing it a bit while they do up the rest of the house," Emma said.
"He really owns a house?" Daniel asked dubiously.
"Yes there's some magic preventing Hermione from giving me the exact address though she told me she could take us there. She says the house is about 30 minutes walk from King's Cross station, he inherited it from his godfather and the magic is left over from when his godfather owned the house and Harry is trying to have it fixed," Emma said. "It's not in the best area now but house prices in that area are expected to soar in the next five years, and even now a house that size would be worth a pretty penny."
"I want to see this house," Daniel said. "How big is it?"
"Hermione said there were at least eight bedrooms, enough to house the entire Weasley family, Harry's godfather and best friend and Harry and Hermione with rooms to spare since the children were all doubled up. I'm sure Harry and Hermione would be happy to show it to you. The question is whether we go with them to see that house or if we go to visit them at their home," Emma said pointedly getting him back on track.
"She'd really leave us for this boy?" Daniel said hurt.
"Daniel, Harry isn't some random boyfriend she's going to break up with in a month or two. Hermione reminded me today that the marriage rite they used is permanent, there's no possibility of changing their minds and getting a divorce. Harry is her husband and he isn't going to go away just because you decide to disapprove of their marriage. You need to accept that they're married or you're going to lose your little girl entirely," Emma warned him, using his full name to make sure he took what she said seriously.
Daniel sighed. "When they seemed to be more just friends than boyfriend and girlfriend at Christmas, I thought their marriage was more like a betrothal agreement that they'd be husband and wife when they grew up. Especially since Hermione didn't defend his right to be here this time as vehemently as she did at Christmas," he admitted.
"That's because they now have somewhere to go and Harry isn't insisting on Hermione staying to spend Christmas with her family whether you kicked him out or not," Emma explained. "Like it or not their marriage is real and Harry's her husband right now. You heard how he wanted to take responsibility for her clothes and expenses. I don't want them to move out, We see so little of her as it is and they already have plans with their friends on top of all these weddings they're going to."
"I guess I'm going to have to accept it, but if he knocks up my daughter before she finishes school I'm going to kill him," Daniel threatened.
"Hermione confided in me that the law that forced them to marry means that they're going to have to start trying to have a baby by next summer at the latest but that she hopes to put it off until at least after Easter," Emma said frowning.
Daniel frowned at that but there was nothing he could say.
They drank their pints, Emma even buying Daniel a second one as a reward for being reasonable and when they returned home she nodded at Hermione.
That night Daniel watched with a frown as, after a nod from Emma, Hermione, carried her clothes down to the guest room since it had a bigger bed and more wardrobe space than her room but he didn't say a single word against it. He chose to go up to bed early so he wouldn't have to watch his daughter retire to bed in the guest room with her husband.
-o0o-
The next morning Harry and Hermione made it easy for him by being up early enough to be in the kitchen fully dressed before he came down to breakfast.
Hermione received a letter by owl post. Harry eyed the scroll of heavyweight parchment in a fancy scroll curiously as Hermione broke the wax seal.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "It's an invitation to Lavender's wedding," Hermione said reading down the page.
"I wondered why we hadn't heard anything about that. Does that mean we need to shop for another dress? Who did she end up matched with?" Harry asked curiously. Lavender was one of the only senior Gryffindors not to attempt the marriage ritual they'd found. She had turned seventeen a few months after Ron, but she never spoke about receiving a ministry match.
"A wizard named Mattias Cadbury," Hermione said frowning.
"I've never heard of him," Harry commented.
"Neither have I," Hermione replied, frowning thoughtfully.
Harry looked surprised, Hermione had made a habit to know all the senior students from first year on and if she didn't know him then either the wizard hadn't gone to Hogwarts or was more than seven years older than Lavender.
"When's the wedding?" Harry asked.
"The weekend after next at Cadbury House, the invitation is a portkey, the ceremony is at dusk and includes a room for the night. Lavender says she wants everybody to party til they' drop," Hermione replied amused.
"That's really short notice. So he's not muggleborn then?" Harry assumed. Beaxbaton's or Durmstrang?"
"Probably not, Cadbury House is on the British Floo network," Hermione replied writing an acceptance and sending it off. "Lavender's parents were both half-bloods so she's not considered a pureblood by the blood purists. I'll need new formal robes. None of the dresses we bought are quite suitable."
"We can go to the Alley today," Harry replied before turning to Emma and asking politely. "Would you like to come shopping with us again today?"
"No thankyou Harry. I trust that Hermione knows what is appropriate for a wedding like that better than I would," Emma replied.
"I don't actually," Hermione said frowning. "Perhaps I could ask Katie and Leanne for advice."
"Or Alicia, lives above the twins' shop so she might be around," Harry offered. Hermione didn't know the other two chasers as well as she'd got to know Katie this past year but she trusted that Harry wouldn't suggest it if she didn't think that Alicia would help and the older witch had always been stylishly dressed according to wizarding fashion when not in uniform or dressed for quidditch.
-o0o-
The following day Harry and Hermione decided to check out Grimmauld Place, to see what needed doing. Harry was all for taking a sledgehammer or a wrecking ball to the whole place, especially Sirius's mother's portrait but Hermione said that they needed to know which walls were holding up the level above before they could start knocking any down. Hopefully one of his friends' parents would be able to point them in the right direction to find a magical builder to help them renovate.
"The worst of it is even if we get it clean and painted and stuff it's still going to be too dark inside," Harry complained.
"It will be a lot brighter once the windows are actually clean, especially if we get rid of the heavy window toppers that cover a quarter of the window. If it's still too dark we can try some reflective surfaces to bounce the light around, but I think you'll be surprised by what just cleaning the glass and lightening the colour on the walls will do," Hermione said encouragingly.
"Do you think Dobby would like to clean this up for us? I'd be happy to pay him and there can't be that much work at Hogwarts over the summer," Harry asked.
Dobby popped in excitedly agreeing to clean but refusing the extra money since Hogwarts was still paying him and was gone again before Hermione could say anything.
"Don't forget to have proper meal and rest breaks Dobby, we don't want you to make yourself ill. I know that cleaning the house is a lot of work but there's still plenty of time before we need to move in," Harry said aloud, hoping that Dobby would somehow hear him from wherever he had gone
They didn't see him again but when they came down from exploring up in the top floor and attics the ground floor already looked brighter than before and Harry realised that Dobby had started by pulling down the heavy window coverings and cleaning the windows all around the house the way Hermione suggested.
-o0o-
At Longbottom Hall, Neville was busy in his greenhouse happily catching up on the repotting and other tasks that had accumulated since the Yule school holidays in spite of having an elf to take care of the weeding, deeding and watering and trying to avoid admitting to himself that he was hiding out, relieved to be away from Elsie and all the tension between them for a while. Elsie was spending hours studying each day and he didn't begrudge her the time. He knew she'd been humiliated to find she was so far behind the peers her age and he was proud of her for not giving up, but part of him wondered if she was using her studies in the same way he was using the tasks in the greenhouse to take a break from dealing with their relationship, or having to face how miserable they both were in their marriage. Now that they were back at the manor Gran had insisted on moving them into the lord and lady of the Manor rooms so they weren't even sharing living space let alone sleeping together. Neville knew from their marriage contract that he only had to ask and she would be obligated to join him or let him join her in her bed until she bore a son. But he couldn't bring himself to ask. Elsie seemed even more of a stranger to him these days than she had at Hogwarts. He wondered if she was very unhappy that they were not staying with her family instead of his Gran. She probably was, he was taking comfort in being in familiar surroundings, he supposed it was only fair if they spent as much of the summer as they could with her family because Hogwarts was his familiar second home too. The expression on her face when he made the offer showed him that it was the right thing to do, so they contacted her parents and asked to come and stay.
The offer to stay with her parents in a couple of weeks helped but the highlight of Neville's days were still the times Harry and Hermione came to help tutor Elsie. Hermione and Elsie holed up in the library for hours while Harry trained with Neville and then helped him in the greenhouse or they just sat outside doing their homework together and chatting, then after lunch Harry helped Elsie with her defence down in the duelling room while Hermione helped Neville if he needed help with his homework or they sat in the library reading companionably. Neville was grateful that Harry and Hermione were prepared to give up so much of their time to helping his wife pass a few more exams and build up her stamina so she would fit in better at Hogwarts and very glad that Elsie seemed to like his friends, but he had to feel a little jealous about the easy way she managed to talk to each of them about what she was learning and the other things they were doing with their time.
Harry assured Neville that Elsie's DADA spellcasting was getting better, and it was true her endurance, aim and spell repertoire were increasing and she would easily be on a level with the other fifth year students by the end of the summer but Harry also warned Neville that she was never going to be a witch that could look after herself in a real fight. Neville didn't think she would even manage to put up a decent fight instead of panicking and doing something stupid. He knew Harry was worried, Voldemort might be defeated but many of his followers had escaped justice and the Minister's official decree that the problem was over didn't mean Harry and the friends that had accompanied him into battle at the ministry didn't still have enemies out there and Harry wanted all his friends and their partners to be able to protect themselves.
Neville worried about it and eventually brought the problem up with his Gran. Augusta of course had a solution that would not only relieve Neville's anxiety and help protect Elsie but also solve another problem within the household.
"I know it's gone out of fashion because your generation likes to be independent and go off on your own but there are several young house-elves in need of more occupation. I, or rather you, could assign one or two of them to accompany Elsie whenever she leaves the Hall. They could assist with carrying parcels etcetera but if you made them aware that their main task was the future Lady Longbottom's safety and gave them permission they could remove her from any danger she encounters," Augusta said.
"You think that Elsie would agree?" Neville asked uncertainly.
"I would expect so," Augusta replied surprised. The idea of Neville's wife being offered a choice hadn't even occurred to her.
"She won't think that I'm trying to control her or that I don't trust her?" Neville worried.
"Explain to the girl that the elves assigned to her are under orders not to reveal her secrets if you must," Augusta ordered sighing.
-o0o-
"How was your time studying with Elsie?" Harry asked after they arrived home after visiting the couple the first time.
"Quite pleasant, she's still very insecure about not knowing as much as she thinks she should, but she's got a decent chance of passing Charms later in the summer, what about defence?" Hermione replied.
"I think she has about a fifty fifty chance of passing the OWL at the end of August if she keeps working on it as hard as she has been but she wouldn't do well enough to continue into NEWT classes. She'd definitely pass it next June, but she's never going to be able to hold her own in a real fight," Harry said worriedly.
"Have you warned Neville?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, he's assigned a house elf to accompany her if she's out in public on her own but he said he didn't think that they'd be out alone together enough for it to matter," Harry said frowning slightly.
"Then why are you so worried?" Hermione asked.
"I'm not worried about that so much as I get the feeling that she and Neville aren't getting along. I don't mean that they're fighting or arguing just that they don't seem to be getting to know each other and becoming friends. Neville's worried about it and I think he's wanting to build a real relationship and it doesn't seem to be happening for them. I can see that Neville isn't happy, I don't think that Elsie is either, and I don't know how to help," Harry said slowly.
"I'm beginning to think that Seamus's idea to throw a party and get them both tipsy to help Neville and Elsie get over their shyness with each other might not have been such a bad idea," Hermione admitted.
"Yeah I thought that time on their own would help but it doesn't seem to be," Harry said.
"I think it might if they actually spent time together. They spend very little time together except meals with Neville's grandmother and when he's helping her with her casting and I think that's probably doing more harm than good, it stresses her out that she needs his help," Hermione said.
"They don't share a room?" Harry asked.
"No, and Elsie says he doesn't visit her at night either," Hermione replied.
"He's probably waiting for her to invite him," Harry said groaning.
"And she's probably lying there wondering why he hasn't asked her if he could visit," Hermione agreed.
"Is there anything we can do?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, Harry. I'm afraid anything we tried might make things worse. Passing her exams will give her a boost in confidence which might help," Hermione said doubtfully.
"I'm sure that will help with the confidence to make friends at Hogwarts next year but I doubt it will make much difference between her and Neville," Harry said. "They need to start actually talking and listening to each other."
"Have a talk with Neville, try to ascertain what he's thinking and I'll work on Elise, see what we can come up with," Hermione replied.
-o0o-
"What's going on with you and Elsie? You seem tense when she's around," Harry asked bluntly since he couldn't think of a way to approach the subject subtly.
"I don't know Harry, I try to be as polite and nice and help her with her studies but I don't think she likes me," Neville admitted.
"She spends so much time studying, have the two of you spent any time together just having fun?" Harry asked.
"No, she always says she can't afford the time away from her exam preparation, and I don't really know of anything that we both think is fun. I don't like flying and chess and she thinks gobstone's are stupid and when I showed her my greenhouse it turned into stressing out about whether she'd passed her Herbology OWL," Neville said sighing.
"What about swimming, or shopping, hell I'd suggest we could play some more colour wars if I thought she'd enjoy it but she treats it more like training than a game," Harry suggested.
"I don't know what to do," Neville replied.
"Hermione would tell you to talk to her, ask her what she thinks about issues and stuff," Harry replied.
Neville just groaned.
"Nev, I'm going to ask a question you might think is really inappropriate and you can tell me to go to hell and mind my own business if you want but why aren't you sleeping together, sharing a bed I mean, what you do in it is none of my business, did she ask you to give her her own room?" Harry asked seriously.
"Gran had already allocated her the mistress suite for the East tower, she said that it's traditional for the Lady Longbottom to have her own suite," Neville replied. "As for sleeping with her she's not given me any encouragement to ask to join her and we have at least another year before we have to start trying for a baby."
"Sex isn't just about getting pregnant and sharing a bed is about more than sex, it really helped me and Hermione get comfortable with the idea of being a married couple. Hermione seemed to think that Elsie expected you to visit her at night, if she doesn't know you're waiting for her to invite you she might think you don't share a bed because you don't want to," Harry said.
"Do you think Hermione's right?" Neville asked.
"Well it isn't something out of a book so she could be totally wrong but she is pretty smart and she has been talking to Elsie about stuff other than schoolwork more than either of us has so she's probably on the right track even if she isn't exactly right about everything," Harry admitted. "She's right that you and Elsie need to at least talk about this stuff. Is there some book about pureblood marriage customs for arranged couples?"
Neville sighed, "I have a hard enough time getting her to tell me when she wants my help studying or when she wants me to go and leave her to it. I can't talk to her while she's studying without her getting annoyed that I've distracted her from her work and I just can't talk about personal stuff like this in front of Gran and there never seems to be a time to talk to her, she seems to be studying all the time."
"She's worried about embarrassing you if she fails, and of you thinking she's stupid," Harry said.
"She needn't be, I know it isn't her fault. Merlin, I'd like to send her parents a howler for not teaching her properly or hiring a tutor," Neville said. "I don't know how I'm going to hold my temper when we go there for a fortnight next week."
"I think Hermione would say you should talk to Elsie about that before you go telling off her mum and dad. I know that Hermione always wants me to stay out of it when she has a disagreement with her parents," Harry replied. "Maybe just make sure that Elsie knows you don't think that it was her fault she wasn't as well taught at home as she should've been, and leave her to tell her parents off about it if she wants to."
"Well, I don't have to listen to Hermione, I'm not the one married to her," Neville retorted. "What do you think?"
"If you were a Weasley, Mrs Weasley would already have sent Elsie's mum a howler about it, but you know I don't know of a single time when I saw or heard of a howler doing anything except make the person receiving it feel angry and humiliated, and exposing things that should be kept private to everybody around them. They don't solve anything and often make things worse so I wouldn't recommend doing that. I think it would be better to find out why her parents didn't send Elsie to Hogwarts or hire her a tutor before you blame them for it. You said you got the impression that it was Elsie's grandfather that arranged her marriage. Maybe it was also his decision not to let her go to school and her parents were as unhappy about it as you and Elsie are. If her mum wasn't allowed to go to Hogwarts either she may have done her best to teach Elsie and not even realised how far behind she was, or how to fix it," Harry replied.
"Will you be okay coming to her parent's place to help her with defence when we go there next week? I don't know if they've got a place suitable to duel or anything. Or how Mrs Welker will take it that I've organised tutors for Elsie, much less that I've asked people our own age who don't even have NEWTs yet themselves to tutor her instead of her mother," Neville asked.
"I don't envy you or Elsie having to tell her mother that, but we'll be there if Elsie wants us to come," Harry promised. "I frankly don't care what her mother thinks and neither does Hermione, it's Elsie that needs the lessons and to pass some more of her OWLs before she goes back to Hogwarts to feel better about herself, and you and Elsie that will have to live with her attitude if she doesn't like it."
"Thanks Harry," Neville said.
"Hang in there Nev, things will get better," Harry said encouragingly.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.
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