Doors
The morning came with the sun hid behind the occasional cloud, but the day remained rather sunny and bright.
A large house sitting amidst the perfect khaki bricked houses on Privet Drive was a hive of activity teeming with mourners and undertakers preparing a funeral that was to take place there. There were several cars parked outside including a rather prominent black one with space at the back for a dead body. This house at Number 4 was so tall, that it cast such a long shadow upon the front of the house that it made it look like there was a small hill there.
A tall and gangling man with flaming red hair was sat staring out of a window in a bedroom on the fourth floor of the house, head resting on his folded arms which were leaning against the windowsill. He was in immaculate raven-black robes, looking as if he was off to work but he just sat on the bed that he had slept in last night and continued to stare out to the back of the house, the sun blinding him with its morning rays. The clouds suddenly seemed so riveting to him as he followed their slow movement with his eyes, but let out a sudden gasp as if one of the clouds had done something as unusual as winking at him.
There was a knock from outside the polished oak door of the bedroom and a man with jet black hair matching his robes came in.
"Ron, mate, they want you downstairs...," the man who had walked in said in a calm, urging voice, though it was slightly shaky with grief, "some sort of eulogy I think."
Ron looked up from the window and faced the man but did not speak.
"Look," he said in a would-be calm voice, "You don't have to do it if you don't want, it was a stupid idea anyway, don't know what those funeral directors were thinki -."
"No, I'll do it," Ron said suddenly getting up from his seat and taking a deep breath continued, "She would have wanted me to say something about her life, seeing as it was so much more interesting than mine. Thanks Harry."
The pair gave each other meaningful glances and, Harry smirking slightly followed Ron out of the bedroom.
On their way down, they heard some thumping and muffled voices.
Harry stopped dead as he let Ron make his way down to the service which was being held in the Potters' living room, where the coffin containing Hermione Weasley lay.
He stood listening intently, wondering if it was just a fresh infestation of Doxys.
Moving around the second floor, he heard the sounds more loudly from the airing cupboard opposite one of the guest rooms and walked slowly towards it.
If it WAS Doxys, he'd just stun them, thus he held his wand poised at the door of the cupboard.
And upon opening the door he saw what was making all the noise, but it certainly was not Doxys, though it did make him jump.
Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey were stood, arms all over each other and heads barely a foot apart. They were dressed in their usual Gothic clothes, jewellery and make up - that made them look more than ever like walking corpses or vampires.
Harry made a disgusted sound at the sight that met his eyes and said in a fuming voice, "Ginny...Colin...downstairs - now."
The pair gave him disgruntled glances as they passed him and made their way downstairs to the living room.
"Way to call it a living room," Ginny was saying to Colin while Harry followed them both, "look at the corpse in the middle of it all and you'll see it's just another misnomer present within our society."
"Like...yeah!" Colin said sycophantically.
Harry just rolled his eyes at their conversation - he was used to hearing these two talk about death as if it was some sort of beautiful Tropical Island.
The three of them entered the living room which had been filled with rows of chairs which were filled with witched and wizards all clad in sweeping black robes. The undertakers stood to the back of the room watching the occasion with knowing expressions, obviously they had been to more funerals than most people had in their life.
Ron was sat on the front row, shaking slightly, a piece of paper clutched in his hand.
Cho was sat on the second row and upon seeing Harry, beckoned him forwards.
Harry made his way to the front row and sat down next to Ron and whispered to him, "We're just waiting for your Dad now, he's in the last car with my Aunt and Uncle."
Ron nodded showing that he had acknowledged this.
Fifteen minutes later, a long black car pulled up the driveway, and out came three very harassed looking people - a thin woman with flecks of grey in her blonde hair with a black veil and dress so long, it looked like she was wearing a tent, a large beefy man with a large grey moustache and a black suit that looked so large it could have fit two thin people comfortably and a tall thin man with greying hair and a long nose whose face looked so troubled, it seemed he had never smiled in his life.
And so Ron's father and Harry's Aunt and Uncle had arrived at 4 Privet Drive for the funeral service of Hermione Weasley.
After Ron greeted his father and Harry his Aunt and Uncle, Ron walked to the front and read aloud a speech.
He talked about the unusual circumstances in which him, Harry and his wife had met at Hogwarts in their first year, fighting a troll. He explained how she knew more about magic than most First Years from Pure Blood Families had and she was the first in a line of Muggles. How she had worked at Durmstrang Institution of Magic as the Charms teacher for two years before joining the Ministry of Magic to become an Auror, though working within other departments before receiving this title. As well as her brief liking for the International Quidditch Superstar, Viktor Krum, before she let on her feelings for Ron.
Krum, who was on the third row, bowed his head solemnly and put his hands together, fingers interlocked and breathed a deep sigh.
The speech ended with Ron talking about Hermione's fantastic parents (who were sat on the front row at the far end of the room) and how Hermione was his One and Only.
The service ended with a rendition of 'Zero' originally by Smashing Pumpkins, but performed by Colin Creevey's band, who called themselves "Manslaughtered".
They received rather disapproving looks from a lot of the guests who considered this to be a solemn occasion and not a rock concert, though Hermione's parents and Arthur Weasley were not complaining.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
At the cemetery, Ron and Hermione's parents put the first earth upon Hermione's coffin.
As everyone began to leave, Hermione's Dad turned to Ron.
"Look, son," he said in a brave voice, while his wife stood next to him drenched in tears, "You're a good lad, you know that? I couldn't have wished better for my daughter. I'm glad your family can see beyond the discrimination of lineage that a lot of Wizards hold."
And he smiled at Ron and shook his hand. Mrs Granger gave Ron a kiss, but was still afraid that she would vomit if she spoke, and merely smiled.
On the way back to their car, the Grangers noticed something lying on the ground of the cemetery amongst the weeds in the grass.
Mrs Granger picked it up and saw that it was a soft plush doll that looked a lot like Sirius Black.
She held the doll out in front of her and stared at it for a few seconds, then hugged it and walked to the car with her husband.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
It had been two weeks since Hermione's death and although good news was the last thing that Harry and Cho wanted, it was what they got.
"We have a child for you," Dr Lumen said in a dignified manner, her square spectacles perched on her nose.
"What do you mean, you 'have a child for us'?" Cho asked her in a politely puzzled way, her hands resting on her lap.
Dr Lumen sighed and continued to stare at the Potters through her glasses, with her tight bun and thin lips she looked very much like the old Transfiguration Teacher at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall.
"What I mean, Mrs Potter," she replied in the same stern tone as before, "is that when you and Mr Potter discovered that you were unable to have children of your own," Cho's eyes quickly darted to the floor, "you agreed to sign up for an adoption program.
"When I say, we have a child for you, I mean that there is an unfortunate child sitting in a group home who is waiting for you to take it home and raise it as your own."
Cho looked up suddenly and Harry's eyes met her and they gave each other confused glances, but looking more like they were not sure id Dr Lumen was just pulling their leg or not.
"Wait," Harry piped up suddenly, making Dr Lumen switch her gaze from Cho to Harry instead and eyed him with a glare so penetrating, he looked to her desk instead to avoid feeling as if he was being X-rayed, "you're saying that.... that.... we have...a child?"
Dr Lumen's nostrils flared and she adjusted her name plaque on her table which shone brightly reading 'Dr A. Lumen'.
"In a manner of speaking," she said, now in a more soft voice, "all you need to do is fill out some forms after looking at the child in question and then...well you can take it home."
Harry laughed unsurely and saw that Cho was beaming joyfully at him. Even Dr Lumen's lips managed to curl their way into a thin-lipped smile.
Cho looked down at the Sirius Doll she was holding and hugged it childishly - Dr Lumen shot her a curious look.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
A few days later, Harry and Cho were home with their new daughter, which they called Murron Lily Potter.
The baby was 11 months old and was an orphan like Harry, whose mother had died in childbirth, her biological father had killed himself one night after an alcohol binge.
And so Harry and Cho began their new life with their new daughter, who brought upon the house of Potter such happiness, as had never been seen before.
It was amazing what paths life took, when one door closed with Hermione's passing, another door opened with Murron coming into the Potters' lives.
But as you may have encountered when you buy something new, it always looks much better behind the counter rather than in your wardrobe. And this was the outcome that the new addition in the Potters' family would prove to bring....
The morning came with the sun hid behind the occasional cloud, but the day remained rather sunny and bright.
A large house sitting amidst the perfect khaki bricked houses on Privet Drive was a hive of activity teeming with mourners and undertakers preparing a funeral that was to take place there. There were several cars parked outside including a rather prominent black one with space at the back for a dead body. This house at Number 4 was so tall, that it cast such a long shadow upon the front of the house that it made it look like there was a small hill there.
A tall and gangling man with flaming red hair was sat staring out of a window in a bedroom on the fourth floor of the house, head resting on his folded arms which were leaning against the windowsill. He was in immaculate raven-black robes, looking as if he was off to work but he just sat on the bed that he had slept in last night and continued to stare out to the back of the house, the sun blinding him with its morning rays. The clouds suddenly seemed so riveting to him as he followed their slow movement with his eyes, but let out a sudden gasp as if one of the clouds had done something as unusual as winking at him.
There was a knock from outside the polished oak door of the bedroom and a man with jet black hair matching his robes came in.
"Ron, mate, they want you downstairs...," the man who had walked in said in a calm, urging voice, though it was slightly shaky with grief, "some sort of eulogy I think."
Ron looked up from the window and faced the man but did not speak.
"Look," he said in a would-be calm voice, "You don't have to do it if you don't want, it was a stupid idea anyway, don't know what those funeral directors were thinki -."
"No, I'll do it," Ron said suddenly getting up from his seat and taking a deep breath continued, "She would have wanted me to say something about her life, seeing as it was so much more interesting than mine. Thanks Harry."
The pair gave each other meaningful glances and, Harry smirking slightly followed Ron out of the bedroom.
On their way down, they heard some thumping and muffled voices.
Harry stopped dead as he let Ron make his way down to the service which was being held in the Potters' living room, where the coffin containing Hermione Weasley lay.
He stood listening intently, wondering if it was just a fresh infestation of Doxys.
Moving around the second floor, he heard the sounds more loudly from the airing cupboard opposite one of the guest rooms and walked slowly towards it.
If it WAS Doxys, he'd just stun them, thus he held his wand poised at the door of the cupboard.
And upon opening the door he saw what was making all the noise, but it certainly was not Doxys, though it did make him jump.
Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey were stood, arms all over each other and heads barely a foot apart. They were dressed in their usual Gothic clothes, jewellery and make up - that made them look more than ever like walking corpses or vampires.
Harry made a disgusted sound at the sight that met his eyes and said in a fuming voice, "Ginny...Colin...downstairs - now."
The pair gave him disgruntled glances as they passed him and made their way downstairs to the living room.
"Way to call it a living room," Ginny was saying to Colin while Harry followed them both, "look at the corpse in the middle of it all and you'll see it's just another misnomer present within our society."
"Like...yeah!" Colin said sycophantically.
Harry just rolled his eyes at their conversation - he was used to hearing these two talk about death as if it was some sort of beautiful Tropical Island.
The three of them entered the living room which had been filled with rows of chairs which were filled with witched and wizards all clad in sweeping black robes. The undertakers stood to the back of the room watching the occasion with knowing expressions, obviously they had been to more funerals than most people had in their life.
Ron was sat on the front row, shaking slightly, a piece of paper clutched in his hand.
Cho was sat on the second row and upon seeing Harry, beckoned him forwards.
Harry made his way to the front row and sat down next to Ron and whispered to him, "We're just waiting for your Dad now, he's in the last car with my Aunt and Uncle."
Ron nodded showing that he had acknowledged this.
Fifteen minutes later, a long black car pulled up the driveway, and out came three very harassed looking people - a thin woman with flecks of grey in her blonde hair with a black veil and dress so long, it looked like she was wearing a tent, a large beefy man with a large grey moustache and a black suit that looked so large it could have fit two thin people comfortably and a tall thin man with greying hair and a long nose whose face looked so troubled, it seemed he had never smiled in his life.
And so Ron's father and Harry's Aunt and Uncle had arrived at 4 Privet Drive for the funeral service of Hermione Weasley.
After Ron greeted his father and Harry his Aunt and Uncle, Ron walked to the front and read aloud a speech.
He talked about the unusual circumstances in which him, Harry and his wife had met at Hogwarts in their first year, fighting a troll. He explained how she knew more about magic than most First Years from Pure Blood Families had and she was the first in a line of Muggles. How she had worked at Durmstrang Institution of Magic as the Charms teacher for two years before joining the Ministry of Magic to become an Auror, though working within other departments before receiving this title. As well as her brief liking for the International Quidditch Superstar, Viktor Krum, before she let on her feelings for Ron.
Krum, who was on the third row, bowed his head solemnly and put his hands together, fingers interlocked and breathed a deep sigh.
The speech ended with Ron talking about Hermione's fantastic parents (who were sat on the front row at the far end of the room) and how Hermione was his One and Only.
The service ended with a rendition of 'Zero' originally by Smashing Pumpkins, but performed by Colin Creevey's band, who called themselves "Manslaughtered".
They received rather disapproving looks from a lot of the guests who considered this to be a solemn occasion and not a rock concert, though Hermione's parents and Arthur Weasley were not complaining.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
At the cemetery, Ron and Hermione's parents put the first earth upon Hermione's coffin.
As everyone began to leave, Hermione's Dad turned to Ron.
"Look, son," he said in a brave voice, while his wife stood next to him drenched in tears, "You're a good lad, you know that? I couldn't have wished better for my daughter. I'm glad your family can see beyond the discrimination of lineage that a lot of Wizards hold."
And he smiled at Ron and shook his hand. Mrs Granger gave Ron a kiss, but was still afraid that she would vomit if she spoke, and merely smiled.
On the way back to their car, the Grangers noticed something lying on the ground of the cemetery amongst the weeds in the grass.
Mrs Granger picked it up and saw that it was a soft plush doll that looked a lot like Sirius Black.
She held the doll out in front of her and stared at it for a few seconds, then hugged it and walked to the car with her husband.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
It had been two weeks since Hermione's death and although good news was the last thing that Harry and Cho wanted, it was what they got.
"We have a child for you," Dr Lumen said in a dignified manner, her square spectacles perched on her nose.
"What do you mean, you 'have a child for us'?" Cho asked her in a politely puzzled way, her hands resting on her lap.
Dr Lumen sighed and continued to stare at the Potters through her glasses, with her tight bun and thin lips she looked very much like the old Transfiguration Teacher at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall.
"What I mean, Mrs Potter," she replied in the same stern tone as before, "is that when you and Mr Potter discovered that you were unable to have children of your own," Cho's eyes quickly darted to the floor, "you agreed to sign up for an adoption program.
"When I say, we have a child for you, I mean that there is an unfortunate child sitting in a group home who is waiting for you to take it home and raise it as your own."
Cho looked up suddenly and Harry's eyes met her and they gave each other confused glances, but looking more like they were not sure id Dr Lumen was just pulling their leg or not.
"Wait," Harry piped up suddenly, making Dr Lumen switch her gaze from Cho to Harry instead and eyed him with a glare so penetrating, he looked to her desk instead to avoid feeling as if he was being X-rayed, "you're saying that.... that.... we have...a child?"
Dr Lumen's nostrils flared and she adjusted her name plaque on her table which shone brightly reading 'Dr A. Lumen'.
"In a manner of speaking," she said, now in a more soft voice, "all you need to do is fill out some forms after looking at the child in question and then...well you can take it home."
Harry laughed unsurely and saw that Cho was beaming joyfully at him. Even Dr Lumen's lips managed to curl their way into a thin-lipped smile.
Cho looked down at the Sirius Doll she was holding and hugged it childishly - Dr Lumen shot her a curious look.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
A few days later, Harry and Cho were home with their new daughter, which they called Murron Lily Potter.
The baby was 11 months old and was an orphan like Harry, whose mother had died in childbirth, her biological father had killed himself one night after an alcohol binge.
And so Harry and Cho began their new life with their new daughter, who brought upon the house of Potter such happiness, as had never been seen before.
It was amazing what paths life took, when one door closed with Hermione's passing, another door opened with Murron coming into the Potters' lives.
But as you may have encountered when you buy something new, it always looks much better behind the counter rather than in your wardrobe. And this was the outcome that the new addition in the Potters' family would prove to bring....