The One Who Had the Clearest View

Chapter 4 – Mary, Josh, Anne and Bump

Disclaimer: Own nothing, am paid nothing, don't sue!

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Mary, Josh, Anne and Bump

"Oh my God I've missed you so much!" cried the strangely familiar voice.

"Hermione? My God! Is it you?" asked another voice, this one female. Hermione looked over the shoulder of the person hugging her to see a woman with long, straight auburn hair and startlingly grey eyes behind a pair of small framed glasses. She had one hand resting on a baby pram in which Hermione could see a sleeping baby and a small boy with floppy red hair was resting on her hip, pulling her jumper tight over a stomach with a small but definite bump at the bottom of it.

"Mary!" Hermione gasped. The man stepped back and grinned, holding her at arm's length planting a light kiss on her cheek. It seemed the past five years had been nothing but good to Fred Weasley.

"Wow, this is a change." Hermione gestured to his hair.

"Yeah. It was an accident the first time it happened but I kind of like it so it's staying for now. Josh thought it was wonderfully funny anyway."

"Hello," Josh, Fred's eldest child shyly greeted Hermione, stretching out a small hand upon hearing his name.

"Hello Josh. My word you've grown so much! You'll be as tall as your Daddy soon,"

Josh giggled and began introducing his family to Hermione.

"Mummy," he lay his hand adorably across his mother's chest, "Daddy," he pointed at Fred, "and Anne."

"Play along, shake our hands. It's his new thing. He introduces us to everyone, even mum and dad," Fred whispered.

"Hello," Hermione shook Mary and Fred's hand and whispered a 'Hello' and waved to the sleeping Anne in her pram.

"Josh, do you remember Aunty Hermione? We went to her house in New York in the summer and her friend Alana bought you that big sticky lolly?" Mary asked, shifting him further up her hip.

"Bump." Josh announced, ignoring his mother's question and laying a hand across his mother's stomach, almost slipping from her grasp as he did so.

Hermione met Fred's eyes and turned her gaze quickly to Mary, seeing identical grins spread across their faces.

"We were going to tell you ourselves in a minute but Josh seems to have beaten us to it," Mary explained. Hermione could tell by the look on their faces that they were both about to bubble over with excitement and knew what they were about to say.

"There's going to be another Weasley about April time!" Fred's smile, if possible grew even more as he slid his arm around his wife.

"Congratulations!" Hermione cried, hugging them both, or as close as she could get as Josh began trying to wriggle free from his mother's grasp. "So, how is everyone?"

"Fine, fine. George looks about ready to settle down now, he's finally proposed to Alice, Percy is still being driven mad by his kids and is still working for the ministry, Bill is living in Australia still, but he's coming home for Christmas and Charlie has turned his hand to teaching in France."

"Really? I thought Charlie swore never to turn teacher after the stories Alice had told him." Hermione raised an eyebrow. Alice had been George's partner for over four years now and the two of them had met several times. After Professor Binns had retired from Hogwarts Alice had taken up his post and moved to Hogsmeade where George had opened another branch of the joke shop he and his brother had worked until they sweated blood on after graduating. It had been a tough for them at first, but now the business was booming. The Weasleys had, apart from Dumbledore, been the only people Hermione had kept in regular contact with after leaving.

"So then, Miss Granger, what brings you so suddenly back to these shores?" Fred inquired while trying to pry a book from the shelf beside them out of his young son's hands.

"Work, I'm afraid. The London office has claimed me for a year and you wouldn't believe what they've got me doing,"

"I take it you'd rather be with the bright lights of the Big Apple than the big heads of Big Ben?" Fred laughed. Before he had met Mary, Fred had been all set to go with Hermione to stay for a while and work with an expert in Manhattan who had agreed to help the business. However, he'd met Mary and by the time he was about to leave they were engaged. The expert had, thankfully, decided to come to them.

"You guessed it."

"So what have they got you doing?" Mary asked, checking Anne was still asleep.

Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper, "I don't really want to say it here," she glanced nervously at the witch a little further down the isle and the tall wizard stood even closer, "Can we go somewhere else?"

"Sure," Fred answered, a little confused. He knew Hermione worked with Auror Highers and was one of the best of them, but she'd never been this nervous about admitting that. He'd seen the way she'd glanced around, definitely worried about telling them in public and, if he knew as much as thought he did about her line of work, she wouldn't tell them the whole story either.

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For Harry Potter, life was going great. He had a great job, a great wage, a great house, a great group of friends and had just come back from a great holiday. He'd been home after two weeks skiing in the French Alps with a group of friends for just a week and things were definitely getting better again. He'd just checked his bank balance.

"Can we go yet?" Evan was looking pointedly at his watch, leaning against the wall outside Harry's Gringotts vault.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quit moaning. Go on ahead. I'll meet you there; I might be a while with the Goblins."

Evan Sterling was glad of the chance to leave Gringotts. The goblins had given him the creeps ever since he was a child and he was glad to climb out of the cart and watch it disappear again to wait for Harry.

Making his way through a relatively quiet Diagon Alley, Evan bumped into an old acquaintance. Damien Gerard.  Damien had always been interested in Evan's line of work, and, although there was no strict law against telling people abut working with the Auror Highers, Evan had always refrained from telling Damien more than that he worked for the 'Defence' department of the Ministry. Damien was known to his office and wasn't particularly trusted. Damien was suspected of practicing the Dark Arts. And Damien was also very good at not getting caught.

"Evan, old chap, long time no see!" he cried in his false English accent that was tinged slightly with a New York sound, clapping Evan hard on the back.

"Damien!" Evan returned, putting on a false smile, "How've you been?"

"Good, good. Just got in from New York actually. Waiting fro the jet-lag to set in."

"Nasty thing, jet lag," Evan lied. He avoided Muggle planes as much as possible and had never experienced jet-lag, "What brings you over here then?"

"Nothing much really. Just visiting family. I'm here for Christmas and New Year and then its back to work."

"Not long 'til Christmas is it now?" Evan replied, hoping he could end the conversation soon. Damien had always been such a creep it made him shudder and his skin crawl.

"A month last Saturday I believe. Anyway, got to dash. See you soon old chap!"

"Take care," Evan smiled, knowing he would avoid seeing Damien again at all costs. He covered the short distance he had left to Flourish and Blotts Bookshop, holding the door open for a tall, dark haired man and two women, one with a push chair and the other with a small boy resting on her hip to pass through out of courtesy and glanced back at Damien's  retreating back. Evan had to suppress a shudder as he entered the shop.

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A/N: Sorry I've been a while between updates. I'm back from my holiday now so I'll be working on this story again soon. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Peace to everyone! J (Don't worry, I'm not a total hippy!)