Hermione sat quietly beside Harry sipping her cocoa in waiting. A warm fire crackled merrily in the fireplace of the family's large home. Granted, it wasn't the only fireplace in the house, but it was the one with the most memories.
Hermione could remember walking into the house for the first time.
It was dwarfed by her mother and father's house, but somehow more exciting.
#34 was nestled in a small wizarding community by the name of 'Evershire' in central London.
"Hidden by unplottability force fields and memory charms, Evershire was perfect for a new family."
At least, that's what the add in the paper said, but sure enough the first thing Harry and Hermione Potter saw when they arrived in their beat up Ford Anglica was a large semi-circle of elaborate and beautiful houses with a single drive connecting them.
Small children played in the lush, green yards as their parents watched from porches, some chatting merrily with friends, others relaxing pleasantly in the shade as their sons and daughters threw enchanted balls to their friends.
"Harry, don't you think this is a bit, -um-, big?" Hermione had asked with a wince as her unborn child gave one of many rough kicks. Harry looked thoughtfully at her but then smiled, "Well," he started, stretching the word as far as he could. "Your parents did say we could live with them, and, that is to say, if you wanted to; we could move in with them and-." "Okay!" Hermione cut in fiercely "We'll go take a look."
Harry grinned and got out of the car quickly, "But I'm not making any promises" she called in frustration.
The red oak door of #34 Evershire opened smoothly, letting banners of golden sunlight rip through the dark house. With a slight bounce in his step, Harry crossed the threshold and flipped a light switch revealing an impressive and stunning foyer. His green eyes soared around the newly lit room with delight.
"Hermione, c'mere!" He called from the doorway. Hermione rolled her eyes at her husband and reluctantly followed him into the house, praying silently that she could find something to stifle her husband's obvious excitement. However, as soon as she laid her eyes upon the polished wood floors and calm, elegant color scheme, she was hooked.
"Wow!" again, Harry had managed to stretch an extremely short word into six syllables.
The foyer was indeed very impressive. A simple, yet elegant chandelier glittered overhead throwing rainbow shards against the crème colored walls and white crown molding.
To the left of the couple stood a white pedestal on which sat a mosaic vase consisting of multiple shades of green and containing a fern. (Although Harry thought that the vase itself was impressive enough.)
And the red oak floor was accentuated by an oriental, sage green runner, which fell almost seamlessly in front of a curving staircase with a banister of matching carved oak.
"Hey Mum!"
Hermione jumped back to the present to discover that pair of vivid green eyes was staring at her imploringly. "Mummy, can I pleeease talk to Gin?" A little voice asked her.
Hermione blinked her eyes a few times in an attempt to clear her mind and looked at her son blankly as if something very unusual was attached to his face.
"Muuuuuum!" he whined again, now sitting comfortably in her lap and snuggling against her with a look of innocence. "Mione, dear, Sirius wants a word." Called Harry softly from his copy of "The Daily Prophet".
"Hmm? Oh, sweetie, Ginny's gone to see her brother." She told her son as she finally came to her senses.
"Noooo mummy, she's gonna pop in the fire thing! I wanna talk to her when she does!" he explained, waving his arms almost franticly.
"Sirius, it's way past your-." Pop "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting?" asked Ginny Longbottom's head from the fireplace. Hermione and Harry's eyes shot back and forth from their son to the flaming head floating unharmed in the crackling fire.
"Gin Gin!" Sirius yelled happily as he plopped down comfortably on a plush rug that sat in front of the hearth.
"Hey, Squirt! How're ya?" asked the long haired, 32-year-old head.
"Gin Gin, I told mummy you were comin', I did, really!" he announced, throwing his hands up and gesturing as he spoke. "Really?" asked Ginny in a surprised voice.
Sirius nodded violently, throwing his brown hair in every direction.
She glanced curiously at Hermione and Harry who both inclined their heads, and returned to Sirius who was now telling her about the broom and snitch his father had given him.
It was about fifteen minutes later when Harry finally got Sirius to go to bed. Sirius insisted that he wasn't tired and that He had to tell Ginny something but amazingly had trouble remembering what that something was when asked. With a huff of annoyance and a large pout, Sirius tromped off to his bedroom and closed the door.
"So he - er - really said I was -?" began Ginny slowly, her eyes shifting between Harry and Hermione.
Harry gave his wife a questioning glance. Hermione hesitated a bit, but nodded in approval.
"Ginny, he's been predicting all kinds of things lately. What worries us is that everything's turned out." replied Harry in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Like what?" Queried Ginny politely.
This time it was Hermione's turn to answer, "Like how he predicted that Harry would have to go on a business trip, or that Ron would break his leg." She replied.
Ginny gave her friend a skeptical look from the crackling fire "Herms, Harry's been on loads of business trips and as far as Ron goes, he managed to break his right leg and three ribs while trying to put up a jar of marmalade. Somehow, I don't think that Ron breaking a body part is anything out of the ordinary." She said sarcastically. "I'm sure that Sirius made a few lucky guesses." Ginny concluded, peering sternly at Hermione and her husband.
"Well, whatever it was," Hermione sighed "it has Dumbledore making arrangements for Sirius' early arrival at Hogwarts." Ginny had the look of someone that'd been slapped across the face and with an oddly squeaky voice asked "How early?"
"When he's nine." Harry and Hermione said together.