A/N: Chapter 9 is finally here! Sorry it took so long. Thanks to all you readers' patience. Enjoy!

But before we head on to the story, my wonderful reviewers have to be thanked first!

Lelimo: Yep to both your questions. J

Lunatic Pandora1: If I were a guy I wouldn't mind that too, but I'm not, so anyway…

freespirit65: Sorry if it took so long to update.

witchygrl1413: You're welcome. J

Hermione Graner Potter: Well thank you very much!

Paul: There are tons out there that are good. My personal favorite Harry/Hermione fic is 'Come Together' by Granger. It's what made me like Harry/Hermione fics in the first place. Check it out!

PruePotter: Hehe, so true. J

corditheoddball: Thanks for recommending my fic to your friends! You have no idea how much that means to me!

Xinlingluvxiezhi: Hey, I didn't really make Hermione all that 'hot'! Ginny was just being complimentary. But she is supposed to be attractive, in her own Hermy-ish way. J

OrLi'ScRaZyLuVeR: Judging by your penname, I would think that you're an Orlando Bloom fan. Haha! Me too!

Queen of Harry Potter: Oops. Sorry if you misunderstood me. I meant that my semestral break was over, I've been in school since June! So no fair right back at you! J

quizgirl: Hehe, maybe. I you liked the sorta cliffhanger ending in my last chapter, you're gonna love the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter!

midnite star watcher: Let's just say that Harry's reaction isn't the fanfic norm. J

Nyoko: I completely understand! J

Hermi De Harry: Of course I remember you! We still haven't made 'contact' yet. L Of course you can translate my fic into Spanish. But if you're going to credit me, please use my real name (Nicole) because my penname's really kind of funny sounding. If you're looking for more fics to translate, I really recommend 'Come Together' by Granger. You can find it right here in !

oasis: I thought it was high time Lily asked about babies, since her mother is going to have one. You'll find out if Ron has anyone in the horizon in this chapter. J

Big thanks also to Serindipity9, Sasami Tombo, anafics, Admiral Lily, WIZ1, CrazyGirl47, Pia O'Leary, blue3ski, wockygal, Silver-Silhouette6, Book Lover990, Daniellover1000, alexian-goddess, sphinx666, year1989rocks, KcluvsMl, sally, AJ the Ass Slayer, msh, Cass Eil, and leolilly!

And heeeere's...

Chapter 9

Harry wandered through the house after Hermione left with Ginny. He paused in front of the door that he knew was Lily's room, but had never entered. Silently, he opened the door and peeked inside. The walls were painted a soft, butter yellow and a butterfly-shaped nightlight was floating lazily around the room. Lily was still sound asleep, tucked into her comforter, which had a design of unicorns that were grazing on a field. It was the most precious scene that Harry had ever witnessed.

Carefully, he closed the door again and proceeded downstairs into the drawing room. He strode toward a stretch of wall that was partly covered with framed photographs of his supposed Quidditch team, one from every championship his team had apparently won. Below them were newspaper articles recounting the matches. On the other half of the wall though, were clippings from the Daily Prophet describing all the things Hermione had supposedly done for S.P.E.W. Hermione had excitedly read and reread them while the were decorating the other day.

He scanned the articles under the Quidditch pictures. There were headlines like Potter Snags Cup for England and England Flies to Victory!

"This is bizarre…" Harry muttered to himself.

He picked out a frame and took it down from the wall. It featured a team roster with a snapshot of each player. He retreated to an armchair by the fireplace and started memorizing the names of the England National Team's players. If he and Hermione were really going to that party, he had better be prepared.

"Okay, the Chasers are Rick Parr, Patrick Flannery, and Fiona Turner. Parr…Flannery…Turner…" Harry murmured, closing his eyes and committing the names to memory.

The door to the drawing room creaked, snapping Harry from his thoughts. He whipped his head around and stared in the direction of the door, as the armchair he was sitting on faced the window. It was ajar, as he left it, but there was no one there.

"That's odd…" Harry muttered, returning to his task.

Just then something heavy jumped onto his lap. Harry was so surprised that he yelled, automatically reaching for his wand.

"Good morning, Daddy!" Lily exclaimed, giggling while she bounced around on Harry's lap, still in her little nightdress.

Harry clutched a hand to his chest, his heart pounding.

"You almost gave me a heart attack, Lily!" Harry managed to choke out.

"You're silly, Daddy. You're not that old yet." Lily said, and swatted Harry playfully on the arm.

Harry ruffled Lily's hair affectionately, and Lily giggled again, trying to get out of the way of Harry's hand. Harry sighed; he was now officially completely taken with her.

"Stop it, Daddy!" she laughed.

Harry obliged and scooped her up, his memorizing forgotten.

"Have you eaten breakfast yet?" he asked her.

Lily shook her head. Harry hoisted her onto his shoulders, piggy-back style, and carried her to the kitchen.

Hermione opened the door to the house and stepped inside, sighing contentedly as the warm air fell against her cold skin. She had said goodbye to Ginny earlier, who had Apparated home. Hermione had taken the Knight Bus and was still feeling a little carsick when Harry came in with Lily on his shoulders, both of them grinning.

Hermione couldn't suppress a smile; the two of them had the same smile.

"Mummy!" Lily said happily, then ran and hugged Hermione legs after Harry had let her down.

Hermione smiled, got down to Lily's level, and hugged her back warmly.

Harry was just reaching for the bag Hermione had brought home when she suddenly snatched it out of his arms.

"Wha…?" Harry said, puzzled.

"Don't look." Hermione ordered, clamping the mouth of the bag shut with her hands. "They're new robes for the party on Saturday."

"You bought new robes?!" Harry asked her incredulously.

"Yes." Hermione replied defensively. "I don't see anything wrong with that."

"No… there's nothing wrong with buying new robes!" Harry amended quickly. "It's just that I don't understand why girls have to make such a fuss out of parties."

Hermione sighed. "Of course you wouldn't understand. It's a girl thing."

"May I see your new robes, Mummy?" Lily asked curiously.

"Of course you can, sweetie!" Hermione smiled. Harry merely rolled his eyes as Lily looked eagerly inside the bag.

"Mummy, they're beautiful!" Lily exclaimed. "They're the same color as –."

"Shush! I don't want Harry…I mean your Daddy…to know what it looks like, remember?" Hermione reminded her.

Lily widened her eyes, smiled, and placed a finger on her lips.

Just then, Dottie entered the kitchen, accompanied by a slightly ashen-faced Ron.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, the moment Ron had slumped down on a chair.

Lily giggled. "Uncle Ron looks like he swallowed a toad!"

Ron didn't answer; instead he let his head drop onto the table with a dull thud.

"Ron?" Hermione asked, alarmed by his behavior.

Ron sat up again quickly, his forehead slightly pink. "I don't know what came over me!" he gasped out, eyes wide in horror.

"What did you do?" Harry asked.

"Was just getting some coffee at a cafe…met Loony Lovegood…asked her out…" Ron said in a strangled, breathless voice.

"You WHAT?!" Harry and Hermione yelled.

"I must be mad! We started talking, and all of the sudden I opened my mouth and just asked her!" Ron moaned, burying his face in his hands.

"What did she say?" Harry asked, unable to suppress a grin.

"She said yes!" Ron finished. "What do I do?"

"Go on that date." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"But I don't even fancy her! Sure, she doesn't have that strange, surprised-look on her face anymore and she's grown more…erm… mature…" Ron trailed off. "Bloody hell! I do fancy her!"

"She's rather odd, but nice." Harry offered.

"Thanks a lot, mate." Ron muttered sarcastically.

"Not a problem." Harry said cheerfully then burst out laughing. "Seriously, you should do it. There's no harm in going out on a date with someone, even if it is Loony Lovegood."

"Yeah, do it, Uncle Ron!" Lily said encouragingly. Ron's face burned bright red.

"Erm, alright, I'll go on the bloody date." Ron conceded.

"Yay!" Lily cheered.

Apart from Ron's surprising news, the rest of the day was uneventful. Friday came, and still Hedwig had not returned.

"What if Vablatsky's dead or in prison or… something?" Harry voiced out, "Maybe that's why Hedwig hasn't found her yet."

"Probably not. I saw a book she wrote in Flourish and Blotts when I there with Ginny this morning. It was fairly recent, and no, there wasn't any information about her whereabouts inside, I checked." Hermione said, when Harry opened his mouth to say something.

"How did you know that was what I was going to ask?" Harry asked, bemused.

"I'm your best friend, I know how you think." Hermione responded.

Saturday arrived, the day of Boris Wickly's party. And as Hedwig was still not back, Harry and Hermione were obligated to go, to keep up the facade of nothing being out of the ordinary.

It took Harry about fifteen minutes to put on midnight blue dress robes he found in the wardrobe and to run a comb through his hair. As though it made any difference; his hair was still as messy. After a moment's deliberation, he grabbed a tube of hair gel from the dresser, squirted a small amount on the palm of his hand, and ran it through his hair. At least now it looked slightly neater, though not much. Harry sighed, setting the tube back down on the dresser. What was the use? Besides, it wasn't as if he was trying to look good for anyone.

Hermione was inside the bathroom, wrestling with her hopelessly bushy tresses. She applied more Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to her locks and smoothed them back with a comb. She remembered how long it took to do her hair during the Yule Ball in her fourth year, which was why she had started getting ready long before Harry. After much consideration, she finally decided to do her hair up, with small tendrils of hair framing the side of her face.

An hour later, after Hermione had finished with her hair, and had just slipped into her new dress robes, Harry started pounding on the bathroom door.

"Hermione, what's taking you so long?" Harry yelled through the door. "You haven't passed out in there, have you?"

"Just a minute!" Hermione yelled back, picking up a bottle of perfume on the counter by the sink. She opened the bottle and sniffed the contents gingerly. It smelled of sweet honeysuckle. She smiled, and put some on her wrists and neck. She gave herself a last once-over in the mirror and stepped out of the bathroom.

Harry's eyes widened as he looked Hermione up and down.

"How do I look?" Hermione asked with a shy smile.

Harry opened his mouth, then closed it again. "You…er…look nice." He finally said. He cleared his throat. "Now let's go, the sooner we get this over with the better."

Hermione gaped at him. That was all he had to say?! That she looked nice?! Just nice?! After she had spent hours trying to make sure that every hair was in place! No 'You look terrific, Hermione!' or 'Those robes look absolutely stunning on you!'. At least Viktor had told her that she looked beautiful at the Yule Ball. And she was just about to compliment Harry on his appearance, too. He had done something with his hair…it was still messy, but artfully so. And of course, he was as good-looking as he usually was, his green eyes intense and his smile lopsided.

Harry looked at her expectantly, obviously wondering why she wasn't moving. "Hermione?"

"Right, let's go." Hermione muttered, disgruntled.

They arrived at the Wickly estate via portkey, which they had requested in their R.S.V.P. Their portkey had sent them to the mansion's entrance hall, where house-elves were taking the guests' coats.

As soon as their coats were taken care of, Harry placed an arm around Hermione's waist, pulled her closer, and led her in the direction the elves were indicating.

"Wha…?" Hermione said.

"We're supposed to be…er… really close… remember?" Harry whispered in her ear.

Hermione nodded, shivers, good ones, running down her spine as Harry's warm breath tickled her cheek.

They walked forward, until they reached a grand ballroom the size of a small cathedral.

"Wow." Hermione breathed, taking in the high ceilings, the glittering chandeliers and the assortment of richly dressed witches and wizards.

"Harry!" said a jovial voice behind them.

They turned and there stood Boris Wickly, which both recognized from the pictures in the drawing room. "You're looking lovely as usual, Mrs. Potter." The coach said, and leaned down to kiss Hermione's hand.

Boris Wickly looked to be in his mid-forties, with neatly trimmed graying hair and a moustache.

Hermione smiled at him, not knowing what to say.

"Might I borrow your husband for a moment? There are things we need to discuss." Wickly said.

"Of course." Hermione managed to say, before Wickly led Harry toward a group of people milling around the ballroom. She felt suddenly chilly at the absence of Harry's arm around her.

What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't very well just stand there like an idiot. Just then a familiar voice drawled from behind her.

"Well, well, if it isn't Mrs. Harry Potter."

A/N: Decided to leave it at that. Hehe. Don't know when my next update is, probably soon as our Christmas break is coming up.