HP Life after Hogwarts
Chapter 31
Watch where you're stepping please!
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This is going to be a short but hilariously funny chapter...
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Winter Solstice Afternoon
Pendragon Wing –Common Room
Harry paced the ancient carpeting of the Common room floors as he waited for a call on his mobile that was going on five hours late. "I knew this was a bad idea from the get go!" He stalked over to the huge windows that provided a breathtaking view of the vista that was Hogwarts grounds.
Hermione glanced over at him and sighed. "If something were wrong then we would have gotten a call by now."
"I'm a sucker for the doe-eyed pitifully heartbreaking looks the two of you gave me three days ago!! It's the only reason that I agreed to this harebrained scheme in the first place! Dad got cornered by Mum and we had no choice, but to surrender and trust that they would abide the rules!" Harry glared out at the winter wonderland oblivious to the breathtakingly beautiful view in front of him.
"They're teenagers to them time is nothing…"
Harry spun around on his heel and narrowed his eyes at his wife. "It's five hours passed check in time. She's got two minutes and then I'm gonna go fetch her and bring her home!"
"Harry you are being unreasonable. Daniel and Emma are two of the most responsible teenagers on the planet."
"Oh, yeah, I especially loved the comment that he made to the press about being sixteen…" Harry drawled sarcastically. "I believe he said something about being able to play the lottery and that it was now legal for him to have intimate relations with the opposite sex…sure angel that in itself makes me trust him. Not."
"He explained why he blurted that out over a dozen times to you and yet you still haven't managed to let that go have you." Hermione rolled her eyes at him in exasperation.
"No Hermione I haven't. So sorry if that little slip of the tongue made me see red and still makes me see red to this day." He shot back in a clipped tone.
"It has about as much value truth wise as that rumor that he's been having a torrid romance with his personal stylist!" Hermione glared at him.
"That rumor is rubbish! The other is fact since it came out of his own mouth!" Harry raked his fingers through his hair and took several deep breaths to rein in his temper. "Look. I trust him to a point, but he's a teenager in love. They both are."
"He sees you as his older brother and knows the consequences of such rash actions. So please stop pacing and go over there and play with the girls." She pointed to the blanket in front of the sofa where the triplets were happily playing with their toys.
"Yeah, maybe you're right…" He started to do just that when his mobile rang. He answered it on the first ring. "You were supposed to check in five ours ago Emma!" He snarled into the phone in his best authoritarian parental tone. "That was our deal and you broke it! I have half a mind to bring you back home! Well say something damn it!!" He listened intently to the person on the other end of the line. His response was to swear fluently in several different languages and punch the wall in frustration.
"Harry James!" Hermione zapped him in the arm with AK. :The girls are within earshot of you, so enough with the potty mouth!:
"Strewth! Hermione Anne that hurt! As for you Daniel Jacob button it for a second!" Harry rubbed at his stinging arm glowering at his beyond furious wife. :Emma's hurt! I have a right to, bloody well; swear at Daniel Jacob if I wish to! Besides they haven't a clue about what I'm saying anyway!: He snarled back at her using their link.
"Bad Dada!" Dani crawled over to glare up at him in disapproval. :No more potty mouth!:
Hermione got him again this time in the calf. :You were saying!: She hissed back.
Harry knelt down in front of his daughter, which was a feat in itself since his leg was stinging like a son-of-a-bitch. "Sorry baby, but your Uncle Daniel made me mad and I lost myself for a moment there. I want you to purge your tiny little mind of what I just said and go back over and play with your sisters." He gave her a gentle pat on her diaper clad bottom to send her back on her way.
"Be nice Dada." Dani ordered as she crawled back over to her sisters.
"What in Mab's name happened to Emmy?" Hermione grabbed the phone out of Harry's hand and snarled into it. "Talk fast Daniel Jacob or I'll be there in a heartbeat where I will then make you pay dearly by jinxing you into the next millennium!"
:Oh, now that's really being a good influence on Dani!: Harry narrowed his eyes at her as he snagged back the phone. "This had better be good little brother or you're a dead man." Harry listened intently as Daniel pleaded his case over the phone.
"Well!? Don't just stand there! What happened to Emmy?!" Hermione paced impatiently in front of him.
Harry held up a hand signaling her to wait while he found out the details. "So much for her being on that skating show…" Harry rubbed at his temple to ward off his oncoming migraine.
Hermione held her hands up to her mouth in fright. "How bad is it?"
"She, after having a glorious time diving and snorkeling on the reef with Daniel, severely sprained her ankle when she lost her footing stepping off the sailing yacht and onto the wharf. Other than that she's fine and is sleeping off the pain killers that were given to her by the doctor." He calmly reiterated what Daniel was hastily explaining to him at breakneck speed over the phone. "None of us are to worry about the press getting word of it, because Emmy is a minor. The yacht that they were on belonged to friends of his family and she was treated and released at a private surgery." Harry continued.
"Do her parents know about her accident?" Hermione worried her lower lip with her front teeth.
"Daniel will you stop groveling for a minute and let me get a word in edgewise!" Harry snarled into the phone. "Do Emmy's parents know that she was hurt?" He listened intently to his answer then visibly sighed in relief. "Emma told her parents she would try to convince me to let her see Daniel. So, yes, they know all about it and they aren't the least bit peeved at us, so we're in the clear."
"That's some good news." Hermione bit down on her fingernail. "At least now Mum and Dad won't flay you alive."
"Yeah, that's true." Harry nodded as Daniel continued to grovel on the other end of the line. "I've given you four days of down time. Why in the name of magic would you think that I would allow you until Christmas Eve?" He listened to his response.
"I'm not in a giving mood. I just came from Edinburgh. Yeah, that's right Jo snookered me into it by getting the foundation involved in the official events of the book release celebration…I especially enjoyed the cub reporters from the various fandom sites…" He drawled sarcastically.
"Oh, they tried their darndest to bring up all the info that Corner had spilled, but then Jo threatened to end all ties with them, which immediately changed their tactics…Did they come bringing offerings of truce? Yeah, the girls hit the mother load gift wise. They got a mountain of gifts from many of the books adoring fans…Did I do a book reading? Yeah, Mione did a few as did Jo, but I chose to do one…No smart butt I'm not a wuss! It was a long chapter about Ron being cheesed off at me over the whole mistletoe incident during our Christmas break. Yeah, the fans got a chuckle out of it. The girls are growing like weeds, but are fine. No problem I'll upload the latest so you can have a look for yourself. I thought you were on call for your movie. So the movie is wrapped, but your still sticking around in case they wish to do any reshoots. Look, little brother here's the deal. You have until Christmas Eve, but if she misses one more check in I'm bringing her back. Yeah, I've seen her skate. Yes, I agree it's a bloody shame about her ankle. Oh, before I let you go Hermione has a stipulation of her own. Emma has to study for four hours a day or the deal is off. I thought you'd see things our way…Bye little brother give Emma and your family our love…I will…bye." Harry ended the call stowing his mobile back in his jeans pocket.
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"Four hours. You really are put-out with him aren't you?" Hermione had gone back to sorting through the mountain of gifts that had been given to the girls. She was making sure to write down names and post addresses, so she could send each of them a proper thank you.
"He's lucky that I didn't pop over there and bring her back home." Harry sat down beside her. "What's the verdict on the booty for the girls?"
"I've sorted it all out into piles. Toys are going to go to charitable organizations as are the nonmonogrammed clothing. Now as for the personalized items…" Hermione pointed to one of the piles. "Well, we can't give those out, it would be tactless, and that goes for most of the plush as well. Still, most of this is going to children who aren't as fortunate as our girls." Hermione held up a baby blanket that had fairies, unicorns, and Pegasus's embroidered all over it. "Some of these gifts are breathtaking works of art. This blanket must have taken endless hours to complete and they made one for each of the girls."
"We'll be sure to send them a proper thank you gift." Harry pulled her into his arms. "So did you enjoy the book release today or were you just humoring Jo?" He kissed her forehead.
"I found it fascinating and surprisingly enjoyable." Wrapping her arms around his neck she curled even closer to him. "Although, the glares from the Ron/Hermione…Harry/Ginny shippers were a bit unnerving. I mean they go above and beyond with this canon tripe and treat it like the gospel truth, instead of the fiction that the HBP released last summer was."
"Then there were the Ginny/Draco shippers. They seemed to be on cloud nine or the cries of anguish from the Ron/Luna shippers when they peaked all the way to the end of the book made me feel just the slightest bit guilty." Harry sighed as he rested his chin on her head. "Not to mention we look dead at least it looks that way anyway."
"I thought it quite interesting that Jo chose to read some of your…how should I put this…more uncomfortable moments." Hermione giggled.
"Oh, yeah, my reactions on seeing you in various situations did do very uncomfortable things to my person. The fans seemed to love it though. Your reading choices of my reaction to your catching me under the mistletoe or my begging for hints to some essay questions that had me stumped and your response was to sic those canaries that you conjured on me." Harry chuckled.
"You do know that our book is far better than the one she released today." Hermione pulled back from him just enough so she could lock eyes with him.
"Ours sold out in hours. So yeah ours is better." Harry pulled her back to him for a long lazy kiss. "Then again we wrote it together, so there's no doubt in my mind that it's better." He growled between kisses.
"Dada looks!" Dani was using her baby gym to boost herself up to her feet on unsteady legs, but her goal was met she was standing. "Mama sees Dani!"
Harry opened one eye to see what she wanted him to see and nearly unseated Hermione onto the floor. "That's smashing Dani! Good show!" He turned Hermione around, so she could see what Dani was up to. "Look, angel mine, she's standing."
Hermione excitedly sprang from his lap accidentally wounding Harry's lower anatomy with her foot. "Where did we set the video camera?"
Harry wasn't able to move let alone answer her because he was bent over in agonising pain.
"Don't just sit there Harry you're going to miss this!" Hermione having found the camera on the end table began filming this momentous step in her darling baby girl's life. "So my brilliant little darling wants to try walking now does she? Well, that's a wonderful step towards your latest goal. You are such an amazing little being standing at nearly four-months-old." She encouraged Dani, who was having a go at stomping her tiny feet while keeping hold of the baby gym bar with her hands. "Very well thought out my darling girl…Marching in place is a wonderful idea."
Mia crawled over to her Daddy. Grabbing hold of the pant leg of his jeans she pulled herself up to her feet. "Dada up," She giggled happily.
Ally crawled over to join her sister and mirrored her actions. "Dada sees Ally."
Harry was in so much pain that he didn't register that either of his daughters were trying to get his attention and remained bent over, eyes squeezed shut, and panting in pain.
Nanda, who had just returned from covering the book release celebration, had been silently capturing the unfolding events with her own video camera, and finally made herself known. "What's up with Harry?" She asked Hermione while keeping her camera on Ally and Mia. "Nice job you three at this rate you'll be walking by Christmas." She praised all three of the triplets.
"Harry's perfectly fine." Hermione was still focused on Dani. "So why the inquiry on his person?"
"Oh, I don't know Hermione, maybe because he's bent over in what distinctly appears, at least in my eyes, to be in extremes. Add to the fact that Ally and Mia just used him as a means to try standing, which by the way got no reaction from Harry and it screams that something isn't right with him." Nanda spelled it out for her.
"Dada gots owie?" Dani scowled at her mother, as she bravely let go of the bar with one of her hands, and pointed over at her father. "Mama hurt dada."
"Bad mama," Ally glared over at Hermione.
"Mama hurt Dada?" Mia blinked up at her father's bent over state and then frowned in confusion at her mother. "Dada gots owie."
"That's nonsense you three. I did nothing of the…" Hermione's voice trialed off when she turned around to see what all the fuss was about. When she saw the state that Harry was in she bit down on her lip and pleaded her case to her girls. "Well, if I did hurt him it wasn't meant."
"Mama hurt dada." Dani put practicing standing aside, so she could crawl over and check on her daddy. "Mama fix."
"Mama wounded daddy with her foot…" Harry pushed passed the pain that he was in to reassure his girls.
"Oh... Oh… Oh my..." Nanda's chocolate brown eyes widened and fought back the urge to giggle. She knew exactly what had happened, but then the two of them didn't need to know that. "No wonder he can't move."
Harry tried to sit up and yelped in pain. "Nope not possible at the moment…"
"Dada gots owie," Dani stopped in front of his feet and looked up at her father's pain stricken face. "Mama hurt dada." She used his legs to boost herself up to her feet. "She fix dada."
"Oh angel, if only it were that simple…" Harry knew that they didn't understand and tried to think of a simple way to explain it to them.
"Mama accidentally hurt daddy, but it isn't something fixable…" Hermione tried to calm her girls.
"Mama hurt." Ally, Mia, and Dani weren't buying what she was saying. "Mama fix now!"
"Now, Now, you three there's nothing to do but wait for the pain to run its course." Nanda continued to film the scene as she too tried to get them to understand.
"No! She fix dada!" Dani stomped her tiny foot.
"Mione some pain potion the hot pink variety and an ice pack might do the trick." Harry could feel the power radiating from the girls and needed to nip that in the bud before they went and triple jinxed their mother. "See ladies…" He gritted his teeth in pain as he sat up. "I'm fine." He bit back a groan.
"Bad mama!" Dani wasn't easily fooled she knew that her daddy was in pain. "Mama hurt dada!"
"No Dani it was an accident. Don't even think of jinxing your mother." Harry gave her a warning, but it was too late Hermione was already breaking out in hives.
"Danielle Stephanie Anastasia that was not nice." He pushed passed all the pain and picked her up. "Your mama accidentally hurt me that means that she didn't mean to hurt me and jinxing her is not going to ever happen again. That is a big no-no is that understood young lady." He set her on his lap so she was looking right at him.
"Dani sorry…" Dani nodded in confusion and stuck her thumb in her mouth clearly she had misread the situation. :Dani protect dada cuz he hurt.: She burst into tears.
Hermione sat down beside Harry not the least bit put-out by her daughter's actions. "There, there little one," She crooned stroking Dani's hair. "No harm was meant and it's nothing that healing myself won't cure. Now dry those unhappy tears."
"Dani sorry mama…" Dani hiccupped, as she leaped into her arms, once again causing Harry pain, because he had had her standing on his lap.
"Do me a favor Hermione. Knock me out before the other two mimic their sister." Harry leaned back against the cushions of the couch closing his eyes in pain.
His worst fears were realized when Mia and Ally decided to climb up onto his lap. "That's it ladies make it so the three of you will never have any siblings." Harry gritted his teeth in pain as the girls stood up on his lap and patted his face.
"Dada." Ally tried to climb even higher onto his chest, but lost her footing causing her to crash down onto his lap.
Mia on the other hand decided to save her father any further anguish went to explore the pile of plush further down on the sectional.
"Lily sent me down here to rescue you…" James appeared in front of the couch. "Now I see what she meant by insuring that we'll have other future grandkids to spoil…" He plucked Ally off Harry's lap.
"Thanks…" Harry decided that retreat was in order and vanished.
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"All three?" James glanced over at Nanda and Hermione.
"Actually all four of them..." Nanda giggled. "First Hermione, then Dani, then Ally and Mia, and then Ally… all, uh, wounded him."
"He'll be in need of ice packs for a week…" James whistled through his teeth. "Once is bad enough, but five times in less than an hour is unimaginable torture."
"And I captured it all with my camera." Nanda was checking the footage that she had just shot on the tiny screen.
"Clever girl," James sat down beside Hermione. "What caused this chain reaction in the first place?" He set Ally down beside Mia and got a good look at Hermione. "I take it that Dani didn't like her daddy being hurt." He could just barely make out the fading rash on Hermione's skin.
"No she thought I did it to him on purpose." Hermione sighed miserably. "Harry and I were cuddling on the couch. Dani called for our attention because she was using the baby gym to lever herself up on her feet. Harry was the first to point this out…my reaction was to leap from the couch to find the nearest video camera and by doing so I accidentally caused him unimaginable pain when my foot collided with his lowered anatomy."
"Here I captured it all with my camera." Nanda handed the video camera to James.
"Dani's quite the little scrapper isn't she?" He reached over to tousle Dani's hair. "
"All three of them are." Hermione bounced Dani on her knee.
Dani reached her arms out to James. "Grandada up."
"I'll want multiple copies of this. It'll make a choice stocking stuffer." James handed the video camera back to Nanda and then let Dani crawl into his arms. "Your daddy is never gonna live this down." He lifted her high into the air.
"Dad that's just mean." Hermione giggled.
"No he's right. This is what's called television gold. Not that I'd ever use it on the air, but it's a guaranteed winner on those funniest home video shows. I'll see what I can do about the copies." She put the camera away.
"About twenty copies should do."
"Nanda… Emmy needs some cheering up, so could you do me a favor and upload that to them." Hermione asked.
"Emmy is happily visiting with Daniel and his family in Australia." James set Dani down by her sisters and turned to pin Hermione with a look. "Why would she need cheering up?"
"Did something happen?" Nada frowned.
Hermione wished that Harry hadn't gone off to hide leaving her to deal with his father's wrath. "Emma's visit ran into a bit of a snag."
"What sort of snag?"
"She sort of slipped when she stepped off the yacht that they were disembarking from…"
"And…"
"She severely sprained her ankle."
James raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I'll tell her parents…"
"Oh, they already know and it's not even going to make the headlines." Hermione quickly continued. "She told her parents that she was going to try to get Harry to let her go see Daniel and since she's a minor there won't be a report about this for the media to sink their teeth into. That and she was treated at a private surgery."
"I feel so much better. Not bloody likely." James growled. "Times up she's coming home."
"Now dad she's fine…"
"She's most certainly not fine Hermione. Give me one reason why I shouldn't go bring her home."
"Harry gave them until Christmas Eve with the stipulation that she study four hours a day. That and they've got the scripts for Order to go over as well." Hermione pleaded with him to see things their way. "His movie has wrapped apart from reshoots, so where's the harm in giving them the extra days. She's already miserable about not being able to skate on that show…"
"All right…all right enough with the pleading doe eyes…" James held his hands up in defeat. "She can stay."
"You're the greatest dad." Hermione gave him a hug.
"No I'm a softy for my girls." James sighed as he hugged her back.
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Chapter 32
World Cup
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I do not claim any of JKR's characters only that I love being able to create my own kind of mischief with her beloved characters. I do not claim any other things that are owned by other companies that I may mention once and a while in the stories...Although the original characters and ideas are mine and I loved creating them. So please review if you wish but try not to flame me too badly.
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Cindra 2004-2008