Christmas Day part three
Minerva appeared down a dark alley a few streets away from the Granger residence. She took a quick look around and then emerged onto the street. She walked briskly, head down to keep the chill from her face. She'd never visited Hermione's parents alone before, always accompanied Hermione on her visits. To say she was nervous was an understatement. Before she knew it, she was standing on the Grangers doorstep. She raised her hand and knocked firmly on the wooden door three times. She could do this, she reminded herself. She took a step back, pulled her shoulders back and took a deep breath. She couldn't do this. She'd rather face down a quidditch pitch full of angry parents than ask these people for their permission to marry their daughter. What if they said no? Would Hermione go against their wishes? Just as these thoughts are rolling through her mind, the door opens and John Granger is before her.
"Minerva?" He questions. "Come in. Where's Hermione? Has something happened?" He asks worriedly even as he steps aside to admit her entrance.
"Polly!" He shouts to get Hermione's mothers attention from her packing upstairs.
"What is it John?" She shouts back, clomping her way over head and down the stairs.
"Minerva, what's happened, is Hermione alright?" She asks, as she joins her husband and her daughter's paramour in the hall.
"Hermione is well, nothing untoward has happened, truly." Minerva answers calmly. Is this what life is like when you have a child? Constantly worried over their welfare, no matter how old and capable they are? A smile graces her lips, if so she can't wait.
"May we have a pot of tea? There is something I need to ask you" Minerva urges, holding her arm out to direct them into what she knows to be the lounge.
"Of course, where are my manners? Please Minerva, take a seat, I'll be right in with a pot of tea" John informs and makes his way to the rear of the property where the kitchen is.
Polly joins Minerva in the lounge. She takes a seat on the sofa, waiting for her husband's arrival. Minerva takes a seat on the adjoining chair, to the left of the sofa, directly opposite the fire. She wrings her hands on her lap. She has never been so nervous, not even visiting the muggle families to announce their child is a witch or wizard and all that entails made her this nervous.
A few minutes later, John enters the room, his hands laden with a tray, the teapot and mugs on its top, rattling around as he places it on the table in the middle of the room. He pours them all a cup and hands them out, then settles next to his wife.
They look over at Minerva, expectantly, eyebrows raised in question.
Minerva, just sits there, her hands around the cup, looking at Hermione's parents, trying to work out what she wants to say. Nothing sounds right in her head.
She can see both Polly and John are starting to get worried again, so she takes a deep breath, looks them both in the eye
"John, Polly, I absolutely adore your daughter. She means everything. My life before her was dull, and incomplete. Since she's entered my life, and we began dating my world has become laden with colour and joy. I really couldn't be happier. I'd like to ask for your permission to marry her. I promise that I will care for her for the rest of my life, she won't want for anything." Minerva announces. Now that it's out there, she feels a peace settle over her.
She watches as Pollys lips purse in discomfort.
"What of children? When Hermione was little she always talked of having a family of her own, a husband and two or three children to nurture" she asks. It's not that she doesn't like this woman, but the future she had planned for her daughter is quickly falling into oblivion, a husband, children, a beautiful house, a steady job. Would she never get the title of grandma?
Minerva's cheeks redden, as she thinks about last night and earlier today and the activities her and Hermione got up to.
"Polly, that won't be an issue. In our world there are ways for a same sex couple to have children. Indeed we discussed this in detail just yesterday. Truthfully, I thought children of my own had passed me by. Elphinstone and I tried for a few years, before he died, for a child, but for whatever reason it never happened. Hermione has brought the possibility back to me, and although the initial question of children blindsided me, I honestly can't wait to be a mother." Minerva answers honestly.
"And what of raising the child? Are you expecting Hermione to do all of the work whilst you run the school? We already know running the school takes up most of your time. You can't just be a parent for the three months school isn't in session you know" Polly asks haughtily, snorting slightly as she expresses her worries.
"Of course I don't expect Hermione to raise our child alone. We haven't discussed that far ahead, but we have options. She can move into Hogwarts with me and we can raise our child there, or I'm sure I can arrange it so that I am only needed at the school three or four days a week" Minerva watches as Polly's face screws up in distaste at the options she has presented to her so far. It makes her get defensive, she sits straighter in the arm chair, her grip tightens on the cup in her grasp
"How Hermione and I choose to raise any children we have is up to us. We will make the decision together, after we've talked through our options. I realise that you aren't satisfied with the answer I've given, but I have to ask if Hermione were in a relationship with someone her own age, and male, would you be asking these questions?" She hadn't realised how behind the muggle world was with same sex relationships. They've been widely accepted for years in the wizarding world, granted before Hermione it wasn't something she had actively pursued, but she certainly didn't have any problems with it.
Minerva watches as John reaches over for Polly's hand, and squeezes it gently in warning. He can tell that Minerva is in fight or flight mode, and if she chooses to fight, they most certainly won't win.
"We just had a different future mapped out for our daughter, you see Minerva. A house, a husband, two or three children, a secure job, you know? We realised when you came to see us all those years ago to inform us that she was a witch that her life was going to diverge from the path we had laid out, but we still imagined a 'normal' life, well as normal as she could get within your world. Then she turns up on our doorstep after she's restored our memories, with you in tow, the woman we knew as her teacher, mentor, the woman who owled us weekly updates the first few months she attended the school to keep us apprised of her progress, how she was settling in. We weren't exactly happy with her choice of partner, first Ron who was a drunken abusive Neanderthal and then you, a woman older than us, who had at one time been her guardian for all intents and purposes. But we could see how happy she was with you, how content you were together, so we stayed quiet about our misgivings perhaps we shouldn't have." John confesses, quietly. Polly just nods, and squeezes her husband's hand tighter. The silence is deafening after John's announcement, the tension oppressive. Minerva is breathing heavily, her hands squeezing tightly around the cup, which breaks as her grip tightens too much. She decides she will make one last attempt at getting their approval,
"John, Polly, I can see where you are coming from, truly I can. However, I can't, and won't, stop loving your daughter. She is an extraordinarily beautiful person, inside and out. She's strong, brave, absolutely pigheaded in some things, but I truly wouldn't have her any other way. She is my heart, my other half, we compliment each other so well. It would mean the world to her to know that you gave me your blessing, that you would be there to give her away on the day, that you supported her in this as you have supported her throughout her life. Please, if not for me, then for Hermione, please give me your blessing." She pleads.
She watches as Polly and John look at one another, a silent conversation going on between them, a quirk of an eyebrow from one answered with a rise a lip from the other. Eventually they come to some sort of agreement, and they both turn to face Minerva.
"Whilst we don't agree with our daughter's choice of partner, we can't deny that since you've been… together" Polly begins, struggling to get the last word out.
"Since you've been together, our daughter has been happy, and that is all a parent really wants for their child, for them to be happy" John resumes. "So, Minerva, begrudgingly, yes, you have our blessing." He finishes
"However, if you hurt her, in any way, it won't matter what world you're in, I'll find you and I WILL kill you" Polly intones seriously.
Minerva looks them both in the eye, trying to convey that she has understood their message, loud and clear. "Thank you, I never intend to do harm to anyone, least of all to Hermione, my only wish is to make her happy, for the remainder of our lives together, of which I hope there will be many years" she says, sincerely, bowing her head in acceptance of their words. She rises from her seat, repairs the cup she broke and says "I'll leave you to your packing, have a lovely trip. I'll send an owl with her answer in the new year" she shakes their hands, firmly, and then makes her way to the front door. She heaves a sigh of relief in the hall, opens the door and leaves the residence of the Grangers behind, she needs a stiff drink and a hug from her beloved fiancé.
—-
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen of the Mcgonagall-Granger household.
Hermione is pacing the kitchen, relentlessly. Back and forth the length of the room over and over again. Alexie watches on in fascination. He can sense the nervousness rolling off his Mistresses fiancé but he doesn't understand why she is nervous. It's his mistress that has gone to ask for permission to marry her, she just has to sit and wait here.
"Miss Hermione" he interrupts after watching her pace for half an hour. "Is there something I can do to help?" He pleads, pulling on his ears in his distress to help.
"Oh, Alexie, I shouldn't have let her go, not alone." Hermione sighs. She pulls out a chair at the small table in the kitchen, and puts her head in her hands.
"Every summer, since I turned thirteen, when I returned home for the summer my parents would force me to spend time with their friend's son. They'd basically promised me to him. It was their hope that once I'd finished my wizarding education, that I would return home, maybe attend university, but ultimately that Robert and I would fall in love and get married. The fact that Robert is also gay, didn't come into it of course. But after I erased their memories, and went on the run with Harry and Ron, that plan, that future that they had set out for me, was broken." Alexie listened avidly as Hermione bared her soul. He summoned a cup from the cupboard and made her a hot chocolate to make her feel better. He joined her at the table, his eyes focused on her, sending her his strength and belief that his Mistress would get the answer they wanted.
"I know my parents haven't been happy with my choice of partners. Initially, after I had restored their memories, and explained why I did what I did, our relationship was good, I moved back in to help them reacclimatise to being back in the UK, they held a few get togethers so they could reacquaint with neighbours and friends, and of course Robert and his parents were invited to every one of them. They made it clear to both of us that they expected us to 'move things along' now that we were old enough, by leaving us alone in a room together, leaving hints with wedding books out on the table, it was mortifying. Robert and I sat both of our parents down after a month of this, and explained that we were just good friends, that he preferred the company of other men, and that we would never get married. Robert's parents disowned him there and then, they couldn't have 'one of those people' as a son. My parents weren't exactly happy either, but they allowed him to stay, until he went back to university the next week. Then I bought Ron round to introduce him to them officially, which was the worst idea ever. Honestly, he couldn't have made a worse first impression if he tried. Using magic for everything. Being handsy with me in front of them. I could see in my mothers eyes, that she didn't approve, and it turned out she was right." She sighs heavily. Alexie nudges the mug towards her hand.
"Ronald be a misunderstood boy still, not matured enough to handle being in a relationship" Alexie offered his thoughts on the young man. His mistress had explained to him what had occurred that day she and Hermione had turned up unannounced, and that he was to treat Hermione with the utmost of respect. He could never speak bad of a wizard, no matter what they had done.
"Hmm, yes well, we both know how that relationship went. Then I basically moved in here, and fell in love with Minerva. Truly, Alexie, I hadn't intended it. I admired her, of course, but my feelings for her grew over the weekends we spent talking and debating transfiguration and charms theory, seeing her as a woman, outside of the professor and headmistress role that she hides behind for the majority of the year. How could I not have fallen for her? She's amazing. I knew my parents wouldn't be happy, not only was she a woman, she's also more than twice my age, older than they are themselves, had been my professor for five years. I told them about her before she came over to formally introduce herself. Oh the row we had, how could I do this to them? Why couldn't I just be normal? Was I trying to put them in an early grave. I plead with them to at least meet her before they passed judgment, as my girlfriend, not my professor, as my partner, the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, the woman I may marry one day. That was what did it. Marry. You can't marry a woman. What about children? I couldn't answer their questions, but I told them that she made me happy, deliriously so, and that I would be grateful if they could pretend to get along with us both for my sake. Up until now they've held up to their word. Our visits would be stilted but pleasant, I'm sure Minerva thought my mood after our visits was down to my guilt for removing their memories, but it's always been about how fake our relationship has become. As much as I would love to have my parents at my wedding, I really can't see it being a possibility. I can't see them attending a wedding that they don't believe to be true, giving their blessing to a woman that they only tolerate because of me" she finishes sobbing.
Alexie, for the first time in his life, doesn't know what to do, no amount of tea or hot chocolate was going to fix this for Miss Hermione. Only his mistress coming home could help now. He climbed down from his chair, and patted Hermione on the arm.
"Mistress, will explain it in a way that they will understand, she will be back before you know it Miss Hermione" he tried to console. He had complete faith in his mistress, that she could get these close minded muggles to see that what they had was honest and true. He stayed be Hermione's side, consoling her as best he could until they heard the front door open.
Hermione's head shot up, her hands pulling the seat from underneath herself in her haste to get to Minerva. She rushed from the room, and out into the hall to see Minerva. She didn't stop, she flung herself into Minerva's embrace, her arms encompassing everything she held dear.
"Oh Min, I'm sorry. We don't need their blessing, I'll marry you anyway" she whispers as she pulls the body closer to her still. Her hands are rubbing up and down her back, clawing at her like she's trying to pull her very essence into herself. Minerva for her part just inhales Hermione's scent, tucks her head into the curve of Hermione's neck. She lifts her from her feet, in a tight hug.
"Oh my love, it was awful, but they did give their permission, begrudgingly" she whispered just as quietly into Hermione's ear.
"Really? You got their blessing?" She asks, completely dumbfounded. She takes a step back, her hands finding Minerva's, and squeezing tightly.
"Yes, after a rather heated conversation where they told me all the reasons why we shouldn't be together, your father gave me his blessing," Minerva confirms. Her eyes sweep over Hermione's face, can see the tears that she had shed whilst she was away, could see the relief and devotion shining in her eyes. "I love you, Hermione. I'd face down Merlin himself for you if I had to" Minerva utters.
A smile breaks out across Hermione's face "I'm sure my parents were bad enough. Thank you, I love you utterly, totally, forever. I can't wait for us to be married and have a family" Hermione leans forward to kiss her beloved, then grabs her hand and leads her up to their room, where she shows her exactly how grateful she is for willingly going into the lions den to get her parents blessing.
What a Christmas it had been.
Well that's it folks. I hope you enjoyed reading.
Leave a review with any improvements you think I can make to my writing. I'm eager to improve and write better, more involved stories for you guys to read.
I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas, and Happy New Year.
Lurker x