It's Complicated – 02
By: I Should Be Sleeping (AKA: Moar Sleep)
A male with a messy mop of dark hair bobbed slightly to the music playing on the Wizarding Wireless as his hand grabbed absently for a sweet and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Harry James! Stop eating all of my Jaffa Cakes!"
Glassy green eyes went round in absolute pity as they peered pleadingly from behind a pair of round framed spectacles. "I haven't had one in ages Mione! Do you know how hard it is to find these overseas!?"
The witch rolled her eyes before wrinkling her nose at his whining. She really needed to learn how to say no to him. Curse him and his pathetic puppy face. "Fine Potter, but you are taking me to Tesco's and getting more. In addition, I expect care packages since you say they are so hard to find outside of the country."
Harry hastily agreed before happily stuffing another biscuit sized cake into his gaping mouth and chewing with gusto. "Done."
That wizard was lucky she loved him. She did not just go around sharing her sweets with just anyone.
As a child of dentists, Hermione rarely got to enjoy a cheeky sweet as a child. Her parents were very strict with her oral hygiene and made sure their precious girl ate only sugar free candies and desserts.
It was absolute torture for the curly haired brunette that had a massive sweet tooth. Needless to say, once she reached Hogwarts the muggleborn witch spent a good majority of her pocket money on sweets of both wizarding and muggle variety. She was rarely seen without a sugar quill or a freshly baked biscuit from the kitchens. Thank goodness for all the stairs and sheer enormity of the castle because otherwise she would have easily gained a few stones. Even now, Hermione kept up with a strict exercise regime to counteract the amount sweets she still consumed regularly.
Ron's wide blue eyes went wide with excitement as he eagerly scrolled through the images on Hermione's laptop. It had taken him a bit of practice to work the mouse, but he adapted quite quickly to the surprise of his friends.
"Mione! Look at the view here! You love nature and this place is close to the ocean! It's bloody gorgeous! It's also near the vamp!"
Hermione frowned and scolded Ron for the term. Although not necessarily derogatory, Hermione did not like to assume what others would take offense of so encouraged everyone to just use proper titles.
The vamp, as Ron had so crassly referred to them as, was actually one Esme Cullen. She was not officially a therapist by traditional practice, but when one lives for decades they can offer a lot of good advice given their own life experience.
She was somewhat of an anomaly amongst the magical community. From what Hermione had read about her, Esme Cullen was the wife of one Dr. Carlisle Cullen, renowned pacifist and abstainer of human blood. He and his Coven – or family as they preferred to be called – sustained themselves on a diet of animal blood as opposed to the traditional human. From her own personal research and Sanguini's correspondence, such a thing was quite radical in the vampiric community and required a lot of focus as animal blood was not as fulfilling.
Hermione respected their lifestyle, but also wondered if this posed problems with temptation to generally resisting the call of human blood. The Cullen family lived in the non-magical community and immersed themselves with a multitude of people. Hermione knew that this must be trying because young women menstruate regularly, and vampires were very sensitive to blood. Did this mean that they just did not breathe when out and about?
The brunette shook her head. She was getting off tangent. The point is, Esme Cullen was considered to be a very empathic member of the community. Although she was hesitant to share her innermost feelings with a complete stranger, it did offer her some comfort that she was disconnected from the British Wizarding World so that she could hopefully give unbiased opinions.
"Mione! It has a wrap-around porch! You always wanted one of those!" Ron continued, as he looked at the images on the laptop before him.
Hermione smiled as she propped her chin on his broad shoulder and peered at the listing he was currently browsing with piqued interest.
He was right. It was breathtaking.
Located in a small cabin overlooking the sea, the isolated bit of heaven was situated on top of a cliff in a clearing. She could see tall trees surrounding the space and ample room for a lovely little garden. It said it was about a 15 minute drive from a small town called Forks and about an hour from a city called Port Angeles. Another hour, and she could reach Seattle.
All in all, it was perfect!
She knew that Seattle boasted a bustling wizarding population that blended well with muggle society. Unlike their British counterparts, American magical folk liked to immerse themselves in non-magical culture and have their societies cater to both with wards and spells preventing the muggle – or no-maj as they were called there – populace from accessing their wares. It was all very interesting and with Apparition, she could easily pop in for supplies when needed.
"What's the catch?" Harry asked. He propped his chin on Ron's other shoulder as he stuffed yet another Jaffa Cake into his mouth.
Hermione skimmed the article and told Ron to scroll down before frowning a bit. He was right. There had to be some sort of catch. This place was lovely and given the asking price, was more than affordable. Why would it still be sitting empty?
"There," the witch said with a sigh. "That is our catch."
"Must be of Quileute descent or have approval of the Quileute Council." Ron read with a frown. "What is a Quileute?"
"Given that there is a council, they are most likely a Native American tribe. This means that their land is protected and not just anyone can live on their property."
Hermione deflated a bit when she made that connection. That cabin was so beautiful and she had already imagined a lovely garden to grow potion ingredients and herbs. She also had a daydream about attaching a swing on that porch so she could curl up and read a book in the shade of a lazy afternoon, the waves crashing against the cliff.
She wanted it so much and now the prerequisite was crushing that dream to dust.
Harry, seeing her frown, shook his head. Nope. Not on his watch!
"Well then, we will just have to get the approval of the council!"
Thick curls snapped around as Hermione whipped her head towards him so fast, Ron sputtered out a mouth full of hair. "Ugh!"
Hermione ignored him. "What do you mean get the approval of the council?"
"Hermione. You are a Gryffindor and a war hero. I have seen you take on impossible odds and win. You just march in there and they will be so charmed they will practically hand over the deed!"
A rather unladylike snort escaped her lips. Perhaps being the "Chosen One" had gotten to his head? What would Native American muggles care about some young British girl to have them agree to allowing her to live on their land? Surely, he knew that throwing his name would be a dead end.
"Stop looking at me like I'm a lost Hufflepuff first year," Harry said with a frown.
Ron shared a quick glance with Hermione before shrugging his shoulders. That look she had said it all and honestly, he agreed. "Mate, how do you plan on getting some random muggles to agree?"
"Leave it to me."
Leaving it to Harry mean bribery.
Perhaps the hat had been on track when it had tried to sort him into Slytherin first year. Either way, Harry had smiled widely and proclaimed that the Council was more than happy to meet with her.
"What did you do?"
Harry's green eyes did that wide innocent look that he still fell back on when he knew he did something wrong. "I may have donated a large amount of money to the community and another large sum to ensure better books and materials be bought for the local tribal school."
Hermione wanted to protest, but at the same time knew she couldn't. She was well aware that Native American reservations had little to no funding from the government and the community could really benefit from that extra bit of income.
With that thought in mind, Hermione hugged her oldest friend and Harry relaxed seeing that he had done the right thing. He knew if he involved education then he would be in the clear.
"You are my sister in all but blood Mione. Of course I would do anything to make you happy."
The expected sniffle reached his ears and Ron handed him a handkerchief that he had ready for the waterworks they knew their female friend would produce.
A week had flown by, and Hermione and her boys were currently packing away her large collection of books by hand. Both Harry and Ron were being extremely cautious with handling the well-loved tomes because they knew any damage would lead to a well-aimed hex from their brunette bibliophile.
A knock at the door interrupted the process and Hermione popped up to answer. She was not expecting anyone, but ever since the announcement of her moving had been made, all of her friends had been stopping by at random hours.
Opening the door, her smile brightened to a wide grin. "Andromeda. Teddy Bear!"
An exuberant toddler kicked excitedly in his grandmothers' arms as he struggled to reach the brunette. Easily taking the squirming bundle, she placed a loving kiss upon his head. "Hello there my beautiful boy. Your Mine has missed you so very much."
Teddy squealed happily at the affection, his bright blue hair morphing into thick caramel tresses as he grinned widely. "Missed my Mine!"
Considering the mouthful her name was, Hermione was more than happy to be dubbed such a nickname because she was most definitely his.
"Andromeda. Please come in. Would you like some tea?"
"Always so polite," the elderly witch said with a gracious smile. Her deep mauve robes swept the floor as she placed a soft kiss upon Hermione's cheek in greeting.
Ever the vision of poise and grace Andromeda Tonks nee Black, was a beautiful witch. The years had been hard on her, but the fine lines and grey streaks added to the dignified presence that only she could carry.
Rocking the now settled Teddy in her arms, she led the two into her small living room where Harry and Ron were still packing away her collection of books.
"Andromeda!" The two cried in greeting.
"Boys," she replied with a regal nod of her head.
"There's my Godson!"
Harry grinned widely at seeing how Teddy had grown. It had been a few months, but he had missed the tyke and opened his arms wide to hold the little one.
Teddy frowned and turned away from him, pushing his hands away with a grumpy frown. "No! Go away!"
Andromeda laughed at Harry's incredulous look. "Oh, don't be offended Harry. Teddy is a bit possessive of our Hermione. He does not like anyone being near her when he is around."
As if to prove his point, Teddy blew a raspberry in his direction before clutching handfuls of her shirt and burying his face between her breasts.
Ron sighed wistfully. "Why do kids get to do that whenever they want? Mine do that to Luna all the time, but when I try, she suddenly has a headache."
Hermione shot him a look that had Ron grinning boyishly.
Andromeda shook her head in amusement. "We received your owl yesterday, but Teddy was being a bit fussy so could not come until today. I am sorry we did not inform you of our visit, but this one heard your name and would not calm down until he saw we were headed out."
The brunette witch looked down at the content toddler in her arms. "Is that so Teddy Bear? Did you miss your Mine?"
"Mine."
Hermione melted and proceeded to shower kisses upon his mop of curls so similar to her own. In all honesty, Teddy was the one she would miss the most. He and Andromeda. The pureblood witch had become a mother figure of sorts to the muggleborn and the two grieved for their losses together.
Teddy was their sun and Hermione took to being his Godmother with a passion. The visits she had with the two were the bright spots in her week and even when she felt depressed and exhausted, she found the energy and want to be in their presence.
She would miss them both terribly.
Suddenly, a thought came to her. "Come with me to America."
Hermione frowned realizing that she had most definitely blurted out her thoughts like a drunken Hippogriff.
Ron's eyes went wide and Harry snickered a bit.
Andromeda simply raised a brow. "I always wondered why the hat did not place you in Ravenclaw and then you do something like this."
Hermione blushed at the words.
Teddy continued to snuggle contentedly into her.
Well, now that it was out there. "Will you consider it?"
Andromeda Tonks had a way of looking at you that made you feel absolutely intimidated with a simple glance. It must definitely be a Black thing.
"Teddy adores you and I find myself quite attached. I have always wanted to see America."
Hermione's brilliant smile was all the elderly witch needed.
AN: So now she has Andromeda and Teddy along with her.
Honestly, I think this will be wonderful for all three. Teddy is young and rambunctious, so I know that his grandmother could use the help. Hermione will also not be alone on her next venture and although she needs time away from the stress, I think adding these two will give her the balance and anchor she needs. A perfect blend of having familiarity in a place new.
In addition, although strong, Andromeda needs a bit of healing herself. She lost her daughter, son-in-law and husband to the last war. She is estranged from her family and although I could see Narcissa reaching out, I doubt it would be a very smooth relationship. This change of scenery will be good for her as well. A chance to get away from the wizarding world and trauma left behind by the previous war.
I hope that you are liking the way this story is going. It is a re-write from years ago and 100% different from what I had originally gone for. I have kept Teddy in Hermione's life like I had in the original and I plan to see Paul being a Papa – which he will freak out over... well you will see.
Anyways, thank you!
- Me