A/N: A little treat for myself and you lot who have gifted me with some lovely and motivating reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Four: Salt, Wine and Roses
They were unmistakingly and irresponsibly tipsy already as they finished their second bottle of wine, sitting there on the beach. Lily and Hugo had both become tired due to both heat and all the swimming and running as the children had entertained themselves with a game of tag. Lily lay cradled in Hermione's arms, red hair still wet and salty, sleeping peacefully and undisturbed by her aunt and father who continued to talk and laugh about everything and nothing under a parasol Hermione had carried in the picnic basket, shrunken. Hugo had fallen asleep curled into a ball, wedged in the small space between his mother and uncle, skin red from all the sun. Meanwhile, James, Albus and Rose had formed a large playgroup with other children their age on the beach and were very much having fun playing pirates or sharks or whatever and it was just so good to see them so happy and just being the carefree children that they should be. Hermione had to call them over at least three times since they arrived to get them to put on sunblock again and drink some water or iced tea.
"Hermione..." He said and Hermione turned to look at him, vision hazy and body feeling so light that if it weren't for Lily's weight in her arms she would probably float. She hated that each time he said her name like that it made her feel funny inside, a good sort of funny, like each time was the first.
As he seemed to try to remember what he was going to say, Hermione's attention traveled to his face, very different from that of the boy she had etched in her memory, the skinny and awkward boy she had met on a train almost a lifetime ago and then the young man she had spent a year living with inside a tent— another lifetime ago. He had lines of both smiles and worry on the edges of his eyes and corners of his lips, his hair was still shiny and raven as it had always been, perpetually messy, but gray hairs had sprouted here and there. Then there was that ever charming beard he'd been growing lately. He'd always wanted to grow a beard, she remembered him mentioning it once in a while, but Ginny had always been against it, saying it made him look old. Except to Hermione, he didn't look old, not at all, but he looked more attractive and mysterious than ever and she was embarrassed to even think about it, how a silly, girlish crush began to form inside of her and only escalated with the hours they spent together. She was being utterly silly. Harry was her best friend, her brother, the godfather of her children, in her heart, he would forever be that little boy who she rode on the back of a hippogriff as a girl. Hermione shouldn't, couldn't be feeling these things, not now, not ever.
"Ah, yes—," he seemed to finally remember. The two of them were just a ridiculous pair of grown-up lightweights, Hermione thought before she heard him continue, "I met Mrs. Butterfield on my way to your shop. She told me she was the president or whatever of a magical association, what's that all about?"
"The TMA, Tenby Magical Association." He nodded. Hermione took a small sip from her glass of wine, "it's an organization I have been researching, well, it's not the only part of my research but it's important. When I moved to Tenby I had just come out of the divorce and I was a mess, you remember right, Harry?" The raven-haired wizard nodded in consent and she continued. "Well, I came here at first because my parents had moved here after falling in love with the place after visiting it during a holiday. I had no great expectations of staying long, but I did because it was so good to be closer to them again, I mean, for all the wonderful things that happened to me since age eleven and discovering I was a witch, meeting you and Ron and everything... it all drove a certain wedge between my parents and I. Not because they didn't support me or anything but because I was never home and they didn't know quite how to reach out to me. We lived in completely different worlds. Anyway, I carried that emptiness inside for so long, during Hogwarts, after Hogwarts, during my marriage I missed my mum and dad more than anything and I needed them in what was perhaps the most difficult time of my life..."
"What does that have to do with TMA?" Hermione rolled her eyes and huffed in her usual way at his interruption.
"Let me finish, Harry." He chuckled at her, the bossy little girl of his childhood for a split second appearing before his eyes. "When I decided to live here I thought it was just a small, ordinary muggle town and that if there were two or three witches or wizards besides myself and the kids it was a lot already. What I began to notice however was signs of magic everywhere. The abundance of messenger owls, people carrying wands, people who knew about magic and that's when it hit me. Tenby had a larger wizarding community than I had expected."
"And you were surprised because it wasn't something you read about in A History of Magic or something?" Hermione nodded emphatically.
"I had never heard or read any mention of Tenby anywhere in our magical circles or in the books, so yes, it was a shock, albeit a pleasant one. As I befriended Mrs. Butterfield who you met and some others, like Corin for instance, I realized that in this town not all, but an impressive amount of people knew about magic and were perfectly fine with it, even those who weren't magical at all. I've been researching the Tenby folk nearly two years now, Harry, I have come to realize that Tenby, such an insignificant little town has the largest wizard to muggle ratio in Europe. Where everywhere it would be something like 5 muggles for each wizard here it's 3 muggles for each wizard and beyond that, I have come across some documentation, backed by interviews I carried out with several people that this is all due to the fact that Tenby became a sort of refuge town for persecuted squibs and Muggle-borns."
"Of course, historically ostracized and prejudiced again against traditional wizarding society." Harry completed, things becoming more clear to him now.
"Tenby is a refuge town and in a way a colony comprised by a large population of squibs who left or were abandoned by their pureblood families, Muggle-borns and their families, be it parents, siblings, spouses, children. Also, in Tenby a social phenomenon happens much more often than in any other part of Europe or perhaps the world—there is a very large number of mixed families here. Wizards or witches who married muggles, squibs married to muggles, squibs married to witches or wizards, the likes. The spouses, of course, know that their partners are magical or come from a magical background, it's common knowledge, and the children are brought up knowing as well, even if they grow up without manifesting magic itself. The most amazing thing to me is that here people live in perfect harmony, Harry, people know about magic, practice it almost freely and everyone just goes on with their lives without thinking much of it. They don't really care if ones are different than the others. I think that's largely due to the fact that the majority of wizards here are Muggle-borns and half-bloods, more open-minded people in general, people who like myself have always had one foot in the magical world and another in the muggle world."
"That's your research?" Harry was quite surprised and shocked by the things she had told him, that defied just about everything practiced in the magical circles he knew around London and in other parts of the country, where magical communities didn't ever mix or care to mix with the muggles. "Wow, Hermione, just wow..."
"Professor McGonagall had a very similar reaction," Hermione told him with a smile. "She's been financing my research and is my mentor in this. I don't know if you know but McGonagall was raised as a muggle until she received her Hogwarts letter. Her mother was a witch and her father a muggle pastor. Mrs. McGonagall made the decision to quit using magic altogether after her marriage, afraid of her husband's reaction. That deeply affected McGonagall's childhood and her relationship with her mother, so it's a subject that's also close to her heart." To Harry, all of this was a novelty.
"And how come I've never heard of any of this within the Ministry?" He asked after a few minutes of taking it all in.
"That's what I'm currently trying to figure out. I have an inkling that it could be because this is such a tightknit community, but certainly, Hogwarts registries would notice a large number of witches and wizards from this area, wouldn't they?"
"And they go to Hogwarts?" Hermione nodded.
"Yes, absolutely. Rose's teacher is one example, she's a Hufflepuff. She entered Hogwarts right after I graduated, so I didn't get the opportunity to meet her then." Harry nodded in understanding.
"So non-magical people, besides the squibs and relatives to muggle-borns—they know about magic?" Hermione nodded.
"But doesn't that represent a breach of the Statute of Secrecy?"
"Technically it would, but at the same time the vast majority of them are family relatives of wizards, so it's a bit of a gray area..." Hermione finished her glass of wine in one gulp and sighed, watching as the children seemed to be picking up their beach toys and bidding their beach friends goodbye in the distance. "It made sense for this place to stay a secret during the first and second wizarding wars when Muggle-borns and squibs suffered persecution, but that's no longer the case. Mine and Professor McGonagall's fears are that knowledge of Tenby and what goes on here catches the Ministry's attention, and basically the repercussions that could come from that. I mean, what do you suppose could happen? You can't obliviate an entire city..." Harry nodded. "We also worry that there is a new wave of conservative, blood purist views on the rise again, judging by Ginny's death and other things that have been in the paper recently. We fear for the future, you know?" Harry nodded, twirling his glass of wine between his fingers. Hermione sensed a small pang of sadness at the mention of his deceased wife's name. She just watched him with curiosity, wondering whether it'd been best not to mention the beloved redhead. After a long few seconds of silence, he turned to look at her with an expression of worry.
"Like this is the calm before the storm?" Hermione nodded.
"Yes, exactly."
"Would you like it if I perhaps investigated independently, on the subject within the ministry, to see if there are any sights set on Tenby?"
"I don't know, I wouldn't want to attract any attention—if anyone were to find out that Harry Potter was looking for information on a small seaside village in Wales, curiosities would be sure to arise, even if you are careful and discrete." He nodded in understanding, she was right.
"And the Tenby Magical Association?"
"Was formed years ago by local wizards and squibs as a sort of way to control and manage the local magical and magic-knowing community, to make sure everything continues under wraps and no one does anything stupid. They also organize courses and events to council muggle and squib parents of little witches and wizards headed for Hogwarts, a fabulous Halloween party and you will also be happy to know that we have a local Quidditch team, up and rising, the Tenby Guardians." Harry smiled at that.
"So it's fine to fly on a broom around here?" Hermione nodded with a smile.
"Oh yes, as long as you use a camouflaging charm to make yourself look like a bird or something, from afar."
"Hmm, and have you been flying lately?" He said with a playful smile. Hermione laughed with a light blush creeping onto her cheeks.
"Hell no, Harry!" Harry broke into a laughter that surprised even Hermione and made Lily and Hugo stir in their heavy sleep, to the point where the little girl's green eyes, identical to her father's, opened and looked at him with curiosity. Hermione swatted him on the arm for laughing at the expense of her fear of flying, happy to see him more at ease and relaxed. The older kids finally arrived, tired, sunburnt and ready to go home. Harry got up, with a smile on his face and ran a hand on his beard which Hermione looked up to watch with interest, unknowingly biting her bottom lip. He noticed her attention was on him and became quite flustered. He turned around awkwardly and began to gather their things and place them in the basket, while Hermione shook Hugo awake and Lily lazily wormed herself out of her aunt's lap.
-/-
When the Grangers and Potters arrived back to Hermione's house, a good fifteen minute walk later, Hermione ushered the children to the tiny backyard where she hosed them down to get rid of the excess salt and sand in their skin and hair, something they thought was a great deal of fun, as Harry watched from the kitchen window. When she finished she ordered Rose up to and bathe in the bathroom attached to her room in the attic, James to the hallway bathroom while Albus showered in the bathroom in Hermione's bedroom. Lily and Hugo sat on the porch-swing waiting for their turns, munching on a chocolate frog each that Hermione had fished out of her purse to keep them entertained.
Meanwhile, Harry got a headstart on their lunch, preparing ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwiches for everyone, calculating each person would eat two sandwiches, accompanied by some chamomile iced tea to get the children a bit calmer and ready for a lazy afternoon nap before more playtime and dinner in the evening, and of course, the storytime ritual. It was just after three o'clock and Harry could feel the laziness that came from the effect the beach had on him, paired with the slightly drunken haze of the alcohol he and Hermione had consumed, seeping into his bones. What he wouldn't do to fall on a nice soft bed just about now and just drift into a dreamless sleep.
A few minutes later as he was setting the large table a bathed and dressed Rosie walked into the kitchen to make him company, sitting on a chair and just watching him finish. Harry noticed she wanted to share something with him and sat next to her. Rose turned to look at him swallowed hard, he noticed the trembling of her lips and tears pooling in her eyes. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and pulled her into his arms, her head resting on the crook of his shoulder. He held her and rubbed on her back as he patiently waited for her tears to subside. He hated seeing her so upset and saddened. Rose was very intelligent and communicative, bossy even, no different from her mother, but she was also deeply sensitive and at times insecure. As he felt her hiccups begin to grow further apart he pulled her little hand to his lips and gently kissed it, as though she were that little baby girl he had held all those years ago once again.
"Do you want to tell me the reason you're so sad?" He asked her softly, caressing the curls on her hair soothingly. She nodded, quietly, head tucked between his neck and chin now.
"My dad's going to have a new baby," she mumbled, "and he's probably going to forget all about me and Hugo because we live far away and he and mum don't love each other anymore..." She said everything all at once, so quickly and frantically that Harry had to strain to hear her. The poor child he thought. Harry kissed her little hand once again and sighed heavily.
"Rosie, I understand you are upset but you know how much your daddy loves you, don't you?" She shrugged, mumbling something incoherent under her breath. "I've known Ron for many years and he's my best mate, you know that. I was also there the day you came into this world and Merlin, Rosie, I had never seen so much love in someone's eyes as the love I saw in his as he held you in his arms. That kind of love doesn't go away Rose, I know it. Yes, you may not see your father that often anymore because he's in London and you are here, but he will never stop loving and caring for you, or Hugo. You are his pride and joy, Rose, you should see how his face lights up when talking about you—he always talks about you."
"R-really?" She asked in a whisper, wiping at her nose with the back of a hand.
"You know I wouldn't ever lie to you." She nodded and Harry could feel her arms snaking around his neck and holding onto her uncle for dear life. "Think about how great it will be to have a new baby brother or sister, you'll have two siblings just like Albus!" Rose seemed to cheer up slightly at the thought. "Your daddy loves you, Rose, your mother loves you, your brother and cousins love you, I love you so very much," Harry stated, holding her little face so that her eyes looked into his. "I promise you that everything will be all right." Rose nodded and hugged her uncle again, for the longest time.
As she walked into the kitchen with the other children already bathed and ready to eat, it was that image that Hermione found. Her eyes met with Harry's and without uttering a word his eyes told her that he would tell her later. She nodded silently and motioned for the other kids to take their seats.
"Shall we eat now, Rosie-Posy? I'm hungry, aren't you?" The little girl wiped her tearstained eyes and cheeks and nodded, slipping out of her uncle's lap and taking a seat next to him. No one around the table mentioned a thing and James wisely directed the subject of conversation to the new friends they had met on the beach.
-/-
The children were all settled on Hermione's queen-size bed watching a film she had put on for them as the two adults lay sprawled together on the comfortable living room sofa. Harry had shared with a concerned Hermione about Rose's small breakdown, which had in a way upset her.
"I just wish she would come to me for comfort, no offense, Harry." He shook his head.
"None taken, although try to see things from her point of view, maybe she needed to hear it from another dad, you know?" Hermione nodded in understanding. She took a sip out of a brand new wine glass, this time a more robust red. The two had been curled together on the sofa for a good half-hour now and it was in a way amazing how they had gone from each in a different corner of the sofa, to wrapped in one another's arms, Hermione's head resting on his shoulder, his hand lazily grazing up and down her upper arm. Hermione savored the sensation of being in his strong arms, she felt safe, warm, at peace and it was a combination of sensations she hadn't experienced in a long time. "Speaking of dads, we also bumped into your parents outside the bookshop." Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled, releasing a hoarse, light chuckle.
"They were hoping you'd come, they like having all these little kids around. Mum likes to pretend she's Molly Weasley sometimes!" Hermione said with amusement. "She always wanted to have many kids, but old little me was all she got."
"Really?" Hermione nodded.
"Mum struggled with infertility many years. I came after a series of miscarriages and my dad just didn't have the heart to see her go through the grueling process of trying to conceive again after me. You know how happy my mum is, he told me once she had been just a shadow of what she was in those years, disillusioned with her own betraying body."
"Hmm. Would you like to have had siblings?" Hermione nodded.
"In retrospect, I think I would have, even if just to make mum and dad company when I possibly couldn't. Can you imagine trying for so many years to have a child and then to finally have one and have her come out magical, while you are a muggle, and having her be torn away from you for such long periods of time?" Hermione swallowed down a bit more of her red wine. "I only fully realized just how much they suffered because of me being a witch when I became a mother myself. I don't know about you Harry, but I am dreading the day my Rose turns eleven and I have to separate from her so she can go to Hogwarts. It's like having a piece of you torn away..."
"I was thinking the same thing about James on the way here, on the train ride. And it will be next year already! I honestly don't know what I'll do with myself." He too took a drink and gazed down at the face of his best friend, cheeks reddened because of the wine, brown eyes looking back at him with the same fervent adoration and comradery as he looked down at her. "It feels good to know I'm not alone..." They were both silent for a long minute before Harry mumbled out an "I'm tired." Hermione nodded in agreement and took his wine glass into her other hand, setting both on the coffee table in front of them.
"Let's sleep then, while we can," Hermione whispered as she pulled a pillow towards them. Harry lay his head on it and stretched his legs on top of the sofa. Hermione lay down and snuggled against him, her back to his chest as the two quickly dozed off, his arm protectively encircling her waist. The only sounds in the house being the soft hooting coming from Perdita on her favorite spot on the shelf and the muffled sound of the movie the children were watching in the bedroom upstairs.
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