On Valentine's day weekend, all the couples headed to Hogsmeade to hold little private celebrations. Ginny and Neville jumped off the carriage and disappeared quickly, leaving Draco, Hermione, and Pansy to roll their eyes. Pansy didn't jump but she was obviously nervous. Harry had told her to be at Hogsmeade by noon but did not tell her anything else. She didn't want to interrupt the other couple's romantic time, so she was about to offer to stay at the carriage stop when a stag Patronus came looking for her and said in Harry's voice
"Follow me"
She smiled excitedly and gave the other two a shrug and a wave before following the silver stag. Draco and Hermione chuckled and holding hands started to walk towards a nice new restaurant where Draco had made lunch reservations for them. They had a nice, long lunch, and afterward went for a walk through the picturesque town.
When it got a bit too chilly they headed towards Madam Poodifoot's Tea Shop for tea and desserts. The place was decorated in an over the top Valentine's theme, and it looked like all the couples in Hogwarts were there. This place must have an extension charm on it though because you can always find one more little table to seat cozily with your beloved.
When Draco was pulling Hermione's seat he lifted his gaze and saw the blonde Slytherin first year boy sitting with the brunette Gryffindor girl. A couple of steaming mugs of hot chocolate had just floated in front of them and the boy was now using a pair of silver tongs to put marshmallows in her cup. A couple of tables from them two women, a blonde and a brunette were having tea, chatting politely and stealing glances at the kids. Holy shite. The boy needed to ask special permission to go to Hogsmeade. He had to ask for parental permission to take his little friend on a date and now the mothers were chaperoning them. That kid had guts. He felt proud to have facilitated that attitude. He turned to look at his own Gryffindor princess and kissed her forehead before sitting himself. When she asked him why he was smiling he pointed to the kids and told her the story of the cauldron cake incident and how the whole thing had a happy ending. She laughed softly and then said
"Wow. Can you imagine being a first-year girl and being able to tell your friends that a cute boy took you for a date at Madam Poodifoot's? She's going to be the most popular girl of her year."
He smiled and pulled her close to him. They spent a good part of the afternoon there, sharing sweets and kisses and talking about anything and everything. They were having a wonderful time, but then Draco suddenly sat a bit rigid. Hermione looked towards the door and saw an older witch, obviously a pureblood, looking around the tables like she was looking for someone.
"That's Mrs. Parkinson, Pansy's mother" he whispered to Hermione, but he didn't have time for more, the witch saw them and made a beeline for them. Draco and Hermione stood up to greet her and he offered his hand palm up, took the older lady's one and kissed it.
"Mrs. Parkinson, how good to see you, to what…"
The older witch started to talk very fast over him, making exaggerated hand gestures
"Draco dear, how lovely to see you," then she turned to Hermione, "and of course the lovely Miss Granger. You know, I have heard so many great things about you. I have visited with Cissy and Andromeda at the Manor and Cissy is over-the-moon with you two, and of course I have also heard a lot of praise from dear old Kingsley Shacklebolt when he casually 'drops by' to 'supervise' the visits" –she made air quotes- "because you know, he has been in love with Andromeda forever so I'm sure he is thrilled to have an excuse to come wherever dear Andromeda is, like we don't know that he is just waiting for her mourning period to be over so he can start courting her, but of course that is private business between them but anyways dear Kingsley says he is impatiently waiting for you, dear girl, to finish at Hogwarts so he can bring you to the Ministry, he says you are absolutely brilliant…"
Hermione could only blink and smile while the woman kept going on an on
"Anyway dears, as you can imagine I am looking for my Pansy. I know she is hiding something from me" –she looked around and whispered loudly- "she is hiding someone from me, I am sure. Her letters are too vague and she is sneaking around, so I wonder, is she seeing a wizard that is not pureblood and she doesn't want to tell me? Because if that's it, well after seeing how happy Cissy is with you two I imagine I could be too, but of course there is only one Hermione Granger so whomever my daughter is seeing couldn't be more famous or prestigious, but anyways, is not like she can hide for ever right? What if this man is just taking advantage of her?"
Draco and Hermione didn't have time to respond to that. They heard a squealing sound coming from the entrance.
"Harry put me down!"
"Not until you agree to spend the Easter Holiday in Rome with me."
Harry had just walked through the door, carrying Pansy bridal style, and she was looking giddy and flustered. She was mockingly fighting him to put her down and he would only hold her tighter and bury his face on her hair and neck. They have probably been doing that while walking down the street but now that they entered the shop all eyes were on them. Pansy looked around and froze
"Harry…is mom"
"You mean Rome?"
"I mean mom. My mother is looking at us"
Harry froze for a second but then put her down delicately, gave her a one over to make sure she looked put together enough and she did the same to him. They look into each other's eyes and then he nodded and let her guide him towards the older witch.
"Mother," she said kissing the witch on both cheeks, "this is a surprise, what brings you to Hogsmeade?"
"Actually I was looking for you dear, and being Valentine's weekend I assumed you could be here," she said looking over Pansy's shoulder to the young man behind her.
"Of course, Mother. May I introduce Mr…"
"Harry Potter," said the older witch, offering her hand, smiling widely, giddiness now wrote all over her face. Oh, Cissy's boy may have scooped Hermione Granger, but her daughter hit the Jackpot.
Harry took the hand and bow to place a respectful kiss on her knuckles.
"Mrs. Parkinson. It is an honor to finally meet you."
Meanwhile, Draco had extended the little table and conjured a few more chairs so they could all seat. He thought Pansy and Harry could use some support as it was hard to predict what Mrs. Parkinson could be thinking. Hopefully, Draco could provide a good buffer, being so much more used to deal with the quirks of pureblood mothers. Pansy was obviously very nervous but Harry looked like he was doing just fine. The young auror pulled a chair for the older lady and then for his girlfriend and then took a seat.
"So, Mr. Potter, tell me a bit about yourself. Of course, I have heard a lot, you being always on the papers. I think you have now joined the Aurors? Dear Kingsley is very happy to have you there. He mentioned that your performance is outstanding, you will probably become the youngest head of Magical Law Enforcement in British history."
Harry was astonished to hear this woman that he had never met talk about him like she knew him well. The good news was that so far she seemed to have a very good impression of him.
"That is correct, Mrs. Parkinson, I am currently still part of the training class, but I have been able to make progress faster than usual because of my previous experience in magical defense. So, Minister Shacklebolt has been quite insisting on me getting involved in the political part of the job. I will actually take my hereditary seat in the Wizengamot when the next session opens."
The old woman looked like she had won the lottery.
"So, does that mean you have some titles to claim, Mr. Potter?"
Pansy made an effort to not roll her eyes at her mother's snobbishness, but Harry was unfazed.
"Yes, mam. Besides the Potter inheritance, I have hereditary rights to the Lordship of House Peverell. Also, my godfather, Sirius Black had named me his sole heir, but I plan to return the title of Lord Black to Draco when he finishes up at Hogwarts. He is after all the rightful blood heir."
Pansy hoped that her mother could keep her composure enough to not physically drool. She had come to figure out if her daughter was dating some nameless tramp, and found out that she was actually involved with the most famous wizard in Britain, who was also rich and a Lord. All of those were things that Pansy could not care less about. She was head over heels in love with Harry, the real Harry, not the Boy Who Lived, or the Chosen One, or the Lord Peverell. She had never even stopped to think about his position in society. She was in love with the sweet, kind, sexy man that made her heart melt. But right now, she was grateful that he was sharing those details, that was a sure way to make her mother happy, and that will buy her a lot of room to breathe. Comprehension dawn on her that Harry knew this and was doing it on purpose. He had never even brought up anything about his inheritance or titles, or even his influence at the Ministry. He was doing this for her. To make her mother happy. She had to make an effort to not snog him senseless right where he sat.
