'Wow,' Kit breathed as twilight fell around them and they entered their new neighbourhood. 'It seems more amazing now than the last time we were here.'
'Yeah, it does,' said Harry quietly, unable to contain the grin spreading across his features. 'And we aren't leaving this time.'
Kit beamed; reaching across to grab Harry's hand which was resting on the consol. Harry squeezed her hand, smiling more broadly than before.
They pulled into the driveway of a handsome home with dormer windows on the upper level. It was painted a smoke grey, the trim a dark shade of moss green. The front porch was lit with a single light near the door, while the rest of the house laid in darkness. Kit was shivering with excitement as Harry turned the car off.
'We're home,' she breathed, looking back at the sleeping Nate. 'We're really home.'
Harry gave her the keys. 'Do the honours,' he said, smiling as she took the keys from him.
Kit jumped out of the car, leaving the door open as she raced up the steps of the porch, her runners clunking heavily on the old oak. Harry just grinned as he unbuckled Nate from the car seat. Nate did not awake, and Harry managed to make it all the way across the threshold before the big green eyes opened blearily. Harry smiled down at him, and Nate fell back asleep as Kit appeared at the top of the wide, oak staircase. She motioned for him to follow her, and he did, slowly, glancing down at the toddler in his arms every few steps.
'Right in here,' whispered Kit, standing to the side of the doorway that housed the pale blue nursery.
As Harry placed Nate in the crib, Kit wrapped her arms around his waist.
'I need all his crap,' Kit whispered into his shoulder.
'I'll go unpack it,' Harry said quietly, turning around and wrapping his arms around her.
'I'll take off the plastic,' she said, kissing his chin. Of course, she was referring to the plastic covers that we draped on all the furniture that had been there since Harry was a year old.
'All right,' he whispered, kissing her forehead as he let her go.
Twenty minutes later, the now back-in-style seventies furniture was unwrapped, the living room piled with boxes.
'We need food,' Kit said as she opened and closed all the cupboards and fridge in the spacious kitchen.
'Well, here's the keys,' Harry said as he entered, throwing the keys down on the table. 'Go to a gas station or something.'
Kit looked at him. 'But I've never gone grocery shopping before,' she said, her eyes narrowed with a mixture or confusion and disbelief. 'What if I buy the wrong things?'
Harry sighed. 'Buy some bread, milk, eggs, coffee, juice, and a snack of your choice.'
'Bread, eggs, milk, snack, juice,' Kit recited warily.
'And coffee,' Harry reminded her as Hedwig flew in through the window, a letter attached to her leg.
'Right,' Kit said, picking up the keys. 'You'll be up when I get back?'
'Of course,' Harry replied, untying the letter.
Kit nodded once, and just as Harry unrolled the letter from Bill and Fleur, he heard the car start. Smiling, Harry quickly read through the letter informing himself (and Kit) all about their long-awaited honeymoon to Australia. The photo accompanying the letter was breathtaking, showing Bill with his arm around Fleur, both of them waving madly from a bridge, the famous opera house in the background. Harry couldn't help but imagine that it was Kit and himself in the picture, on their honeymoon. He glanced back at the lengthy letter to find that Fleur had written 'must go and write to Mrs W now. Hope to see you soon! Au Revoir! Love, Fleur and Bill.' It reminded Harry something that was due.
He rummaged through various drawers, finally producing a pen and pad of paper. It was amazing, really, he thought, uncapping the pen, that his parents had lived such a muggle-fied life. But now was the time to ease Mrs Weasley's worries.
'Mrs W,' he wrote, 'We have arrived safe and sound, Nate fast asleep in my old crib. All the boxes are piled in the living room. Send the others on after lunch tomorrow, as I know that they'll want to be seeing the place. Kit will be back with a few groceries soon, so I'll end it here. Hoping you are all as well as we are; Harry.'
As he watched Hedwig fly out of the window, the note firmly clamped in her beak, he stretched. He did not know why, but he felt more at home here than he had ever felt at Privet Drive, Grimmauld Place, The Burrow, or even Hogwarts. He grinned to himself as he looked at the window frame. Maybe he felt at home because 'Lily loves James, and vice versa' was etched into the wood. Harry could just imagine the look on his mothers face when she saw it.
James grinned to himself as he continued washing the knife in his hand. It was not enough to have personally engraved 'L+J' on every urinal and stall door in every boys bathroom at Hogwarts, he needed to do it in his own home. The home he finally shared with Lily.
'Speak of the devil,' he said as her hands wrapped around his waist.
'You're a strange one, Mr Potter,' Lilt laughed, gazing out the window as she moved to stand beside him, her slender arm still around his waist.
'So are you, Mrs P,' James grinned.
Lily only smiled. But that smile that James loved so much was quickly replaced with something between a frown and a scowl as her eyes fell on James' latest work.
'Is it not enough to graffiti all of Hogwarts? You have to do it here, too?'
James shrugged. 'I just want everyone after us to know how much you mean to me.'
'Well, you'll mean more to me after you dry and put away all these dishes,' she said, smiling slightly as she left the kitchen.
James laughed, pulling out a tea towel.
Harry made his way to the front porch, still waiting for Kit. A hammock, AN: write this while in one no doubt put up by the realtor as a 'welcome home' gift, was strung up, and Harry could not help himself. However, Harry had never attempted to sit in a hammock un-aided. Trying not to fall out of it, he spread apart the two sides and tried to fall backwards into it, his eyes closed in fear.
As soon as the falling had stopped, Harry opened his eyes to find himself safely in the hammock. Grinning, he turned his eyesight to the road as he heard a car approaching. AN: ironic, isn't it, that throughout his school years all the discomfort occurred during new magical experiences, and here he is, the same uncomfortable feeling in a muggle experience.
Kit grinned at Harry as she stepped onto the porch.
'I'm willing to share my special treat with you,' she said quietly, leaving him through the screen door before he could comment.
He sat there in silence, listening to her put away the various items in the kitchen. Kit came back onto the porch carrying two spoons and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream.
'Here,' she said softly, handing him a spoon and plopping down next to him.
'Thanks,' he whispered, slipping the spoon into the semi-soft ice cream.
Kit merely shrugged, sinking her spoon into the frozen delight.
They sat there in silence, rocking gently in the hammock, savouring the peace and quiet. As Harry glanced at Kit, he noticed a drop of the melted dessert on the corner of her lips. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he leaned over and licked it off.
'What are you doing?' she breathed, closing her eyes at his touch.
'You had a drip,' he whispered, taking the ice cream and her spoon from her, he put it on the sill of the window behind them. He kissed her softly as she grinned.
'Did I ever tell you that a drip's a drop –'
He kissed her earlobe.
'A drop's water –'
He kissed her nose.
'Water's nature –'
He kissed her closed eyes.
'Nature's beautiful –'
He kissed her soundly on the lips.
'Thank you for the compliment,' she breathed against his lips.
'I didn't know I was insulting you,' he whispered, wrapping his arms all the way around her.
'You weren't,' she whispered, leaning into his soft kisses. 'I just needed some kind of distraction.'
'You shouldn't be distracted,' Harry grinned as he pulled her into his chest and falling back into the hammock.
'Well, you have my utmost attention now,' whispered Kit, nipping his collar bone.
'Let's get married.'
Kit looked up at him. 'What?'
'I told you I would marry you, and I will,' he said as she sat up and straddled him, her feet hanging over the sides of the hammock.
'But – aren't you going to propose?' she asked, somewhat disappointed.
'When I find the perfect ring,' he breathed, cupping her face softly with his hand. 'I just want to make sure that–'
'I will say yes,' Kit interrupted, her eyes shining.
'Then tomorrow when you go grocery shopping, you had better pick up some of those bridal magazines. Get a head start.'
Kit grinned, lying down beside him. 'Oh, I hope we have enough money in the bank.'
'We'll use whatever is left of Sirius',' Harry said, laughing slightly.
'Sounds good,' she breathed, and Harry felt her falling asleep.
'Shall we go up to bed?'
Kit nodded sleepily, and Harry pulled her from the confines of the hammock.
'Carry me,' she said softly, wrapping a heavy arm around his neck.
Harry grinned, taking her under the arms and under the legs, carrying her into their house, up to their bedroom, and lying entwined in their bed.