Hermione, Harry and their kids arrived at the Potter house and a sudden tension hung in the air. The foo room she finally noticed was beautiful. The walls were a light cream and two large crests hung on the walls next to the oak door. She noticed one as a Hogwarts crests and the other was what she deduced to be the Potter crest. There was a doe and stag on either said of an escutcheon shield plate. The shield plate contained four images in alternating red and gold squares. The first one had a symbol of the deathly hallows, next to it three hoops, definitely quidditch hoops, below was an open book and lastly was a heart entwined with lilies. Above the shield was the head of roaring lion. Below the shield was a banner with the words Sum ego levavi manum meam ut bonum, which she automatically interpreted to mean; I solemnly swear I am up to no good.
Her eyes quickly scanned the rest of the room. There was a red love seat in front of her and two identical white chairs opposite each other to the left and right of the love seater. There was also a small glass table in the center of the furniture and a small crystal chandelier above the table. The last thing she noticed was the large window to the left. She loved this room it was perfect she couldn't wait to explore the rest of the house.
"Are you guys hungry?" Hermione finally asked to break the silence.
"Yes!" Lily exclaimed and looked at her mom with pleading eyes. Hermione and Harry both chuckled at their youngest.
"I'll be upstairs. I'm not that hungry." Albus said and quickly left the room. Hermione instantly knew he was going to his brother's room to talk about the incident at the hospital.
"So," Hermione drawled as she took hold of Lily's hand and linked it with hers. "What would like to eat sweetheart?" She asked as they walked out of the room arm in arm with Harry immediately behind them. She wasn't sure but she knew exactly where to go.
"Hmmm.." Lily pondered on the question. "What about broccoli chicken alfredo pasta."
"Sounds great!" Hermione said as they entered the kitchen.
Lily immediately hopped up on the island and smiled at her mom. "Dad are you staying or do you have to go back to work?" she asked innocently.
Hermione looked at him almost expecting him to say he was leaving. "Well darling, I wasn't planning on but I do have a few things I will have to work on in my office after lunch." Lily shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Would you like some help Hermione?" He asked ignoring his daughter's reaction.
"Why don't you go check on the boys?" Hermione instructed hoping he would take the hint that she wanted some alone time with Lily. He did take it. He gave a supporting smile and left the room.
"So how is slytherin?" Hermione asked with a smirk as she got out the pot to start cooking the pasta.
"It's good." She replied with a smile that meant trouble.
"What's that smile about?" She asked grabbed the chicken out of the refrigerator.
"Nothing." She said and her smile got larger.
"Is it a boy?" Hermione teased.
"No!" She replied very giggly. Hermione immediately turned to her daughter and raised an eyebrow.
"You're not going to tell me?" Hermione asked as she noticed her daughter face getting more flushed by the second.
"There's nothing to tell mum." Lily smirked.
"Really?" Hermione tried to get more information out of her. She let the question hang in the air for a second and although her daughter was still flushed she didn't answer. "Will you tell me about quidditch then?"
"What do you want to know?" Lily asked looking confused.
"How is the team, who is on the team, what position you play, anything you want to tell me."
"Wouldn't you just forget?" She asked softly and although she didn't intend to sound rude towards her mother she did.
"I hope not." Hermione said just as softly and moved towards her fourteen year old. "I'm scared too, I don't want to forget my babies, I want to have my memory back. You could just hold my hand and maybe we could figure this out together." She whispered. Lily gave a small nod and Hermione engulfed her in a hug. "So will you tell me about quidditch?"
Lily let out a muffled giggle and nodded. "Yeah, um. Well I play keeper and I'm pretty awesome. James can't get one past me. It's the reason why slytherin has moved up to second place." Hermione moved back to the stove and listened intently. "The captain is Scorpius Malfoy, he's completely crazy about beating Gryffindor. James and him have this crazy rivalry. Our head of house Professor Zabini says we shouldn't worry too much as it's James' last year and we should win the cup from next school year. I however, want James to give us the cup this year, he's full of it you know."
"He does look that way. Let me guess it's cause he gets away with so many pranks." Hermione suggested rolling her eyes.
"It's true. Uncle Nev has a soft spot for him." Hermione laughed. "Everyone does."
"That's not all true, your father and I, -especially your father- both have soft spots for you." Hermione said softly.
"Yeah, but dad's never really home. Plus I was talking about people outside this house." Lily reasoned and silence hung in the room.
"Mum?" Lily asked quietly. Hermione stopped stirring the pan and look at her. "Can we watch a movie while we eat?"
"What movie do you have in mind?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know maybe something from Disney."
"Go pick something out. This is almost done. I'll meet you in the family room in a bit." Hermione instructed.
Lily immediately moved off the countertop and moved into the direction of the family room. Hermione smiled at her daughter. She couldn't help but feeling immensely proud of the little girl who just left the room.
Hermione decided that she would make an afternoon of it and quickly grabbed a few snacks from the pantry and a few drinks with a quick cooling charm placed on them. She took out food for everyone in the family and sent it off to each one of her boys along with a canned drink.
She then grabbed two serving trays placing all the snacks in one and Lily's and her lunch in the other. She charmed them to move over to the family room. She then used a few cleaning charms to get the kitchen clean and moved off to the family room where she met Lily already eating.
"Sorry. I tried to wait." She said forcing some more food into her mouth causing Hermione to giggle.
"It's alright dear, just take smaller bites and chew." Hermione said as she took a seat on the couch and looked over at the television. It was paused at the signature Disney castle beginning. "What are we watching?" she said and grabbed her bowl and fork.
"Tangled." She replied as if her mother had grown a second head. "It's my fave!" She explained and Hermione nodded in understanding. Lily pressed play and the movie started.
Hermione turned to quickly observe the room she was in. There were those cream walls again, with numerous family photographs littered all around the wall of the room. The large room contained a large sectional sofa that she a Lily was currently sitting in and another matching love seater to the other side of the room with a small coffee table in the middle. The large flat screen television was definitely the focus of the room.
Hermione's attention was brought back to the movie when she heard a man talking. She watched in awe, much to her own amazement she realized Tangled was based on one of her favorite bedtime stories; Rapunzel. She was never one to like Disney movies growing up but this was Rapunzel. She tried hard not to laugh as Lily sang along with almost every song in the movie. Before she knew it the movie along with the snacks she brought were all done and her daughter was snuggled up with a cushion fighting a nap.
"Go take a nap, I'll clean this mess up sweetheart." Hermione instructed.
"I'm not sleepy." Lily stated.
"Well then we could always go through your homework. School does start in a few weeks." Hermione stated as she magically cleaned the room.
"On second thought, I'll go have that nap." She said and slowly made her way up the stairs.
Hermione cleaned the room and brought everything back to the kitchen making sure it was its correct spot and then moved up the stairs to speak with her eldest. She sighed as she started to move up the stairs.
Her body immediately moved towards the first door to her right. The kids' rooms. She gently knocked on the door and when she heard a soft grunt behind the door she peeped into the room. Of course my mind would bring me here! She mused as she saw a disgruntled looking James on his bed.
His room was very simple. Dark grey walls, books scattered all over his floor, book shelf and desk which both were positioned to the right of the door. His bed was centered below his window to the other end of the room with the view of the quidditch pitch in the back and despite the large window there was a few floating lanterns to give light at night. He had a chest of draws and a closet both open and clothing littered around them. She noticed all the furniture was a dark mahogany. This was definitely his design and not hers.
"Can I come in?" She asked as her watched her expectantly.
He bit his bottom lip, and his eyebrows moved upward as he nodded.
"James, what happened today?" Hermione asked after she closed the door and took a seat on the chair near his desk. He visibly stiffened and started to grind his teeth. "Look I'm not here to yell at you, only understand your actions and for love of it how many times do I need to tell you stop grinding your teeth?"
He chuckled. "Sorry mum."
Hermione smiled at him understandingly. She watched as James shifted and threw if legs over the bed and leaned forward leaning on his arms that was resting on his thighs. Her gut told not to say anything just let the silence sit. And that seem to work because within a few minutes James opened his mouth and spoke. "I don't know how, but I know he did this to you." Hermione just gave him a look that asked are you sure. He looked at the ground as though contemplating telling her something. He opened his mouth a few times and each time he sighed and closed it again.
"Use your words sweetheart." She gently teased.
He gave her a smile. "You guys fight a lot, I know you don't remember but you two fight a lot. When I came home last night and I saw how dressed up you were and he wasn't home and the look on your face mum-" His voiced cracked and she noticed the gloss appear in his eyes. "He did this. He doesn't want this family anymore. He doesn't want us or you and he can't wipe your memory to get his way. He's a coward."
Hermione got up and gently hugged her son and wiped his tears. "That's not true and you know it. He's bus-"
"He's always busy! You need to stop mum! You don't deserve this and if you're staying with him for us, the kids- don't!"
"I know you love me and you feel the need to protect me, but I know your father and I think he deserves just a chance. Thats what makes a marriage, working through the hard and rocky times son."
James kissed his teeth. "You're too forgiving. I'm happy you have no memory of your life with him, because now you will see it with new eyes how little he really cares."
Hermione sighed and she let the silence build. "I still have to punish you, even if you did it for me. You're going to take your Firebolt 2500 to school not your 3000x." She said and gave him a kiss and ruffled his hair as the teenager tried to hide his disappointment. "I love you."
He mumbled something as Hermione got up and made her way to the door. He didn't even look phased by the punishment any more but since twenty one year old Hermione didn't know what a Firebolt 2500 was she figured her older self knew what she was doing.
She thought of checking up on Albus as she left James' room but she found her body going against it and found herself face to face with a door. She figured it was either hers or Harry's home office. She knocked gently and the opened the door and peeped in.
She saw a frustrated looking Harry who had his head down leaning on his folded arms and his glasses off to the side. The food she sent up was barely touched and there was a thick file stamped confidential under the plate.
"Harry." She called out gently.
"Hmm?" He groaned without looking up.
"You need to eat." She whispered and move towards him. He looked up and put on his glasses. Hermione looked at him. Harry really did age amazingly. He had a few grey hairs poking through and few stress lines but he was still the young man she remembered.
"I can't." He said looking at her gently.
"Stop working and worrying and you will be able to."
"I can't stop worrying about you." Hermione looked at Harry unsure what to say. "You don't have to say anything. I know your mind is flooding with questions. How about I start answering a few of those?" Harry instructed putting away all his files and giving Hermione is full attention.
Hermione found her mind floating with numerous questions at once. Then her mind went back to her last night in Australia.
Hermione was packing her suitcase when she heard a small knock on the door. She turned around to see a shy smiling Ronald looking at her. She grinned instantly. Although, the pair hadn't put a tittle on their relationship she was sure he considered her his girlfriend and she thought he was her boyfriend but there would be no way she would be late for her flight because Ronald wasn't fully packed.
"Ron you should go finish packing. We can't miss our flight. I have school in a week and I still have to get all my things together when we get back." She said and moved toward him.
Ron took a deep breath and walked into her room and almost closed the door. He left it slightly ajar as it was against her parent's rules that she and any of the boys be in a room with the door closed.
"Sit, we need to talk." Hermione immediately knew this wouldn't end well. Ron was never this serious.
"What is it?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the bed. Ron looked at her. His eyes were suddenly red and glossy and he tried hard to avoid her eye contact. "What's wrong?" She asked and intertwined her hands in his.
"I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be going back to England just yet." He whispered so softly Hermione wasn't sure she heard correctly. She looked at him in disbelief.
"What?" Hermione dropped his hand and stood up. "You're staying here? Have my parents okayed this?" she asked in hopes he didn't ask and that they would say he couldn't stay.
"I spoke with them and they agreed that I can stay with them." He said softly, grabbing her hand gently hoping to get her to sit again.
"You're leaving Harry and I again? You're leaving me again?" She found herself asking in disbelief. Ron looked at her and stood up and pulled her close.
"You could always stay with me. You could finish school here and stay with me." He said softly. "We don't have to go back to that sadness and chaos back home. That emptiness."
"I'm not running away either. I need to finish my schooling and do what I must to rebuild the wizarding world Ron."
"I can't go back not just yet. I can't face those demons. Maybe it's time the wizarding world 'rebuilds without us." Ron tried to reason.
Your family needs you." She tried to argue.
"I spoke with both mum and dad agree that maybe a change of scenery is just what I need." He responded.
"You discussed this with everyone but me?" She asked hurt in her voice.
"Because I knew you would react like this. You don't get it." He said softly.
"Get out!" She said and looking Ron dead in the eye. He looked at her confusingly.
"What?" He asked pulling away from her.
"Get out and don't speak to me again!" She ordered as she pointed to the door.
Her mind was brought back to the present. "Ron, where is he? What is he doing? Did he ever come back? Did he apologize for leaving me?"
"Ron, he's the head of the auror and defense department at the ministry. He currently lives at grimmauld place. We gifted it to Ron and his wife- Anna-Claire when they moved back to England. He met her in Australia through your parents. He has twin boys named Fred and Hugo and a daughter named Sybil. She is the same age as Albus but she and James are really close. The boys are both beaters for the cannons. And he did try to apologize to you quite a bit but you ignored him. I sort of forced you two to speak when we were getting married."
"When did he come back?" She asked looking at him intently.
"For our engagement party." Harry said softly and let the silence sit. He could tell she wanted to ask a thousand more questions. he mentally sighed and waited for her next question.
"Why did I feel the urge to trust Draco Mafloy this morning?" She asked shyly.
"Because you do." Harry replied with a smirk. "When you started writing you wanted a pure blood perspective so that you could tell the full story with Voldermort and Draco felt he owed me his life after everything and keeping him out of prison. So I kind of worked out a deal that he help you and we would be even." Hermione looked at him with disbelief. Was he really expecting her to believe she and Draco became friends that easily? Harry chuckled as if reading her thoughts. "It was funny seeing you work with Malfoy, but in the end you too became pretty decent friends."
"Really?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. He felt he was helping you tell the truth and hopefully persuade anyone who want to be like Voldermort."
"But to trust him?" Hermione looked at him in disbelief.
"Yes. I'm not saying you two didn't have the daily row or two- four more like it but yes he did help you and he's one of the reasons you're a success. You gave a full perspective to the crowds about how sick and crazy Voldermort was."
Hermione nodded and then thought long and hard about her next question. "How did we even start?" She asked looking at him a little more relaxed. "Cause in my mind I'm with Cormac."
"Don't bring up that jackass." He said and rolled his eyes. Hermione looked at him expectantly "Well it started when you decided to change after leaving Australia."
"I didn't change." She said indignantly.
"Oh but you did. You started dating Cormac within a month of going back to Hogwarts and then you started partying and you were wild."
"I wasn't wild Harry, I just stopped caring so much." She tried to explain. "and there is nothing wrong in me moving on. Ron made his decision and I wasn't going to wait for him forever."
"We both know that's not true anyways back to the story. You changed, you started hanging out with Lavender and the Patil twins along with Gin and Luna of course. So although you got perfect scores for your NEWTS you just wasn't my Hermione anymore. For one you drank a lot when out with your friends and you went out a lot. The worst part is Gin, Luna and I were all busy starting our careers and didn't have time to go out as much and thus wasn't able to stop you when you started getting out of hand. I blame myself the most. I was gone so much with auror missions and you were left alone."
"Get to the point Harry." Hermione said not liking the direction his digression was headed.
"Anyways one night you were out and Draco- this is one of the reasons I trust him. Anyways he and his friends saw you and Cormac and you started throwing up and the idiot kept handing you firewhiskey shots. So Malfoy took it upon himself and had his friend send me a protronus message to come get you. I did and I took you home after giving Cormac a piece of my mind. I sobered you up and then I took some time off work and started to take care of you. See your change is as a result of the nightmare and the post-traumatic stress your twenty one year old mind is probably currently under."
"You know about that?" She asked scared.
"Yeah, even the sleeping potions you took in secrecy, just like the peperup potion you took this morning." He said smoothly she looked at him in shock. "Why didn't you just come to me?" He asked softly. She immediately knew that question was meant for her twenty one year old self, he probably had this question for twenty one year's hoping for a moment where he could ask without any repercussion.
"And tell you what? That I see Bellatrix every time I close my eyes. Or that I'm so scared to be alone because I keep thinking death eaters will come for me and kill me. Or that I'm scared out of my mind every time you're on one of your missions cause I don't think you will return? Or that I do hate you sometimes because it is your entire fault. It's your fault that I had to protect my parents by whipping their memory and we went to Australia and lost Ron."
"Hermione," Harry whispered softly and got up and walked towards her. He picked her up out of the chair she was seated in. "I needed you to tell me exactly that." He said softly and pulled her close.
"I couldn't put that blame on you, you're my bestfriend."
"You think it was easy to watch my best friend get addicted to potions to sleep and become an alcoholic? I wish you would have blamed me, it wouldn't have been locked up in your brain." Harry whispered sternly and then kissed the top of her head.
Hermione stayed in his embrace for a moment. She couldn't place it but there was a familiarity she couldn't explain. It wasn't just her best friend Harry it was like he knew her soul. There was a comfort in the way he held her but she pulled away and smiled when she thought of her red headed best friend, Ginny.
Harry watched the color drain from Hermione's face as she pulled away from him. His worry instantly skyrocketed. "What's the matter?"
"Ginny. You were engaged. I broke up your engagement. Oh sweet Merlin." She said softly almost hyperventilating.
Harry looked taken aback but smiled sweetly at Hermione. "Ginny broke up with me, because she was in love with Neville and although I didn't know it at the time she knew I was in love with you." Hermione visibly relaxed. "She said it wasn't right holding on to an ideal we had before the war. She made it clear that while I was in hiding she didn't have me to lean on when she got scared and Neville was always around at that year. She knew I may have loved her and she may have loved me but we weren't meant to be together. We never talked about the hard topics like being on the run or what happened at Hogwarts. She'd always talk to Neville and I'd always talk to you. So she let me go to let me go after you and she after Neville. I thought she was completely bonkers at the time to be honest."
"So I indirectly did break you two up. I'm sorry." Hermione said awkwardly.
"Don't be. Ginny is great and all but she would never make me happy the way you do Hermione." He said sweetly and watched the smile appear on Hermione's face. He wanted so badly to move closer to her and kiss her but he thought against it. He just looked at her and smiled, letting the silence sink in.
After a few moments Hermione chuckled. "I'm such an idiot! You did tell me that she hosted our rehearsal dinner."
Harry leaned against his desk and looked at her and smiled sweetly. "Yeah. She planned both our weddings too. She was your maid of honor and took her job very seriously."
"Both our weddings?" She asked and moved closer to the chair she was sitting in originally.
"We had a small muggle wedding for your family to be part of it, obviously the Wesley's and all of our magical friends acted the part of full muggle superbly. Then we came up to Hogwarts for our magical ceremony and it was the ministry official, you and I. We lied to your muggle family saying we went to a private place to get a few pictures as a couple. We hired a muggle born wizard who took both magical and muggle photographs. Then we met our four person wedding party- Neville, Gin, Ron and Luna- and took some more shots at some garden and then went to our muggle reception."
"Tell me about our wedding." She asked sounding like a child who wanted to hear her favorite bed time story.
"Our muggle ceremony was obviously mainly your family, we had maybe fifty persons. You had Ginny leave a few seats empty to the front." Hermione looked at him in confusion. "They were for; my mum and dad, Sirus, Remus, Tonks, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Fred, Cedric, Moody and even Dobby." Harry smiled. "You also had Neville give me a note. It simply said hold this during our ceremony and enclosed was the resurrection stone. So even my mum and dad were there." Harry smiled although it was one of those sad smiles. "Your father walked you down the aisle. You looked so beautiful- no breathtaking really. I remember Ron nudging me as you starting coming down the aisle on your dad's arm and he nodded at me- that you did well playful kind of nod- when I turned to him." Harry opened his mouth to continue but a flash of light caught his attention.
"Minster Potter, Breaking News. There was an attack on the British Military Base- Camp Bastion. The Prime Minster has called a code 561. A briefing will be held at 18:00 hours." The Patronus disappeared.
"Duty calls." Harry said uneasily after checking his watch and realizing he only had about twenty minutes to meet with the Prime Minister of England.
"I guess so. I see you later I guess."
"Hopefully before the sun is up." He said sweetly and gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head and headed out of the room.
Hermione sighed. She wasn't sure why she was disappointed he was leaving, she heard for herself that there was an attack on a British base, but it didn't change her disappointment. She slowly got up and headed out of the room.
SO Sorry this took forever to be uploaded. However my beta has disappeared and I have no one to edit the story. I was looking for someone but I don't want this story to be on a continual pause.
Thanks for all your love!