Visiting Harry's House
Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are I don't own the characters.
Harry hummed to himself as he unpacked his bag a few days later, having returned home. He was planning to write Hermione a note letting her know that he had arrived, but a knock on the door inturrupted his thoughts. His eyebrows raised as he headed downstairs to answer it. The people of Godric's Hollow didn't really bother him too much, and no one even knew that he was back except the person he had left only a few hours earlier. To his surprise, that same person was standing on his front steps.
"Hermione!" he exclaimed. "I was just thinking about you." He moved back to let her into his home. "How did you find out where I live?" She smiled at him.
"Ron and Luna spilled your secret. They hope you aren't going to be mad at them, but I can't stand to be apart from you so soon after the week we just had."
"I'm not mad. I was about to write to you letting you know, myself, but they saved me the trouble." He watched her look around the front room. "Would you like a tour?" She giggled.
"After a bit. I just really wanted to be with you again." Harry directed her to the sofa and sat down next to her. "I was looking around the villiage on the walk from the Apparation point. I can see why your parents wanted to live here. It's quiet, and everyone's friendly. Is that one of the reasons you chose to stay here after you found out your parents' story?"
"Yes, that along with the fact that it just felt like I had come home when I arrived in the first place. Now I can't imagine living anywhere else." He looked around his living room with a small smile on his lips. "Some of the people that lived in Godric's Hollow since before my parents died told me that I have the same taste as my mother. She tended to lean towards neutral and pale colors." Hermione noted that the whole room was done in understated shades of cream and beige. "You wanted my input on browns?" Hermione asked dryly. "From what I understood, you wanted some actual 'color' in your house."
Harry stood and beckoned her with one finger. She followed him through the house. He showed her the kitchen and the dining room, both again were done in the same shades as the living room. Same with the downstairs bath and the library. He headed up the stairs to the second floor and Hermione cleared her throat as she started after him.
"Harry, not to be rude or anything, but am I about to see more of the same colors as you have downstairs? It's a little monotonous."
"That's just the way that I left it. I didn't really have too much help in the decorating. I don't really have my mother's tastes. I'm just not here all that much and wanted to keep everything simple. To tell the truth, I have to agree with you. Those colors are downright boring, but you'll be surprised up here." He opened a door at the top of the stairs. A blast of color hit Hermione and she thought that she would go blind for a second. When her eyes had adjusted to the view, she entered the bedroom in amazement. Deep blue carpet, navy drapes, mahogany furniture, and the bedclothes were a combination of the entire range of blue from the palest sky to the deepest midnight.
"Harry, your room is incredible!"
"Thanks, but it's not my room. This is one of the guest rooms." She turned and looked at him, confused. "When I started moving in, I had every intention of taking the biggest room, but something told me to chose another. Come on. I'll show you which one is mine." He led the way down the hall and around a corner to a single door. He moved aside and motioned her to go in. Hermione turned the handle, pushed open the door and found herself totally in awe. Pale yellow curtains billowed with a soft breeze at the open window, white lace comforter with bright yellow ruffled trim on the bed and palest oak furniture against the walls.
"Keep in mind that I have no intention of sleeping under ruffles," Harry said from behind her.
"This isn't it either?" she asked as she turned in a circle to view the entire room. He shook his head. "But you said you were going to show me 'your' room." A wide grin appeared on his face.
"I never said 'when', now did I? Ginny and Neville decorated this one." He headed back out into the hallway, Hermione right behind him. They walked past the first room to another door that Harry paused at for a second before gingerly cracking it a few inches and peeking around before pushing it open.
"Couldn't remember if I cleaned this bathroom before I left or not."
The room was almost pristine. White, yellow, blue and green tiles on the floor, pale yellow sink and bathtub, shower stall in one corner. But one important thing was missing. Something that Hermione found herself needing desperately at that moment.
"Harry, there's one thing that I need that doesn't seem to be here." He caught her meaning and took hold of her shoulders, turning her towards the wall behind the door.
"You just didn't go far enough in. The door blocks the toilet and a really cool item that I put in here just to get people's attention. If they've been in here for a long time, then I know that I've succeeded." The item was a tapestry that looked quite a bit like the Marauder's Map. It showed all the streets and houses in Godric's Hollow. It didn't appear to be enchanted as nothing was moving upon the surface.
"It's very interesting, Harry, but why on earth in here?" She squirmed uncomfortbly, her need starting to override her curiosity. He realized this, and smiled.
"I'll leave you alone with it so you can find out." He closed the door behind him, chuckling to himself as he did so, and made his way to his room to finish unpacking while he waited for her. He heard her call his name a few minutes later as he was putting his bag in the closet. He stuck his head out into the hallway.
"Down here, Hermione," he called back. She appeared a minute later. "Feel better?" She blushed, but nodded her relief.
"What is with that tapestry? When I looked at it, nothing was moving, but everytime I turned away, I would see something out of the corner of my eye. After a few times of this, I just stared at it. That's when little dots started moving around the streets, in and out of houses and stores." Harry nodded.
"Guess who made it?"
"It wouldn't have been Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, now would it?" Her response was a smile. She noticed she was now in Harry's room and gazed around herself. He watched her as her eyes roamed over the furniture that showed his actual taste in decorating. A large cherry wardrobe stood against the wall across from the king-sized four poster bed made of the same wood. Harry's desk was in the corner next to one of the wide open windows that looked out over the back lawn. A large oak tree's branches were visible through the one closest to an armchair by the closet. Harry had sat down in another chair by the door to the room. The deeply polished floorboards gleamed under an enormous rug in the dominant color of green.
Hermione noticed that this room followed somewhat the same pattern of the one at the top of the stairs. She saw a pale shade of new leaf in the rug's design that changed into the color of a deep night forest. The bedclothes were the same bottle green that his dress robes from fourth year had been. Hermione remembered thinking then that this green had been his best color. She was surprised that he had chosen it for the main color of his own bedroom, though.
"Mrs. Weasley talked me into the green, but I have to admit, it's a very soothing color. When I come home from a mission or a Quidditch match and I'm totally exhausted, I know that I can relax in this room."
"What was it that told you to pick this room? You never did say." Harry shrugged.
"I don't really know. Just something that I felt when I saw the rooms. I went into each one and felt that the other three were totally wrong for me for some reason. But when I came in here, I felt as if I really had come home. I don't know what it is, but I feel closer to my parents here than anywhere else in the world. I think maybe it had been their room before..." He stood and beckoned her back out into the hallway. "There's still one more room that you have to see."
She silently followed him to this last room and when she saw it, tears sprang to her eyes. He had set it up as if he knew exactly what 'her' tastes were. It was almost all in white, the carpet, the walls, but everything was simple and tastefully done. She turned to him, seeing that he was waiting anxiously for her reaction.
"Do you like it?" he asked. She looked around her once more and nodded happily.
"It's wonderful, Harry."
"I had you in mind when I did this room. I wanted to have more reminders of you that just the picture, so I put things in here that made me think of you. Look over on the dresser." Hermione moved to where he had indicated and saw that he had put their picture in a frame on the top of the oak chest.
"Harry, thank you. I can't think of a better place for this picture to be." His arms wrapped around her from behind and he kissed under her left ear before putting his chin on her shoulder to look down at the picture with her. Hermione leaned back into him, resting her hands on his for a second.
"Harry, you've shown me your house, would you like to see my flat?" He confirmed that he would while nuzzling her ear affectionately. "But first, there's something else that I want to do," he whispered, and swept her up into his arms.
"You have a one track mind, Harry," Hermione giggled as he carried her back to his room and set her down on the bed.
"You didn't have any complaints about that while we were still on the island," he reminded her. She reached for his belt, undoing it and the button on his jeans quickly.
"I'm not complaining now, either." The zipper gave and she shoved his pants down his legs, revealing that he had nothing on underneath them.
"Well, well, Mr. Potter, I can see where your mind was before I arrived." Harry blushed slightly.
"I was in a hurry this morning if you'll remember correctly. I only grabbed my jeans and shirt before I got into the shower and then didn't think twice about it until I left the hotel. I just never changed when I got home."
"Good. It makes less for me to take off you." She leaned forward and gave him a long lick, causing him to become fully hard in return. Harry groaned loudly in frustration when they heard a knock sound at the front door.
"I better go see who it is," he said, carefully doing up his jeans and belt, then pulling his shirt over them to hide his state. She followed him downstairs as the knock sounded once more. On the other side stood one of his neighbors, a thick package in his hand.
"Sorry to bother you, Harry, but I saw when you arrived and wanted to let you know that the book you ordered the other month arrived. I know you have company, so I won't keep you, except to tell you that Helen told me to tell you that your owl is out hunting and she'll return her when she comes back." Harry nodded as he took the package from the man.
"Thank you, Tim. And tell Helen not to worry too much about Hedwig. She'll know I'm back. She always does."
"All right. Talk to you later, Harry. Say hi to Susan for me." Harry stiffened at the mention of his ex.
"That'll be a little hard to do as we're not together anymore, Tim." The other man seemed surprised.
"But isn't she here with you? Helen said that a woman had come to see you and as she's never seen Sue, I automatically assumed that's who it was." Harry asked the man if he wanted to come in and meet the woman, sincerely hoping that his offer would be turned down. It was, to his relief, but Hermione appeared at his side a second later.
"Hello," she said. "I'm Hermione Granger, a friend of Harry's from school." She held out her hand, which a bewildered Tim shook.
"I've heard of you. You were one of the trio, right? You, Harry and Ron Weasley?" Hermione nodded with a smile. It had been so long since she had been associated with the trio, that she now realized how much she had missed it. "Yeah, she's the one that was always telling me what to do," Harry joked. He and Tim said their goodbyes and Harry shut the door. Hermione felt a little offended that he had made that comment, but pushed it to the side for the moment when Harry unwrapped the book.
"What is it?" she asked. He showed her the cover. "'A History Of Witches And Wizards That Went On To Greatness'? Harry, that doesn't seem like something that you would read." He held up one finger, leafed through the heavy volume, found what he was looking for and handed the book to her. She read it out loud.
"Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived and the Man Who Destroyed The Dark Lord. Harry Potter was born in the small village of Godric's Hollow on 31 July, making him a Leo. At the age of fifteen months on Halloween, his parents were murdered by He Who Must Not Be Named, and when the spell was turned on Harry, his mother's sacrifice of her life gave him protection against the Killing Curse that rebounded and hit its caster, bestowing young Harry with the title of The Boy Who Lived.
"Not much is known about Harry's life until he reached the age of eleven and began his magical education in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he met his closest friends, Ronald Weasley (See pg. 810) and Hermione Granger (See pg. 506). During his first year, he thwarted an attempt by a teacher possessed by He Who Must Not Be Named to aquire the Sorcerer's Stone. His second year, he located and forever closed the Chamber of Secrets from an old Hogwarts legend after destroying a large basilisk that had been brought to the school by a student, Tom Riddle, who later became He Who Must Not Be Named.
"During his fourth year, he competed in the legendary Triwizard Tournament along with three other champions. His name had been put into the Goblet of Fire by a former Azkaban prisoner, Barty Crouch, Junior. Harry won the tournament, but was transported to the small town of Little Hangleton, where he dueled with He Who Must Not Be Named and returned with his fellow winner, Cedric Diggory, who had been killed by the Avada Kadavra curse when he was transported to the site with Harry, who had insisted that they had both won and both had taken hold of the Triwizard Cup, which had been turned into a portkey to the graveyard of Little Hangleton.
"Fifth year brought the death of another Azkaban escapee, Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, and another battle with He Who Must Not Be Named inside the Hall of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic in London. In his sixth year, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore (See pg. 203) was killed during a fight with Death Eaters. It was also during this year that Harry fell in love for the first time with Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginevra. Their relationship terminated at the end of the school year however, and Harry did not have another romantic interest for the rest of his school career.
"His seventh and final year at Hogwarts was inturrupted at the Christmas Holidays when he was called to the Final Battle with He Who Must Not Be Named. Harry indeed earned the title, The Man Who Destroyed the Dark Lord when he once more caused his now comlpletely human foe's (due to the fact that all the horcruxes, which have now been rendered an illegal use of magic, that were used to split He Who Must Not Be Named's soul were destroyed by Harry and Dumbledore.) curse to rebound onto the caster, ridding the world of a constant source of fear and intimmidation, and restoring freedom to the wizarding and even Muggle worlds.
"Harry graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that June. He was selected Seeker for the Gryffindor House Quidditch team in his first year, almost totally unheard of, and became the youngest Quidditch player in a century. He made captain in his sixth year, and retained the Quidditch Cup of his school for Gryffindor until he left school. Harry Potter's occupation is uknown, but he is also a Seeker for the England reserve Quidditch team and although his exact location is also unknown, he still resides within the United Kingdom." She looked at the pictures of Harry that graced the start of the article. The first was of him when he was a baby, the second, during first year and the last, taken fairly recently from his appearance. She wondered why they had written his history as they had. Harry was an incredible Quidditch player, and they had totally glanced over his abilities with the game, throwing it in at the end seemingly as an afterthought. She was about to comment on that, but another thought that had been in the back of her mind came to the front and stopped her.
"Uh, Harry?" He looked at her. "Why if you were thinking about me when you decorated that room is everything white?" He smiled reasurringly.
"I had a feeling you were going to ask that." He moved to the couch and sat down, Hermione following a minute later. "Do you know that in the seven years I spent with you at Hogwarts, I'm ashamed to say I never learned what your favorite color is? I probably wasn't paying that much attention what with Voldemort and all, but you would think that I would know things like that about my best friends." He moved closer to her and took the book out of her hands. "Especially a friend that I found myself in love with."
"Do you really mean that? Or are you just saying it?" He sat back in surprise. "Well, the way you introduced me to your neighbor wasn't by my name and I got the impression that you didn't even want to introduce me at all." He looked confused. "When I told him my name and he replied that I had been one of the trio, you said that I 'was the one that was always telling you what to do'." Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, and Harry realized what he'd done.
"Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. That's the way that people know who you are, it's how you're listed in this book, the 'clever one'. I think half of the time I wouldn't have motivated myself to do my homework if you hadn't harped on me to do so. And I wouldn't have passed the O.W.L.'s, much less the N.E.W.T.'s. I really have to thank you for keeping on me. If it weren't for you and Ron, I would still be stuck in that cupboard at the Dursley's with no friends."
"You must be glad to be shut of them, Harry," Hermione said. "Do you hear anything from them anymore?" Harry hesitated for a second, then nodded briefly. "Sometimes. They, like everyone else, don't know exactly where I am, but they've figured out that I returned to where I was born. They get letters to me all the time and forward them to the only person they can here, and that's Tim. They can't spill my secret as they aren't the keepers and they don't have any idea where they're sending the owl anyway. But I don't want to talk about them. I want to explain why I didn't tell Tim who you are. I wanted to be alone with you, pure and simple. I only invited him in to be polite, sincerely hoping that he would say no, which he did, thank God, and I thought he'd go away so that we could go back to what we started upstairs." He sighed. "I'll understand if you're still mad at me about it, but really, I didn't mean to hurt you." He leaned closer to her to look into her chocolate eyes. "And I 'do' love you. I'm not just saying it to get you to do anything."
"Do you still want to know what my favorite color is?" Harry's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"I forgive you for how you introduced me and I believe you love me, I love you, too. Now do you want to know what my favorite color is?" He nodded, and she rose, pulling him to his feet. "Can you Apparate from here, or do you have to go to where I came in?" He cleared his throat.
"You can Apparate from the back yard. There's a point there that I use all the time, and anyone else as well when they come to visit me. Except for Susan, though. She had to drive up here. Why? Do you want to leave?" Hermione took his hand and headed with him to the kitchen, where she had seen the back door earlier.
"Yes. I want to leave. Show me where the spot is?" Harry pointed to a small clump of strawberry bushes as they stepped out of the house.
"Hermione, I thought you said you forgave me?" She nodded, and started down the back steps. "Then why do you want to go? Are you still mad at me?" She stopped and returned to where he was still standing, grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her to his personal Apparition point.
"How am I to show you what my favorite color is if you don't come with me?" she asked. With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to kiss him as she Apparated the both of them to a new destination.