Threshold of the Future
By BenRG
Disclaimer
Harry Potter and the characters, locations and situations of the Harry Potter universe are the property of J. K. Rowling. This is a non-profit fan work for free distribution through the world-wide web.
Author's Notes
This is a sort of amalgam of some various widowed and orphaned bits of several HP stories I have written (but never finished) over the years. I was walking home today when I realised that these particular three bits fit together quite well.
This is essentially an alternate ending and epilogue for the story. There are elements of canon in this but it will also go significantly AU in places.
My thanks to Jo for allowing fans (and critics) to play in the sandbox she built for our own amusement.
Censor: T – Mentions of premarital sexual relationships (and their consequences) and also description of violence
Chapter 2 – Generation Next
It had been six weeks since Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Luna had walked away from Snape's corpse. Unsurprisingly, Hermione had insisted that they attend at least some lectures before the NEWTs were sat this coming June. Surprisingly, Ron agreed, although Harry strongly suspected that Luna Lovegood, whose strange viewpoints and quiet interest had caught Ron's imagination, was a great influence in that decision. So it was that he was back in his Gryffindor school uniform, with a Head Boy's badge, much to his surprise (the previous head boy, Theo Nott, had been left as a greasy smear by Grawp).
Harry was talking to Ginny, who was flirting with him outrageously. Then he heard, much to his relief, a familiar and much-loved voice.
"Harry, can I talk to you?" Harry turned around and smiled at his fiancée. Hermione Granger, dressed in her school uniform rather than the basilisk- and dragon-hide body armour that had been practically their second skin for four terrifying months, suddenly looked about five years younger. With her hair loose instead of in a tight ponytail and with her face relaxed rather than taut with fear and anger, lit by the sun not by the glow of curses flashing by her face, Harry was reminded again why he had fallen in love with his deceptively plain-looking angel. Hermione quirked her left eyebrow at Harry's 'gone fishing' expression. "Harry?" she repeated gently.
"What? Oh! Sure!" Hermione laughed and shot Ginny a little wave as she led her boyfriend away from her kid sister in-all-but-blood.
Ginny couldn't help but grin at her big sister leading her boyfriend away. She had to hand it to Hermione; the older girl had her boy firmly in her grip now. Well, good luck to her! Ginny once wanted to be in her shoes (hell, she still fancied Harry really) but he was so intense! Ginny knew in her heart that trying to have a long-term relationship with him would burn her out and grind her down. The more methodical and patient Hermione really was able to understand Harry and get him to open up to her a lot better than Ginny ever could hope to do so.
No, as sad as it was to admit, Ginny knew that she would never be Madame Potter. She could still be his mistress, of course. Ginny giggled to herself; her mother would have a fit if she even tried! Mum was already calling her a scarlet woman for having four boyfriends in just three years!
Harry closed the door of the empty Charms classroom behind him. With her usual practised ease, Hermione magically locked, sealed and warded the door. Even if someone had their ear pressed right to it, they wouldn't hear their conversation now.
Harry could tell that something was worrying Hermione. Her brow was creased and she kept biting her bottom lip in that way she did whenever she was thinking. "'Mione, love, what is it? You know that you can tell me anything!"
"Oh Harry, just promise me that you will hear me out and not fly off the handle." Harry nodded mutely, taking Hermione by the arms and holding her close. Hermione laughed slightly and pushed him off before starting to pace. After a moment she turned back to her fiancé. "Harry, I'm late," she said.
"Late?" Harry asked in total confusion.
Hermione couldn't help but chuckle at his expression. After a moment she took pity on him and continued. "Magic is a funny thing," she said at last. "Everything is intent, not power or incantation. You have never been able to cast a Killing Curse because you simply cannot desire someone's death intensely enough." Harry nodded, he knew about this limit that prevented him from using the darkest of the Dark Arts. "Intent can even modify a familiar spell if you are not careful about what is in your mind and heart."
Hermione sighed and sat on the edge of the teacher's desk. Harry sat beside her, his expression worried and politely confused as he took Hermione's hands in his own and began to rub them reassuringly. Hermione couldn't help but grin at her fiancé… her lover. "Harry, that night before we led the DA back up the tunnel to retake Hogwarts, I was more scared than I've ever been before. I didn't know if I would see another dawn. I didn't know if you would live or die. I knew that you would face Voldemort and destroy him within days, but I still wasn't sure if you could do that and live. I was so scared that I would lose you Harry."
"You didn't lose me, love," Harry murmured, moving one hand to rub Hermione's back and draw her against his chest. "You never will; I'll always be there for you."
"I hope so," she said. "Harry, when we made love that night in the Shrieking Shack, it was the most intense experience that I've ever had." Harry couldn't help but grin proudly at that admission. In truth, she had made it an experience never to forget for him too. "I was so determined that night that I would have something to remember you by, that live or die a part of you would live on in me. Intent, Harry."
Hermione looked up into Harry's bright green eyes and saw realisation flare there. "I cast the Contraceptive Charm, but my intent was wrong for it to work properly."
Harry's jaw dropped open. "You… you mean…?"
Hermione nodded. "I missed my period just a week after Victory Day but I didn't think anything of it – a woman's cycle can be disrupted by enough stress – but now I'm over a week late this month and I haven't even had a trickle or a hint of a cramp. I'm normally regular like a clock." Hermione sucked in a breath. "I've been having what I think is morning sickness too."
Harry stood up and took a few steps away. The old fear of rejection flared up in Hermione's heart. Here is where he would deny paternity, deny her or demand that she abort her babies as a condition for a continued relationship. "Hermione," Harry said quietly. "Are you pregnant?"
Hermione bit her lip, strangely unable to read the tone of Harry's voice. "Yes…" she stuttered after a while. "I've confirmed it with the charm, the potion and the muggle urine test. The charm says that I'm carrying fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. If I'm right about the conception date, they should be born in late December." Hermione suddenly started to sob and covered her face with her hands. "I'm… I'm sorry! I know that this is my fault! I should have been more careful, more clear-headed! I know that you weren't planning to start a family until we had got ourselves settled and…"
Suddenly, Hermione was airborne, being twirled around in Harry's arms as he laughed joyfully. "Hermione this is great!" he yelled. Harry stopped his twirling and suddenly pulled her close in a crushing hug. "It is wonderful! Thank you!"
"You… you want them… want me?"
Harry stepped back with an astonished expression, not releasing his hold on Hermione. "Of course I do! I've always wanted a family of my own 'Mione! To father my own children…? Your children? That's more luck than I've ever imagined that I'd have!" Harry's expression became suddenly nervous and unsure. "I… uh… assume that you want me around?"
Hermione scowled and managed to put her fists on her hips. "Well, honestly Harry Potter! Of course I do! You are the only man that I've ever wanted to have a family with!" Harry grinned again, lifted Hermione off of the ground and began to twirl her around again, laughing like a child.
"Careful now!" Hermione gasped, laughing in joy and confusion too. "I'm having enough trouble with morning sickness as it is!"
Suddenly, Harry set Hermione down, knelt before her and pressed a cheek to her belly. She could feel him reaching out with his magic, seeking the sparks of life within. "Don't get any ideas," she said quietly. "At six weeks, they are smaller than tadpoles and have only barely developed a nervous system worth mentioning."
"They are still my babies, and I love them."
Harry reached up and took Hermione's left hand where Lily Potter's engagement ring was on her ring finger. She remembered that Harry had fretted about giving her his mother's ring during their time on the run from Voldemort's forces, saying that he wanted her to have her own symbol but that it was too dangerous for him to go out to a jeweller to have one made. Hermione had told him that the honour of having his beloved mother's ring was enough for her.
"Hermione?"
"Yes Harry?"
"Will you marry me?"
Hermione giggled. "I think I agreed to that back on Halloween, silly."
"No, I mean now!" Hermione gasped and Harry continued. "Not right now of course but before you start to show. I don't want you or our children to be dogged with slander about them being illegitimate. These will be indisputably the heirs of the Houses of Potter and Black or my name will be mud!"
Hermione was suddenly looking at Harry through tear-filled eyes. "You mean that? You want this to happen?"
"Hermione, I've dreamt of marrying you since we flew together on Buckbeak back in third year." Harry's smile changed to a naughty grin. "Besides, I know that you want to use your maternal family's traditional wedding dress and we don't want to have to resize it for the twins, do we?"
Hermione tried to scowl at Harry's mischievous grin and then laughed. "Yeah! Let's do it!" she decided. "This time next month, I'll finally be 'Madame Potter' instead of 'Miss Granger'!"
Harry leant down to claim a kiss, his hands wandering in sensual patterns on Hermione's back. Suddenly, she was pulling at her fiancée's clothes… No, she decided firmly in her head, my husband's clothes; That is decided with or without a ceremony. I am Hermione Potter, wife of Harry Potter and Lady of the Houses of Potter and Black now and forever!
A sweaty but exhilarating hour later, Harry was lying with his head on Hermione's naked abdomen. "I didn't hurt any of you, did I?"
Hermione smiled. "You'll have to be more careful in the second and third trimesters," she murmured back. "Right now, that is what I needed my love." With a sigh she began to stroke her… her husband's unruly hair. "Now, who do we tell first?"
"SQUEEEEEE!" That noise, which was uttered simultaneously Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood, attracted the attention of the entire student body and faculty gathered in the Great Hall.
"Oh Hermione! Congratulations!" Ginny leant over from where she was sitting by Neville Longbottom, her current beau, to hug Hermione hard.
"It is a sign of the blessing of the Goddess that you should have conceived so soon," Luna said dreamily.
Ginny leaned over and gently patted her best friend on the shoulder. "I think that only counts if you are already married, Lu," she said quietly.
"Really Ginerva, are the winkbats in your nasal cavity making you forgetful again?" Everyone blinked at Luna's slightly random comment. "You know that, in magical terms, as soon as Hermione accepted Harry's proposal and he took her to his bed, then she was his wife in any way that matters." Harry caught Hermione's eye and grinned as she went a flattering shade of pink.
Ginny had to take a moment to recover from Luna's reminder. Her mother had explained this feature of wizarding pair bonding to her, but she hadn't really thought about its implications. Now, she looked at the ring that Neville had given her and thought of the uninhibited night of passion they enjoyed afterwards. She looked up at Neville, noting the tall, dark-haired boy's sudden blush.
Meanwhile, Harry had decided to take charge. "Ron, mate! I would be honoured if you would agree to stand by me on the big day."
"Harry, rampaging hippogriffs wouldn't keep me away!" The two young men exchanged a brotherly wrist-grasp.
"If you are to be Harry's best man, Ronald, you will have to buy new dress robes for the occasion," Luna decreed. "I will need new dress robes too." Ron groaned under his breath, not looking forward to the shopping expedition. Of course, he agreed out loud. Molly Weasley had not raised any stupid sons.
"Ginny, little sister," Hermione added, "I would be overjoyed to have you as my Maid of Honour."
Ginny smiled and took Hermione's hand in her own. "The joy would be mine, Lady Potter." There was, after all, only one girl with whom she could trust Harry's happiness. She was very grateful that Hermione wasn't insisting on calling her role 'Matron of Honour', as the title 'Maid' usually implied virginity on the part of the recipient. "Now, what arrangements did you have in mind for this big show next month?"
"Well…" Hermione suddenly stopped and looked at her fiancé and his friends. "Excuse us, boys," she said politely but with an undertone of menace.
"Yes, we don't want them bringing any Clumping Booby-wraiths to the discussion, do we?" Luna commented, nudging Ron in the ribs.
Ron grabbed a muffin off of the table and pulled Harry and Neville to their feet beside him. "Right, we'll be wandering around the Entrance Hall, ladies," he said. As Ron dragged Harry and Neville away, he gave them this explanation: "If girls want to discuss things without men around, you should let them have it, mate. They're all nutters, so we wouldn't understand it anyway!"
"I assume that this is not some kind of juvenile prank," Minerva McGonagall said quietly as she observed her two head students with a level glare.
"We are as serious as we can be, headmistress," Harry replied, keeping Hermione's hands firmly in his. "Hermione is carrying my children and I am determined that they be seen as legitimately mine." He smiled at the young woman that he already considered as being his wife. Hermione smiled back, privately thinking that they both looked like saps but enjoying every moment of this experience. "We are both in agreement about this," Harry concluded.
"Very well, as you are both of age, I can only offer you my blessing," McGonagall replied with a sigh. "I presume that you will want to use the Great Hall for the ceremony?" She smiled at her two best pupils, pleased to have confounded them. "What did you expect? You are far from the first to have brought this request to a head-teacher! Hogwarts is an ancient institution, my young friends. Up until comparatively recently, girls have been given in marriage as soon as their bodies are sufficiently mature to bear children, which can be as young as fourteen years. As recently as the mid-19th Century anything up to half of our female student body from 5th year upwards could be married, pregnant or nursing their children in between classes. We actually have blocks of quarters for married couples in every house dormitory and there is a crèche in the service level next to the kitchens; the House Elves love to care for babies." She smirked. "I understand that the record for a single couple was two sets of twins in three years back in the 16th Century."
On the wall, several of the portraits of former headteachers were nodding wisely. "It would be so lovely to have babies in the castle again," said one headmistress (from about the 12th century from her clothes) in a nostalgic tone of voice.
"I'm afraid that I'm not due until after I graduate," Hermione said, feeling the need to apologise for his unavoidable biological fact.
McGonagall sighed and shook her head. "That won't matter, Miss Granger. I have noticed that a lot of pairs have gone public since Voldemort's downfall and the point that you made about intent in magical contraception is valid. I have a feeling that, next year, we will have to re-open the crèche facilities. Oh, it isn't your fault! This sort of thing tends to happen after wars. "
Hermione couldn't help but visualise a Great Hall in which dozens of girls were either pregnant or tending to their babies. Frankly, she wasn't sure if the idea was comical or vaguely alarming.
Draco Malfoy had yet to stop congratulating himself for his foresight, cunning and daring. Helping Potter and Weasley save the Mudblood and the Lunatic from the Death Eater-occupied Malfoy Manor had been an act of genius! It cemented his claims to be heading up a 'neutral' faction of purebloods who were not aligned with the Dark Lord. As a consequence, despite his father's disgrace and death in battle, the Malfoy title was secure and was awaiting only a formal accession ceremony to become his. Thanks to him, a large section of the pureblood nobility of his generation had survived the destruction of that inhuman beast's band of worshippers. Of course, once the ridiculous fear of Potter that currently dominated his peers' thinking faded, it was to him that they would turn to for leadership to protect their society and culture from muggle influences…
"Alright, I understand why Granger is doing this. That mudblood bitch is marrying into an old wizarding family, which gives her nobility and legitimacy that she could never achieve on her own so-called merits. What does he get though? Beyond a warm body that will spread its legs for him, of course."
Draco jumped at the loud voice that interrupted his dreams of future glory and power and looked at Pansy Parkinson, his promised one-day-wife, in disgust. "Are you sure you were awake during your mother's lessons on pureblood traditions?" he asked with a sneer. "He is the Lord of two of the Great Houses; both the Potters and Blacks are Ancient and Noble Houses, you know. By producing an heir whilst still at school, he secures both lines against any challenges and avoids all the tedious offers of arranged marriages from every parent of a witch with more than a sneeze of pure blood in her veins. What is more, by choosing a mudblood, he ensures that both lines remain in his family's control as his wife-to-be doesn't have a noble family to claim control the heir of his secondary line when the time comes to divide up the estate." Draco had to smirk. "Of course, the big advantage is that, when she becomes his wife, he gets legal control over her. He can order her to shut up when she starts nagging and expect to be obeyed."
Pansy giggled in her irritating way, making her fiancé wince slightly.
What Draco didn't add was that, by marrying a witch without a previous pedigree, Potter had ensured that there was no possibility of inbreeding. The so-called "Purebloods' Curse" was responsible for reducing Bulstrode, Crabbe and Goyle to idiots and near-squibs. Pansy, whose maternal family were ethnic Roma from Eastern Europe, was the only pureblood girl of sufficient pedigree to be distantly-related enough to be suitable for him (a fact that Draco cursed to this day). Similarly, Longbottom, especially as he was no longer viewed as a near-squib, was really the only pureblood male sufficiently distantly related to be suitable for the Weaselette. Ginny Weasley had never stood a chance with Potter. Even though he was a half-blood, the Weasley and Potter lines were only divided by three generations and this was too close to avoid problems in the small blood pool of wizarding Britain, especially given the pureblood lines' tendency to sub-divide on the basis of 'Dark' or 'Light'. Her parents and Potter's guardians would have vetoed the match immediately. The Weasel had no choice but to go for that lunatic from Ravenclaw; she was the only pureblood girl even remotely distantly related enough for him (although Lovegood's claim on purity was suspect – some said that her mother's line had faerie or High Elf a few generations back).
"Never mind, Draco," Pansy's irritating attempt at sounding seductive broke into Draco's musing over the looming blood crisis facing pureblood Britain. "That horrid little half-blood and his mudblood slut will never be a match for us." Draco briefly considered owling his mother (as dowager lady of the House of Malfoy since his late, unlamented father's death) for permission to marry Pansy immediately so that he would have the right to make her shut up on command. Even better, once they were married, he could impregnate her so that she would be sequestered at Malfoy Manor and out of his hair for a year or so. It was a very tempting prospect.
He would have been surprised to learn that Pansy's plans were not dissimilar to his. Of course, an ambitious Slytherin woman, she had no intention to spend the next few years either pregnant or nursing children. No, she intended to use the Malfoy name to its fullest value, which was still great, even after Lucius' disgrace from being in the late Dark Lord's service.
To be continued…