A/N: Did you actually think that just because I hit the 'Complete' button yesterday meant that I was done with the story?! Not at all guys, not at all :P
One of my readers and also my beta suggested giving this story a tragic ending. And after a lot of thinking, I agreed.
So this was originally the epilogue (and will always remain) but now it is an alternate ending to this story.
Hope you like it!
Annnnddd …. HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY TO HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER! (Not Weasley :P Even Emma Watson agreed last year #TwitterPosts#)
19th September 2006
My eyes opened wide as heavy breaths left me dry, open. I could feel my heart pulsating against my ribcage when I turned my head to glance at my wife, who slept soundlessly on my right as the morning rays fell on her peaceful figure.
Her freckled face held her beautiful smile as she faced me. Her wild morning curls were spread all over her pillow and slightly moved along with her body. Her eyelashes innocently touched her freckled cheeks while her arm which lay around my waist moved slightly in rhythm.
This lady was my wife Hermione Jean Potter from today, not the one from 1955.
She is the reason to my happiness, not a mere murderer who commits suicide.
There were numerous similarities between the two lives we shared, yet there were so many differences.
The old one was a bad dream, while this one was reality.
Hermione committed suicide there, while here my wife sleeps peacefully next to me.
The similarity; well I loved her there and here, then and now. Not even my dreams could change that.
If Hermione ever got to know that I've been having weird dreams of us living a dramatic muggle life in the fifties, I'm sure she would directly send me to a mental asylum. However, there were some hidden facts about my life in that long dream of mine, which I always kept to myself.
I always wanted a sister and had wanted to name her Elena. If I were unknown to the wizarding world, I would've loved to take up a job in the Scotland Yard. If I would've met Hermione as a child, we would've made many promises at a very young age.
I was so much in love with her and so was she.
We were now living a normal, magical life without our lives in a soap opera.
However my nightmare will always remain a nightmare.
Hermione gives out an adorable sigh, plastering a huge smile on my face. I gently start tracing her freckles with my nose, to which she sleepily giggles. I know that my wife can react to the lightest of all my feather touches, and she being my queen deserves to be pampered and loved in such a way.
The moment my thumb touches her lips, she places a small kiss on my skin which warms up my heart a little. Hermione may be a young woman of twenty seven, however she loves behaving like a little girl of five. She further kisses my thumb a numerous times before opening her eyes, revealing her chocolate doe like eyes which I had fallen in love with. Now I realised how similar my wife and the Hermione were from my dreams.
"Morning my birthday girl." I murmur softly with a smile.
"Morning honey." Hermione wishes me back as I wrap my arms around her and hug her tightly. Merely some minutes ago in my dream, Hermione had died in my arms. I never wanted that day to come in reality. All I wanted was to spend my days growing old with this woman in my embrace.
"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asks worriedly. I knew I shouldn't have held her tighter, she would always sense trouble in my head.
"Nothing 'Mione." I assure her and place a kiss on her head. "I just had a bad dream and after whatever I witnessed, I want to do nothing but stay like this with you for the whole day."
Hermione gives out a small laugh and places a kiss on my neck. "I'm sure that you don't want to share it with me-"
"No."
"Yet." She finishes and gives me a devious smirk. "Don't worry sweetheart. I'll take out everything from your mouth. Each and every secretive dream of yours. I'm sure they're about me." She adds in a husky whisper, placing kisses along my neck.
"I see your pregnancy hormones are switched on again." I comment, feeling hard down there. "Anyway, I forgot to ask, how the checkup was yesterday. I wish Kingsley had given me off, I really wanted to join you."
She smiles at me and kisses me soundlessly on the lips. I respond back hungrily and slowly moved on top of her. Our snogging was going all well until our five month old embryo kicked against its mother's protruding belly, on my hand.
Hermione breaks away and looks into my eyes. "It's a boy." She whispers with a smile. "I won the bet." I frown playfully. "Besides, you already have two girls to spoil; now it's my turn."
"I don't mind as long as he is healthy and looks like his mother." I say with a smile and kiss her softly. "I love you."
"I love you too." She giggles and kisses me again, when we hear loud murmurs outside our bedroom door.
"Why on earth do your princesses have to always disturb our snog?" Hermione joked and pushed me by the shoulders.
"Hey, you know that annoys me as well." I say with a roll of my eyes. "However, I don't mind them having them in our bed with us."
"Oh sure you don't." My wife says with a laugh before turning towards our closed bedroom door. "Lily Elena and Roselyn Jean Potter, we know you're out there sweethearts!"
"Aww!" We hear our twins groan before making their appearance into our room. My smile broadens at the sight of my bushy haired, brunette daughters as their cute faces bear adorable pouts which four year olds were masters at.
"We were trying to su'prise mummy." Lily says with a frown as she and her sister climb onto the bed.
"We even baked a muffin for her." Roselyn adds and brings out a chocolate muffin with vanilla cream cheese and shows it to her mum.
"Aww sweethearts, thank you." Hermione awes and accepts the muffin before placing it on the nightstand. "Now who wants a morning hug from mummy?" She asks, opening her arms wide.
Tears nearly leave my eyes as my daughters laugh and jump into Hermione's arms. The sight of my three girls bonding made me wonder about my life if I had never slept with my best friend five years ago.
It was the night of my twenty first birthday when Ron and Hermione had broken up. It wasn't mutual and Ron was the one to leave Hermione on her own. I was nothing but a witness of their separation and also to Hermione, who had caught me watching her cry. I knew that she dearly fancied Ron, however he only saw her as a good friend. When asked to choose between the two, I chose Hermione because I loved her. And she never knew.
That night, I got the courage to express my feelings to her and give her time to accept my hand in courting. But Hermione was feeling lonely, and she used me to forget about her helplessness. She revealed that she wanted us to work and had faith in me.
That night, we both were virgins no more and the next day we were Harry and Hermione; just best friends.
Two months later she came to me with her monthly body check up report and I learned that she was expecting my baby. Not that I wasn't happy but Hermione and I weren't a couple. She thought it was a mistake, however for me it was the best thing that ever happened in my life. That moment I had decided that Hermione and the baby were the priority in my life.
As months passed, Hermione and I started to get closer. I didn't back out when we announced the pregnancy to her parents, or even to the Weasleys. Both the families were ecstatic. Ron, of course got a bit uncomfortable at the news but was glad to accept our offer to take the place of our baby's godfather.
Well Hermione and I, let's just say that we never talked much after moving in together. It was the day when the baby kicked for the first time, we kissed and made love. The mornings after that night, we slept and woke up in the same bed holding each other all night as the baby moved inside of her.
The day our lovely angels Lily and Rose made their appearance, I learned that Hermione loved me. Seeing her hold her miniature selves melted my heart while my instincts told me to marry her.
And that's what I did.
"Daddy," I see Lily looking from her mother's side with her wide emerald eyes. "We're sorry that we didn't give you a morning kiss."
This very same girl had died in my dreams as a newborn. And now, here she was giving me an angelic look that made me steal her away from her mother's arms.
"It's okay sweetie." I say with a smile as Lily placed a kiss on my cheek. "It's mummy's birthday and she needs more attention."
"And she's even carrying a baby." Rose says with a giggle and kisses my other cheek. "Do you know it's a boy?" She asks as her chocolate eyes glimmered in excitement. She really does look like a little version of Hermione. "We are getting a baby brother!"
"Yeah! Mummy told us yesterday!" Lily adds with a grin.
I look at my girls who grin from ear to ear, just like their mother who always did the same whenever she got an answer to her question.
"Of course I know. Mummy never keeps secrets from me does she?" I smile at my daughters.
"No!" The twins chime together and giggle.
"Now let's all of us give daddy a hug!" Hermione announces in excitement. "We've been having girl time for the past ten minutes and he's got bored." She adds with a laugh.
"We love you daddy!" Lily and Rose scream before throwing themselves on top of me and taking my breath away. I laugh along with their giggles and look at my wife who kept smiling at me.
"I Love to too." I say kissing their heads and then look at Hermione who instantly rolled into my arms.
"Thanks for giving me a family." I whisper to her before she could kiss me. "This was all I wanted."
"I know you did." She replies softly. "And I've always given you whatever you wanted, didn't I?"
"You surely did." I reply before capturing her lips with mine.
That dream made me realise that for every person there is a soul mate waiting to be found. Hermione was mine and I knew, while it took her some time to realise. Our old selves in the dream believed in their love knowing their souls would one day become one even after years of separation.
Their love was true and so was ours.
Nothing could change that; not even that alternate world.
And with these three beautiful women in my arms, I realized that this was something I've always wanted; to be loved by my family.
She, Lily and Rose lit up my life; they were my answer to all the darkness.
Every day, I look forward to wake up knowing that my day begins with Hermione's scent and my daughters' smiling faces.
For now and forever, all was and will be well.
A/N: And, that's a wrap! :D
Wow, it took me nine months to write this story! It's the longest I have ever taken! :O
Anyway, this chapter had loads of mistakes and I accepted Fiction Recipe's scolding (don't worry, I love you! :* Without your editing, I couldn't finish this story! And you had 100% rights to be harsh on me)
I would also like to thank all my readers, reviewers, followers and those who favorited me and this story. I was on the verge of giving up on this but your motivations made me finish it!
For now, I am going to give up on my writing (I'm an architect in making. First years projects are hard to handle).
All you can do is send me a PM or a review and let me know of both the endings and which one would you prefer. I do agree that I need to get all my facts corrected and re edit this story.
Dramione readers, can keep their eyes open for a multi-chapter fic. I have already planned of the plot, but have no idea when to start :P
Once again, thank you!
P.S: The playlist for this story can be found on my profile!