A/N Sorry I missed last week. I started my student teaching this week and was a little stressed. While this week has been VERY hectic, I'm hoping things will calm down soon. One of you brilliant readers has offered to beta for me, so hopefully the chapters will get a little better soon. I'm uploading today and this weekend sometime to make up for not uploading last week. Thanks for all your reviews and comments, I really appreciate it.
Ch. 22
23 July 1998
On Thursday, everyone was aware that they had to be at Wizengamot that afternoon to talk about Creature Laws. For Nev and Harry, it was like any other day. They went to Gringotts and interviewed the Head of the Nursery Wing of LAR. He was a married half-blood with twin newborn daughters. He was Madam Pince's cousin's son.
"Why do you want this job Jacen?" Harry asked.
"Before the war, I helped my mum run a preschool in Upper Flagley for wizard kids. I got married right before Voldemort came back. The preschool, and my mum, were destroyed by Death Eaters. I need to start over and what better way than helping orphans. Besides I've got twin newborn girls, Ellie and Jude, at home right now and they could do with growing up outside of town."
"How old are they?" Nev inquired.
"Three-and-a-half-months-old." He grinned.
"My godson just turned three-months last week." Harry grinned back, both very proud of their kids. Nev didn't even have to discuss it with Harry. They knew they wanted Jacen.
HP
That afternoon, they went to Wizengamot to listen and vote on the Creature Laws that were being proposed. It was fascinating for Harry to watch his godfather talk all these people into dropping most of the discriminatory laws towards werewolves, goblins, merpeople, and centaurs. The power and conviction Sirius spoke with had an effect on everyone there. Harry was blown away when Sirius began talking about dropping the mandatory registration of werewolves. He spoke so eloquently that he had everyone spellbound.
By the end of the night, all discriminatory laws were struck from the record. Of course, no new rights were given to these magic users, but Sirius felt he'd accomplished what he'd set out to do.
HP
That night, they came home excited and joyful. When Dobby came to collect cloaks, Harry murmured to him, "Could you make some kind of dessert tonight? We got a lot of laws repealed today."
"Of course, Master Harry. Did you get the Werewolf Registration repealed?" He asked curiously.
"Yes, we did." Harry grinned at the elf as he followed the family upstairs where Andi was playing with her grandson.
"So, how'd it go?" She asked.
"Very well." Mione supplied as she sat on Harry's lap. "We didn't get to the laws we want but we got all the rubbish where it belongs-in the bin."
"Mum, Wolfie could be hired at Hogwarts if he'd wanted to." Dora handed Ted to Harry as she sat next to Andi and started to cry. "That's all he wanted Mum. To help kids learn. If he'd survived, he'd be able to now."
"He would be so proud that you're making such a difference love." Andi confirmed through her own sadness. She may not have at first understood Dora's infatuation with the older man but she had succumbed to his quiet charm—and missed him dearly.
"Remus would've been proud of you too Sirius." Mione offered as she thought of the month they'd spent at Grimmauld after Bill's wedding. "You were his brother in any way that mattered and he predicted you'd do this for him after the war."
"He did?" Sirius, Harry and Dora queried.
"Yes. We had a debate about what would happen after the war." She smiled at the memory. "He told me that somehow you'd take the Lordship and change the laws."
"Bloody hell! I wasn't even sure I'd do it." He shook his head. "Doesn't surprise me. He always believed the best of people."
"Yes, he did." Andi concurred. "We're still on for dinner at six on Saturday, then dessert after Phantom, yeah?" She asked as she stood up.
"Yes. We'll meet at the restaurant at six." Harry confirmed a little nervously, knowing what he was going to do at dessert.
"Great. We'll see you there." She waved as she left the game room to go home. Dora turned on the stereo and played some Beatles. Teddy began shaking his hands in time to the music as Nev and Harry started playing pool. A few minutes later, Dan and Emma showed up for dinner.
"Hey sweetheart." Dan gave Hermione a hug. "How'd your day go?"
"It went great Daddy. We repealed all the prejudice laws that had been passed. However, we didn't get to new laws put in place."
"Those will come, Hermione. That may take more time that you all think it will." Dan replied.
"Why?"
"Because from what you tell us about your government, they are a lot more set in their ways than our world."
"Sirius, how much money does the government have in its coffers?" Hermione asked.
"I'm not sure. Why?"
"You might want to ask Gran. She's on the budget committee." Nev offered.
"I wonder if she could give us an overview of how the committees work on a regular basis and how they've changed and how it can be more efficient?" Harry queried.
"I can talk to her about it for Monday." Sirius replied.
"Thanks. I'd like to understand how all these committees and new laws are going to be implemented." Harry smiled as they went to dinner.
They ate dinner and celebrated with an apple pie for dessert. The family then spent more time just talking and enjoying each other's company. When the girls went to bed, Nev and Harry stayed up a little later to play another game of pool.
"So, are you really going to ask Hermione on Saturday?" Nev asked.
"Yeah." Harry smirked. "I'm scared out of my mind but I'm going to do it."
Nev snickered. "So, do you have a plan?"
"Well, Sirius made both pre and post theatre reservations at Rowley's. I think that I'll do it at dessert after the musical. I'm just going to go with my gut after that." Harry grinned.
HP
On Friday, Harry woke up with Teddy and got him ready for the day. They were down in the kitchen cooking breakfast when Sirius came in. He sat down at the island and looked at his godson. He knew something had been weighing on the raven-haired teen lately and had determined to see if he'd seek Sirius' help. However, Harry had become much quieter this last week and Sirius was worried.
"Hey pup." He smiled. "What's up? You've been quiet this week. Is something wrong?"
"No." was all he got from the young man as he kept cooking.
"Come on. You can tell me."
"There's nothing wrong Padfoot. We're just doing a lot of hiring this week. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. We've been going out there almost every afternoon and they're nearly a third done. It's weird to see it all coming together."
"Yeah. I can imagine." Sirius shut down for a few minutes, then began playing with Teddy. Harry inwardly sighed at the fact that Sirius gave up on his questions. Harry couldn't tell him that he was worried about proposing-Sirius couldn't keep that secret if he wanted to—and he'd want to tease!
HP
That day, Harry was in a haze. He knew they hired the Head of Hospital Wing-Madam Pomfry's nephew Jacob. Venus was making comments about the staff looking a lot like Hogwarts. He also knew that Hermione and Luna had successfully made a washing machine run entirely on magic. They had taken out the electronics in Molly's washer and dryer and instead charmed it to work the same way. On Friday, the girls had finally washed several loads of laundry with these new machines.
Everyone arrived home at around 11.30 on Friday. They came into a house that was filled with Beatles music. Over the last month or so, they had become accustomed to this. It turned out that Dora, Sirius and by extension Remus were all Beatles fans. Although you could say that Sirius was a bigger Led Zeppelin fan.
That day, the boys arrived home to the sound of Eleanor Rigby. "Hey, I wonder if this is where Jacen got the names for his girls?" Harry looked at his best mate with one eyebrow cocked.
"Isn't there another song named Hey Jude too?" Nev pondered as they walked up to the game room.
"Yeah. Must be where he got the names."
"Hey boys." Dora said as she was dancing with Teddy.
"Hey yourself. Have you seen our girls?"
"Yes Nev. They're in the kitchen I think." Dora answered. "So, are you done filling the Head positions at the orphanage?"
"Yep." Harry grinned. "Our part is done. Venus now takes over the organization and implementation of these roles. Celeste will start hiring elves for the kitchens. Arwen will start hiring elves for housekeeping. Jacen will start hiring assistants for the nursery. Julian will start buying books and Jacob will be setting up the Hospital Wing. April has already hired Deputies for the Primary and Secondary school."
"Basically, our job now is to hire the Head of the Nursery and Dairy portion of the farm and find the kids to move in. And honestly, there's only one person to ask for the nursery and I think he'll do it. I set up the interview for Tuesday." Nev added.
"You really like this bloke, don't you?" Harry asked.
"He's the only person my entire childhood that thought I was good at something." Nev agreed. "And he's got this way with plants that even Professor Sprout doesn't have. He's brilliant!"
"You'll like working with him I take it?"
Nev just nodded enthusiastically.
HP
The next day was Saturday. THE BIG DAY. The day Harry was going to ask the love of his life to marry him. He woke up, for the final time that night, with Teddy at six o'clock.
"Hey Tedster. How's my little man this morning? You ready to be left with Dobby tonight? I hope so because I'll be proposing to your Aunt Hermione tonight. Boy I hope she says yes." He muttered as he fed the little man. "I don't know what I'll do if she says no." He turned Teddy to his shoulder to burp as he walked down stairs to make breakfast.
As the two were making breakfast, Dan and Emma came into the kitchen. "Hey Harry." Dan grinned. "Looking forward to tonight?"
"Yeah." He responded as he kept his eyes on the food. Pretty soon everyone came into the kitchen and began eating. They spent the rest of the day just lounging around the house. Harry checked the desk drawer at least three times that day to make sure the engagement ring was in place.
At about four, all four women, Dora, Mione, Luna and Emma went to Dora's room to get changed. All four men were still up in the game room playing pool or darts.
"Why is it girls need to get dressed two hours early?" Harry inquired of the older men.
"I have no idea Harry." Dan returned laughing. "But whatever they do for that time, it makes them look amazing."
"Yeah. You should've seen Mione at the Yule Ball." He grinned. At around five, the men went up to shower and dress.
When Harry was finished getting into Khakis and a button-down green shirt with dress shoes, he went to the kitchen where Dobby was feeding Teddy. "So, Dobby, how're you doing tonight?"
"I am fine Master Harry. I am looking forward to having Teddy all to myself tonight." He smiled at the baby.
"Hello, Hello." Sirius said in the entryway.
"Sirius, we're in here." Harry projected his voice as his godfather stepped in.
"Dan and Nev should be here shortly." He grinned at his godson. A few minutes later, all the men were standing at the bottom of the stairs as they watched their ladies arrive.
Harry was amazed at the way Mione looked. She had on a floor-length navy-blue dress that had a surplice neckline that was lower than he expected. Her arms were bare and her makeup was barely there. "Wow!" he breathed as Mione came to him. She giggled as he gave her a kiss. "You look beautiful, Mione. Absolutely beautiful."
"Look at Luna." She whispered to Harry as he looked over. He was astounded at the way her yellow dress just floated around her. Then his eyes fell on Emma, who looked very much like an older Hermione—which meant she looked amazing. Dora was in a deep purple dress with hair to match.
"All of you look amazing." Harry said as he wrapped his mind around how beautiful Mione looked.
Soon they were sitting at a table at Rowley's enjoying a good meal with the whole family plus Andi and Ted. It was when Sirius ordered Lobster and Salmon Fishcakes that everyone started relaxing and talking about their projects.
"So, Harry. I understand you have hired everyone you need for the departments in the Orphanage. Is Venus taking over now?" Ted asked.
"Yes. She is now in charge of the day to day running and hiring of the place. We'll be meeting every Friday, at least until school starts, to see how things are going. We're also going to start working on getting the list of orphans together so we can see who our students will be."
The waiter came back and took their orders. Harry had the Gourmet Burger and Hermione ordered the Duck.
"What are you women doing while they've been off doing that?" Andi inquired.
"We have been buying books for our library and organising it." Hermione began
"We've also been working on a magical way to index all the books and be able to pull the books up on what we're calling an Omni-Reader." Luna added.
"What does an Omni-Reader do?" Andi asked.
"It's a very simple concept." Emma explained, as she had been integral to the development of this idea. "We've bought a lot of books for the PB Library."
"What's the PB Library?" Sirius asked, very confused.
"The Potter-Black Library. The library up on Dora's floor?" Emma looked at the relief on his face. "With the fact that you've given my bookworm of a daughter an unlimited budget for your library, it already has thousands of books."
"Really? It's that big?" Sirius was surprised.
"Yes. You really shouldn't have given her that credit card." Emma and Dan laughed as Mione became red. "You really should've asked us before you let her do this. We know she can bankrupt The Queen if she wanted to, just on book purchases alone."
The waiter came with their food. Harry and Hermione were sharing their food as were most of the other couples.
"When someone saves your life at least three times, a library is absolutely nothing." Sirius was adamant.
"It doesn't hurt that Sirius loves your girl almost as much as Harry." Andi laughed. "So, what's an Omni-Reader?" She asked again.
"Well, there are so many books right now, we have developed an index system. We have these very light, thin pads, sort of like the data pads in Star Trek. You write in what kind of book you want or the name of the book, or the author's name and it tells you where it is located in the library and draws you a map from your present position to the given book." Emma explained.
"Does it have a keyboard like a computer?" Ted asked.
"No. It has what's called a stylus that is like a pen." Mione answered. "They have some similar things in the muggle world called PDA's or Personal Data Assistants. It's handheld and you can receive e-mail, keep a calendar, that sort of thing. Our device is a simple piece of glass with a piece of rubber around the edges to protect your hands. All the spellwork or runes are on the glass itself."
"So, you guys are now taking ideas from the muggle world and spelling them rather than actually buying them and then spelling them." Ted was surprised they'd thought of that.
"Yes. We're actually working on scanning books into the computer and spelling them into the Omni-Reader, so you don't have to be in the library to read a book." Luna expanded.
By this time, everyone was finished with their food. Sirius looked at his watch. "Well, it's half seven, I think we should apparate to the theatre. Mione, please take Nev and I so we can come back for the others." he smiled at his niece.
"Sure, Uncle Sirius." She grinned as they disapparated and came back a minute later.
Sirius grabbed Andi's hand when she said. "I know where it is. We've been there once or twice."
Sirius laughed. "Okay then." They got into their pairings. Sirius took Dora and Dan, Nev took Emma and Luna, Hermione took Harry and the Tonks' went on their own.
"You know, apparition may be faster but it is hell on your stomach." Dan shook his head.
"Yeah. I've always hated it. Dumbledore told me I'd get used to it but I still don't like it." Harry agreed. As they walked into the playhouse, Harry couldn't stop looking at his girlfriend. All through dinner, he'd been listening to her talk about her new project but since he knew all about it, he just sat there staring thinking if she says yes tonight, I'll have this beauty on my arm for the rest of my life.
As they were taking their seats, he noticed several men checking her out. His hand went to hers and his other arm went around her waist. "You look amazing Hermione." He whispered in her ear as the musical started.
Every magical there started when the music went from extremely soft to extremely loud. The only ones who didn't were Hermione and her parents and the Tonks'.
Since they were in orchestra seating, the magicals also ducked their heads when the chandelier came down on the stage as it came right above them. As they went to the lobby at Intermission, Nev asked, "How do they do that without magic? Are you sure there's no magic involved?"
Mione laughed. "I'm sure there is no magic. Everything is done with ropes and pulleys and electronics."
"This is another one of those things like Star Wars, yeah?" Luna asked. "Where you just don't see how it's done but it's done well?"
"Exactly, Luna." Emma agreed, glad the magicals was finally understanding.
"Can we see another one before you go back to school?" Sirius asked. "This is fascinating."
Mione beamed at her new Uncle, glad he was enjoying himself. "Of course, Uncle Sirius."
HP
After Phantom of the Opera, everyone apparated back to Rowley's. "I feel so bad for the Phantom." Luna said.
"Me too." Added Harry. "He didn't deserve to be treated so horribly."
"But he was a murderer." Dan added.
"Yes, but he didn't know how to act around other humans." Harry countered as they were seated. They continued talking about Phantom until they ordered their dessert.
Nev had positioned himself next to Harry in case he needed "encouragement". After they ordered dessert, Nev gave Harry a hit in the ribs. Harry just turned and glared at him.
Harry clinked his glass with his fork and everyone quieted down. He stood up, brought out the pouch with the rings and got down on one knee in front of his beloved and stared into her chocolate eyes. "Hermione, for seven years now you've been with me through everything. Trolls, possessed teachers, being shunned in 2nd and 4th year, having a deranged psycho-killer after me," everyone laughed as Sirius went red as Hermione started crying. "Dragons, death eaters and war. I know we've had some rough times and it's taken us forever to get here but I love you more now than I ever thought was humanly possible. Will you marry me, my beloved?"
She wiped at her eyes with her left hand, as he was holding her right. She then took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. "Yes, my love." She said as they kissed and everyone in the restaurant clapped and whistled. When they parted, Harry took her left hand in his and slid the emerald ring on her finger.
"Oh, my gods!" Sirius nearly brought the house down. "Where'd you find that? That was your mum's. I went and bought it with your dad!"
Harry finally looked away from his fiancée and said. "In my vault."
"They must have gone there right before they went into hiding." Sirius whispered, in shock.
"I didn't know it was my mum's." He looked worriedly at Mione. "Do you still want it?" He asked nervously as he sat back in his chair.
"Of course, I want it. It's beautiful and it is the same colour as your eyes." She leaned over and kissed him as she gently caressed his face.
"That's what James said when he found the emerald." Sirius laughed as he pulled Hermione into a hug. "Welcome to the family officially, love."
Hermione looked over at her parents. Her dad looked shocked and hadn't said a thing "Are you angry Daddy?" she asked softly.
"Angry?! I'm not angry, I'm, I don't know, realising you're not my baby girl anymore and it's somebody else's job to protect you." He gave her a hug. "You've got a good man. Just remember he's got an even better lady." At that all the men chuckled and Harry nodded his head fervently.
"I know Dan." He smiled at his soon to be father-in-law.
Dan just slapped Harry on the back saying, "Take care of my baby Harry."
"I will." They looked over at Emma and Hermione who were hugging and crying together.
Emma took her daughter in her arms and said, "If you need anything my girl, just let us know. We love you so much and we will no matter what."
Soon both Harry and Hermione were being hugged by everyone. When dessert came, they were presented with a brownie each that said 'Congratulations' when it was all put together.
Hermione didn't eat a thing. She just kept staring at her hand. Her ring was absolutely exquisite. The large marquise cut emerald was inlaid. The gold band it was laid in was actually in a twisted rope style.
"The reason the emerald is inlaid is that Lily had a habit of banging her fingers on walls and doors. James didn't want the emerald to get hit and have it come off." Sirius whispered to her. "And the twisted rope was a nod to their lives finally intertwining as James put it 'after so bloody long'."
Hermione looked up and smiled at her Uncle. "Thank you, Uncle."
"There are matching wedding bands for both of you too."
"Is Harry's a twisted rope too?" she asked inquisitively.
"Yes."
"So, when are you going to actually get married?" Andi inquired smiling.
"Not sure." Hermione mumbled still staring at the ring, not believing the fact that the most amazing man in the world would want to marry her. "I can't believe he wants me, so I haven't thought any farther than that." She giggled.
"Why wouldn't he want you? You two are made for each other." Nev was confused.
"Why would such a loving, selfless, kind, unbelievably sexy guy like him want a bucktooth bookworm that would rather spend her time inventing new things than playing quidditch like me?" She looked up at Nev to see the entire table staring at her.
"You mean I get to marry an intelligent, loyal, caring and most beautiful woman in the world, right?" Harry looked at her and played with her ring. "Bookworm, and inventor are not put downs—they are part of who my love is. That's what makes you, you. And I happen to love you because you are an amazing woman."
A few minutes later, after lots of hugs, they apparated home. After giving her daughter a kiss through her tears, Emma and Dan floo'd home.