"You're saying you're a beau is immortal," Harry said.
"Beau, really Harry?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow at Harry's choice of words for her boyfriend. "You picked up that word from Daphne didn't you?"
"I guess I did," Harry said looking embarrassed. "The term boyfriend just seems so immature and we are 30."
"I suppose it is," Hermione admitted.
"Let's not debate my choice of terms and get back to the subject at hand," Harry suggested. "Now are you sure he's being honest with you and not trying to pull the wool over your eyes?"
"I'm sure or I never would've said a word," Hermione said. "I had him demonstrate just for my own peace of mind."
"How…?" Harry asked.
"It's really simple," Hermione explained. "He simply cut himself fairly deeply and it healed immediately. Within just a few seconds, though I didn't time it, it couldn't have been more than 10 or 15 at most. I know of no method Muggle or otherwise that would see the flesh mend back together leaving not even a scar behind. Aaron used one of my own kitchen knives and it was very sharp. I was watching his hand very closely."
"Well, I suppose all that matters is you believe him," Harry said blinking at the information.
"I do, even though I know that immortality seems impossible, but considering we're witches and wizards and while we are mortal we live considerably longer it doesn't really seem so strange," Hermione said.
"I suppose it doesn't when you put it like that," Harry agreed. "I mean if magic can be real why not immortality?"
"Exactly," Hermione agreed. "If things like phoenixes, unicorns and dragons can exist why not immortals? I mean really, you have to suspend disbelief, that magic is actually real, as it's just not logical or scientific. Magic shouldn't exist and yet it does and the same implies to immortality."
"So why tell you that he's immortal?" Harry asked with a puzzled expression. "I mean much like magic it's something best kept secret, so I would think that this Aaron Dunin would want to tell as few people as possible."
"I agree with you on that, but there is a reason he told me. Why he even bothered to introduce himself when I was coming back from Diagon Alley," said Hermione. "Apparently, immortals have kind of a mate, someone they can trust with anything, any secret, anything at all. Their biology simply knows when they've met that mate.
"I see," Harry said thoughtfully looking out at the clear blue sky that led to his backyard. "I can see why he told you then once you had gotten to know each other."
"So what do you think?" Hermione asked Harry.
"Well, you think he's a good man and you are a good judge of character," Harry said. "That tells me everything I need to know about Aaron Dunin. The fact he's immortal is inconsequential. So long as he treats you well I won't say a thing about his immortality to anyone."
"Thanks," Hermione told Harry with a smile. "You can be assured he treats me very well and I'm assuming he'll propose at some point. When he does I'll gladly accept. By the way, I can take care of myself and if he gets out of line I know curses that will make him a regret mistreating me."
"I know you do," Harry laughed knowing Hermione was always doing some sort of research and he was sure that some of that was spell research. "Still, we might not be related, but you're the older sister I never had and you know how protective I am of family."
"Yes, I do and I can't blame you really," Hermione admitted. "Not considering that Dumbledore did everything he could to take everybody that would've cared about you away.
"Yeah, that old man has a lot to answer for," Harry agreed his tone and expression grim. "He better hope I never encounter him once I shuffle off the mortal coil, as not only will I not give him the time of day he'll regret what he did to a helpless toddler."
"You'll be dead, Harry. You probably won't have magic on the other side," Hermione said.
"You don't know that for sure and even if I don't I can hopefully, punch him like my uncle often did to me. Let him know what it feels like to be beaten up."
"You survived despite Dumbledore that ought to count for something," Hermione said.
"You mean despite Dumbledore trying to kill me off just because of the Horcrux in my scar," Harry said quietly.
"He didn't bother to research other ways to get rid of a Horcrux and that really is what burns me," Hermione said. "He didn't check with any other species the centaurs the goblins, even the dwarves. Who knows someone else might have had a way to get rid of the Horcrux leaving the container alive. Dumbledore assumed that if he didn't know how to do something it was impossible. While I used to respect Dumbledore a great deal I stopped when I realized all he had done behind the scenes. There was so many other things he could've done to make sure you had a happy childhood and yet he didn't do any of them."
"He was simply too busy to pay attention to the little details," Harry said and Hermione nodded grimly. "He simply had too many prominent positions in society to really pay attention to a orphaned baby. He never should've been anyone's guardian, as he just didn't have time to fulfill the responsibilities of the role."
"No, he didn't, but let's not start discussing Dumbledore, as it just makes me mad," Hermione said and Harry nodded in agreement.
"It does, but it also makes me sad," Harry said. "Sad that Dumbledore betrayed me, betrayed a lot of people. My parents, Remus, Sirius, the Longbottoms and I'm sure there are many more that neither one of us know about."
"That you can feel sadness for the man who did you so much damage says a lot about you," Hermione told her friend. "I need to tell Aaron at least some of the details about what happened to us and how the adults around us failed to protect us. It will mean giving him at least some of the details of your life."
"I suppose you have to," Harry grimaced. "Our lives are indelibly intertwined with the war. Make sure he understands I don't want his pity once we officially meet."
"I will," Hermione solemnly swore. "I doubt he would pity you, though, he'd probably respect the fact that you survived against all odds."
"Possibly," Harry allowed. "Do you have any idea how old Aaron Dunin actually is?"
"I don't actually, but all that matters is he looks around my age," Hermione said. "We have a lot of things to discuss and I'll let you know when I know. I suspect he was around long before our parents were born and probably even our great-grandparents."
"That's old if you're right," Harry said.
"It doesn't matter really. Age is just a number. All I really know, is he's much more mature than one Ron Weasley, which is only one of a multitude of reasons we never would have worked for long."
"That's a given," Harry snorted in complete agreement with that very true statement. "Stay for dinner, unless you had plans?"
"I'll be happy to, as your house-elves cook way better than I do," Hermione agreed happily. "So do you for that matter, though I know the Dursleys kind of forced you to learn that skill and that you never got to eat any of your efforts."
"Those days are long behind me thank goodness," Harry said. "The Dursleys are actually really lucky that I haven't gone after them for revenge for my treatment."
"They really are," Hermione agreed soberly. "It happens all the time where some child that was abused for years goes back for revenge against the people that abused them."
"I'll let Daphne know that you're staying for dinner, but you know you're welcome to come to dinner every night of the week if you want to."
"I know, but I think once a week or so is plenty," Hermione said. "I don't want to be a bother."
"You could never be a bother and never will be and neither will your beau if you do marry him, even if he isn't magical. You're welcome anytime unless you tell me that your Aaron is a master cook."
"He's not," Hermione said. "He was completely honest when I happened to bring the subject up and said that he had never really learned to cook and didn't even know if he had a talent for it."
"I've never understood how you can make the most complicated potion and have it turn out perfect and yet you can't cook to save your life. Those two are very similar so if you're good at one you should be good at the other."
"We all have our crosses to bear," Hermione told Harry looking pained, as she hated to admit when she wasn't good something.
Harry simply laughed at Hermione's expression and his friend swatted at him only half playfully. "Besides, I could say the same about you as you might be a master chef, but not at potions."
"Yes, but that's thanks to Snape," Harry answered and Hermione nodded grimly. "I might actually have been good potion if he hadn't had that grudge against my father who he been dead for over a decade before I even met one Severus Snape.
"Something else Dumbledore never answered for when he lived," Hermione said.
"True," Harry admitted looking sad all over again.
Harry and Hermione shared a sad moment thinking of all of Dumbledore's manipulations, but finally, both of them broke into laughter relieving the tension of their previous conversation, as they talked about happier times.
~~~Aaron and Hermione~~~
"So how old are you Aaron?" Hermione asked her mate the next day.
"I shouldn't be surprised that question occurred to you," Aaron said finally after getting over his surprise. "I just figured it would take you longer to ask."
"Harry made me think," Hermione admitted. "The question would have occurred to me eventually, but Harry bought it up as we were talking. I told him it didn't matter how old you were, because we look around the same age and we don't have to tell people any differently."
"As to how old I am I'm around 500 or so," Aaron admitted.
"That's really nice to know," Hermione said not seeming at all shocked at Aaron's actual age."
"You're not shocked at all are you?" Aaron said surprised that Hermione had accepted the news so calmly.
"Magical live longer than Muggles," Hermione explained. "Depending on the size of their magical cores, general health and numerous other factors they can live for centuries. Some have been known to live 500 or so actually, though that is rare. My headmaster when I was going to Hogwarts was nearly 200 before he died and he didn't die of natural causes. He was murdered."
There was something in Hermione's voice when she mentioned the headmaster of the school she had attended but here it wasn't entirely sure what it was.
"So Hogwarts is the name of the school you went to," Aaron said instead and Hermione nodded.
"That's right," Hermione agreed, as the two of them sat in the parlor sharing the snacks that Hermione had prepared. It was all stuff that was premade so all Hermione had had to do was put it on a plate arranging it artfully.
"This is really good," Aaron said as he held what looks like a small, delicate cake.
"I'll tell Molly Weasley you think so," Hermione grinned. "She'll appreciate the compliment."
When Aaron simply raised an eyebrow in question Hermione explained. "She is the mother of the boy I mentioned when we first met. Ron, the one that doesn't want to grow up."
"I believe you also mentioned several other children," Aaron said and Hermione nodded.
"I did and they're all grown now, even Ginny," Hermione agreed. "Since all seven of her children are grown she has more time on her hands to experiment with recipes. The Weasleys also have more money than they used to because all seven kids are out on their own. Before, Molly really had to watch her pennies. Mr. Weasley, Arthur, was promoted after the war and his new position is higher paying."
"Seven kids is a lot, especially when you don't have a lot of money," Aaron suggested delicately and Hermione nodded in agreement, not at all offended on the Weasleys behalf.
"It is, but they had six boys before they were finally blessed with Ginny and that was the main reason for having so many children. They both just really wanted a little girl to love so kept trying. Unfortunately, Arthur's line is heavily male with very few females. It doesn't help that Molly only had two brothers before they were killed years ago and she was the only female and like Ginny the baby of the family. Ginny is the first Weasley female born in about five generations. Personally, I think the way the Weasleys did it stopped any of their children from being spoiled like so many people who have every advantage."
Aaron whistled appreciatively as really it was quite astonishing that the Weasleys had had so many boys before having a daughter. It happened and no matter what scientist said some families had all boys and other all girls for generations.
"Yeah, I've often thought the same thing that scientist don't know everything," Hermione guessed what Aaron whistle was about.
"I see you guessed what I was thinking," Aaron said and Hermione nodded with a smug smile.
"It wasn't very hard," Hermione smiled with genuine warmth this time. "I still remember thinking the same thing years ago when I learned about the Weasley family genetics."
"You spent a lot of time with them," Aaron inquired and Hermione nodded.
"Back when I was going to Hogwarts yes, I did. I spent at least a couple of weeks of the summer with them and so did Harry. It's not like I had any other friends to hang out with," Hermione said. "Ron and Harry were basically it for a long time, but now I'm friends with Ginny as well. I was very bossy when I was younger and a lot of children didn't appreciate that. I was also very intelligent and understood concepts and ideas that most young children wouldn't understand until they were older if they ever do.
"It didn't help that I was always raising my hand in class. I didn't really give the other children a chance to answer, but most of them wouldn't have known the answer anyway because they didn't bother to study. I was always the studious sort but that's mostly due to lack of friends when I was younger. Now it's just part of who I am."
"There's nothing wrong with being studious," Aaron said, "wanting to learn as much as you can."
"No, there's not, but I intimidated a lot of the other children with my thirst for learning and really Harry is the only one that wasn't intimidated."
"So if Harry was the only one not intimidated by you how did you become friends with Ron?" Aaron questioned.
"Because Harry had already made friends with him on the Hogwarts Express. The Hogwarts Express is a train that takes you from King's Cross station up to the station at Hogsmeade. Hogwarts is only a little ways from there. In any case, much like me, Harry had never had a friend before and so he made friends with the first person that was nice to him. That Ron turned out to be a rather mediocre student just encouraged Harry to also be lazy. No matter how many times I tried to force them to do his homework and read the textbooks both of them avoided doing so as much as they could."
"Doesn't sound like much of a friend," Aaron said and Hermione nodded looking somewhat reminiscent.
"He wasn't really to me, but I desperately wanted to be friends with Harry, so I put up with Ron and we eventually became friends as well. Ron is the only lazy one in that family, as the oldest two sons Bill and Charlie had graduated by the time I went to school and have good careers. Percy was also obsessed with his studies and being Head Boy that he didn't really care about anything, including doing the job properly. Even the twins Fred and George were obsessed with being pranksters instead of studying, but their grades were decent when their report cards were issued. They could've done much better, but they are pranksters to the core and own a joke shop now that they have graduated. Despite their grades they are well on their way to being very wealthy."
"I never went to school either, at least not college," Aaron said. "Considering how old I am that's not surprising."
"Still, you know how to read and write and do at least simple math," Hermione said and Aaron nodded.
"True, I do. I was just trying to point out that you don't have to necessarily have a formal education to be good at business as some people just have that knack. It sounds like your friends are doing really well for themselves and they should be all that matters."
"That's true. I just hate to see such talent go to waste as the twins are intelligent, even if they waste it on pranks. Molly about had a conniption when they left before the end of their seventh year. They never officially graduated, but there is a reason for that, which I'll tell you at another time. Since they were over 17 Molly couldn't really force them to go back and finish their last year. She could certainly yell and scream at them and lecture them that education was important, but much like Molly the twins can be very stubborn and refused to do anything they didn't want to do out of sheer contrariness. They moved out of the house to the flat above their new shop, so they didn't have to listen to their mother lecturing them."
"So I'm assuming 17 is considered an adult in the magical world," Aaron said.
"It is," Hermione agreed, "even if I know it's 18 in the regular world I grew up in until I was 11."
"So what about college. I know you went, but what about other magicals," Aaron asked.
"Colleges don't exist here in the magical world at least not in Britain I'm not sure about the rest of the world. Once you graduate Hogwarts a lot of a careers require apprenticeships where you learn what you need to know from some one older and experienced. St. Mungo's, the magical hospital, has a training program for example.
"How do you hide all this from those you call Muggles I would think it would be impossible," Aaron said.
"There are spells that can hide places," Hermione explained calmly. "Hogwarts for instance has a Muggle Repelling-Charm that makes regular folks like yourself, believe that they have an appointment that they're late for. That inner voice is so strong that the Muggle just turns around and obeys never realizing that they been lured away. That is only one way that we hide ourselves from those without magic. When I told you it was like a secret society I meant that very seriously."
"That's really amazing," Aaron said. "I know I'll be learning all about magic for a long time to come, years, even decades, I'm sure. However, that's only if you accept my offer to be my mate and my wife."
Aaron drew a ring box out of his pocket and opened it so Hermione could see the ruby ring with diamonds surrounding it. "Marry me Hermione. Be my mate and my wife for the rest of our existence."
"I accept," Hermione said as calmly as possible though she was very excited internally. "I never would have told you all about the Wizarding World unless I was sure I loved you and I would accept your proposal when the time came. If I had told you my secret and you had blabbed I would've been in a great deal of trouble. You don't want to know the consequences."
"Good," Aaron said relieved slipping the ring on her finger. "And yes, I do want to know the consequences if I had as you say blabbed about magic being real."
"If you insist," Hermione said. She couldn't quit smiling, as she admired the ring Aaron had slipped on her finger. "It would have been likely that I would've ended up in Azkaban the wizarding prison for at least a few years, but considering the Ministry is so corrupt I can see them giving me the Dementor's Kiss."
"I want to know what is the Dementor's Kiss is," Aaron asked only knowing he didn't like the sound of that.
"Things have improved considerably in the last few years, though not as much as they should have. A lot of magicals that work at the Ministry are pure-bloods and they hate or at least resent someone like me who doesn't have magicals on both sides of their family.
"The Dementor's Kiss is basically a death sentence. It is the fate worse than death. There are magical creatures out there that Muggles such as yourself don't know exist. Dragons, unicorns, even phoenixes are real."
"So you are telling me that the Dementors fall into that category," Aaron said trying to appeal calm and collected.
"Exactly," Hermione agreed with a smile. "Basically, Dementors are creatures that suck out your soul to where you are nothing but a husk. The exact origin of the Dementors has been lost to time. All you really need to know is that they are usually used to guard Azkaban prison. You don't want to end up there, as there was a good friend of mine that spent nearly 15 years there for a crime he had never committed. He never actually had a trial due to a corrupt Ministry."
"Believe me, I will avoid them if it all possible," Aaron shuddered at the thought of having his soul sucked out of his body.
"Yes, it is a horrible fate," Hermione agreed, even as she refilled their wine without even bothering to ask. "Many of our bodily functions still work. You still breathe for example, but you can't feed or bathe yourself. A lot of bodily functions that most people don't realize are automatic, but there are some things that are learned."
"And learning how to eat and bathe yourself or two of those things," Aaron said and Hermione nodded.
"Exactly," Hermione agreed.
"I think it's time we forget about magic at least for now. I want to take you out to dinner to celebrate our engagement," Aaron said.
"Sounds like a good idea, as I could really use a few hours out of this house. I tend to get lost in research, so I really don't go out all that often.
"The day I met you when you were out and about, you were carrying a bag of books," Aaron mentioned.
"If you were actively looking for me you'll usually find me a bookstore," Hermione said with a warm smile. "Anybody who really knows me will tell you I am a bookworm of the highest order. As to what you are referring to I was coming back from Diagon Alley and the bookstore there. Before you ask, it's the wizarding shopping center basically. It's where the students that are going to Hogwarts go to buy their school supplies."
"I would love to know more, but it can wait," Aaron said, "as it's dinner time and I'm hungry despite that snack food."
"I can call some places if you insist on taking me somewhere fancy, but we might have to make a reservation at some place. Also, Harry wants to meet you, but I need to tell you that tale I've been putting off, but not tonight."
"No, not tonight," Aaron agreed. "Maybe tomorrow would be a good time."
"We'll see," Hermione said before she went to look up the numbers for the fancy places she knew about. Ones that her parents had used to go to on special occasions.
~~~Aaron and Hermione~~~