Paris

June 19th, 1999

Harry thinks that since he blew Voldemort into a billion pieces he's never been so happy. Hermione was able to reunite with her parents and restore their memories of her. It wasn't easy but she did it and he couldn't be prouder. He's so happy for her it feels like he's the one reuniting with his parents. But on top of that there's something else stirring his insides.

Tessa.

They've been in Paris for two weeks now and Harry is sure he's in love with her. Madly in love. It's like a fever, like a passion that is consuming him day by day, minute by minute. He fears he might be obsessed with her because his mind and body are incapable of focusing on anything else that isn't her voice or presence. If he's not with her he dreams about her or bothers Hermione with questions about their childhood and ex boyfriends.

This time exploring the city with her and Hermione's parents has been perfect, especially the moments he and Hermione spend together with Tessa. Hermione is over the moon with their relationship and Harry wished she would find someone capable of giving her this kind of happiness he's feeling with her cousin. He even tried setting her up with one of Tessa's friends, but Hermione said she's not ready for that. She still thinks about Ron. Harry tried his best not to say a few things… for example how Ron is wrong for her and how she should end things permanently. He never liked the way Ron treated her and someone as amazing as Hermione deserves the best man in the whole world and even if he's Ron's friend he can't ignore the pile of flaws he has. And how an utter git he can be if he wants to.

But he has his own worries, even if things are great, a small - huge - detail is slowly ruining Harry's mood. Tessa's father hates him. Harry tried everything over the past weeks, he tried showing interest in anything that the man might like, he tried telling him how serious he is about Tessa, tried even buying him an old bottle of whiskey that the man loves but nothing was able to melt the ice between them. Leonard hates wizards and everything related to them, Hermione might be a rare exception because he doesn't act like he loathes his niece and that's telling. But he doesn't love her either.

And now Harry's complaining about it for the hundredth time with Hermione.

She grunts. "Harry, enough! So what my uncle hates you? You have a relationship with Tessa, not him!" She keeps organizing a few things in her suitcase. No, not things, books. Harry knows for a fact that if Hermione wasn't a witch it would be impossible for her to take all these books back with her.

"Tessa loves him, Hermione! How can I have a lasting relationship with her if I can't be in the same room with her father? She already lost her mother and I wouldn't stand to be the reason why she can't be with her only parent!" Hermione makes a face. He's lying on her bed watching her reactions, they're supposed to meet her family for dinner at Tessa's. Harry couldn't be more nervous, he fears this dinner might be fundamental for their relationship from here on. "I think I love her. For real." There, he said it. Not to Tessa… yet.

Hermione stops mid motion, a book in her hand, her lips slightly parted. She looks surprised… and not just that, there's something else in her expression Harry can't decipher, but it vanishes as she smiles. "I think that's obvious by now. I've never seen you like this." He opens his biggest smile. It's precious to him the way Hermione understands his emotions, she never doubts his feelings or fears, in fact she realizes what he's going through even before he does. "So, what's the problem?"

"I just told you! Her father hates me."

"Look," She sits on the bed by his side, "honestly, my uncle might never like you, Harry." He grunts. "It won't make a difference to him if you marry Tessa and give him five grandchildren, what he feels is an irrational aversion, there's no way of reasoning with him. So, that being said, my advice to you is: fuck him." She shrugs and Harry laughs.

"You really think so?"

"I know so." She gets up. "Go get ready. I need to take a shower and we can go-" She stops. There's an owl tapping on her window. They exchange a confused look. Hermione fetches two letters from the owl, raising her eyebrows. "One is for you." She hands Harry the letter and he watches as she bites her lower lip, anxious.

He looks down at his own letter. It's from the Auror Department, about his training. Basically an ultimatum. Harry feels his chest tightening.

"What is it, Harry?"

"The special training I applied to… they're offering me the single spot."

"That's amazing!" She's excited for him, but- "What's wrong?"

He shakes his head, finally sitting on the bed, his mind running wild. "Just before we left London I said to you I wasn't sure if I wanted to pursuit this life."

"Yes."

"These two weeks here only made me doubt it even more." He's ashamed to look at her. "I mean, this time with Tessa… I- I don't want to give this up."

"Why are you talking like you can't have both?"

"Because if I accept I have to be ready to go in two days." He raises his eyes to her. "And I would be gone for 2 years with all my contacts severed. It's a special training because we disconnect from the rest of the world. It would be impossible to reach me."

"And you don't want to stay away from Tessa."

"We just found each other." He grunts, frustrated. Hermione sighs. "What about your letter?"

"Oh." She opens a little smile again. "I got the internship at St. Mungo's!"

He jumps from the bed and hugs her, celebrating. He knows how much she wanted this, she studied hard, nights and days to pass the acceptance exam. "You're going to be an amazing healer!" He kisses her cheek and marvels at her happiness, his little problem forgotten.

Hermione reads the letter again, her eyes going fast at the information. "It begins in two weeks." She glances at him. "Shit, we need to get ready."

He nods and exits her room, all his doubts coming back to him. What should I do?

She drinks her wine trying to ignore the silence that fills the room. Her parents are still trying to come up with interesting topics of conversation, but her uncle is behaving like a child. He barely answers and every chance he gets he scoffs at Harry's words or cuts him mid-sentence. It's ridiculous, actually. Tessa is doing her best to appease the situation, but her efforts are pointless. Hermione can see Harry getting angrier by the minute, his whole posture changing as he sets his jaw and takes a gulp to stop saying something he'll regret later.

For the first time in a long time she's not trying to fix the situation. Hermione feels like this isn't her fight and she can't keep looking out for Harry for the rest of their lives… and it's his girlfriend's father. Tessa should be the one dealing with this. Hermione leans back on her chair as she hears her uncle saying that wizards should be exposed to the society. Harry's eyes focus directly on her and Hermione shrugs. She'd heard this before, but now she doesn't care anymore. She tries not looking at Harry as he's begging her to say something. I shouldn't. But she knows there are only a few things she wouldn't do for Harry. Sighing, she leans over again:

"Come on, uncle Leonard, we've talked about this before. Why bring this up again?" Her voice shows her annoyance. "Yeah, expose the wizarding community and then what? Spread false information about us and create havoc? Why? Who benefits from this?"

"Hermione's right," Harry begins, "this shouldn't even be-"

"Look, Hermione." Leonard cuts Harry and Hermione sees him fuming. Tessa takes his hand, trying to calm him down. "I get it, you want to protect your people, but we should know what's out there, we should be ready for anything!"

Hermione narrows her eyes. Her father tries ending the debate, but her uncle keeps going. And as if things suddenly may happen in slow motion, she sees Harry losing his last thread of patience as he rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to disagree with Leonard. If she could she would have stopped him, but Harry's faster:

"ENOUGH!" He practically shouts. Shit. Harry is breathing hard and Tessa closes her eyes as Leonard finally turns on his seat to face Harry properly. Her uncle is sneering at her best friend.

"Excuse me?" He says. "Are you really talking to me like that in my house?" His voice is deep and he projects it to intimidate Harry.

"Dad, let's not-"

"Quiet, Tess!" Her cousin closes her mouth. "I asked you a question, boy." The way he says the word 'boy' seems to finally bring Harry back to his senses. He opens his mouth, unsure, his eyes lost searching for a salvation.

"I- sir, I-"

"I- I- I-" Leonard mocks Harry. "Tessa, are you sure this is the boy you want to waste your life with? He can barely stand up to his actions!"

Hermione feels the anger rising inside her, but she stays put. This is not my fight. If Harry wants to be accepted by Tessa's father he has to earn this respect by himself.

"You're not being fair." Harry says in a low voice.

"What? Say it louder, boy."

"You're being unfair, sir." Harry raises his voice, lifting his head and puffing his chest. There you go, Harry. "You barely know me and yet you keep judging me."

"I barely know you?" Leonard chuckles humorlessly. He sips on his wine. "I know enough. You're the savior, aren't you? The one who defeated the big bad wolf. Well, guess what, Harry Potter, I don't care at all about that. Do you know about what I do care? I care about my daughter." Tessa lifts her head, she looks lost too, uncomfortable with the situation. "And do you really think you're the best for her?" Oh, no.

Hermione knows how heavy this kind of question is for Harry. He's the first to always doubt his own worth and happiness. She purses her lips, nervous as she watches him losing his little courage. Be brave, Harry, we're Gryffindors. He swallows hard and Hermione bites her tongue not to call her cousin out on it. Tessa should be defending him.

"No answer, huh? Whatever fame you achieved amongst your people means nothing to me. And let me be clear, so we don't have any doubts in the future. Tess," She looks at her father. "If you indeed decide to be with this boy, be aware that you're no longer welcome in this house." Hermione's mouth hangs open and she shares a look of disbelief with her mother. Leonard turns to Harry. "If you think you're that amazing, Potter, I hope you're ready to face the consequences of your decisions."

Not waiting for an answer or anything else, Leonard stands up and leaves the dinning room, the silence heavy on the table. Hermione doesn't react. Not in a million years she imagined something like this would happen. Yes, her uncle never liked the wizarding world, but kick out his only daughter because of a relationship with one? How absurd is that? Her heart shatters when she realizes Harry is crying. Tessa is in shock. Her father is the first to break the silence as he sighs and announces he's having a conversation with his brother. Hermione's mother gather a few plates and heads to the kitchen, clearly leaving them so they can talk freely. Hermione waits for Tessa to say something, but there's nothing.

"Harry." Hermione calls him and he looks at her, lost. "What did I tell you just before we got here?" He closes his eyes and nods. Fuck him. "Exactly. Tess, do you think he's really kicking you out?"

"I have no idea." Finally Tessa comes out of her stupor and cups Harry's face. "Don't listen to him, Harry. I want to be with you. I don't care about the consequences." She kisses him, but Hermione knows Harry. It won't be this easy to make him stay now. Leonard pressed him where it hurts the most: if Harry's truly in love with Tessa, he will step back and leave, there's no way he's separating her from her father while he thinks he's not worthy.

Suddenly Hermione is uncomfortable, she shouldn't be there watching their moment. Tessa is brushing his lonely tears away as they touch their foreheads and she reassures him with whispered words. Standing up and heading to the kitchen, she knows she won't be missed now. She shakes her head, helping her mother with the dishes.

It doesn't bother her, not at all.

He watches the rain outside. Harry feels numb. Everything he went through for the past few weeks is like a dream for him now. He never imagined he would fall in love with Hermione's cousin, never imagined he would feel like this and really wish for a bright future, really think about marrying and building a family. For the first time these kind of thoughts crossed his mind. Tessa the reason of it all.

But now.

Now he tries wiping it all away. There's no way of their relationship working out. Her father wasn't wrong, Harry doesn't feel worthy and if he thinks about it he knows for a fact that he's not the best for Tessa. He glances over at the clock on the wall. It's 4am. After Hermione left him and Tessa at the dinning room, she told him not to listen to her father, reasoned with him that Leonard would never kick her out and if he did she didn't care, if she had to she would move back with him to London, start over without her father's oppressing gaze. It cuts him open to imagine her leaving her life behind to be with him.

It's even harder to put into words how much he wants to be with her, start a life in London…

However, Harry would never allow that. He knows that even if things work out for now, in the future, after years without talking to her father, Tessa might resent and blame him, blame their relationship and curse the wizarding world for the way she cut her only parent out of her life. The very thing that would allow them to be together - leaving her father - would be the reason for their fallout later. He just knows it. Family ties are stronger than anything else.

He sighs. Right now everything sucks. He knows what he has to do. Fetching a pen and paper, he scribbles down a note to Hermione. She'll understand him, like she always does. He even suspects she already knows what he's about to do and he couldn't be more thankful for her not trying to stop him. Harry's sure she would reason with him and maybe convince him otherwise, but regarding his relationship with Tessa, Hermione has been very detached, not intruding at all, leaving them to solve things as they consider best. He's not sure if he likes it or not. Not that she intruded in his former relationships, but to talk with her about them was easier… Tessa is her cousin and that change things a little.

He stops a few tears from falling when he finishes his note. With a move of his wrist his things pack at once back into the suitcase. He closes his eyes, praying for Tessa to forgive him. He also hopes Hermione doesn't stay too mad at him. Resigned, he apparates to a spot where a portkey awaits.

Hermione,

there's no easy way of saying this, so I'm just saying it: I'm leaving for the Auror training. I don't want to separate Tessa from her father, you know I would never do that and there's no way of me staying without this happening.

Please tell her I really fell in love. I feel like our story isn't over and I hope she thinks the same, but right now I can't do this and I'm sorry.

Take care, see you in two years,

Harry.

Hermione grunts, extremely frustrated. She knew he was going to pull this off, she felt it in her bones, and she almost tried to stop him, but a voice inside her kept saying this wasn't her decision, this is Harry's life, his relationship with her cousin… It felt wrong meddling. But there's nothing she can do, he's gone, by this time probably out of reach already. She walks around inside the room, torn, she's angry because he left the responsibility of talking to Tessa to her, and she's sad because it'll be two years without seeing or talking to him.

She'll miss her best friend.

But right now she's worried about how Tessa is taking the news. They really fell in love, fast and hard like their lives depended on it and it was confusing and beautiful to see Harry living as intensively as he did for the past two weeks. But knowing Tessa, Hermione is sure she won't take this very well. Tessa really gave everything to him, she was ready to leave her father behind to be with Harry and he just… left. Hermione understands his reasons, but nothing changes the fact that he'll be gone for two years. And a lot can happen in two years.

What now?

Answering her question, there's a knock on her door. "Mi? Are you there?"

"Damn you, Harry Potter." Hermione mumbles to herself, not so torn anymore, fully angry now. She opens the door and her face must show everything she's feeling because Tessa's expression changes abruptly.

"Where's Harry?" She walks inside, looking for him, desperate. "Mi, where is he?"

"Okay, Tessa, calm down-"

"No! I can't believe this! He left, didn't he?"

Hermione opens her mouth. Maybe Tessa knows Harry better than she thinks. Hermione decides handing over his note to her cousin and she can't help feeling terrible as Tessa's tears fall down while she reads it. She sits on the bed, shocked, the note slipping from her fingers. "We talked for hours yesterday." She shakes her head. "He told me we would find a way out of this, but I knew something was wrong, his voice felt off, you know?" She raises her eyes and Hermione nods. I know. "I wanted to come back to the hotel with him, but he said I was overreacting, he said we would see each other today. Shit." Her voice cracks and Hermione sits by her side, her arms around Tessa.

"Tess, Harry's whole life wasn't easy until recently… his first reaction is always to sacrifice himself and his happiness for the ones he loves." Tessa cries harder. "Now you get the chance to decide what you really want for your life, decide if you're staying here with your father or not. You have time to think about what you shared with Harry and be sure if that's what you really want. I know I may seem cold and analytical, but you have to face things as they are right now."

Tessa sniffs. "You're right, Mi. And I already know what to do. I never expected my father to say those things yesterday. He hurt me deeply and I realized I can't even look at him the same anymore. He said the only thing he cared about was me, but he didn't took into consideration my happiness! I never felt for anyone what I felt for Harry in two weeks." She looks at Hermione, seeking comfort. "Forgive my awful joke, but it was magical." They chuckle. "And I agree with him. Our story isn't over. I want to go back with you."

"To London?" Hermione is very surprised.

"Yes. It's time I break these shackles with my father. Since my mother died we never found a way of communicating, not really. And I have all the money she left me, more than enough to seek my dreams in London." She brushes her tears away. "And I'll be there as soon as Harry gets back to kick his ass." Hermione laughs. "And then I'll kiss him senseless. When are you heading back?"

"In a week. My parents decided they want to stay here and I respect their decision, but my life is there." The internship… Ron. She's not sure if their relationship can still work, but they need to talk, at least once more before breaking up for real or not.

"So, how do you feel about having a roommate?"

They smile at each other. "Amazing."

Two weeks later

July 3rd, 1999

"Tess!" Hermione calls as she enters their place, all her cousin's boxes still scattered around the flat. Hermione offered to organize everything with magic, but Tessa refused ironically saying she's a 'muggle' and she had to live as one, but it's been a week already and if she undid one third of all her boxes it was too much. Hermione can't deny she's a little annoyed by the-

She stops at their living area. Tessa is sitting on their couch, her eyes red from crying, a piece of paper in her hands. Immediately Hermione fears for Harry. Has something happened to him? But her mind shuts the thought fast. He's at a training with at least a dozen others high skilled Aurors. He's safe.

"What happened?" She comes closer, her voice soft and even if she's knackered after her first day at the Hospital, she's ready to comfort her cousin.

"I-" Tessa's eyes roam around the room, she looks lost and scared. Apparently she can't answer, so she extends the paper to Hermione.

Knitting her brows she takes it and begins reading, her mouth opening slightly as she realizes what she's holding, her heart beating faster and her mind reeling. It's a pregnancy test. Tessa is pregnant.

"It's Harry's."

Hermione is shaking.

"I- Since we got here I was in doubt because my period was late. I bought a pharmacy test, but I still doubted the positive, so I went to a clinic and-" She shakes her head. "It's real."

Walking slowly she sits by Tessa's side. She has no words and they don't talk for a long time as Hermione is trying to process this information. Harry is away in a place no one has the faintest idea, unreachable for a long time. Tessa is certainly having this baby and then what? How is she going to take care of the baby in this situation? What about her father? Is she telling him?

"My mind is a little all over the place, but of one thing I'm sure," Hermione says, her hand resting over Tessa's belly. "This child is going to be loved." Tessa opens a wide smile and they hug. "I'm happy for you, Tess, I know this wasn't planned, but I also know this is freaking amazing!"

"It is! God, I was so afraid, but I think mostly because Harry isn't here. Do you think he's going to be happy?"

"Of course! He'll be over the moon!" And an amazing father. Hermione has no doubt. "My God! We have to transform this apartment to accommodate a baby!" She's already thinking about what she's changing and Tessa hugs her again.

"Thank you, Mi. For everything. You're like my sister and for sure this little baby's aunt."

Hermione smiles. She's happy for them. Even if Harry wronged when he left, they have the rest of their lives to mend this when he gets back.