Chapter 2
When Harry got to Hermione's house, her dad opened the door.
"She's in the living room," was all he said. He looked really pale.
"Hello Hermione," Harry said as he entered the room.
Hermione looked up. She was crying. On the way to her house, Harry had explained to Lindsey why he couldn't make it. She was not happy with him. He had thought at the time that whatever Hermione had to say had better be important. Now, seeing her face, he felt guilty for thinking that.
"So, Hermione tells us you're engaged," Mr. Granger said quietly.
"Yes, I am. To the Care for Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts, Lindsey Reeves," Harry replied.
"Ah, how nice," Mr. Granger replied. "Well, Anne let's leave these two to talk."
Hermione's parents walked out of the room. Harry sat down next to Hermione on the couch. He put an arm around her shoulder and asked," What's wrong? What's so important?"
She took a deep breath to stop crying. The she said, "I want to show you this," pointing to the contract. "Before you read it, listen to me. I didn't know anything about this."
Harry nodded and picked it up. He read it, and his jaw dropped. He stared at Hermione. All he said was, "Oh, my God."
"That's exactly what I said," she said with a harsh laugh.
"Explain," Harry said.
Hermione took a deep breath. "My parents and your parents used to be great friends for a long time. My mum and your mum used to be best friends before your mum went to Hogwarts. They stayed friends after that. When they both got married and were both, they formed this contract. Out parents thought that since they were all great friends we would be too. I guess they were right about that. When your parents died, they put the contract in my baby book, and put it in the attic to be forgotten. Well, when they heard I was getting married, they decided to look at old pictures and things. My mum picked up my baby book, and found this," said Hermione pointing to the contract.
Harry looked totally and completely shocked.
"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked quietly.
Harry nodded mutely. A million different thoughts were running through his head.
"If you're wondering why no one ever told you, it's because only my parents and your parents knew about it," Hermione added softly, wishing Harry would say something. The silence was driving her crazy. It was too much.
"Harry, say something," she said.
He looked at her and said, "I don't know what to say."
Hermione sighed, but what did I expect him to say, she asked herself. I love you, marry me? Wait, why did I just think that? Hermione shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"Hermione, does Alex know you're a witch?" Harry asked carefully.
Hermione shook her head silently, biting her lip.
"You're in a lot of trouble. Do you realize that? Why didn't you tell him?" Harry asked sternly.
Hermione started to giggle.
"What is so funny?" Harry snapped impatiently. Hermione just told him if her married Lindsey, he would face dire consequences. He didn't find anything funny about that.
"Nothing, you just sound like your scolding one of your students," Hermione managed between giggles.
Harry smiled, Hermione was right, he did sound a bit like he was scolding one of his students.
"To answer you questions, yes I realize I'm in a lot of trouble, and I didn't tell him because I was afraid he'd dump me," Hermione said sadly.
Harry shook his head and said, "I can't believe you're engaged, and you didn't tell him. Hermione, you have a lot to explain to him. Were you ever going to tell him?"
"Only if our son or daughter was magical too," Hermione replied.
Harry just shook his head again.
"What should we do, Harry? I mean, we're both engaged. What are we supposed to tell Alex and Lindsey?" Hermione asked desperately.
"The truth," Harry replied firmly.
"But Harry-"
"No buts, Hermione, we have to do this. Now you call Alex, and I'll call Lindsey. Tell him to get over here right away," Harry commanded.
Hermione nodded and left the room. When she came back, Mr. and Mrs. Granger followed her in. They looked at Harry and Mrs. Granger said, "We're really, really sorry about this, Harry. We just thought that since Lily and James died, you had too."
"It's alright. It's just a big surprise, that's all. No one ever told me that my parents were friends with the Grangers," Harry said quietly.
Just then the doorbell rang, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger answered it. Harry expected it to be Alex, but instead, it was Sirius. (Dumbledore helped clear his name right after Harry got out of Hogwarts.)
"Hi Sirius."
"Hey Sirius."
"Hello Harry, Hermione."
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked.
"Mrs. and Mr. Granger called me, and told me what had happened, I decided to come and talk to you," Sirius replied.
"Well, I was just about to call Lindsey. Hermione already called Alex to explain to him," Harry told him.
"Go ahead, I'll help you two explain to Alex and Lindsey if you want," Sirius offered.
"Thanks, Sirius, we'll need all the help we can get," Harry said with a pointed glare at Hermione.
"Yeah, Sirius, I'll need some help because er um Alex doesn't know I'm a witch," Hermione finished quickly.
Sirius looked at her for a moment, and then said, "You're right, you'll need some help."
Hermione smiled sheepishly.
"Well, I'm going to call Lindsey," Harry said as he walked out of the room.
Sirius turned to Hermione and said, "You probably don't know this, but James and Lily were your godparents."
"They were?" Hermione asked surprised. She looked at her parents, and they nodded. "Wait are they the ones you used to call Aunt Lily and Uncle James?" Her parents nodded again. "So the cousin I once had that died, wasn't really my cousin, but Harry?"
"That's right; Lily and James were out best friends. Whenever we wanted to tell you something about them and Harry we said they were your aunt and uncle, so you didn't ask too many questions. We didn't think you were a witch at the time, so why tell you our best friends were a witch and wizard?" Hermione's mother explained.
Just then, Harry re-entered the room.
"What'd she say?" Sirius asked.
"It took a lot of convincing, but she finally agreed to com," Harry replied.
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Hermione got up to answer it, and came back with Alex following her.
"Hello Alex, dear," Mrs. Granger greeted him.
"Hi Mrs. Granger, Mr. Granger," Alex replied.
"Alex, you know Harry, and this is his godfather and my friend, Sirius Black," Hermione introduced them.
"Hi."
"Hello."
"Why did you want me here, Hermione?" Alex asked.
"Just be patient," Hermione replied, as the doorbell rang again.
"That's Lindsey, I'll get it," Harry said.
He came back a minute later with Lindsey following him.
"Hi, Lindsey," said Hermione.
"Hey, Lindsey," greeted Alex.
"Hi," she replied.
"Lindsey, these are Hermione's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and you know Sirius," Harry told Lindsey.
"Nice to meet you," Lindsey said, shaking hands with Mr. and Mrs. Granger.
"Okay, well I think we're ready," said Sirius.
"Yeah," said Harry.
"First of all, Hermione wants to say something," Sirius urged her.
"Alex, er, uh, well, I'm a- I'm a- I'm a witch," Hermione finished quickly.
"What?" asked Alex.
"I'm a witch," Hermione repeated.
Alex just stared at her. Then he started to laugh. "This is a joke, right?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Harry chose to speak first, "Calm down, alright. We are all, except Mr. and Mrs. Granger, wizards of witches.
"Really?" Alex asked, and when everyone nodded, he continued, "Cool!"
When he said this, Hermione looked very surprised.
"You're really okay with that?" asked Hermione, her voice filled with disbelief.
"Yeah, I mean I'm surprised, but I think it's cool," Alex told her.
Hermione smiled.
"Is this what I came here for? To listen to Hermione tell her Muggle fiancé that she's a witch? Is this why you cancelled out date? To listen to this?" Lindsey yelled at Harry. She was very hurt that he would rather go to Hermione's house then go on their date.
"Oh no, there's something much more important," Harry told her. He was starting to feel guilty again. The more he looked at Lindsey's hurt face, the guiltier he felt. "Look Lindsey, I'm really sorry about backing out of our date, but I'm glad I came because this could affect our marriage."
"What's a Muggle?" asked Alex, offended.
"Oh, it's nothing bad. It's the name witches and wizards use for non-magical people," Lindsey spat at him.
"Geez sorry," Alex shot back sarcastically.
"Stop fighting," Harry and Hermione said in unison.
"They remind me of you and Ron, Hermione, fighting about the stupidest little things," Harry said sadly.
"Who's Ron?" Alex asked quietly. Both Harry and Hermione had pained expressions on their faces.
"He was out other best friend," Hermione said sadly, remembering Ron.
"What happened to him?" Alex asked.
"Voldemort, a very powerful Dark Wizard, a few years ago, killed him. Right before Harry defeated him," Hermione replied.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry," Alex said quietly.
"It's alright, we've gotten over it," Harry told him.
"But that's not why we wanted you here," Hermione said, changing the subject.
Harry picked up the magical contract, and handed it to Lindsey. While she read it, she got paler and paler. When she was done, she looked up at Harry.
"We knew nothing about this, I swear. This was a total shock to us. Mr. and Mrs. Granger found it in the attic. They put it up there because they thought I died when my parents did," Harry explained to her.
"What are you talking about?" Alex asked.
Lindsey handed him the contract.
He read it. When he looked up, he didn't seem phased at all. He said, "So what? I mean, no one would ever know. What dire consequences could these really be?"
They all looked at him, too shocked to speak. Hermione recovered first, and said cautiously, "Alex, I told you, I'm a witch. This is a magical contract. Doing things, like breaking this contract, in the magical world wrong, has its consequences. If I marry you or if Harry marries Lindsey we'll be living cursed lives." After she said this, she began to cry. A few minutes later, Lindsey followed, and started crying also.
They both sat down on the couch, crying. Harry went and sat next to Lindsey. He put his arm around her, and she turned around to cry in his shoulder.
Alex looked very uncomfortable. "Hermione, what are we going to do?" Alex asked after awhile.
She looked up at him, and said, "I don't know. For once in my life, I don't, honestly, know what to do." By now she had stopped crying. She was even smiling a little at the thought.
"That's not true. When we were in out fourth year, you couldn't figure out a way to help me breathe under water for the second task," Harry told her, a faint smile on his lips.
"True, the one other time I didn't know what to do, a house elf figured it out," Hermione said, laughing.
"That's right, Dobby found, actually he stole, they gillyweed in Professor Snape's office," Harry said, remembering.
Hermione smiled too. "Too bad Dobby's dead, he would be happy to help the famous Harry Potter sir," imitating Dobby's voice. Harry laughed at her.
"Tell my more about the magical world," Alex said.
"What do you want to know?" Hermione asked him.
"Everything," he responded with a smile.
So they told him everything.