Chapter 3: Planning
Hermione's head was pounding her last two days in been a huge blur. She'd gone to collect her things and upon returning had met an overly enthusiastic Ginny who was telling her about the calls she made and appointments she'd set up for when they get to Italy. Hermione was somewhat glad Ginny had taken it upon herself to plan the wedding and yet she knew that it was still going to end up stressing her out.
She'd called her parents that night to tell them she was getting married. They'd been shocked and had both picked up the phone so they wouldn't have to talk through one another as they rattled questions off to her. She'd managed to get off with she'd met a "nice" guy who loved children and was more than capable of taking care of them. She could here the wariness in their voices and was fully aware that she was a terrible liar and they'd easily figured out she was leaving out detail. They didn't press her though knowing it'd all come out in time.
"Well good on you dear. It's about time you had someone taking care of you and Lily. You just haven't had any time for yourself since Fleur left her with you. I do hope you're happy. You're such a sweet girl and you deserve it." Her step-mother had told her. Hermione had said good bye after that and thought about her parents for a while. `If only I could just get married for love like they did.' Hermione sighed. Her mother had died when she was very young due to cancer. As Hermione was muggle-born she wasn't aware that there might be a spell that could have saved her. She'd become very reclusive after that keeping to her books and only really communicating with her father.
Her father had gone away to France on business and come back telling her he'd met the most amazing woman. She'd lost her companion and was dressed very oddly but she was beautiful. He was quite the linguist and was one of the few able to communicate with her in her broken English. He'd helped her find her way to this café she'd been searching for and never expected to see her again but the next day she was sitting in the café which he had to pass to get to his convention and she'd waved him over. He'd spent a majority of his trip talking to the enchanting woman.
She'd expressed an interest in wanting to learn more about muggle England. He hadn't been sure what muggle meant but he'd told her he'd love to show her around if she ever came to England. He'd been extremely surprised when she'd shown up not a week later to take him up on his offer. She'd simply adored Hermione's pale porcelain complexion and "adorable" accent.
From there Hermione wasn't really sure how the story went. She just knew that her father came home starry eyed and raving about witches and magic one day and he was engaged the next. They'd traveled to France to meet her two daughters and everything had changed from there. They'd been introduced into a wizarding world and found that, that café she'd been looking for was the entrance to such a magnificent place. Hermione had been enthralled and enjoyed her time spent with the French family. As Fleur was already attending Beauxbatons the two younger girls were sent there as well despite their residency in England. They'd both visited the English school Hogwarts once for the triwizard tournament. Now that Hermione thought about it she had seen Harry in real life once before and that was then but she couldn't make the comparison to the boy she'd seen then and the man he was now. Shaking it off she returned to her thoughts of her family.
She'd gotten on well with her younger step-sister, Gabrielle, but Fleur only seemed to look at her and her father as though they were beneath her. Fleur had separated herself from the family and only really held contact with Gabrielle, being the only innocent party in Fleur's opinion since she was so young at the time.
Now with their children grown her parents had bought a smaller home in the English countryside to enjoy their days together awaiting son-in-laws and grandchildren. She smiled remembering the time they'd told her just that. Well they'd be happy now. Fleur had disappointed them; though they loved Lily to pieces the whole story of how she came to be had upset them. They'd wanted their daughters to fall in love, settle down, and raise stable families.
Hermione sighed; well she was settling down and eventually going to be raising a family. She cringed at the thought of having to raise a family with Harry. The only wish her parents wouldn't get was the whole love bit but it wasn't like they would know. They'd be acting the loving family whenever they were around people and that included her parents.
As she lay on her bed with her head buried under a mountain of pillows she heard a soft knock on the door.
"It's open." She moaned not removing her head from the pillows. It was probably just Ginny anyway. She'd jumped when she heard Harry's voice instead.
"What are you doing?" He asked pulling the pillows up only to find the back of her curly brown head. "Trying to suffocate yourself?"
"No." She said icily. "I was thinking."
"Your brain functions better when you have oxygen."
"I was breathing just fine. What do you want?"
"We have to go get our marriage licenses and your stamps in your passport so you can live in Italy."
"I don't want to go. Can't we do it tomorrow? I'm kind of busy."
"With what? Suffocating yourself?"
"I was not suffocating myself I was thinking. Now can we go tomorrow or not?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I said we're going now."
She glared at him as he turned and strode out of the room telling her she had ten minutes to be ready to go.
"Jerk." She muttered as she slipped off the bed and swept her hair up into a messy ponytail. She grabbed her purse and shoved her passport in it as she grabbed a wind breaker and met Harry down by the garage entrance.
"Here put this on." He said shoving a cap into her hands.
"You've got to be kidding me. My hair's not that bad and if you hadn't given me just ten minutes I'd of actually brushed it." Hermione snapped pushing the hat back at him.
"I never said your hair was bed. The messy look is rather fitting on you just like the wet look." He grinned watching her cheeks flame and the glare return to her eyes. "Hat's because we don't want paparazzi to recognize you just yet. That'll ruin the surprise."
Hermione took the hat reluctantly and pulled the cap on and pulled her ponytail through it before adjusting it to cover her eyes and shadow the rest of her face.
"Hmm, you haven't done this before have you?" Harry asked noticing how she knew exactly how to angle the cap so she wasn't visible.
"I used to do it in college when I was avoiding this football player who kept asking me out." She mumbled. Harry laughed and pulled his own cap on as he escorted her out to the car. He gave the chauffer some instructions and they were off. She felt like she spent the whole rest of the day signing papers and answering questions.
The next day she'd spent wanting to bash her head in. It took them all morning to come up with a rough draft of their guest list. `I think it'd be easier to just list who in England is not invited to the wedding.' She thought grimly as she'd stared at the list horrified. Ginny skipped in with Lily and joined them on the floor by the coffee table which as littered with their notes. Lily moved to Hermione's lap and began rattling off questions about what was going on. Hermione tried briefly explaining it to her before she picked up the lists again and groaned.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked her.
"We've revised this list about a hundred times and we still have at least five hundred people on here." Hermione pointed to the papers scattered around them.
"Actually I think it's a bit closer to eight hundred." Ginny grinned. "But I haven't really counted yet so I can't be sure."
"I still think we're missing people." Harry sighed as he leaned back against the couch watching Ginny skim over the list.
"Yea, we are but once it's in the papers and people start talking we'll be able to figure it out. Plus if we just do an open guest seating area, first come first serve, for all those who have supported you but you really don't know very well then that'll take care of the problem. I'll be sure to add that to the announcement going in the Daily Prophet next week. I've also talked to a couple of magazines so they know to take you off the most eligible bachelor list and print the wedding announcement as well. I'm sure they'll want to do some interviews so here are your test prep questions." Ginny said handing them a manila folder with a bunch of papers in it. "I've gotten a hold of a couple of muggle newspapers as well to print the wedding announcement so all of that is out of the way. I've got to go, though, because I have Lavender and Pavarti on the line looking for a venue for the engagement party."
"I've got to go see Draco and Ron about being my best men and assembling a party of groomsmen." Harry said getting up and following Ginny out of the room.
"I suppose I should find a Maid of Honor." Hermione sighed to Lily as she stacked up the papers scattered around her. Lily helped her put them all in a organized piles on the desk in Hermione's room before going off the find Sirius to play with since the adults were all busy.
Hermione picked up the phone in her room and spent the rest of the day calling family and friends to tell them she was engaged. She called her best friends from back school and asked them if they'd be interested in being a part of her bridal party.
The final day in England seemed to fly by since she and Ginny sat down and began planning the engagement parties. Why they needed multiple parties, Hermione didn't understand. She just nodded and listened as Ginny explained it would be a long week of celebration after celebration after celebration. By day she and Harry had a list of interviews and meals to attend and by night they would attend their many engagement parties. Ginny saw it as fun and exciting while Hermione saw it as five days of sheer torture. On top of that Hermione's parents were having a family get together at the end of that week so that everyone could meet Hermione's fiancé.
When Ginny finally left her to go make phone calls to get everything set up as they decided Hermione dropped her head into her hands. She sat at the kitchen table like this for quite a while taking deep breaths and trying not to be so overwhelmed. It was all too much. She'd never been one to fantasize about her wedding day because she had other priorities but when she did she'd never imagined anything to this magnitude. She'd always just seen a simple wedding at her childhood church. Just close family and friends invited and one brief engagement party if any.
She had thought she'd marry a simple man from a small town like herself, not the wizarding world's multibillionaire playboy. Her head hurt just thinking about how much more there was to do. It had been difficult enough to put together those "basic" plans for the engagement parties; they hadn't even touched the wedding. She wanted to cry just wishing it'd all just go away.
Harry entered the kitchen with Lily cuddled up in his arms. They'd been at the park all day and had a picnic. She'd been excited to get home to tell Hermione all about it. He froze in the doorway, though, seeing Hermione sitting at the table head down sounding as though she may be crying. He eased forward setting Lily on the floor and took a seat beside her. Troubled eyes looked up at him and he felt distantly hurt as he noticed the defeated look that came into her eyes when she saw him.
"What do you want because I honestly don't have it in me to fight with you right now?" Hermione asked looking tiredly at him
"Mummy's all stressed out." Lily concluded as she came around to give Hermione a hug.
"I'm not here to argue, Lily was looking for you." Harry stated sounding harsh unintentionally. He was feeling a bit bitter at the fact that she thought all he was capable of was pissing her off.
Hermione nodded and stood up taking Lily's hand, "Let's go talk in Mummy's room."
Harry watched the little girl nod and head off with Hermione disappearing out the door. He sat there drumming his fingers on the table for a moment before getting up to go find Ginny. He found her in the library with the laptop up and several phones around all on speaker phone and her headset on. He had to admit she did look really professional with her hair pulled up into a tight bun and a crisp lavender blouse on. There were papers and notes scattered around her that he figured only she could decode. She was talking quickly and alternating between glancing at the laptop screen and scribbling notes down on a piece of paper.
Harry headed over and looked down at the desk skimming the titles on some of the pages: one had interviews scrawled across the top with a variety of magazine and newspapers written on it with dates and times corresponding to each, another read photo shoots and looked almost identical to the interviews page, then there was engagement parties 1-5 with checklists and some seemed to be half way completed.
She had a quill enchanted to rewrite the guest list in alphabetical order. Stuck to the wall were lists of caterers, cake decorators, florists, bands, churches, and reception venues.
`Wow.' Harry mouthed as he looked around. `This might explain why Hermione's stressed. It's only day two and Ginny seems to have charged right in. We haven't even decided on a wedding day yet.'
He looked a Ginny who gave him a small wave and flashed a smile before returning to whoever she was conversing with. Harry left just as silently as he'd entered decided it was best not to mess with her.
Hermione was now exiting the airport, a ring of aurors, dressed as body guards, surrounded her and Harry, shouting at the press to get back. Ginny, Ron, and Draco strode to the exit as if they didn't notice a thing. Hermione winced at each flash of the cameras and clutched a sobbing Lily close to her. They'd been swamped the minute they'd gotten off the plane and all the commotion had woken Lily who'd fallen asleep during the flight. Harry was now looking extremely pissed off as he shouted at them to back the hell off because they were upsetting his daughter.
Hermione was trying to sooth Lily and hurry as quickly as possible to the waiting limo outside. Getting in wasn't an easy task as the reporters tried to stop them from reaching the limo. She jumped hearing the crunch of a camera as Harry smashed one with his bare hands and threw the pieces back at the photographer who'd gotten too close to her and Lily. Hermione ducked into the car staring terrified out the window as he continued shouting at them.
"Tomorrow's paper's not going to be pretty." Ginny sighed as she began filing her nails and waved to Hermione as she and Ron got into their family car which had just pulled up to take them to their homes.
Draco was with Harry now seemingly angry at something a reporter had asked him, he gave the guy the finger and retorted with something vulgar. The aurors were struggling to get Harry and Draco to go now that they'd gotten so worked up. One of the aurors opened the door and gestured for Harry to get in. Harry made his last remark before getting in and sitting across from Hermione looking angry enough to kill. They were silent for a while just staring at each other. Lily's sniffling was the only sound in the back seat of the limo as it left the airport.
"Is she alright?" Harry finally asked.
"She'll live. They startled her and all the flashes overwhelmed her as she was just waking up. I'm sure the aurors didn't lessen her spook either. Getting angry and shouting didn't seem to be helping matters either." Hermione said stiffly as she continued to rub Lily's back.
He didn't respond to her comment, simply turned to stare out the window. `Bloody bastards ought to stay out my business.'
"You'll be paying for that camera you smashed?" Hermione quarried.
"Of course not!" Harry snapped at her.
"Harry!"
"He shouldn't have pointed it in her face."
"That's the man's job."
"Well he should get another one. It's rather annoying always having people poking around in you business, following you everywhere you go."
"That's their job and as long as you're a celebrity you'll have to deal with."
"I suppose you'll have to deal with it too. We'll see how you like never being left alone."
"I'm not doing it by choice though."
"Neither did I! Do you think I wanted to be the boy-who-lived? I didn't just wake up in the morning and think `Oh I hope Voldemort kills my mum and dad today so I can one day defeat him and get famous.'"
Hermione went silent. She hadn't thought about it like that. She only ever thought about how he was always in the paper with some woman or for pulling some stunt. She never thought about it as a life he'd been forced into rather than one he wanted. He always looked like he was enjoying himself.
"I'm sorry." She whispered.
"Don't be, I know that's not what you meant. I shouldn't have attacked you like that." Harry said.
"Can we just start this day over?"
"If that's what you want."
She nodded and fell silent looking out the window. Lily had calmed down and was looking back and forth between the two silent adults. Harry was staring out the opposite window just as stony and silent as Hermione.
"Look up there." Harry said after a while of riding in silence. He was pointing out of the window at a large villa that was coming into view. "That's where we'll be living."
"Oh my." Hermione breathed looking out the window as he indicated. It was gorgeous, and decorated as if by the ancient Romans. "Lily look."
Harry grinned watching Hermione's eyes light up as she took in the villa and pulled Lily into her lap, pointing out the window. The tears all gone, Lily's eyes sparkled gazing out the window. Hermione's eyes roamed over the secluded expanse of land that surrounded the villa and caught site of a quidditch pitch.
"Uh, Harry I know you play quidditch professionally and have some strong ties with the ministry but this seems very secluded for someone who needs to be on call at all hours of the day. How do you maintain it all from out here?" Hermione asked turning away from the window.
"I have an apartment in Naples I usually stay at. I only work as an auror during my off season so during the season between games every once and a while I come out here. Other than that I don't usually use the villa but with Lily it seemed better to move out here year-round. It's a better place for raising a family; I can just apart to Naples in the mornings." Harry shrugged.
Hermione blushed again and quickly turned away at the mentioning of raising a family.
"We can attend an opera anytime you wish and take Lily for gondola rides the museums and cathedrals might interest you as well." Harry told them as the limo pulled into an archway at the top of a circular drive way. The fresh smell of wild flowers and the tinkling of several fountains made a smile spread across Hermione's face.
"I think I love it here already. I'd love to paint your garden." Hermione said stepping out of the car taking the hand of a butler who'd opened the door for her. She spun in a slow circle trying to take in as much of the beauty of the villa at once as she could. Lily was climbing out behind her and immediately grabbed Hermione's hand as she joined her in staring in awe.
"You can paint our gardens any time you like. You live here now Hermione and the villa's as good as half yours. You have as much time as you like to try to capture it all." He said right next to her ear. He'd come to stand to the side of her, slightly behind. His eyes grazed over her profile he saw a flicker of something he didn't like cross her face at the mentioning of this being where she lived from now on. `But I thought she said she loved it. It's a historical artist dream. What can still be troubling her?' He thought. `This is where she belongs, damnit. With me!'
Harry placed a hand on the small of her back gesturing towards the great double doors that the butler had opened; he led her and Lily inside as Dobby, Winky, and several other house elves appeared to gather their luggage. Hermione frowned slightly seeing them all but didn't comment for the moment.
She let Harry guide her inside with Lily's hand tucked into her own. She gasped marveling at just the foyer. The first thing she noticed was the large winding stair case that came up from three directions and met at one point, only to split off again into two directions. Where two of the lower stair cases met a sculpture of a Roman goddess stood in that corner with an armful of fresh flowers. Her brownish clay matched well with the creamy brown marble floor. Hermione's tennis shoes squeaked slightly as she walked across the beautiful spotless floor. Old stone walls held archways that lead to the different rooms of the house.
She and Lily were lead up the stairs to the expansive second floor. From there she could see the magnificent chandelier that hung over the foyer and looked as though it was not only electrical but could be lit by firelight as well. As they progressed down the halls she realized that all the lighting gave the option of firelight or electricity.
They were now in the east wing according to Harry. It was the most lived in part of the villa as the west wing was dotted with guest rooms that had not been used since the villa was built several centuries ago. There was a large dark door at the end of the hallway that sparked Hermione's curiosity. She was slightly disappointed when they turned into the room next to it on the right wall. Upon entering it she found a replica of Lily's nursery in England only in her opinion a thousand times more beautiful. There were more bay windows that gave an excellent display of the front gardens below and washed the room in a warm sunny glow. The ceiling was blue with large puffy white wispy clouds carelessly floating by.
The bed had a plush white comforter with gold trim and a unicorn stitched into it. On the bedside table there was a music box with a proud looking unicorn figurine on top. There were fresh flowers on the table as well as a white leather bound diary. The border was white gold and Lillian Rose Potter was engraved on the front in a beautiful swirling cursive.
Harry stood in the doorway watching Hermione and Lily inspecting the room. He saw the surprised delight as they discovered the house elves had already unpacked their things and the pictures and awards that used to be displayed around their house and Lily's room were now placed strategically around the room.
"This is amazing Harry." Hermione said joining him at the doorway. "I . . . thank you. I think she loves it."
Harry nodded solemnly trying not to let her see just how happy it made him to finally have her approval of something. "I told Ginny to go all out."
They watched Lily inspecting a display case filled with dolls. She seemed to be trying to decide which one she wanted to play with. She eventually stood on her toes reaching for the knob on the glass doors and pulled it open. She began pulling the dolls down one by one and inspecting each. Some she kept down by her side and others she put back for now.
"I think she's content for the moment so we should let her play. Come, I have more to show you." He steered her out the room silently pulling Lily's door until it was merely cracked open before he moved across the hall to stand between two doors that looked identical.
"This one," He said pointing to the door on his right as he faced Hermione, "leads to the room of requirements. You just have to walk back and forth passed it about three times concentrating on what you'd like and the room will open for you becoming just that."
Hermione nodded and listened as he directed her attention to the other door.
"This door will eventually be your art room. It's not completed yet but if you'd like to see it." He paused, waiting for her answer. She nodded and he pushed open the door beckoning her in.
The floor was covered in tarps and the walls were bare of color. He told her he'd had the back wall redone so it was now completely glass. She was grateful to him for this as she looked out to see the large expanse of garden behind the house that vaguely reminded her of her trip to the Chateau Versailles. A large pool sparkled outside and it also followed the ancient roman theme with its sculptures and fountains adding to its beauty. She could see behind that the area was split off into four sections: a tennis court, a basketball court, a soccer field, and a quidditch pitch.
"You enjoy muggle sports?" She commented upon noticing this.
"Yea, sometimes you get a bit tired of playing quidditch all day everyday and just need a bit of change. You don't play any sports do you?" He asked joining her at the window.
"I had tennis lessons when I was younger and played in a junior league for a while but I haven't touched a racket much since." Hermione told him with a shrug.
"I suppose we'll have to get you onto the court sometime and see how much you remember. And if you have a court preference, you can transform it into any type clay, grass, hard, you name it you got it."
"I haven't the slightest clue what type of court I was playing on." Hermione laughed.
"Well then you'll just have to pick your favorite over time. As for this room the view is probably the most magnificent thing at the moment. Ginny'll get it all painted and whatnot soon enough."
"No, don't do that. Leave it as it is. It'll be more homey if Lily and I paint it. I'll just have to get a few tools and then we can set to work on it."
"Anything you need you can get from the closet I'm having installed. It'll have a direct link to the local art supply shop so you'll be able to just get what you need and it'll all be paid for without the hassle of searching around a huge shop for hours."
"But isn't that the fun bit? You find the most interesting things while hunting around shops." Hermione sighed wistfully.
"I wouldn't know. I don't do most of my own shopping. That's what the hired help is for." Harry said briskly, turning to exit the room.
Hermione frowned at his last statement. She didn't like the thought of relying on hired help. She'd always lived by the rule if `you can do it yourself, do it'. `Why be lazy? But then again, if you were a busy man like Harry maybe you had to rely on help.' She tried to reason with herself.
"And alas, here's our room." Harry announced leading her out and up to the huge dark door she'd been curious about earlier.
"Our room?" She echoed, not so curious any more, quite the opposite actually. She'd rather not enter that room alone with him. Frankly, she'd rather not enter at all.
"Yes, our room. I do believe that's what I said."
"And I'd really rather not as I said nothing right off."
"I'm not going to jump you Hermione. I said I wouldn't touch you and I won't presumably until you want me to but I do have a reputation to uphold. It wouldn't do for every wizard on the planet to know my wife won't share a room with me."
"I'm not your wife."
"But you will be."
"Not for a while."
"All the same, eventually you will be so you might as well come and see. And just so you'll feel safe at night you'll have your own room, right next door to Lily's and Mrs. Weasley, Ron and Ginny's mother, will be coming to stay with us until the wedding."
"Good!"
"If you say so." Harry shrugged. "Be it now or later you'll eventually share my bed so the waiting seems a bit pointless."
"It may be pointless to you but I'd still rather it later." Hermione replied stepping back a bit from him. The dark look that filled her with both fear and excitement had returned to his eyes and she couldn't stop her heart from speeding up a bit in anticipation of what he might do.
"Why are you backing away? Afraid of me or yourself?" He growled advancing on her until she was pressed against the door and his body blocked any escape she could hope to attempt.
"I'm not afraid. I'm just . . ." She stopped; she wasn't really sure what she was. The man put her on edge so often it was hard to tell what she was feeling around him.
"I'm not going to force you into anything Hermione but I won't wait forever either and your eyes tell me you don't want to wait forever either."
"Is this why you asked me to marry you?"
Harry brought his head up from how close he'd been leaning to her. He frowned down at her wondering what had brought the question on.
"Does it matter? I have my reasons some of which you might not like but I don't believe that's relevant considering you're getting what you want too." He replied evading the question. A question he wasn't even able to answer to himself. "We've loitered here long enough, come."
With that he reached around her and opened the door. He noticed her sharp intake of breath, when his body had brushed tantalizing close to hers when opening the door. He gave her a predatory grin slowly brought his arm back making sure it brushed hers again before gesturing for her to enter. She gave him a hard look before reluctantly entering the dark room.
She bit her lower lip, glancing worriedly around the room. The whole rest of the house had a feminine flair about it and she could tell Ginny had been there but this room was completely different. Dark curtains covered the windows blocking out any and all light. The black, silver, and dark forest green color scheme gave the room a haunting effect. Emeralds lined the base boards all the way around the room. There was only a small break in the line where a black door stood.
The black bed hangings were see-through and she could just make out the forest green comforter covering the large bed. It was all quite gloomy in her opinion and her expression told Harry just that.
"Don't worry. You and Ginny can change it to however you want. It's more your room than mine since I'm away so much." He told her.
She nodded and felt herself relax a bit when he mentioned being away a lot. She continued to scan the room which seemed to be devoid of any pictures or paintings except for the one large portrait on looming above the bed, on the back wall. It was a portrait of Harry in his quidditch uniform.
"It'll be changed soon." He said following her gaze. "We'll have one painted of you and me. Now, I'll show you the rest of the house so you can begin settling in."
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